Chapter Text
Hope recalled that whenever it was Darkstalker’s hatching day, she had always made his favourite dishes. But Peacemaker, while uncanny in outer appearances with Darkstalker, was a completely different dragon altogether; It would be wrong to assume their taste buds were similar. (Though sometimes, a small part inside her almost wished he was a bit more like Darkstalker, and occasionally she could almost convince herself to see some parallels in personalities, despite how evidently contrasting the two of them were.)
So for Peacemaker’s first birthday, she had bought a strawberry cake. While she was no baker, and the rainwings’ diet was still foreign to her, one of the dragons in the village had been kind enough to offer to bake a cake for her. And it was hard not to know that her son loved strawberries considering that he yelled about it so much every day as if he was afraid that the furthest neighbour would not hear about it. So strawberry cake it was. It was the least she could do as his mother.
The least she could do to make up for her own mistakes.
She never meant for Darkstalker to grow up to be so angry and bitter like his father. There was a pang of guilt in her chest for letting her arguments with Arctic affect the bringing up of her children. She never wanted them to suffer. It was not as though she never tried to remedy the situation, but maybe if she had tried harder, Whiteout and Darkstalker would not have been suffered at the expense of their constant fury towards each other, and maybe Darkstalker would not-
She quickly shook that thought away. she convinced herself. And most importantly, this time, you will raise him right.
Just as she was about to slice a piece of the cake, she heard quiet talonsteps and a small yawn. It caught her off-guard for a moment -- Peacemaker was never one to willingly rise in the morning -- but then again, he was always one for surprises. (She recalled Darkstalker was full of surprises too, in so many different ways.) She glanced up to see her son slowly walking out of the hallway.
The bleary-eyed dragonet rubbed his eyes with his talon, clearly only half-awake, but the minute he looked up and spotted the cake, the sleepiness on his face vanishing without a trace. He let out an excited gasp. "CAKE CAKE CAKECAKECAKECAKE!!" he sang loudly as he gleefully skipped to the kitchen counter. "For me?"
"Of course," Hope smiled. "Happy birthday, peacemaker. Do you like the surprise? "
"Yessssssssss," he answered, elongating on the last syllable. He then wrapped his arms around his mother. Well, he attempted to, at least -- a year old dragonet's wings were not large enough to go around a fully grown dragon. Hope, nonetheless, returned the embrace.
"This is the best birthday ever!" Peacemaker chirped as Hope released him from the hug.
"It's your first birthday, sweetheart, " she pointed out, chuckling.
Peacemaker hopped onto his seat. "I know!! Are birthdays always this good?" he asked excitedly, beaming. Hope nodded as she offered the piece of cake to Peacemaker, only to find that Peacemaker had already begun to nibble straight from the uncut cake itself. Oh dear.
Trying not to laugh, she lightly nagged, “Peacemaker, I’ve already cut a slice for you!”
”Sorry mum, couldn’t resist, “ Peacemaker apologised with a guilty, sheepish look. “Too hungry. “
”It’s alright, dear. “ Hope slides the plate to him, and the two spent the rest of the morning filled with cakes and laughter.
And Hope could not be any more sure that she made the right choice with him after all.