Crackledrake

**Crackledrake** is a side story published through the official website of *The Dragon Prince*. It revolves around Janai and Amaya, who indulge in eating a traditional Sunfire Elf winter meal while Janai tells its story. It is part of a short story series called "Reflections".

## Summary

While introducing a Sunfire Elf ritual, Janai recites an old story to Amaya while filling a bowl with golden liquid. The story surrounds a traveler returning to Lux Aurea, who found herself ambushed by a pack of Emberdrakes. Using her practiced sign language, she spells the name out to Amaya to assure she learned it.

The location they are at is one of Janai's favorite places: an overlook located towards the North, near the Frozen Sea and its snowy mountains. Janai finds comfort in knowing it to be far away from the ruins Lux Aurea now lies in, after the city had been destroyed by monstrosities spawned by the corrupted Sunforge. Here, sitting on the grass, she can be together with Amaya, away from the troubles of her life.

While scattering pink dawnfruits and brown-capped kindlecorns into her gleaming brandy, she continues her story. She explains how the Emberdrakes had burned down the traveler's cart, and how the brandy had fueled the fire. To replicate the scene, Janai lights the brandy, which causes the kindlecorns and dawnfruits to mix in a golden glow and form into six-petaled flowers, to which Amaya signs the word "beautiful". She tells the travelers efforts to have paid off as she managed to safe the morsels from the fire, sparking the tradition of sharing a Crackledrake meal in winter. When Amaya questions the part about eating the ingredients, Janai demonstrates by biting off a chunk of her extinguished kindlecorn. Loving a challenge, Amaya does the same, considering the tradition to be fun. When Janai explains that Crackledrake is meant for people you are close to, Amaya teases if she has a close relationship to her prisoners, causing Janai to ask how often she has to apologize for imprisoning Amaya. To her best effort, Janai corrects through signing that Crackledrake is for family, friends, and former prisoners who have become friends. She acknowledges their friendship again when Amaya asks for confirmation. Distracted by the sentiment, Amaya reaches into the flaming brandy by accident, burning her hands. Quick to react, Janai helps soothe the burning on her skin by applying Sun's Tears ointment onto the wound and apologizes, wondering if Crackledrake was a good idea.

Amaya insists that the tradition is fun, though questions the vial Janai carries with her. She explains that she never wishes to hurt Amaya again and thus carries healing salve with her as a result of burning Amaya's hands the day her sister Khessa had died. The two gaze at each other as a small blush creeps onto Amaya's face. Janai picks out another fruit from the fire using her heat-being mode, and is suddenly referred to by Amaya as her "hero". However, she notices that she had called her her "spoon" in reality. The two laugh that they are getting good at reading each other, as Janai feels unable to take her eyes off of Amaya.

## Trivia

* The story mentions Emberdrakes, a kind of dragon that was released with Tales of Xadia. These dragons can light their paws on fire and are known to hunt in packs.
* The story plays before the events of Tales of Xadia's "The Corrupted Core" and "Sunfire Chronicle".
* It is confirmed that Janai has begun to study sign language.
* As the battle at the Storm Spire happened before July, over half a year has passed until this moment, as it is written to be in winter.

## References

1. ↑ The Dragon Prince Official Twitter - Crackledrake
2. ↑ Tales of Xadia - The Corrupted Core
3. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 3: "Ghost"
4. ↑ Book Three, Chapter 7: "Hearts of Cinder"