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As her own excitement grew, so did the number of people coming over to meet and greet Zazzy. Several children were grabbing on her, despite their parents best efforts to keep them off of her. She didn’t mind it at all, but there was work to be done, and only a limited time to do it.

It wasn’t just the gigantic tree in front of their main entrance that the Highlanders were decorating. Every house and every street corner within the city was covered in Yuletide cheer. The different sections of the highlands were free to decorate how they saw fit, but the city was decked out in their ancient traditions.

Blues, whites, reds, greens, golds, and silvers shimmered in the light cast by the lampposts along the roads. Every business had painted their windows with wintery scenes, and images of Santa the Claws.

The ones of Nicolas varied from him in a reindeer-drawn sled, to him leaving gifts in various settings, to cutesy ones of him sticking out of a stocking and the like. Murdoc always got a good chuckle out of those ones.

As he climbed down from Zazzy’s backside, she had decided to use her tail to lightly swing several children back and forth that had grabbed ahold. A few of the parents fussed, but Zazzy was a truly gentle creature at heart, and most could tell by looking at her.

As she preoccupied the children, Murdoc handed out orders to his people. They were to start to untangle the garlands, check the light strings for dead bulbs, and double-check the giant ornaments for wear and tear. The children were making replacements for the broken ones, as was their tradition.

They were basically foam balls with weather-resistant paint, but the children loved contributing to the festivities. There were even a few on there that were centuries old; that’s how long the Highlanders had decorated the tree that they referred to as the Founder’s Tree.

They had a legend handed down through the generations...

.....

When the first humans had emerged from their bunkers after the Great Shift, the tree before them was the first thing to ever be planted. It originally signified humanity’s perseverance, and their ancestors’ return to the world. Now: it was their symbol of their imperishable determination to survive, and a marker for home.

The top of the tree could’ve seen from the Highland’s boarder on a clear, sunny day; if you knew to look for it. The area immediately around their base’s entrance was open, but sparse trees surrounded the outer perimeter in clumps. Tidas and the RMC members hadn’t had an inkling at all that the Highlanders’ base was so close, so many times..

‘If they’da stuck in out wit their winter missions round the holidays, the gommies woulda seen our lights, and found us.. Good thing that they mostly be a buncha gowks in armor..’

Zas Murdoc shook the thought from his head, he heard several people yelling at once. The children had all been sent back inside to finish up their crafts, and many of the adults had started on their tasks. Those in charge of the garlands had started to unroll and untangle them.

Right as they were stretching some out to check for knots, Zazzy walked across their path. People were jerked off of their feet, landing face-first in the compacted snow. Some were even dragged several feet as Zazzy took a single step.

When Murdoc started to call out her name, Zazzy half-turned around, dragging a few of those still hanging onto the ends of the garland. He told her to stop moving so they could untangle her, which she didn’t listen. As she trilled and grunted while trying to unwrap herself, Murdoc could’ve sworn that Zazzy repeatedly trilled ‘sorry’.

Murdoc chuckled loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to himself. He threw his arm up in the air and yelled; “Sorry, Zazzy! But the decorations are fer the tree, not you!”

Many of the angry expressions changed to amused ones as they got up from the ground. Zazzy had stopped moving out of fear of stepping on someone, which Murdoc was thankful for.. She nearly Did squish someone.

They had gotten stick on the end of the garland. It had thick metal wires running through it, to make sure it could withstand the harsh weather and winds that hit the tree. The open area around the Highlanders’ base entrance allowed the wind plenty of open space to pick up speed.

If the decorations weren’t heavy-duty, then they wouldn’t survive until Hogmanay. It was tradition for their Yuletide decorations to stay up until after the new year..

The act was supposed to represent bringing any and all of the positive energy from the previous year, into the next. The entire city turned into one giant party on Hogmanay Eve. To be honest: it was Murdoc’s favorite holiday.

As they restraightened the garland and double-checked it, Zazzy sat off to the side with a sad expression. Several Highlanders came over and petted her, and a few even fed her some elk jerky that they had. She seemed in slightly better spirits due to everyone’s kindness, but still had a gloom about her.

Zazzy really wished that she was smaller, like how she used to be when she would follow Peggy around. If she were still small, Zazzy thought that she could help..

Seeing her sadly draw little shapes in the snow with her claw had tugged at the hearts of the Highlanders. It was hours early, but they thought that Zazzy could put the tree topper on.

Murdoc wasn’t fond of breaking tradition on the holidays, but the light crew said that it would make wrapping the lights around the tree easier. With a sigh and a smile, the king agreed to his people’s request, and approached the not-so-little dragon.

She had a melancholy expression, and was making star and ornament shapes in the snow.. ‘She’s the size of a whale, but pouts like a four year old..’

“Are ye bored, lassie?”

Zazzy nodded, then huffed woefully as Murdoc added; “Would ye like ta put the topper on the tree?”

The dragon’s disposition had instantly shifted as her wings started to twitch. She hadn’t gone for her morning flight with her father this morning, so she was itching to get some air under her wings.

Murdoc laughed at the swiftness that the overgrown dragon was capable of when properly motivated. As Zazzy’s tail started to work itself into a frenzy, she trotted over to a snowy clearing away from the people and tree. With Murdoc following behind to climb onto her back.

Both of Zazzy’s parents had stressed to her to make sure that she had clearance on both sides before taking off. The force from the flap of Zazzy’s wings alone could uproot trees if she wasn’t careful, so it was important to avoid blowing away people when she took off.

As she started to take off, Murdoc called out to her as he tried to protect himself from her gusts. Seeing him in harm’s way; she quickly wrapped her tail around him, the set him on her back as he wailed like a bairn. As he plopped down, Murdoc heard her snickering at him.

“I have a thing about heights, okay?! Go easy on me, lassie!” Murdoc yelled as the wind whipped around him.

Zazzy snorted in response which scared Murdoc greatly. He could only imagine all the crazy crap she was used to doing with her parents on her back.. ‘I bet ye Skye’s a bloody rocket on here.. Well, Ima no crazy person!’

“Zazzy?! I Really don’t wanna die today, ye ken?! No crazy shite wit me on yer back! Don’t forget that If yer good, ye get a special treat tonight!”

Zazzy trilled loudly in response, agreeing to Murdoc’s terms. He had brought her lots of yummy food before, and she wondered what could be better than that.. ‘Maybe two piles of food? No.. Mother and Father wouldn’t let me eat that much at once..’

Excited for her surprise, Zazzy was extra careful not to rock around too much, which Murdoc appreciated. Being on her back on the ground was Vastly different from being on it in the air. With the fading daylight in the background, Zazzy carefully lifted off to allow the light crew to move the topper into the clearing.

It took three Tank mages to carry it over, but Zazzy had lifted it with ease. Everyone had stopped working to watch a genuine dragon put the star topper on their tree. As soon as Zazzy had set it down, she roared with enthusiasm, inciting the Highlanders below into a cheering frenzy.

Right as she came back down, a huge machine came around the corner. It had a long metal beam with a bucket-looking thing on the end of it. As Zazzy stared at in, she realized a human was in the bucket..

As Zazzy quirked an eyebrow at the contraption, Murdoc clapped his hands together and said; “Alright! Let’s get the lights up!”

Everyone cheered as the machine inched closer to the tree. Murdoc was shocked that they’d fixed the lift truck in such a short time. Usually it took weeks, and it had only stopped working the other day..

As the beams raised the bucket up, the thing seemed far shakier than normal. When the slight tremors turned into full-blown rattling, Murdoc screamed for them to turn it off, but it was too late.

The beam snapped at it’s joint, and the bucket came crashing down towards the people below. The man that had been in the bucket had jumped onto the tree, and was dangling from a branch as he cried out for help.

The people below cried out in terror as the thousand-pound beam came crashing down towards them. As they closed their eyes and braced for death, they heard a metallic crashing noise..

Nothing happened.

Looking up, the Highlanders cried out in praise and thanks at Zazzy catching the beam a mere four feet from their heads. As she set the beam down, she turned her head and used her tail to grab the Highlander hanging precariously from a branch.

As she gently set him down, the man looked up at Zazzy with tears in his eyes, and hugged her tail as he repeated ‘thank you’ over and over again. The next thing she knew, the whole of the Highland’s people was chanting her name.

Walking over with a giant smile on his face, Murdoc patted Zazzy’s side, and said; “Nice catch, Lassie! And yer Da was worried..”