Today’s story takes us back to the dragons of Courage Town as Hanna has her last day of training before the Fire Carnival.

Here is a link to the first part in Hanna’s story:

Princess Hanna and the Forever Fire

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Hanna and her Uncle James stood together in the castle courtyard at dawn. The air was cold and the grass was wet with dew.

There was a stack of dinner plates on the ground beside Uncle James.

“Ready?” he asked.

Hanna nodded.

“Up we go then,” he said.

He picked up the stack of plates beside him and flapped his wings to raise directly up into the air. Hanna took off too.

The pair of them flew up out of the courtyard and floated in the open space above the castle, about thirty feet between them.

Uncle James counted down. “3… 2… 1!”

He launched one of the plates into the air and Hanna blew the plate up into smithereens with a fist-sized fire ball.

As the plate shattered, Uncle James was already tossing up another in the opposite direction.

Hanna lined up the second plate and blew it up with a direct hit.

Uncle James kept throwing the plates, never stopping, not even for a second.

It went on like that until Uncle James didn’t have any plates left to throw. And Hanna didn’t miss a single one.

He smiled at her, pride in his eyes.

Hanna and Uncle James then glided back down to the courtyard.

“What do you think?” said Hanna. “Am I ready for the Fire Carnival?”

“One last test,” he said. “You go to that corner of the courtyard and I will go to the opposite corner.”

Confused, she did as instructed. The two then stood at their opposite corners of the courtyard and looked at each other in silence. There was about one hundred feet of open space between them.

Hanna waited to be told what was going on but Uncle James wasn’t budging.

She could feel an impatience begin to bubble up in her. Impatience was an itch that she had been working on throughout her training — learning how to not be overwhelmed by it, to stay calm.

“Try to reach me with your fire,” said Uncle James finally.

Hanna took in the distance between them. There was no chance she could reach him.

“I can’t,” she said. “You’re too far away.”

“I know,” he said. “But just try.”

She started her breathing exercises just as Uncle James had taught her.

In… Two… Three… Four…

Hold… Two… Three… Four…

Out… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven… Eight…

In… Two… Three… Four…

Hold… Two… Three… Four…

Out… Two… Three… Four… Five… Six… Seven… Eight…

She breathed in one last time as deeply as she could, until her lungs were completely full.

Then… release.

She kept her stream of fire steady, knowing she would have to take time to build it up. The flame was like a hand reaching out. One yard at a time, she extended that hand further, now reaching halfway across the courtyard.

She felt her lungs emptying. Her whole body was tensed. The heat of the flame was becoming more painful every second.

She was getting closer and closer to reaching Uncle James but she could feel herself rapidly approaching her limit.

The fire was now just a few feet away from Uncle James. She gave every last bit of breath she had to try and make it to him. Almost…

But she had to stop. It was too much. She had hit her limit. The fire disappeared and she took a deep, desperate breath in.

Hanna had her hands on knees as she was recovering. Uncle James walked across the courtyard towards her.

“You’re ready for the Carnival,” he said definitively.

She was just barely getting her breath back.

“But I failed the test,” said Hanna.

“When the big moment comes,” he said, “you’ll make it work. I can tell.”

“So that’s the end of our training?” she asked.

“For now,” he said.

“Are you coming with us tomorrow to Scale City?” asked Hanna.

“Not tomorrow,” he said. “I’ll try to get there later on.”

“What do you mean ‘try’?” said Hanna, instantly outraged.

“I can’t get there straight away, that’s all,” he said. “But I will get there during the Carnival.”

“You better,” she said.

“Alright, boss,” he said, smiling.

He then took a step backwards, getting ready to fly away.

“I’ll stop by tomorrow morning,” he said, and then he took off.

The next morning arrived and it was time to go. Princess Hanna and the King packed all of their things into the carriage and then sat down for a final family breakfast.

Hanna and the King would be the only ones going to Scale City for the Fire Carnival. Hanna’s mum was staying behind to look after Hanna’s brothers and the King’s Courage Town duties.

As Hanna picked at her porridge, she looked at her dad. The King had a scroll of paper on the table beside his plate. He was reading it as he ate, intensely focused, despite Hanna’s loud-speaking and loud-chewing brothers.

The King was utterly fixated on the presentation he was going to make at an event during the Fire Carnival. He had been working on it for weeks. Hanna didn’t know what the presentation was about. He had never explained it to her properly.

Hanna’s mum, the Queen of Courage Town, meanwhile, was busy bringing out more and more food to the table — fruit, bread, and even more porridge.

“You need to eat up,” said the Queen. “Both of you. You need energy for your journey.”

Hanna’s brothers were loving the feast, stuffing themselves full.

Eventually, the Queen shooed them away like pigeons that had overstayed their welcome.

“The rest is for your father and your sister,” she said.

After a few more frenzied, crammed mouthfuls of food, the boys finally left.

Once they were gone, the place was silent. Hanna felt strange. Last night she had been so full of excitement she could barely sleep, but now she was oddly somber. There was just something about how distracted her dad was. It stopped her from getting excited. It made her want to just cross her arms and stare at her porridge.

The door opened then and Uncle James entered with a big smile.

“Good morning,” he said. “How are we all feeling? Nerves kicking in, Hanna?”

“Not yet,” she said, very unconvincingly.

“You’re going to be amazing,” he said.

Uncle James took a slice of rockmelon from the table and started chomping it down.

“I think you guys had better get going,” he said.

The King looked up from the scroll for the first time since he had sat down.

“You’re right,” he said.

They all went outside. Hanna’s mum gave her one last big goodbye hug.

“I love you, sweetheart,” she said.

“Love you too, mum,” said Hanna.

Hanna and the King climbed into the carriage. The Queen, Uncle James, and all of Hanna’s brothers stood by to wave them off.

The King eased the horses into action and the carriage got rolling. Hanna’s younger brothers breathed fire into the air as a farewell.

The Fire Carnival awaited.

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