Like last year, we are offering Mini-Month as an alternative to the traditional 31-prompt Rayllum Month in July. Mini-Month features just 4 prompts—1 per week, with a suggested posting date of Wednesday each week. We'll be checking the tag #rayllum mini month 2026 to reblog everyone's work and spread the love! Check out this blog, the Mini-Month tag, and the Rayllum tag to see everyone’s fantastic fanworks!
PROMPT LIST
JULY 5-11: early years
JULY 12-18: family tree
JULY 15th: Callum's Birthday
JULY 19-25: unrest
JULY 26-31: healing
JULY 31st: Rayla's Birthday
Fanworks of any and all kinds are encouraged as a part of this event, including mature and explicit works. We anticipate fanfic, fanart, meta, edits, playlists...or anything else you can come up with! Please be sure—as always!—to appropriately tag your works with warnings for potentially triggering content so that everyone can choose what fanworks they want to engage with.
Our aim is to provide another space to celebrate Rayllum Month, and we wholeheartedly encourage all fans to embrace any prompt that inspires them this July...the more Rayllum the better!
Not so sure about creating something yourself? Cheer on participants with comments, reblogs, and support!
Posting July 21st’s rayllum day with a kiki and rayla c/mm i did with @raysspellbook back in May in preparation for the then upcoming Season 4 of The Legend of Vox Machina (which, by the way was totally awesome 🙂↕️)
He always has, really. His feelings have always fluctuated between fondness and frustration for various reasons since fourteen, which—
Ha—is pretty moon-y itself, he thinks, watching his moon arrange herself just oh so alluringly across their bed, while he flips his sketchbook closed.
She beams, and the words are a knowing, gentle tease: “Wasting moonlight, Callum.”
Even connecting to the arcanum itself had been more than a little bittersweet: he and Rayla finally really, really talking about everything. He’d long since forgiven her, of course—or rather decided that there was nothing to forgive, but it’d still hurt his heart, anyway, learning the entirety of the dark parts that’d made his brave, beautiful Rayla go off on her own for all that time. She’d talked about it all for him, too, letting him in deeper than maybe ever before, struggling with words and the biggest big feelings he’d ever heard her admit to…all so he could have a hope of understanding her arcanum, at long last.
He can’t wish away the dark side, no matter how much her dark hurts her (or him). He loves her completely, because of the light and the dark. He wouldn’t wish hers away…and that’d been the breakthrough.
His is ever-present, too, always there, no matter the illusion he paints. A flip-side—not just something buried deep beneath the surface.
He’d come out the other end of their Silvergrove vacation feeling the moon phase in his bones and understanding—not just accepting—that desperation was just devotion’s flip-side.
A part of love’s ever-presence.
The first full moon since they’ve been back here at home at the Banther Lodge glows through the window, bathing her—Rayla, love itself—in a pale, bright beam…and as conflicted as he’s ever felt about the dark parts, he’s never doubted:
Rayla stalked angrily into the room. Callum froze, his breakfast doughie-o halfway to his mouth.
“…What?” he asked, utterly lost.
She held up her fist pointedly, something small and brown in her grip. He flinched as she threw it at him, but it stopped moving three inches away from her hand, floating gently to the ground.
“Okay…” Callum took a bite of his doughie-o. “Amd?”
“And, I’ve had enough!” She put her hands on her hips “You have to let me brush you.”
Callum coughed, choking on his breakfast. “I’m sorry, what?”
“You have to let me brush your wings out.”
Callum let out a half-hearted chuckle. “Okay first of all, you don’t brush a feathered creature, you preen them, and second of all I am not letting you preen my mage wings!”
Rayla leaned back, folding her arms across her chest and shooting him with a stubborn glare.
“You will if you want to keep sharing a bed with me.”
His mouth dropped open. “Rayla, you can’t be serious.”
She tapped her foot impatiently.
“What’ll it be feather-boy; me or the wings?”
Callum leaned his head back and groaned. “You, obviously. Always you.”
Rayla gave him a self-satisfied smile. He sighed, setting down his breakfast and lifting his arms to his side.
“Manis—”
“What, are you crazy?!” She smacked him quick and hard on the shoulder, “Not inside, bird brain!”
“Ow,” Callum said, rubbing his shoulder, “You can cool it with the bird themed insults, by the way, I get the memo.”
She smirked at him mischievously, one eyebrow raised.
“What, are my insults too fowl for you?”
Callum groaned again. Rayla laughed, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the door.
Rayla sighed contentedly, staring at her parents’ backs. From the sofa in the living area she had a clear view of her two fathers washing dishes together, like they used to when she was young. Every so often they’d bump hips with each other, or lean their shoulders into one another; just small affectionate gestures to remind them that they were together again.
Rayla smiled and looked over at her boyfriend. Callum was sitting on the other side of the sofa, leaving a generous space between them, with his sketchbook and charcoal out. She admired him while he drew. Sometimes he was so concentrated on what he was drawing that his face would scrunch up, while other times he barely looked like he was trying. Like this was just second nature to him.
She looked back up at her parents, who were passing plates wordlessly between them. They were so accustomed to each other that, even after two full years apart, they hardly needed to communicate. They just worked with the rhythm of two people so in love. Would her and Callum be like this, someday? Doing dishes and laundry quietly, their love filling in the silence? Would they have a child, sitting and watching them work, wondering these same thoughts? She hoped so. She watched Runaan gently grab Ethari’s elbow.
“I’m going to get some fresh air quick,” the former assassin said softly, “I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t worry, my heart, I’m not going anywhere,” Ethari replied.
The two shared a brief kiss, and Runaan slipped out the front door. Rayla frowned.
“Why don’t we do that?” she asked, turning to face Callum again.
“Hm?” Callum looked up from his work, then glanced at Ethari, confused. “You mean the dishes? I thought your dads requested it, so that they could spend some time together.”
“Not the dishes,” Rayla corrected, “The names.”
Callum frowned. “Names?”
“Yeah, y’know, like pet-names.”
“You…want to call me your pet?” Callum’s face turned amusingly pink.
Rayla shot him a sidelong glance, tucking that reaction into her brain for later.
“Nicknames, Callum. Why don’t we have nicknames for each other?”
He tapped his charcoal against his chin thoughtfully. Rayla smirked as she noticed that he was holding the wrong end of it, leaving a black mark behind on his skin. She didn’t say anything. It was cute.
“There was that one time you called me ‘Mr. Mage,’” he offered up unhelpfully.
“I don’t mean platonic nicknames, Callum, I mean like… cute, romantic ones.”
“Hm. You’re right, we don’t really have any of those.” He thought about it for a moment longer, then smiled at her. “Do you want to…try some?”
“Sure. Um, what are you drawing, babe?”
Callum winced.
“Yeah, that wasn’t it,” Rayla agreed. “How about… what are you drawing, love?”
Callum blushed a little bit, smiling.
“I like that one.”
“Me too.” Rayla raised her eyebrows at him. “Are you… going to tell me what you’re drawing?”
“Oh! Right,” Callum held up his sketchbook.
It was a beautiful sketch of his younger brother, standing proud and tall. Rayla frowned, concern knitting its way into her eyebrows.
“Are you alright, love?”
“Yeah,” he shrugged to brush her off, turning back to his work. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
She kept her eyes on him, but stayed quiet. She knew that sometimes talking about things took time. Callum smiled.
“I think you were right about nicknames,” he said, eyes still on his sketchbook, “That felt… nice.”
She smiled. “I’m glad. It’s your turn now, though.”
He looked up, surprised.
“What, I can’t just call you ‘love’ too?”
“Well you could, and I won’t stop you if you do, but this way you’ll have options.”
He nodded. He face scrunched up in concentrated thought. Rayla grinned. It was always adorable when he did that. A few seconds later his expression softened. He looked up at her; eyes bright, but melancholy.
“My stepdad used to call my mom his light,” he said softly.
Rayla stilled. Callum rarely talked about his parents. Whenever he did, his voice was filled with such reverence. It felt intimate to Rayla. The details he held were sacred to him; hearing them was like being invited to the most special place of worship.
“Would you like that, my light?”
Rayla blushed. She had thought it would feel cheesy or over the top, but it actually made her feel tingly inside. Like he was all hers. Callum grinned.
“You liked that one, didn’t you?”
“Maybe…” Rayla admitted.
Callum set his sketchbook and charcoal down on the table in front of the couch.
“My light,”
He slid across the sofa, closing the gap between them. Rayla felt her cheeks grow redder.
“My truth,”
He grabbed her hand, lifting it to his face and planting a kiss inside her palm.
“My world,”
He wrapped his other hand around her waist, pulling her closer. The tingly sensation grew, the way it always did when he was this close.
“My everything,” he whispered, inches away from her face now.
Rayla let her eyes flutter closed, anticipating the kiss and the rush of warmth that always accompanied it. She leaned forward slowly.
Someone cleared their throat.
Callum immediately jumped back, returning to his earlier position farther away from her. Rayla glared fiercely at her dad. Runaan turned slightly to address Callum.
“You have charcoal on your chin.”
Runaan walked away. Callum’s eyes went wide and his cheeks turned red. He quickly raised his hands to his chin, then groaned as his fingers pulled away with black smudged on them. He threw his head back against the couch in defeat and looked over at her across the distance between them.
“Your dads probably think I’m a loser, huh?”
“Maybe,” Rayla giggled, “but you’re my loser.”
Callum’s mouth opened, then shut wordlessly.
“I’m… not sure how I feel about that one,” he admitted after a moment.
“You’ll get used to it.” Rayla reached over and grabbed his hand, grazing his knuckles with her lips.
“Love,” she added, mumbling it against his fingers.
His cheeks went delightfully red again, and Rayla smiled.
in which Harrow's been found and the remaining quasar diamond has been stolen
rated T, cw for implied self harm
read on ao3
--
Rayla doesn’t think much of the lock of hair missing from Callum’s head.
In fact, she hadn’t even been sure that it was missing until she tunnels her fingers through to his scalp—not an uncommon touch between them—and sees the way he shifts away so immediately. His head lifts from her lap, his hand flies to the back of his neck, his eyes cut away from hers—
“You chicken out from a haircut or what?
“Oh, did I?” he answers—huh? “I mean—oh, right. I am. I mean, I did. I cut it. It was, uh…sticking up kind of funny this morning and well…you know me! I got a little frustrated, and then…before I could even stop myself, snip!
He freezes in a theatrical shrug and maybe the least believable grin—grimace?—on his face that she’s ever seen.
“Uh…right—” She squints doubtfully, but…probably it’s just something—somehow—more embarrassing than that little story he’d just made up. “Snip.”
Rayla tugs him back down into her lap, prepared to refuse resistance that doesn’t come…and blends the jagged edges of the clump he’d cut in with the other locks at the crown of his head.
She swipes the white streak out of his eyes.
It’s been a lot on him lately, she knows—everything with Ezran about their dad. The stolen quasar diamond…
He’d tell her if it mattered.
She definitely notices, though, the bandage that appears over his hand the next time he returns back to their suite at the Lodge less than whole.
This time, though, Callum has an answer she believes.
He’s steady when she takes his palm and unwraps the strip of linen over the heel of his hand—steady while they both look at the clean red slice.
“I was sharpening my charcoal—down in the study earlier.” he explains as she ghosts a finger over it. He breathes in a hiss when she then passes a blotted towel of alcohol across the wound…but only just under his breath. He’ll live, she decides, dabbing at the cut, assured, at least, that it doesn’t need anything more than a bandage and a kiss. “Slipped.”
She believes it, too, for a good long ten minutes. Really, why would she doubt it? Sure, her dorky mage is a little less clumsy these days…but it’s not like she hasn’t seen similar scars littered over his hands, all by that same cause.
She’d have kept believing it, too…if not for the gloves.
He’d gone for a bath, she’d been picking up his clothes, and—
Shouldn’t his glove have a gash—and blood—too? Since when did he just…randomly take them off? They’d started as an art thing, keeping charcoal off his hands, he’d said once when she’d teased him—
Rayla knows she shouldn’t coax him into another lie. She should just outright ask him, but—
“Guess you’ll have to dig out a backup pair—huh?” she wonders when he comes back from the washroom, making it seem as though she’d just then been stacking his clothes up for him, like she hadn’t looked at the gloves closely. “Shame.” she sighs, eyeing his reaction.
To his credit, he doesn’t flinch as she picks them up—doesn’t take them out of her hands or anything.
He just…waits to tell his lie, until she sets them down again.
“Yeah, I’ll, uh…get those fixed too, though.”
“I have other things to be mended, too—there’s a basket over there.”
He adds them on top of her long-tattered cloak and an old orange pajama shirt neither of them wants to part with.
They’re not there in the morning.
Smart.
He’s learning, she thinks, biting her tongue.
It’s not anger, even, that’s churning in her gut—just worry, mostly. Why lie? She already knows he and Ez have been arguing, she already knows it’s all circled back around to them saving Runaan, and she already knows that none of this would be happening if they’d just caught Claudia that night when she’d made off with the remaining diamond—why make things more complicated, now with her?
He’s not smart enough to lock a door, though, apparently.
She hadn’t even been suspicious. She’d just rapped her knuckles once against the door to his study, looking for him for bed, easing it open like she has a hundred times before—
“Hey, Callum—”
—to find Callum shirtless, a knife—her knife, swiped from the place where her armor hangs behind their door—turned on himself, pointed at his hips.
“Rayla!” he jumps, dropping the blade and showing his hands. “What, uh—”
Every single nerve freezes, locking her body tight, and she goes painfully, eerily still—like one wrong move will spell disaster. What was he—
“It’s not what it looks like!”
She doesn’t know what’s worse—the lies, the stealing, the…hurting himself—or what she fears it all means.
“And what does it look like, Callum?” She tries to keep her voice measured, calm—but it pitches toward disbelief, toward panic, toward disgust. “You, trying to gut yourself in the middle of—”
It’s then that she sees the open book on his desk, and she’s only just fast enough to bolt all the way across to the table and snatch it from in front of him.
ydobwena
For breath: scrap of a Sky creature (a lock, a feather)
For bone: nail of a nobleman (an ounce exactly)
For blood: essence of an Ocean creature (a vial full)
For body: skin of the spellcaster (an inch or so will do)
Rayla doesn’t think: she snaps the book shut. It goes with her.
I don't have a dedicated fic for his birthday this year...but I did spend most of today writing an upcoming scene in a fic where he's having a great time. It just so happens that it stands on its own pretty well. Plus, it's wip wednesday, so preview time!!
For context...only the second time they've done this so they're still figuring things out. <3 Very sweet and fluffy!
the ficlet below is rated e for sexual content, please proceed with caution!
--
“I…want you, Rayla. Touch me?”
“There we go,” she answers, letting her hand return back to the tented fabric over his hips. He shudders hard, like he’s been holding in the sound for ages. Like a reflex, his hand covers hers and—oh—presses her fingers more tightly there where she can feel him, hot and hard. “Eager?”
He sputters out a laugh: “Yes.”
“Here, get these down, then?” she asks, and he does work on that, but he also tilts her up to kiss him, while he starts fumbling with his pants. She gets the message—she holds his face securely to hers while he gets himself out. Callum’s a mess: his mouth just hanging open and letting her kiss him sloppily, needily, his hands taking a pause from undoing buttons and drawstrings to shuck off his gloves as if they’d suddenly caught fire, his throat making low, hungry sounds—
She makes a point not to touch him there until he’s settled back into just kissing her and nothing else, though. She wants to focus on this—on him. It’s new still, and she wants to see every second of what’s about to happen.
His hands make their way to her face—done with the fumbling—and they’re wrapped up together that way a while longer. Callum’s haste and rush slows but doesn’t quite settle; he just takes the reins. She hums appreciatively when he returns every ounce of her intensity, slipping his tongue alongside hers, teeth just barely finding her lip—
—and the only reason he stops is to kiss her neck instead.
He rocks her forward, fixing his mouth where her pulse beats, and pulls a new sound from her that she’s not sure she’s made before—
“Callum, I’m—” she gasps, and his mouth leaves her, reminding them both that—
Right—
He’s hard, and out on display, and—
—she passes a single fingertip over the length of him.
--
read the rest on ellipsus!
did you know you can leave "props" and comments on ellipsus? as always, love and appreciate any and all props/likes/comments/reblogs/etc.! <3
(for the purposes of this fic, they're getting married in a rebuilt katolis. do i actually think this would be the case? no. but go with me on it for a minute.)
Ezran could feel the air alight with energy as he walked through the halls of the castle, gift box in hand. It had been ages since his kingdom had had a reason to celebrate, and they needed this. The wedding would be good for them all.
The king walked alone. He had left Soren to guard Callum’s door. The superstitious crownguard was convinced that if Rayla managed to sneak into the groom’s room (she’d been caught trying multiple times), seeing the bride before the wedding would doom their marriage. Luckily, at 15, Ezran was old enough that Soren trusted him to get himself around the castle without an escort. Sometimes. In any case, he was glad for the solitude today, because it meant he got to enjoy the excitement of the people around him to the fullest extent. He grinned at the talkative guards, and raised his eyebrows at the carts of baked goods from Barius that were steered past him towards the throne room. He nodded his head at everyone he knew, which was most people, and complimented several on their fine attire. Today was a good day to be a king.
As he approached the preparation quarters of the bride, he took in a deep breath, steeling himself for the conversation he was about to have. He knocked.
“Come in!”
He opened the door and found Rayla standing in front of a full length mirror. It was long and white according to Katolis tradition, but still drew heavily on typical moonshadow styles; with tight sleeves and a small leaf shaped cutout at her neck. She was fiddling with it, her face scrunched up in concentration, and it took a second for Ezran to realize that she was trying to conceal her butterfly blades in the belt.
“Are you planning on stabbing him at the altar?”
She turned to face him quickly, hiding the blades behind her back. Her cheeks turned a deep pink. He chuckled.
“I doubt you’re going to need those at the wedding, Rayla.”
She sighed. “I know, I know. I just feel so… naked without them.”
“I get it, I feel the same way about my crown.”
She smiled at him, then set her blades down on the small dresser next to the mirror.
“So… to what do I owe the pleasure of a kingly visit?”
He felt the box in his hand get heavier. He cleared his throat quietly, then sat in one of the two cushioned chairs in the small room.
“I, um, I need to talk to you about a couple things before the wedding.”
Her smile fell, a concerned look taking its place. She dragged the second chair over and sat down across from him. He continued.
“So, we haven’t really talked about this very much—mostly because it makes Callum uncomfortable—but this is a royal wedding. Callum is a prince. So marrying him makes you a princess.”
The corners of her mouth twitched upwards slightly.
“Yeah… I know,” she said, amused.
“Being a princess means that you will officially be in the Katolin line of succession,” he elaborated. “After today, if anything were to happen to me, Callum would become king of Katolis and you would become Queen.”
Her face became a portrait of worry. “Ez, you’re not sick or anything, are you?”
He shook his head frantically, regretting the way he’d phrased that.
“No! No no no no, sorry, that was— I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I don’t expect to die anytime soon.”
She sighed in relief, reaching across the gap between him and grabbing one of his hands away from the box.
“Good. Then I don’t have anything to worry about, right?”
“You shouldn’t, but there is always the possibility. I could be killed, or assassinated. I could get sick. I need you to fully understand what you’re getting into here. Are you willing to go through with marrying my older brother, even knowing that you might one day face the pressure of a throne?”
Her expression turned somber, the most serious he had ever seen her. She squeezed his hand, looking deep into his eyes.
“I am.”
He nodded, squeezing her hand back with a smile. “I’m glad.”
He let go and lifted the box. “This is for you.”
He pressed it gently into her outstretched hands. She took it with a puzzled expression on her face. She slowly lifted the lid away. He held his breath.
——————————
Rayla stared at the gift, completely bewildered. It was Ezran’s crown. But no, he was wearing his crown. This one was different. The tops and bottoms of the signature uneven towers were cut at angles, and it was slightly more golden than his steel. She looked up at him in confusion.
He stared at the crown sorrowfully for a second, then smiled at her.
“It was our mom’s.”
Rayla’s eyebrows shot up, and she felt her breath catch in her throat.
“Oh.”
He must’ve sensed her hesitation, because he was quick to offer support.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to wear it all the time, just during the ceremony. And Callum will be wearing one too, so you won’t stand out.”
“Ezran…” she began, still overwhelmed by what she was holding, “I- I can’t wear this.”
“Why not?”
“This is your mother’s crown.”
“And as her son, and the King, I am authorizing you to wear it. For your wedding.”
She looked up at him, searching for excuses or words of dissuasion.
“Does Callum know?”
Ezran shook his head. “I thought it could be a surprise.”
“Won’t he… be upset, about me wearing it?”
“Are you kidding? Of course not. He loves you, Rayla. Besides, he’ll probably be happy to not be the only one wearing a crown.”
Rayla nodded, then smiled at the idea of Callum in royal attire. She needed to figure out a way to bypass Soren and get her husband-to-be alone before the ceremony. She swallowed hard, staring at the smooth metal of the late queen’s crown. She looked up at Ezran, and saw the nervous anticipation in his eyes. She threw her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.
“Of course,” he replied.
Ezran squeezed her tightly.
“I’ll let you get back to your preparations,” he said as he pulled away, “Just… maybe leave the swords in here?”
She laughed, wiping tears from her eyes.
“I will.”
She turned back to the crown as the door shut behind the king. She breathed in deeply, then closed her eyes tight.
“I don’t know much about you, but I hope… I hope that you would’ve liked me, if we had gotten the chance to meet.” She pressed the gold circlet to her chest. “I love your son so much. More than anything. I will not let you or your family down. I promise.”
Newly in love and only days out from having risked their lives, some lighthearted nerves about newfound intimacy is just what Callum and Rayla need to decompress after the Battle of the Storm Spire. Rumors about Rayla are already flying, though, when they stop at the Banther Lodge—with the rest of the dragang—on their way back to the castle.
Callum can't have that.
fic cw: teenage sexuality
chapter 2: they whisper in the hallway
rayllum month 2026: prince & princess
It’s not really any different than before.
That’s what Callum tells himself when she still curls up right beside him in the lodge’s cozy sitting room for games that night, anyway.
“Do you ever think about how impossible it was, that we found each other?” Callum had said to her one night.
Rayla had looked at him with a soft smile and a scoff, and not said anything more. He hadn’t needed her to - he often got like that, a dreamy, not-quite-there look on his face as he mused aloud, and she never had much more to add. He was the thinker of the pair, always with his head in the clouds and turning over some new concept, some wild invention or philosophy he’d read in a book.
She loved him for it, for the silly things he said with no need for a response, even though she often couldn’t quite follow the places his brain seemed to go in a fraction of a second.
They were simply different, and that was wonderful.
That particular question stayed with her, though.
“How impossible it was, that we found each other?”
Because it was, it truly was.
They shouldn’t have, was the truth. That night, his family should have died, and she should have melted away into the shadows like she’d never existed. All they would have known of each other was the mutual grief they had been caused, and hatred would have bloomed.
Instead…
Well.
Impossible was a good word for it.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 3/5
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Summary: Callum’s been thinking a lot about things unsaid and making up for lost time and, well, with full moon still a couple of weeks away, they’re not really in that much of a rush to get to the Moon Nexus, are they?
Finally posting after more than a year working on this fic, right on time for my favorite mage's birthday! 🥺🙌 I really wanted to give a shout-out & special thanks to DovahDoodles on ao3/Dova from TDP Discord for seriously helping me get unstuck with writing this and credit her for paragraph 42 and 43. Also a huge shout-out and thanks to @pavatopia for beta reading this whole fic and helping out a great deal to perfect it. And one last shout-out to @tategaminu for my commission of a very special scene in this fic!
Anywho, this fic is pretty heavy on both broyals bonding, especially in the first half, then fully Rayllum in the latter half. I really hope you enjoy reading two of Callum's most important bonds as much as I enjoyed writing them! 😁
Link for Archive of Our Own here!
@rayllum-mini-month @rayllum-weekly
Callum and Ezran peacefully laid on towels near the Banther Lodge, soaking in the setting sun to dry up after they went for a swim in the river.
“You know, Dad was right,” Ezran started, smiling brightly. “Maybe we can do things here when it’s not winter.” he paused, then furrowed his brow and let out a deep sigh. “I really hope they can find him.”
Callum sat up and looked at his brother with sharp eyes.
“They will. Corvus is a great tracker and even notices all the tiniest details.”
Ezran let out another sigh, casting his eyes down.
“I know. It’s just… he’s been gone for more than three years. I really miss him.”
“Me too, Ez. Me too,” Callum finally took his brother in his arms and wrapped him in a tight hug.
As the sky darkened, Callum and Ezran returned to the Banther Lodge which was surprisingly dimmer than usual this time around. Callum stepped ahead of Ezran and raised his arm, stopping his brother from stepping forward.
“Something’s not right,” Callum said. “Where is everyone?”
Ezran chuckled lightly and stepped forward, grabbing his brother’s arm.
“Just trust me, ok?” he assured Callum as he stepped ahead towards the doors.
“Wait a minute, Ezran, this isn’t another -"
Before Callum could say anything else, the doors were immediately pushed open.
“SURPRISE!! “Happy 18th, birthday mage!”
The room lit up brightly with exploding confetti and swelled with a cheering crowd. Then Rayla came running to him and engulfed herself in his arms, and along with everyone, she and Ezran began to sing:
“Have a mystical magical birthday,
Have a wonderful whimsical birthday,
Have a fun and fantastical birthday!
With wishes and kisses and laughing, and love!”
After finishing the song, the crowd cheered and Rayla pulled Callum's head close to plant a kiss on his cheek.
“Happy birthday, my mage,” she told him softly. Callum turned Rayla towards him and held her tightly. Because she was here with him now, what was a sour anniversary for the past three years became a joyous, celebratory day once again.
Ezran came forward and joined in on the hug.
“Happy birthday, big brother! I know these past few months have been rough and we may not be home anymore, but I still wanted to make sure you got to celebrate your own special day. And Rayla and I wanted to plan something fun for you.”
“This is perfect!” Callum responded. “I’m so happy to have you all here with me,” he said warmly as he stroked Rayla’s arm. Afterwards, his aunt Amaya came and signed him "Happy Birthday" followed by her special bear hug, with Queen Janai giving her birthday wishes the Sunfire way. Runaan and Ethari also came from the Silvergrove to spend the day, along with Aanya, who aided Ezran, Rayla, and the council in putting the party together.
"Ooh ooh ooh! Happy birthday Callum!" chanted Zym, who was approaching jumpily while carrying Bait, Stella, and the baitlings, who were all wearing different trinkets.
"Uhhh…thank you…Zym…" Callum responded, still not quite used to the young dragon speaking.
Barius wheeled the cart with his special pineapple right-side-up cake. Callum felt his mouth watering when he saw the cream sliding beneath the chopped fruit.
"I hope this time around, you'd be willing to try the cake, I made some changes and I promise you'll love it!" Barius thrummed once he reached them and lit up all eighteen candles across the cake.
"Close your eyes and make a wish!" Ezran exclaimed. Callum took a light breath smiling, doing as his brother told him. Then without hesitation, he blew all the tiny flames out.
A few moments later, Callum sat together with Ezran, enjoying Barius’s cake. “You know,” Ezran started after swallowing a bite. “I’m really happy that you and Rayla are back together again. Even with everything that happened between us recently, I still prefer you two together than fighting and arguing a lot,” he finished with an awkward smile.
Callum let out a small chuckle and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah, me too. I’m really glad to have Rayla back in my life more than anything, we’re definitely in a much better place than we ever were,” he responded. Callum smiled then noticed Ezran’s look in Aanya’s direction. “So, what’s been going on between you and Aanya? You guys seem to be getting closer to each other lately.” Ezran’s cheeks began to blush. “We’re uh… really close friends, that’s all.”
Callum smirked then leaned in closer to Ezran. “Close friends, huh? You sure we don’t need to have that talk about the sandwiches soon?”
Ezran now felt his whole face flush with heat. “Callum! Stop it!” he cried out as he nudged his laughing brother in the arm. “I told you, we’re just friends!” He hid his face in his hands while Callum cooled down and let out a sigh.
“Alright, alright,” he said to wind Ezran down. “I’m just letting you know that if you wanna talk about anything, including relationships or even just friendships, I’m here for you, buddy,”
“Thank you,” Ezran finally said coolly as the two boys went in for a hug. “And oh, one last thing,” Ezran said as he pulled away from his brother. “Rayla has one more birthday surprise for you, she’s waiting for you on the bridge.”
~~~
Callum walked towards the bridge and he saw Rayla standing at the edge looking towards the river.
“You know,” Rayla started as he finally met up with her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I originally wanted to show you the Moonshadow birthday dance for your fifteenth birthday but -” She paused to catch her breath before she could continue. “I know I messed up and ruined your birthday,”
“Rayla,” Callum told her softly, stroking her shoulder.
“It’s why this time I decided to help put this party together, I wanted to make things right, to make your memory of your birthday —”
Callum quickly turned her towards him and pulled her in for a kiss. When he finally pulled back, he looked earnestly into her eyes as he held her.
"Rayla, you don't need to keep explaining yourself. All of that is behind us and now we're here together. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. And you can show me the Moonshadow birthday dance this time,"
Rayla smiled and nodded. She then circled around Callum with each careful step of her toes, her arms gesturing with each graceful movement. Her performance was elegant, yet struggled to conceal her rising fear of embarrassment. Doubt — she wouldn't let herself mess this up for him. Not again.
With a final, finishing curtsey on her boot, she held her hand out with a playful smile. Callum stared at her blankly and blinked erratically.
"Huh, what? Me?" he stuttered. "Rayla, uh… I don't know if I can do this." He let out a forced chuckle.
"You'll be fine, I trust you," Rayla told him as she grabbed his hand. "Besides, I'll take it easy on you."
She winked at him as she abruptly pulled him closer and placed his hand on her waist. Callum went from exclaiming to smiling determinedly at Rayla right away as he interlaced his fingers with hers. With Rayla guiding him, they slowly swayed across the bridge, with their arms ebbing and flowing like waves. Rayla raised both their arms and Callum, understanding the signal, gently spun her around. He then sent her gliding away from him yet still gripped her hand tightly. With a twinkle in his eyes, he pulled her back into his arms.
"See? I knew you got this!" Rayla playfully cheered, leaning into him. "It's not that hard,"
Callum then turned Rayla towards him and smirked. Both on their toes, they harmonized elegantly like two doves circling each other in the sky. After a few more twirls, Callum finally dipped her. He supported her with one hand at the small of her back while Rayla caressed his hair. They completely lost themselves in each other's eyes — until Rayla quickly leaned forward to kiss a wide-eyed Callum. Pulling back a little, she slid her hand down to his heart.
"I love you, dummy." She softly chuckled. Smiling, they leaned in for another kiss until they could no longer contain their snorts and giggles.
When they finally finished dancing, they both snuggled against a tree with Rayla leaning her head on Callum's shoulder. Their eyes were locked up on the brightest star in the sky — a star they now fully understood the true full story of.
"Who would've thought?" Callum started as he continued staring. "That this one star that had a bunch of different names, ended up being the biggest reason we have to defeat an angry vengeful titan?"
Rayla stirred on his shoulder slightly and sighed. "Even in Xadia, I haven't heard of Leola's connection to Aaravos. Or about some all powerful cosmic force that would kill an innocent child."
Both their hearts grew heavy as they remembered what Ezran and Terry told them.
"This was the very beginning of the cycle." Callum sighed.
"And now it's up to us to end it here once and for all." Rayla finished determinedly.
