After Spyro, Spike, and Ember met the other Artisans dragons, who were excited to meet them and started planning what they wanted to teach the trio when they were older, Nestor made sure that everyone went back to their duties and had both Thomas and Nevin helped him take the trio back to Stone Hill. He was also happy to see that Nevin was interested in the three hatchlings and that he might spend some time with them in the future, but since there were two purple dragons this time around, and it had been a long time since one had graced their lands, he had the feeling that Nevin might put his painting to the side for a time to learn more about the trio and help them grow. Whether or not the painter actually came was another matter that he would worry about in the future, as his immediate concern was teaching the trio the basics on how to be a dragon, as teaching them the specifics on how to be an Artisans dragon would come later, when they were a few years older and had gone through Titan's lessons. There were a number of things that he could teach the trio, things that related to their age and the fact that they would be walking on four legs for a number of years, and that was just the tip of the iceberg, since all of the other Leaders had things they were planning on teaching the trio when they were a little older, which was why it fell to him to provide them with the basics... even if he had to wait for a few months to go by before he could get started on his part of their training.
It didn't take him, Thomas, and Nevin long to return to Stone Hill, especially since leaving Town Square was easy due to the fact that the courtyard they had gathered in was close to the exit portal and they could simply fly over the hill that was between them and the portal to Stone Hill, but once they arrived he and his friends set the hatchlings down and backed away as the trio gathered near each other and fell asleep with their dragonflies near them.
"After meeting them I can definitely say one thing," Nevin said, though he waited until they were near the exit portal for Stone Hill before speaking, as that put a chamber between them and the courtyard the trio usually slept in, though his words caused Nestor and Thomas to glanced at him for a few moments, "when they're older I'm going to invite them to my castle and spend an afternoon making a painting of them. I'm not sure what else I'll add to the painting right now, but I do know that spending some time with them has given me new ideas for what I can paint in the future, and that I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do when they're older."
"Especially since there are two purple dragons, instead of one." Thomas added, because even he knew that a purple dragon meant good things for the Dragon Realms, though having two of them at the same time was unheard of, not to mention the fact that they had a sister, who he believed might be as grand as the others, "Nestor, when are you and the other Leaders going to start on their training?"
"Not for a year or two." Nestor replied, as he knew that Thomas was referring to all the combat related abilities that Titan would be able to teach the trio, but, due to their age and their bodies, it would be some time before they matured enough to handle the training that Titan and the other Peace Keepers would put them through, hence why his focus was on the basics and nothing else, "The three of them are barely a few days old, so they're way too young to start the sort of training that Titan would put them through, but I have some basic skills they can learn, while they're young, before we even consider letting them start training for real. Of course, even I have to wait for a month or two before they're old enough to start teaching them the basics on how to be a dragon, so for now we'll have to do our best and keep watch over them when they go exploring, since they're bound to try and explore all the other realms now that they know how the portals work and that the whirlwinds don't hurt them."
His main concern was the fact that there was a whirlwind in a tower not far from the courtyard that the trio currently slept in, one that he knew they had seen since they seemed to sort of understand what he was showing them earlier, but there wasn't much he could do to turn it off, so that was why he and anyone else that came to Stone Hill needed to pay close attention to what the trio were doing, to prevent them from hurting themselves. All three of them seemed smart, there was no denying that, so part of him was wondering if he was worrying over nothing, but even so he wanted to be on the safe side for now, to let them have fun, explore, and grow on their own for a while, before having them start learning what they needed to know to be dragons. He could see that Thomas and Nevin agreed with him, and he was sure that the other Artisans dragons would feel the same way when he told them what he intended on doing in the future, so all he had to do now was inform the others of his plans and start preparing for the day that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were old enough to handle the basic training that he was thinking of.
Once Thomas and Nevin knew what he was planning, or rather the fact that he intended on teaching the trio the basics when they were older, the pair left Stone Hill and returned to what they had been doing before Nestor had told them about the trio and invited them to the meeting. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew that they would return to watch over Spyro and his siblings at some point in the future, but for now he sat down near where the trio was sleeping and pulled out the sketchpad he was using earlier, so he could continue designing a place for them to live when they were older, though that was subject to change. The exterior of the building that he was in the middle of designing would fit in with the rest of the Artisans homeworld and the various intricate structures that rested around the land he watched over, but the interior would be up to the trio when they were older. He was sure that the other Artisans dragons would want to assist him in coming up with the final design for the building that he was currently working on, in fact he was expecting them to do so when he revealed his plans to them, but for now this was a good way to pass the time before he needed to return to what he had been doing before the meeting he and the other Leaders attended happened.
He was sure that Spyro, Spike, and Ember would overcome his basic training when it came time to do it, mostly due to the fact that they were already in the process of helping each other do whatever it was they were trying to do, like get food or maybe climb up some small pillars, and he was excited to see what they did when they were older.
Over the next couple of weeks Nestor found that, while he was busy doing his own profession and occasionally being the Leader of the Artisans dragons, Spyro, Spike, and Ember were quite excited by what they were seeing, and when they weren't being supervised they were usually running around the area that he was in. When he was busy lifting stone blocks from the pile they were in, so he could build whatever he was working on before moving onto the next project he had in mind, he found the trio assisting each other so they could climb up onto one of the stone blocks, only to stop when they reached the top of the large pile, which was roughly half as tall as the portal to Stone Hill. He had paused for a moment when he returned to the pile and stared at the block that the trio was now sitting on, as it was clear that they understood that it was next one he was going to pick up and apparently wanted to spend some time with him, so his response was to stop what he was doing and follow them as they headed to an open area and resumed running around the area that they were in, no doubt picking up what they were doing before trying to find him. Eventually they would tire themselves out and fall asleep for some time, a common thing for hatchlings to go through, which allowed Nestor to return to the stone pile and move some more stones into position, all while keeping an eye on the trio and their dragonflies.
He wasn't the only one that spent some time with the trio, as Argus, Alban, and Oswin were more than happy to invite the trio to Dark Hollow for some time, where they discovered that there were bookshelves that were out in the open, with a number of enchantments woven into the material to protect their knowledge from the elements, and that there were candles scattered around the area, which the trio used whenever they needed them. From what Nestor learned the trio had taken the information of the purple dragon and moved it before Spyro, Spike, and Ember arrived, so they could continue their research at a later date without the information being wrecked by a trio of hatchlings, and there was also the fact that when Spyro and his siblings were older they would be able to understand what was written on the scrolls and tomes, so they didn't want to worry the trio with their grand destiny. At their current age Nestor knew that teaching the trio how to read the letters on the scrolls was important, as it would allow them to start forming words and start to speak on their own, something that most dragons were able to do between six to nine months old, but with the purple dragons there was no telling when they would be able to start speaking, even if it would in one or two word statements. Still, that didn't stop Argus and the others from spending a good portion of their time attempting to teach the trio how to read the scrolls and tomes that they showed them, though it would be some time before any of them showed any progress in that regard, and their teachers were more than willing to be patient with them.
The inhabitants of Dark Hollow weren't the only ones that were interested in having the trio visit them, as the dragons of Town Square also had Spyro and his siblings come visit them about two weeks after the big meeting, where they cooked in front of the trio and displayed their skills, before everyone ate the meal they prepared, which had resulted in the three hatchlings spending the rest of that day in Stone Hill, as they were too full to do anything else. It was hard to tell whether or not Spyro and his siblings enjoyed their visit because of the sights they were seeing again, the skills that Devlin and Alvar showed them, or the food that they had torn apart, but Nestor decided that it didn't matter in the end, as they had enjoyed themselves and that was all that was important. Nestor also discovered that Lindar was busy in his workshop for the most part, which was fine since he was the best clockmaker they had and he was likely either fixing busted clocks or was trying to come up with something new, so that Spyro and his siblings in the hands on Astor and Gavin whenever they were left alone in Stone Hill. Gavin found that he really couldn't do much with the trio, in terms of showing them what his profession was, since he made specialty coffees and other drinks, but that didn't stop him from taking some time off to watch over them and made sure that nothing happened to them, while Astor, when he wasn't busy, attempted to tell the trio some stories... only for both himself and the trio to fall asleep after a couple of minutes went by.
Life in the Artisans homeworld followed a pattern after that point, where Spyro and his siblings would venture out and look for someone to spend time with, to understand what they were seeing, or just have fun with each other, and before Nestor knew it three months had gone by, as in three months since the hatchlings had hatched and not three months since they had met the rest of the Artisans dragons. Spyro, Spike, and Ember had grown a little over the course of the last three months, as they were slightly taller than they had been when they hatched and were now able to do things, be that running around and playing with each other or exploring part of the Artisans homeworld they hadn't explored yet, without having to take so many breaks. Nestor estimated that they were about half a foot tall, and would be until they turned a year old, though the tallest a dragon could grow, before stopping for a number of years, was four feet, and that was counting their horns, though when they reached a specific age they would grow again, where their bodies would change from the quadruped stance they were used to and take on the bipedal stance that all grown dragons had. All that really meant was that they were growing like any other dragon would, regardless of which land they called home, and that put a smile on Nestor's face, though at the same time he was sure the other Leaders would be happy to hear that the trio was doing fine and would soon be ready to visit the other lands that the other dragons called home.
Now that Spyro, Spike, and Ember were three months old, and had grown a little over those months, Nestor knew that it was time for them to try and learn the basics of how to be a dragon, hence the reason he was in Stone Hill, leading Spyro and his siblings to the tower he knew they had stared at during one of their adventures, and he could tell that all of them were interested in what he was going to show them.
"I'm sure that all three of you are excited and interested in what I have to show you," Nestor commented, though as he approached the stone tower, and the trio focused on him at the moment, he noticed that Gavin and Lindar were standing in the area between the tower and the area he would be sending the hatchlings to for the lesson that he had in mind, and the trio hadn't seen the pair at all, "come with me and I'll tell you what we'll be doing today."
What interested him was the fact that Spyro, Spike, and Ember actually rushed towards the tower the moment he stopped talking and used the whirlwind to get to the top level of the tower, causing Nestor to chuckle for a few seconds as Gavin and Lindar started setting everything up for what he had planned, where he stepped into the whirlwind as well and let it take him to where the trio was standing.
"As you know, you have been learning to read, and occasionally write, from Argus, Alban, and Oswin," Nestor said, where he came to a stop near the edge of the tower and turned to face the trio, since he knew that they wouldn't be able to settle down until he told them what they were doing, and he could see that mentioning the lessons they had gone through so far made them focus on what he might show them.
"Reading's okay." Ember said, as she wasn't terribly excited about the idea of sitting down and reading tomes or old scrolls, though at the same time the older dragons were fine with that, as every dragon was different and they each had their own likes and dislikes, and if she didn't like reading they knew she might take to something else.
"It's cool." Spike stated, because unlike Ember he liked listening the the stories that the older dragons told them, even though it was more accurate for Nestor to say that Spike liked the adventure type stories, like the battles that the Peace Keepers had been in and the adventures that had brought the dragons to the lands they called home.
Spyro, on the other hand, just shook his head and focused on the gap that was behind Nestor, showing that he wasn't excited about the topic they were talking about and that he wanted them to move onto what they were doing here, which Nestor had to agree with, since he didn't want Spike and Ember to start bickering over who was right about reading, since that would ruin the mood and they would have to reschedule this for another day, when they had calmed down.
"Well, reading is not the topic that we'll be discussing today," Nestor said, where he gestured to the gap that he was standing in front of, giving the trio a chance to move forward and look at the area in front of them, though as they did so they noticed that Gavin and Lindar had placed some large pillows on the ground between the tower they were on and the area that was across from them, "today we will go over one of the other major skills that all dragons, across the Dragon Realms, learn when they're young dragons, and that's gliding. This technique, when perfected, will allow all three of you to soar over gaps that you normally wouldn't be able to cross by simply jumping, much like the one in front of us, though it usually takes the most skilled gliders we have around a year to master the art of gliding. Here, allow me to give you a short demonstration on how you're supposed to glide, before seeing how well you do on your own."
While it was true that he could simply open his wings and fly into the air, like any other adult dragon could, that really wouldn't help them teach the trio how to glide, so what he did was assume a quadruped stance for a few seconds, used his feet to jump into the air, and then opened his wings so he could glide over the gap, though as soon as he landed he closed his wings and stood up as he faced the tower again.
"That is the basics of gliding," Nestor stated, raising his voice a little so the trio could hear him from where they were standing, before he took a few steps back and placed three red gemstones on a rock near where he had landed, because if the trio surprised him, and were able to complete this test when they were three months old, he intended on giving them another short lesson before they called it a day and let them go back to having fun, "you just have to jump and open your wings at the top of your jump, where they'll catch the air and allow you to soar for a few moments, before you touch the ground, touch the pillows, land where I'm standing, or hit an obstacle. You can start whenever you want to."
The trio glanced at each other for a moment, clearly trying to decide who was going to go first without actually saying anything, while their dragonflies sat on one of the nearby stones and watched them, as they knew no harm was going to come to their friends and were curious as to what was going to happen next. Spyro, as Nestor expected, was the first one to rise to the challenge and jumped forward immediately, but he immediately discovered a problem when he fell forward and safely landed on the pillows that were below him, and that problem was the fact that he forgot to open his wings at the top of his jump. Nestor wasn't surprised by what had happened, as all young dragons ended up failing a few times before they made the connection between their jumps and their wings, and it appeared that even the purple dragons of legend also fell victim to not making the connection, but despite that happening Spyro got back up, let Lindar remove him from the pillows, and he ran back into the tower so he could try again. The pillows were here to protect the trio when they failed to complete the lesson, so they didn't hurt themselves when they hit the ground, since an older dragon would be able to take hitting the ground like that without getting hurt in the process, and so far it seemed like he was right to ask Lindar and Gavin to bring the pillows to this area.
Spike decided to try his luck next, and after he jumped into the air he actually managed to open his wings for a few seconds, but then he moved his body too much and his wings ended up closing, causing him to fall out of the air and crash into the pillows as well. Nestor thought it was a great first attempt, as it appeared that Spike had been observing what Spyro had done and was trying to fix his brother's mistakes on his attempt, only to end up making his own mistakes at the same time, causing him to fail his first attempt at gliding, but, it was still a good try. Ember, however, simply opened her wings for a moment, like she was studying them or something, before closing them as she sat down, but as soon as Nestor started to wonder what she was up to Spyro appeared at the edge of the tower and made his second attempt, as he jumped into the air and opened his wings, only to crash into the pillows again. Nestor knew that, due to their small size, none of the trio would be able to make the jump, as they wouldn't be able to jump high enough to get to where he was standing, and that was acceptable, because each of the young dragons needed to learn this on their own and failing a few times would put them on the road to success. Of course if they didn't complete the challenge in a year, like all of the other dragons did, than he knew that he and some of the other Artisans dragons would have to take some time off to assist them in mastering this technique, which could happen, as he knew of an extremely low number of dragons that had needed help in perfecting this technique, but he had the feeling Spyro, Spike, and Ember would succeed in due time.
When he thought of Ember again Nestor noticed that she was still sitting on the tower, watching her brothers make several attempts to cross the gap, without doing it herself, making him wonder if she was studying them and was piecing together a plan, or if she just liked watching her brothers fall out of the air. After Spyro's fifth attempt failed, and Spike's sixth attempt ended the same way as all the others, the two stood near the edge of the tower, looking like they were confused as to what they were doing wrong, before Ember stood up and walked over to the edge, causing them to back away so they could see what she was going to do. It didn't take long for Ember to jump into the air and open her wings, much like Nestor had when he showed the trio what he wanted them to do, but while her start was good Nestor knew what the end would look like, given his own experience in learning how to glide and what Spyro and Spike had done, only for him to be surprised by what he saw. Instead of falling out of the air and hitting the pillows, like her brothers did, Ember actually stayed in the air for a few moments and turned around in a few circles, as if she was either showing off or was demonstrating how to maintain the glide for a few seconds to her brothers, who stared at her like she was a genius and proceeded to follow her lead.
Nestor, despite what he was seeing, chuckled as he watched Ember land and her brothers joined her, before they moved back up to the top of the tower and repeated the process, because this just showed him that the three of them were definitely different from normal hatchlings and that they would no doubt surprise the other Leaders in the future, and that he was looking forward to what they did in the future.