The Tea Dragon Festival

Rinn Aedhan

is an aspiring cook, and they know is a young dragon of the
the best places in the forest to get Shining Wing clan, and wants to

wild herbs and vegetables. prove himself worthy of it.

Hesekiel Erik

is a Sylke bounty hunter, is an experienced and hardy
who has a talent for magic adventurer, always excited to use his
and exceptional manners. sword, but guided by a good heart.

WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY

Katie O’Neill

LETTERED BY EDITED BY DESIGNED BY

Crank! Ari Yarwood Kate Z. Stone

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO

JENNA BEACOM AND ALEXANDREA GILL

FOR THEIR GUIDANCE

AN ONI PRESS PUBLICATION

A Note for Readers PUBLISHED BY ONI PRESS, INC.

In this book, characters use both American Joe Nozemack, founder & chief financial officer
Sign LanguagceouOarfsned! voice to communicate. James Lucas Jones, publisher
Sarah Gaydos, editor in chief
Sign language is shown like this:
Charlie Chu, v.p. of creative & business development
Are you going Yes! Want Brad Rooks, director of operations
out gathering? anything?
Melissa Meszaros, director of publicity
Margot Wood, director of sales

Sandy Tanaka, marketing design manager
Amber O’Neill, special projects manager
| knTowroity’sLaopoaikn,, dbuirteccotuoldryoofudesign & production
pleaseKbartinegZm. eStsoomnee ,osfetnheior graphic designer

goatshorn mushrooms?

Sonja Synak, graphic designer
AnYogui’ereKthneoownllyeosn, edigital prepress lead

whRogoocboadninofniHnedse.trhreera, senior editor
Ari Yarwood, senior editor

Desiree Wilson, associate editor
Kate Light, editorial assistant

Michelle Nguyen, executive assistant
Jung Lee, logistics coordinator
Rinn, if
you're going
out gathering....

onipress.com • facebook.com/onipress
twitter.com/onipress • onipress.tumblr.com

instagram.com/onipress

ktoneill.com • twitter.com/strangelykatie

Sign language and voice is shown like this: First Edition: September 2019

|’ll make ISBN: 978-1-62010-655-6
a list! eISBN: 978-1-62010-656-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018964397

THE TEA DRAGON FESTIVAL, September 2019. Published by Oni Press,
Inc. 1319 SE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Suite 240, Portland, OR 97214.
The Tea Dragon Festival is ™ & © 2019 Katie O’Neill. All rights reserved.
Oni Press logo and icon ™ & © 2019 Oni Press, Inc. Oni Press logo and icon
artwork created by Keith A. Wood. The events, institutions, and characters
presented in this book are fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons,

living or dead, is purely coincidental. No portion of this publication
may be reproduced, by any means, without the express
written permission of the copyright holders.

PRINTED IN CHINA.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Check out the back of the book for more
resources about sign language!

Chapter One



“At the nearest station,
trains come once a week.

“A trail leads into the
forest and goes up and

up, for over a day.

7

“We don’t get many visitors.”

Are we
going to be
all right…?

Yep! Been a
while since | took

this path, but |
remember.

Mountains
are difficult to

forget.

8

“Since we're so far away
from shops and markets, we've
learned to find all kinds of food

in the forest around us...

“...but learning to cook it
is another story...."

9

This one, Hmm,
Gramman? that one is not
bad, but perhaps

there is one
that is more

ready.

| thought Yes, but
you could tell by there is a feeling,
too. A soft dryness,
the gills being like old wrinkled
open!
skin.

Perhaps
it’s easier once

you have it
yourself.

10

| wanted
to be a cooking
apprentice by the
time Mama and Papa
get back from
their merchant

journey….

It Time,
takes time, and hands to
Rinn. That’s all guide you until
there is to you are ready
to let go of
it.
them.

11

| never have
trouble cooking
for you and the
Dragons at least,

Aya.

Waiting This
to get good at isn’t helping.
something is |’m going to

hard…. go and be
useful!

12

13

Are you going Yes! Want | know it’s a pain, but could you
out gathering? anything? please bring me some of the
goatshorn mushrooms?

You’re the only one
who can find the
good ones.

14

Of Rinn, if
course! you're going
out gathering....
|’ll make
a list!

15

It’ll be
a long day.
Let me know
if you want
me to carry

you.

16

Hmm….
17

Maybe
| need to
cut a new
path….

Whoa….
18

19

20

Hey!
Get back

here!

21

22

| fell asleep.
Did you come to
bring me to the

festival?

N-no! Good. | am The Festival of
It’s next looking forward Tea Dragons?
to the barley tea
week. | can’t
celebrations. possibly
have slept
through

it.

Barley…?
My Gramman
told me stories of
the barley festival
they had when she

was a kid.
We’re

preparing
for the festival

of ginseng
now.

23

Her
calendar must
be mistaken, |
can’t possibly have

been asleep
for….

How…?

Were
you living
here, all by
yourself?

24

| was It’s my
put here--placed duty to keep it
in charge of this presentable, to
shrine by my family, make offerings, to
to represent my oversee festivals
and protect the
ancestors.
village--
My
village?
Silverleaf
Village?

You
were not

told?

|’ve
never heard
about it from

Gramman.

But if
you really fell
asleep here just
before the Barley Tea
Festival, that’s…

it was…

…eighty
years ago.

25



Chapter Two



What would You’re easy,
cheer up a dragon, you just want

d’you think? biscuits.

No,
no more
treats!

| saw you
beg one off
the weavers

earlier.

29

We’re
almost
there!

Are you
sure this

time?

Look, You
| swear that trust me,
marker tree
don’t
moved! you?

Oh, with
my life, but not
with my feet--

they’re quite
sore.

30

Uncle There’s Can’t believe how How
Erik! my favourite big you’ve gotten with could |
nothing to eat out here forget?
nibling!
but mushrooms.

There’s
roots and

leaves
too!

31

Ah, yes! This is Hesekiel-- Hese, It’s
we’ve been running bounties this is lovely to
Rinn. meet you,
together for a good few
years now. Rinn.

Well, now you
know my secret.
|’m a mountain

bumpkin!

Oh, |
knew.

32

Is that
Tea Dragon

yours?

Sort of. They all have That’s
Nobody really thei r own favourite rather
owns them. spots, but they mostly rare!
wander about as they
please, begging for food Tea Dragons
usually have an
and attention. extremely strong

bond to one
person.

33

|’ve And
heard the pain of
that. looking after

It’s just them.
how we’ve always
done it--everyone
loves them, and
everyone shares

the tea.

What
a lovely
village.

34

Gramman,
do you remember

a dragon ever
coming here?

To the
village?

For a
short while,

long ago.

He was
eager to help,
but after a few
months he up
and disappeared.
| reckon he

got bored.

35

Can |’ll
you smell never get
smoke? the hang of

Ah!! this!

Just
wait until
you’ve done a
thousand of

them.

36

Try this. It’s what
It’s made with my son and
moss and lichen daughter are
from boulders on out selling.
the mountain of
the ancestor. Thank
you.

| should You’re
be thanking you only too old
when it suits
and Erik.
you.
The
merchant journey
is a long spell, and |
am getting too old to
look after the young
ones for so many

months.

|’ve been away
for so long, | didn’t

want to blink and
miss these two

growing up.
So |

thought it was
time to come

home….

37

It’s
ready!

Aya will
help!

This
is great,

Rinn!

You always
wanted to be
a cook, didn’t

you?

38

Well, | can | still | This one Look,
only do the old can’t follow appreciate would eat if it’s fresh,
complicated such fine roadkill if | it’s really just
favourites. recipes very vegetarian didn’t stop a waste not

well. food. him. to--

Who’s …
that other Rinn?
bowl for?
Just
keeping some

leftovers.

39

Did you These are all | thought
miss that | am vegetables. you’d want some
home cooking after
a dragon? being asleep for

so long.
| know
| would.

Oh! It’s
good.

40

| thank It’s
you for the Rinn.

food…?

| am Aedhan |’ve
of the Shining never met a
dragon before…
Wing Clan. not a real one

anyway.

We have
Tea Dragons
back at the

village.

Pretentious
rodents.
Haha!

41

They’re Dragons of
kind of endearing, the ancient clans do not
see them as relatives, but
though. | suppose they can be

entertaining.

Even a |’m sure
Tea Dragon isn’t everyone would
foolish enough to love to have you at
the festival next
fall asleep for
eighty years, week.

though. There’s no
reason you can’t
start being a guardian
now, even if it’s a little

later than you
intended.

| have So
missed so many festivals,
much…. not to mention
births and deaths--
42 a whole generation
| should have been

watching
over.

Didn’t Th-they
anyone from probably thought
your clan come | would be able to
to wake you, or
handle this on
check on my own!
you?

Or maybe…
watching over a tiny
mountain village full
of Tea Dragons and
vegetables was never
really that important

to them…

...but it is
to me.

43

Come
back with

me! |’ll
introduce you to
everyone.

They’ll all
be so excited--

you’re a real
dragon!

44

My name
is Aedhan, of the

Shining Wing
Clan.

|’m Erik,
of the mountain
vegetable picker

clan!

It’s a pleasure to
make the acquaintance
of a descendant of the

dragon Shining Wing
Ashyra.

You know of Legends say her
her? She is my hoard fills fifty
caverns, and she
great-great- once slew a pack
aunt! of vampire sloths
with two broken

arms--

Now
that sounds
like a woman |
would like to have
a cup of tea

with!

45

| thought
you’d packed up
and gone home--
| am glad | was

mistaken.

| always
thought having
a dragon around
would be excellent
protection from all
those dangerous

mountain
goats.

|
remember

you!

| didn’t You
leave, | fell were just
a little girl
asleep… when |--

|….

…eighty
years
ago.

46

Could you
please tell us
more about

that?

Does one
remember falling

asleep?
All | know

is that | had been
tending my duties
at the shrine just as
usual, and then woke
up again when Rinn

found me.

Actually…
| remember a tangle
of brightly coloured
flowers, all shapes

and sizes.

Well, to tell
you the truth, the

two of us had a
reason for coming
here, in addition to

checking on the
sprogs.

We’d
heard tell of an
ancient bounty
for a mysterious

forest spirit.
It’s said

that the spirit
can put people to
sleep for decades--
they don’t age, but
everyone around

them does.

47

| didn’t There are
believe it really all sorts of bounties

existed. for mythical creatures
that really are just mythical,

or exist in realms that Erik

and | do not wish to

intrude upon.

However,
Erik wanted to
check it out, and

it appears to
be real.

You
are bounty
hunters?

Then Not for
please, catch this me. | am not
angry. But before
creature. someone from
the village runs

across it.

48

Eighty years But for
lost to a dragon a human… it
is significant, but is heartbreaking
we live for many
to think
centuries. about.

We know Aedhan,
how to accept wasn’t it?
that lives come
Come inside
and go. for some tea,

Aedhan.

Would you
help me with
something?

49