Note:- Wings of fire belongs to Tui T Sutherland. Please do not use the StoneWing tribe or my OCs without my permission
Prologue (Two years before) Third person perspective
A StoneWing dragonet ran through the winding pathways, alleys between houses, through the market ways. She was a bit taller than the dragonets her age, she had her gray wings unfurled a bit to help her run a bit faster. Occasionally, she cast a glance backwards to look at a group of dragonets and ran faster, but she met a dead end that was taller than her flying height.
She skidded to a stop to prevent from crashing and gave in to her unavoidable fate, her ruffs were now turning to lime green, but she only managed to make it a bit grey like her tribemates original colour.
She was a hybrid, and she didn’t know where her father was, she lived with her mother and step father with three siblings who have met the same fate as her. All her siblings were a quarter RainWings
“Finally, Granite the Hybrid” The leader of the group sneered “Oh my, are those RainWing ruffs you’re hiding dear? or are you more RainWing and undeserving than the rest of us?” The rest of the group howled with laughter
“Is it a crime to be a hybrid?” Granite shot back “I can still be like you, look, my tail is the same as yours” Granite showed the group her tail, which had the same huge leaf-shaped scales as a normal StoneWing
“You are unworthy of living with one of the greatest tribes in the world” The leader snarled again “The new queen has grown more sympathetic than others” He said ‘sympathetic’ like ‘pathetic’
“I only change colours, my regular colour is grey, like yours, I can only change my ruff colours, and I am a normal StoneWing citizen Foidolite”
“Look, the RainWing is talking back” The dragon next to Foidolite said in a baby-ish voice and the entire group laughed
Foidolite moved closer and got ready to scratch Granite “You will never be accepted as one of us, and the lazy RainWings won’t even bother with you because you can’t camouflage properly”
Foidolite scratched Granite’s left arm so it made a bloody three thin scars, but deep. It bled fast, creating a small scarlet puddle on the ground.
“This is what happens to hybrids and traitors” Foidolite snarled
Foidolite readied to slash at Granite’s face, but Granite’s reflexes were quicker, she extended her jaws so her RainWing fangs shimmered in the distant sunlight and spat and Foidolite without aiming properly, it landed right on Foidolite’s left shoulder
“AHHHHH!” He screamed “IT’S BURNING, IT’S AGONIZING! AHHHH!” Foidolite screamed loud enough to shake the whole ground.
Granite, not realizing what she had done, spread her wings and took off, and flew far away from there, to home maybe
She landed in front of her dimmed and dark home, and knocked the door which looked like it couldn’t take another knock and a dragon who looked exactly like her opened the door. He looked much like her, except that he was a male dragonet and he was shorted than her
“Where were you? Mom left” He said
“Chased, Aplite” Granite replied, her ruff turned to her original colour (which were flashing red, green and white), careful not to show anything. Aplite’s ruff turned green
“Your arm…” Aplite said “The best we can do is wash it, we don’t have enough for bandages and stiches are too expensive”
“It’s ok, wash a cloth and put whatever stuff you need on the scratch, I’ll wrap it with the washed cloth” She replied
Granite let herself in. The house wasn’t wonderful, but enough for four dragonets and two adults. It wasn’t unusual for her parents to leave the house, they went for searching for a better place to live or buying groceries.
Granite didn’t worry, she took a left and entered a room, where six stone slabs were there, two big and four small. Granite hated them, they were just too small, but she sat on her stone slab and let her thoughts wonder to the dragonets and destiny and how they weren’t unfairly treated, they might live next to royalty.
Granite’s stomach growled just as Aplite entered the room with his first-aid kit she bought him by working two part time jobs for a month.
“You need food” He said “I know you want to conserve, but your body needs energy to cope up with the injury” he held a piece of bread in his talons
“What about Diorite? Or Dunite?” I asked “Hornfels never gives anything for us” Hornfels was her stepfather, more or less. He never even looked at the four dragonets, as if his eyes might go blind. He never gave even a small piece of bread to the dragonets.
“Yours is a emergency, you’ve starved for a week, and your three” Aplite stood tiptoe and looked into Granite’s eyes
“So are you, and Dio is two and Duni is one” She replied, flinching to the sudden contact of water on her cut and the cloth wrapping around it. The dragonets were barely managing with one parent, little did the dragonets know that their only caring parent was dying and their step-dad was the one burning her, along with the entire village. Little did the dragonets know that they were going to become orphans in a few hours, and had to move far from home, if they ever had a home…
Part One: The next roll of the scroll :Chapter One (Granite’s perspective)
I looked at the towering jade mountain, it was so tall, and how was I going to survive in there? Well, I knew for a fact that it was run by the dragonets of destiny, and I wasn’t going to be afraid, I wasn’t going to show that I was afraid.
“Sis, how are you going to be there?” a small and cute voice asked
“Just like how I got bread for you Duni” I said “You also live nearby, I can come visit you whenever I want”
After the war, Queen Glory has said that we could move in to the RainWing village, since we’re part RainWings, and it’s not like the StoneWings have supported us. They are the reason me and my siblings are orphans. Well, sorta. We found our real father, who was a RainWing
“Sis, it’s going to be difficult now, you’ve always taken care of us” Aplite said
“Well, if anyone tries to mock you because of your RainWing ruff, call me and I’ll put my magical death spit of their eyeballs” Diorite said, trying, (and failing) to look like a dangerous dragon
“I have told you, never do that on purpose, our venom is extra fatal because we’re StoneWings,” I said
“But how did you magical death spit that Foidolite dragon” Diorite asked
“That was an accident, I didn’t mean to do that, It’s just my reflexes” I explained “And that is bad, not good, I did not know that it was bad until I did that, but if someone is attacking you, you can use it”
“I’ll take care sis” Aplite said
“You can ask help, if you can’t find anything, you can ask dragons in this village, they are nicer, but never go to the past village” I said “And if you find if difficult, or can’t do it, I’ll come back, I’ll come and help-“
“Sis, stop it, you deserve a break, We both are five, I can do it, and I’ll take help if I need it, I won’t steal of use my venom of anyone unless they try to kill me, and we’ll stick together and not talk to strangers” Aplite said “I know, now it’s time for you to live to life you never got, dad will take care of us”
“Can’t argue with that” I said. After moving into the RainWing village, I tried the venom test with any RainWing that seemed like my father, and I found my father. Blackcurrant was a delightful dragon who lived a little far away from the RainWing village and had not known about the kidnapped RainWings until the NightWings bowed to Queen Glory and moved into the village. Blackcurrant, like Queen Glory, was a rare RainWing who used his venom and was not lazy like the other RainWings, although he takes naps during suntime. I don’t take naps during suntime because I’m mostly a StoneWing.
“I will follow that” Aplite said “I promise”
“Well then, I’ll go now” I said, “Be good, listen to your brother and dad” then took off till the entrance gates
I landed silently and stepped into the cave, my home, from now on. I didn’t want to think about the parents who were saying their goodbyes, that I didn’t have any parents, that my only parent couldn’t come today, and that I was afraid about what might happen. Could the same thing happen? Could history repeat itself again? My ruff was turning green again, I had to camouflage it.
“Let me guess – It’s Granite, right?” came a cheerful voice “I’m tremendously good at guessing, in fact one might even say I’m mysteriously good at it, almost though I’m reading your mind”
“Seriously, even a year-old dragonet won’t be impressed Fatespeaker” I said, glad to change my thoughts. Fatespeaker was a goofy NightWing who lived in the RainWing village. She usually was guiding Starflight around, but he wasn’t there
“Aw, you got me” Fatespeaker said “Well, here are your welcome scrolls and your maps” she thrust two scrolls into my talons
“There you are Granite, Second tunnel to the left, fifth cave to the right”
“Cool,” I said. I took the second tunnel and gasped in awe; the tunnel was beautiful and homey. There were dragonets getting ready and settling in their caves
Finally, a cave, somewhere I can call home
On the way, there were two SandWings talking, and the older dragonet stared at me with his obsidian eyes. It seemed like he was studying me. Well, I am an outcast from my tribe. I made my ruffs more smaller and more camouflaged though, just in case.
I entered the fifth cave and took in the scene. It was peaceful and tranquil. There were scroll stands which were polished so many times it felt like velvet, two more were there at the cave entrance, which were already filled. A sign above them said ‘Free reading- hope you like them!’ .
There were two beds, one was a stone slab which had sheep wool on the place where a dragon would keep her head. Next to the bed was a shelf which was already filled with stuff. I moved closer to take another look.
On the top shelf, there was a basket in which you would keep food, which was empty, of course, and there were two satchels which looked like the ones I used to carry in the RainWing village, mine was almost broken and these were shiny and black and was already filled. I opened one and it had two scrolls, ‘A guide to the dragon tribes’ and ‘Nature: What is it and how to understand it’.
I smiled, whoever got these scrolls did know me. In there was three quills and a closed ink bottle There were also some empty rolls of parchment and a map of Pyrrhia. I scanned the map, it was pretty detailed. I dug in the bag. There were some DIY guides, like ‘how to make a water-proof tent’ and ‘How to differentiate poison fruits vs. normal fruits’, that kind of stuff
Then there was a small envelop that was addressed to me. I picked it up and tore it to find a note from my father-Blackcurrant
“Dear Granite,
I know that you don’t have much items to take, and you remember I insisted on getting nothing to school. Well, it was because all these items are yours. I got them from the village shops and customized the satchels for you.
I would have come to drop you off to school, but you know as I’m on the council, there was an urgent meeting. I’ll write to you. So think of all these stuff as a replacement for me not able to come to drop you off
I wanted this to be a surprise for you, so I told Sunny to keep these items in your cave. I want to make up for not being there for you when you needed it. I hope you write to me every week and make new friends.
With love,
Blackcurrant
P.S: Don’t worry about Aplite and your siblings, I’ll take care of them, and I’ll write to you too pretty soon!”
I dug through the second satchel. There were all kinds of rock collections and my small foldable looming kit was packed, along with a lot of yarn and a lot of those rubber loops, along with my music sheet which I had been practicing in the rainforest.
There was another note that read “I got everything you need,”
I looked at the bottom shelf, and there were different types of flowering plants with a guide on how to take care of them. Next to the plants was a first aid kid with a note “Don’t get into trouble”. I smiled, I knew who this came from.
A small NightWing dragonet entered the cave, looking like she was dealing with a huge headache. She had tiny silver scales that looked like diamonds. From the way she held her wings, she looked a bit shy, maybe afraid.
(Moonwatcher’s Perspective)
I Walked into the cave, there was already a StoneWing inside, exploring her side of the cave. She looked up at her and her eyes, they were brown, not black and grey like her tribemates.
“Oh wow, she’s afraid, or maybe shy?” The dragon thought and then referred to something involving many other young dragonets cornering her and her shooting venom from her fangs. oh wait, was this dragon a RainWing hybrid?
“Hi” The dragon said “I’m Granite”
“Hi, I’m Moonwatcher, but you can call me Moon” I replied
“She’s different, doesn’t have that defeated and smug aura around her, seems really confused and lonely. Poor Moon, her scales look shinier than most NightWings who lived in the volcano, I wonder if she wasn’t that affected by it” Granite thought, in a corner of her mind, she was going through her guide to other tribes and what she knew about other tribes, in another corner of her mind, she was planning what she could do today with her friend-me-and was already going through what this dragon would do, and had already jumped on to planning the evenings and free time and was going through the map of the school which she had memorized “Maybe she likes scrolls, she looks like she would melt away in a scroll if she had the chance, the library isn’t far away, and we can check the notice board” Granite concluded
“What do you want to do now?” Granite asked “Better give her the chance to decide”
“Umm… The library would be nice…” I said,
“Ok” Granite replied, she put on her satchel so it landed diagonally “Quills-Map-Guides-Scrolls-Parchment-Space” she mentally listed all the stuff in her satchel.
I exited the cave “Aha, there you are Moonwatcher,” a voice said, I looked around, no one was calling her and Granite was worrying about a group of younger dragonets.
“Who are you” I thought fiercely
“You really don’t know… Interesting” The same voice said “I could be a better friend than this… hmmm… Interesting… This dragonet is all weird, wants to make friends, even though she’s…”
“There’s going to be small group discussions tomorrow” Granite said out of nowhere. I realized that there was a small board with announcements”
“Oh, what are those?” Moon asked
“Well, we get to interact with our winglet” Granite said “I only know the NightWing member, Moon, what about the rest?”
“Well, I hope they all are kinder and don’t hate me just because I’m a NightWing” that came out of nowhere, why did I even say that? But as I did, she felt her wings relax and weight lifted from her shoulders”
“I don’t hate you” Granite said
“Yea, I know” I said. Maybe the sisterly feeling was what made me blurt out her feelings. Now I noticed, her thoughts were kinder than most dragons, she was also very observant. Now I noticed the gentle smile, the way she held her wings, the way she looked gentle yet fierce. She was radiating trust and loyalty all over.
“Here we are” Granite said taking a turn and entered the library
Starflight was arranging the librarian’s desk, re-organizing scrolls and getting ready for the first day of school
“Hello Granite, nice to see you, or hear you, in this case” Starflight chuckled at his joke and turned his head towards me “Is it Moonwatcher with you?”
“Good to see you too Starflight” Granite said cheerfully “Does he think I’m mad, I can’t say well with his eyes covered, but I feel like he hesitates to talk with me, does he hate me?” were her main thoughts, but unconsciously she was noting down the dragons in this room and analyzing them to see weather they are dangerous or not, and she was checking the scrolls in the shelves and was inspecting the leaves that were covering the windows from afar
“Yes, Moon is with me” Granite replied “Those leaves look strikingly familiar, like the ones Blackcurrant-dad- showed me” In her mind, a RainWing who looked almost like her but older and more happier, she then remembered her mother and mentally winced.
“Hi Starflight” I said. I liked Starflight, there weren’t any disturbing thought in his mind. He was also an outsider in his tribe.
“Hello Moon, I was expecting you to come by today” Starflight said “I wanted to show you something” Starflight said “Here is your library stamps” Starflight handed one to Moon and Granite. It was wooden, and Moon, was spelled in reverse, like a stamp. It was the length of two of her claws,
“We’re testing out a system” Starflight said. He brushed his talons over a row of scrolls which were lined up under his desk. I spotted a name carved at the end of each scroll, lined alphabetically
When you want to borrow a scroll, you bring it up to me here.” Starflight started, “Each one has a unique carved stamp on the on the end, like these do. I’ll stamp your name scroll with that end to show that you checked it out, and then when you bring it back, we stamp your card over the first image to show that it’s been returned. Does that make sense?”
“I guess…” I replied. I turned the stamp in her claws, it felt like treasure, she never had anything my own
“Starflight, do you have a pouch for Moon to keep the stamp?” Granite asked
“I think so” Starflight said, he rummaged in the drawers and handed a black purse with a silver chain. I put the chain over her neck like Granite. It felt like treasure
Chapter 3 (Granite’s perspective)
“Let me know if you need anything” Starflight smiled. His brow furrowed for a moment “I’ve been practicing to get the whole space memorized”
The library was huge, and big, no wonder Starflight has difficulty moving around
“Sora” Starflight called loudly “Are you still here?”
Sora nodded
“She’s here Starflight” Granite said
“Sorry” Sora said softly
“It’s all right” Starflight said “Sora, this is Granite and Moon, Sora is one of clay’s sisters”
“Oh wow, Cool” Granite said
“I guess it’s cool” Sora mumbled softly
“Nice to meet you” Moon said
“You too” Sora said shyly
“Well, did you know that a dragon lives here?” Granite asked “He’s almost stone,”
“Yes, indeed” Starflight said “A dragon named Stonemover lives here”
“Cool” Granite said “Where should we go next? How about the prey center?”
“Sora? Do you want to come?” Moon asked. Moon seemed much more relaxed after coming to the library, her guess was right
The MudWing shook her head and buried her nose in the scroll again
“Ok then, see you soon” Granite said cheerfully.
The prey center was chaos, wait, no, there was no word for it. Moon seemed to have a headache. It was quite reasonable, even Granite was startled at first, being in the Rainforest has made her more calmer, or maybe the prey center was utterly chaos. Granite spotted a pink and yellow RainWing near the fruit pile. Granite recognized her
“Kinkajou!” She called “Come one Moon, I want to introduce you to a friend of mine”
Kinkajou bounded towards them “Hiya Granite! I’m so happy to finally talk to someone! It’s so boring without you! My clawmate is a total burned out SkyWing who keeps yelling that she was a worrier of something”
“Oh wow” Granite replied “Meet my clawmate, Moon”
“Wait what! You made friends with a NightWing! She must have been there when the NightWings kidnapped us!”
“I grew up in the rainforest” Moon said shyly
“Oh, so you’re not a real NightWing! I thought you were a RainWing in disguise, given that your scales are so shiny” Kinkajou said. Moon flinched.
“That’s not a nice thing to tell someone” Granite said to Kinkajou “Imagine if someone said you weren’t a real RainWing because you don’t be lethargic, I mean, no offence but some dragons take way too much time for sun time”
“Fine” Kinkajou said “Well then, after that SkyWing yelled at me for like the 15th time, I searched the whole school for the ghost, but I couldn’t find it, so I came here”
“You mean Stonemover?” Granite asked “A dragon who’s turned into stone”
“His name sounds so much like a StoneWing, ya sure it isn’t a hybrid?” Kinkajou asked
“Well, I know for a fact that we don’t name the dragonets of our tribe with those kind of obvious names, or dope names. Mostly the names are types of rocks, like Aplite, Foidolite, and Granite. Some are named after features like caves and stuff, like Stalactite and Stalagmite”
“Well, sounds more practical I guess” Kinkajou said “Anyways, come to the fruit pile now” She bounded back to the pile, where only one dragon was sitting, Coconut
“Well Moon, what are you waiting for?” Granite beckoned Moon to join her
“Ok I guess” Moon said nervously
The duo went to the fruit pile. Granite had to dodge at least 10 chickens and a few more birds on the way, and almost colliding with dragons
Kinkajou raced up to Moon “Hi then! Wow! How are your scales so shiny? Especially those next to your eyes, they look beautiful”
Granite didn’t really notice Moon’s scales, but now she realized that those silver scales looked like diamonds, or was she also a disguised hybrid?
“I’m not a hybrid, just an outcast from my tribe” Moon said hurriedly. It was as if she had read Granite’s thoughts…
“Well, interesting! Isn’t it nice to have a mystery? Well come meet our friend, Coconut!”
Coconut looked up from his mango “Huh?”
Kinkajou glanced at his, her face furrowing “Well, I thought he was my friend until he didn’t notice me missing for three weeks”
“Oh” Moon said, as if she already knew it, weird and fascinating… was it a coincidence, or did she read their minds?
“I was told to eat the mangoes first, as they were ripe” Coconut said from nowhere as he passed a mango to Moon and me
“I’m good” I said, waving at Coconut’s extended talon holding a mango “I’ll just take a few blueberries and strawberries” I spotted a small pile of strawberries and popped one in my mouth, then I grabbed the rest and passed one to Kinkajou
“Yea sure, thanks” Kinkajou replied with a huge smile. Moon quickly sliced the mango neatly
“Wow, How did you do it so perfectly?” I asked in amazement
“Dunno, just by luck” Moon replied shyly
“Hello” said a deep and loud voice
“Ack Clay, you nearly scared the scales off me” Kinkajou said
“Just wanted to make sure that you all are having fun” Clay said
“Clay, I think keeping live animals and letting the dragons chase them is a bad idea, take then hunting and leave the rest of us enjoy our quiet sensible fruit in peace” I said
“I agree with Granite” Kinkajou said
“Ok, I’ll bring Tsunami and see if I can calm things down” Clay said, then marched off and out of the cave
“Well, this place can’t get any more chaotic, and if it does, I’ll eat my own tail” Kinkajou said
“I would like to see you try” I laughed. Then out of the blue a tiny creature ran into the cave and all the dragons stopped what they were doing, then ran off to chase it
“Poor thing” I said sympathetically
“Yea,” Kinkajou said. There was a lot of yelling and stampeding as the dragonets went off to catch the scavenger and eat it. Me, Moon, and Kinkajou watched it for a while, well me and kinkajou were watching, Moon had half of her face covered and her wings over her head. The scavenger then barreled towards us and Moon scooped it up in her talons and shielded it.
An IceWing and a SandWing came and entered the prey center, probably looking for the scavenger. The icewing had a furious expression, as if someone has stolen his dinner, the other, a sandwing looked a bit guilty, but he was inspecting the whole area to find for the scavenger, probably
Then the icewing spotted Moon and the scavenger and walked towards her and said in a dangerous tone “You have ten seconds to give me back my scavenger, before I slice your face off”
Chapter 4 (Granite’s Perspective)
Yeesh, so much for school and drama. Next to me, Kinkajou was trying to hide her excitement of a fight and all the drama.
“Stop threating her” I said sliding next to Moon and placed my tail on her’s.
“Who are you, you inconvenient lowlife StoneWing” The icewing snarled
“Well, you’re not eating this scavenger,” I said
“So you want to eat it?” The icewing demanded “Five seconds NightWing”
“No” Moon said. That was brave of her
“That is my scavenger,” he hissed. “My idiot clawmate let it out, but it is mine and I did not bring it all the way here for it being eaten, especially by a lying, stupid NightWing.” He took a step closer, and I felt the cold coming off his scales. “I could freeze you one part at a time — first your horns, then snap them off. Then your ears — freeze it and snap it off. Then your claws, and your wings … Should I go on?”
“Stop being a jerk” I said
“Hey, calm down guys” The SandWing shoved his way through the watching crowd and stepped between Moon and the IceWing. I recognized him as the dragon I made eye contact with outside her cave. The one who noticed my ruffs.
“I’m the idiot clawmate, although most dragons call me Qibli” the sandwing said “My intimidating acquaintance here is Winter, what’s your names” he nodded towards me and Moon
Then he turned towards Winter “Stop threatening dragons, what is wrong with you? Did you try asking nicely?”
He had a golden earring and a amber teardrop hanging down from it. He had a scar running across his snout and he had freckles on his snout. I subconsciously brushed a claw across my own scar on my left arm “I wonder if we have the same story”
He was pale yellow, and a little bit brown. He looked thin for his age (my age?) and he had a cheerful and concerned expression on his face. He looked gentle, and his obsidian eyes were filled with emotions. Granite had a knack for reading dragons and telling what they feel by physical actions, this dragon was…quite observant, he had angled his tail barb towards Winter just incase, and he was observing everyone and looked towards me and Moon
“Moon” Moon said shyly
“Moon what?” Winter demanded “Come on, we all know you’re names are lies, Mooncrusher? Moondestroyer? Moonstaker?”
“It’s Moonwatcher,” I said, snarling “And keep your threats away for a second and talk normally, unless that’s in the icewing genetics” I never liked IceWings if I were being honest. One time when I was still roaming around the continent, a group of IceWings who were looking for dinner started attacking me and my siblings at the lake because “IceWings are the greatest tribe and therefore should camp near the pond” I hadn’t tasted water for a week. A scar on the right of my neck served that as a reminder.
“Moonwatcher” Winter said, as if he was tasting her name on his tongue.
“Yea” I said
“And who are you?” Winter snarled
“Granite” I said
“Yea, and stop threating my friends” Kinkajou said and slid to Moon’s other side
“Winter, I think you need to calm down” Qibli said “Get it, because he’s a icewing” he turned his snout to me when I was trying to hide my smile. He gave me an satisfied and amused glance
“Listen” Qibli said “This is my fault, a wanted to take a look at the scavenger and opened the cage, but it was halfway down the pathway before I could blink, and you know the rest of the story”
Cage? I blinked. Why would someone keep their dinner in a cage unless…
“Is this your pet?” I turned to Winter
“Yes, get your teeth anywhere near bandit and you will lose them” He snarled
“I would prefer eating cranberries over scavengers any day, and Moon doesn’t want to eat it too. You should be telling that to the rest of the dragons in the cave”
The dragonets who had previously chased the scavenger were now glancing at each other and had guilty expressions.
“Bandit?” Moon echoed “This is your pet? Well, no one can eat him ever”
“That’s how I feel about it too” Winter said, his voice lighter and more friendly now
“Indeed” Qibli said “This belongs to Winter, the nephew of Queen Glacier. If you’re wondering why he didn’t tell you yet, don’t worry, he would have in the next ten seconds”
“I only said it so you would know that we wouldn’t be clawmates for long” Winter said “It’s pretty obvious that the nephew and niece of Queen glacier get to have a private cave”
I raised one of my eyebrow, he was petty dumb. The whole idea of this school is to be friends with other tribes, and sharing a cave with another tribe was how it went
“Well then, we are all on the same roll of the scroll then” Qibli said
Moon shifted her tail away from mine and Kinkajou’s and placed the scavenger-Bandit- into Winter’s talons. I saw Moon shiver a bit, it was normal. IceWing scales were pretty cold
“Eww” Winter said “You got him all sticky”
“She was saving him” Kinkajou said
“A thank you would be in order” I said. I sensed two more dragons coming, it must be Clay arriving with Tsunami from a few minutes ago. Wow, it felt like a hour ago
Winter dumped Bandit into the river, in an failed attempt to clean him
“He’s hungry” Moon blurted. Wow, how did she figure that out just like that. I couldn’t figure out anything from that scavenger.
“Oh” Winter said “But I gave him desert rat while coming today and he didn’t eat it, and I gave a piece of walrus the day before and he didn’t eat it too. I gather that scavengers eat very rarely”
“Maybe he hates you so much that he is trying to starve himself to death?” Qibli suggested
“Scavengers can’t do that” Winter said, but I could sense the doubt in his voice. “He drinks water when I gave some” He poked Bandit and the scavenger whimpered and crumpled on Winter’s talon. Winter looked alarmed and desperate
“Have you – umm” Moon started
“Have I what?” Winter snarled
Just as I was about to snap something rude to him, Sunny came in with Clay.
“Hey guys, what’s all the excitement about?” Sunny asked cheerfully
Behind then, Clay had started ushering the crowd out of the prey center. There was a lot of grumbling that there should have been a fight or wishing to eat the scavenger
“Fatespeaker told me you got a pet,” Sunny said, turning to Winter. “Aw, I met a couple just about that size once.”
Winter looked down his nose at her. “Queen Glacier said I could have him if I agreed to attend this school,” he said rudely. “If you say I can’t keep him, I’m going home.”
“Well, you can’t keep a scavenger in the Ice kingdom” Sunny pointed out “It’ll freeze up out there”
“I’ll work out a solution” Winter said, realizing the logic “I’m keeping him, and that’s it”
“I don’t mind if you do keep a pet,” Sunny said “But remember, pets can be a talonful of work. Especially if you’re still getting used to a new pet”
“I can manage, thank you very much” Winter said
“Remember that we still don’t know anything about scavengers yet” Sunny said “Your winglet could study him, and we can issue a no eating scavengers policy. But you still have to take care of him” Sunny shifted her wings. She sounded really confident.
“No one would dare hurt my scavenger” Winter said
“Get a collar for your scavenger then” I suggested
“Belongs to the nephew of Queen Glacier” Qibli suggested with a strait face. Winter nodded, then shot a suspicious look. Qibli smiled a satisfied smile with his joke as I tried to hide my smile
“But,” Sunny went on, “is it okay with you, Qibli? Because you’re sharing a cave with him, so you have to say yes, too. Otherwise, we can switch you to a different cave, if we can find someone who won’t mind the scavenger.”
Winter cleared his throat. “Perhaps you have forgotten that my aunt is Queen Glacier,” he said, as though Sunny might be too dim to know about the IceWings. “My sister is her niece and therefore in line for the throne. We should each have a cave for ourselves.”
“That would defeat the purpose of this school” Sunny said cheerfully “Plus, we haven’t expanded that far into the mountain. Believe me, the SeaWing queen’s daughter is living here too”
“I don’t mind” Qibli said “Although I might be allergic to the scavenger’s owner
“Don’t cause trouble” Sunny warned as she spread her wing to stop Winter from lunging at Qibli
“I’m not” Qibli said innocently “Someone should tell him that the scavenger isn’t going to last long, it looks like it’s wilting”
“No it isn’t” Winter protested. He poked the scavenger again and it fell on Winter’s talon
“What were you saying again about the scavenger?” Winter demanded Moon
“I read that scavengers cook meat…” Moon said
“Yea, I have a-” Sunny started “I know someone who has a scavenger, I think he cooked all the meat for her”
“How? IceWings don’t have fire” Winter replied
“Do you not see that your clawmate is a SandWing?” I pointed out “SandWings are one of the five tribes which have fire”
“Huh” Winter mused
“That’s the best part of making friends with other tribes” Sunny said cheerfully. I always admired her optimism and cheerfulness
“Or maybe, you could give him fruit” I said and grabbed a blueberry from the fruit pile and kept it in front of bandit
Bandit blinked, then looked at the staring dragons, then took a huge bite and relief spread across the tiny scavenger’s face
“See” Kinkajou said “We were right, he was hungry”
Winter stared at Moon, suspicion growing in his eyes, but Qibli looked at me instead, puzzled. I gave a what? face, then he shuffled his front talons and looked at Moon instead
“How did you know?” Winter demanded
“I just guessed it” Moon replied nervously
“Nice guess” Qibli said, although he kept glancing at me
Moon stepped back “I-I umm… have to go” she said urgently, then bolted out of the cave. Winter went out next, and kinkajou bounced out of the cave. I made to follow Kinkajou when Qibli stopped me
“Granite, right?” He asked
“Yea” I replied
“Nice to meet you, I couldn’t say it earlier given the situation” He said
“Nice to meet you too” I replied
“Hope we’re in the same winglet” He blurted
“I guess,” I doubtfully said, I wasn’t really sure on what to say “See you around then” I said and left the cave
Chapter 5 (Granite’s perspective)
I walked to my cave, which felt shorter than it should have, because my mind was buzzing with thoughts and mysteries and two new dragons
Winter: Ferocious, angry/grumpy, sad, raged, arrogant.
Qibli: Calm, funny, concerned, observing
I entered the cave and saw Moon sleeping on her stone slab. I quickly made my way to mine and took out a piece of parchment to send a letter
Dear Dad,
Thanks for the items! You really didn’t have to get them for me.
Today was amazing! I have a NightWing for a clawmate, and I visited the library, and wait till you go to the prey center, even the most chaotic dragon would lose their minds
Well, there was this IceWing who got a scavenger for a pet, and this whole fiasco happened where Moon (My clawmate) protected the scavenger in the prey center and the IceWing, Winter, mistook it for her eating it and this whole fight happened and Winter threatened Moon, and this SandWing, Qibli, tried to stop the fight and made funny jokes.
Today was amazing! And I can’t wait to hear from you! The satchels were pretty useful, and I know what to do with the basket
I heard that wild Mulberries grow here in these areas, can’t wait to find some. I didn’t meet my winglet yet, but I’m in the Jade Winglet so yay. I hope that Qibli is in my winglet.
Granite
I rolled the parchment and tied it with a red and violet ribbon. I looked over at Moon, a smile creeping up my face. She was brave and shy at the same time, how is she not afraid?
I left the scroll on the desk beside my bed and took out my map. I searched for the music cave so I can be prepared for tomorrow, I really wanted to try out the keyboard, which I had been practicing at home.
I wore my satchel again and left the cave. I walked quickly and fast, and I was starting to receive stares from the dragonets who were outside their sleeping caves
I took the next right and was greeted by a lot of instruments; Guitars, Harps, Flutes, and there were three keyboards, and one drum, which was occupied by a SandWing.
The SandWing didn’t notice me as I walked towards the piano, he was busy fiddling with something behind the drums. I looked at the keyboard, then checked the area around me for any sheet music and immediately found the shelf. I walked to it and pulled a scroll from the beginners shelf.
“Granite?” A voice called. I whipped my head around to find the SandWing at the drums looking at me, and I realized it was Qibli.
“Oh, hi Qibli” I said
(Qibli’s Perspective)
I looked at the StoneWing, my friend (maybe?). Everything about her was curious, and she had a few scars too, like the one on her left arm and the one on the right side of her neck. But she didn’t look threating or rude, like most dragons did after the war. She looked happy, and greeted all the the tribes with open wings. That was strange.
“Hi” I replied to her “So you play music too?”
“Yea, I play the piano, although I mostly play on the keyboard” She replied, she held a scroll in her talons “You play the drums?”
“Yes,” I said “Which winglet are you in?” he asked. At the same time, a rainbow coloured dragon came bounding into the cave
“Granite!” She said. I recognized her from the whole scavenger incident, which then Winter promptly kicked me out of the cave, so I figured I would spend some time in the music cave.
“Kinkajou, hi” Granite replied cheerfully
“Okay, so you now the SkyWing who is my clawmate? Yea her, she kicked me out of the cave again because I was singing, and yelled at me, so I figured that we should explore the art cave for a while. I went to your cave and Moon was there, and told me that you might be in the music cave, and here you are!” Kinkajou noticed me “Oh hi Qibli”
“Hi,” I said. So bouncy,
“I need to chat with Granite for some time, so bye!” Kinkajou said, then bounded off “Come on Granite!”
“How do you know her?” I asked
“Just a friend” she replied, then tucked the scroll she was holding in the bottom shelf and walked towards the entrance “Se you later then”
“Yea, bye” I said and stood there, feeling miserable (which was weird) and alone.
(Granite’s Perspective)
I looked back at the music cave, for some reason, whenever I talked to Qibli, it felt awkward, but interesting, like I was looking at another dragon who was the same as me. It felt like looking into a mirror.
“Granite” Kinkajou called “Come on! the art cave is so beautiful”
“I guess so” I said, walking faster to catch up with Kinkajou. I turned to the next left and entered the cave. The art cave was so beautiful. There were looms, canvas, paints of every colour, and paintbrushes from as thin to my fangs to as fat as my ruffs. I felt peaceful in the cave, like I could live there forever
“Okay, I need toe learn art, and your tribe is the best at that, so help me, paint” Kinkajou said
I tried to recall what had happened during my art classes in the RainWing village. After moving, Aplite almost forced me to join art and music classes. Not that I was complaining, I liked art, but the teacher there only taught us how to weave and use the loom to make tapestries. I knew crochet and this bracelet making where you use these elastic materials called ‘rubber bands’ and make bracelets out of it. I didn’t know painting though.
“Yea, I don’t really know painting, but we can experiment together” I said, picking one this brush and a few normal ones, then a small bowl of water, and a palette in which I poured shades of the sunset. I used to also paint after moving to the Rainforest, Aplite had forced me to go for art and music classes, or the studio where I can experiment with stuff, so I knew a thing of two about painting
“Ooooh… pretty colours, ima go and get the same ones” Kinkajou said, and rushed off, turning her scales the same colour. I kept everything on a desk and bought a easel and a canvas and placed it near the desk. I looked out of the window for inspiration and saw a beautiful sunset. I smiled to myself and dipped my brush in scarlet red.
I brushed the brush on to the surface. It felt smooth, and I made a horizontal line near the 1/4th point on the canvas. I slowly moved it upwards, each patient stroke at a time as a submerged into my thoughts, letting my talons move however they want.
“Oh wow! Nice” A voice awoke me from my thoughts
“Huh? What?” I asked
“The painting is so beautiful” the voice said, which I recognized as Kinkajou
“Really?” I asked, taking a moment to look at it. It was indeed beautiful, the sky was a beautiful shade of red, orange, and yellow. the sun was white, and half hidden in the clouds. in the right, two dragons were sitting together and leaning on each other. I marveled at my own painting and took it out from the easel and placed it where it could dry up.
“I tried to do the same painting as you and it didn’t turn out well” Kinkajou said, then showed me her very worse painting
“It’s ok, I’m sure you’ll be able to pain well, after a bit of practice” I said “Come on, let’s go, look at the time” I said
“Yea I hope I have the same winglet as you!” Kinkajou said, then bounded off. I looked at my painting again. I had never done something that remarkable, Keep it with you, they all hate you anyways, why show them some more items they can use for judging you unfairly? A part of my brain shouted. Why do we have to? Art it for dragons to see and enjoy, and the painting is good another part shouted.
I shrugged it off. There was nothing harmful in keeping a painting there.
Chapter 6 (Granite’s perspective)
I was running through the tunnels of Jade mountain. I looked back from my shoulder and ran faster. There were many dragons chasing me, and the front four was Moon, Kinkajou, Winter and Qibli. They all were saying one thing
“Hybrids are not allowed to exist” They all chanted. Their faces were all emotionless and their eyes were white as chico flowers.
“Guys! stop, I can explain, I didn’t choose to be a hybrid” I shouted
“Hybrids are not allowed to talk” They chanted eerily
Sunny came in front of me “I am an exception, because I am a dragonet of destiny, what are you, you useless waste of scales?” she said, all the kindness drained out of her voice. Someone pinned me to the ground from the back. I swung my head around to see Qibli on my back pinning me down by the neck
“What weak excuse of a dragon you are” He snarled
Winter came to my right “At least I am a prince, you are just a dragon with no family, an orphan who no one wants“
Moon came to my left “I am still a full NightWing, you are just some pitiful creature” she sang in a eerie voice
“Yea, let’s kill her” Kinkajou said the loudest and extended her jaws unnaturally.
“No, please don’t do this” I pleaded “Can’t I just be like you guys? I just look a bit different, what’s wrong with that?” And venom shot into my eyes.
I woke up with a start, panting. I looked around, to make sure of where I was. I saw Moon sleeping peacefully, and just a few seconds ago, I saw her trying to kill me.
Typical dreams
I got down off my rock and wool ledge and started stretching and warming up for the day. I unfurled my wings and folded them back.
I exited the cave with the basket in me talons. The sun had just begun to rise as I made my way to the prey center. There were less dragons than usual, so I sped up, because we need to figure out where the Jade winglet was supposed to gather. I managed to memorize the whole dragon tribes guide (somehow)so I can make friends from different tribes.
I walked into the prey center, which was silent except for a SandWing and the pheasants and other prey. The SandWing had his back to the cave entrance and he wasn’t doing anything, just staring at something.
I walked to the fruit center and grabbed a few bananas and a mango, then grabbed a few raspberries and popped one into my mouth. I savored it, there’s nothing like eating a berry early in the morning.
The SandWing turned his head towards me and I recognized the same face I met earlier at the music cave. Qibli.
“Oh hi, didn’t realize you were here” he said waving a talon at me
“Hi” I waved back, then took the basket and sat down next to him and watched the sunrise.
“So you also wake up early” He asked
“Yea, I like it when no one in there” I replied
“Me too” Qibli agreed, “It always feels like walking into a prison, where dragons can judge you just for one slip” he didn’t seem like the funny, witty dragon he was around other dragons
“Yea, that’s how it is” I said staring at the horizon, unaware that my ruffs were automatically changing colour
“Wait, are you a hybrid?” Qibli suddenly questioned
“Wait what?” I checked my ruffs and turned them to the normal scale colour “Don’t tell anyone”
“Ok, but…” Qibli started
“I know, and I have faced a lot of what do you call it?… bullying would be an understatement” I said “I’m pretty used to it” but my mind and nightmares said otherwise
“Oh, something similar happened to me too” Qibli said ” I grew up in a assassin place, and have a family of assassins. Especially my grandfather, he’s the worst”
“Oh, what happened next” I asked
“Queen Thorn saved me, and I was part of the outclaws, and now I’m part of the court, well sorta” He replied “What about you”
“Well, let’s just say there was some ‘family’ drama, murdering, and running from the law and ‘three moons, how do I protect my siblings from all that’ ” I said “Until I met Sunny, and now I live in the Rainforest, since I’m a half RainWing, or something, my dad didn’t pass his ability to change all the scales”
“That’s…” Qibli started “That’s sad”
“I don’t really care” I said “I’m happy now, with my real dad and my siblings and seen as a normal dragon” hopefully
“I was trapped with my own family too, for the first three years of my life, then Queen Thorn adopted me, kind of. She’s like my mother figure”
“Oh” I said “We are kind of similar, don’t you think? Dragons hated us just for being there and we had to suffer through it, and in the end, we finally found a place where we can be ourselves and happy”
“Yea, I guess” Qibli agreed. We watched the sunrise for a while until Qibli broke the silence “Can I ask you something?”
“Yea, sure” I said, curious
“How did you get the scar on your left arm?” Qibli asked
“Oh that,” I said “On the day when my mother was killed, earlier when I went to get something to restock the food supply, I was chased by the dragonets in my village, who were the same age as me and were very violent, and this dragon, Foidolite, tried to scratch my face but missed, and hit my left arm instead, and I sprayed venom on him in defense, and discovered that my venom was more deadlier because it has StoneWing venom too” I finished, Qibli looked a bit angry, and a bit horror-struck “What about the scar on your snout?”
“That one was more family drama” Qibli said “One day when my mother was waiting for Queen Thorn before, she sent me out, so I wandered the streets for a bit and found dragons placing bets on a cat and a mouse, and the winner gets five coconuts, and my birth mother, Cobra, loved coconuts, so I planned a smart plan and stole one coconut and gave it to my mother, next thing I knew she threw a lamp at me and yelled at me for not thinking for myself, and Queen Thorn saw me and adopted me and gave Cobra some gold.”
“Wow,” I said “I can’t believe dragons hated you for being kind.”
“And I can’t believe dragons hated a dragon who was a hybrid, without knowing how they were like” Qibli said
I looked at Qibli, a bit surprised. Qibli looked at me with the same surprise, I smiled, and he did too. We exchanged stories of my time moving from one place to the other like the talons of peace, and the times from the outclaws. I told Qibli about my siblings, Aplite, Diorite, and little Dunite, and he told me about all the outclaws and how they all were like a big family
“You’re lucky you have dragons who see you for who you are” I said wistfully
“You’re lucky you have siblings who care for you,” Qibli replied, “Mine tried to kill me almost a thousand times
“I guess we’re both lucky” I said as I looked at him.
We watched the sunrise in silence for a while and I suddenly remembered why I came to the prey center in the first place.
“Qibli, I have to go now. I have a lot of work and I was planning to surprise my clawmate, Moon with breakfast, so yea bye” I said as I picked up the basket and made towards the exit
“Bye Granite, I hope we’re in the same winglet” He called as I exited the cave
“I hope so too” I said softly. It was clear, if everything turned out worse, I know someone who I can trust
Chapter 7 (Granite’s Perspective)
I sat on the other side of Moon’s ledge as I waited for her to wake up, the basket in front of me. I had successfully hid seven colourful rubber band bracelets inside jade green pouches in the art cave, each representing a tribe and they all were uniquely colours. The only matching item was that there was a tiny jade coloured rock as a pendant. I reflected on the conversation with Qibli. There is more to his story than what the others see, and mine. I guess we are really similar
Moon stirred, then got up and sat on the ledge, taking in the scene
“Surprise” I said softly. Moon blinked at me “I got you breakfast”
“Bananas, pears, and raspberries?” Moon asked, maybe hoping for anything other than fruit
“I didn’t feel like making the hens as food today” I replied “And today’s the day we meet our winglet”
“Oh wow” Moon said
“Come on” I said “Grab a banana and let’s go, Kinkajou is in the same winglet as us and she said she’s going to Tsunami’s class, come on” I said
“Yea, yea, I’m coming” Moon said “Gosh you are so excited”
“How could I not be?” I asked “And how could you not be?”
“I’m coming” Moon said as she scooped up two bananas and quickly ate one of them. I wore I satchel again and put a few interesting rocks which I can show to my winglet. And which Aplite believed that could bring good luck.
Me and moon exited the cave together as the bell went three times. Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Come on, that’s our first warning” I said and nudged her wing. She looked so nervous. “Come on, nothing bad is going to happen”
Moon sighed “Yeah” she said. I saw Kinkajou down the hallway and called her “Hey Kinkajou! Wait”
Kinkajou turned around “Oh hi, come on, It’s really near” she said “Morning Moon” She called cheerfully
“Morning” Moon replied, sounding a bit confident. I spotted a dark red SkyWing “It that your clawmate?” I asked
“Yes” Kinkajou replied “And she did not share my enthusiasm for the day!”
“Well, no one could” I joked
“Let’s follow her” Kinkajou said, then bounded off
“Well, you heard the rainbow, come on let’s go” I said to Moon,
“Yeah” She replied
I followed Kinkajou, with Moon beside me. I saw the dragons who were chasing Bandit yesterday and glared at me. If they will glare, I shall too. I glared back at them and half of the dragons nearly ran away. What can I say? My glares are terrifiying.
But most of them were worried about something else to properly notice me, most probably their first impression on their winglet, yes, that was the thing.
The SkyWing and Kinkajou went to the great hall, where Fatespeaker was beaming sitting next to the mallet to alert the students about class time and stuff. Then I saw Kinkajou take the tunnel opposite which was slanted up. The passage way was full of plants, small sprouts to average sized plants which came up to half of Granite’s neck. Some of the plants were red, some were normal leaf green, and some were blue or purple. There were colourful flowers too. There was a rivulet of sky blue water which was trickling down. As I and Moon when higher, the air felt damp, until finally we reached a cave infested with vines and open to the sky.
The was I tine waterfall in the left corner next to a stone slab, which was occupied by Tsunami. She was promptly sitting with her back strait, and alert. She then noticed the SkyWing, Kinkajou, Moon, and Me
“Greetings, ” Tsunami said as I sat between the exit and Tsunami’s ledge, Moon sat to my right, Kinkajou sat next to Moon “Welcome to your first class, I’m impressed that you found the right cave. Carnelian, Kinkajou, Moon, and Granite, right? I’ve been working so hard to memorize all the new names. Easy as cows for Starflight, but a whole lot harder for me and Clay. But it did help that I knew some of you guys from before”
“Like ME!” Kinkajou beamed. I smiled internally, although the SkyWing-Carnelian- was glowering.
The bell rang only twice now. Bang! Bang!
Something moved at the entrance and I swung my head to look there. There were two dragons, a small MudWing and a relatively big SeaWing.
“Turtle!” Tsunami beamed “Yes! I had asked to be given your winglet first. Guess what guys? Turns out that I have a million brothers, but I’m assuming this one is the best, since he is there right now” She protectively flung one wing over the SeaWing-Turtle and gave him a toothy grin
“It’s true, I am” He said casually, but there was something doubtful in his voice
“This is Umber, my clawmate” Turtle said, gesturing to the MudWing
“Hi” Umber said a bit shyly
“Oh,” Kinkajou suddenly said, “Clay’s brother”
Moon’s face fell a bit. Maybe she was hoping for the other MudWing, Sora, would be in our winglet.
“Who are our IceWing and SandWing?” Kinkajou asked “Does Sunny have any sisters?”
“Actually, after yesterday, we decided to switch up a couple of dragons, since you are are interested in scavengers, and have already met, we decided that you guys would be a perfect match” Tsunami said, not noticing the alarm in Moon’s face.
Two dragons entered the cave. Winter, and Qibli. I eyes widened a bit after seeing Qibli, and he also looked at me with equal surprise. He walked towards me and sat next to me. Moon looked at us surprised and thoughtful, then Moon looked at Tsunami like everything was dramatic. I raised my eyebrow at Moon, she looked at me and shook her head. What was that?
“So,” Tsunami started “We have all the dragonets, so let’s introduce each other. I think it is unnecessary, but Sunny said so, but then she also said that I don’t listen to her, so there, I am proving her wrong. I’m Tsunami, if anyone didn’t know, I was going to give myself a title like Commander of Recruitment, but then for some reason everyone voted that I would be terrible at recruiting, whatever that is all about, so they made me Head of School instead. So I’m pretty much the boss. And I’m running your first small group-discussion class, which was Glory’s big idea, so I figure we’ll figure it out together. Any questions?”
“Yes,” Carnelian asked “Are we stuck with this group?”
“That’s not how I would put it, but yes” Tsunami said
“What if we would prefer to be in a group with other IceWings?” Winter asked. “Such as my sister?”
“That’s not how the winglets are set up,” Tsunami said. “But you’ll be in some bigger group classes with her and have plenty of time to make other friends as well.”
“I love our winglet,” Kinkajou volunteered.
“When do we eat?” Umber asked. “Just kidding. Pretending to be Clay.” He grinned, then shot a look at Qibli.
“Ha! Actually I brought food,” Tsunami said. She cleared aside a tangle of vines and revealed a carved stone bowl full of fish, which she set in the middle of the floor. “Help yourselves.”
“Awesome,” said Turtle.
“Yyyyyyyuck,” said Kinkajou. “I’ll wait and have a banana later, thanks.”
“I’m good, thanks for the offer though” I said “I prefer eating fruits over fish, or any animal, if I can avoid it”
“More for us then” Umber said jokingly.
Moon took as step towards the fish, and so did Winter. Moon jumped away, Winter gave her a curious look. Qibli stepped forward and handed her a fish.
“Here” He said to Moon
“Thanks” Moon said shyly, and Qibli smiled kindly at Moon
“Right, introductions,” said Tsunami. “Carnelian? Want to go first?”
She heaved a deep sigh. “I’m Carnelian.”
There was a pause.
“Anything else?” Tsunami prompted. “What should we know about you? Family, favorite color, anything?”
Carnelian growled, low in her throat. “I’m a loyal subject of Queen Ruby,” she said finally. “I’m in the camp that believes Queen Scarlet is dead, and if she isn’t, I’d be happy to kill her myself to protect my queen’s throne. I’m here because my queen told me to be, although I should be training with my battalion and guarding her palace, not eating slimy wet fish with a bunch of spineless dragonets.” She frowned at them all for a moment. “And my favorite color is red.”
Some of us are more scarred than you think I thought
“All right,” said Tsunami. “Good to know. Kinkajou?”
Bright flares of yellow and purple shot across the RainWing’s scales. “Oh, sure; I’m Kinkajou, I’m a RainWing, and I’ve never met any SeaWings or SandWings or IceWings before, I mean, apart from the dragonets of destiny, of course, because I’m really good friends with them. I’m excited to learn how to read and I want to know everything about all your tribes and I think this school is the best idea in the world. And my favorite color is yellow!”
“Of course it is,” Carnelian said.
“Your turn,” Kinkajou said to Moon
“I’m Moonwatcher,” she said softly, “but please call me Moon.” She shifter her wings uncomfortably “Um. I grew up in the rainforest and I like scrolls”
“Me too,” Turtle said “At least, not the ones written by my mother, I’ve read to many of them. Turtle seemed nervous, he looked like he just woke up and wants to go back to bed “I’m Turtle, by the way”. Winter looked curious and was about to ask something when Tsunami changed the conversation
“Next?” Tsunami prompted
“I’m Granite,” I started “And I like painting, looming and collecting any interesting looking rocks” I shifted my talons “I like all colours except pure white.” I concluded
“I’m Qibli” Qibli started beside me “I was one of Thorn’s Outclaws before she became queen. My plan is to learn everything as fast as possible and then get back to help her run the Kingdom of Sand.”
“I’m sure she’s lost without you,” Winter said scathingly.
“And I’m sure you’re perfectly essential to the operation of your kingdom,” Qibli shot back. Winter frowned for a bit, then looked as haughtily as ever.
“And I’m Umber,” said Clay’s brother. “I think — I think we might have been in a battle together once,” he said to Carnelian. “I mean, you look familiar.”
“Oh,” she said, squinting at him. Her frown softened. “I didn’t realize you fought in the war, too.”
“Yeah, with my brothers and sisters — my brother Reed is our leader,” he said. “But he said Sora and Marsh and I could come to school now that the war is over, since there’s so much we wanted to learn. I miss him and Pheasant, though.” a twinge of sadness filled his voice
“They can visit anytime,” Tsunami promised. “They can even camp out and live here if they want. The more the merrier.”
“They’re working for Queen Moorhen right now,” Umber explained. “But maybe one day.” His wings drooped a fraction of an inch, and then he pulled them back up.
“Well, I am Winter,” said Winter.
“Queen Glacier’s nephew,” Qibli said at the same time as he did. Winter straightened up and glittered dangerously at him.
“Don’t you mock me,” he said.
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Qibli said innocently.
“If you’re the Head of School,” Winter said to Tsunami, “Does that mean you’re the dragon to talk to about getting a private cave?”
“Why, yes, I am,” Tsunami said. “The answer is no.”
“See, I’m your destiny,” Qibli said to Winter with a cheerful shrug. Moon smothered a giggle and Qibli shot a pleasant look.
Can we get on with the discussion?” Winter asked. “What exactly is the point of this?”
“The point is to talk about anything you want to talk about,” Tsunami said. “To find out what dragons from other tribes think, and see things from a new point of view. I’m sure it’ll be different when you have this class with Starflight or Clay or Sunny, but I, for one, think you guys should pick the topic.”
“All right,” Winter said. “I want to talk about NightWing powers.”
Such a rotten mango I thought grumpily as I looked as Moon worried. Me and Qibli exchanged looks.
Kinkajou looked at Moon worriedly, then said “Let’s talk about the war.” She suggested “I want to know what Queen Thorn is like. You’ve been inside the SandWing stronghold, haven’t you?” she asked Qibli.
“Wait, I’m confused about the NightWings, too,” Turtle said before Qibli could answer. “Is it true they don’t have powers anymore? Just because they moved to the rainforest?”
“I heard a rumor that they never had powers,” Carnelian chimed in, suddenly animated. “That they made all of that up and they’ve been lying to us for thousands of years.”
“But what about the dragonet prophecy?” Umber challenged, flicking his tail. “About my brother and his friends ending the war? That was clearly real, because look, it came true.”
“Yea,” I agreed, “Maybe the NightWings lost there power because maybe there was something that was the powerhouse of the power, and since it got destroyed, no more unfathomably powers and cryptic prophecies” I concluded
“What if they’re lying now and they secretly do have powers but don’t want us to know?” Turtle asked.
Moon shivered involuntarily and focused on the fish in her claws. I glanced concerningly at her and nudged her tail.
“It doesn’t really matter, right?” Tsunami hedged. “The war is over. There are no more prophecies. We can do whatever we want, which includes ignoring the NightWings if we want to. No offense, Moon.”
“It matters if they were manipulating us,” Winter hissed. “Do they have powers or not? Or did they when they lived in their secret location? If so, were all of them psychic, or just a few? And how did they lose them?” He shook his head, his icicle-sharp spikes clattering faintly. “There are thousands of dragons who are still terrified of the NightWings, they deserve to know the truth.”
“Well, nobody’s sure what the truth is,” she said finally.
“Nobody’s sure?” Winter swept one glittering, pale blue wing toward Moon. “We have one right here. This is all about understanding other tribes, isn’t it? Can’t we ask her?”
I was also curious, the NightWing powers did seem really mysterious, and they weren’t written anywhere for research.
Qibli, Winter, Umber, Carnelian, and Turtle looked at moon, some hostile, some simply curious.
“Guys, Moon wasn’t with the other NightWings” I said protectively
“Yea, “Kinkajou agreed “She would have been told the same lies as all the other tribes”
“Oh,” Umber said
“That does explain some things” Turtle said
“Look, the important thing is that if the NightWings ever did have powers, they don’t anymore,” Tsunami said, spreading her wings so the sun shone through her royal pattern of phosphorescent scales. “As long as everyone knows that, the NightWings can’t manipulate the other tribes ever again. So just remember that there’s no mind reading, and there’s definitely no seeing the future. NightWings are not these all-powerful mystery dragons who know everything. And if someone ever tells you you’re in a prophecy, tell them to eat their tails. I wish I could have done that to the Talons of Peace a lot sooner.”
Winter snorted. I glared at him and he glared back at me. I scared one claw on the stone floor and he nearly ran out of the cave. I looked back at Tsunami.
“Okay, who wants to go hunting?” The older SeaWing nearly shouted “Yes Tsunami, no arguing with the head of school, come on let’s go” She said and shot out of the cave upwards and disappeared into the sky. I glanced amused at her.
Winter glared at Moon and paced across the room and stooped in front of her.
“Leave her alone” I said “She’s not your enemy”
“Pyrrhia is at peace now,” Qibli agreed “There are no enemies”
“You say you don’t know anything,” Winter said, settling his wings. “But you know the other NightWings. You can find out the truth and come back to tell us. Right?”
“Umm… Maybe,” Moon sqeaked
“I want to know everything about their powers,” he said. “Were they ever real? How do we know they’re gone? What else are they lying to us about?” he cleared his throat “What are you lying to us about?”
“Not cool Igloo-face” Qibli said
“We’re in the same winglet, meaning we should protect and support each other” Kinkajou said
“I’m with igloo-face,” Carnelian said. She stood up and stretched her massive wings, making Umber duck so he wouldn’t get whacked in the head. “If we’re supposed to get all snuggly with each other, there shouldn’t be any more secrets. Let’s make her tell us everything.” Her orange eyes glared at Moon
“I wasn’t joking” Tsunami said “Come on, let’s go”
I spread my wings and flew out of the cave, Qibli right behind me, then after a while, Kinkajou, Moon and Winter, then Carnelian and Umber, then at last Turtle.
Winter turned to Moon “Fine, if you tell the truth about the NightWing powers, I’ll…”
“Stop threatening everyone” Kinkajou said
He paused, and then an unexpected expression creased his face. “Hey, I didn’t promise anything about everybody,” he said. “Just her. I have an IceWing warrior mystique to maintain, after all, come on.” He looked at Moon again, and then he turned and jumped out into the sky, flying after Tsunami and the others.
“I’m probably wrong,” Qibli said, “but I think my clawmate just made a joke. Is that possible?”
“I think so” I said laughing “Finally the Royal IceWing has said a joke”
“You were totally hallucinating,” Kinkajou agreed. “Too many smokeberries.”
“Are you all right?” Qibli asked Moon.
“I’m fine” She said softly
“What’s a smokeberry?” Qibli asked Kinkajou as they started toward the ledge.
“Oh, they’re crazy,” Kinkajou said. “I had some while the RainWing healers were working on my wing injury. They gave me the wildest hallucinations — flying panthers, quetzals the size of dragons, scavengers with superpowers. You name it, I saw everything.”
“One time I mistook it for a blueberry and I saw bumblebees tap dancing and caterpillars singing an opera.” I said “I’ll never make the same mistake sgain”
I took off, feeling the wind, and Qibli beside me, Moon paused for a second, and flew towards me as a did a backflip in the air that made Qibli chuckle behind me. The morning air smelled of possibilities and hope
Chapter 8 (Granite’s Perspective)
I took in the view; there were eight dragons flying in the sky. Qibli was searching for any prey, but with terrible luck though. Kinkajou was busy trying to find any fruit bush, Moon and Winter were also trying to find prey, Carnelian was just glowering at everyone, and Tsunami was near the lake, probably finding fish.
I scanned the area quickly and I found a gooseberry tree near to me, but all the fruits were high and there wasn’t an opening for dragons to come through, although there was a bunch hanging by a thin vine. Qibli dived again, only to see the sheep run away.
“Oh come on!” He exclaimed flying beside me “How do dragons even hunt here”
“Practice,” I said, rummaging through my satchel and found one quill. “Want to see something cool?” I asked
“Yea, sure” He said. I took aim again and hit the fragile vine, Immediately, the gooseberries fell like raindrops and I dove towards the bottom of the tree and the gooseberries fell into my talons, perfectly unharmed.
“Wow!” Kinkajou exclaimed, dark purple juice staining her mouth, “I wish I could do that”
“Well, it takes a little experience and many destroyed fruit.” I joked, Qibli looked amused and happy at the same time
“I wonder if there are any lizards here” Qibli said wistfully
“Why don’t you try some gooseberries?” I dropped two in Qibli talons
“Well… Fine, what harm can a gooseberry of two do to me?” He popped one in his mouth, and as I expected, he made a weird expression, as if he was trying to transform into a hippotomus.
“They are sour, aren’t they?” I chuckled at his expression
“How do dragons eat fruit with this much sour content” He asked
“Not all fruits are sweet” I said “Some fruits are tasty and sour at the same time”
“Well, I do feel like eating another one, despite their sourness” He said
“Here” I said, spotting a small mulberry tree and grabbing a bunch without squashing them “Mulberries are sweeter than the gooseberries, especially the black mulberries”
“Okay” Qibli cautiously reached out and picked up one mulberry, then after a moment of inspecting it, threw it in his mouth and his face lit up.
“These are yummy” He said happily. Satisfied, I gently put the mulberries and the gooseberries in a separate pouch.
“Come on, let’s go back” Kinkajou said and lifter off to the sky. I followed her, and Qibli was right behind me. When I fully in the air high above, Moon was diving below and before I could register what is was, Moon was carrying a huge goat.
“Oh wow” I said amazed “How did you do that?”
“I thought NightWings couldn’t hunt” Kinkajou said, awestruck “Starflight told me that they did this weird biting their prey and when they prey rots, they sniff it and then eat the infested meat”
“Thank you Kinkajou for putting that disturbing image in my mind” I said, How could a dragon do that to a poor animal, it sounded worse than regular hunting
“Yeesh, it sounds worse than normal hunting” Qibli agreed
“I trained myself, with my mother coming so rarely, I had too…” Moon said “The NightWings aren’t aloud to do that anymore. Glory and Deathbringer are teaching the NightWings how to hunt properly”
“That’s a relief” I said
Tsunami came to us “Good job Moon, now let’s take all the stuff we got to the prey center” She heaved a net full of fish which was supported by another SeaWing with a black scar on his side. Carnelian and Winter followed me, Kinkajou Qibli, and Moon.
The prey center was as rushed as yesterday, and Moon paused for a second, me and Qibli went ahead, a few moments later, Moon and Kinkajou entered with the goat. Tsunami and the other SeaWing put the fish net in the center and all the dragonets in the caves nearly attacked it. I flew near the fruit pile where coconut was slowly eating a papaya. I picked up a mango and walked towards the place where my whole winglet was sitting, near the river. Moon was slicing up the goat in seven portions while Kinkajou was devouring bananas and papayas. I sat next to Qibli and placed the mulberries and gooseberries on a mini stone ledge.
(Moon’s Perspective)
I sliced the goat into seven parts. Kinkajou was at the fruit pile, and Qibli was just sitting, staring at my StoneWing clawmate
I wonder how she is just so composed and casual at the same time he thought I wish I could be like her
I blinked. They both seemed like they like each other, for a complicated reason. Granite came nearer and waved a talon towards them. Qibli moved so that enough space was there for Granite to sit next to him.
A blur of thoughts and a vision came. Qibli and Granite were standing in front of a old and burly SandWing who was covered with so many skull tattoos that he might be mistaken for a leopard. Granite was raising her claws “Where are they?” She snarled deadly and daringly “Tell me now or… you’ll find yourself in a deserted graveyard”
Qibli stepped forward, tail barb raised like a scorpion “Where is she?”
Who were they talking about? me? Thorn?
The vision blurred away and I found Granite staring at me concerned Is Moon okay?
Qibli nudged me “Are you okay?” and at the same time Granite thought She must be having a headache, Aplite used to get this kind of bitter leaf for my headaches, or maybe she’s just exhausted, can’t blame her”
“Just a headache” I said, “Nothing to worry about”
“Eat something, you’ll feel better” Granite pulled a few mulberries and two gooseberries “Today is tiering”
“Thanks” I gratefully took the fruits and pooped a mulberry into my mouth. Immediate sweetness exploded inside. I popped a gooseberry into my mouth, sourness neutralized the sweetness
“Wow” I said “These both are so good”
“The magic of fruits” She replied smiling
Wish I knew something like that Qibli thought
Granite sat beside Qibli and placed the rest of the fruits on a rock ledge in front of Qibli and her. I suddenly remembered something, and I got up to leave
“Where are you going?” Kinkajou almost ran into me.
“Just remembered something” I hastily replied
“You should eat something, you haven’t finished that smell carcass, sit” Kinkajou commanded. I wanted to argue, but there was a thread of anxiety in Kinkajou’s mind — Don’t leave me alone, please stay and be my best friend — that she couldn’t resist.
“Sure, OK,” she said, and was rewarded with glowing pink scales. she swept me towards the friend group again. Umber and Turtle came and sat beside Granite
“Can you tone that down?” Umber asked Kinkajou as he and Turtle joined them, each carrying a fish. “I mean, it’s a very exciting color that I can’t say I’ve ever seen before, but it’s a little —”
“Bright,” suggested Turtle.
“Noticeable?” tried Umber.
“Eyeball-scorching,” offered Qibli.
“This happens when I’m happy,” Kinkajou said, unruffled. “But if you’d prefer something more sedate —” She turned a vibrant shade of lime green splashed with violet spots. Moon nearly choked on her goat.
“Ack! No” Granite said in a high pinched voice which made Qibli snort, covering her eyes with her talons.
“I don’t actually know you,” Umber said to Kinkajou. “You might be totally serious right now.”
“No, I’m just kidding,” Kinkajou said with a giggle, bumping Moon’s side again. “I can be totally ordinary and boring, don’t worry.” Her scales shifted again, rippling to the same quiet brown as Umber’s, and she gave him a wide-eyed, “see? I can be boring” stare.
“I wouldn’t exactly describe you as ‘Boring’ yet” Granite chuckled
“Winter!” Kinkajou shouted.
The IceWing paused in the act of sweeping majestically past them. “Yes?” he said frostily to Kinkajou.
“Don’t you want to sit with us?” Kinkajou asked. “I mean, since we’re your winglet now, and everything.” A wave of ice blue shimmered across her scales and then vanished again. I tried desperately and failed to stuff all the dreamy thoughts from Kinkajou’s head into a raindrop.
Winter looked down his nose at the RainWing. “Absolutely not,” he said, and stalked away toward another IceWing perched on a ledge slightly above the rest of the dragons.
“He’s so tortured,” Kinkajou sighed happily.
“You’re a little weird,” I pointed out.
Kinkajou was about to reply when a hush fell over the cave. They all twisted around and saw Anemone pace slowly through the door with her head held high, followed by a thin, quiet-looking SandWing.
The SeaWing princess, rippled through everyone’s minds.
Princess Anemone of the SeaWings Granite recalled from a scroll
“Oh, thank the moons,” Anemone said, spotting the net of fish, her voice clear and high. “I haven’t eaten since we left Queen Moorhen’s palace yesterday.” She stepped delicately around a SandWing who was chewing something on the floor, and surveyed the few small fish that hadn’t been claimed yet. A number of MudWings, SeaWings, and SkyWings were clustered nearby, brown and green and red scales side by side as they ate.
“Hmmm. I’d like that one,” Anemone said with sugar coated words. She pointed at a giant gray fish with a pale, speckled pink belly. A NightWing — the one I didn’t know — already had his claws around it and was lifting it to his mouth. He paused and stared at her.
She gazed back, her chin raised.
“Uh,” said the NightWing. “This one?”
“That one,” said Anemone. “It’s my favorite kind.”
“But I’m eating it” he said.
“You heard her,” snapped one of the SeaWings, and Granite rolled her eyes Typical Royals, I mean, Not Queen Thorn and Queen Glory, but mostly
“But … I’m eating this one,” said the NightWing in a tone of confusion.
“Oh, but I would really like it ,” said Anemone.
“Anemone —” Tsunami tried to interrupt, stepping forward.
“Don’t you know this is the SeaWing princess?” the SeaWing snarled. He shoved himself in the NightWing’s face and flexed his webbed talons. “The heir to the throne! Give her the fish. Now.”
“Uh —” said the NightWing. She’s not my princess, though, his brain mumbled.
Clay hurried over through the silence that had slowly fallen around Pike, Anemone, and the NightWing. Most of the other dragons were staring at them, except for Coconut, who was deeply focused on a bunch of grapes.
“Hey, this is an understandable mistake,” Clay said, gently scooting the NightWing back away from The SeaWing-Pike. “We haven’t posted any prey center rules yet, but we will. Basically whoever gets their claws on it first, they get to eat it. If we find that doesn’t work, we’ll revisit the rules in a couple of weeks. But that’s how it is right now. All right?”
Pike scowled. “But the princess wants that fish!”
This one’s going to be trouble, I heard from Clay’s mind, clear as day. He sighed.
“I do,” Anemone agreed. She looked up at Clay with large blue eyes. “Mother would want me to have it.”
“There are so many fish in the lakes” Clay pointed out
“Yea sis, it’ll be fun to come to catch more fish” Tsunami elbowed Anemone “I’ll come too!”
Anemone blinked. She looked from Clay to Tsunami, and then narrowed her eyes at the NightWing, who was starting to chew on the fish’s tail.
So that’s how it’s going to be? I don’t like this at ALL, said her mind, but her mouth said, “Oh. Very well.”
I wondered if I’d imagined the ghost of a smile that whisked across Turtle’s face.
“You can have my fish, princess,” Pike said, handing her a dripping salmon that he’d already sliced lengthwise with his claws.
Anemone looked down her nose at it, then shook her head. “I’m not actually that hungry after all. Come on, Ostrich.” She swept out of the cave, deliberately avoiding Clay. The SandWing glanced around, thinking disappointed hungry thoughts, but hurried after the princess.
Pike hissed at the NightWing “You’ll regret this”
“Time to cool down, Pike,” Tsunami said sternly.
Pike hissed again, but slunk off with his salmon.
Oh, dear, thought Clay. I watched him smile at the NightWing as if nothing was wrong, and then give Tsunami a “we should talk about that” look. She rolled her eyes and hurried after her sister.
Umber’s whole face lit up as Clay paced over to them. “Hey,” Clay said affectionately, nudging his little brother. “Where are Marsh and Sora?”
“Coming over now,” Umber said, waving his wings.
I sat up and saw Sora approaching with another dragon who looked like her, only more fidgety and nervous. Sora’s expression was subdued, but painful anxiety clawed at her insides, all jumbled into scraps of thoughts: are we safe; miss Reed; I saw her; can’t sleep; not safe anywhere; oh, Crane, I wish you were here. The MudWing took a deep breath and started the same internal ritual Moon had found in her mind the night before. Sora imagined mud slowly pouring over all her worries, leaving only a rippling, peaceful swamp.
(Granite’s Perspective)
Sora and an unfamiliar MudWing approached Umber and Turtle.
“Sora, Marsh! Come meet my winglet!” He waved one talon towards them “This is my brother and sister”
“Hi Sora, I’m Moon, remember?” Moon called “Here, would you like some” Moon handed Sora a piece on the goat
“Thanks” Sora took it and tore it in half, then gave a half to Marsh
I looked at them, waves of nostalgia hitting me. I missed my siblings and my dad. I wish we could have been a normal family with my mom, and I winced at the horrible memory. I moved on from the village, but flashes of the memory came sailing through randomly.
“Who’s in your winglet?” Umber asked Marsh “You’re in the copper winglet, right?”
“Yea, that’s my clawmate” Umber pointed to Coconut
Perfect plan, put the slowest dragon with the most nervous dragon. Not even this twitchy dragon would be afraid of this snail disguised as a dragon I thought
Marsh looked around nervously “That’s all I remember, I don’t remember anyone else’s names yet”
“That’s all right, you’ll figure them out. Sora?” Clay prompted his sister. “Anyone really nice?”
She fiddled with the meat in her talons, pulling out tufts of fur. “There’s a RainWing in my winglet who seems nice — she’s blind.”
“Tamarin!” Kinkajou cried. “Oh, you must be in the Gold Winglet. She’s my best friend!”
“A SandWing named Onyx,” Sora said, counting on her claws. “That SeaWing over there, Pike. His clawmates: a NightWing called Bigtail, and a SkyWing with a bad scar across his snout. And my clawmate.” She nodded at the far wall, at the IceWing seated on the ledge next to Winter. They were both gazing disdainfully down at the eating dragons. Above them, sharp, twisting stalactites studded the roof of the alcove where they sat, almost as though they were glaring out of a mouth filled with enormous teeth.
“Winter’s sister?” Qibli said. “Then you and I are in the same tent, friend. Is she as stuck-up as her brother? Has she mentioned being in line for the IceWing throne yet?”
Sora blinked at the IceWings. There was something weird at the mention of the IceWing-Icicle
“To be honest,” Clay admitted, “from what we’d heard about Icicle, we figured we had to put her in the same cave as the nicest, least offensive dragon we could think of, so there wouldn’t be any casualties the first week of school. I hope it’s going all right, Sora.”
His sister dropped her gaze to her claws. “It’s fine,” she said, but the look in her eyes told otherwise.
“Let me know if not,” Clay said gently. “It’s really important to me that you be happy here.”
Sora nodded.
“Don’t we have history together next?” Turtle asked. “Our winglet and your winglet together?”
“Do we?” Umber said, delighted.
“Maybe,” I said
Moon stood up “I have to visit the library, I’ll catch up with you guys later, Sora, do you want to come?” She asked the shy MudWing
“I do” She replied as she joined Moon and together, they exited the cave.
Chapter 9 (Granite’s Perspective)
I looked at my winglet; Brown, green, yellow, pink, and I looked at my talons, grey, more or less. I suddenly realized that I made something for them. I rummaged through my satchel, but it wasn’t there, it would probably be in my cave. But now, I wanted an opinion of my surprise, if I could get it.
“Guys, I’ll be right back, I’ll meet you at the history cave” I said
“Can I come too?” Qibli asked
“Sure,” I smiled, and we both left the prey center
“Where are we going?” Qibli asked
“To see my surprise, which I had left at the art cave” I replied “I need your opinion”
“My opinion” He echoed
I resisted the urge to smack him with my wing, he wasn’t fully a friend yet, but he was my friend “Of course, isn’t that what friends do?”
Qibli blinked at me, then looked forward and continued walking. I took a left turn and was greeted by the vivid and beautiful form of the art cave. By the looks of it, more dragons have visited the cave and had made clay sculptures of dragons of different tribes, a few MudWings, two SandWings, five SkyWings, and a IceWing. I looked at where I had kept my painting from the day before, then I looked at the jade green pouches. I lightly brushed the painting with one claw, then picked it up and showed it to Qibli, who was inspecting a SandWing sculpture concernedly.
“Rate this out of 10” I said
Qibli looked up at my painting, then placed the sculpture back on the table.
“Wow, I’ll rate this ten out of ten” Qibli gasped “It’s so beautiful, you made this?”
“Yes,” I beamed “Now what about this?” I sat the painting on the table and took one jade green pouch with yellow threads tying it. “Open this, it’s for you”
Qibli untied it with one gentle move, then turned it the other way around and a yellow and black rubber bracelet with a jade coloured stone as a pendant fell on his talon
“Wow, it’s beautiful” Qibli said, looking at the bracelet with awe “Extremely detailed and beautiful talon work”
“I made one for every dragon in our winglet” I said, the scales around my eyes changing into violet as my eyes turned into a yellow as bright as Kinkajou’s scales when she’s excited.
Qibli looked into my eyes “It’s beautiful” He put it around his right wrist as I scoped the others and put it gently in my satchel. I took out another pouch and took out a black and brown rubber bracelet with the same pendant and put it over my right wrist. I took the sunset painting and hung it on the wall, where it stood out beautifully. Do you really want to put it there? A voice asked
Yes, another part said We talked about this
But they can judge us however they want, the SandWing probably said it’s good because he feels sympathetic towards us The first voice said
Just be quiet, believe in the goodness of dragons, The second voice said
So the goodness in dragons would also want to orphan four poor dragonets The first voice screamed
Maybe only some dragons are not good, you don’t need to judge the rest because of a few the second voice shouted
Dragons have only one feeling, hatred, and I thought that you of all dragons would know that The first voice screamed so loud that I almost flinched
“Come on, let’s go to to history now” Qibli said “Lunch time is almost over”. I shook my head, what was that all about?
“You good?” Qibli asked concerningly
“Yea, I’m fine” I said, but my brain was spiraling off with those two voices battling, now in the background.
“You have to teach me how to make this” Qibli said as we both walked out of the cave. I made my scales the normal grey and adjusted my eyes to the usual dark brown. I was greeted by many dragonets running around panicking their heads off.
“Woah, what’s happening?” Qibli asked alarmed.
“One way to find out” I said as a held out a talon to stop a nearby MudWing from running off
“What happened? Why are everyone panicking?” I asked, maybe a little too demanding.
“IT”S PERIL” He screamed “SHE HAS COME TO KILL US ALL!”
“Calm down, what exactly happened?” I asked, more gently
“She just entered the mountain, near the entrance ledge, and I panicked” The MudWing said after taking a few deep breaths
“Come on, let’s see what happened” I said to Qibli, who was looking calmer than most dragons would at the news. I was glad that the raging battle between two mysterious thoughts were over. I felt sorry for Peril, mostly because she was seen as a dragon who was a monster, and excluded away. And Peril wasn’t bad at all, but might have been before, but not now.
All the dragons were running around like a headless scavenger, but somehow I managed to go to the entrance cave without tumbling or crashing into any dragon, Qibli right behind me. at the entrance ledge, there was a bright copper SkyWing who stood eyeing all the dragonets with concern with her electric blue eyes.
Most students had probably retreated to their sleeping caves, but Winter and Icicle stood there looking at the poor SkyWing with disgust. Starflight entered shortly later followed by Moon and Kinkajou
“Who’s there?” Starflight called with a fearful look in his eyes
“That’s not Queen Scarlet,” Moon said, touching his shoulder.
“It’s not?” Starflight said. His wings collapsed with relief.
“Peril!” Clay shouted as he hurried into the cave, moving fast despite his limp. “You came!”. Tsunami came in with a displeased expression, for no reason.
Peril instinctively shrank away from Clay, but he didn’t notice it and took Peril’s talon and pressed it between his. A sizzing sound and a burning small entered the cave, but a moment later, when Clay let go, the burn healed instantly.
“When we didn’t hear from you, we assumed you weren’t coming,” Tsunami said.
“I thought I could find her,” Peril said, tearing her gaze away from Clay. “But she’s nowhere. I don’t know where else to look. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Clay said wholeheartedly. “We’re glad you’re here.”
“We don’t have a group for you,” Tsunami said, folding her wings back. “We didn’t know you were coming, so there’s a SkyWing in each winglet already.”
“I don’t have to stay,” Peril mumbled. She edged back a step, toward the outside.
“But I want you to,” Clay said. “If Scarlet’s looking for you, too, we’ll all be safer together. Don’t worry about the winglets, we’ll figure it out.” He shot Tsunami a frown.
Tsunami rolled her eyes, and a moment later, she said “I’ll go ask Sunny where we should put you,” and swept away to the exit and disappeared
“She can’t stay here!” Winter suddenly barked, stepping forward. He jabbed a claw at Peril. “That dragon killed more than twenty IceWing prisoners. She was Queen Scarlet’s favorite weapon. It’s one thing to force us to work with deceitful NightWings and lowborn SandWings, but a straight-up murderer? No one is going to stand for this.”
“Besides, she’s dangerous,” his sister pointed out in a smooth, high-pitched voice. “Whether she’s still working for Queen Scarlet or … not.” The tone of her voice made it perfectly clear which of those she believed.
“A lot of dragons have done things they need to be forgiven for,” Clay pointed out. Just around the corner, I saw Tsunami hear him, pause, and wince. “Especially in the war. The agreement between the queens was amnesty for everyone, no grudges, no revenge.”
“Fighting in battles, following orders from your general, that’s normal warfare,” Winter said. “Killing prisoners while they’re chained up, or forcing them to fight a monster — how is that forgivable?”
Peril seemed to be shrinking and burning hotter at the same time. Her weird eyes glowered at Winter through the smoke.
“Even Queen Ruby hasn’t agreed to pardon that dragon,” Icicle pointed out. “She’s been banned from the SkyWing palace, hasn’t she?”
“All the more reason to welcome her here,” Clay said. “Where starting over and second chances are the whole point.” He smiled at Peril again. She lashed her tail and ducked her head. “Come on, let’s go see the others,” Clay added diplomatically, waving Peril toward the tunnel where Tsunami had disappeared.
Icicle turned to Winter as they left and hissed, “I’ll send a messenger to Queen Glacier tonight.”
The gong sounded twice, echoing through the tunnels.
“Come on, let’s get to class” I said
“Good idea” Qibli agreed and followed me. I heard Kinkajou and Moon follow us a few seconds later.
The history lesson cave was far down inside the mountain, at the intersection of three winding, narrow tunnels. There were fewer of the fire globes along these tunnels; the ones here were shades of orange and blue, and they were interspersed with flickering torches. Qibli edged to the torches, maybe he felt claustrophobic in here. I really didn’t like short spaces too.
Inside, the history cave’s stone walls were covered in maps, the paper curling up at the edges, with different borders and years written on each one. Stacks of scrolls were piled untidily everywhere, overflowing the wooden racks provided for them.
Webs stood in the center of the cave, waiting for everyone to gather in a circle around him. I noticed he was the SeaWing who helped Tsunami bring the fish to the prey center. In a few moments, my winglet filled in, as did Sora’s