On Destiny's Wings: A Journey of Embers (UNDERGOING REVISIONS)

Chapter 2: Leaving the Nest

Sundrop's eyes fluttered open when she realized she and Flametooth had dozed off. With a groan of annoyance, the dragonling shook out her scales and rose to her sleepy paws. No light shone through the cavern entrance apart from a small sliver of eerie white.

Moonlight? she thought. Crickets chirped in the distance. Tiny bursts of wind caressed the stones inside the fortress, whistling much like a choir.

Sundrop blinked her icy eyes and turned towards her brother. The grumpy dragonling had rolled over in his sleep, claws splayed in four different directions. Loud snoring noises rumbled from his open snout.

"Flametooth," Sundrop whispered, crouching down beside her sibling and prodding him in the ribs. He didn't even budge.

Ugh, what is with him? she grumbled inwardly.

"Flametooth!" she repeated, a bit louder this time. His wings twitched, his pale belly trembling. A moment passed before he snorted and flopped over, blinking open his glowing orange eyes.

He rested his angry gaze on his sister, wrinkling his snout with displeasure.

"What do you want?" he growled, two balls of ashy smoke rising from his nostrils. He raised a claw and scratched at his horns.

"We slept through the evening!" Sundrop replied quietly, looking around at the empty cave. Droplets of water from the looming stalactites splashed into small blue pools on the rocky floor.

Her dazzling red scales reflected the dim light of the moon, sending beams of crimson pulsing against the cavern walls. She raised her brows, distorting the shape of the yellow patches above her blue irises.

"So what?" Flametooth snarled softly, "I'm tired."

"No, I mean, mama was supposed to come back and tell us about our classes, wasn't she?" the dragonling countered, gesturing towards their mother's empty sleeping place. It seemed to yawn eerily in the darkness.

"She probably did, but saw that we were sleeping and let us be," Flametooth grumbled. He flashed an irritated grimace at his spunky sister.

Sundrop frowned. That's not like her at all, she thought.

"Where do you think she is, then?" Sundrop asked.

"The Ember Palace, most likely."

"Oh, right."

"She is a spotter, after all. It's not like she's always going to have time for us," Flametooth concluded, shrugging his bulky shoulders. He curled his rusty tail around his legs and groomed the frills at the tip with two large fangs.

Sundrop let her head hang, observing the talons that adorned her front paws. Flametooth was right. Their mother was extremely good to them, and loving to boot; but she was a very busy FireClaw. She spent most of her days circling the sky and patrolling the kingdom. She had earned her place in the palace, and Sundrop respected that. She wouldn't make the dragoness's life complicated, no matter how much she disliked it.

"What time do you suppose it is?" the dragonling asked after a moment, glancing down at her brother.

He glared up at her. "Late," he stated simply. "Which is why we shouldn't be awake."

Sundrop paused. Suddenly, her ears perked. She knew exactly how to cheer her brother up!

"Hey, do you wanna play BloodWings and FireClaws again?" she asked excitedly, eyes honed on his face for a reaction.

Flametooth stopped combing his tail frills and peered up at her, his sunset eyes filled with anticipation. The angst-ridden dragonling bounced to his paws and spread out his wings, letting the cool air from the cave swirl across his brownish scales.