Wings of Fire: Crazy Kids

Chapter Four

Kiang was glad to see Glace loosening up a bit. Formerly he hadn't thought it possible, but the IceWing somehow looked EVEN MORE HANDSOME when he smiled.

Even though his rugged scowl was already heart-stoppingly dashing.

Kiang was also, of course, thrilled to see Copper and Dart coming out of their shells, and surprised that he himself had gotten so comfortable so quickly.

Kiang strongly believed that these six dragons would be his friends for the rest of his life. At least the five that were... friendly. Glace might be harder to stay on the good side of.  He wondered what had happened earlier, why the IceWing had left so suddenly.  Maybe he'd ask in a few days, once (and if) Glace warmed up to him.

"Hey, pause for a second!" Krait shouted, holding her wings up to get everyone's attention.  The splashing and laughter dropped from the air, everyone's heads turning toward the SandWing.  "Sorry.  I just had an awesome idea.  Why don't we make this into our own little clubhouse?  For the Titanium Winglet especially."

"Can we do that?" Copper asked, pulling herself out of the water and onto a small island jutting from the lake.  "Should we?  I mean, doesn't everyone have the same amount of right to be here?"

"I think it's a great idea!" Skeksi chirped.  "Maybe we could put up a misleading sign by the door?  We could carve one to say 'storage room' or 'staff room'.  Nobody would care about either of those."

Spark nodded thoughtfully.  "Or... we could spread rumours that this place is haunted!"

"None of that is necessary," Glace spoke up, to everyone's surprise.  He spread out his glistening wings to float on the lake's surface.  "Haven't you noticed how busy the rest of the school is compared to this section?  Nobody outside our winglet comes back here anyway.  We don't need them to think it's a haunted storage room... they just have to know that we're here.  The crazy kids."

Dart flinched.  Copper looked down at her talons.  Krait's wings drooped, Flare winced, and Skeksi's smile melted into a frown.

Great job, Glace, Kiang thought, wondering how to fix the IceWing's slip.  You hurt everyone's feelings.

"Wait, I like that," Kiang suddenly said.  "The Crazy Kids.  I like it a lot. That should be our group name!"

"But... but we aren't crazy, right?" Krait asked, pawing the rock beneath her nervously.  "I don't want more dragons to think that."

"It's perfect!" Skeksi boomed.  "It makes us sound dangerous! And awesome! And who cares what the other dragonets think of us? We've got each other, right?"

"Right," Spark and Krait said at the same time.

"Well that's a bit optimistic, seeing as I only just met you goons," Glace offered. "Like, I'm pretty sure if there was a fire I'd still save my own scales before even considering any of you. Give it a week, then maybe you can expect a bit more of the mushy 'we're a team' idiotic friendship stuff."

"Can't wait," Spark said with a grin.

"So does everyone agree? That should be our team name?" Skeksi asked, glancing around at each member of the winglet.

"I don't see why we need a team name, but sure!" Krait yipped happily. Everyone else nodded.

"Dragonets?  Are you guys... oh, there you all are!"  Abra trotted down into the cave.  "Wow, you're all here.  That was fast.  But my mother always said 'fast friendships are the strongest', so I'm glad to see you all hanging out together."

"They aren't my friends," Glace scoffed, and then looked a bit guilty as everyone wilted a little, but he didn't say anything else.

"Oh." Abra looked a bit disappointed. "But at least you all seem to be getting along, yes? Anyway, I've come to round you up for another therapy session."

"Great," Glace muttered, dragging his body out of the water at the beckoning flick of Abra's tail.

"We'll be learning a bit more about each other, and talking about... why we're all here," Abra explained as she lead the dripping dragonets back to her room. "Please shake your wings off before you come inside."

Kiang fluffed his wings in and out until he felt dry, and then hurried into the room and sat down on the same pillow as before. Glace wordlessly sat next to him, tail lashing irritably.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Abra asked.

"Me! ME!" Spark shouted. "Wait—what exactly am I supposed to do?"

"Just tell us two things. What you'd be doing if you were at home right now, and why you think you're here instead." Abra set her wings back and fixed her eyes on Spark as he started talking.

"Oh, ok... if I was at home I'd be... hunting, maybe?  Or playing in the forest behind my house," Spark said with a nod.

"And who'd be with you?" Abra pried.

The SkyWing swallowed, suddenly looking a lot younger.  "N-nobody."  Krait patted his talon sympathetically.

"So why do you think you're here?" Abra asked.

"Because... I get excited way too easily, about tiny little meaningless things," Spark admitted.  "Especially... um, when dragons talk to me."

"And why is that?" Abra prodded softly.

"I don't know..." Spark replied, shifting his talons.  His voice had gotten quieter the whole way, and now he was almost whispering. 
Poor guy.

"I think I do," Abra told the SkyWing.  "But we can talk about that later, in a private session."  He nodded, and the goofy smile slowly came back to his face.

"Now... Glace," Abra said suddenly, pinpointing the IceWing with her gentle blue eyes.  Glace stiffened, eyes narrowing, wings snapping back, claws digging into the ground.  "Why don't you go next?"