For Peace

Recruit

"Hey, Frostface! Wake up!" someone hissed.

He opened his eyes to see the Sandwing across from him staring intently at the sky, her tail coiled dangerously. 

The sound of wingbeats echoed through the quiet forest.

"A new recruit!" he whispered excitedly.

"A patrol out to kill us!" she whispered back, glaring at him.

"There's only one pair of wingbeats. Listen."

They both tilted their head in the silence.

"You're right," she grumbled, "but that doesn't mean they're a new recruit."

"Shhh..." The wingbeats had stopped. The dragon had landed.

A few seconds ticked by, and then a flat brown head poked up into the branches of the tree they were hiding in.

"Are you from the Talons of Peace?" she asked.

"Great ice spirits!" he said, startled, and almost fell out of the tree. "How did you find us?"

"What do you want?" the Sandwing snarled, raising her tail threateningly.

"I found you because your light scales are easy to spot against the trees," she said. 

"I told you this was a dumb hiding spot," the Sandwing growled at Hvitur.

"And," the Mudwing continued, "I want to join the Talons of Peace."

"Really?" he asked excitingly, sitting up and narrowly avoiding hitting his head on a branch. 

"Really," she said, and smiled at him. He noticed two things at once: her snout was covered in the tracks of dried tears, and he liked her smile. It was as full of hope as he was.

"Well, you sure had some timing," the Sandwing grumbled. "Can't get a good night's sleep around here."

"Come on, let's be honest, when is the last time you got a good night's sleep?" Hvitur asked drily.

"Touché, Frostface."

"Frostface? Is that your name?" the Mudwing asked.

"Ha! No. She calls me that because my real name is nearly unpronounceable. I'm actually Hvitur."

"Oh! That makes a bit more sense. I'm Asha, by the way."

"And I'm ready to get out of here,"  the Sandwing said. "Come on, let's go to the camp. We'll see if the boss will let you join."

She lifted out of the tree. "Come on, sand-snorters," she called over her shoulder. "If we're not sleeping we might as well be moving!"

Hvitur shrugged, then followed. A couple crashing sounds later, and Asha was in the sky to his right.

"The boss?" she asked after a while.

"His name's Nautilus," he elaborated. The Sandwing shot him a look. "Oops, maybe I wasn't supposed to say that. But it's not like he's going to turn her down! We need the recruits! That's why we were here in the first place." 

The Sandwing shot him another look, which he chose to ignore. He turned to the caramel brown dragon next to him, angling his wings so he could face her.

"You're going to love being a Talon! There's so much we get to do! I mean, sure, it's a little dangerous, but we're doing so much good for the world!" He grinned at her, and she grinned back. 

"That's the sugarcoated version," the Sandwing snorted ahead of them. "But I won't bother to give you the real one. You'll find it out for yourself soon enough."

Hvitur rolled his eyes behind her back, and Asha giggled.

"As you can see, everyone is a pessimist, apparently, besides me."

"I'm not a pessimist!" she offered.

"Great!" He touched one of her wings with his. "I'm sure we're going to be great friends!"

Her face brightened into an even bigger smile, countering out the worry (and maybe sadness) he had noticed in it before. 

He hoped she would get in. He hoped she would stay.

And he hoped he would be seeing a lot more of this particular dragon, if she did.