Anywhere

Graduation Day

Today was the day.

Qibli couldn't believe it. Time flew by at record speed ever since he came back from Pantala, and before he knew it, he was graduating from Jade Academy. A day he never thought he'd see given all the battles he was in. But, no, here he was.

After the Pantalan war, life had just... went back to normal. And once it did and he got settled, the days just went by. He felt like the dragonet he should've been in that time. A normal life away from wasteland wars and giant eldritch dragons.

He'd gotten his happy ending. But the question of 'now what' nagged in the back of his mind. What was going to happen once he left these halls?

Qibli couldn't help but stand in the Great Hall, watching dragons put celebratory decorations. It ranged from glowing ice sculptures to wind-kissed precious stone, and so on. Every tribe was represented here in one way or another. Fading sunlight filtered into the hall, almost as if representing the eve of his final day here. A tapestry hung in the back saying 'Congratulations, Graduates!'

Qibli was among the first to ever graduate here. It was an honor that he wasn't quite sure what to do with. He'd never had any form of education other than this so what was it supposed to mean? One way to find out, he supposed.

Instead of dwelling on it, he dragon-watched for a bit. Family and friends of the students from all over had come, with more on the way. Qibli spied Queen Glory and Deathbringer chatting in a corner. By chatting, it was more like Deathbringer babbling at Queen Glory about something indistinct while she pretended to be disinterested. It was only due to her twitching tail and the faintest outline of a smile that Qibli knew she was secretly enjoying the conversation.

How the two of them ever got along was beyond him. It just seemed like they snarked and ribbed each other at every given second. Apparently, Deathbringer was on a mission to kill Glory and that failed so badly they wed. The larger Nightwing all but curled around the Rainwing Queen, his starry wings pulling her close.

Glory turned a brief shade of pink at the action before returning back to her normal green, blue, and oranges. She snapped at him, but she also didn't pull away. It was just a mystery relationship that Qibli would never understand. As all good relationships tended to be.

Headmistress Tsunami oversaw the decorations. The battle-scarred blue Seawing was a feast for the eyes, and despite himself, Qibli couldn't help but look twice at times. She was the type of dragon that could pummel him right into submission and he'd love every bit of it. Out of instinct, he rubbed the Skyfire on his wrist. Not that it mattered... Moon already caught him. And she merely ribbed him teasingly, so Qibli took that as her being okay with it. So long as he stayed loyal, there was no harm in admiring.

And hurting his little Moon – a nickname that always got a rise out of Moon – was so far down the list of things to do that it wasn't even on there.

Helping Tsunami with organization was Fatespeaker, Starflight's mate. The bubbly, energetic Nightwing was bustling back and forth, never staying in more than one place. She was alone, as Starflight would not be able to keep up with her with his blindness. It's just a shame that he couldn't see how Fatespeaker had looked... but the added sense of touch most likely made up for it.

"Hey Qibli, can you hold this for me?" A small voice came from his left. He turned to see what was basically his sister, Sunny, attempting to position an exquisite piece of art. It depicted every single student that was graduating today in very life-like detail. He was astounded to see himself in the Jade Winglet section, like looking in a mirror. He was sat next to Moon, and the two of them were looking at each other. It made his heart swell.