Wings Of Fire: Heart of Oak

What's Going on?

   "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPOW!", said the baby dragon from inside of the pouch.
  Her black and yellow stripes would have blended into the jungle had they been in the shadows, but here, in the only sunpatch in sight, they stood out like a home-schooler among public-schoolers.

  "You can't eat until we get to the village", the green dragon told her sternly.

  The dragonet flopped her wings sadly.
  "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee never!", she said mournfully.

  "Aw, it's okay, Bumblebee! She's such a quick learner!', said the yellow dragon with the pouch.

  The small one, who's name must have been Bumblebee, snuggled closer and heaved a loud dramatic sigh.

  "We keep the outer layers of the jungle as wild as possible", The green dragon explained.
  "It helps keep out intruders."

  "Oh. Oooh, she's talking about you", the orange-and-blue dragon said to the gold one. "The obvious reasons are your murdery tribe and evil queen."

  "Swordtail, come on", said the indigo dragon, brushing his wing with the yellow dragon's.

"Your tribe isn't exactly welcome here either, Silkwing", The green dragon pointed out.

Silkwing.
Tribe.
Where have I heard those words before?

"Flying gets easier farther in", The green dragon went on."But for now, we climb. Follow me and don't touch anything I haven't touched first."

  She arched her wings and caught the air current, lifting her up, and up, towards the tops of the trees.
Holly follwed suite.
For some reason, it seemed as though she was gliding right along side the green dragon; she could feel the wind wipping past her, the leaves flying in spirrels around her, the weightless feeling of her feet.
  Up here, the branches were like long fingers. . . . . . an image Holly imeditatley regreted conguring.

"Whoa", the blue-and-purple dragon said, looking at a cluster of makahiyas."I've never seen a plant do that before."

"Oh, I think they're called 'touch me nots' right, Sundew?", the yellow dragon asked.

"That's one name for them", the green dragon said slowly.

"Oooooooooooooh that's a good nickname for them", Swordtail said, "Don't touch me; OR YOU WILL DIE!"

Cricket put a talon over her face to hide her laugh.

Sundew snickered.
"Actually, out of this entire jungle, those are probably the least likely to kill you."

"Hmm", Swordtail said skeptically.

Holly had to hurry to keep up with them. She didn't even know why she followed them; she just did it.

"You're like a monkey-in a very good way-big jumps-not in a bad way-not foodish-just so fast", Swordtail said to Sundew as he wheezed to a stop.
The yellow dragon balanced herself onto a spot next him.

Sundew winced.

"It's scary, like being high up on the webs", said the blue-and-purple dragon."But loud, like the inside of the hives only the buzzing is in a language you can't understand.

  "And the smell is terrible", Swordtail said.

  Sudew bristled.
"No it isn't! This is what freedom smells like!"

"Don't rotting animals and swamp gas smell like this?", Swordtail asked.

Holly couldn't help but agree; she loved forests, but this jungle was something else.