Wings Of Fire: Heart of Oak

Two Authors and a Wizard

A/N: Hey, Renx here!
Shoutout to Fuzzycat408 for letting me take inspiration from them!
Hope you enjoy!

Holly's POV

"I think I should be in charge", Nettle said as Sundew spread the map on a tree stump in the middle of the village.
The rain had finally stopped, so the stumo was still damp, but the map was drawn on a water-proof leaf.

Dang, where's a GPS when you need one?

"Ha", Sundew said to Nettle. "No."
"But I'm the oldest", Nettle said. "So I have the most expriencein the jungle, and I've been training for a dangerous mission my whole life and I'm a natural leader."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand on top of all that, you're really nice. Yeah, if I were an adult, I'd totally trust you", Holly said sarcastically.
"Oh wait . . . okay, I guess I kind of am an adult. And no, I don't trust you."

Nettle growled.

"Nope", Sundew said. "Outvoted, one to five."
"How do you know?", Nettle cried. "You didn't even ask them! They might vote for me."

"Nope", Willow said.
"No thanks", Cricket said.
"Nah", Holly said.
"Uh, no thanks", Mandrake said.
"Meebo bope!", Bumblebee chimed in.

"Whoops, six to one", Sundew said. "Maybe she is smarter than she looks."
She held out her talon, and Bumblebee wacked delightly.

"MANDRAKE", Nettle snarrled. "Why are you letting her do this to me?"
Mandrake winced.
"She's going to anyway, right? How could I do anything?"

"And", Holly muttered, "why should he? It's not like you've been a git to him his whole life."

"What?', Nettle said.

Holly looked away and pretended to whistle.

Sundew turned to Willow.
"What's the farthest you've been on the map?', she asked.
Willow pointed to a clusted of squiggly lines Northeast of the village.
"The manchineel grooves. I once went too close to them while out hunting, and my dad letured me for like a week."

"This map reeeeeally doesn't have a lot of detail", Holly commented.

She was begining to wish she had more than her backpack and the glow-toad Mandrake had given her; she didn't feel confident enough for those bombadier beetles, but now she almost wished she'd packed a few.

"Almost none of us have gone past the manchineels", Willow said. "They're scary death trees."
"I've read about them, but, I've never seen one", Cricket said, pushing up her glasses.
She could hardly keep still.
Holy felt that way too; she'd long been know for her ADHD twitches.

"Don't even think about it", Sundew said to Cricket. "No time for research today, Miss Brainy. We'll go around them."
Sundew rolled up the leaf and looked at the trees.

Sapwings were hopping from tree to tree, shouting suggestions to each other, gathering together in groups to whisper before splitting up again. Some of them stopped, and stared at Cricket and Bumblebee.

"Find something helpful to do!", Sundew yelled at a nearby Leafwing. He jumped, and scampered away like a startled squirrel.

"Do you have to be so terrifying?", Willow asked.
"It's my speacial skill. And he was asking for it."
"Was he?", Willow asked.
"Please keep being the only dragon I'm not angry with right now", Sundew said.
"Come on, everyone, let's go. Willow, you lead the way since you're the most familiar with this part of the jungle."

Willow paused for a moment, then headed into the trees with a nod to Sundew.
Holly and Sundew followed, with Cricket and Mandrake close behind.

"I'm familiar with this part of the jungle too", Nettle complained. "I've been scouting in sapwing territory since before Mandrake hatched. I know every tree that grows in this area."