Wings Of Fire (WOF) : A dark family affair

Chapter 12

The orange sky of the day was beginning to give way to its nocturnal double. The moons as well as a few stars were beginning to appear in this increasingly dark sky. During this little night walk illuminated by streetlights, glowing with fire silks, Dandelion had vaguely explained why he was here, in the sky kingdom.

Thanks to his silkwing origins, he makes various types of decorative tapestries with silk and is practically a full-time tapestry maker. He produces, sells all his stock and then goes from kingdom to kingdom passing by Possibility, his favorite place for its diversity. He came from Pantala, his father and mother having met there, but wanted to make a career in Pyrrhia. His reasons were a bit vague to Nightjar, reinforcing the suspicions she had of him. She didn't like that he was saying all his "real" past with a reckless manner. But mostly, what was making her self-conscious, she was sure she had heard of him somewhere before, but her mind was adamant on the subject. It was impossible to remember anything.

As far as his sales items were concerned, it was something simple according to Dandelion : "Here I only sell two types of tapestries : a representation of the Queen or the Queen. And by Queen I mean the two Queens, the new one and the old one. There are people who miss the old regime and others think that on the contrary the renewal is a good thing. Personally, I could already sell products because I am half skywing so I don't care what they think". The duo had tried as best they could to keep their distance from this intrusive shopkeeper, but Maple lent himself to the conversation as well as Nightjar but more timidly.

"And you envision to do this for the rest of your life ? the green dragon asked curiously.

- It's temporary for now, although I've been doing it for about 3-4 years now. I earn a little bit of money to allow me to live a decent life and it allows me to travel. I've already thought of heading to the night or ice kingdom, even though these insensitive ice cubes are completely isolated from the world. Even the mud kingdom allows me to come from time to time and it still remain difficult.

- I have never seen you once though, Nightjar remarked.

- Because you lived there ?

- Yes, for a while. I'm a hybrid between a mudwing and a nightwing.

- It's unusual if I do say so myself".

They continued forward until they found themselves in front of a large building, made of cob like the other houses. The windows all along the façade were covered with a fine mesh, drawing patterns in the form of small diamonds with blue and green colors. The windows let in the light of the fire silk lanterns that were inside, making the shadows of the people present appear. The entrance was decorated with small flowers in large earthenware bowls suspended by small chains.

From outside one could hear the thunderous noise of the dragons indulging in their gustatory pleasure. "You'll have to be careful not to bump into anyone, some of them are a little skittish at this hour and the alcohol doesn't help, warned Dandelion.

- Are you going to buy us lodgings in this inn ? asked Maple with astonishment.

- Slow down, you fools, stopped the red dragon, I said I would take you in, not put you up".

As they entered, the door that blocked the distant conversations gave way to this slight commotion. Dragons were gathered around various wooden tables. Some still seemed sober, chatting quietly with their companions, while others seemed to have lost their minds, with the managers of the inn politely and impatiently asking them to come out for some fresh air. "Hey, Dandelion, won't you help me kick out this drunk ?!" shouted a cyan blue-eyed rainwing who was vainly trying to gently push a skywing towards the exit.