She wasn't like any NightWing he had ever heard of. This one was quiet and acting almost in a way that if she could somehow melt into the cave walls. Surprised at himself, Qibli felt a pang of pity. Based on what had just happened to them, including their home burnt down and their new queen a RainWing, he could understand how they would react. But still, he thought. Shouldn't they be angry and breathe fire around and stuff? He had expected them to actually announce a war. With their tremendous powers, they coul- Wait a second. NO. Not tremendous powers. Thorn said they have nothing to hide from us now. Qibli looked at the small black dragon. Then, why did it seem like she had to hide something? Definitely not the eerie silver teardrops beside her eyes. Everyone would notice that. But then, the way she kept her head down, almost like she could block out noise by dodging it.
As if on cue, the NightWing scurried away like a lizard, and in confusion, Qibli stared after her.
"You guys saw that? Interesting, huh?" Qibli said to the other fellow SandWings.
"You mean weird," Ostrich snorted in reply. She swept her tail across the floor, creating a cloud of dust into their eyes. Pronghorn blinked rapidly and rubbed his eyes. Onyx merely just glared at her.
"Uhh. Maybe we should go in now?" said a burly but nervous SandWing called Arid. Nodding firmly, Onyx followed him in, with the others trailing after.
Now carefully looking at what Fatespeaker had given him, Qibli saw a simple connection of tunnels and caves, with small details here and there about Art caves, Music caves (Qibli couldn't wait to start that), History caves. In the next leaflet, there was a small grid of groups of Sleeping Caves. Running his talon on the parchment, Qibli finally spotted his name. And, below that, was...
An IceWing?
Qibli had imagined some kind of SeaWing or SkyWing. If he was lucky enough, maybe even that mysterious NightWing. But an IceWing? That was something. But either way, Qibli felt as if it was a challenge the dragonets of destiny had given him, and he was glad to accept it.
"Bye!" said Ostrich, pulling Qibli into the present. They were outside a cave opening, where Ostrich stood waving. Had they reached Ostrich's cave already?
Qibli grabbed Ostrich's talons, and said to her quickly, "Don't get into trouble alright? Make good friends and pay attention in class. And make sure-"
"I"ll be fine!" said Ostrich happily. She pulled herself free from Qibli's talons and darted into the cave.
Soundlessly, Qibli smiled and turned back to the others. It was until then that most of the SandWings had departed, leaving Onyx.
Onyx had Qibli suspicious. Although the school was for anyone of all ages, Onyx was the oldest of the SandWings and perhaps even older than the entire school. She had arrived at the palace one day, in Queen Thorn's meeting area. No one knew who she was, where she had come from when she was there. Her request was simple and straightforward. Permission to attend Jade Mountain Academy.
Silently walking down the stone corridor, Onyx swung her head left to right, keeping track of the sleeping caves they'd walked past.
"So," Qibli said brightly. "Where's your cave? Who's in there?" Onyx pointedly gestured to one of the corner caves, which Qibli found unlucky because of the unvalued amount of noise.
"I'm with a SeaWing," Onyx made a face. "Who wants to be with a fish-eating, kelp smelling idiot who can only light up?"
Qibli protested in his mind. Sure, Qibli would never know why they would eat fish, but hey, he thought light up scales was cool.
Before he could react, he finally spotted his cave drawing near by their talon steps. Waving goodbye to Onyx, he took a deep breath. Why am I so nervous?
Squaring his shoulders, Qibli stepped into the cave.
