What Lurks In The Shadows (WoF)

❄️ Chapter 11 - Mink ❄️

Mink carved at the wooden stick infront of her.

Since she couldn't carve ice sculptures for Snowfall and Crystal anymore, she had to improvise.

She was trying to make a replica of Dusky. He had been really tired and sick recently, and Mink was worried.

The wooden sculpture looked nothing like the SilkWing dragonet, but Mink tried to fix it for days on end.

She threw it onto the floor. "I give up." She growled. "I don't know how to carve wood."

A noise made Mink's ears flick a little. "Dusky?" She called. Had he fallen over or something?

Mink scampered to Dusky's cave, her eyes wide as she saw the SilkWing.

He looked dilusional for a minute before he saw Mink and sat up in his bed. "Mink? Hi! Don't worry, nothing happened-"

Mink cut him off. "Something's wrong. I think you should stay with the nurses."

Dusky shook his head. "Nope. No. No thanks. I'm fine." He settled back into his bed, acting tired.

Mink didn't believe him, but respected his wishes. If Dusky wanted to stay in his bed, he could stay in his bed.

"Fine. But I'll be back to check on you in a while. I'm going to class." Mink told him, leaving the cave.

Peacemaker and Cliff laughed from the hallway as the two dragonets made their way into class.

Mink normally walked with Dusky, but the SilkWing definitely wasn't in the proper condition to learn.

Bumblebee fluttered to Mink's side. "Heya, Mink!"

"Hi." Mink nodded at her friend. She wasn't completely alone.

"Where's Dusky?" Bumblebee asked. "Sick?"

"Yeah. He's been really sluggish recently." Mink told the HiveWing.

"Tell him I hope he gets better when class is over, if you can." Bumblebee bounded to her desk in the class.

A burly MudWing limped into the classroom. There was a little scar on his back leg.

"My name is Clay. I'll be teaching you about herbs, and how to normally heal injuries."

"Hello, Clay." The Jade Winglet echoed in almost unison.

As Clay went on and on, Mink's mind wandered to Dusky. Was he still okay? It wasn't like she had a crush or anything, but he was her Clawmate. She wanted to make sure he was okay.

"Roll call first." Clay instructed as more dragonets filed into the room. "Jade Winglet, meet the Quartz Winglet. Quartz Winglet, meet the Jade Winglet."

Dragonets around the room looked at each other. Mink saw a SeaWing, MudWing, RainWing, NightWing, and a LeafWing. She also saw someone that lookeds like a mix of a SkyWing and a MudWing.

"Before we start," Clay began. He reached down to a small bag and pulled out a couple rings.

Each had a little black stone embedded into it.

"Sharpclaws here is a mindreader. He has asked for every student to get a Skyfire ring."

Clay walked around the class, handing each student except Sharpclaws a Skyfire ring. When Mink got hers, she studied it closely.

"Cool." She whispered before slipping the ring on her talon.

As soon as everyone had put the rings on, Mink glanced at the mindreader. He looked calmer and less anxious.

Mink turned her attention back to Clay, who had grabbed a scroll and was reading quietly.

"Okay. Roll call now." He instructed. "First, the Quartz Winglet."

"Sharpclaws?" Clay called.

"Here." The NightWing answered.

"Yarrow? Bluefin? Deer?" Clay called one name at a time. Each dragon answered 'here' in return.

"What about Elderberry and Dawn?" Clay called the last of the Quartz Winglet.

"Here, and here." A RainWing dragonet answered, pointing to the hybrid-looking dragon beside him.

"Amazing. Jade Winglet now." Clay looked towards the students in the Jade Winglet.

"Peacemaker? Cliff?"

"Here!" Peacemaker called. Cliff rasied his talon and repeated Peacemaker.

"What about Auklet and Mink?"

Auklet simply said 'Here' and so did Mink.

"And...Bumblebee and Dusky?"

Bumblebee answered with a 'here', but spoke up. "Dusky's sick today."

Clay nodded. "That's fine." He responded. "Time to learn!"

As Mink turned to pay attention, her mind wandered.

Is Dusky really fine?