King of The Dragons (Wings of Fire X Monster Hunter)

Part 1: Chapter 3 & 4

He was asleep.

She guessed that his lack of sleep had finally caught up to him. Tsunami glanced down at the sea, sparkling aquamarine below her. Somewhere in those blue-green depths was her family - her parents, her kingdom, everything that should have been hers, if the Talons of Peace hadn't stolen her away and ruined her life.

Perhaps the problem with her friends was that were from different tribes, all stubborn and muddled up instead of sensible like SeaWing. Although Stormcaller was all right. Maybe her own kind would understand her better. They'd appreciate her instead of yelling at her.

Well, she didn't have to sit here waiting for everyone else to wake up. It wasn't like they'd be much help when it came to searching anyway. Tsunami stretched her wings.
"P-Please don't go," Tsunami froze, and slowly looked back.
Stormcaller was shaking. Was he having a nightmare, or could he tell that she was leaving.
"D-Don't go," he said again.

Maybe she won't leave. She'll just go for a little swim, Tsunami figured she'd be back before they were all awake.
She tipped forward out of the cave opening. Wind whistled past her snout, tugging at her tail as she plummeted down the cliff. At the last moment, she snapped her wings open and sailed across the top of the water, skimming it with her claws. Joy tingled through her scales. She spun and dove into the water.

The sea was warmer here and busy with underwater life. Her slash sent what seemed like thousands of fish scattering away, several of them disappearing into pinkish-orange coral reef that curled out of the sand like a petrified forest. A blobby dark blue octopus goggled at her from the branches. Tsunami kept seeing flickers of bright yellow and silver at the edge of her vision as fish fled from her webbed claws.

No welcoming committee of delighted SeaWings, though. No glowing jellyfish marking a path to Queen Coral's castle. No cavalcade of bowing seahorses and bejeweled lobsters to lead the way. Not that she'd been picturing the homecoming scene from The Missing Princess or anything.

Tsunami swam along the coral reef, peering at the creatures hiding in the nooks and holes. A hideous thing she thought might be an eel stared back at her. Little orange-and-white fish nestled in the wavering lavender anemones.

She still wasn't used to swimming in the sea, and that frustrated her. Unexpected currents kept knocking her off balance. The salt water felt like it was scrapping roughly against her gills. Were were her natural SeaWing instincts? Her world was supposed to make her stronger, faster, tougher - not pathetic.

She swam all the way to the next island, fighting the currents. More of the pinkish coral reef stretched across the sand here as well, dotted with waving green fans and lacy dark purple ferns. Her wings felt sore and tired, so she spread them wide and floated near the surface, not far from the land.
She thought about going back, but then something flashed below her in the shadows of the coral reef.
Something very large.

Tsunami had a brief vision of all large, toothy things that might live in the ocean, then dismissed it. If it was a shark, she would kill it and bring it back to the others to eat - mainly so she could see the look on Starflight's face.
She flicked her tail to swim closer.
It was another SeaWing.
A shiver rippled across her scales when she saw him, and part of her wanted to bolt right back to her friends.

'Don't be a smoke breather,' she scolded herself. 'This is what you were hoping for: a dragon from your own tribe.'
She took a deep breath, The strange SeaWing had dark blue horns and sky-blue scales several shades paler than hers. He was paddling by the reef, shifting his talons and wings slightly to change course. His head turned alertly from side to side.

'Well, it wouldn't hurt to follow him for a while first,' Tsunami told herself. She crept along the top of the reef, peering over the edge at him. Her claws caught on small gaps in the coral. She accidentally poked an indignant black lobster, which came bustling out with it's long whiskers bristling and pincers snapping. It took one look at her and hustled right back into hiding.