Dragons of Skylark: The Four Heirs

The New World and How I Fit Into it, so Far

     Right, eyelids. I pressed my grubby little digits against my face until they pressed against the lumps, I'd been taught were my eyes. Mum's tongue flicked across my face and to my shock, I realized there was something on my... eyes? Is this the elusive eyelid? Instinct said this was a muscle and curiosity piqued my interest.

    Something changed about the area around me. Not... drastically, but I could... see... mum now. She didn't seem to have eyelids though. She was a dark shape in a fog of less dark shapes. Muther let out a surprised noise, then licked my face a couple more times.

     "What?" I asked.

     "Gideon?" Mum called.

     Pop's dark shape loomed over me, I shied away. I wasn't used to this quite yet. It was scary. Mum's paws wrapped around me and lifted me out of the circled-up ball I'd fallen into. I didn't like the way their voices sounded. It was like it was stretched.

     "Longtayle, open your eyes again for us." Pop said, the sound of his voice was not as scary.

     When I did, I heard the sound of my siblings gathering around. I didn't like it, because I didn't know what was wrong. Something about eyelids, although I didn't understand how they could tell. Everyone looked the same, just a mass of... shadow. Yes, I think that's what it was. They only way to tell the difference between us was the sound and the scent.

     Seth's nose bopped against mine. "Why do his eyes look different than ours mum?"

     "What?" I repeated, flicking my stubby tail in annoyance. "What are you talking about? Mum?"

     "It's okay, love. Gideon, what d you make of it?"

     Pop lifted me up by the scruff and into his paws. He didn't seem bothered at all, he just seemed big and strong. He knew everything. He could explain the confusing things everyone was saying.

     "I suppose you're just different than the others. Nothing wrong with that," he said, as he sat me down.

     "Can you see this?" Seth asked.

     "What do you mean?" I groaned; my paws felt hot with frustration. "I don't know what seeing is!"

     "This?" Ronan asked, then his tail flicked me the nose.

     I snapped at it, if I were older smoke would have been pouring out of my gills. "Stop it! Seth, what's seeing?"

     "It's what your eyes do," he offered.

     "Well that clears things up."

     "It's when you can tell how deep the cave it. The light shows what's in front of you. It's different than smelling or hearing. It makes mum and pop's scales look pretty." May's claws flicked against the ground as she ran.

     "Oh," my tongue flicked out. "I don't think I can do that."

     "Which is perfectly fine." Mum tail swept around and gathered us all into a circle. "It's not like anything is going to change. Skylark said that every dragon was going to face challenges, and that's just a part of life. Longtayle, maybe your first challenge is you can't see. You've already got a head start on your siblings."

     "That's not fair!" Ronan gawked, "how came he gets to do it first?"

     "It's just how things happen dear," mum licked his head.

     Ronan huffed as we laid down to nap. My eyes were just closing when May's tongue flicked against my foot. I twitched slightly, letting her know she had my attention.