Kingdoms Falling

Chapter 9

"What? You're leaving already?"

Meadow glanced up from his bags to find Armadillo standing anxiously in the entranceway, dismay written all over her features. He didn't understand why she was so upset. "I have to," he answered, stuffing several scrolls and other odds and ends into a smaller bag and then tied it around his neck. "It will be nightfall there soon. I have to sneak in while no one is looking."

"You're afraid of going back...aren't you?" Dillo stepped forward worriedly. "What did they do to you?" She reached out to touch his talons, and he instinctively drew back, blinking fearfully behind his rims.

"Sorry," he mumbled, seeing her startled and hurt expression. "I just...I don't like to talk about it. It's... a dark stain in my past that I'd much rather forget."

"But? Come on, talk to me." Armadillo moved closer and took a seat next to him. "I'm your friend. And, besides, it looks like you really need to get this off of your chest. So," She swept her tail closer and gestured for him to join her, "you talk. I'll listen."

"Um...thanks, but, I really should be getting ready to--"

"Sit," Armadillo repeated, prodding him with her tail. "The sea-dwellers aren't going anywhere. Neither is the night. You can spare a few minutes. And I'll even start. Where were you hatched?"

"The Purple Seaweed District," Meadow replied with a sheepish smile as he settled down next to his bags, fiddling with the ropes shyly.

"Okay...that's cool, and...the what?" Armadillo tilted her head. "Um...Meadow, hate to be the one to tell you this, but, seaweed isn't purple. Even I know that."

The green hatchling couldn't help, but smile slightly. "I know that. It's not talking about actual seaweed. It's a code for a hatchery. There are four. Purple in the east quadrant. Yellow in the south. Orange in the north. And Green in the west. The higher ranked your family is depends on where you hatch."

"Well, that's...interesting?" It sounded more like a question. Of course it wouldn't make sense to her. She wasn't a water dragon. "So, let me guess, what quadrant you hatched in also determined what role you would have when you grew up?"

"Actually, yes," Meadow said, surprised she would have caught on so quickly. "I was training to be a teacher."

Armadillo broke into helpless giggles. "Oh...oh that is so perfect. You. A teacher." She sat up straighter and her grin faded to an indignant scowl that Meadow recognized as his own. "Sit down right now you young whippersnappers! I am trying to teach you the beauty of physics and--Orchid, get that thing out of your mouth. You don't know where it's been! PHYSICS IS EXCITING YOU PITIFUL EXCUSES FOR SEA SLUGS! Now PAY ATTENTION!" She placed a talon on her snout, pushing up invisible glasses.

"Yikes."

"Yeah," Armadillo grinned once more. "I have a lot of brothers to practice on."

"Remind me never to take one of your remedial science classes," Meadow joked. "I'd be too intimidated to even try and study." He nudged her playfully with his wings before looking down once more at his talons. "I...I was adopted," he went on quietly. "Right out of the hatchery, as required by law. No one knows where my egg came from. Apparently, I wasn't even supposed to be there. But since my biological parents could never be found, I was given to a family for them to raise. It didn't take them long to notice that I was...different." He stretched out his talons pointedly. "No webs, no gills, no chance of normalcy. My adopted parents...didn't want me. Lionfish--he's my brother...kind of--tried to kill me on several occasions. I left. And I've only gone back once since."