The Curse's Breath

Chapter Sixteen

"You're late."

Celni shivered under the shadow of Chalen's towering form. "I'm sorry. I was just so tired after the attack that day that I—"

"Do you know nothing?" the venom dragon growled. "A respectable warrior does not make excuses for their mistakes, but learns from them and does not make them again."

"Understood," Celni said, dipping her head. "It won't happen again."

"Good." He gave a satisfied nod. "I'll show you to your kin." He started to head over to the group of young dragons that were mingling with each other.

At first she didn't realize what he had said--Celni was too busy focusing on her bruised and battered wings, the result of yet another crash landing on her way over here. Then Chalen's words registered in her brain. She looked up at him, frowning. "Wait—kin? I'm not related to anyone here."

Chalen glanced over at her but kept walking. She followed, still confused. He stopped in front of four dragons. One of them was Keltaril, but the other three—a water dragon, a forest dragon, and a venom dragon—she did not recognize.

"Sotira, this is Sephina, Kulliras, Zakten," he said, going down the line, "and I assume you already know Keltaril."

Celni gave them each a nod, and gave Keltaril a small smile. He raised his wing as a 'hello', his eyes sparkling happily.

"These dragons will be the ones always fighting beside you in battle." Chalen continued. "They will become as close as kin to you. You will train with them, you will eat with them, and you will be protected by them. So you better learn to trust them." With that, he left to talk to another group of dragons.

Sephina, the water dragon, spoke first. "Hey," she said, bowing her aqua-marine head in greeting. "Thanks for joining us. Having the ice element will help us out a lot."

"Yeah! The other teams are so jealous," Kulliras piped up, his magenta eyes shining with excitement. "How does it work? Do you breathe ice? Or do your scales turn to ice? Or do you turn others to ice? Or maybe all three!"

Celni paused, trying to think back on what Lunar had said about her different features. "Um... I breathe it."

"So maybe it works like a fire dragon's powers, then." Zakten said. "Cool. Although it would've been cooler if you could turn people into ice by touch. So what is the eastern land like? Have the dragons there figured out how to make technology like the humans have?"

"Chill, guys. I'm sure she's been asked all of these questions before," Sephina pointed out.

"I agree. Sotira had a rough day yesterday. Let's give her a break." Keltaril stepped closer to Celni and laid a wing over her. "Are you feeling any better today?"

His natural heat clouded onto her scales, and she shifted uncomfortably at his close proximity. "I'm doing a bit better, thank you. My wings are a bit sore though."

Keltar sensed her discomfort and took a few steps away, his gaze apologetic.

"Good thing we're not flying today, then." Sephina said, smiling.

"We're not?" Celni asked.

"Nope. Today's Natural Attack day," Zakten told her, giving a flick of his dark purple tail. "Or as we like to call it, Tooth and Claw day. We focus on the basic attack maneuvers. No powers and no flying."

"You're going to have so much fun! Trust me," Kulliras said. He gave her a toothy grin.

Celni winced. "I don't know, I've never done this before." She caught herself and added, "I mean, formal training. Obviously I know how to fight with my claws."