Wings of Fire: The Prequels

1.3

Anemone nodded along, close to shrugging off the explanation before something caught her interest. "You carried the two alone?" asked Anemone, nearly everybody eavesdropping on the two at this point.

"Yes. Starflight did follow me to make sure that the two were taken care of but I was the one who carried them," said Dust.

If I just curve that line like that...

"What?!" yelped Anemone, startling Dust out of her concentration and almost making her smear a line through her entire drawing.

"Huh?" said Dust, tilting her head at Anemone in confusion. What was the big deal?

"Don't 'huh' me! You're saying that you carried two dragons on your back without any help? That's insane!" exclaimed Anemone, a few of the others nodding in agreement.

"I guess," said Dust, shrugging off the awed and surprised gazes of her winglet. "Aren't MudWings stereotypically strong anyway? This shouldn't be too much of a surprise."

The others gave her incredulous looks but Dust just continued to draw without a care in the world. By the end of the activity, Dust had a drawing of an oyster with a pearl in it. Thrush had come into the room just before it all ended, giving Dust a stuttery 'thank you' that Dust accepted with a smile.

"Imma go to the library," said Dust, smiling at Anemone despite her slightly sad look. With a moment to think about, Dust gave Anemone the drawing, albeit rolled up. "You can keep it," said Dust, brushing wings with her and Ostrich as she left for the library.

Dust entered the library with a simple hello to Starflight, picking up her scrolls from earlier and reading them despite the lack of information towards what she wanted to know. Parts of the scroll about the Royals dragged on and on. So much so that Dust managed to doze off.

"Dust? Are you still here?" asked Starflight, frowning a little when there was no answer. "Dust?" This time, he listened carefully and managed to hear soft snoring. Starflight didn't quite know what that meant for a moment, chuckling when he realized that Dust had fallen asleep.

Walking around his desk, Starflight wandered towards the source of the sound. His talons bumped against scales, causing him to pause before gently trailing his claws over said scales. Searching around for a moment with Dust huffing at the tickling sensation, Starflight managed to grab and shake her shoulder. "Dust. Dust, you need to wake up."

"No," mumbled Dust, her unconscious self denying the NightWing.

"Dust. Dust. Dust, you can't sleep here all day. You need to wake up," said Starflight, chuckling under his breath at Dust's sleepy mumbles.

Dust actually woke up this time, her half-asleep mind reacting without much thought. "By the moon-blessed swamps and their masquerading fireflies, what do you want Co..." As Dust opened her eyes, she trailed off when she realized that the dragon waking her up was a NightWing and not a MudWing.

Idiot! You're at Jade Mountain, not at the kingdom!

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," mumbled Dust, sitting up with a small yawn.

"It's fine," said Starflight, staying silent for a moment as Dust rolled up her scrolls. "Who did you think I was?"

"One of my sibs," said Dust.

In a way, you are, thought Dust, mentally whacking herself with her tail because of it.

She stood up, the scrolls tucked under one of her wings as she searched for their original places. "What did you mean by 'masquerading fireflies'?" asked Starflight, following her.