A/N: I tried to do art of Pumpkin Spice, how do you like it?
They were all sitting in the Meeting Cave now, a large cave dripping with ivy, and was probably large enough to fit 200 dragons comfortably. The side was open to the air, and sunlight spilled in against Tsunami's sapphire form. The princess was perched on a rock, wings spread to help lessen the glare.
"Students of Jade Mountain Academy!" She roared, smiling. "We welcome you, and we are thrilled," she flinched awkwardly at thrilled, and proceeded, "you joined us here today. We will be doing school a tad bit different, like we've been doing for three years to help our growing school.
"Your Winglets will meet in your homeroom class for one hour every day, and that is where we'll strengthen our bonds. Then, according to your schedule, you will switch classes at each gong ring, or every hour. If we have an announcement, we will bang the gong twice. An emergency, three times. You have, including Winglet Hours, 12 hours in your school day, for we have half hour lunches and free time. You will wake up at seven, eat breakfast, do class, and report to dinner at eight. Lights out at ten.
"We also have a new theater arts branch available, and we thank all of you who signed up for helping the newcomer prosper."
Mako nodded eagerly. I'm so excited! The Tsunami is thanking us!
"More information will be sent to each of the dorms at lunch," Tsunami sat. Her wings folded. "Any questions?"
One rose their voice. A white dragon who seemed to glitter with pale rainbows. His scales seemed blessed with auroras, and his deep blue eyes looked fathomless. "I have heard stories of an old dragon made of stone here." His voice was oddly high, but was somehow still calming. It seemed to give him a sense of glamor and attitude. "His name was Stonemover, and rumors have went around that he's fully stone and his spirit lurks the halls here. Is this true?"
What? Mako's mind gasped. A spirit roaming the halls here?
"No." Tsunami quickly, suspiciously, snapped. "It's not true. He's still breathing, but he appears fully stone. The 'spirit' is simply a lie."
"Mk." The IceWing-RainWing like dragon sat, curling his tail around his talons.
However, this conformation didn't settle anything. Dragons began to buzz to life with questions, whispering to each other. The nervous tension in the room threatened to choke her, and it felt as if the air were alive with static and heavy with anxiety.
"Silence!" Tsunami bellowed. The dragons quickly fel quiet, and she continued. "Everything is fine, I assure you. We will look into this situation later. For now, you all are dismissed."
Everyone flooded from the cave, tense and filled with unspoken whispers. Mako's mind was bursting with questions. Stonemover? Why is he stone? Is he dead? Is he dangerous? Are we safe here?
"It has to be real..."
That's the voice! Mako realized with glee. She turned to see the puzzled snowy dragon, who was speaking to another hybrid. They seemed to be a RainWing-SeaWing and had twilight purple scales that spilled around the dashes of blue and pink.
"But what if Tsunami is right?" The twilight dragon questioned. "It could've just been a trick of the eye."
"I have to find it myself then!" The icy hybrid decided.
"But you're afraid of the dark."
"I'll have to work on that."
"Ok..." The SeaWing hybrid sighed. "You do that, I guess. I'm going to go catch up with Heartspeaker. See you around, Borealis." With that, she bounded off to chatter with a NightWing.
"Pfft, sure Flowerhat." He muttered under his breath, kicking a pebble. "I'll show her. It has to be real!"
"I could maybe help." Mako offered.
Borealis turned his head to look at her, his deep blue eyes unreadable, like the sloshing depths of the abyss. They seemed to brighten. "Really?"
"Yeah!" Mako smiled. "I have glowing scales to help you with the dark!"
Borealis snapped his mouth shut in embarrassment. "How much did you hear?.."
"Oh..." Mako realized with mirroring embarrassment. "Was that a secret?"
Borealis nodded, his eyes darting around to see if anyone had heard. Thankfully, he had caused enough gossip earlier to distract them, and no one heard. "I'll think about it, but I want to tackle those caves head on and I don't want to be slowed down."
"Oh, ok." Mako nodded. Don't take it personally, he's probably talking about himself and his fear. "If you need me, I'm Mako from the Jade Winglet." She bounded away before the gong could ring for her next class.
Left. Right. Down the stairs. Right. Which class?
Her thoughts cut off as she looked between two science classrooms, one belonging to Mrs. Cricket and one belonging to Mrs. Willow. Hmm... Cricket, I guess.
She slipped into the classroom, gazing around. There were posters with science terms she would never understand, and tables in a semi-circle around a large front desk. There was a small desk that belonged to the teacher near the back for grading, and there were two dragons per table.
A HiveWing dragoness slithered up to her, a scroll in her ink-blotted talons. Her spectacles glimmered in curiosity. "Hi, I'm Mrs. Cricket. What's your name?"
"Mako." The SeaWing replied, somewhat stunned by her friendly tone. The tone she hadn't heard in many other HiveWings.
The dragon unrolled her scroll and scanned her eyes down the list. She looked up and a smile. "Looks like you're in the right place. Welcome to science! You may choose your own seat for today."
Mako nodded and stalked through the desks, before catching the scales of... Pumpkin Spice!
However, she was sitting with a ruby and gold HiveWing, and there were no other seats near her that weren't taken.
Mako's blue-gray eyes darted around the class for an empty seat, and she caught sight of a wine red NightWing. She seemed to be alone, drawing wolves in her notebook. Mako dashed to sit next to her. "Hi there! I'm Mako!"
"Oh no, it's Bloodmoon 2.0," a SandWing (Paprika...) rolled her eyes.
The NightWing blinked at the sudden energy. "Hi Mako! I'm Bloodmoon the ultima."
"What?" Mako tilted her head. She's very clearly a dragon.
"In my dreams I am sometimes," Bloodmoon said with a giggle. "My dreams are way more interesting than the life I'm living now, so sometimes I get caught up..."
"But this is Jade Mountain!" Mako gasped. "Have you been here before?"
Bloodmoon shook her head, ruby spines rattling. "My first year. I joined in hopes that something interesting would happen, instead of the same old routine in the rainforest that really never led to anything more fun than playdates and sleepovers."
"Well, my mom was a real buzzkill," Mako replied with a hint of humor. "She would obsess over a bloodline that died ages ago."
"At least you remember your mom..." Bloodmoon trailed, dark amber eyes glittering with uncried tears. "All I remember is a lullaby she sang me."
Mako looked at her, eyes begging for more details. She felt bad for this dragon, and it would make sense that her life was confusing if she never lived with the ones who'd actually cared for her before she was born.
"When I was younger, there was a robbery at my house," Bloodmoon said. "I don't know what happened to my parents, but I do remember was the sweet smell of chloroform, a weird tingling sensation before that, and waking up in the hospital. I was adopted a month later, and lived a quiet life in the rainforest. I'd always longed to finish my adventure, like busting the robber or finding my parents, but that would always come tomorrow."
"That was awful fast to open up..." Mako spoke with suspicion.
"I like to tell people because they often make those trendy 'your mom' jokes or call me adopted. Little do they know, I am."
Mako draped a wing comfortingly on her shoulder. "It's okay... Tell you what, I can sit with you at lunch and I'll show you my art." She motioned to her sketch filled notebook.
Bloodmoon brightened. "Sure! I'd like that."