TW: This chapter mentions physical and verbal abuse. If you do not think yo can handle that skip over the part labeled in bold. Thank you!
After Qibli found me singing in the music cave I felt so embarrassed. Ugh, why am I so stupid? I should've thought to pay more attention to the noise. I scolded myself. Mother always said I was oblivious, I now get why. I should've just stayed home. Why would I ever think this would be good for me? All the other dragons probably hate me. What if Qibli is in my winglet?! No, no, no, that could never happen! Tsunami wouldn't allow it. Right?
I drifted off after a solid 30 minutes of nonstop thinking. I was driving myself insane at that point, but my sleep didn't help one bit.
\3 Years Ago|
"You will never be good enough, you stupid waste of space!" the king flashed in Aquatic. Skua flinched as Gill approached her. The small dragonet expected the worst, all because of last time she let him down. The king never liked the princess, she always reminded him of his wife's unloyalty and he made that as clear as the moons on the brightest night.
Skua's muscles tightened as Gill raised his green talon, ready to strike. "I-I'm s-sorry, K-k-king Gill." She stuttered (She didn't know it was even possible to stutter while speaking Aquatic) , she wasn't ever allowed to call him father like the others. Only King Gill or sir.
"You better be you little eel."
The princess looked around to see if anyone could save her from this situation. Only her eldest brother, Fin, and her favorite brother, Turtle, were around but they wouldn't do anything to get on their father's bad side. Seeing as what happened to Turtle last time he let Gill down.
Skua started to cry as the SeaWing scolded her for everything she never did right. All because of her stupid father, Cryo. Gill finally stopped yelling at the dragonet, but his rage was far from over, with one powerful blow he slapped the little princess hard across her snout.
"Ahhh!" She screamed in pain, her eyes welled with tears as blood streamed down her nostril.
Suddenly, the crying stopped when she saw her little sister, Lapis, peeking her head through the door. Lapis's face was horror-struck, but she ran off to quickly before Gill to notice her.
Skua ran out of the room, sobbing harder now, when she bumped into someone with bright scales. "Skua? Skua? Skua? Skua wake up!"
|Present Day|
"Hello! It's morning! Isn't that wonderful?"
"Hrm? Kinkajou?" I muttered groggily.
"It is the opposite of wonderful." Carnelian said, quite obviously annoyed.
"We get to meet our winglet today! Isn't that exciting?" Kinkajou asked, fluttering her wings rapidly.
I replied carefully, "Not necessarily,"
Kinkajou didn't seem to care at all and continued on, "You're the SeaWing princess, right? Do you know who our SeaWing is? I really want to meet them!"
"Yeah, um, I think it's my brother, Turtle."
"I think we need to go. Our first class is going to start soon!" Kinkajou exclaimed. Oh, please, please, please let Qibli not be in my winglet! I thought to myself nervously. Well, at least I'll have Turtle, maybe even Ice. If I'm lucky.
Just then a gong sounded. "That's the first warning! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Kinkajou urged me forward.
"Come on Carnelian!" I called. As we wound through the halls I began to hear the fast race of running water. A waterfall! I thought excitedly.
Finally we cut around a sharp corner and I stepped into a classroom. A sign on the wall read:
CLASSROOM WITH TSUNAMI!
My sister! She's teaching us? Okay, this might go better than expected. "Hello! It's me, Tsunami. Welcome to your first class. Nice work finding the cave." Tsunami greeted us with a warm-ish smile. If I'm being honest it looked more conniving than warm. "You must be Carnelian and Kinkajou- Skua!"
"Hi, sis!" I said rushing over to hug my half-sister. "You've done an excellent job at remembering everybody's name Tsunami."
"Thank you Skua. It helps since I know some of them from before,"
"Like me!" Kinkajou butted in. I laughed at her scales when they flashed bright yellow.
"And Turtle! Hey, everyone, this is my brother! Can you believe I have a brother? Or a million brothers, apparently. I'm just assuming Turtle's the best, since he's standing here right now." Tsunami ranted.
"It's true. I am." I could tell Turtle was hating all of the attention Tsunami had brought onto him. I knew my brother more than I actually knew myself.
"Oh, you're Umber, right?" Kinkajou asked the MudWing that had just walked in.
"That's right." He replied.
"Oh, good, here comes the last two pairs. After yesterday, we decided to switch around a bit. You're all interested in scavengers, so it seemed fitting." Tsunami said. Oh, moons no!
Luckily the first two to arrive were Moon, the NightWing from yesterday, and my little sister, Ice.
But the next two were the dragons I was dreading to see. They both were eyeing me with such intensity it made me seem even more nervous. My stomach was doing backflips, and frontflips, and twisting all over the place. I felt it was eventually going to twist itself into a pretzel and then pop. The two boys stared me down my cheeks flushed with all the added attention, especially from a prince and a sort-of-maybe-prince.
My older sister gladly came to my rescue, "Let's introduce ourselves. Maybe it's unnecessary, but Sunny said we should. And then she said I probably wouldn't listen to her, so there. I'm Tsunami. I was going to call myself commander of recruitment, but everyone voted I'd be terrible at recruiting and made me head of school instead. So I'm pretty much the boss." I see why they made her the boss. I thought. She can be so bossy, like over the summer she came home and made us all do laps around the gardens until our wings bruised. Good times. "Any questions?" She finally finished.
"What if I prefer to be with dragons from my tribe? Such as my sister?" Winter asked haughtily. I rolled my eyes, he couldn't get anymore stupid could he?
"Are we stuck with these groups?" Carnelian said, her voice overtaking Winter's.
"That's not how I'd put it, Carnelian, but yes." Tsunami answered.
"When do we get to eat?" The MudWing- Umber- asked. "Just pretending to be Clay." He laughed nervously and looked at Qibli as if he was thinking. Did he like that? Does he think I'm funny? What does he think of me?
It was a bit unnerving honestly. Well for the most part because Umber seemed to be a tail kisser and because Winter and Qibli's eyes both moved to the elephant in the room, me, from time to time. Why am I so self-conscious about what these two random dragons think of me? "Right. Introductions. Carnelian want to go first?" Tsunami asked the bright red SkyWing.
"I'm Carnelian."
"Anything else? Family, favorite color, anything?" Tsunami pressed.
"I'm loyal to Queen Ruby. I believe Queen Scarlet's dead, but if not, I'd happily kill her. I should be with my battalion, but my queen sent me here." She remarked, "And my favorite color is red."
After Carnelian went my very energetic clawmate butted in, "I'm Kinkajou! I can't wait to learn to read! I want to know everything about all of your tribes and I think this school is the best idea in the world! And my favorite color is yellow!"
"Of course it is." Carnelian scoffed.
"...I'm Moonwatcher. But please, call me Moon." The NightWing from yesterday said nervously. Very nervously. "Um. I grew up in the rainforest. I like scrolls."
"Me too. At least, I like scrolls that weren't written by my mother. I've read way too many of those. I'm Turtle." My favorite brother piped up.
"I'm Qibli. I'm one of Queen Thorn's Outclaws. I plan to learn everything as fast as possible and get back to help her run the kingdom." Hmm, a little pushy. He seems nice, but I'll have to wait and see. He also seems to be very attentive as while everyone was going around the room he was noting several of the exits.
"I'm sure she's lost without you." Winter retorted.
"And I'm sure you're perfectly essential to your kingdom." I countered. Qibli's eyes shot open in amusement. "I'm Princess Skua, my mother is Queen Coral, my father and my step-father are both dead. I have 5 sisters and about 30, or so, brothers. Turtle is one of them and three of my sisters are here, Tsunami, Ice, and Anemone. Also my favorite color is pale yellow." I emphasised 'princess' to annoy Winter, and apparently it worked.
"I'm Ice," My sister said from the corner, I honestly forgot she was even there, "Skua said most of what I was gonna say so- But my favorite color is purple."
"And I'm Umber." The MudWing said after Ice went. He turned to my grumpy clawmate and said, "Carnelian, I think we were in a battle together once. You look familiar."
"Oh. I didn't realize you fought in the war, too." She said surprised.
"Yeah, with my siblings. Sora, Marsh, and I came here together... But I miss Reed and Pheasant."
Tsunami looked over at him knowingly and explained, "They can visit anytime. They can even live here if they want."
"They're working for Queen Moorhen now. But maybe one day." Umber said. I looked at him and felt pity for the small dragonet, it really is hard being away from your family.
"Well I am Winter." The IceWing sat up "regally" and held his head high.
"Queen Glacier's nephew." Qibli joked.
"Don't you mock me." Winter snuffed.
"He wouldn't dream of it." I said in a mock-sad tone. "But I would." I added in a proud voice.
"If you're head of school, does that mean you're dragon I can talk to about getting a private cave?" Winter demanded.
"Why, yes, I am. And the answer is 'no'."
Qibli nudged the uptight, walrus-wrencher and chuckled, "See, Winter. I'm your destiny." I stifled a snort and Kinkajou and Ice looked like they were going to collapse of holding their mirth. I tried to correct my posture when Turtle nudged me with his tail, but a wave of humility washed over me like the tide over the ruins of the Summer Palace.
Winter looked as if he was going to go insane if he didn't get Qibli off of his tail. "Can we get on with the discussion? What is the point of this?" his voice wavered and cracked as I stepped on his tail the tiniest bit, just for fun.
"To talk about anything you want. To find out what dragons from other tribes think, and to see things from a new point of view." My older sister explained.
"All right. I want to talk about NightWing powers." The cold-hearted prince said.
I stepped in front of poor Moon, she looked like she was going to crack. "Winter! You are- UGH! Will you just shut your barracuda barker? Moons above!" He is such a jerk for picking on Moon like that. From what I could see out of my peripheral Qibli, Ice, and Kinkajou all agreed with me.
"Maybe we could talk about the war instead. What's Queen Thorn like?" Kinkajou tried to divert the conversation, but sadly it didn't work.
"Wait, I'm confused about the NightWings, too. Is it true they don't have powers anymore?" I gave Turtle a look and he stopped soon after.
Carnelian didn't care though and kept on, taking Winter's side. "I heard they never had powers. They've been lying about them for thousands of years."
Umber didn't believe this. Thank the moons. "But the Dragonet Prophecy was real. The Dragonets of Destiny did stop the war."
I looked at Moon, she had the most confusing expression on her face. I wish I could just pluck her thoughts from her mind and read them like an open scroll. Then I looked to Qibli, his face was unreadable as well. I hate how confusing dragons can be, well other dragons, every SeaWing I've ever known has been so easy to read it's unbearable. They always act like they are regal and slick, but they aren't. They are all the same. All day, everyday.
"What if they are lying now and secretly do have powers?" Winter pressed. I was ready to smack the snails out of him.
"Why does it matter? There are no more world changing prophecies." I reluctantly asked, I flashed 'squid brain' in Aquatic and my siblings all snorted.
"It matters if they were manipulating us. Or if they still are! Do they have powers. And if not, how did they lose them? Thousands of dragons are still terrified of NightWings- They deserve the truth." Winter justified. Sharks and scales, he does have a point. Ugh! I can't believe I'm agreeing with that snow snorter.
"Well, nobody's sure what the truth is." Tsunami looked very uncomfortable as she kept sifting on her claws.
Carnelian exploded with anger. "Nobody's sure? There's a NightWing right here. Can't we ask her?"
"Moon didn't even grow up with the NightWings, she grew up in the Rainforest far away from their stupid, volcanic island." I sighed deeply, rubbing my temples.
"Oh..." Winter looked so stupid right then.
I honestly was done with this, and so was Tsunami.
"Look, the important thing is, if NightWings ever had powers, they don't anymore. And if someone ever tells you you're in a prophecy, tell them to eat their tails." she said this quickly and casually. Next she added, "Who wants to go hunting? I know I do! Great idea, Tsunami! No arguing with the Head of School! Off we go!" without another word she took off from the rock ledge and into the sky.
"I guess that discussion is over." Qibli chirped.
Winter turned to Moon, glaring. "Hey, Winter. Leave her alone. She's not the enemy." his clawmate said, trying to cool Winter's jets.
"You can find out the truth from the other NightWings, then tell us, right?" Winter, half demanded, half pleaded. He looks so, vulnerable.
"Um, maybe?" Moon shifted her small frame to become even smaller.
"Were their powers ever real? What else are they lying to us about? I mean you. What else are you lying about?" Yep, nope, vulnerability gone.
"Hey igloo-face, that's not cool." Qibli burst.
"Yeah, calm down barnacle-breath." I said with all the confidence of a warrior in battle.
I hope she can stand up for herself. Moons, I really want to go back to the music room. Hmm, Winter seems to favor his front talons, so go for them first then his shoulder. But you have to manage to shut his mouth otherwise he can use his frost breath. Qibli seems nice, maybe he'll be able to help if Winter breaks into violence. I doubt Kinkajou, Moon, or Turtle would be much help. Carnelian wouldn't help. Umber might be helpful in combat, even for his small size. I want to find some drums and play. Boy, am I hungry.
Some of us (Umber, Turtle, and Carnelian) took off into the air after Tsunami.
"I'm with igloo-face. If we're supposed to get snuggly, there shouldn't be secrets. Let's make her tell us everything." Carnelian declared.
"Whatever you guys decide." My brother mumbled.
"All right. But please stop trying to scare me, Winter. You're not as terrifying as you think you are." Whoop! Atta go Moon!
"Fine. You find out the truth about NightWing powers..." Winter opened his wings wide to take flight.
"And you stop threatening everybody." I countered in Moon's defense.
"Hey, I didn't promise anything about everybody. Just her. I have an 'IceWing warrior' mystique to maintain after all." Winter was already in the air, gliding across the sky whilst we were still on the ledge.
Qibli turned to me, "I think my clawmate just made a joke. Is that possible?"
"Honestly, I didn't think anything besides 'I'm going to freeze your face off' was in his vocabulary." I joked. Moon and Kinkajou left the ledge to go join the others and now it was just Qibli and I.
"Sorry about this yesterday, by the way." I said my face flushing at the memory.
Qibli looked looked at me as if there was something he wanted to say, but just couldn't quite find the words. "Hey, it's alright. If anything I should be sorry for barging in on you singing. Plus, you can use my drum anytime if you've got such talent." He finally let out.
"Thanks." Was all I could muster as I spread my wings. The iridescent royal pattern on them glittered in the sun. I then jumped of the ledge and beat my wings, flying was almost as easy as swimming. In both you just beat and glide, beat and glide. Kind of like music.
I was flying past a few mountains when I smelled something. Something furry and delicious. Goat!
I raced through the air, cutting it like a sharp and dangerous icicle. I thrust my claws out in front of me and I snatched the thing off the side of a cliff. I slashed a talon across it's neck to put it out of its misery.
"Nice catch!" Qibli yelped, appearing from behind me.
"I thought SeaWings didn't know how to catch anything besides fish." Carnelian pointed out, her big red wings beating loudly.
"Well, sometimes I would get kicked out of the palace by my step-father so I kind of taught myself how to hunt many different animals." I explained to Carnelian with no avail.
"Nice work, Skua. We've caught a few things, too. Let's go to the prey center." Tsunami congratulated me with a toothy grin.
"Maybe we can all share it." I told Qibli.
"Really? That would be great. I miss the desert. The land here is all folded and squiggly. Too many hiding places." Qibli ranted.
"Ha! I get what you mean. Everything is so easy to catch in the sea because food is so abundant there."
As we flew toward the prey center I kept adjusting my grip on the goat. I didn't want to lose it after I tried so hard to kill it. It tried to get away multiple times before I killed it but I kept holding on.
Just like I needed to keep holding on to my hope.
{2916 words}
Hello fellow Pyrrians and Pantalans,
I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to write this chapter but believe me it took me a long time to write all 2,916 words. And if you notice Skua's thoughts are really messy I wanted it to nod to my ADD. Another thing I'm so excited to talk to you guys about is how we got this book to 400 reads! You guys truly are the best. Thank you so much for this love and support. But one more thing that I've mentioned in the past, please don't be ghost readers, guys. I really want to interact with you all. So, in the comments I want you all to tell me what your favorite movie is. Mine is The Amazing Spider-Man (with Andrew Garfield).
Ciao!
Kae