She may need help! We have to drag information from Onyx.
"Onyx, how's Tamarin?" I asked a rueful expression plastered to my face.
I could tell Onyx was feigning worry as she put her claw to her mouth. "Oh, my poor little clawmate. I'm just devastated." She expressed the word with such exasperation I bet Mother could hear it halfway across Pyrrhia.
"My amulet, please." Onyx demanded in a friendly-but-couldn't-care-less sort of way.
"Um, can I see it?"
Phew- Moon asked for it. But Ostrich looks so sad she couldn't see it well. She passed it to Moon who looked surprised. "Here Ostrich, you can look at my armband." I whispered to the small sand dragon. Ostrich's face lit up.
"Really?"
I nodded with a smile on my face. "Of course." I slipped off my black-rock band, I passed it to her. She smiled as her little tawny, sand colored talons encased the band. She squealed a thank you. "You can keep it until I ask for it back. Okay?"
She jumped up and down, "Okay!" Ostrich slipped my armband on and continued to skip around the rock Onyx was perched upon.
Now, what's Moon's play here?
Moon started sweating. What's wrong with her? Is she alright?
"Qibli! Take it!" Moon shrieked. Onyx yelled at Moon but I wasn't paying any attention to her. That's so weird... What happened when she touched it? Moon looked at me curiously.
"Hm?" I prompted.
She shook her head. "No... Couldn't be..." She mumbled. I shrugged.
I turned back to Onyx, "Onyx, do you think they'll find the dragon who set the fire?"
Onyx leaned closer to me. Her warm scale temperature clashed with mine. It wasn't anything like Qibli's, his was comforting and gave off a protective aura but Onyx's? It felt horrible, like she was on fire and I was an ice cube melting in her shadowed heat. "Of course. They're the great Dragonets of Destiny."
She stretched out her talons and snatched the amulet from Qibli's claws. "That's enough ogling." Onyx placed her amulet back around her neck before turning and stomping off, her fatal tail swishing threatening dangerously. It's like she's trying to tell other dragons to ward off. Kind of like a Blue Ringed Octopus with it's circles.
Moon looked away, her wings tucked as she went off to the edge of the rock I had placed myself on, "Hey, Skua, I'm gonna go to the prey center. Want to come?"
"No thank you, I'm going to wait for Qibli." I motioned to the SandWing talking with his fellow, very dusty-yellow colored, dragons.
"Oh- okay."
She left me on my own. I looked up to watch the sand dragons, Ostrich was still jumping around, showing off my armband to her fellows. The others that weren't being pestered by the jumpy dragonet were talking to Qibli like he was their commander in war.
I sat up on my rear, I looked off to the distant mountains that were covered from their summits' all the way the the bright blue sky in misty dew-clouds. There were so many rivers and lakes spread out in the distance that it made me miss the salty sprays of water that the ocean held. I could just feel the water lapping at my talons on the sandy beaches. I could smell the salty sent of the seafoam. I could taste the fresh scallops, my favorite, that were prepared for me after a long day of pearl hunting.
"Skua?" I looked down to see the yellow dragon who spoke my name. "You seemed a million miles away. We're going to the prey center."
"I just need a lizard. I couldn't eat yesterday, after everything, so I'm hungry now." Ostrich explained.
"Oh-" I looked around, spotting a plump lizard lying in the sun like no one could ever touch his precious green scales. I whipped my talons at it and caught it in my pale blue claws. "-Here you go, Ostrich."
"Talons and tails! You're fast!"
Qibli laughed, "True. Got another one tucked in your tail for me, Princess?"
Ostrich looked at me from munching on her lizard, "You're a princess?!" She asked excitedly.
"Um- yeah?" Ostrich squealed.
"Moons! That's so cool! Dad always said that Thorn thinks of me as a princess, but being a regular SandWing 'princess' is boring! I'll bet being a hybrid is twice as fun! Is everyone scared of you? Or do they respect you?"
I shivered at the word hybrid, "Um- none of the above? They usually act like I don't exist. I mean, they're kind of right, in the sense that I shouldn't exist."
"Um, Ostrich, can you go ahead to the prey center? I've got to talk to Skua." Qibli said.
"Of course!" The tiny dragonet yelped before scampering off. She kept tripping as she kept trying to get a good look at my armband that kept sliding up her arm, which was only half the size of mine.
Qibli turned to me after Ostrich was out of sight, "Why would you say that?"
"Because it's true, and we both know it Qibli!" I shot back.
Qibli shook his head, "Well, I don't. You know why?" I raised my brow. "Because the great ice and sea dragons obviously placed your mother in a loop to make sure you were created. For reasons unknown, maybe, but still, at least try to act like you're supposed to be here. Because, honestly, Kinkajou is happy you're here. Ostrich is. I am."
I gave in. Moons- why does he have to be so persuasive? I sighed, "Let's go to the prey center. Moon might have an update for us."
........................................................................................................................
We found Moon outside the prey center. She looked mad that we'd taken so long. "It wasn't Onyx," she informed us the second we stepped in earshot.
"And how do we know this?" I barked.
She paused, "I just do." She snapped back.
She's lying again. But about what? And why? Could she hear Onyx after all and just used that to cause a break in our investigations? Why would she not admit it? Does she want me to suspect someone else?- My own brother, perhaps? She might be lying about everything. Trying to hide that she's guilty? Would someone guilty of killing two dragons, injuring one, and temporarily blinding another? She couldn't, could she-
"Skua, stop!" Moon yelled, rubbing her temples. I looked at her, puzzled.
"I thought you couldn't hear me-"
Qibli looked at her, "Please stop. Please trust me."
Qibli and I shared a look, "I'm sorry, Moon. But we don't think we can do that yet. You've lied before, and you could do it again."
"Let's split up, for now." Qibli called as we took off and sat in a corner.
........................................................................................................................
After a while a purple-ish blue dragon walked up to us. "Um- Hi, I was told to come and meet someone named Skua?" She looked at each of us. "Are one of you named Skua?"
I raised my talon, not looking up from my scallops, "That would be me. But it's Princess Skua, to anyone but my friends and family."
I looked up to find another SeaWing hybrid looking at me, she looked like she was ready to melt. "Oh, great, I've talked to basically every dragon in the vicinity and no one has helped me at all."
"I wonder why." I mumbled, chewing on a scallop.
"Skua!" He said, the hybrid looked a bit shocked, "I'm so sorry for her behavior. She's not having the best day. Isn't that right, Skua?" Qibli gritted his teeth.
"Mhm, sure." I replied, half-heartedly. "Anyways, who's asking?"
The hybrid gulped, "T-Teardrop. I'm the new hybrid in the Jade Winglet."
"Oh-" I paused. They replaced Ice? "Nice." I tried, I didn't know many other hybrids other than Ice.
Actually, I've never known any hybrids besides Ice.
"Um, I'm just gonna leave-" Teardrop stuttered.
I gulped, "Yeah," I looked up from the scallop I was pushing around. "Bye, I guess." Teardrop stumbled off. I felt bad for being so rash but to be honest, it was sort of Moon's fault for putting me in this funk.
"Moons, Skua. What was that?" Qibli's wing was draped protectively around me. Our pale scales clashing in contrast.
"I don't know, Qibli!" I yelped, I dragged my talon across my snout. "Ughhhh, I need my armband back." Qibli sighed, he pulled his wing off of me to let me cross the room to Ostrich.
I crossed over to Ostrich but I knocked into a wall of cold scales. "Watch it, hybrid." The niece of Queen Glacier snarled.
I was knocked to the ground by her icy tail. She stomped away with a ice cold aura lingering around me. I was about to get up when I felt a talon being held out to me. "Sorry about her," Prince Winter of the IceWings said. I looked up at him with surprise in my aquamarine eyes.
I took his generously outstretched talon. "Thanks." He lifted me up from the ground. I didn't know Winter of all dragons could be kind. I thought.
"Um, I better stop Icicle from killing someone, but uh- no problem?"
"Yeah, I've got to go to," I felt so awkward. "Bye." I was shocked as I wandered over to Ostrich.
Ostrich looked up from the lizard I caught her, "Hi, Skua!"
"Hey, Ostrich. I was wondering if I could have my armband back?"
She slipped off the way-too-big-for-her armband and passed it over, "Of course! It's really cool."
"Thanks-"
I was cut off by a loud crashing sound. Dragons were running everywhere. Many were screaming and crawling over each other.
"Icicle!" Winter called with shrill fear.
Icicle flew up furiously, "Who dared attack me?" Icicle roared. I flew over to Qibli's side, Clay ran over and stopped abruptly in front of Icicle. Qibli and I looked at each other. Both of us trying to mentally make a list of who could've done this.
"By all the moons! How did that happen? Icicle, are you alright?" Clay rapid-fired.
Icicle looked like she could've cut all the moons with her eyeballs. "No! Someone tried to kill me!" I mean, she's not wrong. Moon siddled over to Qibli and I, her black scales an angsty night against my pale, sky-like scales.
"What? No- how- surely that was an accident."
"Look at the clawmarks. That's no accident." Icicle shook her pure white scales. "That bomb yesterday was meant for me. I'm the target." She said it with such a confidence I could tell it was true. "Someone is trying to kill me, and I'm going to turn whoever it is into a glittering ice statue and beat it to smithereens with my tail."
I stepped in, "Icicle, you can't do that. And the cactus was set to explode before class started- so no guarantee you'd be in there." I told her, my luminescent scales glowing faintly.
"I was supposed to be there. I'd planned to go early to get a scroll." Just like me- except I followed through. "Just by luck, I went to the underground lake first. Otherwise, I would be now dead."
"Icicle, who knew that? Did you tell anyone you were planning to go early?" Winter asked.
Icicle sat in silence for a while, she looked up after a few moments and icy mist streamed from her snout.
I could tell exactly what she was thinking. With or without Moon's mind reading.
She was thinking about the one dragon she told. The one (but not only) dragon she despised.
Sora.
{1907 words}
Alright, I hope you liked this chapter guys, I worked on it for like, 4 hours. I had some trouble with it but it came out nicely in the end.
I love you all and I hope you guys remembered to eat/drink something today!
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Love you all.
Kae