Hare dodged Tsunami's claws and barrelled into the SeaWing's chest, sending them both rolling over each other on the cave's floor. Tsunami kicked out her hindlegs, attempting to hit Hare in the stomach. Hare hissed and rolled away. Tsunami got to her talons and leaped forward. Hare quickly moved out of the way, then jumped onto the SeaWing's back and pinned her down. Tsunami hissed and was about to fight back when a cry stopped them.
"Enough!"
Hare got off Tsunami as Kestrel walked over to them.
"You both fight very well," she said. "I'm impressed."
Hare puffed out her chest in pride. Tsunami got to her talons and fixed her gaze on their guardian.
"It's obvious you two have passed," Kestrel went on. "Well done. Go join the others and get some dinner."
The SkyWing turned and left the cave. Hare looked over at Tsunami and lightly nudged her with her wing. "Good job," she said. "I hope I didn't hurt you too bad."
Tsunami scoffed. "Please! We both know I would've won if Kestrel hadn't stopped us."
"Keep dreaming!"
Tsunami laughed and nudged Hare with her snout. "You fight well for a four-year-old," she said. "You're almost as skilled as the rest of us."
"I was trained by the best," Hare said, pride swelling in her chest.
Tsunami smiled and gave an approving nod. "Come on, let's go eat."
Hare followed Tsunami through the caves. Rocks scraped beneath her claws as they walked and rocks occasionally brushed against her wings. She quickened her pace a little as the scent of food hit her nose.
When Tsunami and Hare emerged into the cave where the others sat, Hare bounded forward to greet them.
"You're here!" the little odd-looking SandWing chirped. She looked nothing like Dune or the SandWings in the scrolls. Her scales were a darker yellow and she had black scales running up her leg. She didn't have a tail barb and her wings had odd little white spots here and there.
"Hi Sunny," Hare said, dipping her head a little in greeting.
Tsunami walked forward to join them and grabbed a cow off the small pile of prey. She sat beside the MudWing, Clay, and began to eat.
"I almost beat Hare in battle training," Tsunami said, tearing off part of the cow's flesh.
"You did not!" Hare said with a small laugh, pulling off a hawk from the pile. "I had you pinned."
"I would've thrown you off if I had the time!" Tsunami insisted.
"You would not!"
Hare pulled her hawk over to sit beside Sunny and the NightWing. The black dragonet had his nose stuck in a scroll, his glasses resting on the tip of his snout.
"Starflight, stop reading for a few minutes and talk with us," Hare said, lightly flicking her tail against his side.
"Back off," Starflight said, lightly batting her away. "I'm at a good part."
Hare snorted. "When are you not at a good part?"
"Leave the scrollworm to his stories."
The fifth dragonet bounded down from a small ledge and joined the others. Hare couldn't help but feel a stab of pity every time she saw her. The wings of sky the prophecy had called for wasn't what anyone would expect. It wasn't even wings of sky at all.
The RainWing grabbed the last cow off the pile and sank her teeth into it, eyeing Sunny's little lizard as if it were the strangest thing she'd ever seen.
Starflight shot Glory an irritated look. "We should study once we finish," he said, turning his attention back to his scroll.
Hare instantly perked up. "Yeah!" she said around a mouthful of hawk.
"We can study the way we normally do," Tsunami suggested, finishing the last few mouthfuls of her cow.
"With the game?" Glory said.
"It's a study game," Tsunami told her, sweeping away the bones of her dinner with her tail. She looked around at the others. "Sunny, you can play Queen Oasis since you're a real SandWing. Clay, you can be the scavenger that kills her."
Clay's eyes darted up, his teeth buried into the cow he was eating.
"That's unrealistic," Starflight said, looking up. "Clay's bigger than Sunny. The scavenger is supposed to be smaller. Maybe Hare should be the scavenger instead. She's only a little bigger than Sunny."
"I want to be my mother," Hare insisted.
"Stop focusing so much on realism," Glory said. "It's just a game."
"A study game!" Tsunami said.
Glory rolled her eyes. "Right, a study game."
"Clay will be the scavenger," Tsunami repeated. "Hare, you can be your mother, since, well, she's your mother. Glory, you'll be Blister, since she's the smartest."
"Works with me," Glory said with a satisfied expression.
"Starflight, you can be Blaze," Tsunami continued.
"I was Blaze last time," Starflight said.
"Stop complaining. I'll make sure everything is going right, since there's no more characters left."
"We can switch places," Starflight offered.
"Moons, no!" Glory said. "Tsunami, don't do it. He'll be snapping at us if we breathe wrong."
"I will not!"
"You all have your roles," Tsunami said, ignoring the bickering. "Once you finish, meet me in the study cave."
Tsunami walked out of the cave. Hare quickly finished her hawk and hurried away to join Tsunami, Sunny close on her tail. In the study cave, a map of Pyrrhia hung on the wall between two torches. Starflight loved staring at the map, trying to figure out where their secret cave was hidden.
"Come on, take your places," Tsunami said, trying to get things organized. The others walked into the cave not too long after Hare and Sunny.
"I wish I wasn't always just playing the scavenger," Clay said. "I'd like to meet a real one. I'd tear its head off! And I'd eat it! I bet it'd taste wonderful. Much better than the feathers Kestrel keeps bringing us."
"The birds aren't that bad," Hare said.
"That's just the IceWing in you speaking," Glory said, flicking her tail against Hare's.
"When we're free, we'll find all the scavengers and eat them," Tsunami said, nudging Clay with one wing.
Sunny blinked. "When we're free?"
Hare blinked in confusion as she saw the others exchange worried looks. What's that about?
"I mean, when we fulfill the prophecy, of course," Tsunami said. She raised her tail in a sweeping arc and broke down a loose stalagmite. Hare ducked and blocked her face with her wing to protect her from the rock shards. Tsunami grabbed the sharp rock and gave it to Clay. "This can be your claw," she said.
Clay hefted the rock spear and grinned wickedly at Sunny.
"Don't actually hurt me," Sunny said, pulling away a little.
"He won't, don't worry," Hare said, pressing herself comfortingly against her friend. "We're just acting it out."
"Alright," Tsunami said, stepping to the side. "Begin."
Hare hopped up onto a ledge beside Glory and Starflight. Clay ducked behind a pile of rocks. Sunny looked around uncertainly.
"Right," she said. "Uhm, I'm Queen Oasis. I'm so very important and, uh, royal and... stuff."
Hare stifled a giggle while Glory and Starflight hid their smiles.
"I've been queen for ages and ages," Sunny went on. "No one has ever dared challenge me for my throne. I'm the strongest queen who ever ruled the SandWings!"
"Don't forget the treasure," Tsunami called quietly.
"Uh, it's probably because of all my treasure, which I have because I'm so very important," Sunny added, sweeping her tail toward the pile of rocks that Clay hid behind.
"Did somebody say treasure?" Clay bellowed, leaping out from behind the rocks. Sunny yelped in fright and jumped away.
"No!" Tsunami hissed. "You're not supposed to be scared. You're the great and powerful queen, remember?"
"R-right," Sunny stammered. She tried to let out a menacing growl, but it came out as a raspy squeak. "What is this scavenger doing in my Kingdom of Sand? I'm not afraid of such a tiny creature! I'll go out there and eat him in one bite!"
Glory started giggling so hard she had to lie down and cover her face with her wings. Hare almost had to gasp for air because of how hard she was laughing. Even Starflight looked like he was trying to hide his giggles.
"Squeak squeak squeak, and other annoying scavenger noises!" Clay cried, waving his stalagmite in a circle. "I've come to steal treasure from a very important dragon!"
"Never!" Sunny cried, bristling. She leaped forward and spread her wings. She raised her barbless tail menacingly. Hare fell against Glory, laughing uncontrollably.
Clay cornered Sunny against the cave wall. He raised the spear, then hit the wall between her neck and her wing, pretending it went through her heart.
"Impossible!" Sunny cried. "How could a queen as powerful as me be defeated by a lowly scavenger? My kingdom will fall apart!"
"Ha ha!" Clay cried in triumph. "Your treasure is mine!" He scooped up the rocks and paraded away, his tail lashing proudly.
"Your turn," Tsunami said, pointing at Hare and the others.
Hare quickly regained herself and hopped off the ledge. She hurried over to Sunny and let out a cry of anguish. "Oh no! Our mother is dead!" She looked over at Glory and Starflight. "But worst of all, none of us killed her. Who will be queen now?"
"I was about to challenge her," Glory said, flapping her wings dramatically. "I would have fought her to the death for the throne. I should be queen."
Hare attempted to make herself twice her size to look more like her mother. "No, I should be queen," she insisted. "I am the eldest and biggest, and I'm also the strongest. I would be able to rule the SandWings better than anyone else. They need a protector, and that protector shall be me."
Hare and Glory looked over at Starflight, who hid himself in the shadows and tried to make himself look invisible.
"Come on, Starflight," Tsunami said. "Don't be a lazy-" She cut herself off before saying "RainWing." Hare shot her a look. The guardians would occasionally say things like that; "If you don't study, you're no better than a RainWing"; "What's the matter? Someone replace your brain with a RainWing's?".
Despite how rare it was, the comments bothered Glory. The dragonets knew it, no matter how much she tried to hide it. When it happened, Hare would try to check on her but Glory would just shrug and brush it off.
It's unfair. We only know one RainWing, and it's Glory. She trains and studies so hard, maybe even harder than the rest of us.
"Er... dragon," Tsunami finished awkwardly, glancing over at Glory. "Come on, get out here Starflight."
Starflight sighed and came out of the shadows. He stared down at Sunny, who had her eyes scrunched shut. "Oh dear, oh dear," he said. "I should be the queen. As the youngest, I would have the longest reign. That would benefit the SandWings. I should be queen."
"And?" Tsunami said with a teasing smile.
Starflight let out a long sigh. "And I'm also by far the prettiest," he grumbled.
Sunny giggled, Tsunami had to poke her to keep her still.
"I should kill you both right now," Glory snarled.
"You and what army?" Hare taunted.
Glory stretched her neck up and bared her teeth. "What a wonderful idea," she snarled. "I'll go and get an army, an army of SeaWings. Then you'll be sorry for ever challenging me."
"You think you're the only one who can make alliances?" Hare scoffed. "I'll get an army, too. The SkyWings will fight on my side, and the MudWings. Then we'll see who'll be sorry."
Starflight stepped forward. "I'll get allies too," he announced. "The IceWings will fight on my side, along with most of the SandWings. They want me to be queen anyways."
"They do?" Sunny asked, rolling over to lay on her stomach.
"Be quiet," Tsunami demanded. "You're dead."
"There's plenty of scrolls about it," Starflight explained. "It's written in the news scrolls shared between armies. Blaze is very popular among her tribe."
Hare flicked her tail and sat down. Sunny pushed herself up into a sitting position. "So why can't she be queen? If that's what the SandWings want?"
"Because my mother would beat her in combat in a heartbeat," Hare said. "And Aunt Blister is smarter than both of them combined. It was her idea to get the other tribes involved. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat mother in a claw-to-claw duel." She smiled proudly and curled her tail over her claws.
"She's probably waiting for the other two to kill each other," Glory commented.
"So which one do we want to be queen?" Sunny asked. "We get to pick. Who do we choose when we fulfill the prophecy?"
"None of them," Starflight replied. "Blaze is no smarter than a concussed sheep, Blister is likely plotting some evil scheme for if she wins the throne, and Burn will most likely keep the war going just for fun if she wins. None are a very good choice."
Hare shot him a look. "You make it sound as though none of them have any redeeming qualities," she snapped. "They're not all bad. Don't focus on the things that would make them bad queens. Think about which one would benefit the SandWings the most. They can't be left without a queen forever."
Tsunami and Glory glanced at each other.
"Should we just let someone else choose?" Clay asked. "Do we consult the Talons of Peace and let them decide?"
"Are we just going to let the Talons dictate our whole lives?" Tsunami snarled, bristling. "They don't get to decide. We do."
"We can still hear them out," Starflight said. "It's a good idea. They only want what's best for us and Pyrrhia."
"That's easy for you to say," Glory snapped. The ruff around her neck flared orange and bristled in anger. "You weren't stolen from your home. The NightWings were pretty eager to hand over your egg, weren't they?"
"Boring!" Clay shouted. "Quit fighting and come fight me for the treasure."
Hare tilted her head. "I don't think the SandWings fought the scavenger," she said. "If anything they ate it with one snap of their jaws."
Glory flicked her tail over Hare's head. "You sound like Starflight."
"I don't think that's exactly an insult," Starflight said.
Suddenly a shadow loomed at the entrance of the cave. Hare looked over, surprised to see Hvitur.
"What are you doing?" the IceWing demanded.
"Studying," Tsunami said, turning to face him.
Hvitur scanned the cave. "This doesn't look like studying," he growled.
"It's just a different way of doing it," Hare said. Hvitur glared at her, making her pull away a little. Hvitur had never seemed very fond of the dragonets, but he especially didn't like her.
It's unfair to blame me because of what my mother did. It wasn't my fault!
"You're too old for games," Hvitur hissed.
"Were we ever young enough for them?" Glory murmured, narrowing her eyes.
"It wasn't a game," Tsunami insisted. "It's like a play. It helps us, and the other guardians don't have a problem with it."
"Enough," Hvitur snapped. He looked over at Hare and flicked one of his torn wings at her. "You should know better."
"Don't single her out," Clay said, hurrying over to her side. "If anyone should've known better it was us."
"Yeah," Sunny said, joining them. "She's younger than us, we're the ones who should be getting in trouble."
"Nobody should be getting in trouble," Tsunami hissed. "We didn't do anything wrong." She glared at the IceWing guardian with narrowed eyes. "It's not our fault someone shoved an icicle up his snout."
Hvitur growled menacingly. Hare pulled away from her friends. "There's no need to defend me," she said. "I'll take the punishment."
"There's no need."
Hare felt an overwhelming rush of relief as she recognized Dune's voice. The SandWing appeared in the entrance of the cave, his gaze fixed on Hvitur.
"No one needs to be punished," he said, his tone edged with a growl. "Go be grumpy elsewhere and leave them alone."
Hvitur flicked his tail and hissed. "Don't get involved," he snarled. "That one said she'll take the punishment." He looked at Hare. "As she should."
"Stop being unfair to Hare!" Sunny cried. "She didn't do anything wrong."
"None of you did," Dune said. "Go, Hvitur."
"As one of their guardians, I have a right to discipline them," Hvitur snapped.
"You have no right to do it unfairly," Dune growled. "And you have no right to single out Hare the way you do."
"She shouldn't exist," Hvitur growled. "Her existence is forbidden. Oasis said so, and so did Burn."
Hare winced as though Hvitur had raked his claws across her snout.
He may as well have.
She knew she wasn't supposed to be alive, she knew her mother would've hated her just for being a hybrid if she hadn't been her daughter. She knew all of this, but why did Hvitur have to say it?
"Leave her alone," Dune snapped. "If you're so angry, go take it out on her mother."
Hare leaped forward, anger burning inside her like a raging fire. "Stay away from my mother!"
"I would if I could," Hvitur hissed, baring his teeth.
"Then she'll kill you, like she should've in the first place," Hare snarled.
Hvitur bristled and stepped forward. Dune quickly blocked his path and raised his tail barb.
"Go," he growled.
Hvitur stared at him for a moment, then turned and stalked away.
"Thank you," Hare said to Dune, then nodded at her friends to show she felt the same gratitude toward them.
Dune huffed and turned to them. Anger still sparkled in his eyes. "Go to bed, all of you," he said, flicking his tail. "I don't want to hear any of you until the sun rises."
Dune walked away from the cave, his tail lashing angrily behind him. Sunny pressed close to Hare, her scales warming her side.
"We're sorry Hvitur is so unfair to you," she said sympathetically.
"It's fine," Hare said, her eyes fixed on the cave entrance. She sighed, then pulled away. "I'm going to stay with Rose tonight."
Without waiting for a response, Hare left the cave and made her way through the rocky halls. She recognized Rose's cave as soon as she saw the decorated entrance, which was covered with fines that were adorned with pretty flowers and ferns.
Hare carefully pushed past the vines and entered the cave. Healing herbs were carefully organized on shelves around the cave walls. Scrolls filled a shelf on one wall. Hare couldn't help but remember all the time she'd spent in here over the years, sitting with Rose as the SkyWing taught her everything she knew about healing. Rose looked up from the one she was reading.
"Hare! Is everything okay?"
Hare sighed and flopped down on a pile of moss. "It's Hvitur," she mumbled.
Rose walked over to her side and lay next to her, wrapping her wing around the dragonet. "What happened?" she asked kindly.
Hare hesitated for a moment, then explained the story of what happened. Rose listened, her eyes shining with sympathy. Once Hare finished the story, she buried herself in Rose's side.
Hvitur may be awful, but I'm lucky to have my friends and other guardians. At least they understand none of this is my fault, despite who my mother is.