Tanager left, flashing a small smile over his shoulder as went, after he finished cleaning and binding Cloudburst's wounds. Cloudburst went back to her bed, trying to make sense of her confusing thoughts. The memories of Redmoon seemed to be triggered when she imagined his face in detail. Cloudburst wondered if the same would happen if she tried to re-imagine Mesa's face.
Once more, Cloudburst calmed the roiling waters of her mind. This time, she dragged the image of grinning Mesa from the shadows. She pictured his kind, smiling eyes and his unusual scale patterns. More memories churned from the depths of her brain:
Mesa grinning at her and elbowing Redmoon with a hearty laugh.
Redmoon tackling Mesa with a playful growl as the two rolled across the ground, mock-fighting.
Mesa flicking his barbed tail up at someone who threatened his friends.
Mesa, eyes pleading, begging her not to leave him and Redmoon as they chased her through a violent storm.
Cloudburst opened her eyes. She knew now who these two dragons were: her best friends. But from where? How did she know them? When did she meet them? And more importantly, how and why did she lose them? Cloudburst sighed, feeling more confused and lost than ever.
I should focus on finding Mesa first. Ruby made it seem that Redmoon was the only dragon who had disappeared, so maybe Mesa is still out there somewhere.
I have to find them.
Cloudburst rose, stretched, and clicked over to the towering window, her ice-sharp claws scraping against the stone floors. The sun was just beginning to set, its dying rays spilling like fiery ink over the mountain peaks. She would have to wait until tomorrow to convince Queen Ruby to let her help search for Redmoon, or maybe to find Mesa. A knock at the door made Cloudburst jump, and she spun around, heart galloping. Slithering over to the door, she inched it open slowly, coming face-to-face with a scowling red SkyWing. His amber-brown eyes were cool and harsh, and he stared down at her with barely concealed contempt.
"Are you Cloudburst?" He asked gruffly.
"Y-yes," Cloudburst squeaked. Inwardly, she winced.
You sound like a frightened mouse!
She stood up straighter, looking him square in the eyes. Forcing a steely, cold disinterest into her expression, Cloudburst growled softly.
"And who might you be?" She hissed.
The deep red SkyWing's face twisted in a series of disgruntled, outraged, and taken aback expressions. He quickly regained his composure and nearly snarled, "My name is Jasper, and I am Redmoon's father."
Cloudburst took a step back.
This was Redmoon's father?
"Why have you come to see me?" Cloudburst inquired, flicking her spiked tail. "Hasn't anyone told you I've lost my memory?"
Jasper growled, his snout bunching. "I came here to try to get answers about my son," he hissed. "Ruby informed me that you attended school with him for a time. I was wondering if you could at least tell me where you last saw him."
Cloudburst felt strangely defensive, a surge of indignation causing her snout to curl. She didn't feel like telling Redmoon's father anything, which was strange, because the dragon was obviously just concerned for his son.
Fighting the urge to claw Jasper's haughty expression right off his face, Cloudburst stepped around him and out of her room. This forced the big SkyWing to turn awkwardly to face her, his body almost in a submissive posture, giving Cloudburst a pang of satisfaction.
"As I said, I barely remember anything, except for Redmoon's face and name," Cloudburst reiterated, still trying to gauge how much she was willing to tell this SkyWing. The feeling of distrust still curled in her gut, spreading its tendrils outward.
Jasper snorted, still suspicious. It showed in his narrowed eyes and flicking tail. "I was hoping you could do better than that," he grunted. "No one at the Academy seems to remember what, exactly, led up to my son's disappearance or who went with him. There are other students besides him, you know, that went missing."
Cloudburst's mind whirled at these revelations. She knew this already, from her slowly returning memories, but couldn't remember who was with her, either. Well, except for Redmoon, Celeste, and Mesa, of course.
If these dragons went to Jade Mountain Academy, and were her friends at some point, that must mean Cloudburst had gone to Jade Mountain Academy, too. So maybe Cloudburst's next step should be to go to the Academy . . . Surely if she were enrolled, someone there would remember her.
"Well, I am truly sorry I couldn't be of some assistance to you, Jasper. I'd like to do as much as I can to help find your son, but I'm not sure what I can do at the moment . . . "
Cloudburst choked back a derisive snort. Imprisoned in a room in the Sky Kingdom, sitting trapped under the watchful eye of Queen Ruby, was not how Cloudburst imagined she'd be uncovering her lost memories. How she was going to convince Ruby that Cloudburst wasn't a threat, and that she needed to leave, was beyond Cloudburst's ability at the moment.
I'm not sure what Ruby thinks of me, or what she suspects I might do.
Or what I might know . . . .
Redmoon's father nodded curtly, his tail twitching in barely concealed disappointment. It was hard for Cloudburst to get past the strangely powerful sting of resentment she felt for this dragon, which bewildered her more than the conversation they had just engaged in. Any stirrings of pity she may have had were squashed by her unreasonable animosity towards him.
What in the world was causing her to feel this way about her best friend's father?
Cloudburst stepped past Jasper and retreated back into her room as the angry SkyWing stomped off down the corridor. Flopping like a wet piece of seaweed onto her pelts, Cloudburst racked her brain for a way to convince Ruby to allow her to leave. When no ideas surfaced, Cloudburst gave a frustrated snort.
By now, night had fallen, spreading its vast starry wings over the mountains outside Cloudburst's window. Her SeaWing eyes had no trouble in the dark, and Cloudburst flashed the few glowing scales she had along her face, belly, and tail. Their soft glow illuminated her front talons, which were ridged and curled like an IceWing's. Her thoughts drifted to whom her parents might be, and how they might've met.
One of her parents had to have been full SeaWing, as those traits were most prevalent in Cloudburst. The gills along her neck, her bright blue color, the webbing between her back claws, and even her thicker-than-normal tail - all gifts from whatever SeaWing claimed Cloudburst as their daughter.
Her spiky tail-tip, ridged talons, and icicle-like spines must have come from her other parent, who was most likely a hybrid. The parts of Cloudburst that were an icy blue, including her wings, tail-tip, forelegs, and underbelly, emanated a subtle chill like all IceWing's scales.
Her SkyWing parts were fewer and not as noticeable, but still there nonetheless. Her wings, for one, were much larger than a normal dragon's, about the size and shape of a SkyWing's. Her face was shaped a bit like a SkyWing's, but leaning more toward a SeaWing. And, of course, the patches and hints of ruby that glittered among Cloudburst's blue and white scales were unmistakable.
Cloudburst sighed, wondering why she had to look so different from every other dragon. No wonder she was friends with Redmoon; he was a hybrid such as herself, both of them possessing a mixture of SkyWing and IceWing blood.
She only wished she could remember more about her parents, more about her friends, more about her past.
As Cloudburst drifted into unconsciousness, one thought circled around and around in her head like a trapped bird.
Who am I?
1318 words. Not such a terrible cliffhanger, but no promises in the future >:D
- Angel