Cavansite and Robin both turned their heads to see three HiveWing soldiers, the ones that had been watching them before when they were walking down the main paths within the hive.
Robin noticed how quickly Cavansite tenses up, his antenna quivering slightly before tightly wrapping around his horns.
"Cavansee, right?" One soldier asked with a slightly tilt of their head.
"It's," he paused to take a breath as though choosing his words rather carefully. "It's Cavansite."
"Anyways," one of the soldiers said with a wave of his talons, moving the conversation along. "Who's this?"
"This is um, my little sister Robin." Cavansite quickly said, though he used her real name. Were Robin's even a kind of bird that lived here on Pantala? She didn't know.
"Little sister eh?" One soldier leaned closer to get a look at her with his narrowed back eyes that gleamed like a snakes. "She doesn't look anything like you."
"We share the same mother, but have different fathers!" Robin quickly spoke up, trying to help. "Cavansite and Cinnabar tell me I look very much like my father."
"Really now?"
"Mhm!" She nodded her head.
"Robin, it's 'I look a lot like my father', not I look very much like my father." Cavansite corrected her.
"Blah blah blah blah." She replied in a mocking tone which in turn caused some of the HiveWing guards to snort.
"Robin!"
"Cavansite!" She smiled. It was fun to act childish, she was only four after all.
"Cavansite, considering she's your little sister, I would've thought she'd have better manners." A HiveWing soldier spoke up, one of the few that didn't laugh nor snort.
"She's still really young." Cavansite tried to tell him but quickly shut up as the HiveWing gave a snarl.
"Young or not, keep her in line or else we're going to have problems." Cavansite just silently nodded as the HiveWing turned to look back at the soldiers around him. "Let's get back to our post, we still need to keep an eye out f-"
Robin froze as she saw all the HiveWings suddenly freeze, their bodies going stiff and still. All the HiveWing's, even those in the air had stopped and were just giving there, their wings giving off a soft buzzing sound that started to make her nervous.
SilkWing's passing by also paused, though they were looking around. Some in worry and others in confusion. The hybrid dragonet's eyes widened as she saw the HiveWing's eyes all turn solid white.
Robin could feel Cavansite stiffen beside her before he fanned out his wing more to hide her from sight as the HiveWing's all turned their heads to the left.
"Get him!" They all hissed, all sounding similar as though they were one dragon.
Like a swarm of bees, their wings fanned out before they shot off into the air, the buzz that filled the air seemed to roar in Robin's ears, sending a singular word into her mind.
Danger.
She could feel herself cower more beside Cavansite, almost as though she were trying to hide beneath the sparkling blue SilkWing.
The HiveWings seemed to fly after something, or someone, like a swarm of angered wasps, the buzz of their wings seemed to rattle Robin's bones.
"What's wrong with them?" She asked quietly as she saw some HiveWings dash out of the candy shop to follow suit, their eyes also pure white like shiny pearls.
"It's the hive mind." Cavansite told her quietly as the candy stores door opened once more to reveal Lychee, his eyes weren't a pearly white though, they were normal and looked slightly nervous and annoyed, almost as though someone was poking at him or trying to tug at him mentally.
Why aren't his eyes white as well? She wondered with a twitch of her ears.
"Let's get back home, it's better if they're distracted." Lychee spike up softly from where he stood on the other side of Cavansite and Robin.
"What is it this time?" The SilkWing asked as he reached out with his talons and grabbed Robin.
"H-hey!" She squirmed and struggled with a squeak of a yelp as Cavansite cradled her like a little dragonet, she wanted to flare and flap her wings to position herself, and to slap him in the face while she was at it, but the red and gold cloth wrapped around her and his forearms stopped her from doing so.
I know I'm small, but I'm not a hatchling! She wanted to tell him as Cavansite and Lychee took off into the air, avoiding any HiveWing's that shot past or around them.
"Apparently theres been a HiveWing acting a little suspicious, sneaking off on his breaks. It seems as though he was secretly trying to grow some trees along the coast." Lychee I formed Cavansite as Robin calmed herself down with a grumble of a huff, resting her head against Cavasite's chest as she listened to their conversation, zoning out halfway through it as they flew.
Robin listened to the sparkling blue SilkWing's heart beat, listening to it thump within his chest. The feeling reminded her a lot of when she was little and to tired to keep walking in town. Shadowsplitter or Funnel, who ever she was with when it happened when she were younger, would cradle her to their chest with their arms and carry her home.
Funnel would often hum a lullaby to her along the way while Shadowsplitter often told her stories.
The more she thought about them, the more she missed them. She missed a lot of dragons. Auntie Lavender and Salamander, Python, Snowflake, Cacti, Trotzen.
Scorpion and Meerkat, Auntie Sapphire, grandma Orchid and Grandpa Strongwings.
Pop-pop.
Did they miss her? Did they realize they were gone? Had they gone to search for them? Did they find the others and are still searching for her?
Robin continued to drift off, her eyes drooping. Why did exciting stuff or being nervous make her so tired? It was draining and the steady beat of Cavansite's heart beat seemed to the lulling the SkyWing-NightWing dragonet to sleep.
Soon, her golden yellow eyes had fully closed as sleep laid its claim on her, sinking its untouchable claws softly into her mind as she was pulled into a dreamless sleep, listening to the calming heartbeat of the SilkWing.
-~-~-~-~-~-
One year later...
"This place is boring!" Robin complained with a dramatic groan as she flopped back onto her bed.
"It's not that boring." Cavansite tried to reason before Caterpillar and Cinnabar both spoke up.
"She's right you know." The pale green SilkWing hummed.
"It's so BORING." Cinnabar groaned, matching Robin's dramatic tone.
Robin had been living with the SilkWing's and Lychee for about a year now. She was now a five year old dragonet, and like many dragonets, she grew restless of the environment around her and disputed to explore just like she was a year ago. The problem with that was that her guardians refused to let her outside of their home unless one or more of them were with her, and Cinnabar did not count. She'd only gone out of their home a dozen times, including the first time she had when she got her first exposure to the hive mind.
It was a strong connection that all HiveWing queens have with their subjects, though Lychee seemed to be the only exception though he never understood why. He told her he could sometimes go under her influence of the hive mind, but only if he were close to her hive or gave in to her pestering, which wasn't very often from what she had seen and been told by the others.
"Can we go out tonight?" Robin shut up to ask, her ears perked up in interest as she smiled, looking over at Cavansite. He was often the one to decide if it was safe or not, or just flat out being reckless and risky if she went outside into the Bloodworm Hive.
Each hive had their own name and they were given their names by the queen of that era who had established said hive. Apparently the first hive was the Wasp Hive, which was the largest hive and the hive in which Queen Hornet lived within. The most resent hive was the Jewel Hive that was established four decades before Queen Hornet's hatching, made by Queen Jewel at the end of the war with the LeafWings.
Robin was a little shocked she could remember all this, but she guessed it was because Caterpillar and Cavansite's history lessons were one of the few interesting things she got to enjoy, and they reminded her of her grandfather, Strongwings.
"No." Cavansite replied flatly and matter of factory. Robin only knew one dragon who could do that tone aside from two other dragons. Cavansite.
Scorpion and Trotzen were the other two.
"Please? Please please please please!" She got off her bed wit a leap and jumped around flapping her wings which had gotten larger over the year, they were growing to be more and more SkyWing like in shape and she could just feel it that someday she'd be able to sore high up into the sky at high speeds just like her mother and Pop-pop.
Her wings would constantly get in the way in this awkward stage. She could remember Funnel telling her that when SkyWings grew to be around five to seven years old, their wings would outgrow them and get close to their adult size, which would leave the young SkyWing's with large wings that were difficult to get used to and took a lot of time and patience's to get under control and get used too.
"I said no, it could be to dangerous today."
"Oh come on!" She was practically begging at this point as her tail twitched. "You always say that!"
"Because I'm right."
"How would you know?"
"Because I'm most of the time always right."
"Focus on the word most." Cinnabar spoke up with a smirk from where she was laying on her back, her wings now spread out, across Robin's bed of soft blankets and pillows.
Robin couldn't help but smirk as she stopped jumping and repeating the word please. "Yeah, Cinnabar is most of the time right."
"Thank you." He red-ish pink and blue sparkling SilkWig nodded with a smile.
Cavansite clearly started to notice he was being hanged up upon so he looked over towards Caterpillar as though seeking his assistance, or in this case alliance, in this argument. To which the green SilkWing just shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm not getting involved, though they do have a point." He commented as he stood up from where he was seated atop a cushion.
"Oh come on."
"YES!" Cinnabar and Robin shouted, each with a flutter of their wings.
"No!" Cavansite huffed with a twitch of his tail before he looked to think with a hum, tapping his chin. Robin knew that look very well and it made her grin broaden, same with Cinnabar's.
It was the thinking look. The one he normally would give whenever he was close to giving in. He made it whenever she bugged to be let out into the hive and ended up letting her go.
"I will let you go-"
"YES!"
"Later today once Lychee is off of his shift."
"Awww! Come on!" Robin's wings dropped. She didn't want to wait longer to go out into the hive. The last time she'd gone out had been a month ago and that felt WAY to long. She wanted to stretch her wings and fly. Maybe they could take her to the coast later tonight! That thought got her hopes up once more with a smile.
"Okay!" She quickly said with a smile as she jumped from one talon to the other in excitement.
"Now then, Caterpillar, Cinnabar. We have to go out and get some more stuff, and this time don't buy so many candies." Cavansite sighed as he stood up and made his way to the door, Caterpillar following behind him.
"I'll make sure to get you a sugar coated wasp." Cinnabar whispered loudly with a smile before she followed her brother and her friend out the door, leaving Robin to herself in the room that she'd been calling her own for the last year.
Robin laid down on her bed and decided to wait.
And wait.
And wait.
Soon her excitement had gone away and in its place, boredom flooded in.
"I wish they would come back faster." She huffed as she rolled onto her back and stuck her limbs into the air like and upside down turtle. She'd done this with Auntie Lavender when she was little, often doing it with her cousin. The last time she'd done it was when she was two.
She thought back to the warm and happy memory that she couldn't help but smile at.
"I'm a turtle!" Robin squealed in delight, giggling as she she pretended to walk upside down on her back, her wings glittering happily at her sides as her cousin, Python, rolled down into the grass and copied her, letting out giggles and laughter of his own.
"I used to do this all the time as a dragonet." Her aunt Lavender smiled as she rolled down onto her back with the dragonets, looking at them. They looked to be right-side up while the world around them seemed to be upside down.
"You did?" The two dragonets asked as their gazes shifted form each other, onto the RainWing-NightWing hybrid laying by them.
"Mhm, all the time."
"You all look stupid." Salamander commented from where she turned the corner around their hut, looking at the three on them.
"Oh shush, you always look stupid so you can't judge us." Lavender shot back with no venom lacing her voice which made the two dragonet once again burst into a fit of giggles.
Robin rolled back over to lay right side up. Shaking the memory from her mind as she looked over towards the door. She missed the feeling of the sun on her scales, not just the glow from the flamesilk lanterns that hung from the roof of her room, held up by ropes.
Maybe it wouldn't be to bad to go out just for a little bit, she thought to herself as she got up and quickly made her way towards the door, her talons tapping on the floor beneath her. Just for a little bit! No one will know I'm gone.
She reached out with one set of talons and grasped the handle, twisting it with her wrist and pushing the door open.
I'll be back before anyone will know I'm gone.
———————————————————
Another chapter out for you all to read! I don't have much to say other than one thing.
I don't want to see anymore comments about people asking for updates or asking when the next chapter will be released a day or so after the last chapter.
It's getting annoying and can really demotivate a writer and it makes me want to purposefully wait to post a chapter, because clearly no one taught someone how to be patient and wait for what they want.
I've stated this before, on my account bio and in several comments, and I guess I have to say it again.
A chapter can take up to TWO WEEKS to complete. 14 days! I'm still in high school, I'm working to get my licence, I'm going to be getting a job once Covid takes in leave which I know won't just suddenly end tomorrow.
I've got a life outside of Wattpad and I'd like to enjoy it while I can. I'm still a child and I'd like to enjoy my childhood while I still can, since I don't have much longer until I'm an adult.
I can focus on writing daily when I'm older since I plan to make writing my job, I want to be an author and I'm using Wattpad as practice for my writing skills, character creation, plot lines and being able to keep up a series without dropping it.
So I don't want it to be ruined all because of people who are impatient and can't just sit down, do something else, and wait until I have the time, and time I want to spend, on writing.
So, if I see another comment like those again. I'll either be giving one more warning or muting who ever commented it. So don't do it.
Thank you. I just needed to get that out there since I've given plenty of warnings. I know it's mostly children on this app, but still.
Thank you to Dragonbite15 for letting me use their character Lychee.
- MindlessTyper