Miraculous

Three is a special number. There are three moons. Three mountains. 5 and 7 are special, too - it seems that all the odd numbers are - but those are harder to say, and harder to remember, and harder to count. You see three, and you know how many there are. You see 5 dragonets, and, well - maybe you have to do a second sweep of them to count the RainWing, who’s camouflaged against the wall. You see 7 tribes, and you can recognize each of them individually, but colors blend and you have a hard time telling which is which when they’re all in a group. See?
Today, Canna thinks, is a lucky day, because things that come in three are almost always good, and the three moons casting their blessing over the mountains and crevices must spell out a lucky few days ahead. Even her neatly tucked away nest has three occupants at the moment, two of them having wings draped all over the mossy floor, snoring deeply. In sleep, too, Taiga’s buoyant nature shines through in her peaceful smile, and Saffron’s tail swings back and forth like a pendulum, like the restless SkyWing he is.
Canna taps her talons together. She flips onto her back, wide eyes drinking in the moonlight. If it’s so peaceful - if everything is right - then why can’t I sleep?
Maybe it’s because there’s nothing for her to do. It wasn’t like her parents were absent all the time with no reason - Canna knows that Saffron’s job as a… what was it again? Di - diplomat? Yeah, that was it - that kept him really busy. Always flapping off to places, giant wings gusting all the twigs in their little nest out of the way. Taiga and Canna always waved their wings, too, until the red figure disappeared. When he came back, there was always a hug for Canna, and a kiss for Taiga, though the SkyWing was also always cold to the touch.
“My beautiful girls!” he called them.
“I’ll always come back. So don’t worry. I’ll be back before the first moon leaves.” he had told a crying Canna the first time he had to go on an emissary journey to the Ice Kingdom.
Two moons had been out that night when Saffron’s figure flew towards the mountains of the SkyWing palace. The night his claws touched down in the soft grasses of their hidden nest, Canna had seen one moon wane until it was no more than inky circle in the sky, and another little more than a crescent.
Taiga did not mind. She gave little kisses and hugs to Canna all the time, always watching over the little dragonet like a protective mother hawk. And when she left on Mondays and Thursdays for the marketplace, blanket-covered wicker baskets strapped to her legs and back, she would always carefully conceal their nest and climb the highest tree in their area. Her wings would snap open and catch a strong updraft. Until the last glimmer of Taiga’s green wings disappeared behind the mountains, Canna would watch. And she always brought back a wooden toy or two, maybe even some new, spiky fruits that were inevitably sour.
Canna minded. For moons’ sake, she was bored here. When Saffron and Taiga thought she was asleep, they talked around a flickering fire about what they told her were “adult” things. That she didn’t have to trouble herself with. That she should go to sleep.
Of course, when you tell a young and curious dragonet this, they will absolutely stay up and have one ear pricked towards the conversation.
“The IceWings are getting more hostile towards us.” She had heard Saffron whisper, not too long ago.
“Did your group manage to do something about that?” Taiga had asked, worried.
“I suppose it’s getting better, but Queen Ruby wants all tensions gone. After all, the IceWings are one of our primary sources for a lot of valuable imports. I don’t think she’d like it if there were violent clashes.”
At the time, Canna had wondered what imports were, and why they were so important.
“Who even started this conflict?” Taiga had hissed. “Will our economy be severely impacted by a war?”
Oh, so it’s some grown-up math-trading thing! Wait, a war?
“By all means, yes. You know, some of the meats you buy come from the IceWings - the delicious bear meat we have on weekends, and those wonderful cloaks as well. They also make spears and such…” Saffron stood up with a huff then. “Anyways, we can’t afford a war. We just had that drama with the mountains cracking open and everything - there was displaced wildlife living in the rehab arena for four weeks! Four weeks before we could find them a new home. At least the RainWings and NightWings took joint responsibility for it - but negotiation talks lasted another week.” His voice sounded so exhausted, like he could just collapse at any minute.
Taiga had laughed quietly. “You did say that Paprika and Ignis came back looking each like they were 5 years older.”
Canna had shifted in her bed of moss and twigs, and the conversation had abruptly stopped. She heard the rustling of wings and the crackling noise of a fire being doused, and then the stomping of two dragons exiting the clearing.
All things aside, Canna was, ultimately, bored. There was nothing for her to do here anymore - now that she thought herself more grown-up than the average 3-year-old dragonet, she preferred not to wrestle with an invisible enemy in her perch, or fight out mock battles with her dragon figurines. She’d begged Taiga several times to take her to the town, to let her look around, do anything except stay put all day, but Taiga emphatically refused.
“It’s too dangerous, darling.” Taiga always said, patting Canna’s head.
“But WHY? Other dragonets get to go!” It was counted on that Canna would make a fuss about this once a week, at least.
“Because…” It might have been just Canna’s imagination, but Taiga’s eyes, the first time she told her that, flickered up and down Canna’s tail, her claws and wings, her neck and horns. “There are big, scary dragons there. Bigger than even Papa! And meaner, too.”
There were a thousand other reasons after that - “You’re too young”, “You might get lost”, “It’s too cold”, “You wouldn’t like it.”
Taiga had said the last one just yesterday, the day before the town’s Thursday market, and Canna had thrown one of the biggest fits of her life.
“No! I want to go! I’m bored! I wanna go someplace NEW!” She had yelled, lying dramatically on the ground.
Taiga conceded, finally, but as the two of them got ready to go on Thursday, breaths fogging in the chilly morning air, Canna helping carry one of Taiga’s baskets, the LeafWing had made Canna promise to never leave her stall, and to keep out of sight. Her mother draped a too-big dark green cloak around her as she talked.
“Alright…” Canna grumbled. Honestly, the only reason she wanted to go into town was to meet other dragonets, but she supposed that just seeing how busy and lively the town would be enough. For now.
They took off, soaring towards the towering mountains in front of them - Taiga glancing back at their concealed clearing, Canna zooming ahead excitedly.
On the other side of the mountain, a cloaked figure touched down.
----
“Half… brother?” The concept was foreign to her. Was it like a brother, cut in half? But the dragon who looked just like her mother was, obviously, fully intact.
Taiga nodded solemnly. “Yes - if you’re wondering, his name is Dianthus, and half-brother means that he only shares one parent with you - that’s me.”
“You mean his father isn’t my father?” It certainly didn’t look like it. Dianthus was all green, with only a bit of red around his ears, snout, and claws. He looked kind of like a RainWing - if a RainWing was compressed and stretching in all the wrong ways. All around the group, bulky yet graceful SkyWings, with the occasional SeaWing mixed in, bustled without a second glance at them. His long cloak kept his scales safe from the bumps and scratches of the marketplace.
“Yes.”
“Then how is he my brother - my half-brother?” Canna tilted her head to the side, confused. She looked down at her claws, her scales, swished her tail and wings around, tried to look at her ears. “He doesn’t look a lot like me, Mother.”
Taiga paused, and made a conflicted expression. Then she bent down to put a talon on Canna’s head. “Darling, sometimes two dragons love each other a lot, and then they just… fall apart. I once loved another LeafWing, and that LeafWing is your half-brother’s father. Now, I love your father. You’re our daughter.”
Dragons fall… out of love? That didn’t seem possible.
Seeing Canna’s expression, Taiga sighed. “Don’t worry, Canna, it…”
Should I lie to her to protect her? Would she appreciate it? Would she be affected by me telling her how the real world works?
“It doesn’t happen very often!” And Taiga forced a smile through her words, even though she knew - dragons drift away from each other far too easily. The workings of the universe may be elegant and mysterious, yes, but they are also cruel without remorse. She supposed that that was what you got when you put your life and your faith into the talons of an all-powerful being.
“Ok…” Canna could swear she felt the world grow ever so darker with Taiga’s words. Watching Saffron and Taiga, the only two dragons who were in her life, she had gotten the impression that love was forever. Like - it might take a while to find the right person, but once you fell in love you didn’t go back. She shuffled behind her mother’s thick wings, peering shyly at her half-brother.
“Anyways, mother, what are you doing here?” Dianthus’s voice was low and scratchy, the voice of someone who had flown through the tempests of the mountains and fought his way through the wolf-infested forests of the lower SkyWing lands.
“What do you mean?” Taiga asked cautiously.
“Come back home, mother. Your daughter can come too. Why stay in this motionless place? Everyone would enjoy having you back.”
What?
Taiga took a step backwards, her eyes wide. “I have family here, Di. I can’t just… abandon them… As much as I miss home, I can’t.” And you could tell. She really did. In her eyes, in her bowed head, the way she always took all the time in the world to appreciate nature, everything pointed to homesickness for the lush green lands of the LeafWings.
“We need you! And I just said your daughter can come! Also, don’t call me that.” Dianthus spread his wings in what was meant to be an inviting gesture, although he pointedly avoided looking at Canna. Whenever his eyes did catch more than a fourth of her, a quick look would flit across his face. The third time this happened, Canna became sure she wasn’t just imagining it.
There it was, again. More prominent again, as Taiga fidgeted with unease. Disgust? No, it couldn’t be. But there’s nothing else… maybe you’re so weird and useless that he hates you! Canna grabbed that thought by the neck and wrung it until every last acidic drop was out of her brain.
“You’re an adult now, Dianthus. Get over it. You know why I left. Besides – you know how the LeafWings treat dragons like her. I could never do that to Canna. Taking her back would be like murder for her.” Taiga whispered the last sentences, casting careful glances to Canna. Thinking that she was so innocent that she wouldn’t pick up on the implications. Dragons always did that.
Look. Canna knew she was different. She knew that she wasn’t like her mother, not like her father either. Not with these ruddy, burnished-red scales, not with these weird horns, not with the fire-hazard spit she developed. She wasn’t fully LeafWing, but she wasn’t fully SkyWing either. She was something in between, and something that wasn’t normal. “Stick to the norm” was the general message implied by the scrolls Taiga and Saffron bought for her to read, but how could you do that when you yourself weren't normal to begin with? When it was something in your genetics?
And of course, some dragons just had to be bloody gits and treat dragons like her like they were… well, the best description she could think of was “dragons suffering from a virulent, contagious disease”. And, wait, that must be why Dianthus kept looking at her like that.
Canna shuffled away from him. Taiga cast another long, worried glance at her.
What Mother doesn’t know won’t hurt her. She still thinks I’m innocent and naïve. I’ll let her keep that up a bit longer.
“Fine. There’s no convincing you when you decide something. I’ve learned that long ago. I’ll see you around, eh?” With that, he slipped into the crowd, black hood pulled over his horns.
Taiga folded her wings sharply but didn’t say anything to stop him.
Canna got the feeling that an opportunity was falling away from her, an opportunity in the form of Dianthus. Her stomach twisted with nervousness, but an idea took shape in her head. It was simple, and it probably wouldn’t work, but it was the best way to find out what that opportunity was.
Quickly, she turned to Taiga. “Mother, will you ever fall out of love with Father?” She asked.
Taiga tripped over her claws, eyes wide and mouth open. She’d caught her mother with a completely unexpected question, and now it was time to go before she recovered. Hey, this is pretty fun!
“Wh – What? Canna, what do you – ” Before Taiga could form a comprehensible sentence, Canna darted away from her, heading towards the hooded figure. “Canna! Wait, come back here!” She tried to pursue the dragonet, a valiant effort that might have succeeded had it not been that a bulky SeaWing with two very smelly baskets of fish stepped in her way at the very moment.
Canna knew that this was risky, and yet a hundred times less dangerous than what other dragons did every day. But who cares about what other dragons do? Who cares if a war was brewing? Dodging tails, sliding under bellies, apologizing to dragons who didn’t even seem to notice that they nearly stepped on her, Canna felt the rush of exhilaration carrying her forwards. It was her first adventure, her first time without a closely watching guardian out in the open.
Everything was going great.
Until she saw Dianthus turn a corner, until she darted after him, and his tail hit her right in the neck as it swished around the corner.
“Ow!” She yelled out, falling backwards onto her wings, which snapped open to balance herself right before she hit the ground.
Dianthus paused and turned around, a look of surprise passing through his face when he saw Canna.
One could only imagine what was going through his head, seeing a tiny dragonet lying spread-eagled that probably had whiplash.
“What in the three moons are you doing?” He hissed, after dragging her out of sight into a shadowed alley.
Canna blinked owlishly, head throbbing and tailbones bruised. “Chasing after you.” She replied.
“Why?”
“Because… uh…”
“Look, if you don’t have anything to say, I’ll be going.” Dianthus wrapped his cloak around himself once more, as Canna finally regained her wits.
“No no no, wait! I have something to say!”
Dianthus stood in the middle of alley, eyes narrowed. He tapped his claws on the pavement as Canna quickly tried to improvise something. In all honesty, she’d come after him without a clear goal. Come on brain, I know you’re not entirely useless. Get me out of here.
“Um, if you don’t mind me asking… what’s the LeafWing Kingdom like and who’s your father?” Canna blurted out.
Her older half-brother flared his wings slightly, but otherwise seemed unbothered by the rushed questions. “Aesthetically, the LeafWing Kingdom is very pretty – a lot of different shades of green, a lot of plant life, a lot of dragons with green talons, both figuratively and literally. Although, I don’t think you’d like it there, because most dragons there also really don’t like – ” He stopped abruptly and glanced down at her. “It doesn’t matter. My father is unimportant, but his name is Salix.”
Canna sighed. “That’s not really what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean? Did I mishear your questions?”
“Well… I guess, what I meant was if dragons would treat me well there. If I could make friends there.”
Dianthus looked away from her awkwardly. Then he looked back, eyes tracing Canna’s determined expression. “With some time, anyone can make friends, it’s not really…”
She frowned. “Don’t play the ‘protect the innocent one’ card with me. I know there’s prejudice against dragons like me. I’m not sure what dragons like me are called, but I’m sure there some derogatory name for it in the LeafWing kingdom. You and Taiga act like I’m still a little dragonet. I’m tired of it! Do I look like someone who would break down over the shocking news that surprise, surprise, dragons who are different are treated differently? Do I?”
“Canna, I don’t know what you’re going on about, but you need to stop this attitude right now.”
OK. Well. That was the last straw for her. Whenever she even put a talon out of line, or whatever stupid line was drawn by Taiga and Saffron, she was told to stop without any explanation. “What did I do wrong?” She would ask, but nobody answered. It was, in her opinion, quite unfair.
(But seriously – what did she do wrong? Was she just that stupid that she didn’t notice her misbehavior? Was it because of all the times she’d acted like that in the past that Taiga and Saffron didn’t seem to care about her anymore? That they ignored her?)
“No! I need to know, please! And why can’t I ask questions? Why can’t I be curious? Aren’t I allowed to ask questions without getting told I’m acting badly?” Canna stomped her foot in anger.
Dianthus bit down on his lower lip. Canna could see his resolve crumbling, though. And she could tell that he wasn’t the type of dragon that kept things from others. It was either all or nothing for Dianthus, and while her impression of him was that of a quiet dragon, Canna thought she wouldn’t be wrong to say that when he spoke, it was always honest.
“You know…” he sighed, “you remind me a lot of myself, when I was younger. Always asking questions. Always so persistent, so stubborn.” Seeing Canna’s face in a frown, he added, “Not that that’s a bad thing, I mean. Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back, that kind of thing?”
She nodded.
“Back to the subject. Fine, you want to know about the LeafWing Kingdom? I’ll tell you.”
In the distance, they heard the faint shouting of Canna’s name accompanied by a few threats, Taiga’s voice being overwhelmed by the loud bartering and chatter of traders and shoppers, followed by a multitude of loud crashes and bangs that sounded an awful lot like pottery jars breaking.
Dianthus stared at Canna. “Tell me you didn’t.” Was all he said.
She looked at his talons. “Uh… sorry?”
He sighed, not of disappointment or something else, but out of tiredness. “I guess I better tell you quick. Taiga’s looking for you and she won’t be happy when she finds you.”
“I know.” Canna muttered. She knew all about Taiga’s angry moods. It’s not like Taiga was so kind as to be alone in those tempers, Canna would probably never see that happen as long as they both lived. The best she could do was stay out of Taiga’s way and be quiet. Besides, she usually got better in a few hours, and everything would be okay again.
“So… dragons like you are called hybrids, first and foremost. Someone who’s not a ‘pureblood’, someone who’s a mix of two dragons. Instead of being 100% LeafWing or 100% SkyWing, you’re more like a mix of both. And guess what, you’re correct. Hybrids are discriminated against. Not just in this kingdom, but in the LeafWing Kingdom, and in others too. It’s… not safe. I know, it’s unfair to have an increased risk of injury just because of different genes, but that’s the world we live in. And to answer your question honestly, no, you won’t be able to make friends in the LeafWing Kingdom. I know this whole situation is sad, but -”
Canna interrupted him with, “I could get injured just because I was born like this? Because I look like this – something out of my control?”
Her half-brother paused, looking like he wanted to debate that fact, but he couldn’t. “Yes.” He admitted.
She tapped a talon against her snout. “Well, nobody really pays attention to me anyways. They don’t see me. It’s like I’m invisible to them, even as I run circles around them. It’s like that quote from that scroll… you know, um…” her talon made lazy circles in the air as she hummed, trying to remember what she had read. “I think it goes like, ‘air goes unnoticed until it disappears’.”
Dianthus nodded slowly. “Right, but still, your safety should come first. You look like you’ve never been around other dragons in your life – Taiga kept you hidden for your safety, Canna.”
“I know that, but a dragonet needs something to do besides sitting in a small old boring clearing all day! I’m too mature to be distracted by toys, anyways.” She flapped her wings once in aggravation at the thought.
He sighed again. “Look, Canna… no matter how you say you’re mature, I know you’re not. I felt the same way, once, and I learned the hard way that I wasn’t. You’re still a dragonet, and I know that you’re very smart and you understand a lot of things, but – just give it some time, alright? Maybe you won’t agree with me now, but trust me, okay?”
Canna blinked. Not mature? But… No, shouldn’t you trust someone who’s been through the same thing? She looked up at Dianthus, his face kind, like the older sibling she never had. He actually is the older sibling, you know. She answered after a few seconds, “I – I – okay. I’ll trust you.”
Dianthus cracked a smile, finally, at that.
“Canna!” They heard again, closer this time. Canna had thought Taiga’s voice couldn’t get any angrier the last time she heard it, but apparently, she had thought wrong.
“Looks like you’re in trouble, sis!” Dianthus laughed. He patted Canna on her head affectionately.
There was one more thing.
Canna leaned forwards and wrapped her wings around Dianthus, who tensed up at the sudden motion, but soon relaxed into the embrace.
“You called me ‘sis’,” she noted.
He nodded, or at least – Canna felt him nodding. He could have been reading a poster on the wall, for all she knew.
“Well, yeah… I mean, you’re my sister. Technically, half-sister, but really, does the half part matter? You’re half-SkyWing half-LeafWing, but you’re also you, and that’s what’s most important.”
Canna let go of Dianthus, grinning widely. “Oh, three moons, that sounded way too sappy for someone like me…” she heard him mutter.
“If the kingdoms won’t change their attitudes towards hybrids, I’ll change them myself. Just you wait and see. I’ll change it, and I’ll save others from getting hurt, from being scared, just because they’re like me.” She turned to run out of the alley and go back to Taiga, but stopped after a few steps.
“And, Dianthus?” She asked.
“Yeah?”
“I hope we meet again someday.”
She sped out of the alley after that, and if she looked back, she would have seen her brother raising his talons to wave at her. Maybe out of encouragement for what lay ahead for Canna, maybe out of fondness for his new sister, whatever it was, he promised that he would meet her again.
Canna dodged merchants and traders, scowling shoppers carrying bags of carrots and rabbits. This time, she was determined and grim. The world was dark, she knew that. Hearing Dianthus speak had just solidified that notion. But she’d heard the legends of dragons who single-handedly overthrew the evil ruler and spread peace and justice. Even if those weren’t true, Canna could still do something.
There were still things she could change, things she could make better.
I’ll wait. And I’ll be a wiser me, a more mature me. That’s what I’ll work towards.
And by her talons and tails, by the three moons, by the five dragonets – as long as she was alive, she would change what was wrong. She would save people.
And then, one day…
Everything would be fine.
----
A few years later…
“Momo! I need you here now!”
The small RainWing dropped down from the sky, her signature navy and gold colors rippling over blue-and-white camouflage scales. She held a pair of thick iron manacles on her talons, twirling them in a circle.
On the ground lay a SandWing, bleeding from various scratches, his tail held down by three talons. A small, reddish dragon sat on top of his chest, holding a claw to his jugular vein. Even though the dragon didn’t give out an air of intimidation – in fact, one’s eyes would probably skim over her, looking at the situation – the SandWing appeared completely terrified.
To one side was a branch, a slowly sizzling hole eating away at it.
The RainWing sighed and stalked over to the SandWing, cuffing him with a practiced ease. She snatched up the bag of fruits and the slab of meat that the SandWing had stolen.
“Canna, how many times do I have to tell you – don’t use your spit to terrorize simple thieves!”
“Sorry, Momo!” the hybrid giggled, although she winced with every word spoken. “He wouldn’t stay down.” To emphasize this point, or maybe to just get revenge on the troublesome dragon, Canna pushed his head further into the dirt.
“This was not necessary.” She folded her wings, making a cross expression at the smaller dragon. “Anyways, what’s his name? Can we take him back to the police and get it over with? Nautilus wants me at a meeting soon.”
Canna shook her head. “He wouldn’t tell me.”
“So let’s call him Fruit! Hey, Fruit, get up, we’re going to the police.” Momo smirked.
The SandWing groaned in defeat. His eyes practically read, “help me from this dragon!” Canna had to resist rolling her eyes for what must have been the fifth time this day. Don’t take pity on him, she reminded herself, even as Momo tormented him with sentences like “Ok, Fruit, follow us,” and “No, Fruit, I’m carrying what you stole.”
“Momo, please think before you speak. Fruit isn’t even a SandWing name.” She heard the SandWing gasp in relief behind her. Ugh. “Let’s call him Warm instead.”
“Fine, fine!” The SandWing moaned. “My name is Quokka!” Turning his head away from the two, he continued, “Just end me now.”
Momo turned to her. “I aced that!” She whispered, looking proud of herself.
“Nah, I think I was the one who aced it… Get it? Get it?” She nudged Momo’s wing, which turned a mint green.
“You know what, Canna? Me, Pomegranate, and Amaranth have decided that the next time you make another ace joke, we’re going to send you on some far-off mission to the NightWings or the RainWings.”
They were nearing the police station, and dragons shuffled out of their way, seeing the SandWing trailing dejectedly behind them. Canna growled at one who didn’t move, and that one nearly fell on his face from the unexpected noise.
“Aw, c’mon, Momo! It’s all in good sport! Don’t tell me you’ve never been tempted to say, ‘I’m on standbi’, or something like that.”
“Of course I have,” the RainWing groaned, “but do I make a joke of it all the time like you do? No, no I don’t.”
Canna hung her head. “Alright, I’ll stop making those jokes… but only if you say that when we get into position next time! Ha, Quokka, see? I aced that deal – mmhhpp!”
Momo put a talon over Canna’s mouth. “We get it. Hey, you! Stop giggling at her jokes, it’s only gonna make it worse!”
Quokka snapped his mouth shut, looking guilty.
Before they could push open the doors of the station, Canna dropped Quokka’s arm and gasped.
“Canna?” Momo asked, but the red dragon was gone before she could say anything more. “Where’d she go?” She whispered. Not there, was that her in the red by the fruit cart? Nope, was it by the bathrooms or…
“Hey, RainWing, she’s over there.” Quokka leaned over her shoulder, pointing his snout towards the two SkyWings and the LeafWing, who had a tiny red dragon hanging off him, as his claws weren’t free.
Momo growled. “That Canna, always so airheaded… And who does her brother think he is, just showing up out of nowhere like this?” She made to stomp over to the group and drag Canna back to the job, but a SkyWing poked his head through the doors.
“Momo? Did you bring the thief back – oh!” Pomegranate’s face cracked a wide smile as his gaze landed on Canna and the others, and he ran off towards the group too, leaving her to turn Quokka in.
“Why do I always have to do every mission by myself?” She grumbled, dragging her SandWing prisoner into the building.
Away from the station, Canna squeezed Dianthus tight. “I thought you said you weren’t gonna visit until the next full moon!”
He laughed. “Well, I had some free time, so I decided to visit you and your group. And I brought your other half-brothers!”
A few seconds passed before his expression turned annoyed and he nudged the two SkyWings. “Ural, Altai, say hi. Did your parents teach you no manners?”
The first SkyWing, more muscular than the second, grumbled, “You’re not even related to us…”, which elicited Dianthus’s response of, “Does that really matter?”
Altai waved his wing shyly, while glaring at his twin brother. “Hi, Canna… it’s good to see you again!”
She grinned. “You too! Well, you’re here already, so why don’t we go and finish up Quokka’s arrest?” In the back, Pomegranate tackled Ural with a hug.
“You know, Canna…” Dianthus started as they walked back, “I’m really happy for you.”
Canna paused. “What? Why?”
“Well, you’re helping people, you’re saving people. You’re changing things. You’re making an impact on Pyrrhia. Just like you wanted.”
He sounds so sincere.
“Yeah, I am really happy that I get to do this. But… there’s still so much more that I can do.”
In the station, Momo and Quokka were talking with an officer. Dianthus sighed. “You’re always so ambitious, sis. I wish I could be like that.”
Canna nudged him with her wing. “You could be like that, if you tried.”
All he gave in response was a noncommittal “hmmm…”
She knew he could. He had the skills to succeed in many things, the charisma, the looks. Everything except motivation, which was in short supply for him. To be fair, after Myrtle died, both her and Dianthus were broken with grief. She got back her motivation. He… did not. And Canna suspected that he was still very much torn up by her death, because some wounds never heal.
“I’ve got to go soon, I have a ton of other tasks to do…” It was normal, though Canna didn’t want to leave now that her family was here.
“Go. I’ll catch up with you later, alright?” Dianthus nodded in encouragement.
Canna grinned and dashed off.
Ambitious…
Sure, you could call her that. This, what she was doing – she wanted to do more. Help more. It was just that no one took notice of that (more like they didn’t notice her to begin with), and she almost never got a good opportunity to take charge.
But that was fine with her.
Because one day, she would move up. One day, she’d do something special and noteworthy. She’d get noticed.
And best of all, she’d change the world, shake it from its foundations.
Just you wait, Pyrrhia. 
I’m coming for you.
~Finis
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Completed)
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
Category:Content (Lyra the NightWing)