Return to Jade Mountain (LLH fanfic)

A Wings of Fire fanfiction by Lucky_left_handed. This fanfiction can also be found on Wattpad here.
== Summaries ==
==== Arc Summary ====
The next generation of dragons are out in the world and meet at Jade Mountain Academy. The group winds themselves up in their own prophecy and they stumble across the continent for answers. New enemies and old grudges come together to pose an awful threat to the planet, and these newcomers must protect the ones they love by stopping them.
==== Fanfiction Summary ====
Solstice was always unsure about going to the famous Jade Mountain Academy. As the son of two previous and well-known students there, he felt like it would give him some expectation to keep up. The school always seemed like a place for dragons who wanted to do something in the world, but Solstice was fine messing around and doing nothing special.
This quickly changes when Solstice meets his fellow clawmates and learns things about their fellow students. Secrets echo through the hallways and dragons hide behind their shadows, all of which Solstice feels like he's tangled up in. When the young dragonet's powers finally awaken with a start, he and his clawmates are thrown into a conspiracy threatening the continent they call home.
== Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy ==
After 15 years since the first year of JMA's opening, the school's success has been recognized by the queens of Pyrrhia. It can officially be stated that during the next year, the school will undergo an expansion to allow more winglets and inclusion with our Pantalan friends! Atlhough the expansion will take several years to complete, we will soon be even closer with the Pantalan tribes.
==== Jade Winglet ====
IceWing: Flurry
MudWing: Delta
NightWing: Solstice
RainWing: Waterlily
SandWing: Meerkat
SeaWing: Krill
SkyWing : Thunder
==== Gold Winglet ====
IceWing: Silver
MudWing: Salamander
NightWing: Prideful
RainWing: Cascade
SandWing: Bonfire
SeaWing: Salmon
SkyWing: Swift
==== Silver Winglet ====
IceWing: Caribou
MudWing: Pond
NightWing: Coal
RainWing: Citrine
SandWing: Jackal
SeaWing: Sapphire
SkyWing: Hobby
==== Copper Winglet ====
IceWing: Penguin
MudWing: Toad
NightWing: Faithspreader
RainWing: Tangerine
SandWing: Scorpion
SeaWing: Sandbar
SkyWing: Inferno
==== Quartz Winglet ====
IceWing: Storm
MudWing: Lilypad
NightWing: Hopebuilder
RainWing: Jaguar
SandWing: Sage
SeaWing: Starfish
SkyWing: Hurricane
== Prologue ==
"Are you sure you'll be able to let him go? Come on Qibli, you trust Sunny and the others to take care of him. He's five!" Moon and Qibli were sitting together in their room. The sun had just set and they were looking out of the hut's window at the horizon. On the other end, Pantala was experiencing their sunrise.
"I do, I just hope nothing happens to him that happened to us," Qibli said back. "I don't think there are any more giant mysterious dragons who live under the mountain, but we can never be too sure." Moon rolled her eyes and smiled.
Tomorrow was the day Jade Mountain Academy was opening for the new school year. It had been ten years since Moon and Qibli's last year and now their son would be starting his first. "For once, I don't think there are any dragons out there we should be worried about. Ever since the last prophecy about Pantala, other dragons have done a good job at taking care of loose ends for us. He'll be fine," she reassured her husband. 
Qibli turned to Moon and smiled. "We should get some sleep then. The flight to our home in the Rainforest Kingdom is strenuous."
Moon sighed. "You're right, goodnight."
*     *     *
The night was calm with only small, delicate snowflakes falling down onto the courtyard. Winter had decided to go on a walk around the moon globe tree despite usually being asleep at this time.
He would be returning to Jade Mountain for the first time in ten years. He and the rest of his winglet had met up lots of times after that, but once they all had dragonets and moved to their different kingdoms, he never saw any of them face to face again.
None of their dragonets have met each other which Winter thought was quite strange since it always felt like they would have. They'll meet at Jade Mountain though, just like we did, he thought.
"You're so deep in thought," Lynx commented. Winter turned around to see her near the entrance to the courtyard. "She's asleep so I came to get you to put to bed. There's a long flight ahead of us tomorrow, you should be resting and not pondering so hard."
Winter smiled at his wife. He had lived in Sanctuary for a while after he left Jade Mountain following his final year, but when he and Lynx married, he moved back to the Ice Kingdom. Things were a lot more different without the cliff and the rankings. Winter liked the new Ice Kingdom and he had to give it to his cousin for making it a better place.
"I'm just thinking about my winglet," he told Lynx. Lynx smiled and tilted her head as Winter walked over toward her. They pressed their heads together.
"You guys are such good friends. She'll find just as amazing friends at school as you did," Lynx said. Winter nodded.
He brushed his wings against hers. "Yeah, we should probably sleep now. We have a long flight ahead of us tomorrow," he copied. Lynx shook her head and furrowed her brows.
Winter laughed and ran out of the courtyard, his wife chasing him close behind.
*     *     *
"Peril, will you stop pacing? You're burning my lists," Clay stated. He was in his classroom at Jade Mountain Academy and his wife was walking the width of the entranceway. "My students are going to wonder why there are burn marks all over the floor when they come in."
Peril stopped pacing and sighed. She walked toward the front of the room where Clay was, avoiding any flammable paper he had. "I'm sorry. I just—," Peril cut herself off. "What if they judge him because I'm his mother?" she asked.
Clay looked at Peril with considerate eyes. "No one will. No one thinks that you're evil and no one will think that our son is evil either," he reassured. The MudWing moved out from behind his desk and walked up to Peril, nudging his head against hers. Although the sizzling sound of scales being burned made Peril feel a little uneasy, she relaxed at the touch.
As Clay backed off, rubbing his head, Peril looked over at the path she had been pacing. "Sorry about your lists," she apologized.
Clay just smiled and turned back to head behind his desk. "It's fine. It's not like anything on them was spelled right anyway."
"Really, Clay? You've been a teacher for fifteen years and still can't write correctly?" Peril emphasized. Clay shrugged his wings and a large smile lit up his face.
"I don't teach any language classes!" he defended. Peril rolled her eyes.
"I didn't start writing until thirteen years ago and I'm better at it than you," she replied.
"It's not a competition. Now, how about you go sleep for a bit, there's going to be a lot of activity tomorrow," Clay suggested.
Peril nodded and turned to exit the room. "Alright. I better see you later tonight. You need sleep too you know." As she passed by the door, she saw one list that he hadn't burned and slyly touched it with her tail.
"Oops," she said sarcastically as she turned to look at Clay who was playfully glaring at her.
*     *     *
"Calm down, Turtle! You're not the one going to school!" Kinkajou joked. Turtle was standing out on their balcony in the rain despite not being a fan of it.
He turned quickly to look at his wife. "I might as well be! I'm the only one who's thinking about all the things that can go wrong," he said.
Kinkajou jumped out into the rain, splashing her husband with raindrops that he tried to shake off of him. "That's 'cause nothing's going to go wrong, silly! Remember when we went to Jade Mountain Academy? I met my best friend and my boyfriend there. I got to meet our amazing winglet and we're all great friends. Our daughter will have a great time too."
Turtle turned to look at the nearby treehouse that was connected to theirs by a wooden bridge. Kinkajou walked up next to him to look too. "See? She'll have a friend there too that she can go to if anything bad happens," she reassured.
Turtle sighed. "You're right. I'm freaking out for no reason," he admitted.
Kinkajou shook her head. "You're freaking out because you're a good dad. But you don't need to freak out because everything will be fine, alright?" Turtle nodded and Kinkajou twined her tail with his. "Now let's sleep before we have to take off tomorrow."
Turtle smiled at his wife and they retreated back into the dry treehouse, soaking the wooden floors with raindrops.
== Part 1 ~ Chapter 1 ==
Part 1 ~ A Broken Wing
Solstice had heard the stories of Jade Mountain Academy from his parents. Of course, everyone knew about the stories of their first year of school with all the trouble the Jade Winglet got in. His parents weren't the only dragons Solstice had heard those stories from.
The stories about their other four years weren't as exciting and were much more normal. Solstice didn't mind normal though. He'd prefer to have a normal experience at school rather than a famous one. He could handle danger if he had to, but he didn't think his parents would like that too much.
Growing up in two kingdoms made Solstice feel like he didn't know which tribe he was more like. In the Kingdom of Sand, he would often go around Thorn's Stronghold, seeing all sorts of SandWing officials and royalty.
Then after six months, they would move to their home in the Rainforest Kingdom and Solstice would see the RainWing and NightWing queen along with the NightWing village.
They moved back and forth every six months between their different homes and Solstice never really felt like he fit into either one. Despite having parents who taught him to be a good dragon, Solstice always had urges to do less than good things.
He wasn't a bully by any means, but he always felt sly and more relaxed when he was sneaking around, avoiding authority. He waltzed around laws and was a great liar, at least great enough to keep everything he did from his parents. He knew his parents would feel distraught if they learned about all the stuff he did, which he knew he would feel bad about.
Despite doing bad things all the time that sometimes inconvenience other dragons, he didn't like it when dragons close to him were upset, especially his parents who would have such dramatically sad expressions and doubt themselves if Solstice ever got in trouble.
So instead, Solstice kept to the shadows and was careful about everything he did. Having the ability to read minds helped a lot, but only when he was far away from his mother that she wouldn't be able to hear that he took off his skyfire earring. 
She had forced him to wear skyfire in some compacity and infused the black gem into the largest glass, purple earring in his left ear shaped like a crescent moon. In his right ear, he had purple, glass star-shaped earrings hanging from a silver chain. Solstice also wore purple-tinted aviator glasses to hide his mind-reading scales from other dragons.
It was no secret that the silver scales on the corner of a NightWing's eyes meant a mind reader. Back when Solstice's mother was a dragonet, she was the only NightWing with those powers, but as NightWing eggs started hatching under the moons again, the power returned and the NightWings relearned how to handle them.
Solstice had hatched under two full moons and had both of the power. However, neither was any use to him. He wasn't allowed to use his mind-reading and his foresight didn't do much. He'd sometimes get flashes of visions but they were always little things that felt like they didn't matter. They would happen when Solstice was staring off into space and sometimes he didn't register that he had one until it poofed away.
He had met other NightWing dragonets who have stronger prophetic abilities. He remembered a NightWing he had talked to in the Rainforest Kingdom who could summon a vision if she calmed herself and meditated. Her name was Hopebuilder and she was the daughter of a dragon Solstice's mother knew named Mightyclaws. Solstice didn't know who he was but his father also knew him so he must have been a student at Jade Mountain Academy.
Speaking of Jade Mountain Academy, Solstice wasn't too keen on going there. Don't get him wrong, he didn't have a problem with other tribes. Solstice loved having mischief with other tribes and stood for tribal peace. He just wasn't too into the super-friendly-cuddly-fun-time school experience.
Solstice was much more into the sneaky-mischief-maker-trouble-kid school experience which wasn't one that Jade Mountain Academy wanted present. He could always find his way around the school rules and have some fun, but he didn't just want to do that all alone. In both of his kingdoms, Solstice had friends he caused trouble with, but Jade Mountain would be full of kind dragonets whose parents raised them to be goody sloth huggers.
There could be some fun dragonets around, Solstice told himself. If I'm able to get into this school, there has to be at least another dragonet who's like me.
Solstice's parents had told him weeks before leaving for school that their friends from their winglet would be sending their dragonets to Jade Mountain. Despite his parents being friends with these dragons, Solstice had never met them or their dragonets. He didn't know their names or anything about them. His parents seemed to think that he would become friends with them, but he wasn't so sure.
Regardless of Solstice's hesitation, when the day came, he and his parents flew to Jade Mountain Academy. They had gotten there at a busy time with dragons flying all over the place around the entrance. Solstice usually prefers less noisy places to be, but he was forced to stick around with his parents.
"There are so many students! I don't think I'll be able to see the others if they're around," Moonwatcher said to Qibli. Solstice's father just smiled and flicked his tail toward the side of the mountain.
"No need to look so hard. That ice prince sticks out like an oasis in the dunes," he remarked. Solstice moved around his mother to see the large, muscular IceWing his father had pointed out. There were two other IceWings with him; one that was an adult who had silver and blue scales and a smaller one with bright white scales.
The IceWings were heading right toward Moon and Qibli and the SandWing flew forward to greet the large IceWing with flips and wing bumps. Moon smiled as the two flew over to her.
"It's nice to see you after so long," Moon spoke softly to the IceWing. She turned to Solstice and met his gaze. "Solstice, this is Winter, the IceWing from our old winglet. Winter, this is our son, Solstice."
Winter turned to greet Solstice. "Nice to meet you. My daughter's name is Flurry," he said as he flicked his tail toward the white-scaled dragon. She dove toward Solstice and the hybrid had to back up to avoid getting slammed into.
"Sorry," Flurry apologized. Despite how reserved she looked, she had a loud voice. "I'm Flurry but I guess you already know that. I heard your name is Solstice. That's a cool name! It's nice to meet you!" she yelled over the noise of the surrounding dragons.
Solstice smiled slightly. "Uh... yeah, nice to meet you," he responded. For reasons unbeknown to him, Solstice felt awkward. He was fidgeting with his talons and kept curling and uncurling his tail. His aviators were down so he knew Flurry couldn't see his eyes, but he felt like he was obligated to look into her wide, light blue eyes.
Similar to her mother, Flurry had speckles of light blue on her scales, but Flurry's were much smaller and looked like paint that had gotten poked onto her with a thin-tip brush. Her white and gray scales glistened and made Solstice feel dirty with his dark, brown-tan scales that looked like dust on the desert ground.
"Do you know what winglet you're in? My father said that all the parents got a letter saying what winglet their dragonet is in. He told me that I'm in the Jade Winglet just like he was! Did your parents tell you what winglet you're in?" Flurry spoke quickly. Her sentences were fast and Solstice felt like he had to constantly move with them to keep up with her.
"Uhh... no," he replied. Neither of his parents had told him anything about his winglet. He turned to his parents who were talking with Flurry's parents. He slowly moved toward his mother who wasn't speaking and instead listened quietly. "Hey, mom, what winglet am I in?" he asked.
Moon turned to look at his son and smiled at him. "Oh, did I forget to tell you? You're in the Jade Winglet, just like Qibli and I were," she answered before turning back to the conversation.
Flurry, who was close enough to hear Solstice talk with his mother, leaped forward toward the larger dragonet. "We're in the same winglet! I wonder if they tried to put all the dragonets of former students into the same winglets as their parents, wouldn't that be smart?" Solstice didn't know how to answer so he just nodded.
Before the silence could get awkward, Qibli moved over toward the dragonets. "Hey, we're moving inside, come on!" Solstice and Flurry took off toward the large entrance of the school.
Flurry flew much faster and masterfully avoided all of the other flying dragons. Solstice slowed down and watched her in amazement as she showed off her agility and speed. He had never been the most amazing flyer, mainly because flying was too noisy and noticeable for a dragon trying to sneak around.
Solstice landed softly on the inner cave floor a distance from his parents. Although there was a lot of dragons present, the room didn't feel crowded due to its size. Solstice had a lot of room around him and he trudged forward slowly in the direction of his parents. Before he could get to them, Flurry came bouncing over to him.
On the ground where they were both rather still, Solstice could really see the difference in their height. Flurry's head was just above Solstice's shoulders and she was small enough that he could probably carry her on his back easily. It didn't feel like the difference in size had anything to do with age, just that Flurry was much smaller in size.
"Go get your scrolls from Fatespeaker," Moon told the two dragonets. She opened her wing and gestured toward a NightWing that looked around the same age as Solstice's parents. Flurry took off toward Fatespeaker while Solstice followed behind slower.
Fatespeaker was talking to a pair of SeaWings before turning to look at the IceWing and hybrid. She smiled and looked over to see Moon and the others. "Wow! I can't believe I finally get to meet some dragonets of former students! My daughter is attending school this year as well. She'll be a first-year too," Fatespeaker said. She looked down at the podium in front of her which had an unrolled scroll on it. She twisted the ends to move it back to the beginning before looking back up at the dragonets. "What are your names? I'm sorry I didn't get to memorize them before this all started, we're really busy this year with the expansion."
Before Solstice could answer, Flurry leaned forward, making Solstice pause. "I'm Flurry and this is Solstice. We're both in the Jade Winglet." Fatespeaker nodded and moved the scroll down a small way to what Solstice guessed was where the Jade Winglet students were.
"Alright, Flurry, your cave is through the first tunnel on the left, the fourth cave on the left as well. Solstice, your cave is through the second tunnel on the left, and the sixth cave on the right," Fatespeaker read with a smile. She turned to a scroll rack on her right and grabbed out two bundles of scrolls, handing one to each dragonet. "These are your welcome scrolls and maps. Have a good day of exploring!"
Before either of the dragonets could say anything if they wanted to, Fatespeaker turned her attention to a SkyWing that was behind them. The two dragonets moved out of the way and headed toward the tunnels on the left side of the wall. "I guess our caves are kind of close," Flurry said. "Or not. The tunnels could go very far from each other. I wonder who my clawmate is," she continued.
Qibli and Moon walked up to the two, both looking happier than ever. "Are you going to go off to your cave?" Moon asked. Solstice nodded, not knowing what else he would do. Moon opened her wings and Solstice hesitantly walked up to her and let her hug him. He felt embarrassed as he saw Flurry watching, however, she didn't look like she was going to make fun of him. "Have fun at school, write me some letters to let me know how you're doing, okay?" Solstice nodded.
"We're going to stick around to catch some of our other friends but we'll see you soon," Qibli spoke. Solstice nodded to him as well, not sure what to say. The two dragons moved away and Flurry bounced up to Solstice.
"Why don't we head to our caves?" she suggested. "Then we can meet somewhere, like the prey center." The two walked up to the tunnels and Flurry moved more to the left while Solstice headed right for the one on the right.
Solstice turned to look at her and just nodded. "Sure," he said simply, not confident about what else to say.
With that, Flurry dashed down her tunnel and Solstice trudged down his.
== Chapter 2 ==
Solstice could hear the sounds of dragonets talking and laughing echoing through the cave tunnels. If they weren't lit with glowing, colorful lanterns, it would have been eerie. The tunnel he went down wasn't that crowded and he was able to make his way slowly despite promising Flurry that he would meet her soon in the prey center.
As he moved by the arches of the caves, he counted until he was at the sixth one. Solstice took and deep breath and turned to enter.
The cave was quiet, yet there was a dragon inside. On one of the two cushioned beds, a SandWing was curled up around himself. At the sound of Solstice entering the cave, his head turned to look at the dragon who had entered.
The SandWing had a similar size to Solstice, but the SandWing possibly looked taller. He had dark, brown-black eyes and a nervous crease on his brows. His scales were a pale yellow color and he had brown patterns down his back and on his wings.
"Hello," Solstice greeted awkwardly. The SandWing moved to stand up and Solstice could indeed tell that the other SandWing was taller than him. "I'm Solstice and this is my cave. I guess you're my clawmate then."
The SandWing looked down at Solstice and despite being taller, looked much less intimidating. "I'm Meerkat. It's nice to meet you," the SandWing, Meerkat, said with a soft voice. Solstice was surprised by the SandWing's voice. He had a tall body that could be threatening but instead stood like he was nervous, had an anxious expression on, and spoke quietly with a soft voice.
It was everything Solstice feared to be. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds before Solstice cleared his throat. "Have you met anyone else from our winglet?" he asked. Meerkat shook his head.
"There are three beds so we have another clawmate but they haven't come in yet. At least I don't think they have come in yet, or stuff would be near the bed. I think, maybe not," Meerkat answered unsurely. Solstice looked past the SandWing and saw a reed mat pushed up against the far wall. The bed on the left side of the room was made of cushions and pillows that Solstice recognized as being SandWing-made.
Solstice didn't know all the beds the other tribes had. "Maybe that's a MudWing bed. Or a SeaWing bed? I guess we'll find out eventually, right?" Solstice said, trying to let Meerkat warm up to him. The SandWing was much less tense than before and was now slouching. He wasn't too much taller than Solstice, only just a bit higher past Solstice's sail, but Meerkat had longer legs and a longer neck while Solstice was a lot more in the middle between a SandWing and NightWing.
"Yeah," Meerkat responded quietly.
"I met another dragon in our winglet this morning. Her name's Flurry, she's our IceWing. I'm going to go meet her in the prey center shortly, you should come with us," Solstice invited. Meerkat looked anxious at the invitation but after thinking for a second, he nodded his head.
"Sure, I can come with you," he answered. Solstice smiled and walked around Meerkat to get to a scroll rack next to his bed. He put his two scrolls in the rack and turned around, heading toward the door.
"Well, let's go," he said. Meerkat followed Solstice out of the room and the two made their way down the hallway back to the entrance. As they exited the tunnel, Solstice turned to look at the map outside of it, looking for the prey center. "The map says that the prey center is through that tunnel," Solstice read, pointing a claw at the first tunnel on the right side of the Great Hall.
Meerkat stayed still however and Solstice took the lead again as they walked across the room and up the tunnel. They were back in the busy part of the school with dragonets and parents standing around and socializing. Although he didn't care too much, Solstice did try to see if he could see either of his parents but they weren't in the area he was traveling through.
An aura of energy was radiating off of the hallway as the two dragons got closer to the prey center. Solstice started to feel slightly uncomfortable. He was no stranger to busy areas, especially ones with strangers. But in those places, he always felt like he had a bit of leverage. He knew his way around the alleys of the SandWing cities and he appeared mysterious to young dragonets, but here, Solstice was just another student. Everyone was mysterious in some way and he had no previous knowledge of the structure of the school. He was just as clueless as everyone else and he didn't like it.
Solstice turned to look at Meerkat behind him. The SandWing was looking around with a nervous expression as if he thought that someone was going to jump out of the wall and scare him. Solstice was glad that he at least wasn't as bad as Meerkat. Despite how bad it sounded when he thought it, Solstice could tell that Meerkat was a lot less confident than the hybrid.
Only one talon into the prey center, Solstice was stopped by a MudWing running past. The room was full of dragons, some of them very excitedly moving around the place. Solstice felt himself crouch slightly as if he felt safer near the stone floor of the room. The pose felt familiar to him as it was one he used often when he was trying to quietly escape the authorities.
Meerkat bumped into Solstice's back and the hybrid could feel how nervous the SandWing was. It made Solstice wonder why the SandWing agreed to come with him. Maybe he felt like he had to in order to make friends, Solstice thought.
Before Solstice could make a decision on where to go, he heard his name being shouted through the room from the opposite side. He looked toward where he heard it and barely saw Flurry up in the air. She was waving him over toward a more chill-looking place near a large opening in the wall.
"There she is," Solstice pointed out to Meerkat who nodded when he saw Flurry. "Come on."
The two maneuvered around the busy area until the chaos was basically behind them. They had definitely found themselves on the more tranquil side of the room. Flurry smiled at the SandWings as they approached her. The IceWing had a dragon next to her who had beautiful pastel blue-green scales and pink-green eyes. Her body was skinny like the bodies of RainWings that Solstice had seen in the Rainforest Kingdom.
"Hello!" Flurry cheered to the two approaching dragons. "I'm Flurry," she introduced to Meerkat who seemed to shy away slightly at her loud voice. "Are you Solstice's clawmate? I'm guessing so unless Solstice impulsively made a random SandWing friend. Unless you're a friend from the Kingdom of Sand," she continued.
Solstice could tell that Meerkat was overwhelmed and stepped in to help him. "No, he's just my clawmate. I met him a few minutes ago. His name is Meerkat," Solstice said. Meerkat looked relieved.
"Oh, how nice. I like your name," she complimented. "I also like those brown patterns you have, they're really cool," she added.
Meerkat seemed taken aback by her compliments. "Thank you," he said shyly.
Flurry smiled as she turned to the dragonet next to her. "This is my clawmate. Her name is Waterlily."
Waterlily smiled and blushed. "Yeah, I'm Waterlily. I'm a RainWing-SeaWing hybrid," she explained in a soft voice. Solstice found her voice calming as if she was trying to soothe everyone around her. "My parents went to Jade Mountain Academy but neither of them was in the Jade Winglet," she added, her voice dropping as if she felt bad about it.
"That's okay," Flurry said. "We're lucky to have you either way." Solstice nodded, trying to make the other hybrid feel welcome.
Meerkat stepped closer slightly. "My mother didn't go to Jade Mountain either," he stated.
The conversation moved on after that as the dragonets started to talk about the surrounding food. Flurry was holding an orange that was sliced in half. "I've never had non-frozen fruit before," she told the three other dragons. "In the Ice Kingdom, we have these popsicles that are fruit frozen into ice but this tastes a lot different than those," she explained. "What's your favorite fruit?" she asked both Solstice and Waterlily.
Solstice took a second to think. He ate fruit in the Rainforest Kingdom, but he was never too picky. He preferred meat and bread that he ate mostly in the Sand Kingdom but those were much rarer in his mother's home. "Umm, probably watermelon," he answered, thinking of one of the fruits he often ate.
"Ooo, that sounds good," Flurry responded.
Waterlily held up a talon full of red berries that Solstice recognized. "My favorite is raspberries," she said, holding her talon out so that Flurry could take one. The IceWing plucked one with one of her serrated claws and popped it into her mouth.
Her face lit up. "Wow, it tastes good!" she exclaimed. Meerkat grabbed a coconut which he cracked in half easily. Solstice had seen many SandWings do that before, but he never took the time to learn how to do it himself. "Anyway," Flurry started, "we have three more clawmates to meet. What do you think they're going to be like?"
"There's another bed in our room that looks like either a MudWing or SeaWing bed," Solstice recalled. "So at least a male MudWing or SeaWing." He didn't really care which it was. Solstice didn't have many interactions with tribes other than SandWings, NightWings, and RainWings. He never judged a dragon by their tribe, he knew well enough himself how stereotypes can be.
"That must mean the last two dragons are sharing a cave," Waterlily said softly. "The SkyWing and whatever tribe isn't your guys' clawmate."
Flurry turned to look over her wing at the other dragons in the room. "I wonder if any of them are in here right now and we don't know," she pondered. Solstice looked at the other dragons in the room as well. They were rowdy, much rowdier than the dragons Solstice was used to. He was used to hanging out with chill dragons who knew how to sneak around, but any of these dragons would have gotten him thrown in a dungeon if he took them out anywhere.
The IceWing gasped and turned to look at Solstice and the other classmates. "Look! It's the prince!" she whispered as she pointed one of her grey claws at an IceWing who was hovering in the air.
The supposed prince of the IceWings had beautiful white scales that looked similar to Flurry's but while Flurry's were slightly darker as if a layer of blue were beneath them, the prince's scales looked like a layer of sunset orange resting under his scales. His wing membrane had the same pastel orange-white color that faded to white at the edges. His wings and talons faded to a light gray and his gray eyes were dark along with his gray horns. He looked about the same age as Flurry but taller.
"He's my cousin," Flurry said. "'Cause my father is the cousin of his mother, at least I think that's how that works."
Solstice didn't really know how big extended family worked since neither of his parents really ever talked about anyone after the hybrid's grandparents.
"That's second cousins," Waterlily explained. "I have one of those, I think. I haven't met her before but I heard that my mother isn't a huge fan of her mother."
The IceWing prince landed on the ground and moved through the crowd until he was standing next to Flurry. He was a lot taller than Solstice, enough to make the hybrid a little bit intimidated, but he wore a smile that didn't make Solstice feel threatened in any way.
"Hey, Flurry," the prince spoke with a deep voice. He appeared to be a dragonet but close enough to being an adult that he could be confused as one. "It's very busy here, looks like you and your friends were able to snatch up the calm spot."
"Yeah, thank goodness I got here quick enough," she replied. Flurry turned toward Solstice and the others, opening her wing to gesture toward them. "This is my winglet, well, everyone in my winglet who I've met so far," she pointed her tail toward everyone as she went through their names. "This is Solstice, Meerkat, and Waterlily."
"It's nice to meet you all," the prince said to everyone. "I'm Storm, Flurry's cousin."
"And the prince," Flurry sang. Storm rolled his eyes but he had a big smile on his face.
"Yes, I'm also I prince but you don't always have to call me that every time we meet new dragons," Storm responded to her. Solstice could tell that the two are used to spending time together. "I'm more than just my title," he added with a softer voice.
There was something about the way the prince said the last part that made Solstice appreciate him. He had always assumed royal dragonets would grow up with a sense of entitlement, but Storm seems to look past his position and care about how he appeared as a dragon-like everyone else. At least that's what Solstice took it as.
"Well," Storm started, "I better get going, I haven't checked out my room yet." Flurry smiled up at her cousin.
"Alright, I'll see you later!" she cheered as the prince walked away.
Solstice watched Storm until he disappeared out of the room. Although none of these dragons were like his hangout buddies from the other kingdoms, they were pretty okay. He didn't see himself breaking into a treasury with them but that was really something he would do on his own anyway if he were to ever do it. Not that he would do that without reason.
"I think I'm going to head back to my room," Solstice announced. "I'm not that hungry and I feel like I need to lie down."
He expected Flurry to be upset that he was leaving, but instead, the young IceWing smiled. "It's okay. You go rest," she said with a considerate voice. "You can stay with Waterlily and me if you want Meerkat," she directed toward the SandWing.
Meerkat looked between Flurry and Solstice before responding. "Sure, if that's okay with you two."
Flurry nodded. "Of course it is! We can check out some of the other caves. I heard the library and art caves are pretty cool." Meerkat seemed to lighten up at that.
"The art cave sounds nice," she spoke softly. Solstice watched as the three dragonets made their way over to one of the hallways opposite the one he went through on his way back to his room.
Although he had only been around them for a short amount of time, Solstice felt drained. He wasn't used to socializing so much, especially with such energetic dragons. He needed to recharge before going around anywhere else. He had no idea how he was going to survive school with so many dragons.
As Solstice returned to the room, he was looking down at his talons. This may or may not have been why he was suddenly halted as he bumped into a dragon he didn't see in front of him.
== Chapter 3 ==
To be Continued...
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (Luckylefthanded)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)