The Nature of War

A trying tale of friendship and fear in a war that has no mercy
by Sby
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Valeria is a SilkWing who refuses to be tamed. A beautiful dragoness that would throw all her beauty away for the ability to have flamesilk, a dragoness who believes that surrender is worse than death. She will never bow down to Queen Wasp like the rest of her tribe, and believes anyone who does is a traitor. She supports the wrong side, her family says. She doesn't agree.
Calponia is a HiveWing, but she's nothing like the rest. Between her claustrophobia and her two different coloured eyes, she's never really fit in. So why would she want to ditch the only friends she's ever had, just because of their tribes? One of her best friends is a SilkWing, and she couldn't possibly imagine giving orders to a SilkWing like her, or any SilkWing at all!
Birch is a LeafWing that just wishes everything would stop. He already has a headache from all the voices in his head from the plants, voices changing to screams as the war escalates and the nature suffers. He just wants to live in peace with his best friends, no matter what they look like. He never wanted this war, no one did. Yet he sees his fellow LeafWings attacking HiveWings, gleeful grins on their snouts.
These three are friends, almost destined to lose each other in a war amongst the tribes of Pantala. Yet with none of them willing to follow their tribes' wishes, maybe there's a chance that they won't split up. Are their bonds strong enough to hold together through a war determined to rip them apart?
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==prologue==
Three little dragonets were gathered on the branches of the huge tree. One was a stunning bright blue and black dragoness, waiting impatiently for the day her wings would grow, and maybe, just maybe, the day she would get flamesilk. Another was a red and black striped dragoness, one that only seems odd when you stared at her eyes, one pink and one gold, or when she panicked after being stuck in a confined space. The last was a white and black speckled dragonet, his wings a beautiful bright green, listening to the soft whispers of the tree they sat in, not understanding how special he was. 
"I promise you guys if I get flamesilk, I'll leave all the trees alone," the blue dragonet said to her friends, the two other dragonets that were focusing their eyes on her. "Also, I'll burn anyone who tries to hurt this one. This is our clubhouse tree! It deserves to stay safe."
The speckled one smiled and replied, "The tree says thank you."
"The tree doesn't talk!" giggled the red and black one. "Only dragons and animals can talk, not plants, silly!"
"Says you," he replied, sticking his tongue out at her. "You're just jealous that you can't hear them."
The blue one laughed out loud and playfully smacked the speckled one on the shoulder, then darted up into the trees. She stuck her tongue out at him jokingly, then teased, "You'll never catch me, Birch!"
"Tree, help me get her!" he exclaimed.
"That'll never work," she laughed again. "Trees don't talk, and they sure don't listen to little dragon-aaaa!" she yelled as the tree shifted slightly, but just enough that she slid back down to the seating area, where the red and black dragonet burst into another giggling fit.
"Told ya the trees listened, Valeria," Birch boasted, fighting back a laugh.
Valeria, the blue dragoness, just looked at him in wonder. She was very rarely speechless, but it seemed she was now. "You wanna go?" she teased, poised to jump to the ground and wrestle a little. 
Birch wasn't a fighter, but he loved to wrestle with Valeria. "Bring it on." They both leaped to the ground and started to play-fight, the third dragonet watching and pretending to be a sports announcer.
"And here we have a wrestling match between the fierce Valeria and the whip-smart Birch!" she yelled, giggling as she did. "I, Calponia, the greatest announcer in sport history, am on the edge of my seat just like the rest of you must be! Who! Will! Win?! We won't know until it's over, folks!"
This made Birch start laughing hysterically, which set off Valeria, then Calponia. Soon, they were all rolling around and laughing, a perfect trio of friends. Little did those young dragonets know how their friendships would be tested someday in the distant future.
==one==
Valeria
six years later
Valeria was sitting in the middle of her room, her bright, beautiful wings sprawled out behind her. She was moving her hands as silk began to spool off her wrists into a pattern on the floor, although what exact pattern she was trying to create wasn't clear, as there wasn't really a specific pattern she had in mind. She didn't care about the pattern.
"Just be bright and fiery," she snarled at the silk as it gathered on the floor. The silk stayed its boring, frustrating clear colour. She sighed angrily and stopped releasing silk, then gathered up what she had let out and stored it in a woven basket. Then she flopped on her bed with a loud groan. Why couldn't she have had ugly wings and flamesilk? She could have cared less about how nice she looked, despite the fact that that seemed to be her mother's only care. It really wasn't fair. Her father was a flamesilk, but her mother's genes seemed to have stamped those out. Yet another reason to dislike her mother.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "Speak of the devil," she muttered as she forced herself off the bed to act like she was working. "Come in!" she called, not even trying to hide her annoyance.
Her mother opened the door fiercely. "What was all that groaning going on up here?" she asked sharply.
"I was groaning," she replied, "Because my stupid silk isn't flamesilk!" She ripped the lid off the basket angrily. "Because your dumb, pretty-winged but boring-power genes made it boring and clear!!"
"Valeria!" her mother barked.
"Sorry," she replied, but the sarcasm in her voice was evident. 
"That silk can still be used to help the HiveWings win the war!" her mother argued.
Valeria scoffed. "You really think we're only going to help them win the war? Mother, Cal heard HiveWings talking about turning us into slaves after the war finishes, disguising it as us trading our hard work for their care. I refuse to be a slave!"
"Of course that won't happen! Calponia must have heard them wrong, dear."
"You don't understand," Valeria growled angrily at her mother.
"No, Val, you don't understand. Listen, you can't trust everything Calponia says. She's not always right, dear."
"Calponia is the smartest dragon I know, and one of my best friends."
"That may be clouding your judgement, dear. Speaking of your best friends, you might want to cut your trio down to two. Birch is a LeafWing, after all." He mother tilted her head in an infuriating way. "I've let it slide because I know how close all of you are, but you can't keep being friends with the enemy."
"LeafWings are NOT the enemy," Valeria snarled. "Especially not Birch. I refuse to stop being his best friend. No matter WHAT you say." She narrowed her eyes at her mother, who sighed.
"Just remember how I warned you when you find out you're fighting for the wrong side," her mother said with a fake smile, standing up and gracefully tucking her wings in as she exited the room. Valeria glared after her, and gave an angry grunt when the door stayed open. She got up and slammed it, then lay back on her bed, giving a deep exhale. Why was she the only dragon in her family that seemed to understand how big a mistake siding with HiveWings would be? 
She believed Calponia with all her heart. Her HiveWing bestie wasn't street smart at all, but she sure was book smart. If she thought she heard something, and formed an opinion, Valeria would listen, and she wouldn't discount a single word she said. Her mother was just too wrapped up in her love of Wasp and her way of doing things. Mother was also obsessed with the so-called Book of Clearsight, which Val found moons-blastedly stupid.
Suddenly there was a tap at her window. She looked and saw the tiny blue bird on her windowsill. Smiling, she opened the window and gave him a tiny bit to eat, this time a few raspberry pieces, then closed the window and he flew away. At least he's still safe, she thought. 
==two==
Calponia
"Cal?" a small voice called through the door, followed by a soft knock. Calponia smiled, knowing exactly who it was. She walked up to the door and opened it to see her little brother, Beetle. 
"Hey, little bug," she teased. "Wanna go outside?" Her brother nodded quickly and happily, and she followed him out the door and downstairs, until they came to their special spot, where two seats and a table sat, made from tree trunks. Calponia enjoyed spending time with her little brother, because he was too young to think to judge her. He didn't call her a weirdo or a freak, or make fun of her eyes. In fact, he loved her eyes. He always told her how awesome they looked, like he did now.
"Woah, your eyes look so cool in the sun!" he gasped. "Especially the pink one!!" 
Calponia laughed, and gave a warm, "Thanks, B." She smiled at her brother, adding, "Your eyes look great too, especially with those round things around them." She was referring to his big, black, circular glasses that made him look extra cute. They made his eyes almost double in size, making his already adorable freckled snout that much cuter.
Beetle giggled as he sat across from her. Then, he asked something that shocked the smile off her face. "Cal, what are the soldiers doing to the tree dragons?"
Calponia's mood shifted immediately, as she looked into the big, innocent eyes of her little brother, which now expressed sadness instead of happiness. Sadness was an expression she couldn't bear to see on her brother's snout, but she had to be honest. This was going to be hard.
"Oh, bug," she replied solemnly. "The soldiers are trying to..." She couldn't do it. It was too hard. Yet her brother's pleading eyes made her continue talking, pushing onward. "They're trying to get rid of them." She blinked, and was surprised to feel a tear run down her cheek. She knew what the HiveWings were doing already, so why was this making her cry now?
Suddenly she knew why. Birch. Birch was her best friend, one of them, and she'd even once had a crush on him, and although those feelings had faded over a year ago, she still loved him dearly, as a best friend. She was afraid of what could happen to him, a fear that only grew when her brother's tiny voice spoke again.
"What about Speckle?" he asked quietly. Speckle was Beetle's nickname for Birch, which he had chosen from the LeafWings scales, white with black specks. Then, he saw her tears, and he jumped up toward her. "Oh," he said simply and solemnly, tears welling up in his own eyes. Calponia opened her arms and he jumped in, then she wrapped them around him and they cried against each other.
==three==
Birch
It was reasonably quiet out in the garden, for once. There was very little noise anyone else could hear, like screams of war, or things banging together. Inside Birch's head, however, it was so loud, dozens of plant voices vying for his attention. He forced most of them out and focused on the soft voice of the small orange flower he had in front of him. The flower was a tiny thing, tiny patches of orange peeking out of the bud on the end of its stem.
"Come on," he whispered to the flower, whose voice was quiet and soothing. "Please grow just a little faster."
I don't feel like it, sighed the tiny plant, but it eventually gave in, and the petals began to unfurl, spreading out and growing, the colour of the sun when it went down behind the horizon.
When it isn't covered by the smoke from the fires, Birch thought sadly, then he focused his attention back to the plants. He let go of his conversation with the flower, and the other voices came rushing back in. He listened to as many as he could, considering the words they were all speaking at once, some yelling, some whispering, and many in between. Then he looked up at his favourite backyard tree, second only to the one in the woods where he and his friends often met up. A small branch lowered just enough for him to stand on it, then he climbed up into the leaves.
"Hey buddy," he whispered, blocking out every plant's voice but the tree's. 
Welcome back, the tree replied. For such a towering, powerful plant, it had a smooth, warm voice that made Birch feel calm, unlike the deep, gravelly voices of the front yard trees. 
They began to talk like they always did, Birch asking questions and the tree answering them. Being such an old tree, it had much wisdom, and he often asked it questions about what the world had been like before he had hatched, as he had always wondered about the past. 
He had named the tree once, but it had told him it went by no name, so he respected its wishes. 
"What do you like most about being a tree?" he asked softly with a light laugh, although he did mean the question seriously. "I've always wondered, and I've never asked you before."
Every dragonet and adult dragon that has climbed into my branches, the tree replied. Almost none could speak to me the way you do, but I loved them all. These words made Birch smile, but as he opened his mouth to say so, suddenly a piercing scream cut through his brain. He lost focus on the kind old tree, and now several screams were ripping around inside his head, along with the whispers of the plants around him. His powers were strong, but this was too much. His head was burning with pain.
Suddenly he fell out of the branches. Luckily all he landed on was soft grass, but it didn't matter, because it felt like his head was being ripped apart from the inside out. he began to writhe in pain, trying to force out the screams and yells of the trees he knew were being destroyed, but it wasn't working. He yelled, but no one was near but the plants, since his parents were fighting in the war.
This was the worst pain he'd experienced in years. He'd had migraines before, but this was different, and he knew it. Those were the kind of migraines everyone got, no matter who they were. This was different. He sighed, then inhaled sharply at another jab of pain. Oh how he wished his parents were here to help.
He forced himself up, his head pounding and spinning. He stumbled inside blindly, flinging the unlocked door open. He felt his talon touch his mother's armchair, then he fainted and fell onto it.
==four==
Valeria
Valeria called out happily to no one in particular as she jumped into the air, pushing her legs hard for liftoff, then began to flap her wings to gain speed and altitude. Finally she released her wings wide, and glided on the wind, her wingspan reaching very wide on each side. She was flying to their special tree, where she would meet Birch and Calponia for their weekly club meeting. Yes, it was childish to have a club and a clubhouse. Yes, the three of them were only months from adulthood. It didn't matter. The club made them happy, and allowed them to get together and have a good time.
And it gets me away from Mother and her stupid Wasp-worship, she thought in annoyance. What does she not understand? That HiveWing is clearly out of her mind, LeafWings do not deserve to be eradicated.
The tree began to come into her line of sight, along with a familiar red and black pattern on the scales of a dragoness she knew very well. She almost called out to her best friend, but decided against it, and chose to sneak up and scare her, like the annoying but fun friend she was. She flew through a nearby patch of trees to hide, then came up behind Calponia and yelled, "BOO!"
Calponia cried out, then saw Valeria and groaned, "Really? Come on."
Val just laughed as she went and sat down across from the HiveWing, settling her wings down behind her back. "Where's Birch?" she asked Cal, after she scanned and noticed his absence.
"I'm not sure," she replied, tilting her head in thought and narrowing her eyes in worry. Her talons began to twitch as she looked through the sky for their friend.
Noticing this, Valeria put a talon on the HiveWing's shoulder. "He's probably just running a bit late, don't worry. How about we talk while we wait for him? I'll start. That little bird came by my window again! I've named him Berry, because he loves berries."
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)
Category:Content (Sbyman)
Category:Genre (Adventure)