Separation

Deep in the Jubilee Jungle, something was hatching. No, this wasn't any normal LeafWing, it was a LeafWing Guardian. The little creatures parents stood by, watching. "Birch! What's it doing? I've never seen any egg take *that* long to hatch! Something's wrong with it." "No, just give it some time," Birch answered. "I was a late hatcher. And so were you, Greenery." "Yes, but didn't take *that* long!" Greenery replied.

"By the time it's halfway done, it's siblings will be out!" The little egg cracked some more, and into the light came a brilliant green LeafWing with black spots. She broke her little head out and gazed upon the twisting vines and lush greenery of her new world. She chirped at her mother and father as they bent down closer to her. She carefully lifted her small little talons from the eggshell and made grabby hands up to them. They backed away. "No, little one," Greenery started, "you have to get out by yourself. LeafWing Guardian tradition."

The dragonet stopped making grabby hands and frowned. She whimpered a bit, sinking down lower into her eggshell. Her father sighed. "Aww, come on. You don't wanna hurt mother and father's feelings do you?" he said, putting on a fake pouty face. The dragonet chirped again happily. She quickly broke her wings out of the shell with a push and a grunt and fell on her stomach, crawling out of her old eggshell. She got up and began to hop around.

Her parents laughed at the sight until she accidentally landed on another egg and rolled it away. "EEP!" her parents screamed as they rushed after it. They caught it just in time before it toppled over the edge of the inside cliff. Greenery hugged the egg, while Birch flew over to the dragonet. "Don't you EVER do that again!" he cried. "You little fool! Something could've happened to it! How would YOU like it if we pushed YOU off a cliff?"

The dragonet crouched low and cowered behind her eggshell.

"Hmm. Interesting connection with that egg."

"Hatchery Guardian?"

"Yes."

"Name?"

"Sarai."

## Chapter One...7 Years Later...

Eco breathed in the lush jungle air as a blue and gold macaw flew overhead. Yes, this was her home. Her lovely home. Jubilee Jungle....well, she called it that, but she was only one dragon. *This jungle could have a thousand names.*

With a jungle of a thousand names, surely one of them would be by a dragon. Right? For the three years she had been in Jubilee Jungle, not one dragon wing, scale, or claw has ever come into her sight. She sighed.

*I miss them. I miss my tribe.*

When she was just a dragonet, her tribe, including her parents, had a vicious battle with a barbaric dragon tribe called HiveWings. Every LeafWing fought their bravest, but the cruel yellow and black dragons outnumbered the green ones. She fled before she was killed. She flew for days, resting only when she got hungry. And somehow...some way...she arrived at the jungle.

*But you like it here,*her mind told her. *You're free. You get to be left in peace. You won't have to face a danger like that again.*Eco bowed her head, looking at her dark green-gray claws. "I'm lonely," she whispered, barely stirring the wind. *Stop being such a soggy frog,*her mind snapped, and she jerked her head up. *You have Baobab!*

That reminded her. "Baobab!" she called, her voice echoing off the moss covered tree trunks. "Baobab! Do you want dinner or not?" she yelled again after a few moments.

Suddenly, the bushes rustled, and a stocky, dusty brown kudu barreled in front of Eco. He looked up at her with big brown eyes. She thought she could see a bit a mischief in them. She patted his head. "Come on you, let's get home."

Her pet followed her eagerly, his long, twisted horns glistening in the sun. They reminded her of her father, his own horns in that same curvy shape.

"No, not now!" she hissed, blocking up her memory. She thought enough about her parents for one day. She needed to learn to forget, to live in the moment. She couldn't do that if she spent every second mourning over her mother and father!

She began to walk faster, hoping the sight of her hut would help clear her mind. Seeming to sense her distress, Baobab nuzzled against her shoulder. She smiled at him. Yes. She did have happiness in this new life. Despite her past, no one could doubt that Jubilee Jungle was the place she belonged.

## Chapter 2...Deep In The Jubilee Jungle

"Sarai! Sarai!" Macaw called out to his big sister. Sarai whipped her head around sharply. "What, Macaw?" Macaw took a few breaths. "Wanna come racing with Foliage and me? Meadow said she'd watch over the eggs for you."

Sarai sighed. "No, Macaw. You know what mother and father said they'd do if I snuck out from my job again!"

"It wasn't that bad!"

"They said they would strangle me in vines and throw me off a cliff!"

"See? Not that bad."

Sarai sighed again. Nothing good ever happened to her, and it was just the same old boring routine every day. Wake up hugging the eggs. Get breakfast by picking the fruit near the eggs. Watch the eggs. Then at nighttime, make another leaf bed hugging THE EGGS. She always had to watch her new brothers and sisters, a role that was bestowed on her when she came crawling out of her egg, and that would be her role until she died.

And Sarai had mixed feelings about it.

I mean, sure, Hatchery Guardian for the baby guardians was a massive deal and a huge privilege. And that was great, save for the fact that she barely knew what the jungle was like outside of the hatchery. In fact, she never *left* the hatchery.