~CHAPTER 2~
Fangtooth stretched out his wings and blinked slowly from his nap. He stood up.
Ahhh… another day of not having to worry about anything. I could get used to this, he thought.
He flew to the prey center and sliced a fish with his claws thoughtfully.
Hmm… I wonder who’s in my winglet?
He went and checked the sign. There were so many winglets, starting from the Sapphire Winglet to the Jasper Winglet, he finally found his own at the bottom-
JASPER WINGLET
IceWing: Algific
MudWing: Duckweed
NightWing: Endwhisperer
RainWing: Gaboon
SandWing: Nubian
SeaWing: Fangtooth
SkyWing: Fireburst
Hmm… thought Fangtooth. Well, this should certainly be an interesting day. I can’t wait to meet the winglet! But… what if they don’t like me?
That sunk into him a lot. He could still recall his family, giving him looks of pure hatred, mixes of anger and fury and disgust in the one thing he couldn’t do.
We never want to see you again. Pathetic, miserable, runty... You are a true failure. No one will want you, especially not us.
But that’s the great thing about this place, Fangtooth argued with himself. Nobody is going to judge me for something that happened a year ago. Or are they?
But was it the right thing? That is the question.
Suddenly the gong sounded. CLANG! CLANG!
Well, that’s my cue. Time to make some new friends!
When he arrived, there were already a few dragonets waiting. One was blood-red SkyWing with several scars and a bad tempered expression, a shy looking NightWing with eyes the color of blood, and a pink-and gold RainWing with grass-green eyes and a goofy smile written on her face.
“Hello, Fangtooth!” said a dark blue SeaWing who had to be Tsunami. “Welcome to the Jasper Winglet!” Fangtooth nodded politely and sat down next to the SkyWing.
Her scales were fascinating, not entirely red, but not completely orange, either. Gold bands coiled around her horns, snout, claws, underbelly, and back spines. Her eyes were a vivid, electric fire-blue that seemed hypnotizing. Around her neck was a fire opal amulet on a golden chain.
He looked into her eyes and saw a deep sadness, anger, fury, but hints of kindness and compassion. There was clearly a lot more to this dragon that he thought, but looking into her eyes was like diving into murky water- he could only see so much…
His thoughts were interrupted when Tsunami greeted two other dragonets. One of them was a tall, thin SandWing with glossy scales like polished sandstone. He also had pale brown diamonds on his neck, like a rattlesnake. He had a golden ring on his right claw, inset with a jade beetle. His glittering black eyes had hints of orange in them, like sparks in the night, and they were completely unreadable, almost… like this dragon didn’t have any memories, no past, just black-orange orbs.
The other was a smaller IceWing with icy-bluish lavender scales with an almost reflective quality to them. Her eyes, at first notice, seemed dark blue, like most IceWing eyes, but when he looked closer, he saw streaks of green and purple, like an aurora borealis across an arctic sky. Her face was a contorted mix of and aloof scowl and a forced smile, as she was trying to look happy, but was actually a blizzard of mixed emotion inside.
The last dragon to come in was a very overweight-looking MudWing. His scales were a flat, blackish-brown, like fertile soil, and his eyes were a dull amber color. His cheeks also seemed more swollen, like the cheeks of a chipmunk. He grunted and sat next to Tsunami, licking his lips as if he had just eaten a meal.
“Hello, everyone! My name is Tsunami, and I am the head of school, so if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or anything, just ask me! Now that I have introduced myself, who would like to go next?”
“ME!!” the bouncy pink RainWing said. “My name is Gaboon, I love the rainforest, but I love this place even more, and every day is a great day! Oh, and I like pink.”
Next to her, the NightWing spoke up. “My name is-er… END! End..whisperer. But you can call me End. And I’m totally not a vampire right? Hahahaha, I’m so funny! But really, I’m not-uh….. Oh yeah! My favorite color is re- I mean purple, like the- um, sky.” Her voice cracked awkwardly on the word vampire and she hiccuped with embarrassment as all the dragons stared at her.
“Well, now that’s um.. finished,” said Tsunami with a sideways glance at Endwhisperer. “Fireburst, would you like to go next?”
“Um.. fine,” said the SkyWing, even though her expression certainly said no. “My name is Fireburst, I’m a SkyWing, I like orange. There. You happy?”
Fangtooth opened his mouth and said “My name is Fangtooth, I can’t decide if I like blue or green better, and I… have an evil family? I failed on my first mission? Oh, and I hate swimming. Is that weird?.... I like scrolls.”
‘Like scrolls’? Really, Fangtooth? Is that the best you could come up with?
“My name is Nubian,” said the SandWing. “And… uh… I like sand.” He grinned as all the other dragons, even Tsunami, rolled their eyes and groaned.
“I am Algific.” the IceWing said in a smooth, cold voice like slippery ice. “It is far too warm here for my liking. My tribe is superior to all.”
“I’m Duckweed. I like eating. I like brown.” said the MudWing. “Moons, I’m hungry. When was the last time we ate?”
Tsunami smiled and said. “Well! That just about sums it up. Time to go hunting! You can visit anywhere you want, the rest of the day is free time.”
She flew out over the mountainside, diving towards the river. Algific, Nubian, Gaboon, Endwhisperer, and Duckweed followed after her.
Which left Fangtooth alone… with Fireburst. Fangtooth gave her a weak smile. She stared at him, confused for a second, her obscure blue eyes scanning him, before she spread her enormous scarlet wings and took off into the sky.
Congratulations, Fangtooth told himself. None of them hate me! …..I think.
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