Chapter Text
Glory was curled around a stalagmite watching her guardian, Kestrel, with little interest. Once again the StormWing was berating her for every little thing, and at this point she just didn’t care.
“Useless reptile!” the older dragon snarled, standing right in front of the younger but larger RainWing.
She wished she could just wave her talons and make Kestrel disappear, never having to deal with her constant rants about how she was a mistake or “would never be the StormWing they needed for the prophecy”. At this point, she just accepted the fact that she wasn’t supposed to be here, and that most of the guardians would never accept her.
“-and you’ll be getting no supper tonight,” Kestrel finished, stamping her talon on the ground with a snort and glaring at Glory.
Glory only stared back, showing no emotion as always, and Kestrel huffed before walking out of the room, leaving Glory to her thoughts once more. Her scales finally showed their true colors, swirls of red and orange with flecks of grey slowly appearing. She wished she wasn’t just seen as a disappointment in their eyes, but at least some dragons in this stupid cave cared about her, one of them being the large SeaWing that had just entered the room wearing a worried expression on her face.
“Was she ranting at you again?” The SeaWing asked, looking back out at the hallway with a frown.
Glory only nodded, her scales sifting back to their usual hues. The SeaWing was Tsunami, the second oldest of the five and the largest. Her sapphire blue scales with silver swirls glittered softly in the torchlight, her webs twitching in anticipation and slight irritation as her dominant sail was raised. Her light blue eyes scanned Glory, showing concern and anger.
“Same one I get every time,” Glory grumbled, some more red peeking through her scales around her frills.
“You know if you want I can give her what for,” Tsunami snarled, looking over at the cave Kestrel had just left to, and Glory smiled slightly but shook her head.
“As much as I’d love that, I don’t think beating up our guardians solves anything,” Glory replied, imagining such a scenario with a chuckle. It was certainly possible, seeing as Tsunami was an almost fully grown SeaWing and Kestrel was a StormWing in a cramped cave. The latter stood no chance. “We are supposed to be bringing peace, not encouraging more fighting.”
“Well sometimes you have to fight for peace, for what you believe in and all that crap. Besides, she shouldn’t be treating you this way,” Tsunami said, getting up with Glory and heading out towards one of the cave’s many halls.
Well she wasn’t wrong.
“I think the plan was for us to go out there and end the war without any more dragons dying, that’s what they keep telling us anyways. Pretty sure beating up our guardians, as much as they may deserve it, goes against that.”
Tsunami didn’t make another comment, and the two entered Glory’s sleeping cave. One corner was her bed; an indent in the stone wall with a pillow and a red blanket that was piled up to the side. There was a desk and an unlit torch beside it, papers and scrolls carelessly strewn across the surface, and a bookcase to the side neatly filled with more books and scrolls.
Glory sat down in front of the desk, talon outstretched at the torch. The coal inside flickered to life, now ablaze, and Glory pulled her talon back before focusing on one of the scrolls in front of her.
“That will never stop being cool,” Tsunami commented, sitting to the side of her and glancing at the now lit torch. The younger animus smiled, eyes trained on the writing.
“If only I could make Kestrel disappear, now THAT would be a useful spell,” Glory mused, setting the scroll aside in favor of a different one on the shelf. This one was filled with notes she had taken from Hvitur’s class, learning many spells and precautions from the elder animus. He was one of the two guardians she actually liked, the other being Asha. Both treated her with respect and care, unlike the others (Kestrel being the worst, while Dune and Webs mostly ignored her).
Tsunami chuckled, before eyeing the scroll. “Learn anything cool today?” she asked.
“Well he showed me a spell that turns some objects into food,” she answered, grabbing a rock and focusing hard, reciting the procedure in her head, imagining the rock becoming a ripe mango. Nothing happened, the rock staying a rock. She huffed in irritation and set the rock down on the desk, staring at it. “But… I haven’t mastered it yet,” she finished, and Tsunami frowned.
“Maybe you are doing it wrong, let me see that scroll,” she said, grabbing the scroll from Glory’s talons and taking a look at it as the RainWing protested.
“Hey!” Glory shouted, giving Tsunami an irritated scowl. Tsunami shook her head with a tsk. “How do you even read this, your handwriting is awful,” she critiqued, keeping the scroll away from Glory’s grasp.
“Give that back, fish breath!” Glory snarled, scales melting back into the orange and red from before.
“Only if you say please~” Tsunami sang, and Glory rolled her eyes.
“Or, I could spit my venom at your smug face and take the scroll back myself,” Glory snarled, flaring her frills and baring her two fangs.
“You wouldn’t, you like me too much,” Tsunami said, still wearing a wide grin, and Glory gagged. “Yeah right,” she huffed, some pink bleeding into her frill as she turned away.
“Hey guys!” a voice called from the hallway, and a small, golden SandWing peeked her head into the cave, carrying something in her front talons. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Not really,” Tsunami replied, tossing the scroll at the unaware RainWing that almost missed it.
“I heard Kestrel yelling at you and brought you something to eat, I figured you’d want something to eat,” the SandWing said, holding out some bananas to Glory, who gratefully took them. “Thank you Sunny,” Glory said, dipping her head and peeling away at the first one in the bunch. Sunny was the youngest dragonet, and the embodiment of kindness. She was the SandWing for the prophecy, although an odd one at that. She lacked a barb, and her scales were an vibrant, unusual gold. Her sclera was white like most dragons instead of black, with the iris being an unusual green. Not to mention her very small size, as while most SandWing’s standing straight would almost reach a MudWing, she was barely larger than Starflight, who was one of the smaller dragon species. Otherwise she was like any other SandWing; the bipedal stance, the sharp scales and ridge from her snout to tail tip, and the forked tongue.
It wasn’t much of a shock that Sunny had overheard her fight with Kestrel, seeing as SandWings had heightened senses, including sharp hearing.
“No problem!” the SandWing chirped, before turning her attention to the scroll. “What’s that?”
“My notes from Hvitur’s class, I was trying to turn this rock into a mango, but as you can see it didn’t work,” she sighed, taking a look at her notes again, noting how her handwriting was just fine.
“Maybe you should ask Hvitur for help?” Sunny suggested, and Glory shook her head, setting the scroll on her desk and clutching the rock again. “I’m fine, I don’t need help,” Glory replied, focusing once more on the rock, and Sunny shrugged.
“Alright, if you say so. I’m going to go study with Starflight now, good luck!” Sunny waved goodbye before exiting the cave, leaving Tsunami and Glory alone once more.
“Maybe you should ask for help? Hvitur will probably know what you’re doing wrong,” Tsunami said, picking up the rock in her talons and examining it.
“It’s fine, I’ll just try again later,” Glory mumbled, grabbing another banana from the bunch and peeling it.
“Want to go see what the others are up to once you finish?” Tsunami asked, and Glory nodded. “Sure why not,” before taking a bite out of the now peeled banana.