"Alright, so if we take a left here, and then a right there…," Robin mumbled as he tried to find his way to the library. He was thankful that it was quieter within the hallways of the academy since most of the other dragonets were busy in the prey center. Compared to there, the hallways were like a serene and quiet sanctuary from noise.
Dragons passed by them as they made their way toward their destination and the whispers pairs and groups of dragonets reached his ears, but none were too loud. Yerba followed behind him and she suddenly stepped on his tail. Robin let out a yelp and turned to face her. "Ow! What was that for?" he whined.
"Sorry, sorry," Yerba said quickly. "But don't you think that maybe we should ask someone for directions? A few dragons are passing us by the minute and, well, you know...if you did forget where the library was then we could just ask them! Sure, maybe we should've brought our maps along with us, but it's too late for that now, huh?"
Robin blinked at her before looking down. He had hoped that he would remember where the library would be, but then again, Yerba did have a point. He really didn't know where it would be located. He scratched once at the ground, but he nodded. "Okay," he answered.
"Great!" the SandWing said. Robin looked back up at her and just then, another SkyWing entered the hallway close to them.
But as soon as Robin saw her, he felt as if something had just plummeted into his stomach. The SkyWing wore a golden necklace around her neck and her ears were decorated with silver earrings embedded with rubies. Her scales were a dark shade of gold and her eyes were rich amber.
At once he recognized this dragon as Princess Corona.
Now he knew that the princess was going to be in the school. The news spread like wildfire around the Sky Kingdom, which excited certain dragonets and brought tension to the rest. Robin was part of 'the rest.'
He never met Princess Corona nor did he ever see her aside from what he saw in the scrolls, but since she was a princess he had to try his best not to embarrass himself in front of her. He couldn't, he couldn't, he couldn't make a fool out of himself.
"Hey!" Yerba called to the princess.
Corona stopped and turned her head toward her. "Yes? Was there anything that you needed from me?" she asked curiously, and her head tilted to the side.
"Yeah. I was wondering if you knew where the library was?" Yerba questioned. She gestured to Robin with her tail. "My friend and I want to head over there and we kinda need some directions. If you're kind enough to provide them, of course."
"Oh, of course!" Corona said. A smile split her face as she pointed past Yerba and Robin. "Continue down here and then take the path to your left. Then take a right from there and keep going the way you are. Then you'll reach the library."
Yerba nodded. "Thanks, buddy!" she said. "Wait. Am I allowed to call you buddy? Would you be okay with something like 'chum' or 'pal' instead?"
It occurred to Robin that Yerba probably didn't know who Princess Corona was. Or she at least heard of her but had no idea what she looked like.
"Well...really my name is Corona. Princess Corona, actually. But yes, 'buddy' sounds just fine!" the SkyWing replied. Her voice sounded cheerful and lighthearted in contrast to the choleric and haughty tone of Eis' voice.
"Ohhh, a princess! I see!" Yerba said. "Welp, time for us to go. See you later!" she said. Then she turned and swept past Robin as Corona uttered a farewell, and Robin followed after the SandWing.
He already had the idea that Yerba was a confident dragon, but he was just astonished at how little fear she seemed to possess. He soon found that he wished that he had her kind of confidence. Surely then talking to other dragons would be so much easier than it had been for him.
Every time he tried to talk to other dragonets in the past, it never turned out the way that he wanted it to. Everyone seemed to move differently all in a way that he just struggled to keep up with. So many of them said things that they didn't really mean and at at some point he realized that there seemed to be unspoken laws for them.
Most of the time it differed from one dragon to another and sometimes changed whenever they would converse. Nonetheless, no one quite explained whatever these laws were to him and instead left him to find out for himself.
"I think we're close!" Yerba cheered as they reached the library. At first all Robin saw was a side corridor with hanging scrolls with quotes on them, but then they soon reached a wide room. Green-tinted sunlight was present in the area and scrolls were all around in cubbyholes, racks, and cylinders arranged around the room.
Robin also spotted carpets, a few moss piles, and rock ledges and in the center of the room was a circular wooden desk, occupied by a dark blue SeaWing. "Wow," Robin breathed. His tail started to shake. There were so many scrolls here! He had to check all of them out!
"Hello there! My name is Dovekie. Are you looking for something in particular?" asked the SeaWing at the desk.
"Oh, um…" Robin said. "Do you have the Scorched Scales series anywhere around here?" he asked curiously. Please say yes, he thought hopefully. That was one of his favorite series. He had the entire first arc memorized by now and he was halfway through with the second arc.
"As a matter of fact, we do have the first arc here," Dovekie answered. She turned her head to look at the wall of scrolls opposite of Robin and pointed to a certain section. "Head over there and take a look. The series should be located at the center portion."
"Thanks!" Robin said, and then he zipped toward it.
"Wow, you're quite energetic. I guess you must really love that series," Yerba answered as she made her way to his side. Robin made no response and just pulled out the first scroll in the cubbyhole and pushed it toward her. "Hey, sheesh!" Yerba said. "It's like you're trying to knock me over!"
"Can you read it?" Robin asked her.
Yerba blinked. "Huh?"
"Pleease can you read it?" he asked again. "I promise that it's super good! Like, really good!" His tail quivered and shook as he peered at Yerba with wide eyes.
"Hmm...alright," Yerba smiled. She took the scroll into her talon. "I'll be sure to read it, I promise. For now, let's go check out what else we can read!"
The rest of the day went without much incident. After looking around the library a little bit more, they managed to pick out a few of them to check out to Dovekie. They were even given little stamps and pouches to hold them in.
They spent the rest of the day exploring the rest of the school and finding out which rooms their classes would take place in. By the time the sun set, Robin and Yerba both agreed that it was time to head back to their cave.
And when they reached their cave, they met the rest of their clawmates, which included a familiar dark green SeaWing and Stormseeker.
"Hey, you were that SeaWing I met earlier! The clumsy one who tripped on my cape!" Robin said as soon as he saw the SeaWing. Yerba raised a brow at him and Robin wondered if he said something wrong.
An unnatural smile spread across the SeaWing's face. "Eeeeyup, that's me, heh heh," he said. "My name's Dolphin! And uh...did you meet Stormseeker? I mean, I guess I already introduced him to you."
"Nah, don't worry, we met him," Yerba said. She smiled at Stormseeker who only frowned at her in response. Robin felt discouraged to see that Stormseeker seemed to be as eager to talk as he did earlier back in the prey center.
"Um...so who do you think the rest of the dragonets in our winglet could be?" asked Robin. He hoped to probably start some conversation with the other dragonets, and who knows? Maybe one of them had the answer as to who the IceWing, RainWing, and MudWing of their winglet could be.
Stormseeker shrugged. "Whoever they are, they're still going to be our wingmates for the rest of the year. So let's hope that they're friendly," Stormseeker responded in a flat voice.
"Of course they're going to be friendly!" Dolphin scoffed. He grinned and then shone some of his stripes. Robin stared at his glowing stripes and his tail started to shake and swish from side to side ever so slightly. Robin never saw a SeaWing's glow-in-the-dark markings in action before, but now that he did he had to admit that it was actually kind of captivating.
"You seem to be a really optimistic dragon," Stormseeker remarked.
"Hey, I'm just telling the truth," Dolphin said. His glowing scales dimmed until they no longer gave off any light. "After all, who can possibly resist this?" He raised one of his wings confidently.
"I can," Yerba answered.
Dolphin lowered his wing. "Hey, you don't even know me that well yet!" he said. "Trust me, by the end of the year, you're going to learn that I'm funny, only slightly below average, and that I have crippling low self-esteem." He paused before giving a nervous chuckle. "Don't take that seriously, okay? I promise that I am funny, though."
Before Robin could say anything, Stormseeker spoke up again. "Let's just go get some sleep now, okay?" he suggested. "We really need to get moving tomorrow. We have the rest of our winglet to meet after all."
"Oh, yeah. That sounds like a good idea," Robin said. After what felt like a long day he supposed that he really did want to go to sleep. It could give him some time to collect his thoughts, too. He never felt more nervous in his entire life.
Then the dark red SkyWing went up on the rock ledge and curled up on it. He wrapped his cape around himself as he did so. He heard his clawmates also getting ready to head off to sleep and while they were doing that, he went over his thoughts.
Yerba was nice. Really nice, actually. He liked her and he was glad that they were friends. Now all he had to worry about was somehow finding a way to keep their friendship intact. What if she stops liking him at some point during the school year? Or what if she's the only dragon to like him throughout the school year?
Dolphin seemed like a nice dragon, though. Maybe Robin could become friends with him. He was hoping that at some point they could form a mutual friendship with each other. Dolphin struck him as the kind of dragon who wasn't very mean and also one that he could hang out with if he wanted a more 'mellow' time.
But Stormseeker…
Robin wasn't really sure how he felt about the NightWing. On one talon, he didn't feel he'd be able to become friends with such a closed-off, reclused NightWing. On the other talon, Robin knew that he could probably count on Stormseeker if he wanted someone that he could be quiet with. But then on the third talon, wouldn't it be harder to become friends with him?
A yawn soon escaped his mouth and that served as the signal that Robin should go to sleep. He closed his eyes and let himself fade into slumber.
"RISE AND SHIIIIIIINE!"
Yerba's loud voice suddenly assaulted his ears and he woke with a start. He fell off of the rock ledge and landed with a thud. He steadily rose back onto his feet and turned his head to look at the SandWing.
"Yerba," he groaned. "Please don't do that. I don't like it when dragons do that."
"Yeah. I second that," Dolphin grumbled while Stormseeker let out a startled hiss and arched his back.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Buuut it's time for us to head on over to our first small group discussion class! Which means that we'll get to meet the rest of our winglet!"
"Wow. I am very excited," said Stormseeker flatly. Robin felt a little bit of hope at that. If he was telling the truth, then maybe he really was eager to spend some time around other dragons in the school.
"I know you are!" Yerba grinned. "So let's go!"
She grabbed Robin and he had to wonder how she could be so active all the time. He had expected her to be a little bit more calm and sedate in the morning, but that was clearly not the case here. To him, there was probably a fire constantly raging inside of her.
"W-Wait!" Robin cried as Stormseeker and Dolphin went after them. Yerba, thankfully, got the idea and let go of him. Robin balanced himself and he trailed after Yerba. Dolphin soon caught up to him and Robin looked over his shoulder to look at Stormseeker, who was walking behind them.
Dolphin leaned in close to Robin's ear and whispered, "Well, she's really energetic."
Robin smiled at him. "I know," he whispered back. "But she's nice."
Other dragons passed them as they went and when they finally arrived at their class, there was already an adult NightWing there. He looked quite exhausted in Robin's opinion, and not the 'cute' kind of exhausted where they're tired but they still have a small smile on their face.
No. The NightWing looked as if he was about to suck out Robin's soul at any given moment, which made Robin already feel quite nervous about him.
The group of dragons seated themselves and Robin took a moment to enjoy how quiet it was in the classroom. He heard the occasional grumble from the older NightWing, but otherwise it felt perfectly peaceful in here to him.
"Oh, this is so exciting," Yerba whispered excitedly to Robin. Robin smiled and looked past her as he heard footsteps approaching the room. The newcomers soon came into sight and he saw a MudWing, a RainWing, and...Princess Eis.
He immediately felt his heart sink into his stomach.
She can't be that bad, can she? Robin thought to himself hopefully. Maybe she was just in a bad mood when we first met! Aaw, maybe that's it. Well, I'd be happy to be her friend! Well...if she'll let me be her friend. But everyone needs a friend, and surely one more can't hurt, right?
Okay, so he really wasn't convincing himself. All he could do was to just hope that his thoughts were true. Maybe she forgot about him, too, and so they can start all over and greet each other in the proper way, with no bumping into each other whatsoever.
Eis paused as she saw him and she narrowed her dark blue eyes. Well, it definitely became quite clear to him that she still remembered him and she probably wasn't pleased to see him either. He looked away and focused his attention on the RainWing and MudWing instead.
The RainWing had dark pink scales and her eyes were a light bluish color. She looked as if she was trying not to be noticed, as she was hunched over and her head was slightly lowered.
The MudWing looked rather cheerful and happy. He seemed to be more of a mellow and easygoing dragon than Yerba, but still nonetheless looked excited. Robin thought that maybe he could get along with this dragon, too.
"Great, we're all here," said the NightWing as the MudWing, IceWing, and RainWing all took a seat. Robin tried not to feel Eis' glare searing into his scales, but so far, he was failing. He started to shake his tail a little bit again as he hoped to distract himself from her.
"So, now that the Quartz Winglet is present, let's introduce ourselves to each other," said the NightWing. His gaze swept over each one of the dragonets. "You'll know me as Professor Runesearcher. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will do the best I can to answer it. So, who's going to start?" he asked. His eyes landed directly on Yerba. "What about you?"
"Oh, perfect!" Yerba said, and she clapped her talons together. "So, I'm Yerba! My goal here is to learn as much as I can and make my mother proud and hopefully also make a lot of friends here as well! My favorite color is yellow and I really love to eat camels, too."
"Unnecessary details to help others get a better idea of you, that's perfect," Professor Runesearcher said. Yerba grinned in response. "Who next?"
"My name is Muskrat," the MudWing spoke up. A wide smile stretched across his face. "I came here with my sister, Hazel. We're both really excited about starting our school year here. I don't really have a goal here except to learn as much as I can. I hope that I don't seem dumb to any of you." His face flushed.
Aw. He seems really nice, Robin thought. Now he was really interested in getting to learn more about Muskrat.
"I'm sure you won't," said Runesearcher.
Runesearcher then looked at the RainWing expectantly and she hesitated before she said, "My name is Cotinga. I studied a lot before I came here so I hope I studied the right stuff. Umm...yeah, that's about it. I really like dark pink, though."
"I'm Dolphin!" the SeaWing spoke up soon after Cotinga finished. "I'm hoping that my experience at this school will help to shape me to become an awesome dragon! I also really want to make tons of friends here, too!" He smiled brightly at Robin and Robin grinned back at him.
Runesearcher nodded and then he looked to Princess Eis.
Eis cleared her throat. "Well, I am Princess Eis, daughter of Queen Snowdust and King Sleet, and I am also in line for the throne," she said. "I came here with my idiot bodyguard, North, and I was perfectly enthusiastic to share a winglet and learn side by side with dragons who weren't...clumsy"—she glared at Robin before looking back at Runesearcher—"but I suppose that as long as we don't share the same cave as each other, then I am fine with it. I'm hoping that my time at this school will help me take a few steps closer to the best version of myself that I can be."
"Actually, I-I'm not clumsy," Robin spoke up. He didn't know what he was doing, but he just didn't want her to think that he was clumsy. Of course, this had foreseeable consequences, but he still didn't like it when dragons thought that he was clumsy or stupid without getting to know him first. "I'm actually really cool! I'm just...you know, a little awkward, but if you just give me a chance I'll be the bestest friend you've ever had!"
Eis rolled her eyes. "Of course you would say something like that," she scoffed. "Any dragon would like to see themselves better than they actually are."
"Alright, Eis, mmmaaybe that's enough," Cotinga said nervously. Robin saw Muskrat and Dolphin nod in agreement while Stormseeker shook his head at the IceWing, but Eis seemed to ignore them.
Eis opened her mouth but before she could say anything more, Yerba said, "Okay! So, who next? Stormseeker, what about you?"
Stormseeker sighed. "Fine. I'm Stormseeker," he said. "I've come to Jade Mountain Academy because my family wanted me to, so here I am. I just want to survive the school year, which hopefully isn't too much to ask for."
"Don't worry, I'm sure it isn't," Robin said reassuringly to him. Well, at least he thought it was reassuring. Stormseeker just snorted in response, which made Robin wonder if that was perhaps the wrong thing to say.
"Oh, I understand," said Runesearcher. He glanced at Robin and the SkyWing started to feel anxiety in his stomach again.
He hesitated. "Uh...my name is Robin," he said after a moment. "I came here because I really, really want new experiences! And also because my aunt wanted me to come here! My aunt's really nice, you should meet her, but I guess that might be kinda weird since, y'know, she doesn't like talking to other dragons but for some reason she wants me to talk to other dragons but she's still very nice because she gave me my cape and I—oh, I guess I should stop talking."
Robin hoped that he said enough about himself. He felt Yerba nudge him gently, which encouraged him a little bit.
Runesearcher let out an exasperated sigh. "Alright," he said. Robin now got the feeling that poor Professor Runesearcher probably just wanted to retire and rest. He had to wonder how long the NightWing was on the job.
The dark red dragonet removed his attention from the professor and peered at the other dragons around him. Most of them didn't seem that unfriendly or hostile except for Eis (Stormseeker was hard to talk to, but otherwise not unkind), but Robin thought that maybe it won't be that bad after all.
Only time would tell.
