Chapter III • Orken

"Come on; can I please just come with you?" Fennec begged, racing to the door and latching onto her older sister's leg.

Exasperated, Diamondback gave her leg a small shake and let out a long, suffering sigh. From the bed, Orken tried to stifle a laugh, trying to keep his eyes on the half-burned scroll unfurled in front of him, but Diamondback's morning routine was often funnier than some boring old scroll.

"Fennec, you know the rules," Diamondback said, leaning her neck over and nudging the tiny dragonet until she fell off her leg. "How would it look if I brought you to work with me every day?" To be honest, Orken didn't really see the benefits that came from trying to use logic with a dragon who hadn't even reached their first birthday, but he had learned a long time ago that when it came to his sisters, (specifically Diamondback) it was smarter to keep his mouth shut.

Still, Fennec didn't seem to get the message. Glowering, the young dragonet stamped her feet on the ground, on the verge of a tantrum. "But it's boring always staying here! I don't like sitting in the house, and it's boring to go outside!" Fennec complained, whining as she thumped down in the center of the rug, groaning loudly. Orken almost scoffed; last night the young dragonet had played outside with her two lizards for almost three hours before one of them managed to get far away enough eaten by a traveling merchant.

Still, Diamondback didn't know this. Squeezing her eyes shut, Diamondback drooped her head and rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. "Ugh...damn it Fennec..." she muttered under her breath. "Look. Orken's still here! You guys can have fun!" She said, shooting Orken a look that said just go with it.

Startled, Orken suddenly looked up. For the most part, he found it amusing when Diamondback felt the need to argue with a dragon who hadn't even reached their first birthday yet, but it was never quite as funny whenever Diamondback roped him into it with bargains he never agreed to. Still, as Fennec looked over hopefully, Orken managed to force a wide grin on his face.

"Yep. Lots of fun," Orken said through gritted teeth, shooting a vicious glare at Diamondback, who gave a smirk that Orken was sure was the face of pure evil. Fennec, however, didn't seem to notice. As soon as the words slipped out of Orken's mouth, the young SandWing seemed to completely forget her argument (if you could even call it that) with Diamondback and leaped to her feet, a wide grin splitting her face.

"You mean Orken's gonna stay here the whole time? He's not gonna go to the store or the bridge or go get jewels or anywhere else?" Fennec asked hopefully, the young dragonet already bouncing up and down on her talons in excitement. Orken, however, felt his face flush red as Fennec spoke; conveniently, he had forgotten to mention the last thing about the jewels to Diamondback.

For some reason, Diamondback had never really ever "approved" of Orken's methods to make money for their makeshift family. "We can make money without resulting to being criminals," she had said one day when Orken came home with a loaf of bread ten times the price of anything they could ever afford. Snatching the bread out of his claws, Diamondback hadn't even allowed any of them to get a bite in before she had taken it back to the baker, where she had managed to get away with nothing but a slap on the wrist.

While Orken understood where Diamondback was coming from, he had never really agreed. The reason Diamondback didn't want to steal was simply that she believed that dragons should do good things, and even if they needed it more, stealing, as well as any form of crime, was wrong in her mind. Sometimes, Orken wished he could have that kind of ignorant bliss, but while Diamondback had been working two jobs just to make sure they didn't all starve to death, Orken had been exploring out on the streets, just to get outside.

What he had seen had proven that the world wasn't exactly going to listen to a pacifist who believed that there was good in everyone. Outside of the comfortable little walls of their hut was a world that no dragon in their position could survive in by "being good". In Possibility, dragons on the outskirts of the town were ravaged by poverty and debt, struggling for a mere crumb while dragons in the inner city lived it up in their big houses filled with gold and jewels.

Farther north, dragons lost their lives every day to a war they hadn't started and most likely wouldn't be able to see finished in the SandWing war against the IceWings. Orken, by this point, knew very little about the war as hardly anybody liked talking about it, but the little bit of information he had come up with so far wasn't anything good.

He heard of images of battlefields littered with bodies, the ground a checkerboard of blue and red. Fire and frostbreath matched in the sky and weapons flew at the talons of dragons in a war that wasn't theirs. In Diamondback's world, there was no "fair". You took what you could, and flew under the radar.

So when Diamondback shot Orken a vicious glare, the young SandWing didn't feel as much remorse as he should have. "Um...oops?" He said with a sheepish smile, and Diamondback shook her head again, grasping her temples.

"Orken, what have I told you?" Diamondback exhaled, the words being said in a tone like they had been used many, many times before. "You know what happens if you get caught for stealing in this part of Possibility? What part of what I've ever said to you has made you think it's okay to steal?"

Orken glowered, feeling his face grow red. He hated it when Diamondback yelled at him like this, but he hated it even more when she did it in front of Fennec. He was supposed to be the big brother to her, and it didn't exactly help for her to see him get ratted out by Diamondback. Still, for once the SandWing managed to bite his tongue and merely look down. He knew Diamondback wouldn't be able to yell at him for long; she had to go to work soon, and Diamondback knew it too.

Glancing at the window at the position of the sun, Diamondback released a huff and sent Orken a murderous glare. "We'll talk about this later," she hissed, prying open the wooden door. "And don't even think about leaving this house!"

So of course, the first thing Orken thought about was leaving the house.

Not even an hour after Diamondback had left, Orken was already starting to feel like a caged animal. His talons left scuff marks on the floor as he paced the tiny house, the sun shining in through the window almost feeling like another level of torture.

With it being the fourth and middle day of the week-long Summer Festival, Orken already knew how the streets would look. The day wasn't sweltering hot like it had been a few days ago, so a larger variety if merchants and dragons would be filling the town, offering all sorts of exotic delicacies like some weird fruit from the Rainforest or a tropical fish like a pufferfish from the Sea Kingdom.

On a day like today, Orken could leave the house with an empty bag and come home with enough food for a week. Instead, here he was, pacing the room like a half-crazed lion.

Fennec, however, seemed oblivious to her brother's frustration. "Orken! Ya wanna play with my pets?" She asked, holding up a tiny barn owl that she had caught outside that day to replace her missing lizard.

Scowling, Orken looked down. The owl was so old it was coughing up its own feathers, but Orken didn't exactly have the heart to tell her that her new pet was two steps away from death's door. Instead, he merely shook his head and turned over.

"Just...not now, Fennec, alright? We'll play later," Orken grumbled, scratching designs on the kitchen table with his claw. Even though Orken thought he was making it perfectly clear that he really wanted to be alone right now, Fennec still didn't seem to get the message. Shrugging her shoulders, the young dragonet gently placed her owl down on the floor, and stood on her hind legs, propping her arms on the table and beaming.

"Alright! So what do you want to do? You could read to me, or we could cook something, or you could teach me about barn owls so I know how to take care of my own owl..." Fennec rambled on, grinning as she continued to rattle off a list of things she and Orken could do together.

Groaning quietly, Orken massaged his temples. He loved his sister; honestly, he did. It was just that sometimes, he found it kind of hard to deal with the dragonet's hyperactive attitude. Normally, he would happy to play with his sister, but today with the whole grounded-while-the-summer-festival-is-going-on-becauDiamondbackack-is-such-a-stickler-about-a-messed-up-system thing going on, he just really wasn't in the mood for it today.

"Look Fennec, I—" Orken began, massaging his temples, but he never got to finish his sentence. Just as he was about to as politely as possible tell his sister how he didn't want to play right now, he was interrupted by something—an odd noise. It was kind of metallic and hollow, like a piece of metal jiggling against another, quiet and high-pitched, but still there.

If Orken had a normal childhood, where he didn't have to worry about having enough food or if he had a really big house like the rich dudes in the center of the city, he might not have noticed it. But any thief in Possibility could recognize the sound of a lock being picked even a mile away.

Pricking his ears, Orken silently thanked his sharp SandWing hearing as he turned his attention from Fennec to the door, where the cheap brass doorknob was being jiggled around in it's place, banging against it's spot in the door.

If it hadn't been for the voice outside the door, Orken might have actually felt threatened. But as long as he had been alive, he hadn't known anyone who had cursed as much trying to pick a lock as the dragon behind the door right now.

Smiling, Orken leaned against the wall beside the door. "You know, your technique could really use some work," he said playfully, and although it was muffled, he thought he heard a vague "f*ck you," come from outside. Before Orken could even think of a smart retort, he finally heard the door unlock with a satisfying click, followed by what sounded like a "got it."

Swinging open the door, Orken shook his head as he was greeted with a face he had seen many times, in many, many situations (most of them illegal). Standing outside, outlined by the bright afternoon sun, the dragon that stood before him looked almost angelic. The irony, Orken found, was that displayed across his face was a devilish grin and an odd glint in his eyes, that just made teachers go "don't even think about it!" and stick him right in the front row.

His yellow scales were slightly brighter than an average SandWing, almost gold, like the shimmering necklaces that hung in the storefronts near the richer sections of Possibility. A large barb sat at the end of his tail, curled dangerously as if he would strike at any moment, and patches of red spiraled along his scales, almost resembling tiny fireballs. However, that wasn't the only odd thing about him.

Rather than having one long spine that ran the length of his body down to his tail, this dragon had a series of smaller, singular vibrant red curved spikes that glinted in the sunlight. His face was too curved, too slim, not at all like the bulky head of a SandWing, and his wings seemed much too large, the wing membrane a vibrant shade of red. This dragon obviously didn't seem like a normal dragon, but he wasn't an entirely new species either. He was sometime special, something slowly becoming more and more common in Possibility.

With one glance, you could tell that this dragon was a hybrid. A SandWing-SkyWing hybrid, to be exact. And one of Orken's best friends.

"Wow Mercury, you really need to step up your game. I could hear you a mile away," Orken quipped, smirking as the dragon entered the house, blowing on the talon that he had picked the lock with like it was a smoking rifle. At Orken's words, the hybrid called Mercury stopped dead in his tracks. "Please. Try to beat 10.4 seconds," he said, tapping his head like it was obvious.

Orken merely rolled his eyes. "Try a personal record of 7.2," he said as causally as he could, studying his talons.

"5.6," Mercury retorted, nudging Orken in the side with the tip of his massive wing, which almost knocked the young SandWing over.

"You jackass," Orken said, giving a mischievous smile, and Mercury simply responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "You'd be lying if you said I wasn't," Mercury said casually, strolling over to the table and placing himself in one of the seats, getting comfortable as if he lived there his whole life, which he practically did. Mercury's parents, Quicksand and Heaven, had apparently been good friends with Orken's parents, which in Orken's book pretty much meant that the two of them were kind of destined to be friends before either of them was even born.

After his parents died, Mercury's family had kind of been Orken and his sister's saving grace. During the first month, Mercury's mom, Heaven, had been constantly checking in, asking if they were "getting enough to eat" and "coping well" and all that. Even when they really started struggling for food and money, Diamondback had always insisted that they were fine, never really accepting any outside help. Whenever Orken brought this up, she always said that they were actually alright, but going to bed hungry and the leaky roof had made Orken suspect that Diamondback had secretly done it out of pride.

"Orken, I thought that Diamondback said she didn't like you hanging out with Mercury," Fennec said, cocking her head as she curiously studied the older dragon. At Fennec's words, Orken cringed; technically speaking, it was true, considering in Diamondback's words he was a "bad influence" or something.

Mercury, however, didn't seem to mind at all. "Aw come on, kid," he said, reaching down and rubbing the top of Fennec's head in a friendly manner. "We all know she can't exactly get rid of me," he said with the cockiness of someone who would take this fact to the grave, and right away Orken knew that he was right. Getting rid of Mercury would be like getting rid of another part of the family; he was pretty much too far in to get rid of at this point.

"Besides, I have something for both of you," Mercury said, and as he did, Orken noticed that around Mercury's neck was a brown leathery satchel, old and withered with age, but there was obviously some things in it, as it was bulging at the bottom.

Suddenly excited at the idea of getting a present, Fennec leaped back in excitement, clapping her talons together. "Ooh, really?" She asked, bouncing on her feet. "What is it?"

Smiling, Mercury reached into the bag and pulled out a single scroll, the words Young Dragonets Guide to Animals of Pyrrhia spread across it in big black bubble letters. At the sight of it, Fennec let out a delighted squeal, quickly snatching the scroll from his talons and flapping across the room to her wire bed, spreading the scroll out as her eyes flew across the surface.

Mercury gave a slight chuckle. "Yeah, you're always talking about how she's always getting those pets, so I just thought that I might be able to pick that up for her," he said as casually as he could, but Orken wasn't surprised. With the hybrid constantly sitting around the house, at this point he had almost become like another one of Fennec's older brothers.

Then, from Fennec's spot on the bed, Orken took a look at the price tag hanging from the surface of the scroll: 15 silver coins. "Dude," Orken marveled, nudging Mercury with his wing tip. "How did you get that?" Mercury gave Orken a look like the answer was obvious.

"Have you seen the stuff at the festival?" Mercury asked, the arches above his eyes raised in surprise. "They've got all sorts of stuff like that! With all the dragons around, hardly anyone is paying attention to their stuff. How are you not out there yet?"

Suddenly, Orken felt his face flush red as he averted his eyes. "I...um..." he stuttered, staring down at his talons as he scratched the floorboard with his talons again (which was beginning to become a nervous habit). "Um...Diamondback kind of grounded me..."

Orken couldn't even get the words fully out before the corner of Mercury's mouth started twitching. Orken looked up and scowled. "You're trying not to laugh, aren't you?"

"What? No, no, I'm fine. Go on."

"Well, she banned me from going outside for at least today, and maybe the rest of the Summer Festival depending on how it works out—"

Orken couldn't even get through a full sentence before Mercury completely gave up. A loud burst of laughter exploded from the hybrid's mouth, echoing throughout the house like he had just heard the funniest thing he had ever had the pleasure of bearing witness to. Orken merely rolled his eyes. "Come on dude, really?" He muttered, exasperated. Mercury, however, didn't seem to care about Orken's reaction.

"Three...moons Orken...what are you, two?" Mercury managed to sputter out between gasps, the hybrid holding his belly as he collapsed onto the floor. "My gosh, my parents haven't grounded me in like, a year!"

"Yeah, because you're better at not getting caught," Orken quipped, listing off times in his head when Mercury should have at least spent the night in jail (which was quite a lot). Finally getting a hold of himself, Mercury straightened up and slapped Orken on the back. "Well, you need to brush up on that too! Come on, we're blowing this joint," he said, starting toward the door.

Before Orken could say anything, Mercury suddenly stopped short, as if he had just remembered something. "Oh! Almost forgot; there was this thing waiting outside your door too," he said, reaching into his bag and pulling out a single envelope, white with a green wax seal keeping it closed. On the back, the words Orken of the SandWings; Deliver to Possibility were sprawled in black calligraphy, and the return address read Jade Mountain.

However, as Orken gave it a closer inspection, he realized that the green seal that kept it shut had already been broken, and the top of the letter inside was sticking out. "Princess Auklet of the—" Mercury read, skipping to the bottom to see who it was from, before Orken quickly snatched it out of his talons. "Nice try," he said with a smirk, taking the letter and tucking it under his wing.

"Aw come on! A princess? Just let me see!" Mercury begged. "I bet she's your girlfriend—"

"You idiot," Orken joked, shoving Mercury with his wing tip. "It's a freaking pen pal project." As he spoke, Orken shifted his wing, feeling the paper rustle against the membrane. He hadn't really expected Auklet to write back to him; at least not so soon, considering she would probably be busy with school and princess-y things. Still, he wasn't about to complain; he thought it was kind of nice that she had written back so soon.

Still, he didn't tell Mercury any of this; he would practically be asking to be teased. "Whatever. I thought you were talking about going to the Summer Festival," he grumbled, shoving past him and walking towards the door.

"Wait! I thought that Diamondback told you to stay here!" Fennec called out, suddenly looking up from her scroll. Orken suddenly stopped short, then groaned. "Ah, right—I can't leave Fennec home alone all day," he grumbled, glancing back at his sister. The young SandWing sat there, looking at Orken defiantly as if she could already sense the gravity of the punishment Diamondback would get in when—or if she found out. Suddenly, Orken could feel the gears in his head turning, the way they always did when he was working out a plan.

"Fennec—would you be willing to come to the Summer Festival with me and Mercury to the Summer Festival?" Orken suggested, putting on his most brotherly winning-smile that he could manage. Mercury, however, didn't seem to like Orken's idea of working things out.

"Wait, what? Orken, we can't have a kid trailing around with us! I don't want to be watching out for some dragonet; and I doubt Crystalline will want to either," he said, crossing his arms, and Orken slightly cringed. He doubted Crystalline, their IceWing friend, would be exactly ecstatic about having Orken's little sister hanging out with them.

"Come on; I can't just leave her here all day," Orken whispered, pulling Mercury off to the side. "She's not even a year old yet! She'll burn the house down or get kidnapped and taken for ransom or something!" Mercury just groaned and rolled his eyes; but he knew by now that when it came to family matters not to argue with Orken.

"Crystalline's not gonna be happy," he muttered, waltzing toward the door. Ignoring him, Orken turned around and looked back at his sister. "Congratulations Fennec! Today, you get to come to the Summer Festival with us!" At first, Fennec cocked her head. "Are you teasing me? Because it isn't very funny," she frowned, but then as Orken shrugged his shoulders and gestured to the door, Fennec suddenly sat up straighter. "Wait—I really get to come with you?"

Without hesitation, Fenned sprang up from the bed and sprinted to the door, squealing in excitement. As she did, Mercury just looked at Orken, and shook his head.

"Come on," Orken said, closing the door behind him. "What's the worst that could happen?"