Tsunami led Inferno into a hallway that looked like it could be the rooms of the students at the academy. The heads of an IceWing and a SeaWing poked out from a doorway, cautiously watching Inferno walk past them, smelling the smoke drifting from her crimson-red scales. They quickly exchanged whispers between themselves about the newcomer before ducking back into the cavern. Inferno sighed.
Eventually, Tsunami reached a small collection of rooms, all of which had no students in them at the moment, but seemed to be in use. Inferno wondered where the students they belonged to were. Maybe these were the students still playing in the common area?
"The Jade Winglet is normally here, but until they get back, you can take this room," Tsunami said, motioning a webbed paw to the only room in the collection that was completely barren. No scrollshelves, no leaves to rest on, just a small ledge of rock. As Inferno poked her head inside it, she got the slight whiff of smoke.
"It's already been fireproofed, of course," Tsunami continued. "If Peril returns and you're still around, we can probably find someplace else to move you. Or maybe we can just move her to Clay's room. I'm sure she'd love that." Tsunami grinned devilishly.
Inferno tensed up, folding her wings even closer to her body than usual. This was Peril's room? Why did Tsunami have to put her here? She wanted nothing to do with a dragon like that, someone who'd gruesomely murdered more dragons than there were scales on her body. Inferno opened her mouth slightly to ask Tsunami if there were any other rooms available, but quickly closed it. She was Tsunami's guest here, and the SeaWing had shown great hospitality by just letting a dragon like her into the academy, and even more gave her a room. She didn't want to insult the SeaWing by rejecting it.
"Alright," Tsunami yawned. "I've got stuff to do. Talk to me or one of the other Dragonets tomorrow, I'm sure we can help get you better situated." She thought for a moment, then gave Inferno a glare of warning, causing the SkyWing to back up a step. "Also, I don't know you. The only reason I'm trusting you and Seahorse is because Riptide does. But if you try and lay a claw on one of my students . . . well, we have ways to deal with even dragons with scales like yours. Got it?" Tsunami thought back to Whirlpool's death, three years ago. She really didn't want to ask Anemone to use her power. But if it came to that, then she might have no choice.
Inferno nodded furiously. "Please don't worry," she replied, "I'd never hurt any dragon."
Tsunami smiled warily. "That's good," she answered, "although if Queen Scarlet decides to come down here, you could be useful." Inferno frowned uncomfortably. "But see you around," Tsunami parted.
As Tsunami left Inferno alone, the SkyWing glanced back to the Peril's room. It made her feel nauseous, just imagining Peril using her talons to rip out the burning guts of screaming dragons. She covered her own talons. She would never, ever, become like that.
Inferno decided she wasn't tired, and after quickly placing down her small agate, walked away from the room. She wondered if her mother was thinking of her right now. Maybe. Did Goat miss her? Probably not. Inferno didn't miss Goat yet, but that didn't seem that weird. She'd only been gone for a few days. Even so, it was strange, being away from someone she'd spent her whole life next to.
Eventually, Inferno arrived in the common room she'd passed on the way in. The crowd of students had dispersed, but a few of the dragons she'd seen earlier were still there. The two hybrids were now playing against each other, while the RainWing and MudWing were watching. Inferno knew that the black-red hybrid's name was Skytaker and the RainWing was Tiger, but she wasn't sure about the other two.
As she came into sight, the four dragons' eyes all turned on her, smoke rising gently from her scales. She stood tense, unsure what to do. She didn't know her way around the school, and wasn't quite sure where she was going. "Sorry," she quickly said, walking back towards another one of the tunnels.
"Hey!" shouted the NightWing-SeaWing hybrid at Inferno. She froze up. "You can join us if you want!"
Inferno just blinked for a few seconds, surprised that she'd been invited to join. They didn't even know her, and she could be dangerous if she got too close. As the grinning hybrid smiled at Inferno, she saw Skytaker and the MudWing conversing quickly between each other. They were probably unsure if inviting a dragon with firescales so close was such a good idea. Inferno didn't blame them.
"Oh no, it's alright," Inferno answered. If some of them didn't want her to join, it would probably be better if she stayed away. She didn't want to make them angrier than they already were.
"Are you sure?" the MudWing suddenly spoke up. "You're new here, right?"
"It gets boring only playing with Tiger and Sepia," Skytaker mused. "But apparently there are three new dragons visiting? I'm down."
"The reason no one else plays with you is because you beat them too easily," Sepia gently replied to Skytaker.
The hybrid snorted and raised their head pompously. "You seem to be implying it's not easy for me to beat you."
"I've gotten better," Sepia protested. "I'm fifth-best in the school now. Fourth-best if you don't include Starflight, because he's a teacher. And Qibli is never here anyways, so let's go with third-best."
Skytaker grinned, and turned back to their game with the other hybrid. Inferno inched closer, noticing that Tiger was carefully watching her every move. Not with fear, but with intense curiosity. As Inferno made sure not too get so close that the heat she radiated bothered the other dragons too much, she locked eyes with the RainWing. "Um, hi," she greeted Tiger.
"Hello," Tiger answered, cocking her head to the side. A few of the black stripes on her body started to change into a blue color. Inferno watched in wonder. She hadn't met any RainWings before.
"Hey, Inferno, do you know how to play Queens and Generals?" the hybrid with the eyepatch suddenly asked.
"Queens and Generals?" Inferno asked. She glanced down at the checkered board. There were eleven squares to each side, with a large number of wooden circles on the board. Each circle had a small image engraved on them. Some were of animals, some of dragons, and others had only symbols on them. Additionally, each piece had a small half-circle carved at the top. "No, I haven't played it before." She wasn't sure why the hybrid needed to ask her. Of course she couldn't. She'd burn up the board if she tried.
"Are you good at it?" Tiger asked.
Inferno gave the RainWing an inquisitive look, confused. "No, I said I hadn't played before."
"That doesn't imply that you aren't good at it," Tiger answered. "Take Ink. This is his first time playing, and he's winning against Skytaker, who is unequivocally the best player in the school."
Inferno glanced at the dark blue hybrid, who waved a paw at her again. That must be Ink.
"He's not winning," Skytaker muttered. "I've got him cornered, you see?" They pushed a piece forward, and took one of Ink's pieces off of the board. "And I just took his SandWing Queen."
Almost without thinking, Ink pushed forward a different small circle close to Skytaker's side of the board. "I'm promoting my Fox to a Fox General." He turned the piece over, and for an instant, Inferno saw panic in Skytaker's eyes.
"He's definitely beating you now," Tiger commented. "You have two turns remaining before he takes your Empress. Four with the right move."
"I know that," Skytaker snapped, moving one of their pieces to the right. They glanced at the board against and winced. "Eagle guts," they grumbled, realizing they'd made the wrong move, having suddenly lost their cool. "I should've captured his Stag General."
Tiger turned towards Ink, who's excited expression had just fallen. A single talon hovered over one of his pieces, shaking. She glanced at him, hints of purple running across her scales. "Well?" Tiger asked. "You can win this turn, right?"
"Um," Ink replied, gulping. That wasn't what Skytaker was supposed to do . . . "Er, the Fox General can move diagonally forward and to the left twice, right?"
"Only once," Tiger replied. "But you don't want to move your Fox General, you want to move your Rai—"
"Shhh!" Skytaker suddenly interrupted Tiger. "Don't tell him!" Tiger rolled her eyes.
Ink pushed forward another one of his pieces, taking one of Skytaker's off the board. Tiger groaned as Skytaker grinned deviously.
"You fool! You didn't take my Cat!" the red-black hybrid laughed dramatically. Skytaker moved a piece across the board, taking one of Ink's pieces off. They raised the piece dramatically — a small circular token with a crown on it. "Your Empress has been captured! Pyrrhia is mine!"
Sepia tsked while Tiger glowered at Ink, causing the hybrid to gulp in concern. "How?" Tiger growled, slightly enraged. "How did you lose? What is with you? First you give me an almost perfect design for a desalination machine and have no idea how it works, and now you were two turns away from beating Skytaker, but lost because of a rookie mistake?"
"Um, beginner's luck?" Ink asked, laughing uneasily.
Tiger frowned, and continued to glare at the uncomfortable Ink. Ink turned away, towards Inferno. "Do you want to play?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
Inferno smiled kindly, surprised that he offered. "Thank you," she replied, "but I can't. I'd burn your pieces." She raised up a talon, wisps of smoke emanating from it.
"Oh, cool!" Skytaker said, looking closer at Inferno's talons. "What's your name? Are you talons as hot as Peril's?"
Inferno squirmed uncomfortably, not sure how to answer to that. She didn't particularly want to know how hot Peril's talons were.
"Stop asking her personal questions," Ink snorted.
"I'm not," Skytaker responded, "it's because we might be able to use a metal set if her talons aren't too hot. Sepia, do you know if we have one anywhere?"
"We don't," Sepia answered, "at least, not that I've seen. I'm pretty sure they only make them in wood."
"I could move the pieces for her if she tells me what to do," Ink suggested. Skytaker nodded in agreement.
"I'm Inferno," Inferno introduced herself, "but I still don't know how to play. I don't think it would be very fun for you, since you all are probably so much better than I am."
"I can teach you by playing against you," Tiger spoke up, disregarding Inferno's concern for her enjoyment. "Unlike certain dragons, I can play against newcomers and not completely dominate them."
"She's the one who taught me," Sepia brought up.
"Excuse you," Skytaker snorted, curling their black and red tail around one of their hind legs. "I can hold back. Anyways, I'm basically undefeated. I should be the one to teach her."
"You're wrong on both accounts," Tiger retorted. "I've seen you teach, you're awful at it. And you're not 'undefeated.' I've beaten you twice. Remember?"
"Completely negligible to my winning streak," Skytaker snapped. "And you only beat me once! The first time didn't count because we never finished the game."
"We never finished the game because we had to go to class, and when we came back Ermine had messed it all up," Tiger argued, her dark stripes of scales starting to disappear against her orange body. "I had at most five moves to win, and you knew it."
"There was still a chance you could have messed up. Ink was pretty close to beating me, and he still messed up."
Tiger glanced towards Ink, startling him. "Well, I'm not Ink," she answered. "I'm still shocked Ink lost."
"Maybe we should start showing Inferno how to play instead of squabbling," Ink chuckled, giving the SkyWing a glance. Sepia nodded in consensus.
"Fine," Skytaker muttered, stepping out of the way so that Tiger could take their place. Tiger began to set up her side of the board, moving the small circular pieces in various positions, pointing them so the semi-circular arc at the top of each piece pointed away from her.
Ink glanced down at his pieces, not moving them. "Er, is the beginning setup just mirrored on each side?" he asked.
Tiger winced. "Yes," she explained. "Set them up the way I'm setting mine up. Since apparently you have no idea how to play, I can teach you at the same time I teach Inferno." The RainWing glanced into Inferno's bright blue eyes. "Have you played any sort of board game with pieces before?"
Inferno shook her head. "Not really."
Tiger thought for a moment. "Alright. So the basic goal of Queens and Generals is to capture your opponent's Empress. That's the piece with the crown on it." She pointed her talon to one, and Inferno leaned in, very carefully, to see.
"To capture the Empress," Tiger continued, "you have a variety of other pieces that can all move in various ways. The pieces with their semicircle pointed away from you are your pieces that you can move, and the pieces with the semicircle pointed towards you are your opponent's pieces. Pieces with the semicircle pointed to the left or right are neutral pieces, but those won't appear until later in the game."
"You're explaining too much," Skytaker grumbled, "just make her play, but remove all the complicated pieces and rules for her first time."
"I don't even know if she's played turn-based games before," Tiger groaned.
"Well, she can learn on the go," Skytaker said. "Ooh, maybe you can play against Sepia, and she can watch. Watching is a great way to learn!"
"Not if she has no idea how the basic game works!" Tiger snapped.
A small grin started to come to Inferno's face as the two continued arguing. For a moment, it felt like she was a part of this group, even if she didn't know any of these dragons at all. Jade Mountain was turning out to be better than she'd expected. Maybe, just maybe, she might be able to find a home here.