Cows. Lots of juicy, delicious, wonderful cows. All set on a large table just for Clay. He could feel his mouth watering at the display before him. He licked his lips and reached out for one of the white and black creatures and as he was about to take a bite, he saw a pair of eyes watching him in the shadows. Clay tried to shake it off but couldn't. He continued to stare at the eyes, they had a sense of knowledge to them. Also scared? Why would creepy eyes be scared?
He wanted to continue with his feast but he couldn't get through a bite without feeling like those eyes were just staring at him. He peered at the gazing orbs before him and then…
"Ahh! Starflight! STOP doing that!" The Mudwing tried to stay quiet since the girls were asleep and luckily, Tsunami only wiggled slightly.
The black dragon ducked his head. "Sorry, just umm, we have a test tomorrow and thought you might need help studying…" He mumbled. Clay wished the younger dragon wouldn't mumble so much when he needed something. It was tough to hear.
But, Clay DID need help. Dune was not a nice teacher. Well, none of them were, but the dragonets didn't have any other teachers to compare them to, they could be AMAZING teachers but they all guessed they were lower on the podium. "Oh yeah, do you think we'll have time? I know Kestrel kept you pretty late today."
"Of course! Let's just, go. Now, like, right now." Starflight said and Clay slowly got up and the two left the room. They entered the battle room, since it was far enough away where the others wouldn't hear them.
Clay yawned and sat down while Starflight did that thing he usually did when he tried to remember stuff. The pacing around the cave, tapping his tail and all the sorts. After a little bit, Clay grinned at Starflight. "Alright, so what was the test over again?"
"You don't remember?"
Clay shrugged. "Uh, history?"
"Of?" Of course he'd ask that. 'History' was never just the right answer.
"Ooooof, the Seawing royal family?" Clay guessed.
Starflight shook his head. "It's over different types of flora."
Clay kicked a rock. "Is flora a royal Seawing cousin line or something?"
"It's plants." Starflight stated. "Let's begin. What's the red flowers with thorns?"
Clay got most of the plants wrong, though he seemed to remember pretty specific ones. The orange flowers that could help snake bites, the moss that soothe burns, mostly just healing plants for some reason.
Clay yawned again and stretched. "I think I can get like, half of them. Let's go back to sleep."
Starflight sat up startled. "Wait! We didn't go over the poisonous plants!"
The Mudwing tried to remember what Dune had said. "If it looks tasty, don't eat it? I think I got that one!" He smiled and prepared to leave.
Starflight panicked and rushed in front of Clay, blocking the exit. "What about carnivorous plants! We can go over them!''
Clay started to feel like something was up. "Starflight, we really should get some sleep. What good is studying if we can't stay awake during the test?"
Starflight didn't even consider this and continued to try and keep Clay in the room. "How about we swap? You help me fight! You blast some fire and I roll out of the way?"
"Didn't you already do that with Kestrel today?" Clay raised an eyebrow, he felt like he was catching on.
Starflight rubbed his eyes and looked back at Clay. "So? You might be a better teacher! You never know until you try it!"
"You're not acting like Starflight." The older dragon said. "You're tired, you couldn't stop yawning five minutes ago and your eyes look VERY exhausted." Clay gave the Nightwing a worried look. "What's wrong?"
"NOTHING! We just need to prepare! You never know if Dune will throw a random question we didn't prepare for!" Starflight shook as Clay looked down at him.
Clay gave Starflgiht a firm look, something he only ever needed to do when Tsunami and Glory were fighting. "You know you can talk to me, right?"
Starflight seemed to finally stop and think. He looked down at his claws in shame. "I just …couldn't sleep…"
Clay sighed. "Starflight." He heard Nightwings snores as soon as he hit his spot in the room. He definitely slept some.
Starflight finally came clean but couldn't meet Clay's gaze. "I…had a nightmare…" He mumbled.
Clay dropped his stare at once and wrapped his wings around Starflight, trying to shield the Nightwing from the shadows at the edge of the room.
"Starflight, you could have just told me! We could have talked about it!" Clay was usually the one the others went to when they had nightmares. Sunny would silently slip under his wings and he would wake up that morning with the smallest dragonet huddled under his wings. Tsunami would just scratch at the floor while telling Clay how much she wanted to rip bad dreams apart. (Leave it to Tsunami to want to fight a dream) and Glory would tell Clay exactly what had happened and he would try to talk with her. But Starflight never went to him. He just woke up, shook his head then pretended to be asleep.
Starflight shook under Clay's wings and the Mudwing realized Starflight was crying. The two didn't speak and Clay let Starflight let it all out under the cover of the dragon's wings. After some time had gone by, Starflight motioned for Clay to let him go and the two separated.
"Better?" Clay asked with a smile.
Starflight nodded, returning the gesture. "Thanks, Clay." It was clear to the Mudwing that Starflight didn't need to talk about his dream, he just needed to know that someone was there for him.
Clay and Starflight made it back to the room and the Mudwing laid down on the floor and got ready to go back to sleep. However, when he saw Starflight fidget behind him, he lifted a wing and the Nightwing quickly dove under the older dragon's wings.
When Clay let his wing fall onto the younger dragon, he asked, "Starflgiht, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?"
Starflight didn't say anything but Clay could feel the Nightwings head move up and down. The only sign he needed. After hearing Starflights light snoring, Clay felt more at ease and finally got some sleep. Clay was back at the buffet of cows in front of him. Instead of eyes watching him, he saw the other dragonets smiling at the food in front them.