When Moonwave woke up again, Rosepetal had already left the room. Ash was sitting on his rocky ledge, a pencil grasped in his right talon.
Moonwave slipped out of the pool, water dripping off her Navy Blue scales. She greeted Ash with a wave of her tail, then left the room, already almost dry.
In the hallway, most of the doors were still closed, except for Alaska's. Moonwave guessed the DreamWing was put hunting for the students breakfast.
Moonwave crept quietly down the hallway, making sure her claws didn't click on the stone floor. At the end of the hallway, she slipped outside, seeing the pinkish tint of dawn touching the edges of the horizon. She glided down to the beach, relishing the feel of the sand and the waves lapping around her talons.
She was soon joined by another dragon, who, if she guessed correctly by their thoughts, was Rosepetal. Moonwave turned around to see she was right. The pink and pale yellow dragoness had a beautiful, black dragonbite viper coiled around her horns. The snake had colorful patterns reflecting off its scales like a liquid rainbow, splashed across its back.
"Hi there, Rosepetal!" Moonwave greeted her "I see you brought a friend."
Rosepetal nodded, then responded "Hi. His name is Onyx. Whatever you do, don't touch him."
"I wasn't going to," Moonwave replied "He's much too beautiful."
Rosepetal smiled, her eyes gleaming. She obviously never got compliments about her snake. The two dragonesses sat in silence, watching the sun rise higher and higher, bathing the Island in a warm glow.
A few seagulls darted through the air, searching for food. In the distance, Moonwave could see the east coast of Pantala, a dark line above the clear, blue water. To the east of the Island, Phyrria was visible, poking up out of the water, the Kingdom of Sand glistening in the sun. Just north of it lay the Ice Kingdom, almost blinding Moonwave in the bright sunlight.
Her gaze followed the coastline all the way south, where the old Night Kingdom was once situated, before over half of it had been claimed by the ocean. Moonwave could feel a sense of longing, tugging her to the beautiful, crystal clear waves that lapped around the Island. But that could wait.
"We'd better head up to breakfast," Moonwave suggested, breaking the silence "From what I've gathered, Alaska doesn't like late students."
Rosepetal nodded, standing up and leaving into the air, her rosy wings catching the sunlight. Moonwave followed her, the starscales on her wings dappling the sand with little blips of reflected light.
Back inside the buildings, the dragonesses were greeted by the sounds of plates being stacked, and chairs being pushed under that table. They followed the noise to the Dining Hall, a long room, with a massive table in the middle.
Rosepetal and Moonwave were the first to arrive, greeting the GlassWing dragonet helping with the cutlery as they came in.
Inside the room, a heavenly smell wafted to their nostrils, leaving Moonwave's mouth watering. On the left side of the room, Alaska was sitting next Roxanne, who was running from station to station, preparing delicious delicacies for breakfast.
Moonwave admired her amazing talent for a minute, then followed Rosepetal to sit at one of the far corners of the table, right next to the head. On her right side, her wings held grandly and her beautiful antennae straightened in an authoritative way, sat the school principal.
She was one of the most amazing dragons Moonwave had ever seen. She had four, huge wings, like that of a SilkWing, and long, swooping HiveWing horns. Her prehensile tail, with long spikes on the end, was curled neatly around her nearly black legs. As she turned toward Moonwave, she noticed her eyes. They were a beautiful shade of gold, matching her ruff. In the corner of each one, there was a silver scale, that looked like a frozen tear trickling down her face. Lastly, Moonwave noticed her fins. They looked almost like her's, except they were a slightly different shape. Moonwave realised that this must've been from a LeafWing.
"Hello!" the principal greeted her politely, her long eye scales batting as she blinked. This was a truly amazing dragon.
"Good morning!" Moonwave replied, suddenly remembering how important this dragon was.
The five-way hybrid's nose crinkled a little as she smiled, her white teeth shining. It looked like she was mostly HiveWing. A DropWing, Moonwave guessed.
The principal fell silent, watching as Roxanne prepared the food, and Alaska transported the plates from the counter to the dining table.
"My name is Iridescence, by the way." the DropWing suddenly announced.
Moonwave just nodded, still mesmerized by the beauty of the five-way hybrid.
Soon, the hall was filling up with the students. The remaining teacher entered the room, making sure all the students knew where the hall was. It only took a few minutes for all thirty seats to be taken. The GlassWing dragonet from earlier was sitting across from Moonwave, and next to her, Ash plonked himself down.
A light blue LightWing went to sit at the far end of the table, and right next to her, a dark red LaceWing flitted into her seat, flicking her wings in greeting. Moonwave sat, content. The food was almost ready, and the sun was fully up, lighting the whole room through a hole in the roof, with a sheet of glass over it.
Roxanne finished with the last of the Eggs, and sat down at the other end of the table. As far as Moonwave knew, the two ends of the table were reserved for teachers. Alaska soon joined Roxanne, twining his tail around hers. The RosewoodWing smiled, and Alaska did the same.
The hall fell completely silent as Iridescence stood up. Moonwave could clearly see that she was still quite young, maybe only just thirty.
She raised her wings slightly, then roared "You can eat!"
The students immediately piled their plates high with all of Roxanne's dishes, stuffing their cheeks as full as they could. The teachers were slightly slower, but ate with the same enthusiasm. Roxanne was an amazing chef.
Once Moonwave had finished, Ash, Rosepetal and herself excused themselves, then headed back to their room.
Once they were there, Moonwave turned to them and asked "Do you know when the classes will start?"
"They should be starting next week," Ash replied "We're just waiting for the last few students to come."
"Do you know any of those 'few students'?" Moonwave asked, curious.
"As far as I know, there will be a WhipWing, an EmberWing, a CobaltWing and a CloudWing. I'm pretty sure most of them are going to arrive by tomorrow. The WhipWing might be here by this afternoon, though." Rosepetal answered.
Moonwave knew that Rosepetal was good at assessing situations, but she never knew that she could figure stuff like this out in just a few days. It appalled her. There was so much she didn't know about these dragons, even though she could read their minds.
Moonwave pulled out a scroll she'd found in the Deep Palace Library. She really missed it. This particular scroll was probably her favourite. It was about the history of how the Pantalan tribes had came to be. Moonwave still hadn't finished it, even after a month of having it. It was just so interesting.
By the time Moonwave looked up again, the sun had already peaked. It was almost time for the SeaWing and IceWing hybrids to go fishing.
Moonwave went outside, waiting with Alaska on the beach. After twenty minutes, no other dragons appeared, so the two dragons swam out on their own, out into the deep blue waves.