Hey guys! If you'll look, you'll see that I updated the prologue to show a list of everyone at Jade Mountain, including a hybrid winglet. This will be explained later in the story, but basically, it's a new winglet added recently to diversify the school, if that makes any sense.
Also, the reason this chapter is on the front page is that I decided to rewrite the chapter because I really, really didn't like the old version, so just so you know everything past the middle is cut out, and replaced with something new. Alright? Good.
Oh, and I'll be updating more often! (Almost forgot)
Chapter II • Auklet
The feel of rock scraping against her talons.
The cool mountain breeze blowing into her face.
The rush of adrenaline racing through her body.
Auklet narrowed her eyes, gripping the ground with her talons. She stood in the racing starting position, her back legs taut as bowstrings, her emerald green wings spread out, resembling summer leaves, ready to take off at the slightest provocation.
Beads of sweat formed on the young SeaWing's forehead, dappling her snout like scale patterns. Her emerald green tail writhed from side to side, brushing against the cool surface of the rock, in an attempt to calm her nerves. The wind blew delicately and soft like it was trying to please Auklet's senses, and the soft trilling of a thrush, maybe two, echoed over the mountaintops.
It was a perfect day for a race.
Narrowing her eyes to slits, Auklet tilted her ears back, allowing the cool breeze to wash over her rich green scales. The weather today was calming, with no whipping winds or screaming rainstorms; just calm breezes and the calls of birds.
Ack, I can already imagine Azure writing a poem about it, Auklet thought, forcing herself not to make a gagging motion, then quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. No, now was not the time to think about this; right now, she had to focus on the matter at hand, which was 25% releasing her nerves, 15% getting in some practice, and okay, 60% just beating Zodiac.
Glancing over, Auklet caught a glimpse of the familiar long legs and glinting yellow eyes of the SkyWing as he stretched his limbs, the sunlight glinting off of his coppery scales. Even as he prepared to warm up, there was something loose and cocky about him, as if he were already sure he would win.
"Are you guys sure you want to do this?" A small voice piped up from behind Auklet. "I mean, it would be a lot easier to settle this in the prey center over a cow or—"
Releasing a sigh of exasperation, Auklet allowed her head to droop in annoyance; she didn't even have to turn around to realize who was speaking. As much as Auklet loved her friend, sometimes she was so pessimistic that she made Auklet want to leap out of a window with her wings pinned to her back.
"Sandpiper, not now," Auklet hissed, swiveling her neck around to face her. Sandpiper, a young MudWing, allowed her neck to sink deeper into her body. "Sorry," she whispered, and Auklet quickly softened. Sandpiper was a MudWing, meaning that she was large and muscular, with intimidating spikes on her protective plates and unrelenting strength.
She was supposed to be dangerous and menacing, able to snap someone's spine, but some days Sandpiper appeared to be as dangerous as a piece of paper, and just as fragile. Sighing, Auklet turned back around. She never liked hurting Sandpiper's feelings, but she didn't have time to apologize right now.
Turning around, Auklet met Zodiac's eyes with a competitive glare. "Well, Zodiac? You ready?" She challenged, flexing her wings. Zodiac, however, hardly seemed worried, as the SkyWing merely yawned before getting into the starting position. "I dunno, princess? You willing to get your claws dirty?" He shot back. Instantly, Auklet's scales itched with anger and annoyance, but the worst thing she could do right then was to shoot back with a comeback and satisfy Zodiac with her anger.
Instead, she took a deep breath, allowing the breath to move through her body, rolling over her muscles, relaxing her until she felt her senses heighten. "Sandpiper? Can you start the countdown?" Auklet called back, adjusting herself.
As usual, Sandpiper didn't respond right away. "Well...I still don't think this is necessary. What both of you said was mean, but if you both just agreed that you're both equally good racers we could go in a eat breakfast; I mean, I bet if we left now we could still get a chicken or something-"
"Sandpiper!"
"Alright, alright! On your marks..."
Auklet tightened her muscles.
"Get set..."
She allowed the wind to roll over her, flexing her wings, leaning forward.
"Go!"
The word had barely escaped Sandpiper's mouth before Auklet shot off into the air, pushing as hard as she could, feeling her wings lift her off the ground. In no time at all, she saw Sandpiper become a faint brownish blur below, a smear in the greater picture.
The wind shrieked, in her ears, screaming, urging her to go faster, making high pitched whistling noises as her wings sliced through the air like butter, so softly and smoothly Auklet felt as if she had been doing it her whole life. For a moment, Auklet forgot she was racing, and just felt the joy of flying overcome her.
And then she saw Zodiac.
Shiny coppery scales gleaming in the early-morning sunlight, with the way Zodiac moved when he flew he almost resembled a crackling fire. Even though she had gotten a head start, Zodiac had quickly caught up, which caused Auklet to silently curse herself for being so careless in flying.
Seeing the shock on Auklet's face, Zodiac let out a laugh. "See you at the finish line!" He called out. Auklet clenched her talons in anger as Zodiac flapped his massive wings, rounding the corner of the mountain and disappearing among the clouds.
That arrogant little seaweed-brain! Auklet thought furiously, feeling the blood rush to her face. Zodiac wasn't exactly mean, but there were times when his oversize-ego made her want to rip his horns off and feed them to him.
Zodiac always had to be the best at everything: the best writer, the best fighter, the best something-else-Auklet-couldn't-think-of-right-now-because-she-was-too-mad. Sometimes, merely sharing a winglet with the SkyWing felt more like a punishment than "the chance of a lifetime" as everyone at Jade Mountain kept calling it.
Come on Auklet. Your one chance to put that pufferfish-head in his place and you're gonna lose now? Auklet thought furiously, flapping her wings as hard as she could. It wasn't that she was bad at flying; it was actually one of her favorite things to do at school. It's just that given the choice, she probably wouldn't have chosen to compete against Zodiac, a SkyWing, who was known for their flying skills.
Zodiac had laughed when she challenged him, and to be honest, Auklet now thought it probably hadn't been the best idea. All she had wanted to do was beat Zodiac at what he was best at because she was just so sick of seeing that squid-brain joke around like he didn't have a care in the world and go around like he wanted to be the best at everything.
"Well, that kind of sounds like you," Sandpiper had said sheepishly after Auklet was complaining to her about Zodiac after she had challenged him. Auklet had sat up so fast, she wondered if it was possible to get whiplash just from pushing your head up.
"WHAT? I AM SO NOT LIKE THAT!" Auklet had roared back, stamping her foot. She could be a little bit competitive from time to time, but she was certain that she was nothing like Zodiac. She just liked the feeling she got when she did win—after all, competition forces you to do your best.
Well, you're gonna lose this competition if you don't get your butt into gear, a voice at the back of her head whispered, jolting Auklet out of her thoughts. Remembering just why she had challenged Zodiac in the first place, Auklet leaned her neck forward, spreading her wings wide in an attempt to get farther ahead.
Why couldn't I have challenged him to a swimming competition? Auklet thought, wanting to smack herself for her own stupidity. If she was going to put Zodiac in his place, the least she could have done was pick something she had a chance of winning.
No, correction—she should have picked something she was certain she could win. I still have a chance to beat this guy, Auklet told herself, leaning forward. Twisting her wings, Auklet rounded the corner of the mountain and realized that just one more bend and she would be at the end.
Finally, someone will be able to put that smoke-breather in his place, Auklet thought. I bet now he won't be so and annoying and arrogant and I won't have to put up with how he "took on five IceWings at once" and "how he was one of the bodyguards for Queen Tourmaline" or anything else like that. Oh, I can't wait to see the look on that kelp-face when I cross that finish line and—
Crap.
As Auklet broke through the layer of clouds separating the Claws of the Cloud Mountains from the rest of the world, the young SeaWing caught sight of the line that had been drawn by she and Sandpiper (or more Sandpiper; Auklet had been busy shooting dirty looks at Zodiac and calling him every foul name she could think of while Sandpiper rolled her eyes in exasperation) to mark the starting line.
When she had taken off, it had been a clean, straight line that hadn't had a chance to be used yet, but now as she neared it she saw that the dirt around it was more scuffed up, and the line was messier than before like someone had dragged themselves through it.
And as she neared closer to the finish line, she saw a familiar SkyWing, lounging lazily in the sun.
"Ah, there you are, princess!" Zodiac called. Only thing was that Auklet had learned by now that when Zodiac called her "princess" he didn't exactly mean it in the way that other dragons did. Sandpiper looked up, and as soon as she saw Auklet coming, she instantly cringed, as if she knew what was coming.
"That...that's not fair!" Auklet panted, embarrassingly out of breath as she collapsed on the rock in front of Zodiac. "You're a Skewing! SkyWings ate built for flying; that wasn't a fair race!" Clambering to her feet, Auklet craned her neck to her full height, looking Zodiac right in the eye.
Zodiac, however, was a year older than Auklet and still big for his age, so even though Auklet craned to her full height, Zodiac easily towered over her. Still, Zodiac shrugged his shoulders. "It was perfectly fair. If I recall correctly, you're the one who suggested a flying race, didn't you?" Zodiac pointed out.
"Well alright then, Mr. Seabottom! If you think you're so good, then how about I race you tomorrow morning at dawn? First one to fly around the peak of Jade Mountain wins!" Zodiac declared, raising his voice several octaves so that it slightly resembled a mock impression of Auklet.
Auklet, in this case, was silent, trying desperately to wrap her head around the situation. "It—it was kelp bottom," she finally muttered, and as soon as the words slipped past her lips, Auklet realized instantly that was the wrong thing to say.
At her reply, Zodiac burst out laughing, his face turning red as he gasped for breath hysterically. Auklet felt her face flush even more to a deep maroon, feeling the frustration bubbling up inside her. This wasn't how this was supposed to go!
"Oh, lighten up, princess, " Zodiac managed to get out between chuckles, wiping his eyes and slugging Auklet in the arm. Auklet, too furious to speak, merely shot Zodiac a toxic glare. "Hmph," she huffed, which she realized too late sounded less like a competitor Zodiac should be scared of and more like a spoiled one-year-old.
Still chuckling to himself, Zodiac spread his wings and flapped off towards the entrance of Jade Mountain just as shades of pale blue were beginning to replace the hues of the pink and orange sunrise, and Auklet was just feeling her anger reach a high point.
"Why you little no-good—" Auklet yelled after him, about to scream out the worst curse words she could think of when she felt a thick, leathery tail covering her mouth. Scowling, she looked over at Sandpiper, who shook her head. "C'mon, Auklet, is it really worth it?" She muttered, raising the arches above her eyes, Auklet hung her head, allowing the fight to drain out of her body.
"No," she admitted with a sigh. "But I mean—ARGH, that kelp-face just makes me want to slam my talons into his face over and over and over," Auklet said, punching the ground with her talons. She probably would have broken her talons on the rock if Sandpiper hadn't grabbed it to make her stop. "Well, I don't think punching a mountain is going to help," she pointed out, and Auklet smiled.
When dragons looked at Sandpiper, they often saw that one shy, quiet girl who didn't say much. They often thought that being shy was her personality, but personally, Auklet liked the side of her she saw most often—the nerdy, weird, ambitious type who knew when to raise her voice—especially when it would keep her friend from cracking open her talons on a slab of rock.
Even though she didn't say anything, Sandpiper shook her head. "You know, if it wasn't for me, you would probably be in a full body cast by now," she giggled, nudging Auklet with her wing. It was supposed to be a friendly nudge, but since Sandpiper was so strong it nearly toppled the smaller dragon over.
"And prison," Auklet managed to say, forcing herself upright. "Don't forget prison."
With a smirk, Sandpiper rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. I've seen your mom. If anyone tried to lock up her "precious little baby" she would be on them with the entire SeaWing army and have them sentenced to death before they could even bind your mouth," she laughed, nudging Auklet as the two of them passed under the arch that marked the entrance to Jade Mountain Academy, and Auklet was forced to agree.
Sometimes, it seemed like just because she was the youngest of the three SeaWing princesses, Queen Coral treated Auklet like a baby; like she was a newborn dragonet instead of six years old. Tsunami had already been in a war and started the school by the time she was seven, and Anemone had started at the school when she was two, but of course, lucky Auklet had to wait YEARS before her mother would even consider letting her even leave the castle without at least nine personal escorts.
It had taken a lot of negotiating on Tsunami and Anemone's part for Auklet to be able to attend the school, and even then Queen Coral had insisted on sending boring old Azure, who couldn't go a full hour without quoting something from a dusty old book.
"You have to understand," Tsunami had said during one of her visits to the Sea Kingdom, trying to comfort Auklet after Queen Coral hadn't let her go to an orchestral concert near the castle. "Queen Coral had some...issues with getting heirs to the throne," Tsunami had continued, twiddling her talons as she remembered. "That one statue of Orca killed off fourteen daughters; the only reason I survived is that I was taken away by the Talons of Piece for that stupid prophecy, and we had to go through a lot to keep you here," Tsunami had said, smiling, nudging Auklet playfully. That had made her feel better, but not much.
Anemone, however, had a fairly different idea on the subject. "Don't worry about it; Mother can be really paranoid sometimes," she had said as she snapped two bronze bracelets to her wrists. "You know she kept me harnessed to her chest for a whole year after I was born, right?" Usually, every time Auklet complained to Anemone about their mother, it usually turned into a conversation about Anemone, but for the most part, Auklet didn't mind as long as she wasn't forced play "dress up" with Anemone and her jewelry again.
"Auklet? Auklet!" Sandpiper yelled, snapping Auklet out of her thoughts. Feeling her face go red, Auklet realized she had been silent for quite some time, while Sandpiper had been trying to get her attention. "Sorry, sorry," she muttered, waving her talons. "But yeah, I guess my mom isn't that bad."
As she spoke, Sandpiper looked at Auklet, arching her eyebrow. "Were you listening?" She said, and Auklet scratched at the ground with her talon, feeling her face go red. "Um...kind of not?" She admitted, and Sandpiper shook her head, which only made Auklet's face turn an even deeper shade of red. "Yeah, I could tell, because I was asking you about that," Sandpiper said, and for a moment she thought she was talking about Auklet, but then, after looking at her eyes, Auklet realized she was pointing behind her.
Now curious, Auklet glanced behind her, wondering what Sandpiper could be looking at. Now, normally the MudWing was pretty observant, noticing things no one else noticed, but she usually didn't call it out, otherwise, she would be talking all day (which Auklet couldn't even imagine; Sandpiper wasn't exactly a chatterbox). When Auklet glanced behind her, at first she couldn't tell what it was.
It seemed to be kind of a golden-orange smear in the sky, barely noticeable as the sky was turning warm shades of pink and orange as the sun began to rise. Still, as the shape grew closer, Auklet squinted her rich green eyes and as she watched, slowly managed to identify a long, curvy neck and two massive wings that greatly resembled a SkyWing.
For a moment, Auklet thought it was Zodiac, but then she remembered that the SkyWing had gone inside after his little gloating escapade (which still made her talons itch just thinking about it). "Who's that?" Auklet asked, confused. It seemed unlikely that dragons as far north as the SkyWings would ever fly to Jade Mountain even by accident, and as far as she knew, that one firesales dragon (Cleril or something) wasn't due to visit any time soon.
Sandpiper lifted her talon to keep the sun out of her eyes, trying to view the orange smear. "I think it's the delivery guy," she muttered in response, squinting her yellow-ringed eyes. "See that brown sack he has? It has a mail emblem on it." In all honesty, Auklet didn't really see it since her eyes weren't nearly as good as Sandpiper's, but she still nodded anyways.
Suddenly, Sandpiper's mouth split into a wide grin, and her talon dropped away from her face so fast Auklet thought she was having a seizure. "Ooh, Auklet! What if it's that pen pal project we have?" She cried excitedly, bouncing lightly on her talons. Instantly, Auklet felt all the excitement of having an unknown dragon at Jade Mountain drain out of her, and her eyebrows creased together. "Oh; wonderful," she muttered without enthusiasm.
She could see why Sandpiper or any other dragon would like it; the idea of talking to another dragon anywhere around the world seemed kind of cool. But soon enough, that cool-ness was dimmed by two factors. One, once she got the letter she would know who the dragon was and that would take all the suspense and excitement out of it. Two, the whole letter-thing just seemed like another project Azure would force her to work on.
So when the SkyWing finally did land on the mountain and deposited a box of letters labeled Jade Mountain, Auklet wanted to run back to her room in the Gold Dorm and bury herself in her bed until the initial excitement of the pen-pal project died down, and everyone else at school would see just how stupid this whole project was.
"Come on; aren't you at least a little bit curious?" Sandpiper insisted, forming a small tear in the box with her talon. Auklet rolled her eyes, sitting down on the rock. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." She mumbled, burrowing her snout into her legs, which warranted a look from Sandpiper.
"Oh hey, I found yours, and...here's mine!" Auklet declared, holding up the two envelopes as if she had found some buried treasure. Tossing an envelope at Auklet, the piece of paper fluttered to the ground uncharacteristically slow compared to the way Sandpiper ripped up her own letter.
For a moment, Auklet only stared at the letter as if it might be radioactive. "Come on; open it!" Sandpiper insisted, dumping the contents of her own letter onto the mountain, which was a single piece of paper.
"Ugh, fine," Auklet groaned, grasping the envelope in her talons. The paper felt unusually thin and cheap in her talons; nothing like the thick, rich paper she was used to as royalty. Curiously, Auklet used a single black talon to make a tear in the envelope, where a single piece of paper fell out. It was thin and heavily creased as if it had already been in bad shape when the letter had been sent.
Wow, this guy couldn't even afford to get a new piece of paper. This outta be good, Auklet thought, thinking about what a cheapskate this guy must be as she took the letter and began to read.
Orken. Interesting name; wasn't that some kind of cactus? Auklet already figured this guy was a SandWing before she actually got the body of the letter. A SandWing in Possibility, she thought as she read, and she remembered what one of the scrolls in the library had said about Possibility. When she read it, it seemed like one of those towns were a bunch of dragons walked around and didn't eat meat and lived in harmony and sang kumbaya.
Now as she read through it, it still seemed kind of like that, except for two differences: this kid Orken had hardly even met a NightWing or even a SeaWing, and Auklet had just kind of assumed that all dragons lived in peace there, but she guessed there were some tribes that weren't quite as...diverse. Also, Orken didn't really seem like some kind of boring hippie; what he wrote was kind of funny and interesting.
"So? Who did you get?" Sandpiper piped up. "I got this one IceWing named Changbai!" She declared, revealing the letter to Auklet, which the young SeaWing realized was wet as if ice had melted on it.
"I got this one SandWing named Orken," she said, trying to make it seem like she was indifferent either way and apparently she succeeded. Sandpiper huffed, stamping her talon in annoyance. "Come on! You have to admit that this is a little bit cool!"
"Mmmm...nope. Not really," Auklet lied, yet she still folded the letter and tucked it under her wing, wondering about this "Orken."
Dear Orken,
1. Well, I'm a SeaWing, so I guess you can check that off your bucket list! Also, some NightWings are pretty cool, but there's this one NightWing in my winglet (those are like groups or dorms) named Soulreaper who's a real stick-in-the-mud, everything has to be "exactly perfect" according to her.
2. Nah, we don't run out of food because there are a bunch of goats and stuff here, but there's also a lake for fish and some fruit from the rainforest, though I've never asked Tsunami (she's my sister; the headmistress) about how we get the fruit; I'll have to ask.
3. I've definitely heard of Possibility; we even have some scrolls on it in our library! Tsunami told me that there are a bunch of hybrids there; is that true? I mean, there is this one winglet for hybrids at my school, but it's pretty new, so not everyone is used to it yet.
If you write me back, would you mind telling me a bit about Possibility? I think it would be a lot easier to get a summary from someone who actually lives there then a bunch of dusty old scrolls written by boring professors XD
Sincerely, Auklet
Hey guys; I just wanted to say that if you had any ideas for "Love, Orken", feel free to share them! After reading this chapter, do you want to see more of Orken or Auklet, get some more of the hybrid winglet, just anything! Well, that's all I wanted to say; hope you enjoyed this chapter!
