Shimmer thought that she might (and definitely) be the most hyperactive dragon on Pyrrhia today.
She crashed through the thick canopy of the rainforest, as she flew (almost) as fast as a SkyWing. Mumbling apologies to surprised sloths and frightened howler monkeys, she got wacked in the head by branches (twice!) and nearly flew into a baobab tree. Finally breaking free of the canopy, she glided up high over the treetops, scanning the trees for what she was looking for. Finally she found it—a small brown hut, cleverly built on a wooden platform mounted on a tree, with firefly globes hanging from the eaves and a smell of lavender incense wafting out from the open window. Disgruntled, she landed and shook off the leaves from her wings.
"CACAO! IT'S ME, SHIMMER!" She hollered. The door opened and a small RainWing with chocolate brown scales opened the door. "Hi Shimmer!" She said. "Looks like tree-gliding didn't go as well as you expected." Shimmer laughed, scales dappling with yellow, and tried to pick away the branches snagged in her spikes. "Come in." Cacao said when Shimmer had finished, so Shimmer hopped inside and nearly tripped in shock.
The interior had changed drastically from the first time she had seen it. A small vine hammock hung from the ceiling, partitioned behind a translucent curtain made of leaves, which was half-drawn. Sunlight shone from the open windows, shining onto the four bamboo mats positioned around a square-shaped table carved out of oak. A small scented candle (lavender, Shimmer presumed) was burning merrily in a saucer set on the table. A few shelves of books and cupboards were mounted onto the wall, and below it were a couple stoves. A perch for a parrot was standing in a corner, and there was pictures of flora hung up all over the place. A beaded curtain lead to a small balcony, stacked up with greenery.
"Like my house?" Cacao said with a wink. By now Shimmer had recovered and was zooming around all over the place. "Holy coconuts! How did it change so much?" Shimmer said. "I recently renovated it with the help of my friends. Want some tea?" Cocoa explained. "Sure." Shimmer said with a nod, so Cacao opened a cupboard and took out a bowl of tea leaves, a kettle, some honey and bread, and three beautifully engraved cups.
"Professor Rafflesia is coming soon." Cacao explained when she saw Shimmer staring at the third cup. "Can you get some water please? The well is just in the clearing by my house, under that big jacaranda tree." Cacao asked. "Okay, but can you not tell Professor Rafflesia about my little 'incident' back there?" Shimmer replied, wrinkling her nose at the thought of their teacher going "hmmmm" and staring at her if she had just sprouted six heads. "Sure." Cacao smiled and Shimmer ran out to the platform, opening her wings to her full, wingspan, and Shimmer dove down towards the purple blossoms peeking out of the canopy.
—
When Shimmer came back with a bucketful of water, she found that Cacao was gone. Setting down the wooden bucket on the floor, she discovered there was a little note on the table saying:
Gone for fruit gathering (I'm short of papaya's)
Will be back soon
P.S Boil the kettle for me!
—Cacao
Pouring the water into the kettle, and setting it on the stove, Shimmer sat on the bamboo mat and waited, while helping herself to the bread and honey.
When the kettle was starting to boil and Shimmer was about to consider to start making the tea, Cacao burst in with a giant armful of papayas. Stuffing them into a bowl and shoving the bowl into a cupboard, she flopped down on the mat beside Shimmer's. "That was the heaviest load of papaya's I ever carried in the 5 years of my life." She said, panting. "Will you help make the tea for me? Just don't put that much tea leaves in the third cup, for Professor Bamboo is coming instead, and she likes her tea a bit thinner."
When Shimmer heard this, she promptly poured the water on the table. "Wait, WHAT? My mom is coming?" Cacao nodded cautiously. "Yes…" she said, looking a bit worried. "BY ALL THE SLOTHS IN THE KINGDOM! MY MOM?" Shimmer flung the kettle out the window to Cacao's dismay. "Great galumphing geckos, calm down! It's not my fault Professor Rafflesia got the dragon pox…" at this point Shimmer promptly cut in. "It's not because she's my mom, she's the BEST fruit-gathering teacher EVER!" Shimmer did a backflip in midair, almost knocking down a firefly globe.
"Dancing durians, stop getting this hyper!" Cacao yelped, catching the globe and balancing it. Shimmer stopped, laughing, and landed back on the mat. "Sorry, but as my mom says, 'It's in my nature to get all hyper and excited and weird.' So I can't help!" Cacao sighed, rebalancing the firefly globe. "Guess I have to carve a kettle again." Shimmer's scales turned pink. "Oops, sorry bout that, lemme go retrieve it." Cacao smiled a bit. "No need, it's going to be all banged up and scratched when you get it up again. This house is quite a way up." Shimmer's scales turned a brighter shade of pink. "AAAAAA, I'm so sorry!" She yelped. "Geez, it's okay! That kettle only took me 30 minutes to carve." Cacao said laughing. Soon the two dragonets both dissolved into giggles, and the house was full of laughter again.