— Chapter 3 —

Turtle

Go to school, Turtle, it's going to be great, you'll meet more people and maybe finally fit somewhere.

Of course, nobody had ever actually told him that, most other dragons in the Sea Kingdom don't talk to him, or actually remember his name is Turtle, so that's what he was telling himself these last few days before arriving at Jade Mountain.

But even then, he didn't expect he'd meet more people by having them crash against him while midair, and then have the two of them spiraling down out of control towards the mountaintop. Oh and it was a Nightwing too, which feels even more unlikely for a crash partner.

A dramatic entrance for sure, which makes it not the type of entrance he'd use in a hundred years, that brings too much attention to himself. What if after this other students whisper among them and remember him as the dragon that crashed down on opening day?

No thanks, so after some tense moments he was managing to stabilize himself in the air, his wings flapping as he straightened himself instead of diving down straight so he wouldn't just literally crash down.

He quickly turned his head and saw that the Nightwing was struggling a lot, his wings flapping wildly and his limbs flailing all over, but it didn't seem like he would manage to stop himself from crashing.

Well? What are you waiting for? Save him, if he crashes and hits his head too hard on the mountain that wouldn't be a good first day for the school, you've been waiting for a chance like this to help, take it, Turtle's mind quickly threw several thoughts at him, there isn't any time for self doubt right now.

Turtle gave the black dragon a quick look, overall he was rather small, almost half his size, he should be able to slow him down even if the Seawing wasn't in the best shape.

His front talons reached down to grab the Nightwing, whose eyes opened a lot upon seeing that as he extended his own talons as well.

A bit of an odd move happened when the Nightwing reached forward more than Turtle expected and one of his talons had reached for one of the Seawing's front legs, basically touching the bracelet he had there, but Turtle didn't have much time to think about that as he managed to grab the falling dragon and pull him a bit closer, then he extended his wings the most he could while struggling with the extra weight and now they were gliding to the mountaintop where other dragons are standing, at least this had happened close so it would barely be a minute.

Below him he could hear the Nightwing taking a deep breath, just for then do a lot of quick breathing, his eyes still wide open and his talon still there on the green scaled leg. The Seawing prince never expected a meeting with someone from that tribe in particular to be that way.

The prince could feel them, the gazes of the dragons below that had seen what happened, based on the posture of some he could tell a couple were about to fly and help them until he showed it was all under control.

He reached the mountaintop and carefully let go of the Nightwing before he also reached down and stepped onto the floor, everyone's just looking. Turtle had become a center of attention, something he absolutely did not wish for his whole first year here.

And a bit of an odd feeling on his leg showed that the Nightwing still had his talon on it, weird. Turtle looked down at him but before he could tell him to let go, that is when his mother landed as well, Anemone at her side. If Queen Coral was able to breathe fire she probably would be fuming even more than she currently is.

With quick steps, stomping down on the ground with Auklet being dragged forward by her harness, she looked down at the Nightwing next to Turtle.

"What was that about just now? Flying like that to the royal family, you could have crashed into one of my daughters, do you realize just how badly that could have gone?" Coral said glaring at the black dragon, who looked shocked enough and just looked even smaller as he pressed his wings against his sides. The queen's stripes were flashing even now to show how mad she's feeling and Turtle decided to be kind enough to not translate what she meant.

And of course she didn't ask me how I am after being the one that ended in a midair crash, she knows that whatever happens to me doesn't matter much, there's 32 other brothers ready to take my place at school. The prince mentally frowned to himself.

"I-I-I am s-sorry! I… d-didn't know! I was just… e-excited to meet Seawings! I have never seen one besides… s-scrolls! I… didn't know you were, royals?" The Nightwing managed to stutter, his voice pitch being rather high with him looking absolutely scared, being told that he crashed against what he must realize it's a member of royalty, and being scolded by a queen? Turtle felt pity for the strange Nightwing despite what just happened.

And to make the situation potentially worse, a blue shape was storming out of the cave, a blue shape that Turtle recognized as his sister, Tsunami.

"Okay can SOMEONE tell me what is all this commotion out here about? We haven't even officially begun!" Tsunami raised her voice, and saw her family some steps away, with the Nightwing shivering on the ground.

"Mother, it is great to see you." Tsunami says as she steps closer, Anemone quickly approaches to greet her big sister who hugs her.

"Tsunami dear, I am so glad to see you well!" Queen Coral nodded at her oldest daughter, then she cleared her throat to tell the events that had just unfolded.

Tsunami looked down too now to the odd Nightwing, who looked back up to her for just a moment before shrinking back down.

Speaking of Nightwings, Turtle felt someone else looking at him, turning his head he saw another black dragon, this one a female, with a silver scale near each eye that made it look like shiny teardrops, she was looking at both Seawing prince and Nightwing on the ground with a confused face, seeing her watching, Turtle wrinkled his snout a bit at her, and the female Nightwing looked away.

Tsunami had finished hearing what happened and her immediate response was "You are overblowing the situation, it simply sounds like an accident, did you get hurt?" Tsunami asked the green Seawing "You are…?"

"Turtle, one of your brothers," Was his reply, used to that question a lot.

"ONE OF my brothers? Just how many other brothers do I have?" Tsunami questioned baffled and in shock.

"32 others," the emerald green dragon would answer again, making Tsunami even more baffled as she began to question her mother why she wasn't ever told about that.

While his sister talked to his mother, Turtle took that time to look back down to the Nightwing dragonet, he didn't know why, but he swore like he felt his claws lightly moving and tapping on his armband.

"Hm, you can get up, I think the situation is sorted right now," Turtle commented as the black dragon's silvery eyes quickly looked up to his face.

"Also you could let go of my leg too, I don't think we're falling anymore today." He followed, really feeling weirded out by how much this dragon had been gripping at it like that ever since he first got hold of him in the air.

Sheepishly and seemingly just now realizing he'd literally been holding a Seawing prince's leg for several minutes in a row he let go and shakily stood up.

"T-Thank you for that save, I really like, could have been toast and I, want to meet more dragons and interesting people, because huh I barely have and like I said you were the first Seawing I saw and, probably I'll be seeing the first of hm, other tribes for the first time too so, s-see you in class!" He nodded and quickly began to run into the mountain, oddly enough one of his front talons was closed as he walked, and Turtle noticed the female Nightwing from earlier had followed this one with the gaze and looked confused again for a second before changing to a neutral expression.

After saying farewell to his mother and to his youngest sister, Turtle and Anemone stepped into the mountain too.

There they got greeted by a rather cheerful Nightwing that said her name was Fatespeaker and she handed them a welcome scroll and a map of the mountain, which Turtle appreciated since otherwise learning the layout could be slightly complicated.

The Seawing reached his room, where he got greeted by a quite nice to talk to Mudwing that was called Umber, he told him they're "Clawmates", ones who share room in their "Winglet", groups of 7, each one having 1 of each tribe.

The Seawing lays down on his bed, which seems to be fit just for him by being made with kelp and other sea plants. This first day had got him into focus more than what he'd have desired for so early on, but it didn't end too badly.

At one point while stretching his talons, Turtle looked over to his armband and noticed something.

One of the stones from the armband was missing, and the worst thing is that he had a very good idea of how that happened