Wings Of Fire: Closing Eyes (Prequel To The Last Day Series)

Exo - 7

    As you may imagine, Exo's life was weirdly chaotic and eerily peaceful.

    She couldn't say it was difficult being blind because she hadn't experienced anything to do with sight other than being blind, so she can't compare it to anything. Sometimes though, it was very annoying she couldn't see things.

   Like blue. What is blue? She's asked Epiphyte a hundred times to explain it, but all he does is describe the sky. She can't see the sky.

    The closest answer she's gotten was from Crab, and he described how his scales look and compared blue to loneliness or being cold. So matching that description, Exo felt a lot more blue ever since that SkyWing, Agate came along. 

   She wasn't too sure why. Well, she had an idea of why, but she wasn't sure if that was exact.

   Bloom talked to Exo about colors during lunch when school started again.

   "So, describe yellow," Exo said. She carefully stretched her wings around until she felt Bloom's warm scales.

   "Well," Bloom said, "Yellow is the color of excitement for RainWings. I could also compare it to the tartness of a lemon or the feeling of the pleasant sun on your scales."

   "Ah, okay," Exo said. "What about green?"

   "Well, green is usually a color of fear or nervousness in RainWings. I'm not a fan of green, but it's a nice color. I would describe it as peaceful and like how plants brush against your scales. If you've ever eaten an apple, they taste sort of green."

   Exo nodded and twitched her ears to the sound of her friends arriving from the lunch line. "What about... pink? I think that's a color."

    A soft swish- Bloom's frill bouncing as she nodded. "Pink is the color for happiness for RainWings. I'm usually pink, but that's just because I like the color. I would compare it to strawberries and silk. You've eaten strawberries and felt silk, right?" she asked.

   Exo nodded. Crab had woven her a strip of woven silk that she wound between her claws when she missed him. He made it for her to feel, but it meant more to Exo than that.

   "Hi!" Agate called, her talons click-clacking up to Bloom. Exo hurried back to make way for the lanky SkyWing, who sat down in front of Bloom. More talons stepped towards the dragons, and she felt a thick tail tap her own - Crab.

   She wasn't sure why this set off butterflies in her chest. She knew that any dragon kindness seemed to stick out to her after feeling the stares and the stumbling talonsteps to get out of her way. Her crazy, sporadic way.

   Exo was hatched in the south end of the Floating City. Her mother was the only dragon present when she shoved on the walls of her egg and kicked free. She remembered her mother shoving her into the small chicken coop when she saw that Exo was blind, only coming twice a day to feed her. Exo could remember the chickens getting used to her, and she would pet anyone of them that came close enough to her.

    She was a year old when her father found her. He pulled her out, and she buried her face in his shoulder as her mother instructed- in case anyone other than her took out. She remembered him walking into the kitchen, and Exo heard smaller voices similar to her mother's- her older sisters.

    "Dragonfly, who's dragonet is this?" her father asked, holding Exo still. "It's a shame whoever abandoned her in our chicken coop- she has such pretty stripes."

    "She's a scamp. That dragonet sneaks into the coop and steals the eggs and hens. She's nothing but trouble." her mother snapped. Had Exo not said anything at that moment, she'd probably have a pretty different life right now.