The Mystery of Jade Mountain | A WOF Fanfiction | Paused

Chapter 3

They arrived at Jade Mountain about an hour later.

Sandwasp folded her wings in close as a she watched five MudWings gallop past. There were dragons everywhere. Two SeaWings were saying goodbye to their what looked like their parents by the entrance; a group of RainWings were still off in the distance, but rapidly getting closer; more dragons were dotted around the ledge where Sandwasp stood, or in the sky.

"Look!" Scorch burst out. "NightWings!"

Sandwasp looked where he was pointing, and sure enough, a small group of NightWings were circling in the air, ready to land.

"Alright," Arizona said. "Here we are. Bye, dragonets."

Sandwasp felt a little twinge of sadness at the thought of not seeing her mother for months, but she stamped it down. Then, suddenly, Arizona grabbed both her and Scorch in a hug. Sandwasp almost leapt away — she hadn't been hugged by her mother in ages. Years, even. It felt kind of nice, to be hugged by your mother.

"Enjoy yourselves," Arizona told them, steep back and folding her wings in close. "Don't get into trouble." She nodded at Fennec, Rattlesnake and Snake. "That goes for you three as well."

Rattlesnake shrugged. "I'll be fine."

Hyrax nudged Arizona, and soon the pair of them were winging their way back towards the desert. Sandwasp tired to shove any sad feelings away, but they immediately disappeared anyway when she turned to walk into the tunnel.

The MudWings and SeaWings were gone, and the NightWings and RainWings had just landed, still saying their goodbyes. Sandwasp glanced at the other SandWing dragonets, and then quickly led them into the tunnel before it got to crowded with rainbow and black dragons.

"Hi!" a cheerful voice called as soon as Sandwasp stepped inside. She was still adjusting to the slightly dimmer light when a couple of scrolls were shoved into her talons.

A NightWing was standing beside them, grinning. She had dark purple underscales and two silver teardrop scales in the corner of each eye, which Sandwasp found odd. There was also a circle of silver scales on her wrist, like a bracelet, and more scattered over her tail.

"I'm Fatespeaker," the NightWing told them. "I'm not a teacher or anything, don't worry...I'm just helping out wherever I can! It's Sandwasp, right? Is that a SandWing name?" She began skim-reading the scroll in front of her. "I'm good at guessing names. You might even say I'm so good, it's like I'm reading your mind, right?"

"Um, yes," Sandwasp said, suddenly feeling a little shy. She realised what Fatespeaker had said. "Wait — I thought NightWings didn't actually have powers?"

"I'm just kidding." Fatespeaker shrugged. "MAAAAAYBE."

Two scrolls like the ones handed to Sandwasp were given to the others, and then Fatespeaker nodded to herself and grinned again.

"Right," she began. "That's your welcome scroll and map of the academy. What were your names again? Sandwasp, right?" She looked down at the scroll. "Fennec, Rattlesnake, Scorch and Snake...Sandwasp, your sleeping cave is third tunnel along, fourth cave on the right. I hope you like your clawmate!"

Sandwasp frowned. "Clawmate?"

"The dragon you'll be sharing a cave with," Fatespeaker explained. "They'll also be in your winglet, which is the group of dragons you'll have all your classes with."

"Oh." Sandwasp hadn't been expecting to share a cave. She'd assumed that everyone got their own cave. She wanted to ask Fatespeaker more questions, but the NightWing had already moved on to Rattlesnake.