Wings Of Fire: Trust Fall

Chapter Six

Broken rays of seafoam light cast its way through the foliage 'roof' of the island, bathing the second pavilion in a bubbly blue hue from the translucent level above. Landslide knew it had to be about noon; they'd only been waiting for a few hours now. Blister and Mako were sharing silent (and as Landslide observed, uneasy) banter, whereas the MudWing was struggling against Cobalt in a hardcore game of marbles.

Landslide lowered herself to the ground, eye level with the scattered lapis and pearl marbles in front of her. She locked her eyes on a dense group, and kept her focus on them as she flicked a larger marble from her talon. Instead of hitting the group, however, it veered to the side and narrowly missed a bubble blue marble. She hissed under her breath. "Moons!"

"Don't stress so much about it." Cobalt shrugged casually, a smug grin creasing his snout as he shot his marble into the circle, swiftly knocking out three. He triumphantly scooped his prizes from the perimeter of the circle and dropped them near the curve of his thick tail.

"How are you so good at this?" Landslide interrogated. "I'm focusing on where I want to hit, I'm holding my talon at the right trajectory, where am I going wrong? I shouldn't be." She tilted her wings back in sour defeat. "No, this is RIGGED."

"Nope." Cobalt picked his taw from the circle and set it in front of him. "But let me ask you this: Did you lay attention to your shot? Or were you too focused on the marbles ahead of you?"

"I-" Landslide opened her mouth to protest, but then realized where she'd gone wrong. She couldn't let her dignity slip either, though. "Pfft, of course I did." Landslide bluffed. "Totally... So much attention, there's no way-"

"You don't gotta lie, y'know." Cobalt smirked. "Want to hear something mom taught me? This game can be taken like a lesson." He began to flash his scales as he spoke. "If you pay too much attention to the future, you forget what you're doing in the NOW, like you did with your shot. But if you don't pay ANY mind to the future, your efforts now can hurt you in the long run. Thus allowing others to win marbles from the pit, while you struggle. But if you find a balance, then and ONLY then will you be at peace." As he stopped speaking, his stripes faded back to their neutral sky hue.

Cobalt smiled at something behind Landslide, and the MudWing swiveled her head to see what he'd seen. Mako gave her and Cobalt a thoughtful nod, and Landslide finally realized what had happened. She saw his scales flashing... She knows what he said.

Landslide turned back to Cobalt. "You know, it looks like your mom is very proud of you."

"Yeah..." Cobalt smiled bashfully. "She tells me every day."

Landslide felt a painful tear in her chest... A feeling of longing. What is it like?... But she couldn't stay bitter. Her heart swelled with pure adoration at the thought of this dragonet being praised by his mother. Mother...whatever that truly means.

"Cobalt..." Landslide muttered. "What's it like having a mom?"

The dragonet seemed to be taken aback by that question. "You don't have a mom?..."

"No." Landslide answered bluntly, a hint of grief in her voice. Not the type of grief she's used to after a loss, but the grief of wanting something she's never had the chance to know. "It's a tribe custom. We as siblings raise each other. Our parents don't even know we're still alive... And we don't even know who they are. But you've lived with your mom your whole life... You two love each other. I want to know what it's like."

"Well..." Cobalt's demeanor was suddenly softer. "It's like an unconditional love. Like knowing there's someone who's there for you, forever, no matter what... And if the whole world goes dark, there's someone with a light for you."