𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐢𝐫 - 𝐐𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐢 𝐱 𝐎𝐜

Chapter 3

 There was an empty one next to each bed and one on either side of the door.

Peak took a closer look and realised with a small smile that the ones by the door were filled with scrolls. A little sign above these two said: Free reading - hope you like them!

She slid her welcome scroll and her map scroll into the empty rack by her bed. The princess then wrapped her tail around her back talons and started going through the scrolls by the door, The scrolls were a mix of all the kinds of things that interested the Skywing - history of the skywings, Royal skywing traditions, skywing legends, encyclopedias of all the plants and animals in each tribe's territory, many tribe traditions, all essentials for great queens, these were of course, essential for a queen.

Suddenly she remembered mother finding her with a scroll one day. She had quizzed her daughter on what she liked, and had to, read. If she told the dragonets... she must have made time for me! Peak smiled at that thought.

She also noticed that there weren't any of the recent scrolls about the dragonets of the prophecy and their "Epic Quest to End the War of SandWing Succession." Peak guessed that whoever had chosen these (Starflight? Sunny?) found those scrolls a little embarrassing.

She also found one early-reader scroll that must have been written for tiny dragonets, with giant letters and a guide to the alphabet. This seemed so out of place that she sat and puzzled over it for a minute.

While she was pondering this a Nightwing came in the cave, Is one of my clawmates really a Nightwing?! Peak thought incredulously. Yeah, I don't think so. She decided as she strolled out of the cave. Suddenly a moist green body slammed into her.

𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕

I stumbled as the weight of another dragonet slams into me, I let myself recover for a moment before seeing that a hostile looking Seawing has bumped into me. "Get your fish-smelling tail away from me - " I snarled as his tail almost slaps my snout. I've faced bigger SeaWings than him in battle if he's trying to start something! My thoughts growl "Don't you dare blow smoke in my face -" the Seawing growled out at me. "You bumped into me you slimy fish" I snarled back as he tries to hit me with his tail. I barley duck out of the way as my eyes narrow in anger. "Why are you starting a fight just say sorry" I snap dodging one of his talons as he claws at me. "You smoky Skywing" he snaps back. "That's not even an insult" I hiss spreading my wings in annoyance as other dragonet gather around watching. Suddenly my head snaps to the side as I hear a voice calling out from the crowd. "Hey now, hey there. Stop, stop, stop," a voice called in the hallway, interrupting our squabble.

I looked around and saw lots of dragonets with dreamy expressions on while gazing at Clay, What in the world...? I thought in slight disgust, not at Clay of course, just the looks he's being given.

I saw a Nightwing poke her head out of my cave. That must be one of my clawmates, I realised. The prophecy MudWing, Clay gently held me and the now writhing SeaWing away from me as kept my posture composed throught the whole "fight".

"It's only the first day, folks," he said genially. "Nothing to be so grumpy about already. You're probably both just hungry. Princess I'm so sorry, Pike, walk with me." He spread his wing over the SeaWing's now known as Pike's, shoulder and firmly guided him away down the tunnel.

I kept my expression regal and I glanced at the crowd seeing a few SkyWing's being held back by other dragons. I suspected their clawmates, as they watched Pike go with narrow eyes, growling under their breaths. They didn't seem to worried about me being hurt more the Seawing, that didn't mean they couldn't be mad at Pike.

I swung around and practically flowed to my cave. The Nightwing looked so alarmed that I went to her that I thought she would faint right there. Without saying a word, I threw myself onto the rock-ledge bed, folded my large scarlet wings over my eyes taking breath to recover my composure.

I took a quick breath before getting up. "Hello I'm Princess Peak" I smiled at the Nightwing acting as if I hadn't had an hissy fight a few seconds ago.

"I-I'm Moon" the Nightwing- Moon - stammered nervously. She seems...shy I thought.

When I blinked Moon was already scanning the titles of the scrolls again. I coughed awkwardly before examining my embedments, making sure none fell out of anything.

Several minutes later, a whirlwind burst into the cave, nearly trampling Moon with bright yellow talons. I let out a startled gasp before sending an irritated frown at the Rainwing.

"Oh my gosh, sorry!" it yelped. "I didn't even see you there! I guess that's a NightWing skill, hiding in shadows, right, ha ha!" She ignored my frown and the little RainWing didn't drop her enormous smile for a moment. Her scales, too, didn't shift: They stayed a blindingly bright banana yellow dotted with splotches of alarming raspberry pink.

She seized Moon's front talons and pumped them cheerfully up and down.

"Your a Nightwing I've never met one, I mean other than the ones that kidnapped me and experimented on us but I bet your not like then, right?" The Rainwing said in a rush. Then she turned to me "wow your royalty aren't you! We're you the one that got into a fight before, well, the one that that Seawing bumped into and started snarling at I suppose". "What's your name, also your quiet Nightwing?", "I'm Princess Peak but since we're clawmates I suppose you can both call me Peak." I answer before pretending to tune out.

The Rainwing babbled on for a bit before saying "I'm Kinkajou," while beaming."You're noisy," I observed rather rudely. I also noticed that there was one spot on Kinkajou that wasn't eye-meltingly colorful: a triangle of three small black smudges on her wing that looked like tiny splashes of ink.

"I love this place," Kinkajou said, again, ignoring me. She let go of Moon's talons and bounced over to the hammock.

"Have you explored at all yet? There's the most amazing library - not that I can read yet, but oh my gosh, l'm working on it really hard. And an art cave! It's full of all these colors of paint, like, like, like a couple of Rain Wings just EMOTED all over it! You guys, we should make amazing paintings and then decorate our cave with them. WOULDN'T THAT BE AMAZING?" Kinkajou exclaimed. I winced, she was loud.

"I might literally die of joy," I said flatly.

"You look way healthier than most of the other NightWings,"Kinkajou said to Moon, evidently deciding to ignore me for the moment. "Your scales are so shiny" she added."I'd almost guess you're a Rainwing in disguise but you're not are you?". Moon looked rather overwhelmed but said, "no, I grew up in the rainforest my mother hid me there" "Oh!" Kinkajou exclaimed. That was when I decided they were too loud. "Can you two be quiet!" I exclaimed in annoyance. "She's grouchy" Kinkajou muttered as I jumped off the ledge "I'm not Grumpy" I snarled venom coating my words as I marched out.

A bit of a longer chapter today, love y'all thanks for the votes and reads. Off to a bit of a bad start with her clawmates. I just want to say this is only because she gets angry easily and she'll stay mad afterwards but the next day she'll be nice again, or at least act like it. And Pike would make me mad for sure.

- Issie

{Word Count: 1311 Words}