The Eyes of Prophecy

Chapter Six

The night was filled with the sounds of hooting owls and screeching lemurs as Terracotta rolled over fitfully in her sleep, pulling her grass-woven blankets tighter around her. She moaned quietly, her brow wrinkling concernedly over her tightly shut eyes. The green-filtered moonlight shone wide reflections on her glasses, flooding her face with an eerie, pale light.

The same vision kept breaking into her mind, repeating itself and whispering over and over into Terracotta's disturbed mind. The vision was like that of Tangerine's own; but modified and much clearer and sharper, digging into Terracotta's head with it's fateful talons.

Tangerine, reaching a talon out to touch Terracotta's face,

A pair of dragons sitting on an old Baobab tree, their tails entwined, just as their fates were.

A pair of kind blue eyes, sparkling in the dim light.

Terracotta woke up with a gasp. It was just a dream, she tried to convince herself. But she knew better. Every single dream she had ever had eventually came true.

Terracotta slid quietly out from under her covers, taking deep gulps of the cool night air. She sunk her talons into the wood below her, taking comfort in what was real and solid in this moment. The problem with seeing the future was that Terracotta sometimes couldn't tell the difference between what had already happened; and what hadn't. It felt like a blur between timelines, like her whole life was incomprehensibly intwined with everyone else's. She tried her best to block the idea of her dream out, but it was still there, fresh and crisp and convincing, as real as the leaves hanging outside her window.

Terracotta snuck to the door of her parent's room and pushed it open, the edges creaking slightly. She held her breath as she watched Tualang and Taproot lie there, curled around each other like squirrels in a nest. They must love each other beyond thought, she wondered. But they never act like it. I wonder if Tangerine will treat me like they treat one another. Terracotta stifled a heartbroken sob with her talons, pressing her claws to her snout to muffle her cry. She gently closed the door and fled to her balcony, tears flowing from her eyes. She looked up at the moonlit canopy of trees, the delicate leaves blurry without her glasses on. She felt strange, as if Tangerine were already beside her, their tails twining together in the loud silence. Terracotta dug her claws into her arm, slicing through her scales and drawing a trickle of bright red blood. She held her jaw shut tight so as to not scream, but the pain had done her good. The world is still real, she reassured herself, covering up the many other self-made puncture wounds with her blankets. For the past two weeks, Terracotta had been having dreams and nightmares of her future with Tangerine. She knew she wanted to be with him, but that didn't make the dreams any more comforting. She liked the idea of shaping her own destiny, not letting fate decide it...but the visions she had been seeing completely erased that small hope.

Terracotta shook herself from head to talons and turned back around into her little room. Her mother had laid out a silk scarf on the floor, and twenty bracelets to choose from. "One for each wrist, Terracotta," she'd instructed. "You can choose which colors you like best. I doubt they'll make you any less ugly though," she'd added with a smirk, making Terracotta swallow hard.

Terracotta stared down at the bracelets as the sun peeked above the horizon. There was a small party going on near the Queen's hut in three days, and Tualang and her family had been invited. Tualang was shouting for days about how Terracotta would have to 'act normal' and 'look normal' so she could impress the Queen with her shining daughter. "I just hope the rumors haven't spread too far," she snapped coldly. "I don't want her thinking I've got an insane, delinquent child."

Terracotta glanced down at the scars on her arms and wrists. She grabbed all the bracelets determinedly and slid ten on each wrist, covering her wounds with the jewels and woven silk. She sighed, wrapping the scarf around her neck three different times, and then discarding it. I should be allowed to wear what I want, she thought. I look...fine. Terracotta glanced into her small mirror, wincing. Her mother's words came back to her, loud and clear, ringing through her head. "I doubt they'll make you any less ugly," she'd said crisply. Terracotta straightened her wings, trying to stand up as straight as Tualang did, but it was useless.

She was just a weird piece of treasure that no one would understand...no one. Not even her own family.

Terracotta spent the next three days answering questions miserably at her stand. She half-hoped Tangerine would be there, but he didn't show up; Terracotta tried to convince herself he was just busy, but a voice that sounded eerily like her mother's kept creeping into her head. You'll never be good enough. No one likes you. Why are you so weird, and different? What is wrong with you. Terracotta traced words and prophecies into the wooden supports of the hut so that she wouldn't forget them, snippets of other dragons lives that seemed more important then her own. This attracted even more attention to her prophecy-telling business, as dragons paid extra time to read and study the writing on the branches.

Terracotta flew home the day of the Queen's party, her wings heavy, and her mind muddled. She let out a deep sigh as she sunk into her bed, smiling slightly at the warm scent of leaf woven blankets. She had barely heard her mother enter before she was scrambling to attention, standing up; her wings as straight as possible, and her injured arms behind her back. "Yes, yes mother?" she said in what she hoped was a lighthearted, obedient tone.

Tualang's eyes narrowed. "Why aren't you ready?" she snapped. I laid your required adornments out days ago!" Terracotta opened her mouth, but her mother interrupted. "No excuses!" she said. "Just...I want to see you ready, polished and by the door in ten minutes. The Queen can't see us late." she gave a slight cold smile and added; "Not the new advisor and her husband and daughter."

Terracotta slid on her bracelets as soon as her mother had left. She scrubbed her scales with a porcupine bristle brush until it hurt, and polished her glasses until they were probably more dull then shiny. Tualang had been offered a position as one of the Queen's advisors, and she seemed to be more stuck-up about it then ever. She doesn't even know if she'll get the job yet, Terracotta thought angrily, then immediately felt bad for it. She's your mother, Terra. She scolded herself. If she gets promoted, it's good for all of us... like Dad.

Terracotta shook her head angrily and straightened her bracelets with force. I can do this, she thought. I can do this.