Wings of Fire - The LostWing Chronicles, Book 1 - The Awoken

Chapter 15

Solstice ran beside her, with Crevasse close on his heels, his metal leg clinking against the floor with every fourth-footfall. The golden tail of the SandWing/NightWing streamed elegantly behind him as he ran, his wings gracefully lowered to his sides, and he smiled apologetically at Anadrom again. Her heart was fluttering as she returned the gesture, falling back so he could lead them down into the next cave. It was entirely great to have him not avoiding her anymore, in ways that she couldn't begin to describe.

The third gong rang as they all burst into a cave, earning them a cross look from the older SeaWing teacher. He could be easily identified as Webs, the only surviving former guardian of the Dragonets of Destiny. There was another winglet already seated on stones about the cave, which Quartz luckily was not in. Anadrom placed herself on top of the closest seat, focusing on the instructor while her peripheral vision wandered about and examined her surroundings.

The walls were covered in maps from various periods of Pyrrhia's history, from just a few centuries after the Scorching to the recent border changes after the War of SandWing Succession. A great table covered in a three-dimensional representation of Pyrrhia sat before the class, carved to show the depths of the oceans and the peaks of every mountain in a stunning array of detail. All of the known structures of Pyrrhia were carved upon it, gracefully arching up towards the cave ceiling, and someone had even replaced the Summer Palace Ruins with a model of the one she had created a month ago. Fire-proofed scroll racks lined each wall below the maps, and recreations of various famous artifacts were encased in frames and hung from the ceiling by invisible wire. There was an inkpot and blank scroll upon the small raised ledge in front of each seat, next to a tray of odd instruments and tools. The entire cave was entrancing with knowledge, and she was entirely impressed by it. At the front of the room, Webs coughed, and all of the students turned to face him.

"Good morning, students," he announced rather non-energetically. "As I have said many times before, I require everyone in the academy to be entirely punctual to my classes. Don't cut it that close again, Amber Winglet." He looked at them all sternly, wrinkling his brow at Anadrom as if he hadn't expected to see her there. Yet the SeaWing didn't comment on the matter in the slightest, moving right on in his dry voice. "As all of you were told at the end of yesterday's class, today will be a break from our exploration of the Second Millenia. Sunny has recently decided that updates on modern Pyrrhian history might encourage students to pay more attention when we return to the past, and as doubtful as this seems, I am willing to give it a shot. Let's begin, then."

The older SeaWing reached upwards to a ring on the wall and pulled down a large chart, titled Populations of the Seven Tribes, From 4925 - 5025 Y.F.S., while a smaller note at the bottom read Based upon the data collected in the 5025 Census and on royal population records retrieved by Starflight and Moonwatcher of the NightWings upon that same year.

"Now," Webs said, standing so that his wings blocked the data, "We will begin by testing your knowledge of our present. Who here can tell me what the most populous tribe in Pyrrhia currently is?"

There was a shuffling of wings from the students in response, and then Crevasse wheezed, "The most populous tribe is the SeaWings, closely followed by IceWings, I believe."

"Correct," Webs nodded appraisingly, and stepped back. The data upon the charts was rather shocking to read, for most of them held a sudden and steep decline due to the devastation the War of SandWing Succession had caused. The angle and length of the downwards slope made Anadrom feel deeply uneasy, and a few of her peers clearly felt the same, for there was a general dismayed murmur. Webs seemingly didn't notice this, or perhaps didn't care to address it. "As you know from your independent studies of the war, the IceWing and SeaWing tribes fought mostly defensively, as was pertained by their unique and impenetrable environments of habitation. Besides for the destruction of the SeaWing Summer Palace, the tribe was entirely protected from the sort of massacres that befell the other belligerents on the regular. That is to say, all IceWing and SeaWing civilian targets were unreachable, and so were not eliminated as those of other tribes were in regular raids."