Moons and Stars

Firefly

Inside the mountain, right in the entrance, was a giant cave---the great hall, Firefly assumed. She looked up to its stalactited ceiling, which was so high that everything in the room echoed, making the already-loud noises seem twice as loud.

"Look, they have freshwater salmon! It's so hard to find where I live!"

"I can't wait to learn how to read! Do you think I'm the only one who can't read here?"

"Ooh, isn't that the RainWing/NightWing princess?"

Firefly froze for just a second, then kept walking through the hall.

"Yeah, that's definitely her. See? She has RainWing patterning, ruff, horns, and tail, but more of a NightWing build."

"She's so pretty!"

"She's probably a spoiled snob, though---being raised knowing that she'll get to rule over two tribes, not just one!"

"I wonder if she even likes suntime."

"Look! It's Queen Glory and King Deathbringer! I thought she was here by herself?"

"I heard she never goes anywhere by herself----if she's not sitting all alone in her hut, reading, then she's with her parents or a guard."

"I guess royals really can't do anything by themselves. How will she even go to school? Will there be a guard with her?"

Firefly shook her head, ignoring the conversations around her. She was about to turn back to her parents to ask them which way was the library when she heard someone calling her name.

"Firefly! Firefly!"

Firefly turned around to see a small yellow SandWing flying through the air. His scales were a sandy color, but his eyes, which were hidden behind huge, thick-framed glasses, were the same mossy green as his mother, Sunny's. His flight was a little lopsided because of the size of his wingspan---and the amount of heavy scrolls and books (from Pantala) that were in his arms.

"Hello, Fennec," Firefly smiled, relaxing a bit. She was happy to see a familiar face.

"Firefly! I can't believe you came," Fennec said, landing on the stone floor of the mountain and dropping his scrolls and books everywhere. "Oops. How are you doing? I told everyone you'd be here this year, but they didn't believe me. Can you imagine?" Firefly bent down to help him gather the books. "Thanks. It's going to be so fun! You're gonna love the library. It's so nice and quiet and there's so much to read and Starflight has great recommendations all the time. You see this?" He held up a book proudly. "Fresh batch, all the way from Pantala. Oh, and there's a great view of the mountains at the very top of the mountain where you can have suntime or just chill out. And...."

Firefly smiled as Fennec chatted about the dorms and the food and the special activities every other week and how even though Webs' classes were extremely boring they sometimes got to do group projects where they got to draw their own maps or historical reference drawings. She was about to ask where the food table was and if they had any guava when a burst of color flew through the air towards her. Two MudWing-SkyWing hybrids, a SeaWing, and a NightWing landed on the ground next to her and Fennec.

"Firefly! You're actually here! Fennec kept telling us you'd come, but we didn't really believe him because he says weird things all the time. Like last week he said that there was actually a fourth and fifth moon but they look like stars to us. Isn't that wacky? Anyway, THEY all thought he was bonkers again but I ACTUALLY DIDN'T. I KNEW you'd come," the smaller MudWing-SkyWing said. From her attitude, to her coloring, to her proficiency of getting in trouble, Ember was like a miniature version of her mother, Peril.