GloryBringer Stories

Dance With Me

The Queen of the RainWings paced the floor.
Nothing was going as planned.
"It'll be fun!" Her friends had said. "It could show that they're all friends." Mangrove had pointed out.

Glory cursed under her breath and dragged her claws into the wood underneath her. She couldn't believe she had thrown a party. For the NightWings and RainWings no less. She had liked that Thorn threw parties for actual important reasons and had decided to give it a shot.

Anxious green and annoyed red-orange flashed through her scales, but she took a deep breath and let good thoughts fill her mind. Her scales cleared and turned a glimmering gold.
This was supposed to be a celebration of the two tribes burring the hatchet and starting fresh, but so far everyone just looked and felt uncomfortable. She had had to step outside for a minute. Deathbringer poked his head through a leaf flap and gave a nervous grin at her.

"Ready?" He asked. Glory sighed.

"Ready as I'll ever be." She grumbled and followed her Right hand Dragon inside. It was one of the largest leaf huts there was n the rain forest, but the atmosphere was thick.

Jars of fireflies lined the walls and gave ample light and a buffet table of fruit was set up on one wall, which Clay was currently at, stuffing his face. Tsunami was in the other corner, making RainWings nervous.

The band of RainWings played a subdued tune on funny wooden instruments and were depressing colors of grey and navy blue. NightWings and RainWings lined walls opposite from each other, muttering with themselves and occasionally casting fearful looks at the other tribe. No one had touched the food (other than Clay) and one of the band members had fallen asleep.

"Well you know how to throw a party." Deathbringer mumbled and earned a swat on the nose. He frowned and tapped his chin thoughtfully then snapped his talons. "I've got it." He ran up to one of the band members who nearly had a heart attack and whispered something in his ear. He nodded, and his team began to play a slow, beautiful melody. Deathbringer ran over and grabbed Glory's talon. She immediately pulled away.

"What are you doing?" She hissed at him.

"Dance with me." She stared at him like his horns had caught fire.

"Did I hit you too hard?" She asked. He smiled and offered her his talon.

"It'll ease the tension." He explained. Glory hesitated. The dragons in the room were listening to the music in confusion.

"I've never danced before." She admitted. He grinned as she took his talon.

"Let's learn together." He offered. Neither had any idea what they were doing, but they swayed to the music gently. Glory and Deathbringer mirrored the other's movements, wingtips touching, walking in a circle.

The nervously muttering dragons nervously stepped out of their comfort zone. Jambu grabbed a random NightWing who almost bit his head off at first and started to dance with her, copying Glory and Deathbringer's moves.

Slowly, every RainWing and NightWing had paired up and were slowly swaying along with the Queen.

Then the music got faster.

Glory and Deathbringer circled each other, keeping time with the music. Then Deathbringer began to experiment.

He ducked under Glory's wing in one smooth motion and came up behind her. She caught on and twirled around, her scales sparkling gold and rose, like a beautiful ribbon. They touched wingtips and whirled around each other in beautiful motions as the music played faster and faster. Light and darkness spun in a circles, ducking under each other's wings and over their heads. Not knowing how they knew this dance but just did, they continued to spiral, becoming a swirl of motion.

They didn't realize the crowd had fallen silent, watching them in awe as the music played yet faster.
Finally, to where the instrument strings were near the breaking point, the dancers unruffled their wings and flew in a spiral around each other, then swooped apart and landed not a horn length from each other's eyes, panting. There was a stunned silence.

Then, cheer went up, and the entire place broke out in applause, RainWings and NightWings alike, standing side by side. The dancers took a bow, Glory turning pink with embarassment along her wings.

Tsunami and Clay were at the back of the group, with Clay giving her a thumbs up and Tsunami with a look of grudging admiration.

"We should do this more often." Deathbringer whispered with a smile.

"Do you want me to break your tail?" Glory growled. He chuckled.

"That's my Glory."