Wings of Fire: The Forgotten Dragonets

Nightwings. Don't. Hunt. Period.

"Wake up, Doom!" Sharp talons prodded her side, and Doomsayer rolled over, flapping a wing over her eyes. 

"What do you want Sepia?" she moaned. Teeth and tails she was tired. After wandering back through the maze of tunnels last night - she hadn't realized how late it was - she'd had trouble falling asleep. How could she, after all she'd learned?

"We're going to do something new today!" Doom pried her eyelids open, finding the Mudwing leaning over her. Swirling henna tattoos filled her vision, making her eyes ache as they automatically tried to make sense of the pattern. As far as she could tell, there was none. Sepia was unusually animated today, ridiculously excited.

"Is it painting?" As far as she knew, that was one of the few things Sepia loved so much.

"No, but you're gonna love it!"

You're going to hate it. Came the cheerful reply from below.

Shut up, Darkstalker. What even is it?

You're a mindreader, go read some minds.

So helpful.

I really am. Doom sighed quietly and mentally turned back to her clawmate. All she could hear was the useless rain of, Ha ha, she'll never guess. She'd better be better than Fearless was. He was useless. She sighed a little bit louder, and Sepia grinned maniacally. 

"Just tell me what it is."

"Nope! You're gonna have to see!" Sepia turned quickly and left the small cave, smacking a scroll off the scroll rack and rumpling Doom's neat stacks of notes for history. Quickly cleaning it up, she followed.

* * * 

The rest of the winglet was already there, at the top of a cliff near the top of Jade Mountain, and Doomsayer made a note to start waking earlier. On the island there was no way to really mark time, so you were either on time, or you weren't. At least that's how it was for Doom's family. In the Rainforest nobody cared, especially not the Rainwings, who probably didn't even have a time system, and the Nightwings were just happy to be out of harm's way.'

Here it seemed as if they did care, so . . . be early, she guessed.

Boto glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as she arrived, but didn't say anything. Hello, Nightwing. Doom shivered. It was creepy. 

Changbai grinned at her cheerfully, and nodded, as if he were simply happy to see her. Anemone smiled, but not to wide, as it would not befit a princess to be so undignified, while Ostrich simply ignored her. Thrush the Skywing didn't even seem to notice her arrival as he stared nervously at the edge of the cliff, only glancing her way when Changbai prodded him with the tip of an icy blue wing. He was an unusual Skywing, that was for sure, but she didn't mind his strangness.

"Hey, Doom! Hi Sepia!" Changbai smiled warmly, again shattering all the images she'd created of cool and aloof Icewings. "So you finally found her. Was she still asleep?" he asked, not unkindly. "I remember Fearless had trouble waking up early too. It's probably a Nightwing thing."

Sepia snorted. "It's not a 'Nightwing thing.' Remember that time when Thrush slept in for a whole day, and when he finally found us in the prey cave around eight he asked us 'What's for Breakfast?'"

Thrush finally spoke up, looking away from the cliff, "I thought we all agreed to never mention that ever again." He rolled his eyes, "What's a dragon got to do to keep things secret?"

"Well if you hadn't been so loud about it," Anemone cut in, "we wouldn't have remembered it so well." She wrinkled her snout in amusement, and they all laughed, even Doom.

The flap of wings broke through and they all turned, looking at the latest arrival. A large blue seawing with blue-grey pearls wrapped around her horns landed with a thud on the ground near them. She smiled at Anemone and the others, then turned to look at Doomsayer. Their eyes were almost level, and Doom met her gaze, refusing to back down.

So, she thought, this must be Tsunami. 

Eventually the Seawing gave up and looked away. "So!" she practically yelled, "Who's ready for . . . HUNTING!!!" 

Oh no.

Sepia grinned at Doom, obviously ignoring her panicked look, and said, "Ready to go?"

Without waiting for an answer, the Mudwing dived over the edge after Tsunami, letting out a roar of excitement. The rest of her winglet leaped off the cliff, until it was just her, Boto, and Thrush. The two were in a heated debate, but quickly ended when they saw that she was still there.

Thrush turned away, sighing, and said quietly, "I'm not really in the mood for hunting. I'll be in the library if anyone needs me." He turned and walked away, staying very far away from the edge.

Boto rolled his eyes, then walked over to her. "Aw, you waited for me? I'm touched."

"Not likely."

"Well, then why are you still here? I thought you'd be halfway to the sea by now, looking for something good to bring back."

He was so calm, as if nothing had happened. She knew he could keep a secret. "I'm a Nightwing," she said.

He nodded sagely. "So?"

"We don't hunt."

He laughed, trailing off abruptly as he realized she was serious. "You can't hunt."

". . . Yeah." Seriously, what part of "don't hunt" didn't he understand?

He stared at her for a few moments, as if she were crazy. "And you want me, a Rainwing, to teach you?"

"Yes." Wait, no. Rainwings don't hunt. She felt her face heating up, and was glad that her black scales didn't change color. But then again, he was nodding.

"Okay, I'll teach you." He exhaled sharply, "I learned a few tricks myself when I was in the desert, and had to eat meat so . . . I'll try."

She grinned, and finally, together, they leapt into the sky.

***

"You caught a . . . lizard." Sepia looked at Doom's catch, then back at the cow she'd already half devoured. 

Doom nodded, very pleased with herself. It had taken a while, but then instinct kicked in and, with Boto's help, she'd located a lizard's den. She smiled, recalling how it had almost gotten away, but hadn't. She'd caught it all on her own, and was ready to reap the benefits. 

She bit through the rough flesh, and ate it, savoring the way it was still warm. They'd never had fresh food on the island, and it was still a novelty. It was a very good lizard, if a bit small.

She smiled, knowing that if she ever had to run away, she'd be able to hunt.

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A/N:

Yes, yes, I know it isn't that big a deal to most dragons, but look: SHE'S A NORMAL NIGHTWING, AND SHE CAN HUNT!! And it's just perfect irony that it's a Rainwing who teaches her.

I really like this winglet.

And THANK YOU!!!! We have 200 reads, and that is amazing to me! (I'm in a really good mood right now, so THANK YOU AGAIN!! It never would have happened without you all!)