Wings of Fire- A Glorybringer Legacy (fanfiction)

Chapter 5: A Decision (Anaconda's POV)

Anaconda landed on the platform of the royal pavilion as a tumult of waves carrying mixed emotions rolled out of the pavilion. Nervous threads of What's going on? and Is everyone okay? joined the exasperated and worried thoughts of whom she recognized as her parents' thoughts. Her sister landed behind her, wringing her talons and apparently having forgotten about being mad at Pride as curiosity took over. Anaconda slipped each of the voices in her head in a raindrop as Queen Glory and Deathbringer emerged from the flower curtain, talking in low voices. "But," Deathbringer said, "What if, I don't know, something happens? What if there is someone who wants them dead?" "Even if there is," Glory said with an incredulous look on her face, "which I highly doubt, they'll still be safe wherever the others are. Anyway, Tsunami and Riptide will be coming with us to escort them to the academy, right?" Deathbringer gave her a worried expression and said "Yes, but-" "But what?" Glory interrupted, clearly irritated, " If there's any dragon who could protect them, it's Tsunami, even with her adorable relationship with Riptide." "Deathbringer smirked at her, "Oh, don't get me started," he said, twining his tail around Glory's. "Oh shut up," Glory said, swatting his nose with her wing, "I've got better things to do." "Oh really?" Deathbringer retaliated. Anaconda just had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Even though her parents' supposed 'great love' was thought cute by other dragons, she found it rather annoying. She preferred to stay out of their minds to avoid awkward situations. She was distracted from her thoughts as another set of talons landed on the platform. "Hey Pride," she greeted her brother. "Hi," he said, rather nervously. Pride's thoughts were usually sweet and worried all the time, and sometimes really clueless. Anaconda rather adored his obliviousness to everything. She was reminded to tell him something when she saw Firefly glaring over at Pride through the vibrant blossoms hanging from vines all around the royal pavilion. Oh, by the way, she communicated to him through their minds, Firefly is mad at you for falling asleep during her lecture on scavenger dens. She set half the rainforest on fire. Her brother managed to look startled and distressed and perplexed all at the same time. What! I didn't mean to hurt her feelings, or, or make her mad! Again, Anaconda barely managed to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Sometimes, her brother was just so tactless. When Anaconda and her brother were talking to someone, she frequently had to communicate through her mind to stop him from saying the wrong thing. It was one of the advantages of her and Pride being able to read minds. Her flow of thoughts were interrupted when her mother cleared her throat and raised her voice to address everyone in the royal pavilion. "Okay," Queen Glory said, "You three were summoned here to have the option to attend Jade Mountain Academy. If you choose not to go, you can keep attending your current school, but just be aware that most of your friends have also chosen to go to Jade Mountain. So, you have until tomorrow to decide whether you want to go or not. Oh, and Firefly, Cyan told us that he would be going to Jade Mountain too, so, you know, don't worry about that." Firefly's face lit up instantly and Anaconda could feel her mind exhale a mental sigh of relief. Cyan was a sweet, shy, extremely nerdy RainWing who was Firefly's best friend in the rainforest. It was pretty obvious they liked each other, the way they cuddled during suntime. Glory nodded, turned to Deathbringer, and said, "That should be it, right?" Deathbringer nodded slyly and said, "You know, your speech-making skills have really gotten better, except the 'summoned here' part, it sounded a little old-fashioned and..." he trailed off as he caught the quelling glare Queen Glory gave him. Anaconda recognized that as a signal to leave. She thought Come on to Pride and nudged Firefly's wing to tell her to leave. All three of them hopped off the platform and caught a wind current. "So," Firefly said hurriedly, "Are you guys going to the school, because I am. Imagine all the opportunities to learn things about different tribal customs and abilities! Oh, I hope we get to meet an IceWing, they sound so cool. And Kinkajou told me about the art cave and the music cave and the library. The library! They might have new scrolls and everything!" Firefly kept talking about how amazing the new library would be and how she and Cyan would read all the scrolls together. However, Anaconda wasn't listening well enough to roll her eyes at Firefly, the way she would have usually done. Instead, as they soared through the treetops amongst chattering monkeys and chirping birds, she pondered about going to Jade Mountain Academy. On the one talon, everyone else would be going there, so no need to worry about that. On the other talon, however, she liked her current school, where the sun filtered through the leaf windows and everything was familiar. On the third talon, maybe a bit of change would be nice. Anaconda made up her mind, she would go to Jade Mountain.