Listen, And The Stars Shall Speak

Jade Mountain Academy

A/n: Why has it taken me all day to write this? Two words.

Stranger Things.

After his family had left JMA, Shore set to exploring the school until Orange arrived. He glanced down at his welcome scroll, which listed all the Winglets and who was in them. Shore was in the Jasper Winglet, which was one of the newer ones. The Jade Winglet name had been retired after Moon, Joy, and the others graduated. The Dragonets of Destiny claimed that it was a cursed winglet after what Umber, Kelp, Joy, Moon, Air, Winter, and Qibli had done to it.

The Jasper Winglet

Skywing: Ember

Mudwing: Cypress

Seawing: Shore

Rainwing: Orange

Nightwing: Boysen

Sandwing: Haze

Icewing: Permafrost 

Shore grinned at the list. He liked that Orange was in his Winglet- it meant he would have at least one friend. He remembered Ember, although they hadn't seen each other in years. It'd be nice to see him again. He didn't know anyone else of the list, but he scanned through the rest of the Winglets, pausing at one of them.

The Sapphire Winglet

Skywing: Fox

Mudwing: Nile

Seawing: Stream

Rainwing: Juniper

Nightwing: Dusk

Sandwing: Emu

Icewing: Shard

Shore frowned at Juniper's name and held back a sigh, trying to shift his thoughts to something else. Turns out, he didn't have too. At that moment, someone tackled him to the ground. 

"Found you!" Orange exclaimed. "Finally!"

"Orange!" he cried back, hugging her. He still didn't understand why she had stopped talking to him, but then started up again after he had told her he'd broken up with Juniper. Oh well. As long as Orange was still his friend, he had nothing to worry about.

"I figured you'd be drooling in the music cave, but I guess not." Shore froze.

"Wait......THERE'S A MUSIC CAVE?!"

*~*~*~*

Dusk, Nile, and Ember walked down the hallway in a row. Ember glanced at his cousins. It seemed like forever since they had last spoken.

"So," he began, attempting to break the silence. "It's been a while. Catch me up, what's going on with you guys?"

"Nothing." Nile admitted. 

"Everything." Dusk countered. Ember frowned.

"What do you mean, everything?" 

"Well, we haven't talked really since before the war, and we all know how that went down, so I'll just sum this up. My mother is apparently an animus, but not anymore because she supposedly removed her powers. My father has two older brothers, which he didn't even bother to tell Dawn and me about, but it's not like Dawn cares- she's too innocent to understand." He explained. "So, naturally I did a bit more digging to find out why my dad has basically hidden his entire family from us. I'm not even sure Mother knows the whole story." 

"So, what'd you find out?"

"Trust me Ember, that's a whole other story." 

*~*~*~*~*

Orange laughed as Shore practically flew to the music cave, stopping dead in the doorway. He froze at the sight of a piano, and for a moment she was convinced that he just might kiss it. 

Not quite.

Shore stared at the piano, taking in every inch of it in awe. Then excitement set in and he bit back a scream of happiness. 

"Oh just go and make out with it already." Orange teased. "You know you want to." He rushed over, trailing his talons on the keys.

"It's so pretty." he breathed. "Tempo would cry if he ever saw this." 

"I'm honestly surprised you're not on your knees worshiping it or something." 

"It's not the piano I should be worshiping." Shore dropped to his knees and bowed before Orange. "Thank you, oh mighty Orange, for leading me to this glorious instrument." She let out a laugh.

"You sound like Ander." She insisted, grinning at him. "Minus the Latin phrases, of course." 

Shore smiled, standing up again. He liked that Orange called his sister 'Ander'. She was the only one outside his family that did. Everyone else just called her Meander, if they even bothered to say her real name. Ander was a nickname that she would only permit family to call her. Except for Orange. Orange, Ander had once said, was just a friend temporarily, but family for eternity. She, Rin, and Apple were always protective of any girl that came too close to Shore- just look at Juniper. But they never had an issue with Orange. Orange was always welcome.

"So," she questioned. "Are you going to play something or not?" Shore jumped up.

"Play?" he echoed. "You're joking. If I start playing on this thing, I'll never stop." Orange looked around and pulled up a chair, sitting in it with a smile.

"Okay, "she nodded. "I'm ready."