WINGS of FIRE: A New Beginning

Chapter 5

They sat, tails entwined, talking.

Sunbeam told Qibli about Fulmar, about their swim, about Flare, and Starstrike, about the rest of their Winglet, and about Music. Qibli nudged her, "Seems like someone's been busy..."

She looked away, "What about you?" She asked, "Where have you been and what have you been doing?"

Qibli told her about meeting his Clawmate, Winter, about meeting a NightWing named Moonwatcher, about defending her in the Prey Center, and about his class.

"It's pretty late..." Sunbeam said. Qibli nodded, "I should be going..."Sunbeam asked, "See you later?" Qibli smiled, "Definitely."

Sunbeam walked back to her cave and collapsed into her sleeping spot.

The next morning she awoke to sunshine on her face. She looked around, something was missing. Then she realized what it was: Fulmar.

The hybrid wasn't on his rock by the door. He would have woken me up if he was going somewhere, she thought, but he can take care of himself; I'm sure he's fine.

She got up and stretched, then she looked at her schedule. She wanted to go to the library today, and maybe the Music Cave. But, for right now, she was starving.

Sunbeam headed towards the Prey Center. When she got there, she looked around for Fulmar. He wasn't there. She did see Starstrike, though.

She went over to say hi and noticed that he wasn't with any of the other NightWings. "Hi, Starstrike!" She said, "Have you seen Fulmar?" He shook his head, "No, have you looked by the underground lake?"

"No, I'll go look there," she said. How did I not think to look there, she thought. Starstrike smiled, "I hope you find him."

She decided to get something to eat before looking for him. She tracked down a fox and ate it. Then she headed towards the underground lake.

When she got there, she saw Fulmar swimming. "Hey!" She called. He looked up at her, smiling, "Hi." He climbed out of the water.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going out?" She asked, "I was worried sick!"  "Aww," he said, "you really do care." She just glared at him. "I don't have to tell you where I'm going," he told her.

She sighed. "I know," she said, "I was worried." Sunbeam shook her wings. "I'm going to the library," she told him, "Do you want to come?"

"Sure," He said, "Lead the way." She lead the way down the hallway towards the library.

The entrance started off as a side corridor lined with hanging scrolls. A lot of the scrolls had quotes on them like, "Knowledge is a flame in the darkness" and "The claws of war are no match for the wings of wisdom."

At the end was a room full of iridescent sunlight, created by the sun shining through leaves placed over the windows. Scrolls were everywhere, in cubby holes on the walls, racks, and cylinders around the cave.

Every corner had a spot to curl up and read read in, sometimes a rock ledge sometimes a pile of moss, and sometimes carpets. Sunlight came in through skylights in the roof.

There was a circular wooden desk labeled "LIBRARIAN" in the center of the room, where Starflight was fiddling with some scrolls.

"Hi, Starflight!" Sunbeam said. Starflight turned around, startled. He sniffed the air, "Sunbeam? And... Fulmar." Sunbeam nodded, then she remembered that he couldn't see them and said, "Yeah."

Starflight came out from behind his desk, "What brings you here?" He asked. It was Fulmar who answered, "We just wanted to take a look at the library, read some scrolls, and stuff."

"Okay," Starflight said, walking over to a rack of scrolls, "These used to be my favorite..." Sunbeam nodded, "Thanks!"

She went over and started looking through the scrolls. She saw a couple about The Scorching, some about NightWings, a couple about firescales, and more. She grabbed one about NightWings and found a place to settle down on a pile of moss.

She unrolled the scroll and saw the title: The Mysterious NightWings. She looked over to see Fulmar with a scroll about firescales. Then, she began to read her scroll:
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
The Mysterious NightWings

NightWing have purplish-black
Scales and scattered silver scales
On the underside of their wings, like a
Night sky full of stars. They have forked,
Black tongues.

They can breath fire, disappear into dark shadows, and can read minds and foretell the future. Their Queen is a closely guarded secret.

You can tell if they can read minds by the silver scales beside their eyes.
~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~
Sunbeam almost dropped her scroll. She knew someone who had silver scales by his eyes...

She hurriedly put the scroll back in its spot and said goodbye to Starflight and Fulmar, then went off to find Starstrike.