Wings of Fire: The Secret of Silverstripe

~Ch.8: Sand and Sea~

Woo! This is gonna be a long chapter, just warning you. Please bear with me and grab a snack and drink; Silvey's in for a long day!

-- Elaina Olewnik

Over the course of the next few days, the SeaWings were obviously excited, scrambling about in solo missions to gather food, hastily cleaning the pavilion, and overall tidying up the Summer Palace in anticipation of their SandWing guests.

Silverstripe found herself awake with a jolt on the day of the feast, and went to work in front of a mirror cleaning herself; she scrubbed loose algae from her scales, she rubbed a cloth over her horns in some effort to shine them, and picked little bits of sand from her claws. It was after she was done that she finally realized that it would be better to wait to clean up until shortly before the feast, and she was bound to gather more muck as she went on her journey of helping out on the preparations, and of course, looking for that dragon who'd been scratching at the back of her mind since she'd last seen him yesterday.

As Silverstripe entered the Summer Palace, she quickly found something to do: she swept the lower floors of the pavilion, she scrubbed algae and barnacles from exposed rocks, and ran a couple messages from the kitchens to the hunters on a nearby island. When she was done, she finally set out to find the dragon that was captivating her mind.

Silverstripe swam into the current that led to the underwater military settlement. She slinked around each corner in search of a glimpse of turquoise-shaded scales. A couple times she thought she'd seen Turquoise, and tapped him on the shoulder only to find out that it was another dragon, and quickly signaled an apology to the stranger.

Discouraged, Silverstripe wandered to the edge of the settlement to think.

Where could that turquoise dragon be? Come on, I want to attend the feast with-AHHHHHHH!!!

A scream of bubbles floated out of Silverstripe's mouth as she felt something collide with her, interrupting her thoughts. Startled, she swung around, bared her teeth, and held her talons spread out menacingly.

Whoah whoah whoah! Turquoise flashed. I was just trying to surprise you.

Silverstripe relaxed her talons and looked at him with annoyance, though it was hard to maintain a straight face with the smile that was trying to spread across her face.

Sorry, Turquoise flashed, lowering his wings apologetically.

Silverstripe smiled at him, and brushed one of her wings across his shoulder.

Turquoise smiled and leaned into her for light, very awkward embrace.

For a moment Silverstripe allowed herself to bury her head into his shoulder, despite the embrace being unexpected.

Holy moons, is this what it's like to touch other dragons? Silverstripe thought before Turquoise pulled away.

Turquoise then studied her for a short second, and Silverstripe mouthed "What?"

Turquoise shook his head, and flashed, So, are you ready for the feast?

Silverstripe held her talons out to say "Somewhat." She examined her arms and claws, disappointed to find that she had collected some grime throughout the day.

I think it'll be okay, but if you like, there's a freshwater pool on an island not far from here, Turquoise flashed.

Silverstripe tilted her head up at the surface. The sun was three quarters the way to its peak, when the feast began. She shook her head at Turquoise to say "No, not enough time."