Wings of Fire: The Prequels

1.3

They walked in silence for a little while, easing Dust's anxiety by the slimmest of margins. "Tell me a bit about yourself," said Starflight, curious about his student.

Dust glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, mentally cursing the curiosity that seemed to be hereditary. "Well, I'm an unsib. That just means that I don't have any blood siblings," Other than you, said Dust, leaving the last bit unsaid.

"I'm a part of a troop of unsibs and I'm their bigwings. I fought in the war and attended the event that ended the war," continued Dust, taking a turn and following her mental map while Starflight took a moment to take that same turn.

"How old are you?" asked Starflight, a small frown visible on his face.

"Six," said Dust, getting a sinking feeling of what the next question was.

"How long have you been fighting?" asked Starflight, his wings twitching a little in anticipation of the answer. Dust winced, she was right.

"I fought in the war for two years, almost three," said Dust, mentally cheering when she saw a small red cross sign over a cave. She could escape his questions! "The cave is here," said Dust before raising her voice a little to call into the cave. "Is anyone in there?"

On cue, Fatespeaker popped her head around the corner with a curious look. She gasped when she saw that Dust was carrying two dragons on her back. "Come in, come in," she rushed Dust in, pointing at a couple of beds as she spoke to Starflight for an explanation.

Dust managed to slide Thrush off first, jerking herself back into position to prevent the SandWing from doing the same. Moving to the next bed, Dust made sure that his tail slid away from her scales. There was probably a cure for SandWing venom around but she kinda liked not having to use it.

"You can go to your class now," said Fatespeaker, walking over to check-up on them.

Frowning, Dust hesitated for a moment. "Okay," said Dust, mentally whacking herself with her tail for her worry. They would be fine in their talons! Walking out, Dust brushed her wing against Starflight's as a goodbye. Dust had to go to the art cave after all.

When Dust entered the cave, what she saw was the majority of her winglet trying their talons at painting, sculpting, and/or weaving with a golden SandWing watching over them. "Where have you been?" asked the SandWing, aka Sunny, her voice inquisitive rather than demanding as one would assume.

"Peril arrived and a couple of dragons passed out when they saw her. I was just helping them to the infirmary," explained Dust, adding on something else last minute. "Thrush won't be here, he was one of them."

Sunny gave a small frown of worry but nodded along nonetheless. "Alright, thank you for telling me. Feel free to try anything that interests you," she said, her frown turning to a smile for a moment.

Dust nodded back, walking into the cave and over to Anemone with little delay. She grabbed a scroll and a bottle of ink, sitting near her clawmates as she dipped her claws into the ink. Mentally, she counted down to when Anemone would start asking questions. She was a curious dragon after all.

"What exactly happened? I try to investigate but Pike kept pushing me away from the commotion," asked Anemone (exactly on time), frowning as she mentioned the other SeaWing. Just by Anemone talking, she gave Dust an idea as to what to draw.

"Nothing much. Peril arrived, majority of nearby dragons panicked and ran, Clay greeted her, a couple of dragons protested, Clay and Peril left to talk something out, everybody left for classes other than the two who passed out, and I carried them to the infirmary. Everything that you could expect from a dragon who could burn you alive with a touch arriving," said Dust, shrugging a little as she outlined the general shape of her drawing.