Wings of Fire: The Prequels

1.4

When Dust woke up, the only other two in the room were Tamarin and Kinkajou. Tamarin still peacefully dozed away while Kinkajou worriedly watched over her. By getting up, Dust got Kinkajou's attention.

"Dust," Kinkajou smiled, her voice a lot softer than usual. A lot more exhausted than usual. "I'm glad you're alright."

"I'm glad I was able to make sure that Tamarin was okay," replied Dust, inspecting Tamarin on her own. She seemed well enough, her usual blue was flaked with only a few specks of white.

"Thank you for helping her," said Kinkajou, her smile turning a little bit sad as she looked at Tamarin. "I don't know what I would've done without her."

"Well now you don't have to think about it," said Dust, walking closer to Kinkajou and brushing wings with her in a show of reassurance. "She's right there and she's on the road to healing. You just have to make sure that you're there for her when she needs it," Dust smiled at Kinkajou who gave Dust a surprised look.

"Imma go, I need to reassure my clawmates that I'm not dead. I wish you well, Kinkajou."

"You too, Dust," said Kinkajou, flashing Dust a smile before she left.

Now to deal with Anemone and Ostrich.

When Dust arrived, she was practically tackled to the ground in a show of affection. They barely let her recover from getting slammed into the ground before they bombarded her with questions. Dust answered as best she could, leaving out a few bits such as her sixth sense. They had eventually let up, letting the conversation go back to how it normally would before bed. The three clawmates even included Pike into the conversation a bit.

Once she was sure that the other two were asleep, Dust got out of her bed. Stepping over a sleeping Pike who was directly in the walkway (weirdo), she began navigating the halls. Ostrich had informed her of both the dead SkyWing's name and her temporary resting place. Some sense of obligation drove Dust to pay her respects. She had been so close to saving everyone, after all.

The platform was open to the sky, the moons illuminating the cloth which covered Carnelian's body. (Yes, Dust did have to find out the name from Ostrich.) Apparently offering a SkyWing's body to the sky for a few days reassured that they would come back as a SkyWing, that reason being why Carnelian was out in the open.

Dust sat close to Carnelian, not near enough to touch the body but close enough to do so if she reached out. With her shoulders back, chest slightly out, front talons folded over each other, wings rested, and tail wrapped around herself, Dust bowed her head in respect.

"May the ground accept your bones and the moons accept your soul. May your warrior spirit forever find peace, Carnelian of the SkyWings," whispered Dust. With those words being said, Dust sat vigil.

After an hour or two or maybe even three, Dust moved again. She stood up, bowing as if she was in front of a royal. Staying in that pose for only a moment, Dust returned to a normal standing position and walked away. She returned to her cave, glancing around to make sure that the other three were asleep before she went to sleep herself with thoughts of Carnelian in her head.

Opening her eyes in her dream, Dust walked out onto the balcony in front of her. Mountains lined the background of the view, a waterfall and a river decorating the rest. Dust almost immediately recognized the river, it was the Diamond Spray River. Judging by how fancy the balcony was, Dust may be in the SkyWing Palace. What an odd place to have a dream.

Already on the balcony, a SkyWing looked out over the scene in front of him. Most of him was a standard crimson, although he had various highlights of dark orange and battle scars discolored other parts of him. On his forehead, he had a diamond of light orange scales that ombre-d to a copper color in the center of it. Other than that little quirk, he looked like a completely normal SkyWing.