Wings of Fire: The Prequels

4.1

Gust was supposed to be a nobody.

If something had gone differently, Gust wouldn't be a prince. According to most, differently was replaced with correctly.

His mother, the great Queen Coral, was ambushed and knocked out by a blow to the back of her head. She woke up horrified and violated, returning to the kingdom with pure disgust flowing through her. Much to everyone's continued horror (everyone meaning those who gave more than a passing thought to royalty purity), she got an egg from it.

That egg was placed in the hatchery with the hopes of it being destroyed like all of the other female eggs. Not once did anyone pay attention to the fact that the counter also had an extra male. Maybe that saved the egg, maybe the fact that they weren't recognized as true heirs did so, but it didn't change the fact that one day guards walked in to see two odd dragonets instead of the white-speckled blue egg.

Light aquamarine marked the majority of both of them, their underbellies a shocking white, and mint green sprang upon their webbed spines. Odd coloration wasn't even the start of their weirdness, spikes at the backs of their heads and tails apart of it. Serrated claws scrambled across the floor of the hatchery as the two played with gleeful grey-green eyes, oblivious to the shocked looks they were getting.

They started paying attention when Coral walked in, flashing their scales in random pretty patterns and running up to her. The boy was the first one near her, Coral shoving him away in revulsion. His sister caught him, glaring at their mother and flashing her scales more aggressively. Coral didn't care, telling a random guard to take care of them before storming away. That guard only blinked at the dragonets for several moments before walking closer to them.

The girl jumped in front of her brother, snarling at the guard with all of the ferocity of a kitten. He stopped a pace or two away from them, giving them a soft smile as he sat down. The brother peeked out from around his sister, joining her in the curious staring at the adult.

The guard pointed at himself, shifting a little to make sure all of his bioluminescent scales were visible. "Cyclone," he slowly said his name in Aquatic. He pointed to the girl and boy in turn and slowly gave them names. "Storm. Gust."

Doing that several times over, Cyclone got to watch in slight awe as they copied him. It was amusing to see what they would do when they messed up, Storm would stamp her talons in frustration while Gust made a funny face. Cyclone watched them for a little longer before standing up, catching their attention immediately.

"Follow," he said even if they couldn't understand, walking out of the hatchery to have them scramble to follow. The other guards watched from the sidelines, following the trio with their eyes rather than completely. Cyclone didn't care, too busy smiling at Storm and Gust as they looked around the Deep Palace in awe.

They traveled to where all of the other SeaWing princes were staying, somehow not running into any of them as Cyclone found an empty room. Herding the two into the room, Cyclone tried to leave to have them jump on his talons. "Cyclone," Storm flashed his name at him while Gust just gave him puppy-dog eyes. He chuckled and shook his head, shaking them off of his talons to only have them jump on again.

"Follow," Gust said, successfully surprising Cyclone with his new knowledge. Cyclone had said that once, not near enough times for the two to learn it. Storm looked at her brother, clunkily trying to copy him. "Follow, Cyclone," said Gust, instead grabbing Cyclone's claw and trying to drag him into the room.

"Cyclone," Storm said again, also grabbing one of Cyclone's claws to try to drag him in. "Follow," her attempt at the word was much less clean but it was better than Cyclone expected.