Wings of Fire Ship Stories. (ON HOLD FOR NOW)

Golden Light

Firefly and Golden both belong to @Starcatcher2008.  Hooray, I get to practice more LGBTQ writing let's go 😁 also, I have a feeling Firefly inherited some of Deathy's "sneaky assassin" skills. 🤣🤣🤣

     I crept through the dense rainforest undergrowth, hoping my half-camouflage would be enough to hide from the RainWing scouts. Taking one last look around, I spread my silver-speckled wings and launched a short distance into the air, changing direction and diving abruptly into the thick curtain of leaves covering our secret cave.

     The cave itself was cool and dry, half naturally formed in the side of a well hidden hill and half woven with huge leaves we had gathered over the year we'd been meeting.  I landed gracefully in the leaves, shaking off a spider the size of my talon that had been subtly crawling along the length of my tail. 

      I looked around the small cave, seeing nothing but shadows and plant life. I hesitated for a moment, before softly whistling our agreed signal: two short whistles, one long, three short, sounding a bit like the canaries that twittered outside my treehouse in the morning. A few moments later, I heard an an answering whistle behind me, and I whirled around to see Golden, a playful half-smirk on her face as her scales shifted from camouflage to their usual shimmering gold, like sunbeams on dewdrops. My lover spread her wings and I rushed into them, my scales pink as rose petals, dappled with black in the spots where my scales didn't change color. 

     "Hey love." Golden wrapped her wings around me. I half laughed, half sighed as I leaned into her chest, shimmering gold surrounding me on all sides. Golden leaned down to nuzzle my head with her snout, and I lifted my face up to hers, brushing her lips with mine. Golden kissed me lightly for a moment, before pulling away and sitting me down in her lap.

     "Aren't you grounded?" She questioned, lightly tracing a claw down the side of my face. I leaned into her claw, a purr reverberating from my chest.

     "Why, yes she is. Thank you, Golden, for your concern." We both jumped at the new voice from the entrance of the cave. We slowly turned our heads in unison to see Mother standing just inside, Father and a RainWing guard on either side of her. Father had a glint of amusement in his eyes as he gently brushed his wing with Mother's. 

     "Firefly." Mother said with a slight sigh. "You're not making your grounding end any faster by sneaking out and doing EXACTLY what you were grounded for doing in the first place." She said, a hint of sarcasm in her tone. 

     Mother's scales were a complicated mix of an irritated orange, her usual emerald green, a bit of amused yellow, and hints of pink where Father's wing was touching hers. She signaled to the RainWing guard with a flick of her tail, who pulled a dart gun out of nowhere and suddenly, Golden went limp, her scales slowly fading from shimmering gold to a light white-gray color.

     I laid Golden's limp body gently on the ground and turned to face Mother, my RainWing scales shifting to an irritated orange. "I wouldn't have had to sneak out if you'd let me meet up with Golden in the first place." Mother sighed and motioned at the RainWing, who dragged Golden outside. I could see him and another RainWing heaving her onto a leaf stretcher, then each grabbing one end and flying into the trees.

     Mother beckoned me over to her. I huffed but obediently followed her as she flew, dodging branches and sleeping RainWings. Mother led me to my tree house, where Father shut me in, pulling a lock out of nowhere and installing it expertly on the door. 

      "Firefly, you are grounded. Again." Mother announced as she looked through the window. "I'll put Tsunami on guard." She said decisively and leapt into the air. Father glared at the trees for a few moments before loud rustling and crackling told me that Mother's invisible RainWing guards had caught on.  Father sat in front of the entrance, wings half spread as he glared at the trees, apparently assessing for a threat. I amused myself with counting the starry scales on his wings until a blue RainW- wait. RainWings didn't have webs between their claws, or gills. They also weren't normally this loud. I guessed this was Tsunami, one of Mother's friends and one of the Dragonets of Destiny. Also Princess of the SeaWings. 

      "SHE ESCAPED? AGAIN? HAVEN'T I TAUGHT THESE RAINWINGS ANYTHING?" Tsunami yelled as she landed on the platform in front of my treehouse with a thump. A moment later, Mother landed beside her. She seemed to be trying to calm Tsunami down, but the SeaWing lashed her tail, smashing branches and glaring at the trees so furiously I was surprised the RainWings up there didn't disintegrate. Tsunami marched up to my treehouse snd stuck her head through the window. 

     "HOW THE HECK DID YOU ESCAPE AGAIN? WE SHOULD HAVE THAT RAINWING LOCKED UP FOR GOO-" Mother put a talon on Tsunami's shoulder. "Tsunami, could you please not smash the whole forest this time?" She pulled Tsunami back from the door, where Father promptly sat on her tail. 

     "No smashing." He said firmly. Tsunami hissed furiously, but eventually stopped thrashing. "You're on guard." Mother told Tsunami. "Rule one. No smashing." Father broke in. "Rule two. Follow rule one." Mother rolled her eyes, but went on. "Rule three. No punishing innocent RainWing-." Father cut in again. "Rule four. Follow rule three." Mother flicked him gently with her tail. "Rule five. No hurting Firefly. No." Mother added as Father opened his mouth again. "She knows. Rule six, follow rule five. Okay. Now off with you." She spread her wings and leapt into the air, Father close on her tail.

     

                                                                              *     *     *     *      *

     I checked the window one last time to make sure Tsunami was asleep. The SeaWing's head was drooping against the wall, small snores occasionally coming from her snout. I carefully moved aside the scroll rack to reveal the well hidden hole in the base of the wall, just big enough for a dragon to fit into. Flicking my tail with a smirk, I crawled through and moved the scroll rack back into place. I shimmied down the big tree that grew just outside my treehouse, my RainWing scales shifting to camouflage. Near the forest floor, I began climbing from branch to branch, staying low to the ground. This late at night, all the RainWings would be in their treehouses, higher up in the trees. 

      I carefully climbed up the last branch, perching right beside the back wall of Golden's treehouse. I listened closely for a moment, hearing snores. Great. Golden was the only one there. I moved aside the leaves to reveal the hole in Golden's wall, crawling carefully to the other side.

      I smiled as I caught sight of my lover, sprawled out on her moss bed. Standing up, I walked carefully over to her.  As I was about to wake her up, I heard quiet laughter. Whipping around, I saw Father, breathing a small flame to light up the treehouse. After a moment, Mother materialized, her scales shifting from camouflage to an amused pink. 

     "Firefly." She said sternly, but there was laughter in her voice. "You are grounded. Again."