Wings and flames

Chapter 10

{AN - the images should help visualize better}

Viri got up with the sun. The last two days had been stressful. Viri had spoken to some of her old team members to get deets on anything that may have happened on the day of the youngling attack. So far, she had no luck.

The weekend was a much needed break. Weekends on the green camp meant progress reports, assignments and free wine. It was a social event and Viri liked to skip these.

Sam knocked on her door. She knew because for some reason he was stressed out. She'd opened the door, only to find a note that was still midair, meaning he'd ran with all his might. It slowly rested on her hand and read -

Good morning Viri.
Come to the camp after Belltower?
I promise not to drink if you come.
P.S We're dressing sexy

She couldn't help her smile. She took a quick shower and reminded herself to use the mildest soap. Put on her pants and shirt and looked into the mirror. Usually, this would be casual but Viri's shirt was a deep green satin that was tucked into leather black pants with a belt that looked like it could whip people. The boots didn't help but they were practical. The Green's didn't know casual. She looked like she was going on a job, she made a note to change for the academy later.

Viri walked to the Belltower. Sedra was happy today, she liked listening to the river. As she neared the tower, she felt the younglings prepare to act invisible. Ramiel wasn't awake yet, not his fault, nobody visited younglings this early, nobody visited them at all.

After a few moments, the two half dragons flew right at her. They froze midair when they realised who it was and then awkwardly collided into one another.

"Up early. Good work."

The younglings gave a shy smile and ran upstairs. Viri saw a small figure by the railings staring at her. It was Steven. She looked over and smiled. The kid, as if on cue, ran away.

She slowly approached the older younglings. She had to check on the kids. The half dragons were asleep. She could hear the silence of their minds. But one them was awake. Sky slowly walked towards Viri. The child was petrified, Viri lowered her gaze.

"Sir, good morning."

"It's Viri. Good morning Sky. How are you feeling today?"

"Better. Thanks to you, nobody else comes to check up on us"

She felt the hurt the youngling tried to suppress.

"Sky, I hate to push you but do you feel ready to talk about that day? I need whatever information I can get."

"I've been trying to piece it together. It was an odd thing. We were all just playing around and then the next thing I know, there's this stabbing pain, I've changed and that I'm screaming. It was this sickening ache, all over my body. I had no idea what was infront of me. I tried to fight it, I really tried but then the pain was so much...I...I..."

"You mean to tell me you felt the pain before you started changing?"

"Yes...I think. It was very strange. I felt...the slightest pain. Like the slightest attack and I think I reacted in defense. But that was the first time I changed. It was excruciating."

Sky gulped.

"Sir, I kept thinking about why we'd been in pain. The weirdest thing about it all was that there was no cause for the pain. When it started, nobody touched us or attacked us. We just...felt."

Viri tried to not show how disturbing that last bit was. There was something deeply wrong here. The general said the younglings seemed angry, it was true, they were angry because they didn't know what was hurting them which is why they attacked their friends. It made sense now.

"Alright Sky. What you've been through, has been traumatic. I can't imagine what it must have felt like. But thankyou for sharing it with me. I need you to keep this information a secret. Tell nobody - not even the blacks"

If Sky was shocked, he didn't show it. "I give you my word. Swear on the old gods"

Viri turned to go downstairs, and Sky said "Sir." These kids would not let the ranks slip. She turned.

"If something goes wrong again, what do I do?"

Brave kid. As a full dragon you had responsibilities. Only some took it. Some protected the half dragons while the others just tossed them around. It made all the difference.

"I can't teach you to fight Sky. Not yet. I don't want you to become a warrior this young. If you feel something's wrong, panic. Allow yourself to truly feel fear. Okay?"

That definitely sounded stupid. Viri was certain. What kind of a person asked a kid to fear when something went wrong. But Sky only nodded his head and slipped away.

Viri went down the stairs to the library. The Belltower had more books on dragons than Emerald's library. She started to gather a small pile of books she'd need. She felt Steven hide under the desk but said nothing. The kid was either playing or wanted to talk. Either way, Viri didn't want to force the kid. She waited for the younglings to wake up. She checked up on everyone who had been hurt that day and spoke to a few others. When she was done, she left with the pile of books, to the academy.

It was almost 6pm now. She'd spend too much time at the Belltower. She quickly raced up to her room to drop the books and for a change of clothes.

*

Sam had been assigned tasks before but they were all boring. Guard the border, guard the palace, guard the city, water the farmlands during a rough summer week, none of which needed him to dress well. Some weekends he'd attend the camp gathering and the others he'd stay in Sedra. Today, however was different!

Thankfully the greens gathered when the sun was a little less in your face. Sam walked into the group with a plan. When you've spent enough time talking to a river, you learn to use the right words. Sam wore an elegant white shirt over a deep velvet green suit. When you had ice white hair and a jawline, you didn't have to try harder than that.

Sam enjoyed the company of the greens. They were nice people, they just didn't talk much. They did know how to dress though, nobody looked bad. He knew how to work the room. He'd started talking to the ones who approached him. People didn't think much when they were flirting. He'd spoken to everybody in the room within these days. He saw General Green then, standing at a distance. He didn't want to give up on any resource.

"General green...Can I offer you more wine?"

Sam had been waiting for the greens to get drunk. Dragon folks never let their guard down. He knew the browns were assigned to the borders today because general green, was starting to consider his offer of wine.

"Samuel, I..uh..sure." he dunked the glass.

General green was an tough man. He was in charge of the greens and he was very proud about it. Which is why, seeing him flustered made it very hard for Sam to concentrate on his job.

"You've been staying away from the party...why?" Sam urged.

"Oh I'm not supposed to, you know, interact like that"

"Because you're in charge?"

"Yes. Precisely."

"Then I dressed for no reason."

Sam saw the blush rise from General Green's neck to his face as he said it.

"You look... Great."

Sam stepped closer at that. "Oh I'd say I look better without any of it, really."

General green's eyes widened and he tried to hold on to his grin.