An Alternate Dimension: The Language of Dawn

Chapter 9- Sienna

Hi, I'm back yay right? This is the longest chapter yet! Now this is also one of the highlights of the book, where the two groups meet!

Sienna was a green dragon. As one of the oldest in the Talons of Dusk, dragons assumed she would be the leader.

WHY? She never said she wanted to be one. Misha would be much better.

She always tried her best to be the leader everyone thought she was, organising parties of dragons to go out hunting and designating areas for dining and sleeping in. There was a lot of pressure to be 'perfect'. No-one understood her worries, but she didn't tell them, so that was perhaps why. Not even her best friends, which were Arani, Misha, Isabella, and Claire, basically the only other girls.

At that moment Sienna was sitting in her little den. It was made by multiple branches bending over each other, creating a roof. They were bent by Aaron, who had the gift of super-strength. The talons had stuck leaves on top as well, so that it was weather-proof. She guessed this was payment for being the leader. Whilst others slept in caves, away from the sunlight, Sienna could have the sun through the leaves. She also had a leafy bed. But it was lonely in that little den. Some unwritten rule stated that nobody could approach her when she was there.

She decided to go out to the main area. It was a beautiful, open plain. Sure, they were exposed, but to dragons flying above, they were just teenage dragons messing around. No dragon had ever come to check on them, to ask where their parents were or who they were.

It was after lunch, and the girls usually sat under the large oak tree that grew off to the side of the plain. She joined them, resting her back against the sturdy trunk.

"Hi Sisi!" Misha said.

"We were just talking about which dragon Claire has a crush on!" said Arani, as Claire wrinkled her nose at them.

"And I'm reading a scroll," Isabella added. "Being MATURE."

"I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH!" Claire exclaimed. Sienna couldn't tell if she was telling the truth or not. She laughed. She wanted to say something like 'oh really?' but she couldn't. She had a great deal of 'dignity' that she was not allowed to give up. Instead, she said.

"Well, wanna talk about something else? We can talk about Claire later. I wonder what Aiden's weird new marketing plan is."

"Well, we don't care. Aiden can do whatever he wants." Arani said, her tone lighthearted.

"Oh, okay then. How about a game of Tic-Tac-Toe?"

"We're too old for Tic-Tac-Toe!" Claire stated.

"Uh, yeah, totally. I was just joking." Sienna said. "I'm just gonna make sure Terrence isn't bashing up Nived?" She stood up and left the shade of the giant oak. She tried to walk normally, but it was hard when you were thinking of every step to take your mind off your worries. She was in the sun, her scales changing colour slightly in the light. Then a shadow passed over her.

Sienna looked up, and caught a glimpse of a dragon's sky blue tail. She screamed. Ashamed, she looked back down at her feet. Dragons passed from time to time, and they didn't bother them, so she was surprised when she heard a thud in front of her.

"Huh?" She jumped back.

"Uhh... we come in peace!" Said the blue dragon in front of her, trying to look harmless.

"My name's Justin. I'm the leader of the Shade of Flight. One of my dragons saw you, and we wondered who you were."

Sienna harrumphed. She wanted to tell this dragon that he and his Shade of Flight should go away, yet he was about the same age as her, and he was the leader of a group as well. He might be just like her. But she couldn't just say 'we've all run away from our parents' to this random dragon, could she?

"Um, In case you were wondering who we were, we ran away from nasty dragons and lost our parents and stuff." Justin then ran his talon down his face. His expression said 'why did I just say that?'.

"Oh, well, we're in pretty much the same position as you guys!" Sienna blurted out. She just wanted to make the orange dragon feel better, and it had worked. "Really? Wow! How come we hadn't found each other earlier?" Justin waved his wing at a cave up on the mountains and Sienna was stunned to see a horde of dragons fly out. She whisper- screamed again and quickly covered her mouth.

She had to do the mature thing. She wanted to shout "Whoa, slow down!" but she said, "Why don't you follow me to the clearing?" Justin nodded and turned around to relay the message to the dragons who were just arriving. Sienna took them past the oak so that she could gather Isabella, Misha, Arani and Claire.

"What the-" Claire exclaimed. They got up and followed them. As Sienna made her way to the clearing, she tried to go past as many people as possible. She passed Jacob.

"Jacob, can you tell everyone to meet in the clearing?"

"Of course I shall." He replied. "I see we have guests?"

"Yes, these are the Shade of Flight. But seriously, go tell the others."

Soon every dragon in the Talons of Dusk and the Shade of flight were gathered in a spot in the field. The Talons of Dusk huddled around the Shade of Flight and Misha, probably expecting them to say something.

"Talons of Dusk, I would like to introduce to you the Shade of Flight." Sienna declared with as much control as she could muster. Then she whispered to Misha "What do I say next? Oh, yes, right. Justin, leader of the Shade, please state your business."

"Oh, uh, Jonathan here," Justin reached out a talon to pull another dragon beside him. "He saw you guys and we just decided to investigate."

"Hey, who made you leader?" a dragon from the Shade yelled out.

"Shush Collin. I was always the leader, I thought we agreed on this! Besides, now's not the time!" Justin replied. "We're just like you." He turned back to the crowd. "We've lost our parents or have run away from someone. What I'm suggesting is- is that- we should, like, join up or something, since we're so similar."

"Hey, who told you our backstory?" Terrence remarked displeasingly.

"Uh, yeah, that was me." Sienna squeaked. She could feel the trust the Talons had placed in her slowly slipping away. "But anyway, that's not the point. Should we join up with the Shade of Flight?"

Murmurs of miffed dragons filled the air. Sienna was unsure. Unsure of everything. Suddenly, she heard Terrence say "You're the leader, why are you so hesitant? Maybe you're not the best one after all! We should get another one!"

Sienna looked helplessly at her friends, and Claire said "Sienna's fine. Be grateful for what you have!" But he snorted.

"I go for Jacob as the leader!" He said angrily. Some of the dragons agreed, and others looked away, choosing to remain neutral.

Sienna glared at the dragon. "I never wanted to be the leader, you're the one who chose me. Do you know how much trouble I've been through trying to sort you chaotic dragons? I give up! Jacob's the new leader! And I hope you don't strain his heart out with your stupid complaints!" She burst out angrily, and stomped away. Arani looked at Sienna and said "That's so unlike Sienna!" Claire agreed. "She must have been really annoyed. If I had been in her place, I would have, like, started murdering them. Or kicking them." Isabella nodded.

Suddenly, there was a chorus of squeaks...