Wings of fire: Smoking land (fan fiction) book 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Stargazer talked for like, ten million years! It was basically a one sided conversation, because he would just drone on and on without stopping.
The young NightWing was rambling on about what he had learned at Jade Mountain or something, when Velvet saw a colorful parrot fly overhead. "Since webs is like, really old now we have a new history te―hey, where are you going?" Velvet spiraled upward and caught the parrot mid-panic flight.
"Woah, where did you learn to hunt like that?" Stargazer asked, astonished. "My Father is Clay of the MudWings," she explained, guessing that he already knew that from reading her mind. Stargazer's jaw dropped open, "your father is Clay! Oh my gosh, my father talks about Clay all the time. He says they grew up together. In the mount―" he started to blab. Velvet covered his mouth before he could go on. She has already figured out that the only way to have a conversation with this dragon is to interrupt him.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait," she started. "Who are your parents?" she asked, still covering his mouth. "Starflight and Fatespeaker." he replied, taking a piece of the parrot from Velvet. Which she did not agree to share with him.
They had stopped by a small river that ran into the trees that did not seem too crowded. Except right beside them, with her grouchy face, was Firefly. A small navy dragonet with silver teardrops beside her eyes was inspecting the grumpy dragon very carefully.
Then, Velvet saw something that she couldn't believe she had not noticed before: Firefly had black scales like a NightWing under her wings. Could she be a hybrid? Maybe a NightWing-RainWing hybrid? She guessed that there were a lot of NighWing-RainWings here.
"Hi princess Firefly!" Stargazer shouted at her. Firefly growled. "Firefly is a princess?!" Velvet whispered, flicking her tail at the orange dragon. "Yep." he said proudly, "and I'm basically her best friend." he added, winking at the princess. "The queen has two hiers, Firefly and Magnolia. Princess Magnolia is only two, so she spends most of her time with her Majesty." he explained. "Is she a hybrid too?" she asked curiously. "Ya, both of Queen Glory's daughters are NightWing-RainWing hybrids. Because their father is Deathbringer." he paused for a moment, "yes, I know she is kind of grouchy for a RainWing princess, and she pretty much hates everybody except me. Don't take it personally." he said, elbowing her affectionately.
The small NightWing was measuring her tail, when she finally looked up. Her face lit up as she bounded over to them. "Hey big bro, I haven't seen you all day!" she looked over at Velvet. "Who is the new dragon?" she asked, pointing one of her claws at Velvet. "This is Velvet, and Velvet this is Twilight, my little sister."
"Hiya!" Twilight said. "What brings you to the rainforest?" she said, indicating the space around her. "I'm looking for my mother." she replied. "She is a MudWing-SkyWing hybrid!" Stargazer whispered loudly to her. Why are you looking for your Mother?... I'm so sorry she left before you hatched." Stargazer answered himself once more. "Who is your mother?" Twilight asked. "No way, Peril is your mother! Isn't she that fiery dragon, who once went to Jade Mountain academy?" the dragonet said, before Velvet could anwer. "I presume you can read minds too?" Velvet suspected. "Yep!" she replied proudly.
They were still talking when Queen Glory came striding up to them. "Good afternoon. Velvet, are you enjoying yourself? I see you've already made some new friends." she smiled approvingly at the two NightWings. "Your Majesty," Stargazer started. "I was wondering if I could please have your permission to join Velvet on her journey?" he begged. "I'm not sure, I'll have to check with your parents. Aren't you going back to Jade Mountain in a few days though?" she said.
"Yes, but school can wait. We would only be gone for a few days." he pointed out. "What's going on?" said a voice behind them. A dark purple dragon with silver teardrops beside her eyes walked up to them. This dragon also had silver scales around one of her wrist, like a silver bracelet. Beside her was a black dragon with a scrunched snout, and a piece of white cloth over his eyes.
That dragon must be blind... He must be Starflight. She thought.
The queen greeted the two dragons, "hello Starflight and Fatespeaker. Your son, Stargazer would like to join Clay's daughter, Velvet, to help her find her mother." she flicked her tail at Velvet. "Clay's daughter." Starflight echoed.
"Nice to meet you Velvet!" Fatespeaker said. "I'm Stargazer's mother." she took her talon, and shook it vigorously. "Can I please go mother, please father. I'll be really careful." Stargazer pleaded. "It's ok with me if it's ok with your father. Starflight?" he turned her head towards the fidgety NightWing. "I'm not sure," he said, starting to fidget with a small leaf.
Fatespeaker twined her tail with Starflight's. "Don't you think our dragonets should see the world?" she said calmly. "Well... Ok, but be super careful." he insisted. "Yesssssss!" Stargazer embraced his father in a big hug. Velvet wished she could do the same with her father.
    "When are you leaving?" Twilight asked. "Tomorrow morning", Velvet replied. "Mother, can I go with them?" Velvet jumped back in surprise; she had totally forgotten that Firefly was there. Firefly saw the look on Stargazer's face, and immediately added: "To, uh, make sure that they don't get into any trouble. Of course, they will." Glory looked just as surprised as everyone else. "Alright, that is ok with me, but once you're back, it's straight back to jade mountain."
    Stargazer bent over, "what can I say, she wants to be close to me" he whispered to Velvet grinning. "Stop looking at me like that", Firefly snapped at Stargazer, who still had that goofy grin on his face.
The sound of the rainforest at night buzzed through the air. Velvet curled on the soft bed of her hut, still thinking about everything that had happened in the past few days. I'm about to search for my mother with a grumpy RainWing, and a NightWing that will not shut up.
her eyelids felt heavy, as she drifted into sleep.
***
     "Velvet, Velvet, wake up." someone was shaking her forearm, and calling her name.
"Mmmmmm," she mumbled. "Go awaaaaayyyyyyy." she groaned, covering her ears with her talons. "It's me, Stargazer." he whispered. "I just had a vision!"
She felt talons trying to pry her eyelids open, but all she could see were the blurry outlines of a seriously annoying NightWing. Velvet turned over, so her back would face Stargazer. Why was he trying to wake her up from her well deserved slumber? So what if he had a vision? What did it have to do with her?
You are about to spend days with this dragon. She pointed out to herself.
Suddenly, she felt heat hit her scales as if she was touching the sun. her eyes shot open, to see Stargazer breathing hot flames directly at her.
"Ahh! Stop, STOP!!!" she yielded at him, she held her talons up to cover her face. Stargazer stopped immediately, frowning. "You have a lot of questions," he said, taking a step back nervously. "And I can totally answer them all. I knew your scales were fireproof, because when you said you were looking for Peril, you had a whole explanation in your head of why she left. That involved reminding yourself that you were born from a blood red egg."
     Velvet stood, she stared, horrified, at the burns across her side. "You literally just breathed fire directly at me, and  burned me on PURPOSE!" she snarled. "I didn't know that it would still burn you. But at least it will heal quickly, and it didn't hurt that much." he smiled nervously, still backing away from Velvet as if she was a panther about to attack. "Still. Why would you do that?!" she asked angrily.
She wanted to rip this dragon to pieces, but she also wanted to say "never mind it doesn't matter." So just like that, she choked those words out.
"Oh, uh, great. So about my vision―I saw dragons bleeding and dying and dragons petting each other on the shoulder and saying goodbye. It was really weird, like, happy but at the same time sad. There was also a prophecy!" Velvet rolled her eyes. You're going to tell me even if I say no." she said. He smiled, "this is how it goes:

"Five dragons of different origines,
Join together on a quest for truth.
find the secrets you been longing to hear, 
in the place that you seek,
With hope so bright it lights the night..."
   
"So, is this prophecy part of some great destiny we have to fulfill?" she motioned to the space around her. "Probably?" Stargazer answered, looking terrifyingly excited. Velvet opened her mouth to speak, but she closed it right away, realizing Stargazer already knew her question.
    "No. I did not see who the dragons in my vision were, they were only silhouettes. But I think there was a SandWing, a NightWing, a RainWing, a slim MudWing, and a SeaWing. Who knows, though.
    He said a slim MudWing; could that be me? Does this prophecy really have something to do with me? Although, how can she know he is telling the truth? Maybe he just dreamt it all, and right now she is listening to him talk about his crazy dream?
Stargazer stared blankly at Velvet for a moment before snapping back to reality. "You know I just heard every question you asked yourself?" he said, and for the first time, she saw anger flash through his eyes. "It wasn't a dream. I actually had a vision. You know I have had those before, well okay, I have never really had one before but it did not feel like a dream felt like a vision!" he protested, stomping one of his talons on the wood floor.
Sunbeams started to creep up her windows, shining into the hut. It was past Dawn, already. Velvet and her... Companions wouldn't leave the rainforest today to look for Peril. The young Nightwing must have noticed it was morning too, because he wrapped up the conversation quickly with: "We will talk about this later, after all we will be flying for DAYS. See ya later. I got to go pac."