Wings of Fire: Rise of the RainWing Queen

CHAPTER 2 - Riptide

"Pineapple, Jambu - you go weave some vines for the canopy of that treehouse." Glory directed her brother and his friend towards a tree they'd made a way up to by adding chopped up planks of wood into a ladder. Good thing that when the RainWings had evacuated, axes and nails had been something a lot of them had managed to drag along too.

Pineapple gave Glory a wide smile. "Yes, Your Majesty." Glory held back an inward sigh as he and Jambu disappeared into the trees, Jambu chattering excitedly to Pineapple as they went. It had taken Glory about a day to figure out he had a thing for him.

They'd ended up settling for a small rainforest grove with a lot of ferns they were clearly and a small freshwater river nearby. They were making some great treehouses.

Glory fiddled with the spear she always held now (not to mention the sword that was forever in the scabbard at her hip). The venom that her grandmother had invented, or whatever, poisoned the tip of the spear. It was just in case they were attacked. Glory also knew that that was even more likely now.

Peril knew where they were.

Of course, Glory had turned off her Snapchat location immediately after the terrifying call two days before. But Peril still knew exactly where in the rainforest they were, and could be making her way there right then.

A while ago Glory and the others had also found out Scarlet was alive. Apparently Peril wanted to assassinate Scarlet, which was . . . concerning, to say the least.

But what if Scarlet had found her location too?

Glory shook off the thought. Right now all that mattered was fixing the village and preparing for Riptide's weekly visit. Riptide always came with supplies and stuff, and news from the Talons of Peace, and the old city.

Quite honestly, one of the things Glory missed most was school. School. Of all things! She missed school. She missed the crazy pranks, evil games of truth of dare, and pointless dramas. She missed her friends. A lot.

Riptide helped though. It was nice to see at least one friendly face from the past.

And today he was coming. Glory sat down and pulled out her phone. Luckily every week Riptide brought her a few extra portable chargers as well, so she didn't run out of battery.

****

"Queen Glory?"

Glory glanced up into Heliconia's gentle face and curls of pink hair. "Yes?"

"Riptide's here, Your Majesty."

"He is?" Glory perked up eagerly, and put down her phone. 5%, and she'd run out of chargers. He'd come just in time.

Heliconia nodded, and pointed across the grove. Standing there, a hand running through his sky blue hair and a curious expression, there Riptide stood.

Glory leapt up and flung herself across the grove, hugging him tightly. Riptide jumped in surprise, then awkwardly hugged her back.

"This sure is a nice welcome," he teased. "You usually just say something sarcastic about how long I took to arrive and your phone being low on battery."

"It kinda is," Glory admitted. Riptide laughed, and opened up a backpack full of stuff. There was a cart behind him, where four other Talons - Nautilus, Cirrus, Crocodile and Avalanche - stood. Glory looked at the items hopefully.

Inside the backpack was a wide array of stuff - portable chargers which were all charged up galore, a spare phone case because Glory lost her other one, washed clothes, some books, soap, shampoo, and a -

Glory grinned widely. "You brought me earplugs?"

"I found some in your old house, and thought, why not?" He shrugged. She smiled. Out of all the things she'd regretted not bringing, those were the most. All the times she'd wanted to listen to music without making a racket and giving away their location.