Wings of Fire; The Assassin

Chapter 4

Spray turned her head to tell him something else, but when she was about to, a large and loud gong reverberated throughout the low-hanging stalactites and the thick walls of the cave the two SeaWings were occupying, and Spray let out a little squeal. She ran ahead of Bubble before he could even react. He chased her and saw every other dragon walking in the same direction.

Bubble remembered his schedule and realized that this must be when the winglets get to meet each other. They had to walk to a specific cave, that was a recent addition to the school, which was made specifically for group activities.

Both the SeaWings went to the cave which was starting to become crowded around the entrance. When they got in the cave he saw hundreds of dragons. He looked around the room, taking in as many details as he could. It was a bit overwhelming, but as long as he tuned out the other dragonets in the cave he was fine.

The room was about the same size as the Great Hall, with a few holes in the roof acting as a skylight. Beams of sunlight were shining down into the cave directly on top of a bright glittering mass. The reflection of the light in his eyes burned. So he attempted to walk out of the angle of reflection to see. It was more of a blinded stumble than a walk, but it did the job for the most part.

Some IceWings were all in a small group, Bubble counted five, and they were all talking to one another. The IceWings didn't seem too social, but they weren't exactly looking unfriendly either. Bubble looked through the group of IceWings, and he saw one of them doing something that caused his spine to shiver.

One IceWing was staring at The SeaWing Prince intensely as if he was assessing whether Bubble was friend or foe. Bubble was slowly creeping away from where he was, feeling in danger. Spray was busy assessing the other dragons in the room, so she didn't notice Bubble inching farther and farther backward. Another IceWing said something to the one that was watching the SeaWing, and he looked at them and started to talk back to them. Even though The SeaWing Prince was no longer in immediate danger, he still continued to back up. before Bubble could get any farther, Spray grabbed onto Bubble's arm tightly and started to dig her claws into his arm. Bubble felt a sharp pain shoot straight through his arm, as he felt the sharpness start to penetrate his scales.

"Ow Ow OWW!" Bubble yelped.

Bubble pulled his arm back to his body, and Spray let go, not moving her gaze. Bubble followed her gaze to see what she was looking at. When he looked over at Spray and realized that she was looking at the same IceWing that was assessing Bubble. He couldn't figure out why until something stuck him. He realized that she liked that IceWing. He could not wait to use that opportunity to tease his friend.

"Spray, you LIKE him don't you?" Bubble said mischievously. That got Spray's attention, and she let go slightly blushing.

"N-N-No... YOU DO!" Spray said, trying to deflect the attention back at Bubble. He gave Spray a skeptical look, and that made her blush even more, and Bubble couldn't help laughing. They continued walking around the cave, while Bubble thought. One thing that did pop in the back of his mind was pain. He didn't exactly understand why, but the thought of his friend leaving him for someone else hurt more than getting cut by some sharp coral, then filling the cut with sand.

A sapphire blue SeaWing, a golden small SandWing, and a MASSIVE brown MudWing with a limp all walked up into the middle of the meeting cave. The golden SandWing cleared her throat very loudly, in order to gain everyone's attention.

So those are the school runners. They are all from different tribes, but they seem as if they are brother and sister toward each other.

The golden SandWing opened her mouth and started to talk, "Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy, students! I am Sunny, this is Clay," she said gesturing toward the MudWing, "and this is Tsunami. This year, and for a short foreseeable future, the Pantalan dragons will not be attending Jade Mountain.  We are here to help out with the winglet meet and greet. I want each winglet to meet up in a specific part of the cave. Copper Winglet, meet up in that corner," the golden SandWing said, now guiding each winglet into their respective locations.

Bubble was not paying attention to where each of the winglets was, up until she said, "Silver Winglet, meet up over on that side of the room."

Spray walked in the direction where Sunny gestured. She took a few steps, then looked back at Bubble. She had an excited and worried face on her, so Bubble walked up to her, brushing wings slightly, and twining their tails together.

"I'm so nervous. What if they all hate me?" Spray asked Bubble. He asked her the same question earlier, but now he needed to help his friend.

"Remember what you told me? Even if no one else wants to be our friends, we still have each other. But still... You will make so many friends that you are going to lose count. Go show them who you are." Bubble said reassuringly.

She nodded and continued on to meet her winglet. Bubble was smiling as he saw his friend, but just then Sunny said, "Jade Winglet, meet over there with Tsunami."

Bubble was not prepared for that to come so soon, and he was still feeling absolutely nervous. He walked over there, trying to take his own advice.

They separated into their assigned winglets, and Bubble realized that the NightWing that he saw in the hall and the IceWing that was looking at him were both in his winglet. He also saw what looked like another NightWing, but it turned out to be a RainWing, a black SandWing, a kind of good-looking bejeweled SkyWing (not as good as the NightWing though), and a MudWing.

The sapphire blue SeaWing walked up and said, "I'm Tsunami, as you heard, the head dragon of this school..." but then the bright gold SandWing said, "Co-Head, but yeah"

"Sunny. We all agreed that I was the person in charge of the school," Tsunami retorted. Sunny rolled her eyes and walked away.

"Anyway, as I said I am the head of the school and I will be leading this session of the Jade Winglet meet and greet or whatever Sunny decided to call it these days. What I want everyone to do is to say their name, what tribe they are from, and one interesting fact."

Bubble immediately started to go through his mind, trying to think of an interesting fact about him, but in his mind, he is one of the most boring dragons in all of Pyrrhia if not the world.

The only thing that might be even remotely interesting is his biggest secret, and there was no way he was going to share that.

He guessed that all he could say is that he is SeaWing royalty, or that he lives away from the main tribe? He was so busy thinking he didn't realize that the IceWing was again staring at him with a piercing stare.

"So who is going to start? Me? Okay!" Tsunami said without stopping once. There was no time in between sentences, so no one had time to say anything.

"My name is Tsunami. I am a SeaWing. I am SeaWing royalty and a drago- dragonet of d..."

Tsunami struggled to get the last part out. Bubble didn't understand why. He didn't even know what she was trying to say, but he still could not wrap his mind around what the most fearless Dragonet of Destiny would be afraid to say, or would be uncomfortable saying. It was rumored that Tsunami was fearless and would do and say anything she chose to do.

Tsunami cleared her throat and then said, "... and now it is someone else's turn. Who would like to go next?"

No one volunteered, so everyone just sat there, looking at each other in an atmosphere of uncomfortable silence. Everyone just looked at each other, as they waited.

Bubble shifted slightly as more and more glances were aimed toward him. He absolutely did not want to go first. He was hoping that someone should bail him out of this uncomfortable situation.

Bubble's talons suddenly became very interesting to him. He studied his talons with such intent, that even he knew that he looked ridiculous. No one's talons were that interesting. He heard someone slightly scrap their talons against the stone and clear their throat.