Wings and Warriors

Chapter 1: Waterlily and Baltic meet

"You better behave yourself!" mother insisted, readjusting the heavy pink pearls she had thrown upon me.

"I know, you've only reminded me a thousand times," I replied sarcastically, rolling my eyes. She huffed, unhappy with my unpleasant attitude.

Mother finally stopped fiddling with the pearls, and rushed over to my bedroom wall where I had hung all of my silk capes made by my father. She picked out a light pink one that matched the iridescent glow of both the pearls and my under scales. Mother quickly draped the silk over my back, hiding away my wingless body.

Mother had always insisted it was better this way. No one could see, therefore no one would question my lack of wings. I sighed, tilting my head to the ground. Mother firmly clasped the silk in place and turned to face me. She shined with pride, so I smiled back, a weak. unstable grin, just enough to reassure her.

"Abyss, are you ready to go?" father called out to mother. She turned her head toward him, beaming. His tall stature leaned against the door frame as he smiled down at us.

"I was just getting Waterlily ready," Mother responded. She began walking over to father, gracefully and confidently, as always.

She stopped to giggle as Sawtooth poked his head out from behind father. He, impatient as always, asked, "Can we leave already?"

Mother rolled her eyes, father nodding his head. To this Sawtooth energetically bounded over to the balcony, overlooking the palace courtyard.

As I peered out of my room I started to hear the bustling and music of the celebrating dragons below. I wandered up next to Sawtooth and peeked over the edge. There were always dragons out and about, but never this many.

Our parents crept up behind us and father asked if we would like to join the tribe in welcoming home Princess Seafoam.

Princess Seafoam. I've heard her name before... She's the princess that married the icewing prince. I remember learning about her in history class, I wasn't paying much attention... all I can recall is that she and the icewing had gotten married years before I was born. They moved to live in the ice kingdom for many years and must be finally returning, I guess.

Father suddenly lifted me into the air, Sawtooth must have said he desperately wanted to be down there because we were slowly gliding to the ground floor. Sawtooth in mothers arms, and myself in father's.

"You kids better stay out of trouble!" mother ordered. Our parents let us down and we had our freedom.

I swiftly scurried away, keeping my head down and not making myself stand out more than I need to. the sweet smell of freshly made food swept past. I could smell all the tiny details of how the fish was rolled into the shark fat, how the prawns were soaked into the garlic aioli and how the seahorse fries were deliciously covered by the tangy fruit sauce. It was mesmerising and I couldn't help myself, my talons were leading me towards the smell.

I was swung back into reality when the music suddenly stopped and everyone was moving into what seemed like a specific place. There was pushing and shoving, probably some biting as well. There was a gap through the centre of two sections of the crowd. A walkway sort of separation between the audience. The walkway was from the main entrance to the very centre. Somehow I had ended up in a front row spot. To the left of the centre. I realised I was the closest to the middle.

In the middle Queen Lilypad stood with her second daughter, Princess Seaglass, they looked confident and collected. Lilypad had decorated herself in the most beautifully symmetrical pearls in the kingdom of the sea, her crown sitting regally atop of her head as usual. Seaglass had adorned herself with beautiful pieces of sea glass jewellery, that matched her scales perfectly, she also wore a small tiara to show her royal status as the heir to the throne.

I'm definitely the closest to the action, I thought. Lucky me.

The music changed again, a more welcoming tone to the last, the surrounding dragons had stopped shuffling and I finally had room around me to look around. There were dragons standing on the ground like me, but also many in the balconies of the summer palace, and a lot were even flying above.

Yeah, if it weren't for my height I definitely would have the best view, I sighed. Oh well, I'll have the best view when Seafoam gets to the centre anyway.

A strange hush fell over the crowd and dragons were inching forward, trying to get a better look. From where I was, all I could see were the dragons sitting next to me, towering above my small stature. I waited patiently, no point in wasting energy trying to see further.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to see but I was shocked when I finally caught a glimpse of the returning princess. She was decorated from head to talon in jewellery, clearly from the ice kingdom. She had beautiful frosted earrings and a necklace with decorated with icicles that contrasted beautifully against her green scales. She had a small white tiara, mimicking how ice looks under sunlight.

She walked gracefully waving and smiling to the crowd. Her smile was so genuine and pure, she must have missed it here. Seafoam looked so excited to have finally returned.

Following behind her was her icewing husband, Prince Fractal. He was a handsome shade of frosted blue, with white under scales. He didn't look as excited as the Princess did, but he still seemed happy to be here.

Trailing at the back was a handsome icewing seawing hybrid dragonet. His scales were a lighter shade to Seafoam's, with the same green tint with light blue underscales. He wasn't wearing any jewellery, to be fair he didn't need to, he was already the most stunning dragon walking the aisle. He looked around my age, a little older.

He was walking down the walkway, a small grin, waving at each dragon in the crowd. He was facing away from me, greeting the dragons to the right, smiling at each passerby. Suddenly his head turned and we made eye contact. I felt an icy chill run down my spine, my heart skipped a beat. His eyes a lilac shade of light purple, beautifully reflecting my own dark eyes.

His smile widened, growing twice the size, showing all his sharp fangs. His grin looked so much more genuine than before. He switched how he was walking, pulled his chest and head higher than before, mimicking his mother's regal stride. His pace quickened as he began to grow impatient. As he neared the centre of the courtyard he walked to the left, closest to where I stood in the crowd.

As the queen of the sea rejoiced and celebrated the return of her daughter to her home, it became clear to me that both the prince and I were fidgeting, waiting for their speeches to end and for the partying to begin so that we might meet face to face.

It felt like the simple greeting that could have lasted only seconds was being draught out for years. I started to shift from talon to talon, as my heart beat fastened, nervously awaiting the greeting I might receive from the handsome icewing heir. I could see that the prince felt much the same, his eyes darting between his over ecstatic mother and I, his claws shuffling beneath him.

Finally, it seemed, the partying had begun again and loud music filled the pavilion once more. The royals stepped down from the stage and made their way into the crowd, catching up with old friends and royal subjects alike.

The charming dragonet quickly bounded over to where I stood, looking less like a regal prince and more like an excited puppy. He halted before me and held out his claw.

"Hi! I'm Baltic," he exclaimed, his tail was practically wagging behind him. He flashed a toothy grin towards me and I couldn't help but laugh to myself.

"My name is Waterlily," I replied politely, holding out my own talon. He quickly took it into his own and he shook it with great force.

I could tell this was to be an exciting friendship...