Wings and Warriors

Chapter 3: Jealousy

**Please note artwork not mine, credit to Mooni**

The dragon turned to face Baltic and I with narrow eyes and an annoyed expression...

"Waterlily?" the dragon questioned. He sat on his haunches and changed his scales from a threatening display of power to a colourful and friendly pattern of lavenders and hints of green to show calmness and happiness.

Suddenly I realised who it was, immediately relaxing. All of the clenching muscles in my shoulders and back finally released themselves.

"Anubias, it's just you, thank goodness," I sighed with relief. Anubias smiled and held out his wings for me. Baltic sceptically looked towards me as if to ask who we were in front of without speaking aloud. I stepped out in front of Baltic, ignoring his curious and slightly annoyed gaze. I walked over to my dear friend Anubias and he embraced me with a sweet hug.

I hadn't realised quite how long I stayed in Anubias' embrace until Baltic cleared his throat to make his presence known again. Anubias retracted his wings from around me, instead, entangling his tail with mine. I turned to face Baltic who was now sitting, holding his head high in the air trying to look dominant. He was unsuccessful as Anubias was larger than he was and it was quite amusing from my position to watch them glare at each other with such intent.

"Baltic, this is my best friend Anubias," I smiled widely looking up at Anubias. "Anubias, this is Prince Baltic of the Seawings and Icewings." I turned and pointed to Baltic, smiling slightly less enthusiastically. The two seemed to look each other up and down, admiring and criticising one another. I cleared my throat in attempt to relieve the awkward tension between the two.

"Hello Anubias, it's nice to meet a friend of Waterlily's," Baltic said awkwardly and sarcastically, he shifted forward and held out one of his front claws to be shaken with the latter.

"Right, the same goes for you," Anubias retorted with the same level of sarcasm. I could tell this wouldn't exactly be a smooth sailing friendship. He took Baltic's claw in his own and shook it with little force for as short a time as possible.

"So why exactly were you hiding in the trees?" Baltic questioned, it sounded like he was interrogating Anubias in a rather aggressive manner.

"I heard dragons swimming in through the underwater entrance and hid in case it wasn't who I was expecting. No need to be so suspicious your highness, it was only in case I needed to protect myself. Who knows what else could have swam through that tunnel." Anubias entwined his tail tighter around my own as he explained in a sly and melodious voice what he was doing in the canopy.

Baltic was no longer smiling, he felt threatened by Anubias. I calmly took a step back from Anubias as I saw his scales start to show some warmer, more cautionary tones.

"So you're a rainwing?" Baltic continued to interrogate.

"My mother's a seawing, my father's a rainwing," Anubias replied. they both sounded like they were holding back from ripping each other's throats out.

Perhaps this relationship would be more complicated than I had first estimated. I frowned, trying to think of ways to get them to get along with each other. I was busy in my thoughts, probably staring at a random object in the distance, zoning out, focusing on my train of ideas. I probably looked like I had frozen in time, standing still, not moving an inch.

"Waterlily?" Baltic's voice called out, he sounded nervous, concerned maybe. I returned from my thoughts to my body and looked up, he was in front of me, inspecting my eyes and face. I looked around and spotted Anubias coloured in reds and blacks, he looked terrifying, but I could also see some scales with light green tints, showing his concern for my state of blankness.

"Sorry, I just got lost in my thoughts," I apologised quietly, stepping away from Baltic.

Baltic sat back down and smiled weakly, Anubias calmed his scales from being quite so aggressive. I sighed. It's a shame they don't like each other, they actually have a lot in common (at least from what I have observed in the last couple of hours). I turned my head up to the sky to realise the sun was setting and that the colour of the canopy was shifting to a darker green than before.

"It's getting late, Baltic your mother is probably wondering where you are," I looked him in the eye, he looked annoyed that I was dismissing him, but he nodded and wandered towards the pond that lead to the tunnel. He jumped in without looking back.

I looked at the ground in shame, I should go with him, I thought. Anubias flicked my tail with his own to catch my attention and gestured towards the watery entrance.

"We should head back too," he said calmly. I nodded in response. We walked over to the pond and let our bodies sink into the water. Once again I was hit with a sense of relief from the water creeping inside my scales and relaxing my muscles once more.

Anubias and I swam beside each other in peaceful silence, thrashing our powerful tails behind us as the current swept us along. He beat his wings to keep up with me as I glided through the water without the drag that wings create. In the distance, Baltic was swimming away quickly to the surface far above. He reached it and flapped his wings to launch himself into the air. After he left the water his pale reflection blended in completely with the dark sky far above the water's surface.

We emerged from the sea onto the island that the summer palace resided on. Anubias crept out of the water next to me, a bright flurry of yellows greens and blues coloured his body, his odd eyes still the same as always, magenta in his left iris and blue in his right one. He shook off the water and walked over to talk to me.

"To you think his royal majesty the jester of jealousness found his way back here?" Anubias said with a grin plastered on his as he mocked the handsome prince.

"I'm sure prince Baltic was able to find his way," I frowned, how rude of him to make fun of my new friend. He saw my displeased expression as I averted my eyes from looking at him and his face seemed to fall.

"It was only a joke," he explained trying to get me to look at him with the same smile I usually do. "But in all seriousness, we should check if he's alright." It was always heartwarming to see how kind Anubias was even though he had a tough exterior.

"Agreed," I looked up at him to see all his attention focused yet again on my face, he looked somewhat in a trance of sorts. His cheeks were a warmer shade than the rest of his face, as if he were blushing. I gestured towards the side of the island where the entrance to the palace was and we began to walk side by side to where we hoped to find the young prince.

The noise of celebrating dragons returned as we neared the palace, quieter now than when they had begun to party, thankfully. Lights in the distance were illuminating the beach and shadows were cast from the dragons congregating inside.

The overwhelming anxiety from earlier that day also began to return as we came closer to the party. My claws began to hesitate beneath me until I found myself at a complete halt, only a few steps from the entrance into the chaos. Anubias stopped beside me and wrapped his large right-wing over my small and frail body. He tugged me close to his side to comfort me.

"Maybe we can see if Baltic's alright tomorrow when the celebrating quietens little..." I said panicked. Anubias looked down at me and nodded sweetly. I smiled at him, holding back the tears forming in my eyes.

"I'll carry you quickly to your room and we can escape the ruckus together," he offered. It always helped when he stayed over when I felt as nervous as this.

I nodded quickly and he guided me over to the entrance, quickly leading me near where the balconies overhung the courtyard. He flapped his graceful wings a couple of times to hover over me, then picking me up as though I weighed nothing and carried me to the seventh floor. We walked over to my residence and stepped inside, shutting the door behind us...