Spirit of War (Bk 2 of Mudwings of JMA)

Chapter 1: Ember

As Cattail walked the down the hall she was unhappy, and clearly so was Prim. Not that they didn't have a reason to be. Poinsettia had been their closest friend... and a traitor. She had nearly killed Cattail twice and almost killed many other dragons. Cattail remembered the day they found out clearly. After finding Prim behind them all of them had found Sunny, with Prim trailing behind camouflaged so no one saw her crying, and told her everything that had happened. Although they all somehow silently and unanimously agreed not to mention that Dreamspeaker had known beforehand. Prim had later explained that she had followed them and had caught up just as they reached the exit. She figured out what was going on from there. Every one of their friends was crushed, and soon the whole school knew that it had been Poinsettia. Some dragons gave them pitying looks, some suspicion, and some just didn't seem to know how to act around them anymore. Mirage nearly clawed one Seawings face off that was talking bad about Poinsettia, then realized she was standing up for a criminal and just seemed confused. That was a little over a week ago. Sunny had told them that they would have to get a new Skywing for the Sapphire Winglet. Prim and Cattail were going to meet her now. Neither was overly thrilled. Prim was a depressing storm grey. She reminded Cattail of the storm raging outside at the moment. "Are you going to be ok?" Cattail questioned her. "No. I don't want a new Skywing, I want our Skywing. Which is wrong, because our Skywing is a criminal that could've killed us all. But I can't help it." Cattail felt similar. She missed Poinsettia but she wanted to strangle the dragon that tried to hurt her sister. She loved and hated her at the same. But for all she knew the Poinsettia they thought they knew could have been an act. "But it's not fair to take it out the new Skywing. It's not her fault." Cattail told her. Prim sighed. "I know, so let's do our best not to act like we wish it was someone else here." Prim's grey forcefully melted away in a wash of a much duller pink and yellow than it used to be. Prim even smiled. She actually looked happy. She was a good liar. Cattail? Not so much. "Cattail, you look like your trying to swallow a Skywing." "Sorry." Cattail tried to look less demented. "Better." "Hey you two!" Sunny called nervously from a few wing lengths down the hall. "She's in here; she's so excited to meet you." Cattail guessed that Sunny was nervous that they would mistreat the new Skywing out of spite. "Yeah, totally excited to meet her too!" Prim said cheerfully, adding a bounce to her step. "I am not bouncing." Cattail whispered to her. "Never said you had to." Prim whispered back. The Skywing was small and an almost a glowing red, like coals in a fire. She had her wings pulled close and her tail wrapped around her talons. She ducked her head shyly. She looked less excited and more terrified than Sunny had said. Her eyes were the color of fire. She almost seemed to smoking, literally. "Hellooo! I'm Prim, and I'm your Rainwing clawmate!" "Could you talk any faster Prim? Hi, I'm Cattail." "I'm, um, Ember." The Skywing said shyly. Why did every Skywing they get have an abnormal temperament for a Skywing? "You were born with too much fire right? That's why you're smoking. Your scales are, like, hot as fire. Am I right?" Prim guessed. Ember was clearly surprised. Cattail was too. How did Prim guess so quickly? "Um, yeah. I- I was born with too much fire." "So you're like that dragon Peril, the one that saved one of the founders, Clay? He's fireproof you know. That's so cool. I would totally hug you right now, but I can't. Ooo! I know! Cattail could totally hug you for me!" "What?" Ember and Cattail asked at the same time, Ember in confusion and Cattail in surprise. "Cattail is fireproof to! Ta-da! See you fit in already!" With that Prim turned and bounced away. "Is she always like this?" Ember asked. "Yeah, but you get used to it." "How do you understand anything she says?" Ember added. "You don't." "Oh."