Escape: A Wings of Fire Fanfic - Editing

Happiness...

Chapter 15

At the bunker.

It was nice to be home. On the way back from the cave where the sibs had been staying while Alligator and Chestnut healed, they chatted in high spirits about anything and everything.

They reminisced of their dragonethood, before the war came, of the years spent together in happiness. Of friends, hunting, the sculpting Chestnut used to do. The art they would all make together.

When they had gotten back to the Swamps, they saw many dragons celebrating. It had only been a few days, and some were still feasting. At their home, a sculpting exhibition had taken place, celebrating the art their village had been known for before the war.

The other MudWings were happy to see them. These were those who had stood by them in war, trained with them, who had been their friends even before the war. Their friends, neighbors, fellow soldiers. Well, those who are left, Chestnut thought darkly. The war had taken too many dragons. Way too many.

The sibs lived in a small village, where everyone knew each other. So they were unsurprised when everyone was overjoyed when they came back home.

"Freedom!" Fawn exclaimed. "No having to deal with the war!"

"I can sculpt again," Chestnut said.

"We can do whatever we want!" Fawn added.

They spent many nights like that, before sleeping. Talking about what they wanted to do, now that the war was gone.

"It's a pity we can't visit other places," Amber sighed. "I always wondered how the other tribes lived."

"After the war is over," Morass said, "we can visit."

"But when will the war be over? Even if the MudWings are out, the other tribes aren't."

The sibs all went silent for a few minutes. It was a sad truth. Pyrrhia would take a while to get back to how it was before the terribleness of war invaded. Even when the war ended for the other tribes, they would all be hostile to one another. The SandWings might even be pitted against each other within the tribe.

Finally, Fawn broke the silence. "I feel bad for the other tribes," she admitted. "They're still stuck in this horrid war."

"Just enjoy that we're out of it for a bit," Alligator said. "Then maybe we can try to make it right. We could help the Talons of Peace without directly joining them, you know. Little things we can do from home."

Amber nodded. "That makes sense. But why don't we just relax and have fun for now? We just got out of the war and healed these two." She gestured towards Chestnut and Alligator.

"But after we've had some peaceful time," Chestnut put in. "Then maybe we can try to give others the same peace."

During the day, they did the things they talked about in the night. They hunted, made art and played.

"Such a weird feeling, to play," Alligator admitted. "I'm not used to it anymore."

Fawn flew up to him and tagged him before doing a flip and letting him chase her. "It's fun, though, isn't it?"

Indeed, the sibs played the games of their childhoods, when they had been happy and thought nothing could go wrong. Though it was impossible to go back to that innocence after killing so many, they enjoyed the simple happiness of playing.

Chestnut was trying to remember how to sculpt. It had been his pride when he was younger, a thing he had absolutely loved. There had been an old sculptor in the village, now dead, who had taught him.

He had been trying to make one of a random MudWing when he groaned. Argh! I can barely remember how to do this! He was in his old sculpting spot, a place where he could be mostly in the mud but have his talons outside of it. It was just behind the bunker.

Amber chuckled, arriving to watch Chestnut. "Trying to remember?"

Chestnut nodded and then glanced glumly at his sculpture. "Not really working."

"I'm trying to remember what I even did before the war," Amber said, "so you're ahead of me on that. At least you know what you did."

Still, they were all happy. Even trying to remember what you used to do was better than fighting in a needless war.

They all thought they were done with the war, then. Now that Blister had chosen the SeaWings over the MudWings, they didn't see why they would go back into the fray. 

Queen Morhen certainly didn't want to. She had said it herself, the rumors said. That the MudWings wouldn't have to deal with the war again while she was queen.

But all the MudWings were mistaken, in the end. Because sometimes brute force can corner you into a situation.