|| TAIGA || Wings of fire [Reader insert]!FEM

Chapter fifteen

" Gone? " Kinkajou cried with dismay.
" Why? Where'd he go? "

" I don't know, but Bandit's cage is missing, too, " Qibli said. " So I don't
think he's coming back. "

" Oh, " Turtle said. " I saw him leaving, but I thought he was just going hunting. I should have stopped him. " He managed to pry two rocks free and handed one to Qibli, then another to Kinkajou, not giving Taiga one since she had the ring.

" Which way was he going? " Taiga asked Turtle.

" Northwest, toward the forest that's between the mountains and the
desert, " he said. " Uh. Where are you going? "
Moon and Taiga were heading for the mouth of the cave, where they could see sheets
of rain pouring down.

" We're going to find him, " she said.

" In this weather? " Turtle protested.

" Oh yay! " Kinkajou cried. " Me too! "

" Are you sure? " Moon said to her, waving one wing at the storm outside.
" I understand if you don't - "

" I'm a Rain wing, " Kinkajou said. " It rains all the time in the rainforest. Trust me, I can handle it. "

" I'm not sure I can, " Qibli said, rubbing the back of his head. " But I'm coming with you anyway. "

Kinkajou looked expectantly at Turtle.
He shuffled his feet, flickering his glow-in-the-dark scales nervously. "In
this weather?" he said again.

" Come on, Turtle! " she said. " We're a winglet! We're all that's left of the
Jade Winglet! We should stick together! Also, how can you be bothered by a
little water? You live in it. You can actually breathe it. You'll be fine. " She bumped his hip hard enough to overbalance him and he took a staggering step sideways.

" It's different, " he objected. " Swimming is not the same as trying to fly while getting blown about and whacked in the face with little balls of water and also lightning - have we talked about the lightning? "

" He's coming, too, " Kinkajou said to Moon and Taiga. Turtle sighed in defeat.

" None of you have to do this, " Moon said. " I just - I feel like I owe it to him. "

" He's my clawmate, " Qibli pointed out. " Also, I am a total expert on evil brothers and sisters. "

" And I am coming to keep you safe, " Kinkajou said. " Don't argue with
me, I'm very menacing. " She turned her wings black and bared her teeth, but the pink scales that remained rather undercut the effect.

Moon and Taiga smiled at them. " All right, " Taiga said. " Let's go. "

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It seemed as though they flew for hours before they reached the outskirts of the forest, and then they spent forever circling over the trees.

" M-m-maybe we should go back, " Turtle shouted to her as they did another pass over a clearing she was sure they'd flown over three times. " Maybe he's halfway to the Ice Kingdom already. "

" I don't think so, " Taiga called back. " Not with Bandit. He wouldn't fly
too far with that cage - scavengers don't handle this kind of weather as well as we do, Taiga is an exception, of course.

Turtle made a ' would rather not handle this weather either myself ' face
and tried to shake some of the rain off his waterlogged wings.

" Wait! " Moon cried, grabbing Taiga's tail, careful of the spikes. " I heard him! This way! "
She swooped toward the trees, half blinded by the downpour. A gust of wind blew her sideways at the wrong moment and she collided with the top of a tree, but she righted herself and dropped down through the branches to the forest floor.