Fire and Water → Wings of Fire [2] ✓

Chapter 2

Gem flies for days, for months even, losing track of time.

She knows she should have found the secret palace of the SeaWings by now, but she can't locate it. So, withing, she angles her wings towards the cliffs that jut into the sea. She continues flying towards them, but after a while, she spots a peculiar island shaped like... a bowl.

She flies closer, her large wings carrying her swiftly toward it. As she arrives, she hovers over a canopy of branches and leaves. The scent of the sea and fish fills her nostrils, and Gem smiles. She has finally found it.

She dives down, her wings caught in the branches, and winces in pain.

But she continues nonetheless.

The SeaWings below stare at her for a while before Gem hears her name. Then, she turns around and sees Tsunami, Clay, and Starflight flying up to her. She gasps as Tsunami throws herself over her, almost causing them to fall into the water.

"You stupid Seawing!" the Seawing roars, and Gem feels Tsunami's wings wrap around her. She sighs and hugs her back with her arms while Tsunami's wings keep them afloat.

"You shouldn't have flown away from us," Tsunami whispers into her ear. Gem smiles and let's go. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't stay with you. I'm too dangerous. I almost killed your friend," she says.

Tsunami, rest on her back. "Riptide is doing fine, you just protected me, and he's fine with it. Come on; we should see Sunny and Glory; they're worried about you, and you need to meet my mother!'" she said, smiling. She took hold of Gems' paw and pulled her towards the peculiar structure woven in white coral that reached into the sky.

When they arrived at a platform, Gem saw Sunny and Glory smiling, and Glory's scales shimmered in yellow and orange. Uh-oh, Gem thought. She landed gracefully and saw a majestic SeaWing bejeweled smiling at her. "You must be Gemstone," she said, and Gem bowed. "And you must be Queen Coral. I apologize for entering without advance notice," she said.

Queen Coral weaves a paw and says, "All friends of my daughter and my friends feel at home." With that, the Queen takes to the air, and a rose-colored dragonet follows her.

Gem turns towards Sunny and Glory, feeling a nudge from a claw and a warm body against her. "Don't ever do something like that again," hisses Glory, intertwining their tails. Gem laughs and shakes her head. "I'm not sure if I can promise that, but for you, Glory, I'll try."

Glory blushes and looks down as Gem raises an eyebrow before placing a wing over Sunny, who leans into her.

"But she's right," says Clay, nudging Gem, who lowers her head. "We've been so scared for you. We thought you had left us forever." Gem's gaze shifts to Starflight, and they hold each other's gaze for a moment before he looks away. Gem feels a pang in her heart and shakes her head. She can't have feelings now, not after she left them.

Gem raises her head and squares her shoulders. "Well, now that we're here, maybe we can have a little tour," she says, and Tsunami sighs. "My mother," she says, looking away, "is...busy, I suppose. She just left, but we can ask, uh..." Gem chuckles and takes Tsunami's talon in hers.

"Tsunami, I meant that you could show us around. You've seen most of this, haven't you?" she said, but Tsunami's expression gave her all the necessary answers.

Gem sighed and flicked a wing toward the water below. "Well, we can always explore independently then," she said.

Her friends nodded, taking to the air, gliding down, and skimming over the water. Many SeaWings stared at them with curious eyes, but a particular light gray dragon bared its teeth at them.

Soon, they arrived at a cave guarded by two sentries. One of them raised an eyebrow and asked, "What brings you here, Your Majesty?" His tail stripes illuminated brightly. Tsunami sighed, "I just wanted to show my friends around, that's all," she said. The guard glanced at the others before lowering his spear. "Alright, but be careful. Some caves are not meant for dragonets who can't stay where they're told."

Gem blushed, smoke billowing out of her nostrils, and followed Tsunami into the cave.

The cave had a strange mat on the floor, and sand piled into a mound resembling a nest. It was humid inside, as if there was some heat source. "This must be Blister's cave," said Starflight, fluttering his wings anxiously.

Gem nodded and walked further in towards a peculiar table-like structure. She furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Is this a table?" she asked, poking the wood, which creaked slightly under her touch.

"It must be," says Glory, and her scales flicker with blue and green hues. Gem curls her tail into a spiral-like shape and turns towards Glory. "Can you come over here?" she asks. Glory furrows her brow but makes her way over, her scales still shifting colors.

"What is it?" she asked. Gem simply pulls her head back, and flickering flames appear at the corners of her mouth. Now the others have turned to see what's happening.

"Uh, Gem, I don't think—" Starflight is interrupted as wingbeats fill the cave. All the dragonets turn around, and there comes Queen Coral with Anemone in tow.

"What's the meaning of this?" she asked, and Gem bowed her head. "Forgive me, Queen, but I'm just curious why Blister has a table of everything in her cave. Can she write?" Queen Coral glanced at her.

A series of stripes lit up on Queen Coral's tail, and she flared her wings. "That's none of your concern," she said. Coral shakes her head, and her daughter speaks, "It's a table because Blister probably intends to write to her followers, I assume... Come now; this is not a place for us." Gem snorted, smoke curling around her horns, but she followed the others out.

Once they were outside, Coral turned to Tsunami. "Get a hold of your friend's leash, or else I'll throw her into the prison cells," she snarled and flew away without another word.

Gem yawned and turned to Starflight, whose gaze avoided hers. Oh no, she thought. What have I done now?

"What was that all about?!" Tsunami roared at Gem, who turned towards the angry SeaWing.

Gem shrugged her shoulders and spread her wings. "Nothing, Tsunami. I just wanted to know what this 'great' Blister is up to and why we should choose her," she said. With that, she flew away and glided over to the cliffs above. There, she landed and curled up a safe distance from the edge.

Gem sniffled as tears gathered in her eyes, wrapping her arms around her snout and quietly crying. Why on earth had she done that? It was so disrespectful as if she didn't care. This was not what she had hoped for.

What's happening to me? she thought. Why do I behave like I want Tsunami to feel as uncomfortable as possible here? I'm not portraying any of us in a good light, and now I've probably ruined any chance of my friends having a cozy place to sleep, a dry one too.

Thoughts and tears mingled, and soon Gem was so exhausted that she succumbed to the darkness awaiting her, drifting into unconsciousness.