APRICOT
Present Day. . .
"What do you mean you want to go to school?" Blackheart asked her slowly.
"It sounds fun and we never do anything fun." she chided back.
"I'm perfectly capable of teaching you here."
"I know but. . . at school I can make friends! I need other friends besides you, Giggy, and that cool snail in the lake."
"You never told me about a snail! Who is this snail? Where is he?"
"Nevermind the snail! I just want to go to school, why is that so bad?"
Blackheart sighed and sat down on the cold stone. Giggy had heard them and came over to curl around his neck. Blackheart rubbed the sloth's head and Giggy purred happily. Giggy was the only thing that made Blackheart calm, although she did bring a look of guilt and sadness to his eyes.
"It's dangerous. Dragons could find out. I don't want you in that kind of situation." he told her, sighing again.
"I know the risks and I still want to do this. You can't stop me from going next week." she chided. "I understand no one should know I survived but how would they know?"
"I don't know. Dragons find out about things. Why do you think we went from hiding in the desert to hiding in a town to hiding in a cave?"
Oh. "I never thought about that. . ." she said softly.
Blackheart looked at her tenderly and sighed. "Fine. You can go next week. But be careful. If anyone asks, you grew up in Possibility with your cousin-"
She tackled him in a hug that knocked him down. He hit his head on the stone floor. "Thank you!" she beamed.
"Yeah. . . that hurt," Blackheart sat up, rubbing his head. "A little warning next time?"
"Yeah, sorry," Apricot said sheepishly.
"It's fine. I'm glad I didn't crush Giggy."
Giggy clambered onto his shoulder and made an angry warble sound. They both laughed. Blackheart stared at Apricot with a look of admiration. She noticed.
"What is it?"
He grinned. "Nothing, it's just nice seeing you smile."
Apricot felt warm. Her scales briefly changed to the color of rosebuds. She rarely saw this sweeter side of Blackheart. She wished it happened more often.
"Come on, we have to head to town to get your books and things. Is there a list of some sort?" he asked over his shoulder as he went to grab a sack of coins
"Yeah, right here." She held up the newly pressed scroll she'd gotten from a booth in town and pointed towards the bottom.
"Great, let's go." Blackheart took off out of the cave. Apricot followed with Giggy around her neck.
The town had somehow gotten bigger and busier since she'd been here only a few hours ago. The number of dragons per sandstone block had multiplied by sixteen at least. But she still loved the town. It was the one place besides the cave where she felt and knew she was safe. There were so many dragons of every shape, size, and color, no one could tell if you were a refugee hiding from the NightWings and SkyWings, or just wanted to buy some papayas.
"Don't go far, we'll be in and out," Blackheart said to her, although she could barely hear him over the sound of vendors shouting, children giggling, animals braying, and occasional vase crash into the red sandstone brick wall.
She followed him for most of the way but got distracted by an odd flash of white scales, like an IceWing's. But that was impossible. She'd been going to this town every week for a year and had never seen an IceWing; they all thought it was uncivilized to come to such a busy and gross little town. Of course, it could be a RainWing but. . . she hadn't seen those here either and had little hope they would ever leave the Rainforest again.
She had to find out though. "Blackheart, I'm going over there. I think I saw something. . . odd. Yeah, that's the word."
Blackheart's ears perked up and he looked where she was pointing. His long, snake-like silver earring jingled when he turned his head. He sniffed the air and whispered, "Be careful." He turned to another vendor and Apricot darted off in the direction of the white scales.
She twisted past sweeping dragon tails and stepped over broken glass. Just before she turned the corner into the alley where the white scales had gone, something bumped into her, something big. She fell to the ground.
"Ow. . ." she complained. She looked up to a silver face staring down at her.
She sat up, rubbing her shoulder. Giggy chirped curiously at the dragon in front of them. Thank the moons I didn't fall on her.
The dragon in front of them was. . . strange to put it lightly. Apricot had to hold back a gasp so as to not sound rude. The dragon had silvery scales that faded into black on her wings, tail, and back legs. Her face was like an IceWing's but her black scales and the lack of icicle-like spikes on her tail didn't add up with that fact. It took a while for it to click in Apricot's mind that the dragon in front of her was a hybrid.
The hybrid glared down at her. She must have been an adult based on how tall she was. "I am sorry about that, are you okay?"
Apricot nearly gasped again. She was surprised by the friendliness of a dragon who looked as hard as nails. She had to take a breath and calm down so she didn't reveal that she was a RainWing under her dark NightWing disguise.
"Oh, I'm fine," Apricot said as the hybrid helped her up. "I was just. . . I thought I saw something weird and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings."
"You are pretty young to be in this town alone. Are you here with an adult?" the hybrid asked suspiciously, looking around.
"Well, yes but actually no. H-he's not my actual parent, more of a friend or brother." Apricot stammered.
"Well, which is it?"
"What?"
"Is he a brother or a friend? The two are very different."
"Uh. . . both?"
"What?"
"It's. . . complicated."
The hybrid nodded like she understood, which didn't surprise Apricot. She kept glancing at the alley where the white scales had been. Apricot wondered why. Possibly to follow the dragon that had gone that way. I'll follow her too! Oh, I love mysteries!
"I had better go, nice meeting you." the hybrid waved as she stepped away.
"You too!" Apricot called back. She quietly watched while the hybrid went into the alley.
