Sparrow was abused as a child. I met her a few years before my mother took the throne, when I was 2. She had scars from her parents beating her. I defended her from bullies. "Get your silly snouts away from her!" That was my favorite insult when I was 2-silly snouts.) She still had a rough childhood. Gradually I realized that she could defend herself. We were now 5, 2 years into my mother's reign. I started taking her to my training with the soldiers. She said that one day, she would become a great general, my right hand dragon. We were really close, but my training got in the way. Not to mention, she trained a lot too. We saw each other less, and when we did see each other, she gave me more reports of bullies. At age 8, she was technically and adult, so I appealed to my mother.
"Please promote Sparrow. You know how hard her childhood was. You know her dream is to be a general."
Finally, my mother gave in. I insisted on being the one to give her the written promotion that I hand wrote.
Lieutenant Sparrow,
You have been promoted to general. Your troops are waiting for you at the training camp. Good luck, general.
Sincerely,
Princess Sunrise
I walked into her room, bursting with excitement. I handed her the letter and then sat down on her bed. She read it and then looked up at me with big eyes.
"Your troops are waiting, general." I said, smiling.
WARNING
The next part of the story contains child abuse (to dragons, but still, not ok) This story takes place when Sparrow was 4 years old.
Sparrow walked into her parent's house, her head drooping.
"What do you think you're doing?" Her mother yelled. "Just waltzing into this house as if you own the place. If you're gonna live here, you're gonna work. Start scrubbing!" She pointed to the floor. Sparrow hurriedly grabbed the sponges, but not fast enough. Her mother threw her tiny body on the ground and dumped the soapy water into the dragonet's eyes. Sparrow screamed, and her mother grabbed a rag.
"Stop that infernal noise!" She growled as she tied the cloth around the tiny dragon's mouth. Sparrow whimpered. "CLEAN!" Her mother roared. Sparrow scrambled to her feet and scrubbed the floor, windows, roof, and everything in between. When she was done, she collapsed into tears on her bed, still crying.
The next day, her father sent her to school with the gag still on. When her friend Sunrise saw her, she immediatly grabbed Sparrow's arm and started flying towards the castle. She threw the doors open and yelped, "MOTHER!" The queen looked at Sunrise, and then at Sparrow.
"Tell me everything."
The next day...
"SPARROW!" her mother yelled. "YOU AND YOUR LITTLE FRIEND GOT YOUR FATHER AND I HUGE TROUBLE!" The larger dragon lashed out at Sparrow with huge claws and a powerful tail. "I'm going to tell that silly 'Queen' that my poor daughter was injured and has to miss a week of school." She tied Sparrow's claws together and threw her into her bed. She whipped the poor dragonet with a whip that was designed to feel like and IceWing's spiked tail. She beat Sparrow until the little dragon fell unconscious. Sparrow woke up to her mother staring at her. As soon as Sparrow's eyes opened, the whipping started again.
The next day:
Sparrow's mother was arrested and Sparrow moved into the castle.
