CounterPart

8 | The LeafSilk Kingdom

That was the problem with being a RainWing.

You slept in, every day. And boy, was it glorious, but it meant you missed ALL the morning stuff.

So by the time Kinkajou had actually woken up and gotten to the hall, Queen Sequoia had already taken the stage, and almost all the seats were full. And she couldn't sit next to Glory, for some 'confidential and ever so regal' reason Hazel had explained to her earlier (although didn't being the Queen's best friend mean that she should get to know all the top secret mega confidential information?)

And Anemone had already taken the seat next to Tamarin. Who, by the way, would still never be good enough for her. YEAH, Anemone. So she ended up sitting next to a burly MudWing who was staring determinedly into his food, unblinking.

Sequoia still hadn't started speaking, so she gave him a sharp poke in the side and whispered "Hey."

He looked up at her slowly.

"You alright there?"

"Me?" He said, even more slowly it was almost unbearable.

"Um. Yeah. You. Who are you, by the way?".

"Bullfrog." He said slowly.

"Ah. I'm Kinkajou." She replied awkwardly. "But seriously, are you okay? You haven't spoken much."

"Hm? Oh, that... yeah... yeah, I'm okay." He said.

"Something about that doesn't sound entirely 'okay'" She frowned. "Are you sure?"

Bullfrog sighed. "You are persistent. And no. I'm not. I'm - I'm an unsib." He said reluctantly. "Fought in the war. Now... Now I just can't stop thinking about them."

"Ohh..." Kinkajou gasped softly. She got what he meant about them constantly being in his mind.

Because there's a dragon constantly in MY mind, too... but I haven't seen him in years since we graduated...

"I guess... I'll just leave you alone if that's what you'd like."

"Please." He said gratefully. "I'd like to talk later... Maybe we could be friends... but not right now if... You know... what I mean."

Kinkajou nodded. "I do."

Then finally, Sequoia started talking.

"Good morning, residents of Pyrrhia and Pantala!" She welcomed them all. Secretly, Kinkajou made another mark on her mental tally of how many times she was going to say that.

"Hope you all slept well. Today, for those who want to, I'd like to give you all a tour of our LeafSilk Kingdom! If it's not too much to ask, could you please get yourselves into groups of about 10? Then we'll assign you each a tour guide and get started, I guess! No time like the present, since you're all fed, and then your can explore for the rest of the day afterwards. Sound good?"

There was a large eruption of cheering from the crowd, whilst Queen Sequoia backed down into her seat with a smile.

Kinkajou sprung out of her chair immediately, her eyes already scanning the room.

She was going to find Moon, and Qibli, and Winter, and Tamarin, and-

The dragon she hadn't seen in two years.

She would've found him... if she didn't turn around and run straight into him, sending them both toppling over with the force a tiny truck.

"OW!" She cried. "Watch where you're - TURTLE!"