Scales to Skin

XXII

Carnation

I had been laying down on Moon's bed for the past hour, pretending to write in my journal so that nobody would talk to me. Moon and Firefly had come back just a few minutes after the dragons left, so Fern caught them up on everything that had been discussed. 

After that, it had been awfully quiet. Just Moon moving around, taking measurements of the room and gathering materials. We didn't have to ask what for. She had been talking nonstop about all the changes she'd make to the room once she was human. Starting with the 'scavenger exhibit.'

"This is going to be loud," She whispered. Then, before anyone could respond, she turned and swung her tail at the glass. 

WHAM!

A little crack sprouted, but the wall stayed up.

WHAM!

The cracks shot out, reaching for the edges.

WHAM!

One corner fell in, causing glass to skitter across the floor. Fern leaped out of its way, then climbed up next to me.

Moon started using her tail to reach in from the inside and knock more pieces out. Soon, The only glass left up were the little bits clinging to the walls. She started sweeping it all up with her tail and tossing it out the window. I winced at the sound of glass scraping down the side of the mountain.

"Carnation!" Fern laughed, pointing at a piece of glass on the ground. "That one's as big as you!"

Moon threw more out the window.

"And those ones are as loud as you," I shot back. He laughed and looked at the notebook in my hands.

"What's that?" He asked.

"I told you I was writing a song," I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh, really?" He asked, laying down next to me. 

I rolled away from him, and he snatched the notebook out of my hands. 

"Hey!" I cried.

Moon had finished with the glass on the floor and was working on making the walls smooth with a rock, so Fern must've felt it was safe to get back on the floor. 

"River! Catch!" He yelled, throwing my journal down. It hit the floor next to River's foot, and he just looked at it.

"You're no fun," Fern snorted. I laughed. It was kind of cute when he snorted.

River rolled his eyes, then picked up the book. I climbed down from Moon's bed and charged him, but Fern tackled me to the ground.

Just then, the heavy thudding of the boulder being rolled rang across the room, and we all froze. 

"I'm so sorry to hear that, Sunny. Hopefully it'll get worked out soon. Have a good day," a loud voice called, then Qibli ducked into the room. The others followed closely behind.

"OMG! MOON! YOU'RE REALLY HERE!" Kinkajou squealed, bounding towards her. "I knew it! I knew it really happened! At first, I thought it was a dream! Then the others said it really happened, but I didn't know what to believe! But you're here! And that means.."

Kinkajou twirled around to face us, spirals of purple and green dancing across her scales.

"You're real," 

"Of course they're real, Kinkajou," Winter laughed. "Even if they weren't intelligent, they'd still be real."

"Yeah, but, you know, alive! Sentient! Conscious!" She replied.