Ibis

Chapter 1

It was a wet day. Grey clouds hung overhead, dripping a feather-light sprinkle of rain onto the already-soaked ground below. A slight breeze shook the leaves of the trees so that even if you stood beneath one you would still get wet. The air rang with the sound of wings flapping and dragons chattering. It was a bit overwhelming. 

Ibis sat in front of the large mountain, watching the other dragons as they flew around talking to one another and sharing prey as if they had known each other for years. Her wings were trembling a little bit. Not because of the cold, or the rain (Ibis loved the rain). She was just nervous, that's all. Nervous about going to a new school. Nervous about meeting dragons from other tribes for the first time. She had spent her whole life in the Rainwing village so she only ever saw other Rainwings and the occasional Nightwing. She had no idea what the other tribes were like. Or if they were dangerous, especially to a small, 3-year-old Rainwing dragonet who couldn't do Math to save her life. 

Yet she was also a little excited. Going to school meant that she would learn new things. Things she would never get the chance to learn if she had stayed in the Rainforest. 

All these emotions meant that Ibis's scales were going crazy. She was mostly shades of light green, with speckles of gold and blue-grey. Her body language said a lot, too. From the way her tail was tightly curled at her talons to the way she held her head as she sat and gazed up at the other dragons, you could tell she was nervous. Even without the colors. 

"Um, how long are you going to sit there getting wet?" 

Ibis jumped a little, startled. She looked behind her to see the familiar black-and-green scales of her friend Branchleaper, the Rain-Night hybrid. 

She smiled, and her scales shifted to their classic yellow with green stripes and blue wings and ruff. 

"Probably for the whole school year." she joked, "I really don't want to go up there." 

"Why? Is it because you're scared?" Branchleaper joked back, a smirk crossing his face. 

"NO." Ibis replied defensively, giving her friend a fake glare, "I just, like the rain Branch. You know that. There's something so calming about it." She turned her head back toward the clouds, letting the cold droplets of water fall on her face. The rain was calming. And she needed something calming since her insides felt like there were a million fire ants crawling in them. Which was weird, because she was usually laid-back and friendly.

"You're weird for that, you know." Branch elbowed Ibis's wing, smiling. "Personally, I don't like getting wet." he flared his speckled black ruff and shook the rain from his wings, making Ibis even more wet, "AND I want to see what winglet I'm in. So I'm going up there," He stood and held his talon out to Ibis, "And you're coming with me." 

Ibis giggled softly and placed her talon in Branch's. Together the two dragons flew up into the crowd and landed just outside of the entrance to the school, Which was the huge mouth of a huge cave in a huge mountain. It was all so...huge. And the equally as huge crowd of dragons didn't help either. 

Ibis's scales began to turn green again. Branch noticed and nudged her with his while jokingly whispering "Scareddy cat." and smirking. 

Ibis gave him another fake glare as her scales turned back to normal. She faced forward again and saw six tables pushed together in a u shape covered in large envelopes. Four very tired-looking dragons hurried back and forth, talking to the students and handing them an envelope. As Ibis and Branch approached one of the tables, a Rainwing with the colors of a ripe mango met them. 

"Hello!" She said cheerfully, "What are your names?" 

"Ibis."

"Branchleaper."