Painted Skies

Chapter 2

I took a deep breath and entered the cave. It was lined with tables and the smell of flowers was in the air. I slowly walked over to one of the tables where a NightWing was sitting.

"Hi, is this where I come to Receive a scroll?" I politely asked as I slowly approached the table. The NightWing nodded and handed me a scroll tied with a black leather band.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, the name's Hyena." I said, smiling brightly at the NightWing. "It's nice to meet you, Hyena. My name's Fatespeaker, I hope that you will enjoy your four yeas here at the academy." Fatespeaker said and I nodded and walked to a corner of the cave and I slowly unrolled my scroll.

Hmmm... well, it looks like I'm in the Jade Winglet, this should be interesting. I thought to myself with a small smile. I then rolled up my scroll and put it into my pouch.

Then I decided to walk around and explore the place a bit. As I was walking I bumped into a NightWing with purple and ebony-colored scales. I smiled shyly and my ears turned pink.

"Oh! I uh... I'm so sorry, please forgive me," I quickly bowed in apology to the NightWing that I had bumped into. But to my surplus, she just laughed and smiled cheekily up at me.

"No problem, you must be Hyena, am I right?" He asked and I slowly nodded my head. He smiled again and spoke up once more. "I'm Shadowflight, nice to meet you. We're in the same Winglet. We're clawmates." He said, smiling warmly at me. I ducked my head and looked at my talons.

"Hay, are you two in the Jade Winglet?" Came a voice from behind us. I jumped and turned to see a SeaWing with sky blue scales, emerald green wing membranes and eyes. I slowly nodded and the SeaWing smiled brightly.

"The name's Seashell, it's nice to meet you." She said with a bright smile and a nod of her head in greeting. I was about to open my mouth to say something but Shadowflight beet me to it.

"I'm Shadowflight, and this is Hyena. Nice to meet you, seashell." He said with a bright smile lighting up his face.

Silence fell on the four of us and it was Seashell who attempted to break it. "Where are the RainWing, SkyWing, IceWing, and MudWing clawmates?" She asked as she looked down at her scroll. I shrugged my wings in response.

"Hi there!" Came a sudden voice from behind us once more. I rolled my icy-blue eyes in annoyance. Why the heck is everybody coming up to us from behind? I wondered. "You're the RainWing right?" I asked and the RainWing nodded his head in response to my question.

"The name's Lemur, nice to meet you." I nodded my head in acknowledgment to Lemur, who smiled at me shyly. "You're really cute," he mumbled so quietly that I almost missed it. I blushed and ducked my head.

"I'm Phoenix, nice to meet you. I'm guessing you guys must be my clawmates," we all turned to see a SkyWing dragonet with ruby-red scales and golden-yellow eyes.

"All we need is the MudWing and IceWing clamates," Shadowflight remarked, right after he spoke those words a MudWing dragonet appeared from the other end of the cave.

"You must be the MudWing, right?" I asked and he nodded his head with a flick of his tail. Then after a few moments of silence, he spoke up once more. "My name's Swamp, it's nice to meet you." He said, smiling brightly. I smiled warmly at the brown and Amber-colored MudWing. "All we need is the IceWing," Seashell remarked with a small laugh and an amused smile forming on her face. I nodded and looked around for our IceWing clawmate.

"Are you all in the Jade Winglet?" Came a voice from somewhere close by us. The dragonet in question was an IceWing. Though her scales were completely white, her tail spikes and horns were a dark blue, which I thought was odd since I had always heard IceWings were always white. She was wearing a sapphire necklace around her neck and a ring, also embedded with a sapphire, was on her horn.

"Yes, yes we are, you're the IceWing clawmate right?" I asked and the dragonet nodded her head in response. "My name's Flurry, it's a pleasure to meet you," she said with a kind smile and a nod of her head in greeting.

"C'mon, let's go to our cave," Flurry said and we all followed her to our sleeping cave. The Jade Winglet's common cave was circular in shape. In the center of the cave was a fire pit, with seven cushions circled a safe distance. Along the walls were storage containers and book shelves, all for the winglet's personal use. The cave was also connected to three smaller caves, where the winglet, I correctly assumed, would sleep.

I then walked over to Phoenix, who was reading a scroll. As I approached her, she looked up from her scroll. "What's your name again?" The SkyWing asked me with a sheepish grin forming on her face. I smiled and replied quietly. "Hyena," I said, smiling and pulling out my own scroll. I had brought a tone of scrolls with me, I admit I'm a huge book-worm. I sat next to the SkyWing and the other members of the Winglet either curled up to sleep or quietly read a scroll of their own.