Flowers For The Sky

Rising Tides

Ruby, Scarlet, Shala and Felix flew out of the jungle and landed outside of it on the north side. "And I hope I never have to go through that jungle ever again." Ruby said. "If everything goes as planned, then we won't." Shala said. She pulled up her map, looking for the next location for them to go to.

"I think we should head to Lilro's Lake next." she said. "The trial for the Water Lotus is one of the more easy ones, and it's also only about 3 clicks north." Felix added. "Guarded by Lilro, the Great Water Dragon." Scarlet said. "Right. Water." Ruby said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Ruby, you're not scared, are you?" Scarlet teased. "No I'm not! But you know better than anyone that it's gonna suck." Ruby argued. "Ruby, we'll make it together, okay?" Shala said with a smile as she closed her map. Ruby nodded. "If we're gonna make it to Lilro's Lake before sundown, we need to leave." Felix said.

"Oh, right." Ruby said. Since Ruby and Shala had never dismounted, Felix and Scarlet took to the skies. The flight wasn't too long, and Ruby and Shala had a few things to talk about along the way. Once the lake was visible, the sky was starting to turn pink and orange.

"Here we are. The biggest lake of Edenor." Scarlet said. "Let's touch down and call it a night, yeah?" Ruby said. "Sounds good to me." Shala responded. Felix and Scarlet landed on the ground on the edge of the lake, and their riders got off. "Rain Apples grow around here. I can go find some." Shala suggested.

Ruby nodded. "Scarlet and I'll get the fire started." she said. "We'll be back in a bit." Felix said. Him and Shala left, leaving Ruby and Scarlet alone. Ruby started to look around for stray branches and wood, Scarlet in tow. "So... Shala and Felix are pretty cool." Scarlet said.

"Yeah. They are." Ruby said as she picked up a stick. Her tone hinted at the fact that her mind was wandering, and as soon as Scarlet had said 'Shala', Ruby smiled. "Does someone have a crush?" Scarlet teased, having noticed Ruby's slightly strange behavior.

Ruby whirled around to face her dragon, a slight fiery red blush on her cheeks. "N-no, I don't. I mean, that's not even possible, right?" Ruby said. "We've only known Shala and Felix for a day. But..." "But what?" Scarlet asked. Ruby took a deep breath, the blush on her face fading. "It feels like I've known them for a lifetime." she said. "You and me both." Scarlet said.

~  ~  ~

The night passed sooner than everyone expected. The next morning, everyone got ready for the day ahead. "Shala? Do you know what the trial is?" Ruby asked as she rubbed some of the sleep out of her eyes. "Yeah. We have to dive through the lake, then go through this cave that has magical air to breath. At least, that's the vague part I know." Shala responded.

Ruby's eyes widened, but she shook it off. Shala didn't seem to notice, so that was lucky for Ruby. Shala mounted up on Felix and Ruby went to go get on Scarlet, but stopped dead in her tracks as she looked at the ground with her eyes wide. "Ruby? Everything okay?" Shala asked.

Ruby shook her head, still staring at the same spot. Shala got off her dragon and crouched down where Ruby was looking to see a light blue frog in the grass. "It's a Mist Frog." she said. She stood up and started to walked back over to her dragon, but when she noticed Ruby wasn't moving, she turned around again.

"Ruby, they're passive. It's not gonna do anything to you." she said. "That's not gonna sway her." Scarlet said. She walked over to Ruby, who mounted up without a moment of hesitation. "Ruby's afraid of Mist Frogs." "More incentive to get moving." Shala said. She got back up on Felix and him and Scarlet flew over the lake.

"How deep is the lake and how long are we going to be in the water?" Ruby asked, looking down at the lake in fear. "We'll only be in the water for 20 seconds at most, probably a little less than 10." Shala said. "The cave isn't too far down, and the dragons are pretty good swimmers."