A human in Wings of Fire

22 - Tsunami's visit

"What's happening ?" Tsunami asked, feeling her heartbeat suddenly fasten. Something was not right.

"It's Ashley !" Sunny cried. "He passed out !" She had run to him as soon as she noticed the fall, preceding Tsunami from short. She didn't have time to turn around before her friend was already standing in front of the thin pool.

"Oh no." Starflight said, rushing to Sunny's position. Both dragons were standing between Tsunami and Ashley, so she couldn't see him. But she could see them lean down to the Scavenger's height to try and help him. "He didn't hit his head." The Nightwing continued. "And I think his bag protected him from any shock. But we need to get him out of here."

Sunny backed away, letting Starflight grab Ashley by the shoulders and slowly pull him out of the water. Tsunami finally saw what condition he was in.

His body was limp, feet weakly scrapping the floor. His eyes were closed, unmoving. And drips of blood were falling from his left arm, still strapped inside the same piece of fabric found at the Sky Palace. The pool he had fallen in was slowly turning red.

Starflight put him against the bigger throne in a sitting position. Glory walked closer, showing no particular emotion. But splotches of pale green danced on her scales. "He's not dead, is he ?" She asked in a flat tone.

"What ?" Sunny cried. "No, he can't be !" Her Sandwing friend looked at Ashley with distress, trying to find any sign of life. "Look, he's breathing !"

Tsunami didn't have time to see, a commotion from below interrupted the scene. Her heart sank. Oh no, not right now.

She sprang to the edge and gazed down at the lake. A huge blue Seawing, exactly the colour of her scales, burst out of the tunnel. Vines of

pearls were woven around her horns and neck and wings, and a twisted white horn with a wicked-looking point was attached to the end of her tail. She had odd black stains on her claws, but she was the most beautiful sight Tsunami had ever seen.

All over the palace, dragons were folding down into low bows. Tsunami didn't know how to react, this was the moment she had been waiting for her whole life, but it couldn't have happened at a worse time.

But as Queen Coral shot out of the water, Tsunami saw that she wore a thin, webbed harness with a long cord... which led to a harness on another dragon, flying close behind her.

That dragon was much smaller, probably only about a year old. She was flapping her wings frantically, trying to keep up. With a jolt of shock, Tsunami spotted the royal pattern of stripes on the underside of her wings.

"Who is that ?" She hissed at Riptide.

"That's Anemone," he said, blinking in surprise. "Your sister."

An enemy.

Anemone.

An enemy.

It took Tsunami a few moments to realize what Riptide had actually said. Until she realized she'd been telling a name. Anemone. Her sister. Another heir to the throne.

She turned around, wanting to cry on Starflight for not telling her, but she stopped. He was busy taking a careful look at Ashley.

"What do you want me to do ?" He cried to Glory. "I don't know scavenger anatomy !"

"I don't know ! Something ! You're the one to know those kind of things ! Didn't you read everything ?"

Tsunami turned her attention back over the ledge. Now was not the time to argue with her friends.

That could have been me. She thought, looking at Anemone. I could have been the one with matching pearls and a matching throne and a mother who loved me, if the Talons hadn't stolen me from my home.