Transported: A Wings of Fire story

Round Two

Willow waited at the entrance.
The tournament's second round was bound to start at any time, so all the contestants were ordered to return to the waiting room until further instruction.

Willow stared at the large wooden door in front of her.
It led out to the open arena where about five dozen spectators were waiting on the edge of their seats for the action to begin.

Willow sighed nervously.
She was confident with her fighting skills and knew she could win, but she didn't enjoy the idea of everyone watching.

She didn't enjoy being the centre of attention and most certainly didn't enjoy how everyone was recently treating her.

She looked around at the other competitors in the room.
They were all giving her a mix of glances ranging from curious, confused, as well as worrisome.

Though each time the others were caught by Willow, they distracted themselves with something else and played dumb as if nothing was going on.

She sighed with a hint of sadness.
From the second that Willow quickly cut Orleander's battle short it wasn't any surprise that her skills had gotten a little attention and some comments from peers.

To her grand surprise -though she should have seen it coming- the second she exited the building for a break she was bombarded by questions from a range of dragons.

They ranged from many compliments on her newfound strength to a few somewhat insulting remarks about how she changed for the worse with it.

The remarks were a little hurtful since they were from dragons she knew, though, in the end, Willow didn't care.
This was because her friends who she's grown so close to were ecstatic about her victory.
'And that's enough for me' she thought with a smile.

Willow had to admit that she used to worry about what others thought of her.
'But after meeting Hurricane... I realised that his way of living was better... Not caring what others thought and just doing what you think is right...'

Willow admired that part of him, he did go a little far now and then but his loyalty was unmatched by most dragons.
She smiled and laughed to herself.
'Similar to his fighting skill... It's a good thing he's not competing in this, nobody would stand a chance'

Suddenly, Willow felt a tap on her shoulder.
She looked behind her to see two dragons who she recognised.

Siblings, Nettle and Mandrake stood behind her.
Willow's face fell slightly into one of slight annoyance.
She didn't exactly want to talk to Nettle at the moment, but it seemed like she was going to have to.

"Oh hey," Willow greeted in the most casual way she could.
"What brings you here?"

Nettle shot Willow a look she couldn't decipher.
"Oh nothing, we were just curious really-"

"You," Mandrake inputted and clarified, "You were interested Nettle, not me."

Nettle rolled her eyes and whacked Mandrake in the face with her wing.
"As I said, we were just curious about what a soft spine like you is doing in a tournament like this?"

Willow scowled.
"That's none of your concern," She stated darkly, borrowing the line that Hurricane had said so many times in the past.

Nettle was slightly surprised by Willow's tone but pressed on.
"You weren't skilled at fighting the last time I saw you, what happened? Did someone finally manage to convince that thick skull of yours that being a pacifist is stupid?"

That struck a nerve within Willow, so much so that she was this close to slicing Nettle across the face right then and there.
"Nettle. Leave. Now." She snarled.