The Silver Scales

The Silver Scales CH 22

Unspoken Feelings

Alligator rubbed his eyes, staring down at the work assigned to him and his winglet in Winter's class of Scavengers. Out of all the classes, Alligator thought he would be learning from, Scavengers was certainly not a subject that he would have expected to ever learn about. Scavengers were endangered, and from what Alligator knew of them, they weren't a creature that he was interested in learning about. Yet Winter seemed to speak about them like they were fascinating creatures and not two-legged little monsters that stole gold and killed dragons.

"Hey, Alligator." Alligator looked up to see Spirit, and for a moment, he worried that she hadn't been able to sleep thanks to her visions/nightmares. But she didn't look tired at all, and it wasn't that late, Alligator discovered as he glanced out the window to see a decent amount of sunlight coming through the leaf windows."Hey, Spirit. What's up?" Alligator asked, using a talon to keep the scrolls from rolling back up. "Nothing, just came to see if a scroll I requested came in yet," Spirit said. "You ok? You look like you've been trying to understand the meaning of life." She said with a giggle, walking over to Starflight, who had been working at his desk, and handed over the scroll Spirit requested, stamping her name to make sure she properly checked it out before leaving for the back to put some scrolls away. Though Alligator couldn't help notice Starflight looking in Alligator's direction with a small smile.

"It's just the lessons Winter gave us. Why do we even need to learn about scavengers? They are nothing but a nuisance and should be eradicated in my opinion." Alligator muttered, dragging his quill across the page in a half-hearted effort to write a note. "That's one outlook," Spirit said, sitting next to Alligoatr, close enough he could feel the warmth from her sandwing scales. "What other outlook is there?" He asked. Spirit smiled at him coyly. "You haven't met Bandit yet, have you?" Alligator looked up from his scrolls, puzzlement creasing his brow. "Who?" Spirit tapped his shoulder with her wing. "Follow me."

Alligator hurried, gathered his scrolls, and followed Spirit. Soon, they stopped at a door Alligator hadn't gone through before, knocking on it only for Winter to open it. "Oh, hello, is everything alright?" Winter asked. "Everything's fine, Alligator here is struggling with your lessons because he thinks that Scavengers should just be thrown out with last week's prey. I thought if he met Bandit, maybe he could see a different side to scavengers, if it's alright with you, of course!"

Winter chuckled slightly. "Come on in," He opened the door wider, allowing them to enter his sleeping cave. A large cage was in the corner of the room, and Alligator sat down near the center of the cave, Spirit besides him, to keep Alligator calm, though he didn't know that yet.

"This is Bandit," Winter said, opening the cage, and a small scavenger walked out, looking up at Winter, then at the two other dragons. Letting out a few high-pitched squeaks. Spirit could feel Alligaotr tensing, and she gently brushed her wings with his to try to help calm him. "I found him in the ice kingdom. He was terrified of us, of course. But after I released and found him again, when I finally accepted my exile and began to live the life I wanted rather than the life my kingdom planned for me, Bandit and I grew quite close." Winter lowered a wing to the floor. Alligator watched in amazement as the small scavenger climbed up onto his shoulder, a hand on the icewings' neck to keep himself stable.

Winter walked over to Alligaotr, the large mudwing, easily eye-level with the scavenger. Bandit looked at the mudwing, then at Spirit, giving the hybrid a small wave of his paw. Spirit waved back with a smile. "Not every scavenger is like the ones who killed Oasis, Alligator." Winter laid a wing on Alligaotrs' shoulder, giving a few clicks of his tongue, watching Bandit climb onto the mudwings shoulder via Winter's wing. Alligaotr sucked in a breath, tensing as Bandit laid his paw on the mudwings' neck, squeaking out to him, as if trying to speak.

"I've started a sanctuary. Scavengers are remarkable creatures that form family groups and engage in social interactions, much like humans. Yes, some are just as greedy and violent as we dragons when it comes to gold and treasure, but I have seen these social interactions personally. Most of the time, if we leave them alone, then they will leave us alone." Winter handed Alligator a small blueberry, gesturing to Bandit.

Alligator glanced between Winter and Bandit, half tempted to throw the small scavenger off his shoulder and into the nearest torch. But he slowly lifted the blueberry to the small creature, watching in amazement as Bandit took it from Alligoatr, sitting on his shoulder, and began to eat the blueberry peacefully. "Mmm..." Alligator didn't look a hundred percent convinced, but he was more relaxed.

"Hey Bandit!" Spirit said once Bandit had finished eating, the small scavenger squeaking excitedly as he climbed onto Spirit's much warmer scales, climbing onto her head and lying on it like a large pillow. "How does he-" Alligator began. "Spirit's parents are good friends of mine," Winter said. "They helped me track down Bandit, actually, and they helped keep Bandit fed with properly cooked food since I couldn't," Winter explained, smiling as Bandit began to slide down Spirit's scales, only to climb up and repeat the process.

"I.... I've never seen a scavenger up close.... I've only heard stories... To be honest, I thought they would look more intimidating." Alligator admitted, watching Bandit climb and slide down Spirit's scales over and over. Spirit giggled, her laughter like music to Alligaotr's ears. "That's the thing about stories," Winter said. "You can only take them with a hefty amount of salt; they are always from someone else's perspective," Winter explained, gently picking up Bandit. "Alright you two, I'm glad I could help, but it's getting past the time for lights out; Please return to your sleeping caves for the night," Winter said a little more firmly, while he was much happier and more relaxed in his life of exile, he was still a teacher at the school, and had to be sure his students abided by the rules. "Ok, bye Bandit!" Spirit waved to the small scavenger, leaving with Alligator.

"Well?" Spirit asked him as they walked. "It.... It's given me quite a lot to think about." Alligator said softly, brushing wings with Spirit. "Thanks for taking me. It certainly opens things up." Alligator said, smiling gently. Spirit playfully nudged his shoulder with her snout. "You are quite welcome, maybe next time you are faced with something you don't understand, you'll take a closer look," Spirit said playfully before stopping in front of her sleeping cave. "Night, Alligator, sleep well," Spirit said, smiling genuinely at the larger mudwing. "You too." Alligator said, giving a smile of his own before heading to his cave, surprised to find Starflight waiting. "Haven't told her yet?" Starflight asked with a mysterious tone to his voice. Alligator played dumb. "What do you mean? Tell who what?"

Starflight chuckled slightly. "Let me spell it out for you: You are aware I had a huge crush on Sunny when we were younger, yes?" Alligoatr nodded, quickly adding "yes." To his response to the blind librarian. "Well, when we were on our way to stopping the war, I got kidnapped by the nightwings. I saw many things there I wish I could forget. My father was experimenting on captured rainwings, the lava that was a near constant threat to the inhabitants, how the volcanoes' poor weather, all that ash and smoke, was making everyone weak and sick. But nothing scared me more than what happened to Viper." The nightwing looked in Alligator's direction. "She fell into lava during a fight thanks to Morrowseer. I had to watch and listen as she screamed in pure agony, the lava melting her sclaes, turning her bones to nothing. Not even ashes were left."

Alligator swallowed slightly, a shudder running through his spine. "And the only thing i could think of afterwards? That it could have been me. Morrowseer had Fatespeaker, there was little to stop him from replacing me. By that point, I hadn't yet told Sunny how i felt about her. If I had died in the lava instead of Viper, she would've never known." Starflight gently brushed his wing against Alligator's side. "No one knows what the future holds. Even Spirit and Moon's vision are not always set in stone. Tell her, maybe you and her will work out, but maybe you won't. But you will never know if you and Spirit will work out or not, if you never tell her. If you keep second guessing yourself. In case you haven't noticed by looking at yourslef, you are a kind dragon, sure you may have a few battle scars, according to Fatespeaker, but Spirit isn't the kind of dragon to judge or care about someone by their physical appearance alone." Starflight said gently before leaving, Alligator standing in the hallway in silence for a long moment, before heading inside and heading to his small mud bed, his mid racing with thoughts.

Neither the blind librarian or the mudwing had noticed Avalanche listening, her own thoughts racing about Spirit and what Starflight had said, as she silently snuck back into her cave.