Misfits of Vernada ~Wattys2016~

VI

Again, done by creepakilla

Zappy.

Zappy angled his wings to soar over the last stretch of the dark, forbidding WildWoods, excitement and weariness warring inside him.

My new home! he thought in ecstasy. I can't wait to meet my family! Wait till Moon- The thought struck him like a lump of lead: it wasn't likely that he'd see Moon for many many years.

He struggled on, weariness and sorrow threatening to overwhelm him, until he glanced forward, past the other dragons, and realized he could see the lighter trees of Keen Forest before him.

He painfully unlocked his aching muscles to beat his wings, and nearly fell out of the sky as Cobalt suddenly gave an ear-splitting roar, which was answered by a far-off dragon-bellow. After the response, Cobalt nodded to Scale and turned, nearly causing the lead hatchlings to crash into him.

"It is now time for your first lesson," he informed them in a rather bored tone, "take it away, Scale."

"Alright, hatchlings," she began, "some of you may have wondered: how do we fly amongst the trees without breaking our wings?"

She looked miffed when her only response from the class was a blank stare.

"Well, then, if you never noticed that, some of you might have wondered what the strange creases running across your wings are... Possibly."

She gave Zappy an approving look as he nodded, "Good, good, I see someone's got a sharp eye.

"Anyway, they're for doing this:" And suddenly her wings folded up where the creases were, though the rest of the wing remained rigid!

"We can control them individually, see?" And her wing waved, up and down, up and down. "Now you try it, hatchlings."

Zappy was amazed that he hadn't figured that out already, and promptly tried it, as did his companions. He found it surprisingly easy, and, as Scale scanned the group, was told that he was exceptionally good at it--for a beginner. Only one or two others did it as deftly as him.

After several minutes of practise, Scale nodded, satisfied that they were good enough.

"Now," she began, "we are going down to our Central Village, but don't forget to fly slowly amongst the trees until you get used to them: if you go too fast or react too slowly you will easily need to visit the Healer's Houses. Come on then!"

Zappy cautiously descended toward the trees, watching his teacher intently from above as she dove down and, as the trees neared her wings, folded them inward to avoid contact. He wasn't certain that he wouldn't end up at the Healer's Houses after all. Dodging the numerous trees was going to be extremely difficult.

His fears, though, proved unfounded, other hatchlings went spinning into trees all over the place, but he suffered no further harm than accidentally lodging his tail in a tree trunk and a scratch across his nose from another hatchling hitting a tree and whirling dizzily across his path, limbs and tail causing havoc among the foliage and other dragons.

He realized, as he navigated among the trees and hatchlings, that Cobalt stared at him unceasingly, his gaze full of distrust and suspicion. Zappy was tired of the undeserved animosity.

After several minutes of crashing into trees, Scale worriedly divided the hatchlings into two groups: those who had the potential to seriously hurt someone walked with her while she instructed them further, and the few who had a knack for it-like Zappy-flew ahead with Cobalt.