Don't Fall in Love with the Night

Chapter 1

     The warmth of the sun was wrapping her in a blanket of comfort. Prism sighed happily, feeling cozy pink rolling across her scales. It was nearing the end of suntime, and quiet energy was thrumming through her. The RainWing sat up, content. All she had to do today was... she groaned. Battle training.

     Regretfully, Prism got to her feet, squinting at the early afternoon sun. Yawning, she looked around, searching for--

     "Hiya, Prism." A voice interrupted her search. Prism turned to find Mirage, who was only half-awake, swingingly lazily in the hammock across from Prism. Prism smiled at her friend. "Ready for battle training?" she asked Mirage sarcastically.

     Mirage rolled her eyes, her scales turning from a content lavender to a dark blue. "I guess. I don't see why we have to, though. If those... DarkWings want our rainforest, I bet they could just live in a tiny part of it. Peacefully. Without making innocent dragons train and work."

     "They're NightWings," Prism reminded her friend with a friendly nudge. "Though I agree."  She yawned again, this time adding a stretch. "We'd better get going, before the general yells at us. I've heard she's pretty tough."

     Mirage snorted at the mention of the general, but followed Prism as she took flight towards the training grounds. As they got closer, flashes of color showed that the general was already there, along with some other RainWings set to learn in this time slot. With so many able RainWings, groups were rotated throughout the day. The RainWings in the clearing were organized into somewhat of a line, but it obviously wasn't good enough for the general's standards. The SeaWing, Prism forgot her name, was ineffectually trying to hide a scowl. 

     "Prism and Mirage, right?" she checked as the two landed in the clearing.

     "Yup," answered Mirage. The general frowned at the snarky answer, but crossed their names off a list.

     "Alright then. While we wait for the others, you can start stretching."

     A confused-looking, leaf green RainWing raised a talon. "What's stretching, General Origami?"

     "It's General Tsunami," the SeaWing sighed in frustration. "Come on. The NightWings will be here in two days, and you don't know what stretching is?"

     The RainWings shifted uncomfortably, not meeting their general's gaze. Mirage didn't even try to hide a yawn.

     General Tsunami grit her teeth. "Just reach in different directions, like you're trying to grab something. Like this." She showed them a couple of examples, and the green RainWing nodded. He and the rest of the RainWings followed Tsunami's example.

     "Why do we have to do this in the first place?" whined Mirage. "What do those DarkWings even want?" Prism nodded, wanting to know the same thing.

     "The NightWings want to kill you," hissed the general.

     "But why?" Prism jumped in. "If they want the rainforest, let's just let them live in some part away from us. There's enough fruit in the rainforest."

     By now, most of the RainWings had stopped stretching, taking advantage of the conversation to relax. Some of the dragons had curled up in a patch of sunlight and others were eating, but a small group was still waiting to hear their leader's response.

     Tsunami squinted at Prism. "You're Prism, right?" The RainWing nodded. "That's a fair question," continued the general. "The complicated answer is that the NightWings can't understand compromise that well. They're deceitful, untrustworthy, and--" She broke off. "Well, they're also pretty good at killing off any dragon that gets in their way." Tsunami met the eyes of the few dragons who weren't asleep or off chasing butterflies.

     "So, what you're saying is that because these NightWings are bad, we have to pay for it?" asked Citrus, a burgundy-colored male.

     "Precisely," answered Tsunami with a quick nod.

     The only other RainWing listening, Poinsetta, asked nervously, "What does 'precisely' mean?"

     Tsunami repressed a sigh. "It means that he was right." She surveyed the little group of four who were still paying attention. "What were your names again?"

     Citrus, Mirage, Poinsetta, and Prism gave their names, and General Tsunami made a special mark next to their names on the scroll. "Thank you," she said, meeting their eyes. "Training session dismissed."

Hiya wonderful readers who decided to give my fic a chance! Vote if you liked this chapter, don't if you didn't. And feel free to give notes or yell at me to update - it'll help me, I promise. :3