Anemarin

Part One_Chapter 3

While everyone else remained mostly confused, Anemone couldn't stop apologizing.
"Three moons Tamarin I'm SO sorry!" She said as she untangled everyone's wings.
"Oh! Hi Anemone", Anemone's heart did a weird flip flop when she heard Tamarin say her name, "I thought I was being attacked or something. I couldn't really tell." Tamarin said with a short laugh. Anemone felt guilty about the tangled up disaster that she had caused (more or less) and she glanced away from Tamarin for a second, but all she could see was Kinkajou smirking and giggling at them. What??? Kinkajou doesn't SMIRK! She looked back at Tamarin and noticed that their front talons were touching.

"Oops. Heh. Sorry." She said, pulling back. Tamarin smiled.

"Oh, it's fine. What are you guys doing in the art cave anyw-" Suddenly, Kinkajou burst into our conversation.

"WE WANTED TO INVITE YOU TO COME SWIMMING WITH US!" She yelled enthusiastically.

"Hmm. Alright, but I've only been to the lake twice, so I don't exactly know... well..." Tamarin struggled to find words.

"How to get around?" Anemone guessed.

"Well, err... yes. I mean... being blind and all. But I should be fine." Tamarin said, confident in her navigational skills.

"Good." Sepia said.

"Lets get to the lake." Turtle suggested. So all five dragons started to make their way down to the cavern with the lake in it. Tamarin was walking a bit slower than the rest of them, and Anemone guided her through the caves with one of her wingtips. Tamarin was somewhat reluctant to accept any help at first, but eventually she gave up and let herself be guided forward. When they finally reached the lake, Kinkajou immediately jumped in, splashing the rest of them with droplets of water.

"Come ON guys!" She said happily, using her tail to splash Turtle even more. Turtle seemed surprised at first and then happy. He dove into the lake and began a water fight with Kinkajou. Sepia decided to fly up to a small stone island on the side of the lake, which was big enough for two dragons if they kept their wings tucked in. Anemone walked slowly into the lake, with Tamarin following even more slowly behind her.

"Hmm... I should visit this place more often" Tamarin said, walking deeper into the lake, "The water is so warm here." Suddenly a wave of water splashed over Tamarin.

"Hey! Who did that?" She said in protest, shaking water off of her head.

"Pshhh. Not ME." Kinkajou said with a giggle. "It was TOTALLY TURTLE who did that to you."

"No I didn't!" Turtle said, but it was clear that the two of them were joking. Then Kinkajou used her wings to splash the water towards Turtle and Kinkajou. Anemone smiled and joined in as Turtle threw up his wings to shield himself and Kinkajou started to splash water back at them.

"TEAMS!" Kinkajou shouted joyfully. Anemone smiled and looked over at Sepia, who seemed to be asleep. Then she watched Tamarin, who was making waves on the lake and laughing with everyone else. Her heart soared as she saw everyone having a great time in the lake. She didn't have anymore weird thoughts and she was finally able to be her normal mostly happy but slightly sarcastic self. She was going to swim with Tamarin, and then she would talk to Turtle about the weird thoughts she'd had earlier, and everything would be fine. She sighed in relief. Then she had a wave of water splash onto her face, and she laughed, splashing the other team back. Eventually, all four of them had found a comfortable spot in the shallows and were laying down, smiling, and drying off their wings.

"I didn't know RainWings liked to swim." Anemone said.

"I didn't know that you weren't a total jerk until a few days ago." Kinkajou responded. "So thanks for being a non-jerk."

"Yeah. I'm really sorry I put a spell on you Kinkajou." Anemone said truthfully.

"Nah, it's fine." She said, waving her talons in the air. "I guess you were only trying to help... uh Turtle... I guess."

"Well he really did like you. Actually I'm pretty sure that he still does..."

"Oh." Said Kinkajou awkwardly. "Yeah we talked about that... sort of... ish." Then Sepia yawned from her stone island on the other side of the lake, which saved them from any more awkward conversation.

"Well. I've got to go." said Kinkajou, though Anemone guessed that she had nothing to do. "Tamarin, wanna come with me to our very important... uh... MEETING?"

"Sure Kinkajou. The MEETING." Tamarin responded in a joking tone. Tamarin once again had a little bit of trouble navigating through the cave, but Anemone jumped up and helped her towards the entrance. This time Tamarin didn't mind the help, probably because she had walked into multiple stalagmites while she was trying to dry her wings off.

"Bye Turtle. Bye Anemone." She said as she left the cave with Kinkajou. Anemone sighed, not a sad sigh, more of a happy sigh, and flopped down on the rock next to Turtle. Sepia left behind them, saying "See ya later Anemone." Anemone waved one of her wings to say goodbye. A few moments passed as they heard Sepia's talons click against the stone floors, and get further and further away.

"So", Turtle said, tilting his head to the side, "what's wrong?"