Wings of Fire: Who I Am

•1• Patterns

"Zebra, hurry up!"

The voice of his brother rung in Zebra's ears as the SandWing grunted, opening his green eyes from his nights sleep.
He shifted in his sand pile, relishing in the warmth for moments longer before Antelope yelled at him once again.

"Coming!" He called back groggily, stretching out his arms and talons.

At now 6 years old things were different. He had to socialize with other SandWing dragonet's in school, learning combat and other important skills in this time of life.
It was years into the war the three SandWing sisters had created, all assembling with tribes from across Pyrrhia. Combat was a necessity, for Blaze; the SandWing princess allied with her fellow SandWing's and the IceWing's, needed soldiers for her victory.

Zebra hoped he would be a good soldier... He wasn't the best at fighting. Though he was smart. Maybe he could be a strategist instead..? Who was he kidding.. He didn't want to fight in the first place. In any way...

He gave a soft groan, slipping off his sand nest as he headed from his room down the stairs, peering at his mother and father who were eating within the living space.
"Morning mother, father," he smiled kindly to his parents. He loved them dearly. They were with him through so much.. Pyramid glanced over after her mate and smiled.

"Good morning Zebra. Have a good day today and fight hard," she said, rising to her talons and walked to her son, handing him a small basket in which contained a couple of small rodents and a lizard.
He eyed them before nodding slowly with a small smile.

"Ah yes... I.. I will," he said, nodding once before he turned and exited his home.
Feeling the sunshine hit his scales was always a wonderful thing and he would never grow sick of it. He smiled to himself contently before a weight was thrown against him.

"Haha! Come on! You move like overweight snake!" Antelope snickered and nudged his brother with his wing.
Zebra regained his posture before letting out a sigh and followed after his brother and the two other SandWing's with him. He was younger than them all of course, which intimidated him...

"Hello Zebra," a soft voice greeted him as he walked over to join the group. Zebra looked up at the one who addressed him, nodding with a small smile to Meerkat, a female dragoness with pretty golden scales.
He knew she was highly interested in his brother... it was evident in the way she spoke to him and stuck to his side. Though Antelope didn't seem to mind. His brother seemed just as interested in Zebra's eyes.

It amused him...

Meerkat was definitely one of the more beautiful SandWing dragoness' around... although, Zebra had... other preferences.

Specifically not females.

That's right. Zebra had always known he was homosexual. He had always been attracted to males among his classmates... He didn't know why. He just was?
Females didn't interest him romantically. But he loved making friends! Nobody knew of his sexuality and he planned to keep it that way. Forever. It didn't matter anyways...

Zebra watched from the side as Antelope talked and laughed with Meerkat and Cactus, another male who was with them.
Cactus was handsome... but his personality bugged Zebra. He was way too cocky for his liking. And it was too rare to find fellow gay dragons...

The SandWing sighed, watching the small clay built building appear over the dune he climbed.
His brother and his friends raced ahead, flying the rest of the way towards the school.

Ever since age 4, Zebra had never been comfortable with the body he was in.
He never understood what was wrong with him... feeling attracted to other males... and feeling almost lost within the Sand Kingdom and his own self. He had tried to speak to his brother of this, too nervous to consult in his parents. Antelope had only told him he was still looking for his mortality. His meaning... but Zebra felt unsatisfied with that answer.

He needed more... much more insight on what was wrong with him. IF there was something wrong with him.

Of course there was... He was cast out at school because he enjoyed things regular SandWing's didn't... and was just awkward to be around at times.
Zebra hated it. He was so confused... what was wrong with him....? Why was he so weird? Why was he drawn to males not females? Why didn't he do things regular dragonets do? Why was he uncomfortable with the label "SandWing"...?

Sighing, the male cast his eyes around before he opened his wings and soared down the rest of the way to the school.
He landed carefully inside and began to walk to his class in which was a large room with dragons of all ages. They believed fighting with dragons of different ages was fair for an opponent could easily be older than yourself...

Zebra hated it completely. He was terrified to go up against a dragon his brothers age...
He walked in timidly, taking his seat at the back of the classroom, looking around. As the instructor walked in and class began, Zebra's eyes trailed off to the blazing sun outside.

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"Come on, Zebra. Meerkat, Cactus and I are practicing some hunting moves. Come join us," Antelope grinned and trotted around his younger brother expectedly.
Zebra who was laying within the Sand outside his home, looked up, yawning.

"Hgn- what? How come?" He murmured, blinking tiredly from his sleep.
Antelope rolled his eyes. "Hurry up. Hunting is a necessity of life?" He said, shaking his head with a snicker. Zebra stretched out his wings and sighed.
"Ehh... fine I guess..." He stood and trailed after his brother, his tail curled inwards as he had always been taught for safety.

He caught up with the three dragons ahead and nodded to them silently. Meerkat grinned.
"Let's get started! I'm starving!" She exclaimed, beginning to take off, the wind of her wings blowing sand into Zebra's face.

With hollers and laughs of joy and triumph, the three 9 year old dragons flew off together to hunt down supper.
Zebra sighed.

Can't wait for this to be over...

He opened his wings and took off after them, keeping a bit of a distance between himself and his brothers friends.
Antelope took the lead, his brothers black eyes scanning the desert below for any signs of animals.

With a flutter of his wings, Antelope growled.
"Camel~ let's do this Zebra," he said, looking under his wing to the smaller SandWing who was struggling to catch up a bit. Zebra nodded slowly, silently dreading this.

Antelope angled his wings downwards, beginning to glide down towards the camel on the sand, landing a few feet away.
Zebra followed and landed a bit more gracefully, his wings open. The camel had already began to defend itself from the two dragons. Antelope grinned.
"Isn't this great, Zebra? Hunting together will be amazing... especially when we have families of our own. We can have gatherings every moon!" He grinned, circling the panicking creature.

Zebra nodded slowly. "Yeah... of course.." He said, his voice lowering as he darted his eyes around nervously.
"There it goes! Zebra! Stab it!" Antelope exclaimed.

Zebra gasped as the brown creature darted past him.
Hesitating, he uncurled his tail and thrust it forward, missing the camel by a few inches.

"Camel farts!" Antelope said, darting after the animal, catching up to it in no time. His tail came up, stabbing into the creatures back.
The camel fell, falling limp after a few minutes.

Zebra walked over and sighed, eyeing the dead body.
Meerkat and Cactus flew down. "Nice catch guys! I mean, I could probably do better but... eh," Cactus eyed it before smirking. Zebra rolled his eyes. 

Sandsnorter...

Meerkat gave a small laugh. "Well I'm going to find something to bring home. See ya Antelope! By Zebra," she said, touching her wing to Antelope's quickly before flying off with Cactus behind her.
Zebra hummed and smiled. "Hm... do you like her?" He asked his brother, gently picking the camel up by the neck, getting help from Antelope.

A flustered look fell upon Antelope's face and he shifted on his talons, holding the camel up by the rear.

"I... guess... yeah.." He shrugged, beginning to walk as he carried their meal back to their home.
Zebra gave a small laugh, following after. With his brothers usual upbeat and open personality, it was funny to see him embarrassed once in awhile. carrying their prey home, Zebra cast his eyes around, wondering truly where the world laid beyond the desert.