Light and Dark - A Wings of Fire Fanfiction

Chapter Nine

Ivy felt her heart speed up as the mud thinned and sand replaced it. It was warm, the sun beating down on it's surface. Soon, she was standing on the beach, facing a windy ocean.

The ocean was beautiful. A sharp wind and a fishy smell hit her nose. The water sloshed at the beach's edge, and she could see little fish swimming at the shallow area. She didn't know if she should just jump in and swim to the palace in an unfamiliar ocean. It didn't sound very promising. Still, she could see no other option, so she walked right up to the edge of the beach and felt the water.

It was warm, but not too warm. She thought it was perfect to swim in. She still didn't know the location of the underwater palace, but Ivy was sure it must be close, as the Seawings had to find it, too. 

She took a deep breath, and plunged into the deep water.

At first, Ivy was scared. She felt the water tugging at her scales. She didn't know what to do. She took a step forward, and felt a tug to the left. A current? She had heard of these. Her dad had told her one took him all the way to her mother's home. Could this be the one? That would sure be useful.

She lifted out of the sands, and let the current sweep her through the water. She found it unsettling. It tugged at her stomache, making it flip over. She realized she was still holding her breath, and inhaled. 

Her breath was cut off halfway, and she couldn't do anything but exhale and take another half-breath. So this is the cost of having small gills, she thought. It wasn't that bad, only breathing in short, ragged breaths. She thought it was fine. 

She fought against the current. It was going to the left to long. She feared she would loose her only path to the deep palace if she let this take her across the beach. Fighting out of it was hard enough. The millions of currents tugging her this way and that after she got out of the first one cought her off guard.

She wondered how Seawings did this. She couldn't master the sea if it was going to take her somewhere she didn't want to go.

She flung her snout into one of the currents and let it take her a little bit of a way, and then flung herself into another. It was easier to let the current take her places, but it hurt her head when it tugged her fast, then slow, then fast, and then flinging her right out.

She started to run out of breath after some time. Seawater flooded her mouth, and she yelped in surprise. She wasn't far from the surface, since she didn't let any currents take her down. The big sea was scaring her. She was happy that her night vision kicked in. 

She started to work on her scales. She let her ruff vanish into the sea, and turned all her scales a sea blue. She made fake stripes all over her scales. Somehow, Ivy knew exactly where they were supposed to be. 

Flexing her wings, she shined the ones under her snout. Surprisingly, they lit up the water around her. Shrugging, Ivy continued to struggle through the water. Suddenly, a dark shape loomed in front of her. Ivy growled, and warily turned off her shining stripes.

It was a dragon. It swam towards her, and flashed some stripes on it's snout. She turned on the stripes she had used on her snout one by one, just so she could see him. The dragon looked surprised, and a little confused. What is this dragon doing? She wondered thoughtfully. 

He lit up some stripes on his neck, then repeated the flashing signal he had used when he ran into her. Confused, Ivy wrinkled her snout at him, mirroring the last pattern. The dragon flashed another pattern that she couldn't copy.

She pointed up to the surface. Let's talk! I can't talk to you down here!

The dragon just looked at her. He flashed a stripe on his tail. She scowled, and flashed it back. See? My stripes light up. Let's talk.

Ivy started to swim to the surface. She checked if he was following. He was. She burst out of the water, and him shortly after. They stared at each other for a while. Finally, the strange dragon spoke. 

"I'm Kelp. What's wrong, little dragon? Why are you so mad at me? What did you see?" 

She shot a confused look at him. What did he mean? She didn't see anything. She just wanted to talk. "What are you talking about? I just wanted to talk."

He frowned. "But...you told me...it was urgent." He replied, stuttering over his words. She rolled her eyes. Strange dragon.

"Told you what was urgent? I didn't say...wait, we were underwater. I couldn't 'say' anything." Ivy caught herself. What was this drag- Kelp- thinking? 

"You were talking to me. In aquatic, remember?" He replied. 

It took her a moment to realize what he said. Aquatic. A secret language? How would she speak it? With her scales, perhaps? Oh no, what did she say? "Tell me everything I said to you." She replied, hesitating.

"I said 'who are you'. You then said...you said...'who? What? Where? When? Why?'. That part confused me. I said then, 'I'm Kelp. Who are you?'. You seemed a little baffled at first, and then said 'who are you?' Which confused me since I already told you. You then pointed up, which means 'danger!' and I then said 'urgent?' and you just said 'urgent.' Then, you just zoomed away, so I followed you." He explained.

Flinching, she digested what he said. She had made a horrible first impression. What was she going to do if this dragon thought she didn't know their secret language?