Jade Mountain's Next Generation

Chapter 2 - Rosebud

Darkshine's claw mate was already in the cave, curled up in a hammock reading a book. Her scales kept shifting from green to blue in different shades, which lead her to believe she might be part RainWing. It took a moment for her to realize there was someone else there, because Darkshine stood nervously in the doorway. Soon, though, the dragon looked up and saw her.

"Hi." She said, grinning. "You must be my clawmate!" Her tail flicked to another hammock, and Darkshine took a small step towards it, then another. She hadn't responded yet.

"I'm Indigo, who are you? I take it you're the NightWing." That made sense, Darkshine thought. Her scales were all very dark colours, with odd white flecks across them. She didn't really look like a NightWing, but she didn't look like a RainWing either.

"I'm Darkshine." She finally replied. Indigo's eyes widened. "You're Queen Glory's daughter." She muttered. "For some reason I forgot she married a NightWing. Can I call you Shine? I'm sorry, Darkshine is a mouthful."

"Sure." She said, although privately she thought she'd heard more confusing names from NightWing dragonets. "Uh, is it just us in this cave?"

"Yeah." Indigo replied. "We can meet our winglets today, if you want."

Shine was still trying to think of a polite way to say no when Indigo said, "Come on, let's ask Fatespeaker what room they're in." She took Shine by the wing and dragged her out the door.

"Hmm, let's see. It says I'm the SeaWing and you're the NightWing. The RainWing is someone named Rosebud."

"I know her." Shine realized.

"Nice. The SkyWing is Copper, the SandWing is Sahara, and the IceWing is Igloo. Oh, and the MudWing is Alligator." She read. "I wonder where they are."

"I'm here." Said a soft voice. "Hello. I'm Rosebud."

They turned around to see a pink and silver dragon standing behind them. Shine recognized her.

"I'm Indigo, I'm the SeaWing." Indigo said importantly. "And Shine is the NightWing. She says you know her."

"I do." Said Rosebud. "She's Queen Glory's daughter, right? I talked to her mother a bit. About stuff."

Rosebud's parents had committed suicide when she was young. She didn't want to stay with her abusive uncle, so she had talked to Glory about what to do. Glory eventually found someone to adopt her, a RainWing named Melon, and they had stopped meeting.

"Huh." Said Indigo. "Would you mind it if I called you Rose? Or Bud, I guess, but that doesn't sound as good."

"I wouldn't mind." Rose said. Indigo grinned.

"Alright, nice to meet you, Rose." Indigo waved enthusiastically and flew down the hallway again, probably to explore more. Shine didn't move.

"You okay, Shine?" Asked Rose gently.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered. "I'm just gonna go back to my cave. Bye."

Rose waved, and Shine walked back down the hallway. She sat in the corner of the room and took a deep breath. Social interaction wasn't her strong point. That was fine. She could just sit in here until tomorrow.