Winglet: Tragedy

Perhaps Happiness

The war had waged for eleven years so far. I am proud to say that Burn has got us allied with the MudWings since they went neutral in this war. I can assure you that they left because they knew Blister was not meant to be on the throne for the SandWings.

You are all on the right side and with our new allies, this war will be over soon and you may return to your families and live normal SkyWing lives under my rule. Soon, everything will return to its usual boringness.

Your queen,

Queen Scarlet of the SkyWings

Kestrel threw the letter out the window. She hated being a soldier for Burn and Scarlet. Burn was going to be a terrible queen, just as bad as Scarlet or worse, if Scarlet could get worse.

It had been eleven years since Maroon's death and Kestrel still hadn't gotten over him. She longed to feel his strong wings wrap around her and his sense of humor warm her up.

She was never going to move on... she couldn't.

But Kestrel knew what she wanted to do. She didn't want to keep fighting for the wrong side. Burn was awful, end of story.

So her options were to be a traitor and join another alliance, join a group called the "Talons of Peace", or runaway. Perhaps with a dragonet.

Part of Kestrel wanted a family. She wanted one with Maroon, but he was long gone. Kestrel needed to move on.

However, she still wanted a dragonet.

An idea popped into her head.

She could join the breeding program and at least get a dragonet out of it. Maybe that's all she needed was a dragonet of her own. A dragonet who could live a better life than Kestrel ever had.

She got up and walked out of her tent and took a few steps over to Commander Jay's tent.

Kestrel walked into Jay's tent. He hadn't been the same since Caracara sacrificed herself for the squad. He missed Caracara and Kestrel knew how that felt. Jay had lost his cheerful-self and he was full of hurt and pain now.

Scarlet had sent Kestrel's squad on a dangerous mission to destroy the MudWing's encampment along the SkyWing's territory. The MudWings saw a SkyWing and sounded the alarm. The new SkyWings took off followed by Falcon. Kestrel, Peak, Robin, Jay, and Caracara stood their ground as the enemies approached. Caracara said there were too many. So they began to retreat. They were ambushed by the MudWing's on patrol and Caracara had thrown herself at them. She was slayed and the rest of them got out of there as fast as they could.

And now they were going to ally with the MudWings and perhaps come face to face with Caracara's killer. No wonder Jay was so upset.

"Hey, Kestrel. What's up?" Commander Jay asked. There was sorrow behind his voice.

"I am resigning as a soldier... for now," Kestrel answered and Jay looked even more sad.

"Why? You must have a valid reason," Jay claimed.

"I... I am going to join the breeding program," Kestrel responded. She looked away from Jay.

"Okay. It's... um, a bad time to leave. I'll let it pass but with Caracara gone, you're the next strongest in the group. They should have handed over this position to you first," Jay stated.

"They did. I didn't want it because I don't want all of your lives in my claws. They also offered it to Peak and Robin but you know why they both said no. They forced it upon you because they don't trust the new SkyWings, the cowards, or Falcon," Kestrel explained.

"At least Peak and Robin have found happiness with each other. It may not last through the war but I'm not sure how many of us will survive the war," Jay said.

"How loyal are you to Burn and Scarlet?" Kestrel dared to asked.

"Not very. Part of that is my feelings for Caracara and the new alliance with the MudWings. The other part is the arena battles they both enjoy," Jay claimed with dismay.

Kestrel nodded. She understood why Jay wasn't loyal to Scarlet or Burn.

Jay continued, "But I continue to fight for them because they can't live forever. One day, someone hopefully better than Scarlet takes Scarlet's place. I also can't let all these SkyWings die because I don't like the queen. It isn't fair for them. So I fight for the survival of the tribe. Anyway, yes, you may join the breeding program. Come back as soon as possible, though."

Kestrel thanked him and left. She hated the fact Jay had his hopes up, thinking she'll return. Kestrel didn't want to tell him that when the dragonets hatch, she's taking off with them.

She was going to be happy with her dragonet. Kestrel believed it could happen.