Lotus

Chapter 5

Not knowing where I was going, I picked the first new hallway I saw and started down it. Maybe this wasn't the best idea, I thought to myself. What if I get lost, and no one is able to find me? What do I do then? I can't just wander around inside of this mountain forever. What will they think if I'm just gone? That I went home? Will they care if--

My thoughts were halted as I bumped headfirst into a wall. No, not a wall, but another dragon.

"Sorry!" I muttered. "That's my bad, I wasn't watching where I was going." I kept my head down, trying to make myself as small as possible. I didn't want to bother the dragon any more than I already had.

"No," the bright pink and yellow RainWing said, looking up at me. "It's...fine." Her scales immediately shifted to darker shades of red and orange, and she plastered somewhat of a fake smile, clearing her throat. "Oh. Kamala. It's just you."

I finally realized that it was Dignity, who for some reason, seemed to dislike me more than any other dragon. She didn't make it obvious, though, hiding it behind fake smiles and compliments. I tried asking Walnut about it, and he said he sensed that as well, but didn't make much of it, thinking that it was just like the behavior of everyone else. She had no reason to hate me any more than the other RainWings. I agreed with that, but still, she made me feel uneasy, and I couldn't quite shake the feeling like I usually could with everyone else.

"Hi, Dignity," I cringed a bit at that remark, but I wasn't sure what else to say, so I just let the words hang in the air between us. Without my consent, my talons started to fidget again.

Dignity let out a very forced and uncomfortable laugh. "It's...good...to see you here. I didn't think you were going to make it, because you have such a hard time being around other dragons."

I shifted slightly at that remark, extremely uneasy at not quite knowing what she really meant by it. My nerves had started jittering again, though, so I couldn't force myself to leave right then and there, before matters got even worse.

"I see you still have that little habit of yours," she said, glancing down at my talons.

I forced them to stop moving, then replied to her comment, not quite making eye contact. "Uh...yeah. It's not exactly something I have much control over, so…" I trailed off, and she jumped onto the tail end of it before it got too awkward.

"Right, of course," she said with another fake grin. We both forced laughs, then looked away. We just stood there for an awkward minute, not sure what to say next. She then decided the conversation was pretty much over and started walking away, continuing in the direction she was headed in the first place. "Well, I need to run, now. It was nice talking to you." She said all this barely looking behind her, then disappeared around the corner. 

Still processing what just happened, I started off at a brisk pace in the opposite direction she went, my mind going a mile a minute.

What just happened?! Oh, I cannot believe how awkward that was! It was bad enough bumping into her in the first place, but barely saying a word to her? I looked like a total idiot! Now she has more reason to--

My thoughts were cut off again as I, for the second time that day, ran headfirst into another dragon. Because I was moving so fast, I hit this one a lot harder than I had Dignity. As a result, I was knocked back slightly, stumbling into one of the walls.

"Oh, my gosh, I am so sorry," the dragon I bumped into said. He helped me up off the wall, continuing. "I really should've been watching where I was going."

"No, it's my bad. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going," I said, not really looking at him.

"Well, you probably should start doing that more often," he said. It took me a moment to realize that it actually wasn't him who said that, but the dragon next to him. Figuring I should probably find out who I was talking to, I steeled my nerves and finally looked up.

The dragon who had just spoken was a khaki SandWing who had a slight grin on his face. He seemed like the talkative type, though not as much so as Sienna. The other dragon, which I had bumped into, was the dark red SkyWing that I had seen earlier, just outside of the school. Just like he did then, he looked at me with a slightly curious expression, but with more concern this time.

"That was a joke, if you didn't get that," said the SandWing. I finally remembered what he had said before, thinking that I probably should have responded sooner. Or at all.

"Are you okay?" The SkyWing asked me, ignoring the SandWing.

"Yeah," I replied, feeling rather flustered. "I'm fine. Oh, and sorry again for bumping into you."

I look down again, and see that my talons are fidgeting again. Mentally smacking myself, I, once again, forced them to stop.

"Eh, he's fine," said the SandWing. "Aren't you buddy?" He shoved the SkyWing's shoulder a bit. Then, the SandWing turned to me. "Hi, I'm Kosan, and this is my friend Gemini." Gemini offered a small smile to me. "And you are…?"

"Uh, Kamala," I said back, trying not to leave an awkward pause. "I'm Kamala."

"Well, Kamala," Kosan said. "It's a pleasure to meet you." He said that with a little flourish, causing me to snicker a little, and Gemini to roll his eyes. Kosan smirked, then continued. "Where might you be headed? We don't have anything to do right now, so if you don't mind, we might just tag along with you."

It struck me then how comfortable I felt around these two. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, considering how well everything went with both Sienna and Khaki earlier, but it still caught me off guard. I guessed that was something I was just going to have to get used to here. And honestly, I was okay with that.

"I was just trying to find the healing center," I said, and I took a wary step in the direction I was headed before. I looked at the two dragons, to see if that was an alright way to go for them.

They both smiled at me, Kosan saying, "to the healing center it is!" Then, with me in between them, we started off to find the healing center.