Heart of the Rainforest

Chapter 8 - Confrontation

"Tiki!" Equo cried, spotting her in the doorway. Lionfish growled back at the RainWing, but didn't try to attack him, cautiously (and maybe even fearfully) eyeing his fangs.

The RainWing whirled, his scales flickering dark orange upon seeing her. 

"Why," He hissed irately. "Are there two SandWings and two SeaWings in your treehouse? Unblindfolded?"

Tiki couldn't speak. Now was absolutely not the time to be paralyzed by anxiety, as her friends were being threatened by a large, battle-scarred RainWing, but of course her body decided it wouldn't be able to move. Green and red clashed on her scales, unable to decide if she was more scared or more angry.

"I promise, we're telling the truth!" Equo flared her wings, flashing some sort of message Tiki didn't understand on her scales. 

The RainWing hissed dangerously at her. "I have no reason to trust you."

"She's- she is!" Tiki sputtered, her voice breaking awkwardly. She felt Akila land on her shoulder and her anxiety calmed a little.

"And what reason do I have to trust you?" He lashed his tail, turning to Tiki. "You're just some annoying dragonet!"

"Hey!" Equo shouted, startling Tiki. She had never seen her so aggressive. Lionfish reached for his pouch, where he had stored the knife Equo stole and the weapons he had whittled on the way to the rainforest. Adder hit his talon away, making vague gestures at the RainWing and himself.

"They're not threats." Tiki forced herself to hold her wings normally, instead of crushing them against her sides to look smaller. "We- we don't want war anymore."

The RainWing puffed up his ruff. "Well, too bad. These are enemies unblindfolded in the village, which is a war crime, by word of the queen."

Tiki's talons were starting to tremble. She was not about to cry. "Who even are you?"

The RainWing bristled. "I am the general's third warrior!" He hollered. "I have his ear!"

Behind him, all four dragonets snorted.

"I'm going to have to put them all in prison." He declared. "Unblindfolded and non-official dragons from other tribes are not to be trusted."

"No!" Lionfish snarled. "I'm not going back into another prison!"

Tiki felt a whoosh of air behind her and a tall, pale orange dragon swept in. Banggai stretched to their full height, which was alarmingly larger than they normally were, and glared at the RainWing. They flared a wing protectively over Tiki.

The RainWing immediately shrank down in Banggai's shadow, the reds and oranges on his scales quickly turning pale.

"B-Banggai!" He stammered.

"I trust them." They said simply. "Stop threateningly them. Go back to the barracks." 

"But-"

"Go back to the barracks." They said in a warning tone.

The RainWing looked at the dragonets standing against the wall, then back to Banggai. Without saying anything, he bobbed his head and stalked out of the treehouse.

As soon as he was gone, Banggai lapsed back to their normal, much smaller self. They bumped Tiki's wing assuringly.

"What was that about?" Equo asked wonderingly, stepping towards them and watching the doorway behind them.

"I'm one of the queen's advisors," Banggai waved a wing dismissively. "Tiki would never have her own treehouse if I didn't have my position, much less such a nice one."

"I... had no idea." Equo said. "You don't act like you're in a position of power."

"Well, she has lots of advisors. I'm not really that important, really. She won't miss me." They shrugged.

"They won't miss you?" Mamba piped up. "Why?"

"Because I'm coming with you." They reached up and stroked her bird's head. "To wherever you're going to find out what the NightWings are doing."

"Oh." Equo tipped her head at them. "Sure. You don't have to, but I mean, I'll take any help I can get."

"Tiki," Mamba called. She walked to where the SandWing was standing, next to her desk. "You were a healer on the battlefield, right?" Tiki nodded. "Okay, so I was thinking, while we're here, why not learn something useful? So, if you're able to, and it's okay if you're not, could you teach me some things about healing? And medicine?"

"Um," Tiki took a deep breath, trying to work out her remaining fear. "Sure."

"Great!" Mamba beamed at her, and Tiki felt a little better.

Tiki dropped the prey on the floor, which she realized she had been holding the whole time, and opened one of the drawers.

"Okay," She started picking through the materials in the drawer. "Let's get started, then, I guess."