Lotus

Chapter 33

"That about sums it all up," I said. I had just finished explaining what had gone on the past little while to Gemini, from the IceWing attack to meeting him in the SkyWing palace. A shocked look was on his face.

"That's...I don't even know what to say," he replied, after several moments of quiet. I smiled slightly, knowing how he felt.

"Yeah."

He was silent for another moment, then spoke again. "And is Sulfur...and Murre's mother too, I guess...are they--"

I cut him off before he could say it. "Yes, I believe so." I felt sick at that, and my eyes started to sting a little. We both looked down, unable to meet the other's gaze. "But it is what it is."

Not wanting to dwell on that, I turned towards Murre, who was splashing around in the small waves. As I watched her dunk her head under and swirl around the foam, I wished I was able to live just as carefree as she did. To not have to worry about what other dragons thought of me and to see only the good in everything.

That wasn't how my life seemed to work, though. If only.

Shoving those thoughts to the back of my mind, I looked down at the small pool in front of me. The water was bubbling slightly, but nothing new popped up. I frowned. "Do you think they received our Bubble Current yet?"

Bubble Current Messages were a fairly recent invention; they were a way to contact the SeaWings living deep in the oceans of the Kingdom of the Sea. The animus Bottlenose had created it for the convenience of all of Pyrrhia. To use it, all you would need to do is find a small tide pool along the coastline and toss a small pebble into it, stating the recipient and the message to the ripples. Once finished, you would blow on the ripples, sending it off to the Bubble Current supervisor, whose job was to get the messages to the recipients.

We had sent a message to Koi, telling him that his daughter Murre was here. We had sat there for a while, recieving nothing. Eventually, we started growing a little doubtful that we would actually get a response.

We were in luck, though. A few moments later, the pool began bubbling furiously. I tapped the surface of the water lightly, and the calm voice of the message started speaking.

"Recipient not found. Bubble Current returned to sender."

I flicked my tail through the water, ending the message. With my face scrunched up in irritation, I sighed quietly. Well, this is a problem.

"Okay, then," Gemini said slowly, glancing over at me. "Should we try contacting anyone else about him? Does he have any relatives that know where he might live?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. Cerise didn't say much about him. Even if she had, though, I doubt it would've been much help. After what happened between the two of them, I don't think most dragons would've cared where he went, as long as he was gone." 

"Harsh," he said, wincing.

"Yeah," I said quietly. Before I could think of anything else to say, a thought crossed my mind. "Wait. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think Cerise mentioned him living along the northern coast. Maybe...maybe we could try looking for him ourselves."

"Are you sure that's the best idea? I mean, that's a lot of ground to cover, and we've got Murre to handle." As if she sensed that we were talking about her, she scuttled over and plopped down right in between us. Gemini grinned and patted her head. "As cute as she is."

Murre giggled at that, then stood up again and started running circles around me. She seemed to really enjoy doing it, since she did it pretty often. After a time, though, it started to make me dizzy, so I scooped her up and held her squirming body close to mine. I turned back towards Gemini. "Do you have any better ideas?"

He thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "I guess not. But if this ends up taking forever, I'm blaming you."

I scoffed, then lightly smacked him with my wing. Before he could react, I took off flying, with a small grin on my face.