Lotus

Chapter 34

After flying for what seemed like ages, we finally landed, breathing hard. We were in a small cove at the base of some rather tall cliffs. There wasn't much around us, just some large rock formations and a few scraggly plants here and there. However, paired with the blue-gray water and the pebbly shore, it was a rather quaint place.

It was rather hard to enjoy it, though, with how much everything hurt. I set Murre down, and as she ran off to take a look around, I stretched to relieve myself of the pain, but to no avail.

"When we get back to Jade Mountain, I'm going to my bed and never leaving it again," said Gemini.

I nodded in agreement, then looked around. I didn't see any sign of other dragons. "Do you think he might be here?"

The skeptical look on Gemini's face matched my own. "I doubt it. It looks like no one has been here in years."

"That's because no one has been."

Both Gemini and I jumped at the sound of the new voice, looking around to find the source. Our eyes locked on the sky blue head that poked out of the water. It looked at us warily, frowning slightly. "Well, except for you two, of course."

"Right," I muttered quietly, trying not to cringe too hard at the uneasy awkwardness hovering between us. We stood there silently, just looking at one another, unsure of what to say. I started to fiddle with a pebble when I heard a surprised yelp, then a splash come from a rock a few feet away. We all looked over to see Murre flail in the water a few moments, then pull herself back up onto the rock. She glanced over at us, spit out a small stream of water and waved. I waved back and called out to her. "Please be careful, Murre." 

"Murre…," the blue dragon muttered quietly. He looked to be deep in thought, a pained look crossing his face. He wiped it off quickly, turning back towards Gemini and me. "As I was saying before, there haven't been any other dragons here in a long time. So tell me, why has that changed now?" 

He glanced between the two of us, a slightly cautious look on him. After a moment's hesitation, I spoke up. "We're looking for a dragon named Koi. Do you know where he might be?"

His look of caution turned into one of suspicion. He looked between us again, bristling. "I'm Koi. What do you want?"

I felt my eyes widen in surprise. This was Koi? Although, looking at him more closely, I could see his resemblance to Murre. I looked at Gemini, who nodded slightly, then turned back towards Koi.

"We were sent to find you by Cerise."

Koi paled at that. "C-Cerise?"

I nodded, then continued. "She told us to bring your daughter, Murre, to you."

Hearing her name, Murre poked her head around the rock, and jumped over to us. Large amounts of water sprayed up around her as she landed. I shielded my eyes as she came to a screeching halt in front of us, drenching us in water.

"Speaking of which…" Gemini muttered.

"This...this is Murre?" Koi looked at her with a mix of shock and sadness. "I-I wasn't able to see her before I had to leave." He moved his head down so it was level with hers. "Hi, Murre."

She squinted her eyes at him, then looked over at me. "Who?"

I chuckled. "That's your father, Murre. His name's Koi."

"Koi," she said, looking back at him. She then placed her talons on his snout. "Mama like you lots."

He smiled. "I liked her a lot, too." 

Murre looked at him more closely, a grin growing on her face as realization started to dawn in her. She squealed, then practically tackled him with a hug. Koi looked close to crying, but he had a huge grin on his face as he clutched her back.

After a few moments of them staying like that, I had to look away. I felt a sharp pain in my chest as I tried to picture my own father hugging me the way Koi was hugging Murre.

I couldn't.

I then felt something brush my wing. I glanced over at Gemini, and he looked at me with a half-smile on his face. I could see in his eyes that he knew what I was thinking about. I matched his smile, then looked back at the two. 

Koi was still holding her, but he looked at us instead. "What happened to Cerise?"

The images of what I had seen from the top of that mountain hit me with full force. The three SkyWings emerging from the base of the mountain with a fourth behind them, not moving. The screams I had heard. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I closed it again and looked down, swallowing hard as I felt little pricks at the corners of my eyes.

"I see," he said, barely a whisper. After a few moments of silence, cleared his throat. His voice was still a little hoarse, though. "Well, I guess that's to be expected, considering the world we live in. But what isn't expected is an IceWing and a SkyWing working together to bring me this information."

Gemini and I glanced at each other, unsure of what to say to that. It turned out that we didn't need to, though. Koi looked between the two of us and guessed it.

"You're hybrids, aren't you? Either that, or you're like Cerise and myself."

A mix of fear and embarrassment shot through me like lightning. "N-no, it's not like that--"

"Yeah," Gemini joined in, the look on his face similar to my own. "It's not...we're not…"

"Calm down," said Koi, chuckling. "I didn't think so, but I didn't see how it could hurt to ask." It felt like my face was on fire, and I couldn't get myself to look him in the eye. "Anyway, I want you two to know how much I appreciate this service. I know it was hard, and you didn't have to do it, so...thank you."

I offered him a smile in response, unsure of what else to say. Gemini nodded and did the same. Then, with no warning, Murre launched from Koi and tackled me with a hug as well, causing me to fall back into the water with surprise.

"Thankoo, Mala!" Murre said as we resurfaced.

I spit out the water that had filled mouth when I went under, and tried to glare at Gemini and Koi, who were laughing. It didn't last long though. Pretty soon, I was laughing just as hard as they were, forgetting all of the pain I had felt before then.