Chapter Text
"…Mom, I don't want you to leave me here," Moon muttered, staring at all of the dragonets walking in and out of the school.
She crept closer to her mother, fitting perfectly under her wing; like the universe designated that spot for her. Like the universe was telling her, "This is the best place to stay for your life." Because it was the best place. The place where she could feel her mother's warmth, the place where she would be protected at all times and whenever she got anxious or scared or overstimulated, and her mother would be there and say "It's alright."
But at Jade Mountain, none of that would happen, she would just be around unknown dragonets that could be murderers, bullies, and even more bad dragons.
Moon and her mother found a place under a tree to watch the students walk in and out of the school, perhaps, not the best decision, Moon was fairly sure she saw abiout a thousand different dragons. She never acknowledged that school could be so…rowdy and crowded with strangers. Two MudWings ran past Moon and Secretkeeper, sending a gush of wind stright to their faces.
And what if her fellow students hated her? There could be a chance just because she's a NightWing. Everybody would, except for the NightWings, who also hated her for not being enough of a NightWing.
"Mom, I don't like this place," Moon said again, nudging her mom's hip.
"I know," her mother said kindly, looking at her daughter. "But it would be good for you. I think you'll like it better than the NightWing village, you'll see."
"But I like being where you are," Moon responded. "And I don't care about the other NightWings."
Hopefully, Moon heard her mom think.
"But dear, I think it's what's best for you, one way or another." Secretkeeper pointed out kindly. My weird little diamond.
"I'm not a weird little diamond," Moon retorted.
Her mother sighed. "You need to stop doing that, remember?" she whispered. "If you can only hear it in your head, don't respond. No one can know about your curse, because everybody think NightWings don't have magic - some don't even think they had magic in the first place. And if you do -"
"I know," Moon answered. "Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe."
Secretkeeper clicked her tongue in approvement. "Attagirl,"
Moon paused. "So isn't this really dangerous?" she questioned. "What if I make a mistake here, in front of all of these different dragons around me?"
"You most likely won't. You'll be careful, promise?"
Moon let out a little huff, and continued looking at the arrivals of dragonets. She and her mom watched as four SeaWings landed gracefully on the mountain. The mom - most likely Queen Coral - towered over her kids and everyone else. She wore pearl jewelry on her neck, horns, earlobes, and wrist.
"Oh, isn't that the queen?" Secretkeeper gasped.
"Queen Coral," Moon replied.
Moon stood there, waiting for a response.
"Moon, remember don't show off," her mom whispered. "I mean, thank you for telling me, but the other dragons might not like you if you know all of the answers."
Moon stared down at her claws - Mother didn't really care about who she would like, only what the other dragons would think of her. Moon in fact, would like them. That didn't seem to be among her concerns.
She watched as a deep blue SeaWing came barreling out of the entrance, yelling, "You came!" wings flared out, wrapping the pink-gray SeaWing in a tight imbrace. The smaller daughter - who looked less than a year old - yelped and bounced around their hug, trying to squirm in. She was attached to a long harness, which kept getting tangled in her small talons and tripping her.
"I don't really approve of this idea," Queen Coral snorted. She was the same shade of the dragon who was currently being tackled by the little green dragonet. They seemed like mother and daughter.
Tch, Moon you snail-brain, that's Tsunami! Her mind went. She remembered the fierce SeaWing in the prophecy that stopped the war, and became a legend. Moon hadn't met her before she started working at Jade Mountain Academy.
"It'll be great," Tsunami reassured her mother. "Anemone will be perfectly fine."
"I hope so," Coral replied. "Anyways, this is one of your brothers - eh…"
"Turtle," he replied.
There was another green dragonet, who was bigger than the smallest one. He looked about three or four years old - around Moon's age. He wasn't adorned in jewelry like the other royalty dragons, and instead only wore an armband that looked gold and had black rocks on it. His mind was calm, a bit too calm. Moon couldn't hear anything from his mind, like there was a barrier.
"One of my brothers?" Tsunami echoed with a puzzled look on her face.
"Yeah, there are about thirty of us," Turtle said.
"THIRTY?!"
"Well, my sons aren't capable of taking the throne, so tere was a lot," Coral said.
"Actually, thirty-two of us," Turtle said.
"…Woah," Tsunami whispered.
He looked towards Moon's direction, and smiled at her.
And she smiled back.