The Twin Islands-Wings of Fire

Mudpuddle

Her thoughts buzzed with excitement as she happily made her way down the hall. She had been given the medial task of gathering food and water. It was important in its own right- but she was really just pleased to be noticed.

Mudpuddle grabbed cow skin flasks and filled them with fresh lake water nearby. Next, she was heading to the prey center.

"I'll get lots of fruit and berries,  for Mamba and maybe Artemis. Fish for Seaglass, of course. Some seal for Snowfall if I can find some. Some cow jerky for Tempest, she loves that stuff. Would Potent like fish too? I hope so. We'll see."

She ducked her head as the oncoming branches appeared, and she strode into the silent cave. The sun was beginning to set, giving everything a gorgeous highlight. Mudpuddle was about to approach the fruit when she suddenly heard the strangest noise.

"Is that...crying?" She lifted her head, ears perked, instantly searching for the source. To her surprise, huddled mournfully in the corner twisted with vines and gnarled branches was another Mudwing. Small for his tribe, like her. He had caramel and amber brown scales, and puffy scales near his eyes from crying.

"Hello?" she tried, and the Mudwing lifted his head. A flash of excitement shot through his face as he quickly rose to his feet, but settled back down, disappointed once he studied her. She blinked at him as he rubbed his talons together, sighing.

"Sorry. I thought...I thought you were somebody else." He told her. She restrained from giving him an arch look. What did that mean?

"Well...I'm Mudpuddle, actually. Sorry I'm not who you hoped I was." Mudpuddle said, sitting. "But why are you here all alone? Who are you looking for? Maybe I can help you find them." She smiled, trying to sound reassuring. The Mudwing simply lowered his ears and sighed again. He did that a lot.

"I know where she is. I just wish she could come back." He settled his wings against his sides, looking over at her. "Anyways, I'm Umber." He held out a talon, and Mudpuddle shook it.

"Nice to meet you, Umber."

"You too Mudpuddle."

Mudpuddle stared at him, and couldn't help but ask. "So where did you and your sibs live? The outer territory? I feel like I know one of them."

Umber managed to grin back, genuinely. "You do, actually. Clay is my Bigwings-" He suddenly cut himself off. "Well, was supposed to be. Reed is and has and always will be." He said, nodding more so to himself than her.

Mudpuddle looked at him, amazed. "That's so cool! I never really thought of Clay having siblings. He seemed, I don't know, one of a kind."

Umber nodded, and she noticed he seemed more at ease. "So enough about me, who are your sibs?"

She frowned and lowered her head, and Umber did the same. "Honeysuckle, Log, and Mahogany." she told him. "Honeysuckle and Mahogany were twins, and me and Log were just separate eggs in the same clutch as them. Honey is our technical bigwings, she likes to brag that she broke the shell first." Mudpuddle grinned a bit. "Of course, Mahogany says otherwise. They bicker."

Umber tilted his head at her, and they held each other's gaze before they broke into laughter.

"Well." Umber suddenly said, getting to his feet. "I should get going to bed, now." He raised a wing for emphasis at the star speckled sky.

"Yeah." Mudpuddle agreed, a little sad to see him go.

"Talk to you soon, Mudpuddle. Thank you for talking with me. I... I feel better now." He smiled, walking off. "I know we're going to be great friends." He called over his shoulder, a little more enthusiasm in his voice.

Mudpuddle stared after him until he left, reminded all too much of the younger brother she and her siblings had lost.

~~~~~~

"All done!" She called, striding down the hallway to the cave they were hiding in. Artemis jumped at her entrance, and immediately held a talon to her mouth, hissing.

"Sorry." She said quietly, shrinking.

Mamba was handing out leather satchels to each of the dragonets. Seaglass was complaining about his, which was laced with tiny pink pearls. After Mudpuddle laid out the food she brought and the containers of water, she took Seaglass' instead. He was much more happy with the plain brown one. She thought the pearls were quite pretty.

She saw Artemis pacing out of the corner of her eye, rolling her gaze across the map, then stuffing it into the satchel that hung from her neck.

"Hey, you alright?" She asked her, and the Nightwing's head shot up, the white spikes on her neck raised.

"Just...Worried." Artemis replied, her blue eyes a startling cerculean.

"It'll be okay." She assured. "We can do this." The Nightwing's expression told her otherwise.

"Let's just go before we get caught." Mamba snorted, shifting her scales to a midnight black with tiny white dots as she grinned at Artemis.

"Right." Artemis nodded, meeting all of their eyes. "Now. Let's go save the Islands."