Chapter 6: 20 Questions

Butterfly waded into the calm waters of the Jade sea and gazed at the painted sky. Reds, yellows, oranges and purples were leaking out of the setting sun, and darkness began to claim the ocean. The moons shone meekly in the presence of the dimming sun, but Butterfly knew it was only a matter of time before they gained confidence and beamed down at the sleeping earth.

Peacemaker landed with a small splash beside her. “Not cool.”

“What’s not cool?” The ripples from his arrival lapped at her dry scales.

“Cactus told the girls what you two did.” he sighed. “Girls are pure evil. Although I guess I should’ve known: Cactus never gets lost.”

Butterfly tried her best to fight a grin. “You and Cliff probably wouldn’t have been allowed into the library anyway. You guys are way too loud.”

“It’s like a dagger in my heart,” Peacemaker pressed a fist to his chest and swayed on his feet. “And what are you talking about? I’m not LOUD. I can be PERFECTLY QUIET!” He yelled.

“Three moons, Peace, SHUT UP!” Cliff shouted from the shore.

Butterfly rolled her eyes. “Oh, yeah, totally.”

Peacemaker grinned. “Wanna play 20 questions?”

“Sure! You first.”

“Okay,” Peacemaker cracked his neck and thought for a moment. “If you could spend one day in someone else’s talons, who would they be and why?”

“Hm, that’s tricky,” Butterfly looked off into the water. As she thought harder on the question, her eyes involuntarily unfocused and she emerged into her thoughts.

One dragon’s talon’s for a day… Mom? Nah. Dad? Eh… no. OOHHH. Her. She’s perfect.

“Got it,” she said finally, a pleased smile spreading onto her face. “Queen Glory.”

Peacemaker raised his eyebrows. “Oh? And why her?”

“Because she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and I just… I’ve never experienced that kind of stress before.”

Peacemaker frowned. “And you want to spend a day in her talons because…?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just want to understand her better? Like, she’s my queen and I want to be on the same page, if that makes any sense.”

Peacemaker blinked at her a few times. “That’s very… thoughtful. Like, I was going to say Cliff so I could tell everyone in the school he had a crush on Auklet and he wouldn’t be able to cover it up by saying I lied.”

Butterfly laughed. “That definitely sounds like something you’d do.”

Peacemaker grinned. “Aw, you already know me so well!”

“My turn,” she reminded him. He looked like he was mentally preparing for anything she asked him. “What’s something you can do today that you couldn’t do a year ago?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” a wave of relief washed over the NightWing. “Attend the academy.”

“Aw, that’s boring!” Butterfly complained. “And even after I gave you my whole speech?”

“No, not really!” Peacemaker objected. He thought for a moment. “And yours was kind of boring, too.”

“Rude.”

“Hear me out; I’ve been begging my mom since I was one and a half. One. And. A. Half. And every year her and Moon tell me no plus a super absurd reason. Like, ‘No, Peacemaker, you have to stay and tend the strawberry plants!’” The NightWing batted his eyelashes and waved his talons, presumably mimicking his mother. “‘No, Peacemaker, without you who’ll keep me company?’ And ‘No, Peacemaker, you’re too young!’ Heck—that was last year!” He rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“So yeah. And then this year Moon came over and literally invited me to the school. And my mom got super angry and was all like, ‘Don’t you know who my son is? He can’t go to school! Blah blah blah.’ Of course Moon knows who I am! I’m the coolest NightWing on the continent!” He seemed really worked up and sat down with an angry splash.

How did that splash sound angry????

Butterfly was attentively listening now, eager to hear the resolution of the NightWing’s story.

“And then my mom told me to go to bed. Not fair! I’m four years old—I’m practically an adult!” He spread his wings suddenly and splashed Butterfly, but she didn’t point that out. “Of course, I didn’t sleep a wink at all that night. Then, when the sun rose, she came into my room and gave me this whole speech about how ‘of course she trusts me, and the world is just filled with horrible dragons who do horrible things and that a lot of dragons just want power’, and she was giving me these looks that seemed like they should be meaningful, but I didn’t understand any of that stuff. I just wanted to go to school!” He seemed absolutely tortured as he relived the conversation.

Butterfly waited quietly for him to continue speaking.

His chest rose and fell dramatically with each breath, and he finally seemed ready to finish his story. “And then….” He grinned. “And then.” He seemed so pleased with himself for saying those two words that he actually looked at Butterfly smugly like he’d just done the most brilliant thing in the world.

“And then…?” She prompted him.

“Oh! Yeah,” he grinned sheepishly. “Never finished that thought, did I?”

“Nope,” she said, popping the p.

“Well, and then she pulled me into this big hug and told me to pack my bags.” He beamed up at the moons, triumph scrawled all over his face. He looked at Butterfly, and after a moment he spoke again. “Now it’s my turn.”

“So it is.”

“What were your first impressions of me?” He smiled wickedly when her face fell. “You have to tell the truth. I’ll know it if you lie!”

“So you’re a mind reader then?” Butterfly inquired curiously. Talk about yourself, she pleaded, apparently you love to talk about yourself.

“Unfortunately, no. I’m completely NightWing powerless. But hey—at least I have RainWing venom and don’t even think for a second that I’m going to launch into another epic narrative because I so want to hear what you’re going to say.” He smiled angelically at her and flicked his tail beneath the water, sending tiny fish that’d been nibbling on his scales darting away. “Let me help you out. Charming, hilarious, handsome, smart, funny, and witty.”

“Funny and witty are the same thing, genius.”

“Mm, no. There’s a slight difference. And yes, I am both.” He raised an eyebrow smugly. “Now come on. Speak!”

“Fine. Funny, witty,” Butterfly counted off her talons, “full of yourself, and approval-seeking.”

“True, true, and also true but those last two struck me on a deep, personal level,” Peacemaker nodded. “Your turn.”

“Weirdest fact you know?”

“Cockroaches can live a little longer than a week after their head is cut off.”

“Oh, wow, that is—that is really something.”

“The reason behind this is that they actually don’t breathe through their mouths, right, and instead they have these little holes in every segment of their body—so they won’t suffocate like dragons would. However, they do, unfortunately, die from lack of water.”

Butterfly blinked at him. “Unfortunately??? Why is that unfortunate?”

Peacemaker had a distressed look on his face. “The poor roach.” He cracked a smile at her. “Just kidding. Those creepy little bugs are… ugh,” he shuddered. “They give me the heebie-jeebies.”

“Hey Peace, we’re going to the rooms!” Cliff shouted. “Wanna come with?”

“How disgustingly responsible of you, SkyWing,” he shouted back.

Butterfly turned to see Auklet and Cactus putting out the fire they’d made and Toucan and Cosmo flying around in a game of tag.

“Okay, Peace, I’ll take that as a no.”

“Ugh, the nickname,” the NightWing cringed.

“Hey Butterfly, you coming?” Cliff asked.

“In a moment!” she yelled back. She looked at Peacemaker. “What about you? How much longer are you planing to stay out? It’s getting kinda cold.”

“You’re cold?” Peacemaker inquired. “Well deal with it. Suck it up.”

Butterfly slapped him with her wing.

“That was quite a well deserved, strong slap,” he said, rubbing his shoulder tenderly. “Splendid display of dominance.”

“Cliff is rubbing off on you,” she noted. “And that, was a warning,” Butterfly corrected. “I will trip you with my tail. So don’t make me.”

“Come on, I can’t MAKE anyone DO any—” and then for some completely random, inexplicable reason he fell face first into the cold water. He emerged, jaw clattering.

Butterfly grinned at him and felt very accomplished after tripping him. “Oh, are you cold?” she gasped, putting a talon to her mouth. She beat her wings and lifted into the air. “Suck it up.”

PEACEMAKER

“See you tomorrow,” Peacemaker said quietly as they reached Butterfly’s sleeping cave.

They had been talking about how the next day they had music class and it was so awesome to meet each other, blah blah blah. Small talk. They’d been talking at regular volume until they realized that they were surrounded by sleeping caves and several angry dragonets had poked their heads out to look at them scornfully.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow,” Butterfly smiled at him.

After they said their goodbyes, Peacemaker carried on to his sleeping cave.

“Ah, speak of the devil, here he is!” Cliff was perched on a rock ledge facing Mantis. “Hey Peace, we were just talking about you!”

“That was obvious with your previous statement,” the NightWing replied. He walked to his little bed which consisted of the plush underbrush of the rain forest. He flopped onto it and sighed, his brain too occupied with his thoughts to notice Cliff and Mantis snickering. Only when he heard his nickname did he snap out of it.

“Peace!” Cliff shouted, irritated.

“What?”

“I was talking to you!”

“Sorry, I didn’t hear.”

“Yeah, that much was apparent,” Cliff agreed dejectedly. He perked up after a second. “So. How was your little swim, Peace?”

“Oh, it was fine. Two of the moons were full tonight.” Peacemaker shrugged.

“I can’t believe I missed Caterpillar and Peace bonding in the ocean,” Mantis sighed.

“Yeah, where were you, anyway?” Peacemaker was curious. (And he was also promptly changing the subject.)

Mantis frowned. “Headmistress’s office.”

“Ouch,” Cliff sucked through his teeth. “That must’ve been bad.”

“Yep. Apparently some girl snitched on me for reading Caterpillar’s letter out loud!”

“The audacity,” Cliff shook his head.

Peacemaker snickered. “I almost forgot that you did that. Just for the record, that was kind of awesome.”

“Trust me, I know,” Mantis sighed, his eyes closing.

“I’m going to bed,” Peacemaker declared, rolling over on his side and closing his eyes.

“Ugh, already?” Cliff complained. “It isn’t even the peak of the evening! Come on, won’t you stay up until midnight, at least?”

“No way,” Peacemaker objected, eyes still shut tightly. “I’m going to enjoy my sleep tonight.”

“We’re going to have a LOT of fun without you, man,” Mantis informed him.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Well, feel free to talk about whatever. I’m going to sleep.”

The HiveWing paled. “Oh, uh, okay, well, sleep well,” Mantis said nervously, fidgeting with his wings and tail.

And then the most horrid stench reached Peacemaker’s nose.

“MANTIS!” He flung his wings around himself as a sort of shield. “That was really bad!”

“Stop scent-shaming me,” he sniffed. “It’s just a HiveWing thing! My mom had it—it isn’t my fault!”

Apparently HiveWings had this ‘power’ that they could, ah, emit a very unlucky scent from their rear end. And Mantis had it. And he had it bad.

Sleep wasn’t easy that evening, to say the least.