Chapter Two

Aquarii Nerokouvalitís

Aquarii sighed as she wrapped the bandage around her talon. A tiny bloom of pale blue blood slid into sight from a tiny, slim cut and she sighed. Why did she want to try helping her mother with the prying stage? Amma always wanted help tugging the slippery pearls from the slick, slimy oysters. Aquarii’s claws were already caked with sea slime and broken oyster shells, plus the fact that there were about five buckets of oysters that weighed about twenty pounds each meant that this would take forever. All of that, plus there were still like five fields left to plow, and each held about three hundred pounds of oysters. 

Thinking back on it now, Aquarii shouldn’t have asked to help her mother. Aquarii was in a helpful mood and had seen her mother cracking sea oysters by herself- a job her father used to help with. Aquarii’s heart filled with longing to see her father safe at home, and not at war and she paused, wondering where he was now. 

Just now she saw Quelpo, her most gullible brother, carrying a large pole with six baskets of kelp attached along its length. Being the middle child of twenty-three kids, and the smallest in her hatching group of three, she had learned a few tricks on how to get what she wanted.

Running up to her older brother, Aquarii said "Oh, Quelpo! Here, let me help you!" Taking the kelp baskets, Aquarii said, "You know what? You look tired from swimming around so much. Why don't we switch jobs?" Before Quelpo could have said kelp, Aquarii was off, swimming towards the rope-making station.

Making rope in theory would be easy, except for the daunting task of winding the rope together. Thankfully Aquarii had learned a few tricks on how to get past this problem, although they’d be easier with three or four extra arms.

Quickly finishing her baskets, Aquarii moved towards the front gate for her half-hour break time, which she planned to spend thinking up new ways to sharpen the oyster shell daggers without weakening them. What she didn’t expect was the messenger staring morosely at the water by the land entrance, which was only ever used for no-gills or formality. Aquarii quickly identified the messenger as a royal guard. Startled, she opened the door.

“Is this the Nerokouvalitís Farm?” the guard asked, looking up at Aquarii.

Hesitantly Aquarii replied, “Yes… if you're here to pick up materials, you're a week early.” 

“The Queen and her council would like to invite your family to a welcome-back celebration for those returning from the war. I understand many of your close relatives were deployed in Unit 1176, am I correct?”

Aquarii’s breath caught in her throat. “Yes,” she managed to say in a tiny whisper.

The guard presented her with a scroll bearing instructions to arrive at the castle at noon tomorrow with her family and left. Aquarii couldn’t wait. She would be able to see her siblings and father again! The card, written in fancy loopy handwriting said:

To the families of war veterans:

On the night of the full moon, a Masquerade Ball will be held to celebrate the temporary homecoming of the brave soldiers who fight our battles. Your presence would be highly appreciated.  Please arrive at 7:00 PM sharp.

The families invited include

Aigéan Family- Water Tribe

Dzuwa Family- Sun Tribe

Hó Family- Ice Tribe

Copac Family- Forest Tribe

Zem Family- Earth Tribe

Nerokouvalitís Family- Water Tribe

Past Aquarii’s family name, she didn’t read. There was a long page and she had to show her amma. Rushing past all the different stations, trying to drown out the colorful words being shouted at her to slow down, Aquarii shot through the water toward the house. Swerving past more stalls, Aquarii thought this was the longest it had ever taken to get from the gate, which was north of her house, to the big meeting area, southwest of the house.

  Finally, Aquarii made it to the front of her five-story house. Off to the side of the house, there was a huge conch shell horn. Aquarii quickly blew into it. The horn was supposed to only be used for emergencies, but technically this was emergency information. Once everybody had clustered around the horn’s pedestal, her amma had asked her why she blew the shell, and several dragons had made all the derisive noises they could think of, Aquarii began to speak.

“You may all be wondering why I blew the emergency horn. But there is a good explanation. While I was on break, a guard from the place showed up.” Aquarii said victoriously and paused to let the statement sink in. It was very rare for guards to turn up mysteriously, or even notice juveniles. There were many noises of awe and disbelief. “The guard said that Unit 1176 was going to come home, and gave me a scroll that said that there would be a masquerade ball for the families that were related to war veterans.” 

“How do we know that you’re not lying? How do we know this isn’t a prank!” The shout had come from the middle of the crowd, and throughout the courtyard, Aquarii could see people agreeing. 

“Aquarii isn’t a liar!” A high-pitched voice rang. Ceilp. Oh no. Ceilp, like her name, liked to eat purple ceilp as a hatchling, earning her her name. As the youngest in the family, Ceilp was only 5,359, unlike Aquarii, who was 17,019. 

Ceilp always believed in the very best in people. The very best. Aquarii thought of the time when Ceilp was about nine and was attending flying school, she was pushed down off the wingery roof into the water by some extremely rude dragonets. Instead of acting like most of the sheltered and spoiled dragonells Aquarii knew, Ceilp had just said ‘I was hanging off the side too much when a boy accidentally bumped into me and I fell off the edge, that’s all,’ while holding her broken forearm to her chest.

Back to reality, Nerokouvalitís, she chided herself. “So, I guess we’re going to the castle tomorrow night. Nori, you and Dylan start organizing the travel platforms, and everyone else who’s going needs fine jewelry,” she decided. Nori, her favorite cousin, nodded and fetched Dylan, who had mysteriously disappeared. The travel platforms were her amma’s invention, designed mainly for older dragons to ride on. They looked like large sleds, each carrying one elder dragon or several dragonets, and could easily be pulled by a single juvenile. Aquarii turned to go dig out some old pearl necklaces.

“ARE YOU INSANE!” someone bellowed.

 Aquarii moaned at the shout. It was Clam. Well, the dragon’s name wasn’t Clam, it was Maris. But Aquarii nicknamed him that because she had decided a long time ago that his personality needed to be clammed up. One day Aquarii mentioned this to some other farm workers, and they agreed with her, saying Clam was a sneaky eel who never did any work.

 He had fooled almost everyone into thinking he was just a lazy farmer. Others thought that he was just at the farm to marry Aquarii’s amma, Auiga. Only Aquarii and several other farmers knew the truth, however. Clam was a war spy sent by the former Prince Shadowwalker's leading general, Sintev. Sintev, the traitorous Prince Shadowwalker, and almost a thousand of Shadowwalker’s followers had fled to the western horizon about twenty thousand years ago. He had, over the years, formed an army of bamboozled juveniles and loyal followers, and slowly began to sow discord among the wizards, assassinating enchanters and destroying peace talks. Aquarii and the others tried to tell Auiga, but she never listened.

After centuries of pointless wars with the mages, Shadowwalker turned his attention to Mount Naga. His loyalty to the dragon race had twisted into a fierce belief that the throne that now belonged to his sister was his. Now he began raining attacks down on Mount Naga and the nearby settlements. Sundancer had driven him out to the farthest reaches of the Burning Plains, yet he still battled on.

And that was where Aquarii’s father, uncles, brothers, and grandparents had gone. In all, twenty-one dragons had left the farm for the war front – seven of Aquarii’s brothers, her father, six uncles, four great-uncles, and two grandparents. They had left the farm with only three swords between them and sad goodbyes from the remaining relatives trailing behind them. 

But now, that didn’t matter, because she would see everyone again in a day and the world was wonderful.