Chapter Six

Aquarii Nerokouvalitís 

Aquarii marveled at the high ceilings of the ballroom. She wished she could paint this on a canvas, or draw it out. All the sloping columns and indoor balconies with different colored ribbons. Aquarii could see hundreds of different shades of colors, so many she could barely name half of them. This would make an incredible painting, with all its bright hues popping off the canvas. A flash of gold caught her eye, and she turned to see Queen Sundancer entering the room. A dark tail flicked behind Sundancer’s wide, feathery wings, and Aquarii’s eyebrows shot up her forehead. It was Eridanus! 

She watched as the black dragon slowly crossed the room, sticking to the shadows and beams of light cast by the gem flowers, so her scales were never fully revealed. Edging around the room, Eridanus finally reached her destination – a small balcony with no railing, almost like a windowsill. Aquarii battled with her self-control for a moment, then tiptoed after Eridanus. As she passed Adan, who was standing awkwardly in the corner, she flicked him with her tail, a gesture to follow her.

Adan, hesitant at first, began to follow Aquarii while glancing around nervously. Catching up to her, he muttered “If you see a FreezeWing around here named Bylur with light blue scales, a grumpy face, and gr-” 

At that moment a FreezeWing with light blue scales and a grumpy face caught up to them.

“Oh, if it isn’t the EclipseWing lover. How's it going, Adan?” Bylur said in a fake sincere voice. Then he lowered his voice. “If you’re gonna spend so much time with a filthy EclipseWing, I’m sure I could… heh, find you a place next to your turncoat father in the Burnt Plains, if you’re so comfortable here. No one would notice, because you’re just a useless, slimy newt. You hear me?”

Adan shrank away from the grinning FreezeWing. Aquarii rolled her eyes, and with a heavy flap of her wings, snapped, “Oh, shut your snout, you filthy ice cube. For your information, I would notice, as well as Princess Eridanus and Her Majesty and all kinds of dragons whose opinions matter much more than a stupid palace guard with a grudge. So, therefore, you shut up and leave us alone.”

Bylur gaped.

Aquarii offered her claw to Adan, and they strolled off toward Eridanus’s balcony perch.

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Eridanus did not look very happy to be cornered by a scowling Aquarii. Adan hemmed and hawed behind the grumpy SeaWing, not appearing to know what to do with his talons.

“Were you ever going to tell ANYONE that you’re an EclipseWing?” Aquarii snapped, flaring her wings. Eridanus fidgeted with her claws.

“So, no,” she lashed out. “Were you just gonna pretend to be a whole different DRAGON? Were you going to hide it from EVERYONE until your MOM just shoves you in front of EVERY SINGLE DRAGON ON MOUNT NAGA?”

Pain flared in her tail, and she glared at Adan, whose talons dug into her. “WHAT?”

“Too loud!” Adan squeaked, pointing down. Aquarii’s eyes widened.

Aquarii looked down. One dragon looked up into her eyes and shouted “EclipseWing!”

A violent chortle made her jump, and she almost fell off the narrow balcony. The rest of the dragons in the expansive ballroom looked up.

 Quickly searching for the offending dragon, Aquarii saw that it was Clam, his muddy brown eyes still looking up at her, filled with contempt as he stared upwards at Eridanus.