“What if they never come home?” Queen Aurea said quietly. She stood at the window of the sandstone palace the SolarWing royalty called home, looking out at the canyons and sandstone spires and cliffs of the Sun Kingdom, which sat in between the mountains of the old Sky Kingdom and the desert.
Another dragon shifted her wings across the room. “Worrying won’t help either way,” Aelia sighed. “We just have to be patient.
The sun caught the Queen’s golden scales in a striking way, making it look like the sun itself was poured on her scales. The monarch had long, graceful wings with sun patterns glowing on them and long spinal tendrils that nearly trailed on the floor. “You’re right, daughter.” She said, dipping her head. “We must simply run the kingdom to the best of our ability.”
Aelia paced across the room to touch her bright orange snout to her mothers golden one, a small flame flickering between them. She looks so tired, Aelia thought sadly.
“Sol is tough as nails,” she said with an encouraging smile. “And Father has been through more difficult times. We’re SolarWings! Stronger than the other dragons. They’ll be home soon.”
Aurea gave her daughter a tired smile. “I hope you’re right. We can’t afford to lose any more dragons.”
Aelia leaned against her mother, just as she did when she was a dragonet. Outside, dragons in flaming colors zipped through the canyons and bustled on the streets below. Gold and copper and red scales flashed in the sun and the glorious smell of dragon-fire filled the air.
Aelia furrowed her brow. She would do anything to protect her tribe and the sanctuary they had here. The Sun Kingdom was one of the only surviving kingdoms, due to their firescales abilities and superior flight skills. The only other standing kingdom Aelia knew of was the SeaWings, and only because they had the ability to swim farther and deeper where the humans couldn’t reach. The rest of the tribes, she knew, were split and scattered across the world.
She would never let that happen to her tribe. More than it already had.
jk
