One Year Later....

+++

Today was the Anniversary of the horrible hurricane that Darkling and Aspen had been caught in.

And today was Darkling's first day of Jade Mountain Academy.

She studied her parents' faces, looking anxious.

Aspen nudged her with his wing; he was able to move it, but it still had the tears that disabled him from using it to fly. "You'll be fine." He chuckled, green eyes sparkling with joy. "Go on, my little Leaf."

Darkling folded her wings in and shook her head. "Can I wait? One more year? Please?" She asked, her eyes pleading.

Blacksight sighed. "No, Darkling. Come on, enough protesting. Let's go." She strutted forwards, dragging Darkling along with her. When Queen Answer had heard of the horrible accident in the Hurricane, she'd ordered that Darkling get a harness until she went to the Academy, in order to keep her from doing anything stupid.

As if.

Blacksight paused at the entrance. The guard beside her unhooked the harness and removed it from Darkling. Darkling's eyebrows shot up; she hadn't had it off in years; the closest she ever got was when she grew bigger, and a guard loosened it.

"Go on." Blacksight chuckled. "Have fun, and visit often."

The two flew off, leaving Darkling alone in front of the academy.

++

"Hello! I'm Fatespeaker! I've been doing this for a couple years, so you needn't worry! Here's your scroll!" The NightWing handed Darkling a scroll and Darkling nodded, a sharp, birdlike motion, and glanced down into the scroll.

She quickly skimmed the scroll while walking as slow as possible, so she didn't go past her cave.

Ah. Darkling thought. Copper Winglet. Not that bad.

******

Lemme tell you guys, it took way too long for me to get the Copper Winglet thing down, because it wouldn't go in italic and every once in a while I would accidentally click Bold or Underline xd

******

Darkling flicked her tail and was nearly bowled over by a tide of blue, green, and purple dragons.

Darkling's wings snapped open and she took off, flying above the crowd and twisting to hang upside-down on one of the ceiling bars.

Her gaze darted around and pushed off, arrowing in a diagonal direction and then layering herself out so that she was parallel with the floor. She glided above the crowd, and a few dragons shouted up at her, exclaiming that she was cutting the crowd.

Darkling's gaze swept the walls until she spotted Copper Winglet's cave. She banked and dove into the cave, landing roughly and skidding across the floor. She'd never flown so fast; in fact, she'd never actually flown fast by herself since before the Hurricane.

Inside of the cave was a SandWing. He turned to look at her, and his eyes widened. "You, uh...You okay?"

"Yeah." Darkling murmured. "I just...haven't flown that fast in a while."

"Ah." The SandWing's eyes skimmed over Darkling, and he rose his eyebrows. "I've never seen a LeafWing with that coloration before."

"I'm a hybrid."

"That explains it."

Darkling humed and poked around the Sleeping Caves. "Are any of these taken?"

"Mines is the one furthest from the balcony." The SandWing chuckled. 

Darkling nodded and climbed up onto a cave close to the balcony, the highest one, with a hole inside of the top. She started when something flashed beneath her eyes;

Darkling could see herself. She was lounging in the cave, reasing a book. A NightWing poked his head into the dorm. "Darkling!" He laughed. "Are you reading again?"

"Yes." Other-Darkling answered. "I am."

Darkling noticed that other-Darkling looked much older. Her wings were bigger and her scales were paler than they were now, making the golden scales dotted around her body seem to pop.

Other-Darkling hummed in disapproval as the NightWing climbed into her cave. "So," He chuckled, "I've heard you're quite the artist?"

Other-Darkling laughed. "You could say that."

"May I see this beautiful art of yours?" Asked the NightWing. Other-Darkling chuckled and shoved him with her wing. "Another time. This is the best part of the book."

Darkling stumbled and nearly fell out of the cave. The SandWing dashed over and pressed against her side. "Hello? Uhm...sre you okay?"

"I-I...Wow..." Darkling was breathless. "I...have no idea what just happened, I just-"

There was a-BANG!-and a NightWing barged into the room. He was the same NighgWing from her...whatever it was. But he looked much smaller now, and his scales were a darker color than they were in the whateveryacallit.

"Hello! I'm late! I'm sp so so sososososolate, I'm sorry, I-" He froze when he spotted Darkling, and his eyes widened.

His dark eyes were a warm hazel color. They were filled with reckognition and surprise. The scales around his eyes were a lighter blue, and his horns curled in a way that made his face seem a bit more handsome.

"It's you." He murmured.

"H-Have we met?" Darkling stammered, her wings trembling. The SandWing looked like he wanted to die.

"No..Not yet." The NightWing chuckled and shook his head. "My name is Cursefinder. I've seen you, actually...in my visions. I'm a seer."

"Ah." Darkling curled her tail around herself. "I'm Darkling."

"I know."

"That's creepy."

Cursefinder barked a laugh; it was a sound that filled Darkling with warmth. She was slightly disappointed when he eventually calmed down and stopped, and was surprised to find that she wanted him to do it again.

"So, since we're doing introductions..." Began the SandWing, "My name is Apophis." He chuckled and shook his head. "I need to lie down...give me a few moments." He slipped away and into his cave.

"I think I may be a seer, too." Darkling admitted.

Cursefinder blinked. "You are." He said. "I've had a vision of this, actually; me talking about having a vision of you." Cursefinder chuckled, and it was infectious; Darkling chuckled, too.

"What did you see?" Asked Cursefinder.

"I saw...us, actually." Darkling shook her wings out. "But we looked much older. You looked more blue." She admitted. It drew another laugh from the NightWing, and Darkling smiled.

"I was reading a book and you were talking about...art skills?" She shook her head. "I've never tried art before."

"Maybe this is the nudge you need to start." Cursefinder laughed. "A lot of people say that I'm related to Clearsight in some way; maybe a distant cousin?"

"Why do they say that?" Darkling asked, genuinely curious.

"Because I'm like her. Well, my visions, actually." He grinned. "I can look into the future."

"Isn't that how it works?" Darkling wondered.

"No." Cursefinder shook his head. "Usually, there's some sort of trigger. But I can practically control it." He gave a goofy grin.

"What do you see...in my future?" Asked Darkling.

"Your future is...confusing, to say the least." Cursefinder said. "But in a very adventurous way. The most I can make out right now is that you will find love. I can see you with another dragon, but the other dragon is..blurred."

"Ah." Darkling shook her wings out. "That's...actually pretty comforting."

Cursefinder laughed. "What're gifted seers for?"

"Thank you, Cursefinder." Darkling gave him a friendly nudge with her wing.

"No problem, Darkling."