Romance Rumours and Rocks
#68 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Caden and Pyxis gossip about their friends, then interrogate Atlas
Another little slice-of-life in the City of Wings. Inspired by a comment on the last story. (2,795 words)
Caden stood at the side of the school field, watching the morning bustle. It was still early enough that bright floodlights supplemented the faint blue glow of the morning sky, illuminating the school field as dragons came and went.
All the arrivals could be divided into two distinct groups. There were the adult drakken carrying hatchlings in harness pouches or riding on their backs--they were parents or clan guardians, usually of around middle age, carrying their charges to school before flying off again. The other group was fledglings--still young dragons and smaller than the adults, but much larger than the hatchlings and with sufficient size and strength to use their own wings.
Caden watched as her fellow fledglings flapped their way out of the sky, with their wingbeats noticeably more unstable and fluttery compared to the adults. Soon they'd be considered adults too, once they had their magic affinity, but for now they were still fledglings.
The school field was lightly crowded, with hatchlings and fledglings forming loose groups. In a few minutes' time school assembly would begin, where they would all have to gather into their respective class groups so that attendance could be taken and any school announcements could be read out for all.
But for now, the young dragons just mingled about--chatting together, playing in the grass, sitting on the pavement and hurriedly trying to finish homework, or just napping with their head tucked under a wing, for it was still early in the morning.
Another fledgling came over and sat next to Caden. Whereas Caden's scales were a dark leafy green, her friend and classmate's colouration was a smooth gradient of blues running from cyan to cerulean. "Morning, Pyx."
Pyxis dipped her head in a casual, friendly bow. "Morning, Caden. How are you?"
"Little bit sleepy."
"Who isn't?" Pyxis muttered. Caden grinned faintly. For a moment the two friends quietly sat side by side, just watching the goings-on. Then Pyxis turned to her. "I've been meaning to ask you. Last week we were all playing games together at Jarzyl's place, right? But before you got there, I was... I saw... I don't know."
"Continue?" Caden prompted.
Pyxis tapped her forepaws against the grass. "Atlas and Jarzyl... what are they?"
Caden replied without thinking deeply. "I believe they are dragons, just like you and me."
Pyxis chuckled but shook her head. "Is that it?"
"They're our classmates. Friends. Our allies and associates in the great game of life."
Pyxis put her paws together. "But to each other, Atlas and Jarzyl are friends?"
"Yes, of course. You've known them for almost as long as I have. Those two are as close as friends can be--" Caden suddenly cut herself off, and she turned sharply to look at Pyxis. "Or... are they something else?"
Pyxis shrugged, flicking her wings. "I don't know. That's why I was asking you."
"Hmm. A curious development." Caden and Pyxis both leaned closer together conspiratorially. "What did you see?" Caden asked.
"So last week I came early to the game session, but when I arrived at Jarzyl's house she wasn't there. But her father was home, and he told me that Jarzyl had gone off down the street to get dessert from a café. Then I went there and..." Pyxis paused, for dramatic effect. "And I saw Atlas had got there before me. He and Jarzyl were sharing a bowl of ice cream."
"That's all normal."
"No, it was..." Pyxis made a vague gesture with both her paws. "Sharing an ice cream. Like really sharing it. Snouts close, even touching."
"Ooh. That's very interesting." Caden pondered this development. "You saw Atlas kiss her?"
"Not exactly. It was just... both of them sitting together, sharing an ice cream, getting messy." Pyxis frowned slightly, as another thought occurred to her. "You think Atlas would kiss her? I thought that between the two of them, Jarzyl would be more likely to do something. She's so much more... confident and assertive. And physical."
"Don't underestimate Atlas. He's quiet, but over the years he's gotten less and less shy. Now he's only quiet because he likes being quiet. Also, Jarzyl is playful, but she's more childish and innocent." Caden chuckled. "I've always felt there was... potential between those two, given how close they are. But then again, friendship doesn't automatically turn into anything else. You didn't see them kissing for sure, right?"
"No, I don't know. I saw them eating ice cream, I saw them being messy, and it seemed very friendly. Jarzyl got ice cream onto Atlas's snout from her snout. Just a huge mess." Pyxis shrugged again. "Inconclusive."
"So are they actually dating? That would be a fascinating development. We must interrogate them later when they turn up." Caden nodded. "Separately, I think."
Pyxis immediately shook her head. "No, no, we can't _ask_them! If you prod them about it, you might disrupt things between them."
"I feel like if Jarzyl decides that she wants something, she isn't easily dissuaded from getting it. And Atlas is the same--if he sets something as a goal, he will plan how to get it--you've seen how hard he works on group projects? If those two have decided to start dating, I doubt they would be dissuaded just because we ask them about it."
"But!" Pyxis waved her paw. "But have they decided to start dating, or is this just them casually flirting and being overly friendly, which might progressively advance into proper dating if left to ripen?"
"Good point, Pyx. Good point. We shall have to be subtle. Don't press with too many questions. And... there's our chance right now." Caden pointed to the sky, and both she and Pyxis watched as sooty-coloured, three-legged fledgling glided down on final approach.
Atlas was a cripple--he was missing one of his forelegs, from some hatching defect or childhood injury which he never talked about--but that was how he had always been, unique amongst all their schoolmates. Unexpectedly, as he touched down on the school field he stumbled and crashed forward onto the ground. A bad landing was a decently common sight for the younger fledglings who had recently learning how to fly and were still very inexperienced, but Atlas was (like Caden and Pyxis) an older fledgling who was almost an adult drakken. Atlas specifically was an excellent flyer--as if to make up for his missing foreleg, he had strong wings and was usually fast and agile in the air.
Now he landed hard, falling belly down onto the grass. Pyxis let out a shocked squeak, and Caden winced. "Ooh, rough touchdown." Both of them hurried over.
By the time they got to Atlas, another one of their friends and classmates--Indry--had Atlas's wing on his back, and helped prop him back up to a sitting position. "You ok?" Indry asked.
Atlas nodded curtly. "I'm good. Thanks Indry."
With nothing but a stoic, comradely nod in reply, Indry headed off to talk with someone else. Pyxis and Caden swiftly replaced his place beside Atlas. "Good morning!" Pyxis chirped.
"Morning, Pyx, Caden."
"Rough landing? Crosswinds?"
"Not so much. I'm just... bad," Atlas muttered, with a sigh. Very slowly he pushed back up to a stand, and then he walked forward--moving one leg at a time, limping even more heavily than usual. Atlas's normal three-legged gait was slow, but not this slow.
Caden frowned. She and Pyxis walked beside Atlas, keeping up with him easily. "Are you alright? Did you get injured from that landing?"
Atlas let out a dry laugh. "Hah. It wasn't the landing. I'm really, really sore, which is why I fumbled that landing." He limped over to the specific area on the school field where their class group was to assemble, and then he slowly sat down on the grass. All of his movements were stiff and awkward.
Pyxis and Caden exchanged confused looks. They sat down in front of Atlas, facing him. "Why are you sore?"
Atlas didn't meet their gaze. "Eh." He grunted, acknowledging the question but not answering it.
Leaning forward, Caden looked closely at Atlas. His scales were a deep sooty black which made it less obvious than if he'd had a lighter scale and skin colour, but he was missing scales at several spots on his body. Dragon scales were constantly being shed and replaced, but this didn't look like natural shedding. His elbow and his knees had patches of missing scales, with abrasions of the underlying skin visible--not serious wounds, but minor injuries that hadn't been there when they'd seen Atlas before the weekend. Similarly he had some missing scales on his side, which hadn't been the case when they'd seen him just before the weekend.
Pyxis noticed too. "What's up with your scales? Did you have some huge crash landing over the weekend?"
Atlas said nothing.
"Or did someone beat you up?" Caden grabbed Atlas's forepaw and turned it upwards, and she squeezed the back of his paw to make his claws extend. His claws were all worn and rough, and one even had its tip starting to crack. "Wow, did you actually get into a fight? Your claws are all damaged. Did you scratch someone up?"
Pyxis gasped, and her neck frill perked. "Huuh! What happened? Atlas?"
Atlas tried to pull his paw back, but Caden held on. She reached into her harness and took out a claw clipper, which she used to trim his cracked claw so it wouldn't worsen into a full broken claw. "Hold still. You don't want that claw to break or you won't be walking at all."
Pyxis was wide-eyed. "Who did this to you?!"
Atlas sighed. "Thanks," he said to Caden. To Pyxis he replied, "Why don't you take a guess?"
"I don't know who would... would do that to..." Pyxis glanced around, at the scattering of fledglings around them. The field was increasingly crowded as it got closer to the official school start time. "Was it... Graye? I know he used to pick on you when we were all little hatchlings. Push you around."
Atlas laughed. "Graye hasn't bothered me in years. Knaster keeps him under control. And anyway, Graye wouldn't try anything after the incident."
"I thought the incident was between Graye and Jarzyl...?"
Caden had finished clipping Atlas's cracked claw. She swapped out the clipper for a metal file and also began trimming his other claws, polishing down the rough surfaces. She explained to Pyxis, "Actually, the incident started because Graye and some other idiots threw a desk at Atlas and stole his dark goggles. Then Jarzyl turned up, and... well, I'm sure you've heard the rest of that story."
"So not Graye. But who?" Pyxis gestured over Atlas, at his missing scales, his damaged claws, and the sore way he was sitting. "Who was it?"
Atlas kept his quiet, inscrutable expression.
Caden guessed. "Jarzyl?"
Atlas made the slightest lowering of his head, the barest fraction of a nod.
Caden just laughed. "Hahaha! Jarzyl. Goodness." By now she had finished with Atlas's claws, so she let go of his paw. "What did you let her drag you into this time? Did you two go adventuring again over the weekend? You fly out of the city to go climb into an active volcano or something?"
"No..." Atlas let out a long sigh, then his gaze got intense and he glared at Caden, then Pyxis. "Don't tell anyone about this."
Pyxis nodded curiously. Caden smirked. "Sure. You know I'm discrete. Now tell us what happened."
"The roughest, meanest mock duel ever?" Pyxis guessed.
Caden hushed her. "Shh, let him talk."
Atlas glared at both of them again, then he talked. "Jarzyl's in the school club for rock-climbing, and last week she got voted to captain of the club. Did you hear about that? Then just before the weekend, she comes to me and says something about how next month there's going to be recruitment sessions for all the different school clubs and societies, to see if people want to join up. She asked if I wanted to try out the session planned for her club. And... like the idiot I am, I agreed."
Pyxis and Caden both looked equally surprised. Pyxis pointed at Atlas's left shoulder, where he was missing his entire forelimb.
Atlas nodded. "I don't know what madness came over me."
"You...?" Caden asked in a disbelieving tone, "_You_went rock climbing? Crawling up over a wall, pulling yourself up a cliff?"
"Jarzyl was very persuasive! She said it was an introduction to her climbing thing, in a really basic session. And it was only the two of us, so no pressure, no judgement from anyone else, just trying out the most basic of the climbing rock wall structure things. Lots of easy places to hold, a shallow gradient, everything. She was very excited."
Pyxis and Caden both looked at each other, then they looked at Atlas.
He shrugged. "And it was... if it were any other fledgling in our school except me, they probably could have done it. Jarzyl was super encouraging, helpful, and she kept trying to teach me, but I don't know why she bothered. She makes it look so easy--it's like she can fly right up a cliff, without even using her wings. I just fell down a lot. It was tiring. And painful. And now my whole body is more sore than I've been in years."
Pyxis and Caden both looked at each other, then they both broke out into laughter. Pyxis looked apologetic, whereas Caden just laughed. "Ok, you've convinced me. I'll go for the introduction session for the rock-climbing club next month," Pyxis said.
Caden was grinning widely. "At least you tried."
"I tried. I think it's good to try new things. It certainly lets you... know your limits... My legs are so sore though." Atlas twisted his body, stretching his spine. "Oww, my back. Even my tail is sore too--I didn't realize that could happen."
Caden smiled. "So is that the worst date that you've ever been on with Jarz?"
Atlas didn't take the bait. He neither confirmed nor denied the question, but simply ignored it and glanced towards the school building, where there was a clockface. "School's starting soon." Then a loud bell rang, signalling that assembly was going to begin. Hatchlings and fledglings started to move about the school field, getting to their assembly positions.
Right at that moment, an orange-coloured fledgling landed right beside them--Jarzyl Mintaka. Her scales were bold shades of amber orange, and she wore a well-fitted fight harness, while around her wingtips were tied pennant flags dyed to match her scale colours and emblazoned with the Clan Mintaka insignia. The downdraft from her landing made the grass blades briefly twitch.
Furling up her wings, Jarzyl panted tiredly before nodding at her friends. "I made it! Almost overslept this morning. My father woke me up just in time and I had to sprint all the way here. But I made it in time! Hello!"
Pyxis and Caden both waved. "Hello." "Hey."
Atlas didn't say anything. He hardly even acknowledged Jarzyl's arrival, and the two of them exchanged the quickest of glances--a lot of complex, subtle emotion passed in that brief moment of eye contact. Despite how well Caden knew both Atlas and Jarzyl, she couldn't quite decipher their expressions.
"Mhhm... Still sore? Sorry. Here." Jarzyl made a hesitant laugh, then she reached into one of her harness pouches and took out a healing crystal. She unwrapped the protective foil, then she strapped the crystal to Atlas's flight harness so that it was pressed against his side. Faint sparks of energy started to spill out from the crystal, sweeping around Atlas body.
Atlas glanced at the crystal and watched as sparks of healing magic bounced across his scales, sweeping across his abrasions and sinking into his muscles. A healing crystal could fix small wounds, but it couldn't do anything about missing scales--those would regrow on their own after a few days, or a few weeks.
Atlas leaned towards Jarzyl and said something to her. Caden couldn't hear the quiet words, but it looked like he murmured, "Thanks, captain." Jarzyl's neck frill twitched, and she smiled faintly.
Then the two fledglings, orange and black, sat together side by side, not touching, basically ignoring each other. The rest of their class group also formed up into lines in front or behind them, with other class groups forming their own lines beside them.
Caden and Pyxis sat right behind Atlas and Jarzyl. "So... are they actually dating? Or are they still just friends?" Pyxis whispered to Caden.
"Who even knows?" Caden replied.
END