Samantha Edwhan

Alita's Youth

Chapter 3

Spring 2824

The sun was warm, despite the early morning chill in the air. It was spring and Alita was finally old enough to leave the caves unsupervised like her brother. This was her first day outside without her parents. She, Matthias, Evelyn, and Kyle were trotting their way along the beach, heading for the group of fledglings their age gathering near the water. A single adult dragon stood with the group, undoubtedly their teacher for the day.

Alita wasn’t sure how she felt about this concept of daily lessons they had to go through. But her parents had explained that all dragons needed a basic education in the Tribe. Liam had said his favourite lessons were the flying lessons. But it would be at least another year or two before they were officially taught how to fly. Liam had mentioned that wing exercises and swimming lessons came first.

“Isn’t this exciting?” Evelyn asked, glancing at Alita.

“We’ve been outside before,” Kyle muttered.

“Especially you two, with your Chieftain father and two mothers,” Matthias pointed out.

Evelyn frowned at him. “Tiffany isn’t my mother, she’s my aunt.”

“And Aunt Kelda isn’t my mother,” Kyle added.

“But they’re together all the time, like my mother and father,” Matthias said. “And they always take you two outside together.”

Evelyn huffed. “That’s because they’re sisters and want to spend time together.”

“It’s good to be outside though!” Alita said quickly. “From this day on, we can come out here whenever we want.”

Evelyn smiled. “Exactly. See, Alita gets it!”

Matthias rolled his eyes, though his smile betrayed him. “What was the teacher’s name again?”

“Breeze, I think,” Alita said. She’d seen him around the caves before. He was an older dragon, usually delivering food or tending to any injuries that came up.

“Breeze? Maybe he’s a Wind Dragon,” Matthias theorised. “Do you think he can teach us how to force a gust of wind to blow?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “You dummy; Wind Dragons are extinct. And dragons can’t learn an element they don’t possess.”

Matthias pouted. “Too bad. I kinda want to be a Fire Dragon like my mother.”

“Who knows, maybe there’s a secret Fire Dragon inside you,” Alita suggested. “If we get any elemental training, it might just come out.”

Kyle laughed. “You guys are silly. If you haven’t expressed any sign of being a Fire Dragon by now, you’re probably not one.”

“Besides, you’re already a Rock Dragon,” Evelyn added quickly. “If you had two elements, you’d be a hybrid type, and those are super rare.”

Matthias frowned at Evelyn and Kyle, then looked at Alita. She shrugged, not sure what to say in response. The brief silence in the conversation was filled by Breeze at the front of the group they’d reached.

“Alright, youngins, time for your first ever lesson.” His voice was raspy but that didn’t stop his upbeat tone from coming through. “The first thing any fledgling needs to learn is safety. There are a lot of hazards on and around the beach. The sand beneath your feet could have broken pieces of shells or even little crabs that just want to be left alone. Be careful of where you put your feet. If you see any crabs, don’t poke them or they’ll pinch back.”

Alita tipped her head and looked around the beach. Were crabs really that big of a problem here? She couldn’t recall ever seeing one.

“Next is the sky,” Breeze continued. “It might only be the start of spring now, but soon enough, we’ll be in summer. The sun will get hot. If you aren’t careful, you’ll become dehydrated and weak. I don’t want to be treating any of you for sunstroke in the upcoming year so best stay in the shade at the hottest part of the day.”

“Excuse me.” A silvery wing shot up from the middle of the group as one of the other fledglings voiced his question. “There isn’t a lot of shelter around here. How are we supposed to avoid overheating?”

Breeze smiled. “Good spotting, youngin. The caves are the most sheltered place to go, but for dragons your size, some of the grass banks will provide you with shelter too. You’ll find as you grow that the sun becomes less of a problem. But we don’t want your young and sensitive skin getting burned just yet.”

“At least Ice Dragons can cool themselves off independently,” Evelyn muttered, glancing at Alita with a playful smile. “Bet you wish you were an Ice Dragon right about now.”

Alita shrugged her wings, not wanting to disturb the lesson. Breeze was still talking.

“Finally, there is the water.” Breeze waved a wing at the shoreline behind him. “There are a lot of different animals in the water, not all of them friendly. Until you’ve grown a bit older, best to stay in the shallows and within view of an adult when you go swimming.”

“What about further inland?” the silver fledgling from before asked.

“You really are a curious one, aren’t ya? Most of the island is wild and left as nature intended, but near the centre is where our companions of Hiza Calndom live,” Breeze explained. “Now, I don’t expect any of you to actually make it that far in idle wanderings. However, you should all be aware that dangerous creatures live on the island. Wild boars, for example, are incredibly aggressive and will attack on sight. If you ever see one, get off the ground as soon as possible.”

Alita remembered hearing stories of wild boars from her parents. They’d had a few scrapes with them before joining the Tribe. But try as she might, Alita couldn’t remember anything about them. One day, though, her parents had promised to teach her how to stop one. Just in case.

“There’s also the prey we catch,” Breeze continued. “Deer and elk can be dangerous to young dragons like you. If you stray away from the beach, try to avoid any herds of deer or elk that you may see. But, of course, please don’t stray from the beach at all! We don’t want you youngins getting lost. Now, arrange yourselves into groups of seven and we’ll create scenarios for each of you to practice.”

The fledglings immediately broke out into groups of varying sizes as they tried to team up. Alita was jostled around as fledglings pushed past her to find their friends. She felt a pit in her stomach as she feared she’d be trampled. But then a wing landed on her back and wrapped around her neck, pulling her away from the chaos.

“Alita! Let’s be in a group!” Evelyn was grinning at her as she half dragged Alita from the others.

“And me too!” Matthias chimed in.

Evelyn glanced at him, then looked back at Alita expectantly.

“Oh, uh, yeah. Let’s be in a group,” Alita said.

“Yes!” Evelyn cheered. “Team besties together forever!”

“We still need more members though,” Matthias pointed out, looking around at the other groups that were forming.

“Well, you have me,” Kyle said, idly watching the other fledglings mingle, “That just leaves three more.”

Alita also started scanning the area. A lot of the groups that had formed seemed to have things in common. Mostly, it was their element or the specific colours of markings they had. But she also noticed fledglings who were already close friends or siblings grouping together.

There were two fledglings who stood out from the rest. One was yellow with the pale blue stripes of a Lightning Dragon and the other had the green tones of a Nature Dragon. Alita recalled seeing them around the caves, but she’d never spoken to either of them before.

“Over here!” Matthias called out, waving a wing.

The pair startled slightly, then ran over to join them. The Lightning Dragon smiled shyly and dipped her head.

“Thanks,” the Nature Dragon said. “I’m Erika and this is Cloe. We didn’t think anyone would want to be in a group with us.”

“Really? Why?” Matthias asked.

“Well, everyone here is related to Chieftain Clyde, except for us,” Erika explained.

“No one ever wants to be friends with us,” Cloe added quietly.

“We’re not related to Chieftain Clyde either,” Matthias said.

Erika raised an eyebrow, then squinted at Evelyn and Kyle. “They are.”

Alita was surprised by the amount of resentment a dragon her age could muster. What was so wrong with being related to the Chieftain?

“Well, Alita and I aren’t, so we have that in common,” Matthias said firmly. Then he smiled. “My name is Matthias, but you can also call me Matt.”

Cloe smiled politely. “Hi Matt. And you said she was Alita?”

She dipped her at Alita. Matthias nodded.

“Yeah, we’re both Rock Dragons and we didn’t hatch in the Tribe,” Matthias explained.

“Really? Where did you hatch then?” Erika asked.

“Our families were Wanderers,” Alita explained. “My parents came here when I was really little and Matt’s family joined later.”

“What about you?” Matthias asked. “If Chieftain Clyde isn’t your father, where did you hatch?”

“Oh, we both hatched here,” Erika said. “But everyone thinks our families broke Tribe Law when they didn’t.”

“My father was Chieftain before Clyde and negotiated to still have a family,” Cloe explained. And Erika’s father was Chieftain before my father. He negotiated for the same.”

“But all the others around here learned that Tribe Law says the adult males can’t have eggs unless they’re the Chieftain.” Erika stamped her forefoot as she scowled at the sand. “They all think our parents broke Tribe Law and don’t want to be friends with us because of it!”

“We’ll be your friends,” Alita said. “Evelyn and Kyle will too. Right guys?”

Alita glanced at them. Kyle muttered something noncommittal. Evelyn eyed Erika for a moment but nodded. “Yeah.”

“Well, that makes six,” Matthias said. “We need one more.”

“Can I join?”

Alita turned around in time with the others to see a pale blue dragon standing nearby. She was the last one on the beach to not be in a group and she smiled nervously at them.

“Of course! What’s your name?” Matthias asked.

“Kailey,” the dragon said.

“Finally, another Ice Dragon!” Kyle announced dramatically. He grinned at Kailey and waved a wing. “Come and join us.”

Kailey smiled back at him and joined their group. Alita glanced at the others and noticed Erika and Cloe eyeing Kailey.

“It’s okay if Kailey joins our group, right?” Alita asked them.

“I… Yeah, it’s okay,” Cloe muttered.

Erika poked her with a wing. “Don’t say that. You don’t like her.”

Kailey’s eyes widened. “You don’t?”

Cloe frowned at Erika. “I never said I don’t like her!”

“Then what’s wrong?” Evelyn asked.

Cloe hesitated. Erika rolled her eyes and answered for her, loudly. “Cloe and Kailey have the same father but different mothers. Elliott was supposed to be loyal to one dragon, but he chose to be a worthless piece of crab grass who couldn’t decide. Cloe’s mother cut him off when she found out.”

“Erika, don’t say that so loud,” Cloe hissed. Her face was flushing from Erika’s outburst. Alita wasn’t sure if it was the upfront explanation or the insult that no dragon their age should be saying. Perhaps it was both.

“It’s not Kailey’s fault that happened, though, right?” Matthias pointed out. “The other groups are all filled too. She’ll have to stay with us this time.”

Cloe nodded and gave Kailey a friendly smile. “It’s okay.”

Kailey smiled back. Alita suppressed a sigh of relief that a fight hadn’t broken out in their group on the first day of lessons. It already seemed that she was making more friends, too. She looked forward to learning more about all of them and getting time for everyone to play together.