First Day
Silverspot wrung her talons together, anxiously staring at the big door in front of her. Inside was her new mistress, Aeshna the HiveWing. Using a breathing technique, Silverspot tried to calm her racing nerves. Maybe she’ll be nice? she thought, trying to convince herself of something she knew couldn’t possibly be true from what she’d heard about upper class HiveWings.
She had traveled up to one of the higher living quarter levels, meaning that her new mistress was going to be somewhat important– wealthy, at the very least.
Silverspot rapped her knuckles against the doors, sounding out a rhythmic song of ‘thuds’. She painstakingly waited until she heard the sound of talons clicking, indicating a dragon was coming to open the door.
Silverspot didn’t know if she should raise her head and smile confidently or try to look as insignificant as possible. It all depended on what kind of dragon this HiveWing was, she supposed. Just at the last moment, Silverspot decided to smile, but not too largely, and look straight at the door. She hoped this wouldn’t give the wrong impression and start their relationship off to a bad start.
The door swung open and a red and black female dragon stood glowering down at Silverspot. “You’re late,” she said before turning back around, barely sparing the SilkWing a second glance.
Silverspot almost tripped over her talons running to catch up to the HiveWing.
“Are you Aeshna?” she asked.
The red dragon stopped in her tracks and slowly turned her head to look at Silverspot, a disgusted look on her face. “Honestly, what are they teaching SilkWings these days?” she rhetorically asked.
Silverspot knew better than to answer.
“You will address me as Ma’am and only speak when spoken to, understand?”
Silverspot nodded, looking down at her talons. She’s exactly what I’d thought she’d be like, she thought, discontented.
“Look at me when I’m talking to you, SilkWing! Really, no manners at all,” Aeshna muttered.
An orange dragonet of maybe one to two years old ran up Aeshna. “Mother, I want to go to the park,” he whined. The red HiveWing pushed his claws off of her, looking annoyed.
“I don’t have time, Carpenter, I’m leaving soon.” Aeshna then looked up at Silverspot. “You,” she said, “take Carpenter to the park, would you? I’m off to meet with Hister and June and I won’t be back for a couple hours.” She didn’t wait for Silverspot to respond, instead pushing Carpenter even farther away with her tail and walking to the door. She grabbed a purse hanging from a hook in the entryway and exited her home.
“Well…” Silverspot said, looking at the little dragonet. “It’s just you and me now.”
“I wanna go to the park! Take me to the park,” Carpenter ordered her.
Oh boy, Silverspot thought to herself. It’s going to be a long day.
On her way to Aeshna’s door, she had spotted a park; she wondered if that’s the one Carpenter wanted to visit. She didn’t know how to get back there, however. The hallways were much too like a maze.
“Okay, dragonet, let’s go to the park,” she said, trying to appease the little dragon.
“I’m not a dragonet! I just turned two, which means I’m all grown up. I don’t even need you to take me to the park,” Carpenter insisted.
“Okay then, you can lead the way,” she said, killing two birds with one stone: not angering the child and also getting directions to the park.
With a humph, the orange dragonet stomped out of the house and into the adjoining corridor, Silverspot rushing behind him.
Silverspot followed Carpenter through the treestuff hallways until they reached the park. It was big and painted black, like the accent scales on a HiveWing. Silverspot could see a see-saw, a merry-go-round, all sorts of slides, and monkey bars. All these fun sections were attached to one big playhouse.
Carpenter ran off, not giving Silverspot a second thought. A group of dragonets cheered when they saw the orange dragon beaming toward them.
Silverspot didn’t know what to do now. She could see a group of SilkWings to her left chatting amongst themselves, but she didn’t know if it would be appropriate to introduce herself. So, she stood awkwardly off to the side, watching the dragonets chasing each other's tails up and down the playground.
Silverspot got lost in thought. Her mind clouded over as she stared off into space, bored of watching the dragonets. Was this going to be her life from now on? Surprised, she was not. Discouraged? Yes. Deep in her heart she had always held her dream of becoming a famous SilkWing author close, yet it kept slipping farther and farther away. Her hours were going to be long and the work exhausting. Chasing after Carpented, cleaning, cooking, it all would become repetitively tiring. When would she have time to write? After the sun has set and she just made it back to her web? No, she wouldn’t be able to see, even if her night vision wasn’t terrible.
Someone tapped her right shoulder, causing Silverspot to jump.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” a purple and orange SilkWing said apologetically.
“It’s fine,” Silverspot assured the dragon; she didn’t want to scare her away. The silence that followed was deafening.
“Did you… um, want someth–” Siverspot was cut off mid sentence.
“Oh my Clearsight, yes, I’m sorry– that was awkward. I wanted to say hi on behalf of our little SilkWing group we have on this level.” She gestured to the group of SilkWings.
“Oh, hi,” Silverspot said. A smile took the opportunity to shine on her snout due to her thankfulness that another dragon took the time to introduce themself to her. “I’m Silverspot.”
“I’m Pavon!” Pavon grinned at her, an already friendly face on Silverspot’s mental list.
“So, you’re all Hive Drones for HiveWings on this floor?” Silverspot asked, taking another glance behind Pavon at the group of SilkWings.
“Yep! We all take care of the kids of our Mistresses most days, so that’s how we met.” Pavon pointed at the running HiveWing dragonets. “Do you see the lemon colored one? That one’s mine. Her name is Cassidinae.” The purple SilkWing smiled warmly as she gazed at the playing dragonets.
“So you don’t mind watching the children, I take it?” Silverspot asked her new acquaintance.
“I don’t, but I can’t speak for everyone. You should know, Morpho’s HiveWing dragonet is a demon– Or at least that’s what she says,” Pavon whispered, giggling. Straightening her face she added, “Don’t let your mistress hear you say that though, or it’ll be straight for Misbehaviors Way for you.”
Silverspot shuddered as the image of the paralyzed dragons entered her mind.
“You must be newly six years old, right? I’m assuming this is your first assignment, because we don’t reassign very often,” Pavon asked.
“Yeah. I’m from Mantis Hive, this is my first day. To be honest I have no idea what I’m doing,” she professed.
“I didn’t either, when I started a year ago. But now I know the job and the family I serve like the back of my talon.”
“How long does it take to get the hang of it? Aeshna has already gotten annoyed with me twice and we barely spoke for two minutes!”
Pavon laughed. “Oh no, you work for Aeshna now? Her last SilkWing was always in the worst mood. Morpho’s mistress is June, one of Aeshna’s friends. Apparently, the whole bunch are snobs,” Pavon informed her.
“Oh,” was Silverspot’s only response.
Regret flashed on Pavon's face and she waved her talons like she was trying to take back what she said from the air. “No, no. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out! I’m sure Aeshna’s fine, Morpho just complains over everything, and Eryniss was grumpy no matter what, I bet.”
Silverspot appreciated Pavon’s attempt to make her feel better, considering this purple SilkWing a possible friend.
“Thanks for warning me, anyways.”
A thought popped into Silverspot’s mind. Pavon seemed to know pretty much everything about her job and SilkWing life here in the Hive, so maybe she knew about partnerships.
“Pavon?” Silverspot voiced.
“Yes?” she replied, tilting her head, awaiting a question.
“You sound like you know a lot… Do you know anything about the partner system?”
Pavon seemed surprised but nodded her head anyways. “What do you want to know?”
“I got assigned a dragon, Admiral, but I don’t know when I’ll meet him. Should he be at our web? Do we share a web? Do we have to share a web?”
“Woah, okay. Let me answer those questions one at a time. Let’s see… From what I've heard, dragons are usually assigned partners that went through metamorphosis the same day or around the same day as them. It could be that he’s just not yet out of his cocoon. And lastly, yes, you will have to share a web. I assume one day he’ll just show up.”
“Oh.” Silverspot was not thrilled about that. She had been holding on to the hope that Admiral was just going to be a face in the crowd, no one entirely special or important in her life until she deemed him worthy, if she ever did, which she doubted.
Pavon reacted as if she could sense Silverspot's dismay with her antennae. “It’s not all bad. I quite like my partner, Yamfly. We get along fine. Pretty good, really. And lately he’s been trying to put more effort into our relationship. Make it more romantic, you know?”
Silverspot shrugged. She had never been in any sort of official relationship, though she had had crushes in school. There was Angel, who always had the prettiest smile, and Calleta who had been Silverspot’s friend when she was four years old. She had definitely had romantic feelings for them, but it was nothing very serious, just fleeting crushes to make time fly by quicker.
Pavon continued. “Like the other day he gave me flowers, and they smelled really nice. Speaking of flowers, have you been to the Mosaic Garden?”
“Yes, I have, actually,” Silverspot replied. “I went yesterday morning. It was beautiful, though some of the artwork was kind of depressing.”
“You mean all the dead LeafWings splattered in like five of the mosaics? I know, right? Every day I expect there to be a new featured mural of Queen Wasp and HiveWings attacking dead SilkWings. I mean, you don’t ever see dead HiveWings on the mosaics, do you? It’s not very respectful.”
Pavon made a good point, one Silverspot had also thought of.
Carpenter ran up to Silverspot and tugged on her wing. She really hoped he hadn;t heard what Pavon and her were discussing.
“Yes, Carpenter?” She asked, trying to put on a friendly tone to be nice to the dragonet and get on his good side. “What do you need?”
“I want a honey drop. Take me to the market.” The HiveWing spoke with such authority over Silverspot that she was astounded. He was a HiveWing, yes, but just a two year old! If she had tried to speak to a HiveWing like that at her age she would have been sent to Discipline Lane as quickly as a savanna snake could strike.
“Hey, I’m sorry but I don't have any scales. Maybe your mom will lend you some when she gets back from her outing.” Silverspot really hoped that would work and keep him satisfied until either Aeshna got back or he forgot about it.
It didn’t.
“No! I want a honeydrop now!” With that, he stomped on her front right talon hard and whisked himself away. He disappeared behind a corner before Silverspot could even think to yell out to stop him.
Panic surged in every part of her body. What am I going to do?! I can’t lose him on my first day! Silverspot hurried a, “Sorry, bye,” to Pavon before she chased after her charge.
“Carpenter!” she called out, trying not to be too loud, in case a nearby HiveWing reported her. The tree-stuff walls quickly became a labyrinth and Silverspot could not remember which halls she had checked before and which ones were uncharted.
“Carpenter,” she loudly said one more time, but ended it more like a question than an order to come back. She was definitely lost.
A purple and orange head with long indigo horns poked her head around a corner and sighed with relief when she saw Silverspot.
Tears began to well in Silverspot’s eyes as her savior came and brushed her wing against hers. “It’s okay, Silverspot. Let’s go back to the park and figure out a plan. He couldn’t have gotten far.”
Pavon led the orange and silver dragon out of the maze of hallways and back to the large park. By then, Silverspot had gotten control over her tear ducts and began to fret.
“Pavon! What if he’s still gone before Aeshna get’s back! She’ll have me arrested for doing such a horrible job.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let that happen.” Pavon shouted her wards name, Cassidinae, and brought the lemon scaled HiveWing dragonet bounding over to the SilkWings.
“Cassidinae, do you know where Carpenter likes to hide when he’s upset or mad?” She asked the little dragon, speaking slowly and clearly to get her point across.
“Do you really need to know? I’m in the middle of a game!” Cassidinae complained.
“It would just take a moment, dear,” Pavon persuaded.
“Alright. He likes to go hide under stairwell B. He says that’s where he runs off to when his parents fight about stuff. Eryniss always got so mad about that, he says.”
“Thank you, you can go back and play now,” Pavon said.
When Cassidinae left, Silverspot sagged with relief. “Thank Clearsight, now I just hope he’s there.”
“Give me one moment, will you? And thenI’ll bring you to stairwell B,” Pavon said.
Silverspot nodded and watched as her new friend hurried off to her group of SilkWings, said a few words, and came running back.
“Okay, let’s go. I just had to let someone know to watch Cassidinae for me.”
The two SilkWings rushed through the Hive, Pavon in the lead.
A stairwell came into view and Silverspot began to get frantic when she couldn’t see a sign of the orange dragonet. She ran to look underneath the staircase and to her alleviation, Carpenter was curled up in a ball against the wall in the darkened corner.
“Thank Clearsight,” she murmured under her breath. “Carpenter, let’s go back to your house, okay? We can wait there for your mom,” Silverspot suggested. What she really wanted to say was, never ever ever run away like that again! I could have been jailed or put on Misbehaviors Way! You almost gave me a heart attack! She couldn’t risk what she said being revealed to Aeshna, though, so she kept that to herself.
Carpenter bared his sharp teeth at her. “I don’t have to listen to you! You’re just a SilkWIng!”
Silverspot was aghast. How soon did the HiveWing mentality transfer into their young? How often did they speak badly about SilKWings that their children pick up on it and take on the same beliefs? Silverspot was horrified, angry, bitter, but mostly sad about the little dragonet having so much hate in him at such a young age.
Silence enveloped the dragons. To Silverspot’s bewilderment, there looked to be an expression of guilt on Carpenter’s face. Maybe there is hope left for him yet, she thought.
“It’s alright,” She whispered as she leaned down to get on his level. Silverspot had the idea that being understanding and giving him positive attention would make him more motivated to listen. “I’m not mad. I promise I’ll get you honeydrops if I can. That means we need your mom’s approval. I know it sucks to have to wait and to be forced to do things, but sometimes that’s just the way it is.” The double meaning of her words smacked her in the face.
Slowly, Carpenter unfurled from his ball and crept out from underneath the stairs.
The market level meant for Cicada Hive’s SilkWing population was crowded that night with dragons just let off from their jobs. There were no windows on the level and the only source of light came from criss-crossed strings of lanterns hung to the ceiling by long silk threads that looked like magical rope in the lanterns’ light.
Silverspot entered a casual restaurant tucked in some less traveled corner of the market. Silverspot was too tired from the hustle and bustle of her first day working for Aeshna to want to be around a crowd. Aeshna had made her clean almost the whole house after she and Carpenter had gotten back from the new fancy dessert store called The Sugar Dream.
Inside the restaurant tired looking SilkWings chowed on their food, served by even more exhausted looking SilkWings.
Silverspot ordered a smoothie bowl with two of the scales her mother and father had given her to tide her over until she got her first payment. The fruit concoction in her bowl was a delicious looking reddish-purple hue.
The bell chime hanging on the door rang and Silverspot looked up from the table she sat at. A deep blue and green dragon, almost black, with bright red spots on her wings and spine walked into the store. Uniquely, she had bright white horns, spikes, and claws– something not many SilkWings had. She looked to be aged six too, Silverspot guessed by the small stature of her body. It much resembled her own. Even more notably, this dragon was the most gorgeous dragon Silverspot had ever seen.