"7... 6..."
Quinn soared through the Mudwing queen's large greenhouse garden. The space seemed to hold everything from massive jungle flowers to the smallest of exotic grasses.
"5... 4..."
Quickly tucking his wings, the hybrid hid in the branches of a small, leaning tree.
"3... 2..."
He wrapped his large, blue-grey wings around himself, hiding the majority of his body.
"1... ready or not, here I come!"
Quinn stayed silent as he heard the squelching sound of talon in mud. A large, female Mudwing ran pass, clumsy amongst the plants and leaves.
Quinn had always felt most at home in the greenhouse. He could spend hours talking to the plants and hiding in the trees. He always felt as though the flowers and vines listened to his words, and the leafy greens had no way to brush him off or tell him to shut up. He also got lost in thought from time to time, and this seemed to be one of those times. And, before long...
"Found you!"
He almost seemed to leap out of his scales, before turning to see his sister, Umbra, behind him.
"Aww, really? I thought I'd fooled you this time!" Quinn groaned.
"The bigwing knows, little brother." Umbra replied.
Mudwings always hatched in groups. The first of the group to hatch was the largest, the oldest, and therefore the leader. Most Mudwings also never meet their parents. Quinn and Umbra were lucky though. Umbra was the heir to the Mudwing throne, and therefore she and her siblings got to stay in the palace and get to know their mother. Their father, however, was entirely unknown.
As the duo jumped out of the tree's branches, a scrawny, odd-looking Seawing entered through the greenhouse's connection to the palace. But, this Seawing wasn't just a Seawing.
"You guys need to meet Mother in the throne room, there's a Rainwing coming to visit her!" She squealed with excitement.
"Wow, real Rainwing!?" Quinn immediately pushed past her.
"It's just a Rainwing, what's so special?" Umbra groaned, trailing behind. Quinn ignored her.
"Did you see them, Jay? What did they look like?"
The scrawny, Seawing-like dragonet shook her head. "I didn't see them, sorry."
Moments later, the trio entered the palace throne room. Upon a large bronze throne sat Queen Ibis. Next to the queen's throne were 3 smaller thrones- one for each of the queen's dragonets. The first was made of bronze, and the other two wood. Umbra rushed up and sat upon the small bronze throne, while Quinn and his little sister, Jay Bird, a scrawny, Seawing-looking dragonet, sat upon the wooden ones. Quinn had always thought that Jay Bird looked the most royal of them, but he did his best.