“Sun time isn’t about snoozing ,” Mangrove said sternly. I’m not going to spend it snoozing like a slug.” She seized a papaya and accidently crushed it between her front talons. “Next is sun time,” Kinkajou said, and Mangrove nodded with a glance at the sky. Guavas are the ones I could eat every day for the rest of time.
Raspberries are sharper than cloud berries. “All right, what can we do next?” she asked, popping berries in her mouth. I’m not a typical RainWing, but maybe that’s what you need for a queen. Well, take me or leave me, Glory thought. But if she’d spotted those few, she could imagine how many more might be out there, camouflaged and curious about the challenger for the throne. As she whipped her head around to look at them, most of them quickly changed color and disappeared. Even though they were in a secluded corner of the village, Glory could see dragon heads peering around tree trunks and poking out of hammocks, staring her way. The whole tribe must know she wasn’t a normal RainWing, but they didn’t need to see all of her mistakes the day before she tried to become their queen.īut Sunny was right. It was unsettling to keep finding RainWing eyes on her every time she turned around. She’d asked him to choose a spot where they could practice without attracting too much attention. “I’m not sure this is the right time to tell you this,” Sunny said, “but you’re being watched.” The day’s half gone and you still need to practice venom targeting and tree gliding and camouflage. Stop wasting time, she scolded herself as she helped the sloth balance. Cheerful orange-yellow pulp squirted all over her scales, and Silver scrambled down Glory’s arm to lick it up. “Clay, let me at least try it.” She tried slicing it open as neatly as Mangrove had opened the banana and made a terrific mess. “Are you going to eat that whole thing?” Clay asked. Glory studied the outside of the mango and let her scales slowly turn a dull green with black speckles, shading to warm red around her wings and tail. “See if you can match this mango.” He rolled it to her with his nose.
“You can practice your camouflage at the same time,” Mangrove said.
He licked it off with a contented expression. Clay fumbled to catch it and ended up with banana smeared all over his talons. Glory took another bite and then lobbed the rest of it at him. A small orange monkey with a black face was playing with her tail, but Sunny either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. “Clay would dominate a blind taste test,” Sunny offered from her perch in the trees above them. “But you never know.” He peeled the banana with a few swipes of his claws and tossed it to her. “I don’t think anyone’s ever thought of that before,” said Mangrove. “I should taste them all, too, right? Just in case she chooses a blind taste test?” “You’ve really never had any of these before?” Mangrove asked, surveying the forty or so fruits arranged around the platform. Whenever she felt her brain getting tired, she’d think of the smoky air choking the caves of the RainWings, and that would snap her back into focus. Birds, insects, flowers, fruit - anything Magnificent might test her on, she would memorize. All the toucans and parrots and lorikeets that had disappeared during the rainfall were back, perched on the highest branches and hollering joyfully at the sun as if they’d never expected to see it again.Īnd now Glory could identify all the birds in sight, after studying with Mangrove and Kinkajou all morning.
The sun was high above them, and the morning rain had stopped, although the leaves kept showering the dragons every time someone bounced through and shook the trees. “Star fruit, tangelo, clawmentine, kumbu, dragonberry, mango, fire pear, and that one’s a trick that only looks like a fruit, but is actually a poorly designed snail.” She poked the purple snail shell with one claw and its ner vous antennae vanished again.