The sun was making slow progress across the sky, approaching its downward track towards night. A cool breeze swept up from the ocean and touched a few passing birds with a light, salty mist. The water lapping around the dock piers made a gentle rythem that was undisturbed by the many creatures swimming below its depths.
A single, vibrantly red haired girl lay on the edge of the dock, her bare feet dangling inches over the water. Two flits, one brown and one gold, chirped and played around her head, hiding in her hair for protection. Farther out to sea, a snake-like red dragon played water tag with a mermaid and a hippocampy.
A sudden wave drenched the girl from head to toe in cold water and had her sitting bolt upright in a minute. She sputtered once or twice then grinned happily up at the two-toned blue dragoness towering above her. The dragon flapped her wings once or twice to shake away the remaining droplets and placed her great claws on the edge of the dock.
"All done your swim?" The girl asked in a chipper tone. Though she was now nearing her 24th birthday, she still had the playful appearence of an innocent child.
"Yes. You should have come. Fl'anoric and Cam dared each other to a race." She cooed low in her throat, lowering her large head into the girl's lap.
"Who won?" Page chuckled, stroking the fins at the side of her bond's head. Eternity purred contentedly.
"Neither of them. Sera and Yanko beat them both."
Page laughed and hugged the dragon's short neck. She felt a rumble of laughter rising in Eternity's throat and held tightly to the prideful dragoness as she echoed her joy. The two-toned water dragon lifted her head suddenly, bringing the small girl along with her. She swung her neck around to allow Page access to her back then slide back into the water.
"Come on. Seneia and Saiuun want to talk to us." Without another word, Eternity dove beneath the waves and kicked her powerful hindlegs to gain momentum.
They surfaced moments later, gliding through the air before diving back beneath the waves. Eternity's sleek form cut through the water without so much as a ripple, her strong wings pulling them along at a pace not even a flying dragon could match. She was quite quick in the air too.
A bellow from shore drew their attention to two deeply blue dragons wallowing in the shallows. Eternity returned the call with a fluting cord that sounded much like the song of a whale. She turned her long, slender form so swiftly that she would have lost her rider, had Page not already been used to these movements. In fact, Page seemed almost a part of the water bound dragon as they tore towards the others. Her slight body was pressed close to Eternity's back and she moved in time to each twitch of her bond's muscles.
Skidding to a halt beside the other two dragons, Page heard two startled cries followed by the crash of a wave. She winched slightly and smiled weakly down at the drenched Seneia and Saiuun. "Sorry."
Seneia glared up at the green eyed, boyiant young girl on the dragon's back for a moment, ringing out her sky blue cape at the same time. Her honey-blonde hair hung in limp clumps around her face and dripped onto her tight-fitting, white outfit (not good). "No problem." She muttered dryly.
"Ack. I just got dry." Saiuun sighed, shaking the water from one, fur covered leg. He ran a hand through his rust red hair, careful to avoid the two horns protruding from his forehead. The faun man smiled up at Page as she jumped down from Eternity's back. "Oh well. We'll be getting wet again soon anyway."
"Wadda ya mean?" Page questioned, flipping her pony tail of curly red hair behind her shoulders. She wore a simple white tunic and brown leather pants. Nothing as fancy as Seneia's matching sky outfit or as revealing as Saiuun's... lack of clothes. She supposed fauns didn't normally wear clothes but knowing that he wore nothing but his fur was a bit un-nerving.
"We've been invited to a swim frenzy." Seneia, leader of the Water Wing, pulled a small, slightly damp, piece of paper from her pocket. She unrolled the sheet, frowned slightly and rolled it back up. "It's kinda unreadable now. Basically it says that we're to attend a swim frenzy at the Healing Den."
"That place that has all the strange dragons." Dalnia put in quickly, not to be ignored in the conversation. The large, midnight blue dragoness turned towards them and ducked beneath the erratic path of three flying terors. Page's Breck and Talso and Seneia's orange-brown Cantan.
"It's not so strange. Senorith came from there." A deep, brassy voice rumbles. Byarae looks down at the humans with placid, dark eyes.
"But so did Dracoth and Merlinth and they seem to be quite strange." Eternity piped up, not to be outdone by the two giants. She was already dwarfed by them in size by at least half.
"Regardless of that," Seneia continued with a light grin, "it's for water dragons only. So, since we're the only water bound riders here, who wants to go?" She glanced from Saiuun to Page, nothing both the michevious grin on Saiuun's face and the joyful spark in the Page's eyes. She grinned widely. "I take that as we're all going."
"Let's go then!" Dalnia bellowed, lifting her head to the sky. She fanned her wide, light blue wings and bent down to give Seneia a shoulder up. Byarae and Eternity followed suit, eager to get going. With Talso and Breck settled on Page's lap and Cantan huddled around Seneia's neck, the three water riders took off into the sky, circling twice before disappearing between.
Guys
Saiuun and Byarae