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The chorus of tinkling crystalline wings filled the cavern. Opallic purples, greens, and whites caught beams of golden sunlight streaming in from holes in the alpine ceiling. Scaled bodies twisted and spun in the air, narrowly missing each other in practiced elegance. Tails flicked and turned, guiding their owners into choreographed loops and spirals, each movement designed to highlight a different colour of opal that curled through perfectly groomed and polished scales. Each flap resonated with a different pounding drumbeat, every turn a different tune, chaotically imbued in perfect harmony.

Surrounding the stage of dancing crystal dragons was a crowd, situated in the shadows, watching the performance with silent awe. Every available space was crowded with a myriad of earth, metal, and crystal dragons, their gazes reflecting the colours scattered by the dance. The smooth stone underneath their paws formed into large steps, creating room for hundreds to sit in on the dance, yet it still didn't seem like enough.

Rennock sat close to the front of the crowd, on the lower steps, looking up at the dance with unparalleled wonder. His small wings were curled tightly to his side, and his earthy green scales seemed almost brown in the darkness. Next to him sat his mother, a large crystal dragon nearly three times his size, with a soft emerald hue glowing in her crystalline scales. On his left was his brother, another earth drake who was too busy gnawing at one of the small spikes on the ball at the end of his tail to really pay attention to the dance.

But Rennock was hypnotised. His claws gripped at the edge of the step in front of him, and his heart pounded in rhythm with the beat of the drum. He swayed slightly at the twists and turns within the dance, and his breath hitched softly as two dragonesses passed by within a claw-tip of one another, flashing each other a grin as they did. The dancers pulled seamlessly into two parallel lines as they dove toward the ground, the glowing beams of sunlight reflecting all their colours all through the crowd. A collective gasp rose as they pulled up within a dragon length of a horrid crash, turning up and splitting apart as they exploded out from each other, with a chorusing roar.

They circled the stage once, before gliding down to the centre stage, each landing and facing outwards. They each bowed, one by one, followed by a howled applause from the crowd. Dragons stamped their feet, slapped the stone with their tails, and flapped their wings in appreciation of the performance. Rennock made as much noise as he could as well, wallowing out his squeaky roar and banging the spiked ball at the end of his tail against the ground.

His brother looked at him, slightly annoyed, and gave a huffed, "Finally, it's over."

Rennock ignored him, watching as the dances lined up together, sitting on their haunches to bask in the praise. His eyes searched the line till he found one of the smaller crystal dragons, a dragoness no bigger than him. He caught her eye and waved his wing excitedly. She smiled and waved her wing back.

"Alright you two," his mother spoke, leaning down to her two hatchlings, "Let's go and wait for your sister outside, okay."

Rennock nodded eagerly, while his brother only grunted in response, getting to his feet, and shaking himself. Together they followed the leaving crowd out through the exit, an opening at the lower end of the cavern. As they walked the young earth drake found himself going over the maneuvers of the dance in his head, stepping side to side with raised wings, almost able to picture himself up there with them. With the same glowing scales. The same shining wings. A yelp escaped him as a weight hit his back, driving him to the ground.

"Geode!" he growled, "Get off me!"

His brother chuckled, "Don't tell me you were trying to dance?"

Rennock tried to haul himself to his feet, and throw his brother off, but, as usual, he found it far more difficult than it should be, "Get off me!"

"Geode, get off your brother," their mother growled, "This is not the place for that."

Geode huffed, but did as he was asked, sticking his tongue out as Rennock scrambled to his feet with a trickling growl. The family found themselves sitting at the edge of the entrance of the cave, looking up at an overcast sky. The entire arena was surrounded by a crater with steep walls for cliffs. Several gardens were grown throughout the crater, with large trees rising up to two dragon lengths high. The crowd walked through the gardens to a large open area where they took off into the sky. Several others sat down on grass patches or went wandering through the gardens, simply to chat, or relax after the mesmerizing display.

"Mum, when's the next performance?" Rennock asked, looking up at the large crystal dragon with wondering eyes.

"Sometime next week Rennock. Why?"

"Can we go to that one as well?"

"Please no!" Geode exclaimed.

The large dragoness smiled softly, "We'll see Rennock. We have been to the last three."

"But they are so cool! And Nyvre likes when we come."

"I'm sure your sister will be okay if we miss a couple. Besides, you start your classes next week. You don't want to miss your first day."

"Oh, yeah, those start," Geode lamented, laying down on the ground.

"I'd rather be here," snorted Rennock.

"You two will be fine," the dragoness sighed as she looked into the exiting crowd, searching for her final hatchling.

"It's unfair," Geode growled, "Nyvre gets to skip her classes for this silly dance thing."

"It's not a silly dance thing," rumbled Rennock.

Their mother ignored them, and let out a relieved smile as she saw a young crystal dragoness walking out amongst the dwindling crowd, talking with a larger dragon. When Nyvre saw the rest of her family, she gave an excited yell and gave a couple of running steps toward them, propelled by an extra flap of her wings.

"Mum! Mum! Did you see me today?" she exclaimed, "I got it perfect this time!"

"Yes, yes you did darling," the elder dragoness smiled as her daughter bounced around her feet.

"It was awesome!" Rennock introduced himself to his sister's enthusiasm, "The flips! The twirls! The way the light caught your scales... it was awesome!"

Nyvre grinned at him, "It was fun. But it was a lot of work. Vivera is putting me in the same position next week."

"That's so cool... I wish I could be up there as well."

"Yeah. But only crystal dragons can. Sorry, Rennock."

"I know," the young drake felt his excitement drain a bit after that comment.

He didn't know why it hurt him so much. What she said was as true as a razor edge. The troop only accepted crystal dragons. The way the light caught their scales and glowed was a major part of the choreography. His dull green and brown scales could never match that glorious presence. No matter how good a flyer, or dancer, he was.

He sat on his haunches, droning out the excitement of Nyvre as she continued to talk to her mother. He liked to shine his scales as much as he could when he had the opportunity, and while the green gleamed with forest hues, it never seemed like enough. Not the same as the elegant crystalline shine of his sister and mother. He hated it. He hated how unfair it was. He hated that the only reason he couldn't be a part of something was that he had the wrong scales.

"Come on you three. We better head home," their mother spoke, spreading her wings.

The family leaped into the air, pulling in directly behind their mother. They flew over the cliff face, rising up within the steep towering mountains of their home. Hazel rock cooked in the direct light of the sun. Tiny shrubs grew in patches where they could find purchase, and trickles of water dripped from high cliff faces, where the remnants of snow remained perched from the winter. The four of them flew in silence for several moments, looking down into the deep ravine cut into the ground, where thousands travelled. The greens and browns of earth. The opallic glory of crystal dragons. The silver sheen of metallic plates. Rennock could even see the lines of walking humans far down on the ground.

Several minutes later, after banking into another valley, the family pulled in their wings and glided down into one of the ravines. They kept close to the rock face to avoid the hundreds of flapping wings passing by and landed at one of the many landing pads sticking out of the wall. Geode was the first to walk into the cavern that was their home with a great sigh.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, falling onto one of the nests of pillows and blankets they kept at one side of the main cavern.

Their cave was rather large for a family, rising four dragon lengths high, with an extra ledge about halfway up. They had five separate areas sprouting from the main cavern, one room for each of them, and then a cave that their mother and father shared, and the final one for storage. The usual bloodstained eating bowl was situated to the far side of the cavern, and several vines and flowery plants grew in random patterns over the walls.

While Nyvre and their mother continued to talk, Rennock trudged into his separate cavern and fell into his nest, surrounded by darkness and his thoughts. What was wrong with him? Earth dragons were supposed to be tough. Strong. Big. They were the frontline. The protectors. Masters of the very rock and dirt under their feet. But at that moment, Rennock wished with all his heart that it wasn't who he was. He wanted to fly elegantly through the air, with shining scales, twisted curls, without the weight of the spiked ball at the end of his tail.

It was unfair. Like a cruel twist of fate. As if inside he was supposed to be a crystal dragon, but some cruel twist of fate forced him to be hatched with the stupid green and brown scales. His father was a great earth dragon. Falling into everything he was supposed to be. The leader of a portion of the army, with great power, and his brother seemed to follow in their father's footsteps. But for him, he felt trapped, wanting to be more like his sister, yet trapped in something that made him the opposite of what he wanted to be.

The rest of the day went by slowly. Their father wouldn't be home until far later in the night, as busy as he was, but their mother was there and brought out a doe that had been thawed from their storage. Not exactly fresh, but Rennock enjoyed deer enough that it didn't worry him. Still, he ate slowly, not saying much as the four of them dug into their meal. Afterward, he walked back into his cave and fell back into his nest.

The tapping of claws against stone caused him to raise his head, looking at the entrance. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he could see the familiar for of his mother walking toward him. He sighed, laying his back against the comfort of the soft pillow nest.

"Rennock, are you okay? You didn't say much at dinner," his mother spoke, laying on the stone next to him.

He looked away from her, embarrassment leaking from his scales, believing his worry to be stupid, "I'm fine."

"You're obviously not fine. What's wrong? Did Geode do something to make you upset?"

"No..."

"Nyvre?"

"Mum, nothing's wrong!" he lashed out with a rumble.

She tilted her head at him, before gently nodding her head. She slowly got to her feet.

"If you say so. But know Rennock, I am your mother, and I care deeply for you. I don't want you to be upset."

Rennock closed his eyes, struggling to keep a tear from running down his scaled cheek, keeping his head turned away from her. He heard her muffled footsteps as she began to walk away from him. The emotion began to build in his chest, threatening to burst. Like he couldn't hold it in anymore. A soft whimper escaped him.

His mother's head shot around. She let out a soft sigh as she stepped up, once again curling around him as he sniffled into the pillows of his nest. She didn't say anything, merely curling her tail around his form and covering him with a protective wing. For several minutes neither said anything as Rennock allowed the bottled emotions to pour out of him.

"It's unfair," he said eventually.

"What's unfair?"

"I... I want to dance... I want to fly and shine like you... and Nyvre... and all those other crystal dragons. But I can't. Cause I have stupid green and brown scales, and a stupid ball at the end of my tail."

"Oh, little one, there is nothing wrong with being an earth dragon."

"I... I know. But I don't want to be. I want to be a crystal dragon... like you. I want to... I want to... do what Nyvre does. But I can't, cause I'm an earth dragon."

He felt his mother's snout gently nuzzle the top of his head, between his horns, "Rennock, there are plenty of other things you can do."

"I don't want to do those other things!"

His mother fell silent for several moments at those words, though didn't stop her affectionate, and comforting nudging.

"I... I feel like... a crystal dragon on the inside. But I hatched an earth dragon," Rennock whimpered.

His mother's breath touched his head as a sigh escaped her, "Oh little one..."

"I... I don't know what to do."

There were several moments of silence, before the dragoness began to softly speak, "Rennock, can I tell you something?"

"O...Okay."

"What you are... you can't change. Sometimes... you just need to accept that. You're a young earth drake... and you can't really do anything about that. You shouldn't do anything about that."

He lowered his head.

"But... what you are doesn't define who you are."

He frowned, looking back at her, "What does that mean?"

"It means... that on the outside... you are exactly what you look like. But you being an earth drake doesn't change anything about who you are on the inside. You are a caring, loving brother. You love shiny things, shiny scales, and want to have them. You love to fly, and dance, things that the stereotypical earth dragon doesn't like. You don't like the rough and tumble that your brother does. You prefer a conversation. All that... it's okay for an earth dragon to be like that Rennock. It doesn't make you any less of a being than your brother or father. Than any other earth dragon."

"Oh... but others... they see me only as an earth dragon. They still won't let me dance."

"Then change their minds," his mother smiled, "There is no reason why you can't start a group of your own. I'm sure Nyvre will be happy to help teach you. She's always looking for excuses to practice."

"I know... but... but what if they laugh at me?"

"Oh, young one... if you want to make a difference in an area, to challenge the norm... you will get laughed at. I won't lie to you. But what others think about you doesn't matter. It's what you want to do that matters. What you are striving toward. If you want to do it bad enough... then what others think doesn't matter."

"So... so I can dance?"

"Of course!"

"I still won't be able to do anything like a crystal dragon though..."

"Rennock, there is no such thing as dancing like a crystal dragon. You dance... like you. Nyvre, she has her own style that she has fit into the routine, and so has every other one of the dragons. You just need to find your own."

The young drake couldn't deny the idea excited him somewhat. Making his own style. Maybe it wouldn't be as shiny... but he did know that some really skilled earth dragons were able to manipulate the crystals of the earth.

"And Rennock, remember, you're only five. Who you are will change as you grow up as well. You could dance for a hundred years and then grow bored and want to try something else. But don't let what you are decide that for you. You do who you are... okay?"

"O...Okay mum," he smiled at her, "Oh, I can't wait to ask Nyvre."

"Wait until tomorrow though young one. She is tired and is asleep," his mother chuckled, rubbing the top of his head with the elbow of her wing, "And I'm getting sleepy as well."

He nodded, "Okay. Tomorrow then!"

"That's the spirit."

His mother got to her feet and shook herself out, giving herself a bit of a stretch, "Alright, I'm gonna say goodnight now. Your father will be home soon."

"Goodnight mum. I love you."

"And I love you too little one."

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Thank you all for reading! This is a bit of a different one, tell me what you think and let me know how i can improve. Sorry for the long wait again. Honestly been finding it a bit difficult to write lately, but hoping to change that. As always, vote on the next chronicle below, and it should be out next week!

Mind's Final Stand: Vanilier, Mind dragoness, and Laywil, Mind drake - 5Yrs BTA

The Dragonslayer and the Fire Queen Pt3 (Threats): The Dragoneslayer, Human man - 3Yrs BTA

A Lost Species: Shade, Shadow drake - 8 Months BTA

See Ya!

Pennator^^