Sandy didn’t want her brother to leave. “Please don’t go, Colossal.” she pleaded. Her brother sighed and stood up, placing a red-clawed hand on his bag. “But.. but it’s the Testing, Sandy. I have to go. Everyone my age has to, and you know that.” The yellow dragon turned and frowned down at her, and his sister could see that behind his glasses, his eyes were worried and sad. Almost as if he didn’t want to leave, either. But, of course, he had to, and Sandy knew that. “But- but the Queen-“ Sandy trailed off, realizing there was no good way to end that particular sentence. The queen.. what? Knew he wasn’t an Elemental? “She has to test me,” Colossal said. She didn’t respond, and instead gazed down at her feet. “Sandy.. I know it’s hard for you.” He took her navy blue claws in his own, closing his talons around them. “But I have to go, and when I come back I’ll get you your favorite red apples from Sunray’s farm and it’ll all be okay. It’ll only be a week. You can manage a week without me being here.” “But you’ve always been here!” Sandy cried, flaring her golden wings in protest. She had never been home by herself. From the moment she was born, her brother had been with her, holding her claws, encouraging her on. She certainly didn’t want her brother to be whisked away for a week for other dragons to tap his scales and determine whether they had magic in them. Which they almost certainly didn’t. Sandy sniffed and hugged him tightly, golden-brown scales against his sunny yellow, navy blue claws against vivid red, tearful hazel eyes gazing up at green. “Please don’t go. I don’t want you to go.” she said again, pulling away from him. She knew exactly what he was going to say a moment before he opened his mouth. But apparently she was wrong, because the red alarm hung on Colossal’s wall had suddenly went off. Uh oh. That meant the queen wanted him. Now. Her eyes widened and she turned to him, but Colossal was already grabbing his bag. “Take care of Strawberry while I’m gone,” he said hurriedly, and bolted out the door. Sandy hopped off the bed, eyes wide. “Wait!” For a moment she thought she heard claws on the bark floor of the main room, and she could hope for a moment that he was coming back. But only silence answered her. A moment passed, a quiet moment, a moment where she waited for her brother to open the door and tell her that he had been joking, and the Testing was really next week. Sadly she sat back down, accepting the fact that Colossal had left, and that he hadn’t been kidding. With a sigh, she turned to the rest of his room. It was.. something of a mess, to be honest. Sandy realized she had never really been in here before, other than the time Colossal sent her up to find the homework he’d left on his desk. How long ago had that been? A year and a half? Back when she was five, and he was six. But now he had reached eight, which meant he was full grown, and he could do whatever he wanted.. if the queen decided he wasn’t a threat. Sandy turned her head to look around the mess of Colossal’s room— scraps of paper, old report cards with scribbled drawings of his family, red markers with the tips smushed in —and decided hey, he’s gonna be gone for a while, why not clean up a bit? She shook out her talons. Where to begin? The messy desk with small notebook papers and a half finished portrait of a fox? His small bed of moss blankets on the floor? The red bookshelf that smelled of cedar and glue? “Where’s Colossy?” Sandy spun around in alarm. Poking her head around the door was a young, red dragon with a cyan blue underside and amber streaks along her side that made her look rather like a macaw. “Oh, hey Strawberry! Want to help me clean out your brother’s room?” Sandy grinned at her, attempting to hide the relief in her voice. Thank goodness it had been her sister and not someone scarier! “Sure! Dat sounds like FUN!” Strawberry beamed and bounced off the ground excitedly. Sandy grinned. “Do you know how to count yet?” “YEAH! One, two, twee, four.. uh..” The small dragon cub pulled out her cerulean claws and stared at them. “Uh. I forgot what’s neeeexxxt.” Sandy couldn’t help but smile. “That’s okay! We all forget sometimes. Repeat after me. Oneeee.. twooooo.. threeeee.. fourrrr.. fiveee!” “Okay! One, two, twee, four, FIVESIXSEVEN! Sandy, I REMEMBERED! I REMEMBERED the NUMBERS!” “Woah!” Sandy said, clapping her hands to her snout in exaggerated amazement. “SO COOL! You’re awesome at counting!” “Yeah! I AM! Best counter in the world!” Strawberry chirped enthusiastically. “Where do we stawrt?” “Hmm. Maybe you could fix his bed? It looks a little flat..” “Flat as a pancake?” Strawberry poked her nose under the moss blankets. “Flat as a pancake,” Sandy agreed with a grin. “Maybe Colossy would like it if I made him something. Maybe soup! Soup soup soup! JELLY BEAN SOUP!” Strawberry declared, and started running towards the door. “Wait, no, ack, get back here!” Sandy rushed after her, but Strawberry had-
-already slipped behind the door. The gold dragon shook her head in frustration, walking out of the room- well, it wasn’t really a room, exactly. Three stone walls surrounded her, clawed and chipped in places. In front of her was the orange-painted sky, carrying a breeze smelling like morning dew and grass. The floor wasn’t wooden— only the richest dragons had actual wood.. and not that Sandy wanted it, anyway. She was completely fine with rocks and sand, thank you. —but it was a softer rock than the walls (Sandy thought it might be clay) with a layer of flimsy birch bark resting on top, to give the illusion of flooring. But the birch broke easily and hurt her claws (and was definitely not flat). She still remembered the day that Colossal’s friend Nova brought them a large vine carpet that fit their main room perfectly. Sandy’s eyes narrowed as she looked around, ears pricked for a burst of giggles or the sound of talons lifting to make shadow puppets in the air. There! Sandy’s head turned sharply towards the noise. A faint glimmer of red scales was visible in the rising sun’s light. “Hmm... Where is Strawberry?” Sandy crept slowly towards the kitchen. She could see her sister hiding behind one of the thick wooden legs of the dining table. “Is she.. over there?” Sandy turned her head to the left and swiveled it around, looking for something she had already found. Behind her, Strawberry giggled. “I wonder where she could possibly be!” Now Sandy was next to the table. She could smell the sweet smell of freshly picked blackberries from the kitchen. I picked those myself, she thought with a hint of smugness. Sandy lowered her head until she was under the table with Strawberry. Slowly she looked around the corner with a grin on her face.. ..but Strawberry wasn’t there. “Strawberry?” she whispered. Quick panic beat its way into her heart. Where had she gone? Had something happened to her? By the feathers, how had she disappeared so FAST? “ATTACK!” yowled a familiar voice from behind her. Suddenly she was knocked over by a very small cub with strawberry red scales and a blue underside. “Strawberry,” Sandy laughed. Strawberry punched her back playfully. “You cannawt move! I’ve got you PINNED!” the young dragon declared. Aha, no, you don’t, Sandy thought. Your talons are all in the wrong places and you forgot to hold down my tail. I could push you off right now. But of course she said none of this aloud, and instead gently pushed away Strawberry’s claws. “Well, I’m your big sister, so I can break the rules.” “But you can’t break Colossy’s rules! He told me my pin was awesome!” “The awesomest,” Sandy agreed, nodding. “Now let’s go get you some pancakes, Miss Awesome-Fighter-Dragon.” She pulled herself up, shook out her wrists, and grinned at her sister. “With jelly beans on top?” “With jelly beans on top.” “YAY!” Strawberry beamed and bounded forward into the kitchen. “Hey, wait for me!” Sandy ran after her, smiling. For a moment she could actually forget about her brother’s Testing, for a moment she could stop worrying, for a moment she actually could stop thinking about her own Testing, which was going to happen in a week. For now, she was just a happy big sister attempting to stop Strawberry from devouring all the jelly beans and pancakes before Sandy even got to make them both breakfast.
