Hyoga

It was another cheerful, bright morning in the Snowsquall Tundra. Hyoga shook off the snow that had landed on her snout, bounding across to her father, who was roasting seals over a fire.
“Good morning, Dad!” she shouted when she was just halfway there. He turned to her with a huff of annoyance.
“I...mean...Father. Good morning, Father.” she slowed her pace as she got near. With another huff, he turned back to the seal.
“What’s so great about it?” he grumbled, then swung his head sharply to face her. “Don’t answer that.”
She dipped her head in acceptance. Father appeared to have his own ideas of fun, although now that she thought about it, she had never seen him having fun at all. She shrugged this off, though, and sat down to watch the seal cook.
Father watched her grumpily, shooting her a disgusted glance now and again. Finally he grunted, “You don’t get any.”
“What? Why not?”
“You’re too darn cheerful all the time. You don’t do anything for the clan! You’re flipping useless! Why should we do anything for you?”
Hyoga laughed, a bright chuckle, and hugged him. “Oh Father! You’re such a kidder! Ah, you make me laugh every time!” she grew quiet as Father glared at her out of the corner of his eye.
“This is what I’m talking about, Hugover.”
“It’s Hyoga.”
“Whatever. Until you learn to be useful, leave me alone and go… I don’t know, pester a tree or something.”
Hyoga’s mood dissolved a bit, but she did as she was told. Minutes later she found herself facing a tree.
“Uh… hey!” she said.
The tree said nothing.
“How’s the weather?”
The tree said nothing.
“Oh, snowy, right. It’s always snowy! Ha ha!”
The tree said nothing.
“Hah ha yeah. What’s up? Oh, I know! Your branches!”
The tree remained silent. If it could have spoke, it probably would have said something like “this is awkward.”
“You’re right, Mr. Tree. This IS awkward. But so is life, I suppose.”
The tree still wasn’t in the mood to speak. However, something up in the branches began chirping. Squinting, Hyoga was able to make out the image of a frostbite hummingbird staring down at her from above. It fluttered its small wings and drifted down, light as a snowflake, alighting on Hyoga’s nose. It pecked at her snout, making her sneeze!
“Why, hello, Mister Hummingbird,” she said, wiping her snout. “What brings you to my face?”
It chirped twice, then flew off into the lower branches of a nearby tree. After a few seconds of staring, Hyoga realized that it was probably calling for her to follow it. They are ice spirits, after all; if they have something to show you, you'd better not miss it.
Trotting quickly over to the tree, Hyoga paused, bewildered as the bird flew to the next, chirping for her. Having been left no choice but to follow, Hyoga ran after it consistently until sundown, when she looked up and realized that she had been running for a very long time. Looking behind her, she could see no sign of the camp at all; only snow and trees. Too many trees for her to be sure of her way back; there was no way for her to retrace her steps.
The bird chirped happily.
Hyoga was lost.

Hyoga spent a day or so looking around for signs and landmarks, straining for any last hope of finding home again. She quickly realized in the cold, dark, lonely quiet, that she wasn't even wanted there. After gathering enough resources from the familiar environment to last her till wherever she was going, she set off, searching for any friendly faces.

By sheer chance, she wandered for miles without seeing any sign of civilization. She would sometimes hear a crack or snap and race to the location from whence it came, but it would always be a bird or a fox or a squirrel. After a few days of stumbling around, she came to the northern sea.

She gazed across the wide open ocean. There was no land anywhere in sight, every direction shrouded by thick fog. She stepped closer to the edge, hoping to get a glimpse of the next direction to turn...

CRACK!

The ice she was standing on snapped away from the shore and fell with a big FLUMPH into the bay. Hyoga was almost knocked off into the freezing waves. Standing up with a frightened bark, she whipped around-

The shore was just barely too far away. There was no way to make that jump, even if she flapped her useless, tiny wings to aid her.

The hummingbird danced in the breeze.

The waves splashed against the ice chunk.

She was impossibly, desperately alone.

Two days later, she was awakened by a small thump. Opening her weary, bloodshot eyes, she tilted her head up to see what land she had found.

She leapt up. She had hit the shore of the starfall isles. After what seemed like a lifetime at sea, being jostled, splashed awake, having to survive by gnawing on the twigs she had gathered, she had arrived at the wisest nation in sornieth.

There was an explosion a few dozen meters ahead, followed by playful shouting. They also seemed to have some decent fun here, too.

She raced to the other dragons, and soon had made some quick acquaintances. They had some great fun while the sun was still in the sky, but as soon as they had to retire to the clan's hall for the night, Hyoga realized that she might not fit in here after all.

"So," one fae said to her, with his mouth full, "What's your favorite alkaline metal?"
Hyoga raised both eyebrows. "Sorry, what?"
"Alkaline earth metals! Wicked cool, right? All the rage right now. Are you team Magnesium or team Barium? Or do you prefer another one?"
"Oh. Um..." She broke into a bit of a sweat, which had nothing to do with the warmer climate. "I love all Algae-lime medals equally! They're all great, yeah?"
The faes glanced at each other and began laughing. Hyoga nervously joined in.
A skydancer huffed a bit as the conversation settled back down."Oh yeah. I've got a really stupid science project due right now. It's about- hey! 'Yoga's from the tundra! What do you think is the best way to preserve the resources that are being limited by the reduction of snow magic in migrating familiars?"
Hyoga glanced around quickly. "Um, put them in the fridge?"
The entire company started laughing. "Hyoga!" one roared. "You're a riot!"
"Ha! Hahaha! Yeah!" Hyoga put her tofu bugdog down on the table. "Would you excuse me, a minute?"

Hyoga ran outside to catch her breath. She knew Arcane dragons were smart, but she didn't think they were smart enough to sound like they were speaking entirely different languages! Ah, she said to herself, it must be because I never learned to read. If I find a book and squint really hard, I'll probably be able to decode some of what they're saying.

She looked around and found a book on a nearby bench. It had some kind of funny-looking dragon riding on a straight, thin tree, trying to catch a strange fly. That letter was H, she knew that much from her own name. Did H mean something relating to Migratory Patterns and Metals and Explosions? She stared. She wasn't becoming any more enlightened, so she supposed not. Sighing, she flopped down onto the grass. The sounds of the feast were becoming quieter as the night crept on. She picked herself up slowly and lumbered back in.

The following morning she had packed some of the leftover food from last night, a blanket, and a couple books into her bag. She figured they might come in handy if she found some more fortunate dragons who could teach her without embarrassing her. She strolled out, said good-bye to the dragons, and started making her way in an unknown direction.

In the next week she hobbled quickly across the scarred wasteland, only stopping to examine some plants that didn't look all the way repulsive. Of course, it was a carnivorous creature that hissed at her when she tried to take a 'leaf.' She thought a lot about dragons, and about herself. She looked often at the sky, wondering if she'd ever find a place that felt like home.

Standing at the edge of the driftwood drag, Hyoga gazed out at the viridian labyrinth. It seemed like a nice place. She'd heard mixed rumors about the dragons that inhabited the green tangle, but by this point she was ready to try anything. Trading one of the books she had picked up for a boat ride, she began to make her way across to the large island.

Hopefully this would be it.

She didn't allow herself to feel.

But she didn't want to search any more.