“Watch it! This is training- not war!” Lamperouge roare out and rubbed his nose. Blood seeped from the scratch mark on his nose. This was getting them nowhere and already, two dragons sat aside, whimpering as they nursed their wounds. “Rush, you can’t just attack so roughly! Not every battle is meant to end in bloodshed. Sometimes you are best to stay on the defensive. Simply deflecting a move will do fine.” The mulberry ridgeback snarled, ruffling his wings in great frustration.

“I was just doing what you told me to do!” the blood-hued dragon cried out. Despite his tiny size, he had done quite the scratch on the older ridgeback. He threw his wings up and stormed off, growling under his breath.

“Training cancelled until tomorrow. Go tend to your chores that Brother assigned to you.” The other trainers and fellow younger dragons hesitated before bolting after Lamperouge, leaving Rush behind. The youth wanted to call out, but it seemed everybody wanted to forget about this bad training session. Surely the ridgeback would be visiting their healer and talking to Taka about the horrible training period. In frustration, Rush kicked the sand and dug his claws deep into the earth around him. He’d have to do better. He’d have to succeed if he ever wanted to be a proper hunter and warrior of this clan. But kindness? Gentleness? Was that really part of the job? The guardian picked himself back up, swatting at the air as he resumed practice like they were all there. He refused to fall that easily.

He refused to give up.