It's my party

Whoops!  Sorry I missed the prompt yesterday!  I'd taken my kids down to visit my mom this weekend, and it seems like I haven't stopped moving since I got back.  I remember a moment yesterday when I stopped and thought, "Oh, and I need to remember to write a post tonight ..."

Well, you can see how well I remembered that. 

I do try not to think about prompts beforehand, because I want to, like you, participate in a spontaneous prompt.  It wouldn't be very fair of me to think about next week's prompt for seven days and then tell you guys to write a response in 15 min ...

SO ... for today, because this song just happened to pop into my head, the prompt is:
"It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to."

Have fun!

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My response:

(Amber, I hope you're reading these still ... I'm writing a dragon, just for you!)

The sunlight gleamed on her saphire scales as she slipped through the pine trees.  Kelsea's legs moved with a lithe ease over the pine beds, her claws delicately avoiding tree roots and pine cones, which hurt if you stepped on them.

First Dayflight.

Kelsea's muscles shivered in anticipation.  After today, she wouldn't be a mere hatchling anymore, even if she was still smaller than most of the older dragons.  She wouldn't have to stay in the caves, hidden in the rocky crags above the forest, while the glistening orb crossed the sky.  She wouldn't have to remember to watch the stars and return to the cave before light grew strong on the horizon. 

Soft rustling alerted her to the presence of the elder dragons in the clearing as she approached.  Kelsea paused to see who was there before emerging from the cover of the trees.  Balrog was there, great and black, by far the largest of the clan, with his hide scarred and ugly.  He'd knocked Kelsea over once, with a swipe of his tail in his sleep.  She'd learned quickly to keep clear of him, but as leader, he would naturally attend her First Dayflight.

Benia, a smaller, brownish dragon sat on her haunches, rubbing a shoulder against the trunk of a pine tree.  As the clan matriarch, she would also join them.  Two amber dragons, Liz and Lang, lay stretched on a bed of pine needles.  They were mid-sized clan members who liked to play with the hatchlings.  Kelsea was glad to see them there.

Just as Kelsea lifted her paw to move forward, something in the sky above caught her eye.  A flash of blue, at first, then a falling raindrop which grew as it came closer to the ground.  A pair of blue wings flashed out just before it hit the ground, slowing the fall.  Safin landed neatly in the small clearning, and Kelsea's heart leaped in her chest.  Kelsea had only seen the beautiful creature who had made her own egg once in her life, shortly after her hatching.  Safin had come from the outer range of their clan's holdings to make sure her egg had hatched successfully.  Satisfied that it had, she'd disappeared again.  But Kelsea recognized her.

"Well, now, where is the hatchling?" she asked holding her head aloft.

"I am here."  Kelsea stepped out from the shade.  She lifted her wings behind her and turned her head, so Safin could see her.

Safin nodded.  "So then, shall we be off?"

Led by Balrog, they took to the sky.  Benia motioned to Kelsea, and Kelsea took position behind her in the formation.  She watched Safin, up ahead by Balrog, and wished for just a moment to talk to her.  Benia noticed how Kelsea craned her head.

"She's had three hatchlings survive to First Dayflight, you know.  But none of them have lived beyond.  It breaks her heart.  Don't worry, now, she does care for you ... she's just afraid of caring too much."

Kelsea nodded.  She knew she owed her loyalty to her clan, and not just to her egg parents, but how was she supposed to deny the desire to have her egg mother be proud of her?

"I will survive this day," Kelsea said, thrusting her wings down, and propelling her body forward.

Balrog led them high over the rock settlements where the mean creatures lived.  Kelsea had only flown over them before under the cover of darkness.  Maybe she should have felt exposed in the light, but she didn't.  She watched as the small animals left the cover of their clever little caves and stared up at them as they passed, pointing and calling out to each other.  Kelsea spread her wings, reveling in the joy of flight.  Let them stare.  Let them point.  I am a dragon, and this land is ours!

Over the green hills, they followed flying two hours into the area where the mean ones lived.  The settlements at the edges were more used to the dragon's presence.  For Kelsea's First Dayflight, Balrog wanted creatures who might not know as well how to fend them off.

Finally, he descended.  Kelsea immediately picked out his target.  A herd of grazing beasts gathered on the side of a hill.  They never ate the mean creatures.  They were too small and bony.  These beasts, however, were round and fat.  Kelsea didn't wait to be told what to do.  She dove down, her skills honed by years of hunting at night, and snatched a beast from the ground.  Her wings snapped out, filling with air and forcing it downward, her body lunging up from the grass.

After two hours of flying, the hunt was over in two minutes.  Kelsea saw that each of the dragons held at least one beast in their claws, both Balrog and Lang had two.  The mean ones called and yelled.  The boom of the killing thing echoed in the valley, but the dragons had already turned to go.

Then Safin cried out.

Her left wing clawed at the air, but she slipped closer and closer to the ground.  Her right wing hung limp at her side.  The killing thing had hit the bone, and black blood watered the fields below.

Kelsea dropped her beast from her claws and darted forward.  She let the wake of Safin's fall guide her as she reached out with her claws.  She knew the pain it would cause Safin, but Kelsea couldn't leave her behind.  Tenderly, Kelsea grasped Safin's wing joints, feeling her own claws sink into her Safin's skin.

As Kelsea rose into the sky, Liz and Lang appeared underneath Safin.  They knew their place in the clan, and they stood between the killing thing and Safin. 

Kelsea kept her eyes ahead.  Safin was twice her size, but Kelsea was a credit to the dragons who had ruled these lands for eons.  She was strong, and she was swift.  Balrog and Benia flew ahead, Liz and Lang flew behind.  In less than two hours, they reached the safety of the mountains.

Kelsea eased Safin's broken body down to the ground beneath her, then landed gently beside her.  During the long flight back, Safin had kept quiet, beating her good wing as best as she could and not complaining at all when Kelsea had to adjust her grip.  Now she lifted her head and looked at Kelsea.  Blood still seeped from the wound where she'd been struck by the killing thing, but it seemed to have slowed. 

Safin laid her head back down.  A last, labored breath wracked her body.  Then she was still.

Kelsea's eyes flew open wide.  She looked to the other dragons, who had landed with them in the clearning.  The way Benia's wings drooped confirmed her fears.  The flight back to the forest had been for naught.  Though her body was there, Safin was gone.

Kelsea threw back her head and unleashed a furious cry.

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Okay, so first I appologize for this one being so long.  I figured I ought to at least get to the part where she cried.  Second, I realize there are all kinds of holes in this idea ... if I ever decide to flesh the story out, I'll have to address them.  But for a writing prompt response, I had a lot of fun with this one. :-)