Beach Day
#41 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Jarzyl goes on a beach trip
Okay, enough with the dragon-based erotica for now. Back to my true passion: dragon-based, wholesome, fantasy slice-of-life stories. :D
2,567 words
"Beach day!" Jarzyl cheerily declared.
It had not been a long flight--the class group had spent no more than an hour in the air--but there had been a slight headwind. Having just landed, quite a few of the young dragons were panting tiredly and sitting down on the sand to rest.
Not Jarzyl, though. "Beach day, beach day, beach day...!" she chanted softly, and the amber-coloured fledgling hopped excitedly up and down on the spot, leaving paw prints on the sand.
It was mid-afternoon on a picturesque day, with scattered clouds painted like streaks of puffy white across a clear blue sky. The bright sunlight felt pleasantly warm against Jarzyl's scales, and the ocean breeze smelled salty and sharp. A thick band of fine white sand demarcated the edge between land and sea. Inland there were low lying plains covered in hardy wild grasses and small shrubs, and in the other direction was a vast, cerulean sea that stretched flat out towards the horizon, with gentle wavetops glistening in the afternoon sun.
Drak Tasilus, the master hunter overseeing the group of young dragons, looked over the charges in his care. "Everyone alright after the flight? Welcome to Kara Beach."
"Beach day, beach day. Field trip, excursion, exciting...!" Jarzyl repeated softly in a sing-song rhythm.
Beside Jarzyl were a couple of her friends. Caden was still catching her breath from their flight over to the beach, though she didn't sit down and deliberately kept her tail lifted just above the ground, not wanting the sand to dirty her scales.
Unlike most of the other fledglings, including Jarzyl and Caden, Atlas was a nocturnal dragon. He wore dark, reflective lenses to protect against the brilliant light of day, which made it hard to tell exact what he was looking at. The sooty-scaled fledgling appeared to be staring out over the sea, watching the waves as they slid up and down the sand.
"Beach trip," Jarzyl murmured, and she flicked her neck frill, which made Atlas grin faintly. There was lively energy amongst the young dragons as they looked around the beach, in a sharp contrast to the indifferent lethargy that permeated a classroom during a sluggish lesson.
"The tidal pools here are full of rich biodiversity, and the geology of this environment is certainly fascinating. Do try to learn something, if possible," Drak Tasilus declared. "Or at least get some exercise and enjoy the fresh air. Go on, then." He beckoned with his wings towards the assembled fledglings, and Jarzyl took that as permission to move.
"Race-you-to-the-ocean!" she yelled to her friends, her classmates, and to anyone within earshot. "Ryaaaah!" With a gleeful roar, Jarzyl scampered down the beach and towards the water.
Caden floated lazily in the shallow water, while Jarzyl used her paws and paddled around her in circles. After a moment Jarzyl turned towards the shore. "Are you not going to swim at all?!" she yelled.
Atlas was still sitting on the beach, high and dry. "I'm not fond of swimming, as I think you are well aware!"
"Pfft." Jarzyl flicked her neck frill and snorted. She and Caden exchanged glances. "I could go grab him by the tail and drag him in here," Jarzyl murmured.
"You could. He wouldn't stop you. Atlas always lets you get away with whatever you want," Caden agreed.
Jarzyl put some thought into this idea. "Maybe later." She paddled around in the water a bit more, than opened up her wings to try and catch waves as they washed back and forth. Eventually she slid out of the water and trotted over to where Atlas was sitting.
Nearby, some of their other classmates were playing around in the sand. One young drakka in particular was digging a large hole with unusual efficiency--every push of her paws moved a disproportionate amount of sand.
Jarzyl tilted her head. "Hmm. What's going on over there?"
"Haven't you heard?" Atlas asked. "Exilion had a magic surge last weekend. She got her affinity, and now she's showing it off."
Jarzyl nodded. "Rock affinity, evidently." She ran a forepaw through the sand, feeling the fine particles. The sand flowed through her clenched grip, affected not by magical power but only by gravity. "My father has rock affinity, so there's a chance I get it too. Not sure what I'd do with it, though I suppose digging a great big hole might be fun for a start."
"Exilion does seem to be having fun with her hole," Atlas said drily, which made Jarzyl laugh.
"Haha." She pawed at the sand again, then glanced at Atlas. "I don't think I'll get rock affinity, though. I'm predicting fire affinity. This morning when I woke up, I might have had a minor surge. I think... I think I might have used a little bit of firebreath."
"Oh?" Atlas turned to look at her, with his eyes still hidden behind his dark goggles. "Really?"
"I don't know. I'm not sure. It was just after I woke up and I was still only half awake--but for a split-second, when I exhaled, I thought I tasted fire and smoke."
Atlas was sceptical. "You were still dreaming."
"I wasn't!" Jarzyl immediately insisted, though she couldn't say it with conviction.
"But you can't do it again now? And there's no evidence you actually used firebreath? The simplest answer is that you were just dreaming about firebreath," Atlas said. "Or maybe you were just tasting your own bad morning breath and should brush your teeth more thoroughly?" he added with a grin.
"You're an idiot," Jarzyl muttered. She picked up some sand and threw it at Atlas--not at his face, but just at his side. This gave her a new idea. "Hmmm..."
"Should I even ask?" Atlas said, as Jarzyl started shoving sand against his side as he sat on the beach.
"I'm going to bury you." And then she did.
It took some effort, but by the time Caden came strolling out of the water a while later, Jarzyl had buried Atlas under a sizable mound of sand--covering his tail, back, wings, and everything up unto his neck as he lay on his front.
Caden looked over Jarzyl's work. "Well done."
"Why, thank you." With a grin and her neck frill perking up, Jarzyl gestured towards Atlas. "Behold! I've constructed this magnificent sculpture. Dragon in sand. Mount Atlas."
"Yes, you would definitely be the one to mount Atlas," Caden noted.
"But of course." Jarzyl hopped up onto the mound of sand covering Atlas and sat down on top of him.
"This is surprisingly comfortable," Atlas noted. "The sand does protect my scales from getting sun damaged," Atlas said. "Hey," he added, when Jarzyl reached out and grabbed his horns to playfully wiggle his head about.
The fledglings spent some time basking in the sun, but Jarzyl eventually got bored of sitting about. She tapped Atlas on the head. "I'm bored. Want to go swimming now?"
"Still no. I don't swim," Atlas replied. "But we can walk around the beach if you want. Or go flying instead."
"Let's fly." Jarzyl turned towards Caden. "Caden, fly?'
Caden lazily beckoned with her paw. She was lying on her back, with wings unfurled to bask in the warm afternoon sun. "You two go ahead. I'll laze here for a bit more and find you later when I feel motivated enough to move."
"Alright. Come on Atlas, let's go." Jarzyl scampered down the beach towards the sea, but this time she threw her wings open and the air caught in her flight surfaces. Before she reached the water, she had lifted into the air. "Let's go!"
Glancing back, Jarzyl saw Atlas stand up and dislodge the sand mound she'd buried him under. The sooty-scaled fledgling carefully shook all the sand off his wings, then he paused to check the wind direction--and then with a quick skip, a jump, and a hard flap of his wings, he was airborne too.
Jarzyl flew a short distance out to sea, then she turned to fly parallel to the beach. Up and down the shoreline she could see other dragons--mostly fledglings from her school here for the excursion, as well as a few random groups of tourists who had also flown over from the city. "Atlas!"
Atlas was trailing behind her and to the left, taking up a wingmate position. "Yes, Jarz?"
"Want to practice some stunt flying?"
"Sure. Which manoeuvre?"
"Just something simple..." Jarzyl adjusted her wings and went into a shallow dive, dropping her altitude until she was barely higher than the sea. She glanced back at her friend and grinned. "Hey. Hey! Are you watching? Watch this!"
Atlas had followed her descent, but he pulled up at a higher height and observed her from above. "I am watching."
"Look at this." Jarzyl flapped her wings to pick up some speed, then she dropped extra low until she was barely skimming atop the waves. She dipped her tail tip down and let it drag in the water, throwing up a small spray behind her. "Woo! Can you do this?"
Atlas tilted his head curiously. "That's... that's a really simple manoeuvre. It hardly even counts as aerobatics."
"Do it then!" Jarzyl challenged. She lifted her tail tip in and out of the water, making repeated sprays behind her. "Come on, do it."
Atlas hesitated, but then he beat his wings hard to pick up speed while carefully descending until he was barely over the ocean, just like Jarzyl was. He then dipped his tail into the water, but then almost immediately he yanked it out and pulled up sharply, climbing away from the sea again. "Ugggh. I don't like the ocean. Is this just a ploy to get me to go swimming?"
"Hahaha." Jarzyl laughed because Atlas had been exactly right. "Why not? The water's nice. It's a great day to swim."
"I don't like swimming. The draconic realm is the skies, not the seas," Atlas countered.
"Pfft." Jarzyl snorted dismissively. "That's not a good excuse to avoid swimming."
"Ok, well there's a drowning risk from swimming! And there are things that live in the ocean, in the vast blue abyss. Sharks, colossal squid, jellyfish with deadly stinging tentacles, megaturtles, whirlpool whales, and all sorts of hideous sea monsters." Atlas shook his head. "No thank you! I'll fly with you, but I won't swim. I much prefer being in the sky--where I can breathe the air and see where I'm going."
"Awww." Jarzyl flicked her neck frill, and she stuck her tongue out at Atlas. "You won't drown! I'd save you if you drowned. And it's not like we're going to be lucky enough to see a sea monster." She picked up speed again, and then she rolled and let her left wingtip splash against the water, before turning sharply in the other direction to let her right wingtip touch the waves. "The ocean is great. We're having a beach day--the whole point of a beach is that it's the edge of the sea!"
"I can appreciate the sea without being immersed in it," Atlas said.
"Haha, whatever!" Jarzyl laughed cheerfully. She again dipped her wingtip in the waves, throwing up a spray of water that showed rainbow colours in the sunshine. "Heh. Don't be so scared! The ocean's not going to hurt you. Everything is great--aah!"
Her sentence was interrupted when abruptly a silvery fish with overly large fins leapt up out of the ocean and smacked her right across the leading edge of her wing. The impact didn't hurt, but Jarzyl was so surprised that she overcorrected, lost control of her flight, and crashed into the sea with a great big splash.
The water was comfortably warm and the sea state was calm--yet as much as Jarzyl enjoyed a swim, being suddenly dunked into the sea came as a great shock. For a moment she floated limply in the water, too stunned to move as she comprehended what had just occurred. Then the fledgling blinked her eyes and spat out the salty seawater from her mouth. "Nullfire," she swore under her breath.
Then Jarzyl felt something touch her wing and she yelped. "Aihh--oh, it's you."
Atlas had landed in the water beside her, and he looked worried. "Jarz! Are you alright!? Are you drowning?!"
"I'm fine. Uggh." Jarzyl shook her head and flicked her neck frill to get it dry, then she glanced at her friend as he floated beside her. "So... you're in the ocean."
"Yes I'm in the ocean and I don't like it!" Atlas anxiously exclaimed. He kicked his legs, pointlessly keeping himself slightly higher even as he floated in the sea. "Uggh, I hate this. I hate not having anything under my wings or my feet, just floating here. But you crashed and looked like you were drowning, so of course I had to touchdown and see if you needed help."
"I'm not drowning, though I appreciate the concern." Jarzyl sighed, and she glanced back towards the beach, which was still nearby. "Did you... did you see what happened?"
"What--your horrific crash? You didn't fake it, did you?! This better not have been just a ploy to get me to swim!" Atlas grumbled.
Jarzyl almost laughed, but Atlas seemed genuinely upset. "I don't fake anything. It was a fish."
"You got distracted watching a fish and crashed? Maybe keep your head up and watch the horizon, not stare into the water!"
"No, I wasn't staring at the water. I was holding my altitude just fine, until a fish jumped up... and it..." Now Jarzyl couldn't hold back her laugh because of how ridiculous it sounded. "Haha... A fish jumped out of the water and smacked into me. I had a mid-air collision with a fish! Watch out, obstacle ahead--fish!"
Jarzyl's amusement made some of the nervous tension drain from Atlas, though he still looked unhappy. "Another good reason to avoid the ocean."
"It's not so bad!" Jarzyl cheerily declared. She paddled closer towards Atlas and bumped her snout affectionately against his neck. "Thanks anyway. Oh, oh, over there--look!"
As the two fledglings watched, another one of those silvery fish suddenly leapt out of the water. It skipped along the surface, wiggling its tail with great vigour to pick up speed, then it lifted away from the sea entirely and soared through the air on its large fins.
Jarzyl was very impressed. Her neck frill perked up, and she grinned widely. "Flying fish!! Look at it go!"
In contrast, Atlas glared at the fish with a disdainful look. "Absurd."
"That's great. How often do you see something like that? Ah, nature." Jarzyl watched as the fish continued gliding away, carried by the sea breeze for a few seconds before eventually splashing back into the sea. "Do you think fish ever peer up through the waves, gazing up to the world outside of the water, and wonder what it's all like? Maybe that's why some of them fly."
Atlas was unpoetic. "Fish shouldn't fly. They should stay in the water where they belong. Similarly, dragons belong in the air." And with that, he flapped his wings and took to the skies again.
"Hahaha." Still grinning, Jarzyl let out a carefree laugh, and then she followed after her friend. "Beach day, beach day!"
END