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Jambu hatched in the midst of winter. Snow rained down during his first suntime, chilling him to the core. By the time winter fell away, and spring emerged once more, he was so used to the cold that the warmth of the sun shocked him, and he melted into a puddle, soaking up all that he could.
Jambu liked learning. Whether it was venom shooting or tree gliding, he enjoyed the challenge. His tree gliding instructor, Tapir, was an old dragon. He knew lots of things, and Jambu listened to him ramble as they swung through the trees.
He couldn’t count, or read, or write, but there was no need for those kinds of skills in the rainforest. Jambu could recognize different fruits from a distance, and aim his blowdarts at unsuspecting dragons, and camouflage himself so well that even his instructor couldn’t find him.
Jambu kept his scales at a bright pink, cheery and bright, to match his mood and personality. He was a happy dragon, and he would never cease looking out for the positive side of things.
There was another dragon, named Pineapple. Pineapple was around Jambu’s age, but he’d been born in the midst of summer, not winter, and so he’d always known the warmth of the sun. Whenever Jambu felt a chill, he just had to curl around Pineapple, and the cold would seep away.
Pineapple called Jambu his relief, while Jambu likened him to the sun itself. Time spent together was hence dubbed Pineappletime, and much cuddling would soon commence.
Jambu got his first assignment when he turned seven years old, an adult. He was to gather fruit for the queens. Each month, a different fruit was preferred. Jambu kept track of each one. Jambu didn’t keep that assignment for very long. Tapir, his old tree gliding instructor, had disappeared, and Jambu was assigned to be his replacement.
Jambu liked this assignment a lot better than his old one. Tree gliding was something fun, and he was good at it. Teaching little dragonets was new, but Jambu was a quick learner, and before long he had a veritable army of young dragonets chasing after him through the forest.
One fun activity was capturing dragons who made their way into the rainforest from outside. Jambu and his team would shoot them to their blowdarts, knocking them out, and then scoop them up and away, back to the Rainwing village.
Usually, the captured dragons wanted to leave at once, not being interested in the Rainwings at all. But one time, Jambu captured a group with a variety of different dragons, including an unfamiliar Rainwing, who introduced herself as Glory. She knew nothing about being a Rainwing, and so Jambu, as an instructor and a friendly dragon, decided to show her around the place, teaching her everything a dragonet should have been taught.
When demonstrating how venom worked, he discovered that Glory was likely his half-sister. With how dejected she had looked upon discovering that Rainwings didn’t ‘do’ families, he decided that he could try out having a family, for the sake of this dragonet. He reacted to the news with an excited cry, and embraced his sister. Hopefully he was doing ‘family’ correctly.
Having family meant going on adventures, apparently. Jambu disliked the Ice Kingdom. It was too cold, even colder than winter in the rainforest. Much colder than winter in the rainforest, actually. Jambu realized he’d never really known what cold was like.
Jambu helped Glory to rescue Mangrove, and to convince a Sandwing princess to come out to meet the dragonets. Jambu liked the Sandwing princess. She was nice, and her name was as warm as her kingdom. The Sand Kingdom… Jambu had loved passing through there on his way to the Ice Kingdom. It was warmer than the warmest summer suntime in the rainforest. On their way back to the rainforest, Jambu soaked in the Sand Kingdom’s heat as best he could.
Jambu had never questioned the queen system. There were multiple queens, and they switched out each month, and they were in charge. That was just how it was. But with Glory’s idea of being the queen, the only queen, Jambu got an image in his mind. New things would be taught in the rainforest. Fighting, and counting, and reading. Things Jambu never got the chance to learn when he was young.
In the contest to decide the new queen, Jambu was tasked with winning a tree gliding race. He was sure to win, as the best tree glider in the rainforest. However, a swarm of sloths drew vines into his way, and tangled him up, nearly choking him. So he lost.
Thankfully, it didn’t matter in the end, because Glory ended up as the new queen, but still, it bothered him.
With Glory as the queen, things were different. At once, new lessons were created, and everyone was being trained in battle. The Rainwings were going to have to fight to protect their rainforest. Jambu stuck by Queen Glory’s side, defending her whenever someone questioned her capabilities as queen.
When it came time to rescue the captured Rainwings from the Night Kingdom, Jambu was one of the first to enter the portal. After the successful mission, Glory assigned him to count the Nightwings that had come through the portal. Jambu was embarrassed to admit he couldn’t count past twenty.
Jambu and Mangrove were set with the task of returning to the Ice Kingdom and convincing Blaze to attend the peace summit at Burn’s stronghold. But despite their best efforts, and Blaze’s willingness to be convinced, Queen Glacier wouldn’t let the Sandwing leave.
In the end, of course, everything worked out. The war ended, and peace came for everyone. A school was founded, both at Jade Mountain and in the rainforest. Jambu had never been happier.