A Song of Fear and Courage

Music was a core part of parasaurolophus culture, it told their stories of generations long past. Song and music was how they explored and shared the world to those around them, from the towering trees to chirping insects. It wasn’t just music to them, it was part of them. Trumpets and bellows, the thumping of hooves against the earth. They were music. Their crests were designed for it. However… Despite all of these factors, Cinnamon found it hard to believe that she was that good at it.

The simple thought of singing made anxiety swell in her chest like the roll of brewing thunder. It made her heart race and her hooves twitch with no release for the anxious energy. The stony guardians, for all their seriousness, had been impressed by her music. But they were different. They weren’t experienced, they simply enjoyed hearing it. They didn’t dissect the song. The stone guardians didn’t examine every drum of hooves or every melody. Cinnamon was about to perform in front of someone who absolutely knew music, who lived and breathed it almost as much as she did.

Bluebell stood before her, a gentle and soft expression resting upon her face. Patient.
The courtier stood before Cinnamon, every bit as majestic as the rumors had suggested. While Bluebell’s hide lacked vibrance, it certainly did not lack beauty or intricacy. Each strut in front of Cinnamon held power and grace. Everything about her screamed experience. Her stature suggested years in front of a crowdy, tail and held perfectly in a way that would draw the crowd’s eyes when she moved. Cinnamon envied her. Feared her. Admired her.

“-so are you ready?” The female iguanodon spoke, voice rumbling from deep within her chest. She loomed over Cinnamon with grace and poise, yet despite her regal stature she held no disdain in her eyes for Cinnamon. In fact, Bluebell looked soft. Ever so gentle and kind despite the reputation that her species had gathered once the outsiders had made entry into Atlantis.

Cinnamon wasn't ready. She really wasn't, but she would have to be. Here and now she would have to perform her heart out to the one the stony guardians had whispered about in hushed voices.
“...I’m scared.” She admitted quietly, voice meek as she allowed her body to slump low to the ground. Her hooves, usually carefully kept clean, dug into the moisture softened earth. In Atlantis, almost everything was warm and damp. Humidity collected on her soft feathers and clung to her body, sticking her feathers flat. As uncomfortable as it was, the temperature was strangely grounding… It was different. New… Making it all the more difficult to lose herself in her ever spiraling thoughts.

“Then do it scared.” Bluebell spoke softly, yet firmly. Raising her graceful head to the sky.

A shaking nod.

Do it scared.

Okay. Like she did with the guardians of the jungle.

Cinnamon led the song, lifting her front legs off the ground to trumpet into the sky. Joining the shrieking birds and chirping frogs in their melody. The song carried over the valley and through the dome, humming in the paneling that kept the residents sheltered from the outside world. Bluebell joined the song, while her voice didn’t echo in the bones like the song of parasaurolophus… It bellowed and created its own tune. However instead of overpowering the song of the more shy Cinnamon… It complimented hers. Creating a twisting of notes. However the music wasn’t the only that complimented each other, the pair moved in tandem, their claws drumming across the earth in accidental rhythm. It wasn't simply a performance, they lived and breathed the music. It thrummed through every fiber of their beings.

Songs long forgotten, lost to time, were rediscovered with their voices.

When they eventually stopped, Cinnamon felt out of breath. Every bit of stress and anxiety had melted from her body and became music, and it felt… Amazing. A final release of that steadily building tension which could have made her crack if she hadn’t released it into the songs. Cinnamon felt good. Free. Connected with the songs of her past and with the stories that had been whispered through generations of herds.

“Feel better?” Came that soft but firm voice, Bluebell. Her eyes were no less kind as she stared at Cinnamon, in fact she almost seemed vaguely amused. A sheepish nod and ruffle of ginger colored feathers.
Oh how embarrassing- Surely they had embarrassed themself in front of this much more experienced performer-

“You sang beautifully.” Bluebell interrupted their thoughts, bringing Cinnamon’s panicked internal monologue to a shrieking halt. All she could do was stare at the iguanodon in poorly disguised awe and surprise.
The courtly performer snorted and brushed her snout softly against Cinnamon’s crest.
“You underestimate yourself.”