Cattail

"We sold it to the Talons of Peace. Does this mean they want the cows back? Because they can't have them. I know we were supposed to breed them, but we ate them, so too bad."

— Cattail to Clay, The Dragonet Prophecy

Cattail is an adult female MudWing who was introduced in The Dragonet Prophecy. She is the mother of Clay and his siblings. She currently resides in the Diamond Spray Delta as a soldier under Queen Moorhen.

Description

Cattail is thin, with brown scales and wings that have dappled patterns of paler brown scales on them. She has brown eyes like Clay's, with a ring of yellow around the black slit of a pupil, and her laughter is a high croaking sound like a thousand bullfrogs yelling at once.

Personality

Cattail showed no remorse for trading Clay's egg for a few cows and did not seem to care for him when they reunited after Clay came to find her. Despite this, she tried not to be mean to him, but it was still clear that she did not care about him.

Biography

Pre-Series

Cattail had Clay and his siblings' eggs after a breeding night in the outer region of the Mud Kingdom. Her sister, Asha, saw Clay as the potential MudWing dragonet of the prophecy, seeing as his egg was blood-red and would hatch on the brightest night. Cattail did not care what happened to her eggs, like most MudWings, so she sold his egg to the Talons of Peace in exchange for at least two cows, and appeared to have no guilt or remorse towards the "delicious" deal, a typical MudWing trait being the love of food.

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The Dragonet Prophecy

The Dragonet Prophecy
When Clay made his way back to her in the company of Glory, Cattail was irritated at his lack of knowledge about the traditions of MudWings. She also showed almost no attachment to her dragonets, which is common behavior for most MudWing mothers. This left Clay very upset, however, because his fantasies of his frantic mother and father were not true.

The Lost Heir
Cattail was mentioned when Tsunami hoped that her mother cared about her more than Cattail did about Clay.

The Hidden Kingdom
Similarly to Tsunami in The Lost Heir, Glory thought about how Cattail sold Clay's egg for two cows and certainly did not want him back. She hoped her parents would not be like that.

The Dark Secret
Like Tsunami and Glory, Starflight thought that his mother was not attached to him since she gave his egg up to fulfill the prophecy, and believed that she might have been as bad as Coral and Cattail.

The Brightest Night
While flying towards the Kingdom of Sand, Sunny reflected on the families of the dragonets of destiny, mentioning how Cattail turned out to be awful while Clay's siblings were more welcoming and kind to him.

Relationships

Asha

Cattail seems to have cared about her sister, having been distraught after learning that Asha had died shortly after delivering Clay's egg and saying that their bigwings would be furious. Despite this, she also commented that her sister had been "softhearted and mushy about crazy things," and had loved to preach about the prophecy and peace to the other dragons of their village. Cattail remarked that "She left a lot of blithering, dreamy-eyed dragons behind in this village." After finding out that Asha had died, Cattail had also told Clay and Glory that it "served her right" for choosing the Talons of Peace over her own kin.

Clay

Though Clay, while growing up under the mountain, had many fantasies about his mother and father who he hoped had cared about him and been frantic when his egg was "stolen," Cattail, like many MudWing mothers, did not seem to particularly care about her dragonets, and did not even know who their father was, much to Clay's disappointment. She sold Clay's egg to the Talons of Peace for a couple of cows, later telling Clay "There were six other eggs in the hatching. They didn't need you," which made Clay miserable.

Family tree

Unnamed Dragons

Asha

Cattail

Unknown

Clay

Reed

Pheasant

Sora

Marsh

Crane

Umber

Quotes

"Oh, that egg, [...] Asha got all excited about that. Don't know why; the village has a red egg every few years or so. But I didn't lose it."

― to Clay about his blood red egg

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"We sold it to the Talons of Peace, [...] Does this mean they want the cows back? Because they can't have them. I know we were supposed to breed them, but we ate them, so too bad."

― about Clay's egg

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"Why not? [...] There were six other eggs in the hatching. They didn't need you. [...] Asha didn't tell you any of this?"

― about why she sold Clay's egg

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"That's Asha, all right, [...] She was always softhearted and mushy about crazy things. She loved mooning around little dragonets, telling the story of that prophecy. She left a lot of blithering, obsessed dreamy-eyed dragons behind in this village, let me tell you; they still won't shut up about destiny and peace and all that."

― about her sister Asha

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"You really don't know anything about MudWings, do you? [...] I don't even know who your father was. And he certainly doesn't care. We have breeding nights once a month and then everyone goes back to their own sleephouses. No, dear, there's no father for you here."

― to Clay when he asked who his father is

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"You tell the Talons, [...] that we made a deal! No matter what happened, they can't have those cows back."

― to Clay and Glory as they were leaving

Gallery

• 
  Cattail from The Dragonet Prophecy (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
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  Reference by Spirit978

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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References

de:Cattail fr:Mareca pl:Rogoża ru:Рогоз cs:Orobina es:Totora fi:Kissanhäntä nl:Kattenstaart uk:Рогіз