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Chapter Text

Silvertail was no ordinary dragonet. You could tell just from looking that she wasn't from any of the tribes. What dragon has sparkling silver scales all over their body (I am not speaking about Rainwings)?
Silver had been found as an egg by her mother, a Nightwing named Thunderclaw. It had looked so similar to a Nightwing egg that she had been surprised when a few days later it hatched, revealing not ablack dragonet, but a silverscaled dragonet with big amber eyes and golden spines running down her back. Thunderclaw had been baffled. What kind of dragon could this be? Why had her egg been found in the forest? The kind Nightwing pushed these questions apart and took Silvertail as her own, treating her like she would if she had had a Nightwing dragonet.

Silvertail gre up healthy and strong, despite being far smaller than the other Nightwing dragonets and with (surprisingly) bigger wings that made her small body look even smaller and served her well for flying. In all, Silvertail would have lived a lot happier if it weren't for the fact that she was aware that she was not a Nightwing. In fact, the poor dragonet had no idea about what she was, not knowing who her parents had been or where they had come from. She loved Thunderclaw as her mother, but she still wished she could know who her parents had been.

Then the Queen Glory of the Rainwings called her and her mother to speak with them and that was the day her entire life changed.
"I've never seen Queen Glory's palace," Silvertail said excitedly. "How does it look like?"
"You will see when we get there, my little diamond." Thunderclaw said amusedly. Silvertail grew quiet, but inside her she was jumping about. She had never seen a palace in her life despite the fact that the queen herself visited the Nightwing village from time to time to see how things were going for the dragons living there. But Silvertail's Rainwing friend, Spidermonkey, had told her a lot of things about the palace, for both his parents worked as guards at the palace. Thunderclaw took of into the air, dodging the trees, and her daughter was quick to follow, catching up in no time. She had been given clases on how not to run into the many trees at the rainforest by one of the older Rainwings and she had managed to master them in less than a week. Flying was an easy task for the small dragonet thanks to her body size and her bigger wings.

Thunderclaw leaded her past various Rainwing homes and suntime platforms before Silvertail was finally able to see Queen Glory's palace. It was beaufly made, with flowers growing along the walls and a large landing platform not far by. Thunderclaw gracefully landed on the playform, tucking her wings in. Silvertail landed with a soft thump and folded her own wings.
"Hey!" Deathbringer, the Queen's bodyguard, appeared at the platform. "Good to see you both. The Queen is waiting for both of you." he flashed Silvertail a smile which was returned with even more flamboyance. Apart from Thunderclaw, Starflight, Fatespeaker and Moonwatcher, Silver's other favorite Nightwing was Deathbringer. He was always enjoyable to be around and he didn't stare at her silver scales with a frown like most other dragons did when they saw her. Plus, she got to learn a lot of cool bodyguard tricks from the Nightwing.

Deathbringrer leaded the way down a lot of colorful, plant covered halls before they reached the pavillion, where Queen Glory stood, her sloth sleeping on her shoulder. Silver admired the Queen's beauty: her colorful scales ranged from golden yellows to darker blues and purples.
"Your magesty," Thunderclaw said respectfully, bowing and spreading her wings a little. Silvertail mimicked her mother, bending her front legs and bending down to rest her head on the platform.
"You can rise." Glory said. "How do I find the two of you?"
"Finer than ever," Thunderclaw said.
"I have great news for Silvertail. Since the Jade Academy is proving to be a success, we are adding in two more winglets. We want to invite Silvertail to attend the academy."

Silvertail's jaw fell open and she turned to her mother, who had turned to look at her.
"Would you be fine going there?" Thunderclaw asked.
"Fine? I will be BLESSED! I've been wanting to go for so long now that I can't believe I have been invited by the queen herself!" Silver roared with joy.
"So I take it's a yes?" Glory asked with a smile.
"Yes." Thunderclaw said. Silver threw her wings around her mother with a wild smile.
"Than you!" she said, her voice muffled.
"In that case, you leave tomorrow." Glory said. Silvertail drew away from her mother.
"Will Spidermonkey be attending too? He's a Rainwing," she added.
"Yes. We spoke to his mother yesterday. In fact, it was he who suggested for you to come." Silvertail made a mental note to get Spidermonkey as many bananas as she could gather for her also blessed friend. Now she thought everything was blessed. What couldn't be when she was going to THE Jade Mountain Academy?! She could feel her little heart swell with happiness.

Chapter Text

Silvertail had never seen so many dragons from so many different tribes put toguether in one place. Thunderclaw stood next to her as they watched the bussy entrance.
"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Her mother asked.
"Yes. I can't believe I am going to meet dragons from other tribes!" she said excitedly. Thunderclaw laughed.
"It was destiny. And I am glad it brought you here, my diamond." Thunderclaw lowered her head to nudge Silvertail's. The little dragonet turned and wraped her wings around her mother in a hug. Thunderclaw returned it.
"I will visit you soon enough." she said, drawing away from Silver, who folded her wings. "You b careful and have fun. Oh, and try not to wake up any dragons buried under the ground. And don't bother Stonemover."
"If I decide to bother him, it will be to speak with him, not to play pranks on the poor dragon." Silver replied. Thunderclaw nodde and took a step back.
"Have fun." she said. And then she took off into the sky. Silver stood there watching until her mother was no more than a spot in the sky. Then she turned back to the crowd at the entrance. She felt highly nervous. What would the other dragons think of her scales? Would she be able to make any friends? Would the other dragons even like her? She shook her head to clear those worries. Spidermonkey was there and she knew most of the other Rainwings. As for the Nightwings, they would at least aknoledge her and have a civil conversation. She took a shuddering breat in and then walked to the entrance, her wings tucked close to her body and reminding her of her mother's wings pressed against her when they slept. This gave the small dragonet some comfort.

Dragons DID look at her with curious eyes. She wished her scales wouldn't sparkle so much in the sun, attracting all that attention. Soon about a dozen eyes were on her. She just walked by, keeping her cool, and entered the bussy entrance hall. A banner made from leaves and vines had been hung on a thick stone pillar in the middle of the cave, flowers woven into it to say 'Welcome, students!'. Fatespeaker stood in front of it, chattering to the newcomers and handing out scrolls to the students. She walked towards Fatespeaker, who was speaking to a pair of burly Mudwings. As the two bigger dragons walked off with their scrolls, Silver stepped to stand in front of Fatespeaker.
"Oh! Hi, Silvertail!" the dragon said cheerfully. "Looking shiny today!"
"I always do, even if I am covered in mud." Silver replied with a smile.
"Yep. Here's your welcome and map scrolls." she held out two scrolls, which Silver took and slipped into her small rucksack. "And your cave is..." Fatespeaker consulted a long list that rolled out onto the floor. "Ah, here it is. Second tunnel on the left, Twentysecond cave, also on the left."
"Thanks!" Silver said brightly.
"Oh!" Fatespeaker looked at a spot behind her. Silver twisted her neck to find a tall, thin Sandwing waiting. "Hi, Qibly!" Silvertail mentally called herself a sloth brain. That was one of the dragonets who had helped defeat the Darkstalker!
"Hi." he said, eyes moving from Fatespeaker and then onto Silvertail. She noticed a crease on his brow. "And you are?"
"Silvertail. I am a... adopted Nigjtwing? I don't know. I don't even know why my scales are this color. And there I go rambling away. Sorry." Silver muttered.
"It's fine. I do it a lot." Quibli said with a shrug. "Anyways, I said I would meet Moon, Kinkayou and Turtle. See you layer?"
"Yeah. Bye!" Fatespeaker waved as he walked farther into the cave and dissapeared into a tunnel. Silver had the slight idea that he was going to tell his friends about her.
"I suggest you go see your cave-- and I am sure you will love your winglet!" Fatespeaker continued with a grin.
"Thanks." Silver said. Fatespeaker then attended another Seawing, who was asking for directions to the underground lakes in the academy. She slowly walked to the second tunnel and then counted the rows of sleeping cave, finally ending on her own.

She walked in to find a Seawing with turqoise green scales sitting on a rock ledge of the cave, snout hidden behind a scroll. She looked up when she heard Silvertail's claws tap on the floor.
"Hi," The Seawing said, lifting hher neck higher. "I am--" she cut himself off when he saw Silvertail's scales, openly staring with wide eyes.
"Um... if you are about to ask, I come from the Nightwings." she said.
"Really?" the Seawing said, "You have more similities of an Icewing. Your scales are so shiny. Not trying to be offensive." she added.
"It's fine." Silver anwsered.
"My name's Tuna. How about you? I bet it has to do something with silver, right?" Tuna said, tilting her head.
"Actually, yeah. Silvertail, but if you preffer a shorter name I just go by Silver."
"Cool. My brother is Barracuda. He was one of the first students to join the academy. I wonder who our other clawmate will be..."
Silver walked forward.
"Is it okay if I take the moss bed?" she asked.
"Sure." The seawing said. Silver left her rucksack lying on her moss bed just as a third dragon entered the cave. A sandwing with pale, sand colored scales and pitch black eyes.
"Oh, hello." She said, looking first at Tuna and then at Silver. Her eyes narrowed.
"Nightwing." Tuna anwsered as if the Sandwing had spoken out loud.
"Hmmm..." she stepped forward, examining Silver's scales. "Cool. From affar, you would look like an Icewing."
"That's sort of what I said." Tuna said. "What's your name?"
"Dune of the Sandwings," she replied.
"Cool! I am Tuna and that is Silvertail."
"You can call me Silver for short." Silvertail added.
"Okay. Well, nice meeting the two of you. Today's a exploring day, so basically we get to go anywhere in the mountain." Dune said. "I was thinking I would go to the library and then stop by the prey center."
"I will come!" Tuna said, sliding off the rock and landing next to Silver.
"I will, too. I want to say hi to Starflight and hopefullly find my friend Spidermonkey," Silver said.
"Even cooler!" Tuna said, with the bouncy energy of a Rainwing. "Shall we go, then?" She leade the way out of the sleeping cave. Silver quickly grabbed her rucksack before following the other two dragons. She noticed how carefully Dune had her tail curled in to avoid hitting anyone with it. They passed another Seawing and there was a flash exchange between Tuna and him as they continued walking.

Soon they had reacjed the library. There were shelves stacked up with an infinite suply of scrolls. The windows were covered with some rainforest leaves that filtered the sun. Silver aready felt like this would be her favorite place in the school. She then spotted the desk. Starflight's head popped out from behind it. The blind Nightwing turned his head.
"Hello?" he asked. "Is that Silvertail I smell?"
"Yeah. Hi, Starflight!" Silvertail walked up to the front desk.
"Is there someone else with you?" Starflight asked.
"Yeah. My clawmates Tuna and Dune." Silvertail replied. Tuna walked to stand next to her.
"This is an impresive library, Starflight." she mused, "There must be more scrolls here than in any other place in the world."
"Well, I don't know about that, but I do know that more scrolls have added up ever since we started." Starflight said.
"I will read them all!" Tuna said excitedly.
"I don't know if you will be able to read them all, but probably a big quantity." Dune said.

The dragonets spoke to Starflight for a little longer before departing to the prey center. Silver was already feeling more confident.
Perhaps she could make friends with the other dragons despite her appearance...

Chapter Text

There was only one word to describe the prey center and that was, well, loud. Silvertail flattened her ears and instinctively pressed her wings closer to her small body to make herself look somewhat smaller. There were dragons EVERYWHERE, chatting in lod voices as they tore into their meals. A net had been thrown on the floor, filled with fish of all kinds that a few other dragons had fished; there was an area filled with fruits exclusively for the Rainwings. Dune stopped at the entrance, her gaze sweeping over the crowd. She spotted a small cluster of Sandwings and headed over to them without turning to the other two.
"Well, that was brief." Tuna commented. "Do you like fish?"
"I preffer fruits," Silvertail said.
"Okay then, I will gab a fish and we can sit by the fruit area. Anyways, I want to meet he Rainwings here." Tuna said. Silvertail noded and the Seawing trotted off to the fish pile. Silver turned to the fruit pile and spotted Spidermonkey. As she walked to the fruit are, he saw her too.
"Hi!" the Rainwing said cheerfully. He held a bunch of bananas in his talons (he loved the fruit) and his scales were a mix of bright yellows and oranges. There was a flash if pink which ran down the sclaes of his wings before dissapearing once more. The other Rainwings present, all of them brightly colored, turned their heads to Silver and nodded in greeting before returning their attention to their fruits.
"Thanks for making this possible," Silver said happily, sitting next to her friend.
"It's fine. When Queen Glory invited me, I knew it wouldn't really be fair if I came but you didn't." Spidermonkey said, peeling one of the bananas with easy and popping it into his mouth.
"Oh, hi!" they both turned their heads to see Tuna aproaching with a fish in her jaws. Her voice was slightly muffled. She dropped the fish on the stone floor and grinned. "I guess what they say about you are what you eat is kimda true. That's a tuna fish here,"
"Spidermonkey, this is my new friend Tuna. Tuna, this is Spidermonkey." Silvertail said.
"Cool," Tuna said, "Can you change the color of your scales?"
"Every Rainwing can do it." Spidermonkey said, a wave of blue splashing over his scales and then vanishing.
"Cool. I wonder what gives the Rainwings the ability to do so. And can you spit venom?" Tuna asked. The Rainwing grimaced.
"I would rather not do that here," Spidermonkey said. "But I can."
"Yo," They all turned in surprise to see Dune standing behind there. "Are any of you up for some hunting? Clay is organizing a hunting group."
"Uh, no thank you." Spidermonkey said, a n eye scorching lime green flashing on his scales due to his disgust.
"I'll go," Silvertail volunteered, getting to her feet. Tuna was frowning at the fish.
"Hmm... I think I'll pass on this one," she said.
"Alright, then." Dune said. Silver trudged after her, aware that there were eyes on her. She wondered what the other dragons though of her: did they think she was weird? Deformed? As they reached the hunting group, Silver spotted Clay, one of the Prophecy Dragonets. She felt her heart skip a beat at the though of being face to face with one of the dragons who saved dragonkind from extinction. Along with the big Mudwing, there were two other Sandwings, a Skywing and another Mudwing. As their eyes landed on Silvertail, she noticed the slight frowns and head tilts she was getting from the other dragonets. She hoped to the three moons that they wouldn't keep away from her or act hostile just because her scales and appearance were different.

"Looks like we are going to be able to hunt a lot of meat today with so many volunteers!" Clay said happily. "And you are…?" he looked down at Silvertail.
"Silvertail. Of the Nightwings." She added.
"Nice name! It matches you," Clay said, no doubt referring to her scales. Silvertail shrugged her wings. "I gather you all know or have an idea of how to hunt, right?" he looked around at the other dragons.
"I need to get used to the terrain," one of the other Sandwings said.
"Same." the other Sandwing agreed, "But I guess I will be able to catch something."
"Cool! In that case, let's go!"

He jumped into the air and the other dragonets followed after him in a flurry of wings. Silvertail hopped into the air and spread her massive wings, catching the air and soaring just behind Dune. She was surprised when the Skywing, who had dark red scales and golden brown eyes, smoothly performed a loop in the air and then fell back to fly next to Silvertail.
"I just wanted to ask: are you a hybrid?" he asked.
"Uh, I don't know." Sipvertail replied, caught off guard by his question. But it was a good hypothesis; perhaps she was half Nightwing.
"Oh. I just though because you have the qualities of a Skywing and the color of an Icewing. I haven't introduced myself yet. I am Hurricane of the Skywings."
"I see. Literally." Silvertail said. The red dragonet smiled.
"I would stand out almost everywhere with these scales." he said. "Like I said before, you have the qualities of a Skywing. I've never seen a gragon out of my tribe with wings bigger than their body."
"They are not much bigger than me, but that was a good observation you made." Silvertail said. Hurricane shruged, flapping his wings.
"Everyone tells me that I am good at observating. Is that Sandwing your clawmate?" he nodded at Dune.
"Yeah. Are any of these your clawmates?" the Skywing laughed.
"Moons, no. I got stuck with an Icewing. But I guess it's fine since we haven't interacted much." he said. "But I guess we will get over our differences soon and I won't feel... uh, insecure with an Icewing." He put emphathis on the word 'insecure', which made Silver wonder what differences the Skywing spoke about. She chose not to prod; Hurricane could be her friend and she didn't want to ruin the chance of being friends with a dragon from another tribe.
"A herd of mountain goats!" Silvertail said suddenly, spotting the animals down below. Clay seemed to have seen them too since he was already angling his wings. Silvertail smoothly swooped down just as the other dragons seemed to realize about the presence of the goats. Soon all dragonets were silently flying to the goat herd. However, due to their size they were spotted by the goats. The herd suddenly erupted into chaos as the goats struggled to get away from the quickly aproaching dragons. However, at least three of them would be doomed to become lunch.
That was, until a pair of Scavangers appeared, holding black sticks the length of their arms. Silvertail slowed down her descend, wondering if there was something to be worried about. Her questio was anwsered when one of the Sandwings swooped down to make his catch. The scavengers pointed their black sticks at him and there were two snaps that filled the air. The Sanding roared in pain as he swooped back up. Silvertail abruptly stopped flying forward in shock and hovered in the air. Was that blood that leaked from the Sandwing's left eye? It must have been, since his talons kept reaching up to that spot. The Scavengers seized the momment of confusion in the dragons to move away with the herd. But Clay was bussy flying to the injured Sandwing, followed by Dune and the other Sandwing, who reached the injured dragon before the other two and helped him land on the ground. The remaining dragonets were quick to follow suit, landing on the clearing of the forest.
"IT HURTS!!" the Sandwing was roaring.
"What was that?" asked the Mudwing, looking at Clay.
"I don't know. I have never see Scavengers behave that way before." Clay anwsered, taking a look at the Sandwing's eye. "Hunting expedition is cancelled. He needs to go to the infirmiary and quick."
"Come on, Sandy. I'll help you." The other Sandwing said kimdly. Dune gently pushed her apart and examined the Sandwing's bloodied eye. Without a word, the bigger dragonet and the other Sandwing both helped him into the air. Clay followed affer them, flying ahead. Silver, Hurricane and the Mudwing exchanged worried looks before flying after them. As they caught up, Clay called for Hurricane to fly forward to th infirmiary and warn whichever dragon was there to prepare to attend the Sandwing. Soon the Skywing was flying at top speed to the mountain and dissapearing inside.
"As for the two of you, Silver and Terra, go warn Sunny and Tsunami if you manage to find them," Clay said. Silver darted ahead and arrived at the prey center. Terra landed a few beats later as Silver was making her way to Tsunami, the prophecy's Seawing, who was luckily in the prey center.
"There's a problem!" Silver told her. The dragon looked away from the fish she was eating to look down at her. Her eyes didn't even shift when they saw Silvertail's sparkling scales.
"What is it?"
"One of the students was injured by a Scavanger while we were out hunting," Silver said. She knew it must sound like the brand new Sandwing Succesion war-- starring with the Scavanger. Tsunami avandoned her fish.
"Where?" she growled.
"The infirmiary," Silvertail jad barely gotten to the end of her sentence when the Seawing was already leaving the prey center. Terra joined her side, panting.
"Should we go after them?" she asked.
"I guess so," Silvertail said, darting after Tsunami.
She was already feeling anxious. Why in the three moons were Scavengers involved in everything?!

Chapter Text

It had been two days after the accident happened. Silver was no longer the only center of attention; now it was also the injured Sandwing, who despite having lost vision in one eye, had refused to leave the school. His argument was that he had nowhere to go.
In those two days, Silvertail had gotten less looks from other dragons. She had relished upon that and loosened up a little. She had had also had her first history lesson with the old Phrophecy dragonet's guardian Webs. To her joy, the rest of the Topaz winglet had turned out to be an icewing named Walrus who sahred caves with Hurricane (who was also in the winglet) and a mudwing named Mudclay who shared a cave with Spidermonkey (who was also in her winglet). Walrus seemed not to be interested in any of them, but he did glance at Silvertail a few times, taking in her shiny scales. She noticed tht Hurricane was sitting far away from the Icewing, wings neatly folded and back stright.

And since Silvertail liked history class, she enjoyed every last minute. Even Webss seemed to like her despite the slight frown he had given her as she had entered the cave.

Returning to the aftermath of the Scavenger attack. Only two days after it had happened, all the dragonets in the school seemed to extra careful when they went out hunting or simply to get some fresh air. Silvertail couldn't blame her; Scavengers had managed to kill Queen Oasis and not the little creatures owned weapons that could blind a dragon-- and perhaps do worse. Even Tuna seemed a little paranoid, refusing to go to hunting trips unless there was an adult dragon present. Dune was braver, accompanying the other hunting groups when Clay or Tsunamy were busy and she was free. Plus, the Sandwing was big and strong, and if they had to carry a student back, at least she was there to help. In all, Jade Academy tried to keep things as normal as they could.

"We would like you all to stay, but we totaly understand if you want to leave." Sunny had told the other dragonets during a short meeting that had been held. "However, I doubt that the Scavangers will come closer to the school unless it is trully necessary."
Then why had they been so close by when the Sandwing was injured? Silver asked herself the question many times over the two following days, but there didn't seem to be an anwser.

Chapter Text

Stillcloud couldn't believe his bad luck. He had been put with an Icewing and a Rainwing. The first scared him, because she always gave him the darkest of glares, and the latter... sure. He had learned to live with Rainwings, so he didn't hate them or anything, but their optimism! It was so obnoxiously good, that he sometimes found himself wishing he had his clawmate's sense of humor, or whatever he could call the never ceasing smiles and loud, happy voice.

But his biggest problem was the Icewing. The war had ended, and differences could have been put behind, but everytime her cold eyes met his, it felt as if his very bones were freezing, heartbeat quickening and fear beggining to grow somewhere in his chest. Then she would look away and he would find that he had been holding his breath and would silently exhale through his nose, telling himself to calm down.

It wasn't that easy.

He had to see her every day. Why? They had put her in the same sleeping cave (with a Rainwing!) and she was part of his winglet.

It wouldn't be so bad if he could stop worrying about her murdering him while he slept. Yet in the five days he had been at Jade Mountain academy, nothing had happened to him and he was kicking and breathing.

That didn't change the uneseaness he felt towards the icewing. He befriended (or at least, had become acquaintances) the Rainwing, the obnoxious, loud Orange, but he just couldn't get the Icewing to warm up to him, couldn't even get her to reply to his quiet greetings when they crossed each other in a hallway or at a class or just about anywhere.

And it was so fustrating, because it was always tense whenever she was in the same room he was in.

"Uh, Stillcloud?" Orange asked, poking his shoulder with a claw. "Are you okay? You've been staring at that watermelon with a very weird expression on your face but haven't even tried eating it."

"Oh, wha-" he shook his head, and the Rainwing's scales flashed pink, rippling down her sides and out of sight. Amusement. "I was- uh- sorry."

"It's okay. I was just worrying about your sanity," she said with a laugh. Stillcloud smiled a little at this. Orange picked out a large coconut from the fruit pile, experctly cracking it open by digging her sharp claws into it. She carefully opened it as to nt spill the sweet cocunut water inside it.

"Want some?" she asked.

"No, it's okay." he replied, opening the watermelon. She shrugged, raising the small, makeshift cup to her snout and drinking it. She then set to eating the coconut meat inside, happy to take her time while she tried to get it out.

"Orange!" Both dragons looked around to find Spidermonkey rappidly trotting to them.

"Heya, Monkey. Want some coconut?" Orange asked. Spidermonkey accepted her offer. He was one of her many cousins, the best friend of-

"Silvertail! Are you going to join us?" Spidermonkey called.

"I was going to go for a fly, see if I could find anything to eat." the silver-scaled dragon said, making her way to them.

"Oh, okay then," Spidermonkey said, licking coconut meat from his jaws. "We will see you later?"

"I won't be gone for long." Silvertail said.

"Mind if I come?" Stillcloud asked quietly. He had neither been a friend of hers nor one of the many Nightwings who hadn't wanted her to be in the tribe, but he had always been intrigued by her strange looks. That hadn't stoped her from becoming another friend to him. They were friends, but not as close as she and Spidermonkey were.

"Not at all." she replied. Stillcloud stood up.

"Orange, you can eat the watermelon if you want." he said.

"With pleasure!" she said with entuthiasm, pulling it towards her. Stillcloud followed Silvertail to the small opening that leade straight outside into the air. Silvertail took off into the air, and Stillcloud followed close behind.

"How's it going for you?" Silvertail asked him as they let themselves float on the wind, wings wide open to let the wing carry them up.

"It's fine. Orange is nice to me, but... the Icewing is kind of... scary?" he replied.

"I bet you will manage to befriend her sometime soon," she said cheerfully.

"And you?"

"Well, everyone is nice to me too, but I haven't really met the Mudcwing or the Icewing. I've seen them during clases, but neither are very sociable..." she replied with a small shrug.

"At least you are doing better than me," Stillcloud said with a small sigh.

"You'll get used to it, promise." Silvertail said. At that exact moment, a red dragon zoomed past them, twirling up and falling alongside them.

"Is it alright if I fly with you guys?" he asked.

"Sure. Stillcloud, that's Hurricane, from my winglet." Silvertail said, nodding to the red dragon.

"Nice to meet you," Hurricane said, flashing him a smile.

"Same." Stillcloud said in a quieter tone.

"If you two are looking for prey, then I suggest going a little farther into the mountains. Last time I went, I found a small group of deer and a lot of other animals." Hurricane said, nodding to the mountains.

"Should we try there?" Silvertail asked.

"Sounds good." Stillcloud said with a small shrug. The three dragonets moved course, flying a little farther away from the mountain. Barely minutes had passed before Stillcloud spotted movement below them.

"That looks like a small herd of mountain goats," he said. "And I don't see any Scavengers close by."

"Let's try it!" Silvertail said, moving into a dive. Stillcloud would never match her in speed, but he loved to dive like he had watched falcons do. The wind slapped at his face and he felt as if all his worries were being left behind, replaced with wild excitement as he quickly reached the ground. He angled his wings, diving down, half folding his wings so that he could fall gfaster and keeping his limbs closer to his body as to fall faster. The other two dived after him, and for a long moment, he was back at home, free of any worry, of anything that kept him back, free flying in the--

He missed the sparkling of white scales right beneath him.

It was too late to slow down, and he didn't open his wings on time. The breath was punched right out of him when he collided with the Icewing, the other dragon snarling with surprise. The two of them, lost to surprise, tumbled down, colliding hard with rocky ground. Stillcloud cried out in pain when he felt a sharp claw rake his left front leg, and something sharp dig into his ribs. Before he could pull himself toguether, he was kicked off the Icewing, the other dragonet getting to her feet and hissing angrily.

"Was that your idea of a joke?" she snarled at him, glaring at him with angry, cold eyes. He stammered.

"N-no, I just-" before he could say anything else, she had twirled around, her tail slamming into him. It caught him off guard and surprised, and he was sent tumbling with a snarl. He trembled with anger as he got to his feet, indignation filling him as he faced off the Icewing, who was looking at him with a sideways look.

"What was that for?!" he growled. "I was going to apologize! I didn't notice you and wasn't able to slow fown!"

"Stillcloud!" Silvertail landed next to him, eyes wide as she tried to figure out what was going on.

"You Nightwings, always so supperior about everything." The Icewing said. But it didn't sound like an insult, mostly as if she were... sad? Pyting? Well, he didn't need that!

"And you Icewings, always wearing a smug look on their faces," he snarled back. The dragonet narrowed her eyes, turning to look at him slowly. Stillcloud wasn't the kind of dragon to pick a fight, but he wasn't going to let this dragon get away with it! Firts striking him like that, and then insulting his tribe? No way that was going to happen! She stalked over to him, and that's when he noticed that he was a full head shorter than her. She glared down at him, snout pulled into a snarl.

"Take it back."

"Not until you do." he growled back. The Icewing sighed.

"So full of pride, too. Can't even act honorably." she said with a sigh, turning around and walking away. She spread her wings open, looking bat at him with a cold face. "See you later... roomie." With that she took off, gracefully flying back to the school. Stillcloud stood there, panting angrily and with relief. He hadn't seriously that he could beat an Icewing, did he?

"Why did you do that?!" Silvertail asked. "She could have injured you real bad!"

"I... I'm going back now. I'll see you later." he said. He felt bad about leaving them like this, but he needed alone time. He spread his wings and took off, Silvertail watching as he flied back to the mountain. Hurricane made a neat landing next to her.

"We should probably leave too." he said.

"Sure."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah... it's just that the Stillcloud I know whouldn't pick a fight like that."

Stillcloud's mind was conflicted. He really couldn't believe that he had done that. He had been lucky that the Icewing had walked away from it instead of beating him up. But she had hurt his pride and it hurt. He landed in the Prey Center, feeling cold eyes following him as he got back to the sleeping caves. He didn't have to look back to know who it was.

Chapter Text

"Hey, you okay?" Orange asked, stepping into the sleeping cave. Stillcloud was curled up on his moss bed, wings folded in a way that hid his face. He twitched, wishing she would leave him alone.

"I'm fine." he replied.

"Oh. I was just wondering because you stormed out of tge prey center and…"

"Orange. I'm fine." Stillcloud said firmly. The other dragonet remained silent.

"Oh... okay. Uh. I'll be in the prey center with Spidermonkey. In case you need me." Stillcloud gave his tail a flick to acknowledge her words and she backed out of the room, claws clicking as she walked back to the prey center. Stillcloud let his wings drop a bit with a sigh. Orange was a nice dragon, but all rainwings were equally... well. Rainwings. Even if he insisted she would still try to help in some way. He couldn't blame her, but it was annoying, ince he was supposed to be a Nightwing and all that stuff the adults told him.

He curled up tighter, squeezing his eyes closed.

"What happened?" Spidermonkey asked, shades of brown, white and darker brown flitting through his dark yellow scales. Orange's scales were turning various shades of blue, which indicated she wasn't feeling too good. Silvertail raised her head from the watermelon she was eating.

"It's Stillcloud. His scales don't shift colors, but I can tell he's upset." Orange said, sitting by the fruit pile. "If other dragons had scales like ours, things would be a lot easier."

"Yeah, I guess it would." Spidermonkey agreed. "Silver, you were with him before. Did anything happen?"

"Uh... well, this other Icewing from the Zinc winglet was out hunting as well and he accidentally crashed into her. Let's just say both were really mad at each other." she said. As if on cue, the Icewing turned her smooth, elegant face to her, perched on a large section of the wall jutting out of the stone. Silver avoided her gaze, even if she was sitting on the other end of the prey center. She glanced back at her to see that the Icewing was concentrated on the catch she had made. Silvertail rleased a small sigh.

"Oh, she's Seal. She's Stillcloud's and my clawmate." Orange said. "She's pretty, but scary as well."

"No wonder they got mad at each other," Spidermonkey mused. "Don't Icewings and Nightwings hold a grudge or something for one another?"

"Sort of. Yeah." Silver replied. Spidermonkey hummed.

"Yeah, I feel bad for Stillcloud." he said.

"Hey!" Silvertail turned her head to find Tuna, her seawing clawmate, walking to them. "I heard there's a nice underground lake here. Anybidy wanna come?"

"I wouldn't mind to." Spidermonkey replied cheerfully, stretching out his wing joints a bit. "I'm coming!"

"I think I will too. Orange?" Silver asked. The other Rainwing nodded. They followed Tuna to one of the tunnels, and soon they were descending various tunnels, passing other dragonets on their way down. Tuna took them into a large cave, and Silver's eyes widened.

The underground lake was the largest under the mountain, with a sky hole in the ceiling with a clear view to the three moons above them.

"Awesome!" Spidermonkey said as he saw it as well. They weren't the only ones; a head poked out of the water, and soon another Seawing was looking back at them.

"Ohhh, Whaleshark!" Tuna said happily, splashing into the water to join the Seawing. "Guys, this is my older brother. He's mute, so he caN't really speak."

Silver knew she had seen him before; it was the Seawing that Tuna had exchanged flashes with on their first day in the mountain. The Seawing seemed to recognize her as well, flashing something to Tuna, who responded with another series of flashes.

"Wow, the water's cold." Orange said, pocking at the lake's surface with a claw.

"If you are coming in, just be careful because the rocks are slippery." Tuna said.

"Thanks," Orange replied, stepping in a bit further. She slipped, crashing down on the water with a yelp and sliding deeper in, scrabbling for hold. She dug her claws into the stone, pulling hersef to her feet and panting, laughs beginning to erupt from her throat.

"Are you alright?" Tuna asked, smoothly swiming up to her.

"Yeah," Orange laughed, "it was funny, that's all." Whaleshark glided up to them, glow scales flashing.

"He says that he fell the first time he came by as well." Tuna translated.

"I'm not surprised," Orange said, grinning. Tuna laughed, giving her a friendly shove and causing for the smaller Rainwing to fall deeper into the water with a yelp.