The Magic Within The Moon

by Vixenzemoon

Summary:

When Moonwatcher is discovers she has Animus magic, she struggles with the fear it brings her and how it causes her to be scared of how other dragons will see her.
When she goes to Jade Mountain Academy, Moonwatcher is scared oh how her own winglet will treat her if they discover the truth but Moonwatcher soon has to put her fears on hold when there is a giant threat to the safety of Jade Mountain Academy.

A/N: I really love Moonwatcher an I wished there was more fanfics centering around her, so I decided to write a fanfic about Moon but with the twist of her having Animus magic.
Also there's some ships you may not like, also for big Winter fans this fanfic might not be for you as Winter has some huge jerk moments.

 

Update: I'm turning this fanfic into a series, so it will have a sequel fanfic to it.

Chapter 1: Prologue

Prologue

Slipping quietly through the rainforest, SecretKeeper soon found the small burrow where her little dragonet Moonwatcher or as SecretKeeper nicknamed Moon was hidden.
As SecretKeeper walked over to the burrow, she peeked inside to see a small dragonet with purplish black scales, with hints of dark-blue and green and one teardrop-shaped scale on each side of her eyes.

Moon was curled up asleep which made SecretKeeper smile fondly as she watched her little dragonet sleep.
Moons sleep didn’t last long, as SecretKeeper watched as Moon slowly woke up and blinked a bit before looking up at SecretKeeper before smiling and chirped, “Mommy!” before dumpling up and hugging Secretkeeper who wrapped her wings around Moon.

“Hello my little Moon, I’ve missed you.” SecretKeeper whispered quietly, yet she knew Moon already knew what SecretKeeper was thinking.
SecretKeeper had quickly learned that Moon was a mind reader from the few times she was able to spend time with her little dragonet.

The thought of Moon being a mind reader had and still scared SecretKeeper but not by Moon herself but from what will happen if the Nightwing tribe discovers Moon and finds out she’s a mind reader.
Secretkeeper felt the familiar chill in her bones which happens every time she thinks about the nightwing tribe finding Moon but she was mainly scared of Morrowseerer finding Moon.

Even though Morrowseerer was Moons father, SecretKeeper knew Morrowseerer wouldn’t see that and would gladly use Moon to benefit the tribe in some twisted way.
SecretKeeper was snapped out of her thoughts by Moon making a few scared chirps with her wings twitching a bit.

SecretKeeper silently scolded herself for scaring her daughter before comforting Moon by humming a soft lullaby which made Moon yawn a bit.
As SecretKeeper continued humming, she noticed Moon grab reaching out for a small vine, seeming like she wanted to play with it.

SecretKeeper looked at the vine before grabbing it and giving it to Moon who started playing with it.

Moonwatchers POV

While playing with the vine, Moon heard her mommy mention something about the vine having flower buds before Moon saw a flash of some pretty purple flowers.
Moon looked at the vine in her talons while thinking of the flowers, and how she wanted to see them.

Moon chirped a bit, she wanted to see the flowers on the vine.
As she wished to see the flowers Moon was amazed as the same purple flowers bloom on the vine, this made Moon look up at her mommy expecting the same amazement but instead SecretKeeper looked horrified before flashes of the familiar dark scary place Moon always saw in her mommy’s mind.

Moon kept seeing more flashes of the big dragon in SecretKeepers mind, which made Moon want to hide under her mommy’s wing, as the dragon she kept seeing was scary and seemed mean.
Moon felt her mommy’s wings wrap around her tighter which made Moon feel safer before she soon drifted off to sleep.

 

SecretKeepers POV

 

SecretKeeper felt her blood run cold as she looked down at Moon who was asleep, still clutching the fully bloomed vine.
“This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening!” SecretKeeper thought, as she could somewhat handle Moonwatcher being able to read minds but her being an animus alongside that would just make Moonwatcher be in even more danger if the Nightwing tribe found her.

SecretKeeper took a deep breath, before thinking, “This is fine, maybe I can just make sure Moon doesn’t ever use her animus magic.
Looking down at her dragonet, SecretKeeper made a silent vow to never let the nightwing tribe ever discover Moonwatcher.

Chapter 2: chapter 1: The Promise Made of Fear

Summary:

Moon learns she has Animus magic while at the same time learning to fear it.

Curled up in her borrow, Moon who was now 2 years old felt her stomach grumble with hunger which told Moon it was time to go out and find something to eat.
 Sneaking through the undergrowth of the rainforest, Moon hoped she wouldn’t have to go far with her, maybe finding some fruit.

As she continued looking for food which she was failing to find, a small thought entered her mind, “What if I used my animus magic to bring me some food?” 
 The thought seemed like a good idea until Moon remembered what her mother told her about her animus magic and how dangerous it was.
Moon thought back to the scary volcano and all the dragons that she later learned were nightwings, and what they would do to Moon if they discovered her or her curses.

Moon remembered the first time her mother had warned her to never use her animus magic, she had been playing with a rock while waiting for her mother to come back.
 The rock had fallen in a small hole, and Moon's arms were too small to even grab it and out of frustration Moon cried out, “get back here rock!”

 Not even a second after Moon had said that, the rock flew into Moon's tiny talons.
Looking at the rock in awe she didn’t hear her mothers thoughts until Moon heard her mother gasp in horror.

Moon turned to her head to see her mothers horrified look she had on her face and the thoughts in Secretkeepers mind told Moon that her mother had also seen the rock fly into Moon's talons.
 “Mommy, what’s wrong?” Moon asked her mother, as she walked over to her mother before showing her the rock, “Look mommy, this rock flew to me when I asked it to!” 

Moon watched as Secretkeeper paused for a  moment before taking a deep breath, which Moon could only guess was to calm herself down.
 SecretKeeper then bent her head down to Moon's level before speaking, “Moonwatcher, as amazing as that was, you must promise me you will never use your animus magic again.” 

Moon looked at her mother confused before asking, “What’s animus magic?” 
 Secretkeeper wrapped her wings around Moon before answering, “Animus magic is a rare and very powerful ability, it gives you the ability to enchant objects, and animals.” 

Moons eyes went wide in surprise and wonder before asking, “I can do that?” 
 Secretkeeper nodded before saying, “You can, but never use your magic at all as it comes with a terrible price. Every spell you cast with animus magic takes bits of your soul until you have lost it completely.” 
 At her mothers words, Moon felt her wonder and amazement be replaced with fear, as Moon didn’t like the thought of her losing her soul and the thoughts she was seeing from her mothers mind weren’t helping.

Secretkeepers thoughts were showing images of a Nightwing named Stonemover and Moon kept seeing flashes of Secretkeepers memory of Stonemover once being more bright until he became nothing but a shell of his former self before disappearing.

“Mommy, am I going to lose my soul?” Moon asked, her voice breaking a bit.
Secretkeeper pulled Moon close before saying, “No, you won’t. As long as you don’t use your animus magic, okay?” 
 Moon nodded before saying, “I won’t! I will never use my animus magic ever, I promise!” 

Moon thought about her promise as she grabbed a few papayas before sneaking back into her burrow.
 She had kept to her promise and hadn’t used her animus magic since that day, yet Moon didn’t use her magic just because of her promise but out of the fear of losing her soul.

As Moon started peeling the papayas to eat them, she thought back to her mothers thoughts about the Nightwing Stonemover and how Moon was terrified to ever be like him.
 Moon ate her papayas while listening to the first few drops of rain that was coming.
After she ate two of the papayas she decided to save the few others she managed to grab for later as Moon knew it could be weeks before she saw her mother again.

 While listening to the rain, Moon felt a familiar worry creep up on her, she worried her mother would never come back due to Moon's animus magic.
“What if she really thinks I’m cursed..” Moon thought with a shiver while thinking back to how Secretkeeper had said that Moons mind reading and animus magic were a curse.
 Moon knew from her mothers thoughts that Secretkeeper didn’t seem to think Moon was cursed but Moon still couldn’t help but worry her mother was scared of Moon and wanting nothing to do with her.

 

Chapter 3: Chapter 2: First day of School

Summary:

Moon attempts to convince Secretkeeper to not make her go to Jade Academy but Secretkeeper believes it will be best for her.

Chapter 3

Moon sat under a tree alongside her mother near the entrance of the new school known as Jade Mountain Academy, which was created by the Dragonets of Destiny.

Moons wings twitched as she watched dragons from all different tribes land at the entrance and go inside, she frowned a bit before turning to her mother and asking, “Do I have to go now? I want to be with you.” 

 

Moon remembered a few months ago, how the volcano the Nightwings hid had blown up and the Nightwings were now under the reign of Queen Glory.

She remembered the hatred and bitter thoughts of the other Nightwings when Secretkeeper revealed Moon to Queen Glory and how Secretkeeper hid Moon away.

 

Moon was grateful that Queen Glory had forgiven Secretkeeper and Moon was happy to finally be able to spend more time with her mother than a few hours, even if she had to deal with the bitter thoughts of the other nightwings.

Yet a few weeks later, Starflight and Sunny, two of the Dragonets of Destiny had come to Secretkeeper and offered her to have Moon be one of the first students at Jade Mountain Academy.

 

“You’ll be much happier here, especially without all those hateful thoughts.” Secretkeeper said gently.

“Most of them aren’t even that bad.” Moon lied, she had been affected by the thoughts of the other Nightwings who hated her because she didn’t live on the volcano.

Moon had many nightmares of her being chased by giant angry nightwings screaming at her about how she should have suffered alongside them before being dragged into the darkness.

 

“Most of them are awful and you know it, but besides that, you could make friends here,” Secretkeeper said before Moon heard her mother think, “ Well, I hope you will my weird little diamond. ”

“I’m not a weird diamond.” Moon protested before her mother lowered her head and quietly said, “You need to remember not to do that. Don’t respond to what you hear someone think or you’ll reveal your curse.”

 

Moon nodded before apologizing, “I’m sorry, it just slipped.”

Moons mother nodded before saying, “It’s alright just remember, stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe . If you are careful you can learn to live a normal life even with your two curses.”

Secretkeeper turned to the entrance before saying, “So, are you ready to go inside?” 

Moon looked at the entrance as if it might swallow her whole before saying, “No, let’s keep watching for now please.” 

 

Secretkeeper nodded before Moon heard her think, “I was never this anxious when I was this young.”

Moon tried not to frown at her mother, while being thankful that her mind reading didn’t go through both ways as she wanted to say, “Maybe there's a huge reason I'm like this.” But Moon just kept watching until she noticed four seawings flyingin the distance before they landed.

 

Moon quickly realized who the oldest Seawing with the harness around the baby dragonet was Queen Coral.

“That’s Queen Coral, and her daughters Auklet, and Anemone though I’m not sure who the other dragonet is.” Moon explained to her mother when she noticed her mothers puzzled expression.

“Try not to always blurt out the answers like that. I’m grateful for you telling me but if you always know the answer to something, how will you make friends here?”

 

Moon frowned a bit, she felt like her mother was more concerned on if other dragons liked her more than if Moon liked other dragons but her thoughts were quickly interrupted by a blue Seawing rushing over to Queen Coral and her daughters before wrapping her wings around them and saying, “Mother! I’m so happy you came and thank you for letting Anemone come!” 

Moon watched as Queen Coral smiled at the blue Seawing who Moon quickly realized that it was Tsunami, one of the Dragonets of Destiny and Queen Corals long lost daughter.

“The only reason I’m allowing this is because Anemone wouldn’t stop asking and begging me about it.” Queen Coral said to Tsunami who was radiating excited thoughts that made Moon feel like if she was any closer she’d get a headache but Moon also heard the anxiety radiating off of Queen Coral who was scared of Anemone getting hurt.

 

Moon continued watching as Tsuniami turned to the dark green scaled Seawing with a gold band on his arm with strange rocks Moon hadn’t never seen before.

“Who are you?” Tsunami asked the dragonet who gave a peaceful smile, “I’m turtle, I’m one of your brothers.”

This made Tsunamis eyes go wide before she turned to Queen Coral and asked, “Wait, I have brothers?!” 

“There’s actually thirtytw of us.” Turtle said, before noticing Moon and her shocked expression before gaving her an amused smile.

 

Moon was too stunned to even realize she wasn’t hearing anything from Turtle's mind, it was just a quiet hum.

This confused Moon as she had never seen anything like this, she had met dragons like glory who could unknowingly shut out Moons mind reading whenever she got uncomfortable but Turtle was just quiet.

 

Moon's thoughts were interrupted by a small gasp as she felt like the mountain was crashing on her as she saw flashes of images of Turtle fighting his sister on the shores of a lake.

Once the flashes of the images were over, Moons eyes landed back to Turtle as he followed his sisters and mother into the mountain.

Moon took a few quiet deep breaths as she knew what she had seen, she knew it was a vision of the future.

Moon had know for a year or so that alongside her mind reading and animus magic, was that she could see small visions of the future, which was thanks to Moon having a vision of a tree almost falling on top of her.

Moon had never told her mother about her ability to see the future as she knew that if Secretkeeper didn’t like that Moon could read minds or had animus magic than Moon knew for a fact that Secretkeeper wouldn’t like the idea of Moon being able to see the future. 

Moon was snapped out of her thoughts by Queen Coral speaking to her daughter Anemone, “Just remember you can always come home if you ever feel scared, or alone or homesick.” 

“I know, I know, can we go inside now?” Anemone said, radiating annoyed thoughts which made Moon feel slightly envious of Anemone as Moons own mother didn’t seem to want her to come home.

 

“ What if she really does think I’m cursed, what if she doesn’t want a dragonet who has mind reading or animus magic. ” Moon thought as the familiar fear of her mother not wanting her crept back into Moons mind.

Moon turned to her mother ready to protest once more, but Secretkeeper gave her a smile before saying, “Alright, enough “observing” it’s time for me to go.”

Moon felt her stomach drop a bit as Secretkeeper hugged her tightly but Moon felt her hopes go up when she heard Secretkeepers anxious thoughts, “ Am I even doing the right thing here, what if she is discovered. ” 

Moon felt her hopes go up that maybe she could convince her mother to not make Moon go.

“Maybe we can try again in a year or so.” Moon tried to say quickly but Secretkeeper was already getting ready to take off before saying, “Everything will be fine, just remember to be careful and don’t forget about your promise .”

 

Moon simply nodded as she watched her mother fly off, before turning back to the entrance.

“ Okay, you can do this. Just pretend you're hungry and your mother hasn't visited you in a week so you are going out to look for some ripe bananas. ” Moon thought, trying to give herself the courage to go inside the cave.

 

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: New Friends

Summary:

Moon meets Kinkajou and Carnelian and quickly befriends Kinkajou

Notes:

I wanted the fanfic to have some semblance to the actual books, but I changed it up a bit as I don't want to make it word for word.

As Moon walked over to the entrance of the academy, she was met with a Nightwing who had the same teardrop scales as her.

The Nightwing gave Moon a wide smile before saying, “Hi! Let me guess, you’re Moonwatcher aren’t you?” 

The Nightwing gave Moon a mischievous smile before saying, “I’m mysteriously good at guessing, almost as if I'm reading your mind.” This made Moons blood run cold, 

 

“ Have I already been discovered before even speaking? ” Moon thought while quietly panicking until the Nightwing laughed a bit before saying, “Just kidding! I’m Fatespeaker, follow me and I’ll show you the grand hall so you can the scroll and map that leads to your sleeping cave.” 

As Moon followed Fatespeaker she was surprised at the lanterns that lined the cave walls since Moon imaged the halls to be more cramped but she soon realized that Sunny wouldn’t want the students to be in the same environment that she grew up in.

She soon enters a huge room that has a huge banner that reads “ Welcome to Jade Mountain Academy! ” 

 

Moon watched as Fatespeaker looked through a rack of scrolls, while muttering Moons name a few times before saying, “Ah-ha, found it!” Fatespeaker pulled out two scrolls before giving them to Moon before saying, “Ones for classes, and the other is for the map to your sleeping cave. You’ll love your clawmates!” 

Moon paused at opening the map when she heard Fatespeaker say ‘ clawmates ’

“Wait, what do you mean clawmates?” Moon asked, though she already had a feeling on what that was.

 

“Sunny thought it would be a good idea for the winglets to  share sleeping caves as a way to get to know the other dragons in your winglet.” Fatespeaker explained with an enthusiastic smile, but Moon felt her heart drop a bit, as she started worrying on how easily it’d be for her to mess up and accidentally reveal her curses but Moons thoughts were interrupted by Fatespeaker who exclaimed, “Oh! There's some Icewings, wanna go over and meet them?” 

 

Moon took one look at the Icewings scowling faces and shook her head while thinking, “ No, they are scary. I definitely don’t want to meet them now or ever. ” 

But Moon just quickly mumbled something about going to look for her sleeping cave and quickly left to another opening in the hall where she passed two Sandwings who were laughing about something.

 

Moon twitched her wings back and tried to appear  as non noticeable as possible but one of the Sandwings with a scar across his snout and a hooped earring with an amber teardrop in his left ear had turned his head slightly towards.

“ A Nightwing. Thorn said to be cautious around them but she doesn’t seem dangerous, the silver scales near her eyes look cool. Is she making herself small to appear non threatening or is she up to something. ” 

 

Moon made sure not to accidentally make eye contact with the Sandwing and quickly found her sleeping cave.

Moon looked around the sleeping cave and noticed three different sleeping options, a bare rock ledge, a woven green hammock, and a pile of moss and leaves.

Moon liked the pile of moss and leaves as it reminded her of the rainforest floor but her attention was soon caught by a rack that had some scrolls on it.

 

Moon couldn’t help but get excited to have some scrolls to read, as she walked over Moon saw a little banner above the scroll rack that said, ‘ some free reading! ’ 

Moon noticed some racks were empty and she put her two scrolls down on a rack before she started looking at a few of the scrolls but she soon froze in place when she heard a deep voice in her mind say, “ Ah-ha, found you. ” 

This made Moon freeze before thinking, “ What was that? It sounded almost like someone was talking directly to me. ”

“ I am directly talking to you, and I must say you are a very jumpy dragonet. ” The voice said once more, but almost amused.

This made Moon freak out even more as she quickly thought, “ Who are you? How are you reading my mind and talking to me like this? ”

“ Hmm, interesting question, let me get back to you on that. ”

 

Moon waited a few minutes before realizing the voice wasn’t going to answer her question before thinking, “ What was that? Is there another mind reader in the academy? ” Moons thoughts were soon interrupted by some yelling outside her sleeping cave. 

Peeking her head out her sleeping caves entrance, Moon saw a Skywing and a Seawing snarling at each other before a calm but deep voice spoke up, “Alright that’s enough. We don’t need to fight on the first day of school.” 

Moon soon realized that it was Clay, one of the Dragonets of Destiny and it was clear by the thoughts from the other dragonets in the hall she wasn’t wrong.

 

“ It’s one of the Dragonets of Destiny! ”

“ Wow he’s friendlier looking than I imagined. ”

“ Three Moons! He smiled at me! ”

 

Moon watched as Clay limped over and put himself between the Seawing and Skywing before turning to the Skywing and saying in a friendly tone, “Carnelian, why don’t you go to your sleeping cave and I'll come talk with you later.”

Clay then turned to the Seawing before saying, “Pike, why don’t you walk with me and we can talk for a bit.”

 

Moon quickly went back to looking at the scrolls on the rack before Carnelian stalked in and laid herself down on the rock ledge, before a dash of bright colors ran into the sleeping cave and accidentally toppled onto Moon.

“Whoops! Sorry, I didn’t see you there but I guess Nightwings are great at blending in with shadows.” the dash of color that Moon had soon realized was a Rainwing said yet Moon soon heard the Rainwings thoughts, “ That put me in a sleeping cave with a Nightwing! Isn’t anyone worried about my possible post traumatic stress?! ” But Moon noticed how the Rainwing was still smiling.

“Isn’t this amazing! We’re finally here at school and my scales can’t stop being bright. I tried getting them to be a more dignified color but they don’t want to listen!”

 

The Rainwing paused for a moment while looking at Moon before saying, “You look a lot healthier than any of the Nightwings.”

Moon looked down before muttering, “I didn’t grow up on the volcano, my mother hid me in the rainforest.”

As soon as Moon said that the Rainwing eyes lit up in realization, “Oh! I heard about you, so you're not like the Nightwings who locked me up.”

 

Moon saw flashes of the volcano with the Rainwing being surrounded by a bunch of scary looking Nightwings.

“Like I'm all for forgiveness and such but I was really scared that I might’ve died on that Volcano but you’re hardly a Nightwing at all!”

Moon flinched a bit, as she was used to hearing that being said in the thoughts of the other Nightwings around her but hearing it be said out loud hurt Moon more than she realized it would.

 

“I’m Kinkajou by the way, what’s your name?” Kinkajou asked but Carnelian piped up with, “You’re noisy..” 

“I’m Moonwatcher but you can just call me Moon.” Moon said quietly to Kinkajou who said, “That’s a pretty name!” before turning to Carnelian and asking, “What’s your name?” 

Carnelian didn’t answer but Moon could hear Carnelians bitter thoughts, "I'm a warrior who is loyal to Queen Ruby, and I did nothing to be stuck with some blabbering Rainwing and a mumbling Nightwing."

"I do not mumble." Moon thought a bit annoyed but she was quickly taken out of her thoughts when Kinkajou spoke up.

 

“Oo~ It’s a mystery!”Kinkajou said in response to Carnelians' silence before turning to Moon and saying, “Looks like we need to guess!” 

Kinkajou turned back to Carnelian while giving her a thoughtful look before saying, “I think her name is squelch,” Kinkajou turned to Moon and said, “What do you think?” 

Moon opened her mouth to speak but she then heard Carnelian think, “ What crime did I commit for Queen Ruby to send me to this prison disguised as a school? ”

 

This made Moon nervous as she turned to Kinkajou and quietly said, “Squelch is more of a Mudwing name, but I think Clay said her name was Carnelian.” 

Kinkajous paused before saying, “That makes sense, and Carnelian is a pretty name!”

Moon nodded, hoping Carnelian would see that Kinkajou didn’t mean any harm but Moons thoughts were interrupted by Kinkajou dragging Moon out the sleeping caves entrance while saying, “Come on! Let’s go check out the library.”

 

Moon was ready to object as she wanted to stay in the sleeping cave a bit more as it was a bit more quieter even with Carnelian's aggravated thoughts but she hesitated when she heard Kinkajou think, “ Please don’t be boring, I can handle shy but please don't be boring. ”

Moon internally scolded herself while thinking, “ I don’t want to mess up the first opportunity to have a friend! I can put up the noise if it means I can get a friend. ” 

Moon looked at Kinkajou and gave a small smile before saying, “Yeah, let’s go to the library.” 

 

Kinkajou gave Moon a big smile before she and Moon left the sleeping cave and started heading to the Library but as they were walking through the halls, Moon heard the mysterious voice say, “ Be careful little Moon, friends don’t like when you hide secrets from them. Believe me, I would know. ” 

 

Notes:

Also Moon has to get used to being called "hardly a Nightwing" a lot as it will happen a lot in this fanfic

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Special Treasures

Summary:

Moon gets a new treasure, which is a library card

Notes:

I had to listen to an audio book of book 6 as I was worried about messing up with Starflight as I was scared of not writing him correctly, so if there is any critiques on this chapter please let me know so I can fix them^^

As Moon followed Kinkajou through the halls, she was confused on how Kinkajou knew her way through the school halls without using a map until    Kinkajou spoke up saying, “They knew I wouldn’t be able to read yet, so Sunny explained the whole plan to me and let me and Tamarin come and walk around the school a week before it opened up for other students.”

 

“They?” Moon asked Kinkajou who answered with, “The Dragonets of Destiny, thought they don’t want to be called that but I think calling them the founders of the school makes them sound old and dusty.”

Moon giggled a bit which earned her an excited grin from Kinkajou before saying, “Glad to see you agree! Anyway, Sunny and the others wanted everyday to be an exploring day for the students here so we can see what we are interested in.”

 

“ I’m interested in exploring going back to my mother, could I explore that. ” Moon thought.

Despite Kinkajou making her smile, Moon still had the feeling of wanting to be with her mother.

When Moon and Kinkajou walked in the library, Moon felt like she was in a dream and one where she never wanted to wake up as she looked at the walls which were covered in cubby holes filled with scrolls.

“ I feel like I could die happy. ” Moon thought as she looked around more and noticed how the giant leaf curtains made the library have an iridescent green light, and how the library had different spots to curl up and read in like some rock ledges or piles of moss.

“Pretty amazing huh?” Kinkajou asked Moon with a proud smile before saying, “Queen Glory sent these leaf curtains from the rainforest.”

 

Moon nodded before noticing how there was only one reader in the library which was a quiet looking Mudwing who was reading a scroll near the windows.

 

All Moon could see from the Mudwings mind was ripples of a mud puddle, but her thoughts were interrupted by Kinkajou who had rushed over to the circular library desk.

 

Moon enjoyed talking to Starflight about scrolls when he and Sunny visited her and Secretkeeper and she liked that Starflight didn’t consider Moon to be hardly a nightwing or not nightwing enough.

 

“Hi Starflight!” Kinkajou exclaimed happily as Starflight popped his head out from behind the librarian desk who smiled before saying, “Hello Kinkajou,” 

The blind Nightwing leaned forward and smiled as Kinkajou brushed his claws with hers.

“Is that Moon with you?” Starflight asked.

 

“Hi.” Moon said shyly, she liked talking to Starflight and she enjoyed how there were never awful or hurtful thoughts in Starflights mind.

Starflights brain was always busy, making mental notes of things that needed to be done, ticking off things completed but Moon liked how Starflight never considered Moon to not be Nightwing enough as like her Starflight was an outsider to the Nightwing tribe too and how Starflight loved scrolls like her.

“Hello Moon, I’m glad you and Kinkajou came as I'm testing out a new system for the students who wish to borrow scrolls from the library.” Starflight said before pulling out a rectangular piece of wood that  was as long as two claws and had Moons name carved on it but Moon noticed how it was carved backwards and raised.

“What is it?” Moon asked while examining the small rectangular piece of wood.  

“It’s a library stamp, it’s to help keep track of which student has borrowed one of the scrolls.” Starflight explained before brushing his talons over a stack of scrolls lined up under the desk  which Moon noticed had names on them and appeared to be lined up alphabetically.

 

Starflight soon found the one that had Moons name carved into it and it was partially unrolled which Moon noticed was blank.

“When you want to borrow a scroll you will take up to me here as each scroll has a unique stamp carved on the end of them, I’ll stamp your name scroll with the stamp of the scroll you want to borrow and when you return it I’ll have your card stamped over the first image to show you brought it back.”

 

Once Starflight finished explaining he put the scroll with Moons name down before asking, “Does that make sense?”

“I think so.” Moon responded, looking at the library card in her claws like it was a sacred treasure as Moon had never really had anything that was hers before.

 

“Would you like a pouch to keep it in?” Starflight asked Moon, who looked a bit confused, before asking, “A pouch?”

Starflight fumbled under the desk for a minute or so before pulling out a soft, black leather pouch that was attached to a silver chain before handing it in Moons direction

 

“You can use this to put your library card in and keep it safe,” Starflight explained as Moon put the card into the pouch gently before slipping the chain around her neck.

 

“Thank you Starflight.” Moon said with a smile, feeling like she had her very first piece of treasure.

“Of course, just let me know if you need any help with anything.” Starflight said with a warm smile but Moon could hear the flurry of what-ifs rushing through his mind and his constant anxieties of being a blind Librarian but he quickly beaten back those thoughts with reassuring ones.

 

“I’ve been practicing to get the whole space memorized.” Starflight explained to Moon who wished she could ask about ominous voices in her head but that would expose her mind reading so Moon said nothing.

 

“Sora, are you still here?” Starflight asked, raising his voice a little before the Mudwing by the window who Moon had now learned was Sora lifted her head and nodded.

“He can’t see you.” Kinkajou reminded Sora in a loud whisper before turning to Starflight and saying, “Yes, she’s still here.”

“Sorry.” Sora said quietly to Starflight who said, “It’s alright.” though Moon could hear the twinge of sadness in his thoughts.

 

This made Moon feel guilty as she could easily heal Starflights blindness with her animus magic but she remembered her promise but the darker parts of Moons mind spoke, “ They’ll be afraid of you if they discover your cursed, you won’t have friends and you’ll end up all alone. ” 

Moon was soon snapped out of her thoughts by Kinkajou asking, “Moon are you alright, you looked like you had seen a ghost.” Kinkajou looked concerned before exclaiming, “Wait! Did you see a ghost? I heard there's a Nightwing ghost in the mountain!.”

 

 “ A ghost? Could that be the mysterious voice I've been hearing? ” Moon thought but she hoped that wouldn’t be the case as hearing the thoughts of a ghost would be unsettling.

Moon was snapped out of her thoughts by Starflight saying, “You are talking about Sunnys father Stonemover. He’s not a ghost but he’s a very nice old Nightwing who doesn’t need a bunch of dragonets pouncing on him to see if he’s a ghost though if you want I can give you directions to him as Stonemover does enjoy company.”

 

“That sounds boring, he should tell everyone he’s a ghost, as that’s way more interesting.” Kinkajou said before taking Moon's talon and tugging her to the library's exit while saying, “Come on Moon, let’s go check out the prey center!” 

Kinkajou then turned back to Starflight before saying, “Bye Starflight!” 

 

“Goodbye Kinkajou and Moon, I hope you’ll visit again soon.” Starflight said before going back to his work.

 

While Moon followed Kinkajou through the cave halls she was grateful to know she most likely wasn’t hearing a ghosts thoughts.

“ I can assure you little Moon that I'm no ghost. ” the mysterious voice mused.

“ Then who are you? ” Moon mentally asked to the mysterious voice who responded, “ You really don’t know do you? Well then little Moon if you want to know, I am Darkstalker. ”

Chapter 6: Chaos and mushed mangoes

Summary:

Moon saves an scavenger

Notes:

I had to listen to the audio book version of book 6 for help on this chapter

Moon was confused at the mysterious voice who she now knew as Darkstalker, she didn’t understand why he didn’t just tell her his name when he had first spoken to her and why he seemed so confused on why she didn’t know who he was
 “Why couldn’t you have told me this when you first spoke to me?” Moon thought, as she followed Kinkajou to the prey center.

“If you want me to be honest, I wasn’t sure why you couldn’t seem to figure out who I was.” Darkstalker said, which confused Moon even more.
 “Why would it matter if I knew who you were or not?” Moon asked, confused.
“I figured after what I had done, anyone from the Nightwing tribe would be terrified of just speaking to me but from what I've gathered you didn’t grow up in the Nightwing tribe so haven’t ever heard of me.” Darkstalker explained a bit quietly, which confused Moon even more.

“What did you do that would scare the entire tribe?” Moon asked but Darkstalker didn’t respond even when Moon spoke again, “Darkstalker? Are you still there?” 
 Moon was soon snapped out of her confusion by Kinkajou saying her name, “Earth to Moon, are you there?” Kinkajou asked Moon who nodded sheepishly before saying, “Yeah, sorry I was just wondering which scroll I should get from the library since I plan to go back later.”

Moon felt a bit guilty for having to lie to Kinkajou especially when Kinkajou smiled before saying how they definitely should visit the library again and how Kinkajou plans to learn to read.
 “If you want, I could help you.” Moon offered with a small smile as she watched Kinkajou’s face light up before asking, “Wait, you’d really help me?” 
Moon nodded which earned her a big hug from Kinkajou who exclaimed, “Thank you so much Moon, You are amazing!”

Moon felt her heart swell a bit as she hugged Kinkajou back, “Maybe mother was right, I can make friends here.” Moon thought as Kinkajou broke the hug before saying, “Come on Moon, let's go check out the prey center. I heard there are some pretty good fruits in there.” 
 Moon followed Kinkajou who talked animatedly about all the things she wanted to learn at Jade Mountain Academy.

As they entered the prey center, Moon immediately wished she never agreed to go as the prey center was filled with dragonets shouting both and running around trying to chase animals that were running around while Clay was shouting, “Everyone stop running! Especially the chickens who need to give up as we are going to eat you!” 
 Clay earned a loud “squawk!” from a few chickens.

Moon felt a headache coming due to all the yelling both mentally and out loud, though she tried to not show any discomfort as she followed Kinkajou to an area of the prey center that had  a mountain of fruit on rock ledges near a river coming from a side of the cave.
 As they walked over, Moon noticed another lavender scaled, and sleepy eyed Rainwing who was eating a papaya, but Moon took notice of how his thoughts were extremely slow and mundane.

“This Papaya is kinda boring, maybe I should eat a banana instead but what if they are boring too.”        Moon heard the Rainwing think, which confirmed Moons thoughts that she would definitely go insane if she had to listen to his thoughts all day.
  “Moon this is Coconut, he’s my friend.” Kinkajou said with a smile while thinking, “At least I thought he was my friend.”

This surprised Moon who didn’t think it was possible for Kinkajou to have any dark thoughts on someone, which made Moon wonder if Kinkajou had a possible darker side until Kinkajou said, “At least I thought he was my friend until I was kidnapped and he didn’t even notice.” 
 Coconut turned to them before saying. “Didn’t I apologize for that? At least I think I did.” 
Kinkajou frowned before saying, “You usually just say ‘huh’ whenever I bring it up.” 

“Oh do I? I never noticed.” Coconut said only partially following the conversation before turning to Moon and saying, “Clay said to eat the mangoes first as they are fresh and close to being overripe, I like bananas more but mangoes are fine though I don’t particularly like coconuts.” 
 “Ironically.” Kinkajou said with a grin, while looking at Moon.
“Huh?” Coconut asked, though Moon could tell from his thoughts that he wasn’t really paying attention.
Kinkajou stifled a giggle as she said, “See.” 
Moon smiled a bit, she was unable to speak due to the cacophony that was going on around her and in her head but Moon tried to play it off as she didn’t want Kinkajou to notice something was wrong.
So instead she grabbed a mango before slicing it into four pieces.
“Never seen anyone cut a mango like that before.” Kinkajou said as she took a bite out of a passion fruit.
“I kinda always cut them like this,” Moon said quietly

“Woof,” a voice behind Moon said, making Moon jump a bit and almost drop her mangoes.
 “It’s just me.” said Clay who had a friendly smile on his face, before shooing a chicken away from the fruit before turning back to Moon and Kinkajou.

“Good to see you found Kinkajou, both me and Sunny thought you would be a good match.” Clay said with a smile.
 “You did?” Moon thought as she struggled to see how she and Kinkajou would be a good match since Kinkajou was friendly and seemed to have no problem making friends which Moon wished she had.

“Clay, this is a chaotic mess.” Kinkajou exclaimed with a laugh as she motioned towards all the dragonets chasing cows around.
 “Yeah, my plan didn’t go exactly as…planned.”Clay said sheepishly while looking around, “I thought it’d be a good idea to bring in some live prey and let everyone chase it around since that’s what we did in our cave sometimes,” Clay explained, “Usually when our guardians wanted us to practice our hunting skills but they wouldn’t let us leave the cave.”

Clay took another look around before saying, “We’ll try a different thing tomorrow, maybe like taking some students out hunting around the mountain would be a better less disastrous approach.”
 “I say anyone who eats something alive and wiggling deserves to get pecked,” Kinkajou said, finishing her passion fruit, “Though, I like the idea of hunting outside since it lets the rest of us eat our fruit in peace.” 

 “I’ll go get Tsunami to see if she can help me calm everything down.” Clay said, giving Moon a reassuring smile before walking out of the prey center.
But to Moon the words calm, and peaceful, sounded like they were miles away due to the cacophony of voices outside and inside her mind as she sensed something running towards the cave.
 Moon noticed how she could feel a tiny threat of terror from whatever was coming into the prey center, especially with how small but intense it seemed.

She wondered if maybe it was a young dragonet as no words seemed to come from whatever was feeling the teror, but Moon couldn’t ponder on it for long as she felt a wave of ice cold fury stab into her brain, causing her to stagger a bit and crush the mangoes in her talons.
She could hear Kinkajou yelp a bit as some mango got on her but before Moon was able to apologize, a louder commotion erupted from one of the tunnels as something with fur on top of it’s head darted into the prey center.

“Catch it!”
“Mine!”
“I claim it, it’s mine!”
“I saw it first!”
“I’ve never seen one up close before!”

All the Mudwings and Skywings abandoned the chickens and cows and bolted over to the other side of the cave where the commotion was happening.
 Moon could feel the small threat of terror spike and grow, almost like a small flame which confused Moon more but she soon managed to get a look at what was causing the emotion when she saw a small shape bursting from between the dragonets and was running to the other side of the cave while managing to dodge chickens and sheep.

 Moon finally realized what everyone was chasing, “A scavenger.” Moon thought as she watched it.
Moon had read about scavengers and seen a few drawings of them but she had never seen an actual scavenger.
As Moon watched it she realized she was hearing the small yet strong thread of terror coming from the scavenger which made no sense as Moon always thought scavengers had the same type of minds as sheep or chickens.

 Moon felt a bolt of despair come from the scavenger as it stumbled into a half eaten sheep, which made Moon even more puzzled, “Why can I feel the scavengers fear, but I can’t feel anything from the sheep or chickens.” Moon wondered before thinking, “Aren’t they the same?”
 Moon was soon snapped out her thoughts by another wave of the icy anger yet it now swept into the cave like a raging blizzard.

Moon realized the anger was coming from an Icewing, he was pale blue that reminded Moon of a frozen ocean and how his scales glittered like chips of ice.
 The Icewing stormed through the sea of yelling dragonets who were still looking for the scavenger.
Moon realized the Icewing was looking for the scavenger too.
Moon panicked, she knew the scavenger who fled into the worst possible place didn’t stand a chance and would be eaten with Moon feeling all of the Scavengers terror as it happened.

Not wanting to watch the little animal die, Moon abandoned her mushed mangoes and darted through the prey center before catching the scavenger who let out a terrified squeak.
 “Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you.” Moon tried explaining gently, but she knew it was no use as the scavenger couldn’t understand her and was still squirming in her talons with its fear buzzing in her head..

Moon tried to continue calming the scavenger down but she felt the cave go quiet, before a wave of icy anger and hatred directed towards her as she realized the Icewing was in front of her.
 “Nightwing.” The Icewing thought, a flash of vicious hatred going through his mind before Moon saw a flash of another Icewing laughing before seeing the same Icewing getting captured by Skywings.
Moon winced at the wave of hatred from the Icewing, who had hissed slowly, letting out a hint of his deadly frost breath into the air between them.

“You have 10 seconds to release bandit or I'll slice your face off.”

Chapter 7: chapter 6: Lucky guesses

Summary:

Moon manages to not become a Popsicle but she makes a few mistakes along the way.

Chapter 6

 

“ So much for staying as inconspicuous as possible. ” Moon thought as she felt all the eyes and thoughts of all the dragons in the prey center on her.

Moon looked at the angry Icewing in front of her, she couldn’t help but admire how dangerously beautiful he looked with his horns and spikes at the end of his tail reminding her of icicles.

“ Never seen a Nightwing look like that before, I was always told they only had silver scales under their wings. ” Moon heard the Icewing think, “ Father never mentioned they had silver scales by their eyes, yet the ones around her eyes are interesting and it looks like she is listening to something. ”

Moon felt her blood run cold, she panicked wondering if he had discovered she was listening to his mind.

 

Moon was snapped out of her panicking thoughts by a landslide of anger and to Moons surprise self-loathing coming from the Icewing.

“ No, don’t think like that! Nightwings killed him, and I hate them all, even the ones with interesting silver scales around the eyes!”

 

Moon wished she could shut her powers off as she tore her eyes away from his.

She knew from his expression that he hated her, she didn’t need powers to see that much but she wished she didn’t have to see the complicated emotions running through his mind.

“ Who did we kill? ” Moon thought, “It had to have been someone he loved? ”

Moon found it very easy to believe that the Nightwings she knew deserved his hatred as they had done some horrible things to other dragons, the Rainwings were a prime example of that.

 

Moon wished she was a different dragon, someone he’d give half a chance too and wouldn’t hate.

“5 seconds left, give me back Bandit.” The Icewing hissed, snapping Moon out of her thoughts.

 

“No, you can’t have him.” Moon said, holding the scavenger who at this point seemed confused, closer to her chest.

“He’s mine,” The Icewing hissed once more.

 “My idiot clawmate let him out of his cage. I didn’t spend all that time making the enclosure and bringing him all the way from the Icewing kingdom for him to get eaten by a lying smoke breathing Nightwing. ” The Icewing spat, with Moon noticing the venom behind the word Nightwing.

 

“ Who spends all their time making an enclosure for something you’re just going to eat? ” Moon thought before wondering if she misinterpreted the situation.

Moon was pulled out of her thoughts when a Sandwing rushed over and said, “Winter what is wrong with you? You could’ve definitely asked much nicer,” 

The Sandwing turned to Moon who recognize from earlier, the one who noticed that she was nervous.

She noticed how at a closer look, Qiblis scar was more zigzagged, and how his poisonous barbed tail was twitching a bit at the Icewing who Moon now knew as Winter.

 

“ It’s the Nightwing from earlier. ” the Sandwing thought, before giving her a smile and saying, “Hi, I’m the idiot clawmate but most call me Qibli. What’s your name?”

 

Moon was a bit too stunned to speak but that was mainly because of the river of thoughts going through Qibli’s head.

Qibli’s mind was like a rushing river with each thought, one thought was him marking all the possible exits, the dragons who seemed wealthy or dangerous, which to Moon's relief she wasn’t on that list. 

 

“ Winter looks mad. I need to find a way to de-escalate this before he ends up using his frost-breath on her, maybe I can catch her a chicken or something and trade it for the scavenger. Though she doesn’t seem like she is a big food fanatic, she does seem to have a scrollish vibe to her. Maybe I can trade a scroll for the scavenger. ”

 

Moon was snapped out her thoughts by the Icewings cold voice, “I could freeze you one part at a time. Should we start with the wings? Or maybe the tail.”

Moon wished she could bolt but Qibli spoke up, “Winter, you need to chill out.” Qibli then turned to Moon and gave her a goofy grin. “Get it, since he’s an Icewing? I know, I’m hilarious.”

 

Moon was a bit confused before remembering that Qibli asked for her name.

“My name is Moon.” Moon said quietly, before flinching as Winter snapped at her asking, “Moon what?” 

 

Moon didn’t understand what he meant by that, but she was distracted by the thoughts of the other dragons watching them.

 

“ Is she going to eat that scavenger? ”

“ Is the Icewing going to be expelled, if he really does freeze off her tail? ”

“ Maybe they’ll fight. ”

“ I wonder what scavengers taste like. ”

“ Why isn’t she saying anything? ”

 

Moon was snapped out of her daze by Winter asking, “Moon what? Come on Nightwing, we all know your names are lies, so what is it? Mooncrusher? Moondestroyer?”

“It’s Moonwatcher.” Moon heard Kinkajou say as she walked to stand beside Moon before twinning her tail around Moons.

 

Moon was grateful for Kinkajou, even though Kinkajou's mind was clashing like thunder to the scavengers' panicked mind.

“An Icewing! He’s so glittery, fierce and dangerous and to add a Heroic Sandwing! There’s so much drama already, School is so amazing!”

 

“Moonwatcher.” Winter muttered with Moon noticing him deflate a little which made Moon feel like she was able to breathe a bit.

Though Moon had to admit, there was something shivering about the way he said her name, though Moon couldn’t explain it but she just chalked it up to Kinkajous starry eyed thoughts about Winter.

 

“Look, this is my fault,” Qibli said with a sheepish smile, “I wanted to get a closer look, so I opened the cage and that thing was halfway down the hall before I could catch it.”

Qibli stepped a little closer before saying, “Though I promise you, the scavenger does belong to Winter, so please don’t eat him.”

 

“Get your teeth anywhere near Bandit and I’ll turn you into a block of ice.” Winter snapped, causing Moon to flinch.

“You must not understand the concept of asking nicely, do you?” Qibli asked, 

 

“Bandit?” Moon asked before she paused a bit, realizing she was right about wondering earlier if she had misinterpreted the situation.

Moon wished in three moons that she saw something in Winter's mind about him not wanting to eat the scavenger.

 

“Yup, the scavenger with the silly name is Winters pet. Nobody told me we could bring pets here but I guess the nephew of Queen Glacier gives him special perks.” Qibli mused before adding, “Also if you didn’t know he was Queen Glacier's nephew don’t worry he would’ve brought it up sometimes in the next 5 minutes.”

“I only brought it up to make a point that the nephew and niece of the Icewing Queen should each be given a private cave.” Winter retorted irritably.

 

“I just wanted to let you know that we wouldn’t be clawmates for very long, as once I speak to the headmistress about this obvious mistake.”

 

“Here’s hoping.” Qibli said before turning back to Moon, “So Moon, can we catch you a sheep or something instead?”

Right as Qibli said this, another million thoughts flashed through his head, “What do Nightwings even like? I wasn’t trained to bargain with them.” Qibli’s thoughts went back to his idea of getting her a scroll before he looked down at Moons talons which had smashed mango on them, “ She has some smashed fruit on her claws, maybe she’s vegan? But didn’t Nightwings live on a Volcano, how would she have gotten fruit? She seems close to that bubbly Rainwing, maybe she ran away. It could explain why she looks healthier than the other three Nightwings I saw.”

 

“I wasn’t going to eat him!” Moon blurted, before she could get lost again in the wave of thoughts, “I don’t want anyone to ever eat him!” 

Moon noticed how Winter paused, and tilted his head curiously at her before saying, “That’s exactly how I feel about it.” 

Moon noticed how his fury thawed a bit when he said that.

“Great, weird but great.” Qibli said, looking between them, “so we’re all on the same roll of the scroll then.” Qibli looked at Moon as he made that joke which confused her a bit but she turned to winter and gave him Bandit.

 

As Winter grabbed onto Bandit his snout wrinkled, “Ew, you got fruit bits all over him. Now he’s sticky.” Winter grumbles at Moon who looked down embarrassed until Kinkajou spoke up.

“You can thank her for saving your scavenger from being eaten,” 

Moon smiled before hearing Kinkajou say, “ Don’t get distracted! No one gets to be mean to my best friend, even if it’s a beautiful Icewing. ”

 

“ Best friend? ” Moon thought, as she felt her heart swell up, she was happy she had Kinkajou to call her a friend.

“Thank you.” Winter grumbled, pulling Moon out of her thoughts.

“You’re welcome.” Moon said quietly, as she watched Winter walk over to the river before dunking the scavenger into the water before pulling him out.

Moon flinched as she heard the shocked squeaks from the shivering scavenger before sensing Clay coming back to the prey hall with someone else.

 

Moon noticed how the other dragon had a familiar warmth to their mind and how they were nearly excited as Kinkajous, which Moon didn’t think could be possible.

 

Moon soon realized who the warm presence belonged to, “ It’s sunny. ” Moon thought, gratefully as she really did not want to be the center of a scary looking Icewings attention anymore.

“ Could she know anything about scavengers? ” Winter thought, “ I wonder if she would figure out what’s wrong with Bandit? Not that’d ever ask one of those deceitful Nightwings. ” 

“He’s hungry.” Moon blurted before immediately wanting to bite her tongue off.

Winter gave Moon a cold but puzzled look, “No he’s not. I tried giving him some dessert rat on the way here and he didn’t want any. I also ried giving him walrus before we left and the day before that.”

Moon watched as Winter lifted the scavenger up to inspect him, but the Scavenger had flopped over and curled up into a ball and was shivering.

 

“Now that I’m thinking about it, he hasn’t eaten since Queen Glacier gifted him to me 4 days ago. It’s weird, I’ve gathered that scavengers eat infrequently but Bandit doesn’t eat anything I give him.” Winter muttered.

“Maybe he just hates you and is trying to starve himself.” Qibli suggested to Winter who frowned, “Scavengers don’t do that and he drinks water when I give it to him, he just won’t eat.”

Moon could hear the doubt in Winter's mind, “ Does he really hate me? ” 

“Have you..um.” Moon tried saying but she quickly stopped talking when Winter turned his scowling face to look at her.

“Have I what?” Winter snapped at Moon who shrinked back a bit before feeling warm scales brush against hers before realizing it was Sunny who had rushed over.

“Hello!” Sunni said cheerfully.

Sunny was smaller than Winter or Qibli, and was not much bigger than Moon or Kinkajou but Moon guessed that was due to Sunny being a hybrid.

 

Moon loved the way Sunny’s mind felt, and how it was always warm and filled with hope and determination.

It put Moon at ease, and made her feel less anxious and like everything would be alright.

“What’s all the excitement?” Sunni asked as Clay shooed the onlooking dragonets away.

Moon tried not to listen to the grumbling thoughts of the dragonets as they left the prey center.

 

“Fatespeaker told me you brought a pet.” Sunni said to Winter before turning her head to the scavenger in Winter's talons, “Aww, he’s cute. I’ve met a couple of scavengers just about that size once.”

Winter arched his neck, and looked down his nose at Sunny, Moon saw flashes of a few memories going through Winters head about a much older Icewing explaining how hybrids are disgraceful and are unworthy of any Icewings respect.

Moon tried not to frown, she didn’t like this older Icewing she saw in Winters memories.

“That’s not going to be a problem is it?” Winter asked Sunni, “Queen Glacier said I could have him if I agreed to come here.” 

 

“If you say I can’t keep him, then I’m going home.” Winter said to Sunni challengingly.

“Well you definitely can’t have it there. I don’t believe scavengers are suited for cold environments.” Sunni pointed out in a reasonable tone, but Moon could hear the small frustration at the back of Sunni’s mind.

 

Moon noticed how ruffled Winter looked by Sunny’s logical point, “Well..I don’t care. I’m positive I can figure something out. I’m keeping him.”

“I don’t mind if you do, but please remember that pets are a lot of work.” Sunny said, “Especially when it’s a pet you are getting used to. You should ask Starflight for any scrolls on scavengers and how to care for and feed them.”

 

“ Father said hybrids weren’t that smart but she does make valid points. ” Winter thought, but he just said, “I’m sure I’ll manage.”

Moon watched as Winter started shaking bandit to get the excess water off, but Bandit yelped and desperately tried to hang on to Winter's talons.

 

Moon talons twitched, she wanted to grab Bandit and this time not let go until Winter was much gentler with the scavenger.

“There’s still so much we don’t know about scavengers, maybe your winglet can study Bandit and I’ll make sure to have the others inform the other students that there’s a no eating scavengers policy.” Sunny said cheerfully.

“But you still need to take care of him and keep him safe.” Sunny continued, her wings shifting a bit before Moon caught the worries going through her mind.

“ Did I sound bossy enough? Will anyone take me seriously as the headmistress?” Moon heard Sunny think.

“No one would dare to try touching my scavenger.” Winter growled, “Not if they know he’s mine. Maybe I should get him a collar with a label of some sorts.” 

 

“Belongs to the nephew of Queen Glacier.” Qibli said with a straight face, as Winter nodded in thought before shooting a suspicious look at Qibli as Moon heard Winter wonder if Qibli was mocking him.

“But, you need to make sure it’s alright with your clawmates.” Sunny said before turning to Qibli and asking, “Are you alright with it, as it will be in the cave you too are sharing so if you say no we can swap you into a different cave and find someone who doesn’t mind a scavenger.”

 

This made Winter clear his throat, before saying, “In case you’ve forgotten Queen Glaciers my aunt.” 

Moon frowned a bit at Winter who said it as though Sunny was too dim to understand such basic facts.

 

Moon guessed Winter noticed her frowning as she heard him think, “ What's wrong with her? Did I say something bad? ” Moon heard Winters thoughts go from confused to dismissive quickly, “ I shouldn’t care, she’s just a Nightwing. ” 

 

“Shouldn’t I alongside my sister, who might I add is in line for the Icewing throne, get our own caves?”

“That defeats the point of the school,” Sunni explained, “Plus Queen Coras daughter is here, and she is sharing a cave too.” Moon soon after heard Sunny think, “ And is being less grumpy about it too. ”

 

“We also haven’t expanded more into the mountain yet, so it’s not possible for everyone to have their own cave.” Sunni explained to Winter who frowned before saying, “This is unacceptable, I as a prince shouldn’t have to share a cave with some lowlife Sandwing.”

Moon looked at Qibli, who despite being a bit annoyed with Winter quickly chimed in with a friendly tone, “Hey, I kinda do count as royalty as Queen Thorn basically adopted me. Wouldn’t that make me royalty?”

 

Moon could see a few flashes in Qibli's head of a female Sandwing, with pale sandy yellow scales wrapping her wings around Qibli and calling him one of her own.

Moon realized it was Queen Thorn, Sunny’s mother.

 

“ Would Qibli being royalty make Winter like him? ” Moon heard Kinkajou think, which made Moon wonder the same.

Looking at Winter Moon noticed how he gave Qibli a look as if trying to see any type of royalty in him.

“ Rather unclean for a prince. ” Moon heard Winter think, “ If he was an Icewing, he’d definitely be in the seventh circle by now. ”

Moon wondered what the seventh circle was and why it mattered if Qibli was in it.

 

“Surely a Sandwing prince is good enough to be the glorious nephew of Queen Glacier.” Qibli joked, giving Winter a goofy grin but Winter just grimaced, clearly still unhappy.

“Back to what I was saying,” Sunny said, trying to ease the tension, “Qibli, would you be alright sharing a cave with Winters pet scavenger.”

 

Qibli turned back to Sunny before saying, “I can handle a scavenger, it’s his owner I think I'm allergic to.”

Moon noticed that despite Qbli’s goofy smile, he was annoyed at Winter.

“ For being a royal he sure doesn’t know how to treat the daughter of the Sandwing Queen with any respect. ” Moon heard Qibli think, before seeing a flash in Qibli’s memory the familiar 

Moon was confused, Sunny had given Qibli an easy way out of sharing a cave with Winter but Qibli rejected it, even though Qibli seemed annoyed with Winter.

“ He actually wants to be Winter's clawmate. ” Moon thought confused as Moon couldn’t understand why as it didn’t seem like Qibli liked Winter but more of he wanted Winter to like him.

Moon kept getting flashes of Qibli's memories, with them having two big bad tempered Sandwings which Moon guessed were his brother and sister.

 

Moon noticed how Qibli compared them to Winter, additionally Moon noticed how Qibli seemed to tease Winter on purpose as a way to befriend him.

All Moon could figure from it all was that Qibli was more complicated on the inside.

“Don’t cause trouble.” Sunny reprimanded him sternly, as she swept her wing up to keep Winter from lunging at Qibli.

 

“I wouldn’t do such a thing!” Qibli protected innocently, “Though someone should probably mention that the scavenger doesn’t look like he’ll last long.”

Qibli looked at the scavenger before saying, “It looks like it’s wilting, it probably has some sort of disease.”

 

“No it doesn’t!” Winter snapped before turning back to Bandit and proceeded to poke him gently with his claw.

This only made Bandit flop to his side, whimpering and shaking.

“ Please, don’t die! ” Winter thought in a panic, Moon could feel fear wash over him.

Winter quickly turned to Moon who tried looking away, but Winter was already leaning towards her urgently.

“You were going to say something before about feeding Bandit, what was it?” Winter demanded to Moon, who wanted to sink into the cave floor.

 

“ I could easily enchant myself to just disappear. ” Moon thought, her claw almost twitching to a small pebble beside her but she remembered the promise she made to her mother, and quickly let the idea go.

 

 “I..I just…I had read somewhere that scavengers preferred their meat to be cooked.” Moon stammered quickly, hoping Winter believed her lie.

“Have you given him anything besides raw meat?” 

“No,but if he’s hungry wouldn’t he eat anything?” Winter said grumpily.

 

“I believe Moon is right.” Sunny said thoughtfully.

“I have a-” Sunny paused before Moon heard her think, “ Friend, former jailer, dragon who nearly got me and my mother killed? ”

Sunny settled on, “I know a dragon that kept a scavenger for years, I believe he cooked all her meals.”

 

“How am I supposed to cook anything for him?” Winter demanded angrily, “As you can see, I can’t exactly breathe fire.” 

Moon could feel the slight frustration coming from Sunny who still had a calm look on her face.

“Someone can help you,” Sunny said cheerfully, “That’s one of the many great things about making friends from the other tribes.”

 

Winter simply grumbled in response.

“ I’d help you, if you’d give me the chance. ” Moon thought, 

“Maybe you could give him fruit instead!” Kinkajou chimed in before going over to the fruit pile and grabbing a talon full of blueberries, before walking back over.

 

“Fruit, really?” Winter wrinkled his snout in disgust at the fruit in Kinkajous talons. 

Kinkajou ignored him and took one of the blueberries which were the size of the scavengers paws before gently poking Bandits nose with it.

 

“Here you go, have a delicious blueberry.” Kinkajou said with a smile.

Moon watched as Bandit wiped the blueberry juice off his nose, before warily taking the blueberry from Kinkajou.

Bandit looked up at Winter then back at the blueberry before taking a bite out of it.

 

Moon realized that Bandit was relieved but still wary.

“ He’s too hungry to care. ” Moon thought, as she was glad Bandit had some food now.

“Ha! Moon was right, he was hungry!” Kinkajou said before giving the scavenger another blueberry and watching him eat.

 

Moon shivered as she felt the eyes of both Winter and Qibli turn to her, with Winters eyes looking at Moon more suspiciously.

“How exactly did you know that?” Winter demanded.

 

“Lucky guess.” Moon said quietly, look down while thinking, “ Oh Mother, it’s only been a few hours and i’m already making mistakes. ”

“Very lucky guess.” Qibli responded with a friendly tone but Moon could hear his wary thoughts, “She’s smarter than she wants us to know, Thorn said to watch out for Nightwings yet she doesn’t seem like she wants to cause any trouble. She looks more like she’d rather disappear,” 

 

Moon quickly mumbled some excuse about needing to go to the library before rushing out of the cave.

As she left she heard a quiet thought from Winter, “ Father said Nightwings can’t read minds, but why did it feel like she read mine. ”

Chapter 8: Chapter 7: dark truths and mango slices.

Summary:

Moon learns more about Darkstalker while also wondering if maybe she can reveal her secrets to kinkajou.

Chapter 7

Moon laid on her moss bed, trying to calm the nerves going on in head.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the last thought she heard from Winter.

“ Father said Nightwings can’t read minds, but why did it feel like she read mine. ”

 

Moon shivered, she worried Winter suspected that she could read minds.

She knew Winter already hated her and other Nightwings, which made her worry of what he would do if he knew she could read minds.

 

“ Would he tell Sunny? Would I be expelled? ” Moon thought but  that worry was soon replaced by an even bigger one, “ What if he tells Queen Glacier? ” 

This made Moon's blood run cold at the thought, as she could only imagine how much Queen Glacier hates Nightwings, even with the truce Queen Glory made with her.

 

“ Moon, you need to breathe. I can promise you that Winter doesn’t know about your mind reading and as of now, none of the futures I see show him telling Queen Glacier anything. ” Moon heard Darkstalker say in a calming tone.

 

“ What do you mean by futures? Can’t you only see a bit of the future? ” Moon asked, she was confused as when she saw the future it was only through confusing visions.

“ I hatched under three moons, I can see all possible futures. ” Darkstalker explained before saying, “ So I’m promising you that Winter doesn’t know you can read minds. ”

 

“ Doesn’t mean he can’t find out later. ” Moon said.

“ While that’s true, the point I’m making is that he doesn’t know right now. Your secret is still safe. ” Darkstalker said calmly which helped Moon relax a bit.

 

“ Thank you, but why did you stop talking to me earlier? ” Moon asked.

“ You never answered when I asked you about what you did to have the entire Nightwing tribe fearing you. ” 

“ I was thinking about the best way to answer your question. ” Darkstalker said softly, yet Moon caught the hesitation.

 

Moon's curiosity was growing a bit, she was now wondering even more about what Darkstalker did.

She was starting to wonder if maybe Darkstalker killed a few dragons.

“ It was more than just a few, I killed about twenty Icewings with an enchanted dagger. ” Darkstalker admitted quietly to Moon who’s eyes widened in horror.

 

“ Why would you do that? How did you even do that? ” Moon asked before realizing something that Darkstalker had animus magic, just like her.

This made Moon's blood turn to ice quickly, she wondered if she would do something that horrible with her magic.

 

“ How could you do something like that? ” Moon asked yet Moon was scared to find out what could lead any dragon to want to kill twenty other dragons.

“ I was angry. I wanted the Icewing tribe to feel the pain I felt after my mother Foeslayer was taken by Queen Diamond. ” Darkstalker quietly explained, yet Moon could feel the shame and guilt washing over him.

 

Moon shivered, she wondered if she would ever do something like that to avenge her mother.

This made Moon's promise she made feel much heavier as Moon never would want to hurt any dragon with her magic.

“ Sadly, that wasn’t even the worst thing I did. ” Darkstalker said which made Moon shiver.

 

“ What could you have done that was worse than killing twenty dragons? ” Moon asked yet she wasn’t sure if she wanted to even know what Darkstalker did.

Moon waited for Darkstalker to respond before realizing he was gone again.

“ Darkstalker? Where did you go? ” Moon tried asking but she was met with silence.

Moon let out a quiet sigh before giving up, figuring she wouldn’t be able to get Darkstalker to answer.

“ What could’ve he done that was so horrible he won’t tell me but he’s completely fine telling me he killed twenty dragons. ” Moon thought yet her thoughts were interrupted by the bubbly thoughts of Kinkajou, who walked into the sleeping cave with a small pile of fruits.

 

“Hey Moon, I brought you some fruits as you didn’t get to eat earlier.” Kinkajou said with a warm smile before laying the fruits in front of Moon, who gave Kinkajou a small grateful smile. 

“Thank you Kinkajou.” Moon said before grabbing a mango and slicing it into fours like before.

“Would you like some?” Moon asked Kinkajou, lifting up the sliced mango to Kinkajou, who gave Moon a big smile before taking a slice and saying, “Thanks Moon.”

Moon smiled back before saying, “You’re welcome.” Moon then proceeded to take a slice herself and bite into it.

 

As they ate in silence, Moon noticed Kinkajou give her a small look before hearing Kinkajou think, “ How did Moon know, Bandit was hungry? I wonder if she would tell me if I asked her. ” 

Moon didn’t feel like eating anymore, she worried if she took another bite she’d end up puking.

 

“You okay Moon? You look sick?” Kinkajou asked, a concerned look on her face.
Moon only gave a small nod before saying, “Yeah, I…I just feel tired.” 

“ Weird, she doesn’t look tired, she looks either sick or scared but I can’t tell. ”

Moon tried subtly fixing her face to appear sleepy but she could tell from Kinkajou's thoughts that it wasn’t working.

“Moon, if there’s something wrong you know you can tell me.” Kinkajou said. 

Moon could tell Kinkajou was trying to be calming like Sunny which made Moon feel a bit better but she knew that it would disappear when Kinkajou learned about Moon’s curses.

 

It’s nothing, I really am just tired.” Moon said , giving Kinkajou a smile but Kinkajou didn’t smile back.

“ She’s definitely not fine, but maybe I shouldn’t push for her to tell me. ” Moon heard Kinkajou think, before watching Kinkajou give Moon a gentle smile before saying, “Alright but if you want to talk to me, I’ll listen.”

 

Moon felt her heart twist, as she wished she could tell Kinkajou what she was feeling but Moon simply nodded to Kinkajou who gave one last smile before leaving the sleeping cave.

During the night, Moon tried sleeping but she kept having the same nightmare she had for the past weeks.

She kept seeing flashes of a Jade Mountain being burned with dragons running or burning around her.

Moon tried looking away, but she was frozen in place.

 

“ Three moons, has no one taught you to step out of your visions? ” Moon heard the familiar voice of Darkstalker ask.

Moon tried responding but she felt a cool yet calming wave wash over her, as if melting her nightmare away.

 

“ Thank you. ” Moon said quietly, as she looked at the darkness around her.

“ You should already know how to do that, why has no one taught you to step out of your visions? ” Darkstalker asked.

“ That wasn’t a vision, it was just a nightmare. ” Moon said but she heard Darkstalker chuckle a bit.

 

“ Apologies about bursting your bubble little Moon, but what you saw was a vision. Quite a dark one if I must say. ” 

“ What does it mean? ” Moon asked, still shaking a bit.

 

“ I can’t say for sure, there are a few futures that lead to Jade Mountain burning but I’m not sure which one is about your vision. ” Darkstalker explained.

Moon looked down, she didn’t like the idea of not knowing what could cause Jade Mountain to burn.

 

“ Thank you again, for making the…vision go away .” Moon said quietly.

“ You should already know how to do that, why has no one taught you to step out of your visions? ” 

“ No one knows I'm like this, and there are no other Nightwings with mind reading or prophecy abilities to teach me. ” Moon explained.

 

“ That explains why you weren’t blocking out any of the noise from the prey center, ” Darkstalker said, before asking, “ You have animus magic correct? Why don’t you just enchant something to help you block out the noise? ” 

Moon shook her head at the idea, “ I made a promise to my mother that I would never use my animus magic. ” 

 

“ Really? Why would you do that? ” Darkstalker asked, genuinely confused before quietly asking, “ Is it because she doesn’t want you to turn into something like me? ”

 

Moon shook her head, “ No, I don’t think she even knows about you or what you did in your time. I promised not to use my animus magic as I didn’t want to lose my soul. ” 

“ I suppose that makes sense, as I’m assuming I've been asleep for a long time but you really won’t ever use your animus magic? ” Darkstalker asked Moon who nodded. 

 

“ Mother says I'll turn evil if I lose my soul to my animus magic, so I promised to never use it. ” Moon explained to Darkstalker.

“ I can see where you are coming from, but you seem to consider animus magic to be a curse when it can be a gift. ”

 

“ How can animus magic be a gift? ” Moon asked, puzzled.

“ Well I knew a Seawing who only used his animus magic a few times, but every one of his spells were good. ” Darkstalker said, but Moon felt a small glimpse of sadness in Darkstalker which confused Moon a bit, but she decided not to say anything about it.

“ Did you ever do anything good with your animus magic? ” Moon asked, thinking back to when Darkstalker said he’d done worse then kill twenty Icewings.

 

“ No, I never did anything good with my animus magic. ” Darkstalker said softly.

“ I did many self serving spells such as making myself invincible and immortal. ”

“ I thought I could keep myself from going insane by putting my animus magic in a scroll, but sadly it didn’t seem to work, ” 

Moon's wings twitched, she didn’t even consider that she could put her animus magic in something like a scroll.

 

“ I could do that, but i’m guessing it wouldn’t keep my soul safe from my animus magic. ” Moon thought with a frown,

 

Moons thoughts went to how Darkstalker made himself immortal and she tried imaging herself as being immortal but she could only see it as a miserable life.

Moon heard Darkstalker chuckle sadly before saying, “ You seem to be more smart than I am. ” 

 

“ Do you regret making yourself immortal? ” Moon asked Darkstalker. 

“ No, I don’t. I’m not sure why but I have no regrets on making myself immortal, I just wish I didn’t kill as many dragons as I did. ”

 

Moon looked at her talons before quietly asking, “ You said earlier that you did something worse than kill twenty dragons, what did you do? ” 

 

Moon expected Darkstalker to not answer and leave her alone once more but she soon heard him quietly say, “ I used my animus magic to kill my father in front of my own sister Whiteout and my own tribe. ”

 

Chapter 9: Chapter 8: Dreams and murder plots

Summary:

Moon learns more about Darkstalker and learns of a murder plots.

Notes:

I needed help a bit for this chapter from the audio book version, mainly for descriptions of things and for some dialogue. I tried to add some Moonbli (more then there already was)and Turtle/Moon moments in this chapter 👀
I also changed the vision Moon saw to fit the story a bit more, I had to go back to earlier chapters to change it.

Chapter 8

Moon felt like she couldn’t breathe, she found it horrible that Darkstalker killed twenty Icewings, but she couldn’t grasp why he would kill his own father in front of his own sister.

“ Why? Why would you kill your own father?! ” Moon exclaimed, lifting her head up at the darkness around her.

 

“ I was angry, Arctic enchanted my sister Whiteout so he could force her into a marriage with an Icewing just to gain his title of prince back. ” Darkstalker explained, a hint of deep anger slipping into his tone.

Moon was even more appalled, she couldn’t see why any father would do that.

Hearing what Arctic had done, made Moon feel slightly more ashamed about her own conflicting emotions for her mother.

Even with her mother calling Moon's animus magic and mind reading a curse, Moon knew that her mother loved her and had risked everything for Moon to survive away from the volcano.

 

“ You’re mother sounds nice, she reminds me a bit of my own mother. ” Darkstalker said to Moon who was about to question how Darkstalker knew what she was thinking, before remembering Darkstalker could read minds too.

“ She is, she risked everything to protect me. ” Moon said quietly, but she knew Darkstalker already knew this.

Looking back up into the darkness before saying, “There’s something I want to ask you.” Moon said, hoping Darkstalker wouldn’t leave her again.

“ What is it? ” Darkstalker said, but Moon guessed by his tone that he already knew the answer.

Moon hesitated a bit, worried about how Darkstalker would answer.

“ Did you regret killing your father? ” Moon quietly asked before looking back down at her talons, waiting for Darkstalker to answer.

“ At first no, I felt like what I did was deserved and justice, ” Darkstalker explained before saying, “ Though as I've thought about it more I realized I could’ve prevented it all this, or even found a different way to stop Arctic from hurting Whiteout. ”

 

Moon felt a wave of deep regret flood through the darkness, she shook her head a bit before looking up at the darkness before asking, “ Why are you telling me all this? ”

“ I’m telling you all this because Moon, I did so many horrible things in my time and I want the chance to make up for it. ” Darkstalker explained.

 

“ How does that involve me? ” Moon asked.

“ The scroll with my animus magic is still out there, I was hoping you could help me get it so I can be freed. ” 

Moon's eyes widened at Darkstalkers words, “ You want me to help free you? ”

“ Yes, but I'm not expecting you to agree with me right now, but Moon please just think about it. ” 

Moon didn’t know what to say, she wasn’t even sure if freeing Darkstalker was a good idea.

 

Moon quietly sighed before looking back up into the darkness and said, “ I’ll think about it. ” 

“ Thank you, that’s all I ask for, little Moon. ” Darkstalker said softly.

Moon just nodded before asking, “ You’re welcome, but if I may ask how do I get out of here, as I'd like to go back to having regular dreams now. ” 

Moon heard Darkstalker let out a small chuckle before saying, “ I’ll let you rest now, have a good night little Moon. ”

 

Moon was about to thank him but she felt her stomach twist in stomach, causing her eyes to snap open..

Snapping her head up, Moon looked up and realized she was in her sleeping cave still.

“ Why did he have to make it feel so painful? ” Moon thought to herself before hearing Darkstalkers voice in her mind, “ Sorry little Moon, it can cause a bit of a shock the first time being pulled out of the mind space. ”

 

Moon let out a small sigh and laid her head back down before thinking, “ It’s fine, thanks again. ” 

Moon didn’t hear a response from Darkstalker but she was alright with that as she wanted to finish sleeping.

 

As Moon slowly started drifting off to sleep, she heard a voice in her mind.

Moon noticed how it was coming from outside the sleeping cave and down the halls but Moon wasn’t sure where it was exactly.

 

She listened a bit as she finally went to sleep.

“ I see how you benefit from this plan, but there doesn’t seem to be many guarantees for me. Killing is easy enough but if I kill them how do I know you won’t betray me later? ”

“ I have no reason to betray you, as long as you get the job done. ” a slithery, more deeper voice.

“ I can get the job done, I’ll just need to be careful about it, there’s too many ways I could get caught. ” the other, much colder voice said.

 

Moon froze a bit, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard or how it was even happening.

She knew it wasn’t Darkstalkers voice, and she knew it couldn’t be any of the other Nightwings in the school.

 

Moon tried to listen for the conversation but the dreams of the other dragonets in the nearby sleeping cave was making it confusing.

Moon sighed and closed her eyes, she knew it wasn’t another telepath but who would be able to do that. 

Moon noticed how the conversation felt like two dragons talking to each other and not like some regular dream.

Shooting her head up, Moon realized the answer, “ Someone is using a dreamvisitor, and whoever it is, they’re planning a murder. ”

“It’s morning!” Kinkajou said cheerfully while shaking Moon who tried hiding herself with her wings.

Moon let out a soft groan, she had stayed up most of the night listening for the dreamvisitor conversation.

 

“Come on Moon, Fatespeaker already struck the gong once. We need to go or we’ll be late!” Kinkajou exclaimed to Moon.

“Alright, I’m up.” Moon said with a small yawn before sitting up and looking at Kinkajou who was a bright yellow and pink.

 

“This isn’t this amazing! We get to start our first class!” Kinkajou exclaimed at Moon before looking at Carnelian who got off the rock ledge she was laying on.

“Are you excited Carnelian? We get to meet the rest of our winglet!” Kinkajou asked Carnelian who just shot Kinkajou a glare before leaving the sleeping cave.

 

Moon watched Carnelian leave before turning to Kinkajou and asking, “Does she know the way to our first class?” 

Kinkajou shrugged before saying, “Maybe, she seems like she knows the way.” 

Moon got up but hesitated, she wanted to go to the library to see if she could find anything about dream visitors.

 

Moon knew finding anything on dreamvisitors was important but she didn’t want to leave for clawmates and teacher waiting so Moon followed and followed after Kinkajou who quickly caught up to Carnelian.

 

While walking beside Kinkajou, Moon tried making herself appear smaller as a few dragonets around seemed to recognize her from yesterday in the prey center.

 

“ That’s the Nightwing who took the Icewing Prince’s scavenger. ”

“ She seems stuck up like the other Nightwings here. ”

“ Hope she isn’t in my winglet. ”

 

Moon soon realized after a few minutes that many of the dragonets were too worried about their first class to think about her.

 

“ Will anyone even like me? ”

“ What if I say something stupid? ”

“ What if I make no friends? ”

 

Moon tried blocking out the thoughts as they did little to help with her own nervous thoughts and quickly followed Kinkajou and Carnelian into their first class.

“What’s a winglet? you mentioned that earlier.” Moon asked Kinkajou.

“It’s one of the best ideas!” Kinkajou exclaimed before saying, “Though I was a little worried at first. I didn’t want to really have to make friends with any Nightwings, but I luckily got you in my winglet.”

 

Moon gave Kinkajou a small smile as Kinkajou continued, “We’ve been organized into five winglets, since it’s not a bigger group of dragons we’re considered a winglet.”

Moon nodded, she was starting to understand what a winglet was.

 

“Each Winglet will have seven dragonets, one from each tribe! We’re in the jade winglet and my friend Tamarin is in the gold winglet!” Kinkajou exclaimed happily.

“The whole idea is for us to work with the dragonets in our winglet so we can all become friends!” Kinkajou finished explaining.

Moon had to admit the idea sounded nice, she wondered who else would be in their winglet.

 

As they followed Carnelian into the great hall where Fatespeaker was sitting proudly beside the bronze gong holding a mallet.

Carnelian went throught a tunnel on the opposite side, which slanted up.

As they went into the tunnel, Moon was surprised to see plants lining the passageway.

She liked how some of the plants had pale green heart-shaped leaves, growing out of the cracks in the rock while others had vigorous bundles of dark purple leaves sprouting from small pots of dirt.

 

Looking up, Moon noticed vines covered the ceiling, winding around the green and yellow globe lights.

Moon smiled a bit at the long blue flowers hanging down like dragon tails.

Moon noticed a rivulet of silvery water trickling down the center of the tunnel, carving a small grove in the stone. 

 

“This is amazing.” Moon thought to herself smiling before hearing Kinkajou think, “ It’s nice to see Moon smiling after what happened yesterday. ”

Moon smiled a bit more, she felt warm at the thought of knowing Kinkajou cared.

 

As they reached the end of the tunnel they were met with a large cave, swarming with vines that opened to the sky on one side.

Moon noticed that water cascaded down the back wall pouring into a small pool that fed into a stream in the tunnel. 

Moon liked the small water fall as it reminded her of the waterfalls in the rainforest.

 

Turning her head, Moon saw Tsunami sitting on a ledge with the morning sun shining behind her.

Tsunami royal blue scales reminded Moon of melted blue sky with the way the sun hit them.

 

Tsunami grinned at them as they walked in but Moon heard Tsunami thinking, “ About time. ” as her tail shifted, causing the leaves under it to rustle.

“ It’s my own fault for getting up at the crack of dawn but I'm ready to get started. ” Moon heard Tsunami think.

Moons wings twitched, there was something about Tsunami that made Moon nervous, and it didn’t help that Tsunami’s thoughts were so loud.

 

“ Bong bong ” Moon heard the gong being struck twice from outside the tunnel's entrance.

“Hello!” Tsunami said cheerfully, “Welcome to your first class, nice work on finding the right cave Carnelian, Kinkajou and Moonwatcher right?”

Tsunami smiled proudly before saying, “Be very impressed, I've been working so hard to memorize the names of all the students here. Starflight said I couldn’t do it but I wanted to prove him wrong, so I memorized all thirty-five students' names.”

 

Moon saw a few flashes of memories going through Tsunami’s mind, they showed her reading a scroll that Moon guessed had the names of all the students at the academy.

Moon had to admit that she was impressed that Tsunami had taken the time to do that, especially considering that’s thirty-five names to remember.

“Something like that is easy for Starflight, but tricky for me and Clay, though it does help to know some of you before.” Tsunami said.

 

“Like me!” Kinkajou exclaimed happily while Moon heard Carnelian grumpily think, “ Tail kisser.. ”

Someone moved in the tunnel behind Moon and she turned to see a smallish, brown Mudwing coming into the cave, a Seawing.

Moon didn’t recognize the Mudwing, but she did recognize the Seawing.

“Turtle!” Tsunami said enthusiastically.

“This is great, I asked to be given your winglet first!” 

Tsunami turned back to Moon, Kinkajou and Carnelian before saying, “This is my brother Turtle! Can you believe I have a brother, well I have a million brothers apparently but I'm assuming Turtle is the best since he’s here right now.”

Tsunami slung one of her wings over Turtle and gave him a toothy grin which Turtle returned with a smile of his own before saying, “It’s true, I am.”

Moon studied Turtle for a moment, her mind going to the vision she had when she first saw him, the vision of him attacking the Skywing.

 

“ Could he be one of the voices I heard last night? Was someone trying to convince him to kill? ”

Moon attempted to carefully reach into his mind, but she didn’t exactly know how to do that.

It was like trying to listen harder in one direction, but like before she was only met with a quiet hum from Turtle’s mind.

Moon found it almost peaceful, leaning into Turtle’s mind, as if she leaned close enough she could block out the noise around her.

Though at the same time she found it a bit terrifying as Moon didn’t know what was going on in Turtle’s mind.

 

Turtle caught Moon staring at him and gave her a smile, which Moon sheepishly returned before looking down at her talons.

“This is my clawmate Umber.” Turtle said, turning to the small, brown Mudwing beside him.

 

“Oh! You’re Clay's brother right?” Kinkajou asked Umber who nodded.

“ That’s Sora’s brother. ” Moon thought, she had to admit she was a bit disappointed as she hoped Sora would be in their winglet.

Despite her disappointment, Moon had to admit Umber did seem nice, and she liked how warm his mind was.

His mind reminded her of Kinkajou’s but more calm

“That’s right.” Umber said, sitting down beside Turtle who sat right beside Moon.

Moon noticed how Umber's mind was in a constant state of relief, mainly from not having to be at war anymore.

“The jade Winglet is so cool!” Kinkajou exclaimed with excitement before turning to Tsunami and asking, “Who’s our Sandwing and Icewing?” 

 

“Well after the events of yesterday, we decided to switch a few students around.” Tsunami explained.

Moons stomach dropped when she realized who Tsunami was talking about, and the two minds coming from the tunnel confirmed it.

 

Turning to the tunnel entrance, Moon watched as Winter and Qibli walked in, both of them looking at her.

“ It’s her. ” Moon heard them both think in unison.

“ Now I can keep an eye on her. ” Moon heard Winter think, his mind filled with suspicion but also a hint of curiosity.

“ Now I can figure her out, ” Moon heard Qibli think before hearing more of his thoughts.

“ She seemed a bit tense when she saw us come in. Is it Winter she’s afraid of or both of us? She seems like she can take care of herself but at the same time 

she seems like she’s scared of everyone. ”

 

“ I’m going to find out why she knows so much about scavengers, I’ll find out everything about her. ” Moon heard Winter think, which made Moon's wings twitch as it felt like ice was crawling up her back.

 

“ I could protect her, it's what I'm best at, though would she want that? She seems to like the Rainwing sitting beside her, the one who’s all heart. I wonder if I could get her to like me. ” Qibli wondered,

“ I have been protecting Thorn since I was three, but Thorn did say I need to find something else to do with myself since she has enough dragons to protect her and that I'm just wasting my potential. ”

Moon noticed Qibli’s wings twitch a bit before hearing him think, “ As if I trust any of them to protect Thorn, but I wonder if she would like Moon. What would she think of Moon? Would she consider Moon a threat or a dragonet the Outclaws would protect? Why haven’t I figured her out yet? ”

 

Then softly from both of them Moon heard, “ I wonder what she thinks of me. ”

Moon didn’t know what to think of either of them, though she felt like she maybe had a better chance at befriending Qibli then she did with Winter.

 

“ It’s the beautiful brooding Icewing! ” Moon heard from Kinkajou's mind, which was brimming with excitement, though Moon also heard Umber quietly thinking, “ Wow, he’s gorgeous. ”

Moon soon after heard Carnelian think, “ I hate everyone here, no one in this cave looks like they would last long in a war. The Icewing looks like he could hold his own though. ”

 

Moon found herself inching a bit closer to Turtle who was like a small island of peace in the middle of a storm.

 

Moon wasn’t sure how she was going to deal with eight dragons all thinking at the same time in a small cave, how would she even get through this?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a faint “ bong ” come from outside the tunnel, signaling it was time for class as Qibli and Winter both sat beside Turtle who gave them a polite smile.

 

“Alright! Now that we are all here, I figured a good start to today's class would be to introduce ourselves!” Tsunami said, “I know it can seem unnecessary but Sunny said it would be a good idea. Though she did say I wouldn’t listen to her anyway, so to prove her wrong we are all going to introduce ourselves.”

 

Tsunami then gave them another grin before saying, “I’m Tsunami, if anyone didn’t know. I wanted to give myself the title of commander of recruitment but the others said I would be terrible at recruitment so I’m the Head of School instead.”

“I’m pretty much the boss and I'm running your first small group discussion class, which was Glory’s idea. I decided we can figure it out together. Tsunami explained.

 

“So you’re the one I should go to about switching to being in a group with other Icewings like my sister?” Winter asked.

“I am, and the answer is no. It kinda defeats the purpose of learning to get along with the other tribes if you only hang around other Icewings.” Tsunami said before Moon heard her think, “ Sunny did say Winter can be a bit much, hopefully he doesn’t cause any trouble. ”

 

“You will get to be in much bigger classes with other winglets, and even the one your sister is in. This also gives you the opportunity to befriend dragons from other tribes.” Tsunami explained.

Winter grumbled but Qibli turned to him before saying, “See Winter, I'm your destiny.”

 

“ Wish he were my destiny. ” Moon heard Kinkajou and Umber think in unison which made Moon giggle, which made Qibli turn to look at her and smile before thinking, “ I see someone has a good sense of humor. ”

 

“Alright everyone, let’s start with the introductions. Carnelian, why don’t you go first.” Tsunami said, turning to Carnelian.

Moon watched as Carnelian heaved a deep sigh before speaking, “I am Carnelian,” There was a small pause.

 

Moon could tell from Carnelian's thoughts that she didn’t want to do the introduction but continued. “a loyal subject to Queen Ruby, and I'm in the camp of Skywings who believe Scarlet is dead and if she isn’t, I’ll gladly kill her to protect Queen Ruby.”

Carnelian let out a heavy sigh before continuing,  “I’m only here because my queen told me to be but I should be training with my battalion and guarding her palace, not sitting with a bunch of spineless dragonets.” 

 

“Alright, anything else?” Tsunami asked Carnelian who responded with, “My favorite color is red.”

Moon soon heard Qibli’s thoughts echo in her mind, “Insecure, she is worried we’ll think she’s stupid. She seems to be only comfortable when she’s fighting.” Moon heard Qibli think as he studied her, “She worries Queen Ruby will think she’s stupid and that her chances of being general will be ruined .”

 

Moon blinked at him, none of what he thought was obvious but it was all there in the deeper parts of Carnelian's mind.

 “ How could he figure all that out, were there any Sandwing mind readers? ” Moon wondered but she couldn’t find any hint that Qibli was a mind reader.

Moon was amazed Qibli learned all that from just noticing.

 

“Alright, Kinkajou your turn.” Tsunami said, turning to Kinkajou who had a huge smile on her face as bright yellow and purple shot across her scales.

“Hi! I’m Kinkajou. I’m a Rainwing and I've never seen any Seawings, Sandwings, or Icewings before.” 

Kinkajou paused for a moment before saying, “Well apart from the Dragonets of Destiny of course, cause I'm really good friends with them. I’m excited to learn how to read, and learn more about all your tribes. I also think this school is the best idea in the world, and my favorite color is yellow.”

 

“ Of course it is .” Moon heard both Carnelian and Winter think.

“ Should I tell them about being a Nightwing prisoner? No, that’d be too dark to talk about on the first day. ” Moon heard Kinkajou think.

 

“Your turn.” Kinkajou said to Moon, bumping her side which caused some of Kinkajou’s happy thoughts to leap from Kinkajou to Moon.

Despite the small bounce of energy from Kinkajou, Moon felt her nervousness eat at her as seven eyes turned to face her.

“My name is Moonwatcher, but Moon is fine.” Moon said softly while thinking, “ Or nothing is fine, as I guess I can’t tell them to not speak to me at all. ”

 

“I grew up in the rainforest,” Moon continued while she thought, “ I’m also a mind reader, I see crazy visions of Jade mountain being on fire and Turtle attacking a sky wing. I have animus magic that could turn me evil and an ancient dragon asking me to help free him. I also miss my mother ”

Moon quietly finished with, “I enjoy reading scrolls.”

 

“ How did she grow up in the rainforest? ” Moon heard Winter think, his eyes narrowing at her but Tsunami had already turned away from Moon and onto Turtle.

“Alright Turtle, how about you introduce yourself.”

“Hi, I’m Turtle. I also like scrolls though not by my mother as i’ve read enough of those already.” Moon watched as Turtle turned to face her, and gave her a friendly smile, “Maybe you and I could share some of our favorite scrolls later?” 

 

Moon nodded, she liked the idea as she knew it would be a good way for her to make friends.

“Sure, it sounds like fun.” She said softly before hearing Qibli think, “ He’s used to being invisible, seems like he prefers it but not always. Definitely easy going and doesn’t try too hard to be noticed, though I wonder how much that armband is worth. Never seen any rocks like those before. ” 

 

Moon listened intently as she couldn’t figure anything out about Turtle at all but Qibli had seemed to figure out so much just from observing him.

Moon wondered what Qibli would think of her vision of Turtle, since Qibli seemed to find Turtle to be harmless.

“ Not that,that conversation would happen anytime soon. ” Moon thought to herself, while Tsunami turned to Umber.

 

“I’m Umber, what time do we eat? Haha, just kidding, trying to be like Clay.” Umber said but Moon noticed him looking at Qibli while thinking, “ Did he find that funny? ”

Moon realized that Umber found Qibli to be gorgeous and not Winter, which was understandable to Moon.

While Winter was undeniably beautiful, Qibli was also good looking himself but in a more warm friendly way.

 

Moon was too distracted by Qibli’s mind to even look at him but when she did, she did see how Umber could call Qibli to be gorgeous.

“I actually brought some food in case anyone was hungry.” Tsunami said, before revealing a big metal bowl filled with fish.

Tsunami brought it over to the dragonets, with Turtle smiling and saying, “Fish? Awesome.” 

While Kinkajou wrinkled her snout and said, “Gross, I’ll wait until later and just get a banana.”

 

Moon reached over to grab a fish but her claw accidentally bumped into Winters, causing Moon to jump back, which earned her a confused look from Winter.

“ Is she afraid of me? Good, mother would be proud of me. ” Winter grabbed a fish and sat back down before Moon heard him think, “ I did threaten to freeze and snap her tail off, so I guess it makes sense for her to be scared. ” 

 

Moon was handed a fish by Qibli who gave her a friendly grin.

Moon smiled back and took the fish, feeling Qibli’s warm scales.

As she watched Qibli, she noticed his mind running through different ways he could get her to like him, while also clocking Carnelian as the most battle-scarred and unpredictable so he angled his tail towards her just in case.

Moon also noticed how Qibli was planning on flying around the mountain later to survey it, and she noticed a quiet thought of him wondering if he should ask her to join him.

 

After they sat back down, Tsunami continued the introductions, “All right, Umber would you like to finish?”

Umber nodded, “I’m Clay’s brother, but my brother Reed is out leader. He wanted me, Sora and Marsh to go to school since the war is over.” 

 

Memories flashed through Umber's head, and Moon could see him flying alongside other brown scaled Mudwings, flying through clouds, each of them turning and diving together.

Marshes and muddy swamp camps, with Umber and the same Mudwings surrounding a fire, laughing together.

 

“They can visit anytime,” Tsunami promised, which made Moon wonder if her own mother would visit her.

Umber nodded before turning to Carnelian and saying, “Carnelian I think we’ve might’ve been in battle together. You look kinda familiar.”

Carnelian looked at Umber in surprise, she squinted at him and Moon noticed her frown soften before thinking, “Right, Skywings and Mudwings were on the same side during the war. Maybe I do have allies here. ” 

 

“All right. Qibli, your turn.” Tsunami said, turned to Qibli.

“I’m Qibli. I am a loyal member of the Outclaws and the adopted son of Queen Thorn. I plan to learn as much as possible so I can get back to helping my queen run the kingdom of sand.” Qibli said.

Winter snorted, rolling his eyes, “I’m sure she’s completely lost without you.”

 

“Oh, I’m sure you're essential to the operation of your kingdom.” Qibli shot back at Winter who frowned.

“ I see that hit home. He doesn’t believe he’s important to his family but he wants us all to believe differently. ” Moon heard Qibli think.

 

“I am Winter.” Winter said, sitting up proudly.

“Queen Glaciers nephew.” Qibli said at the same time as Winter who shot him a look.

“Don’t you mock me.” Winter snapped at Qibli who gave him an innocent look, “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Winter turned to Tsunami and asked, “What even is the point of this class?” 

 

“The point is for you to talk about anything you want to talk about.” Tsunami explained.

“Alright, I want to talk about Nightwing powers. Winter said.

Chapter 10: Chapter 9: Visions and Dream visitors

Summary:

Moon has another vision and learns more about another.

Notes:

I changed Qibli's vision to fit the fanfic more.
Small adjustments to the chapter, I forgot to add some things to the fanfic for the story to work better,

Chapter 9

Moon felt her stomach drop at Winter's words, but she managed to fix her face but by Qibli’s thoughts, he had already noticed.

“ Is she alright? ” She heard Qibli think before noticing him frown.

“ Winter is such a moon-licking crocodile, he’s just picking at her for no reason. ”

 

Moon just stared at her talons, trying to act like what Winter said didn’t bother her, but she noticed Kinkajou giving her a concerned look while thinking, “ Poor Moon, she definitely won’t enjoy this. ”

Moon watched as Kinkajou turned to Tsunami and said, “Maybe we can talk about the war instead, I have a few questions about Queen Thorn.”

 

Kinkajou turned to Qibli and asked, “What’s Queen Thorn like? She sounds like a very nice person from what I’ve heard.”

As Qibli opened his mouth to speak, Turtle interrupted him, “I’m confused too, is it true they don’t have powers anymore?”

“They had to have powers at some point.” Umber said, “What about the Draginets of Destiny prophecy, it came true.”

 

Moon continued staring at her talons, she knew the Dragonets of Destiny prophecy was a complete lie.

“No, one really knows.” Tsunami said, yet Moon heard her annoyed thoughts, “ I knew we were going to get asked about this. ” 

“ I can’t remember the stupid cover story Starflight told us. I don’t even see why we should lie just to protect the stupid Nightwings egos. ” Tsunami thought.

 

“Why don’t we just ask her?” Carnelian exclaimed, pointing a talon at Moon who heard all the thoughts of violent things she would do to Moon if she didn’t answer their questions.

Moon wished she could bolt out of the cave, but she knew it would make her look suspicious.

As Moon tried thinking of a way to explain that she didn’t know anything about the nightwings' lost powers without revealing she herself had them, Kinkajou spoke up.

“Moon didn’t grow up on the volcano, she was raised in the rainforest. She was told the same lies as the rest of us.”

 

Moon gave Kinkajou a grateful smile as she heard Carnelian's violent thoughts simmer down.

“ So that’s why she seems much more healthy than the other Nightwing students, I wonder if her living in the rainforest is why she has those silver scales near her eyes. ” Moon heard Qibli think while she also heard Winters thoughts, “ She didn’t grow up on the volcano? So I don’t have to hate her right? ” 

 

Moon could feel a small glimmer of hope in Winter's mind but it was quickly smashed under a wall of ice, as she heard Winters thoughts go back to being bitter, “ No, it doesn’t matter where she was raised. She’s a Nightwing, and I hate them all. ”

Moon wished Winter didn’t hate her for being a Nightwing but she guessed he had his reasons.

“Alright, that’s enough. Look, no one knows what happened to the Nightwings powers but they are gone and if anyone tries telling you that you’re a part of some prophecy, tell them to go eat sand.” Tsunami said before turning to the opening to the sky.

“How about we go hunting? No arguing with the Head of the School, so let’s go hunting!” Tsunami exclaimed quickly before flying out of the cave opening.

 

Moon walked torwards the cave opening, but Winter quickly stopped her, “Not so fast, you are going to get the other Nightwing students here to tell you everything about the lies they had on Nightwing powers.”  Winter said, while Moon heard him think, “ If i’m scary enough, she’ll do what I want. ” 

 

Moon froze a bit, trying not to shrink under Winter's cold glare but she heard Qibli speak up, “Hey igloo-face, back off. Moon doesn’t have to do anything if she doesn’t want to.” 

“ Should I intervene? Would Moon even want that? ” Moon heard Qibli think but she noticed Carnelian get up and say, “I agree with Igloo-face, if we are going to get all cozy with each other then there should be no secrets.”

Moon shrank under both Winter and Carnelian's gaze, especially Carnelians who Moon had to admit scared her.

 

Moon noticed Qibli take a step forward while thinking, “ I could fight them both if I have too, Winter seems to clench his claws so maybe he favors them. I could go for his shoulder but i’d need to disarm his frost breath. ”

Watching as Qibli turned his head at Carnelian, she heard another string of thoughts, “ Carnelian is a bit more unpredictable but it’s possible I could just threaten her with my barded tail. Would Moon even want me to fight for her, or would she want me to solve things peacefully? ”

 

“Moon is a part of our winglet, we are supposed to support eachother.” Kinkajou pointed out, standing beside Moon before giving her an encouraging smile.

“ No one gets to be mean to my best friend, even if they are scary looking Skywings or dazzling Icewings. ”

Carnelian frowned while Moon heard her think, “ I’m not arguing with some lazy Rainwing. ” before turning to the opening and flying out of it.

 

Moon noticed Turtle give her a concerned look before shrugging and saying, “Whatever you guys want to do is fine by me.” before flying out of the opening, right behind Carnelian.

“ Poor Moon, but I would like to know too. ” Moon heard Umber think as he flew after Turtle.

 

Moon took a deep breath, mustering up all her courage before she faced Winter before saying, “All right, but please stop trying to intimidate me. You’re not as scary as you think.”

“ Ha! Take that! ” Moon heard Kinkajou think while she heard Qibli think, “ Knew she was cool. ”

 

“ Stop liking her! Remember what Father said, ‘be strong, be vigilante, strike first,’ trust nobody, not even interesting Nightwings with cool silver teardrop scales! ” Moon heard Winter think as he finally stepped back.

“Alright then, so you get information from the other Nightwing students.” Winter said while Kinkajou chimed in saying, “And you stop threatening everybody.”

 

Winter gave a wiry smile before saying, “I didn’t promise anything about everybody, just her. I have to maintain my Icewing warrior mystique after all.” 

Winter then turned to the opening and flew out while Qibli turned to Moon and said, “I could very much be wrong, but did our clawmate just make a joke?”

 

Moon shrugged as she heard Qibli think, “ I knew there was someone under all that grumpiness, now if I can just pull him out. ”

Qibli turned to Moon and gave her a concerned look, “Are you alright?”

Moon nodded, she was still a bit shaken up, but she felt comfort in knowing that Kinkajou and Qibli had her back.

 

“ Careful little Moon, dragons don’t take kindly to secrets being kept from them. ” Darkstalker said softly, almost like he was giving Moon a warning.

“ What do you mean? ” Moon asked Darkstalker as she watched Qibli and Kinkajou soar into the sky, but Darkstalker didn’t answer, leaving her in silence.

 

Moon grumbled a bit in frustration as she took off into the sky, “ Why tell me that if you aren’t going to even elaborate? ” Moon thought.

As they flew around the mountain range, Moon looked around and noticed how Qibli seemed to be trying to pretend to not be watching her while also struggling with the terrain a bit, but he was quickly learning. 

Moon saw Tsunami, Umber,  Winter, and Turtle were near a lake, looking for fish.

Looking around again, Moon caught a smell of something fuzzy and quickly started scanning the ground.

As she looked, Moon saw a mountain goat hiding near a cliff, hoping none of the dragonets saw it.

 

Moon looked around, as she saw Kinkajou eating some blackberries, and Carnelian was circling in the sky.

She thought about calling out to Carnelian, but Moon didn’t want to scare the goat off, as it hadn’t seemed to notice her yet.

Moon also didn’t really want to get the grumpy Skywings attention.

 

“ This means the goat's mine. ” Moon thought before diving down towards the goat, she remembered all the practice she had chasing different animals in the rainforest.

When the mountain goat saw Moon diving towards it, it made a blood curdling scream of fear and tried scrambling to a ravine where dragons couldn’t grab it.

 

The goat wasn’t fast enough though, as Moon spuninto a spiraling dive, grabbing the goat in midair before killing it in one single motion by squeezing her claws.

As Moon quielt celebrated her hunt, Qibli flew over and gave her a surprised smile.

“Wow, how did you do that? I heard Nightwings didn’t know how to hunt.” 

 

Moon gave him a shy smile before explaining, “when I was living in the rainforest before the volcano erupted, my mother would only visit a few times every few weeks, so I had to learn how to hunt for food.” 

Qibli gave her a sympathetic look but Moon gave him a smile, as she didn’t want him to feel sorry for her.

 

“If you want I could share it with you?” Moon asked Qibli, whose eyes lit up before saying, “Of course, I’m still learning the terrain but give me a sandy dune and I could find a desert lizard anyday.” 

Moon gave him an encouraging smile before saying, “I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon.” 

 

Moon knew what she said was true as Qiblis mind was already mapping out the terrain and filling it.

Moon soon heard flapping coming from behind her before hearing Tsunami call out, “Good job Moon! We found some fish that we can take to the prey center!”

 

Moon turned her head to see Tsunami and Turtle flying over, carrying a net filled with fish while Winter and Umber followed behind.

“Amazing catch Moon,” Umber said before turning to where Carnelian was flying at and said, “Hey Carnelian, we got some fish and Moon caught a goat!”

 

Moon watched as Carnelian flew down and over to them.

She noticed Carnelian glaring at the goat, with Moon feeling a string of jealousy coming from Carnelian's mind as she said, “I thought Nightwings didn’t know how to hunt.”

 

“They don’t,” Kinkajou said while flying over, with blackberry juice all over her snout.

“Starflight said they do this weird thing where they bite their prey, letting them get infected and wait a while before finding the prey when they are a carcass.”

Qibli wrinkled his snout at that, while Moon chimed in, “Deathbringer is teaching them how to hunt properly now, so they won’t be doing that anymore.”

 

They soon followed Tsunami to the where the Prey Center was, and Moon frowned as she felt the familiar cacophony of noise in her head.

“ Would you like some advice on how to block out the voices? ” Moon heard Darkstalker ask.

“ Yes, if you promise to not leave me again. ” Moon thought with a frown.

 

“ Apologies little Moon, I won’t disappear again. Now as for helping you block out the noise, try imaging the sounds or raindrops from the rainforest since you grew up there. ”

Moon closed her eyes and imaged the days where she waited for her mother in her borrow, rain pouring for days on end.

“ You are a tragic dragonet, little Moon. ” Darkstalker said to Moon who frowned once more.

 

“ I’m not a tragic dragonet, my mother saved me. ” Moon thought, she may have hated the lonely days but she knew her mother did that to protect her,

“ Alright, Alright, my apologies, ” Darkstalker said with a small chuckle before saying, “ Now that you have the thought of raindrops, try slipping the voices into raindrops. ”

 

Moon took a deep breath and looked at Kinkajou, hearing her thoughts, “ I wonder what fruits will be in the prey center today? Sunny mentioned there’s a music cave here, maybe I should visit the music room later. ” 

Moon started trying to slip Kinkajou’s thoughts into a raindrop but Kinkajou turned her head at Moon and gave her a smile while thinking, “ Moon! She’s all quiet on the outside but she’s a total fierce face. ”

 

Moon felt the raindrop burst when Kinkajou's thoughts went straight to her.

“ The trick doesn’t always work when the thoughts are about or on you. ”

Moon frowned a bit but decided to try again as she started hearing more of the voices from the prey center.

 

“ Why must I share a cave with a Rainwing? ”

 

“ If that mudwing slurps one more time, I’m biting his snout. ”

 

“ Easy for the Dragonets of Destiny to talk about forgiveness, they weren’t in the war. ”

 

“ This papaya is boring. I could get another papaya but what if it tastes boring too? ” 

 

Moon realizes the last thread of thoughts was from Coconut, she decided to test the raindrop trick with him.

Taking a deep breath, Moon pictured the rainforest's rain, before slipping coconut's thoughts into a raindrop.

 

Once Moon realized she couldn’t hear Coconut's thoughts anymore, she smiled and did a loop in the air which got her a surprised look from Kinkajou.

“You seem very happy.” Kinkajou said to Moon who was still smiling.

“Just figuring some things out.” Moon answered before thinking, “ Thank you Darkstalker. ”

“ You’re welcome little Moon, just remember to practice so you can learn to block out more voices. ” Darkstalker said.

 

“ I’ll practice .” Moon promised as they flew into the prey center, landing near the fruit pile where Coconut was standing.

Moon started to pull apart her mountain goat before jumping when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Turning her head, Moon saw Qibli standing there.

“Sorry, it’s just me. You still want to share the mountain goat?”

 

Moon realized she hadn’t even noticed Qibli's thoughts, which she hoped meant the raindrop trick was working.

Looking at Qibli, Moon said, “Oh, yeah. Sorry I was distracted.” 

Moon turned back to the mountain goat before pulling a leg off and giving it to Qibli, while Kinkajou wrinkled her snout in disgust.

“I’ll never get what either of you see in eating meat.” Kinkajou said, while grabbing a banana.

“The desert doesn’t have much fruit, so meat is the best option.” Qibli said before biting into the goat leg.

Moon pulled off another leg and started eating, before noticing Webs bringing in a huge net filled with fish.

 

Qibli turned his head towards the huge pile of fish that dragonets were swarming.

“I might see what fish are over there.” Qibli said before turning to Moon with a goofy grin, “If living in the rainforest makes you a good hunter, you should live in the Scorpion Den. You become good at scavenging for food, especially when you have a brother and sister who hate you.” 

 

Moon saw a few flashes go through Qibli’s mind, mainly of two familiar looking Sandwing Dragonets, throwing a much younger Qibli into a wall.

“I’m sorry.” Moon said, she knew what she was seeing in Qibli’s mind wouldn’t fit into a raindrop.

Qibli shrugged before saying, “It’s fine, my brother and sister kinda just hated everybody. Luckily Thorn saved me from ever having to see them again.”

 

Moon opened her mouth to speak but felt a spike of pain go through her head, with images flashing through her heard of Qibli facing the Sandwing with skull tattoos along much older looking versions of his brother and sister who had similar looking tattoos.

Moon saw Qibli facing them, his barbed tail pointing at them threateningly while yelling, “ What did you do?! ”

 

Moon clutched her head, taking a few deep breaths before opening her eyes to see both Kinkajou and Qibli staring at her with confused looks.

“Moon, are you alright?” Qibli asked Moon who nodded and tried acting like she was alright.

“Yeah, I just get headaches sometimes, what were you saying about your family?” Moon asked, trying to change the subject.

 

“ Why is she trying to change the subject off of her? Maybe she should go to the medical wing and see what they can do for her headaches. Thorn always took a soup with a type of root that helped with headaches, should I get her that? ” Qibli thought, his mind going from one thing to the next which seemed to make Moon's headache worse.

Yet Moon felt worse about her vision, as Qibli clearly didn’t want to see his family ever again yet by her vision it seemed Qibli would have to.

 

“ I wish I could warn him. ” Moon thought.

“ You can little Moon, you could tell the truth and reveal that you are a mindreader, your visions, and even your animus magic. ” Darkstalker said.

“ What? No, they’d hate me. ” Moon argued with him.

“ They’d be more upset with you for lying little Moon, believe me I would know .” Darkstalker said softly but Moon didn’t answer him, she just fixed her face and gace both Kinkajou and Qibli a smile before saying, “It’s fine, I get headaches all the time.”

 

“Alright, but if it continues you should definitely visit the medical wing.” Qibli said, while Kinkajou nodded in agreement.

“I will.” Moon promised before realizing the dragonets around them had gone quiet and were looking towards one of the tunnels leading into the prey center.

 

Moon, alongside Qibli and Kinkajou, turned their heads to see Anemone walking out from the tunnel with a few seawings behind her.

As Anemone walked over to the fish pile, Moon heard hushed thoughts from the dragonets in the prey center.

 

“ It’s the Seawing princess, isn’t she Tsunami’s sister? ”

 

“ Isn’t she always on a harness so the queen can watch her? ”

“ Isn’t she one of the few daughters of Queen Coral? ”

 

Moon watched as Anemone walked over to the fish pile before turning to a Nightwing Moon knew as Bigtail who had a type of salmon in his talons.

“Oh, may I have that one?” Anemone asked Bigtail sweetly.

Bigtail looked up a bit confused, his eyes went from the fish then back up to Anemone before asking, “Um, this fish?” 

 

Anemone nodded before saying, “It’s one of my favorite types of fish. I’m sure you can find another fish in the pile.” 

Moon watched as Bigtail opened his mouth to speak before the Seawing, Moon remembered as Pike spoke up, “You heard the princess, it’s her favorite fish!”

“My mother would want me to have it.” Anemone chimed in, but Moon heard her frustrated thoughts, “Why isn’t he just giving me the fish? There’s plenty of more in this pile.” 

 

“She’s not my princess, so I don’t really have to give it to her,” Moon heard Bigtail think as Clay and Tsunami walked over.

“What’s going on?” Clay asked calmly.

“Princess clearly wants that fish, and she deserves to have it.” Pike explained, shooting Bigtail a glare.

 

Tsunami stepped between Bigtail and Pike before saying, “We haven’t decided any rules for the prey center yet so right now the rule is whoever gets it first gets to eat it.” 

Tsunami then turned to Anemone, “If you want to, later we can go swimming in the lake. You can catch plenty of fish you like, and it could be fun.”

Anemone sighed a bit but said, “Very well.” 

Moon soon heard Anemone think, “ This isn’t very fun at all. ” 

 

“I’m not very hungry, now that I think about it.” Anemone said before walking back to the tunnel she came from as Pike followed.

“Well that was interesting.” Qibli said, turning back to his goat leg and continuing eating it.

Moon nodded, she wondered why Anemone was acting that way.

“ Maybe she’s just used to having things given to since she is a princess. ” Moon wondered, but she diminished that idea and just decided maybe Anemone was just not having a good day.

As they continued eating, Moon noticed Turtle walking over, some fish in his talons while Umber and to Moon's delight Sora followed.

 

“Hey guys, I found some pretty good fish in the pile, want any?” Turtle asked as Umber and Sora stood beside him.

“No thanks, I think I'm a bit full from the goat leg.” Qibli said, and Moon nodded in agreement.

Turtle shrugged before giving a fish to Umber who thanked him.

 

Moon looked at Sora before asking, “Would you like some goat?” 

Sora gave Moon a small smile and nodded.

Moon smiled back and pulled off the goat's other hind leg and gave it to Sora.

“Thank you Moon.” Sora said quietly, taking the goat leg, but when Moon's scales brushed against Sora’s, Moon saw into Sora’s mind.

 

Past Sora’s mud meditating technique, Moon felt a wave of paranoia and a mess of thoughts, “ It’s not safe. I wish you were here Crane. We are safe right? I miss Reed. She’s here. ”

Moon felt a wave of sympathy for Sora, while Moon had anxiety, Sora had pure paranoia.

She knew, like Qibli's mind, Moon wouldn’t be able to put any of what she saw in Sora’s mind into a raindrop.

 

While eating Moon noticed a small earring in Sora’s left ear, it seemed to be silver and had a small ruby in the middle of it.

“That’s a beautiful earring.” Moon said to Sora who gave a shy smile.

 

“Thanks, Reed found it on the beaches near the Mudwing kingdom and gave it to me as a gift before going to school. He said he was surprised it’s in such good condition.” Sora explained.

“Must’ve fallen off another dragon.” Qibli guessed, which Sora nodded before Umber said, “Maybe, Some Skywings we fought alongside wore earrings.”

“That definitely explains it. Earrings can fall off if not put in correctly” Qibli said as he finished his goat leg. 

 

After Moon finished her goat leg, Moon turned to the prey center tunnel exit before saying, “I’m going to the library for a bit.”

Kinkajou stood up before asking, “Can I go with you? I want to practice my reading skills.” 

Moon nodded before turning to Sora who had eaten most of her goat leg and asked, “Would you like to join us, Sora?”

 

Sora looked up and nodded before standing up and walking over to Kinkajou and Moon.

 

Turtle stood up himself before asking, “Can I join too? I’ve been meaning to check out the library myself.”

Moon nodded while Kinkajou said, “Of course! The more the merrier!” 

 

As they walked out of the Prey Center, Moon noticed a female Icewing who looked a bit like Winter was watching them.

“ Hmm. My little clawmate is hanging around a Nightwing, Rainwing and even the Seawing princesses brother, isn’t that interesting? ” Moon heard the Icewing think, which made Moon shiver.

 

As they walked to the Library, Moon realized that neither she nor Sora had spoken a word while Kinkajou was talking to Turtle about different scrolls she wanted to read.

“ If I'm going to make friends, I atleast need to talk to them. ” Moon thought before taking a deep breath and turning to Sora.

 

“What scrolls do you like to read?” Moon asked Sora who looked up at her.

“Oh, I enjoy learning about the other tribes. What about you?” Sora asked.

“I enjoy reading really anything, though I love scrolls with information on things like history.” Moon said.

“You’ll love Webs class then,” Turtle chimed in, “From what I heard Tsunami say, Webs isn’t the most interesting teacher if you don’t enjoy history.”

 

Moon giggled a bit, she could definitely picture Tsunami saying something like that about Webs.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Moon said to Turtle who smiled back.

 

When they entered the library, they all walked over to greet Starflight who alongside Fatespeaker was sorting scrolls.

“Hello again Starflight.” Moon said with a smile.

Starflight turned to where Moon was and smiled, “Hello again Moon, is Kinkajou with you?” 

 

“Hi Starflight!” Kinkajou said cheerfully with Turtle chiming in, “Hi Starflight, I’m Turtle. I hadn’t come to the library yet but I heard you had a system for checking out scrolls.” 

Starflights smile grew as he nodded, “We do, I can get you your library stamp set up right now if you’d like?”

 

Turtle nodded, “I would, thank you Starflight.” 

 Starflight smiled before doing what he did when he gave Moon her own library stamp.

Once finished Starflight gave Turtle a similar looking leather pouch to Moons before saying, “You can keep your library stamp in here.” 

“Thank you Starflight,” Turtle said before going over to one of the racks filled with scrolls and started to look through them.

 

Moon turned to Starflight and asked, “Hey Starflight, do you know anything about dreamvisitors?” 

Moon noticed how Starflight paused while images of a skywing with a side of their face messed up flashed through his head before he asked, “Why? You haven’t been getting any weird dreams of an angry skywing with the right side of her face looking like it partially melted right?” 

“No, I heard someone mention them in the tunnels and I was curious about them.” Moon explained, though she wondered why the Skywing in Starflights mind seemed familiar.

Starflight sighed in relief, “Thank the three moons, we’ve been worried about the ex Skywing Queen Scarlett. She somehow has a dreamvisitor and she has a grudge against me and the others so we were worried about her trying to scare any of the students here.” 

 

Moon's wings twitched, wondering if the murder plot she heard last night could’ve been from Scarlett, but Moon soon realized why Scarlett looked so familiar. 

She was the Skywing that Turtle attacked in the vision Moon had of him.

Chapter 11: Chapter 10: dark history and fire scales

Summary:

Moon learns about Albatross and Fathom and has a strange connection to Turtle that she can't explain.

Chapter 10

“ Why would Turtle attack Scarlet? Does she try to hurt him? Maybe he’s defending Tsunami or Anemone. ” Moon wondered before asking Starflight, “Are there any scrolls on the dream visitors?”  Moon asked, trying to sound calm.

“There’s a scroll on animus history, and the many animus touched items. I’m sure you can find something about dream visitors in it.” Starflight explained thoughtfully.

 

Moon thanked him before asking, “How did Scarlet even get a dream visitor?” 

“We aren’t exactly sure. My theory is that she found it in Burns' weirdling tower.” Starflight explained.

 

“Oh, well do you know where the other two are?” Moon asked.

“We do actually,” Starflight said to Moons surprise.

“Sunny found one from a few scavengers she met, and I found one in the Nightwing treasury but someone stole it from me. I believe it’s lost on the volcano” Starflight explained, Moon could feel guilt washing over him.

 

“ If it helps, the dream visitor is not lost forever. ” Moon heard Darkstalker say, which confused Moon.

“ How? If Starflight lost it on the volcano, then it would’ve been destroyed when the volcano erupted. ”

“ I can’t explain right now as it could lead to a few dark futures for you and I don’t want that to happen. You will know in time though, I promise. ” Darkstalker explained.

Moon slightly shivered, she wondered what would happen if Darkstalker told her what would happen to her.

 

“You alright Moon?” Sora asked, snapping Moon out of her thoughts.

Turning to Sora, Moon nodded before saying, “Sorry, I was just trying to figure out if I should borrow the scroll to read later or should I read it right now.”

Moon hoped Sora would believe it, as judging by Kinkajou’s thoughts, the Rainwing didn’t believe what Moon said.

“Well we have I think around half an hour before we have our next class so I think you have enough time to read in here.” Sora said thoughtfully.

 

Moon nodded, not making eye contact with Kinkajou as she heard Kinkajou think, “ Moons acting a bit strange, she’s kinda acting like how she did in the prey center yesterday. It almost looked like she was listening to something, or having a conversation with no one. ”

 

Moon walked over to the rack of scrolls near the library windows, trying to act normal enough to make Kinkajou think everything was fine and after a minute or so, it did.

 going to look through the racks which thankfully were alphabetically ordered.

As Moon looked through the racks she noticed Sora going up to Starflight and asking, “Did you or Fatespeaker find the scroll I asked about?” 

“We did.” Starflight said, as Fatespeaker walked over and handed the scroll to Sora while saying, “Here’s the scroll on Icewings you wanted.”

Moon noticed Kinkajou giving Sora a curious look which Sora noticed before saying, “Trying to figure out my clawmate since me and Icicle are clawmates.”

 

Moon felt the mud pouring in Sora’s mind ripple a bit when Sora mentioned Icicle.

“ Maybe Sora is scared of Icicle? ” Moon wondered, as the Icewings were pretty intimidating.

“Isn’t Icicle, Winter's sister? Did she mention that she’s in the line for the throne yet?” Kinkajou asked, curious.

 

Sora nodded before saying, “She did, she wasn’t happy to be sharing a cave with a Mudwing.” 

Moon felt bad for Sora, she saw how Winter acted so it wasn’t hard to guess how Icicle would act.

Kinkajou took Sora’s talons into her own before saying, “Don’t listen to Icicle, she’s just a grumpy dragon who doesn’t know how lucky she is to have someone as sweet as you.” 

 

Moon smiled when she saw Sora give Kinkajou a small, shy smile before saying, “Thanks Kinkajou.”

“Anytime, if you want you can hang out with me and Moon more.” 

Sora nodded before saying, “I think I’d like that.”

 

Moon gave Sora a smile before she went and sat down on one of the moss piles before she began reading through the scroll.

There were more animus-touched objects then she expected, since animus dragons were rare, and there hadn’t been many in Pyrrhia’s history.

 

Looking through the scroll, Moon stopped when she saw a beautifully detailed drawing of a tall, sweeping pavilion.

It was twelve stories high, made of pure white stone and looked as if it had grown straight out of the water and into this perfect shape.

 

“That’s the summer palace.” Moon heard Turtle’s voice say from behind her.

Looking up, Moon saw Turtle walk right up beside her before asking, “May I read that with you?”

Moon nodded and made room on the pile of moss for him to sit down on.

 

Once Turtle sat down he looked over at the scroll again before saying, “my ancestor Albatross made it.”

“Really? It’s beautiful.” Moon said, looking back at the drawing.

Turtle nodded, before saying, “He used his animus magic to make it. From what I know, he enchanted it to just slowly build itself until it looked the way he wanted it to.”

 

Moon was amazed, she had no idea dragons could use animus magic for that, but she noticed how Turtle seemed to have a somber look on his face,

“Turtle, are you alright?” Moon asked.

Turtle nodded before saying, “Yeah, it’s just sad knowing that the one who built something so beautiful also was the one who caused the Seawing Massacre.”

 

Moon's eyes widened before asking, “What do you mean?” 

Turtle looked back down at the drawing of the Summer Palace before explaining, “My ancestor Albatross used so much of his animus magic that he went insane and during a negotiation party he killed many of my ancestors including his own sister Queen Lagoon, and the Skywing princess alongside her partner.”

 

Moon felt her scales turn into ice, she knew she would lose her soul if she used her animus magic but she didn’t think she could go crazy.

“Luckily another ancestor of mine named Fathom stopped him, though after the events of the massacre Fathom's sister, Pearl banned all animus magic when she ascended the throne. It didn’t really matter as Fathom swore to never use his animus magic ever.” Turtle explained, before finding the section on Fathom and which showed a drawing of Fathom.

Moon looked at the drawing before noticing how Turtle looked a lot like Fathom.

Looking back up at Turtle, she noticed he had a strange look on his face.

It looked almost like despair which confused her, yet it also reminded Moon of how she felt when worried she’d become crazy if she’d lost her soul.

 

Moon couldn’t explain it but it almost felt like Turtle understood how she felt.

  Moon was confused as Turtle didn’t know she was an animus, nor did Turtle have Animus magic as far as she knew.

Slightly clenching her claws, Moon wondered if she could ever tell Turtle her confusing feelings but that would mean revealing she was animus and Moon didn’t want that.

 

“Moon, you okay?” Turtle asked Moon, a concerned expression on his face. 

“Yeah, I was just thinking.” Moon explained before deciding to quickly turn the conversation off of her before it even started.

 

“So Fathom never used his animus magic ever again?” Moon asked Turtle who nodded before saying, “Yes, though from what I’ve heard he did break his oath once, before disappearing.”

“What did use his animus magic to do?” Moon asked Turtle.

 

“An animus Nightwing named Darkstalker, they were friends but from what I heard Darkstalker turned evil and Fathom enchanted something to stop Darkstalker.” Turtle explained.

Moon's wings twitched before she asked, hoping she sounded normal, “What did he enchant?” 

Turtle shrugged, “No clue, my teachers I had back at the Seawing palace said no one really knows what he enchanted to defeat Darkstalker.”

 

Before Moon could ask anymore questions, a few screams erupted from outside the library.

Turtle, alongside Kinkajou, Fatespeaker, Sora and Starflight turned their heads to the screaming while Moon shut her eyes in pain at all the noise both mentally and out-loud.

“ Latch on to the calmest mind you can find, you’ll keep from drowning in the waves of panic. ” Moon heard Darkstalker explain, yet she was surprised she could even hear him from all the noise in her mind.

 

As Moon tried searching for a calm mind, a Seawing rushed in and screamed, “She’s here to kill us all!”

Moon felt another wave of fear come from Starflight who feared it was Scarlet.

Starflight, led by Fatespeaker, rushed to the library entrance but before he left the library he turned back to say, “Don’t leave the library, if it’s Scarlet then I want you all to hide.”

 

Moon watched as both Starflight and Fatespeaker left the library.

Moon tried standing but she struggled under the waves of panic coming from the minds of the other students.

 

As she continued to search for a mind to latch onto, she heard Carnelians thoughts which weren’t panicked but more wary.

“ She won’t hurt me, though does she even remember me? ” 

Moon quickly took hold of Carnelian's thoughts before thinking, “ It’s not Scarlet, Carnelian would be angrier if it was. ”

 

After standing up, Moon rushed over to the library entrance with Kinkajou following.

 

“You coming, Turtle?” Kinkajou asked Turtle who shook his head as he rushed over to Sora who was panicking.

“I’m going to stay here and help make sure Sora is safe.” Turtle said.

Moon nodded before rushing out the library with Kinkajou following behind.

 

“Are we hiding or going to see what is causing everyone to freak out?” Kinkajou asked Moon who said, “I want to see what’s causing everyone to panic.” Moon explained before saying, “I figured you’d probably want to hide though.”

Kinkajou shook her head before saying, “No way! I thought you were going to hide but this is way better!”

 

As they continued making their way through the halls Moon heard Kinkajou think, “ I love my clawmate! ”

This made Moon feel a bit braver as they continued their way through the tunnels.

 

As they made their way to the great hall, Moon's mind felt a wave of heat which made her stumble a bit.

  “You okay?” Kinkajou asked Moon who nodded and continued making her way to the Great Hall.

 

As Moon and Kinkajou made it to the Great Hall, they were met with a crowd of other students.

“ They must be also wanting to see what’s causing all the commotion. ” Moon thought, seeing Qibli among the crowd of students.

 

Slipping her way past a few students and over to Qibli, Moon managed to see what was causing all the panic.

It was a Skywing but not Scarlet.

The Skywing had bright, metallically orange scales and piercing blue eyes.

 

Moon noticed that both the Skywings mind and scales seemed to be on fire.

“ It’s the Skywing with firescales. I remember her from when Queen Thorn attacked the stronghold back when Burn was still in control of it. I remember Sunny saying her name was Peril. ” Moon heard Qibli’s mind think.

 

Moon soon managed to see Starflight rush in, but Moon made it over to him and quietly said, “It’s not Scarlet.” 

Starflights mind soon calmed down, but Moon could still feel the wariness.

 

“Peril!” Moon heard Clay exclaim happily as he quickly limped through one of the tunnels with Tsunami following behind.

 

“ Great, she’s here. ” Moon heard Tsunami think as Clay grabbed Perils talons with Moon taking notice how Clay's talons burned at the touch of Perils talons but he seemed to heal at the same time.

“ Clay is Umber's oldest brother right? So he must have firescales. That’s why he can touch her. ” Moon thought as she watched the interaction.

“I couldn’t find Scarlet, I searched everywhere I could.” Peril said, not meeting Clay’s eyes.

 

“That’s okay, you tried your best.” Clay said gently before saying, “Peril, rest for a while. You can stay here at Jade Mountain Academy.”

Moon watched as Tsunami shot Clay a look of shock before saying, “We don’t have any winglets open for her. Where will she even sleep?” 

 

“We can find an empty cave for her to sleep in, and I'm sure we can figure something out regarding a winglet for Peril.” Clay said to Tsunami while Moon heard him think, “ Don’t make her leave, Peril is our friend. ” 

Moon felt a wave of worried thought ripple from the dragonets around her.

 

“ Would that even be a good idea? She was Scarlet's favorite weapon, and we can’t be too sure she’s still working for Scarlet. ” Moon heard Qibli think, while also taking notice of how Peril seemed hopeful when Clay mentioned the idea.

 

Moon also wondered if it was a good idea herself, but she soon felt a  wave of cold fury wash over her, cooling the burning feeling in her mind as she watched Winter, and his sister Icicle.

 

Moon guessed they wanted to see what the commotion was, and judging by Winter and Icicle’s furious expressions, they heard what Clay said.

“You can’t expect us to be at this academy with that murderer!” Winter hissed, shooting a look of disgust at Peril who glared back.

 

“ He can’t really complain, I think almost all of the dragonets here have killed another dragon ” Moon heard Qibli think.

 

“It’s one thing to make us be in this school and share sleeping caves with deceitful Nightwings and thieving Sandwings but you can’t let her be here.” Winter exclaimed angrily.

“She was scarlet's favorite weapon and she killed many Icewings who were trapped in Scarlet's arena! Queen Ruby even banished her from the Skywing Kingdom!” Winter pointed out.

 

Moon felt another wave of ice but this time it came from Icicle when Winter mentioned Scarlet.

“ Scarlet probably killed someone she cared about. ” Moon thought, though she couldn’t tell as Icicle’s mind was just as confusing as Winters

 

“All the more reason to let her stay here.” Clay said calmly, before turning back to Peril.

Winter growled, as Icicle said, “I’ll make sure to write back to Mother and Queen Glacier about this.” 

 

Clay turned back to Peril before saying, “Don’t worry Peril, we’re all happy you’re here.” 

“ That’s not even remotely true, only Clay seems to be happy Peril is here, ” Moon thought, though she wasn’t sure if she could judge Peril as Moon knew she was just as dangerous as Peril was.

 

Chapter 12: Chapter 11: hidden truths.

Summary:

It's Moons first history class, and she learns some forgotten history and comes closer to having the courage to bold out the classroom.

Notes:

I wanted to give fire scales some more lore than what we already had in the books. I also sprinkled some foreshadowing in this chapter.

Chapter 11

As Clay led Peril to the opposite tunnel of the Great Hall, Tsunami watched before turning to the large crowd of dragonets and said, “Everything is fine, everyone just go to your classes.”

“How can you say everything is fine when for all we could know, she could still be working for scarlet!” Winter exclaimed angrily.

 

Moon felt the cold fury grow into a blizzard in Winters mind, it made Moon want to step as far away as she could from Winter.

“Highly unlikely,” Qibli chimed in, “I was there with other Outclaws when we attacked the Sandwing Stronghold when it was still under control of Burn to save Sunny. Peril did save Scarlet from Burns' weirdling tower but she didn’t let Scarlet hurt Sunny.” 

 

Moon looked at Qibli, she could tell from his mind that why he didn’t fully trust Peril, he didn’t think she was still working with Scarlet.

As Moon looked at Qibli she heard Starflight speak up, “Peril wouldn’t do anything to cause harm to Clay, we shouldn’t judge her too quickly. This school is for peace and forgivness after all.”

 

Moon noticed how it seemed Starflight was mainly speaking to Tsunami who looked down, with guilt rising in her mind.

Tsunami let out a sigh before saying, “I hate when you are right Starflight.” 

Moon watched as Starflight smiled before saying, “Alright everyone, you all need to get to class so no one is late.” 

Moon's talons were quickly grabbed by Kinkajou who started pulling her towards one of the tunnels while saying, “Come on Moon! We have a history class to get to!”

 

Kinkajou turned to Winter before saying, “Come on Winter! Aren’t you excited for history class?” 

Moon watched as Kinkajou shifted her scales to match Winters who just frowned, shifting his wings uncomfortably while Icicle had an amused smirk on her face while thinking, “ How cute, a little Rainwing has a crush on my brother. ”

 

Winter and Qibli both followed Kinkajou and Moon down the tunnel to the History cave which was far down inside the mountain.

It was at the intersection of three winding narrow tunnels.

Moon noticed how they were fewer of the fire globes along these tunnels, and how the ones here were shades of orange and blue.

 

As they walked, Moon felt a syringe of nervous thoughts rush through Kinkajou’s mind that was simultaneously being squashed down with positive thoughts.

“You okay Kinkajou?” Moon asked Kinkajou who nodded and gave Moon a smile but Moon noticed that it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

 

“Yeah, I've just struggled with cramped spaces ever since being a Nightwing prisoner.” Kinkajou explained, her scales shifting to have streaks of  a dark blue and some splotches of red.

Moon felt awful for Kinkajou, she wished she could ease the hurt Kinkajou felt.

“Maybe we could ask Sunny to have a few history lessons outside?” Moon suggested, which made Kinkajou smile.

“ Nightwing prisoner? Father did mention Nightwings were kidnapping Rainwings and trying to take the rainforest for themselves. ” Moon heard Winter think as they entered the History cave.

 

“ If Kinkajou was one of the Rainwing prisoners, why is she spending her time around Moon? She’s a Nightwing, even if she grew up in the rainforest, that doesn’t mean she can even be trusted. ” Moon heard Winter think as they sat down but she felt a syringe of guilt running through his mind.

“ Should I really be comparing her to the Nightwings on the volcano? She didn’t help in experimenting on the Rainwings or in killing him. ” 

 

Moon wondered who the ‘ him’ was that Winter mentioned but another wall of ice slammed down in Winter's mind, causing Moon to jump a bit.

“You okay?” Kinkajou asked, confused but Moon just nodded before sitting down.

Trying to distract her mind, Moon looked around the history cave.

The history caves' stone walls were covered with maps, the paper curling up at the edges.

Moon noticed how each of the maps had different borders and years written on them.

Looking around more, Moon took note on how stacks of scrolls sat untidily everywhere, and overflowing the wooden racks provided for them.

 

“ Interesting. If my history teacher's classroom was this messy. The headmistress would’ve had them socially executed. ” Darkstalker mused, seeming to find what he said funny. 

“ Your school sounds awful .” Moon thought, as Qibli sat down beside her.

“ It wasn’t awful, a bit more boring than this school seems to be but not awful. ” Darkstalker explained.

Moon wondered how it could’ve been boring as she watched Webs enter the classroom.

“Alright class, I see most of Jade Winglet is here so we just need to wait for the rest of your winglet and the Gold Winglet to join us.” 

 

Moon liked the idea of the gold winglet joining them as it meant she could see Sora again.

“ Mother was right, I can make friends here. ” Moon thought, as she realized her mother was right.

A few moments later Turtle, Umber and Carnelian walked into the cave and sat down, with the Gold Winglet walking in after.

As Moon let the minds of each dragonet entering the cave slip into the rainstorm in the back of her mind, she noticed how the trick really helped with her headaches.

 

She was grateful Darkstalker showed her the trick as now she could be in a cave with 15 dragonets and not feel like her head was exploding.

Looking at the Gold Winglet, Moon noticed how Sora and Icicle sat far from each other.

Moon also noticed a Nightwing named bigtail sit beside Sora, with Pike walking past Bigtail and almost flicked his tail at Bigtail's snout.

 

Moon realized Bigtail and Pike were clawmates, and she could see it being an uncomfortable night for the both of them

Bigtail seemed to notice Moon and quickly looked away, as if he wanted no one to think they were friends or that Bigtail even knew her.

 

Moon noticed how Carnelian didn’t seem to acknowledge the other Skywing.

He had a horrible scar across his snout, as if he’d been in battle like her.

Hesitantly, Moon let Carnelian's thoughts slip out of the raindrop holding them.

 

“ Flame. ” Carnelian thought with a scoff, “ His mother was with the Talons of Peace, he knows nothing about war. ”

“ Oh, well that explains it. ” Moon thought, looking from Carnelian to Flame.

Flame hid with the underground peace movement instead of fighting in the war.

 

Flame noticed Moon looking at him and he shot her a nasty look.

Moon looked down, focusing on her talons. She wondered where he had gotten that scar from but his mind gave her a queasy feeling just from brushing it.

“ It’s like a dark void. ” Moon thought before feeling a burst of happiness from Kinkajou when she saw a Rainwing with blue and gold scales sitting down next to Winter.

 

Kinkajou grabbed Moon's talons and dragged her over to the Rainwing.

“Tamarin, this is Moon! Moon this is Tamarin!” Kinkajou exclaimed to Moon and Tamarin before turning to Tamarin.

“Tamarin, Moon is our new best friend! She’s super funny and said she’d help me learn to read!”

 

“ In what world am I funny? ” Moon wondered as Kinkajou turned to Moon and asked, “Moon, can Tamarin touch your face?”

“It’s alright, I don’t have to.” Tamarin said, smiling.

Moon noticed the pale film across Tamarin's eyes and remembered that the Rainwing was blind.

 

“You can.” Moon said, her talons touching Tamarin's.

Tamarin's talons brushed against Moon's scales, horns and snout which allowed Moon to get a glimpse of a world without sight.

She felt Tamarin's competence and immense concentration, but she also felt a calmness in Tamarin's mind which made Moon relax herself.

 

“Have you figured anything out yet?” Kinkajou asked Tamarin, who finished touching Moon's face.

“Tamarin has the whole rainforest memorized but of course this is a whole new place.” Kinkajou explained.

 

“ Huh, if that’s true. How come Tamarin never met Moon before, since Moon did say she grew up in the rain forest. ” Moon heard Qibli ponder which made Moon wonder that herself.

Moon slipped Tamarin’s mind out of the rainstorm and heard a few echoes and distant yet familiar scents of the rainforest in Tamarin’s mind.

 

“ I met her once, didn’t I? ” Tamarin thought, “ I think I did when I was much younger, as she sounds familiar to a young dragonet I met when I was looking for some new flowers. ” 

 

Moon soon heard an echoed voice go through Tamarin’s mind, that sounded like Moon’s mother, “ Promise me you won’t ever come here again, or even mention what you’ve found. Please, I can’t lose my dragonet. ” 

Moon realized that Tamarin must’ve found Moon’s borrow when they where much younger than they are now.

 

“Why don’t I remember that though?” Moon thought, as she had never seen Tamarin before.

“Queen Glory arranged for me to come early and spend a few days walking all the tunnels.” Tamarin explained, snapping Moon out of her thoughts.

 Kinkajou soon chimed in, “I bet you know Jade Mountain better than anyone.” 

 

Tamarin chuckled before saying, “I’m getting used to it, it’s useful to have walls in a way.”

“I’m excited for suntime, Moon would you want to join us?” Kinkajou asked Moon who shook her head.

“No thank you.” Moon said, she had seen Rainwings do that before but it still seemed odd to her, she was still racking her brain trying to remember if she ever met Tamarin.

 

“Alright everyone, settle down, it's time for class to start.” Webs said.

Moon felt a few different thoughts go through Web’s mind about today’s lesson, but she noticed a string of guilt running under those thoughts.

She also noticed how Webs seemed to like having his classroom so deep in the mountain and how head avoided eye contact with Turtle.

Right as Webs turned to grab some scrolls, a muscular Sandwing rushed into the cave and sat down next to Tamarin.

‘I didn’t miss anything?” the Sandwing whispered to Tamarin who shook her head.

“No, you got here just in time.” Tamarin explained before turning to Kinkajou and Moon and saying, “This is my clawmate, Onyx.” 

Moon gave Onyx a small wave while Kinkajou said, “Hi, nice to meet you.”

 

Onyx nodded and said, “Nice to meet you too.”

Moon noticed how much older Onyx looked compared to them, and how she had little black diamonds embedded between her pale yellow scales all along her wings.

Moon also noticed a metal amulet around her neck, and how black branches were tattooed on her horns and neck.

 

Onyx’s eyes were sharp and she seemed to be studying everyone in the room, almost like Qibli did but to Moon's surprise she couldn’t hear any of Onyx’s thoughts.

“ Her mind is exactly like Turtle’s. ” Moon thought is surprise.

 

“ Darkstalker, can you read her mind? ” Moon asked Darkstalker.

“ No, not even I can reach into her mind nor can I reach into Turtle’s mind. ” Darkstalker said, puzzled.

“ Do you think they are just good at blocking their minds? ” Moon asked.

“ It doesn’t seem like that’s the case, I have met dragons who were good at blocking their minds but it’s nothing like this. I doubt they are even aware that they are doing it. ” Darkstalker explained.

 

Moon was even more confused, she wondered how Turtle and Onyx seemed to block out both hers and Darkstalkers mind reading.

Moon’s thoughts were interrupted by Webs who cleared his throat.

“Some of you may know me, others may not. I am Webs and I used to be a part of the Talons of Peace.”

“You may have heard of my son Riptide, who is the new leader of whatever the Talons of Peace are becoming. I was one of the gaurdians who helped raise the Dragonets of Destiny. I taught them the history of Pyrrhia and now they’ve asked me to teach it to you.”

 

Webs turned to one of the messy racks of scrolls before saying, “So we shall start at the beginning with the scorching.”

“I have a question.” Icicle interjected.

Webs looks a bit confused as he turned to Icicle and said, “Already? Today’s lesson hasn’t even started yet.”

“It’s about the Skywing with firescales,” Icicle pressed on, ignoring what Web’s had said, “Has there been any dragons like that in history? Aren’t they terribly dangerous, as even frost breath doesn’t work on her.”

 

“Well, why yes they can be. They are only dangerous if you accidentally touch them.” Webs said, trying to explain how firescales worked but Icicle interrupted him once more.

“So how have tribes dealt with dragons like her in the past? Like are there ways to kill her?” Icicle asked with a dark glint in her eyes that made Moon want to hide.

 

“That's a rather gruesome topic for our first day, and completely unrelated to today’s lesson.” Webs tried saying but he was interrupted again, this time by Onyx.

 

“I’d like to know more about Thorn.” Onyx said.

“You mean Queen Thorn?” Qibli snapped but Onyx ignored him and continued asking, “It’s unprecedented right?” 

“There’s never been a queen in history who hasn’t descended from a royal family right?” 

“That’s not exactly true, there’s been a few cases in Pyrrhia history of queens not being from royalty.” Webs tried explaining until Qibli cut him off.

 

“Queen Thorn is the best queen the Sandwings ever had, especially compared to the three Sandwing sister.” Qibli flared loyally.

“If you think you could do better, why not challenge her for the throne?” 

“That’s my point, if someone who isn’t even royalty have the throne, does that mean any Sandwing could be queen?” Onyx asked sharply.

 

Moon watched as Onyx turned back to Webs and asked, “Could that happen in the other tribes too? Like say for instance the Nightwings get tired of having a Rainwing for a queen and they find a new one who is a Nightwing.”

“Queen Glory is the reason the Nightwings aren’t roasting on a volcano!” Kinkajou exclaimed, streaks of red lined her scales.

“She’s an amazing queen, and I doubt the Nightwings could find anyone better!” 

 

This time Bigtail stood up and spat, “We only accepted that Rainwing as our queen so we didn’t die on a volcano!”

Bigtails pointed a talon at Moon and exclaimed, “I bet mumbles over there could be a better queen than some lazy Rainwing and she is hardly a Nightwing at all!” 

 

Moon felt another spike of anger in Kinkajou’s mind and even from Qibli and Sora, which made Moon wish even harder that she had the courage to just bolt out of the cave.

“That’s enough! Everyone sit down right now!” Webs exclaimed, flapping his wings and Moon felt his mind spinning.

“We are not here to argue, we are here to learn about history.” Webs snapped, clearly agitated as he grabbed a bunch of scrolls and shoved them into Pike’s talons.

“Go give these out.” Webs ordered, before taking a deep breath and sighing.

Pike mumbles a “yes sir.” before going around and handing out a scroll to each dragonet.

 

“Now on with today’s lesson. Over five thousand years ago, before there were even tribes or kingdoms. Back when scavengers swarmed over the whole continent.” Webs explained before saying, “Now please unroll your scrolls to the first map.”

As Moon took her scroll from Turtle before unrolling it to the first map.

Looking over the map, Moon realized that she completely forgot about the scroll on animus touched objects in the library due to all the chaos from Peril’s arrival.

 

“ Great. Now how am I supposed to learn more about dream visitors? ” Moon thought with a frown

“ You could ask the dragon who made them. ” Darkstalker said, amused.

“ Oh, I didn’t think to ask you. Sorry Darkstalker. ” Moon said apologetically but she was also slightly embarrassed. 

“ No need for apologies, but there isn’t much I can tell you other than I made the dream visitors for me and my two friends Clearsight and Fathom so we would always have a way to reach each other. Well before they put me under the mountain. ” Darkstalker explained solemnly.

“ I actually did want to ask you about that. How did they seal you away? Turtle mentioned that Fathom enchanted something, but he didn’t know what it was. ” Moon explained, she wondered what could stop a dragon that made themselves immortal.

“ It was a bracelet. ” Darkstalker said quietly.

“ A bracelet? ” Moon asked, confused.

“ Yes, I believe that Fathom enchanted it to make me go to sleep but I'm not sure what caused it to stop working. ” Darkstalker explained.

 

“ When did you first wake up? ” Moon asked.

“ I believe it was six months ago.” Darkstalker said.

Moon’s eyes widened a bit, she remembered the huge comet that passed.

“ I think the bracelet was broken because of a comet that passed around six months ago. Which was when you said you woke up. ” Moon said.

“ Makes sense, most animus enchanted objects can lose strength over time if they aren’t enchanted to be indestructible. ” Darkstalker explained.

 

Moon figured Darkstalker was right, as she didn’t really have any knowledge on animus magic besides that fact she can lose her soul.

“ I actually want to ask you a question, Moon, why did everyone panic when that firescales came? ” Darkstalker asked.

“ Peril? It’s because if she touches us we can burn to a crisp. ” Moon explained, confused as she figured Darkstalker would know that.

 

“ She’s eight isn’t she? She should have learned to harness that fire by now. ” Darkstalker asked, confused.

“ What do you mean, how can Peril harness the fire in her scales? ” Moon asked, she never heard of anyone doing that before.

 

“ Back during my time, any Skywing born with firescales were sent to a mountain near the Skywing Kingdom, and at that mountain they were taught to harness the extra fire they had which caused them to have fire scales. ” Darkstalker explained.

“ Once they learned to harness that extra fire they could control how hot their scales got, and they even managed to make their fire breath much hotter. ”

Moon was surprised at learning that, she knew Skywings had hot fire breath but it being much stronger made her a bit nervous,

 

“ Why did they stop doing that? ” Moon asked, as it seemed no one knew about this.

“ From what I know, after the Seawing Massacre and the death of Princess Sunset. Any Skywing dragonet that was born with firescales, or animus magic were killed out of fear for the harm they could cause. They must’ve erased the knowledge of what happened at the mountain. ” Darkstalker mused.

Moon wondered what Peril would think if she knew she could harness the fire in her scales.

“ Is there any way Peril could learn that? ” Moon asked Darkstalker.

“I don’t know, she would need to find a dragon who knows that knowledge. ” Darkstalker explained.

Moon felt bad for Peril, knowledge that could help her was sadly lost due to fear.

After class was over, Moon said goodbye to Tamarin and Kinkajou who were going to go outside for suntime.

Leaving the history cave, Moon decided she could try and visit Stonemover since she had time.

 

Going back to her sleeping-cave, Moon grabbed her map from the scroll rack and proceeded to head through the tunnels to where Stonemover was.

While walking Moon heard Qibli’s voice, “Hey Moon, wait up.” 

Turning around, Moon saw Qibli walking over to her, a smile on his face.

 

“Mind if I walk with you?” Qibli asked, though seeing into Qibli’s mind, Moon noticed he didn’t even know where she was going but that he just wanted to walk with her.

“Sure, I was just going to go see Stonemover, I wanted to ask him some questions about the Nightwing tribe.” Moon said, she didn’t want to tell Qibli that she was going to ask Stonemover about Nightwing powers as Moon worried Qibli would quickly discover Moon’s powers,

 

“Stonemover? Isn’t he Sunny's dad?” Qibli asked.

Moon nodded while she heard his mind think, “ He was Queen Thorn’s former partner, but he left her due to fear of his animus magic hurting her. ” 

Moon could tell Qibli didn’t fully trust Stonemover but he still wanted to walk with Moon.

 

As they walked, Moon heard Qibli’s mind run through different things he could talk to her about, with a few of them being different ways to make her laugh, with a few others being ways to make her like him more.

Moon decided she could try talking first, “Are you alright? You seemed upset in history class.” 

Qibli nodded before saying, “Yeah, I was just angry at Onyx. She doesn’t know how hard Queen Thorn had been working to rebuild the Sandwing Kingdom.”

Moon saw flashes of Queen Thorn in Qibli’s mind, she was Queen Thorn working tirelessly, with Qibli and a few others trying to convince her to sleep.

 

“I’m sorry, hopefully Onyx and others will see Queen Thorn as a good queen for the Sandwing Kingdom.” Moon said gently, which made Qibli smile.

“Hopefully she and many others in the Sandwing Kingdom will.”

Moon smiled back before Qibli asked, “Why did Bigtail say you were hardly a Nightwing when he was arguing with Kinkajou?” 

 

Moon looked back down at the map, trying to hide the hurt in her eyes, “It’s because I didn’t grow up on the volcano like he and the other Nightwings did.”

Qibli gave her a confused look, “That doesn’t make sense, wouldn’t they still consider you a Nightwing?”

Moon shook her head, “No, they don’t since I didn’t suffer like they did.”

Moon felt a string of thoughts run through Qibli’s head, many of them didn’t understand the logic of the Nightwing tribe.

Brushing his wing against hers, Qibli said, “You shouldn’t be treated differently, you are still a Nightwing.” 

“That’s like saying I’m not a Sandwing just because I didn’t pick a side during the Sandwing Succession war.”

 

Moon gave him a small smile, “Thanks Qibli, but I doubt the Nightwing tribe would see it that way.”

Qibli returned her smile with a one back before saying, “If it makes you feel any better, I think you’re a much better Nightwing than the other three here.”

 

As they continued walking, they reached the entrance of Stonemover's cave, with Moon hearing a few of Stonemover's thoughts, “ Lost another scale today..She visited me at least..I’m glad her idea is working for her.. ”

 

Before Moon took a step inside the cave, she heard Darkstalker speak, in an almost hesitant voice.

“ Moon, I might want to warn you. You might learn some things about yourself and your mother when you go inside there. Especially with Qibli being with you. ”

 

“ What will I learn? ” Moon asked Darkstalker.

“ It’s best I don’t explain, as I think it’s best you learn for yourself but I just wanted to give you the heads up. ” Darkstalker explained.

“ Thanks for the heads up. ” Moon said as she and Qibli stepped into the cave.

Notes:

I had the idea that Tamarin met Moon at one point when they were much younger, and it gets explained more in later chapters.

Chapter 13: Not a chapter, just an update:P

I just wanted to make a small update, I'm maybe gonna take a break from writing for a few days, I think the all-nighters might be getting to me -n-

I've been trying to get chapters out as quickly as I can as I want the people reading to not have to wait too long for the next chapter, so i'm just making this update to give the readers of this fanfic a heads up. 

Chapter 14: Chapter 12

Summary:

Qibli learns the truth about Moon before accidentally uncovering some Nightwing history

Notes:

I slept well for the past days, and my brain was buzzing on wanting to get chapter 12 complete.

Chapter 12

As Moon and Qibli stepped into the cave they were met with a Nightwing, who Moon guessed was Stonemover, laying down.

“Is he asleep?” Qibli whispered before jumping back a bit when Stonemover lifted his head a bit.

 

“Hello? I didn’t expect to get visitors this soon.” Stonemover said, his voice seemed tired.

Stepping closer, Moon noticed how Stonemover’s scales on his back legs, shoulders, and wing edges seemed to be made of stone.

“ Is he turning to stone? ” Moon wondered, though as she brushed into Stonemovers mind she saw how miserable his life was.

 

Moon saw how Stonemover lost his tribe, the love of his life and any bright future he had due to him using his animus magic so much.

“ Will I be like him? ” Moon wondered with a shiver.

Moon watched as Stonemover looked at her, but to her surprise his eyes widened and a dragon much older than Moon flashed in his mind.

 

“Brightseer? Is that you?” Stonemover asked, but he paused and looked at Moon a bit closer before saying, “You’re not Brightseer, you're way too young and Brightseer didn’t have mind reading.”

Moon's eyes widened, as she took a step away from Stonemover while Qibli looked at her confused before turning to Stonemover and asking, “What do you mean? Who is Brightseer? And what are you talking about, Moon doesn’t have mind reading?” 

 

Stonemover sighed, like answering the questions would be too much work, “Brightseer was the daughter of Ambitious who was the former Nightwing Queen Battlewinner's uncle. Though I wasn’t really supposed to tell anyone but since Battlewinner is dead I guess it won’t hurt to say the truth now.”

Moon and Qibli looked at each other confused before Moon turned back to Stonemover and asked, “Why couldn’t you tell anyone?”

 

“Ambitious married another Nightwing named Stargazer who was an animus. Battlewinner's mother Bluemoon grew paranoid over Stargazer having dragonets with animus magic, so in order to protect his eggs, Ambitious swapped his eggs with another Nightwings.” Stonemover explained.

“How do you know all this?” Qibli asked, his thoughts running through different ways Stonemover would know this.

 

Moon noticed how Stonemover seemed a bit hesitant to continue but he did, “I was friends with Brightseer, she had learned the truth by pressing Ambitious closest confidant. She had found me while I was still working on the tunnels from the rainforest to the volcano and cried to me about it.”

“Alright, but what did you mean when you said Brightseer didn’t have mind reading?” Qibli pressed, while Moon hoped Stonemover wouldn’t say anything.

 

“Well, during my time making the tunnels I wondered why Nightwings stopped having mind reading or prophecy powers, so one day I used my animus magic to tell me why we stopped having our powers.” Stonemover explained.

“I discovered that our powers were connected to the moon, and Nightwings with mind reading powers had silver scales on the outer corner of our eyes that are always shaped like tear drops.” 

Moon watched as Qibli looked at her, and the silver scales near her eyes, and he quickly took a step back. 

“You’re a mind reader? Can you see the future too?” Qibli asked sharply, but Moon saw how he was starting to panic and wonder if Moon saw all of his secrets.

 

Moon didn’t know what to say, as she opened and closed her mouth a few times before letting out a small sigh and saying, “Yes, I can.” 

Qibli took another step back, his mind in a whirlwind, “ How is this possible? Everyone said Nightwings lost their powers. Was the dragonets of Destiny lying to us? ”

 

Moon felt her heart break when she saw how Qibli looked at her, while thinking, “ Was she secretly laughing at me, thinking I was stupid over my thoughts on wanting to befriend her? ”

“No! I really like you, I don’t think you're stupid!” Moon exclaimed, trying to explain to Qibli that she thought he was great but Qibli backed away towards the cave entrance.

 

“I-I need to go.” Qibli said, before rushing out of the cave.

Moon wanted to call out to him, and plead with him to let her explain but she didn’t, instead she just turned to Stonemover who gave her a look of pity.

Moon mumbled a goodbye to Stonemover and went to her sleeping cave.

As she laid on her moss pile, Moon felt tears well up in her eyes.

“ I should have gone to visit Stonemover alone, then I wouldn’t have lost my friend. ” Moon thought, as tears slipped from her eyes.

 

As the day went by, Moon stayed in her moss bed, pretending to be asleep once more whenever Kinkajou came in.

After a while, Moon felt her stomach grumble in hunger and Moon decided to try and sneak into the Prey Center that night and get some fruit.

 

As she stepped out of her sleeping cave, Moon crept through the tunnels and made her way to the Prey Center.

Walking over to the fruit pile, Moon grabbed a few mangoes and started eating them.

While eating, Moon wondered if maybe tomorrow she could talk to Qibli.

 

“ Would he even listen to me? ” Moon wondered, but she hoped he would.

“ Now that he knows you can see the future, you could warn him about the vision you had. ” Darkstalker said.

“ What if he doesn’t believe me? ” Moon asked, before wondering, “ What if it makes him hate more than he does already? ”

 

“ I can promise you little Moon, Qibli doesn’t hate you. He is just confused as for months now he knew Nightwings didn’t have powers and now he knows that they can have powers. ” Darkstalker explained.

Moon wished she could believe Darkstalker but she remembered looking at Qibli’s face, how he looked scared of her.

 

“ I hope you are right. ” Moon said, eating one of her mangoes.

{Qibli’s POV}

Qibli laid on his moss pile, in his and Winter's sleeping cave.

His mind was replaying when he learned of Moon's mind reading, and her ability to see the future.

Qibli thought back to what Stonemover said about Nightwing powers being tied to the moon.

 

“ I guess that would make sense, Nightwings do have some markings like under their wings that match the night sky. ” Qibli thought, though he was surprised that the Nightwing tribe didn’t know that.

“ Moon must’ve gotten her powers due to being born in the rainforest. ” Qibli wondered, since all the other Nightwings were on a volcano, the skies would be too polluted for any Nightwing egg to be under the moon.

 

Qibli’s eyes went to Winter who was sleeping on the rock ledge.

He knew Winter would freak out if he discovered Moon's powers, so Qibli decided not to say anything to Winter about it.

“ Should I tell Sunny and the other Dragonets of Destiny? Would they even believe me? ” Qibli wondered.

 

He knew Tsunami would most definitely not believe him, nor would Starflight but Sunny and Clay might.

“ Should I even do that? Is it even my decision to tell them that or should it be Moon's decision? ”

Qibli knew that Moon would most likely not tell anyone, which made sense as Moon definitely seemed to hate attention.

 

While laying there, Qibli thought back to the information Stonemover told them about the Nightwing named Brightseer.

“ Since Brightseer was Ambitious’s daughter, she was royalty right? Stonemover did say Brightseer knew who her parents were so why didn’t she challenge the former Nightwing queen for the throne? ” Qibli wondered, though he also found it strange that Stonemover mistook Moon for Brightseer at first.

 

“ Could Moon be a descendant of Brightseer? ” Qibli wondered, but he wasn’t even sure if Brightseer had dragonets.

Getting up, Qibli slipped out of his sleeping cave and made his way through the tunnels until he found Stonemovers cave once more.

 

Walking in, Qibli saw Stonemover but he could tell that the older dragon wasn’t asleep.

Qibli watched as Stonemover’s eyes opened before noticing Qibli.

“You’ve returned.” Stonemover said to Qibli who stepped closer.

“I have a few questions about the dragon Brightseer, the one you talked about earlier.” Qibli said.

Stonemover gave Qibli a mildly confused look before asking, “What do you want to know about her?”

“Did she have any dragonets? And why didn’t she challenge Battlewinner’s mother for the throne?” Qibli asked.

 

Stonemover’s mildly confused face grew and Qibli quickly said, “My friend from earlier wanted to know, but she’s pretty shy.”

Qibli tried to not feel guilty for using Moon as an excuse, but he made a mental note to apologize for it later.

 

Stonemover let out a tired sigh before saying, “Brightseer had one dragonet, but out of fear of Battlewinner finding out about what Ambitious had done, she never told me the dragonets name. I think she thought I’d tell Battlewinner, if I was ever caught with Thorn.

Qibli frowned a bit, he didn’t like that Stonemover caused Thorn so much heartache but for now he would put that aside.

“Why didn’t Brightseer ever challenge Battlewinner’s mother for the throne? Or was Battlewinner already queen?” Qibli asked.

He knew nieces of the queen could challenge for the throne, but cousins of the queen couldn’t challenge for the throne.

 

Stonemover let out a small chuckle, “Brightseer never cared for things like being queen, she just wanted to live in peace. The last time I saw her before I left, she had her daughter marry one of Queen Battlewinner's top advisors.”

“Who was it?” Qibli asked, he hoped he maybe could figure out if Brightseer possibly had a granddaughter.

 

Qibli watched Stonemover look up in thought, “I think it was going to be a Nightwing named Blackout, but he was killed by Battlewinner, so instead Brightseer had her daughter marry Morrowseer.”

Qibli’s eyes widened, he heard of Morrowseer from Thorn and how she was looking for him since he was the reason Sunny was taken by the Talons of Peace.

“ Could Moon be Morrowseer’s daughter? ” Qibli wondered, but he questioned if Morrowseer even had a dragonet.

 

“Stonemover, would you know if they possibly had a dragonet?” Qibli asked, but Stonemover shook his head.

“I left a few days after Brightseer told me that. I wouldn’t know. The only reason I even remember any of this is because I enchanted myself to keep all my memories before enchanting my scales to turn to stone.” Stonemover explained.

Qibli frowned, he felt like he hit a stone wall before realizing that Starflight or Fatespeaker might know.

“Alright, well thank you for telling me. Have a good night.” Qibli said before leaving the cave.

 

As Qibli walked back to his cave, he wondered what would mean if Moon was Brightseer’s granddaughter.

While walking, a thought went through Qibli’s head, “ What if Moon isn’t Brightseer’s granddaughter but another Nightwing dragonet at the school or even in the Nightwing tribe? ” 

Qibli woke up the next morning, he skipped going to the Prey Center as he knew he didn’t have any much time before he had to go to his first class.

Making his way to the library, Qibli was glad to see Starflight and Fatespeaker at the Library desk but he frowned when he saw Tsunami there too.

 

Walking over, Qibli watched as Starflight’s ears twitched a bit before turning to Qibli’s direction with Fatespeaker and Tsunami following in suite.

 “Hi Qibli, what are you doing here so early?” Fatespeaker asked.

 

“I have a question about Morrowseer. I heard from Stonemover that he had a mate and they could’ve had a dragonet together. Is that true?” Qibli asked.

Tsunami shuddered before saying, “Anyone who could possibly have a dragonet with Morrowseer must be out of their mind. If they did have a dragonet, it’s probably just as arrogant and manipulative as he was.”

Qibli hoped that it wasn’t true, especially if the dragonet is Moon.

“Why do you want to know about it anyway?” Starflight asked curiously.

Qibli’s wings twitched a bit before saying, “Well, I learned from Stonemover that Morroseer married a dragon who was the daughter of a Nightwing named Brightseer. She was the daughter of a Nightwing prince named Ambitious, Brightseer was also the cousin of Battlewinner.”

 

Qibli watched as, both Tsunami and Fatespeaker's eyes widened in shock, while Starflight's mouth opened in shock.

“What? How is that even possible?” Fatespeaker asked while Starflight said, “There’s no record of Battlewinner even having a cousin.”

 

“That’s because Ambitious swapped his egg with another Nightwing out of fear of Battlewinner's mother, Bluemoon killing them out of fear that they would have animus magic.” Qibli explained, before realizing that Ambitious’s fears for his dragonets safety were true, but his stomach dropped as he realized that Brightseer’s daughter, or even her daughters dragonet could have animus magic.

“Did you say animus magic?” Tsunami asked, her shock turning to a serious look.

 

Qibli nodded before saying, “Stonemover explained that Ambitious married a Nightwing named Stargazer who had animus magic.”

Qibli took note of how Tsunami and Starflight seemed to be getting the exact same idea he had.

 

“We need to figure out if Morrowseer had a dragonet with Brightseer’s daughter. If he did then it’s possible that this dragonet could have animus magic.” Starflight said.

Qibli watched as Tsunami nodded before saying, “Agree, I’ll have Sunny use the dreamvisitor to talk to Glory and see if she can find anything out from the Nightwing tribe.

 

Tsunami then turned to Qibli before saying, “You need to go to class. I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

“What? I can help, and I even have a few theories on who it is.” Qibli exclaimed but Tsunami shooed him out of the library while saying, “You are to learn, not to help us with some Nightwing conspiracy.”

 

Qibli sighed before he made his way up through the tunnels to his first class, he remembered the tunnels that he and Winter took.

While walking up there, he wondered if Moon was Brightseer’s granddaughter would that make Moon an animus dragon?

 

“ If that’s true, why didn’t Moon use her animus magic to make me forget about her Nightwing powers. ” Qibli wondered.

When he walked into the cave Tsunami had them in yesterday, he saw Kinkajou talking to Moon and Turtle about something involving frogs that make you see things,

 

Taking a seat beside Winter and Carnelian who was talking to Umber, Qibli noticed Moon quickly looking at him before looking away.

Qibli wanted to talk to her, but he wasn’t even sure what to say.

His eyes looked at the tear shaped scales at the outer corner of her eyes, and he couldn’t believe something he found beautiful would make him run from a dragonet he thought was his friend.

Chapter 15: Chapter 13: Visions and Broken Promises

Summary:

Moons secrets get revealed to her friends, and Moon breaks a promise she made to her mother.

Notes:

This chapter was rewritten as many in the comments of the chapter expressed a much better way for the chapter to go.

Credit for the rewrite goes to Mindhopper, Three_Moonwatchers, and Friendlier_Ghost. So anyone who reads the chapter please know that they are the ones who expressed the good ideas for the chapter^^

 

I kinda head cannoned Kinkajou having some anger towards the Nightwing tribe, so she a bit rude when speaking to Mightyclaws.

Chapter 13

Moon tried paying attention in her classes, but she wanted to try and talk to Qibli but Moon wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.

Anytime Moon tried walking up to Qibli, her mind was drowned by a river of thoughts from Qibli, with some being on how he should talk to her but others were just Qibli not wanting her to see into his mind.

 

“ Maybe I should just give him some space for a while. ” Moon thought during her first class, Instead of Tsunami having their discussion class it was Clay.

“Where’s Tsunami at?” Turtle asked, a bit confused as for the first week, Tsunami was the one having their discussion class.

 

“Tsunami had to talk to Sunny about some important things, so she needed me to cover for her.” Clay explained but Moon heard a string of nervous thoughts going through Clay’s mind, “ Hopefully nothing bad will happen when we found out if Morrowseer did have a dragonet. ”

Moon was a bit confused, she had heard the name Morrowseer in her mothers thoughts and seen flashes of him, but Moon assumed it was her mothers father.

 

Moon remembered asking about Morrowseer, but her mother told her to never bring him up and Moon noticed how her mother even seemed to be learning to block out some of her thoughts from Moon's mindreading.

“ Maybe he wasn’t Mother’s father, maybe he was someone dangerous like Queen Battlewinner was. ” Moon wondered.

Moon wondered if Morrowseer’s dragonet was a danger to Jade Mountain Academy and that’s why the Dragonets of Destiny seemed so worried, “ What if that dragonet is the cause of the visions I've been having at night. ”

 

After a few minutes, Tsunami quickly came back in and apologized for being late, “Sorry guys! I had to speak with Sunny for a bit.”

Moon noticed how Tsunami was having the same worried thoughts as Clay was, but hers were mixed with frustration, “ Why does Sunny have to wait until Glory’s suntime! This is urgent, and for all we know some Nightwing animus could be plotting the downfall of the school! ”

 

Moon felt her blood turn to ice, at Tsunami’s thoughts, she worried Tsunami had discovered that Moon was an animus.

“ How is that possible? Did Qibli figure it out and tell the Dragonets of Destiny? If so, why didn’t he use my name? ” Moon thought, before looking up at Qibli.

Moon watched as Qibli noticed her looking and a wave of guilt and speculation crashed into Moon.

Moon’s fears of Qibli discovering she’s an animus would start to feel like they were reality until Darkstalker spoke up, “ Moon, calm down. Qibli doesn’t think you’re an animus. He may suspect it a bit, but to him it’s only a small possibility. ”

 

“ What’s making it only a small possibility? How long until it becomes a big possibility for him?! ” Moon snapped before quickly apologizing, “ Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. ”

“ Apology accepted, ” Darkstalker said before continuing, “ The main reason Qibli doesn’t fully believe you’re an animus is because he questions why you didn’t erase his memories of him finding out about your Nightwing powers. ”

 

Moon was a bit puzzled, “ Why does that stop him? ” Moon asked.

She heard Darkstalker let out a groan before saying, “ It stops him, as he only knows of dragons with animus magic using them to fix any problem they have. Since you never used your animus magic on him, he has no full proof to believe you’re an animus. ” 

Moon’s eyes widened a bit, as she realized Darkstalker had a point.

 

“ You’re right, maybe I should just be extra careful and hopefully no one will find out about my animus magic and maybe I can talk to Qibli when everything calms down. ” Moon said to Darkstalker.

“ Yeah, we can go with that. ” Darkstalker said, in a tone that confused Moon but she decided to not ask and just focus on the class.

 

Once class was over, Moon stood up and started heading back to her sleeping cave to go put them up, but Kinkajou caught up to her.

 

“Moon! Don’t you want to go check out the art room or maybe the music room?” Kinkajou asked, but Moon heard her thoughts, “ Moon has been down all day and even yesterday. Maybe I can cheer her up! ”

Moon felt her heart break a bit, as she didn’t want to upset or worry Kinkajou, but Moon didn’t feel like wanting to go visit the music cave as it would be too loud, but she figured maybe the art cave would be alright.

 

“Alright, we can go check out the art cave.” Moon said to Kinkajou, whose concerned look turned into a huge grin.

Grabbing Moon's talons, Kinkajou dragged Moon to the art cave while saying, “Great! I really wanted to go there yesterday but you seemed tired.”

Moon followed Kinkajou down the tunnels and into the art cave.

 

Looking around, Moon was amazed at how the cave looked.

The art cave was flooded in sunlight that was coming from holes in the walls ceiling.

Moon noticed how there were art supplies tucked into every crevice, and how there were brushes, all different colors of paint, blank scrolls, clay for sculpting, glass, and metal.

Moon also noticed wood, beads, and even a loom and it seemed someone had started working on a tapestry. 

 

There were small wooden dragon statues perched on outcropping on the walls.

Looking closer, Moon noticed how the little wooden statues had green, blue or orange glass beads for eyes.

Moon wondered who had made them as there were too many to have been made in the last two days.

Looking up Moon was amazed to see a giant metal statue made of shining copper wires wound across the ceiling.

Moon noticed how it looked  like flames, and the golden light coming from the holes in the wall only helped cement the idea.

 

“This place is amazing!” Kinkajou exclaimed before taking notice of another Nightwing in the cave with them.

Moon also noticed the Nightwing, she had been too invested in the art to even hear his thoughts.

 

The Nightwing in the cave was named Mightyclaws, he was around Moon age and while he was outwardly friendly, his mind had some darkness in him.

Once while Moon and her mother were walking past him, she heard him think, “ If my mother had any spine, she would have hidden me in the rainforest too. ”

Moon sometimes noticed how Mightyclaws wished he had a mother like Scretkeeper who would risk everything for their dragonet.

 

Moon felt a wave of unease come from Kinkajou’s mind when Mightyclaws looked at them.

“Hi, are you both here to paint?” Mightyclaws asked, while thinking, “ I can never figure out what to say to her, and why does a Rainwing have to be with her? I already deal with the other Rainwings here giving me looks of distrust, well besides the gold and blue one. She seems friendly enough. ”

 

“We are.” Kinkajou said with a frown, before grabbing a canvas, some paint and paint brushes before going to one of the tables,

Moon looked from Kinkajou to Mightyclaws who gave her a puzzled look while sweeping a wing towards the art supplies.

 

Moon gave him a small nod while walking over to the art supplies.

Looking through the art supplies, Moon wasn’t sure what to grab, so she just grabbed a few paint brushes, some blue, green, white and grown paint.

Moon took them to the table and placed them down beside Kinkajou’s art supplies before grabbing a black canvas for herself.

 

As Moon started painting, she wasn’t sure if she should try talking to Kinkajou as she felt a string of angry thoughts something from Kinkajou’s mind.

“ Why does he have to act like it’s an annoyance that me and Moon are here? He should be glad Queen Glory didn’t punish his whole tribe for what they did to me and the other Rainwings they kidnapped. ”

 

Kinkajou noticed Moon looking at her and gave her a smile, while Moon heard Kinkajou think, “ At least one of the few nice Nightwings is my best friend. Maybe as the Nightwings live in the rain forest more will become friendly. ”

 

Moon smiled a bit as she turned her head back to her canvas before dipping her paintbrush into the blue to paint a night sky.

Moon knew she wasn’t that good at art, as when she lived in the rainforest, she would try drawing in the mud on rainy days while waiting for her mother.

“ Maybe I could learn to get better at art here. ” Moon wondered as she dipped another paint brush into some green paint and start working on some trees.

 

“Are you two enjoying your classes so far?” Mightyclaws asked, not looking up from his painting.

Moon was a bit surprised at Mightyclaws talking to them, as she could tell from his mind that Mightyclaws didn’t really like either of them but looking closer Moon saw that Mightyclaws would rather talk to them then sit in silence.

 

“Our classes have been good so far.” Moon said quietly, while Kinkajou focused on her painting which seemed to be a painting of both her and Moon.

“It’s been fine, our Winglet is pretty great.” Kinkajou said flatly, while thinking, “ We don’t have any dragons plotting to kidnap anyone and experiment on them. ”

 

Moon was surprised at Kinkajou’s angry thoughts, as she knew the Rainwing was usually happy.

“ I guess it makes sense, as Kinkajou was kidnapped and trapped on the volcano for weeks. ”

Mightyclaws nodded, while saying, “So is mine, my clawmate is a Mudwing Newt. He’s pretty nice.” 

 

Moon nodded, as she continued working on her painting.

She wasn’t sure how to continue the conversation, and neither did Mightyclaws, judging from his thoughts and Kinkajou clearly didn’t want to talk so they just sat in silence.

 

After a while Moon had finished her painting, as she put her paint brush down, she looked at Kinkajou’s which was completely finished and Moon found it amazing.

The painting had Moon and Kinkajou sitting together sharing mangoes.

 

“It looks amazing.” Moon said softly to Kinkajou, who smiled before looking at Moon's painting and wincing a bit.

Moon looked at her painting which was the rainforest at night, with the three moons being completely full.

 

Moon knew it wasn’t exactly good, as the moons were very wobbly, and the trees looked very misshapen.

“It’s..something else.” Kinkajou said, trying to be polite.

Moon chuckled a bit, before saying, “It’s okay, I know it doesn’t look too great.”

Kinkajou smiled a bit before saying, “Really? Because if I’m being honest, it looks like a dragonet that’s barely a year old made it.” 

 

Moon laughed a bit, before saying, “Ouch, that’s a bit harsh.” 

Kinkajou smiled, draping a wing around Moon before saying, “Don’t worry, I’m sure you will improve while being here.”

Moon noticed Mightyclaws had finished his painting, which was the volcano.

Turning to Mightyclaws, Moon wanted to say his painting was good but a wave of bitterness washed over her as Mightyclaws walked towards the cave entrance.

“ It will never be fair, why couldn’t she suffer with the rest of us? She actually has friends, even with the tribe we tried taking over. ”

 

Moon watched as Mightyclaws left, her smile disappeared.

She tried not to be hurt by Mightyclaws's thoughts, as he was probably struggling to make friends here and it must’ve upset him seeing her and Kinkajou getting along.

Moon turned to Kinkajou before saying, “We should go to the history cave so we aren’t late.” 

Kinkajou nodded, “Yeah, we should.”

 

As Moon and Kinkajou walked to the history cave, Moon felt a sharp pain shoot through her head, before feeling a wave of blistering heat wash over her.

Moon closed her eyes as flashes of the history cave blowing up appeared, alongside flashes of Kinkajou on fire while Qibli and Winter laid burnt and dead.

 

“Moon! What’s wrong?” Kinkajou exclaimed, concerned for her friend, but all Moon could say was, “Don’t go in the history cave!” 

Moon felt a wave of ice wash coming from one of the tunnels.

 

Turning her head, Moon saw Winter and Turtle walking out of one of the caves, before looking at Moon and Kinkajou confused.

“Is something going on here?” Winter asked while walking towards the history cave, while Turtle just looked concerned.

 

Moon felt another flash going through her mind, this time of Winter being burnt to a crisp.

“Stop! Don’t go in there!” Moon cried, grabbing Winters Talons.

“ She’s touching me, I shouldn’t let. I shouldn’t even want this! ” Moon heard Winter think before hearing Qibli’s voice.

 

“What’s going on here?” Qibli asked before noticing Moon being in pain.

“ Did Winter do this? No, he looks just as confused as Kinkajou and Turtle do. Could she be having a vision? ”

Moon looked at Qibli and nodded, before saying, “The history cave isn’t safe! No one can go in there!” 

 

Qibli looked from Moon to the history cave but before he could say anything, Carnelian walked through the tunnel and looked at them confused as she headed into the history cave.

Qibli quickly stopped her, “Carnelian don’t go in there!” 

 

Carnelian shot Qibli a confused look before asking, “Why?”

Qibli looked at Moon for a moment before turning back to Carnelian before saying, “Um..there’s a bad smell in there.”

 

Carnelian frowned before saying, “I don’t smell anything, and Skywings have a great sense of smell.”

Moon watched Carnelian step over to the History Cave causing Moon to feel another flash of the vision, with Carnelian being burnt to a crisp.

“Stop! Everyone, don't go into the history cave! No one needs to be in there!” 

 

Moon felt the flashes of the vision, slowly stop but Moon wasn’t paying attention to her vision now, instead she was watching in horror as Bigtail and Tamarin stepped out of the history cave.

Moon felt waves of fear and confusion coming from the minds of Tamarin and Bigtail as they walked over to Kinkajou and Moon.

 

“What just happened?” Bigtail exclaimed, before looking at the others.

“I’m not sure, but I don’t really feel like entering the history cave.” Tamarin said, her voice filled with confusion.

 

Moon looked at Qibli, who stepped over and asked, “Moon, are you an animus?” 

 

Moon stepped back, as Kinkajou and Bigtail both looked at Moon with fear and confusion, while Turtle looked at Moon with shock.

Moon felt a wave of cold fury coming from Winter while also feeling a mix of fury and fear coming from Carnelian.

 

Moon shrinked back as Winter stepped forward before saying, “You’re an animus!”

Winter’s fury made Moon’s mind feel like it was in a snowstorm, she didn’t know what to say until Winter snapped, “Why don’t you want us to go into the history cave?! Is there something in there that reveals what you are?” 

 

“No! I kept having visions of the history cave going up in flames!” Moon cried, not realizing what she had said as her mind was being swallowed by the snowstorm from Winter’s mind.

“What do you mean, visions?!”  Winter snapped, the fury in his mind growing.

 

Qibli stepped forward, trying to calm the situation down, but before he could even say anything, the history cave burst into flames.

 

Moon, alongside Kinkajou, Bigtail, and Tamarin were knocked to the ground, while Carnelian, Turtle, Qibli, and Winter were thrown into the tunnel walls.

Moon tried standing up, but she struggled a bit, as she felt pain coming from her right shoulder, and her left arm.

Opening her eyes, Moon saw Kinkajou and Bigtail getting up but Moon noticed how Bigtail limped and seemed to make sure he didn’t put any weight on his left leg.

Moon noticed Kinkajou helping up Tamarin, who seemed mostly fine.

 

Looking over, Moon saw Turtle and Winter stand up, with Qibli standing up and helping Carnelian’s whose lower left arm had something sticking out of her arm.

Moon’s eyes turned to the history cave which was now up in flames.

 

As Moon stood up, she watched as Winter rushed over to the burning history cave, before blasting it with his frost breath.

While Winter was putting out the fire, Clay, alongside Peril, Pike, Sora, and Onyx rushed in.

“What happened?” Clay exclaimed, looking at the history cave which was now fully put out by Winter.

“We don’t know!” Bigtail exclaimed, before saying, “Me and Tamarin were only in the history cave moments ago, but for some reason we both stood up and walked out of the cave.”

 

Clay looked at Bigtail in confusion, “How is that even possible?”

Moon wanted to sneak into a tunnel and hide, but she felt like her talons were made of stone.

 Winter walked out of the history cave before making his way over to Clay.

“Ask her! She’s an animus!” Winter exclaimed, pointing at Moon.

 

Moon felt her blood freeze as Clay, alongside Peril, Pike, Sora and Onyx turned to look at her.

Clay stepped forward before asking, “Moon is that true?” 

Moon didn’t know what to say, but she just looked down and nodded.

 

“You took control over me!” Bigtail exclaimed angrily while Kinkajou stood closer to Tamarin.

“I didn’t mean to! It was an accident!” Moon cried, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You said you had a vision of the cave exploding, can you see the future?” Turtle asked, a concerned look on his face.

 

Moon nodded, knowing there was no point in lying.

Moon felt waves of shock and confusion coming from the minds around her.

“If that’s true, can you also read minds?” Clay asked, though Moon heard him think, “ Tsunami, wouldn’t like any of this. ”

 

“I can.” Moon said, not meeting the eyes of any of them.

Moon felt waves of anger coming from Winter, Bigtail, Carnelian, and Kinkajou.

“You had Nightwing powers and you kept it from the rest of the Nightwings?!” Bigtail exclaimed at Moon angrily.

“Were you happy that you got our long lost powers, while the rest of us who hoped to get them were left with nothing?!”

 

“Of course not! I didn’t choose to have them!” Moon cried, as tears started streaming down her face.

Bigtail was about to continue but Winter interrupted him, “You had both Nightwing powers and animus magic!? How long were you going to keep that hidden or were you just wanting to manipulate and control us?!”

 

Moon tried speaking but Kinkajou whose scales were red and orange spoke up, “You lied to me! Wasn’t I your friend!?”

Moon looked at Kinkajou, who had tears streaming down her face.

“I did! You are my friend, I didn’t want to lie to you but saying I have animus magic and Nightwing powers, isn’t a good conversation starter!”

 

“Well it should! You lied and kept secrets from me! You used your animus magic on Tamarin!” Kinkajou cried angrily, while Tamarin just had her head down.

“I didn’t mean to use my animus magic on her! I didn’t even realize I was using my animus magic!” Moon tried explaining.

 

“You should! You could’ve hurt all of us!” Kinkajou exclaimed angrily before Clay stepped forward, trying to calm the situation down, “Alright, everyone just calm down.”

“How can we calm down?! She’s dangerous, haven’t you heard of Darkstalker?!” Winter exclaimed angrily, with Bigtail saying, “For once I agree with Icewing, she is dangerous!” 

“I haven’t but Moon hasn’t done anything to prove that she wuld hurt us.” Clay explained calmly before turning to Moon and saying, “Moon, why don’t you go to your sleeping cave and everyone else go to the prey center. Except for Carnelian and Bigtail as you are both hurt.”

 

“I can’t really walk.” Bigtailed muttered while thinking, “ I could just have animus magic heal me, but I doubt that excuse of a Nightwing would use her animus magic to heal me. ”

“That’s alright. Pike and Onyx, can you both help me?” Clay asked, turning to both Onyx and Pike.

 

Onyx nodded while Pike begrudgingly said, “Yes.” 

Moon watched as Clay and Carnelian walked through one of the tunnels while Onyx and Pike helped Bigtail follow them.

Moon noticed Peril look at Moon for a moment, the fire in her mind cooling for a split seconda befire she turned to follow Clay down the tunnel.

Moon looked at Kinkajou who gave her an angry look before turning to Tamarin and saying, “come on Tamarin, we need to go somewhere where our thoughts are only our thoughts.” 

Tamarin nodded before Kinkajou and Tamarin went through one of the tunnels leading to the prey center.

 

Moon looked at Winter and Sora, who had tears welling up in her eyes.

“I thought you were different, that maybe I didn’t need to hate you but I was wrong. You’re just like the rest of the Nightwing tribe.” Winter said, before walking away, following Kinkajou and Tamarin.

 

Moon looked at Sora who couldn’t meet Moon’s eyes before Moon felt ripples in Sora’s mud meditation, which let guilt slip through.

Moon wanted to tell Sora how sorry she was for lying to her, but Sora quickly ran down the tunnel following Winter.

 

Turning to Qibli and Turtle, she looked at Qibli who’s mind was filled with complicated thoughts, “ I was right, she was the granddaughter of Brightseer and Morrowseer’s daughter. ” 

Moon was confused, but Qibli looked away and just said, “You should just do what Clay said and go to your sleeping cave.”

 

Moon looked at Turtle who had a strange look on his face, as if he was conflicted.

Moon just nodded, and started making her way back to her sleeping cave. 

 

As soon as Moon stepped into her sleeping cave, Moon buried her face into her talons, before silently crying.

“ I’ve ruined everything! I broke my promise to my Mother, I’ve lost all my friends and I could even possibly be thrown out of Jade Mountain Academy. ” Moon thought as she sobbed.

 

As Moon cried, she felt talons gently grab her talons and pull them away from her face.

Opening her eyes and looking up, Moon saw Turtle standing in front of her with a gentle smile on his face.

“Turtle? What are you doing?” Moon asked Turtle who pulled Moon up until she was standing.

 

“Both your right shoulder and the lower part of your left arm are hurt.” Turtle explained, reminding Moon that she was hurt from the explosion.

“Are we going to the medical wing?” Moon asked, as she didn’t want to go into the medical wing since she knew Bigtail and Carnelian would be in there.

 

Turtle shook his head before saying, “No, I don’t want Bigtail or Carnelian causing you any more stress, so we are going somewhere else.” 

Moon felt relief wash through her, as she didn’t want to face Bigtail or Carnelian again.

“Thank you Turtle.” Moon said quietly as Turtle led her down a tunnel.

 

“You’re welcome.” Turtle explained, as he led Moon into a cave which had an underground lake.

Looking around, Moon was amazed at how big the cave was, and the bioluminescent algae on the ceiling of the cave.

Moon noticed how the cave had a giant hole in the ceiling, which opened to the night sky with the three moons shining down onto the lake making it seem like it was glowing.

 

Turtle led Moon into the water, and into the shallow parts.

“You can wash your wounds here.” Turtle said.

Moon nodded before splashing some water on her right shoulder before dunking her lower left arm into the water before scrubbing it.

Once Moon finished washing the dried blood away on her right shoulder, she managed to see the object a bit better.

 

“Wait, I know what that is.” Turtle said, before gently pulling out the object out of Moon’s shoulder.

“What is it?” Moon asked, looking at it closer.

The object was blackish-brown with a sharp, thorny exterior, and it was the size of a rainforest frog. 

 

“It’s a seed pod to a dragonflame cacti, they grow in high altitude areas and they evolved to explode when they have contact with fire, and when exploding their seeds spread all over the place.” Turtle explained.

“How do you know all that?” Moon asked, confused.

 

“When the Summer Palace was attacked, my uncle and a few of the Seawing guards managed to capture a Skywing. My mother tortured them until they revealed everything.” Turtle explained, with a bit of an uneasy look.

Moon’s eyes widened in shock before asking, “She let you watch?”

Turtle snorted a bit before saying, “No, I sneaked into the dungeons out of curiosity and hid while she did it. I earned a few nightmares from that experience.”

Moon wasn’t sure what to say about it, but she did have one question in the back of her mind.

“Turtle, why are you helping me? Aren’t you worried that I’ll hurt you with my animus magic?” Moon asked, hoping Turtle wouldn’t think she was being ungrateful for him helping her.

 

Turtle had a puzzled look on his face at Moon questions before saying, “I’m an animus Moon, you’re not any more dangerous than I am.”

Moon eyes widened in shock before asking, “Wait you’re an animus too?

“Yes? Did you not see it in my thoughts?” Turtle asked, his face a mix of concern and confusion as Moon shook her head.

 

“No, for some reason I can’t read your mind.” Moon explained.

Turtle paused for a moment before giving her a small playful smile before asking, “Are you sure my mind just isn’t empty? That could explain why you can’t read it.”

Moon, despite how she was feeling, smiled at Turtle’s words before saying, “Your mind isn’t empty, I can’t read Onyx’s mind either.”

“Really? That’s definitely strange.” Turtle said which Moon agreed before saying, “That and the history cave blowing up in the first place.” 

 

Turtle nodded, “Yeah, that was no accident. Someone had to have set up the cactus flame, knowing how to set it up to explode.”

Moon knew she had to figure out who caused the explosion in the history cave, as she felt responsible for what happened.

“ If I was quicker, I could’ve stopped the explosion from ever happening. ” Moon thought, her wings, twitching with guilt.

 

“Moon, you okay?” turtle asked, his concerned expression returned.

Moon nodded before saying,“Yeah but can we figure this all out tomorrow? I’m tired.”

Moon didn’t want Turtle knowing how she felt responsible for the history cave blowing up.

“Of course, but I’m a bit worried about your shoulder.” Turtle said before his eyes narrowed a bit on Moons's injured shoulder Moon looked at her shoulder, it had stopped bleeding but the wound was still open.

 

“I can probably sneak into the Medical wing and get some bandages to wrap around it.” Moon said but Turtle shook his head before grabbing the leather pouch around his neck and pulling out a small roll of bandages.

“I went into the medical wing and grabbed them, saying Qibli needed them.” Turtle explained.

 

“You didn’t have to do that.” Moon said.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do it.” Turtle said, before wrapping the bandages around Moon shoulder, making sure it wasn’t tight enough to cause discomfort.

Moon watched as Turtle finished bandaging her shoulder while Turtle said, “Sorry that it’s a bit sloppy, I’ve never really had to bandage anything myself.” 

 

Moon gave Turtle a small smile before saying, “Thank you Turtle.” 

Turtle smiled back before saying, “You’re welcome, though we should probably head back to our sleeping caves.”

 

Moon nodded and followed Turtle through the tunnel back to the great hall.

“Have a good night Moon.” Turtle said which Moon nodded before saying, “You too, Turtle.” 

 

As they parted way, Moon walked into her cave, before noticing that both Kinkajou and Carnelian weren’t in the sleeping cave.

Moon felt her heart clench as she guessed they were too scared to want to share a sleeping cave with her.

Laying down on her moss pile, Moon drifted into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter 16: Chapter 14: shared truths and tension

Summary:

Sunny struggles to figure out how to find out who caused the history cave to explode.

Notes:

Credit to Mindhopper for many ideas of the chapter
Also I apologized if the chapter is too short.

small update to the notes, ik it's random but I figured out how to use emoticons and I'm happy about (θ‿θ)

Chapter 14

Sunny watched as Tsunami paced around her office, while Clay and Starflight stood beside Sunny.

“Tsunami, you need to calm down. We need to figure out what to do about the history cave exploding.” Sunny said, hoping to calm her friend down.

 

“How can I stay calm!? The dragon who caused us to be stuck under that mountain since we hatched turned out to have a dragonet who has both Nightwing powers and animus magic!” Tsunami exclaimed angrily.

Sunny frowned before saying, “Moon right now is the least of our worries, we need to figure out who caused the explosion to the history cave.”

 

Sunny worried somehow Scarlet managed to convince one of their students to possibly cause the explosion of the history cave.

 

“It’s obviously Scarlet! She hates our guts, and she probably had Peril come here and plant that stupid cactus here!” Tsunami exclaimed.

“It couldn’t be Peril, she was with me the entire time she’s been here and while I was helping Carnelian with her injuries, she explained how the dragonflame cactus worked. Peril wouldn’t even be able to touch it without it exploding.” Clay explained.

 

“So if it wasn’t Peril, then who could’ve done it?” Tsunami snapped before narrowing her eyes and saying, “What if Moon did it, she does have animus magic so she could just enchant the cactus to explode anytime she wanted.”

Sunny frowned, as she wished Tsunami would actually think before throwing accusations.

 

“Doesn’t make sense either, if she wanted to blow something up and cause damage then why was she wanting no one to go into the history cave.” Sunny said, with Starflight nodding in agreement.

Sunny watched as Tsunami grumbled before saying, “Doesn’t mean she won’t cause the school trouble later on.” 

“How would Moon cause us any trouble? she doesn’t even go looking for it, well not on purpose at least.” Sunny said, thinking back to the scavenger incident that happened on the first day.

 

“Didn’t Qibli tell me and Starflight about Stonemover telling him about some secret Nightwing royal named Brightseer and how she had her daughter marry Morrowseer? So wouldn’t Moon be Brightseer’s granddaughter, which makes her have a claim to the Nightwing Throne!” Tsunami said angrily.

Sunny frowned as she knew what Tsunami was talking about.

 

“Tsunami, please tell me you’re not implying that Moon would hurt Glory over the Nightwing throne.” Sunny said with a frown on her face.

“I have good reasons to think that! We all know the Nightwings hate having a Rainwing queen, so it would make sense they’d jump on the opportunity to use Moon who’s an animus to kill Glory!” Tsunami exclaimed angrily.

 

Sunny was ready to tell Tsunami that she was being ridiculous but she was quickly interrupted by the voice of Qibli, “You won’t expel her right?”

Sunny, alongside Tsunami, Clay, Starflight, and Fatespeaker turned their heads to Sunny’s office’s entrance where Qibli was standing.

 

Sunny noticed how Qibli seemed to have a worried expression on his face.

Sunny wanted to tell Qibli that she wasn’t going to expel Moon but Qibli stepped in and continued talking.

“If I knew she could be expelled, I wouldn’t have said anything about Brightseer. I didn’t mean to cause any problems about what Stonemover told me.” Qibli said, pacing a bit.

 

 “Qibli, you didn’t-” Sunny tried gently explaining but Qibli continued.

“I should’ve kept what I learned to myself, but now with the history cave being exploded, Moon definitely looks more suspicious.” Qibli rambled on, while Sunny tried saying, “Qibli, I don’t think-” but like before Qibli continued his ramble, completely ignoring Sunny.

“If I had done something then maybe I could’ve kept the history cave from exploding, then everything would be fine-” Qibli rambled until Sunny, who had grown tired of her brother ignoring her yelled, “QIBLI!”

 

Qibli stopped rambling and looked up at Sunny who had taken a deep breath before speaking, “Qibli, we aren’t going to expel Moon, and none of us think Moon caused the explosion in the history cave.”

Sunny noticed Tsunami open her mouth to speak, but Sunny quickly shot her a warning look before turning back to look at Qibli.

 

“Wait, if you’re not going to expel her, what are you going to do?” Qibli asked.

“Well I was thinking of talking to Moon once everything has calmed down.” Sunny explained but Starflight spoke up.

“I’d like to speak with Moon too. I have some questions about how her visions and mind reading work.” 

 

Sunny wondered if that would even be a good idea, especially after everything that has happened, but she did want to know how the real Nightwing powers worked.

“Alright, but please don’t overwhelm her.” Sunny said before Qibli spoke up, “I want to be there when you go talk to Moon.”

 

Sunny turned to Qibli before shaking her head while saying, “No, me and Starflight need to talk to her alone.”

“If it wasn’t for me talking to Stonemover, then we wouldn’t even know about Brightseer.” Qibli said with a frown.

 

Sunny wanted to argue with him but she simply sighed knowing Qibli had a point.

“Fine, you can go with us.” Sunny said which made Qibli smile a bit.

“Thanks Sunny.” Qibli said before Fatespeaker spoke up.

 

“Can I go too! I want to know if Moon has been having the same visions as I've been having!” Fatespeaker said.

“Fatespeaker, you don’t have visions. Nothing you’ve claimed to see has ever happened.” Tsunami said.

“But if Moon has visions and mindreading then I must be able to.” Fatespeaker argued.

 

“I think Fatespeaker might actually have powers. When me and Moon went to talk to Stonemover, he told us that Nightwings need to be born under the full moons.” Qibli explained.

Sunny looked at Qibli with surprise befre saying, “Wait, Nightwing powers are connected to the three moons?”

 

Qibli nodded before explaining, “Yeah, Stonemover said that you can either be born with mind reading or prophecy powers under one full moon, but under two full moons you can have both. Stonemover also said that Nightwings with mind reading have silver teardrop shaped scales near the corner of their eyes.”

Sunny was shocked at what Qibli said, and she could tell her friends were surprised too though she noticed Fatespeaker had an excited look on her face.

“I have small teardrop scales! I must have mind reading!” Fatespeaker exclaimed with excitement. 

 

“Weren’t you also on the volcano with the other Nightwings?” Clay asked Fatespeaker with a confused expression.

“Yeah, but maybe I was under one of the full moons for a while when I was still an egg!” Fatespeaker said before turning to Tsunami and closing her eyes.

 

Sunny watched as Fatespeaker seemed to have a look of concentration on her face, she guessed Fatespeaker was trying to read Tsunami’s mind.

“Hmm, I'm reading that Tsunami is aggravated, which she always is but she seems worried too.” Fatespeaker said, which made Tsunami snort.

“Anyone can see that Fatespeaker.” Tsunami said but Sunny did have to wonder if Fatespeaker could possibly have a weaker version of mind reading.

 

Sunny noticed how Starflight seemed to be getting the same idea she had judging by the thoughtful look on his face.

“Fatespeaker, you might just have a much weaker version of mind reading.”

 

Sunny watched as Fatespeaker turned to Starflight before saying, “Really? So you think I can read minds?” 

“I don’t think you can read minds exactly but possibly maybe just feelings but I'd need to learn more about how mind reading works.” Starflight explained.

 

Sunny watched before speaking up, “Alright, now that we’ve got most of this sorted out. We need to tell our students that for today and tomorrow classes will be canceled so everyone can calm down and rest, as I'm sure everyone is freaked out.”

 

Both Clay and Starflight nodded while Tsunami said, “So what’s the plan for finding out who blew the history cave up?” 

“I don’t know, but I’ll think of something. Right now I just need some fresh air.” Sunny said, a bit frustrated.

 

Turning to her office’s entrance, Sunny walked out and started heading for the academy’s entrance so she could fly around for a bit to clear her mind.

While Sunny walked towards the closest tunnel, she hadn’t noticed a quick flash of light blue and white scales go down another tunnel opposite of where Sunny was going.

Chapter 17: chapter 15: Cracks In the Ice

Summary:

Kinkajou and Winter talk, and Winter struggles with his conflicting feeling

Notes:

Credit to Mindhopper for helping me with this chapter^^ also again I apologize if the chapter is too short.
This chapter has been rewritten!

Chapter 15

 

Winter laid on his rock ledge in his sleeping cave, staring at the shadows around the cave that were created by the glass lanterns that had bioluminescent algae, that had a soft green glow.

 Winter had been there since the morning and had only gotten up once to get something to eat from the prey center.

 He remembered Icicle had come by around midday telling him to stop moping and how un-Icewing-like he was acting.

Winter groaned as he knew Icicle was right but he felt like his mind was a roaring snow storm.

Winter didn’t understand why he was struggling to be angry at Moon. 

 

“ She’s dangerous! She has animus magic just like darkstalker did and kept it hidden! ” Winter’s mind shouted, remembering the things his father told him Darkstalker had done and how the Nightwings were the reason Icewings would never have an animus dragon again.

Yet another part of Winter’s mind argued, “She seemed scared when she used her animus magic on Tamarin and Bigtail, and she even tried saving us from the explosion.” 

 

Winter’s frown deepened as he tried shutting down any thought of Moon being innocent, “She’s a mind reader and is able to see the future! She hid that from us which shows she can’t be trusted!”

Yet the much calmer part of his mind reminded him of how Moon used her vision of the explosion to keep him and the rest of their winglet safe.

 

Winter closed his eyes as he tried wrapping his mind around why he kept thinking of reasons to see that Moon was innocent despite the fact that she is a Nightwing.

“I can’t feel bad for her, she’s a Nightwing! She’s a danger to my tribe. She could easily enchant something to wipe out all Icewings.” Winter thought, remembering everything his mother and father taught him.

 

Winter knew he was supposed to hate Moon, alongside all the other Nightwings but his mind kept going back to how Moon looked so scared when she accidentally used her animus magic.

He hated how he wanted to go check on her and make sure she was okay.

 

Winter knew what he was feeling was wrong, he knew he shouldn’t want to make sure Moon was okay, or should he want to protect her.

“ I can’t think like this! It’s unbefitting of an Icewing prince! ” Winter thought, trying to shove all the thoughts about Moon into the back of his mind.

Opening his eyes, Winter tried distracting his mind by looking around his sleeping cave.

 

As his eyes swept over the sleeping cave he noticed a few scrolls lying on the ground near another rock ledge on the other side of the cave.

Winter frowned as he knew those scrolls were Qibli’s, possibly his homework.

 

“ That Sandwing has no sense of order. ” Winter thought with a frown while looking over at his side of the cave.

All of Winter’s homework scrolls were put neatly on the scroll rack, and his scavenger Bandits cage was placed right beside Winter’s rock ledge.

 

Despite looking around to try and distract himself, Winter was failing at making his thoughts about Moon disappear.

As Winter tried yet continuously failed at making his thoughts about Moon disappear, he didn’t notice Kinkajou standing at the opening of his sleeping cave until she spoke up, “Hey Winter, you okay?”

Winter turned to look at Kinkajou who he noticed had streaks of dark blue, blue-gray, and a dark purple in her usually pink and yellow scales.

 

Winter didn’t know much about Rainwing color changing scales other than for show but he remembered Qibli saying something about how Rainwings showed their emotions through their scale colors.

Winter guessed by the dark colored streaks that Kinkajou was most likely upset.

 

“I’m fine, I’m just resting after a long day.” Winter said cooly, while sitting up to look more dignified instead of pathetic.

He watched as Kinkajou stepped into his sleeping cave before sitting down in front of Winter’s rock ledge.

 

“What do you want, Kinkajou?” Winter asked, with a frown on his face.

“I have something I want to ask you. What do I do when I’m really angry?” Kinkajou asked Winter who gave her a slightly confused look.

 

“Why are you asking me that?” Winter asked.

“I’ve never been angry like this before, and I thought you might know since you seem to always be angry, especially around Moon.” Kinkajou explained.

 

“What do you mean I always seem angry?” Winter exclaimed, with an appalled expression.

“You always yell and glare angrily around Moon, you can’t really blame anyone for thinking you’re angry at Moon and everyone else constantly.” Kinkajou said.

Winter narrowed his eyes but a small part of his mind wondered if what Kinkajou said was true.

“ Is that how everyone sees me? ” Winter thought, while a smaller part of him wondered, “ Is that how Moon sees me? ” 

 

Winter quickly pushed both of those thoughts into the back of his mind, he shouldn’t care about how any of the other dragons at the academy saw him.

 

“I’m an Icewing prince, I’m supposed to be formal and composed.” Winter explained sitting up to look more dignified.

“It’s everyone else’s problem if they can’t tell the difference between being composed and being angry.” Winter said to Kinkajou, who he heard muttering, “If you say so.” 

Winter’s eyes narrowed once before asking, “Wouldn’t you rather talk to Sunny or even your Rainwing friend Tamarin?” 

“Well Tamarin is enjoying her suntime, and Clay said Sunny is flying to clear her mind right now.” Kinkajou explained.

 

Winter let out a small sigh before saying, “Fine, but don’t expect me to cater to your feelings.” 

Kinkajou nodded before saying, “Thanks Winter. I really needed someone to talk to about how I'm feeling.”

 

Winter watched as Kinkajou stood up and started walking around the cave as she talked, “I don’t even know how to explain how I'm feeling. After yesterday my mind has been confused.”

Kinkajou continued pacing around Winter’s sleeping cave, not noticing the scrolls near her talons.

 

“I mean like we were told by Sunny and the other Dragonets of Destiny that Nightwing powers are gone, but now my clawmate and someone who I thought was my friend turns out to have them alongside animus magic! It makes it worse when Moon didn’t even tell me, which makes me so angry as I thought we were friends.” 

 

Winter noticed red streaks appear on Kinkajou’s scales before being replaced with spots of orange and purple as Kinkajou continued talking, “Yet at the same time I understand that Moon was probably scared and was worried how we’d all think of her, but that makes me mad too as she should’ve known that she could talk to me!”

Kinkajou turned to face Winter before saying, “I mean she can read minds! Why didn’t she realize that she could just tell me the truth!?” 

 

“Kinkajou, Moon is a Nightwing. They are deceitful and have no issue lying and keeping secrets.” Winter explained flatly yet a small part of him didn’t agree as he thought back to Moon’s look of terror while trying to keep them all out of the history cave.

“There’s a reason we Icewings don’t trust or associate with Nightwings, they have stolen from us and had no remorse for it.” Winter said, thinking back to how the Nightwings are the reason Icewings would never have an animus dragon ever again.

 

Kinkajou frowned a bit before saying, “I don’t really think it’s fair to judge Moon because of her being a Nightwing.”

Winter frowned before saying, “How can you even say that? Nightwings tried taking over your home, and they even kidnapped and experimented on you and other Rainwings.”

 

“I know that, but Moon wasn’t even on the volcano so I don’t think I should judge her on that.” Kinkajou said before saying, “I just wished she trusted me enough to tell me about her powers.”

Winter frowned as he knew Kinkajou had a point which frustrated him as he didn’t need any more reasons for his mind to try and justify thinking Moon was innocent.

 

“If you want answers so badly, why don’t you just go ask her yourself?” Winter said a bit frustrated as Kinkajou came to him for advice but she kept disagreeing with him.

“I’m going to! I just don’t know if I really want to talk to Moon right now.” Kinkajou explained.

Winter frowned at Kinkajou before asking, “So you think talking to me will help even though you keep disagreeing with me?”

Kinkajou shot Winter a frown before saying, “Yes since you seem to be the only one who understands my anger at Moon lying.”

 

“What about Turtle or Qibli? Or your other clawmate Carnelian?” Winter asked, he knew Carnelian was especially angry as from what he knew Skywings would drop any animus born dragonets off a cliff out of fear of them being dangerous.

“Turtle didn’t seem mad, and I saw Qibli go and talk to Sunny a few hours ago since he was worried of Moon getting expelled and Carnelian just glares at me anytime I try speaking to her.” Kinkajou explained.

 

Winter hated the bitterness he felt when Kinkajou said Qibli wanted to make sure Moon wasn’t getting expelled.

He didn’t get why he felt bitter, as he didn’t care what happened to Moon, no matter how much a part of him wanted to care.

“Well, if you so badly want my advice then just go demand answers from her.” Winter said flatly, trying to hide his frustration about what he was feeling.

 

Kinkajou nodded before saying, “Will you go talk to Moon yourself?”

“I am, I want to know more about Nightwing powers.” Winter said before Kinkajou smiled at him before asking, “Why don’t we go ask Moon together?” 

 

Winter paused at Kinkajou’s words before considering them.

He knew it would give him a good excuse to see how Moon was doing and he could learn more about Moon’s animus magic and Nightwing powers.

 

Winter got off his rock ledge before looking at Kinkajou, “Very well, I shall go with you to question Moon.”

Kinkajou smiled before saying, “Alright, then let’s go.”

Chapter 18: another update :P

Hey, I'm kinda dealing with writers block, so i'm not entirely sure what to do for the next chapter or when the next chapter will be done. I know I basically went a whole month not posting any new chapters and I apologized for that, I'm just struggling to come up with ideas.

Chapter 19: Chapter 16: Dreams of the Past

Summary:

Moon has a horrible Nightmare and Darkstalker pulls her out

Notes:

Credit to Mindhopper for the idea, and thx to Mindhopper for helping with my writers block^^
Also I took some artistic liberties on how the Great Diamond looked like

Chapter 16

Moon laid on her moss bed, her wings tucked close to her body as she drifted off to sleep.

 

As Moon slept she kept having nightmares of her being trapped in a burning history cave, as her body was slowly turning into stone.

Moon’s nightmare would become worse as she would see her mother standing outside the burning history cave.

 

“ Mother! Please help me! ” Moon cried as she struggled to move.

“ You broke your promise, you truly are just a curse. ” Secretkeeper said calmly while walking away. 

Moon tried crying for her mother to come back before seeing Kinkajou and Qibli in the flames.

“ You lied to us! How could anyone trust you! ” Kinkajou screamed while Qibli just glared before saying, “ You’re just as horrible as the rest of your tribe. ”

 

“ I’m sorry! Please don’t leave me here! ” Moon sobbed, as tears streamed down her face as Qibli and Kinkajou disappeared in the flames.

As Moon sobbed, she felt ice crawl over her as Winter lunged at her, yelling about how she is dangerous and needs to die.

 

Moon wanted to run, or scream but she felt like her body was nothing but stone.

“ None of this is real! Please let none of this be real! ” Moon thought, shutting her eyes tightly, hoping she could force herself awake.

 

As Moon tried forcing herself awake she felt a soft, gentle, breeze wash over her before hearing Darkstalker’s voice, “Calm down little Moon, none of what you are seeing is real.”

Moon opened her eyes, before realizing she wasn’t in the burning history cave but in a place she had never seen before.

 

Looking at her talons, Moon was glad to see she wasn’t turning to stone anymore.

Moon looked back up before looking around at where she was.

Moon noticed she was standing on a cold obsidian plaza with a fountain nearby.

 

As Moon walked over to the fountain, she noticed how the stone had carvings of the moon’s phases.

Looking around once more, Moon noticed four buildings placed in different directions.

Moon noticed how the obsidian plaza seemed to be shaped in the form of a diamond.

 

Looking back at the four buildings, Moon noticed how the biggest one looked like a palace built into a mountain.

The palace had numerous towers with a few seeming to reach into the sky.

Looking at the other buildings Moon noticed how one building seemed to somewhat resemble the palace but with fewer towers.

 

Turning her head, Moon noticed another building that had a giant dome.

As Moon walked over to it, she noticed how the pillars around the entrance were designed to look like scrolls.

The last building was a bit bigger than the building that resembled the palace, but it has two giant towers on each side of the building.

 

As Moon wondered where she was, she heard Darkstalker’s voice once more, “Welcome to the Nightwing Kingdom.” 

Moon noticed how Darkstalker’s voice didn’t sound like it was all over the place but like he was standing nearby.

 

Turning around, Moon’s eyes widened at the sight of a much older Nightwing standing by the fountain.

The Nightwing had pitch-black scales that seemed to shine under the light of the three moons.

His horns were long and twisted and he had a narrow face.

 

As Moon stepped closer she noticed the Nightwing had silver teardrop scales like her, and how they seemed to glow under the moonlight.

Moon stood in front of the Nightwing, she had a feeling she knew who he was.

“Darkstalker?” Moon asked Darkstalker who nodded.

 

“Hello, little Moon.” Darkstalker said, with a gentle yet sorrowful smile.

“How are you here? Where are we?” Moon asked.

“We are in a dream of mine, I pulled you out of that nightmare you were having and I put you here.” Darkstalker explained.

 

“You said it was the Nightwing Kingdom? Was this what it looked like?” Moon asked, looking around once more.

“Yes, before I was out under the mountain and the Nightwing tribe fled to the volcano, this is what the Nightwing Kingdom looked like.” Darkstalker said solemnly as he walked over to the building with the dome and scroll pillars before standing in front of it with a solemn look on his face.

Moon walked over and stood beside him, looking from him to the building.

 

“This was the Nightwing Kingdoms library, it had thousands of scrolls and was filled with knowledge.” Darkstalker said, a wistful smile on his face.

“Clearsight had a study room of her own in the library, it was filled with scrolls where she wrote about all the different futures that she could see.” Darkstalker explained, with Moon noticing how Darkstalker’s eyes glistened.

 

“It looks amazing.” Moon said quietly, a small part of her wished she could have visited the library.

“It was,” Darkstalker said before he turned and walked over to the palace before saying, “I’m sure you can tell that this is the Nightwing palace.”

Moon walked over, standing beside Darkstalker once more before asking, “What is the building that looks similar to the palace?”

 

Darkstalker turned to look at the building that resembled the palace before looking back at Moon with a smile that was a mix of sorrow and nostalgia.

“That was the Nightwing school, Queen Vigilance’s grandmother wanted the school to resemble the palace.” Darkstalker explained.

 

“What was the last building?” Moon asked, turning her head to the last building with the two towers on each side of the building.

“That’s the museum, the two towers were astronomy towers which we used for charting the stars and constellations.” Darkstalker explained.

 

“This is amazing.” Moon said softly, as she looked around once more, feeling like she was in the past.

“It was, but because of me I stole the bright future of my tribe.” Darkstalker said.

“My selfishness stole the bright futures of my sister Whiteout, my lover Clearsight, and my friend Fathom.” Darkstalker said solemnly before turning to Moon with sadness and regret filling his eyes before saying, “My selfishness stole your bright future.”

 

Moon was a bit puzzled by what Darkstalker meant so she asked, “How did you steal my future?” 

“Moon, don’t you remember what Stonemover said about Brightseer?”

Moon shook her head before saying, “No, it slipped my mind due to everything that happened with Qibli and then the explosion in the history cave happened.”

 

“Brightseer was the daughter of a Nightwing prince named Ambitious and a Nightwing animus named Stargazer. They hid her to keep her safe from Ambitious’s sister named Bluemoon.” Darkstalker explained, before continuing, “Brightseer is your grandmother, little Moon.” 

 

Moon’s eyes widened in shock, as she realized what Darkstalker was saying.

“Wait, my grandmother was the daughter of a Nightwing prince?” Moon asked, she hoped Darkstalker was just messing with her but judging by the look in Darkstalker’s eyes showed he wasn’t.

 

“Yes, which makes you have a right to the Nightwing throne.” Darkstalker explained but Moon shook her head.

“No, this has to be a mistake. I’m not Brightseer’s granddaughter, I can’t be.” Moon exclaimed.

 

“Moon, animus magic is a genetic gene. Brightseer’s mother had animus magic, and you have animus magic yourself.” Darkstalker explained.

“What if Stonemover was wrong, he has been in that cave for a long time.” Moon said, hoping she was right.

 

“I’m afraid not little Moon, Stonemover did say Brightseer had her daughter marry a Nightwing named Morrowseer and judging by the minds of the other Nightwing students, your mother was Morrowseer’s mate.” Darkstalker explained.

Moon wanted to believe Darkstalker was wrong but she had to admit he was making a lot of sense which Moon hated.

 

“I’m already cursed with Nightwing powers and animus magic, why do I have to be related to Nightwing royalty?” Moon exclaimed, frustrated.

“Little Moon, you are not cursed. You have incredible powers that you can use to help others.” Darkstalker explained gently.

 

Moon paused for a moment, she hadn’t ever thought her powers could be used to help others as her mother always said they were curse’s.

“Darkstalker, I don’t know what to do. I’m scared and frustrated.” Moon admitted, looking down at her talons.

“Little Moon, you have friends who, while they may be hurt now, they will become your greatest strength.” Darkstalker explained.

 

“They hate me.” Moon said, not meeting Darkstalker’s eyes.

“Moon, they don’t hate you. They are angry and hurt, yes, but I can promise you that if you talk to them, then you can rebuild your friendship with them.” Darkstalker explained.

Moon hoped Darkstalker was right, and she knew she would need to go talk to Qibli, Winter, Sora, and Kinkajou.

 

Yet for now, she wanted to stay in this dream and just watch the stars.

Turning to Darkstalker Moon asked, “Can we stay here for a little bit, I just want to watch the stars.”

Darkstalker nodded before saying, “Yes we can, we can stay here for a little while.”

 

Moon gave Darkstalker a small smile before they both turned to the sky and gazed at the stars.

 

Chapter 20: Chapter 17: Questions

Summary:

Winter and Kinkajou have Moon answer their questions, but they learn more than they expected.

Notes:

Sorry this chapter took so long to be posted!!

Chapter 17

 

As Winter and Kinkajou headed towards Kinkjaou and Moon's sleeping cave, Winter tried to remain as calm as possible as he was ready to get answers to his many questions.

“Will she even answer our questions?” Winter wondered before a much more concerning thought entered his mind.

 

“What if she isn’t even in there? What if she ran away?” Winter thought, with a chill running through his mind.

Yet as they walked into the sleeping cave, Winter’s eyes landed on Moon who was curled up, asleep on a moss pile.

 

“She’s asleep, we should probably wait until later.” Winter said quietly to Kinkajou.

“So you do care about her?” Kinkajou said, a playful smile on her face.

Winter’s eyes widened, before he quickly fixed his face by replacing his shock with a scowl.

“I don’t care about her, it’s just us Icewings believe in not being discourteous.” Winter explained.

 

Kinkajou nodded before saying, “Right, that’s totally the true reason.”

Winter was ready to argue back but his words were lost on his tongue as Kinkajou jumped on top of Moon while yelling, “Wake up Moony!”

 

Winter watched as Moon cried in shock before looking around before looking at Kinkajou who was still on her.

“Kinkajou, what’s going on?” Moon asked with panic on her face.

“We wanted to ask you a few questions, but you were asleep.” Kinkajou explained to Moon who’s panicked expression turned into a relieved but slightly annoyed one.

 

Winter noticed how when Moon’s eyes turned onto him, that she seemed to be more tense.

Winter cleared his throat before speaking in a more formal voice so as to not reveal his emotions, though he wondered if Moon already knew what he was feeling due to her mind reading, “I have questions of my own too.”

“Alright, I’ll answer both of your questions.” Moon said before turning to Kinkajou, “Now please get off of me.”

 

Kinkajou smiled before getting off of Moon before saying, “Alright! I want to ask my questions first!”

Winter noticed how Moon’s expression seemed to soften when she looked at Kinkajou.

“Alright Kinkjaou, what’s your question?” Moon asked as she sat up.

 

“Okay, so I want to know how your mind reading works, can you see everything in our minds? Are you able to only hear one mind at a time?” Kinkajou asked, her eyes gleaming with excitement 

“I can’t really focus on one mind as it’s more like hearing everyone talking at the same time.” Moon explained.

 

“That sounds awful honestly, like being stuck in the prey center with all the winglets in there, just talking at the same time.” Kinkajou said, wrinkling her snout.

Winter had to admit he agreed with Kinkajou, he didn’t think mind reading could be so unpleasant.

 

“What about your prophecy powers? Can you see the future whenever you want?” Winter asked, trying to hide his curiosity, before remembering Moon could still read his thoughts.

“No, It’s more like seeing bits and pieces of the future. I think my prophecy power just shows bits of the most likely future.” Moon explained.

 

Winter was surprised as he listened to Moon, he had always thought Nightwings could see everything about the future.

“We were all told that Nightwings don’t have powers anymore but you have them. Why is that?” Winter asked.

 

“Well I discovered that Nightwing powers come from the moon’s. Since I was born in the rainforest I was able to be born under two full moon’s which gave me my mind reading and prophecy powers.” Moon explained, though Winter noticed how her talons twitched.

 

“How did you learn that? There’s no scrolls that I know of that would carry that information.” Winter asked, hoping if he pressed enough Moon would tell him everything.

Winter watched as Moon looked away with an expression that looked as if Moon was listening to someone.

“Could she be listening to someone else’s thoughts? Could they be distracting her?” Winter wondered.

 

“Moony!” Kinkajou exclaimed, startling Moon.

“You were staring off, were you listening to other dragonets' thoughts? Were they weird?” Kinkajou asked, a curious gleam in her eyes.

Winter watched as Moon took a deep breath before saying, “I was listening to another dragon's thoughts, but it’s not a student’s thoughts.” 

 

Winter frowned before asking, “Are you listening to any of the teacher’s thoughts?” 

Moon shook her head before saying, “No, I'm listening to the thoughts of an ancient Nightwing Darkstalker.”

Winter froze at Moon’s words, he couldn’t understand how Moon was talking to the legendary monster Darkstalker.

 

“That can’t be possible! Darkstalker disappeared thousands of years ago, how are you talking to him?” Winter demanded.

“Who’s Darkstalker?” Kinkajou asked, confused as she looked at both Moon and Winter.

 

“Darkstalker was a powerful Nightwing, he had mind reading, prophecy powers and animus magic! His mother stole Prince Arctic, probably so the Nightwings could have an animus dragon of their own.” Winter explained.

“Darkstalker used his animus magic to kill twenty Icewings, and he killed Prince Arctic. That’s why Icewings hate Nightwings as they stole from us.” 

 

“If he was alive so long ago, wouldn’t he be dead?” Kinkajou asked, turning to Moon who shook her head.

“He enchanted himself to be immortal, so his old friends Clearsight and Fathom enchanted a bracelet to put him to sleep but the bracelet broke.” Moon explained.

 

“Then how is he awake?” Winter asked, narrowing his eyes as he didn’t like the idea of the legendary monster still being alive.

“The comet that passed six months ago caused a few earthquakes, the earthquakes most likely snapped the bracelet.” Moon explained.

 

“So where is he?” Kinkajou asked Moon.

“He’s under Agate Mountain, it’s very cramped where he is, so he can’t really move.” Moon explained but Winter didn’t know if Moon was lying to him or not.

 

“What has Darkstalker told you?” Winter asked, wondering if Darkstalker was manipulating Moon to use her animus magic to kill all Nightwings.

“Well he has been helping me with my mind reading powers and when I have nightmares.” Moon said.

“Is that all or is there anything else?” Winter pressed, he needed to know if his tribe was in danger.

 

“Well he has asked me if I could find his talisman and free him.”

Winter felt his blood freeze at Moon words, he didn’t want Moon to free Darkstalker as it could mean the end of the Icewing tribe.

 

“Is that all he’s told you?” Kinkajou asked, her eyes shining in excitement and a mix of nervousness.

“He explained to me how my grandmother was the daughter of a past Nightwing Prince, and how I have a right to the Nightwing throne.” Moon said softly.

 

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Animus Moonwatcher