A Book for My Friend. I Wrote It For Her Birthday. I Present: Wings of Fire Bigscales

Part 1

Smoke and Figures

Chapter 1

five years after the WOF books

“OW!” 

It was always “ow”. Always a constant, OW! Not that Bigcales wasn’t used to all the ow–ing. He actually kind of liked ow-ing! No he didn’t. But he had to at least pretend he did or else Flare would-

“COME ON BIGSCALES! DO SOMETHING BEFORE I HAVE TO TELL PRINCIPAL TSUNAMI THAT YOU MESSED UP AGAIN! You know she insists on battle training.” 

The thing with Flare was… she didn’t hesitate to make him miserable. And he was sure she didn’t always mean it. But it still sucked for him.

“Flare please,” -grunt- “Your talons!” 

And with that, the reluctant skywing left him alone. For now. 

“Thank you.” 

Flare snorted. “Don’t think you're so lucky now nightwing.” 

Bigscales winced as he stretched his wings to steady himself. The rock he had just been thrown into definitely wasn’t of the soft variety. 

Flare extended a talon in his direction, looking more than reluctant as he took it, letting her pull him back up.

The snarling skywing may have sounded all tough and gruff but being her clawmate had taught Bigscales a few things. Number one being: Flare was nice. Like, actually friendly. Two: she didn’t hate nightwings like all the other tribes did. Even five years after Moon, Qibli, Pineapple, and Sky had flown over to the Lost Continent to fulfill a prophecy that a nightwing had spoken. The prophecy had actually saved the world! But the other tribes still hated the nightwings.

All Bigscales knew was that Flare was different. 

They walked out of the battle training cave–a new project completed by Principal Tsunami–following their mental maps back to the cave they both shared. 

As soon as the two dragons entered the cave Flare stretched her wings gliding to the ledge that framed the top of the cave’s ceiling quite perfectly. She reached for a scroll letting her long maroon tail hang off the ledge. 

Flare looked like any typical skywing but her color was far better. At a glance her scales appeared a deep maroon, but if you looked closer, or saw her in the sun, you would catch glimpses of ruby that trailed down her underbelly and spine, glistening brighter on her wings. She wore small topaz earrings to prove where she came from. 

Flare wasn’t a fan of how dragons tended to treat her mother, so she chose to defy their judgment by wearing earrings the same piercing blue as her mother’s eyes. Peril’s eyes. 

If you were to take a closer look at Flare, not only would you notice her ruby scales, you would notice the way her snout seemed to form more of a square like shape then other skywings. Her father was Clay. The loveable mudwing everyone loves. Except Flare hated him. 

Despite her loyalty to her mother, she refused to identify as a hybrid. Instead she was a skywing. That’s all any dragon needs to know. The only reason Bigscales was aware of the situation was because they were best friends. 

Compared to Flare though, Bigscales was… small in every way. Despite quite obviously lacking in muscle, he also had the common first impression of being short legged. That’s not exactly correct. Bigscales had large scales all along his back and partially on his wings, making the rest of him look small and shrunken in his skin. Flare didn’t seem to mind though. She only cared when he failed miserably at battle training. By far his least favorite subject. 

He walked slowly to his own bed, a moss laden ledge right under his clawmate’s. 

Laying down always felt like a relief on his scales. No more pressure of clinging to the skin underneath just… sleep. But before Bigscales could actually let the blissfulness take him, a sheepish square shaped brown head poked through one side of the cave. 

“Do you mind?” it asked.

“YES!” Flare didn’t need provoking. She just needed… well. Her dad. 

Her response came at the same time as Bigscales', which was no. 

“Oh…” Clay started to turn around, looking very sad and hurt in the process until Flare finally succumbed to the pity. 

“Fine… Dad.” 

Clay’s smile could have shattered any heart except for his daughter’s. For the record, Bigscales didn’t know why Flare hated her father so much, she just refused to talk about him and-

“Your mother’s coming,” Clay interrupted. “She wanted me to let you know. She was hoping we could all go hunting or you might want to go see the new base her and Queen Ruby are conducting…” 

“I’ll go see the base.” Flare didn’t bother looking up from her scroll as she answered. She just continued reading, not paying any mind to the mudwing in the room.  

“Ok. I’ll-I’ll let her know that’s what you said.” 

“You do that.” 

Clay walked out of the room feeling gloomier than ever and–

Why does she hate me so much? What did I do? Was I a bad father when she was a hatchling? Was I too hard on her or-

Bigscales presses his talons against his head. He didn’t often let that happen, but sometimes his blocking would go down and an unwanted thought would slip through. He didn’t know why it happened, his mom was an amazing teacher! The best of the best. But sometimes he just felt… wrong. 

“Honey?” 

Bigscales poked his head up and out from under his wing and his face lit up. Though he could have sworn he heard Flare mumble something like, “Oh great, another parent here visit their precious little dragonets.” 

“Hi mom,” he replied. 

Moon strode over to the moss bed her son lay on, gently running her talons over the edge of his wings. Something in her face felt wrong as if something happened. 

“Is everything ok mom?” 

Moon forced herself to smile. “Oh yes. Everything’s fine.” 

“Ok.” Bigscales lay his head on her shoulder, refusing to do the one thing he really wanted to do. He just had to hold it back and–

His father isn’t supposed to be here yet. After all the lying and hiding, he can’t ruin this for me. If he–

Bigscales struggled to block off the thoughts without covering his ears. His mom couldn’t know he'd just snuck into her mind. Though was that his father she had been thinking about? 

Moon had never told Bigscales who his father was. Though he had learned from her thoughts that, “the truth would wreck him”. Bigscales didn’t think so. But who knows. Maybe the truth would wreck him. 

“What is it then? You don’t visit very often.” 

Moon straightened up as Flare muttered, “Yeah. And we like it that way.” 

“Bad day?” Moon asked, glancing at the ledge above them. 

“Clay stopped by.” Bigscales answered with a shrug, but a flinch escaped his face. 

“I see. Well if you must know, the queens are all stopping by today, and under any other circumstances I would be excited but today…” Moon let the thought stretch out, and Bigscales knew better than to ask her to finish it. “Tsunami’s been freaking out all day. Anemone is such an… interesting queen. Coral’s passing has been harder on Tsunami than any of us thought it would. Herself included.” 

Bigscales forced himself to ask the question. Professor Turtle had always been his favorite teacher. He had a right to be concerned. “How's Turtle?” 

“Oh. You know.” 

He actually didn’t, and this time he really, really wanted to. 

“Mom.” 

“Kinkajou has been helping him out a lot. More than usual. Actually, that’s why I came to see you today. Leilani is going to be sharing a cave with you both for the next week.” 

This time the groan that escaped Flare’s lips was not spoken alone. Turtle and Kinkajou’s daughter Leilani was a nuisance. She was always over excited and preppy. She looked funny too. Not that Bigscales could make too many comments on other dragon’s appearances. She looked like a normal seawing, usually, except for the inside of her wings, underbelly, and a few random scales everywhere. Those constantly changed color. 

“Why mom?” Bigscales was the first to ask the question. 

“Her parents need her to stay somewhere they trust. You know she still shares a cave with them, but the extra energy is just a little too much for Turtle right now. Please guys. Bigscales… I know you can put up with Leilani for a month.” 

“A MONTH?!” The explanation was completely in sync between the two roommates. 

“Yes.” Moon get’s up after giving Bigscales a quick hug. Then motioned for someone to come in. 

She didn’t walk. She always galoped. Leilani was the definition of infuriating. 

“Hi guys!” She always talked too loud for Bigscales to stand. “I brought my own hammock so you don’t have to worry about sharing a ledge with me. Though those do look extremely uncomfortable.” She always talked too loud. “I also brought some really cool scrolls if anyone wants to read them. Do you guys like reading?” 

Oh! Reading was a good idea! Bigscales reached for a scroll by his bed and opened it loudly, hopefully indicating that he was busy and didn’t not want to talk to some over ecstatic dragonet right now. 

Luckily though, his mother did. “Come on Leilani. I’ll help you set up your hammock.” 

.  .  .

Bigscales didn’t know how to describe the rest of that day. Miserable maybe? Between Leilani’s constant chatter, or the stress coming from everyone’s thoughts who just managed to slip through Bigscales' blocking. 

The queen’s had decided to wait another day before arriving and no dragon had been able to sleep. Getting all the preparations perfect for the queens monthly meeting was a hassle, then keeping it prepared was an even bigger hassle, then keeping it prepared for A WHOLE OTHER DAY, was just too much. 

“Ow!” 

It turned out Leilani was also better at battle training then Bigscales was. Not that he should be surprised. Everyone was better than him. At least training was being cut short today. 

Before long Tsunami marched into the cave to find Bigscales pinned to the floor by an overly jittery Leilani. “Squid’s tail! Bigscales at age four you should be able to beat a three year old!” 

“I know. Flare won’t let me forget it.” 

Flare snorted from the shadowy corner she stood in, muttering to herself. 

“I see.” Tsunami took one quick look around the room, occupied by the rest of the Jade Winglet. Bigscales' mother had insisted he be put in her old winglet. Some sort of tradition she insisted on starting. “Well you all have to clear out. The queens will be here any minute and we’re giving them a tour since modifications to the school have been made over the last month.” 

Leilani hopped off Bigscales giddily and skipped over to the exit, then turned back around waiting for Bigscales and Flare to follow her. 

Bigscales glanced in Flare’s direction before getting up reluctantly despite his aching scales. Why did battle training have to be so awful? Couldn’t he be good at at least something physical? Just one thing? He was smart, but that only made the bullying worse. And then he couldn’t defend himself. 

He and Flare followed Leilani back to their cave, nearly running into her when she stopped at the entrance. 

“I have an idea.” She said it like a whisper, and sadly the tone got Bigscales curios. 

Leilani spun around nearly smacking Flare with her tail, her wings flapping excitedly. “We should spy on the queen’s meeting! Make sure we’re aware of the changes that could be happening at our school any minute!” 

Flare perked her head up, her eyes curious, her wings slanting slightly. “I’m actually starting to like this hybrid. Bigscales, it could be fuuuuuuuun.” She turned to Bigscales. She looked so excited and… happy. He had to say, “Ok.” 

Flare looked at him, the biggest smile on her face he’d seen in a while. 

“Ok.” Bigscales said again for good measure. 

Leilani turned around, sneaking past all the full caves where other students lay resting. 

Before Bigscales knew what was happening, they were all lined up at the opening to the conference room. It had taken them long enough to find it, that the whole tour was over and the meeting with the queens had been limited to talking only. 

“I say we ask what the students think,” Queen Anemone suggested, sticking up her snout towards the other queens. 

Queen Glory pressed two talons against her forehead, rubbing them against her scales vigorously before replying, “It’s not up to the students Anemone. We have to do what’s best for them, and in return our students have to trust our judgment.”  

Tsunami wiggled in her seat, looking extremely uncomfortable. “Glory, I know you believe that, but I have to side with my sister.” 

Glory’s wings flared up and her scales turned a dark shade of red. “Of course you do! It’s not like we’ve been friends forever.” 

Deathbringer grabbed Glory’s shoulders, rubbing them and whispering in her ear. 

Now that Bigscales thought about it, he could recall their daughter, Poisonfruit, being in his winglet. She… wasn’t very nice. 

Queen Thorn straightened up, paying each queen a good glance. “The rebels have been firmly striking back at my kingdom. Do you know what that means?” 

Snowfall’s wings flared up als0, and she looked livid. “Do WE KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS! REALLY THORN?” 

Thorn raised her tail threateningly and Clay stepped in with Sunny at his side. 

“There’s no need for violence guys.” He whispered but Bigscales could tell he’d rather be talking louder, telling them all in a long lecture to just get along.

Luckily, Queen Thorn seemed to agree. 

Queen Snowfall didn't. Bigscales could already feel the deathly cold radiating out of her mouth. Curling into frost with each breath. 

“Look,” Thorn started again. “If the rebels are attacking my kingdom, this probably has something to do with The War of the Sandwing Succession. Which leads to the Dragonets of the Prophecy. That means they’ll strike at the school!” 

“Exactly!” Queen Glory exclaimed. “That’s why our students will just need to trust our judgment when we remove them from the school!” 

Flare sucked in a breath. Bigscales was pretty sure he could feel his own teeth clenching. He needed this school.  

Anemone banged her own fist on the table in disagreement. “I remember when I needed this school more than anything! I will not take that away from my dragonets that need to be here!” 

Surprisingly Glory spoke up. “I know. I know that feeling. Where you need something so badly and all you want to do is belong. Trust me I don’t want to take that away from my students. I don’t want to fight against you Anemone! I would love to be on your side of this, but I can’t. And while all the queens are in one spot, I think we clear up this little situation with ‘rebels’. Experiences anyone?” 

“Yes. Me.” Thorn stood and paced a couple times before sitting back down. “A couple weeks ago my treasury was raided. Nothing was taken,” she added reassuringly. “But that wasn’t the last attack. Only a couple days before this meeting The Scorpions Den was attacked. Sorry for stalling the meeting but my people needed me.” Thorn bowed her head before falling silent. 

Snowfall nodded her head in respect before continuing on her own terms. “Of course. I’m sure we ALL understand. My people have also been attacked from our north west border. A couple days ago one of our hunting parties was attacked and robbed. Many icewing families were starved of food that day.” 

It was Anemone’s turn next. “My dragons have been staying underwater, except only for scouts and students. A month ago one of my most trusted soldiers found unfamiliar prints in the sand near our border. They weren’t seawing prints.” 

“May I ask what dragon prints they are then?” Glory asked. 

“None of my scouts could tell, but they found these.” Anemone pulled out two jagged black scales. Nightwings.

“The intruders in my kingdom were nightwings also. A few leafwings and maybe an icewing or two, but mostly nightwings.” Thorn added. 

Snowfall shudders and then looks up at the rest of the queens. “Nightwing’s were found along our border after the attack, and our hunters found similar scales near every attack.” 

“There was more than one attack?” The new queen had mostly stayed silent the entire meeting, but Willow finally spoke up. Willow had become co-queen with Hazel. She ruled over the leafwings in Phyria while Hazel took care of the dragons on their own continent. 

“Yes. Three,” Snowfall answered reluctantly. 

“Ok.”

Glory shrugged off the news that all the attacks had been from nightwings when the others came to that conclusion. “Nightwings have been missing from their village so I’m not surprised.” 

“You should have told us!” A new figure emerged from the shadows and Bigscales recognized Sundew. 

“Yes, well. I was waiting for the others to come to that conclusion.” 

“Well, I think I’ve come to my conclusion.” The mudwing queen was by far the oldest of the new queens and the wisest. She usually acted as the final vote in these meetings and was rarely overruled. “We’ll be closing down the school.” Queen Moorhen confirmed. “And if you disagree, all mudwings will be removed from the program.” 

“I think I agree.” Queen Jewel didn’t speak often but when she did she spoke with confidence. 

“As do I.” Luna was not the best queen. Though the silkwings had elected her and they had a right to choose. 

“Oh. Ok then…” Sunny didn’t sound too happy about that. “The school is officially closed.” 

Anemone and Tsunami looked less than thrilled as did Queen Luna and Queen Willow. 

“We can’t do that to the dragonets.” To Bigscales' surprise the new voice came from his mom. 

Then Flare rushed into the room screaming in all their faces. “YOU CAN’T! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”

“Actually, I think you can.” 

No one knew who said it, and no one could recognize the voice. All the queens looked confused. Then the whole room went up in flames. 

Chapter 2

five years after the WOF books

“NO!” 

Flare was in there. Bigscales' mom was in there. HIS QUEEN WAS IN THERE! He didn’t know who his father was but Bigscales really hoped he wasn’t in there too”. 

Without thinking Bigscales rushed into the flames, unconscious of his burning scales or his smoke filled lungs. He just needed to Get. His. Mom. Out. Now. 

But before he made it that far, strong talons pushed him back into free air. 

“Stay back Bigscales.”

The voice sounded familiar but not enough in the moment that Bigscales could remember who it belonged to. But in a haze he sat down not thinking about whose lives were still at risk. 

Then a blurry form ran out of the flames carrying a red body over his shoulders. Flare.

Bigscales jumped up reaching for his unconscious friend. 

“She needs water, don’t worry, she’s not unconscious, just in a moment of shock. Get water Bigscales. And go to the healing cave and grab bandages. We’ll need a lot of them. Bring Tamarin.” 

It was that voice again and Bigscales willingly ran away from the smoke and fire rushing to the only room he could think about. But before he could make it there a terrifying thought struck. He didn’t know where the healing center was! He’d never gone there. He’d never needed to.

Who had that voice told Bigscales to grab? Tamarin? Bigscales knew her. She was that rainwing, the blind one, that his mother talked about all the time. He’d even met her a couple times. 

Bigscales reluctantly opened his mind to the thoughts of others and a hurricane hit his mind. The sudden force of the thoughts pushed Bigscales to the floor, but he needed to be strong. For Flare. 

He stood back up again, determined to find the one voice he needed to hear. If he could only remember what she sounded like… or did he. With a deep breath he let the thoughts fill his head, this time more prepared for the storm that clouds his mind. 

Most of the thoughts were fellow students, waiting to find out when they would be let out of their caves. Others had heard the explosion and were itching to find out what was going on. 

What was that? Did… did the ground just shake? I should figure out what’s going on… SHUT UP MOOSE! Why does my roommate always-

Nope. Wrong mind. 

I’m so tired… OH! Is that… Oh scroll!

Whoever that was needed to work on their attention span. But that was still the wrong mind. 

Where did Bigscales wander off to? 

Leilani. 

Right as Bigscales had realized who the thought belonged to, an overly bouncy hybrid ran into his backside. 

“OH! Bigscales hi! I was just looking for you.” 

Bigscales didn’t like the way she smelled like smoke. She needed to smell like flowers and the ocean. Despite himself Bigscales could never hate a dragon like Flare could. He was kind of an all loving kinda guy. And he cared about Leilani. The smoke seemed to shout, “HEY! Look at me, I've been through things!” Bigscales didn’t like it. 

“Oh… hi.” He didn’t want to ask for help, but his friends were bigger than his pride. “Do you know where the-” 

And then he got it. A random wave of some thought he didn’t recognize. 

If he’s not happy now, then this was all worthless. If he’s not-

The thought cut off abruptly as if a switch had been turned off in the dragon’s mind. 

As soon as that thought ended, the hurricane hit again. 

If mother was here she’d– 

Father is in there and I can’t let him do that again–

If I fail another class then mother is going to–

Clay will be so proud if I finally catch a fish– 

All I need to do is read all these scrolls and history class will be a breeze! 

Just sort the bandages. Thick ones here, thin ones here, no. That's the medicines. 

Bigscales doubled over, cradling his head in his hands, wishing, wishing, wishing this didn’t have to happen to him. But that last thought had sounded like…

Bigscales jumped onto his feet, keeping the smallest thread of Tamarin’s thoughts in the back of his mind, following them until he entered a large cave. The whole room was lit with green lanterns and the ceiling looked as if it used to be a skylight but then a thin layer of leaves had been used as a canopy. Shelves lined the walls on either side of the door and the back of the room was filled with hammocks and beds. And to the left of the door was Tamarin. She was sorting bandages onto shelves and currently picking up fallen bottles of medicine. 

Without thinking Bigscales ran to her side, pulling at her arm to drag her towards the door. It was Leilani who snapped him out of it. 

“Bigscales. Bandages.” 

“W-what is going on?” Tamarin pulled her arm out of Bigscales' grasp, causing him to double over backwards. 

“There was an explosion in the conference room.” Leilani answers quickly. “We need bandages and medicine for burns. Fast.” 

Tamarin nodded her head before carefully conducting her way around the room, grabbing medicines and bandages, shoving them into a cloth bag hung over her side. 

Within five minutes the dragons had made their way out into the hall, Bigscales pushing through the splitting headache using the distant thoughts of Clay to lead them back to the fiery disaster. 

Tamarin didn’t hesitate. As soon as Bigscales had directed her to Flare’s body, she smothered the unconscious dragon in pastes and bandages, shoving medicines down her throat. 

Dragon after dragon, queen after queen were carried out of the fire by Clay. The horror finally struck Bigscales as his mother’s body was carried out. Her side looked as if it had been melted and then improperly reformed. Her horns lay crooked and stretched on her head and one of her silver scales by her eyes had been torn off, leaving the pale flesh exposed and bloody. Bigscales didn’t have silver scales by his eyes. 

He slumped against the wall, and a rushed icewing scoured past him. With one breath the entryway was covered in frost. As the whole world in Bigscales' eyes went black, the fire ceased to exist and the room went white. 

He knew he was blacking out. He knew that soon he would be unconscious. He just didn’t want to be. So he hung on to catch whispers of the conversation. 

Flare was fine. His mother was going to be scared but survive. Clay was alright. His limp may be worse for a while but he was fine. And the others Bigscales just couldn’t deal with, except… Queen Glory was dead.

Chapter 3

five years after the WOF books

The world was such a sweet world when it was all black and non-existent. 

And then it wasn’t and Bigscales was rushing up in his leafy hammock. 

Where was he… then it clicked. The healing center in Jade Mountain Academy. 

And Queen Glory was dead. Her daughter Poisonfruit would be queen. Bigscales knew her. She was not going to take this well. 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN!!! MY MOTHER IS NOT… dead…” 

There it was. The outburst Bigscales had been waiting for. The world was not a dark and quiet oblivion. It was very much alive and chaotic and insane. 

“I’m sorry. Pois–Poisonfruit!” 

That’s Deathbringer. He must be so sad. 

“What?” Poisonfruit spat at her father. She looked nearly completely like a rainwing except for some strange black swirls on her sides. Her wings had the effect of a night sky peppered with colorful stars that would change color before your eyes. Her horns were a pitch black along with her talons. She had the poisonous fangs of a rainwing along with the camouflage ability. 

“Look. I know this is… hard. And I know you don’t want to be queen.” 

“Of course I don’t! Who–who wants to lose their mother this way? And then be queen because of it?” 

From what Bigscales could hear they were hugging now. 

“I know. I know. Shh.” 

Poisonfruit was… crying.

“I-Just never thought-That I would become-Queen this way-I don’t-Really-Want this. Like. At all.” 

“I know… Shh… I know.” 

“That nightwing is awake now isn’t he?” 

Deathbringer spun around and his eyes landed on Bigscales. A sad smile broke through on his lips. Though it looked a little forced.

“Hi Bigscales. How are those burns feeling?” 

“Burns?” He hadn’t realized he’d said the word out loud until Deathbringer was by his side pointing out all the red irritated scales that Bigscales now had to deal with. “Oh. They’re fine I suppose.” 

And then… “Where’s my mom?” He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten about her. Even if just for the few minutes he’d actually been awake. She deserved a better son than him. 

“Oh Bigscales. She’s… She’s in a coma.” 

“What?” Bigscales' horrid limbs flailed until he was tumbling out of the hammock. “When will she wake up?” 

“No one knows.” 

“No.” 

Bigscales ran out the door, finding his way back to the conference room. He didn’t know why his legs took him there. But there he was. Crying in the ashes. 

How? How? He’d heard… He’d heard that she was going to be ok! She could not be in a coma. He needed his mother like he needed air. And if he lost her then he would truly be an orphan. An alone wandering dragonet. With no one to turn to except an overly grumpy hybrid he called his best friend. 

“Hey.” 

Oh no. Leilani was the last person he really wanted to be talking to right now. 

“Hey Leilani.” 

“How are you? I mean you lost Flare and your mom.” 

“What do you mean lost?” Bigscales had jumped up now. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘LOST’?” He hadn’t meant to scream it in her face but…

“I mean-Just-Hurt? I mean not lost!” 

“Oh.” 

“Flare’s is seriously hurt though,” She said sitting down next to him. “And you mom’s in a coma.” 

“I know,” he spat back .

“I’m sorry.” Why did she have to be so snotty about everything?

“Look Leilani. Queen Glory is dead, my mother is in a coma, and Flare is seriously hurt. I’m not really in the mood to talk right now.” 

Leilani lowered her head to look at her talons. “I know. Flare wanted me to come find you.” She flexed her webbed talons. “Bigscales. I know I’m not wanted by anyone. I live in my parents cave because no one wants to share a cave with me. I know I’m overly energetic, but I’m just trying to be optimistic. I know I’m not wanted. Ok?” 

Bigscales didn’t know what to do. It’s true he didn’t alway get along with Leilani, but he’d never actually heard anyone bluntly say that she wasn’t wanted. But did she really feel that way? Unwanted all the time? Isn’t that exactly how Bigscales felt? 

“Leilani. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.” 

She looked up at him and there was a new look in her eyes. 

“Thank you.” She choked on the words. It broke a piece off of Bigscales' heart and he automatically shoved it in a special box labeled “Only For Leilani” and he felt good about it. 

“I am so sorry.” 

“Thank you.” 

The silence was awkward but Bigscales knew he had to stand his ground. And he didn’t even realize he was stemming until Leilani grabbed his hands, rubbing her talons over his softly. It was so gentle, and soft, and quiet. He could feel his heartbeat, he could hear it. It was going too fast. 

Leilani finally cleared her throat, yanking her talons away. “Flare, um, wanted me to find you.” 

“Oh yeah.” He remembered now. “Where is she?” 

“Your cave.” 

“Thanks.” 

Leilani smiled. 

Bigscales got up and raced to his cave. What had just happened?

“Bigscales. Are you ok?” It was Flare. He’d just passed their cave. 

He stumbled to walk backwards and rushed onto his bed, burying his head in a pile of moss. 

“Life is weird. And my mom is in a coma.” 

“Oh um, sorry?” 

He jumped out of the moss and stretched his neck to peer up at her. Their noses were suddenly almost touching and the room was silent. 

So what? Their school goes through a major crisis and suddenly life gets romantic? WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD? 

Bigscales had to calm down his autistic and ADHD brain before something seriously wrong happened. 

“Um,” he started clearing his throat and steadily backing away. “How are you? You looked… pretty beaten up earlier.” Now that he thought about it, Flare looked so much better then she had when Clay first pulled her out of the fire. Could Tamarin really work that quickly? 

“Tamarin has spent four years studying burns and their treatment.” She said it as if she had been reading Bigscales' mind. “She was in an explosion. Did you know that? It happened in the history cave. Our history cave!” 

“Oh. That’s cool?”

“No it’s not, but good answer!” 

She laughed but stopped when he didn’t join. “Is something wrong?” 

“My mom is in a coma. And no one knows when she’s going to wake up.” 

“Oh.” Ahh yes. Flare’s turn for short answers. “Is there not a way to force her awake? Like maybe shaking her super violently or something? Screaming in her ears for her to stop being a hammock potato?” 

Bigscales sighed. “Not that any dragon knows of.”

They just sat there thinking for a moment. Flare lying down on her ledge of a bed, Bigscales resting his snout on the edge of it, holding himself up with the tips of his claws. 

Suddenly Flare jumped up, landing her a bump on the head from the top of the ceiling.  “I know!” 

Bigscales fumbled back, eventually failing to restrain gravity and falling hard on the floor. “What?” 

“Well I know how you might be able to figure out how to wake her up at least.” 

“How?” One second past. “How?” 

“You just need to read her mind. You know. Figure out what she’s thinking about. Make sure her consciousness is thinking about waking up and working again soon!” 

Bigscales honestly couldn’t believe Flare of all dragons had thought of that. But… “I can’t.” 

“Uh, why?!”

“Me and mother made a promise that we would never violate each other's privacy.” 

Flare rolled her eyes. “Yeah well this is different! This has to do with your mother’s health and wellbeing! You need to do it and make sure she’s ok.” 

“I guess you’re right.” 

Flare rolled her eyes again. “Of course I am. Where’s our energetic little friend?” 

Bigscales gulped and Flare glared.

“If you're talking about me then I’m right here.” And she was. Leilani was in their doorway. 

“I was actually. Do you know where they’re keeping Scales’s mother dearest?” 

“You-you mean Moon?” Leilani clarified.

Flare nodded.

“She’s in the healing center.” 

“No she’s not,” Bigscales cut in. “I was just there. She’s… not there.” 

“Well, she’s in the less common one so…” 

“There’s two?” Bigscales felt the need to ask. 

“One of them is by the underground lake. They use it for burns and fires and… special cases.” She added the last bit slowly as if to make the fact that she’d called Bigscales' mother a special case any less daunting.

“Take me there. I need… to see my mother.” 

Leilani nodded and led him out of the room, down a couple of hallways. The trip was completely silent. But Bigscales had to say something. 

“About earlier-” 

“It’s in here. Oh! Were you saying something?” 

“No I-” he didn’t finish. 

His mother was laying on a floating bed of bamboo sticks and on top of that was a woven moss mattress. And on top of that was Moon. Bigscales' mother. 

Her wings were sunk into the water as were the tips of her back talons and a thin layer of her back. Other patients were floating in the air around her. He flexed his wings in the moonlight, curling and uncurling his talons in hesitation. Bigscales took a deep breath as he prepared for the headache that was most certainly ahead of him.

But it never came. Instead his consciousness went straight to his mother. 

Her brain was an uncoordinated mess. The usual distinct thoughts never came. The sound was a jumble of mixed incomplete thoughts and in the back of it all was an agonizing blankness. The words to describe the emptiness did not exist. It was as if her mind was slowly fading to nothing, but Bigscales refused to believe that’s what was happening. Instead he pushed deeper into the chaos, searching for one unfinished thought that would clarify she was waking up. 

This was the first time Bigscales could dig around his mother’s mind. It wasn’t just what she was thinking about in that moment. He searched and searched, praying for a sign that he would get his mother back but nothing came. 

Finally a small thread caught his attention. A flicker of a thought, but Bigscales took it, following the thread until it led to the nook where it formed. Filling his mind with information he needed. It wasn’t even a thought.

The conference room was crowded to the brink with hot breath and arguing. Why do dragons always argue like this? Then suddenly the room was a burst of flames. The heat hurts. Bigscales. I don’t have a good feeling about this. Bigscales. I don’t think I’m going to survive the aftermath of this event. Desert Moon…

The thought ended. The thought was awful. But it lead to something else. The flicker of a smiling face. Yellow scales and a single earring. Bigscales followed it and the memory became clearer. 

“Moon I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

It was his mother. And a sandwing he didn’t know. 

“I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” And with that the sandwing grasped Moon’s talons and leaned in close, his snout brushing the tip of hers. The night was dark and the moons were shining ong the two dragons. 

“Qibli. How would that work?” 

“Simple. You’re with me, I’m with you. We move into the jungle–or the desert–whichever you prefer, and we start a family together.” 

So his name was Qibli. Could he be–

“I… have to tell you something.” 

“Anything.” 

“I’m with egg.” 

“WHAT!” 

“Yeah. I want to spend my life with you too!” Moon reached to steady Qibli, keeping him upright. “Hey, hey. We already decided that was the plan remember? We officially mated a week ago!” 

Qibli sat down on the sand, gazing into nothing. “I remember. I just… I can’t be a father yet Moon! I have to work, and live my life. Thorn needs me.” 

“So you're just going to leave?” 

Qibli looked up at her, tears brimming his eyes. But even if he wanted to cry, he didn’t let himself. “Yes. No-Moon! I have to.” 

Moon turned away, not looking at him. “No you don’t.” 

Qibli pulled Moon onto the ground with him, hugging her close. “What are you going to call them?” 

“Him,” she corrected stiffly. 

“Him then. A boy.” He smiled. “What are you going to call him?” 

Moon squirmed in Qibli’s arms but didn’t pull away. “Bigscales. His name is going to be Bigscales.” 

Qibli frowned. “That’s very… nightwing of you.” 

Moon got up, fumeing. “Yes. Because he is going to look exactly like a nightwing and he will never know who his father is! He will never know you existed. You’re dead to us.” 

And then she flew away crying. And as her wings transformed the clouds to mist around her the scene shifted. 

Moon was curled up around two eggs and Qibli was curled up across from her tapping his tail nervously. 

The bigger egg began to crack and both parents' eyes widened. 

A golden dragonet emerged from the shell. She had a thin line of puff trailing from the top of her head in the spot right between her horns and trailing down to the tip of her tail. All her scales were golden except for the underside of her wings which looked exactly like the night sky. 

Moon picked her up and the tips of their snouts toughed. The little dragonet licked her mother’s nose and Moon smiled. 

“Like we agreed, you get to name the first one to hatch,” Moon said, not taking her eyes off her daughter. “She’s a girl.” 

Qibli’s eyes brimmed with tears and this time he let a few fall before he lifted his gaze from his daughter and landed them on Moon. He really did love her. 

“Her name will be Desert Moon. Two words, one name… after her mother.” 

Moon began to cry, but only softly. She didn’t look at Qibli but Bigscales could feel her emotions. She was going to miss him. His mother always missed him. Moon loved Qibli. 

“The name is perfect Qibli-” 

Her next thought process was interrupted when the second egg hatched. 

This egg was significantly smaller than Desert Moon’s, but Moon didn’t seem to care. A small nightwing tumbled out of the cracking shell. The scales along his wings, legs and other parts of his chest were significantly larger than others. He smiled immediately as he played with his new freedom. It was then that Bigscales realized, he was watching his own hatching. 

Qibli’s smiled looked a little strange as he stared at his deformed son. “Well Moon, what are we going to call this one.” 

“It’s a he Qibli! And he’s beautiful in case you were thinking anything otherwise. And his name is Bigscales. Just like I said, remember. But now it fits him. If his name points out his deformity then everyone will know that I am not ashamed of my son. I think he’s perfect. The most perfect dragonet in the world.” 

Bigscales' eyes welled with tears at the thought that this dragon, the most perfect and kind and loving dragon in the world, could actually be slipping away. 

Qibli looked doubtful but didn’t say anything. Until… “I still have to leave Moon.” 

Bigscales' mother, his perfect mother, glared at Qibli but it was more of a sad glare than an angry one. “I know.” 

“Moon, are you going to make me stay away from my children? Really?” 

Moon looked back and forth from the two dragonets curled in the crick of her wing to the dragon she had always loved sitting in front of her and she knew what she needed to do. 

“Desert Moon, the dragonet whose name was given to her by her father, can go with you. But you have to promise me that you will love and take care of her. If food is short give it all to her and-” 

“Moon!–I love my dragonets. It’s like a new instinct just kicked in. I’m not going to let anything happen to her.” 

Moon nodded. “I know. But I’m not done. She can’t ever… know who her mother is. I don’t want to see you again. And Bigscales stays with me. I never want to see you again, Qibli.” 

Qibli looked heartbroken, both at the thought of never seeing Moon again, but also at the concept of never getting to know his son. 

Bigscales was glad though that he had been given to his mother. He didn’t want Moon to love Desert Moon like she loved him. He knew it was selfish, but he also knew he was right. His mother had always loved her daughter, but the love she had for her son was soooo different. Stronger in a different sense. 

“Ok Moon. It’s a deal.” 

“Ok.” 

Qibli got up to reach for his daughter but hesitated as his eyes landed on Bigscales. 

“Can I hold him? Just once?” 

Moon nodded and Qibli held up his son. He held Bigscales close. “I love you buddy. I may never get to know you, and you may never get to know me, but I love you.” Then he put Bigscales down, back in the crook of his mother’s wing. 

Qibli held Desert Moon closer as he spread his wings and left the comfort of the moonlight to fly to some unknown paradise, leaving Moon and her son alone in the dark. 

Holding Bigscales, Moon cried until she slept, and her dreams were full of memories she would never get back. 

The memory ended and Bigscales cried too. Even though he knew his mother had been crying four years ago in that memory, it felt so new. And plus, he had more things to cry about. 

He was a hybrid.

He had a secret twin sister. Desert Moon. 

And his mother was never waking up. 

Moon was gone forever, and Bigscales had to get his father back.

Chapter 4

five years after the WOF books

Bigscales collapsed in Leilani’s arms. Though he hadn’t realized that was the case until she was whispering in his ear. 

“It’s ok.” 

He slowly stood, his eyes red and puffy. He really wasn’t getting his mother back. But he knew who his father was. He had a sister! And he needed to find them. If only his mother’s memories had been more clear of where his family was going. If he could even call them that. 

“I’m ok Leilani.” 

“What did you learn?” she asked, pulling back from him.

Bigscales took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “My… mother isn’t waking up. She’s not coming back.” 

Bigscales probably should have been the one crying then, but Leilani was handling it for him. 

“Oh Bigscales. I’m-so sorry-are you ok?” 

“I… I need to talk to Starflight.” 

Suddenly Bigscales was up off the floor. He knew he had to talk to the blind librarian. He might know things about Qibli or his mother. Things he needed to know. Maybe he even knew where Desert Moon and his father were! 

“Oh, ok! I’ll come with you.” 

Just as Bigscales had turned to walk away, he felt a strong talon rest on his shoulder. “Is everything ok Bigscales?” It was Sunny. Dang! She was bigger than Bigscales remembered. 

“Um, well…” 

“Bigscales I know this has to be hard on you. So I’m only asking to see if I can help. Is everything ok?” 

Bigscales really didn’t want to answer that question. But then he found the perfect topic change. “Weren’t you in the fire? Are you ok?” He had hoped the concern would draw attention off of him. And besides. Most dragons he knew loved talking about themselves. 

“Yes actually. And I’m fine, thank you. Now are you ok?” 

Bigscales groaned. 

And then he fell in love with Leilani. 

“He’s alright Sunny just… worried about his mom. We were about to go see Starflight. You know. To check if he had any books on burns.” 

Sunny smiled. “That’s a great idea, Leilani! You go do that. And say hi to your mother for me. She… must not be doing well about losing Glory.” 

Then it was Leilani’s turn to break down. 

Bigscales hadn’t thought that Kinkajou would be struggling about losing her queen. But they were also best friends. Kinkajou was best friends with Queen Glory… and Moonwatcher. 

“She’s… not doing well. Has she been-been to see Moon yet?” 

“She left just before I got here.” Sunny answered, looking away. “We’re… all so hurt by this.” 

“Did… you ever find a body?” Bigscales asked. After all, Glory had been his queen too. He wanted to be there when they buried her. He wanted to make sure his queen was honored the right way. 

“They didn’t.” 

That caught his attention. “How?” 

“Well. We all think the explosion must have been nearly placed on top of her. There were no remains.” 

Bigscales felt like crying. But he didn’t. One thought kept creeping through the back of his mind. Queen Glory was the only queen labeled dead. None of the other queens had been seriously hurt even! If Glory was the target… This whole thing felt like an attack. And there was no body, so maybe she had been completely obliterated. Unless… 

“Did Queen Glory have any enemies? People that might want her dead or just… out of commission?” 

Sunny looked surprised to hear this. “I don’t think so. Scarlet is dead–thankfully–so no.”

“Does anyone think this was an… attack maybe?” Bigscales didn’t know why he kept asking these questions. He just had to know. 

“No-I… I can’t do this.” Sunny turned away. Leaving questions unanswered and suspicion rising. 

“Come on Bigscales. Let’s go see Starflight.” And with that Leilani was dragging him out into the hall. “What was that all about? I thought you were going to tear her apart with questions.” 

“I… just needed to know something.” 

“Ok well, do you think you can save the rest of your questions for Starflight?” 

Bigscales nodded. “Yes.” 

“Ok.” Leilani smiled and Bigscales saw a new side of her. A side that just made the next words bubble out of him. “I want you around Leilani.” 

And she smiled again. “I-Thank you.” 

All he did was nod as they continued to walk down the hall, Bigscales blindly following behind, desperate to make it to the library without another burst of words. 

Finally they made it into the scroll filled room. The blind librarian sat behind a circled wooden desk, rubbing his talons over raised letters. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi Starflight.” Leilani waved in his direction. Bigscales waved to but then he remembered he couldn’t see him. 

“Bigscales to.” He said quietly. 

“Ah. Leilani and Bigscales,” Starflight repeated to confirm for himself. 

“Yes,” Leilani stated matter-of-factly. “We have a few questions actually.” 

“Of course… Um. What about?” 

“The fire.” 

Starflight’s shoulders fell and his filmed over eyes gazed blankly at the ground. “Of course.” 

“If it’s a bad topic or too soon after-” Leilani quickly cut in. 

“No! It’s-I’m fine. It is hard to realize… The lives we’ve lost…” 

“Um, Starflight?” Bigscales didn’t want to be rude; he just… needed answers. He needed to know what the others knew. 

“Yes. Of course. Um, question away.” 

Bigscales cleared his throat. He was asking the questions. “Were any bodies found? And… What caused the explosion?” 

Starflight gulped. “Well, Glory’s body wasn’t found and she’s the only queen dead.” He paused there and Bigscales let him. “As for what caused it? I had Fatespeaker do some research for me, give me some particles that remained from the fire. You know, protocol. And so far… there weren’t any seeds that would recommend the fire was caused from a dragonflame cactus, so I-we crossed that out immediately.” 

“So what caused it?” Leilani cut in after Starflight paused for air. 

“One moment child.” It was hard for the two dragonets to grant Starflight’s request, but they managed. “I interviewed the other queens and most of them said the same thing. That before the fire started a strange smell filled the air. That led me to believe the fire was caused by gas.” 

“Ok but what gas?” Bigscales asked. “And if the fire was, you know, an accident or natural then that means someone started it! So we need to find those dragons an-” 

“Bigscales. Please.” Why did Leilani have to be soooooooooo convincing. 

“To answer your question,” Starflight started again. “I think it was smoke gas.” 

“What’s that?” 

“It’s a gas that when lit, replaces its natural substance with smoke.” 

“Ok, now say it one more time in Dragon.” 

Starflight sighed as he slid a talon down his face. “When someone lights the gas on fire, everywhere that the gas used to occupy, the gas itself if you will, turns to smoke.” 

“So it turns into flammable smoke?” Leilani concluded. 

“Well no. It’s a little more complicated. Let’s see. When someone releases the gas, it fills the air as gas will. Then when you light it up, on fire, it burns for a quick second, then it just spreads to the flammable things in the room. Too fast for anyone to realize that it was even gas in the first place.” He snapped for effect. “Then while the rest of the room is one fire and burning, the original gas turns to smoke. Are we clear?” 

“I… think so.” Bigscales was still trying to realize what was going on. “Does anyone else think the whole situation is strange?” 

“No,” Starflight concluded. “Most of the queens are suspicious as well. They were talking in the meeting. Well. I’m not sure I’m in the position to share.” 

“It’s alright,” Leilani cut in. “We were spying outside anyway.” 

“Well then,” Starflight said, startled. “You should know about the attacks?” 

“We do.” Bigscales was still thinking. What was going on? “Do you think the other attacks could be related to this one?” 

Starflight shrugged. “I suppose. But remember, we’re not even sure this was an attack!” 

“Are you kidding?” Bigscales said, spinning around to face the nightwing. “That’s all this could be!” 

“It is highly possible, but we can never be fully certain. Trust me. I know with these things.” 

Bigscales snorted. He just couldn’t make himself believe that his queen had died in an accident. It… didn’t sound right. It didn’t feel right.

“Fine. Let’s go Leilani.” He turned to walk out the door but Starflight stopped him. 

“Bigscales I know you’re frustrated. But you just have to accept things. It’s not easy, but it is something that must be done. I hope you try to let the truth adapt.” 

“Whatever.” was the only reply that Starflight received. 

When Bigscales and Leilani were back in their cave with Flare they discussed all that they’d learn. Bigscales was relieved that Flare agreed with him. 

“I mean yeah!” she said. “It makes sense. If Starflight thought the fire was caused by gas, then the gas had to come from somewhere. Though you probably should have asked how the gas was made, just so we can be sure it actually wasn’t just an accident. You know like, air hits wrong type of air at the wrong time, then the new wrong air turns into bad air! Which, the bad air is the gas. You know?” 

“Honestly,” Leilani answered. “None of what you said made ‘sense’, though your logic isn’t exactly debatable.” 

Flare raised her eyebrows. “Since when is little Miss Rainbow some smarty Mc. Geek?” 

“Stop it Flare,” Bigscales cut in. He reached for one of the only scrolls in their cave he never read. The one about science and sciency things. He wasn’t ever going to stoop as low as being the weird dragonet with weird scales, and then be a geek. 

He unrolled it as far as it could go, scanning the page for any sign of gas. Now that sounded weird but it’s what he needed. 

“Is-will that help?” Leilani pointed to a small scribbled note on the scroll. It read: 

The Complete History of Fires and Their Causes

“What, is that supposed to mean?” Bigscales asked.

Leilani thought for a second before answering. “I-I think it’s the name of a scroll. Bigscales, whoever had this scroll before must have started that fire! Where’d you get it?” 

“Actually…” Bigscales hadn’t ever checked out the scroll, he’d found it on his desk one morning and had shoved it on the shelf without ever thinking about. He’d thought then that Flare might have been reading it and left it on his desk. But now that he thought about it, that wasn’t Flare’s idea of light reading. “I didn’t check it out. I found it.” 

“That’s not good Bigscales. Do you know what that means?” 

Before he could answer Flare cleared her throat and leaned over the edge of her ledge ever so slightly, pointing her talon at another handwritten note. “Uh guys. That can’t be good either.” 

If you’re reading this right now, that means our plan is already in action and you’re out of time. If you’re reading this right now, that means your mother is already dying, and your Precious Queen Glory will be joining her any time now. She’s not dead yet, but because of you, she will be.

And where the signature should have been, was one eerie symbol. One that would either help Bigscales find whoever did this, or seal his doom forever. 

Chapter 5

five years after the WOF books

“GUYS! I’M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!”

Bigscales knew that this probably should have been that moment where he comforted Leilani, but he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move. And besides, Flare was much more sensible, to Bigscales' demise, and had a more important thing to say. 

“Bigscales. What aren’t you telling us?” 

He gulped. And then he gulped again. And again. Seriously! Would he ever speak again?

“My mom… is dying. I went inside her mind and it was not like anything else I’ve ever seen-well hear-before. But no. With her it was like seeing. I couldn’t just hear her current thoughts, I could find her memories. But, more than that it was like her mind was disintegrating. Slowly but surely. I could see the darkness seeping in, killing her. I could feel it.” And then his anger kicked in. “And this guy can save her! I know he knows how! And he chose to kill her! We have to find him.” 

“Um, isn’t it a them?” 

Bigscales turned to face Flare. “What do you mean ‘them’?” 

“In the note. It says, ‘our plan’. Doesn’t that imply multiple living beings?” 

Bigscales slumped fully to the floor. “Yup. It’s a them. Now we have to hunt down an entire organization. Noooooo biggy! We do this every day!” 

Leilani sat down next to him. “I know this must be… awful. But me and Flare are here to help. We are going to help you.” Flare nodded, her eyes finding Bigscales’ to add extra promise. “And yes that means we’ll search all of Phyriah, even Pantala if we have to, to save your mom. You can count on that.” 

“Yeah you can Scale Butt. So don’t get all mopy on me. If you do that I might actually beg for Miss. Rainbows back.” 

He tried to hide his smile but couldn’t. Why was Flare so good at joking around?” 

“Thanks guys but… I don’t want to make you do that. I can go by myself-” 

Flare leaned off her ledge further, shushing him with one talon. “Nope. None of that Scales. You don’t get to go all hero on me. Not now. I’m the one who was scorched by that fire, not you remember? And yeah I know you lost your mom to it, and your Queen-you too Rainbows-but they hurt me, and I want revenge. I mean! Look at what they did to my arm!” Flare stretched out her right arm pointing to all the strange melted places where the fire had scorched her. 

He’d never noticed the scales before, and the sight made Bigscales sick. Not because it was too much for him, because his best friend had been scared from this. She did deserve revenge, but Bigscales didn’t want her to end up with more scars.

“You can’t come with me Flare.” 

A small burst of flame shot out of her nose, nearly hitting the side of Bigscales’ head. “Uh, yes I can! You can’t stop us.” 

“Us?” Bigscales didn’t like the sound of that. 

“Yeah. Me and Rainbows. Come one Scales! You need us.” 

Bigscales didn’t want to admit it, but he did need his friends. He even wanted them to come. He just didn’t want them to get hurt. 

“She’s right Bigscales. Please let us come with you.” Leilani twined her tail around his, leaning into his side. “You do need us.”

“I-Fine. But I don’t even know where we’re going. Or where to start. I don’t know anything.” 

Flare jumped off her ledge, landing behind Leilani. “WRONG! I know where we can start. It’s easy! We heard all the queens talking about nightwings, so we start there. In the rainforest!” When no one “oooooed” or “awwwwd” Flare did a dance ending with a very dramatic, “Ta-daaaa!” 

It was Leilani who finally broke the silence. “The rainforest is too deep in mourning. We can’t go there right now, demand to interview every nightwing–causing even more chaos–and then leave. We just can’t!” 

Flare’s shoulders slumped. “I hate it when Rainbows is right.” 

Then it hit him. “I know where to start.” Bigscales only whispered, but it was enough.

Leilani leaned even closer to him. “Tell us.” 

“Well. I have a new theory–and–don’t be mad.” 

“Never.” Leilani really was awesome. 

“What if the attack wasn’t meant for Glory like I thought it was?” 

“What do you mean Scales?” 

“I’m a hybrid.” 

“WHAT?” Leilani and Flare both shouted in unison. 

“I saw it in my mom’s mind. I have a father and… he’s a sandwing. I have a sister too! Her name’s Desert Moon. My father’s name is Qibli.” Leilani flinched. “Do you know who that is?” 

“Not in person. But I’ve heard my dad and mom talk about him. He was in their winglet. They never mentioned him with Moon though,” she added as soon as she saw the look on Bigscales’ face. 

“Oh.” Bigscales shaked his head to get back to his theory. “Well. What if my dad runs the organization?” 

“Why would you think that?” Flare scoffed. “He’s your dad! And your mom’s the one who got hurt.” 

“Yeah but that’s my point! What if he was mad at my mom for leaving him, so he set the fire to hurt her? And then–if he’s really evil–it’s just an added bonus that all the queens happened to be there too! It even explains the symbol. An ‘S’ for sandwing.” 

“I don’t know Bigscales–” Leilani started, but was soon cut off by Flare. 

“I know you’re wrong! The ‘S’ is probably for a name. And Qibli starts with a ‘Q’. And before you get all doubty at me Scales, think about it. Most of the attacks were done by nightwings, so if the ‘S’ really stood for sandwing, well, the nightwings just wouldn’t stand for that! You know how they can be. If the symbol stood for a tribe at all, it would probably be an ‘N’ for nightwing.” 

“But my mom–” 

“Wasn’t the only one who got hurt! You’re forgetting who got killed. Queen Glory got killed. If the group is a group of nightwings, then who better to go after then your rainwing queen? The whole thing was probably plotted to kill her so the nightwings could get their own leader back.” 

“I hate to say it,” Leilani started. “But that makes sense.” 

Bigscales slumped. “It does.”

“But,” Flare added. “We still can’t go to the rainforest. So now we can look for your father anyways, without worrying about him being a creepy killer!”

“Yeah!” Leilani sounded way happier than Bigscales felt.

“All right,” He finally concluded. “But we’re still going to the rainforest as soon as the rainwings are ready.” 

Leilani said, “Of course.” the same time Flare said, “Sure.” so it sounded a lot like, “Of shurse.”

“Ok.” Bigscales said, for the first timing feeling as small as he looked. “Let's go find my family.” 

Chapter 6

five years after the WOF books

“I’M STARTING TO THINK THIS WAS A VERY BAD IDEA!” Flare could barely be heard over the wing whipping her voice around, but from what Bigscales could tell: he agreed. 

Leilani swooped down next to Bigscales from her higher place in the clouds. “How are you?” 

How could she always be so thoughtful? 

“I’m… good.” 

“Really? I mean, we just left school after a major attack on our queens, you found out your mom is going to die, and we’re looking for you long lost dad and sister heading straight towards the Sand Kingdom, a place none of us have ever been before–” 

“Speak for yourself!” Flare interrupted. 

“–and we have no idea what we’re doing! It doesn’t seem like you’d be fine. I mean, I’m not and this isn’t even my crisis!” 

Bigscales flinched. “I know all of that but… I’m just choosing to be optimistic.” 

Flare groaned. “Oh please. Not another Rainbows.” 

Leilani hissed, flashing the venom loaded fangs out from under her curved lip. Then she turned back to Bigscales smiling like the world was all swell and good. 

“I think it’s good that you’re trying to be optimistic. Really! I guess, I just want to make sure you really are good. I don’t want you to hide things from me because, I can help.” 

Bigscales smiled. “I know. I’m not trying to hide anything, I’m just… anxious about the whole thing.” 

Leilani looked away watching the clouds fold over her wings before looking back at Bigscales. “I feel the same way.” 

Bigscales smiled and Leilani laughed. “What? Why are you laughing? Do I have something in my teeth?” He instantly started scraping his talons against his teeth. 

“No silly! I just haven't seen you smile in a while.”

Bigscales stopped scraping his teeth. Instead he just smiled again. And she smiled back. And they just stood there. Smiling at eachother. Then there eyes met and–

“How faaaar is it?” Flare said, interrupting the moment. 

“I don’t know,” Bigscales replied grudgingly. “Do you see any sand yet or–” 

Bigscales didn’t know what was happened. All he knew was that one moment Flare was in front of him being a jerk, and the next she was gone. 

He spun around searching for Leilani and she was gone too. 

“Guys? Leilani! FLARE!”

No response. 

“GUYS!”

Suddenly a much larger, much stronger body flung towards him, crashing into his side out of nowhere. 

“Yu-ahh!” 

He heard snarling, and then he was being pulled down, down, down onto the desert floor. 

“Hey Dez, I got the nightwing.” 

Who’s “Dez”? Bigscales thought. 

“Good. Axolotl got the weird rainwing and that skywing… Got ya! Don’t even try to think about escaping skying.” 

Flare. Leilani! They have them. 

Bigscales tried to look at his captures but his head was shoved back into the sand. 

“Watch it nightwing,” The first voice started. “I don’t want to hurt you.” The voice was definitely male. It was deep. Really deep. And kinda sarcastic sounding. 

“Uh, Saguaro! We don’t mind hurting them!” 

“Yup. Got it. You should be very afraid of me nightwing! Because Dez told me to be terrifying, I’m going to let you know I have one tail full of poison pointed right at you.” 

Bigscales didn’t like that. 

Even though he couldn’t see it, he was pretty sure he could feel the one named Dez roll her eyes before saying, “Rope em up Saguaro.” 

Then a thick, mildly prickly vine was wrapped across his snout. Then his legs were tied along with his wings. The blindfold came next. 

“BIGSCALES!” The voice came from Leilani. “BIG–SHMALES!” 

They had her tied up but Bigscales couldn’t do anything. He was completely useless like he’d always dreaded being. And now his friends were getting hurt.  

“LEAVE HER ALONE!” Bigscales whipped his head towards the voice. It was Flare. He couldn’t see her, but he knew that screaming maniac anywhere. “Leave. Her. Alone.” 

Bigscales’ shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course Flare hadn’t been tied up as easily. 

A new voice laughed as a new one snarled. The laughing one spoke. “You come quietly, or she doesn’t come at all.” The voice was gravely and new. Pitched high enough that Bigscales knew it was feminine. 

“Axolotl stop. Saguaro, finish tying up the skywing. They’re all going to father.” 

Flare’s voice was muffled by vines and Bigscales was carried blindly by dragons he didn’t know, in the middle of a desert. Why did bad luck follow him everywhere?

Finally the blindfold was removed and he was standing in front of… an abandoned campsite. 

Tents formed around one big oasis complete with river and palm trees. Sand whipped across half made streets whispers lingered around the area from inside the triangles of cloth. The tents were small but the area they filled was large. They were all stuck in the shortest wall of thorns Bigscales had ever seen, and they all circled the oasis, still leaving plenty of room for dragons to walk around. And by the oasis was a single desk, and sitting at the desk was a sandwing. 

His comb trailed down his back in a lopsided line. A scare shone across his nose and in his left ear was a singly earring. It hooked on like a loop, but hanging off the ring of metal was a single piece of amber. Next to the earring hole was a white scar as if the ornament had been torn off long ago and then re–installed somewhere else. 

Bigscales hung his head as Dez carried him and his friends through the campsite village. Finally she led them into a large tent and broke the vines keeping his snout shut. 

“Where are we?” 

Dez didn’t answer until Leilani and Flare were safely put down. 

Bigscales couldn’t help but notice Flare didn’t get any of her bonds broken. 

“My father calls it The Evacuation.” 

Flare scoffed through her gag. 

“It’s not on any of the maps,” Leilani pointed out. 

“That’s cuz it’s not supposed to be.” 

“Why?” 

Dez screamed towards the ceiling of the ten then turned to face Leilani. “The Evacuation is for dragons who need a place to stay away from the queen's rule.” 

Bigscales shrunk back into the shadows before asking, “So you’re rebels?” 

“No,” Dez spat. “We just protect those who have been outcasted, or help those who don’t feel safe ‘evacuate’ from their kingdom. Hence The Evacuation.” 

“Oh,” Bigscales squeaked. Dez was mean, but he needed to stay strong. So he shoved himself from the shadows despite the bonds on his legs and wings. 

“Yeah.” 

They all sat in silence for a moment save for Flare who kept snorting through her gag.

“You should untie her,” Leilani breathed. “She’s only going to want to kill you more the longer she’s in there.” Flare nodded her head vigorously. “And if you let her go, she promises not to fight you.” Flare stopped nodding her head. Instead she raised an eyebrow at Leilani. 

When the hybrid rainwing raised an eyebrow back, Flare sighed and nodded her head again. 

Dez didn’t look convinced. 

“Please?” Bigscales added. 

“Uuuuuuuuuuuug. FINE! But if your little friend attacks us she’s getting what she asked for.” 

Flare snorted and Bigscales sent her a glare. 

Finally Flares bonds were cut along with Bigscales’ and Leilani’s. 

“Where’d the others go? You’re friends.” Leilani asked. 

“Oh you mean Axolotl and Saguaro? They went to tell father about you all. They’ll be back soon.” Bigscales didn’t like the smile Dez was shooting their way. 

Axolotl did eventually come back. She was a small thin sandwing. Her muscles were definitely there and hard to ignore, but the rest of her was thin as bones with her ribs poking through. Her legs were covered in so many tattoos that Bigscales couldn’t even tell what they were of. Her ears were pierced with far more earrings than the one dragon at the desk had, and when she spoke Bigscales could see a small loop of metal pierced into her tongue. 

“He’s ready for you Dez.” 

Dez nodded and ushered for Bigscales, Leilani, and Flare to follow. 

“Don’t even think about running away!” she warned. “I have scouts in every hiding place in this village watching us now and they are not afraid to end any lives that threaten the peace of The Evacuation.” 

Bigscales gulped.

Leilani flinched. 

Flare laughed.

Axolotl smirked. 

The smirking sandwing followed behind until the group reached the desk. Axolotl bowed slightly at Dez then turned around to head back towards the tent. 

“Dez, are these the dragons Saguaro and Axolotl were telling me about?” 

“Yes Father.” 

Bigscales still couldn’t get a good view of the dragon’s face from his spot behind Dez, but there was something about his voice that was familiar. 

“Take a seat. All four of you!” 

Dez pulled up three cushions for the dragons to sit on and Leilani did happily. Flare was slower to comfort, as was Bigscales. But eventually they were all sitting down. 

And then he saw it. That face. Bigscales would know it anywhere. 

“Qibli?” He hadn’t meant to ask the question aloud, but it was too late now. 

“I don’t remember telling you my name. Dez, did you give it to them?” 

Bigscales tried to keep the tears in, but one slipped out.

“What’s wrong?” Leilani leaned in, twining their tails and grabbing his arm. “What is it?”  

He ignored her. Instead he looked Qibli right in the eyes. “Do you know who Moonwatcher is?” 

Qibli froze. “How do you know that name?” 

“That’s my mother’s name.” 

Qibli froze again, except this time he didn’t freeze looking at Bigscales. He turned away this time. 

After fifteen seconds of silence, Bigscales was ready to lunge at Qibli and shake his brains out. If he couldn’t connect the dots he was a stupid oaf! 

But then Qibli did speak, and his voice was shaky and fragile. “That means… Bigscales?” He pointed a shaky finger at him. “That’s your name right?” 

Bigscales nodded. Qibli looked ready to faint. “I’m your–You’re my.” 

Bigscales couldn’t take this anymore. He laughed. “Hi father.” 

Part 2

Ash and Shadows

Chapter 7

five years after the WOF books

Qibli didn’t pass out, but he looked like he wanted to. 

“Dad, are you ok?” It was Dez. Or did Dez stand for something else? Something like… 

“Desert Moon.” 

Dez turned to face Bigscales, her face angry and her eyes blazing. “What did you say?” 

“Your name is Desert Moon isn’t it?” 

“You! How do you know that?” 

“I–I say it. In my mother’s mind.” It was then that he realized he hadn’t had a mind reading break down in days. Not sense the day he’d read his mom’s mind. Then he and his friends had been heading towards the desert for two days, and then today Desert Moon had found them.

“You’re a mind reader?” Desert Moon spit out. “Seriously!” 

“Dez. Calm down.” 

Desert Moon spun on Qibli. “You knew about him! YOU KNEW MOM EXISTED? YOU SAID SHE WAS DEAD!” 

“To me she was!” Qibli shot back. “Now Calm. Down. Now.” 

Desert Moon did so reluctantly. 

“Bigscales, you said you only found out about me and your sister because you read Moon’s mind?” 

“Yes. She’s unconscious right now otherwise I wouldn’t have–” Flare stabbed his side with her elbow, reminding him they should be careful what they share. But it was too late now. Qibli needed to know everything if he was going to be Bigscales’ father.

“What do you mean unconscious? Is she ok?” 

“Weeelllllll,” Leilani started. 

“Not exactly,” Bigscales finished. 

Flare gave up. 

“There was an attack on our school. Jade Mountain Academy. A fire set in the conference room with all the queens and teachers present. Mom–Moon was there too. She taught history so…” 

Qibli didn’t respond. He just held his head in his hands thinking. Finally he looked up. “Is she going to be ok?” 

“No.” Bigscales thought it would be better to put things bluntly. “When I read her mind after the fire, it was like it was fading away, it was weaker somehow. I could actually dig around in her memories, find what I wanted to. That’s how I found you.” 

Qibli got up to pace. “That’s not supposed to be possible.” 

“I know.” 

Qibli paced for one–hundred and sixty–three more seconds before sitting back down. He looked tired and worn. 

“Do you know who started the fire?” 

Bigscales flinched. “Well, not exactly.” He nudged Flare and she reluctantly reached into the bag she was wearing and pulled out a scroll. 

Before Bigscales took it, Qibli turned to Desert Moon muttering, “Remember Dez, you have to take off the bags. They could have knives in there!” Dez only nodded, still not looking at her father. But Bigscales could have sworn she muttered something like, “I can’t believe after all these years, I’m a hybrid!” 

Bigscales took the scroll from Flare, who was having the same attitude as Desert Moon, and rolled it out to where the message had been. 

When Qibli read he seemed to look even older and more tired. Then he saw the symbol and his eyes welled with fear. 

“Do you know it?” Flare asked. 

Qibli only nodded. 

“Well explain then!” she pressed. 

“That’s the symbol of Soldar.” 

“Who’s Soldar?” Leilani asked. Bigscales could feel her shaking so he wrapped his wing around her, keeping her close. 

“He’s the leader of a rebelion known only by those who joined as Crown Fire.” 

“That… Doesn’t sound good.” 

“It’s not,” Qibli agreed. 

“What do they do?” Flare asked, much more calm then she had been a few seconds ago. 

“They strive to take down the queens. They believe that the world would just be better if dragons ran under a democracy. Soldar, is their leader.” 

“But,” Bigscales started. “If it’s a world wide rebellion, why are most of the attacks I’ve heard about done by nightwings? Shouldn’t it be all tribes?” 

Qibli nodded. “It is. But it’s mostly nightwings. Because of the situation with their queen, they started it. Nightwings started it.” 

“I guess that means Soldar’s a nightwing?” Desert Moon pointed out. 

“He is.”

“How do you know this? You’ve never hidden things from me before.” 

Qibli sucked in a breath. “I used to work with them. I was a member of Crown Fire.” 

“WHAt?” Both Bigscales and Desert Moon said it. They looked at eachother and a connection formed. They were siblings now and they knew it. Twins even! He would take care of her, and she would take care of him. The bond was unbreakable. 

“I used to believe the queen system was flawed! Don’t get me wrong, I love Thorn, but after the war I witnessed, fought in, I had to rebel! I never knew they would start big attacks like the one you described at Jade Mountain. I actually resigned from the cause after the first actual violence started. I can’t say I left soon enough, I did things I regret.” 

Bigscales looked away. “Do you at least know where we could find Soldar? What he looks like maybe?” 

“I wish I could. But no one knows what Soldar looks like. All anyone knows is that he’s one of the biggest nightwings ever alive—save Darkstalker–and he keeps his face hidden by some kind of shadow veil. He controls shadows all together!” 

“That’s not possible,” Bigscales scoffed. 

Qibli shook his head. “Not unless you have an animus.”

“I thought animus magic wasn’t working right now?” Bigscales was surprised to realize the sarcasm was coming from him. 

“That’s what I thought to when the idea first struck me. But then I realized, we didn’t destroy all the pieces of Darkstalker’s talisman, just the pieces we knew how to find. There could be others out there that Soldar could be using to hide his face and control the shadows.” 

Bigscales hated to admit that his father had a point, but he did. And he needed to fit all the pieces together if he was going to stop the people who had killed his mother, and maybe Queen Glory if they couldn’t find her the same way. 

“That actually makes sense.” Leilani pointed out, sounding just as reluctant as Bigscales felt. 

“It does,” Qibli agreed, looking too proud for the awful father he was. 

“What about our other question?” Flare added, interrupting his smugness. 

“Excuse me?” 

“Yeah!” Leilani shouted. Apparently all her shyness had vanished as she leaned into Bigscales. Part of him thought he should be bothered, but he couldn’t be. It just felt to right. 

“I–I don’t–” 

“They asked if you knew how to find Soldar also Dad,” Desert Moon cut in. She was leaning against a palm tree looking rather bored with the whole conversation. 

“Oh. Yeah that I do have some ideas about.” 

“Great! Care to share?” 

“Flare please. Don’t be mean,” Lealani whispered. 

“Oh you want to talk about mean with me Rainbows? You wanna see just how mean I can get?” 

Even though Leilani was shaking her head furiously, Flare rose from her cushion and toward Qibli embarrassingly easily. 

“TELL US HOW TO FIND THE CROWN FIRE RIGHT NOW, OR I’M GOING TO LIGHT THE CROWN OF YOUR HEAD ON FIRE!”

Qibli gulped. “That symbol you showed me, Soldar’s symbol, that’s only his personal signature. The–They Crown Fire, they have their own personal sign, a symbol of the group. I can give it to you and it might help you find them, if you look for it.” 

“We get the idea grandpa,” Flare snorted. “Now show us the symbol!” 

Qibli reached for a piece of paper, only slightly fumbling as he grabbed a bottle of ink. 

He dipped his talon in the ink and began sketching the Crown Fire symbol. Rough shapes and lines formed until the symbol was complete, and in the end it looked like wings folded by a crown that was on fire all confined to a circle. And below that Qibli had written: The flight of a new democracy. Time to Watch the Queens burn.

The flight of a new democracy. Time to watch the Queens burn.

Chapter 8

five years after the WOF books

“Great!” Flare snorted. “Juuuust great. Now we know just how much these people want to ruin the world. Ang guess what pops! You helped them.” 

Qibli flinched at the comment but didn’t let that break him. 

Bigscales at the moment though was kind of annoyed at Qibli. Was that really all he had for them? The group's symbol and anthem? Leilani felt the same way. 

“Is that all you can give us? Some stupid symbol?” 

“It could help.” 

“Whatever! We can’t just scour the continent looking for that symbol and be like, ‘Look guys! I found that stupid mark the old guy showed us sixty years ago!’ We’d never find it. We need. To know. More.” 

“Well.” 

“That’s a good start. Sure. Keep going.” 

“Well I used to hear the rest of the older membors talking about raising their kingdom from its ashes. I never realized what it meant, it always sounded like some sort of metaphor to me and… I’m not good with metaphors.” 

Flare snarled. “Well get this metaphor buddy. Your brain, is like, a can of smashed camels!”

“No Flare, that could help us.” Bigscales put his a wing around Flare’s shoulders, setting her down again. “If it is a metaphor, could it mean their old kingdom? The one my mom used to talk about.” 

“You mean like the one Darkstalker tried to bring back?” Leilani asked. 

“Yeah! That has to be what it means. We finally know where to start I–” He stopped when he saw the look on Qibli’s face. He was shaking his head. 

“Sorry kiddo, that’s not it.” 

“How would you know?” Flare spat. 

“I worked with them, remember? Still not my proudest moment but I know this much from it: They never want to see that place again. Never. I used to hear them talking about Darkstalker, how awful those memories are. They don’t want to go back there. They want to build something new. A new nightwing legacy. But they want to build it from the ground up. Hence ‘ashes’ That’s all I was ever able to figure out.” 

“Well then it’s your turn to be wrong dad.” Desert Moon hadn’t spoken in so long everyone had forgotten she was there. 

When all the other dragons jumped she smiled. Then it faded when she saw her father again, and her face went stiff. 

“Raising their kingdom from the ashes can only mean one thing. They went back to the volcano.” 

Everyone was silent for a moment until Flare agreed. “She’s right. That has to be it. Where else would they get enough ashes to raise a kingdom off of?” 

Everyone groaned. Except Bigscales. He’d forgotten how much he’d relied on Flare’s sense of humor during one of the hardest times of his life. His first year at Jade Mountain.

He’d been two then, just a child, and he’d been bullied nearly to death by one of the mudwings at lunch. Flare had saved him. Stood up to the bully. Stood up for justice! But most importantly she’d stood up for Bigscales. After that Flare had gone to her father–something she hated to do–to make sure her and Bigscales shared a cave. They’d been best friends sense. And Flare would always tell jokes to make Bigscales feel better. He’d forgotten how close they were. How much they needed each other. Flare could seem pretty indestructible, but when ashes met with ashes, she needed someone like Bigscales to keep her from falling apart. And that’s what he was there for, to be there for Flare when she needed him. Just like she would be there for him when the tides turned. She was there for him right now, and he wasn’t going to let her down. 

Bigscales took a deep breath then looked his father in the eye. “Looks like we’re going to the rainforest after all.” 

Chapter 9

five years after the WOF books

“I’m going with them and you can’t tell me otherwise.” 

“I like her,” Flare said smiling. 

“I don’t,” Leilani whispered. 

“It’ll be dangerous!” Bigscales had to at least try to talk his sister out of coming. Right?” 

“But Dez, you’re needed here.” 

Desert Moon just shrugged. “Ok. Well then you can need me without me.” 

Qibli groaned. 

Desert Moon grinned. 

Leilani grimaced. 

“Fine. If you choose to go galavanting off with your brother–” 

“The brother you told me died when we were little.” 

“WHAT?” 

“Yes, that brother, then fine! I won’t stop you.” 

“Good.” 

“Is no one paying attention to the fact you just said that I died?” 

Desert Moon laughed. “Oh don’t worry Bigscales. It was just another one of Daddy Dearest’s lies to keep me in check. It’s nothing personal.” 

That didn’t exactly  make Bigscales feel better, but it did end the conversation. 

Qibli shoved aside the paper with the symbol and chant to the side of his desk and Flare took it without him noticing, shoving it into her bag. Qibli then pulled new paper in front of him full of numbers and words Bigscales didn’t want to concentrate on. 

“I have to work,” he said. “If you’re gonna go, go. I’ll have Saguaro get you food and supplies.” 

“I already got it,” a deep voice said from the shadows. 

“Saguaro!” Desert Moon cried, throwing her arms around the hidden figure. 

“I’m coming with you.” He looked like he meant so Bigscales didn’t even try to argue. Neither did Flare to everyone's surprise. 

Saguaro pulled a satchel full of food around everyones neck, including Flare to her dismay, along with a small loaf of bread in each of their hands accompanied by a single mango. 

“You all must be hungry,” he noticed. “You should eat before we go.” 

Even though Flare had been able to hunt, and Leilani had found her fair share of fruit, it had been a long day and they were all starving. 

They ate quickly and then took off, their group of three now a group of five. The flying was endless, it seemed to Bigscales. 

Saguaro curved down towards the sand, looking ready to land near a circle of cacti.  

“What are you doing?” Flare shouted, who had been closest to him out of the original three. “The rainforest is that way!” 

“Not if you want to get there faster.” Saguaro smirked as he landed on the sand, sending a cloud up into the sky. 

Reluctantly, the rest of the group followed. Even Desert Moon looked confused. Then Bigscales saw it. A barely visible cave stuck out from under a mountain of sand. 

“Is that what you’re here for?” Bigscales asked, pointing to the sliver of darkness ahead. 

Saguaro smiled but didn’t answer. He ran towards the cave and started digging it out, and it slowly got bigger and bigger until any dragon could easily walk in. 

“My father,” he started. “Once told me of a tunnel that led straight from the desert to the rainforest. He would often pull out his map and show me exactly where it was and drill it into my mind how to get there in case I ever had to evacuate The Evacuation. I didn’t believe it, so I went to Qibli about it. I took his flinch and silence as a sign it was real. So I decided I would come to get you to the rainforest faster. And here it is, the tunnel.” 

Desert Moon cautiously stuck her head around the edge of the tunnel before cautiously stepping in. 

“It’s so cold,” she whispered wrapping her wings around herself.

Saguaro walked over next to her, using his wings for extra comfort. “Here. Is that better?” 

She nodded, looking into his eyes before leaning her head on his shoulder. 

Bigscales came up behind them, still skeptical of the situation, and sent a burst of flame into the darkness. Desert Moon jumped but Saguaro didn’t so much as even flinch. 

The fire went on and one, into that endless trail of darkness. 

“It really does lead all the way to the rainforest doesn’t it?” Bigscales asked. 

Saguaro nodded. “I believe my father now. Every word he ever said. I just wish he could have lived to know how much I trust him.” 

“I’m sorry,” Leilani whispered, walking closer to lay a talon on his other shoulder. “That must be so hard.” 

“What happened?” Flare asked, not even a hint of sentiment in her voice. 

“He was murdered. I don’t know by whom. He’s just gone now. I can’t bring him back.” 

Desert Moon leaned in closer.

Flare cleared her throat before pushing past them all. “Whatever. Scales lost a parent too. Boo hoo, whatever! Shouldn’t we keep moving?” 

The words stung but Bigscales shook it off. She was right, they needed to keep moving. 

They walked into the tunnel blindly. Bigscales knew any one of them other than Leilani could light the path at any given moment, but none of them wanted to. They almost preferred the dark. 

They walked in silence until finally a small light showed ahead. 

Leilani laughed and ran towards the light, bursting into it like an angel. Her scales that weren’t the simple seawing kind shifted like ripples across water, from deep violets and gold to dark blue and teal, cobalt blue and baby blue, until they faded into a beautiful burst of light pink and shimmering silver. 

Bigscales entered the rainforest second, closing his eyes to soak in the feel and smell of home. 

He’d felt the sun in the desert but he hadn’t felt the sun through the leaves of the rainforest in almost six months! 

He’d been half–way through his second year of school when the attack happened. And now here he was running back home. The truth was, his mother had only started teaching when Bigscales started school. Then when he got his break, or his visit home at the end of every three months, he and Moon would go back together. Now he was going to the rainforest with no mom, and no family.

Leilani turned to Bigscales, her face smiling, but when she saw him she must have realized something was wrong because she walked over and twined their tails together. 

“It’s going to be ok. I promise.” Then she hugged him. And it was the best thing in the world. 

“Ok,” Saguaro interrupted. “I think the other tunnel is… in a tree somewhere.” 

“It is,” Leilani confirmed. “The tallest tree, and the tunnels to high up to see from the ground so we’ll have to fly to actually find–” 

“Leilani? Bigscales and Flare? Who are the other freaks?” 

Bigscales spun around slowly to find Poisonfruit standing on the other side of a river, staring at them with eyes like slits. 

“It is you. What are you doing here?” 

“Poisonfruit, we–” 

“I didn’t ask you, Leilani. I asked Bigscales.” 

Apparently lots of people hated Leilani as much as Bigscales first had. But he didn’t hate her anymore, and that would never change. 

“It’s ok Leilani. I got this.” He turned to face PoisonFruit. She had a new flower wreath draped around her horns and a sad looking sloth clung to her neck. “I guess you’re the queen now huh?” 

“I am. So speak with caution.” 

He needed to come up with a lie. And fast. 

“I just couldn’t stand it anymore. Neither of us could.” 

“Couldn’t stand what?” she spat. 

“That place! It hurt too much knowing my mother was dying inside those walls and I could do nothing to save her.” That bit was true. “So I left. And Flare and Leilani were kind enough to come with me. I mean, we both knew that Flare couldn’t stand it there, and Leilani came for me.” 

He twined his tail with Leilani’s all over again to make the point and Leilani got it. Poisonfruit however just stared.

“You two? Really?” Then she laughed. “I never ever in a million moons would have thought that Bigscales and Leilani would be together. You know what I’m talking about right Flare?” 

Flare just shrugged. 

“Fine. Be that way. Your story pretty much checks out except I still don’t know where you picked up the other guys. Sandwings?” 

Bigscales gulped. Desert Moon didn’t. 

“When they were traveling back here they stopped by to see us. Our parents were… friends. You may have heard of Qibli?” 

“Yeah. My mother didn’t speak kindly of him.”

Desert Moon just shrugged. “Him and Moon were friends. So they stopped by to say hey. Me and Saguaro have never seen the rainforest before so we asked if we could go with them. They said yes, if you couldn’t tell.” She smiled showing all her teeth and carelessly swished her poisonous tail barb in the grass a little more obviously then needed. She was terrifying. “I’m Desert Moon, but I go by Dez. Call me otherwise and you're dead. This is Saguaro.” 

Saguaro nodded slightly, looking more like a guard on duty rather than an out–of–place sandwing. 

“Ok…” Poisonfruit said slowly. “Well Leilani, your moms here so she’ll probably want to see you. The rest of you don’t have family here so I don’t care what you do, but Leilani’s coming with me.” 

Bigscales grabbed Leilani’s shoulder as she moved to head towards Poisonfruit. 

“Don’t go with her,” he whispered through clenched teeth. 

“I have to. And besides, my mom has been through the tunnel before. She can help us find it.” 

Bigscales nodded. “Then I’m coming with you.” 

“No. Stay here and rest with the others. Come up with a plan for when we find Soldar.” 

Bigscales nodded and agreed but he didn’t want to. He wanted to go with her. 

“You comin?” Poisonfruit asked, tapping her talons against a tree in annoyance. 

“Yeah. Let’s go see mom.” 

“Are the others staying here?” 

“Bigscales is going to show them the natural wonders of the rainforest!” She said it so preppy and happy sounding that Bigscales almost believed that’s what they were going to be doing. But their plan was bigger than pretty flowers and screaming monkeys, they had a villain to catch. 

As soon as Leilani and Poisonfruit were out of sight, Bigscales told the others what they were supposed to do. And that was what they’d planned on but… Then Saguaro was hungry, as was Flare and Desert Moon. So Bigscales found a banana tree and brought back two bushels full. Then Saguaro didn’t like bananas! So he went hunting with Flare. And by the time Bigscales and Desert Moon had gotten enough kindling to start a fire, it was pitch black out. And Flare and Saguaro hadn’t even eaten yet! 

So Leilani’s plan went down the waterfall. And Bigscales got to sleep. 

He collected enough moss to make himself a comfortable bed on the ground without being able to feel all the sticks and debris. But even after that, he still couldn’t sleep. So he lay awake, thinking about how crazy that day had been. The thoughts of all he’d learned kept him up even later, but eventually his eyes closed and his breathing slowed, and he slept. And when he did, his dreams were full of shadows pulling him under the sand. 

Chapter 10

five years after the WOF books

“Wake up. Bigscales it’s me.” 

No reply. 

“Bigscales it’s me, Leilani.” 

Bigscales shot up like a cat when someone pours water on it. Or maybe that’s because it was raining. 

“How long has it been coming down like this?” he asked. 

“Only about fifteen minutes,” Leilani answered, smiling. “My mom’s here–don’t worry Poisonfruit didn’t come to–and she’s going to show us where the tunnel is.” 

“Is she coming in to?” 

“No. She… doesn’t want to. She has history there, you know?” 

He did so he nodded. His mother had told him about Kinkajou’s history with the nightwings, and how lucky she was that that hadn’t affected their friendship at all. 

“Ok. Well I’m going to wake everyone else up. It was fun seeing you jump up like that.” She giggled and right then, something made bigscales twine their tails together tighter then they ever had before. Then she just kept leaning in, and he did the same until their snouts touched and their eyes closed. 

“Ker-hum.” Flare cleared her throat from somewhere to the side and they both yanked away from each other faster than a scavenger running into a hole.

“Yeah I thought so. Come on. Kinkajou already woke the others and she’s about to show us where the tunnel is.” 

Bigscales got up, plucking the clinging leaves out from his scales. 

“Ok. Let’s go.” 

Leilani led him to where her mother sat in the grass, her head positioned up, her eyebrows scrunched together as if she was worried that the cloudless sky would rain on her. 

“Hi Bigscales.” She took her eyes off of the sky to turn towards him. “Are you sure you want to go into that tunnel? The last time someone was in there, Starflight ended up blind.” 

Bigscales should have been scared. Should have gulped at the thought. But he couldn’t. That was the old him. He’d been through enough that he could handle a tunnel, and whatever was waiting on the other side of it. Apparently last night’s thinking had done more for Bigscales than he thought. 

“I don’t care. We have to go into that tunnel and find out who’s been causing all these attacks. And if I end up blind in the end, who cares.” 

Leilani twined their tails tighter again. Apparently they weren’t on the same page with that statement. 

Bigscales cleared his throat. “I’m ready.” 

Kinkajou looked him up and down a couple times before forcing a smile to form. “I can see that you are. Just be wise in your decision, and be prepared for what may come to pass.” 

Leilani’s eyes widened at her mother. “When did you get so wise?” 

Leilani looked away after she asked the question, and Kinkajou took that moment to raise an eyebrow and Bigscales. He quickly yanked his tail away.

Kinkajou laughed a sad laugh. “Since my daughter decided to plunge into the very danger I’ve been keeping myself from for five years.” Her gaze rested on Bigscales again. “How’s Moon?” 

“She’s not good. She’s not going to wake up again.” 

Kinkajou’s face fully saddened. “I–I’m sorry to hear that. I held your mother in the highest respect. She truly was my best friend.”

“I know and… she felt the same way.” His mother’s words suddenly came back to him. “She used to tell me how glad she was that your past with nightwings didn’t affect the way you viewed her. You were her best friend too. She loved you.” 

Kinkajou’s eyes welled with tears but she smiled. And this time Bigscales knew she meant it. She quickly wiped away the stream that was quickly building on her face and rested her talons on Bigscales’ shoulders. 

“You are so much like her. She’d be proud.” 

The praise was enough to make him cry. But all he did was nod his head and say, “Thank you. That means a lot.” 

Kinkajou nodded. “The tunnels up there. I’ll lead you to it but I’m not going in.” And with that she took up towards the trees. 

The others quickly joined her in the sky and the tops of the trees grew nearer and nearer until Bigscales thought they would break through the leaves. 

Kinkajou turned at the last minute to a dark hole in the middle of the tallest tree and hovered near the entrance. 

“This is it. I’ll wait below by the river.” And with that she was gone, leaving the dragonets to fend for themselves. 

“I guess we go in.” As Bigscales was waiting for a response to the statement, he realized he’d said it. And his voice had been way too shaky. “Let’s go in.” And he meant it. 

Before the others could react, he’d dived into the tunnel, ready to face the darkness, the tragedy, the fear, the ash, the… leaves?

So. Many. Leaves. 

Bigscales broke through the darkness into the light, completely prepared for an ash filled mountain of sorrow and air not worth breathing. What he wasn’t ready for was a paradise. 

The volcano had turned into a harmless mountain, complete with tropical trees and vines. Acorns littered the ground and the smell of ripe pineapple hung in the air. Everywhere Bigscales looked the ground was covered in soft grass more worthy of praise than even the rainforest floor. The sound of happy birds filled the air along with the noisy chatter of chipmunks and squirrels. Somewhere a lion yawned. Bigscales couldn’t decide if this new island was a jungle or a forest. It seemed to be a healthy mix of both. 

Flare crashed into Bigscales from behind, sending them both hurtling down a soft grass covered hill. The old lava filled rivers had left dents in the earth that had been filled with ocean water and rain, causing thousands of deltas and rivers to fill the island. 

“Wow,” Flare breathed. “This is beautiful. Talking about raising their home from the ashes! The nightwings really outdid themselves this time.” 

“We don’t know if Soldar’s even here yet remember?” Bigscales pointed out. 

“Oh he’s here,” Desert Moon called from behind. “Look.” 

One talon pointing was all it took for Bigscales to be convinced. Soldar’s Symbol was engraved in stone.

Chapter 11

five years after the WOF books

It was both a relief and a nightmare come true. 

So the nightwings were really planning to build their new home here: Nightmare. 

Their search to find Soldar was finally over and for once they were right: Relief.

But he could still feel the shiver of fear that trailed up Leilani’s spine as the symbol became more and more clear. They were in this now. There was no turning back. 

“So…” Leilani asked. “Does that mean he’s here? Soldar is right here. Right now?” 

Flare gulped. “I think that’s what this means.” 

Desert Moon and Saguaro flew down off the small ledge they’d been perched on and landed next to Bigscales. 

“Ok Bro. Where do we look for them?” 

“I… Don’t know.” He hated admitting it, but this had been as far as his plan went. 

Saguaro heaved a sigh. 

“Of course you don’t,” Flare told them. 

Bigscales turned his back on his friends who had started an argument on what they’re next move would be. His eyes focused on the mountain and he could see tiny holes all throughout its sides. And out of one of them, was a tiny chain of smoke. 

“Guys. I have a plan.” 

“What?” Desert Moon, Saguaro, Flare, and Leilani all said in unison, turning around to face him. 

“Look.” Bigscales pointed to the smoke, leading their eyes to the gray cloud.

Flare slowly smirked and layed one talon on Bigscales’ shoulder. “All right, all right,” she said slowly. “That’s what I’m talking about!” 

He couldn’t help but smile. What? He liked praise. Bigscales quickly snapped himself out of it and turned back to his friends. 

“Only a few of us should go directly in the… hole.” Oh great. More holes. “And the rest of us should stand guard outside.” 

To his surprise none of them argued.

“So now we just need to decide who's going in, and who's staying guard.” 

“I’ll stand guard,” Flare suggested with a shrug. 

“But you’ve come so far–” Bigscales tried to argue. 

“Nope. You, Leilani, and Dez should be the ones in there. It’s your mother, and your queen,” she added, looking at Leilani. “Plus. While you guys are gone I still have Saguaro to tease.” 

Saguaro didn’t look happy about that.

“Are you sure?” Leilani confirmed. 

“I am.” 

Bigscales smiled. “Thank you Flare. For everything.” 

Flare smirked. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun could I Scales?” 

He wanted to laugh. But he couldn’t. This was so much bigger than anything they’d ever done so far. Anything they’d ever done. So he took the chance to wrap his arms and wings around her, and he was so glad she did the same, leaning into every touch. 

“Take care of him Rainbows.” She took one look at Leilani and murmured something like, “What the heck.” and wrapped her wings around Leilani. 

Leilani squeaked but only held back a second before hugging back. 

Desert Moon cleared her throat. “Shouldn’t we get going now?” 

“Yeah,” Bigscales agreed. “This is just big.” 

Saguaro sighed again. Bigscales didn’t like him very much. 

“If you have something to say, say it Saguaro.” 

“I just feel like you are all making wayyyy too big a deal out of this. Get your scales back on and do this already!” 

Bigscales growled. He didn’t do that alot. But Saguaro was right. They had to move. 

“All right. Leilani and Dez, you come with me. Well, I guess we’re all going to the creepy hole with smoke coming out of it, but only Leilani, Dez, and me are going inside.” 

“We know!” All his friends said in unison. 

“Oh,” Bigscales said sheepishly. “Just checking.” 

Then it started. He and his friends were flying towards a creepy hole and there really was no turning back. Flare was flying behind him to make sure that didn’t happen. 

The hole came closer into view until Bigscales could see it wasn't exactly a hole, it was a cave. 

Bigscales curved his wings to glide down into it, letting Leilani and Desert Moon follow his lead. The cave led straight to a small tunnel not wide enough for two dragons to stand side by side, but as they continued to walk through it slowly widened into a large cavern. 

The new room was spacious with three new tunnels branching off in the back. On the left wall were two maps, one of Phyria, one of Pantala. On the right wall was what looked like broken chains, welded to the wall. In the center of the new cave was a large table covered in dirty plates and clay cups still half full of water. 

Desert Moon took the first cautious step into the new larger cave. 

“Guys, look.” 

Bigscales went to stand next to Desert Moon and saw what she had sounded so worried about. On the Phyrian map, there was a big ‘X’ over the Ice Kingdom north–west coast, and two other spots along their bay, and ‘X’ over Thorn’s Castle and the Scorpion Den, and one more random island near the seawing’s castle. But the biggest one no one could ignore, the Jade Mountain was completely blotted out. 

“They’re marking off their attacks,” Bigscales whispered. 

Leilani walked past them towards the farthest cave on the left. “I see chests in here,” she said, leaning inside the new tunnel a little further. 

Bigscales moved next to her and sure enough he could see a small room with three chests inside. 

“Should we try to open them?” Desert Moon commented from behind Bigscales, making him jump. 

“I bet they’re locked,” Leilani started slowly. “But we can try.” 

And try they did. But sure enough, each and every one of the chest was sealed shut and eventually they had to give up. 

“We still have two other tunnels to try,” Bigscales pointed out optimistically. “We might find something in those.” 

Leilani nodded and Desert Moon led the way to the farthest tunnel to the right. The tunnel was longer than the one they’d taken to get here, and far more curvy. Eventually though they made it into an office space. There was a desk in the middle and two more chests on the right wall. On the left wall was a single map showing both Phyria and Pantala next to each other. Behind the desk on the wall were pieces of paper and each one had a dragon’s face on it. One for each of the queens. One for each of the members of the original Jade Winglet, except for Moon. And one for Bigscales, Leilani, Flare, Desert Moon, and Saguaro. Queen Glory’s face and a giant red ‘X’ over it. Bigscales seemed to shrink into the wall when he realized Leilani, Flare, Desert Moon, Saguaro, and himself, were all crossed out as well. And they hadn’t even been found yet. 

Chapter 12

five years after the WOF books

Leilani caught Bigscales as his body gave out, sending him straight for the floor. 

“It’s going to be ok,” she told him. But it wasn’t! He needed to warn Flare! 

“We have to get out of here,” He said, forcing his legs to work again. “We have to tell Flare and Saguaro. This whole thing is a trap!” He’d realized that as soon as he saw the giant red ‘X’ over his face. 

“I don’t think that’s happening.” 

The dragonets turned around to find the biggest black dragon they’d ever seen towering over them. He looked exactly like a nightwing, but some of his features were twisted. His scales looked wispy almost like smoke, and his face was completely blurry and faded. And his voice… That was the voice Bigscales had heard right before a fire took his mother’s life. 

“You.” he whispered. Before Leilani could stop him, Bigscales lunged at the giant dragon. His goat: TEAR HIS THROAT OUT! But when Bigscales’ claws were ready to slice through his smug face, he faded right through the dragon. 

Bigscales roared in agony. How was it fair that the dragon who had killed his mother couldn’t die? He should be able to attack this dragon!

“It won’t work silly. He’s just an illusion.” A new voice emerged from the shadows, a small young, female voice. It was a little squeaky, and it sounded so adorably sweet. Then the dragon it belonged to emerged and what Bigscales saw surprised him. It was a nightwing dragonet, no older than himself. In fact, didn't Bigscales know her? 

“Starfade?” Bigscales remembered her. His mother used to watch her while her parents were working to ensure closer friendship between rainwings and nightwings. In fact, her parents were some of the only few who gave Queen Glory the respect she deserved. 

The tiny dragon smirked. “Hi Bigscales.” 

He roared again, but it sounded more like a sad grown. 

“How…” he started. But he couldn’t finish. He knew her. He knew her! How was this happening? 

“I know, you’re startled but… I wanted it to be a surprise! Did you miss me?” 

Desert moon growled and revealed a throwing star Bigscales hadn’t known she’d had. “Talk nightwing,” she said, carefully aiming the throwing star at Starefade’s throat. 

“Oh. Ok. We’re doing this now.” 

“You have some explaining to do.” Leilani had never once sounded threatening in her life. But now she did and Bigscales was grateful. 

Desert Moon kicked the desk over against the mapped wall and a jar of red ink crashed against the floor, leaving a blood–like trickle on the floor, slowly inching towards Bigscales’ feet. 

“Sit, against the wall. Now,” Desert Moon demanded. 

Starfade didn’t hesitate to listen. She backed all the way against the wall and crouched down. 

“You are going to answer all of our questions, or you die. Understand?” Desert Moon’s smile was absolutely wicked looking as she produced a knife and carelessly threw it at Bigscales to catch. Surprisingly he did, though he cut his finger in the process. I guess Dez figured he should probably join in on the intimidating act. 

So he did. He acted as if he’d always had the knife and began playing with it casually, keeping his gaze with her all the while. When a whimper accidentally escaped her lips he smiled. 

“Question number one,” he started, tossing the knife in the air and catching it without cutting him this time. “Are you an animus?” 

“I–No.” 

“Then how do you control shadows?”

StarFade looked shocked. 

Bigscales laughed. “Yes we know about your little games,” he spat. “Now tell us how you control the shadows.”

  “I found something that let me. I’m not magic I swear. The paper is!” 

“What. Paper?” Bigscales pushed, taking a step closer, keeping the knife pointed at her all the while. 

“I stole it. From a rainwing. The weirdest rainwing I ever saw. He was all lime green and faded looking. He had all this jewelry with paper in it. I wrote on the paper and it gave me what I wanted, that's all!” 

“Camilion.” Bigscales cursed under his breath. He’d heard enough about Flare’s awful grandfather to know exactly who Starfade was talking about. “Where’s the paper?” He asked, turning back to his prisoner. 

Starfade fumbled with a small black bracelet on her rise. It looked like a cuff, and in the center was a single green stone. She flipped the stone open and presented a small scribbled on piece of paper. 

“Keep the paper inside the bracelet!” Bigscales told her. She did and he snatched the cuff from out of her talons.

“Why did you from Crown Fire? And easy enough question to answer,” Desert Moon articulated. 

Starfade gulped. “I did it for my tribe.” 

Both Bigscales and Leilani laughed. But Bigscales spoke first. “How is attacking dragons ‘better for your tribe’?” 

“The nightwings need a queen of their own,” Starfade replied, somehow getting her confidence back. “I created Queen Fire after I found the magic paper so that I could create democracy for dragons! If I did that, the nightwings would be free to elect their own leader, as would all the tribes! Just think about it. The whole War of the Sandwing Succession wouldn’t have happened if the dragons ran under democracy. I had. To make. A change.” 

“Yeah but not by starting fires and killing queens!” Leilani shouted, tears brimming in her eyes. She wiped them away fearlessly. “How can you suggest dragons choosing their leaders when you're forcing awake another war?” 

Starfade looked away. “It was the only way to suggest real change.” 

Bigscales laughed. “Yeah right.” 

Desert Moon put a gentle talon on his shoulder. “Answer me this: Why run your organization under your creepy shadow puppet?” 

“Soldar appeared a better leader. He was easier for the nightwings to respect. He was strong, and mysteriously powerful. Everyone loved him.” 

Bigscales ground his teeth. This was just getting worse and worse. 

Leilani looked away before she asked her next question. “Is Queen Glory really dead?” 

Starfades expression lightened. “No. She’s held prisoner in this very base. I can take you to her if–” 

“You're not being let go,” Bigscales snapped. “Not until we’re done here.” 

Starfade merely nodded. “Ok.” 

“Why only capture a queen when you could kill her?” Desert Moon asked. 

Bigscales and Leilani stared. Dez just shrugged. “What? I’m curious. Why leave a prisoner somewhere dragons could find her when you could just kill her and let dragons actually be right when they assume she’s dead?”

Bigscales eyes narrowed. 

Starfade laughed. “You may see me as the villain but I’m not a monster. I just want what's best for my tribe. Like any one of you.” 

“Then we have very different ideas for how to make the world better.” 

“Maybe we do. But I had to make the change I thought was right. Wouldn’t you have done the same thing if you really believed you were making the right choice? I’m sure your teachers think it was awful of you to run away from school, but you did it anyway! Because you believed it was the right choice.” Bigscales shuffled his feet. This was going the wrong way. Starfade turned to Desert Moon. “And to add on to your question. This place wasn’t supposed to be found. So Glory might as well be dead.” 

“That’s Queen Glory!” Leilani snapped. “Not just ‘Glory.’” 

Starfade shrugged. “Whatever. She’s not my queen.” 

“Actually she is.” 

“No she’s not. I refuse to bow down to a rainwing. I am a nightwing.” 

“Yeah,” Desert Moon scoffed. “And I’m sure plenty of people will refuse to bow down to you. How do you honestly think a democracy would work? You have thousands of dragons who have lived with queens for a millenia! You honestly expect them to change just like that? The world would spiral into chaos. No one would know what to do. It would be hopeless.”

“Well clearly people think the same way I do,” Starfade pointed out. “Or the Queen Fire never would have–” 

“Bla, bla, bla,” Dessert Moon interrupted. “More dragons agree with me. Most of them actually. You do realize your organization is world-wide hated right?” 

Starfade scowled. 

“She’s right,” Leilani pointed out smiling. “No one likes you.” 

The room went quiet for a moment before Bigscales remembered to mention something extremely important. “Why did you kill my mother?” 

Starfade looked surprised. “I didn’t kill Moon. I–Did I?” 

“YES!” 

“I didn’t mean to.” 

“Well you did. My mother is dying because of you.” 

“Only dying?” Starfade raised her eyebrow. “You said she was dead.” 

“Well she’s dying ok? She’s in a coma.” 

Starfade looked curious. “How do you know she’s dying?” 

“I went into her mind and it was like it was fading to nothingness. Shadows creeping in from every corner. It was a jumbled mess. She’s not coming back.” 

“I can bring her back.” 

“What?” Bigscales asked, extremely skeptical. 

“I can bring her back… if you give me my bracelet.” 

“Ha! Not happening.”

“I’ll–I’ll even destroy Crown Fire.” 

“We were going to make you do that anyway,” Leilani pointed out. “But we’re listening.” 

Starfade nodded. “Moon is dying. But not the way you think. Her mind has been filled with shadows. I infused them into the bomb I used when I kidnapped Glory. If she had an open wound, or breathed too much shadow smoke in, it would have landed in her mind, causing it to slowly shut down. I can remove the shadows with my bracelet.” 

Desert Moon sighed sarcastically. “Better idea. I kill you and we take your bracelet thing and use it for ourselves.” 

Starfade shook her head. “Crown Fire took much more planning and time than you think it did. It took me months to master my shadow cuff. Only I could remove the shadows without ripping her brain.” 

Desert Moon squinted her eyes at Starfade. “I don’t know guys. It seems like one of those lies bad–guys tell to get what they want. I SAY WE KILL HER!” 

Starfade shrugged. “Go ahead. Kill me and take the shadow cuff. When you try to save Moon don’t be surprised if her brain splinters to pieces and squeezes out in the process. Then she’ll really be doomed.” 

The whole time that conversation had been going on, Bigscales had been forming his own plan. One he wasn’t quite ready for, but he had to be. So he closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he opened his mind to the hurricane. 

Leilani’s thoughts pelted his mind in a soft breeze of worry. She was worrying about him. 

Desert Moon’s hit him like a heat wave, a jumbled savanna of misunderstanding and worries. 

Then Starfade’s thoughts hit him. She was worried that they wouldn’t believe her about the shadow cuff, and they’d kill her. But a strand of honesty weaved through everything she’d said confirming what Bigscales wanted to know.

“She’s telling the truth guys. Only she can work the shadow cuff.” 

Leilani grabbed his arm, squeezing it once before letting go. “How do you know that?” 

“I read her mind.” 

Leilani looked concerned.

Dez looked impressed. 

Starfade looked morally wounded and mentally conflicted. 

“Are you ok?” Leilani asked, twining their tails together. “I know it can be hard for you to read minds.” 

“I’m fine actually.” He was actually surprised himself, how fine he was. “But she’s not lying. If any of us tries to use the shadow cuff, Moon will die. We have to take her with us. Besides,” Bigscales shrugged. “We need her to unlock Queen Glory.”

“I can do that!” Starfade added optimistically. “If you give me my shadow cuff right now–only for a second–I can use it to send Soldar to shut down Queen Fire. He’ll know where to find all the members, tell them Queen Fire’s been compromised and has been shut down for good.” 

“How do we know he won’t actually continue running your organization?” Desert Moon asked. 

“He’s only programmed to do one command at a time, then he turns back into shadows. If I only use the shadow cuff after that to heal Moon it won’t even compromise his mission to shut everything down!” 

“But after we destroy it will he keep working?” Leilani asked. 

Starfade tilted her head thinking. “I don’t think so,” she said slowly. “But I’m not sure. I don’t think it will. He’ll probably just finish his mission then return to the shadows, and because the cuff is broken he just can’t come back.” 

Desert Moon pulled Bigscales and Leilani into a huddle, all the while keeping an eye on Starfade. “What do you guys think?”

“I already told you guys she wasn’t lying. If she can save my mom, I’m bringing her with us even if you two don’t want to.” 

“Smart Bigscales!” Starfade called from her spot on the wall. 

Desert moon turned to her and hissed. “I’m watching you Starfade. I’ve still got weapons aimed at you.” 

“I agree with you Bigscales. We have to save your mom. And if she’s the only chance Moon has, I say we go for it.” 

Desert Moon nodded. “I may not trust her… and I may not really know mom, but I still want to save her.” 

The huddle broke up and Bigscales walked right up in Starfade’s face. “Do as we say, or you will get hurt. Got it?” 

“Got it.” 

Bigscales actually had no intention of hurting Starfade, he planned to let Dez do it.

Chapter 13

five years after the WOF books

Leilani and Bigscales led the way out of the tunnel back into the big room. Starfade was behind them, but behind her was Desert Moon, ready to attack if anything went wrong. 

Once they were back in the main meeting room, they let Starfade lead the way. Bigscales had her shadow cuff in the bag Saguaro had given him so Starfade really had nothing to be sneaky with. 

She led them into the middle tunnel they’d decided not to go in. It was shorter than the tunnel to Starfades personal office, but longer than the one Bigscales, Lelani, and Desert Moon had taken to get in the hideout in the first place. 

The tunnel ended at a set of iron bars, and behind those bars was Queen Glory, curled up asleep in the middle of a small room. 

“Glory!” Leilani shouted, pushing past Desert Moon to crash against the bars. 

The confuzed queen perked her head up and her eyes widened when she saw Leilani. 

“Leilani! And is that Bigscales? What are you two doing here?”

“They came to find this one,” Desert Moon said, sticking a thumb at Starfade. “I just came for fun.”

“And… Who are you?” 

“She’s my sister.” 

Glory’s eyes narrowed. “Your Qibli’s other kid?” 

Desert Moon rolled her eyes. “I get it. You don’t like my dad. Your annoying daughter already told me.” 

Glory stopped glaring. “Is Poisonfruit here?” 

“No,” Leilani answered. “We met her in the rainforest on our way here.” 

“And where exactly is here?” 

Bigscales flinched. “You're in the old volcano. It's completely silent now!” Bigscales added, seeing the expression on her face. “It’s actually kinda beautiful.” 

“It’s gorgeous,” Leilani corrected dreamily.

Glory smiled, but it didn’t last long. “I guess that means the school is officially closed if you are all here.” 

Leilani looked away blushing. “Not exactly. We sorta ran away. But it might be. We’ve been gone around… five days?” She turned to Bigscales and he shrugged. 

“Around that many.” 

Queen Glory held her head in her hands, shaking slowly. “So the Jade Winglet has run away again. Why am I not surprised?” 

“Our whole winglet didn’t come,” Leilani pointed out. “Just me, Bigscales, and Flare. Then Desert Moon–” Leilani paused so that Dez could raise a talon in clarification. “–came along with Saguaro–he’s standing guard with Flare–when we went to the desert to Find Bigscales’ dad.” 

“I see,” the queen responded sarcastically. “That makes a whole lot of sense.” 

Leilani smiled, clearly not catching on. 

“I can let her out now. I just need my cuff.” Starfade stepped forward and Glory growled. 

“Don’t worry,” Desert Moon disclosed. “She’s my prisoner now.”

Bigscales fumbled in his bag for the shadow cuff and handed it to Starfade. 

She slid it on and raised her front talons slowly. A black fog faded out of the bars keeping Queen Glory inside. When no more smoke came out of the metal, and the blackness had faded, Bigscales snatched the cuff off and slid it back in his bag. 

“Now you can push right through the bars,” Starfade said, gesturing towards the metal. 

Queen Glory pushed gently against them and they snapped to pieces. 

“Ah freedom. Time to kill her.” Glory’s gaze rested on Starfade and Bigscales jumped in front of her. 

“No! She’s the only one who can save my mom.” 

Glory’s eyes widened, but then they slithered back into slits. “And you believe her?” 

“Yes. I read her mind.” 

Glory straightened up. “Ok. Then what’s the plan?” 

“We get out of here, you go back to the rainforest, and we all go back to school.”

“Her included?” Glory pointed at skeptical talon at Starfade. 

“Yes. That’s where my mom is.” 

“Well then I’m coming with you.” 

“You can’t. Your dragons need you. Your whole village is in a time of mourning, they all think you’re dead! Your daughter has been leading and your husband has been mourning, and don’t get me started about what your nightwings are doing, but you need to get back there. And fast.” 

“You make some fair points,” Queen Glory admitted. “Fine. But you have to promise me you’re going straight back to Jade Mountain.” 

Bigscales nodded and the others followed. Except for Starfade who looked bored. 

“You have a deal.” 

Bigscales led everyone out of the hideout, his head held high. 

When they finally emerged into the sunlight, Glory looked stunned. 

Bigscales decided to let her look around as he informed Flare in on all that had happened.

“THAT TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH! I WAS ABOUT TO RUN DOWN THERE AND STAB SOMETHING! I DON’T KNOW WHAT BUT IT WOULD BE THOROUGHLY STABBED!” 

Bigscales laughed and so did Flare after she’d mentally decided he wan’t hurt too badly save for the cut on his finger. 

“Dang. So that creepy dragonet can save your mother?” 

“Yeah. I know it’s weird to trust her but–” 

“No need Scales. If it saves Moon then it’s happening.” 

Bigscales smiled. 

“Well, I think I’m going to head back to the rainforest and scare the heck out of my daughter. Thank you again for finding me. I don’t know how long I’d last off the food in that place.” 

Starfade rolled her eyes. “She was a very picky prisoner.” 

Flare laughed. “The fact that you tried to satisfy her just shows how pathetic you are.” 

Starfade scowled. 

“I still can’t believe how much this place has changed.” 

Leilani put a talon on her queen’s shoulder. “It really has.” 

Then before anyone knew it, they were all flying back towards the creepy magic tunnel, and unlike before when he’d been going towards his doom, he felt hopeful. And he wasn’t going to let that feeling slip away. 

Chapter 14

five years after the WOF books

The tunnel that led to the Sand Kingdom had been just as creepy as before if not creepier. 

Saguaro had decided to go back to The Evacuation to catch Qibli up on all that had happened, but Desert Moon wanted to be there when Moon woke up. And Bigscales understood. After all, he’d ditched school to meet his father, surly Dez could meet her mother. 

It had taken them three days to get back to Jade Mountain Academy, and Bigscales couldn’t remember if that was shorter than it took them to get to the desert, or longer? 

Tsunami had been surprised when they’d all shown up at the school because, it had been closed. But Bigscales and Leilani had had no trouble explaining everything and that as soon as Moon was healed the school would be safe to open. 

Starfade had called on Soldar one last time before they’d left the rainforest to head to the Sand Kingdom and hadn’t had any extra time to pull any tricks. Bigscales had been reading her mind for any extra commands they hadn’t agreed on. But Starfade hadn’t even tried. 

Now Bigscales sat on a rock by the underground lake, watching his mom drift alone, unconscious, on a bamboo raft. 

He’d asked for a moment alone with her before Starfade started the healing process. He’d checked on her mind and it had been just as chaotic as before if not more so. The shadows had spread but not as much as he’d feared they would have for the time he’d been away. 

Qibli had been at the school when Bigscales arrived with Leilani, Flare, and Dez.

Dez had been happy to see him, Bigscales wouldn’t admit it but he was glad his father would be there when Moon woke up. For the first time in Bigscales’ life since the day he hatched, his family would be together. He was nervous of course. But mostly excited. 

He’d been so caught up in his thoughts, he hadn't realized Leilani had come sat beside him. 

“Hi,” she whispered, twining their tails together. “You ok?” 

“I’m… nervous. She looks so peaceful but… she really is dying. I’m just glad we have more time than I thought we did.” 

“It’s ok to be scared Bigscales.” 

“I know, but I’m not. I’m just… worried I guess? I don’t want this to be the wrong decision. What if she’s ready to go?” 

“I doubt she is.” 

Bigscales turned to face her. “But how can you be so sure? Maybe she wants to die.” 

“I know she doesn’t want to die, because she has an awesome son who loves her. She’s not going to die when you’re there to love her.” 

“Thank you.” 

The moment was perfect. It was peaceful. The two of them staring up at the luminescent rocks twinkling from the ceiling. Then Flare had to ruin it. 

“TIME TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” She came in singing. 

Bigscales sighed. 

Leilani giggled. 

Desert Moon rushed past Flare, pushing her into the lake in the  process. Interrupting another round of, “TIME TO GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” Except then she was pushed in the lake, so it sounded more like, “TIME TO GET THIS PARTY–GAHHH!”

Everyone laughed as Flare flapped out of the lake, spraying water everywhere. 

“You! I SWEAR I’M GOING TO–” 

“Shh! No shouting in the healing room!” The voice was Tamarins. 

Bigscales slapped himself at his stupidity. He should have known a healer would have to be there in case anything went wrong. 

Qibli walked in next followed by an icewing Bigscales didn’t know. But Desert Moon did. 

She fluttered over to Bigscales and whispered in his ear, “That’s Winter. He’s kinda rude, kinda the best, and his love language is saying, 'Don't do this or I will snap your limbs off!’ But he’s getting better.”

Bigscales laughed at Dez’s impersonation of Winter’s voice. He sounded like a bloated walrus. A bossy bloated walrus. 

“Winter help me lift Moon’s raft out of the water so Starfade and Tamarin can reach her better.” Qibli ushered Winter over and together they both took off. They plucked the raft out of the water easily and landed it on the ground. 

“Where is Starfade anyway?” Leilani asked. 

“Tsunami’s getting her,” Flare said, spraying water on everyone in the process. “She was given a spear so everyone be careful.” 

“Who, Starfade?” Bigscales asked, surprised. 

“No Tsunami. Chances are she’ll actually want to stab dragons with it so really. Be careful.” 

“I AM NOT GOING TO STAB DRAGONS WITH A SPEAR!” an angry voice called from just outside of the doorway. “UNLESS IT’S YOU STARBRAIN SO SHUT UP! NO I DON’T CARE THAT I SAID YOUR NAME WRONG. You deserve to dieeee.” 

A small squeak indicated Tsunami had indeed used the spear on Starfade. 

Second later, Starfade floundered into the room followed by a very angry looking seawing. 

“Careful Tsunami,” Qibli said from his place by Moon. “We actually need her alive.” 

Tsunami shrugged. “She kidnapped my Glory so… We’ll see how it goes.” 

Qibli didn’t have any further objections. 

Bigscales hopped off his rock and walked over beside Moon, choosing the opposite side of here from Qibli. Desert Moon sat beside him, smiling down at Moon in a sad way. 

“I really hope this works.” She said it just loud enough that only Bigscales could hear her. 

“It will.” He twined their tails together and wrapped a comforting wing around her. 

Leilani led Flare out of the room, followed by Winter and Tsunami. This was a little personal for extra eyes that didn’t need to be there. 

Tamarin grabbed her bag of supplies and sat down at Moon’s feet. Starfade sat behind Moon’s head. 

“Are we ready?” she asked, smiling ever so slightly. 

“Yes.” Bigscales was the one to answer. They’d all decided he would be the one calling the shots. 

Starfade nodded before holding out her talon for the shadow cuff. 

Bigscales scrambled through his bag yet again and retrieved it, placing it in her palm. 

Starfade slid it on, and the moment it’d clasped a cooing sound escaped her lips. 

“Don’t get any ideas,” Bigscales threatened. He still had the knife Desert Moon had given him and he flashed the metal in Starfades eyes to remind her who was in charge, before sheathing it back into his bag. 

Starfade rested her talons on Moon’s temples, and her eyes scrunched together. 

After two–hundred and eighty–three seconds passed, she slowly began raising her talons, and thin threads of shadows followed. The higher her hand went, the thicker the strands became. When Starfade had lifted her talons as far as they would go, she started coiling the shadow around them, and more shadow just kept coming. 

Once Starfade pulled a little too hard and Moon’s body vibrated all over. 

“What did you do?” Bigscales screamed. 

Starfade didn’t seem concerned as she answered him. “It’s nothing. I just slightly pulled on her brain causing a slight full–body vibration. It's actually a good sign. It means her body is reacting to the treatment in the right way.”

Bigscales settled back down but he watched Starfade much more carefully. 

It took another fifteen minutes before the chain of shadows ended. 

Starfade tangled the shadows into a ball and threw them into a corner where they spread harmlessly into the natural darkness. 

“Why isn’t she waking up?” Desert Moon asked.

Starfade shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.” 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’VE NEVER DONE THIS BEFORE? HOW DID YOU EVEN KNOW YOU WERE DOING IT RIGHT? OR THAT IT WAS WORKING AT ALL!” Bigscales had fully jumped up and was glaring at the smaller necklace in front of him.

“Well I have experience with shadows in general, so I knew I could handle it.” Another shrug. 

“I. Hate. You.” 

“I second that!” Dez stated. 

“Look,” Starfade told them. “It’s probably just going to take a while for her to wake up. So anyway. I did what you wanted, destroy my shadow cuff, and now you can let me go!” 

Dez laughed. “Yeah right! I’d sooner kill a scrawny little nightwing whose name starts with S. Oh right. That can be arranged.” 

Starfade gulped. 

Bigscales sighed. “We can’t kill her. But you’re not being set free either. Queen Glory has the perfect punishment for you.” 

Starfade gulped. 

“You’re going to an asylum for INSANE LUNATICS!” Bigscales shouted in her face. 

Before he knew what was happening, Qibli had his talon on Bigscals’ shoulder. “Breathe.” 

“You breathe!” Bigscales was not in the mood to be bossed around. 

“I am breathing. You need to calm down.” 

Bigscales sat down before continuing to speak. He did need to calm down. “Look. I’m not leaving her side until she wakes up.” 

Qibli nodded. “That’s fine. I won’t stop you.” And with that he and everyone else got up and walked away. 

Chapter 15

five years after the WOF books

For three nights and three days, Bigscales ate, drank, slept, and thought by his mother’s side. Leilani had tried to talk him out of it, on taking a break. Stepping back. But nothing worked. 

Tamarin stopped by every day to give Bigscales his food, check on Moon’s condition, and then she usually stayed and talked for a little while. 

Bigscales had checked on Moon to. All her shadows were gone and her mind seemed normal. None of the thoughts had any meaning or explanation, but they were normal. He couldn’t search for her specific memories anymore which was good.

On the fourth night something changed. 

“Bigscales?” 

Bigscales jumped up. He’d been asleep so he wasn’t sure if it was his dream–again–or his actual living breathing mom. 

“Mom?” 

He turned his head and sure enough Moon was sitting up rubbing her head. 

“Bigscales, what happened?” 

“Weelllllllll…” 

“What?” 

“There was an explosion and you went into a coma–but actually it turned out that your brain was invaded with shadows–and then me, and Leilani, and Flare ran away to find my dad–yeah I know he’s Qibli–and I found my sister too. Then we ran away to the old nightwing volcano and found the bad guy who had started the fire. Then she healed you and now she went to an asylum for crazy lunatics.” 

“That’s… a lot.” 

“I know! But it all led to you being awake right now and it’s worth it. Right?” 

“Of course! I’m just… processing. Did you say your dad is here?”

“Yeah. And Dez is here too.” 

“Dez?” 

“Desert Moon. My sister?” 

Moon suddenly looked like she was going to cry. “Can–Can I see her?” 

Bigscales smiled. “Of course!” 

Suddenly Tamarin walked in through the doorway. “Sorry Bigscales, I know I don’t usually come at night, but I figured you’d be awake so–” 

“Tamarin! Good! Can you tell Dez and Qibli that Mom’s awake?” 

Tamarin dropped the plat of food she’d been holding in one talon and turned around, running as fast as she could to find them. 

Bigscales turned back to face his mother. “They’ll be here soon.” 

“Look Bigscales, me and your father haven’t seen each other in four years. We didn’t get along that well then…” 

“I know.” 

“How could you possibly know?” 

“I read your mind?” 

“W-What?” 

“It was the only way I could make sure you were still alive. Are you mad?” 

“Well If-If it was necessary I guess it’s fine.” 

Bigscales smiled again. “Good cuz–” 

“Mom?” Moon spun her head around to face the doorway and Desert Moon was standing in it. Moon stood up and raced to her daughter. 

“I haven't seen you sense you were a tiny dragonet!” 

“Well I don’t remember you at all!” 

Then Qibli walked in and the room froze. 

“Qibli.” 

“Moon.” 

Dez and Bigscales backed away to a shadowy corner, and left them alone. 

“Look, Moon–” 

“Save it. You left me, remember? I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“Moon it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I think about you every day even though I try not to. I regret leaving with every fiber of my being, and I think about what it could have been like if I stayed too much to be healthy.” Qibli smiled and for once Bigscales saw a different side of him. The young side that didn’t regret and doublethink all his life choices. 

He took a step closer towards Moon. And either she didn’t notice, or she didn’t care. 

“Qibli I tried to convince you and you wouldn’t even try to listen!” 

“That’s because I was dead terrified that I would ruin everything. I wanted to stay. I really did. But I couldn’t help but think, that if I messed this up then it would hurt you more, and I couldn’t do that.” 

“Well you still hurt me. So that thought process doesn’t count.” 

“Maybe it doesn’t.” Another step closer. “But does that still mean we can’t try again?” 

“I…” 

Another step closer. 

“I don’t want to be apart. I realized that when Bigscales told me you were hurt. All I could think about was that if you died, and I had wasted my life by not spending it with you, then I would die. I need you. And maybe you don’t need me. But do you at least want to see… if we can be better together?” 

Qibli was close enough now that he grabbed her talons in his. She looked up into his eyes and something clicked. 

“I want to try again. But if you leave again, I may have to kill you.” 

Qibli laughed. “How about this? If I leave again, you can hunt me down and haunt me with your awesomeness?”

“Deal.” 

Then Qibli had pulled Desert Moon into his side, and Moon had pulled Bigscales into her wing, and they just stayed there. A family. 

They stayed like that for an unknown amount of time. Though Bigscales was pretty sure he could have stayed there forever. 

—A Year Later—

Bigscales ran up the steps to his house, struggling to keep the mangos in his talons from squishing. 

He swung the door opened with his tail and maneuvered his way into the kitchen. 

“Did you get eight of them?” Moon asked. 

Bigscales dropped seven mangos in a basket by the bamboo countertop. 

“Well… I did, then Dez stole one and ate it.” 

Moon laughed. “That… sounds about right. Alright go get your father and tell him that if he doesn’t get his papers off the table right now we’re feeding them to Sandstar.” 

Sandstar was Bigscales little brother. At the age of six months, he could eat, break, or slobber on anything. He was a pro. He was a pale yellow color with the random black scale along his side. His wings were mostly black, but over the black there was the occasional silver scale, clear enough that they worked like mirrors. He had the traditional sandwing tail barb, and even though he was born under two full moons, he hadn’t shown any signs of mind reading or seeing the future. 

“Don’t do that!” Qibli called from the room over. “Please do not, ever do that!” 

Qibli poked his head over the other side of the wall, smirking. “Please never feed my job to my son?” 

Moon threw a mango at his head and he caught it. 

“Thanks for the snack,” he said before disappearing again. 

Desert Moon then clobbered into the room screaming. “I HAVE REPLACED THE STOLEN MANGO!” 

Desert Moon dropped one mango, ten bananas, sixteen strawberries, and a dead toucan on the table. 

Moon sighed. “Dez, how many times do I have to tell you. Do. Not. Kill. Toucans.” 

Desert Moon shrugged. “I guess until I actually listen?” 

Moon tried to thwap her with a banana, but instead she ended up hitting Bigscales when Dez dodged. 

“Yahh! Mom!” 

“Sorry!” 

Hence the great: chase–Dez–around–the–house–with–a–banana–thing, started.

Eventually Qibli joined in by smashing a mango on Moon’s head, then Sandstar joined in by chewing on Bigscales’ leg, and Bigscales grabbed the dead toucan and was screaming around the house until he found Dez and threw it at her. The room Froze. 

Desert Moon slowly raised the bird to her mouth. 

“Don’t!” Moon scolds slowly. 

Desert Moon raises it closer to her mouth, eyeing her mother with smirking confusion. 

“Dez,” Moon said even slower. 

“And…” Qibli said, begin to count down. “Five, four,” Bigscales and Sandstar joined in. “Three, two…” 

Moon looked around frantically, and dropping the banana, throws Sandstar at Desert Moon. 

Sandstar laughed evilly as Desert Moon screamed. The toucan is thrown into the air, then caught by Qibli.

Moon turns to face her husband. But by the time she sees him, the poor bird is halfway in his mouth.

Moon picks up her old banana and runs towards Qibli. “Come here!” Then the banana flew through the air and lands on Qibli’s head.

“Ow! What was that for?” 

“DON’T EAT THE TOUCANS! I just told Dez not to, AND THEN YOU EAT THE GOSH TOUCAN!” 

But before the argument can get heated, Moon breaks down in laughter on the floor. Dez had been concurred long ago by Sandstar and was already on the floor laughing. Bigscales sits down next to his sister and peeled his brother off her face, as Moon pulls herself together. 

Qibli and Moon make eye contact for five seconds before Moon holds out her hand expectantly. “If we’re doing this… I want a bite.”  

Qibli hands Moon the bird and she eats the whole thing. 

“Hey!” Qibli protested. “That’s more than one bite!” 

“Well that’s what you get for catching the bird in the first place.” 

Qibli picks up the fallen banana and cloncks Moon on the head with it. 

At this point it’s all any of them can do not to break down in giggles. But that’s what families like. And in that moment, it’s hard for Bigscales to believe that there was ever a time he didn’t have a family. Because right now, he could never be happier. 

Characters

This Is How Dragons Look

—Bigscales—

—Leilani— 

—Flare— 

—Desert Moon—

—Saguaro—

—Starfade—

—Poisonfruit—

—Sandstar—