Clay had known he was different from a very young age. Well, that's not entirely fair. He'd known he was different in the sense of "it's your destiny to save the whole world from this pointless war" from his second day of life, but it was a few weeks before any other differences became a point of contention. The moment was still crystallized in his mind, nearly a decade later.

He was in the middle of lunch, trying to snatch a rabbit from between Tsunami's talons, when Kestrel stormed in. As far as he could tell, Kestrel pretty much stormed everywhere she went, which was reason enough to avoid her even when she wasn't shouting for the other two guardians to "Get down here right now and explain yourselves!" and waving around a scroll.

Dune looked up from his meal and stared back at her. "Yes?" he asked, and she returned his frosty look. Webs splashed out of the river a moment later, swallowing the salmon he'd caught.

"Look at this scroll-and try not to drip on it, Webs." She unrolled the document and held it out in front of her, forcing them to crowd in around her sides to read. "See there?" The outline of her claw tip showing through the parchment as she pointed to one line in particular.

"It's a description of the dragonets from the egg candler, yeah. Is this some kind of prank?" Webs asked, making no effort not to drip on it.

"Then why does it say 'sex-four female, one male'?" Kestrel poked the same spot on the paper for emphasis, and Clay blinked. There were definitely two boys in the group, unless Starflight was playing an elaborate prank on them. He looked over to check-nope, Starflight didn't seem any more amused than they did.

"Oh, that. Well, you know, the candlers do make mistakes." Webs scratched the back of his neck, looking as though he really wished Kestrel would just throw him in the river.

"Oh no, I checked. I went to Petrel and she said she was absolutely sure, and I'm pretty sure that you agreed with her findings when you checked AFTER they were hatched." She prodded Webs in the chest; he swallowed hard, but did not respond.

Dune just looked confused. "This is all gripping stuff, Kestrel, but what exactly is the point?"

"At some point in the last month, while I was off risking my neck to make sure we'd be able to raise these dragonets at all, you convinced one of them that she was a boy!" Kestrel threw up her arms in disgust. "What is Morrowseer going to think, huh? Three of our hatchlings are totally defective!" The dragonets shrank back, especially Sunny.

"I don't feel defective…" Starflight murmured, and Kestrel leaned down to stare him in the eye, smoke swirling from her nostrils.

"You're… well, you're normal for a NightWing." Wait, but that meant that she thought something was wrong with Clay. I don't feel defective either! I feel totally normal! he thought as she turned to him, but he couldn't form the words. "It's the MudWing that's the problem." Claws shining wickedly, she reached out towards him. He cringed away, unsure of himself. All she did with them, though, was trace over the outline of his skull, and down the muscles of his neck, making him shudder. "You're no male. Far too broad and muscular. And, of course, your physical exam was plenty revealing."

Kestrel didn't exactly look broad and muscular herself. Who was she to tell him what he was or was not? "I am a boy! I know it!"

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't realize you knew it." She reared back, feigning contrition. "Here's what I know: There's never been a boy without a-"

"That's enough!" Dune roared, and for just a moment there was fear in Kestrel's eyes. The whole cave was silent for a moment, until all the echoes had faded.

She whirled to face him. "Really, Dune? You're just going to support her delusions?" The whole sentence had been a shout, but that one 'her' hit Clay louder than anything else. It seemed to echo around in his mind until it had slammed into every little bit of him.

"He's allowed to be whatever he wants to be! Who's even going to check?" Dune backed off a bit, glancing at Webs. The SeaWing looked no more confident than the dragonets.

"Who do you think is going to check, Dune? Only the most important dragon in this whole operation! Morrowseer isn't going to take her, and the war will never end!" She stalked forward, until she was only inches from the SandWing.

"Doesn't say anything in the prophecy about what gender the MudWing is to be," Dune replied, not backing down. "And another thing; Webs and I didn't tell Clay what to think. He decided on his own."

Kestrel rolled her eyes. "Please. When have you ever heard of a dragon choosing the wrong gender?"

"Uhm...I have," Webs said, still cowed by his coworker. "My sister was… well, she chose to… agh, how do I put this?"

"Deluded."

"Stop saying that! I love my sister." Webs scurried over to stand next to Dune, earning a grin from the veteran SandWing. "We're never going to convince him that he's not a boy, anyway, so why try? Never worked on my sister."

"What, are we supposed to lie to Morrowseer for the sake of this dragonet? He's a NightWing!"

"It's not a lie. My sister is my sister, not my brother. He'll understand." Webs replied, and Dune nodded.

"And I'm sure Morrowseer's going to find out what Clay wants to be called either way. We've already got two weird little dragonets, we should pick our battles."

"She should pick hers." Kestrel grumbled, just loud enough for Clay to hear. Still, her anger had been quelled by the judgemental eyes of her comrades, and five angry stares from the dragonets. "Fine! You two can explain when he asks." She whipped around, tail passing only inches over the dragonets' heads, and stormed back out.

"Kestrel never did warm up to me. She always hit me harder than anyone else, tried to shape me into her ideal woman despite what I wanted, until I finally managed to escape. The other dragonets know, of course, though I don't think they saw me any differently from other boys. I just count myself lucky Morrowseer never found out. " Clay finished, morosely. Moon and Peril gaped at him, bewildered by what they'd just heard.

"Stars, I had no idea my mother was so… belligerent." Clay raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I had a pretty good idea. Still, I never expected her to treat you like that."

"Honestly, I think she would've even if I let her call me a girl. She wanted a warrior and got a bigwings." Clay sighed. "Anyway, Moonwatcher, that's why your prophecy must be a mistake. I could… probably produce eggs, but not with another female. Wait, do we teach that at this school?"

"No, but I understand the concept." Moon said.

Peril rubbed her snout, eyes narrowed. "So, wait… you've got a-"

"One that goes in, yes." He cut her off, giving a pointed glance at Moon. She stood, looking a bit nervous.

"I think I might just… wait outside, if you want to talk about that," She could definitely hear what the two of them were thinking, and wanted no part of it. Peril could understand that; she didn't really want to talk about Clay's junk with a dragonet in the room either. Or her own junk, for that matter.

"What do you mean by 'goes in', though? Cause that could mean it points inward, or that you put it-" There was an expression of dawning comprehension on her face, and beneath that some… anxiety?

"Peril, I have a vagina." He looked very, very tired in that moment.

"Oh okay that's actually kind of a convenient coincidence because like, well, I don't know about the correct terminology but I've been told I'm not supposed to… well, Scarlet never said anything about it but nobody else ever bothered to check and now I'm not sure if you'll be disappointed-" she rambled, her tone growing increasingly frantic until Clay finally cut her off with a soft pat on the shoulder.

"Peril, you can tell me if this makes things difficult between us. I won't be upset."

She took a deep breath, looking more scared than Clay had ever seen her before, which was not incredibly scared, if he was being honest. "Oh no it's not that, it's just that I-well, I guess I'm also not normal. I mean, obviously I'm not normal, duh, but like. In that… way that you are also. What I'm trying to say is that I… don't have one that goes in. I have one that goes out."

There was a pause then, punctuated only by the sound of Moonwatcher slamming her head into the door. Clay looked over to it, wrinkling his brow. "Okay, leaving for real now!" she said from outside, and he waited until her footsteps had receded into the distance to respond.

"Stars, I had no idea." He was smiling so widely that Peril was afraid he'd get a cramp.

"I knew there were other dragons like me, but I never thought I'd meet one-and my own girlfriend nonetheless!"

"You're not upset? Because I'm kind of upset, a little bit," she replied.

He cocked his head, unable to suppress his grin. "What for?"

"This is just another thing separating me from everyone else, isn't it? I mean, look at how Kestrel treated you." She ducked down a little lower, feeling very small indeed.

Clay sighed. "I don't-nobody else has ever done that since then. Which is partly because I don't tell people unless they come to me with a prophecy about my future love-children."

"I should do the same, then?"

"I'd suggest at least being cautious. At least the first big steps are out of the way."

"What're those?"

"Well, you don't exactly have to tell your parents about it-" She frowned, and he quickly corrected, "-and you just told me! So that's the three people in the world who you should tell dealt with! If anyone else wants to know, it's totally up to you."

She glanced up at him, curious. "Who else have you told, anyway?"

"Well, Webs and the other prophecy dragonets know, obviously. They were there. And, hmm, I think my sibs know something's up, but they don't really get it. Other than that, nobody."

"Huh…" She blinked a few times, staring hard at nothing in particular.

"Peril?"

"Sorry, this is way too much. I've been keeping a secret I didn't even know I had? I could've been attacked over it? But also like, my-well, you've been keeping the same secret, even from me? And mostly I'm mad that you didn't tell me but another part of me is relieved that you understand and a third part is just so happy that you called me your girlfriend. What even ARE we anyway?"

"I'm not sure, but I totally understand what you're going through. It took me weeks to put myself back together after I figured it out, and I had four friends and Webs to help." He brushed his wing against hers, then pulled back as he heard a small sizzling sound. The sound continued after he drew away, though, and he realized that Peril was crying, her tears boiling away as soon as they formed. "I'll help you through this, okay?"

"Okay." she mumbled.

"If you want, we could tell the other dragonets. I'm sure they'd be really supportive too, and they might be able to offer some perspective that I don't have."

She stepped away from him, pulling in her wings defensively. "No! They don't have to know!"

"I-alright. It's your choice."

Digging her claws into the ground just a little too hard, she straightened up. "Yes it is. I-I need to go think about this. Alone." Clay opened his mouth to respond, but she was already on her way out the door and he couldn't find the words.

The wildlife outside Jade Mountain Academy were very used to avoiding dragons by now, so most of them were long gone by the time Peril slammed down on the forest floor, smoke practically pouring off of her. Her thoughts were a mess, flickering and swirling and fading away too fast to make any real sense of. She pressed her eyes shut, trying to make sense of it all. Without warning, her tail whipped out, smashing into a nearby birch and cracking it neatly in half. It fell away from her, a great burning gap missing from the trunk.

The stinging in her tail brought her back into focus, just a bit. Alright Peril, alright. You can handle this-one thing at a time. What first? She took a moment to breathe, allowing a topic to drift up naturally. Who are you, Peril? Good question, Peril. I'm Peril… and this is going nowhere, isn't it? Fine then, what are you, Peril? Unbidden, a lifetime of experiences presented themselves to her. She had been a monster, or at least a weapon, but that wasn't her. Queen Scarlet's servant, Kestrel's daughter (she tried not to consider Kestrel's behavior towards Clay), Clay's… well, a dragon with a crush on Clay; none of them actually answered her question.

Was Kestrel right? Has someone just tricked me into thinking I'm a girl? Was I supposed to be a boy? Clay said that he knew from the start he was different, but what if someone had told me I was actually a boy like Kestrel did to him? Would I have argued? Am I ever going to ANSWER one of these questions? She could feel her train of thought drifting away again, and without thinking smashed another tree with her foreleg. This one shattered as it fell, spraying the underbrush with smoky splinters.

I certainly think I'm a girl, but I can't be sure! Scarlet could've tricked me, or I could just be using the wrong words. I mean, I didn't even know girls weren't supposed to have dicks until fifteen minutes ago! Argh, I'm just one dragon! How could I ever be sure which I'm supposed to be when I can only try ONE? She charged forward with a shout, cutting a smoldering swath through the underbrush.

"Peril?" someone asked from behind her. Yelping in surprise, she jumped back, whacking her head on a tree and then falling in a heap. She saw stars for a moment. When her vision returned, she saw Turtle standing in front of her, looking concerned.

"Don't scare me like that!" she shouted at the SeaWing. "What is it?"

"Sorry, I just heard the noise you were making and thought you might need help. Or, y'know, whoever you were fighting might need help." He shrugged.

"I was just trying to cool off-uh, in a metaphorical sense. Just had a bad morning, definitely nothing major at all." She didn't move to stand up, but her mind was abuzz again. I shouldn't tell him, he won't understand. And what if he tells the other dragonets?

"Okay, I'll be on my way then. Since nothing major is happening. Definitely." He started to leave, slow enough that Peril could tell he had no intention of actually going anywhere.

"Please stay," she murmured. On the other hand, I'm getting nowhere on my own, and Clay is… well, he understands too much to understand everything. Does that make sense?

"Works for me." He turned around and plopped down in the grass, bringing them back to eye level. He stared at her attentively for a little bit before speaking. "What's the matter?"

"I… stars, it's so much to explain. Hmmm… you know how you were an animus for like three years but didn't know it?"

"Yeah? Don't tell me that you've got talons of fire and talons of power."

"No, nothing like that. I've been… well, apparently I haven't been a normal girl for eight and a half years without realizing it." Or a girl at all, she thought, feeling like a wet blanket had been thrown over her soul.

Turtle chuckled. "Wait, you were a normal girl once? That's news to me!"

She blew out a cloud of smoke, aiming for his face but only clouding the space between them. "That's not what I meant! I meant that I'm biologically not a girl. Like, I was born a boy."

Frowning, he looked her over with a curious eye."Really? I never would've guessed; you're so strong and aggressive. Not masculine at all."

For some reason, Peril was really happy to hear that. "That's how I am, apparently!"

"Well, why'd you ever say otherwise? Nobody had to tell me I was a boy, I figured it out pretty quick."

"I guess Kestrel-my mother, not sure if I ever told you that story-probably knew I was male, but Scarlet never looked. She just asked me… and I guess I gave her the wrong answer." It was all so murky now. How did Clay have such a strong recollection? I guess I had to choose when I was much younger than him.

"Huh. So, are you going to pick out a new name or something? Cause I've got a lot of red gemstone names memorized, so I can help with that. Oh, and I guess you'd want me to start calling you a boy?"

The sensation of terror that Turtle's words sent through her was comparable to knowing you were about to be thrown off a cliff with two broken wings. What the heck? He's saying the right thing, Peril! You're not like Clay, you're just ignorant! A low groan was the only response she could muster to Turtle, but he kept talking, a smug little smile on his face.

"It might be a difficult transition for Clay, though. Never pegged him as the ipsen type. And all the other dragonets might take a little while to get used to Pyrope the drake instead of Peril the dragoness. Other names are available of-"

"NO! No new names, no ipsening, no telling the other dragonets!" She stood up very suddenly, causing Turtle to flinch. "I don't want to be known as a boy." Wait, I don't… so was it really my choice the whole time?

"I figured as much."

"Why'd you have to go and do that, then? I'm supposed to be the mean one!" So then… well, at least I want to be a girl. Scarlet didn't brainwash me into thinking that.

"Because I figured that there had to be some reason you didn't tell Scarlet you were a boy, and the best way to find it would be to give you the choice again."

"Oh, you're so smart, I could just wrap my wings around you and give you a big hug," she said, taking a step forward.

Turtle yelped and moved back, glancing nervously at the grass sizzling under her feet. "No thanks!"

She grinned, but stopped advancing and let her posture relax. "I'm grateful that you did that, at least partly. I could've spent all day smashing over trees and not accomplished that much." So wait, does Clay feel the same way when people call him a girl? Oh stars, Clay. I'm gonna have to… well, I've got to tell him something. "You're still the worst, though."

Turtle scratched his neck with one wing. "That's what they tell me, yeah. Oh! I should probably tell Moon that you're not going to destroy the entire world, and she can cancel that mass evacuation to Pantala."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Run away to the most flammable place in the world."

"Eh, better than nothing. So, feeling better?"

"Not even remotely close. Want to go yell at your teacher with me?" With a soft rustle, she unfurled her wings and prepared to take off.

"My teacher? You're in the same classes as me!"

"Yeah, but Clay's my… okay, fair enough." Turtle snickered at her reluctance, and she threw herself into the air.