Chapter 1
Sunny couldn't believe her eyes. The Kingdom of Sand finally lay before her, beautiful as it was a year ago.
Everywhere she looked, there were billowing clouds of dusty sand, SandWing dragonets play-fighting, plants and shrubbery, and the occasional lizard on a rock.
She took a huge breath of the desert air, as if she had been underwater for a month.
Oh, how I miss my parents and my friends, Sunny brooded, thinking about some of the most important dragons she knew in her life. She hadn't seen any of them for a long time now, if you don't include her recent visit to Tsunami.
She had been to see the SeaWing, who with the assistance of Anemone and Queen Coral had rebuilt the Summer Palace for non-SeaWing visitors, in particular the dragonets. Anemone's animus magic wasn't making her insane, but Sunny thought the use of her powers made her a lot less tolerant and more stressed.
The new Summer Palace was beautiful, more scenic than the last one. Queen Coral wasn't chaining up non-SeaWings anymore, so that was a plus.
As soon as Sunny thought about animus magic, her mind drifted towards her father. Dad, haven't seen him in a while, Sunny thought, I wonder how he's doing.
She had planned to go visit her mother, Queen Thorn, then head over to the lower peaks of Jade Mountain, where Stonemover had relocated on account of the school for dragonets being built.
I wonder if I'll ever have dragonets, Sunny thought, mournfully. She knew well that Starflight was lovestruck for Fatespeaker, the NightWing that helped Starflight when they saved the RainWings from the NightWings' attack, who was a huge help to Starflight now that he was blind, and she was fine with that. Sunny was lonely though, knowing all her friends had someone, except for her.
Sunny knew what most of her friends would say. "Oh, Sunny, you're too immature, Sunny, you're not responsible enough, Sunny, you're-" Sunny mocked to herself, imitating Tsunami in particular.
She lighted down on a large boulder, and snapped up a lizard and popped in her mouth.
Lizards were her favorite food, as they weren't too crunchy, too bloody, or too bony. They were basically the closest she could normally get to gourmet.
Sunny was still hungry, so she lifted up some smaller rocks near the larger ones, and she growled unhappily when all she could find was a small baby scorpion and a tiny scarab beetle. She munched on them thoughtfully as she looked up at the sky.
She knew that the Kingdom of Sand was the largest kingdom, so she wouldn't be arriving at the walled fortress that used to be Queen Burn's for a while now, the one her mother now resided in.
Of course, Burn, Blister and Blaze were all never Queen, of course, but when the war was still going strong they all insisted they were called that.
Sunny remembered those treacherous, no-good sisters. She grumbled.
She especially remembered when the dragonets were captured in the Sky Kingdom, and Burn had been eyeing Sunny down in her cage above the dining hall, like she was the oddest thing the grotesque heir had seen.
If Sunny had to name her worst life experience, that cage in the Sky Kingdom would be up there.
The new palace had looked beautiful, with a nice room for Sunny and the dragonets to stay in when they visited, servants who were treated well, and a dining hall without cruel queens discussing how many guards were needed to throw Tsunami of a cliff, and how they were thrilled to see how many IceWings Starflight (who probably couldn't kill another dragon, and probably wouldn't if he could) would massacre in 5 seconds.
Sunny righted herself, as she knew that wouldn't happen again. At least, she hoped it wouldn't.
She saw the Scorpion Den up ahead, and saw Six-Claws waving her over with a big, goofy grin.
She rolled her eyes jokingly, and lighted down to the huge SandWing.
"Hello, Sunny!" Six-Claws yelled happily, patting her on the back too hard, causing her to fall over in the warm desert sand.
Sunny simply grinned up at her friend.
"Would you like to see our new layout, Princess Sunny?" Six-Claws inquired, gesturing towards the complex to his immediate left.
Sunny had never had anyone call her Princess before. She knew she was one, but still, it sounded odd all the same.
"Sure," Sunny wavered, still shocked by what the male SandWing had addressed her as.
She smiled as Six-Claws opened up the large gate doors into the Scorpion Den, showing off playful dragonets, smiling desert merchants, and odd trinkets lining the shelves.
"Ooh," Sunny marvelled at the beautiful sight, as opposed to the crackly, run-down place the Scorpion Den used to be.
She figured her mother played a role in that, as she probably didn't have time when she ruled it before.
Qibli, the dragonet that she had met the last time she had gone here who had helped run the Scorpion Den with the Outclaws, trotted up, waving at Sunny warmly.
"Eh, Sunny?" Qibli asked. "Ow's it been going?"
"Fine, thank you," Sunny said, patting him on the head, although she wasn't much larger than the dusty-coloured SandWing.
As he ran off, his tail snaked dangerously close to her right back talon, and she moved it just in time. She scowled at Qibli, although he wasn't looking.
"Close call, huh?" Six-Claws asked, escorting her along by the commotion and craziness happening on the other side of the shops.
"You better believe it," Sunny replied.
He seems more cheery than normal, Sunny thought. Seems mysterious.
Sunny shook it off, figuring it was just coincidence.
Six-Claws and Sunny came up to the place where she had first met her mother, and saw a new, regal looking-dragon sitting there, who also had a goldish tint to her scales, and Sunny also noted she was devoid of a poisonous barb. She was also smaller than normal.
How? Sunny thought. I'm the only hybrid dragon in Pyrrhia!
Six-Claws and Sunny walked up, and Six-Claws bowed, and Sunny imitated.
"Sunny, I think you'd like to meet this dragon," Six-Claws said excitedly, with his usual goofy grin.
Sunny was puzzled. What's so special about this dragon? Sunny pondered.
"This is your sister, Gila."