Dawnriser POV by Serenebird!!

Dawnriser watched in incredulity as Treasure flew toward the gray land. What was that all about? she wondered as she flew down toward her. She landed on the space next to the other NightWing and she looked down at Treasure's sleeping form.

She looked so vulnerable. Dawnriser frowned and she laid down right next to her, putting one wing over her. Come on, she thought irritably. You need to get going. You have somewhere to go.

But should she go to Hinerium now?

Well, you did come all this way, she reminded herself. So why shouldn't she just leave Treasure and go her own way? She didn't even care about the Rebellion, unlike Treasure.

Because that would be just wrong, she answered herself. Dawnriser knew what it felt like to be alone and to fend for yourself. Even if she did only know Treasure for a short while, she knew that she needed to at least stay by her side until she knew that Treasure would be capable of taking care of herself.

It was probably too late to go to Hinerium anyway. For now, Dawnriser knew that she should stay with Treasure. For how long? She didn't know, but she understood that it was probably going to be more than one day. Best case scenario would be at least a week before they finally split and go their own ways.

Dawnriser sighed and lowered her head onto her talons. She blinked wearily as so many thoughts rushed into her head. Why did Treasure spend that much time as a scavenger? Dawnriser believed that animus magic had something to do with it, because what else could cause such a drastic transformation?

But then who would've enchanted her to turn into a scavenger? The NightWing didn't know anyone who had animus magic and she certainly never expected to have the chance to meet someone who did. The idea of it made her feel trepidatious.

If her theory was correct, then there was an animus dragon involved, but they were in no way friendly. Treasure didn't seem very threatening at all to Dawnriser, so whoever turned her into such a small creature probably wouldn't hesitate to do the same to anyone else.

She remembered that Treasure mentioned an Eider. Eider was a kind of bird from what she knew. Seaduck, actually. So perhaps he was a SeaWing or a SkyWing.

Wasn't Eider Treasure's brother or something? She said that he succumbed to the plague as a scavenger, so if her brother was with the doctors that night, then it would make sense that Eider would be her brother. At least as a scavenger, really.

Shock jolted through Dawnriser's body as she realized that if Eider died as a scavenger and Treasure wasn't the only dragon turned into one, then there could be many more who could have shared the same fate. Could they have been part of the group who shot at her wing before?

Whatever it meant, something happened. And something was probably happening right now judging by everything else that occurred. Maybe someone was out for Treasure and they wouldn't be satisfied until they saw her dead. Was that why that IceWing attacked them?

A wave of protectiveness suddenly washed over Dawnriser. Even if she did get on her nerves sometimes, Dawnriser would never let her get hurt. As far as she knew, Treasure was innocent and did not deserve to be hunted down and killed by who Dawnriser assumed to be some low-life criminals.

She lifted her head and looked around at her surroundings. She pricked her ears as well. To her relief, there didn't seem to be any sign of an attacker. But still, she had to keep watch until Treasure woke up.

It was the decent thing to do.

Hours passed before Dawnriser finally felt the other NightWing stir. She removed her wing from over Treasure's back and folded it against her side. She watched as Treasure blinked her eyes open and looked up at Dawnriser.

"I...what?" Treasure murmured. Her voice was quiet as she spoke. "What happened?" she asked. Treasure got up onto her feet and Dawnriser rose up soon after her.

"You fell asleep," Dawnriser answered simply. "You know that I couldn't have left you behind like that, right? You'd be easy pickings for any dragon who came by."

Treasure blinked at her.

Dawnriser sighed. "Alright," she said. "Are you going to come with me or not?"

"Where are we going?" Treasure asked. She clawed nervously at the ground below her and Dawnriser wondered if she made her nervous.

She felt annoyance at the possibility of it. She acknowledged the fact that she wasn't the friendliest dragon around, but it wasn't as if she was suddenly going to pull out a knife and stab her or set her face on fire. No, she would only do that to the dragons who actually did something to deserve it.

"Anywhere that isn't dangerous," Dawnriser answered. The further they could get away from danger, then the better it would be. With no dragon to attack them, then their lives would certainly be made a whole lot easier. Well, as easy as it could get, really. She knew from experience that there was always going to be a challenge in something.

She thought curiously as to where that IceWing could be and if he would come back with any more dragons. If he was, then they better get their tails moving fast before he caught up with them. Dawnriser wasn't in the mood to fight him. But if there really was no choice...

The dragoness tilted her head at Treasure with a look that hopefully said Are you going or not? Thankfully, the other NightWing seemed to get the idea, as Treasure spread her wings and lifted off into the sky.

Dawnriser looked up at her. She felt really grateful that Treasure remembered how to fly, or else lugging her around would be a real pain. She turned her gaze back toward the crashing ocean.

And then she headed off into the sky to join Treasure.

I hope you all are enjoying!