AN: Hey everyone! It's been a while, but I'm back with another chapter. I'm not satisfied with it by a long shot, but I don't think there's much I can do to make it better at this point, so I have to pry it out of my hands and just post it already, or it'll be ten more years before I finish this story. For some context (either for readers who came in the middle or for visitors from the future), I managed to just miss Unexpected Places' second anniversary, because I somehow misread the initial publication day as April 30th instead of 20th. Oops.
Anyways, I ended up splitting my initial outline for this chapter in half, so I should be able to write the next one out pretty quickly. I'm hoping to have that one ready to post next week on the story's not-anniversary. :P
I'm also posting a new poll on my profile, and I'd really appreciate if everyone voted. I'm looking for feedback about the reasons you all enjoy this story (I mean, if you're still reading this I'm going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and assume that you DO enjoy reading it, even when I don't enjoy writing it so much). I tried to include all the things I personally like in a story as possible choices, but if I left anything out, please don't hesitate to let me know. Also, on the opposite end of the spectrum, please feel free to be brutally honest if there's not a lot you like. You can chose as many or as few of the options as you feel apply. The reason I'm making this poll is because I can't help feeling like my writing as a whole is lacking something compared to other people's stories, and I can't figure out what it is. I just think it's easier to ask what I'm doing right as opposed to wrong; if there's a choice that no one selects, then that's what I need to work on more. It's really difficult to look at my work from an outside prospective, so I'm relying on you guys!
Thanks again! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
When the time came for the dragonets to leave for the concert, Loess sketched out a map for them to follow, talking as he drew. "Go back towards the corner where the library is and make a left there. After that, go down three more blocks and it'll be on your right. It's next door to a MudWing tea shop. If you still can't find it, make sure you ask someone for directions. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help."
"I'm sure we'll be fine," said Ozone. "Thanks, Loess."
"Thanks," Cornice echoed, accepting the scrap of paper their friend handed him. "We'll tell you all about the concert when we get back."
"Bring me back a signature," said Loess, winking to show them he was joking.
"I'll get them to sign my wings," said Cornice, spreading them out dramatically to demonstrate. "I bet they'll write a lovely poem in your honor."
Loess gave a hearty laugh, and Cornice grinned at him.
Ozone ducked his head, smiling at the pair's interaction. He was glad to see that Cornice had taken a liking to Loess the same way he had. They joked around now with an easy grace now, the way a lot of close friends did.
He tried to shake off the tingle of envy beneath his scales. He'd never been that easygoing around another dragons, even when he got along with them well. Sard was usually bursting with humor, but it seemed that whenever he tried to joke back, Ozone misspoke and came across as awkward instead of funny. With Jackal and Tumbleweed, he'd never bothered trying. It was better to play it safe and not take any social risks.
Still, he couldn't help feeling sometimes like he was only half a dragon because of it. He could befriend other dragons, but he was never really anyone's best friend. Sard had chosen to hang out with him mainly because Gale and Buzzard were grouchy and her only other option, Ridge, was more inclined to ignore her in favor of a nice scroll. Ozone laughed at her jokes and pranks and talked to her when she was bored, but they'd never had much else connecting them. The friendship had been essentially one-sided. When Ozone had tried to be assertive, tried to make it two-sided, she'd rejected him.
Now Cornice was the dragon standing beside him instead. But just like Sard, he'd become friends with Ozone by pure circumstance, not because they'd had anything in common. For a long time, Ozone had been the only SkyWing Cornice had ever met. His only option besides Ozone was complete isolation.
Ozone couldn't help wondering if this friendship would last any longer than the one he'd had with Sard. Maybe it would just fall apart once Cornice met someone else, someone he liked better than Ozone. Or maybe he'd find a new place to belong and give up on traveling. How long would it be, really, before Cornice decided that the Tribeless had nothing to do with him and left Ozone to deal with them alone?
He tried to shake off his worry. No, Cornice does care about me. I think. I hope.
"Are you ready to go?" asked the white dragon, poking him.
"Yeah," Ozone responded, blinking. "Sorry, just deep in thought."
Cornice lead the way out of Loess's house and down the street, which had become familiar over the course of the last few days. A SandWing whose name they didn't know, but who they'd crossed paths with a few times, made eye contact with Ozone and smiled. He nodded back. It made him feel a little better about no one actually liking him.
Stop thinking like that, he scolded himself. Think about someone else.
His mind strayed instead to the idea of what they would find when they got to the concert hall. Would it be just Jackal, Tumbleweed, and Kulta? Or would there be more of the Tribeless, too? Would he and Cornice be outnumbered?
Would the Tribeless want to finish what they'd started?
Hopefully being in a public place would prevent a fight from breaking out. Ozone would have felt more comfortable if it had been broad daylight now, but the sun was setting and the streets of Possibility were getting darker. Shopkeepers were starting to go out and light the lampposts outside their shops. A yellowish SkyWing—after a closer look, Ozone noticed that the dragon had a SandWing crest—also lit the lamp next to his neighbor's fish shop. The SeaWing called out in thanks.
It wasn't much longer before they passed the tea shop Loess had mentioned. The sign above the door read "Flavors of the Marsh". The customers in the seats outside the shop were mostly MudWings, but there was a group of young SkyWings there too. One of the red dragons suddenly turned pink and green, and the others cheered. It seemed the "SkyWing" was actually a RainWing imitating his friends' color.
"Ooh, try imitating Torch now," one of them said. "Stuffy personality and all!"
The RainWing grinned and obliged, making the others roar with laughter.
"This is it," said Cornice, putting out one wing to stop Ozone. He turned and saw that the door was open, revealing a stage in the back. Cornice had turned to a SandWing standing outside and asked, "How much are tickets?"
The SandWing shook his head. "It's free entrance today. We're featuring an up-and-coming band, so we want anyone who's interested to be able to come."
Cornice tilted his head to one side, looking confused. Ozone guessed that he had never experienced something like this in the Ice Kingdom. From what he'd gathered, everything was systematic and logical there. Prices were likely consistent, and nothing offered for free, regardless of the circumstances.
"That's very kind," said Ozone. "Thank you."
"Yes," echoed Cornice. "Thanks…"
Once they'd gone inside, Ozone surveyed the area. Like he'd seen from outside, the stage was at the back of the room. From there, the seats were arranged at a gradual slope, so the ones at the back were elevated the highest. "Where should we sit?"
"Up here," said Cornice, heading for the top.
"Perfect," he said once he'd gotten there, looking down at the many rows of seats in front of them and the stage far below. "If the Tribeless come in here, we'll definitely be able to see them. Hopefully without them seeing us. It doesn't look like they're here yet, but keep your eyes open, because you'd recognize them better than I would."
Ozone studied the crowd that had begun gathering in the front few rows. There were a few SandWings there, but none with Jackal's mottled scales. He spotted a tawny dragon who reminded him of Tumbleweed, but it was much too tall to be her.
"Not yet," he confirmed, shaking his head.
"Good," said Cornice. "Then they won't have seen us come in."
"What if they have the same idea as you did and decide to sit in the back?" said Ozone, his wings fluttering nervously at his sides. "Won't they see us up here?"
"Hopefully not," said his friend, pointing up at the ceiling. Mounted there were several spotlights, which were already on. "That's why I decided to sit under these. The brightness doesn't bother me, but it'll hurt their eyes if they look directly over here."
Ozone nodded, feeling reassured. "That was a good idea."
"I know," said Cornice, managing to not sound smug about it.
For a moment, they sat there together in silence. Cornice glanced at Ozone and then looked away, his gaze wandering over the crowd. He watched a group of dragonets play tag between the rows, squealing loudly whenever the chaser got close, until their parents intervened and scolded them for causing a ruckus. The group took seats in the middle of the hall, positioning themselves so that there was a fully grown dragon sitting between each of the dragonets to keep them separated.
Cornice sighed, looking bored.
Come on, Ozone told himself. Say something interesting!
But he couldn't think of what to say. He'd known Cornice for about a month now, and had told him pretty much his entire life story, but he still didn't know how to hold a conversation with him now that their day-to-day lives overlapped completely. There was nothing new to tell him. And Ozone didn't have the ability to make a conversation about nothing somehow turn into something.
But… maybe new things weren't the only option. After all, Cornice had an entire past that they had never spoken about. Ozone knew his friend didn't want to talk about why he had decided to leave the Ice Kingdom, beyond what he'd already shared, but that didn't mean he wouldn't talk about anything else.
There had to be some harmless questions Ozone could ask.
"What does IceWing music sound like?" he said, realizing that he didn't know. "I bet it isn't anything like what the SandWing band is going to play."
"I've never heard SandWing music," Cornice admitted. "But IceWing music is… subtle. Kind of restrained and simple, like everything IceWings do. It's mostly high and clear notes. Chimes… some piano. I've heard war drums involved, too, although that's uncommon in modern compositions. You know, since the war's over."
"SkyWing music is very fierce," Ozone commented. "Not at all restrained. There are lots of flutes and other wind instruments. Some vocalization. It's all very loud."
"That… doesn't surprise me," said Cornice, grinning. Ozone smiled back, almost without realizing. "What do you think the SandWing music will sound like?"
"Hmm," said the red-and-gold dragon, considering. "Probably very… sandy."
Cornice shoved him playfully. "Wow, what profound insight."
"No, really," said Ozone. "Think about it. Chimes sound cold somehow. Like… it makes me think of the sound you would get if you tapped two icicles together."
"Why would you ever tap two icicles together?"
"For the sake of music," Ozone insisted. "And SkyWing music has a lot of flutes, which sound like wind howling through the mountain peaks. So if IceWing music is icy and SkyWing music is mountainy, then SandWing music should sound sandy."
Cornice thought about it. "I guess that makes sense."
Ozone nudged him. "See, not everything I say is nonsensical or ignorant."
"Hey," his friend protested. "I never said it was."
"I know you didn't," said Ozone, feeling like he wasn't expressing himself right. He considered trying to elaborate, decided against it, and then promptly changed his mind. He couldn't help feeling like he had something to prove. He didn't want to lose this… whatever he had with Cornice. "It's just… I know I'm not the smartest dragon. My head is in the clouds most of the time, and there are a lot of things I just don't know. Like… anything about other dragons. And sometimes I feel like that's all you can see."
Cornice stared at him. "What are you talking about?"
Ozone shook his head, frustrated. "Never mind."
"No," said Cornice. "I want to know what you mean."
Ozone sighed. "I'm not good at anything to do with other dragons. I never read them right. I always end up saying the wrong things. With Jackal and the others… I just messed up, really badly. I know now that trusting them was really stupid. But it didn't even cross my mind at the time that they might be using me. All I thought was that… maybe I had finally found dragons who liked me. Who liked me the way I was."
Cornice was quiet for a long moment.
"Hey," he said eventually. "If it makes you feel any better, dragons don't usually like me very much, either." Ozone's gaze cut towards him in surprise. "Either they look at me and see my father, or they are my father and they see that I'm not like my siblings. My mother is probably the only dragon who never wanted me to be anyone else besides me. But 'me' just wasn't good enough. So I left."
"What?" said Ozone, shocked. "You're smart and strong. If they don't think you're good enough, that's their problem, not yours."
His friend shrugged. "I know that. I'm too good for them."
Ozone stared at Cornice. How could the IceWing be so confident?
Cornice glanced back at him. "The same goes for you, you know. You only think you're not good at talking with other dragons because everyone else is trying to force you to be someone you're not. You're fine the way you are."
"Really?" asked Ozone, very quietly.
"Really," said the other dragonet. "Listen, Ozone, what makes you special is that you don't make assumptions about other dragons. You don't judge anyone. And when you see someone who needs help, you help them. You don't ask questions, you don't answer your own questions without knowing any of the facts. You just do what you can. I'm starting to think that's all a dragon really needs."
"Where is this coming from?" asked Ozone, bewildered.
Cornice shrugged. "You, I guess. And a little bit everything else."
Me? Ozone couldn't believe he'd had any kind of effect on his IceWing friend. He hadn't done anything special, ever. That was his problem—he was indecisive, and when he couldn't decide what to do he just chose to do nothing. Although, he supposed that everything Cornice had said was something he hadn't done, not something he had.
Cornice straightened up suddenly. "Is that them?"
Ozone followed his gaze. On the other side of the concert hall, he could see three familiar shapes among a group of other dragons. Jackal was standing next to the older SandWing, Gravel, while Tumbleweed was chatting with Barracuda, and Kulta appeared to be deep in discussion with Amphibian, the Tribeless MudWings' bigwings. Ozone could make out a deep scratch along one of Kulta's wings, the dark red standing in stark contrast with her pale gold scales. The wound erased any lingering doubt he might've had about the Tribeless being their mysterious attackers.
"Yes," he said, instinctively shrinking down in his seat.
The other two MudWings were there, too, as well as Thermocline and Rockslide and a few dragons that Ozone had never met before. Altogether there were thirteen of them gathered. Was it possible the extra three had been recruited since Ozone's trip to Possibility? Or were the Tribeless just a bigger group than he'd realized?
Just then, the lights dimmed, and the SandWing who had been by the door when Ozone and Cornice arrived walked onstage to announce that the show was starting.
Jackal glanced over at the stage, and then turned back to Gravel. It looked like he cared more about their discussion than the music. Was the concert just a convenient meeting place, where it was too loud for anyone to overhear what they were saying?
Cornice leaned towards Ozone. "Maybe I can get closer. They wouldn't recognize me even if they did see me. If I overhear something, it could give us some idea about what they're planning to do next. And some idea about what we should do next."
Ozone nodded slowly. "That's true… But they do know that there was an IceWing in the battle. By the three moons, just be careful, alright?"
His friend nodded. "I will. I'll make it look like I'm just walking by. Look, there's a refreshment stand over in that corner. I'll wait for a few songs to go by and then walk over there. It'll look totally natural, I promise."
"Good luck," said Ozone, his voice barely above a whisper. Jackal and the others couldn't hear them from here, especially now that the band was beginning to play, but he was still hyperaware of the urgency. The Tribeless outnumbered them easily six-to-one. They might not try anything in a large crowd like this, but that wouldn't do much to help Ozone and Cornice once the concert ended.
Cornice didn't respond, but Ozone could see the tension in his wings.
After the duration of a few songs ticked painstakingly by, the white dragon got out of his seat. He began to stroll along behind the top row, looking nonchalant but purposeful. As he neared the section where the Tribeless had gathered, Ozone's heart began to pound. He could barely hear the music anymore.
He glanced down at the Tribeless, who appeared to be still talking. Kulta looked around and then said something to Jackal and Gravel. The older SandWing responded; Jackal and Kulta listened attentively to whatever he was saying.
Can Cornice hear anything? The IceWing had slowed to an even more relaxed-looking pace. Like always, he looked completely unconcerned, but Ozone noticed that his ears were twitching slightly, as if straining to hear something.
He finished walking to the beverage stand, ordered something, and then leaned against the wall as he waited. His blue eyes drifted to the Tribeless.
They went on talking, seemingly oblivious.
Jackal gestured with his tail as he spoke. The other two SandWings both looked around, and Ozone's stomach lurched as Gravel's dark gaze passed over him. He ducked further down in his seat, hoping the older dragon hadn't spotted him.
Ozone kept his head bowed. A couple more songs passed before Cornice returned to his seat with a cup in his talons and an urgent look on his face.
"What did you hear?" asked Ozone.
The IceWing shook his head, looking serious. "Not much. The band was too loud for me to pick up a lot of it, and I didn't want to risk sitting down near them. But I'm sure I heard the grayish SandWing say something about a Rainforest branch. And there was a name, too. The pale gold one mentioned a Rhubarb."
"Rainforest branch?" echoed Ozone, picturing a tree. He tried to redirect his gaze to the SandWings performing on stage, hoping that he'd look unsuspicious if any of the Tribeless happened to glance in his direction again.
Three moons, I really hope Gravel didn't recognize me.
Cornice nodded. "Like how I told you the Tribeless have some presence in the Ice Kingdom too. Do you remember? My sister told me about a dragon who came to our house to talk with her about it once. So they must have three branches: an Ice Kingdom branch, a Possibility branch, and a Rainforest branch."
An uneasy feeling began tingling in Ozone's stomach. "So, what does that mean? That the group who attacked us aren't the only dragons in the Tribeless?"
"I guess not," answered Cornice.
Ozone was silent for a moment, letting this new knowledge sink in. "How are we supposed to deal with all three? That makes things a lot more complicated."
"It does," agreed Cornice. "But it also gave me an idea."
Ozone glanced at him sharply. "What is it?"
"Well, this branch of the Tribeless would recognize you," said the IceWing. "And I'm not going back to the Ice Kingdom. But the Rainforest… we could go there without anyone recognizing us. And then we could find out more. From there, we could even try to infiltrate the Tribeless and take them down from the inside."
Ozone's head spun. "Do you really think we could do something like that?"
"Well, we have to try." Cornice's expression was serious. "Don't we?"
Ozone took a deep breath. "Okay. Then that's where we'll go."
He tried to stand up, but Cornice pulled him back down, shaking his head. "I didn't mean right now. You'll attract too much attention. We have to leave with the rest of the crowd so the Tribeless don't notice us. And if we go back early, Loess will realize that there's anything out of the ordinary going on. It's better if he doesn't worry."
"That makes sense," Ozone admitted, reluctantly sitting down again. He really didn't want to stay any longer. He was already worried that he'd been noticed.
Waiting through the rest of the concert was agonizing.
Ozone's heart was beating so fiercely that he worried it would explode out of his chest. He couldn't pay attention to the music at all. Time seemed to slow to a crawl.
At least, each member of the band bowed, to wild applause from the audience, as the concert came to a close. Ozone leapt to his feet as soon as everyone else began to get up and dragged Cornice towards the door.
"Calm down," said the white dragon, swatting him with one wing. "I don't even see the Tribeless anymore. And they didn't even look at me once."
"I know, sorry," said Ozone, in a rush. "I'm just nervous."
"I know," said Cornice, softening a little. "But you don't need to be."
Ozone took a deep breath, making an effort to relax. He was surrounded on all sides by tall dragons, so it would be hard for the Tribeless to catch sight of him now even if they'd spotted him earlier. The crowd milled out of the concert hall at a slow pace, chatting about how good the performance had been.
Eventually, Cornice and Ozone managed to extract themselves from the sea of dragons. Ozone took a deep breath of the now brisk night air.
"All right," said Cornice, shaking out his wings. "Let's head back to Loess's house. We can thank him again for his hospitality, tell him we're moving on—keep everything simple—, and leave early in the morning tomorrow."
"That's right," said Ozone, feeling a little sad. "We'll have to say goodbye…"
Cornice nudged him. "It's for the best."
They set off back down the street the way they'd come. Although the sky was pitch-black, and most of the shops were closing for the night, their path was well-lit by lanterns. Ozone managed to shake off the rest of his unease.
That is, until they turned the corner at the end of the street.
Leaning against the wall was a familiar dappled dragon. His smile was as friendly as ever, but something in his dark eyes had become cold. As his gaze landed on Ozone and Cornice, his expression became one of calculated triumph.
"Hello, Ozone," said Jackal. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"