Hello Again!

So this one came out rather quickly, but that's because it was originally meant to be in Chapter 18. So I decided to make it it's own chapter.

Now, let's take flight!

By the afternoon, most of the conferences had reached their conclusion. Peacemaker expected that many of his fellow students and their families would start to wander outside of the academy. This was not the case, however, as thundershowers started to downpour. Anyone who stepped outside would be soaked instantly (for SeaWings, this was a joy, but they quickly returned to the Academy interior.) This meant the academy was still noisy and lots of dragons roaming between caves.

In the case of the prey center, it was quite cluttered as Peacemaker tried to find space to eat.

In the midst of this search, he spotted Tempest and Surf standing near the exit of the Prey Center, the latter looking ready to leave the Academy. While he got closer, Peacemaker made sure not to get to close. While he was curious, he did not want to intrude on their conversation.

"Do you have to go, already?" Tempest asked her father, her voice filled with disappointment. "You just got here hours ago…"

"Your mother needs me in Adderin," Surf answered, his voice was firm and did not sound regretful. It seemed he was dead set on leaving as soon as possible.

Tempest's eyes were filled with sadness at her father's answer. Instead of arguing, she dipped her head and nodded.

"I understand, the people need you there," Tempest sighed.

But she needed him, Peacemaker thought to himself. The exchange showed him that Surf rarely spent time with his family. The excitement Tempest had shown when he had arrived was clear about that. How long had it been since she last saw her father?

Surf maintained his professional appearance, standing tall and not letting emotion cross his face. But his eyes seemed to soften for a moment as he looked down at Tempest.

"Tempest," Surf said, causing her to look up at him.

A smile slowly crept it's way up Surf's lips, it was a small one but it seemed to convey so many emotions to Tempest as her head rose up with happiness.

That's when he saw markings on Surf's forehead start to glow brightly. After a second, these marks stopped glowing but were quickly followed by the marks on Surf's chest glowing brighter than when the ones on his head were glowing.

Peacemaker realized that the older SeaWing had just spoken to Tempest in aquatic.

It had been a short, simple, message. But the message was enough to bring a smile to Tempest's face.

In response to her father's aquatic message: The aquatic markings on Tempest's head glowed, before the markings on her chest glowed brighter. Repeating the message her father had given her.

Approaching his daughter, Surf wrapped his wings around Tempest, who embraced him in return. Father and daughter stood there for a long moment before Surf reluctantly let go of Tempest. Turning away from Surf, the older SeaWing left the cave.

All the while Tempest remained where she was, her head lowering ever so slowly.

Feeling his heart grow heavy for her, he walked up to his friend and sat beside her. Tempest didn't look up at him, but she nodded her head in acknowledgment of his presence. The two said nothing, and even if he did decide to speak Peacemaker did not know if he could make her feel better.

Instead, he wanted to just be there for his friend. Just as she had been for him.

Even if Moon's visions showed that he would become distant with his Winglet that would not stop him from being there for his friends.

Finally, Tempest brushed her wings against his. Peacemaker looked up at her and saw that her mood had brightened a bit.

"I'm heading back to the Common Cave," Tempest said. "I need to get as much rest as possible before we go back into the Dream World in a few days."

The last adventure into the Dream World had largely sapped Tempest of her strength. Because of this, Tempest theorized it would take several days of recovery after their last venture two days ago.

If Peacemaker was honest, he was glad about that. He wouldn't put Tempest in danger because of him.

"Okay," Peacemaker nodded. "Did your father know about you taking Cliff and me into the Dream World?"

"No," Tempest answered with a shake of her head. "He's a master Somnus, but not even he knows what I do on my own. If the Spirits in the Rainforest said anything that would be a different story."

"What if they tell him?"

"There are millions of spirits, Peacemaker," Tempest said. "We can influence the Dream World, but just like the Animus dragons in the Waking World: We aren't omniscient."

"But, do you think he'd stop us?" Peacemaker asked.

"My dad always drilled into my head to never use my magic for personal gain," Tempest explained. "There are rules he wants me to follow, but he said that if there was ever a time I needed to use my powers to help another dragon: Then I could."

Surf sounded strict, but also had a good heart, Peacemaker realized. He only knew so much of him, but it was clear he was a good dragon. A father that Tempest looked up to.

Tempest rose to her feet, and her eyes looked in the distance for a moment before looking back at him. With a smile, she slowly walked away from him.

"I'll see you later," Tempest began. "Looks like someone is here to see you."

As she left the Prey Center, Peacemaker rose a brow in curiosity. Who was here to see him?

Looking back in the direction that Tempest had been looking, Peacemaker's eyes widened when he spotted a familiar adult NightWing walking towards him. Compared to the other adult NightWings, she was the tallest in the cave, her obsidian black scales and unique dark green underbelly were instantly recognizable to him.

Why wouldn't he recognize the dragon? It was his mother after all!

Peacemaker could not, and would not, stop the biggest grin from crossing his lips as he and his mother's eyes made contact. His body almost seemed to move on a will of its own as he raced towards his mother as fast as he could and swiftly wrapped his wings around her neck. Immediately after embracing her, he felt the familiar feel of his mother's wings envelop him in a deep embrace.

Tears formed in the corners of his light blue eyes as he pressed his forehead into her chest.

"Mom…" He whispered, barely containing the joy he felt.

In the back of his mind, he had convinced himself he was not going to see his mother today. He'd fully believed she was not going to make it.

But…here she was his mother: right here in front of him.

"Hey kiddo," He heard his mother say to him, her talons touching the back of her head. "It's so good to see you."

Looking up at her, Peacemaker smiled brightly at his mother. Her dark green eyes were filled with joy.

"Th…There's so much I want to tell you, to show you!" Peacemaker said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Then start from the beginning," Hope said, releasing her wings from him as she guided him towards a corner of the prey center. "I want to hear about everything you've been doing since I last saw you."

Start from the beginning he did.

He explained his first day of class, the friends he had made, the little adventures they had around the school (she erupted into a fit of laughter when Peacemaker mentioned the 'Scavenger incident'), the successes he had in classes as well as areas he still needed to improve upon. The more he spoke, the more he realized how much he had been throughout the first term.

Including the information, he did not share with his mother: His nightmares, the Dream World, the existence of Somnus dragons like Tempest and her father. He really wanted to tell her all about this but chose not to. Not until he had learned more about the memories that were locked away in him.

Only then he would tell her everything.

For now, he focused on reaching the end of his explanations of how he and Alligator had stood up to Gull when he was picking on Tempest.

"That was very brave of you," Hope replied as he repeated what he had yelled. "But I was definitely not expecting you to get angry like that."

At first, he thought his mother was reprimanding him for yelling at Gull. But the way she looked at him with her green eyes, almost like she was proud of him, confirmed she was not. Rather it seemed she was shocked.

Holding up one of his talons with her's, she looked up his forearm, as if expecting to see any cuts or bruises. The same thing she would do every time he would come back from exploring the Rainforest with his classmates. No matter how old he got, it seemed she never stopped worrying about him.

"I'm fine, mom," Peacemaker said, touching her talons with his own while they were still touching his shoulder. Playfully he rolled his eyes when she quirked an eyebrow up.

"Well we can't be so sure, can we?" Hope answered, smiling down at him. "You may have surprised me…but I am proud of you, Peacemaker. For all that you've done here.

Peacemaker smiled brightly at his mother, hearing how much she was proud of him always brightened his day. His mother had always been his source of certainty. The way she spoke to him now, he realized how far he had come.

"So what happened during your visit to Pantala?" He asked. This was always the question he asked her whenever she returned from the West. She had promised that one day she would take him to Pantala, but until then she would go into detail about everything she had done and seen on Pantala.

Things were much more different this time, however, as his mother almost seemed to frown at his question. As if there was something that displeased her about her visit.

"Mom?"

His question snapped her out of whatever daze she had been in, causing her smile to return.

"It was different this time, dear." She answered. "But I'll tell you all about it when conferences it over."

"Why not now?" Peacemaker pressed, lightly.

Instead of answering, she instead stood up.

"Later, Peacemaker," She insisted. He knew when she got like this, she would not answer him. Figuring it was best to ask these questions later.

Nodding, Peacemaker reluctantly put the question to rest. For now, at least. This did not mean he was not excited, however, as the first conference that he recalled was on his list for if, and when, his mother arrives was for Tribal Cultures: Sunny and Winter's class! This was also the class he was most excited to show his mother how well he had performed as it, and Webs' History Class, were his most challenging subjects.

Taking her through the halls of the Academy, Peacemaker gave her a short verbal tour (even showing her the direction to his Winglet's Common Cave) before arriving to Sunny's classroom.

"And this is Sunny's class, Tribal Cultures," Peacemaker said, gesturing to the circular cave. "Sunny does an amazing job teaching us about the different tribes, there's stuff about our tribe that I didn't even know!"

"Well, you'll have to share this new-found knowledge with me," Hope chuckled as he guided her to the center of the class, where Sunny was sitting.

Across from her, with a pile of scrolls in between them, was Winter. He and Sunny were busy talking, gesturing to scrolls that they had open. Likely they were discussing who would be in charge of the next conference.

Bobcat was also present, the few month old dragonet sitting atop Sunny's head, looking intriguingly at the scrolls that his father and Sunny were reading.

As they approached, Peacemaker cleared his throat as an attempt to get their attention.

Sunny was the first to react, looking up and quickly smiling at both him and his mother.

"Peacemaker! Hope!" Sunny exclaimed, standing up to her feet, with Bobcat sliding down her neck so he was laying on her back. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to take Bobcat to get something to eat," She gestured at Winter before continuing. "Hope, this is my co-instructor for the Scavenger's unit. He'll introduce himself when he's finished grading…Which he should be finished now."

The last word made Winter wave his wing at Sunny, letting her know he was. Satisfied: Sunny gave both Peacemaker and his mother a smile, before walking off.

"Bye-bye, Peac," Came Bobcat's tiny voice as he waved his little talons at him. Peacemaker grinned and waved back at the IceWing dragonet.

From the corner of his eye, he could see Hope smiling at his interaction with the dragonet. Slowly they turned his attention to Winter, who started to tuck away the scrolls he had graded.

Raising his head, his blue eyes met Peacemaker's light blue ones, his soft smile crossed Winter's lips as he nodded at Peacemaker as he turned his attention to Hope.

Then, all of a sudden, Winter's eyes widened as both his and Hope's eyes met. Once his expression had been one of a professional giving someone a genuine smile. Now, his entire face had changed to one of absolute shock…as if Winter had just seen a ghost materialize before his very eyes.

"Foeslayer…how…?" Winter whispered, his voice almost sounding as if the wind had been knocked out of him.

Looking up at his mother, Peacemaker expected to see his mother be just as confused as he was.

However, he was met with the opposite: Hope looked as though she had just seen the last dragon on Pyrrhia, maybe even in the entire world that she was expecting. Her green eyes were filled with a realization that Winter was right in front of her. Something was happening, and he had no idea what it was.

That's when he felt Winter's eyes turn in his direction. He did not see them, but he could feel Sunny's co-teacher and the Founder of the Sanctuary Scavenger preserve looking at him with those blue eyes. Hesitantly, Peacemaker looked at Winter. When their eyes met, Peacemaker saw confusion in the former IceWing prince's gaze.

It was like there were thousands of thoughts running through Winter's head at a minute, as if there was something he needed to rationalize, to prove. All centered on Peacemaker.

He wanted to say something. To ask if Winter was alright…But that changed when Winter's eyes hardened into the coldest glare Peacemaker had ever seen. If glares could kill…then Peacemaker felt like he would have been frozen solid.

Yet, as Winter glared at him and Peacemaker could only stand completely still, looking at Winter in helpless fear…something about the IceWing's glare seemed familiar…

Just as this realization struck him, his mind grew foggy…

His wing-beats were louder than usual. That wasn't everything, his entire body was big! His tail, his wings (that explained why they were louder) and legs…Looking around him, he recognized that he was somewhere in the Jade Mountain range, somewhere to the west.

And why was he so hungry?

Looking below him, Peacemaker saw five dragonets looking up at him. Each one was a different kind of dragon: NightWing, SandWing, SeaWing, SkyWing, and an IceWing.

The curious thing was: Peacemaker recognized all four of the five despite appearing younger and suspected who the fifth was.

He recognized Moon instantly. Yet her expression showed no happiness or joy at seeing him. Instead, all that was present was fear. It made him feel terrible about how his closest friend was afraid of him.

The SandWing he also recognized almost instantly, the scar on his snout confirmed to him that it was a younger version of Qibli.

It took him a while to recognize the SeaWing, but Peacemaker recognized him as Turtle, who so desperately tried to avoid Peacemaker's sight.

He had never seen the SkyWing before, but her brilliant orange scales, that almost seemed to radiate heat, matched the description Moon and Cliff had given him of Peril.

As his focus turned to the IceWing, Peacemaker recognized him as Winter, the light blue hue over his white scales made him recognizable. However, while he looked up at Peacemaker with a combination of shock and fear, he maintained a glare towards Peacemaker…At the bottom of his heart, Peacemaker could not help but feel loathing for that glare.

"I beg your pardon?"

Peacemaker blinked as he heard his mother's voice. The familiarity of her voice made him snap out of whatever he had just seen. Glancing at his mother, he saw that she had a different expression on her face. No longer was it shock or amazement, rather she was no confusion.

When he turned to Winter, no longer did the Scavenger preserve founder have an angry gaze, rather he looked confused. Looking at Hope, and then back at Peacemaker: Winter's expression changed. No longer did he seem angry. He still seemed confused but wasn't letting it bother him.

"Sorry, you just remind me of a dragon I knew a long time ago," Winter muttered.

"I get that a lot," Hope shrugged.

Nodding, Winter shrugged as well as he gathered scrolls of Peacemaker's work.

"Now, we have a lot to go over: But I can say, you will be pleased with your son's work.

The meeting between Peacemaker's mother and Winter went perfectly after that. Winter showed Hope everything Peacemaker had done from the beginning of the year, to this part of the term. As expected, his earlier assignments were low scoring. But the more the IceWing showed Peacemaker's mother, the more Peacemaker felt proud of his work as his progression was shown.

He felt happy that his mother was proud of his work.

But to say that everything was perfect, would be a lie. Peacemaker could not shake the glare Winter had given him. It was like Winter suspected that Peacemaker had done the worst possible thing to him. But after that, he had reverted to how he had always treated Peacemaker: courteous and instructive.

The image could not be shaken, however, nor what he had seen in his mind.

As the conference came to an end, Hope would thank Winter for being a good teacher, while Winter would praise Peacemaker's work ethic.

When Peacemaker guided Hope out of the cave, intent on guiding her through the tunnels to the next cave: He saw Sunny and Bobcat return to the cave…with Moon walking quickly down the halls.

Seeing his best friend, Peacemaker attempted to get her attention.

Instead of greeting him, or his mother, Moon walked right passed them and went straight to the cave Winter, Sunny and Bobcat were in.

Hearing his mother draped a wing next to him, Hope urged him to follow her. Peacemaker obeyed, but not before looking up at his mother.

While she tried to hide it, Peacemaker could tell his mother seemed uneasy.

Then, there was the fact that Winter had called her another name, "Foeslayer." At first, the name meant nothing to him. It was a NightWing name, for sure, but it had no meaning to him. But the more he recalled how Winter had called her that name, he began to have second thoughts. Very slowly he felt as if the name should mean something to him.

As if he'd heard it his entire life.

Desperately, he wanted to ask the importance of the name to Hope. But something held him back from doing so, effectively keeping his mouth shut.

As the two returned to the Prey Center for dinner, all Peacemaker could do was focus on what he could do right now: Spend time with his mother.

When evening came, all of the parents who had visited that day for their dragonets' conferences returned home. The last hours before lights out was filled with goodbyes from dragonets and parents, while students who waited for their parents were waiting for the next day.

Peacemaker was in the former. He gave his mother a hug and the two bid their farewells. However, unlike the first day of school, Hope promised him that they would not be apart for as long. She planned to visit him in a few days.

This promise made him excited at the thought of his mother coming back to visit.

"Then, I'll see you soon," Peacemaker said, looking up at his mother with a cheerful smile.

"I will," Hope answered, hugging him one last time. Before she left, she briefly pulled back from him before giving him a proud smile. "Peacemaker…I am so proud of you."

Not long after saying that, his mother and the rest of the NightWings flew for the Rainforest, leaving Peacemaker and the rest of the students to watch their parents leave.

Her words filled him with pride. But, in the back of his mind, he felt something chewing at his thoughts.

His mind kept flashing to the vision he had when Winter and his mother met. The images of a younger Moon and most dragonets from her Winglet looking up at him with fear and anxiety.

The more he thought about them, the clearer the image became.

Especially as he looked out to at Jade Mountain's horizon…in the distance, just so happening to match the images he had from his vision.

And from the worst nightmare he had last quarter: the same dream where he'd seen the most beautiful NightWing he'd ever seen and the very one Tempest had saved him from by revealing her Somnus magic to him and the others.

While all of the students left, all he could do was stare at the distant mountain. A mountain that he had never thought about until now. It could not be a coincidence.

Said mountain was not as large as Jade Mountain, but he remembered from Geography that it had once been the tallest mountain in Pyhrria two thousand years ago.

It had been called Agate Mountain.

He didn't know what the old mountain's connection was to his dreams. But the curiosity he felt was too strong to ignore.

Whatever the mountain's significance, he needed to get to it in the Dream World with Tempest.