WREN

"You're sure?" Wren asked, glancing behind her shoulders. They were simply walking through the mountain range, as Wren didn't want to push Sky further.

Sky nodded. "They looked exactly how you described them a while back. The porcupine armour and all."

Ivy, who was lightly dozing off on Sky's back, grimaced. "That sounds…very worrying. What does the Indestructible City want with us, anyways?"

Wren sighed. "I don't know, but whatever it is, I refuse to cooperate. Doubt it's anything good, mind you."

"On the bright side, we travel mainly by flight. So it'd probably take them a while before they catch up," Leaf chimed in. He was walking alongside Wren, his body somewhat tense. "I'm trying to be optimistic about this, though."

"I guess, but…I don't like it." Ivy closed her eyes as she laid back down. "It reminds me too much of the Wingwatcher arrests."

Well, I hope you get sleep this time around, Wren wanted to say, but she wasn't entirely sure if it was the best to bring that back up again. She didn't particularly want to ruminate on it longer than she had to, and she was pretty sure Ivy was still upset with her for earlier. Instead she let out another sigh, not commenting on it.

Sky frowned. "You aren't wrong, but I don't fly all day. My wings would be pretty sore by afternoon if I did that, I think."

Leaf shrugged. "I'm just saying that I think it'll take the soldiers awhile to catch up since…you know. You can fly and they can't."

"I suppose so," Sky replied. Wren gently patted his shoulder, or at least, reached for it.

"Don't worry Sky, you can fly as long as you feel comfortable doing it. I don't want you to feel forced to do it." Sky smiled back at her in response. She turned to Leaf, smirking at him. "And we'll try to keep you in mind while flying, Leaf."

Leaf didn't say anything, but he rolled his eyes at her in amusement. Wren laughed to herself. I missed teasing Leaf like this.

"Wren?" Ivy's voice took Wren by surprise. She looked at Ivy, raising an eyebrow. "Do you think we'll make any stops on the way to the old village?"

Wren shrugged. "Well, there is that huge river past the mountains that I've wanted to check out for a while now. I vaguely remember seeing some mountain dragons and desert dragons in that area, but that was a while ago."

Ivy immediately perked up. "There might be dragons living over there? Can we go see? Please?"

Leaf's expression was something of a frown. "Ivy, are you sure that's a safe idea?"

"I'm sure it's perfectly safe as long as it's not just me going to check!" Ivy argued, pouting. Begrudgingly, she added, "But if it makes you feel any better, I'll keep my distance."

"So you promise to avoid riding the first dragon you see?" Leaf prompted, raising an eyebrow. Ivy snorted, nodding as she laughed.

Wren joined in her laughter. "Sure, we can go see when we get there."

Ivy giggled, her smile bright. "Thanks, Wren."

…

They had been nearing the river by now, and Ivy had gotten off of Sky's back solely due to her practically vibrating with excitement. She was walking by Wren's side, talking Wren's ears off about her speculations and dragons. Wren honestly didn't mind it, and had even added her own thoughts when Ivy took a breath in between her rambling - it helped pass the time, and it was refreshing to talk with someone who also loved dragons.

Once Ivy paused for a moment, Leaf jumped in. "Ivy, I don't think we've even reached the river yet."

Ivy rolled her eyes, though she was still beaming. "Close enough!"

He didn't respond, instead turning to Wren. "I could've sworn she was just about to fall asleep minutes ago." Wren couldn't help but let out an amused chortle.

Ivy huffed upon overhearing. "You both should know this about me, though!"

"She does have a point, though," Wren said after recovering from her fit of laughter. "Dragons are exciting to be around. It's only reasonable that someone would perk up at the mention of one."

"If fate exists, it must really enjoy seeing me travel with people who share the most dangerous of interests," Leaf joked. Ivy didn't seem to be paying attention to him, or at least didn't find it that funny - Wren was entertained.

Wren shrugged. "I don't know if it's always dangerous, though…I mean, not all dragons are dangerous, right?"

Sky glanced at her. "Wren, I know what you're implying and I don't think I like it."

Gently patting his talon, Wren held back some laughter. "We all know this about you, though."

"Aw, Wren. Give him some credit," Leaf replied, smirking. "An army of snails could be terrifying in its own right."

"Ooh, add some kittens and turtles to the mix and you'll smother your enemies with cuteness!" Ivy cried.

Sky scoffed, but was laughing with them. "I'm being patronised," He joked, rolling his eyes.

Wren lightly patted his talons. "In all seriousness, you're still the loveliest and most adorable dragon that any of us could've met, and we wouldn't change a thing about you."

He smiled back. "Aw, and you're the loveliest pet a dragon could have."

Amused, she barked back, "I am not a pet-"

"Oh, look!" Ivy interrupted. "The river's really close!" She turned to Wren. "Could we go see now?"

Sighing, Wren nodded. "I suppose we could check it out now. But I'd rather scout ahead first, just in case. Ivy, you can come with me because somehow, I doubt Leaf and Sky are physically capable of keeping you from charging over to the river."

Ivy let out a snort of laughter. "True."

Leaf frowned. "What about us?"

"Leaf, we're just scouting ahead in case there's something that we want to avoid so we can leave immediately. I think you and Sky can handle a couple of minutes without me," Wren answered. Or at least, I hope so.

He glanced briefly at Ivy and grimaced, but didn't argue. "Alright, but if anything happens to either of you-"

Ivy took Leaf's hands in her own. "Leaf, I promise that you don't need to worry about us. Besides, Wren's coming with me. She knows what she's doing!" Wren let out an awkward laugh in reply as Leaf's gaze trailed over to her. I can't tell if she actually thinks that or if she's just trying to be extremely optimistic for his sake.

"Well, I would hope she does," He sighed, breaking away from Ivy. "Just be careful?"

"By the moons, stop Leaf!" Wren chuckled. "Ivy will be perfectly safe with me, and I will make sure she doesn't run up to any dragons we might see." She lightly patted his shoulder. "But if it makes you feel any better, we'll be as careful as possible."

Leaf didn't seem entirely convinced, but he accepted the answer - or at least, that's what Wren assumed the small smile on his face meant.

Sky turned to him, grinning. "Ooh, we could go looking for snails while waiting for them!" Leaf seemed impartial to the idea, simply shrugging.

Wren chuckled lightly. "You guys have fun, then. We shouldn't be gone too long, anyways."

"Wait, we're going now? Great!" Ivy gave Leaf and Sky a small wave before walking in the direction of the river.

That didn't mean "we're going now"- Wren didn't say it out loud, though - Ivy was already a little farther along and frankly, she doubted correcting Ivy would matter at this point. Quickly catching up to Ivy, she resisted the urge to shoot Ivy an irritated glare. As long as I'm able to keep an eye on her, it should be fine.

Ivy noticed Wren walking beside her. "Wren, isn't this exciting- oh." Her expression faltered upon seeing Wren's face. "Sorry about rushing off like that."

"It's fine," Wren sighed, shaking her head. "Let's just keep going until we find a decent spot to look and see from a distance."

"What if we climbed a tree? We'd be able to see more from a better perspective," Ivy suggested, tilting her head.

Wren raised an eyebrow at her. "That…could work, actually. And it might save us some time."

She looked around, spotting a small cluster of trees to their right. There wasn't all that many, but it appeared to be where part of the river led into - to their left the river continued to stretch out. Well, we are still sort of close to the mountain range, so seeing some forest area shouldn't be all that surprising.

Ivy also seemed to pick up on it. "You wanna try climbing one of those? Or should I do it?" Wren could tell she was attempting to be teasing - if it weren't for the tone of her voice, then it was definitely the smirk on her face. Well…she is trying, so I guess I can't fault her for that.

"If you want to," Wren replied, smiling back at her. "As long as you're careful about it, that is."

"Hmm, alright! I'll go ahead." Before Wren could say anything, Ivy shot off once again. Is she always like this? She didn't bother calling after Ivy, however - she didn't want to draw too much attention to either of them, plus, she found Ivy's excitement sort of endearing.

Well, in a "you're really pushing it but it's somehow still cute" kind of endearing, if anything.

Once Wren reached Ivy, she was surprised to find Ivy already beginning to climb one of the trees. Ivy glanced down at Wren, laughing awkwardly, an apologetic smile on her face. Wren sighed once more, climbing up to her branch.

She awkwardly shifted closer to Ivy. "See anything?"

Ivy shook her head. "Nope. I think I'll climb a little higher and see if the view gets any better."

Wren raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but don't fall. Something tells me that it'd be unpleasant for us both." And Leaf would lose it if he found out-

Ivy only laughed in response, hauling herself up to another branch. She remained on her own branch, lightly scratching her arms as the pine needles brushed against her skin. Wren wasn't sure how much energy Ivy had gained just from being told that there could possibly be dragons in the area, but it was already beginning to tire her out. Or maybe it's because there's no way to get her to contain her excitement. At least, there's no way that I'm aware of…

If it does turn out that there's some dragons over there, Ivy and I are going to have a little chat about safety. And caution. And not running off every five seconds even though I said DON'T.

Getting lost in her own thoughts turned out to be a bad idea, since Ivy's excited squeal almost caused Wren to lose her grip on her branch. Before Wren could reprimand her, Ivy had already began climbing back down, which Wren thought was the most careful Ivy had been the entire day. Soon Ivy reached the branch with relative ease. Ivy took Wren's hands in her own, her whole body radiating excitement.

"Wren, guess what I saw?" Ivy didn't even wait for Wren's answer. "There's a whole town by the river! Of dragons! I didn't expect to find something this amazing!" A whole town? Hmm. Wren didn't know there was another dragon town close by - the only one she really knew of was the one where Sky had gotten dragon-napped. I need to find my map and add this place to it, then.

Wren gently nudged her shoulder. "Hey, don't explode with excitement, alright? We want you to make it back to the others in one piece."

Ivy chuckled breezily. "Aww. I'll try not to, since you asked politely." She took another glance over her shoulder, still beaming. "Did you know this place existed, Wren?"

Letting go of Ivy's hands, Wren shook her head. "No. I'll have to add it to my map."

"Wait, so if you've never been there…and you didn't know this place existed…did we just discover a whole new dragon settlement?" Her eyes went wide with excitement. "This is one of the best days of my life!"

Raising an eyebrow, Wren laughed softly. "Oh? What are the others?"

"Well, there's a lot! I can't name them all now!" Ivy huffed, crossing her arms. "But…meeting you and Sky and riding the golden dragon are some of them."

Wren tried to ignore the heat rising in her cheeks. She wasn't sure how meeting her and Sky was one of Ivy's best days at first, but thinking on it, it did make more sense. Since it was Ivy, after all. But still.

Ivy hummed quietly to herself. "Hmm. Could we…visit the town, maybe? Please?"

Visiting the dragon town? After what happened last time? Oh no, absolutely not- Wren really hoped her face hadn't given away how she felt about the suggestion, but Ivy just frowned after taking another glance at Wren.

"I- look, Ivy. Please don't take it personally, alright? I just don't want something to happen to Sky again. He got dragon-napped the last time he went into a dragon city, and I…I don't think I'd be able to handle it if it happened again."

Ivy gave her an understanding smile. "Okay. What if we all went in this time? As a group." She looked down at the branch. "But if you don't want to go, I don't want to force you. I think I could convince Leaf to let me go…"

Wren snorted. "I don't think we have ten years on our hands, Ivy."

She scoffed. "I'm sure he won't be that hard to convince!"

"I'm wishing you all the patience and luck in the world, then." Wren then sighed, shrugging. "If we all go in a group and you promise not to run off during the entire time, then we can go check it out."

"Really?! We're going? Yes!" Ivy immediately jumped down from the branch - though she actually waited for Wren this time, which Wren thought was already an improvement. "I can't wait to tell Leaf and Sky!"

Wren climbed down the trunk, grunting. "Don't bombard them with information, though! We don't want them getting overwhelmed."

Ivy snickered, lightly shoving Wren. "I can't make any promises on that."

The two walked back in the direction they had came from, not talking much for the rest of the walk. Wren had occasionally glanced at Ivy, but did so in a discreet manner. Is she still upset with me for earlier? Ivy still seemed filled to the brim with excitement, already anticipating sharing their discovery with the others. I don't think she is right now, but…

"Hey, Ivy?"

"Yeah?"

Wren grimaced. How should she word this? "You seem a lot more…cheerful right now. I was just wondering if uh…you were still upset with me for earlier?"

Ivy sighed. "Well, kind of. But not really. I do forgive you for it, though." She shrugged. "Maybe we should…try to avoid talking about my dad for the time being, alright? And talk about something else? Hopefully something less…touchy."

"That's fine by me," Wren exhaled. She smiled awkwardly at Ivy. "So, um. Friends? Friends-ish? I don't know what we are, but you want to be that again?"

Ivy returned the awkward smile. "I'd like that. Friends sounds nice."

The rest of the walk was filled with light, friendly chatter, though Wren couldn't help but warily check the deep blue skies for any dragons every so often. Regardless, Wren couldn't help but feel warm from head to toe as she walked next to Ivy.

A/N: Guest review answers because I like responding to reviews, but cannot through pms with guest reviews, rip-

Nice chapter: I'm glad you liked the chapter! I mean, technically now it's released but it typically takes me 2 weeks to write a chapter, though it depends on stuff going on irl, of course

Dragonlover: I watched the video you mentioned and yeah, that makes sense! I'm glad that I'm able to flesh out the world of the humans in WoF in a way that's enjoyable, despite what little was given! Regarding Holly, for this story I made her Foxglove's twin (she's technically older but eh), and yeah, making Holly an actual character is hilarious to me as well. The next chapter will likely be in Leaf's POV since I've been wanting to write some Leaf and Sky interaction, so hopefully that works? Ty!