"Are you sure you need all of this?"
Hope was wearily eyeing the pile of school supplies Firefly had dragged in, her tail lashing across the floor.
"Yes, of course," Firefly chirped. "What if none of the other students brought inkwells?"
Peacemaker was pretty sure they had enough inkwells at Jade Mountain Academy, but he decided not to say anything. He and Firefly had been preparing for their departure to Jade Mountain for days, and he didn't want to squash the princess's enthusiasm now, when they were about to leave.
"Besides, we could still have forgotten something," Peacemaker said instead.
Hope sighed. "All right," she said finally. "Just be careful, moonbeam."
"Mom," Peacemaker sighed. "You realize I really don't like that name."
"I know," Hope looked at her talons. Suddenly she lifted her head. "You better get going."
Firefly didn't wait for Peacemaker. She grabbed a large sack of school supplies and flapped madly out the door. The other hybrid followed his friend, grabbing the other sack.
"I love you, mom," he said.
"I love you, too."
Outside, there was a group of five NightWing dragonets gathered around an older dragon Peacemaker recognized as - could it be?
"Moonwatcher!" he squealed like a newborn dragonet.
"Peacemaker!" she smiled at him. "I heard you got accepted into the Academy!"
"I know," Peacemaker ran into her wings, feeling the night sky wrap around him in a hug. "I was so excited - I mean, I still am, but-"
"Moon!" Firefly dropped her sack and also embraced the NightWing ambassador. Peacemaker tried not to look to sad as one of his best friends hugged one of his first. He knew that Moon and Firefly were close, seeing as Moonwatcher was Queen Glory's best diplomat with Pantala, but it still made him feel all wriggly and jealous inside whenever he saw them together, and then he wanted to step on his tail again for thinking that.
Among the dragonets he noticed Flashlight - one of Peacemaker's neutral friends. They weren't especially close, but sometimes they would hang out and talk about magic and queens together.
The dark lavender dragon was jumpy as ever, fiddling her talons and snapping open her wings before rapidly folding them back in again. Peacemaker could also see that Moon had brought her dragonet, Hourglass, with her. They were a year younger than Peacemaker, however the SandWing-NightWing held themself like a dragon of much older age.
Hourglass didn't say anything as their mother settled down the other NightWings and launched into the sky. As they flew into the RainWing Village to wait for Kinkajou (with the RainWing students), Peacemaker sidled over to the hybrid. He'd only ever met this dragon twice, both times they came to visit with Moon.
"Hey," he said, glancing over at the adult dragons talking. "Remember me? I'm Peacemaker."
"Of course I remember you," Hourglass replied. "Mom almost never stops talking about you. She-" The dragonet covered their mouth, catching themself mid-sentence. "I-I'm not supposed to talk about it, actually. Technically I'm not supposed to eavesdrop on Mom and Dad at all." Hourglass glanced at the ground, tan wings sparkling with obsidian stars dropping to their sides.
What would Qibli and Moon have to talk about me that I'm not supposed to know? Peacemaker wondered. What have I done?
More than you'd think.
That voice again.
Peacemaker whirled around, but there was no one there. He searched through the six other students for golden teardrop scales - dragons who could telepathically communicate with non-mind readers - but the small group of soon-to-be Jade Mountain students barely contained any normal mind readers, let alone the rare blood-moons.
Hourglass's eyes glazed over for a moment, but before Peacemaker could open his mouth to say anything, Kinkajou and the RainWing students were taking flight, followed quickly by the NightWings, and Peacemaker lost the SandWing hybrid in the sudden rush of wings.
"Peacemaker, hurry up!" There was a burst of orange from overhead as a dark purple dragonet barreled out of a group of annoyed orange wings. Firefly reached to grab her friend, but Peacemaker swerved out of the way.
"No, no, not doing that again," he said. "You've been dragging me all over the rainforest for the past few days. I can fly fine on my own, thank you very much."
Firefly laughed. "Okay, but you still have to hurry up."
Peacemaker sighed happily and flapped after his friend as she rose back into the sky. She was right, after all. Jade Mountain was a long way away. As the group of dragons flew, Peacemaker stole a glance behind them. Queen Glory and King Deathbringer were waving at the NightWings and RainWings, both smiling. Prince Lightseeker was chewing on a mango and trying to look dignified at the same time beside them. Peacemaker smiled back.
Suddenly Peacemaker's sack slipped out of his talons. With a yelp, the dragonet dove after it, Firefly on his tail. He twisted around through the vines, but he only got the chance to grab it when the sack was caught on a branch.
"Whoa!" Firefly exclaimed. "That bag does not like you."
Peacemaker rolled his eyes, hauling the school supplies back up into the air. Firefly darted back to the rest of the group, and they were once again on their way.
The seventeen dragons (the fourteen students, Moon and Kinkajou, and Hourlgass) flew for a while, until finally, around sunset, one of the NightWing students began complaining that his wings hurt, and Kinkajou and Moon dropped to the ground on the outskirts of the Rainforest Kingdom. The older dragons unraveled some sleeping mats designed for outside use, and soon enough the group was snoring peacefully.
A few dragonets were still awake, counting the stars or too excited to sleep. Peacemaker was one of them.
He kept thinking about how much his life would change once he reached Jade Mountain. he dark shape was already looming on the edge of the horizon - they'd be there in a day or two. He wondered what new friends he'd meet, what the other dragonets in his Winglet would be like, and most of all, what he would learn.
Jade Mountain Academy was a school, after all, so Peacemaker was guessing a lot. He wondered if Firefly was dreaming about her new life there, and then something in the back of his mind went ping.
Peacemaker sat up and looked over at the sack of school supplies. He had been relieved to see that he and Firefly weren't the only dragons flapping around the continent with bags full of inkwells, but right now he was only focused on his own.
Because it was glowing.
With cautious talons, the dragonet delicately opened the sack, which was glowing with a ghostly pale blue light. Inside was a star-shaped sapphire. A dreamvisitor.
There was a dreamvisitor inside of a sack of school supplies.
A/N: Ooh, a gift! Wonder who put it there? Lmao me of course who else has such a low sense of humor to toss a dreamvisitor into a sack of school supplies and then spend five minutes laughing about it
Also, ANOTHER cameo yeesh why so many-
Flashsight belongs to XDerpyDragonX on Wattpad, and don't worry, we'll be seeing quite a bit more of her later...
Just so you know, this is the last chapter of Part One, so I'm finally going to get to reveal this part's name, which, you know, is kind of cool.
I'm also going to wait until the end of November, because submissions for Jade Mountain students and teachers are still open until the thirtieth, and any slots in Winglets that aren't taken will be filled using my OCs (which I'm going to cry about because you're finally going to realize how many moonblasted characters I have but never use ;-;)
And finally, thank you for reading, my dear WoFles, and I'll see you in Part Two! (ack so exciting)