CHAPTER THREE: MOONWATCHER

"Shh!" cried someone from outside the darkness. "It's hatching!" The dragonet residing inside the silver egg knew the voice was her mother, just as she knew the grumpy dragon next to her mom was her father. She already loved both of them, and she could see how they would love her, too. She pushed against the shell, kicking with all her might until it split open.

Her father was a huge, dark dragon, radiating both happiness and sorrow at the same time. If only our other eggs had survived… She got an image of two cracked eggs shattering, oozing a nasty yellowish goo. She saw the two of them silently crying, burying the pieces.

Her mother was smaller, with a teardrop scale by the corner of each of her eyes.

"What should we name her, Secretkeeperr?" asked Father. Mother looked up, studying the sky thoughtfully. "How about… Moonwatcher?" she suggested.

Moonwatcher. The newly hatched dragonet squeaked at her parents, looking not only at them, but at the futures they could have together. If she intervened in their squabbles tomorrow, their relationship would grow stronger and they would argue less. If she didn't, they might go to a large dragon with silver teardrop scales like Moon's and ask for his advice. There were so many possibilities.

She gazed up at the sky, reaching for the three full moons that basked her in their light.

THREE YEARS LATER

Foeslayer's Circle was full of busy NightWings. The town square had been named after Darkstalker's deceased mother, and Moon saw her sometimes in the mind of the King. She was supposed to meet the King somewhere else, but he had summoned her to his palace. Darkstalker had chosen to be her personal trainer, as the only other NightWing in existence to have hatched on a brightest night, and the two of them had grown a strong friendship with each other.

At least, until school came.

Some descendant of Darkstalker's, a kind dragon named Sunny, had made a school in the mountains and invited every dragon from all nine tribes to attend. They would learn about all sorts of things, like the evil spirit that used to lurk on Pantala and the horrible IceWing tribe.

Yes, Moon was excited to learn, but she was not excited for all the dragons staring at her, whispering about the 'Brightest Night Dragonet.' That, and the fact that she was socially awkward and all the other NightWings pretty much hated her for existing. She'd seen it in their heads how jealous they were of her hatching date, but it's not like it was her fault!

"Just go, Moon," pleaded Darkstalker. "It'll be fun, and you need to meet more dragons." Secretkeeper and Morrowseer nodded from beside him, reinforcing Moon's belief that they'd asked the King to make her go.

Clearsight smiled at Moon from her throne. "Take a lesson from the queen," she said. "Go to school the first time your parents ask!" They all laughed at that. Everyone knew how Queen Clearsight had been putting off school and hiding in the library for the first few years of her life.

"B-but," Moon protested, "there are some futures where I don't find any friends, and then the teachers worry about me and I might get put in a 'special dragonets' class and my paintings might look bad and people will judge me because I can't play music and not to mention my powers!-"

"Slow down," said her mother. But Mo-om! Moon complained in her head. I don't want to go! Everyone will hate me!

Her mother gave her a stern look: No they won't. Look into the positive futures, not just the bad ones!

Moon gave a little Hrmph to her mother, but she then said, "Fine. I'll go to Jade Mountain Academy."