AN: Sorry about the wait! I was hoping to have this chapter up last week, but it ended up stretching out into a 5,000-word mega chapter as I was writing it, and I didn't want to break it up if I could help it.

Thanks again to everyone who voted in my poll. Your responses helped me feel a lot better and more confident about this story going forward. Sometimes it feels kind of like I'm putting these chapters out into an empty void, but this reminded me that there really are people on the other side of the screen who read and appreciate my work. All of you make this very long journey worth it!

Many thanks to the guest wings of fire for leaving so many reviews! Your encouraging words really made me smile. :D

And as always, thanks to everyone for reading. Enjoy!

The two dragonets flew in silence for a while, as the city streets below them gave way to rolling hills and then mountainous terrain. Something was wriggling at the back of Ozone's mind, but he didn't voice his thoughts right away. Although they'd left Gravel and the rest of the Tribeless behind, he felt almost as if discussing their enemies would invoke their presence somehow. After all, they'd overheard him even when he thought it was safe to talk freely before. He still felt guilty about that now.

Once Possibility was only a small spot on the horizon behind them, Cornice spoke up. "The things that SandWing told us seemed really interesting. For one, Jackal isn't the only one in the Tribeless who has any authority. This SandWing—Gravel?—seems to think he has some influence over Jackal. And whoever the Tribeless's founder is would probably have some power too. Whoever she is. Knowing that she's a she is a pretty big clue, but it only rules out half of Pyrrhia."

His words were so close to what Ozone had been thinking that he gave Cornice a startled glance. It was like the white dragon had plucked the thought right out of his head. "That's what I was thinking about, too."

Cornice frowned, clearly thinking hard. "Also, it's likely that each of the other two branches have their own leaders, since they're located so far away from Possibility. It would be difficult for Jackal to give commands over that kind of distance. Those hypothetical leaders could still be subordinate to Jackal, though."

"That's true," agreed Ozone. "We can't be sure until we learn more information."

He noticed that he had been subconsciously drawing ahead of his friend and carefully angled his wings to match Cornice's pace. Although the IceWing seemed much less prickly and defensive now than when they'd first met, Ozone didn't want to make Cornice feel like he was slowing them down. Then the IceWing would probably strain himself insisting he could keep up, when it really wasn't that big of a deal.

He also adjusted his trajectory a little more towards the south. "Don't forget that we have to avoid my old base by a safe margin, or Claret will probably notice us and rip us apart. Even though we're just passing through, I doubt she'd believe that."

"If the base is even still there, that is," said Cornice, but he too angled his wings to follow Ozone's readjusted course. He glanced down cautiously at the rocky peaks and valleys beneath them. "Claret said they'd probably have to move, remember?"

"Oh, right." He'd almost forgotten. The battle against the Tribeless had sent him reeling, and he barely remembered anything that had happened afterwards.

Now, he couldn't help wondering what had happened to his fellow soldiers. Were they training extra hard to prepare for potential attacks? Was Spark doing all right after the injury he'd sustained? Had they gotten another trainee to replace Ozone? Did any of the others miss him, even just a little? Were they all getting along okay?

The most painful part about wondering was that he'd probably never know.

"Hey Ozone," said Cornice. The SkyWing glanced back over his shoulder and saw that the white dragon was still frowning thoughtfully down at the mountains. "After your commander expelled you from the army… why didn't you just go home?"

"What?" Ozone was more startled by the question than he should have been. "I guess… I just never really thought of that as an option."

"Why not?" asked Cornice. "You're not like me, are you? I mean, I ran away from home and everything, but don't you just have a normal family?"

"Yeah," Ozone responded. "But my mother sent me off to become a soldier so I'd learn how to survive on my own. I don't think she'd kick me out or disown me, but… the SkyWing philosophy is that every dragon has to be self-sufficient. Once you're fully grown, if you can't take care of yourself, then you're not worth taking care of. Slinking back home after failing at being a soldier would just make her angrier than if she heard the news from someone else. Claret probably sent her a letter."

"Really?" said Cornice. "That seems backwards. Wouldn't she respect you more if you owned up to your failures? In the Ice Kingdom, it's not considered 'slinking back home' if you take full responsibility for your actions."

"No, it's not like that here," answered Ozone. "If you messed up, you messed up, and nothing you say or do now is going to change that. I guess… how can I put this? If you make a really bad mistake—like I did—everyone else is going to think that you made the mistake because you're a defective SkyWing. Because there's something wrong with you. It's what you're like on the inside that really matters, more than your actions."

"Hmm," said Cornice. "So the IceWings are actually more forgiving? Is that what you're saying? I guess that could be true. At least if you mess up and get demoted in the Ice Kingdom, you can still work your way back up the rankings. Well, most of the time. Unless your father 'continuously acts in an un-IceWing manner' and your whole family gets punished for it." His tone made it sound like he was quoting something.

"But your tribe doesn't think your father is defective?" asked Ozone.

His friend considered it. "No, I don't think so. The queen just refuses to raise any of our rankings until my father fixes his behavior. Which… he'll never do. Because there's only one way, and that includes kicking out most of his children."

Ozone glanced back at his friend in surprise. "Did kicking yourself out help?"

He half expected Cornice to laugh, but the IceWing only growled softly. "No. It's the others he's supposed to get rid of, not me. But I'm his least favorite somehow."

Ozone didn't say anything, trying to work out a possible reason. He'd only heard about one of Cornice's siblings before—a sister. But he'd clearly said 'the others', not 'the other one', meaning he had at least one more Ozone hadn't known about.

How could disowning his children help Cornice's father's behavior? Especially if IceWings were supposed to take responsibility for their actions; how was not taking responsibility for your own children supposed to accomplish anything?

Cornice gave an angry twitch of his tail. "Let's not talk about it, okay?"

"Sorry," Ozone said softly.

"It's not your fault," the IceWing muttered, but his tail was still whipping the air.

Not daring to say anything else, Ozone fell into silence. Left with only his own thoughts for company, he tried to focus on flying instead of worrying about the past or the future. He was in the present right now, and the present was flapping his wings one beat at a time. The present was cool wind billowing through the mountain peaks. The present was flying with a friend. If he could just think about that instead of what they were flying away from and where they were going, he'd be a lot calmer.

Their path was thankfully simple, and they didn't really need to refer to the map. Still, Ozone held onto it and checked it every once in a while when he second-guessed himself and everything he'd ever learned about Pyrrhia's geography.

They took only a single break from flying that day, to catch and eat a couple of mountain goats. By the time they reached the other side of the mountain range, the sky had darkened into nightfall. Ozone had been flying at a slower pace than usual for Cornice's benefit, but he was still pleasantly surprised that the other dragonet's wing didn't seem to be bothering him at all, even after a full day of traveling.

It seems he's fully recovered, the SkyWing thought happily.

They found a small cave that seemed to be unoccupied and spent the night there. The next morning, Ozone persuaded Cornice to wait and watch the sunrise with him before they continued traveling. It was a beautiful one, streaked with a blend of orange and pink and little hints of gold. Ozone glanced at Cornice to see his reaction and noticed that the IceWing was glittering in the sunlight as if his scales were tiny mirrors.

The morning air was comfortably brisk, but grew warmer as the sun rose further in the sky and they flew farther south. Although they were traveling at an altitude high above the Mud Kingdom, the air still seemed to become more humid as the ground far below got muddier and muddier. Ozone caught sight of a few MudWings every once in a while, but those were flying much lower. No one approached him and Cornice.

After some discussion, the dragonets decided not to hunt in the Mud Kingdom, instead veering off into the mountain range around midday to catch prey. Once they'd eaten, they returned to their original course and continued flying.

Around evening that day, Cornice suddenly squinted at something on the ground far below them. He banked around in midair to get a better look. "What is that?"

Ozone came to a stop and hovered, following his gaze. "Oh, that's grass."

"Grass?" echoed Cornice, sounding baffled. "Why is it so tall?"

Ozone shrugged. "Maybe because it wants to be tall."

Cornice flew another circle, looking unconvinced. "I'm sorry, but I have to make a quick detour to see what's going on down there. I'll be right back." He abruptly folded back his wings and dove to the ground far below.

Mystified, Ozone followed him in a downward spiral. By the time Ozone landed, a short distance away from a small creek, Cornice had already ventured into the tall grass, which stood around the same height as the white dragon himself. Only the tips of his icicle mane were visible over the top of the blades, which swayed softly in the breeze.

"Three moons," said the IceWing's voice. "This grass is dragon-sized. What kind of monster plant is this?" He turned around, and Ozone could see a glimpse of his blue eyes and white scales between the blades of grass. His snout twitched, and he sneezed. "I guess it's the kind that IceWings are allergic to."

"Probably some kind of swamp grass," guessed Ozone. He stood just outside the patch of grass, watching as Cornice wandered further in. It wasn't long before his friend disappeared completely from sight, his movement only visible in the way he displaced the grass that brushed against his wings and tail.

"It's tickling my scales," observed the IceWing. "Also, the ground is very mushy. I'm guessing this goopy brown stuff is mud. I'm going to sincerely hope it's mud."

Ozone laughed. "Probably. The other possibility seems unlikely. Have you never seen mud before?"

"We don't have any in the Ice Kingdom," said Cornice's voice. "It's too cold there. We have snow, and under that there's ice, and under that there's dirt, but the dirt is kind of frozen… so, it's really just more ice. Brown ice. Nothing like this."

His friend fell silent for a moment, other than the rustling of the grass against his scales. Ozone watched the tips of the blades move.

"You know, this might be kind of ominous at night," Cornice mused. "Just all this rustling. You wouldn't be able to tell if it was another dragon coming towards you, or something else. Like an angry warthog or something."

Ozone eyed the rustling grass with a new sense of concern.

The rustling suddenly became more intense, and he twitched his wings nervously. Something was coming this way. "Cornice, that's just you, right?"

His friend didn't respond.

Ozone unfurled his wings. "Cornice?"

A moment later, a white blur shot out of the grass and crashed into Ozone. Ozone was rolled backwards with the force of the impact, his scales digging furrows through the mud. His claws convulsed against the edges of the map he was still holding, crumpling it in on itself. His pulse spiked with alarm—whatever had collided with him was heavy and strong—but he realized belatedly that it was also cold.

His friend stood over him with a grin. "Did I scare you?"

"Yes!" Ozone tried to collect his dignity. "What in Pyrrhia was that for?!"

"Oh, don't look so betrayed," said Cornice, flicking his tail. "It was funny. Your expression was priceless! I've never seen your eyes get that wide before."

"You think scaring the scales off your very sincere and gullible friend is funny?" asked Ozone, with the most wounded expression he could muster.

"Sorry," said Cornice, not looking very sorry. His snout wrinkled in amusement.

Ozone shoved the IceWing off him. "I guess I'll have to go sulk over by that creek for a little while. And look, you crinkled up our map. What if you'd ripped it with your carelessness? Go back in the grass and think about you've done. Go on."

Cornice snorted and obligingly walked back into the grass, his tail swaying from side to side in a suspiciously satisfied-looking way. Ozone was surprised his friend had actually done what he'd told him to. He'd been mostly joking, although his alarmed pulse still hadn't quite returned to normal yet.

It probably would help to sit still and listen to the bubbling water.

The SkyWing turned his back on the patch of tall grass and peered down into the water. The creek was slow-moving, with various plants growing in it. Ozone imagined that his mind was like the water, slow and calm and peaceful. Thankfully, the map wasn't too badly crumpled, and Ozone was able to smooth it out with his talons.

It wasn't long before something at the corner of Ozone's eye caught his attention. He turned, saw nothing, and frowned. But a moment later, the thing he'd seen appeared again: a little yellow light floating serenely through the air.

"What's that?" asked Cornice curiously, sticking his head out between the grass.

"It's an insect," said Ozone, holding out one wing towards the little light. It flew closer, seeming curious about the large golden object in front of it. The bug's wings blurred in the air as it hovered. Then it landed on him, its tiny legs tickling slightly as it crawled across his scales. Ozone tried to stay still so he wouldn't disturb the insect, even as a laugh bubbled up inside of him. "It's lighting up part of its body, like a SeaWing. I think the MudWings call this kind of beetle a firefly."

As the sun sank down over the horizon, more of the little bugs began to appear in the air around the dragonets. Their glowing abdomens blinked slowly at each other.

"They look more like stars than fire," said Cornice, coming to sit beside him. His blue eyes were fixed on one of the floating lights, wonderingly. The firefly flew around him, and he turned his head to watch it go.

"Aren't they beautiful?" asked Ozone. He normally fidgeted nervously without even noticing the way his body was moving, but now he was aware of how perfectly still he was sitting. It was easy, for once; his body felt pleasantly heavy and full somehow, like he was an overflowing bucket of contentment.

"They are." Cornice smiled brightly. "You know, I'm starting to realize now that Possibility isn't the only place in Pyrrhia that feels magical. There are so many wonderful things in this world. I never could have imagined that half of what I've seen since leaving the Ice Kingdom existed out here. But… every place I've been with you has so much magic in it." He spread his wings wide, as if embracing the whole world.

Ozone beamed. He couldn't have put his feelings into words even if he'd wanted to, but for once, he didn't need them. His happiness was written all over him.

The two dragonets spent a long time just sitting next to the creek, as fireflies flew around them and the sky darkened. Stars appeared in the sky overhead, and the fireflies gradually stopped their light display, as if they knew they couldn't compete with the stars themselves. Ozone tilted his head back to study the glittering silver constellations. To most SkyWings, the night sky was a map, but all he saw was artwork.

He and Cornice returned to the mountains to find a place to sleep. There weren't any suitable caves around, but there was a sheltered valley they decided to spend the night in. Ozone spent much of the time awake, looking up at the star-sprinkled sky.

The next day of travel got off to an interesting start. Soon after the dragonets left the mountains and continued flying south, they caught sight of what looked like tiny huts on the ground far below. They were much too small to belong to MudWings, but they appeared to have been constructed with great care.

"Maybe dragonets built them," suggested Cornice, when Ozone pointed them out. "In the Ice Kingdom, sometimes we're sent on overnight missions. We'd have to dig out some kind of burrow to sleep in, especially if there was a storm. They probably don't get blizzards here, especially at this time of year, but maybe rain?"

The SkyWing shook his head. "I think they're still too small. And too refined."

"Hmm," was all the white dragon said in response, but he looked thoughtful.

They both studied the ground as they flew onwards. A few moments later, Ozone caught sight of movement near one of the huts. "There! Did you see that?"

Cornice squinted. "Definitely not a dragon."

"Then maybe it's a scavenger!" exclaimed Ozone. "I've never seen one before, but I've heard that they're really clever and resourceful!" Over the years, scientists from all of the tribes had done research on the strange animals, and separately reached the same conclusion: scavengers were intelligent, maybe almost as intelligent as dragons.

Cornice wrinkled his snout. "You sound very excited. It's unusual. This might be the most excited I've ever heard you sound. Do you want to go down and look?"

Ozone squeezed the claws of one hand with the other. "Won't they run away?"

"Only one way to find out," said his friend with a grin, angling his wings to swoop down. Ozone hesitated for a moment, but Cornice called back to him over one shoulder. "Come on! Don't be a hesitator and miss your chance!"

I guess that's that, he thought, and followed, taking care to glide down instead of flapping his wings too much. He didn't want to sound like an overgrown pigeon and let the scavengers know that he was coming eons before he landed.

Cornice was bending down to study the tiny buildings by the time Ozone caught up to him. None of the scavengers were anywhere in sight.

Ozone's wings drooped.

Cornice nudged him. "Don't look so disappointed. We'll sit still and be quiet and maybe one of them will come out. Being quiet—beginning now."

The two dragonets sat patiently for a while.

"Maybe they're not coming out of their huts because they can see us sitting here," Ozone pointed out reasonably. "We're not exactly stealthy."

"Well, if you want to scare them out of hiding and send them running over the hills instead, that can be arranged," said Cornice, flexing his talons.

"No!" Ozone thwacked him with his tail. "That's the opposite of what I want!"

"Settle down," Cornice said. "That was a joke."

"How about we try hiding?" Ozone looked around for cover.

"Well, I for one am not submerging myself in a mud puddle."

"I never said anything about a mud puddle," said the red dragon, flicking his tail. "Look, there are some trees over there. Why don't we go conceal ourselves?"

"All right," agreed Cornice. He led the way towards the trees, stepping lightly and deliberately to avoid getting any mud between his claws. The shadows and green foliage helped conceal the two dragonets better, but Cornice was still very white. He stood out.

"Um," suggested Ozone tentatively. "Would you mind—?"

"No," said Cornice immediately. "I already told you I am not submerging myself in a mud puddle, and that includes rolling around in mud for camouflage."

The SkyWing sighed. "Fine."

Cornice softened. "But I will go further into the trees, so the scavengers won't see me, while you spy on them to your heart's content. Call when you're ready to go."

"Okay," said Ozone, flicking him lightly with his tail. "Thanks."

He barely noticed the IceWing prowl off into the trees, too intent on gazing at the collection of diminutive huts in front of him. There was a small stream running along the edge of the village, which made sense. Scavengers needed water to drink, just like dragons. He was surprised that they'd built their village out in the open, considering they were often prey in the dragons' world. But their settlement was close to the woods, in case they needed shelter. Did they usually hide among the trees if they saw dragons coming?

Did I accidentally steal their hiding place?

Ozone blinked as something small and wet suddenly landed on his snout. Rain? He looked up at the sky and saw that it was swirling with gray clouds. When he and Cornice had first set off this morning, the sky had been almost entirely clear. He'd been too busy looking for scavengers to notice that the weather had changed until now.

Ozone heard a rustling sound behind him and turned, expecting to see Cornice. To his surprise, there was no dragon in sight. He looked down instead and his eyes met those of a tiny creature, which looked up at him with surprise matching his own. It stood up on two legs and had fluffy fur on top of its head.

The scavenger backed away nervously, deeper into the trees.

"Wait, don't go," said Ozone, reaching towards it with his front talons despite the scroll he was already holding in them. As he did, a sudden gust of wind snatched away his map and blew it towards the scavenger. The little creature raised its front paws to shield itself as the paper, so large compared to it, flew towards it.

To Ozone's relief, the map soared over the scavenger's head before tangling in the branches of a nearby tree. He and the scavenger both looked up at the runaway scroll, which twitched in the breeze as if trying to escape.

Ozone took a step towards the tree and then stopped, not wanting to scare away the scavenger. The little creature looked up at the scroll, then at Ozone, and back again. With one more nervous glance at the dragon, who sat as still as he could, the scavenger darted towards the tree. To Ozone's surprise, it began to climb.

"Three moons, you're quick," he said wonderingly, watching the creature ascend the side of the tree with confident, decisive movements. How could a scavenger move so nimbly and balance so well without a tail?

The scavenger paused once it reached the stuck scroll. It extended one paw and carefully unrolled the paper, studying the map of Pyrrhia with intelligent-looking eyes. Ozone might have been projecting, but he thought its expression became startled. The scavenger turned to him and called something that sounded strangely like a question.

Ozone spread his claws helplessly. "I can't understand you."

The scavenger frowned. It pointed at the map, and then at Ozone, repeating its question. The SkyWing only gazed back with mystified orange eyes.

The scavenger gave an impatient-sounding huff. It reached out, snapped a small branch off the tree, and then quickly climbed back down to the ground. Once there, it crouched and began to draw in the mud using the stick.

Ozone lowered his head to watch, amazed by the creature's dexterity.

The scavenger looked up, saw that Ozone's face had gotten closer, and shouted at him, waving its paws. Ozone hastily withdrew. "Sorry!"

The scavenger quickly finished drawing, pointed down at its work, pointed at the map, and then finally pointed at Ozone. Then it repeated its question.

"Oh, are you asking if I drew the map?" guessed Ozone.

The scavenger gazed back uncomprehendingly.

Ozone tapped his tail against the ground, trying to think of a way to communicate his meaning to this tiny creature that did not speak his language. I didn't draw this. It was a RainWing who drew the map. How could he articulate that?

He barely noticed that the rain was coming down harder now, too absorbed in his encounter with the scavenger. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. When would he be able to find another scavenger who wasn't completely terrified of him?

He pointed at the map, then at the drawing, and then at himself. As he indicated himself, he shook his head. Then he pointed at the rainy sky.

The scavenger looked utterly confused.

"RainWing," said Ozone, feeling a mix of excitement and frustration. He was actually communicating with a scavenger! It wanted to communicate with him! But it probably had no idea what he was saying. "A RainWing drew the map!"

He wiggled his talons while moving them down to mime rain and then pointed at one of his wings. He thought his meaning had to be clear now, but the scavenger shook its head as if to say it had no clue what his gestures meant.

"A RainWing?" Ozone tried. "You know, those dragons who change color? They live in the rainforest? Hence the reason they're called RainWings? Oh, you've probably never seen one before, actually." This scavenger lived in the Mud Kingdom, after all. It might not even know that any tribe except the MudWings existed.

He tried a different strategy. "I'm a SkyWing." He pointed at himself, then at the sky, and then at his wing. "The dragons you know—" He pointed at the scavenger, then waved his talons around at the surrounding area. "—are called MudWings." He mushed his talons in the mud beneath them and then pointed at his wing. "Did you know that?"

The scavenger still looked utterly perplexed.

"Oh, never mind," sighed Ozone. He held out his talons so the rain would wash the mud off. "I guess this is too complicated for gestures."

The scavenger tilted its head to one side, looking thoughtful. It held up one talon and then turned away, scurrying up the tree again. Ozone watched as it went back up to the place where the map had gotten caught, carefully untangled the paper, and then rolled it up. The scroll was almost as tall as the scavenger itself, but the creature tucked it carefully under one thin arm and then climbed back down to the ground.

"Are you stealing my map?" he asked, amused.

The scavenger hesitated, then carefully approached him. It held out the map with both hands. The meaning was clear. Here you go.

"Oh, you're giving it back to me," said Ozone, surprised. "Thank you!"

He reached out slowly, careful not to alarm the scavenger, and took the offering. Then he bowed to the scavenger, lowering his head and spreading his wings.

The scavenger's eyebrows went up. Then its face broke into a smile.

Ozone smiled back, nervously delighted.

As he straightened up, the scavenger tentatively reached out to him with one hand. The palm was open, facing towards Ozone.

Ozone hesitated, and then extended his own hand towards the scavenger in the same way, slowly and carefully. The scavenger's much smaller palm came to rest against his. Its furless skin was unexpectedly soft against his scales.

The scavenger's expression looked as wondering as he felt. It was speaking again, in an excited-sounding tone. Ozone couldn't tell what it was saying, but he guessed it was something along the lines of, We communicated! And you don't want to eat me!

Ozone's mind was shouting much the same thing. Except instead of the you don't want to eat me part, it was you don't think I want to eat you!

The scavenger held out both of its hands towards Ozone and then waved them in a gesture he didn't understand. It turned towards the edge of the trees, where the village was, and then turned back to him while saying something and continuing to hold out its hand. Ozone watched as it ran off towards the village.

Why'd it run off? he wondered, a little dismayed. He'd thought the creature had looked more excited than frightened only a moment ago.

He shook off his disappointment. This was still a huge breakthrough! I have to tell Cornice! The scavenger tried to talk to me! We actually communicated a little!

"Cornice!" he called. "Cornice, you'll never believe what just happened!"

His friend emerged from the depths of the forest. "What? What happened?"

"I saw a scavenger!" he said, barreling into the IceWing. "The wind blew my map away, and the scavenger took an interest in it. It started trying to talk to me! I think it was asking if I drew the map. Scavengers can draw too, did you know that?"

"Three moons," said Cornice, laughing. "I've never heard you try to talk so fast. Can you repeat that, slower, and maybe with some more detail?"

"Sure!" said Ozone, as they took off and continued flying south.

He regaled his IceWing friend with the entire story, in as much detail as he could remember. Cornice looked a little skeptical at the beginning, but it wasn't long before his expression became impressed and then thoughtful.

The dragonets spent the rest of the day exchanging all the information they'd ever learned about scavengers and speculating about whether dragons would ever learn more about their language and behavior. Ozone hoped so, although he wasn't sure if the idea was closer to reality or wishful thinking. Cornice admitted that he had never given it much thought, but he seemed open to the idea.

At last, as the sun began its descent, Ozone caught sight of tall trees on the horizon. The canopy was thick, lush, and green, with a topping of colorful flowers that shone brightly even from this distance. The view was unmistakable. After three long days of traveling, their destination was finally in sight.

"There it is," Ozone said to Cornice. "The Rainforest Kingdom!"