"I don't want you to leave me here."

The wind rushed over her scales in a constant, powerful flow, and Moon had to squint her eyes to see through the harsh blow. The blinding desert sun glowered from behind a thin veil of clouds above them, but the windchill from occasional bursts of stronger wind on the mountaintop kept her shivering under her mother's wing. Poor Leaf wasn't faring much better himself, clinging to the back of Moon's neck like a hairless sloth; his light, survivalist outfit, while appropriate for the sweltering jungle heat, was decidedly less appropriate for the top of a windy mountain.

"I really, really don't want to stay here."

Her bubbling enthusiasm from the other day had died the moment she had approached Jade Mountain. There were too many people, too many voices, too many variables, too many ways for everything to come crashing down on top of her.

Her mother let out a deep sigh and turned to look at Moon. "I know, but you have to. And it'll be good for you. Besides, you have Leaf and Kinkajou here, right?" She was right. Kinkajou, despite having met her only two days prior, was already the closest of friends with Moon, and Leaf would never leave Moon even if she wanted him to(which she never did).

"I like being wherever you are." Even to her, the argument seemed weak. "And I don't mind the other Nightwings that much." That wasn't even an argument, just a bold-faced lie in every sense.

"Most of them are awful and you know it," stated Secretkeeper, her tone making it clear that there was no argument to be had. Moon knew it; it had taken almost three hours to convince her mother to let her outside with Kinkajou again after she found out what had happened. Kinkajou had to go find Deathbringer, take him to Moon's hut and have him convince Secretkeeper everything would be alright before Moon could even take a step out the door.

Secretkeeper's expression brightened. "Here you'll be with much nicer dragons. Like Sunny and Starflight. Remember you met them and liked them?" Moon remembered. Yesterday, some of the Nightwings and Rainwings, including herself and Kinkajou, were brought to meet two of the teachers they'd be learning under at the academy. Moon worried that she'd have to stay with a strict, crotchety old dragon as her teacher for the duration of her stay, but was more than pleasantly surprised by Sunny and Starflight's understanding and upbeat aura.

She didn't hear a shred of an evil thought from them. It was refreshing, honestly.

Being on top of a windy mountain surrounded by dragons you've never seen before and knowing you were about to be abandoned with them was not refreshing. Even if at least two of them were nice.

"I want to be with you." She'd waited four years for this opportunity – to finally get a chance to be with her mother all the time, to spend every minute with her, only to get it all taken away in a heartbeat.

Secretkeeper nudged her lovingly. "I'll visit," she promised. "You'll see me all the time. And you'll make friends here, I'm sure you will." Well, I hope you will, my weird little diamond, her thoughts betrayed her.

Moon furrowed her brow and looked at her talons. "I'm not a weird little diamond," she insisted.

"You need to stop doing that, remember?" her mother spoke to her softly, making sure nobody else would overhear them. "If you only hear it in your head, don't respond. Everybody thinks Nightwings don't have powers anymore – they won't know what to do with you if they find out." And how will you make friends that way, if you keep guessing their thoughts and making them uncomfortable? "Or they might not believe you, and hate you for lying. So don't let them find out, all right?"

"I know," Moon answered, still keeping her head low. "Stay secret. Stay hidden. Stay safe."

Cedar was breathless.

Until four years ago, he'd only seen dragons from a distance, watching specks fly through the clouds miles above him from the comfort of his home. Then he met Moon, then he met more Rainwings and Nightwings, and now he had pretty much seen every last dragon on the continent. They came in all shapes in sizes, colors he'd never even seen before. It was beautiful.

Or it would've been if he wasn't shivering half to death on top of this damn mountain.

His outfit – if you could call it that, it didn't even include a shirt – was for the rainforest. Designed for the rainforest. Made of the rainforest. The rainforest he'd lived in for the past four years. He understood that he and Moon had just moved out of the wilderness into a more civilized area(never in his life had he expected to find himself in a village of dragons, much less living in it), but what was all this with the mountain? Why were they here? Why were any of these dragons here?

He noticed that the age difference between some of these dragons was sharp. While a lot of them seemed to be only around Moon's age or younger, he noticed a handful of larger, adult dragons around the mountaintop as well. One in particular caught his eye; a large, navy blue Seawing adorned in countless pearls at least half his height. A queen, maybe? But what was going on here that was so important for a queen to show up? It clearly wasn't a Seawing event, judging from the numerous tribes present.

Some kind of multi-tribe peace conference? But where were the other queens, then?

Suddenly and firmly, Mother snorted something that made Moon's muscles seize up. She turned to her mother and said something back, but Mother didn't seem to listen. She moved her wing that was covering both of us back to her(Stars above, it was way too windy up here!), and took off back in the direction of the rainforest.

Despite the howling of the wind, there was a certain deafening silence. Moon stared off where her mother had gone, unmoving. A soft whimper began to rise, but died in her throat. Her words failed her, and her eyes seemed to water.

Hey, don't cry, don't cry! It'll be alright! Cedar acted quickly, giving a wide hug around the side of her head with one arm while tenderly stroking her neck with the other. He whispered sweet nothings into her ear. She wouldn't get the language, but the message was clear enough for the mind reader. She blinked away the tears and gave a warm, sideways smile, a soft purr vibrating in her throat.

Time had passed since then, mostly uneventful time. Even if there were dragons everywhere, he could still recognize a boring school-like setup. Moon had picked up some scrolls from the entrance of the mountain, dodged a handful of relatively friendly-looking dragons, and had eventually ducked into another cave where she picked up more scrolls. Cedar looked down at the parchment in her hands, his eyes filled with wonder.

Dragons had a written language? Who knew? It looked weird, but at the same time, the writing was almost oddly familiar somehow. As his eyes remained glued to the page, he started to make out shapes in the otherwise alien calligraphy. What looked like it could be an abstract "W" here and there, and maybe that one was an "S"? Maybe, given time, he could learn this language. He figured if he was going to spend the rest of his life around dragons, at least some level of communication would do wonders for him and everyone around him.

Just when he began to make out what almost looked like the word "Dragon", there was a rush at the doorway of the cave he and Moon were in. Both heads snapped up to see an irritated-looking Skywing storm into the room and flop down on a rock bed without a sound. Moon shifted away from the strange dragon, before hastily stuffing her nose back into the scroll. Cedar shifted his weight on Moon's neck to hide himself from the Skywing.

Only a few seconds after the Skywing had stomped in, another dragon came through the door, this time in a whirlwind of color, almost tripping over where Moon had sat. They both looked up at the newcomer, who Cedar instantly recognized as -

"RrhkAhhou!" Moon exclaimed, putting her scroll away as she jumped up. The Rainwing, who Cedar had nicknamed Sunshine, jumped up and embraced Moon, her scales flashing in yellows and golds. Cedar grew a smile at the scene; it was nice to have a familiar face here. He crawled up and hugged Sunshine as well.

The two of them cooed at each other for a while, seemingly in deep conversation. It seemed a little one-sided, with Sunshine doing most of the talking, but for the first time that day Cedar could see Moon smiling. He still found himself casting a few nervous glances at the Skywing in the corner, who soon looked to be the topic of discussion between Moon and Sunshine.

The Skywing, however, was having none of it, exploding from her bed, snarling at the two as she stormed back out the cave door.

Snarl was a good name for her.

The two remaining dragons grew into an awkward silence, but Sunshine quickly brightened up again and grabbed Moon's shoulder, practically dragging her out the door and through the caves to who-knew-where.

Cedar could not even begin to guess where they were, but then again, he couldn't even begin to comprehend anything happening here, either.

Just a few minutes ago, they were resting in a serene and beautiful library. Cedar had just learned that dragons had a written language, now they had entire libraries! Warm Sunlight was drifting in from a leafy ceiling, with the normally deafening wind reduced to a distant gust, mere white noise. The whole room was quiet, calming. Good for the soul. He could stay there all day and just read every last scroll with Moon and come out of it a better person.

That was the library.

This was not the library.

This was a nightmare.

Dragons of all kinds were soaring and racing around the room at lightning speed, their roars pounding his ears while the 'bawks' and 'moos' of various livestock in the room ran for their lives, adding a more sharp pain in his eardrums. In the middle of it all, a powerful Mudwing stood atop a slightly risen platform, letting out the most ear-splitting and guttural war cry Cedar had ever heard. The chickens just bawked back and the cows mooed in defiance.

The fruit in the corner did nothing, though. He liked the fruit.

The dragon's roars suddenly seemed to intensify a bit more than normal, and both Moon and Cedar looked over to where he heard something unusual, something he hadn't heard in a long time.

A human voice.

"FUCK! FUCK FUCK FUCK NO NO NO NO NO, HELP! AAAAAHH! HELP, PLEASE, ANYONE! FUCK!"

A vulgar, yet oddly feminine human voice.

Acting almost on instinct, Cedar swung his leg over Moon's shoulder and dropped to the ground, much to her surprise. Before she could catch him, he darted off in the direction of the voice, carefully weaving through legs and tails before spotting them.

A girl, around his age, donning heavy wool coats and animal furs, surrounded on all sides by dragons wanting to bite her head off.

"FUCK OFF!"

He ran into the scene and, unwinding his grapple, took a swing at one Seawing that moved a bit too close. He backed himself up close to the mystery girl, and began to swing his grapple threateningly in the air in a massive circle.

She turned to him. "Who the fuck are you?"

"Not now."

"Can you just give me your damn-"

Suddenly, with a scream, she was swept up into the arms of a familiar Nightwing, who held her close to her chest. Cedar smiled, and with a great heave, swung his grapple up to Moon's horns to pull himself up to her head again, before putting his grapple back on his waist.

"P-p-please d-don't eat m-me – oh, stars, help, I – I-I w-wouldn't even t-taste t-that good, j-just let m-me go..."

Cedar frowned. He grabbed the sides of Moon's neck for support before leaning down to get a look at the girl in Moon's arms. Stretching his arm as far as he could, he barely managed to trace his fingers across the top of her hair, which was enough to get her attention. She looked up, saw him atop the dragon, and gasped, her eyes bulging.

"H-how are you-"

"Don't worry," he said calmly. The words sounded sore in his mouth; he hadn't talked to another human in four years. The only reason he remembered how to talk at all was from long, one-sided conversations he'd had with Moon. "Moon's not going to hurt you. You'll be alright, I promise."

Her brow furrowed. "M-Moon? What the hell are you-"

A snarl came from before them, and the room grew silent, causing all three to look up. An Icewing stood there, worryingly close, staring down Moon with the most violent glare he'd ever seen on a dragon. He snarled again, threateningly. Moon shied back, clutching the girl to her chest even closer while averting the Icewing's gaze.

"Umf! Oh, great, Prickhead's here."

Cedar couldn't stand by and watch this unfold. He pulled himself up on top of Moon's head and glared the Icewing right back. Surprisingly, his gaze immediately shifted from one of malice to one of shock and interest, and his snarls ceased. He just stood there; staring back at Cedar with what almost appeared to be child-like curiosity.

The girl looked at the now-docile Icewing, the back at Cedar. "Wh… Who the fuck are you?!"

"You have ten seconds to give me back my scavenger," the viscous Icewing snarled in her face, "before I slice… your… face…"

His words died in his throat, and with it, his glare. He blinked, as though he wasn't sure what he was seeing was there. The Icewing's gaze was no longer focused on her, but above her. With a rush of panic, Moon gently pushed Leaf back behind her head, still holding onto the other scavenger with one talon. She looked back into the Icewing's eyes, trying her best to muster up a glare.

"D-don't even think about hurting him!" she spoke, trying her best to look scary. It clearly wasn't working, because the Icewing just squinted his eyes and tilted his head in confusion.

"Hurt him? Your scavenger, or mine? ...If that… is actually your scavenger up there." Is it? He thought. I never figured a Nightwing would be interested in scavengers too. Then again, she stole Bandit, too, so maybe it's not hers after all. That kind of thievery and deception is fitting for a Nightwing. I wonder who she stole it from?

Moon shook her head. "Th-the one on my head is mine. Is..." she looked down at the one she was holding, from which she could feel the fear rolling off of. However, the scavenger also seemed a bit confused as well, for whatever reason. "...Is this one… yours?"

Show no weakness, Winter. "It is. Give it back to me now." he said, his scowl returning, but there was a hint of hesitation behind it. Was that too rude? No, she's a Nightwing! Nightwings killed him, and I'll never forgive them for it!

Moon wrapped her wings around the scavenger protectively. She felt Leaf climb back up to look at the Icewing, now named Winter, but paid it no mind. "H-how do I know he's yours? How do I know you aren't just going to eat him once I hand him over?" she asked, not trusting Winter.

He snorted at her words. "How do I know the one on your head is yours, either? How do I know you didn't just steal it from someone else to eat?" He congratulated himself internally. There you go, Winter, that's how you put the pressure on them. Would Mother be proud of me for that?

She whipped her head up to glare at him, her earlier fear forgotten. "Leaf's been with me since I hatched! He's like a brother to me, not just a pet or snack!" she nearly yelled. She flinched back at her own words. She'd gone and done it now, yelling at an Icewing who could freeze her head off just by breathing on her. Her muscles tensed(much to the dismay of the scavenger in her arms) as she awaited Winter's verbal lashing.

But she got nothing. Winter only blinked, and tilted his head even further, his anger quickly being overshadowed by not confusion, but outright bewilderment. "Wh – You – He's… brother?-"

"Hey, calm down, alright?" Both turned to see a Sandwing, sporting a gold earring, some freckles and a zigzagging scar pushing his way through the crowd that had formed around them. So much for not drawing attention, thought Moon as he made his way over. "Hi, I'm Qibli, and I'm clawmates with this wannabe-serial-face-mauler, Winter." He nudged Winter on the shoulder as he spoke, who only growled at the comment. "What's your name?"

Moon didn't move for a minute. This Sandwing, Qibli, acted normal and laid-back, but sure didn't think like one. As he spoke, he scanned the cave, assessing the most threatening-looking dragons, how to defuse the situation between her and Winter, the chickens that ran past their legs, possible escape routes, the way the crowd around them stared, which ones wore the most jewelry, and she even caught him studying Leaf's outfit and the grapple that rested at his waist. The overwhelming torrent of thoughts disoriented her, and it took her more than a few seconds to realize they were still waiting for an answer from her.

She stuttered, "M-my name's Moon."

"Moon what?" Winter snapped at her, making her jump.

Moon what, what? What kind of question was that?

"Moon what?" the Icewing shouted again. "Come on, Nightwing. We know your names are all lies. So what's yours? Moondestroyer? Mooneater? Mooncrusher?"

"Her name is Moonwatcher," Kinkajou said, coming out from the corner of Moon's eye and twining their tails together.

"Moonwatcher," Winter mumbled, visibly deflating as he said it.

"Listen," Qibli interrupted. "This is my fault. I wanted a closer look, so I opened the cage, and that thing was halfway down the tunnel before we could even sneeze. But I promise you the scavenger does belong to Winter, so we're asking you nicely: Please don't eat it."

"Get your teeth anywhere near Bandit and you will lose them."

"You are not at all clear on the concept of 'asking nicely', are you?"

"Bandit?" Moon asked. "Is that his name?" she loosened her grip on the scavenger, just a little, so she could look at him.

"Indeed," Qibli confirmed. "Though I'm not sure why you keep calling it a 'he'."

Moon looked up at Qibli. "Well, Leaf's a he, so why wouldn't this one be?" she asked, genuinely not understanding the statement.

Qibli shook his head. "That's not what I meant; he's obviously biologically male, judging from the short hair, the question was why you call it a 'he' instead of an 'it' like everyone else."

"Because scavengers are just like us," she spoke without hesitation. "I've lived with Leaf since I hatched, and I can say for sure that he's no different from any other dragon. They're not 'it's, they can feel just like anyone else, and absolutely shouldn't be eaten."

Winter got tired of tilting his head one way and tilted it the other way, his bewilderment having evolved further into raw astonishment. "That's… exactly how I feel about it."

"Great," Qibli exclaimed, perking up a little. "Weird, but great. We're all on the same roll of the scroll, then."

As Moon's grip on the human lessened, she managed to look up again. Doing her best to ignore the face of the dragon staring down at her(though a part of her had to admit that it looked almost kind of cute), she glared at the mystery boy atop its head.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Who are you?" she shouted up at him, her confusion only fueling his rage. The boy only sighed at looked down at her.

"My name is Cedar, and not now." he stated simply, turning his eyes away from her and back to the dragons. She gritted her teeth and yelled at him again.

"My name is Cobalt, and YES NOW!" she practically screamed at him, hysteria laced in her voice. When she finished speaking, her stomach growled, causing her to blush and glare away. Of course that was what caught Cedar's attention.

"...When was the last time you ate?" he asked casually, stifling a laugh at her embarrassment.

"...Four days..." she mumbled. Cedar's smirk vanished immediately.

"Oh. O-oh, shit..." he spoke softly. He looked around, thinking. Something clicked in his mind as he began to slide down Moon's neck, and climbed down her leg. Before she could ask what stupid plan he had in mind, he began to whistle and wave his arms as soon as he hit the ground, getting the attention of all the dragons.

"Uhh… What's he doing?" asked Winter. He crouched down low to get a better look at Leaf, who suddenly began flailing his arms and squeaking loudly at Moon in the middle of their conversation. Moon bent down to look at Leaf.

"What is it?" she asked softly, knowing that he wouldn't be able to understand. He stopped flailing and began rubbing his stomach and pointing into his mouth, before pointing to the scavenger in Moon's arms.

"Oh! I think he's hungry!" guessed Kinkajou, gazing at Leaf with wonder and a smile.

"He's probably saying that Bandit's hungry. See, he's saying he's hungry, then he goes and points at Bandit, so he's probably communicating with us for him."

"But Bandit couldn't be hungry," said Winter. "I offered him some meat this morning, and he didn't eat either of them. In fact, he hasn't eaten anything since Queen Glacier caught him four days ago. I gather that scavengers eat fairly infrequently, but he still drinks water when I give it to him."

"Have you tried fruit instead of meat? Leaf always eats it," said Moon. Winter looked at her funny.

"Have I what?"

Sunny rushed into the room. "Hello," she said joyfully, "What's all the excitement? Fatespeaker told me you brought a pet. Is that it?" she crooned her neck down to look at the scavenger in Moon's talons. "I assume it is, since I've already met Leaf. Aw, you think they're getting to know each other?"

Winter snorted. "Bandit is mine, though Moonwatcher here doesn't seem to realize that." he glared at her, though Moon noticed it looked softer than it was before. She looked away from his eyes, and instead looked back down to Leaf, who was still rubbing his stomach and pointing to Bandit.

"He's still hungry," she blurted out. She really needed to stop doing that, but she kept going anyway. "He… if he hasn't eaten in four days, that can't be healthy. Some fruit would be good for him."

"Or meat, as long as it's cooked," added Sunny. "I knew someone once who had a scavenger as a pet, and he always cooked meat for her. He tried to give her raw meat a few times before, and she always refused."

Winter's brow furrowed as he looked down at Bandit, his expression troubled. Is that true? Do scavengers only eat cooked meat and fruit? Have I been doing this wrong the whole time? He shook his head. No, not wrong. Learning. Few dragons have scavengers as pets, so information on how to take care of them would be scarce. Right?

"Here," said Kinkajou, walking over with a talonful of blueberries. "Maybe he'd like these?"

"Fruit," Winter wrinkled his snout. "Disgusting."

Kinkajou took a blueberry from her talon and playfully poked Bandit, still being cradled in Moon's arms, in the nose with it. "Mmm, blueberry! Eat it," she said, placing it in the scavenger's hands.

Bandit was stunned, from what Moon could tell. He looked around at them all, wary and confused, before striking Leaf with a bewildered glare, squeaking a few angry words at him. He wordlessly shrugged and gestured to the fruit in her hands. He looked down at the blueberry, about the size of his fists, and took a bite out of it.

"See? Moon was right. He's hungry," laughed Kinkajou, giving Bandit another blueberry after he finished his first.

Winter sighed and, in a forced tone of gratitude, said, "Alright, I admit, you were right, he was hungry, I'm a terrible caretaker, can I please have my scavenger back before I have to freeze someone to death?"

"C'mon, Winter, you were doing so well there up until the end!" joked Qibli, earning him a glare from the irritated Icewing. Moon looked at Bandit, heaved a heavy sigh, and slowly, carefully returned him to Winter's expecting talons. The scavenger, suddenly frantic again, lunged for Leaf, squeaking as he did, but Winter's grip on her was firm.

Leaf walked up to Winter's talons and placed a gentle hand on Bandit's shoulder, mumbling something to her. They shared a very brief conversation before Leaf let go and took a step back. Bandit struggled to break free, but failed, and eventually fell limp in Winter's talons, surrendering.

"What happened? What'd he say?" asked Winter, curious.

"I… don't know," answered Moon honestly as she helped lift Leaf back up onto her back. He nestled himself into the crook of her neck, before quickly nodding his head to the side. Somehow, Moon managed to catch the message, and looked to Winter and Qibli. "I have to go. I think Leaf forgot something in our cave," she said, less honestly.

"Wait," said Winter, "Why does your scavenger-"

But she had already fled, lost in the crowd.

It was late. Dark, cold, scary, but despite it all, absolutely not cold. Cobalt's large attire, covered in bundles of wool and furs and built to survive the arctic conditions of the Icewing territory, at least provided that comfort for her.

But it didn't help her much to cope outside of that. Wool hoods would do little to stop a dragon's fire or ice breath, three layers of pants wouldn't save her from their sharp teeth.

And polar bear skins didn't stop her from thinking about Cedar.

That useless, dragon-loving, smug-faced, half-naked son of a bitch. She was captured by the Icewings almost a week ago, and had been on constant surveillance by Frosty the Edgelord over there, asleep on a rock bed nearby. She hadn't had a moment of even partial freedom since her(admittedly shameful) kidnapping.

And then this kid shows up, riding on one of the damn thing's backs like he owned it.

How? And more importantly, why?! Maybe Icewings were just assholes? Maybe he'd blackmailed the dragon somehow? No, that's impossible, how do you blackmail a dragon. Her thoughts ran in circles, and her irritation only grew.

To think he laughed at her. Her, Cobalt, one of the best hunters in her village, taken as a prisoner of war and left with inedible excuses for food for four damn days. And what did that prick do? He laughed. Like the prick he was. Prick.

Laying down on the floor of her cage in the dark, surrounded by a few poor-quality animal furs, she turned on her side, grumbling. She just couldn't figure it out. That Nightwing, pretty teardrop scales or no, still let him boss her around and did nothing to stop him. Why?

Why didn't she just kill him like she's probably killed countless other humans just like him and her?

And then, get this, right? The moment he pulls his head out of his ass and finds out that's she's dying, he just casually strolls up to the other dragons and starts playing a humiliating game of charades with the beasts. You know. Like a psychopath.

And they actually listened! They actually fucking listened to the brat's hollering! A minute or two later, a random Rainwing came by and handed her a few blueberries. She was thankful – she guessed – but still. What the fuck. It was like he could control them!

And most of all, she couldn't stop thinking about the last thing he said to her.

"Hey. You're gonna be alright, okay? Now he knows what to feed you. Just trust him, and you'll be fine. I promise."

"TRUST THE STARS-DAMNED ICEWING, YOU FREAK?!"

"Yeah. I did it with Moon, and look where I am now."

And then he walked away. Done, over, period, end of conversation. Oh, no, her screaming at him to get the hell back here wasn't important at all. Nope! Forget her! All she has to do is 'trust' the mindless beast and she'll be diddly-fucking-dandy for the rest of her days.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a swoosh noise, and the clang of metal against the metal of her cage.

Cobalt jumped, backing up into her cage as far as she could. She looked to her sides; both Prickface the Icewing and his Sandwing friend Clown were both fast asleep, and nowhere near her cage, at least not near enough to reach to. Her gaze snapped back forward as she heard another swoosh, and something impacted with the ground outside her cage. In the darkness, everything only faintly visible from a small amount of overhead moonlight, she rubbed her eyes and did a double take.

Outside of her cage stood Cedar, having grappled his way up to her cage in the middle of the fucking night.

"What are you doing here?!" she seethed through clenched teeth, her fists clenching the cage bars. This stupid kid was going to wake up the two lethal dragons on either side of him!

"I wanted to talk to you," he whispered calmly, as if nothing was wrong with that.

Cobalt scoffed. "Oh, cool, glad you're taking the time to get to know your fellow prisonmate!"

Cedar's brow furrowed. "I'm-"

"Oh, right, you're not a prisoner here, are you? Because you have that Nightwing under your damn heel! Forced her and that Rainwing to get me food so you could warm up to me, huh?!"

"Moon is not 'under my heel' and I didn't force anyone to do anything," he spoke. "I was trying to help you, just like I'm trying to help you now."

"Bullshit."

Cedar sighed, and sat himself down, his bare back pressed against the cold bars of the cage, making himself comfortable. "Why and how do you think I was riding on a dragon's back without her fighting me? Tell me honestly what you think."

Cobalt paused. "I..." She wasn't expecting this, and while she had a million possible answers to his question, she realized that, if she was being honest with herself, none of them made any sense. "I don't know."

"Take a guess."

Oh, you piece of shit.

With an irritated sigh, she took a shot at his game. "Because… you… she trusted you?"

Cedar smiled and looked back at her. "Yeah. She trusted me not to run away, she trusted me not to attack her or anyone else. She probably doesn't quite trust me not to do anything stupid," he laughed. What a stupid laugh. "You get what I'm saying, right?"

She suddenly noticed his weird, alien accent. Judging from his clothes, he clearly didn't come from the Icewing Territories. The jungle, maybe. Was that voice a jungle-person thing? Or was it a I-Haven't-Had-Any-Human-Contant-For-Years-And-Also-I-Talk-To-Dragons-person thing?

She shook her head to focus. "What do you mean, 'run away'? She's a dragon! Maybe you have a reason to stay, what with her acting as your high-horse-" Cedar snorted with irritation. "-but in case you haven't noticed, Prickface over there locks me in a cage and feeds me raw meat!"

"Has he fed you anything since we last met?"

"Uh… Yes?"

"What was it?"

Cobalt looked away, deflating a little. "Berries..."

"See, he's learning. He might not know it, but he wants you to trust him."

Cobalt frowned. "How can I 'trust' a mindless dragon? I can't fathom how you did it with the Nightwing."

Cedar raised a clenched fist and slammed it against the bars of the cage, and Cobalt could swear on all that was holy that her heart stopped.

"Moon is not mindless. She's easily one of the smartest people I've ever met, and I'm proud to call her my sister." He stopped to add, "and I'm pretty sure she's a psychic, too."

"What?"

"Nothing." he coughed. By some twisted miracle, neither of the dragons had woken up from the noise. "Dragons…" he stopped to think of the right words. "...Are more than we think they are. They can think and feel just like we can, so we can trust them just like we would any other human."

"Who's we? You can have fun with your dragon sister all you want, I'm going to-"

A growl came from their left, and both Cedar and Cobalt turned, their breaths hitching. There was the Icewing, staring down Cedar while growling.

Cobalt's breaths grew fast. She was going to watch this brat die in front of her eyes.

But like the psychopath he was, he held out a hand to her and whispered, "Hey, I know it looks bad, but just breathe. We'll be fine."

"I'll be fine, you mean. You're going to get ripped apart."

The Icewing was closer now. The Sandwing had woken up as well, but only observed the scene from his bed, looking uncertain of whether he should interfere.

The Icewing's growls grew to a crescendo, and his face stopped just a few paces away from Cedar. All he did in response was raise a single hand to his face, his breaths forced but consistent.

The Icewing bared his fangs and hissed. A freezing gust blew over them both, threatening to wrap around them and suffocate them to death in ice.

And Cedar, a natural diplomat, made the logical move.

He raised his hand and brought it down on the tip of the Icewing's snout in a loud SMACK!

Cobalt slammed her eyes shut, not wanting to witness the gory scene before her, not wanting to hear the screams of the admittedly-maybe-kind-of-alright brat.

Luckily for her, they never came.

A thoroughly confused snort, a startled honk, echoed through the cave. Cobalt slowly opened her eyes to see Prickface staring at Cedar again, but not in malice or anger. No, the poor thing was completely mortified.

The dragon stood still for a long minute, holding his baffled expression, the gears in his head trying to decipher what in fuck's name just happened. The Sandwing was probably laughing his ass off in the corner, but Cobalt paid no mind. Cedar stood his ground against the Icewing, a damn Icewing that he just slapped on the nose, unwavering.

"Hey. That's rude. We're trying to talk here. Go back to bed," he said condescendingly. Slowly, inch by inch, the Icewing tiptoes its way back to his bed, from where he glared at the Sandwing(still clutching his sides and rolling around) from afar.

Cedar sighed and turned to Cobalt. "I should probably go now. Don't want to cause any more trouble." He hooked his grapple on her cage again, and began to make his descent before Cobalt called out to him.

"Wait!" she said He looked up at her expectantly. "Take this." She tugged one of her many polar-bear hoodies off and threw it at him from between the cage bars. He caught it and stared, as though not sure what to do. "Well, you'll freeze to death if you keep challenging Icewings in your underwear, take it."

He laughed, and slid the clothing over his head, tugging on the bottom. It was a bit big for him; it had to be, to fit over the other layers she wore, but he didn't mind the baggy feel at all. He smiled at her. "Thanks, Cobalt. Think about what I said, okay?"

With that, he slid down his grapple's rope and walked out of the cave, sporting a new polar-bear skin hoodie, as the Icewing continued to stare and the Sandwing sputtered out the last of his giggles.

"Y-you just – Ha – you got smacked – pfft, hahaha, oh stars – b-buh, by a… sc-scavenger!"

"Shut up about it already, Qibli, I'm trying to sleep!"

Okay, damn.

I said I'd make the wait shorter, but, in my own defense, I did run off to vacation with my family the day after I posted the last chapter. I got home a week later and have since been doing all I can to get this chapter out

Hopefully the sudden use of more vulgar language wasn't too jarring. I did say this was rated T for language, I just haven't used it much before now.

You probably got really confused when I introduced Bandit/Cobalt as a girl. I did that for a number of reasons(yes, one of them was for shipping purposes, sue me), but one of the main ones was so I could show how little scavengers and dragons know about each other. Bandit has short hair, and dragons wouldn't know how to identify a female of another species(especially under all that clothing), so the judge her as male based on the hair.

Oh, and I did it so I could surprise them all later. How, well, you'll find out yourself~

As you probably noticed, I'm going to be skipping over a lot of details here that are present in the books. The purpose of this story is to show how a change as small as "give Moon a scavenger" can have a huge snowball effect on the whole story, especially so early on, not a complete rewrite of the entire series.

Oh, and the poll I posted last chapter I actually forgot to make available on my profile until the morning after I uploaded, so sorry if I confused anyone with that. It's still up, and will be up for a little while longer.

Thank you for reading, please leave a review and you'll see me again next chapter!