It was raining, Tawny hated the rain, especially in the middle of the night she had enough trouble seeing through her spectacles as is. The Skywing shook herself when she landed scattering water all around. Standing before her was the rather imposing stone building that had been Dust and Cinnabar's home for the better part of half a year.

Normally she wouldn't have come here this late, but after practically having her door smashed in by some Rainwing that'd been sent by another friend of theirs, screaming something about an emergency at Dust's house, well here she is. The door was wide open so she stepped in quickly. The thing that was unnerving her the most was that there weren't any lights lit. As long as she had known the Mudwing, Dust had liked to keep his home lit up at night, especially if he knew she was coming, but right now not so much as a wall sconce.

Finding the emergency that had called her out here wasn't hard. Tawny found them in the main living space, where the only light in the house was apparently, a fireplace framed the room. Dust was laying on the floor, seemingly unconscious but he was still breathing which made Tawny a lot less worried, one of the Mudwing's back legs sitting at an odd angle, which made Tawny a lot more worried. Pom, Rainwing scales flashing rapidly between dark red and white, was standing in the middle of the room wild eyed, holding his lump hammer in his talons, as he glanced between the doorways of the room and shards of some kinda metal that might have resembled a large silver necklace that she knew she'd seen Cinnabar wearing often enough. Cinnabar however was nowhere to be seen.

The moment Tawny entered the room there was a loud thump as she accidentally slammed her hip into the doorway. The sound spooked Pom and the Rainwing reared back, hammer in hand, ready to strike before he got a good look at who was in the doorway. At the sight of her his scales flashed yellow and pink as he dropped the hammer onto the floor beside him.

"Tawny, I have never been happier to see you in my entire life." Pom slumped to the ground seemingly exhausted.

"Pomegranate, you better start explaining literally all of this real quick, Now!" Tawny shouted, stomping her foot down and glaring dangerously at the Rainwing.

"Cinnabar is a psychopath and if I see her again I'm melting her face off." Tawny was actually taken aback at the sheer hatred she heard in Pom's voice as the Rainwings scales returned to a deep angry red color. Normally Tawny was never very good at telling Pom's emotions from the color of his scales, but the sheer anger practically radiating off the Rainwing made it obvious. She had never seen Pom this angry before, the Rainwing was usually very placid and seemingly always sleepy, at least when he wasn't hyper focused on some bit of metalwork.

"What did she do?" Tawny narrowed her eyes, she was trying really hard to give her fellow Skywing the benefit of the doubt, but she had never truly liked Cinnabar so the idea that she had done something to their large sweet Mudwing friend wouldn't have surprised her in the least.

"She was mind controlling him or something, i dunno it was that damn necklace she was always wearing." The Rainwing said gesticulating wildly at the shattered necklace on the floor.

That didn't make any sense to Tawny, Pom was starting to sound as crazed as he was looking. "Wha- that's insane, what would even make you think-"

"Tawny, For as long as you've known him, would Dust have ever attacked me, ever?"

She was about to answer when she finally noticed it. All over Pom's side, cracked scales as if he'd been hit by...something the size of a Mudwing. That made even less sense, Pom wasn't wrong though. Dust was probably the least aggressive dragon she had ever known, and Dust and Pom had known each other almost since hatching. Dust would never hurt the Rainwing.

"Ok, ok, how did you find out." She asked as she moved over to the unconscious Mudwing. Pom had really done a number to Dust's leg. Which was surprising, Pom had told her before that he knew how but she didn't think the Rainwing really had it in him to fight off both their best friend and a most likely, judging from several scorch marks dotted around the room, a very angry Skywing.

"Well earlier, just after my sun time-"

Pomegranate woke up feeling incredibly relaxed, the garden beside his forge was probably the best suntime spot he'd ever had, and getting to share it with Quetzal, his brother, was just great. Most Rainwings didn't care much about family unless they found out about being related at some point, but popping out of the same egg as someone lends itself to a rather strong bond.

Pom escaped from the tangled pile that was his fellow Rainwing trying his best not to bother him. He went into the large thatch hut that was his home, a little ways away from the forge. The inside of the hut was rather bare, a couple barrels by the door, a large table that took up most of the center of the room and attached to the walls on one side was a hammock and on the opposite a large spear with a wide curved blade.

He reached into one of the barrels by the doorway. He pulled out a pair of fruit, mangos, that he'd been storing, he made sure to set one aside for Quetzal before he began scarfing down the food himself.

It was only a couple minutes later when the Quetzal entered the room, scales flecked with gold and still staring at everything he saw with a look of wonder and awe, before catching sight of the fruit Pom had left for him and began to eat it.

"So i'm thinking tomorrow i'll show you around, and I can introduce you to my friends." Pom said as he began casually licking fruit juice off of his talons. "You'll remember Dust, but I can introduce you to Tawny, she has this big library, it's a building full of...scrolls, you still can't read can you?"

"Nope." Quetzal said draping a wing over his brother as little spots and flecks of yellow popped up all over his normally white and blue spotted scales.

Pom shook his head and laughed lightly. He'd have the same problem if reading and writing hadn't been one of the dozen or so things Teacher had thrown at him before even letting him so much as light a forge. His grin fell into a frown for a moment before he reigned it in. It still hurt to think about the positively ancient Skywing sometimes.

"That's fine, maybe i can get Tawny to teach you, she's like the smartest dragon in all of Pyrrhia. Then I can introduce you to Trout, he does all this woodworking stuff, it's amazing." Talking about the rather friendly Seawing reminded Pom of the note that he'd found in his house when he and his brother had returned earlier that day. "And I need to knock out like 40 nails for him before we can do that."

"I can't wait, it's gonna be so fun fun fun." Quetzal nodded his head enthusiastically. "Oh, oh, can i watch you do that, it sounds exciting!"

Pom nodded to his brother, already backing out of the hut and lighting up the forge, he wished Dust or Tawny were here, it was so much easier starting the forge with a dragon that could breathe fire. He grabbed the box that had most of his tools in it and began to explain what each tool was for to Quetzal as he took a piece of chalk out of the book and drew a line on his anvil.
He was glad to share this with his brother even if the other dragon would probably grow bored of it quickly.

The sky began to darken as Pom spent hours at the forge getting lost in the ringing of the hammer as he worked on the nails. To his slight surprise he'd managed to not only hold his brother's attention the entire time, but had also managed to cajole him into helping at times. He was just pulling the last one out of the nail header when they heard someone shuffling around the otherside of the house.

"Pom, that You?" Pom recognised the voice almost immediately. Dust was rather hard to miss as the large Mudwing ambled around the hut to Pom's forge. Dust had made it halfway to the forge when he finally noticed the second Rainwing standing nearby. "Quetzal, He managed to pry you out of the trees then?"

"Yup yup." Quetzal said grinning as he languidly draped himself over the Mudwing in a hug.

"We got back a few hours ago, then it was sun time, you know, and I had to make these for Trout." Pom grabbed up a few nails in his talons to show Dust.

"Well i'm glad you're back, i always worry when you fly back to the rainforest like that." Dust grabbed one of the nails and began to examine it, like everything he'd ever seen Pom make it was well made, Trout would certainly be happy about them.

"See Quetzal, i told you he'd worry about me the whole time i'm gone." Pom said setting the nails back with the rest of the batch.

"Yeah, more like worried someone would ask you to stay and you'd never come back to see him again." Quetzal sniggered lightly, little spots of lavender dappling his scales.

"I would never." Pom said, and while yellow crawled up his scales at his brother's antics he tried his hardest not to remember pink scales crawling into a shared hammock.

"We both know Pom wouldn't be able to stay away from my cooking." Dust laughed clapping Quetzal on the back causing him to let out an indignant squawk as the smaller dragon was nearly pushed into the ground. "Speaking of which, if you guys are hungry i could fly back over to the bakery real quick and grab some leftovers?"

They turned down his offer and the trio made their way into Pom's hut, Pom and Dust sat around the table while Quetzal climbed into Pom's hammock.

"So did anything interesting happen while I was gone?" Pom asked.

"Well, I saw Trout's dragonets were trying to be like him and practicing wood carving, that was fun." Dust was smiling at the memory "Tilapia might actually have some talent for it, made this cute little sculpture of Trout."

"I'll have to get her to show me when i bring him the nails tomorrow then."

"Oh, you remember that pet Scavenger of Tawny's?" Dust leaned toward Pom as he spoke

"Speck, right?" Truth be told Pom could barely remember the tiny Scavenger. He only really saw the thing ducking around corners of Tawny's library, the Skywing seemed like the only dragon that it would willingly allow close to him.

"A few days ago, she carried him off to some Scavenger den and left him there." Dust said. As the two spoke Pom began to hear a soft pitter-pattering sound as rain began to hit the hut's roof.

"Why would she go and do that?" That didn't seem like something Tawny would do. Pom might not have cared one way or the other about Speck, but Tawny absolutely adored the little guy.

"No clue, got me worried though. It's not like her." Dust said. The pair talked for a few more hours about any random thing that came to mind enjoying the comfortable conversation as the sun fell.

The Mudwing began to look around hesitantly before he started to whisper. "Hey speaking about worrying about Skywings, can i ask you a question?"

"Always."

"It's about Cinnabar." Dust said, the Mudwing seemed to scowl at some thought that Pom wasn't privy to. Cinnabar though, that was something Pom didn't want to touch with a ten foot pole. The Skywing had seemingly attached herself to Dust months back, and she didn't seem to like Pom, or Tawny, or even Trout which Pom thought was a shame because Trout was incredibly friendly. "Pom, do you know when i met Cinnabar? Because I don't."

That stopped Pom dead, how did someone not know how they met the dragon they were in a relationship with. "I...Don't actually know."

"See that's what i thought, see i was talking to my sibs a few days back, and they mentioned i'd never told them how i met her. Which i'd for sure have told them, would have told you, important events ya know." Dust's eyes seemed to harden. "I'm going to ask her about it when I get home, but I wanted to make sure you didn't know either first." Dust got up quickly and wrapped Pom in a hug. "I need to go. I'll see you tomorrow." The Mudwing left quickly and Pom was about to turn in for the night, but something kept nagging at him. A building feeling like something was going to happen.

"Quetzal, get up." Pom started shaking his brother in the hammock. The Rainwing quickly jumped up and fell onto the ground with a thud.

"Sorry, sorry didn't mean to take your hamm-"

"No, don't worry about that, I need you to do something." Pom dragged his brother out the door and pointed at a large three story building that was a good ways down the path. "That's Tawny's house, I need you to go tell her to meet me at Dust's. Say it's an emergency, then come straight back here." Quetzal's scales were turning green as he nodded and began to run through the rain towards Tawny's home. Pom took a deep breath, grabbing his hammer off the anvil as he passed he concentrated to make his scales match his surroundings.

Dust and Cinnabar's large stone house wasn't actually that far from Pom's and he got there quickly, none of the lights were lit. Pom hoped he'd gotten here before anything had happened. He made his way to where he knew the den was, scales constantly shifting to match the room. He entered the room to Dust breathing fire into the fireplace illuminating the room, while Cinnabar lounged on a pile of cushions on the other side of the room, the light of the fire causing her green eyes to glint in the dark room. Pom siddled into the room making sure to keep his hammer out of view behind his camouflaged scales.

"Dust, love, you seem...pensive It's not a good look on you." Cinnabar's words seemed to drip like honey from her mouth.

"Sorry, been a bit distracted." Dust said, looking over at the lounging Skywing. As Dust scanned the room Pom froze, the Mudwing had had eye contact with him. Dust's eyes widened almost imperceptibly before he causly kept his gaze moving towards Cinnabar. "Cinnabar, i wanted to ask you something."

"Yes, sweet?"

"Cinnabar, how did we meet." The Scowl that enveloped Cinnabar's face was not the reaction that Pom had been expecting, and it seemed like Dust hadn't either.

"This again. I suppose it can't always be reliable." Cinnabar got to her feet as grasped the necklace Pom had always seen her wearing in her talons. "You shouldn't worry about that." She said and then the necklace seemed to glow a sickly blue in the dim light.

"I won't worry about that." Dust said, but his voice didn't sound right to Pom, it sounded forced.

"Good pet, now-" Cinnabar paused, she was looking at Pom, but there was no way she could see him. Except she wasn't looking at him, she was looking at the floor, and puddle of rainwater that had been dripping off of Pom the entire time he'd been in the room. "Dust dear, did your little Rainwing friend follow you home."

"No, but i saw him in the room a few seconds ago." Dust said as the necklace seemed to glow it's sickly blue again. Pom was terrified, why would Dust give him away like that it didn't make sense.

"Oh I see, shame that. Be a dear and kill him please." Cinnabar said, the necklace lit up once more and before Pom could realize it Dust was on him.

Dust crashed into Pom sending the Rainwing tumbling, Pom rolled with the tumble and managed to keep a grip on his hammer. Pom didn't want to hurt Dust, but Cinnabar seemed to be controlling him somehow, it was the only way he could make sense of this. So skittered across the ground around Dust and swung out with his hammer. He struck the Mudwing in the leg once, twice, three times like hitting heated steel into shape. He hit him until Dust dropped to the ground. He'd bought himself a few moments and skittered across the ground towards Cinnabar, he had to do something about that necklace.

"How about yo-" Cinnabar started to say, the necklace begging to glow, but Pom had already reached her and wrapped his talons around it.

"None of that now." Pom said, ripping the necklace off of her and throwing it to the ground. Cinnabar screamed in rage and spewed flame from her mouth at Pom, who dropped onto the floor avoiding the flames entirely. Rolling to the side Pom rose up and struck her in the jaw with his hammer. Cinnabar scrambled back from the blow before clawing out at the Rainwing, but Pom was trained by a Skywing, he knew very well how to fight one and avoided her entirely. Dust had started to stand back up stumbling slightly and with the distraction he provided Cinnabar made to grab the necklace.

Pom beat her to it, slamming his hammer down on the small bit of silvery metal shattering it to pieces. The second it broke Dust fell onto the ground like a puppet that had had its strings cut and stopped moving. Cinnabar had a look of horror on her face staring slack jawed at the broken necklace. She quickly turned around trying to grab something that Pom couldn't see, but he wasn't about to let her, he jumped out at her hammer swinging and after several blows she seemed to just give up and fled the room. Pom looked around, he was alone with an unconscious Dust and a broken necklace. He waited, it didn't seem like Cinnabar was gonna come back.

After a few moments he figured it was safe enough to see what Cinnabar was trying to grab before she fled. He looked into the wrapped up pile of blankets.

"Oh."

"And then you got her-" Pom gave Tawny a look of pure horror as his scales turned a dark blue gray. "Oh three moons I hit Dust with a hammer." Pom looked like he was on the verge of tears.

"Pom," Tawny shook the Rainwing, no reaction. "Pom," she shook him again, still no reaction. "Pomegranate!" Tawny yelled and then pulled him in close. "It's gonna be ok, Dust will forgive you. Now I need you thinking straight, Cinnabar might still come back. What was she trying to take before she ran?"

Pom silently pointed her to the pile of blankets. When she unwrapped them she was startled. There sitting wrapped up, where three good sized Skywing eggs, two mostly white speckled pale red eggs and a single slightly larger blood red egg.

"Oh." It took Tawny a moment to process what she was looking at. She supposed they were Dust's, she'd never even noticed Cinnabar with egg but then again she couldn't stand the other Skywing most of the time anyways, and that had been before...well all of this. "RIght, um, right. Pom, I need you to go get your brother. I don't think just you and me are gonna be able to move Dust and these eggs quickly.

Pom was reluctant to leave but Tawny had made a good point and so he did as she asked. She couldn't even begin to understand what Cinnabar was planning but if it involved controlling her friend like that, then whatever it was couldn't have been good. She was starting to wish she had brought her knives with her, she wasn't as good with them as she used to be and she was starting to feel exposed without them. She didn't think she could fight off Cinnabar if she came back, the other Skywing had been fit and ready to fight, and Tawny just...wasn't.

"Tawny, is that you?" A voice called out weakly from the floor. Tawny watched Dust try to sit up and wince.

"Yeah, are you ok?"

"No, I'm not, at all. Is Pom ok?" It hurt her to hear Dust like that, so out of it.

"You didn't hurt him and he ran Cinnabar off." She said, trying hard to sound reassuring even if she didn't feel it herself. "You need to rest, Pom will be back in a moment and we're gonna try to move you to my house ok?"

"Ok." The Mudwing closed his eyes and settled back on the ground. Tawny sat down beside him dragging the trio of eggs close as they waited for Pom to get back.