Tsunami frowned.
"So, what you're saying is… you're going to the desert to make a star chart?"
Inside, Starflight screamed exasperatedly. Outside, he simply nodded again.
"Yes. I'm going southwest to stargaze and make a star chart."
"The desert?"
Once again, Starflight wanted to scream. Instead, he suppressed all the rage at Tsunami's obliviousness, and instead continued patiently (but sarcastically) clarifying his statements.
"The southwest. There is land past the desert. The Talon Peninsula. I won't die in the desert, trust me," he replied, with considerable amounts of sarcasm and exasperation. It was just too much now.
Sunny butted in the conversation. "You want to go to the Old Kingdom?"
Starflight flailed his arms in the air. "YES! OF COURSE! I'E TRIED EXPLAINING THIS FOR OH SPIRITS HOW LONG?"
Clay placed a talon on his shoulder. "Okay, okay. Chill. We get it now, right Tsunami?" He shot her a look.
"Uh… yeah. We get it," she replied, nodding her head vigourously.
"Great! Can I leave yet?"
Everyone in the room nodded, and backed away as Starfligth headed towards the door.
As he walked back towards the library, Starflight was fuming.
Really! They can't even fucking understand something so simple. THERE'S MORE TO SOUTHWEST THAN DESERT!
Well, at least that's over and I don't have to deal with Tsunami for… at least four days.
And I get to see Comet again.
He had to admit, it was fun having a new friend. He got to start off as a totally new dragon– he wouldn't expect anything of him.
Wait, why am I heading towards the library again?
Starflight paused momentarily as he thought about it.
Oh yeah, gotta tell Fatespeaker she needs to manage the library for four days or so
Starflight proceeded to walk into the cave that was the library: a relaxing space of green and scrolls.
"Fatespeaker?" he said into the cavernous room.
"Here!" She replied, running over to where Starflight stood.
"Alright. Uh, I'm going off southwest to stargaze for… well, it should be four days. Can you take charge of the library while I'm gone?" he asked her.
Wow Starflight, what was that? You stumbled twice! How are you nervous?
He mentally shook his head. No, the spiral couldn't begin. Not when he was in a conversation.
"Yes, it's fine. I can manage the library for four days. Good luck on the journey!"
Fatespeaker's voice woke him up. Processing the response, he flashed a grateful smile at her.
"Thanks. Oh, and could you also tell the couriers what's taking them so long with my package? I need it for the fireproof scrolls, and it hasn't been delivered for a whole month."
"Sure thing, Starflight," she chirped.
"Thanks again, Fatespeaker!" he said as he walked off to his room to prepare.
As he walked back to his room and packed, he recalled what Comet had said: he wanted to go to Jade Academy when the current batch of students graduated. At the time, he had said, "You'd be five years old, right? …Yeah, I think I could get you in." In return, he'd asked for his parent's story, and a friend in him. Starflight smiled at the memories.
He's just… so fun. Can't explain. He just is. And it's wonderful.
He had to admit, it was refreshing having a clean slate to work with: they didn't know each other. No expectations. It was… liberating. As he went down the stairs to grab a pen to write on the chart-scroll (he realised doing it on a notebook would be horrible), he remembered he would be meeting Comet's parents.
I wonder what they'll think of me. And how they are!
Stepping out of the cave, he opened his wings, and took flight out towards the southwest.
Twelve days ago, he'd agreed with Comet that they were going to meet in the center, which meant the mountains in the south. Across two days, he flew southwest, sticking as close to the coast as possible. Finally, he could see them on the horizon– the silhouettes of many peaks up ahead, guarding the entrance to the ancient settlements beyond.
(He'd also heard that Darkstalker had enchanted the mountains to kill all Icewings passing through. He didn't know whether it was true, but that explained their name of "Darkstalker's Teeth".)
Landing somewhere on the other side of the peaks, he cast his eyes on the landscape, looking for any hint that Cometchaser was around.
"Hey Starflight! Finally found you!"
Looking up towards the direction of the sound, he found Cometchaser, flying in the sky and diving down almost vertically.
That dragon is deranged, he thought in awe.
Landing gracefully, Comet ran towards him, smiling in glee.
"Starflight! Starflight! You're finally here! Alright, follow me, we're going to my parent's house!"
And so, after landing for about two minutes, they took off again.
Feeling the wind rushing past his streamlined form, Starflight barely heard his friend's words, the rush of the wind taking them away.
"We're landing soon! Get ready for the DIVEBOMB!"
With that, Cometchaser's frame seemed to vanish.
After being somewhat confused for a few seconds, Starflight recalled what he'd done when they'd met.
Did he just fly straight down again?
Shrugging, Starflight followed suit, diving down almost vertically. However, when he was reasonably low-ish, he pulled out of the nosedive and went off to a more mellow glide downwards to the ground.
"Oh, there you are. Was it fun?" Cometchaser asked, bouncing on the spot the whole time.
"Well, it was very exhilarating, and I think I did pull off a bit too early. However… I don't think I would ever get the courage to do what you did. I mean, you literally skirted over the ground."
"No, I didn't. Always ensure you have some distance and that you're… probably higher than the trees. Just to be safe."
Looking to his left at the house (Starflight assumed it was his), Comet seemed to remember something.
"Oh, right. Follow me. You wanted to know my parents' backstory, right?"
With that, they started off to towards the house, where Starflight could see two other dragons, ostensibly his parents.
They must be waiting for us!
His mother smiled; Starflight wondered what she thought about him, and what she'd been through on the island that caused her to leave.
Meanwhile, his father was frowning. He wondered why? Was it because he could see someone else in him? (His father?) (Were they friends?) (He had so many questions– about life on the island, what caused them to leave, everything.)
Cometchaser laughed. "Peace, all will be explained soon. This will be my first time hearing the whole story too, so…"
With that, Comet led him into the house. (He vaguely remembered Comet talking to his parents while he was zoning out.)
Starflight took a step inside, and was immediately met with the sight of a quaint little room, with cushions to sit on and a fireplace and everything at the back, along with the doors to the rooms. It felt very cozy inside, with a staircase off to the left. (he supposed that's where the bedrooms were– on the second floor.)
"Alright. It's not nighttime yet, so let's have dinner first. We can tell you our story," his father said. "Oh, and I'm Nightwatcher. This is Selene," he gestured at his mate.
Starflight was gestured to sit around a table in one of the rooms past a door.
(Well, calling it a room was a bit of a stretch. It had two sides covered only by fences. It was more like a patio, but with fences.)
"… Your parents are cool," he said after said parents left to prepare the meal.
Comet looked at him. "I know. They've definitely seen some stuff, though."
Starflight nodded in agreement.
"Do you know why your father frowned at me?"
He shrugged. "No idea. Think it has to do with his old friends on the island. Or enemies, maybe."
He slowly nodded, processing and formulating.
"Did he ever mention anyone named Mastermind or Farsight?"
Cometchaser frowned, thinking. "Yes, he did. Well, my mother mentioned Farsight, anyway. Mastermind… never heard of him. Oh, and your formulations were really quick here. Couldn't quite read them," he finished.
"Am I improving in mind-barriers?"
"Yes, I would say you are. Not enough to block me yet, though. It's not constant. That's the hardest part. You need to keep a wall up the whole time," he explained.
"Hm. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks," Starflight replied.
"No problem. I'm going to teach you soon," he replied, before looking at the door, which had swung open. "Oh look, my parents are back."
As the food was laid on the table, Starflight could see it was pretty much a standard meal, but then he saw the thing in the middle.
It was a bowl of berries, another bowl with viscous, yellow liquid and yet another bowl, full of Pantalan chocolate, but liquid.
"What's those?" he asked, pointing to them. "Doesn't look like you would encounter them… anywhere else, really."
"Oh, it's berries for taste, in syrup. You can also eat them with the chocolate. It's just melted."
Curious, he took one (It was a strawberry– he was reminded of Peacemaker, spirits bless him.) and dipped it in the chocolate before popping it into his mouth. The sweet, sour flavor of a strawberry burst in his mouth, but this time… with an extra hint of bitterness from the chocolate.
"Spirits, this tastes awesome. I should introduce this to everyone at the academy. But… I came here to stargaze, but I also came here to know your story. I mean… no one knows you exist, actually."
Nightwatcher laughed. "Glad you like it. Anyway, I'll tell you our story."
Everyone started eating, and Nightwatcher began.
"So, first you must understand that after Darkstalker murdered Arctic in front of everyone–"
"Wait, he did that?"
"Yes, he did. Anyway, the Nightwings fled to the island. It was lush and full of greenery back then. But then the volcano came, of course, and everyone forgot how the powers worked. But somehow my parents preserved it for centuries, and I knew. So did Selene, and her family. We tried telling everyone, but they all thought we were crazy. Dragons like Farsight… I don't think she believed us, but I think she had faith," here he sighed. "Too bad she died."
"She was my mother."
"Oh really? So you're Mastermind's son. Heh, I can see the similarities. But anyway, we hated it there because of… everyone else, really. And I got this–" he showed a scar on his shoulder, "– from them. It sucked, yeah. So we decided to run away. And we did. We initially settled in the Rainforest, because there we could hide, recover, and generally not get caught by the Nightwings looking for us."
Selene piped up here. "We also kinda-knew about the plans to invade, somewhat, but they didn't believe us. They seemed to think that no one would ever bother to invade the Rainforest."
Starflight ate another strawberry. "I know what happened next. The Nightwings on the island kidnapped a bunch of Rainwings, my friend became their queen and defeated them et cetera, and now most of them are under her in the rainforest. Oh, except for a bit of an interruption by Darkstalker a year ago," he said.
Nightwatcher arched an eyebrow. Oh. Queen Glory? Yeah, we know her. Sometimes we need to get supplies and such," he made a face. "I remember Darkstalker. We live quite far from where he settled, but… it was annoying, to say the least. Especially with a dragonet…" he glared at Cometchaser. "Who wouldn't stop complaining that we had to hide!"
"Alright, I admit I shouldn't have whined about it. But still! I was one! Cut me some slack, would you?"
Nightwatcher lit up. "Oh yeah. In the rainforest we picked up eating fruits and growing them, so that's where that comes from."
Starflight understood– he was pretty sure he was addicted to chocolate-coated strawberries now.
Imagine what Peacemaker would think about this. He would go ballistic with happiness.
He did wonder how to grow berries, though.
"Who's Peacemaker?" Comet's voice sounded.
"Oh, he's… well, I'm not really supposed to tell you. They didn't tell me either, the bastards. But yeah, he's a dragonet. Around your age, I think. He's more just enthusiastic about literally everything, while you're… annoying. But fun."
"Well, can we get back to the story now?" Nightwatcher asked, slightly amused.
Starflight laughed. "Spirits, I forgot about it. Alright, continue."
"So, we moved on to here, because it was the Old Kingdom that we knew about because we actually bothered to keep an actual historical record! Afterwards we came down here to pretty much the coast–" Nightwatcher gestured behind himself, "there's a cliff there. It looks cool at sunset and sunrise. Anyway, we came here and built this house! I think we did a great job."
Starflight laughed. "You certainly did. It's unique, at least. Don't think I've ever seen something like this place," he said, gesturing at the 'room' they were in.
After dinner, Starflight was shown around the house for a bit, before being ushered out by Comet to the cliff by the sea with his scroll, a pen, ink and a board (to ensure he was writing properly).
Looking out at the horizon after setting up his materials, Starflight could already see why this place was held in high regard by Comet and his family. The view was absolutely stunning: even at night. The moons, hanging high in the sky. The sky itself, a blend of deep blue and purple, with stars splattered all over, all competing to be the brightest. And far below, the sound of the waves washing up on the shore was soothing. It was just so… repetitive. It blocked out everything else.
As Comet settled down and they began, Starflight knew this was going to be fun.
Chocolate strawberries and syrup. Also, berries in general!