Crosswinds was a tumultuous town, and unlike the facade of calm and tranquility that the twin SkyWing and SandWing cities further north along the river held, tensions in Crosswinds had not only simmered to the surface, but had boiled, scalding all the dragons around as the bubbles popped. Although an armistice was technically in place between Burn and Blister's forces in the surrounding area, to most of the dragons inside, it still felt like war. The primary population of the town was SandWings and MudWings, with the SandWings supporting each of the three princesses in roughly even proportions.

Fights often broke out, sometimes turning deadly, between the MudWings and Blister-backing SandWings against the Burn and Blaze supporters, who had a stiff alliance against the MudWings and the SandWings that had joined them. And unlike the twin cities to the north, Crosswinds didn't have the luxury of clear divisions — even though the Great Five-Tail River crossed through the town, the vast majority of the population lay on the east, so there were no physical dividing lines. Various groups of each side settled in small neighborhoods, sporadically thrown around the town, and there were few ways for an outsider to tell the difference between these sections, barring the occasional fence hastily thrown up in an attempt to prevent conflict, or more commonly, a painted line indicating where one faction's turf began and where it ended.

Griffin arrived in the town at night, walking in from the outside to make sure he remained unseen. If Trustbreaker's directions were right, this would be where he resided currently. He looked around. Not a particularly friendly place to live. As he walked down the street, he noticed the windows of all the residences he walked past were boarded up with planks of wood. A scroll had been hung to a plank with the message "Mudscum And Friends Leave Now Or Die" written on it in a black ink. A hastily drawn sketch of a MudWing with a black cross over its head was placed beneath, with rectangles reminiscent of stakes in each eye. Griffin passed a building which had been burnt down almost completely, with only charred bricks remaining, remnants from a collapse. It took Griffin a few moments to see a single MudWing dragonet huddled in the far back corner of the remains, asleep.

Griffin shrunk down cautiously, quietly passing by. He hadn't wanted to see Trustbreaker again — the NightWing's mindreading powers were quite disconcerting, and he'd quickly know everything that Torrent and Crystal had done — but he hadn't had anyone else to turn to. It's not like he could go back to the Sea Kingdom to see Orca, and Schist had wanted Griffin to stay away. He supposed he could have gone to see Bobcat and Kite in the Sky Kingdom, but that was almost on the opposite side of the world from here. Trustbreaker wasn't too far a flight, and Fracture could be with him, the one-eyed IceWing whom Griffin had met after he'd left the Sea Kingdom.

As Griffin continued forward, he noticed a small sandy-coated tomcat lying beneath a stray plank of wood. He stepped closer, and brought his beak down. "Trustbreaker, are you there?" he asked. "It's me, Griffin."

The cat leapt up with a hiss, and lashed a paw out at Griffin, who shook his head back in alarm. The cat quickly scrambled off into the distance, leaving a frowning Griffin and a mess of feathers on the ground.

"Not all of the cats here are friendly to me," a somber voice suddenly spoke from behind Griffin. He swiveled his head around in alarm to see a dragon towering above him, covered with silvery-black scales. "They distrust the dragons around here more," Trustbreaker continued.

Griffin gave a sigh of relief, realizing that the dragon was Trustbreaker. "How did —"

"— I find you?" Trustbreaker finished. "Your thoughts are vivid words among a sea of images and emotion from the other animals. It wasn't hard to distinguish them when you came into the city."

"Oh," Griffin uncomfortably frowned, "does that mean other NightWing mindreaders could find me?"

Trustbreaker shook his head. "No. Fracture has told me I am the only one here, and even if there were any, your thoughts would be too similar to the dragons around you to receive any special attention. Although they might be curious about one so optimistic in this town."

"Optimistic?" Griffin asked. He would hardly call himself optimistic. Sure, maybe he wasn't as grumpy and negative as Torrent was, but he wasn't optimistic.

"It doesn't take a mindreader to see that the dragons here have all given up hope," Trustbreaker explained. "Not that I blame them. I myself am the same way."

Griffin glanced around Trustbreaker's forepaws. The cat that was usually near him wasn't there.

"Sapphire is at my residence," Trustbreaker explained, instantly knowing what Griffin was wondering. "He's protecting it from any intruders."

"Stop doing that," Griffin hissed. "Reading my mind."

Trustbreaker looked down, dejected. "I apologize. I don't have any dragons for company in this town, and after listening to only cats for months, hearing a speaking creature is enthralling."

Griffin clenched his talons. "Alright," he responded, "just don't."

Trustbreaker nodded, and looked back to the alley. "I'll try. Let me take you back to where I'm living, and we can talk more there. My friends can find us a path where we'll remain unseen."

With a brush of air, the NightWing was off, almost invisible in the shadows and moonlight. Griffin followed after him, trying to keep Trustbreaker firmly within his sights. The two rushed down the moonlit streets, eventually reaching a miniscule house between two other buildings. Griffin stepped inside, Trustbreaker following.

Letting out a quick puff of flame, Trustbreaker lit a small candle, showing that there were only three creatures inside the house: Griffin, Trustbreaker, and Sapphire, staring curiously at Griffin. Trustbreaker stepped to the side, and and kneeled down, resting his underbelly on the floor. Sapphire walked over, and rubbed his pelt against Trustbreaker's scales. "So," the NightWing asked, "why are you here?"

Griffin looked around for a comfortable location. "Don't you know already?" he asked.

Trustbreaker shook his head. "It is not easy to listen to memories, and I have ignored your thoughts since you asked me to."

Griffin was thankful for that. He didn't particularly want the NightWing prying around his thoughts and secrets. "Crystal," he grumbled, "after you left, we went to the rainforest; Torrent found an animus there."

"And?" Trustbreaker asked.

Griffin closed his eyes, and took in a deep breath. "The animus was a RainWing dragonet. Maybe a year or two old at most."

Trustbreaker frowned. "A dragonet?" he asked.

"Yes!" Griffin hissed, irritated that he hadn't elicited a bigger reaction from Trustbreaker.

"Apologies," Trustbreaker replied, "I'm just afraid I've seen far too many dead dragonets on these streets to be too shocked, not that it makes anything right."

"You read my mind again," Griffin seethed.

Trustbreaker sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm still catching the wind of this ignoring thing."

"Fine," Griffin accepted. "So," he continued, "the thing is that this isn't something that Torrent would normally do! Back in the Sea Kingdom, he was kind, and he'd have never killed a dragonet just because he was scared of some stupid powers! He wouldn't have done it if Crystal hadn't convinced him!"

"Not the first time Crystal has killed out of fear," Trustbreaker mused.

"What?" Griffin asked, confused. "She's killed other dragons?"

"I was in communication with her sister, Clarity, recently," the NightWing explained. "Apparently, Crystal killed her father before she left the Ice Kingdom to prevent another recreation of the Darkstone. Did she not tell you?"

"No!" Griffin growled. "Her own father? Why?"

"According to Clarity, Crystal is . . . risk-averse. She likes things being under control, not leaving them up to fate. If she had let her father live, there was a reasonable possibility that the Darkstone could have been remade by Queen Glacier and her father. This way, there was no chance of that. Apparently, Clarity had wanted to go after her sister to get justice after figuring out what she'd done, but Fracture convinced her that going after Crystal could only make things worse, and that we needed to continue focusing on making Pyrrhia a more peaceful place."

"She needs to be stopped." Griffin stated.

Trustbreaker shook his head. "Not by us. Fracture knows what he's doing."

Griffin frowned, but didn't argue. He had come here to get away from Crystal and Torrent, not to gather friends to defeat them. Fracture had helped Griffin find Torrent again, and had been kind to him when he was at his worst. Griffin owed the IceWing at least enough to trust him in this.

"In fact, Fracture asked me to take you to him after you arrived," Trustbreaker continued, "he wanted to meet with you again, directly."

"Really?" Griffin asked, surprised. "Is here here, in Crosswinds?"

Trustbreaker shook his head. "No. He wants to meet us up north in five fortnights, to this date, on the southern border of the Ice Kingdom."