Inferno stepped across the slope, running her paws through the bright green blades of grass. She was in a different place than the last two nights, further along the river. The mountains seemed closer than before, and in slightly different places. As she looked towards them, she could see one with two peaks, like a distorted version of Jade Mountain, where she was sleeping right now. She wondered why Ash had chosen to make it. If she flew up there, would she find a little school, full of dragonets? She doubted it. Ash usually didn't make the edges of their dreamscape as detailed as the center.

"I had a good day today," she spoke. When Inferno turned around, Ash was lying on the grassy hill, a blade of grass between his talons.

"That's good," he replied with a smile, flicking his tail across the dirt. "What happened?"

"I was invited to a game of Queens and Generals," Inferno grinned. "I couldn't play, since I'd burn the pieces, so Ink offered to move the pieces for me. I think you were right about going to Jade Mountain. I don't feel like an outcast here, like I did in the Talons. I think I might be able to find friends."

"I'm happy for you," Ash said. "I don't think you're the only dragon here who doesn't feel like they belong anywhere else. But you still need to keep up your guard."

"I do?" Inferno asked, frowning. Wasn't the whole point of coming here so that she could be safe? And it wasn't like anyone could hurt her, anyways.

Ash nodded. "You mentioned Ink. What do you think about him?"

"Well," Inferno mused, "I think he's nice. He's the one who invited me to play, and moved the pieces for me. I was a little weirded out by him at first, though. It felt like he already knew me."

"He does know you," Ash stated. He tore the blade of grass between his talons in half. "Did you realize that he said your name before you introduced yourself?"

Inferno thought back to the conversation she'd had. She hadn't really noticed it at the time, but Ash was right. "Maybe he just heard it from Tsunami or Seahorse?"

Ash shook his head. "It seems unlikely, especially considering how he looked at you when you were coming into Jade Mountain."

"What if he used to be in the Talons?" Inferno suggested.

"We'd have remembered a hybrid like that."

"He's part NightWing," she hypothesized, "what if he can read my mind? I know that the NightWings said that they lost their powers, but maybe he didn't."

Ash shook his head. "I would have known if he tried to read your mind. He hasn't. There's something he's hiding."

"Oh," Inferno frowned. She'd thought that Ink just wanted to be her friend. But this seemed suspicious. "Does this mean I can't be friends with him?"

"I don't know," Ash answered, tearing apart each piece of the blade of grass he held. He threw them into the air, and they scattered into the wind. "He doesn't seem malicious, but again, you should keep your guard up. Just in case."

Inferno dug out a little bit of the dirt with a claw. "Why did you want me to come here? You said I wasn't safe in the Talons, but this seems more dangerous."

Ash smiled. "I had a few reasons. I thought you'd be happier here than in the Talons. You are happier here, aren't you? You've found friends. I also had a feeling. A premonition, maybe, that you needed to come here if you wanted to stay safe."

Inferno thought about that for a moment. He'd told her originally that she wasn't safe in the Talons, but it wasn't just that — it was that she had to go here to be safe? She wondered what Ash knew. She could ask him, but she doubted he would tell her anything more than what he already had. It kind of annoyed her when he hid stuff, although she never mentioned that to him.

"So," Ash asked, "are you planning to stay?"

"At Jade Mountain?" Inferno responded. "Do you mean enrolling?"

"Yes."

"Maybe," Inferno considered, "but I still don't want to eventually meet Peril. I also want my own room. I hate having to use hers. And I'd have to ask Tsunami. I don't really have any treasure to pay for the school."

"It might be fine, since you're part of the Talons."

"Am I?" Inferno questioned. "I left, didn't I?

Ash shrugged his wings, making a small wave of air across the grass. "Tsunami doesn't need to know that, does she?"

Inferno squirmed uncomfortably. She didn't like the idea of lying, even if it was only a half-lie. "I guess."

Ash turned his head upwards, towards the four moons, barely visible in the daytime sky. "It's probably time for you to wake up. Good luck with Ink and Tsunami."

"Thank you for talking to me," Inferno said, bowing her head.

Ash twinkled, swishing his tail back and forth. "My pleasure."

The ground around Inferno started to fade in detail, the individual blades of grass blurring together. As the landscape started to disappear, Inferno closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she was on the floor of Peril's room. There was a small ledge in the corner that made a bed, but Inferno had decided not to use that. She didn't want to sleep in Peril's bed. It might be a good idea for Inferno to say good morning to Seahorse, and see how he was doing.

Inferno slowly got to her paws, her legs tired and stiff. She carefully walked out from the room, and down the hallway Tsunami had led her down the day before. The morning sun streamed through the holes in the cave and from the lanterns, but it was quiet here, like it was the night before, and she didn't see any wandering dragonets, even as she passed the rooms. That was probably for the better; she didn't want to surprise anyone. Still, she wondered where everyone was.

When she reached the guest room, she could hear the slight shifting and mutterings of dragons inside it. Carefully turning her way around the corner, and making sure no one accidentally ran out too fast and into her, she stepped into the entrance of the guest room, looking around. Three dragons were inside it, all awake to some extent or another. Seahorse himself was lying on his cloth hoard, deep in thought, as he noticed Inferno approach. He quickly smiled, and gave Inferno a wave.

Inferno gave the other two dragons a glance, and was slightly surprised when she saw Ink, drawing something on a scroll. "Oh," she opened, a bit worried for a moment. Ash had told her to keep up her guard around Ink, right? "I didn't know you were sleeping here."

Inferno winced immediately after, realizing how rude that might have sounded. Of course he was sleeping in the guest room — he wasn't actually a student here. Still, Ink didn't seem to care. With a huge grin on his snout, he turned from his drawing to Inferno. "Morning, Inferno!"

The third dragon in the room was an IceWing, around Inferno and Ink's age. He had a scroll in front of him, but instead of reading it, his eyes seemed to be warily watching Seahorse. As Ink greeted Inferno, he turned to her. He stiffened up as he saw the wisps of smoke coming from Inferno's scales, and started to bare his teeth when Ink turned to him.

"Polar, this is Inferno," Ink introduced her, "I met her last night, and we played Queens and Generals together. Inferno, this is Polar. He's from the Ice Kingdom, but we came here together."

"We didn't come here together," Polar grumbled, his shining First Circle amulet hanging from his neck. "We just met up on the way, and happened to be going the same direction." He scanned Inferno up and down, then gave Ink a glare, as if judging him for bringing back a dragon like Inferno here.

"Which means we came here together," Ink continued, his cheeriness unfaltering. "Ooh, Inferno, do you want to go get breakfast with me? Skytaker invited me to join them, Tiger, and Sepia. You can come too, Polar!"

"No," Polar snorted. "I, er, have to go to the library. More research for Queen Glacier."

Ink shrugged his wings. "Oh well, you can join us some other time." He looked over towards Inferno hopefully.

"Um, sure," Inferno answered quickly, before thinking it through. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to eat breakfast with Ink, especially if she was supposed to be wary of him. But he was so friendly and welcoming. How could she say no?

"Great!" Ink said. "Let's go before all the good stuff is eaten!" He stood up, moving his scroll to the side, and started towards the exit. Inferno quickly stepped aside, clearing a path for him to safely leave through.

Polar looked back down to his scroll again, then back to Seahorse. Maybe he should go with them after all. He carefully rolled up his scroll, picking it up to take with him. "I think I'll join you," he announced, "since I need to get breakfast anyways."

"Sure," Ink replied, giving Inferno a quick glance and rolling his eyes. "The more the merrier."

As Ink started trotting off towards the prey center, Polar walked behind him, carefully keeping his distance from Inferno. The SkyWing poked her head back into the room, towards Seahorse. She'd originally come here to talk to him. "Er, sorry," she apologized to the SeaWing. "If you need me to help you out . . ."

"It's fine," Seahorse answered. "Don't worry about it."

"Oh," Inferno said, slightly confused. "Um, alright." As she turned around to catch up with Ink and Polar, she wondered if she should have talked to Seahorse more. Even though he said it was fine, it probably wasn't. Did that mean he just wanted Inferno to leave him alone, or was he wanting Inferno to help? Inferno sighed, and walked behind Polar, making sure not to get too close.

"It feels like there's a volcano erupting behind me," Polar grumbled to Ink, complaining about the heat coming from Inferno's scales.

"Sorry . . ." Inferno replied, keeping her head down. Ink gave Polar a glare, then continued on his way. They followed along the passageway, slanting downwards before a blast of wind hit Inferno. The sound of yelling dragonets filled the air as Inferno's eyes adjusted to the morning sun. The ceiling of the cave widened above her, revealing an enormous cave with one wall open to the elements. A large boulder stood in the center of the cave, where Tsunami was on top, peacefully gnawing on a fish as she carefully watched the ruckus of dragons beneath.

A small stream flowed between the entrance tunnel and the prey center, with a stone bridge allowing dragons to cross without getting wet. As Ink went over it, the hybrid dipped the tip of his tail beneath the swift-moving water, splashing a few drops on Polar. The IceWing grumbled, and gave him a cold glare, but Ink just grinned cheekily back.

Inferno carefully stepped over the bridge, and poked a talon down into it. The water around her talon quickly started to bubble and boil, feeling warm against her claws. Her eyes suddenly met two young SeaWings, playing in the stream as they swam against the current. Inferno gulped. She hadn't meant to attract attention. One of the SeaWings, a grey-blue one cautiously looked at the bubbling, while the other, a small light blue dragon with pink webbing, turned away, apparently uninterested in Inferno. The latter SeaWing turned to a RainWing on the banks of the stream, carefully eating a mango, and suddenly yelled out, "SURPRISE ATTACK!"

The SeaWing jumped onto the startled RainWing and pushed her into the river. The RainWing splashed around for a few seconds as the SeaWing pushed up beneath her wing, making sure she stayed safely above the water. The RainWing snorted, shivering slightly in the cold water as hints of orange started to appear on her blue scales. "What was that for, Anemone?"

"Come on Tamarin, it's more fun in the water," Anemone laughed.

Tamarin sighed, and shook her head, spraying water droplets away. "Where'd my mango go?"

Anemone quickly ducked her head beneath the water, looking around for the lost mango. She finally noticed it, quickly tumbling down the river, into the next cave. She brought her head back up. "Er, it's long-gone."

Tamarin tsked. "You know you just wasted a perfectly good mango."

Anemone shrugged her wings, splashing a bit more water onto Tamarin. "We can get more. Pike! Get us some more mangoes!"

"Please," Tamarin quickly added.

The other SeaWing, who was still watching Inferno, turned around. "Yes, your majesty," he replied, rolling his eyes. He smoothly exited the river, and headed towards a large pile of fruit nearby.

"Inferno, c'mon!" Ink suddenly yelled, distracting her from the scene. He was standing by a small raised platform, something of a table. Skytaker and Sepia were next to him, with Polar behind him, pouting as he scanned the room.

Inferno slowly walked towards the dragons, keeping her head down. The room was full of rambunctious students, and it would be awful if one of them accidentally ran into her. A few chickens ran around the floor, but were careful to keep away from her path. A young NightWing chased after them, but turned as she noticed Inferno, allowing the chickens to escape. She gave the SkyWing a cautious look, then trotted off again. To Inferno, it felt like everyone was watching her.

Inferno eventually arrived at the table, and sat near it, making sure not to get too close to any of the other dragons and make them uncomfortable. Just being near her for too long was difficult.

"Good morning, Inferno," Sepia cheerfully greeted her.

Inferno smiled in response. "Good morning." She looked down at the slab. A few chicken thighs were there. She carefully nudged one towards her with a talon, the meat charring and blackening at her touch. Making sure not to touch it with her scales, she bent her neck down to it, picking it up with her teeth. She winced, aware that the other dragons were watching her unusual way of eating.

"Hey, where's Tiger?" Ink asked Skytaker, wondering why the RainWing was missing.

The SkyWing-NightWing hybrid snorted, and shrugged their wings as they gnawed on a chicken bone. "Dunno. She's normally here." Skytaker turned to Sepia. "She's your clawmate, not mine. Is she alright? Caught a cough again?"

Sepia thought for a moment, not quite sure how to answer the question. "Apparently Queen Glory came this morning and wanted to talk to her."

"Whaa?" Skytaker asked. "Glory was here just last week though. Not that I mind, but why is she here again? And what is she stealing Tiger for?"

"It's an emergency, I think. Something to do with the drought."

Inferno was a little surprised. Queen Glory? Here? That was a little intimidating. Inferno had never met a queen before.

An idea suddenly clicked in Skytaker's head, and their eyes lit up. "We should spy on her!"

Sepia winced, and shook her head back and forth. "That's a horrible idea. I can just ask Tiger next time I see her what they talked about."

Skytaker snorted. "You're no fun. It would be cool!"

"We'd be like secret agents or something, trying to figure out our enemies' plans before they put them into action!" Ink suddenly announced, liking this idea.

Skytaker grinned. "I like the way you think."

Sepia gritted her teeth. "You make no sense. Glory is our friend, not our enemy."

"Yes," Ink continued, "which is why we suddenly realize, in a twist of epic proportions, that we were on the wrong side all along, our conscious getting the best of us." He glanced to Polar behind him, and gave him a wink. The IceWing stiffened up, looking slightly worried as Ink turned back to the group.

Sepia groaned. "That's even worse. We already know that Glory is one of the good guys. And it's a drought. It's just nature, taking its course. There aren't any bad guys here."

"Except Queen Scarlet," Skytaker interrupted. "She's a bad guy."

Sepia shook her head, finally giving up and changing the subject. "Inferno," she asked, turning to the SkyWing. Did Sepia think she worked for Queen Scarlet or something? She most certainly didn't. "So, are you thinking about joining the academy?"

"Joining?" Inferno asked, taken slightly aback. "Um, yeah. I might talk to Headmaster Tsunami about it. I don't know if she'll let me in, though."

"Eh, you'll be fine," Skytaker laughed. "Last I heard, Tsunami is thinking about more opening up more winglets if she can find some more teachers, but we've got a shortage of SkyWings, anyways. It's just Peril, Flame, Cliff, and I right now, and I barely count."

"Huh," Inferno replied. She suspected that had something to do with Queen Scarlet.

"What about you, Ink?" Sepia asked, turning to the hybrid. "And you, um, IceWing-whose-name-I-don't-know."

Ink thought for a moment. "I might," he admitted. "We'll see how things turn out." He turned to Polar, expecting an answer.

"No," Polar snorted, "and my name is Polar, First Circle. I'm not a dragonet anymore, and I'm just here to provide reports on the IceWing students here for Queen Glacier."

"You don't have to be a dragonet to be a student here, just under 13 or so," Sepia explained. "Like, Peril, Flame, and Marsh are as old or older than Tsunami. I think Onyx was 19 or something ridiculous when she arrived. That was a mistake. For a lot of reasons."

Skytaker nodded. Even though Skytaker themselves arrived afterwards, Qibli had told them about the whole Talons of Power affair. "I think IceWings have to go home when they're six or so, though," they commented. "That's what Changbai told me, at least."

"Changbai is right," Polar commented. "Unlike the other tribes, IceWings have very busy lives after reaching adulthood. We can't just aimlessly wobble around like penguins at a school like this anymore."

Skytaker frowned. "You don't seem too busy, flying down all the way down to Jade Mountain just to keep an eye on some dragonets."

Polar scoffed. "I'm very busy. In fact, I have stuff to attend to right now. So goodbye." With a 'hmph,' Polar stood up, and walked away from the table, head raised high as he exited the prey center.

Skytaker's eyes followed him until he left. "Wow," they commented. "He makes Ermine seem like a sweetheart in comparison."

"Oh, he's alright, if you get to know him," Ink explained, even though he barely knew Polar himself. "He's just got some things he needs to work through."

"Well, he could work through them a bit more politely," Skytaker snorted. They glanced around, and noticed that the prey center was starting to clear out. "Sepia, come on, we've got to get to class."

Sepia nodded, and stood up. "See you," she waved to Ink and Inferno, before walking off with Skytaker, joining the crowd of students.

Ink laughed, and grinned at Inferno. "You wanted to talk to Tsunami, right?" he asked. "Better catch that fish before she gets away." He pointed a wing to Tsunami, who was gliding down from the rock in the center of the prey center.

"Thank you," Inferno said, walking over towards the headmaster, before thinking twice about it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to interrupt Tsunami right now. It looked like she had stuff to do, and it would be rude to force her to talk. But wouldn't it be weird if she went back to Ink now?

"Yes?" Tsunami suddenly asked, startling Inferno, who was just standing right there, staring at the SeaWing. "Did you want something?"

"Oh, er, is this a good time to talk?"

"Yeah, sure," Tsunami answered, giving Inferno a look of skepticism.

Inferno coughed before posing her question, shuffling her tail from side to side. "Well, I was wondering if you had any spots at the school, and if so, how much it would cost for me to join."

Tsunami laughed. "It's funny you ask. We actually have a SkyWing spot available right now, and haven't found anyone to fill it yet. A few of our students were withdrawn after Queen Scarlet rose back to power, and outlawed sending students here. I was actually planning to ask Riptide if there were anymore SkyWings in the Talons who were interested in coming. If you want, you can shadow the Copper Winglet for a while, and see what you think."

"The Copper Winglet?" Inferno asked. "Is that the one Skytaker and Sepia are in?"

Tsunami shook her head. "No, no. They're in the Silver Winglet with my sister, and Skytaker takes up the SkyWing spot there. You'd probably do better in the Copper Winglet, since they're a bit closer to your age, but you're fully welcome to take classes with the Silver Winglet for a while, until you're sure you want to stay or not."

Inferno bowed her head. "Thank you, Headmaster Tsunami."

Tsunami snorted, flattered. "Also, don't worry about payment. We're privately funded by the Sand and Sea Kingdoms, and get a ton of NightWing and RainWing volunteer work. We accept donations, but none of our students have to pay if they can't."

Inferno bowed her head again. This was great news. Everything seemed to be working out almost perfectly.