After breakfast, Ink wandered back to the small guest cave. He didn't really have much to do while his new friends were in class. He thought about visiting Stonemover, but that could wait until later. Maybe he could enter a vision. Loresearcher might have found something out that Ink hadn't, something to do with the drought or Polar. Or maybe he'd figure out what Queen Glory was doing here. That would be helpful.

As he entered the cave, he gave Seahorse a friendly wave, getting a suspicious glance from the SeaWing back in response. He wasn't quite sure why Polar had been so scared of him. He seemed nice enough, although Ink wasn't quite sure what he was doing here. Not that he was so sure of that for himself, either.

Ink laid himself back on the stone bed, spreading out his wings to the side. It was a little weird trying to have a vision in front of another dragon, but he doubted that Seahorse would notice. Anyways, the vision was more important than a little awkwardness. Knowing what might come up in the future had saved him multiple times before, and especially with all the weird stuff going on right now, he wanted to get all the information he could. It was like a mystery, almost. Fracture would be proud of him.

Ink slowly lifted his eyepatch off, closing his other eye. For a moment, the world was dark, and all he could hear was Seahorse's gentle breathing. Ink took in a deep breath of his own, calming himself, and let the vision take him in, overcome him. In a way, his visions were like dreaming. If he started to realize that he was in a vision and tried to make a conscious decision, he'd usually wake up and fall out of it. He couldn't become lucid in his visions. Whoever the Ink in his visions was, this Ink couldn't make any choices for him; everything was always pre-determined. It was usually easier while sleeping, but over time, Ink had learned to have them so long as he could relax.

It was a few minutes before Ink had finally drifted away from reality enough that the vision started to overcome him. Colors swirled around the darkness, starting to turn into the blurred shapes of dragons. Muffled voices appeared. They started to solidify, and Ink was once again in the prey center, Loresearcher sitting across from him, poking at a fish as he read a scroll.

"I saw Seahorse talking with Tsunami," Loresearcher mentioned.

"Mhmm," Ink replied, stuffing his mouth full of fish, voraciously gulping them down. The fish here were quite different than the fish in Possibility, and personally, Ink preferred them. It was something new, something exciting.

Loresearcher rolled his eyes, and sighed. "I don't know why I bother telling you this stuff if you don't listen."

"Eim wiffening," Ink tried to respond, a half-eaten fish falling from his mouth and onto the plate. He wasn't quite sure why Loresearcher suddenly cared about Seahorse now. He'd arrived with Inferno, and was part of the Talons. Wasn't Polar supposed to be the one Ink was supposed to be investigating?

Loresearcher glanced down to the fish, a hint of disgust on his snout. "Chew your food, please. As I was saying, I saw Seahorse conversing with Tsunami. Tsunami said something in Aquatic to Seahorse, and Seahorse didn't seem to understand it. That's unusual."

Ink shrugged his wings, and finished gulping down his fish, so that his mouth was clear. "I don't know Aquatic either," he responded. "Dad tried to teach me, but I forgot most of it. It's hard to learn, and it's not like I can really speak it, either." He glanced down to the strangely flat and sheeny scales where his glowscales normally would be. Loresearcher couldn't speak Aquatic either, but he knew how to tell what other dragons were saying in it. It made for some interesting interactions.

"If Seahorse had been raised in the Sea Kingdom, he'd know Aquatic," Loresearcher reasoned, ignoring Ink. "It would be like not knowing how to speak Dragon."

"That's not that weird," Ink responded. "We weren't raised in the Sea Kingdom."

"I also don't remember him from when we last visited the Talons," Loresearcher continued. "Or any time we've visited the Talons."

"Maybe he was out getting food or something like that. Or he's new."

"It's not just that," Loresearcher grumbled, starting to get tired of Ink's responses. "He has this bag of treasure that he flew in with. It's way too heavy for any dragon to carry while flying. I did the calculations, he'd normally drop like a rock. I've seen him move. He doesn't show it, but do you realize how strong he is? He could crush a dragon's skull with a flick of a talon."

"He could just work out a lot," Ink suggested.

Loresearcher shook his head. "No. There's magic involved here. I'm certain of it."

"Maybe he's one of the animuses here?" Ink asked. "How many did Dad's map show? Like, a bazillion?"

"He isn't, or else he'd have shown up on his map while he was in the Talons, if he was in the Talons at all," Loresearcher responded. "He probably isn't an animus herself, but might have something animus-touched on her. That's dangerous. I don't like it."

"So he has something magical that gives her super-strength?" Ink asked, not seeing any problem. "I mean, okay, but why do you care?"

"I don't like that he's hanging around Inferno," Loresearcher explained. "And I get déjà vu around him. I think I've seen him somewhere before. It's also weird that Inferno is here."

Ink nodded, not really caring. He remembered meeting Inferno last time Torrent had taken them to the Talons to visit Griffin. She seemed nice. Happy, confident, and full of energy, if a bit boisterous. Ink would've loved to be like her all the time.

"And if Polar is really Fracture and Clarity's son, there's definitely something going on here that I don't understand," Loresearcher continued. "This can't just be coincidence. Something or someone is manipulating whatever is going on here, something malign. I'm certain of it."

"Alright," Ink yawned. "Sure." Ink tried to glance behind him, wondering if Skytaker or Sepia were in the prey center. His head didn't seem to move, and Loresearcher's scales started to drip as he froze up, colors draining from them into the rest of the background. Ink tried to wince, although that didn't work either. Oops.

The vision slowly faded out, and the surroundings turned to black. Ink grabbed his eyepatch, and put it back over his eye. He lifted his head up. Seahorse was still in the room, lying down, maybe slightly bored. Ink glanced over to the huge bag of treasure next to him. Maybe Loresearcher was right, and there was something suspicious about him. Still, Ink didn't think he seemed malign. No matter what Torrent had taught Loresearcher, just because he had some form of animus magic didn't mean he was evil.

Ink got up, and walked out of the guest cave. He thought a little about what Loresearcher had said. Something or someone malign, influencing whatever was going on here. Who could it be? Not Polar nor Inferno. Nor Seahorse. Could it be one of the Dragonets of Destiny? Doubtful. Maybe one of the other students, although Ink didn't know where he'd start in an investigation. No one had really seemed super-suspicious so far.

A warm feeling suddenly washed over Ink's scales, and he took a step back. Inferno had slowly walked around the corner, making sure she didn't accidentally surprise anyone at the other end.

"Hey!" Ink greeted her with a smile. "How did things go with Tsunami?"

"Oh, er, fine," Inferno answered. She glanced around the tunnels quickly. "She said I could join the Silver Winglet for some of their classes until I decide I want to stay or not. Although she didn't really tell me where the classes were, so I'm a bit lost."

"The guest room is back that way," Ink helpfully suggested, pointing towards the direction he just came from with a wing. "Although I think I remember Skytaker telling me that their first class was usually history with Webs. There's a map at the front of the school, want me to take you there?" Maybe Ink could ask Inferno about Seahorse on the way there.

"Oh, yeah, that would be great!" Inferno answered. "If it's not too out of your way or anything?"

Ink shrugged his wings, and carefully walked around Inferno, back towards where he thought the entrance was. "It's no problem. I don't actually have a ton of stuff to do or anything. I'm really just here to meet with a relative, and maybe keep an eye on Polar."

The SkyWing followed behind the hybrid, careful to keep a tail-length between her and him. "That's funny," she pondered, "Seahorse said that he was here to visit a family member, too. Is there a SeaWing family reunion, or something?" Inferno immediately regretted saying that. She didn't really have any reason to think Ink and Seahorse were related, other than that coincidence.

Ink raised his head up. That was interesting. Seahorse had a relative here, but if Loresearcher was right, he wasn't raised in the Sea Kingdom. Could he be a hybrid, like Ink? He didn't look like it, but it was certainly possible. "I doubt it," Ink laughed. "The relative I'm meeting is a NightWing, not a SeaWing. Both you and Seahorse are from the Talons of Peace, right? Do you know who Seahorse is meeting? Aren't some of the teachers here from the Talons, too?"

Inferno shook her head. She knew that Webs, Riptide's father, worked at Jade Mountain, who was probably what Ink was asking about. "Sorry, I don't really know much about Seahorse. He's sort of new to the Talons, and is usually a bit quiet. I don't really know where he's from, but I'm pretty sure he's not related to Riptide or Webs." She frowned. Why was Ink asking her about Seahorse? Ash had been suspicious of Seahorse too, did they both know something Inferno didn't? And Inferno hadn't mentioned to Ink that she and Seahorse had come from the Talons, had she? Seahorse and Ink had both slept in the guest room together, maybe that's how he knew. But Ink had still known her name before Inferno had told him . . .

"Alright, here we go," Ink said as they reached the entrance cave. It yawned over them, the two dragons small and insignificant beneath it. It was strangely quiet and serene, a cold wind blowing into the cave from outside. The hybrid quickly walked over to the map in front of the tunnel he and Inferno had just exited, showing where the tunnel went. After scanning it, he pranced over to the other three tunnels leading out from the entrance cave in succession, quickly checking their maps before returning to Inferno. "I think I found the history cave," he grinned. "It's pretty far down that tunnel, where it intersects with too more tunnels. You can just keep going until you see it."

"Thank you," Inferno smiled. Even with her suspicious about him, Ink seemed nice, and he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives. "You said you didn't have anything else to do, right? Do you want to join me and the Silver Winglet?"

Ink's eyes brightened up. "Oh, sure!" he responded. "A history lesson sounds fun!"

There didn't seem to be the faintest hint of irony in his excitement, to Inferno's surprise. The SkyWing laughed. "Hopefully we haven't missed too much." She'd never really had a history lesson before.

The two quickly walked down the tunnel, before eventually reaching the history cave. The caverns seemed to get darker as they went further into the mountain, the fire globes and torches getting dimmer. With Inferno so near, the air around Ink started to get uncomfortably hot and stuffy, although the hybrid ignored it.

As the two turned into the history cave, the eyes of dragons all glanced towards them. Six dragonets were gathered in a circle around an older SeaWing in the center of the cave, each with a scroll in front of them. The SeaWing frowned as the two dragons interrupted his lecture. This must be Webs, Inferno thought. He did look a little like Riptide, although he had a large scar on his side that his son didn't have.

"Yes?" Webs asked exasperatedly. "Did you need something?"

"Er, I'm Inferno. I'm from the Talons of Peace. Tsunami said I could sit in on the classes," Inferno introduced herself. She glanced to Ink, realizing that she probably should've asked Tsunami if he could join too. "This is Ink. I, um, invited him to come here with me. Sorry for not asking first."

Webs grumbled a little, and gave Inferno a glare. She shivered. Did he not like her? Was it just her firescales? Or was it because she was in the Talons? Or maybe because she forgot to ask if Ink could join before inviting her?

"Fine," Webs conceded, "you two can sit in the back of the class, just don't cause any disturbances. I only have one extra scroll right now, so you'll have to share." He gave Inferno a glare. "Don't burn it." He swished his tail to point towards a scroll, and Ink quickly grabbed it.

Skytaker gave the two of them a wave as Ink sat down next to Inferno. Ink rolled the scroll open, moving it close to Inferno so that she could clearly see. She smiled uncomfortably. She didn't want to tell him she didn't know how to read.

"Now, as I was saying, a lot of modern IceWing history has been shaped by their various conflicts and cultural exchanges with the NightWings and SandWings," Webs asked. "As has been one of our recurring themes in this class, the geography of Pyrrhia heavily shapes history. The IceWings are far from an exception to this rule, in fact, how their geography has influenced their culture and history is probably one of the clearest examples. Can anyone explain what geographic feature has influenced their culture exchange the most?"

None of the dragonets immediately answered. Skytaker leaned back towards Inferno and Ink, invoking a glare from Webs. "Tiger normally answers all this stuff," they whispered. "But she's not here today, since she's with Queen Glory. It's really weird, Tiger never misses class! It has to mean that there's something big and important going on, or else she'd be here. Ugh, I hate that I'm missing it."

Webs let out a cough. "Skytaker," he said, interrupting the hybrid. "Instead of chatting with the newcomers, can you answer the question?"

Skytaker rolled their eyes. "Yeah. The Big Ice Wall thingy is wh—"

"The Great Ice Cliff," Webs interrupted. "Even though it isn't a natural geographic feature, the Great Ice Cliff still counts as Pyrrhian geography. Anyways that's the wrong answer. The correct answer is the freezing temperatures of the Ice Kingdom."

Inferno glanced around at the six dragonets, sitting around Webs as he continued. They all seemed to be around the same age, four or five years old, slightly younger than the average Jade Mountain students. Just like she'd been missing at breakfast, Tiger was nowhere to be found. Skytaker and Sepia were sitting together. Inferno noticed the small blue and pink SeaWing she'd seen at breakfast next to Sepia. Anemone, and if she remembered right, Tsunami's sister.

Inferno didn't recognize the other three dragons. An IceWing was sitting next to Skytaker, gently licking their claws as they ignored Webs' lecture. She remembered Skytaker mentioning an IceWing at breakfast. Changbai, maybe? A SandWing was sitting next to Anemone, yawning quietly as she stared down at her scroll. And a NightWing sat between the SandWing and IceWing, intently staring down at her scroll, giving Inferno the occasional glance before quickly turning away.

So this is the Silver Winglet, Inferno thought. She didn't know much about the winglet system at Jade Mountain, but from what she'd figured out, they were basically small groups of dragons that were roommates and had classes together, with one dragonet from each tribe. So far, Inferno had heard the Silver, Copper, and Jade Winglets mentioned. The Copper Winglet would probably be the one that Inferno would end up if she decided to stay here, and the Jade Winglet . . . that was where Peril was. The Jade Winglet were the ones who were missing, and had accidentally restored Queen Scarlet to power two years prior. And knowing what she knew about Peril, Inferno wasn't quite sure she wanted to meet the rest of them.