Inferno opened an eye, and let out a yawn. The guest room seemed quiet and empty. Neither Ink nor Polar were there, only Seahorse. The SeaWing was nervously fiddling with a piece of treasure. Inferno wondered what time it was. Her gurgling tummy told her it was already midday. She'd probably slept in late and missed breakfast and the first classes. Webs wouldn't be happy . . .

She glanced over towards Seahorse, recalling what Ink and her had learned last night, and what Ash had told Inferno. If she wanted to know what Seahorse was doing here, all she had to do was touch him. Inferno shivered at the thought. If she went around burning dragons, she'd be no better than . . . Peril. That was what Ink had wanted her to do, wasn't it — talk to Peril and Kinkajou about Chameleon. Even if Inferno dreaded it, a short chat with Peril was far better than setting Seahorse on fire. Better to ask help from a monster than be one.

Inferno glanced around. Where was Ink, anyways? He'd said he was going to help her talk to Peril, and tell him about his future-telling powers. That would've been handy to know. Maybe he was out with the Silver Winglet already, at classes. Inferno sighed. As bad as she felt about it, she really needed to ask Ash to stop visiting her during the night so often. But it wasn't like he got any other company, did he? Maybe that was too cruel. She was the one who'd killed him; she could just bear being a little sleepy.

The SkyWing got up from her resting place on the floor, and left the guest room, leaving Seahorse behind. She wasn't quite sure where to go. Was it time for lunch already? Maybe. But instead of going directly to the dining hall, she found herself walking to the Jade Winglet's corridor. Ink had asked her to talk to Peril or Kinkajou about Chameleon, and even if he'd disappeared, Inferno felt like she had a bit of a duty. Even if she was scared, it was the courageous thing to do. He'd be proud of her if she did that, right?

Fortunately for Inferno, Peril wasn't there when she reached the Jade Winglet's caves. Winter was brooding alone in his cave, while Kinkajou was chatting with one of her clawmates, Mouse. As Inferno poked her head in the room, the two's eyes turned towards her.

"Um, sorry for interrupting," Inferno chattered, glancing around at the room. Those scrolls looked mighty flammable. "You're Kinkajou, right?"

"Oh, hey!" Kinkajou perked up. "Yep, that's me! Most awesome RainWing in the Jade Winglet. You're the firescales Turtle was talking to, right? Inferno? He mentioned you by the way, since Tsunami was VERY angry with me. Don't try and steal Turtle from me, he's my boyfriend, and I'll shove a pineapple UP YOUR SNOUT if you do because STEALING BOYFRIENDS is not cool. I say this because we broke up briefly last year and he and Peril dated for a while but it wasn't serious since it was actually just a ploy to get Clay to pay more attention to Peril and GAH THERE'S SO MUCH RELATIONSHIP DRAMA AT THIS SCHOOL."

"Half of it is your fault, Jou," Mouse pointed out. "Also did you ever think about how it's like totally weird that Peril's dating Clay since he's a teacher?"

"SHUT UP she's older than him and you know NOTHING about relationship drama also when are your sibs coming to visit I want to meet them?"

"Dunno, like, a few weeks from now." Mouse seemed entirely uninvested in this conversation.

"Fine anyways Inferno did you want something?"

"Umm," Inferno said, not really quite sure what was going on, "I was just wondering if you know a dragon named Chameleon?"

"Oh dear," Mouse sighed, knowing what was coming next.

"WHAT CHAMELEON?" Kinkajou yelled, invoking a glare from the brooding Winter. "YES UNFORTUNATELY I DO KNOW A DRAGON NAMED CHAMELEON." Her scales were starting to turn red all over.

"Deep breath," Mouse interrupted.

Kinkajou made a big huffing noise, glaring at Mouse. "Chameleon is this mean, nasty, smoke-breathing, good-for-nothing RainWing. So you know how everyone blames the Jade Winglet except for Mouse because we accidentally brought Queen Scarlet back to power? Well that's not really our fault, it's Chameleon's. He's also the reason Winter can't go back to the Ice Kingdom, not that we want him to go back, and he put me in a coma."

Mouse sighed. "Chameleon is Peril's dad," she explained, rolling her eyes. "He works for Queen Scarlet, and can like change into other dragons or something. I dunno, I wasn't there for that."

"Yeah and if I ever see him again I'm going to shove TWELVE PINEAPPLES AND A SLOTH UP HIS UGLY SNOUT. Is that all?"

"Er, haha, yeah," Inferno replied, a little bit intimidated. "Thank you for your time."

"It's nothing," Mouse yawned.

Inferno slowly backed out of the room, unsure what to do now. So Seahorse/Cirrus/Chameleon was Peril's father, and worked for Queen Scarlet. That sounded pretty awful, but Seahorse had never seemed like a mean dragon. He'd been awkward around Inferno, but nice. He'd helped out the Talons a lot, and worked just as hard as everyone else, maybe harder, on the Talons' projects. But working for Queen Scarlet, and hurting Kinkajou . . .

Inferno wasn't sure what to do. Was Seahorse a spy for Queen Scarlet, sent to Jade Mountain to secretly kill dragons? She didn't know. She considered Ash's suggestion again, just briefly. No, that wouldn't do. She thought back to what Seahorse had said on their flight to Jade Mountain. He wanted to see a relative and apologize. He wanted to apologize . . . to Peril? And he somehow thought that Inferno could help because she also had firescales. That was pretty stupid, but the story made sense. Still, Inferno didn't know if she wanted to help Seahorse, especially if he'd worked for Queen Scarlet.

Inferno started to head back to the guest room, still debating what to do. Seahorse was still there, but it wasn't like Inferno could go back to Peril's room, now that she'd returned. She walked in to see Seahorse anxiously tapping his scrollcase on the floor. He glanced up as she saw Inferno walk in.

"Oh, er, Inferno. You didn't happen to see anyone unusual come into the room last night, did you?"

"U-unusual?" Inferno gulped. She glanced towards Seahorse's cloth sack. Had he realized that Ink had gone through his stuff? "Um, no, no one unusual."

"Ah," Seahorse frowned. "I was looking through my treasure last night, and noticed something important missing. It's a kind of unique piece of jewelry, these iron chains and boxes. Do you think you could tell me if you see them anywhere, or find someone wearing those?"

"Of course," Inferno smiled, her talons shaking. Those were the ones that had made Ink turn into a giant NightWing. She felt guilty, lying to Seahorse about going through his stuff last night. Even if Seahorse was working for Queen Scarlet, it didn't feel right. And who could've stolen the chains? They were there when Ink had woken her up. Did Ink steal them? He wouldn't have, right?

Inferno laid down in the small area that had been set aside for her. She stared at her agate. She'd promised Seahorse she'd help him with apologizing, hadn't she? Inferno just couldn't break that promise, could she? Even if she was scared, even if Peril was probably an evil monster, Inferno had made a promise. She was part of the Talons of Peace — it was her duty to try and make dragons' lives better.

"Seahorse," Inferno said, almost spontaneously. She'd made her decision, it was too late to turn back now. "Did you want to go talk to your daughter now?"

"My daughter?" Seahorse asked, slightly surprised. "Er, um—"

"Peril," Inferno told him, her voice uncannily stern. "I know who she is. I talked to Kinkajou. She hates you, by the way. Do you want me to call you Seahorse, Chameleon, or Cirrus?"

Seahorse blinked in surprise. "Oh. So you know."

Inferno gritted her teeth. "Yes. You were telling the truth, right? About wanting to apologize to her? You're not planning to go on a murder spree at Queen Scarlet's bequest?"

"No, no," Seahorse replied. "No, definitely not. I don't work for Scarlet anymore. I haven't since I returned to the Talons." He sighed. "If you must, just call me by whatever form I'm in. Seahorse if I'm a SeaWing, Cirrus if I'm an IceWing, Chameleon if I'm—"

"A RainWing," Inferno replied. "Got it. So you want to apologize to Peril for turning her into a monster? She's back."

"Turning her into a monster?" Seahorse chuckled uncomfortably. "Oh, no. I had nothing to do with her upbringing. That's all Queen Scarlet's fault. She lied to me, you know. She told me Kestrel's dragonets were dead, and kept us far apart. I didn't know she was my daughter until a few years ago." Bitterness dripped through Seahorse's voice as he spoke about Scarlet.

"So what are you apologizing for? Attacking Kinkajou?" Inferno asked. "Bringing Queen Scarlet back to power?"

"Um yes, and also yes," Seahorse replied. "And some other stuff. A good amount of other stuff. Mainly tricking Peril, although to be fair, I didn't know she was my daughter until after I tricked her. Well, after I wrote the enchantment. Huh, that's a poor excuse, isn't it? But don't worry, I'm a good dragon now and will redeem myself for my past actions! Technically, Seahorse is a good dragon but Seahorse is me so it's fine."

"Okay?" Inferno asked, not sure what Seahorse had meant by that. "So, you want to go find Peril? Like, now?" Inferno kind of wanted to get this over with. Especially the talking to Peril part. She shivered, just thinking about Peril's hugs.

"Yes, but you see, I think she still hates me," Seahorse explained. "Which is totally justified, but it still hurts. Do you think you could, soften her up or something? Not in a manipulative fashion, but just to make sure she doesn't try and set me on fire."

"Oh, her hating you hurts," Inferno snorted. "So what? Everyone hates me, and I still have to talk to them. You think I want to talk to your serial killer daughter either? I'm not going to 'soften her up'." She wasn't sure why she hated how cowardly Seahorse was being so much. Maybe it reminded her of herself too much.

"Ah. Alright," Seahorse squirmed. "I guess I can. You'll be there too, right? Not to soften her up, just as emotional support."

Inferno rolled her eyes. "Yes. That's why I suggested we go to find Peril. Believe me, I don't want to talk to her alone either."

"Great, great," Seahorse grinned. He tucked his scrollcase behind his bag of cloth treasure. "Um, do you know where Peril is?"

Inferno and Seahorse found Peril on the landing platform, chatting with Turtle. The view over the Claws of the Clouds was stunning. The skies had been clear ever since Inferno had got here, with no clouds to obscure the heavenly mountains, even if the snow on their peaks was melting. Ermine stared out over it, keeping his distance from a few bloodstains on the platform that hadn't yet been cleaned up. Inferno wondered what had happened.

"Oh, hey Inferno!" Peril called excitedly as she saw the other fireborn approaching.

Inferno's stomach turned. Hopefully the blood on the platform wasn't Peril's doing. "H-hey there." She glanced at Seahorse, motioning him forward, hoping that Peril wouldn't try and hug her again.

Seahorse stepped forward, meeting Peril on the edge of the platform, the mountains behind them. "Um, hey," he greeted, staring at Peril. His heart raced.

"Heeyyyy," Peril replied, a little unsure of why this SeaWing was looking at her so strangely. "Have we met?" She gulped. Hopefully, they hadn't met in the arena. What if she'd killed one of the SeaWing's family members or something?

"Yeah," Seahorse chuckled uncomfortably. He scratched behind his horns. "I kind of wanted to apologize."

"Apologize?" Peril asked, confused. "Oh, did you throw rocks at me once or something? That's alright, I kind of deserve it."

"No, no," Seahorse gulped. "Something a bit worse. I just . . . felt like we left on bad terms, and sort of wanted to change that."

Peril sighed. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but I have absolutely no idea who you are. Seriously, you don't have to be all pitiful and mopey or anything, if I can't remember it, it probably wasn't a bit deal."

Seahorse squirmed. "Er, just give me a moment." He took a deep breath, and moved his claws to his silver locket. He carefully removed it from his neck, and held it in his claws as they changed in size and color, turning into a lime green. Seahorse's gills faded into his scales, and the webbing beneath his claws disappeared. A small RainWing stood before Peril where Seahorse had been.

"Oh," Peril grumbled unhappily, shaking her head like a migraine had suddenly been brought onto it. "It's you."

"Yeah," Chameleon replied. "It's, er, been a while, hasn't it?"

"Not long enough," Peril snorted. "What do you want? I'm not taking any more of your stupid necklaces, if that's your plan. What, does Scarlet want me as her champion again? If so, you can head back to her right now."

"I just wanted to apologize, you know?" Chameleon replied. "I feel a bit bad about what I did, and was sort of hoping you could forgive me for that. You're my only daughter."

"'A bit bad,'" Peril mocked her father. "What, you just expect me to forgive you, just like that?"

Chameleon nodded. "Yeah. I'm a good dragon now. You're supposed to forgive good dragons, right?"

Peril snorted. "What does that even mean? You have to do good things to become a good dragon. Like setting Queen Scarlet on fire. That's a very good thing. Not that I still set dragons on fire or anything, but she's an exception."

"I've done good things!" Chameleon snorted. "I joined the Talons of Peace. For real this time, not to spy on them. What about you? You killed a lot of dragons in the SkyWing arena. But you changed, and become good, and everyone forgived you."

Peril looked slightly in conflict about this, but Turtle stepped forward, raising his snout up towards Chameleon. "Peril was raised and taught by Scarlet, no thanks to you, to do those evil things," he growled. "You chose to hurt and murder dragons."

Inferno winced. This was turning out to be a disaster. Why did she think that she'd be able to help anyone?

"I had a rough raising too!" Chameleon protested, hissing at Turtle. "Do you know how awful it is to have everyone teasing you, telling you you're not a real RainWing, constantly telling you there's something wrong with you?"

"YES!" Turtle responded. "And I didn't turn out like you. I didn't try and kill a RainWing dragonet because my brothers bullied me."

"What, you're still angry about that?" Chameleon grumbled. "It was years ago. And this is between Peril and I, so stay out." The RainWing bared his fangs threateningly.

"Don't you touch him!" Peril yelled, pushing Chameleon away from Turtle. "I don't c—"

Chameleon's ear-splitting screams cut through Peril's words as he stumbled back. "My wing!" he cried as the scent of burning flesh rose up from where Peril had pushed him, holes burning through his wing membrane. "My wing!"

"Oh no, no," Peril winced. "Why did I do that? Ugh, stupid, stupid."

Turtle gulped. "Um, I can get the pebble," he suggested, turning back towards the academy.

Chameleon let out another high-pitched scream, this time for a different reason. Turtle looked back to see the burning RainWing tripping over his tail, stumbling over the side of the platform. Peril reached out her paw and grabbed the end of her father's tail, causing him to let out another shrill shriek as her talons quickly burnt through the flesh, leaving nothing but ashes. Chameleon tried to flap, but with the huge hole in his wing, it was in vain. A few moments later, Inferno heard a the sounds of a dragon crashing through the forest's leaves, followed by a loud 'thump.'

Inferno stared on in shock. This had really not gone according to plan. This was all her fault, wasn't it? Why had she stuck her neck where it didn't belong? She took off after Peril and Turtle, flying down towards the forest below.

"GAAH!" Peril yelled as she descended, at no one in particular. "Why did I do that?" she looked frantically at Turtle. "I killed him, didn't I? I didn't mean to hurt him. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Clay's going to be so angry."

"He won't," Turtle tried to comfort her. "He'll know it's an accident."

"It doesn't matter if it's an accident!" Peril protested. "I killed him, after I swore no more killing or setting dragons on fire, even if I really want to do that. Even if he was a bad father, I didn't want him to die! I really, really wanted him to have changed. I want a family! Not that there's anything wrong with you all. But now he's dead, and I don't have any parents anymore, do I? I'm an orphan. Which isn't really that weird since I used to think I was an orphan, but still!" She glanced back to Inferno. "Three moons, you're still here. I'm so sorry about this. I don't normally kill dragons. Not just not normally, I don't ever kill dragons. Well, I used to, but Queen Scarlet made me think I should and I guess I never questioned her until Clay came along. But I don't kill dragons anymore! Except for this, but it was an accident. Really, I promise!"

"I believe you," Inferno replied. Even in Peril's rambling, Inferno could tell she was genuinely feeling guilty about the accident. Maybe this dragon Inferno had thought was a monster really wasn't so bad after all; she'd just been misguided and manipulated. She wasn't quite sure she wanted to be friends with a murder, but maybe Inferno could at least tolerate her.

The three landed near a hole in the canopy, where the branches had been bent and crushed by a falling dragon. Careful not to set anything on fire, they walked to the area beneath the hole.

"Ouch," a dragon grumbled, much to Peril's surprise. Seahorse slowly raised himself up from the smashed leaves, glancing warily at Peril. "Please don't kill me. I got the message."

"You're alive!" Peril exclaimed happily, much to her father's confusion. "I'm so sorry for setting your wing on fire and then your tail and dropping you off a cliff. It was accidental, I swear."

Seahorse looked warily in Peril's direction.

"She's telling the truth," Inferno corroborated. "It was an accident. I don't think she meant to hurt you."

"Er, who's the fourth dragon?" Seahorse asked worriedly.

Peril turned around and let out a sharp yell of surprise, finding herself snout-to-snout with a sky-blue hybrid. "Hey, don't sneak up on me!" she reprimanded Aurora. "You could get hurt, and I've already hurt enough dragons accidentally today."

Aurora was unintimidated. She slowly turned side to side, examining each of the dragons in turn. "Fireborn. Fireborn. Animus. Shape-changer. This is the most formidable group of dragons I've ever seen." The last sentence was said like an observation, with neither fear nor reverence. She tilted her head to the side, curiously staring at the smoke rising from Inferno's scales. "You smell like smoke."

"Er, who are you?" Turtle asked. "How did you know—"

"Shape-changer," Aurora interrupted, turning to Seahorse. "Your NightWing form is gone. Blame the Night-Sea hybrid. He's already paid for his hubris."

"Night-Sea . . .?" Inferno replied, suddenly realizing she meant Ink. She bared her fangs. "What do you mean, 'paid'? If you've hurt him, I'll . . . I'll . . ."

"I hurt him, in the way I was ordered to. You'll do nothing," Aurora commanded. A wind started to pick up from behind her. "I have no quarrel with you. It is not yet the time for us to meet. Goodbye."

Aurora started to walk away, towards the cliffside.

"Hey, stop!" Peril shouted, starting after her. The fierce gust blew against her eyes, causing her to turn away and shut her eyes. When she looked back, no trace of the hybrid remained. The four were silent for a moment.

"Well, that was weird." Peril frowned. Suddenly, she turned back to her father, smiling. "But you're alive! I'm grateful! Not because I think you're a good father, since you're not, but because I don't want to kill you since I don't kill dragons anymore. Also I'm sorry for setting you on fire."

"Thank you," Seahorse sighed. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have come back, expecting that you'd forgive me just because I'd thought I'd become a better dragon. I hurt and tricked you, my own daughter, just for gold. If you want, I can just go."

Peril swished her tail back and forth, unsure. "Are you still working for Queen Scarlet?"

Seahorse shook his head. "Not anymore. I stayed with her for a while after she returned to power, but the treasure stopped pleasing me. I got in an argument with her about how she kept you hidden from me, and she threatened to throw me in the arena. So, I left. I knew you wouldn't want me back, so I went to the Talons of Peace. I decided to change myself in hopes that you'd be able to forgive me and we could be a great and happy family. Literally, change myself. They'd already seen Cirrus, so I used Seahorse, although I changed up his enchantment a little. I knew about your redemption with Clay, and figured you'd accept me if I became good, so I added in 'Seahorse is a good and selfless dragon' on his enchantment."

"Wait, wait, hold up," Peril interrupted. "You're telling me that you enchanted yourself to be good? That feels like, totally cheating. Also the whole changing how dragons think is really creepy, even if it's yourself, no offense."

Seahorse shrugged. "More like a little bit of guidance than forcing myself to be good. I think that I could still be selfish and greedy if I wanted to. Like how after I enchanted you to be loyal to Queen Scarlet — sorry about that — you were still able to break free of it. But I told, you, I'm really trying, I promise. For you."

Peril sighed. Something about that struck a chord in her. She remembered how she'd tried to become a better dragon for Clay — how she was still trying to become a better dragon. She couldn't ever reverse the things she'd done, but maybe she could keep the future brighter. Clay had given her a chance. Maybe she could give her father a chance in return. "Turtle, how do you feel about him staying? After what he did to Kinkajou."

Turtle tapped a webbed claw on the ground. "That's not my choice, it's Kinkajou's," he decided. "I can talk to her about it later. But are you sure?"

"Of course not," Peril snorted, turning back to Seahorse. "Look. Jade Mountain was willing to take in a monster like me. You might have a place here. Honestly, we really need some more teachers. I haven't forgiven you yet, and I'm not ready for us to be family. But Clay gave me a chance, so I feel you deserve one too. Still, you're on pretty thin ice. If you're lying, or you hurt someone again, especially any RainWing dragonets, I'll make sure Queen Glory makes you pay for it."

Seahorse's eyes sparkled with happiness. "T-thank you for the opportunity."

Peril nodded. "Just a suggestion though: stay as Seahorse until we get things sorted out with Kinkajou. Unless you want pineapples up your snout."