For all of Umber's quick thinking abilities, he was really at a loss as to what to do here. In fact, no one seemed to know what to do.

Flame was still on the ground with his claws latched onto Tsunami. He was looking up at her as if she had just thrown a perfectly good batch of muffins on the floor and then had turned into a giant jellyfish. Tsunami looked… awful. If she had been a fire-breathing dragon Umber was sure there would have been jets of fire blazing from her eyes and ears like a skull lit for the inside.

"Let. Go. NOW," she snarled. Umber wondered if Tsunami had finally become so angry that she had broken the laws of nature and gained fire because Flame jumped away her as if he had touched scalding water.

"You're not Chromis," he accused with a fiery growl. Umber stifled a groan. Why couldn't the first words out of Flame's mouth have been "My sincerest apologies. Please forgive my insolence and spare my life".

Tsunami flared her wings and Umber was thankful he couldn't understand aquatic. The rapid-fire light display she was creating was probably not a friendly hello. "OF COURSE I'M NOT CHROMIS!" she yelled. Her wings twitched slightly as if the words were finally making connection in her head. "WHO IN THE THREE MOONS IS CHROMIS?" she bellowed in the same enraged tone.

"H – he's Flame's brother!" Umber said and jumped between the two glaring dragons. Tsunami's lashing tail came to a stop when she saw him. The furious lines of her face eased into a smile.

"Umber!" she exclaimed and pulled him into a hug/head-lock combo. As Umber was lovingly throttled he wondered if this was what it had been like for Clay growing up with Tsunami for a sister. In some convoluted way he supposed Tsunami kind of was like a sister to him. She certainly treated him like a younger brother. Sometimes it was great, but other times, like right now, not so much.

"Hi Tsunami, great to see you," Umber managed to say through gritted teeth as Tsunami's huge muscled arms tightened around his neck.

"Tsunami! You're going to strangle him," a new voice shouted from the air. It was high pitched but soft, and every word carried with it had an undercurrent of warmth that can only come from genuine care. Umber recognized it instantly as Sunny.

Tsunami released Umber just as Sunny and Starfish, Flame's SeaWing healer, landed on the grass beside them.

"There you two are! I nearly got myself trampled looking for you," Tsunami said to the new arrivals, though Umber knew it was more likely that she had been the one doing the trampling.

Starfish cast a quick glance around the group of dragons. The overly neutral expression on Starfish's face contrasted with the glances – as quick and precise as a RainWing's dart – that he threw between Flame and Tsunami. While Umber wasn't exactly close with Starfish, he was surprised how often he could relate to the SeaWing's need to mediate everything, such as the numerous times Umber had walked in on his sibs having an argument. They tended to wait until he was out hunting or away from the den before they raised their voices and would become eerily quiet once he showed up. If they honestly thought he wouldn't notice, they were sorely wrong. No doubt at times like that he looked exactly as Starfish did now.

"My apologies, Tsunami," Starfish said in his usual unflappable tone. "I thought you were right behind us when we left the front desk."

Tsunami attacked him with her infamous glower; a move that some say had struck fear into the heart of Queen Scarlet and was rumored to have made a kid cry last semester at the Academy. But it was no match for Starfish's I'm here to listen; this is a safe space for you to feel heard and respected look that was known to have made even the most closed off and cantankerous patients open up.

Some of the thunder in Tsunami's eyes flickered down, but she let everyone know she was still displeased with a grandiose huff. "Well if you and Sunny hadn't been so distracted talking with each other you would have noticed that I was NOT in fact behind you and that I had been NOT BEHIND YOU for a good half an hour!"

Starfish's clumsy excuse was muffled by the glittering golden wings of Sunny as she flung herself onto Umber. Thankfully Sunny was not as brutal with her affection as Tsunami. Umber found himself returning the embrace, leaning into her sun-touched scales that reminded him of warm summer days and blue skies.

"It's so good to see you!" she said before abruptly pulling away. She held him gently by the shoulders and Umber was surprised to find her giving him a rather appraising look. Her intelligent green eyes travelled from his horns to his feet and to his tail. Finally she met his eyes with an enormous smile that bordered on proud. "You've grown!"

He had been so distracted by all the affectionate mauling that he hadn't made note of it, but she was right. He was now firmly a head taller than her. Tsunami rejoined the group, having finally lost interest in tormenting Starfish.

"Aww, Umber is growing up," Tsunami cooed and wrapped a cool wing around him. Umber felt a small chill pulse through his good mood. He forced a smile and pulled away as politely as he could.

"Ha ha, yeah, well – I'm the same age as Clay you know. Maybe a few days younger but that's it," he said in a tone that was a bit more measured than he had meant it to be. He felt a soft wing brush against his own and without looking he knew it was Flame. Umber's body reacted on its own; having memorized the sensation of Flame's silky wings like an astronomer would memorize the stars. He relaxed at the familiar and practiced touch and let his agitation slip away.

The SkyWing may not be as skilled at reading emotions as Umber was, but Flame could always parse out when Umber's mood was shifting for the worse. In this case, Umber was surprised at how much Tsunami's teasing had bothered him. Yes, he was the smallest of Clay's sibs but they were all the same age! Whatever faults people accused Flame of having, at least he didn't treat Umber like a dragonet – that was for sure.

"It's good to see you too, Flame," Sunny said. Her face was lit up with a smile as warm as her scales. She gingerly touched her wing to Flame's, no doubt fighting the urge to unleash her full bubbly personality onto him. Umber had to remind himself that Flame's tolerance for touch only extended to a few dragons. At least Sunny seemed to be respectful about it.

"Uhm, yeah, you too," Flame returned, though his brows creased and Umber felt an anxious jitter run along Flame's wings. Umber pressed against Flame, a silent "I'm here. You're OK" whispered between their touches. Despite Flame's confrontation with Stonemover a year ago, the SkyWing still struggled with the memories of JMA. If he were being honest with himself, Umber would admit that he also struggled with memories from that time, but for different reasons.

Despite whatever dark memories flitted about in his mind, Flame was able to meet Tsunami's eyes with a straight back. "And, um, sorry about grabbing you," he mumbled to Tsunami. "It's a long story but – due to circumstances totally beyond my control – I sort of got, erm, separated from my younger brother. I saw the end of your tail in the cafeteria and well…" he ended the sentence with a shrug, as if the whole situation just couldn't be helped.

Tsunami snorted but no longer seemed to wish death upon him. Umber would even dare to say she looked mildly sympathetic. Meanwhile Sunny gasped in delight while Starfish's eyes widened in horror.

"Oh my gosh, you have a brother?" Sunny's wings fluttered. She beamed up at Flame who leaned back as if her enthusiasm were a spear pointed at his chest.

"You should see Jet at the front desk," Starfish advised, his concerned expression fighting for attention against Sunny's vibrant smile and Tsunami's equally vibrant scowl. "She can alert the staff and Palace Guards to search for him."

Umber gave Flame a nudge. "That's a good idea. Let's go there now." Umber didn't know why they hadn't gone to Jet in the first place. Nothing happened in the Healing Center without Jet knowing about it, and if a small dragonet was terrorizing the facility surely she would know what to do.

It was also becoming apparent that they were going to need more help. This Chromis situation had really rattled Flame. Umber couldn't recall the last time he had seen Flame's anxiety so aggressive and it was kind of affecting Flame's decision making abilities.

Flame's snout wrinkled as Starfish's words sank in. "Jet?" he repeated. He looked to Umber with a hint of a pout that clearly said "Do we really have to?"

Umber's ear flicked in annoyance and he returned with his own expression of "Yes we do. Jet can help and you know it." Jet and Flame had been getting along rather well over the past year, but for some reason there always seemed to be this undercurrent of – well – Umber wasn't sure what to call it. It was like they had a constant sibling rivalry going on where one moment they would be talking amicably and then they would be arguing over who could punch the hardest (it was Jet) or fly the fastest (Flame) or who knew more about gardening (Sora actually won that one).

This cumulated in a relationship where Flame would gladly help each other out if needed but would rather die than admit to it.

Proving his point perfectly, Flame slumped his wings and he puffed out a cloud of smoke, which obviously meant, "But she's never going to let me live this down."

Umber hit him with a hard glare that didn't need any translating. Flame sighed and nodded, but with a sour twist on his mouth that was a pretty clear, "Fine, but I still don't like it."

A giggle from Sunny made them both look her way. All three dragons were staring at them.

"You should've seen your faces!" Sunny managed through a laugh. "It was like a dance routine."

"Or like watching Glory and Deathbringer do their weird eye-talk at each other in the middle of a crowd. Yuck." A shiver ran through Tsunami as if she had just had a bucket of eels poured down her back.

"You should go see Jet before she goes on her break," Starfish interjected. "Once I take our two guests to Zephyr I can come back and help you search."

"Wait, maybe we can help!" Tsunami blurted out. She stepped in front of Starfish and also squashed his front talon under her own. To his credit, Starfish didn't yell, he just looked resigned. "A lost dragonet is top notch priority. At the Academy this would be a code red."

Sunny wrinkled her snout. "We don't have codes you fibber." She studied Tsunami for a moment. "You're just trying to get out of this meeting, aren't you? I told you that you didn't have to come with me, you know."

The blue SeaWing lashed her tail, offended. "That's not true! I'm very invested in… the thing… that we came here for…"

Sunny flung her wings out in exasperation and wacked Starfish on the snout. "We're here to work on a collaboration between the Healing Center and the Academy! It's only the main thing I've been talking about for the last month!"

Tsunami had the decency to look at least a little chastened, mumbling something about the difficulties of being a head master and just how was she supposed to remember everything anyways? The fierce little hybrid continued to glare daggers at Tsunami, although from Sunny it was more like glaring butter knives. Starfish put himself between the bickering dragons, looking a bit like a worried piece of lettuce between two snapping turtles. Starfish was able to put a surprising amount of authority in his voice for a floppy leaf.

"If Flame's brother is still missing after the meeting with Zephyr then we all can help, however," he lowered his voice and seemed to aim his sternness specifically at Flame and Tsunami, "the Healing Center has all the proper resources for a situation like this and going to Jet is your best bet. There is no need for any rash actions." He fixed one last look at Flame who looked aghast at the very idea that he, rather than Tsunami, should need scolding.

"Fine, fine," Tsunami relented, and then mumbled what sounded like, "let's get this over with."

She spread her wings and ascended into the air, the rippling sunlight along her wings revealing the depth of blues held in each of her scales. She circled overhead a few times. "Come on, let's go!"

She flew off and Starfish watched her go, looking like a tired lump of seaweed. "She's going the wrong way."

Sunny sidled up to him and smiled. Although her head barely reached his shoulders she nonetheless made the effort to reach up and pat him. "Don't let her rile you up. She really does want to help, I promise. She just hates being out of her element… and taking directions… and not being in charge…and getting her tail clawed."

"Yes," Starfish said slowly, "I've gathered." He glanced back at Flame. "Will you be alright?" he said in a soft tone that referred to more than just the situation with Chromis.

Flame shrugged. "Sure. Fine. No problem."

Starfish hummed in thought but didn't probe further. "I'll check on you later." He turned to the SandWing. "Shall we?"

She nodded and turned to Flame and Umber as she spread her wings. "Maybe I can visit afterwards, too! I'd love to meet your brother, Flame." She ducked her head a little and added, "And maybe next time I'll bring Clay and Starflight instead." She had been looking at Umber when she had spoken that last part, but the half-apologetic glance she gave Starfish suggested it was a promise to both of them.

Starfish and Sunny took to the sky, no doubt to chase down Tsunami – wherever she had ended up. As soon as they were nothing but glittering specks in the sky, he and Flame both released the tension in their bodies.

"Yikes." Flame wrapped his wings around his chest as if bundling up against a cold wind. "That was weird."

"You handled it like a champ," Umber complimented and was rewarded with a shy smile from Flame. It didn't last long though and his face contorted into grimace.

"Why is this still so hard?" He looked down at his talons, flexing them into the grass. "Shouldn't I be over this by now? Why do I feel so… weird?" Umber studied the shape of his lover. His massive wings now rested limply at his side. A cloud passed over the sun, stealing the shine from Flame's ruby scales. Flame put a talon to the scar that ran along his face but quickly withdrew. "When can I just be normal again?"

"Oh Flame, you're not being fair to yourself." Umber placed his own talon where Flame's had just been, resting against the scar. "You've come such a long way, and even on the days that are harder than others, I can still see you trying so hard and – and, ugh I wish you could feel how proud I am of you."

Flame's wrinkled brow smoothed. He brought Umber's talon to his mouth and, with his warm breath against Umber's palm, murmured, "I think I can."

Every coherent thought in Umber's head vanished. He took both talons and cupped Flame's face, perhaps a bit more forcefully than he intended since Flame jolted in his grip. He pulled the SkyWing's head forward and smashed their mouths together. It took Flame only a few seconds for his brain to catch up and he relaxed into the kiss. Moments later they pulled away. Flame's stunned expression quickly became a wonderful lopsided smile that made Umber's heart burst. He could only imagine the expression on his own face.

Umber let go of Flame's head. "Sorry, I couldn't help myself," he said sounding not very sorry.

A blush dusted Flame's snout. He took a step closer to rest his tail over Umber's. "Hey, I'm not complaining. But next time I'd appreciate a gentler approach; when you grabbed me like that I didn't know if were going to kiss me or head-butt me."

Umber gave him a shove. "Seriously? You thought I would head-butt you?"

Flame had a shamelessly devious smile on. "I dunno, maybe. I wouldn't have blamed you. I'm sure I can be a pain in the – " His sentence dropped off as he looked at something in the sky behind Umber. "Oh shit. Is that – no it can't be – Chromis!?"

Umber turned to see what Flame was looking at. Just below the cloud layer were two orange shapes soaring towards the palace. SkyWings obviously, and they were close enough that Umber could see they had some minor armor on. Palace guards then.

One of the guards also had something blue and small and sparkly and Chromis shaped in their talons.

Umber inwardly and outwardly groaned. Uh no…

As the guards flew overhead, Chromis spotted Flame and Umber on the ground and had the gall to wave cheerfully at them before he, along with the guards, disappeared into the Palace.

A.N.

I hope I didn't write Tsunami as too much of a jerk in this. In my defense, though, she is a dynamite bitch and I love her.

I just finished re-reading the first WOF arc and I'm really itching to write more stuff for the Dragonets of Destiny. Reading the books for the second time now that the series has ended but a lot of things in a different light and I'd really like to explore the characters from the first arc a little more, both the main characters and side ones.