Flame had to agree when Umber suggested they try a different entrance to the palace. Ideally one with a set of guards that Flame hadn't tried to punch.

In a moment of humble brilliance, Flame suggested they try backway. Since the palace was carved into the rocks, there was no specific grand entrance in the back. Instead there was a hodgepodge of tunnels leading into the less glamorous parts of the palace, like the cellars and kitchens – basically the staff entrance.

Flame had gotten the chance to use these tunnels a few times as part of his apprenticeship in the palace kitchens. While it wasn't heavily guarded, a pair of guards usually hung around to maintain the peace or something. In truth Flame wasn't sure what their job was. All he'd ever seen them do was help unload a heavy crate of cheese every once in a while, or catch some apples as they rolled down the hill.

For these reasons alone, Flame liked them more than most guards he'd met before.

After getting turned around a few times they finally located the correct path. It led from the base of the mountain, where the fringes of the town below pushed up against the stone giant, and twisted up towards the palace. It ended in a courtyard of smooth stone that must have been painstakingly carved from the rock.

It was a large space, used for unloading the daily foods and materials that kept the palace fed and running smoothly. The mornings were always the busiest for that sort of thing; dragons flying in and out with bundles of supplies while carts were laboriously wheeled up the pathway for larger loads that couldn't be carried. At the moment it was thankfully empty, save the guards stationed on either side of the large cave that made up the entrance.

Flame and Umber landed where the path from the mountain met the entrance to the courtyard; well out of ear-shot from the guards.

Flame stole a quick glimpse in their direction. The two guards at the door seemed to be the only ones around, which confirmed Flame's original inspection. Their metal chest plates caught the angle of the afternoon sun and shot it back into Flame's eyes. He could see they were holding spears, but they weren't holding them very well. They looked all around bored, leaning against the sides of the cave entrance and yawning. Still, a ripple of uneasiness stirred in his stomach, like someone skipping a stone across a still lake.

"Have the letter?" Flame asked uselessly. Of course Umber had it, but Flame felt reassured when Umber waved the wrinkled envelope in confirmation. He knew this feeling wouldn't last long. They had done a shit job at writing the letter. Flame was relying entirely on the assumption that guards here had never seen a letter from Zephyr before and would be none the wiser.

"So do we just – " Umber waved his talons around vaguely, "go up to them and ask for Chromis?"

"Yep. That's pretty much it."

Umber waited a moment and Flame got the feeling Umber wanted him to say more. Too bad for Umber because that was all he had.

Eventually Umber nodded. "Here goes nothing."

Flame and Umber stepped into the courtyard, their wing tips brushing. The guards perked up at their approach.

"Good afternoon," Umber greeted jovially. Flame grunted out his most pleasant acknowledgement. The guards look rather displeased at being forcibly dragged into small talk.

"Uh, hello," the guard on the right said. He was male with scales a deep shade of mauve that Flame didn't usually see in dragons of his Tribe. "Can we assist you or something?" He somehow managed to sound professional and peeved at the same time.

"If this is about that cart of vegetables that was sitting here all morning," started the female dragon on the left, "then, well…. It's gone. It's not our job to keep track of produce. If you got a problem with that then you can leave a complaint in the complaint box."

We don't have a complaint box, Finch," the mauve SkyWing sighed in a well-worn way that seemed to indicate that this was not the first time they had had this conversation.

The dragon apparently named Finch looked very pleased with herself. "Yes, exactly."

Flame rolled his eyes. He didn't have time for this talk about non-existent complaint boxes. He took a step forward and the guards tightened the grip on their spears. The way they held their weapons… Flame nearly stumbled as a memory pierced through his mind like an arrow through the skull. A memory of another time and another place; where smoke and ash had ate the stars and stole his breath.

A spark of his old anger pitched in his stomach. He thought for a moment how satisfying it would be to bite those spears in half and tear this palace apart. His patience, already a meager thing, had been worn down to threads. He just wanted his brother, damn it. And now these guards were waving spears in his face? They had some fucking nerve.

Each thought added kindling to the fire until the acrid taste of smoke scraped the back of his throat and seethed between his teeth. It was this bitter hit to his senses made Flame pause. As Starfish had taught him, that was his cue to stop and assess. He took a deep breath in, held it, and then exhaled slowly as he called to mind all that Starfish had taught him.

In his previous sessions, he and his Healer had worked on ways for Flame to recognize the signs of an oncoming outburst. It was a struggle. When he was horns deep in his anger it was hard to see anything but red, let alone pull himself out of his cauldron of fury. Slowly, though, he had sewn these lessons into the sinews of his mind; threads that could guide his emotions towards away from his rage.

The first step, however, was just recognizing the warning signs. Now he had to actually pull himself out of it.

He and Starfish had tried several different methods, but ultimately the one that had worked best for him was the one he would never admit to anyone.

With an ease that only comes through arduous practice, Flame gathered the burning embers that sweltered in his chest and forged them into a figure that he imagined standing beside him.

Specifically, it took the shape of an enormous, powerful, and rather over-protective super-hero.

Flame imagined him to have scales that matched the spectrum of fire; hues of the deepest orange and crackling reds. He wore golden armor obviously, and had sword (Flame liked swords). Flame knew the hero was well intentioned; charging forward in those tense moments when Flame felt frightened or helpless, or when certain mental wounds were re-opened. While he couldn't pin-point which exact emotions had called him forth this time, Flame tried to coax the hero down.

I'm fine. I'm not in danger – you can go.

Slowly the looming presence of his rage stepped back. He was still there, though, somewhere in the background of Flame's mind, ready to leap into action. But at last Flame had the room to breathe and he inhaled slowly.

While his anger had ebbed, the guards in front of him were still very much in his face and regarding him warily. Only moments had passed, but Flame's brain felt sluggish as he tried to gather the threads of conversation. He cleared his throat and sat down; waving away the smoke that had snuck from his nose.

"Ahem, um, no we're not here about the cart." His voice still carried a low rumble of annoyance, but that was just how he always sounded. Nothing he could change about that. "I was actually wondering if you could take me to see my brother."

"He's a little guy," Umber jumped in. "Around one year old, a SeaWing SkyWing hybrid with bluey scales."

The guards looked askance at each other. "Bluey?" the mauve one repeated.

"We also brought proper documentation," Flame said and looked meaningfully at Umber.

Umber just smiled back and Flame had to nod down at the item in Umber's talon. "Oh, right," he said with a jolt. He presented the mangled and somehow damp envelope to the guards.

The guards actually leaned back as if Umber was holding out a dragonbite viper. Matching expressions of horror and revolution etched their faces.

"What is that?" Finch asked.

"A letter," Umber answered amicably, either missing or forcibly not reacting to the guards' twisted snouts. "From Zephyr; the Matron of the Healing Center."

Their expressions smoothed into that of hesitant interest. The guards shared another glance. Finally, Finch nodded at the mauve one (at this point Flame was just going to mentally refer to him as 'Mauve'). He reached for the letter, pinching it between his claws as if picking up a used tissue.

Much to Flame's surprise, Mauve was able to wrangle the envelope back into a normal shape and open the miraculously unbroken seal. The heat from the sun seemed to swell as Mauve looked over the letter, Finch reading over his shoulder. Sweat began to gather between Flame's wings and his pulse quickened.

With difficultly, Finch began to read the passage aloud, "'Please return the child… he was no meant be arrested…him brother here to get him…thank you.'"

A stunned silence hung in the air as everyone reflected on what they had just heard.

Honestly Flame was impressed. He'd thought it would be WAY worse, but most of those sentences even made a little sense. Umber, however, looked like he had just swallowed a ten day old fish that had been sitting in a gutter. As an encouraging gesture, Flame shot Umber one of his signature never-failing reassuring smiles. For some reason it failed to work this time.

"It says it's signed by 'Zephert,'" Mauve observed. "Now, I may not know much about the on goings of that there fancy Healing Center, but I'm pretty sure the name of the head dragon is Zephyr."

"Yeah, it is," Umber moped, his back hunched over in a posture that oozed with defeat and resignation.

Flame refused to ooze. They had gotten so close and they couldn't be sent back now, especially if the guards discovered it was a forgery.

He tried to think of a story that didn't necessarily dance around the truth, but with it instead.

"Um, yes," Flame started and hoped the rest would fall into place as he kept talking. "Zephyr is the Matron of the Healing Center – everyone knows that of course – and she definitely wrote this letter. The reason it's like that is because… because…"

The guards waited ever so patiently.

Flame reigned in a growl of frustration. He hated that he had to do all this lying and deception when all he wanted was to bring his brother home. In a moment of self-indulgence, Flame dreamt of the day when he wouldn't have to depend on someone else's permission. To have that kind of authority would be amazing.

He thought of what it must be like to be Zephyr, with dragons listening to your every word with reverence. Even Tsunami, as much as he was loathed to admit, had an air of aggressive authority.

In that moment, Flame was struck with an idea. It was as if the blue SeaWing herself had descended from the sky to cracked him on the skull with a bolt of inspiration.

This time when Flame spoke, his voice was lifted on a wave of confidence. "Well, as you know, Zephyr is having a chaotic day. I'm surprised she even found the time to write any words correctly. A few of the dragonets of destiny are visiting today, after all. Maybe you've heard of them?"

A shadow pasted over the guards' faces. If Flame didn't know any better, he'd say they were afraid. He wasn't sure what to do with this information, but, as usual, Umber had also taken notice and had quickly intuited their meaning.

"I'm guessing you've crossed paths with them?" Umber's tone was sympathetic.

"Yes, the SeaWing." Mauve nodded. "She flew past our post earlier today – gone off in the wrong direction or something. I flew after her to, you know, see if she needed help…" he trailed off, his head shaking as if the horrors were too much to be contained in words. Finch patted Mauve's arm reassuringly.

In that breath-span of time, Umber and Flame locked eyes. Umber winked and Flame tried to straighten the smile that was curving on his face.

"Well," Flame pushed forward in a business-clipped tone, "surely you can understand the kind of stress Zephyr is under."

Again, the guards nodded solemnly.

"So can you help us?" Umber inquired, flashing a sun-beam smile. "This is all just an honest mistake. The sooner we get Flame's brother back, the sooner we can all continue on with our day."

Mauve and Finch looked at each other and shrugged.

"We did hear about a lost dragonet that got picked up today," Mauve said. "They found the little guy splashing around in a fountain and spraying water at dragons."

Flame suppressed a smile. Classic Chromis.

"They took him into the kitchens while they searched for his parents," Finch continued, and lowered her voice slightly, "but last I heard he was moved to the Queen's private chambers.

The flow of Flame's thoughts came to a stuttering halt and rewound. He must have misheard. "Did you say the Queen's chambers? My brother? Taken there?" His sentences made about as much sense as the idea of Chromis being anywhere near a Queen. Moons forbid…had Queen Ruby been one of the dragons caught in the splash zone? He was pretty sure he would have remembered seeing Queen Ruby strolling through the gardens, but then again he had been distracted enough to miss Chromis slipping away.

"Will we still be able to see Chromis, though?" Umber asked, lines of anxiety deepening between his eyes. "If he's in the Queen's rooms, well, we're not supposed to go there, right?"

Flame hadn't even thought of that. New waves of dread threatened to crash over his head and drown him.

"Actually, there shouldn't be any problem," Finch said, and Flame's limbs nearly melted in relief. "There should be guards stationed there, just tell them Finch and Rose sent you. Keep following the stairs up and up to the highest part of the Palace. You can't miss it."

For a moment Flame wondered what roses she was talking about, but quickly the pieces clunked into place. He couldn't keep a smile from playing on his face. "Really?" he asked the dragon formerly referred to as 'Mauve'. "Your name is Rose?"

Rose puffed out his chest and gave Flame a ferocious glare. "My parents were gardeners. You got a problem?"

"Of course not!" Umber squeaked and, for no good reason at all, stepped on Flame's talons. The MudWing grabbed the letter that was still in Finch's claws. "Thankyousomuchforthehelpgoodbye," Umber mumbled incoherently and pushed Flame through the cave entrance, leaving a rather stunned Rose and Finch behind.

The air cooled as they moved out of the sun and into the tunnel system. Finally free of the guards' scrutinizing gazes, Flame was able to breathe a bit easier. The tunnel became steadily steeper as they approached one of the food prep areas.

Flame quickly led the way past the kitchens, where an orchestra of kitchen staff busied themselves boiling, sautéing, chopping, and, by the smell of it, burning an assortment of foods. The steam roiling from the pots weighed the air down like wet smoke. Flame had to force himself to look at the floor as they passed. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to hold himself back if he saw someone doing something stupid, and he couldn't afford any distractions right now.

Soon they were in the back hallways of the palace. Dark and unadorned, they reminded Flame of the deep caves he used to walk in order to see Stonemover back at the Academy. The memory alone was enough to make him shudder. He hoped it wasn't a bad omen.

"I can't believe that letter worked," Umber mutter softly. It was so quiet that Flame wondered if Umber was just talking to himself, but then the MudWing spoke again and looked up. "I almost blew it with the letter. Ugh, I – Moons I knew it wasn't perfect but WOW was it bad."

They walked along the dingy tunnels until they found the first flight of stairs that would lead to the higher levels. Flame nudged Umber's shoulder. "What are you talking about? It was fine. Like you said, it worked. That's all that matters."

"Flame," Umber said tartly. "I signed the letter as Zephert. Zephert! Why did I do that!?" Umber had to stop where he was and hold his head in his talons.

"I – well it was pretty close – um – " Flame was trying to be supportive, really he was, but now that the tension was easing off and they were alone, he couldn't keep the laughter at bay. He tried to cover it with an expertly timed cough. Umber glared at him, but the annoyance was tempered by a growing smile.

"Don't you dare start laughing," Umber ordered. "Because if you start laughing then I'll start laughing and we'll get nowhere."

Despite the darkness the pressed against them, Umber's eyes glowed ever so gently, like a firefly caught in amber. It made Flame's chest flutter.

"But I like your laugh," Flame rumbled, leaning in close so that his breath brushed the MudWing's ear. Now it was Umber's turn to cough and sputter, which brought to mind a topic that Flame had been meaning to mention.

He stepped back and peered down at Umber. "So… why did you tell Sora about my nick name for you?"

Umber's face was so red it was a wonder his scales were steaming like boiled water. "O – oh, um, well, you see – it's a funny story, but we should go find your brother right away. No time to lose." He hurried past Flame with an expertly executed dodge and roll; a move he only used in the most desperate of situations.

Flame clucked his tongue. Umber might be able to evade his questions now but later tonight, when they were alone, he was going to make sure there would be no escape.

A fork in the tunnel appeared ahead of them. Drawing from his memory Flame knew the right way lead up into the main foyer of the palace, and the left lead to a second exit. Umber continued ahead to the left.

"Umber, you're going the wrong way," Flame yelled and galloped to catch up. "The palace is the other direction."

"Oh, I know," Umber said. The tunnel they were bounding down lead to a different cave opening along the face of the mountain. "But you heard the guards. Chromis is in Queen Ruby's section of the palace, which means the highest rooms, which means we'd have to climb a lot of stairs." Umber turned to look at Flame, his eyes fierce. "I do not want to climb all those stairs."

Flame bobbed his head. "Fair point. Lead on."

They reached the mouth of the cave, which was nothing like the one they had entered by way of the courtyard. It was a narrow passage with jagged edges, much like the maw of a dragon. The wind shrilled as it whipped over the rock's seam. When they reached the end of the passage, the ground vanished in a sheer drop down the mountain's face.

A strong downward wind disturbed the scrawny shrubs and bushes that clung sideways to the mountain, their roots puncturing the rocks as easily as talons through prey. They were on the leeward side of the mountain, where the wind that ploughed over the peak eased up and rolled down the mountain's slope. They had to use several large power strokes to gain any altitude. Flame felt the shape of the wind with his wings, guiding them around the turbulent air currents that made their homes between the massive stone bodies of the mountains.

They soared towards the peak where three towers sprouted from a rectangular stone building. The base structure was easily the size of the SkyWing arena, and put together with the towers, it resembled a three-clawed talon. There was an opening in the front of the rectangle and the two dragons directed themselves towards it with tense foreboding.

They soared in and Flame half expected to be immediately tackled to the ground by a troop of highly trained elite queen-guarding warriors. He had no reason to believe such a force existed but in his graphicolls every powerful being, be they heroes or villains, always had some sort of over the top protection.

Instead it was… oddly empty. No guards or trap doors. Even the décor was plain and un-dramatic, or at least plain for a Queen's boudoir. Flame had heard that Ruby was much more practical than her mother, Queen Scarlet, and perhaps this was the proof. In fact, there were patches of darker stone on the wall that looked like tapestries might have hung there, protecting the walls from years of slow sun-bleaching. Ruby had evidently decided not to commission more tapestries in her image to replace the ones removed.

"Do you hear something?" Umber whispered into the silence. Flame struggled to ignore the heartbeats pounding in his head. He perked his ears, trusting Umber's senses more than his own.

Umber was right.

It was a distant thing. High pitched, melodic even, though it was wobbly and sometimes squeaky. Was it a bird maybe? One of those fancy singing birds they had in the Rain Kingdom? But it sounded too precise to be some animal.

"Someone's singing," Umber said, seeming to anticipate Flame's line of thinking.

Before Flame could suggest they find the source of the sound, the singing stopped. There was a beat of silence. Then there was screaming.

The frills along the back of Flame's neck shot up. It was a keening, screeching cry and he recognized it instantly.

"CHROMIS!"

Flame was a blur of disoriented movement. His talons wanted to leap forward but his brain didn't have a direction to go yet. Which tower was it coming from? It seemed to be everywhere at once, surrounding his head like a suffocating dome.

"This way! It's coming from the middle one!" Umber ran ahead. Flame focused on the MudWing, attempting to close off his hearing and just focus on putting one talon in front of the other.

The screaming stopped as Flame and Umber hurried up the steps. In the very back of his mind, Flame noted the absence of guards along the corridor.

They reached an archway at the top of the stairs where a thick wooden door had been left open. Ignoring his own common sense, Flame rushed inside. The chamber at the top of the tower was like its own little palace, with a bottom floor that was wide and spacious, adorned with silky purple drapes that barely held back the sun from the numerous grand windows. The floor above was a half-floor, where a dragon could stand and look down at the level below. There was a source of light up there as well, and Flame figured it led to the balcony.

"Chromis!" Flame shouted again.

And then, like the voice of a toddler angel, came a familiar, "Flam?"

A moment later a little blue blob of a loaf sized dragonet came bounding to the edge of the first floor. Chromis stared down at them and smile.

"FLAM!"

Without warning Chromis jumped from the ledge and into Flame's open arms. Flame felt the iron wires that had been pulling his every muscle into a taught rope of anxiety melt away. He folded himself over Chromis and exhaled deeply.

"You're such a brat, you know that?" he said, but his words held no bite. In fact he felt like laughing.

"Uh, Flame?" Umber whispered and nudged Flame's side. The stiffness of the brown dragon's voice was an immediate alarm bell. Flame glanced up and saw two figures standing on the ledge above them where Chromis had been moments ago.

He recognized them both. One he had met before, and the other he had seen prancing around the palace kitchens looking for cookies while guards hurriedly chased after him.

Staring down at them was Peril and Prince Cliff of the SkyWings.

A.N.

Whew, this chapter went through a few more edits than usual due to rewriting a few scenes – specifically the scene were Flame almost loses his cool.

Also, the techniques Flame uses to calm himself are loosely based off the works of child psychologist Dr. Jacob Ham; he makes short YouTube videos and the one I specifically took reference from is titled "Trauma and the Incredible Hulk" if you wanted to check it out :3