Ghosteyes shook herself out from the sand while Constellation spoke with his Guardian, and his skeletal construct disappeared back into the sand. She moaned softly at the feeling of a pain in her scales.

"Ghosteyes?"

She looked up and squawked at the closeness of Constellation's muzzle to her own, feeling blood rush to her cheeks as she tried to back up slowly from the bigger dragonet.

(Not that she minded being close to him. ... Wait...What?!)

Before she could do or say anything, Constellation's eyes widened as he caught the bruise blooming darkly across her inner left side.

"Oh Ghosteyes. Here, lie down."

With a surprising gentleness, Ghosteyes found herself on the soft sand, she looked up at Constellation as he sat back on his rump and brought his paws to her side. A soft white light, with gaining brilliance coated his paws, as he gently set them against her side. Ghosteyes winced at the slight pain, but when he pulled away she felt nothing. Looking down at her side she saw no bruise at all, there was nothing. She turned and looked at Constellation as he looked back at her with his warm honey golden eyes.

"What are you?"

She wasn't even aware she had spoken as she sat up and got closer to him. Constellation for his part, just smiled and flexed his wings.

"I'm just me. What else would I be?"

He smiled easily at Ghosteyes, unaware that behind him the Guardians were murmuring among themselves in worry. It had been so long since a dragonet hatched with so much power, in fact the last dragon that hatched which became this powerful was the Fallen himself.

Many more whispers began, trying to conceive a plan to lure this dragonet away from the Fallen...and to one of them instead.

One hard look from Megatronus sent a clear message to any attempt at swaying someone he had come close to viewing as his own dragonet.

'IT IS HIS CHOICE. HIS CHOICE ALONE.'

Solus and Micronus supported this decision, though now there wasn't much opposition.

Then again; when faced with a former mortal that was then granted unlimited power, and custodianship of wonderous secrets that were kept away from even them, one did tend to reconsider the taking of that being's only student.

Constellation was busily looking over his new friend for any other hurts she may have taken from the beating. He hummed to himself and then gently traced his talons along the outer edges of her eyes.

"There you go, now you look even more pretty. I think Teacher said there are some things that are hauntingly beautiful, you are one of them now too Ghosteyes."

She felt heat in her cheeks again at that, while he smiled at her brightly. She kept her gaze down at her paws, while trying to understand what he was doing. She looked up as his large ones cover hers. He then stooped his neck down to look her in the eye.

"Why do you say such things to me?"

She felt her mind and heart so badly scrambled she could very well faint, his grip on her paws tightened and made her look back up at him.

"Because you're my friend."

She knew her mouth was hanging open wide, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She could only grip his paws and focus on the bond he was holding out to her, and repeating the binding pact of friendship she knew, but never said to another. Until now.

"We'll be friends together, even at the rising of the dawn."

Ghosteyes said as happy tears trailed down her cheeks. To know she was finally not alone, even though her newfound friend was this odd dragonet of the Fallen, she felt stronger in her heart than she had since hatching.

She sighed at feeling a bond form between herself and Constellation, a bond of friendship. True, the future was unknown to her. She and Constellation could even fall in love if that was possible. But she shook such ridiculous thoughts aside as she accepted the bond of friendship he had given to her.

Ghosteyes was awake before the first light. She had many a prank done against her, so she had to wake and be gone before any of her family woke. Both her parents and siblings showed nothing but disappointment and disgust by her mere presence in their home.

All because of the color of her eyes.

She stopped at a mirror crystal in her tiny cavern when something in her reflection caught her attention.

There, going out from the corner both over and under her pale eyes were the beautiful dark patches of scale that Constellation had given to her in friendship. Lightly tracing the teardrop markings around her eyes, she felt her heart beat faster than it had in a long time. Maybe the first time even.

'He had said it made me look 'hauntingly beautiful.' He was right, these are my eyes and they are what make me, me.'

There was at least someone out there who saw her for herself. And he was her friend.