A/N: This Winglet is a little different from the previous two, but the events that happen within this chapter mark the beginning of a relationship that heavily influenced what will happen in future chapters of Finding Peace.

Hope you all enjoy it! As always: Reviews are always helpful, your critiques and thoughts help me keep writing.

Now, let's take flight!

Finding Peace: Winglets

The Outcast

2989 AS (After Scorching)

Anaconda hated camouflage practice.

Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration.

She did not mind practicing camouflage, in fact, she enjoyed camouflaging herself! Whenever her mother was not busy ruling the tribe, Queen Lavender would take time out of her day to play with Anaconda and her sisters. Hours and hours on end the Queen and her daughters would be in the Rainforest, Anaconda and her sisters trying to hide from their mother in the Rainforest foliage.

While her mother would always be able to find her younger sisters with ease, Anaconda was typically the last one to be found.

Because even at a single year of age, Princess Anaconda was a mistress of stealth, thank you very much.

Whereas most RainWings her age could camouflage, alongside their scale colors, young RainWings still needed to practice just how well they could blend in with their environments. A well-trained eye would be able to spot an unskilled camouflage and see something amiss if given the chance. Anaconda, however, always had an affinity for camouflage, to the point when she camouflaged, one could not see her outline. It would almost seem like she turned completely invisible.

Yet, her mother insisted that Anaconda and her younger sisters attend lessons with other RainWing dragonets, in order for them to build a sense of community with their future subjects rather than staying at a distance.

Anaconda was fine with the idea, even liked it as she had already made some friends within her classes. But having to pretend she was not a mistress of camouflage felt insulting.

Well, that was going to change today.

During the practice test her instructor, Canopy, would hold for her class, Anaconda was going to show everyone that she did not need to practice.

"Anaconda, you are up next," Canopy called out to her after he had congratulated one dragonet who had managed to just, barely, camouflage himself enough that his outline could not be seen by the instructor and the rest of the class.

Anaconda, however, was able to notice where the dragonet was standing within a half a minute, however. While the camouflage itself had been good, she could see a rustling of scales from the dragonet, but she had been quiet until Canopy told the dragonet to come out.

Now it was her turn, much to Anaconda's excitement.

Stepping out of the line of assembled RainWing dragonets, who all lay on the floor of the tree house while they watched their fellow classmates practice. Most of the students had been talking with one another for much of the time during the practice, only briefly paying attention when Canopy called out for a student to come up. But with the announcement that Anaconda was up next for practice, everyone's eyes were now on her.

As she approached Canopy, Anaconda felt her scales, a pattern of light and dark green, shudder with excitement at what she was about to do.

Looking up at Canopy, a twenty-five-year-old RainWing with dark blue scales, Anaconda nodded at her instructor, signaling she was ready.

"Now, try and hold your camouflage for as long as you can," Canopy said, his voice calm and nurturing. "Begin!"

As soon as the command was given, Anaconda willed her scales to camouflage with her environment. One moment she stood in front of Canopy and her class, the next it looked as though she had just vanished from midair. To the rest of her class, and even Canopy, Anaconda saw the shocked expressions when her camouflage had started instantly and that, contrary to previous practices, there was no outline of her present.

"Whoooooaaaaa!" Came the voices of her classmates in unison at what they had just witnessed.

Hearing the awe of her classmates caused a warm feeling in Anaconda's chest to rise, but she pushed the sensation down when she almost lost control of her camouflage.

She was not finished, after all.

Very quietly, like a big cat sneaking through the forest, Anaconda stepped away from Canopy and made her way towards a tree that was growing in the middle of the house, which rose towards the ceiling and left an opening. Climbing up the trunk of the tree, Anaconda reached the top with great speed and climbed up out of the roof. When she was on top of the roof, she opened her wings and glided off of the roof and landed on one of the walk ways of the RainWing village, and quickly raced through the village, accidentally bumping into her tribemates on occasion while she was still cloaked.

Once she reached the boundary of the village, Anaconda opened her wings again and glided through the air until she reached a branch of a tree that was outside of the village.

Finally decloaking, Anaconda giggled in excitement and amusement at what she had just done in front of her class. She wondered if Canopy still thought she was in the tree house?

Well, she was not going back. Not today.

Mother would surely not appreciate her leaving class this early, let alone leaving the village on her own. But Anaconda was going to do it anyway if anything it would cause her mother to give Anaconda some attention.

In a series of short glides, Anaconda distanced herself from the village further until she reached the location of the Rainforest that she, her sisters and mother played hide and seek in. This area of the forest was thick with trees and foliage, making it a great place to hide in.

Once she reached the limb that she and her sisters normally sat on, Anaconda stretched her body after the travel she had just done and laid down on the limb, grinning to herself at recalling the reactions of her classmates and Canopy.

She wondered how they would react to her tomorrow when she showed up for gliding practice? Admittedly Anaconda knew she was not that good at tree gliding, yet anyways. But she hoped at least she would not need to practice camouflage anymore.

If anything, Canopy should be proud of her…

Anaconda was ripped from her thoughts when she heard something breathing from above her.

Looking up on the limb above her, she only saw leaves, tendrils of vines and the limb itself…yet she could still hear breathing. Almost…like snoring?

Raising a brow. Anaconda climbed up the trunk of the tree and walked across it…until she felt her feet trip over an unseen object.

"AH!"

"GAH! WHA…?!"

Anaconda blinked in shock as she almost fell off the limb of the tree, but her prehensile tail instinctively curled around something to stop her fall…only it was not a limb she had grabbed onto. But another tail…

"Do you mind…letting go?!" Came a voice above her. Anaconda looked up to see a male RainWing dragonet her age desperately trying to hold onto the limb she had been on, his talons digging into the wood…

Turns out she had latched onto his tail.

Letting go, Anaconda dropped down to one of the lower limbs on the tree and looked up to watch the RainWing dragonet drop down to the same limb that she was on. The dragonet looked to be about her age, around a year. His scales were also…different for a RainWing. While most RainWings had scales that were bright and colorful, this dragonet's scales were a mix of light brown with a pattern of dark brown designs going down from the tip of his nose, his spine and to the tip of his tail.

The dragonet yawned for a moment as he looked at her, annoyed.

"What the heck was that for?!" He asked her, frowning heavily.

Anaconda glared at the dragonet across from her after he raised his voice at her, of all dragonets. Not to mention it was his fault in the first place.

"Well sorry," She said, sarcastically. "I'm not the one who was literally sleeping while camouflaged…and in the middle of the rainforest!" Wait… "Why are you even sleeping in the middle of the Rainforest?"

"Because," The dragonet said, shrugging at her comment, nonchalantly.

"Because…why?" Anaconda asked, trying to keep her frustration down.

"Talking to a friend."

"Talking to a friend? You were asleep!" This dragonet was weird…

"Yeah." The dragonet replied, looking at Anaconda as if she were weird one. "Why wouldn't I?"

Anaconda tilted her head at the dragonet, trying to see if he was pulling her tail. But the way he stared at her, it looked like he was actually serious. After waiting, in vein, a few seconds of expecting the dragon to start laughing, Anaconda decided that that the dragonet was telling her the truth.

Maybe it wasn't actually the truth, but the dragonet seemed really convinced. Though if it was actually true, then she would want to know how to talk to someone in her sleep. That would make sun time much better.

"What is your friend's name?" Anaconda asked, genuinely curious.

"She doesn't have one," The dragonet responded. "I don't think she likes names…"

"Well…do you like names?"

"Of course," The dragonet said, easily catching onto the actual question Anaconda was asking. "My name is Adder, what's yours?"

This made Anaconda raise her brow, but at the same time, she realized something about the dragonet, Adder, that she should have noticed the moment they started talking: He did not recognize her. Almost every dragonet in the village knew what she, and her sisters, looked like. In turn Anaconda at least recognized most of the dragonets.

But this dragonet? She had not seen in her class or anywhere near the village, and he looked like he was the same age as her.

"My name is Anaconda," She revealed, not including her title of Princess, wanting to pretend she was not a royal to this strange dragonet.

While she was proud of being a princess, a daughter of a good Queen like Lavender, Anaconda admitted that it got annoying when the other dragonets in her class almost seemed to keep their distance from her and her sisters.

She and Adder may have started off on the wrong talon, but he was at least talking to her like they were both dragonets, regardless of social status.

"Anaconda?" Adder asked, his voice filled with curiosity. At first, Anaconda thought he would recognize her name, and that the conversation would suddenly change. Instead, Adder continued. "You're named after a snake! Like me!"

A small amount of relief filled Anaconda as she nodded.

"Yeah, but I don't think I've heard of an Adder before…"

Adder shrugged his wings, smiling.

"They live in the Sky Kingdom, I think," Adder paused as he tapped his talons to his chin, he smiled after a while and continued. "Yeah, mumma and papa say they live there."

"Your mumma and papa?" Anaconda asked. How does he know both of his parents?

While Anaconda and her sisters were raised by their mother, other dragonets did not know their parents, rather they were raised by the entire tribe, as a "community," as the grownups referred to the tribe as. Anaconda knew that whoever her father was, was not the same father as her younger sisters. For her first year of life she never once thought about her father.

Yet this dragonet in front of her knew both of his parents.

"Who are your mumma and papa?" Anaconda asked, shortly after her first question.

"Shimmer and Oak," Adder said.

"I don't recognize their names."

"Well we don't really live in the village," Adder admitted, which now made since to Anaconda as to why she did not recognize the dragonet. "We live on the edge of the Rainforest, trading with MudWing visitors."

Anaconda's ruff rose with excitement at hearing that.

"MudWings? You know dragons from other tribes?" Anaconda asked, eager to hear more.

"Yeah," He nodded. "Don't you know dragons from other tribes?"

Anaconda shook her head. Because RainWings rarely left the Rainforest, the tribe had few visitors from other tribes. Her mother would have visitors from other tribes and would meet them somewhere outside of the village, but no other tribe knew the location of the RainWing village, according to mother that was a good thing.

Though Anaconda had never seen the dragons who could fly fast, live underwater, read your mind, live in the coldest part of the land, live among the sand or the ones who loved mud. She had heard of all these dragons but never seen them.

She envied this dragonet across from her, how much had he seen outside of the village in the Rainforest?

"No," Anaconda answered Adder's question, smiling sheepishly. "I am…very confined at the village."

"Must be nice," Adder said, the smile of his returning. "Being around so many other RainWings."

"It's not really," Anaconda replied, shocked at Adder thinking that being with the RainWings would be much nicer than seeing dragons from other tribes. "I mean, most of the tribe is nice. It's fun to play with other dragonets…but they can be so boring. At least you have met other dragons!"

"Only adults," Adder answered, shrugging his wings. "And even then they only ever trade with mumma and papa…Not every day I see another dragonet, and a nice one at that."

Anaconda felt the green scales over her cheeks turn scarlet, and she struggled to fight the blush that was forming, along with the rest of her scales turnings colors, because of the compliment Adder gave her, even if they had just met a short while ago, and under curious circumstances.

Recalling their meeting only minutes ago, those thoughts reminded her: Adder's "friend," who were they supposed to be anyways?

"She likes you," Adder said, interrupting Anaconda before she had the chance to speak.

"What? Who?" Anaconda asked, tilting her head.

"My friend," Adder continued, that smile of his not ceasing. "She says you are nice."

Anaconda rose an eyebrow, glancing around the surrounding forest, trying to look and see if anyone was around. But she only saw herself and Adder.

"Come on out!" Anaconda suddenly spoke out to the surroundings. "You don't have to hide…"

Adder looked back at Anaconda, confused.

"She can't come out like that," Adder said, Anaconda turned her head back to the dragonet, confused. "You have to be sleeping."

"Sleeping? Why?" Anaconda asked.

"Don't know, but I only see her when I'm asleep," Adder said as he stood up on the limb, holding his wings out so he balanced himself until he was in front of her. "Can I show you?"

"Show me, what?"

"My dream," Adder said, holding out his talons towards her.

Again, a very strange dragonet Adder was, Anaconda thought to herself. All of this talk about imaginary friends and 'dreams' sounded like nonsense to her.

Yet, that smile he gave her. It was hard to think ill of someone like Adder when he just seemed so honest. He had only met Anaconda for a few minutes, and yet he was open with her. Maybe it was because, as he had said, he had no dragonet friends and only spent time with adults most of the time (and Anaconda, as the next queen, knew how that felt to be around adults all day.)

Maybe he was a little strange, but Anaconda liked Adder already.

So what hurt would there be in touching his hand?

Reaching out for his hand with her own, Anaconda prepared to clasp Adder's own.

"ANACONDA!"

Both Anaconda and Adder jumped in shock as the roar could be heard not so far away, followed by the sound of branches rustling in the distance and animals running away from the arrival of the adult RainWing.

"Oh no…" Anaconda muttered, her wings dropping.

"Who is that?" Adder asked, looking nervous as he slowly backed away from Anaconda.

Anaconda sighed, rubbing her brows, forgetting just how obvious this location was to not just to Anaconda or her sisters…

"My mumma," Anaconda answered.

"Your…mumma?" Adder asked, his eyes widening after she said that. "But, village RainWings are raised by the tribe…right?"

"Yeah, except for me…or my sisters," Anaconda said, as she said this Adder's eyes were filled with fear. Almost like Anaconda's scales had shifted into a hideous color. "Adder? What's wrong?"

"I…I…" Adder stuttered, quickly turning around to bolt away. "I shouldn't be here!"

"Wait!" Anaconda shouted, grabbing Adder's wing, causing the dragonet to suddenly freeze as she touched him. "What's wrong?"

Adder turned to face Anaconda, but his eyes shifted from hers, to over her head.

Eclipsing her body, Anaconda saw a shadow stand over her. Turning away from Adder, Anaconda was met with the towering appearance of her mother, Queen Lavender herself.

True to her name, the RainWing queen's natural scale color was like the color of a lavender plant, a light violet color with some scales that were normally blue in color, however, those small scales were red now, signifying that Anaconda's mother was angry at her.

"Mumma," Anaconda spoke, calmly…though a brief crack in her voice betrayed her attempts to appear unafraid of her mother's gaze. "You found me…"

Queen Lavender gaze did not soften, to say that she looked disappointed in Anaconda would be a dramatic understatement.

"Anaconda," Lavender spoke, her voice low and held frustration in it. The Queen was about to say more until her blue eyes fell onto Adder behind Anaconda.

Glancing back at her new friend, Anaconda saw that Adder had been backing away from her and her mother, but had stopped when her mother started looking at him.

"Who is this?" Lavender asked, her tone softening ever so slightly, though the disappointment and frustration towards Anaconda were still present.

"This is Adder," Anaconda said, resolutely as she looked back at Adder. "My new friend."

Hearing this, Adder looked back at Anaconda, his scales turning a soft red, almost like a blush. Though his scales shifted to a more pale color as his eyes returned to her mother.

Why was he so afraid? It was just Anaconda's mother. Even when RainWings in the village disappointed her, Lavender's patience towards her people was immense, though that patience would be tested with Anaconda, she admitted.

Adder hadn't done anything, anyways, so it didn't make sense why he would be afraid of her mother.

Finally, after moments of silence, Lavender spoke.

"You should not be here, little one."

"I'm sorry…" Adder answered Lavender, his voice barely a whisper.

"Then why are you still here?" Lavender replied her voice raising ever so slightly.

Anaconda looked between both her mother and Adder, the latter nodding his head slowly and backing away towards the edge of the limb, opening his wings to glide away.

"Adder, wait! Where are you going?!" Anaconda shouted, horrified as her new friend leaped off the limb and glided away, deeper into the forest and vanished. Anaconda moved to follow, but she felt one of her mother's arm reach her and pull her away.

"We are going home, now," Lavender ordered to Anaconda as her struggles slowed.

Anaconda glared up at her mother.

"That was mean!" Anaconda yelled at her mother. "Why did you say that to him?!"

Lavender did not look down at her daughter as she opened her wings and took flight, instead she simply replied to her oldest daughter.

"The dragonet of outcasts have no place in our forest."

Anaconda's eyes widened as she heard her mother say those words.

Adder was an outcast? Or the dragonet of outcasts, anyways? What had his parents done? Why wasn't he allowed in the rainforest?

As her mother flew her back to the village, Anaconda remembered the fear she had seen in Adder's eyes when her mother had suddenly arrived, and how he had quickly wanted to leave the moment the Queen came. He looked fearful for his own life.

But the RainWing tribe was nonviolent, at least unless provoked into conflict. But Adder seemed to think he was in deep trouble.

Once the Queen and her daughter arrived home to the village, neither had spoken a word as they landed and entered the queen's tree house.

Anaconda was forbidden from leaving the village unless she was under escort. After her lessons were finished, Anaconda would come straight home to the queen's house and finish her homework, eat and then go to bed. According to her mother, Anaconda's actions of leaving school early was bad, but leaving the village and traveling into the rainforest alone, without an adult, was dangerous.

Until her mother saw fit, Anaconda's freedom of movement around the village was limited until she had learned her lesson.

Anaconda wanted to argue with her mother about this but decided against it when her younger sisters returned home from their classes. She would argue with her mother later when they were alone.

She had lots of questions, especially about how she had treated Adder…and wanting to know what his parents had done to be exiled in the first place.

But tonight…she was just too tired to argue…

As soon as she finished eating dinner with her mother and sisters, Anaconda went to her and her sisters' room and climbed into her hammock, wrapping herself in her wings as sleep slowly took her…

Anaconda?

Anaconda!

Can you hear me?

"Ad…Adder?!"