Chapter 13

Effect and Cause, Part One

The sunlight beaming through the windows brought Tualang back to consciousness. He blinked a few times, looking out the window by his hammock. It was nearly noon, judging by the sun's position in the sky.

He blinked again and sat up. The first thing he noticed was his headache was gone. The second was that Vegas was still fast asleep.

Tualang rubbed his eyes and climbed out of the hammock. As his feet hit the ground, he winced and heard his stomach growl. It was then that he realized that he hadn't had anything to eat since his last day in Inlet.

'Alright then, Ghost. Tell me you've stocked this room with fruit.' He thought and started looking around his side of the room, rummaging through the drawers and chests.

Nothing.

Suddenly, a voice matching that of Tualang's favorite large, grey NightWing broke through the silent room. "If you're looking for food, I'm afraid you won't find anything in here. We don't keep food in the rooms."

He turned and saw Ghost standing just outside the room with a frown. 'Does he know about my protection spell?' Tualang thought nervously, studying the NightWing's face. He blinked and cleared his throat after a few moments of staring. "Y-yeah, I was just checking if there was any fruit lying around. It only just occurred to me how hungry I am." He said, walking towards the doorway.

Ghost snorted and stepped out of the way. "Follow me." He said. Tualang didn't have much of a choice. He didn't want to look suspicious so he followed Ghost down the hallway without much hesitation. "There's a prey center not too far from here. Luckily, some dragons in the Faction like fruit enough to where we already stock some. I won't force you to eat meat."

That was a relief. Tualang had never tried eating anything other than fruit, but he wasn't particularly interested in giving it a shot either. Fruit was just fine. The only way he could ever see himself eating fish or meat was if he absolutely had to in order to survive. Then again, he lived in the forest. Survival was never a huge issue for him.

Until now, maybe.

"Prey center." Ghost mused as they continued down the hall. "Surely there has to be a better name I can give it. Food court? Cafeteria? Canteen? Cafe? Lunchroom? What do you think?"

Tualang glanced at him before turning his gaze back down the hall. "Um… I don't know." He said, trying his best to both avoid talking to Ghost while not acting suspicious.

Ghost wrinkled his snout. "I like that one. The 'I don't know' room." He said with a snort. "You surely aren't the talkative type are you, RainWing? Most of you are chatterboxes."

"No, I'm not. Never have been." Tualang said with a sigh. "Plus, I kinda just woke up. I need to get something in my stomach before I'm ready to have any type of meaningful conversation."

The NightWing nodded slowly as they stepped through the doorway to the prey center. "Of course. You go do that, then." He said and started back towards the hall, pausing. "Oh, but do make it short. I would like to talk to you."

"Will do." Tualang said and Ghost left the prey center. The room was nothing special. There were bins full of different types of food, some raw and some cooked. He noticed a few SkyWings working in one of the corners, absentmindedly cooking some fish.

He shook his head and found a cart full of fruit. With a relaxed smile, he grabbed a few oranges and a clawful of strawberries, sitting at a table and quickly eating his breakfast. Or was it lunch? He didn't care, so long as he was eating.

Sound's words echoed in his head as he peeled and bit into an orange. 'Just… study him closely, alright? Whatever he says, listen intently. You'll see for yourself in time.' What was he supposed to listen for? If Ghost was a mind reader, he clearly didn't seem suspicious of Tualang's protection spell or he would've offhandedly mentioned something about it during the walk to the prey center.

Or maybe not. Ghost seemed like a dragon with a lot going on behind closed doors. Regardless, Tualang decided to take Sound's words to heart. 'I can just hang around for a few days and see what the big deal is. Why he needs me, why he needs dragons with powers.' His thoughts were taken back to the IceWing in the cell near Sound's… room? Cell?

In any case, Tualang found himself thinking about the albino IceWing in the dungeons. If Ghost only wanted to capture these special dragons and keep them out of the way, why wasn't Tualang in a cell himself? If Ghost wanted to eliminate competition for some reason, it would be logical to imprison any dangerous dragons. All the firescales, icescales, and animus dragons would be behind bars in this mountain if that were the case.

But, again, why? What was his goal? If Ghost and the Faction were working towards a better future, did that mean dragons with special abilities had to be taken out of the equation? None of this was making any sense to him.

'Probably why dad wants me to study Ghost myself.' He thought, rolling his eyes as he bit into a strawberry, pausing as the flavor filled his mouth. 'Dad.' Tualang realized. It felt weird. After years of not knowing who he was, Tualang now had his real father back in his life. Stick and Ivy were both good father figures, but finding Sound was the best thing that had happened to him in a long time.

'My dad is here, and he loves me. He wants to be with me. He never wanted to leave.' Tualang thought as he finished his fruit. 'Don't worry, Father. I want you back in my life, too. We just have to take care of this big-possibly-evil-dragon-Faction-Ghost-thing.'

Tualang stood up and threw the orange peels in a bin as he left the prey center. Ghost wanted to talk to him after he ate.

'Time to find out what he wants from me.' He thought, leaving the room and making his way to the council room. Truth be told, he had no idea where to find Ghost. He wasn't exactly given directions before he went to the prey center, so he just decided to try the most likely spots. The council room made the most sense in his mind. A big, important dragon like Ghost would probably be holding meetings every hour or so.

Admittedly, that was a bit of an exaggeration.

Tualang frowned as he passed a couple of rooms, catching quick glances of the dragons inside. Similar to the one he shared with Vegas, each room housed two dragons and was split evenly down the middle. The halves were adorned with decorations, furniture and comforts native to the dragon's tribe. For instance, mud pits for the MudWings, small pools for the SeaWings, and- of course- hammocks for the RainWings.

Or RainWing, anyway. As far as he could tell, Tualang was the only member of his tribe inside this mountain. Regardless, the hammock in his room was nearly identical to those in the rainforest.

'Buttering me up so I won't want to leave.' He thought with a snort. "Not like I'd have a reason to anyway. I don't have friends in the rainforest waiting for me."

He paused and thought of the trio of dragons he traveled to Inlet with. Were they friends? Or were they just a random group of dragons that decided to go with him for the hell of it? From what he could remember, Sol and Nova wanted to get out of the forest for a while and Orion was only there to keep an eye on his sister.

But if exploring was all they wanted to do, they had the freedom to leave the forest at any time. Nova could've found another group to travel with and Sol was both old enough and strong enough to take care of herself.

He thought back to Sol. If he was ever asked to describe what made a perfect SkyWing, she would be the prime example. She was strong, smart, and beautiful all at the same time. Typical SkyWings- judging from gossip alone, Tualang had never met one before Sol- were arrogant, grumpy, and loved to fight.

Sol was almost the opposite. She seemed optimistic and kind hearted and was even working her tail off to learn all sorts of healing methods in order to become a great doctor. Definitely not the selfish type, from what Tualang could tell.

But what about Nova, and to that extent, Orion? Both of them grew up on the NightWing volcano and moved to the rainforest with the rest of their tribe after the eruption. Most NightWings were not terribly fond of their new neighbors at first, but relations improved in the past two years.

Nova seemed to enjoy living with the RainWings and showed not one bit of disdain towards Tualang the entire trip. On the flip side, Orion had voiced his displeasure about the trip on multiple occasions. In addition, he wasn't very fond of Tualang in the first place. Why that was, Tualang didn't understand. Maybe it was just a NightWing thing to dislike the RainWings.

'Would I act the same way, put in their situation? Removed from my home and now ruled by a queen from another tribe?' He found himself thinking before shaking his head. 'Probably. But Queen Glory has been nothing but fair and just to all of them.'

Besides, not all NightWings were like that. Nova, for example, seemed happy in the rainforest, as were tons of other NightWings.

'Look at me, worrying about politics.' Tualang thought with an annoyed eye roll. 'Like I'm a prince or somethi- oh.' He was unable to stop himself from chuckling as he remembered what Sound told him last night. 'Right. I'm a very, very distant SeaWing prince. The ten percent of me that happens to be SeaWing is royal. Look out, everyone. I might be King Tualang of the SeaWings some day.'

He found the council room and pushed his way inside, closing the large doors behind him. In the middle of the room, there were seven dragon-sized rugs arranged in a circle. There were no windows on the walls but a large chandelier descended from the ceiling, adorned with candles to illuminate the room.

Whatever darkness that still lingered was no problem for Tualang, of course.

Thank you, SeaWing eyes.

As he entered, he noticed Ghost sitting on one of the rugs, Vegas on another. "Ah, Tualang. There you are. I hope you had a good meal?" He asked, to which Tualang nodded.

"I did. Thanks for stocking fruit in there. Not exactly the biggest fan of meat." Tualang said, a small look of surprise crossing his face as he saw Vegas.

"Oh, don't thank me. Thank the few SeaWings and IceWings that wanted more options in the prey center." Ghost said and caught the look he gave Vegas.

As if on cue, the SandWing stood up and brushed himself off. "Hey, I'm here too." He greeted and Tualang nodded in greeting. He could tell right off the bat that Vegas wasn't under the scroll's control at the moment. Whatever he was doing, he was doing under his own power.

A long silence ensued and Tualang cleared his throat. "Anyways… you said you wanted to talk to me. Which, by the way, is good, because I would really like some answers right about now."

Ghost hummed and traced a talon across a blank spot in the wall. Seconds later, a small chunk of stone pulled away and revealed a hidden stash of items. Tualang spotted a few different bracelets, scrolls, and knives before Ghost took out a gold bracelet with green stones embedded into the sides, closing the stash as the stone moved back into place. "And answers you shall receive. I reckon Sound has already told you part of the story, however."

A bolt of fear went through Tualang and he was sure he saw Vegas give him a look of worry as well. Surely the SandWing wouldn't snitch. After all, visiting Sound was his idea in the first place.

Or was Tualang reading his expression wrong? Vegas stared at him for a few more seconds before turning away. Something was happening.

"Wait, what does this have to do with the Faction?" Tualang asked nervously as Ghost snapped the bracelet onto his large forearm. The only response was a grin from the light grey NightWing.

"You'll see." Ghost said calmly. "Like I told you before, all in due time."

Before Tualang could say anything else, Ghost clenched his fist and pointed the bracelet at the RainWing, enveloping him in a green wave of energy.

Seconds later, the council room melted away and Tualang blacked out.