Peril managed to make it back to Jade Mountain first, but Turtle rushed in through the entrance ahead of her. "Hey Clay! Your girlfriend's back!" he shouted down the hall, and Peril felt her scales grow a little hotter as dragonets poked their heads out to see what was up. There was no sign of Clay, however.

"Just for that, you're un-invited from yelling at Clay." Am I really going to yell at him? I certainly feel like it… but he always meant well. Maybe I'll just air my grievances in a calm and collected manner, and hope he can see my side. She took a deep breath and a few steps down the hallway before pausing. "That said, any idea where he might be?"

"No, but I think Moon might know. Said she was going to a meeting of all the teachers." Turtle shrugged.

Perfect! I can yell at Moon all day without upsetting Clay. Well, directly upsetting him. He'd probably be even madder if I went off on Moon than if I did on him. Ugh. "And where's Moon now?"

He blinked back at her. "In the teachers' cave, getting ready for the meeting. Probably."

So he did know where Clay was going to be. Eh, I've already threatened to kill him painfully once today. Another threat is just gonna seem ineffectual. Without another word, Peril bolted down the hallway, towards the teachers' cave. Luckily most every dragon was in their classes, and any who weren't were quick to take cover behind the nearest non flammable object.

A moment later, she burst through the door of the teachers' cave. Inside, Moon was setting up a sort of easel with some paper-board presentation materials. The top one read 'I'm Really Sorry, But I Do Know Your Future Lovers: A Presentation by Moonwatcher'. The NightWing yelped and dropped the rest of the slides before looking over to her.

"Oh, Peril! You're back!" she said, trying to grab her materials without breaking eye contact.

Peril couldn't have helped if she wanted to. "Do you know where Clay is?"

"He should be here soon for my, er, presentation. Did you really mean that earlier, about the-"

"Unless you're really Clay in a very clever disguise, that's none of your business." Peril replied, trying very hard to focus on anything but her nethers. "Speaking of, what exactly were you thinking today?"

"Uh-"

"I mean, I love Clay more than anything else in the entire world, but did you have to bring up the topic of dragonets? We've barely been an item for three weeks! I wouldn't even commit to calling him my boyfriend earlier, and you want us to think about BABY NAMES?" Peril shouted, leaving nothing out. Not like there was any point hiding her true feelings on the matter when talking to a mind-reader.

Moon stepped back, and Peril realized that she was smoking more than usual. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought it'd be interesting. Plus, y'know, now that I know it wasn't one of Darkstalker's lies what reason is there not to tell you?"

"Because my life just got a million times more complex! I have to figure out everything about myself right now or Clay's gonna-Oh h-hi Clay!" she said, as the door creaked open and he peeked through.

"Peril! You're back!" he replied, rushing in happily before glancing at Moonwatcher. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

"No!" Peril yapped, before Moon could get a word in. "Can we, uh, speak in private?"

Clay nodded. "Absolutely. But we should give Moonwatcher some time to get her slides back in order." He sidled over to Peril and bumped her with his wing, beckoning her back towards the door.

"Thank you, Clay," Moon replied as they moved back into the hallway, then across and into another small side chamber, just big enough to fit the both of them with no accidental burns. Oddly, the room didn't even have smoothed floors or walls, just rough-cut stone.

Making sure the door was firmly shut, Clay finally turned back to Peril and explained: "The builders were a little overzealous with the broom closet."

"Didn't you carve out most of the tunnels yourself?

"I thought we'd need to sweep more!" he said, holding up his paws in a defensive posture. She laughed, and after a second he laughed too. "I guess it is pretty funny, yeah. So… what did you want to talk about?"

"There's still so much…" she trailed off, trying to think of what to say first. Well, let's start with a simple yes or no question. "Were you serious about the 'girlfriend' thing? Cause I'm totally cool with that but I wouldn't want to pressure you."

"Yeah? I mean, everyone else already calls us that, and I do love you. Why shouldn't I call you my girlfriend? Unless this is your way of proposing, I guess." He smiled, and twined his tail around hers.

"No, no, I'm fine with 'boyfriend'." Well, more than fine. Way more. She leaned in closer to him, taking in the cool firmness of his scales for as long as she felt able to before pulling away. The touch of his snout against hers was surprising, but not unwelcome.

"I wish I'd told you earlier," he murmured, just barely loud enough for her to hear. "You deserved to know."

Did I? I mean, I hadn't even thought about… that, with him. "I understand how hard it was to tell me at all, now."

"Oh?" he asked, pulling back slightly to look her in the eyes. "Who'd you tell? Just so I can keep up to date on who knows."

"I'm still not sure on what exactly we're all knowing. I mean, I can't just be a girl now that I know this, even if I want to be."

"Uh. Sure you can? Why do you think all the other girls in the world say they're girls?"

"Because they're, y'know, biologically…" He raised an eye-ridge and she trailed off. Of course, he's biologically like them too, so that couldn't be it. "Or not. I don't know, it feels fake."

"Trust me, Peril, you're real. What you have between your legs won't change that."

"I… I don't believe that, but if I don't believe that, how can I believe you?" With a gasp, Clay pulled away. STARS ABOVE, Peril, could you have stuck your foot any further in your mouth? "No, no! That's not what I meant! I do believe that you're Clay-how couldn't I, with you in front of me. But… the same logic doesn't work on me."

"Why not?" he asked, letting his muscles relax.

"I don't know, my mind keeps going in circles. I'm a year older than you but you easily outweigh me by half a ton and have a foot up on me at the shoulder." He frowned again. "And not just you! Carnelian had massive horns, and mine are tiny!"

"If we're talking about defensive abilities, I wouldn't say any dragon could match you. And appearances aren't everything. I mean, Sunny's tiny, but she's still a girl."

"It feels like I'd be lying to everyone, though." But what other option is there? Being a boy is right out.

Clay set his wing over hers, letting his outermost wingtip brush against the length of her back. She shivered. "I felt the same way, when Kestrel was getting to me. I know it's not what you want to hear, but I honestly don't have any better advice than to just stick to what feels best."

"Even if it means lying about who I am?"

"You weren't lying before, and you aren't now. Being a girl isn't about what's down there-" he prodded her thigh, "-It's about what's up here." She was confused for a moment before he leaned in and… licked her head from snout to brow. There was a slight hiss of steam, and he blushed.

Her cheeks got a little redder too."Uh, what was that?"

"It's a MudWing thing, apparently. To, uh, mark your mate. Thought it'd be cute." He shifted his tongue in his mouth a little. "Has anyone ever told you that you taste like a grill mark?"

"No… but that was pretty cute." She licked him back, just getting the side of his snout. His scales tasted earthy, but not entirely unpleasant. "So that's the last step before dragonets, right?" she joked.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Clay groaned. "Moon's still got to apologize for that whole debacle. But hey, at least something good came of it."

"I wouldn't qualify the past three hours as *good* for me."

"You got a boyfriend out of it. Hopefully a tasty one." He waggled his eye-ridges at her, and she blushed a little harder. "Come on, let's watch Moon's lovely apology presentation. I think there's gonna be snacks!"

And all of the prophecy dragonets-well, except Glory. Are they gonna figure me out? I guess it depends on what Moon says. Suddenly, Peril's face was uneasy again as they crossed the hall. If she says too much, I'm going to INCINERATE… her slides. That'll show her.

About fifteen minutes later, the other four teachers at Jade Mountain had gathered in the cave. Clay had already picked the platter of fruit in the middle of the room clean, and there was nothing left to do but stand uneasily and wait for Moon to start. Starflight looked particularly upset, and Peril couldn't help but notice that Fatespeaker was nowhere to be found.

As she took the stand, Moon coughed to get their attention. The room fell silent-er, and she blushed. "H-hello, everyone. I just threw this-well, I put together this presentation to apologize for making some of you" -and here there was a pointed glance at Starflight and the two of them- "uncomfortable. It was never my intention to hurt any of you, I was just… well, I was excited that the vision Darkstalker showed me a few months ago, when I first came here, was actually possible. A-as opposed to being some kind of trick." Tsunami rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

"I know that not all of you have heard the prophecy, but I wanted to clear the air and recount exactly what I saw. No… assumptions this time." Aw, but I liked the assumptions. I guess I don't need them now that we're going steady. Peril had to hold in a little yelp as the thought crossed her mind.

"Get on with it." Starflight said, in a raspy voice. Had he been crying?

Moon took a deep breath, and recited the vision exactly as she'd had it. Three dragonets, one Starflight, one Clay, and a few words between them. At least this time she had informative slides so everyone could get a better picture of the dragonets she'd seen. The one that was supposedly theirs did seem to have Clay's eyes. "... and, well, I sort of assumed that the dragonets were, y'know, yours."

"Why'd you have to tell us about it, though?" demanded Starflight.

She cringed. "I thought you'd be as happy as I was to know that Darkstalker wasn't lying. I guess-I guess I didn't understand the kind of stress a vision like that can put on someone."

He stepped forward, and Sunny held up her paw warningly. "Moon is right; the last few months have been trying on all of us and a bit of reassurance that we're still on the right path couldn't go amiss." Starflight stared at her, then sighed and stepped back, mumbling an apology. "If it's not too personal, could we discuss exactly what it is you assumed? The healing process starts with finding the wound."

Or tearing it further open, Peril thought, but said nothing. Best to keep people assuming that their quarrel had been over baby names, or something similarly inane.

"I told Starflight and Fatespeaker about it first, because I saw… well, I saw Starflight's child. I just assumed they were together..."

"Well, we're not anymore. So thanks for that." There was a palpable silence then, which dragged on and on until Webs, of all dragons, spoke up:

"I'm sure she'll come around. Learning that you're going to have a kid is pretty shocking, but it wears off eventually," he said, bumping against Starflight reassuringly. The NightWing pulled away, but didn't disagree.

Moonwatcher looked close to tears now, but she sucked in a breath and kept going. "A-anyway, after that… disaster, I told Peril and Clay what I'd seen, and that I thought the orange and brown dragonet might be theirs. But-"

Clay let out a suspiciously loud cough as half the dragons in the room opened their mouths to correct Moon. Well, at least they're not on to me. I hope.

"I'm a-aware of his situation now, yes, although-"

"And that's all we need to say about that," Clay said, and the others nodded. Peril tried to nod especially hard.

Moon gulped. "Well… that's really all that happened while I was there. You've all already heard about Peril's reaction." Every eye was on her in a moment. "No, no, not like that! She's fine with Clay, I sw-"

"Why don't you let me speak for myself?" The room fell silent again. "I don't have any problem with Clay's body, and I never have. The fact that he's… well, y'know, that way, had nothing to do with my outburst." Starflight seemed to be struggling to figure out whether to continue being angsty or say something pedantic, while the others just looked relieved. Clay smiled at her, but tilted his head to indicate that she should continue. "And… I'm sorry if you were scared when I stormed out."

"That's a relief," said Tsunami, only implying the 'because if you did, I'd beat the crap out of you'.

Moon started to step away from the podium. "Well, if we're all finished here I'll just get back to-"

"Now hang on just a minute. I'll decide when you're finished here." Tsunami continued. "I get that you're very sorry, but you also hurt a lot of people today. Since you apparently can't be trusted to keep your 'visions' to yourself, you can go without for a day." Moon gave her a confused look as she began fiddling with her bracelet. "Put this on. You can take it off at sunset tomorrow and not one minute sooner."

Moon's gaze was laser-focused on the bracelet now, and Peril could just make out a small black stone set into the sterling links, shining like oil. "Tsunami-er, Ma'am, that's-that's skyfire. It'll totally deafen me if I wear it."

"Yep. You'll be just like everyone else. Barely a punishment at all, when you think about it," replied Tsunami, and when Moon continued to hesitate she reached out and took her by the wrist. Before Moon could pull away, the bracelet had clicked into place.

Her eyes went wide, and her breathing quickened. Peril could hear her whispering reassurances to herself. Is she really that dependent on her mind-reading? Maybe Tsunami's got a point. After a moment, she blinked and looked up. "A-alright. Can I please go now?" she asked, even more unsure than before.

"You're dismissed, yes." Moon was off like a shot. "But don't forget to give me that bracelet back! It was a gift!" Tsunami shouted after her, then sighed and turned back to them. "That went… well."

Sunny raised a claw. "I think your punishment was a bit harsh, Tsunami. We could all tell she made an honest mistake."

The room was the same chilly summer temperature as ever, but Peril felt it get a little cooler as Tsunami turned around. "I'm really tired of prophecies, Sunny. Plus, I think Starflight and Clay deserved a little justice. Is that so wrong?"

"I… suppose not."

"Mhm." They stared at each other until Tsunami broke away. "Starflight, is there anything we can do to help? I… well, it won't do to have our librarian moping around all day." Sunny elbowed her, and she rolled her eyes.

"Not that I can think of… hopefully Fatespeaker and I can work this out and get back into our comfort zone. Assuming she ever talks to me again."

"I'm still not getting it. Why would Fatespeaker be mad that you're gonna have a dragonet?" Peril asked.

"Who knows?" he said, flapping his wings angrily. Some of Moon's slides fell off of the stand with the sudden gust of wind. Well, Moon probably does, but Tsunami just ran her off. And now they're all at each other's throats over this prophecy, so he's probably not gonna find time to ask her. At least nobody asked about my part in this, Peril thought, tempting fate. "I mean, why were you so mad anyway? You aren't going to have a dragonet with Clay, it's anatomically impossible."

He trailed off as Clay gave him a warning look. "There's…" he glanced at Peril, who was very slightly completely panicking. "...always the possibility of adoption."

"Or making do with a substitute." Starflight said, then quickly snapped his mouth shut. Peril could've heard a pin drop in the room at that moment. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize how that would-"

She straightened up, grateful that Starflight, at least, was not match for her in size. "Putting aside that I'd burn their nethers, I'd NEVER do that."

"Really, I didn't-I was just curious, I swear."

"You really want to know so bad? I was mad because I can get a dragonet out of Clay!" Or rather into Clay.

There was a chorus of "What?"s from around the room, and Starflight blinked, the fear and slight nausea on his face vanishing. "You do know that…"

"Yes! I do know that Clay's got a vagina. I don't!" If the room had been quiet before, it was as still as the grave now. The only motion was Webs glancing nervously at the door. Okay, so. Not your best play, given the situation.

"That's wonderful! I'm so glad you had the courage to tell us!" Sunny said, so cheerfully that any other dragon would've definitely had to fake it. She glanced over at Clay, whose face was stuck somewhere between surprise, elation, and nausea. "You did know beforehand, right?"

"Y-yeah." he stuttered, blinking and shaking off the confusion. "Peril told me and Moon before, after I told her about my own situation. I didn't expect her to just blurt it out to all of you, though…" he trailed off, staring at her.

That makes two of us, Clay. "Well, I wasn't about to let Starflight slander my boyfriend." she said, trying not to let any giddiness slip through her serious tone.

Starflight gulped, his aggressive posture slouching into cowardice. "Sorry to put you on the spot like that. I-stars, this is just a mess."

"That seems accurate, yeah." Tsunami said, and he groaned. "Just count yourself lucky I only allow myself one ironic punishment per day. Any more and the parents start complaining about 'administrative overreach' and other stuff that's not real."

Sunny laughed a little, but Peril could see reams of angry letters reflected in her thousand-yard gaze. "Yeah… hey, Starflight, didn't you find a scroll about dragons like Clay? Maybe Peril would like to hear what we learned."

"Oh, I left it in the cave when we escaped. Didn't have time to get it from its hiding spot." He shrugged. "From what I can remember, it was an old NightWing history, from the Night Kingdom. Probably one-of-a-kind these days; wish I'd remembered to get it for the library." His gaze drifted off more than usual.

Peril coughed, letting out a smoke ring that smacked him right in the nose. "Anyway! Apparently, the NightWings had a lot of dragons like Clay; their working theory was that the gender we prefer to be known by isn't always related to our, y'know…"

"Junk," she said.

"I was going to say genitalia, but yeah, 'junk' . Their studies showed-and you really don't wanna know how-that this 'mental gender' was immutable, apart from by the natural changes a dragon experiences as they grow older. Thus, it was pointless to argue with these dragons, so they instead accepted them-at least until moving to the island, when a dragon who'd likely never reproduce was considered 'defective'."

"That's morbid, but expected for NightWings."

"The author also said that SkyWings like that were tossed off cliffs," he replied, a bit too smug. "Really, the whole thing was just awful, which is probably why nobody really knows about it these days, or if they do they stay hidden."

"Cool," she said, feeling very uncool. Then again, she had already been slated for a cliff-tossing at birth. What were they gonna do, throw her already-broken body off the cliff just to prove the point? "Is there anything else that I already know that you can tell me?"

"I think there was a technical term for dragons like you, too. Didn't ever use it for Clay 'cause we thought he was unique, but seeing as he isn't-" Clay gave him an exaggeratedly hurt look "-well, not in that way, it's probably more useful. They called you, er, transgender. With 'trans' being the Old NightWing prefix for 'across'."

She hummed thoughtfully. Well, at least there's a name for the way I am. That means I'm not the first. Scarlet had been careful to emphasize that she wasn't the only firescales in history, way back when, not that she blamed her. Humility was probably a good trait to cultivate in someone who could kill you with just their little claw. "Yeah, I like that. Maybe just 'trans' for short, though."

"It is catchier," agreed Clay.

"Well then, we'll call you all that." Tsunami said sleepily. "Is there any other deep, personal wisdom that you all would like to trust me with, or can I adjourn the meeting?" Peril gave her a look. "What? I'm not gonna congratulate you on your nethers. Unless you're Riptide." Webs jerked suddenly, and made a strangled sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt. Sunny and Clay blushed.

"Well… a few supportive words couldn't go amiss," Sunny suggested, restraining a giggle.

Tsunami sighed. "Sure, write me another speech and I'll deliver it for Peril. I don't do big proclamations. But…" she looked at Peril, not meeting her eyes. "I'd already pledged to fight anyone who hurt you, when I realized Clay was serious about courting you. Part of the whole 'sisterly love' thing. If someone tries to throw you off a cliff or something because of who you are, I'll help."

"Help sweep up their ashes, maybe-but I appreciate the thought, really!" I mean, Tsunami promising to fight someone isn't much different from Tsunami's regular interactions with other dragons, but she is the Head of School. "Oh! Thanks for not complaining about the student-teacher relationship either."

"You're both adults, and you're happy together, and I'm pretty sure that nothing I could do would stop you. Just don't let her classmates take you two as an example, Clay, or we will be having words. Specifically, those words will be 'you're fired'." There was a long silence, and she stood up and cleared her throat. "Anyway, if there really isn't anything else, meeting adjourned."

Starflight was the first to slink out, followed by Sunny. Webs gave Tsunami an exasperated look, but followed her as she headed out one the side doors, into the offices. That left Clay and Peril alone together again. "So, you want to grab some lunch?" he ventured, brushing her wing in a way that probably implied something she'd like.

"Absolutely," she said, mimicking the gesture as gingerly as she could. Clay gave her a soft poke with his tongue, and they headed back down the corridor.

Author's Note: This chapter nearly never saw the light of day due to computer troubles, but thanks to my grandfather's generosity and a spare laptop from the Mesozoic era I can deliver it here for you on Black Friday Eve. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone; I'm thankful for each and every one of you reading this.