Milo
Milo was woken by someone shaking his shoulder.
"What." He mumbled, his eyes still closed in a desperate attempt to go back to sleep.
His muscles ached a bit too much, which was not fun to wake up to.
"There's someone here. And it's definitely not Caracara." a worried voice replied.
Tradewind, why did you have to wake me up?
He yawned, stretching out his back, then stood up blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
"Yeah?" He yawned.
Tradewind looked at him with a certain level of terror in her eyes. "There's someone here."
Milo tilted his head quizzically. "And that's not normal…?"
She nodded grimly.
He shrugged. "Just don't answer then."
She shook her head. "That's the thing. When I asked from behind the door-"
"Oh, so you already answered." He cut in crossly.
"Shush. When I asked what they were looking for, they described you perfectly." She finished.
Milo stiffened. Uh-oh.
"Did you see who they were?"
She shook her head. "Not without being spotted, no. All I know is they were male and female from their voices.
He shook out his wings, then stared at the door. Coincidentally, a knocking sound came through the door, one Tradewind had apparently heard before, because in that instance she flinched.
For all I know, I could be anyone. Crusoe and Terri, Kite and Sidewinder, some random SkyWing guards looking for me because I escaped…
Milo stared Tradewind in the eyes. "Okay," he said calmly, reaching for the door. "Before I open the door, I need you to hide yourself. If they're here to take me, at least you'll be okay."
She nodded, then hesitated. "Thank you." she whispered.
"No problem."
She bounded out of the room, hiding behind a curtain.
Not the best choice, but eh, good enough.
He touched the door, shivering involuntarily.
Oh dear.
Milo pushed open the door, flinching involuntarily before he was tackled in a hug.
"You're okay!" The voice on top of him exclaimed gleefully.
"Sidewinder?" He asked, shielding his eyes from the light flooding in the open door, trying to see.
Sidewinder hugged him closer. "Yes! Now we're all together again."
Milo nodded, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry about not coming back, I kinda almost got blown up."
"Well good, an excuse, that's a start." Kite mused, leaning against the doorway. "Where you been?"
"Eeeehh, with some friends. I kinda think they're either dead now or in some form of trouble." he said simply.
Her eyes narrowed. "How?"
"Some stuff exploded. Mainly my only way out of here. They apparently didn't think I was still alive either. Which raises a question, why were you guys looking for me?"
Kite lashed her tail. "Because we were bored, and because we needed to leave the place we were camped at within a seven-mile radius, just on the event of our SandWing having a bad dream." She replied without a certain level of amusement.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked, unsuccessfully trying to wriggle out from under Sidewinder, who put all his weight on him to keep him down purposefully, in which the SandWing couldn't help but laugh during the process.
"It means we're in big trouble. I'll tell you in a bit. And um, wasn't there another dragon in here? The one that answered the door and didn't let us in?" Kite asked, scanning the room fiercely when she finished speaking.
"Uhm, I don't er, um, I mean, huh?" Milo stammered.
Kite scowled at him. "Who is it you're hiding?" She asked accusingly.
Milo frowned. "Stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Reading my expressions. That's creepy." he said.
"Yeah, it kind of is." Sidewinder agreed, glancing back at her.
"It is not." She huffed.
"Uh-huh."
"You're avoiding the question! Who is it?" She growled angrily.
Milo gulped. "Okay. I'll show you, just.. Don't freak out."
Kite's scowl deepened. "Too late for that pal."
"Whatever. Hey, Tradewind, it's okay to come out." He called.
Milo heard her talons clicking against the wood as she left her hiding place behind the curtains in the other room.
Kite gasped. "She's a hybrid."
Sidewinder climbed off of Milo, allowing him to get up.
Tradewind looked utterly terrified, her body shivering as her tail flicked in random directions anxiously.
"Tradewind. It's okay. These dragons are my friends."
At least, I think.
She nodded slowly, a small whimper escaping from her throat.
"Milo, do you know what she is?" Kite asked dangerously, staring at him with a look of concern.
Milo shook his head. "I think she's cool."
"She's a hybrid. Hybrids are usually frowned upon by most dragons, because most tribes think the mixing of dragon blood is as close to a blasphemy as you can get. They consider it, oh, how can I put this…" She trailed off.
Sidewinder spoke up. "Um, 'dirty'?" he suggested.
"Yes, 'dirty' works. There are some dragons who will kill them on sight, and most dragons who see that do nothing about it." She said with no lack of bitterness.
Tradewind's eyes widened. "W-what?" She stammered fearfully. "Why?"
Kite shrugged. "Like I said, most think you're bad news."
"That's terrible." Milo said quietly.
It could also serve as a problem.
Milo turned to Tradewind. "Don't worry. You'll be fine. What do you want to do?"
She shuddered, bowing her head and shaking out her multicolored wings. "What do you think? I'm coming with you. Caracara's obviously-"
Her voice cracked.
"-dead, or worse, captured. And if your friends found this place that easily, it's only a matter of time before someone who wants me dead does the same."
Milo nodded, turning to Sidewinder and Kite, who both bore skeptical expressions.
They think she might be more trouble than she's worth.
"Okay. Good. Kite, I'm stupid, so do you got a plan?" he asked with a smirk.
She blinked at him suspiciously, then cleared her throat.
"Well-" She began.
"As Sidewinder and I know, well, Tradewind, do you know there's a war going on?" she asked, eyeing Trade.
She shook her head slowly. "Nooope."
"Huh. Well, anyways, Sidewinder and I know that, only two tribes decided to stay out of the war, one because they didn't have a reason to join, and the other because they're known to be lazy."
She said in a commanding tone, shooting everyone an occasional glance to check if they were listening.
"NightWings and RainWings, right." Sidewinder added.
Kite smiled. "Right. And so far, we only know where one of these tribes lives, and they're the most likely to let us stay there anyways."
Sidewinder grinned excitedly. "We're going to the-"
"Rainforest, yes. We can wait out this war there, until we can go almost anywhere in Pyrrhia." She finished.
Tradewind looked a bit calmer, not as anxious as before. "That sounds like a good idea. I haven't really, well, er, been anywhere, so this'll be nice."
Milo nodded. "It'll be fun! Like a road trip, except there's no roads here, and we can't play board games."