Chapter 4

Hector stood back, arms up to shield his face as the two dragons took flight, his attention quickly rooted on the one Summer referred to as Peacemaker and how his wings flared in a set of different colors. He wasn't all too keened on the female one, the one they called Firefly, her short temper and ease to bad mouth Summer seemed to rub him the wrong way. There was nothing he could say in the matter, so long as dragons controlled the realm of this land, what he thought or believed was meaningless.

"I don't understand."

He glanced up as he heard Summermoon's voice.

"Why didn't they understand you?"

"Uh…" Hector tried to think of something to say, but the strangeness of speaking with dragon as though it were a common thing went way over his head. "Well what did Peacemaker mean when he said you were different?"

"I have the ability to feel emotions," Summer said, her voice calm and level, "it's part of my Nightwing blood line."

Hector gave it some thought, though still felt vague as to how to help. "So you think it's because of that is why we're able to speak with each other."

"Yes."

"But then how is it that I was able to understand those other two dragons just now?"

Summer arched an eyebrow. "You heard all of that?"

"Yeah," Hector said and gently bumped his elbow against her hind leg, "and was it me or were you looking at the male dragon rather fondly?"

Summer's scales turned into a light shade of purple.

"I'll take that as a yes."

"Okay so maybe I do have some feelings for Peacemaker," she said with a sigh, "but I can't imagine him being with me. He's really hard to judge, and his emotions relate only to his love of pies and naps."

"Sounds like kind of odd ball."

Summer turned on Hector, releasing a low growl, to which Hector counted with a quick pleading gesture. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

His actions must have worked as Summer seemed to settle down a bit.

"Well regardless to any of that," Summer said with a deep sigh, "we're still no where closer to figuring out how or why we can understand one another. Tell me, has there been any other scavenger that spoke with dragons?"

Hector took in a deep breath of air which caused his cheeks to puff up..

The sight of that caused Summer to giggle.

Taking note of this, Hector shot her an accusing look. "What?"

"You look like one of those crazy blow fish the Seawings talk about."

"I don't even know what that is."

"I'll see if the one in my winglet group will catch one for you."

Hector rolled his eyes waving a hand about. "I think we're getting topic again."

"You're right sorry, I think I'm still reeling from when you smacked me with that rock," Summer said rubbing the front of her muzzle, "that really hurt you know. I think you might have broken my nose back there."

"I'm not going to apologize for that," Hector snapped, "I thought you were going to eat me." A sudden thought came to him and rose to his feet and turned to face Summer. "Wait a minute, now that I think about this all happened after hitting you."

"So?"

"So, what if what caused this to happen to us could be related to that rock?"

Summer rose to her feet, glancing down at Hector with a warm smile. "You might be right, now that I think about it I did feel something strange after you hit me. What about you?"

"I did feel something, but I thought it was just the rush of the moment…you know facing down a fire breathing dragon and all."

An annoyed expression formed on Summer's face. "Are you going hang that in front of my muzzle every chance you get? I already told you there are laws against harming scavenger," she paused to take a deep breath to clear the air, "so do you really feel that this stone caused us to understand each other?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense at this point."

"Then let's go back to where we met and hope the stone is still there. It should be easy for me to sniff it out," she paused to smile at Hector, "seeing how it should still be coated with my blood from where you hurled it at my nose."

"Now who's the one being snippy?"

"Funny, just promise me one more thing before we go."

"What?"

"Don't go and fall in any more dragon dung, that stuff smells awful."

The two of them went back to the jungle clearing where they both spoke to each other for the first time. Summer shifted her nose through the loose tall grass while Hector searched about the nearby tree roots. After several minutes of searching and a number of failed attempts of determining which rock enchanted them, Summer was beginning to lose any hope of finding it, and even if they could find it, what then? What good was a stone that allowed dragons to speak with scavengers? There was not much they were good for other than pets, and given Hector's rash actions she didn't think he would make for a very decent one. Maybe she could give the stone to Winter, former Icewing prince. She had heard he was one of the key founders for Sanctuary, the city built just for scavengers, and if there was one dragon she knew who held a passion for understanding them it would be him.

Still, Summer found herself pondering more about the strange stone, who made it and importantly, why.

"Hey Summer," Hector called, "over here!"

Summer turned to face the scavenger, standing next to a small rock. She scuffed at first thinking how foolish he was jumping about like that, though after taking a closer look noticed there was a strange glint to the rock and a small amount of dried blood along the rim.

"So you think this could be the same stone?" she said approaching him.

"It's possible," Hector said kneeling down and ran a hand along the rock.

"Do you…" She said, focusing on him with keen eyes, "Do you feel anything?"

"Well seeing how we already understand one another…I would say no."

Summer gave him a cross look, arching an eyebrow. "Was that supposed to be an insult?"

"No I'm being serious here," Hector said casting his gaze about the clearing, "if only there was another dragon around to touch it."

Summer did the same, and though the clearing looked empty, her gift gave her an extra edge in picking out those who wished to remain unseen. After several passes she rooted on a fallen tree covered in vines. Narrowing her eyes, she focused her senses and then spoke in a causal tone, "Alright Lemondrop, you might as well show yourself, I know you're there."

"Are you…hck…kidding me?"

Hector turned to the sound of the voice and jumped back at the sight of a Rainwing slowly appearing out of thin air. The dragon was composed of bright yellow and orange scales, and held some strange kind of fruit in a forepaw and causally took several bights of it. With each chew, his eyes seemed to widen, a blank expression forming on his face and seemed to wobble about as he approached them.

"I was really working hard on my stealth skill," he said, a number of slurs in his voice. "Now I'll never get into the honor guard."

Summer lowered her head to level her gaze with Hector. "Lemondrop here is a member of my winglet group at the Jade Mountain Academy."

"What's wrong with him?" Hector asked.

"He get's this way a lot. Seems to enjoy eating fruit that he claims gives him a buzz."

"And he wants to be a member of your guards?"

Summer released a playful chuckle as she eyed Lemondrop. "Are you kidding, he couldn't get into the honor guard if his life depended on it."

"Hey now," Lemondrop said, attempting to sound harsh, yet his voice was riddled with fits of giggles. "Am I totally wasted here or are you talking with that there scavenger?"

Summer raised her head back up to eye Lemondrop, though her gaze shifted down to the stone. Maybe this was the best way to see if their notion of it allowing those who touch to understand each other is true.

"Say Lemon, what do you say about touching this rock here." She gave the stone a playful shove to where it rolled next to the Rainwing, just short of touching him.

Lemondrop eyed the rock, then turned back to stare at Summer. "A rock? You want me to touch a rock? Really?"

Summer came to stand beside the Rainwing, giving him a gentle bump. "Come on Lemon, you know you want to. Just think of the buzz you'll get. This stone has been sitting out in the mud and rain all night long, just image how cold it would feel."

A sparkle formed in Lemondrop's eyes and chuckled like a young hatchling. "You know I do like things that are cold. It was pretty funny, back at the Jade Mountain, I licked the wall after Aurora blast it with her freeze breath, and my tongue got stuck to it all day—"

"Lemondrop!" Summer snapped, eyes narrowing losing her temper with this drunken fool. "You need to focus here. Just touch the stone, this is important."

"Alright already," Lemondrop said, a sensation of annoyance flowing off him. "If it will make you happy I'll touch the damn stone."

Summermoon stepped to the side as Lemondrop reached out toward the stone, and as his claw brushed against it, a sudden jolt rippled across his body causing his scales to change color in sparkling hues of blue, green and yellow.

Is that what happened to me? Summer thought, looking down at Hector, she noticed that he was reacting in a similar fashion. Turning back to Lemondrop, she saw him stepping away from the stone, swaying from side to side. "Whoa, what a rush," he said, "you were right Summer, that was a real buzz trip. I want to do it again."

"Hold on Lemondrop," Summer said coming to block his path while at the same time motioning Hector to come forward with her tail. "First I'd like you to meet a new friend of mine. This is Hector, say hello."

Hector rolled his eyes. "Please don't treat me like I'm some kind of pet."

Lemondrop eyed the scavenger, a blank expression on his face before suddenly bursting out in laughter. "Okay I must be way more out of it then I thought because it looked as though that there scavenger just spoke." He laughed once again, head bumping Summer, "Just how funny is that?"

"Uh Lemon, he really did just speak."

Lemondrop laughed again, shifting his gaze between the two of them. "Nah it didn't."

"Uh," Hector said drawing the Rainwing's attention, "yes I did."

Another chuckle escaped Lemondrop's lips, though far weaker and his cheerful expression fading and Summer could feel the rising panic forming.

"Lemondrop?"

"What the!?" Lemondrop shouted jumping back, eyeing the scavenger with terrified eyes. "He just spoke again and I understood him. Is this some kind of animus trick? Is…is that thing enchanted or something?" he paused taking a huge gasping breath, circling about the clearing. "Is that monster Darkstalker back? You know they never said what really happen to that fiend."

"Lemondrop!" Summer cried, taking hold of the Rainwing's shoulders, "Listen to me. You have to calm down. This scavenger isn't enchanted, he's not some kind of mad plot from some old forgotten horrible dragon."

"But how can I understand him?" Lemondrop cried the rising panic flowing off him threatening to overwhelm her. "Maybe it was all those crazy fruit. Yeah that's it; they told me this might happen someday, but never being able to understand scavengers."

"Look at me Lemon," Summer said taking a firm grip on his muzzle so they were facing one another. "It's not the fruit doing this; I think it was the stone you just touched that's enchanted."

"Wait," Lemondrop said prying himself free from Summer's grip, his yellow scales turning red, "did you…you knew this would happen."

"I'm sorry," Summer said, "we had to make sure if it was true or not."

"So wait, you touched that stone too?"

Summer nodded.

"So did I," Hector said plainly.

"Oh my…oh my…oh my," Lemondrop stammered stepping back, "I think I'm going to—" the Rainwing suddenly bolted disappearing as his scales blended in with the jungle.