Hello, everyone. It's been a while since my last update, and that's mainly because of exams and school, but also because of my own laziness. But! I'm back, and hopefully I'll be updating regularly (probably once or twice a week). Just a heads up, this chapter introduces several new characters, and not all of them may have a nice fate...but I won't spoil anything. Enjoy!

"Mom, do we really have to do this?" Mackenzie complained, "what's the point?"

Amelia was in no mood for protests. All she wanted was to ensure the safety of her only two children. "Yes, Mackenzie," she said through a sigh, "you have to. If you try and make some friends, then maybe you and Miriam won't have to resort to wandering off."

"Where are we going, anyway?" Asked Miriam. She was more obedient than Mackenzie on this matter.

"To spend some time with another rainbow face herd," Amelia stated, cutting straight to the point. "I saw them when I was gathering tree stars for you girls the other day."

"Do you know anyone from that herd?" Questioned Mackenzie. "How can we even trust them?"

"Have you ever heard the saying 'a leader protects his own'?" Inquired Amelia, and both Miriam and Mackenzie shook their heads in unison.

Amelia rubbed the back of her neck, already on edge. "We're rainbow faces. So are they. It doesn't matter if we know them or not, they'll still be willing to protect us."

...

The herd of rainbow faces lived in a more open area, where there weren't as many rocky cliffs or mountains. They were spread out across the grass, using their claws to rip green food from it's roots before shoving it into their mouths.

"What now?" Muttered Tristan, who still felt a bit out of place despite being surrounded by several others of his kind.

Amelia opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by an all too familiar voice.

"Amelia? Is that really you?"

Amelia feared that the voice she heard was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, so from the corner of her eye, she glanced in the direction of the voice. It was then that she realized this was no illusion. She turned around, sea blue eyes moist with tears of joy as she placed a hand over her mouth to stifle her squeals.

"Molly!" She exclaimed, running to the other dinosaur, wrapping her in a tight embrace.

"I had no idea you lived around these parts! I thought for sure that I would have to live the rest of my life without seeing you again." Molly then took Amelia's hands in her own, glowing with excitement. The two were clearly the best of friends.

"How long have you lived here?" Inquired Amelia, her face showing the same delight and excitement.

"Our herd moved here some time after you left with Tristan," answered Molly. "You probably never really saw us around much since we prefer the open grasslands where there's more green food." She pointed to the blades of grass to emphasize her point. "Speaking of Tristan, where is he?"

As if on cue, Tristan emerged from behind Amelia. "Hey Molly. Long time no see." He greeted, offering the smallest of smiles.

"So, how have you been? Done anything...interesting lately~?" Teased Molly.

Tristan rolled his eyes and shook his head disapprovingly. Molly hadn't changed one bit.

Miriam had been trying to get a better view of what was happening, so she peeked her head out from behind her mother's leg. But she leaned to far and ended up falling over, landing right in front of Molly, and Mackenzie had to walk in and retrieve her sister.

Molly raised a brow in amusement, "Oh, so you have been busy!"

Tristan felt his muscles tighten as he scowled at her. "Shut up," he griped, tackling Molly, who was hardly affected by it, and kicked him off with her feet. But Tristan soon got up, huffing as he shook the dirt off his tail.

Molly gave an amused grin. "What's the matter, pops? Are the kids stressing you out?"

"No they're not, and my kids are none of your business," hissed Tristan.

"Tell that to her," Molly retorted, pointing to Amelia. "She brought her kids here."

It took all of Amelia's willpower to prevent herself from laughing. "Y-Yes. I brought them here so that they could spend time here and be safe with the herd. And it'll keep them from wandering off."

Molly gasped suddenly, "they can spend time with my sons!"

Amelia immediately warmed up to the idea, although she had never met Molly's sons, for she had left when they were still eggs. But she had faith in her friend.

Tristan, on the other hand, being the protective father he was, was quick to reject the offer. "Over my dead body."

"I'm sure Molly will tell them to behave," reasoned Amelia.

Tristan wasn't buying it. "And what if they don't? I think-" he was cut off by a laugh. He knew exactly who the laugh belonged to, and he prepared himself for whatever was coming his way. The voice belonged to a male rainbow face about two heads taller than Molly. He had grayish green eyes which were like smooth chunks of ice. But they always softened when they caught sight of Molly.

"Michael!" Exclaimed Molly as she pulled him into a loving hug. She was definitely stronger than she looked, because she had Michael gasping for air.

"Molly- I can't breathe-" he wheezed.

"Sorry," she giggled and released him from the hug.

Amelia noticed how close the two were. "Oh! So you two did end up together! I'm so happy for you two!"

Tristan scoffed. "I'm surprised." He commented, which earned him a not so gentle nudge in the shoulder from Amelia.

Michael and Molly touched noses for a moment before Michael shifted his attention to Tristan. "Oh, hush."

Tristan smirked.

"Anyway," began Michael, "your daughters will be fine. Here, I can introduce my sons right now if it would help you sleep at night." He suggested, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Fine," Tristan finally agreed.

"Gabriel, Adam! Boys, could you come over here?"

Two younger rainbow faces who looked a bit older than Miriam and Mackenzie ran up to Michael.

"Yeah, dad, what is it?" Gabriel, the larger of the two, questioned. Adam stayed him, hiding behind his brother's tail.

"I want you to meet these two young ladies," Michael gestured to Miriam and Mackenzie.

"Why, hello," Gabriel greeted. "I am Gabriel. What are your names?"

Miriam introduced herself first. "I'm Miriam," she the gestured to Mackenzie, who groaned under her breath. "And I'm Mackenzie..."

Gabriel smiled at the both of them before shifting his attention to Adam. "Come on, Adam. You can't avoid everyone. Now go say hi, or I won't save any tree stars for you."

This only made Adam cower more, and he hid further behind Gabriel's tail. Gabriel simply stepped away, and nudged Adam forward. Hiding was now out of the question.

He glanced at Mackenzie, who only gave him a cold stare. When he got to Miriam, she gave a much better reply. A smile. The most beautiful smile Adam had ever seen.

"Uh...hello, I-I'm Adam.."

"It's very nice to meet you, Adam." Miriam said. Her voice was gentle, as if she were speaking to a frightened hatchling. This made Adam's gray blue eyes widen. Save for his parents and his brother, no one was ever that gentle with him before. Because of how much he detested social situations, all he would usually hear was 'Adam, why aren't you doing this?' or 'Adam, why aren't you like that?'.

Even though it was rather obvious, Adam would never admit out loud that he was lonely. He wanted someone who he could enjoy talking to, someone who didn't put pressure on him, someone who...understood him. After some thought, Adam cleared his throat. "Um...would you like to talk somewhere a bit quieter? Or maybe less crowded?"

Miriam blinked. Did she just make a friend? Was this how you befriended someone?

"I'd love to."

The joy wasn't too visible on Adam's face, but a small smile tugged on the corners of his mouth as he walked away with Miriam. He always wanted to show someone his favorite place, but everyone was either too busy, or just didn't care. But that didn't matter now, because right now, Adam was too happy for his own good. Miriam found it cute. But what she didn't realize was that she had just left Mackenzie to stand there all alone. She never meant to, of course, but would Mackenzie understand that?

When Miriam and Adam reached their destination, Miriam was amazed. The place was beautiful. It was right in front of a gorge, with one tree sweet tree, whose petals were already beginning to drift towards the earth. Underneath the tree, there was a rock, just bug enough for two dinosaurs to sit on. Nearby, there was a pond with green food sprouting in the shallow end of the water. It was like an oasis.

"So, what do you think?" Adam asked, his usually dull eyes lit with excitement.

"Oh- -it's beautiful," Miriam said, voice barely above a whisper as she took a seat upon the rock. The tree sweet petals gently brushed against her scales as they fell. "You're so lucky. This amazing place...all to yourself. If I knew of it earlier, you wouldn't find me sneaking off to avoid dying of boredom."

Adam dipped his finger in the pond, watching the ripples in the water grow with each passing second. "Well, it's real nice to look at. But you see that gorge over there?" He gestured to it with his nose, "It makes it a lot easier for sharpteeth to get in." Adam gulped; he wasn't so fond of the fact that his favorite place was so close to sharptooth territory.

Miriam gave a sympathetic smile. "It's alright. I mean, you have protection, don't you? As long as you don't stray too far from the herd, you'll be fine."

Adam sighed a bit resignedly. "Yeah, I guess that's true."

The two passed the time by spending it with each other, and it was soon time to head home. They didn't even realize how quickly the time flew by.

The next day, Miriam went to visit Adam again. Gabriel accompanied her fir a short while, but was soon summoned by his father to help pick some berries. They taught each other new things. Adam taught Miriam how to hang onto tree branches, while Miriam taught Adam how to get the deliciously moist green food that grew underwater. But despite how happy the two were, Mackenzie was left alone once again.

Mackenzie tried to stay positive, but it was difficult. She just kept on trying to convince herself. It's alright, Miriam just made a new friend, so it's natural for her to be excited. She wouldn't just forget about me. I mean, we're sisters...

But instead of moping about it, Mackenzie simply decided to roam and observe the herd. Although just watching dinosaurs eat and eat got boring and tedious after a while. However, there was one place she hadn't explored yet. Slithering through the grass, she made her way to the place where Adam and Miriam liked to hang out. She stayed low, watching them from a distance.

It was a rare sight to see Adam thus overjoyed, and seeing him this talkative came as an even bigger surprise. Then, Adam said something which made Miriam laugh. "You're amazing," she commented in between bursts of laughter as she shook her head.

This made Mackenzie envious. She was letting her jealousy cloud her good judgement. And now, to her, it seemed that her sister was just ditching her for some cute boy she met. It made her blood boil. She was so angry and focused on the two dinosaurs, that she didn't even notice sauntering through the grass, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice.

"It's nice to see that Adam's made a friend, don't you think?" Gabriel inquired, navy blue eyes calm and serene as always. His voice had been so sudden that Mackenzie yelped, which gave her away.

Miriam and Adam turned around, a look of confusion on Miriam's face. "Mackenzie? West are you doing here?"

"Looking out for you, like a sister should. It's too bad that you've forgotten me and ditched me for Adam."

Miriam felt terrible. She extended a hand out to her sister, "I didn't forget you-"

"Well, it sure feels like it!" Mackenzie hollered before Miriam could complete her sentence.

"We're only friends..." Miriam tried to reason.

"That's what they all say!" Mackenzie shouted before darting past her sister and disappearing into the gorge.

"Mackenzie, wait!" Miriam started to go after her sister, but was stopped by Gabriel.

"Don't. There's no sharpteeth in that gorge for miles. And I doubt she'll go that far."

Littlr did the three of them know, Gabriel was wrong.