"We're going to…war?"Carmillow asked, a little unbelievingly.

"Yes." Catfish responded."Queen Moorhen reports that all sibs should enlist for her army."

"This doesn't include me, right?" Carmillow asked hopefully. "I don't have any sibs, right?"

Catfish slowly shook his head. "I'm sorry. Queen Moorhen needs fighters like you in her army."

Carmillow let out a cry of despair."You can't let me go! I like it here! Well, I don't like the times when people are bulling me, 90 percent of the time, but still! I like it here! Please, I can't leave."

Catfish looked away from her despaired face with a grimace. "I'm sorry." He looked down at his talons.

Carmillow stormed away to her room. She later heard Catfish retreat to his own room.

That night, Carmillow lay awake, thinking.

I don't want to enlist. I'm not going to die in a war like any ordinary dragon. I WILL NOT enlist. I'll run away if I have to.

Carmillow jumped out of bed. "Running away!" " Why didn't I think of it before?"

Then her mind flashed to Catfish. How would he react to her disappearance? He would probably be mad, but way sadder. He would be one of the only dragons who would care about her disappearance. She could almost hear Rain's voice in her head.

Stupid little dragonet ran away. Ha ha. We all saw THAT coming. She would be useless in a fight anyway.

Carmillow farced Rain out of her head. She had to leave. She was sure of it. But yet…she dashed over to the scroll cabinet. She grabbed a blank scroll and an ink bottle. She dipped one claw into the ink and hastily wrote;

Dear father,

I am running away. This is not because of you, but because of the impending war. I do not want to die uselessly and be forgotten in the scrolls of history. I am going to fly through the southern woods, and find my way from there. I hope to meet you again one day.

Love, Carmillow

She left the scroll on the table, and then proceeded to pack her few belongings into a sack. She took one last look at her father's sleeping cave, and then took off into the night.

Unknown destiny, here I come.

Carmillow had to admit, the southern woods were a lot scarier at night time. Every shadow made her jump in fear.

Walking is a bit too scary. She decided.

She lifted into the sky with a few strong flaps of her wings. She soon passed all the old, familiar landmarks, and made her way into the new landmarks she had made the other day. As she passed crystal cave, she noticed a scavenger holding some kind of light source and pulling a cart full of crystals.

Huh. The scavengers are still reaping crystals from the cave. That's odd. Seems like a waste of time. Then again, scavengers are "simple creatures who like shiny things."

She flew on, into unmarked territory. She flew, and flew, and flew. Finally as the first few rays of the sun penetrated the darkness, Carmillow decided she was hungry. She flew a little lower to look for possible prey. She spotted a rabbit hopping along the ground, unaware that it was about to become a tasty meal. Carmillow dove down and ate the rabbit in one bite. During the middle of the day, the trees started thinning out and eventually became a giant plain, lush and full of cows. Carmillow dove down once in a while to eat a cow, but didn't stop for anything else. Eventually, trees started reappearing, and Carmillow decided that it was a good time to rest. She swooped down to rest her aching wings.

Then, Carmillow realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was. She rummaged around her sack and found what she was looking for-a map of Pyrrhia. She had received it from her father as a 4th hatching day present, and she spent many hours trying to guess where the hidden summer palace was on the bay of a thousand scales. According to the map, she had flown south for a day, and was now on the outskirts of the rainforest.

According to my social studies teacher, the rainwings live in the rainforest. What did my teacher say about them again….oh yeah. "Rainwings are a lazy insignificant tribe with no purpose at all. They have the ability to change the color of their scales." Ouch. That sounds a lot like Rain describing me. An insignificant dragon with no purpose at all. Sounds exactly like the type of dragons I'd like to hang out with!

She checked her map again and pinpointed the location of the rainwing village in her brain. She folded up her map and put it back in her sack. She lifted off and flew towards the rainwing village.

She spotted the rainwing village from afar while the sun was still setting. As she approach the villiage, she had a thought.

Who am I supposed to tell that I'm a runaway? Will they accept me?

She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her leg, and then everything blacked out. A moment later, she awoke, lashing out with her talons in all directions. She was entangled in some kind of dragon carried net.

"LET ME OUT OF THIS NET YOU STUPID SLIME WEASLES I'LL HAVE YOUR HEADS BY TONIGHT IF YOU DON'T LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!"She gasped for air after her sudden outburst.

Carmillow didn't get mad often, but when she did, she got MAD.

"Awake already?" asked the rainwing above her with genuine surprise.

"Was I asleep?" retorted Carmillow.

"You were supposed to be." Said the now startlingly bright pink dragon.

Carmillow gaped in surprise. "asleep….I haven't been asleep since I was born!"

"Wow! Said another dragon. "That must have felt awful!" the other rainwings carrying him made murmurs of agreement.

"anyway…..welcome to the rain kingdom….Carmillow."