Hey all. I'm back again here with the next chapter of this little pet project of mine. I won't lie, I'm worried on if I've captured the essence of the characters that Sutherland made in this chapter, as this one will be without Wither, as more of a filler chapter. I'm hoping that this will be a nice insight to the slight changed that I might have made in terms of personality to the dragonets, especially to Tsunami. But I hope you all enjoy it, nonetheless.

Also, just to answer a question of MYTHICBOI, the second paragraph of chapter two shows Wither noticing the commotion of Nightwings above Scarlet's palace. Wither knew something must have happened but didn't know exactly what it was.

Other than that, I hope those of you who read enjoy this chapter of the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Wings of Fire.

"Normal text/speech."

"Thoughts"

3rd person POV Focus: Tsunami

The summer palace was amazing. Water falling from above beneath a green leaf canopy, sparkling in the green hued sunlight, and a beautiful palisade made of stone that seemed to naturally grow out of the rock, several layers going high into the chamber of the palace. the only issue... Was the actual dragons inside. The beginning was fantastic. Tsunami's mother had nearly smothered her with the hug she gave her when they first met. Tsunami was elated to hear that her favorite story 'The lost princess' was written by her mother about her, and learning that she had a little sister, Anemone, was amazing. But then everything started going south. There were so many rules, expectations, and it was all overwhelming for the Seawing dragonet. Her mother had shoved half a dozen scrolls into her arms and had expected her to read all of them by the next day, and when she woke up, she hadn't even seen a trace of her friends. She had watched the cave they had been shoved into and nobody had gone in or out most of the morning, not even to feed them.

Then of course there was the commotion earlier that day. Her mother's soldiers had found a dead dragon on one of their islands, pressed up against the rocks at the bottom of a sea cliff. Tsunami had gone out to see what it was, getting a harsh lesson of how much wilder and more untamed the sea was compared to the small, lazy river that their home cavern had. The Water was sharp and salty, making her gills feel like small bits of sand was scraping inside of them with each breath underwater, before she finally came out to join the inspection. She did not like what she saw. On the rocks, body broken from impact, was the Skywing guardian who had helped raise them, Kestrel. "Raised being a very loose term. She mostly just beat us half to death in combat training." She looked closer to observe the wounds, and it made her worried. Kestrel had two noticeable wounds. Talon marks on her neck, where her throat had been sliced, and a hole above her heart, where something had pierced it. She overheard the guards, telling her mother that it was a sandwing's tail stinger. She couldn't say she felt remorse, she personally hated Kestrel, but Sunny would be heartbroken to hear about this. She had to get back up as her mother started towards the summer palace again, diving into the water as Tsunami groaned. Could this get any worse?

In fact, it was the very next day that her temper nearly exploded. Tsunami grumbled for what felt like the millionth time as the 'teacher' her mother assigned to her did next to nothing to explain what he was signaling to her with his scales. The aquatic language of the Seawings was the one thing that her Seawing guardian, Webs, had never taught her. She was convinced that this was some kind of torture as the Seawing teacher, Whirlpool, moved and spoke at about a mile a week. Even snails moved faster than this dragon talked. She was getting fed up with it, before she had finally had enough. She stuck her tongue out as she jumped over the palisade railing to go into the tunnel out of the palace, needing a spot to cool down instead of wanting to shove a sea cucumber up Whirlpool's snout.

She snorted as she splashed into the submerged tunnel. His lessons were borderline useless because he just wouldn't tell her what was being said. All he gave was a "There. We just finished the first chapter of Queen Coral's first book." Well, it's been a day and a half, she met her mother, her friends were being put under guard, and she had to meet and speak with her sister, Anemone. She hadn't had any time to read the moon forsaken scroll yet! She swam out to a small island just outside, growling as she shook herself. "That arrogant, squid brained-! ARGH! I just want to claw something's face off!" She looked to the side, scanning the island for some sort of prey she could feel good about killing, before noticing riptide hovering over a cave on a seaside cliff. The Seawing that lead them here was interesting to her. Polite for the most part, and certainly more appealing to look at than Whirlpools weird face and eyes that were way too big.

She flew over, landing in the cave alongside riptide, smiling. "Hey. Haven't seen you since Mom shooed you away. Thank the moons I got away from Whirlpool. He is such a useless teacher." Riptide chuckled. "Princess Anemone has had to deal with him for the past 2 years. I've snuck around enough to know that Whirlpool isn't exactly quick on the upkeep." She rolls her eyes. "Talking to him is more boring than talking to a literal rock... Scratch that, I think a rock would be a better conversationalist." They both laughed at that for a bit, before riptide looked to her a little shyly. "I could teach you a few basic phrases, if that would help?" Tsunami nodded vigorously. "Yes! Anything to make it so I at least have some idea of what other dragons are saying under the water. I'm so done with being clueless."

Riptide nods. "I can show you a few basic things. Here, this is how to say hello, and this part glows if someone is asking a question..." Riptide showed her a couple of basic flashing patterns, on his snout, side and wings, Tsunami working to mimic them, before riptide nods. "You pick up fast... Here's that last one. It means... I will protect you. I have a feeling you'll need to use it sometime soon." Tsunami nods, mimicking the flashes of scales along her side and the talon gestures he made, smiling. "This is so much better than Whirlpool. Actually useful." Riptide nods, before looking a little nervous. "Hey, Tsunami... Did you... know what that island I found and your friends on was the forbidden island? No Seawing or otherwise has landed there and lived to talk about it. It comes from your great grandmother's time. The legend talks about some monster that never lets anyone who lands there leave alive. Nobody's ever seen it before."

Tsunami blinks, her brow furrowing. "Could that monster be Wither? He certainly fits the description. So, he might have killed other dragons. Maybe I should go claw the truth out of-... Stop. You promised to not be so impulsive." She nods. "I'll keep that in mind... Lucky we made it out of there alive then." Riptide nods. "Yeah. It must have been really weird. Did you see any tracks? Or what it might have been? I guessed it was some kind of crab that grew to the size of a dragon." She snorted, before hesitating. Sunny made her and the others promise not to get Wither involved, but... "... No. No traces of any monster." Riptide looked relieved. "That's good at least... You should probably head back out. Queen Coral would kill me if she found out I snuck back this close and was hanging around you." Tsunami nods. "Don't be a stranger, squid brain." He laughs. "My new favorite insult... flash your tail 3 times fast next time you see Whirlpool for me." Tsunami looked puzzled. "What would that say to him?" He smirks. "Squid brain."

She laughed as she flew out of the cave, headed back to the palace. Riptide was funny, and a lot more charming than Whirlpool could ever hope to be. Coral seemed to really like Whirlpool for some reason, but for what reason, Tsunami would never understand. She plunged into the tunnel, the golden kelp obscuring her vision for a minute as she swam, until a wrenching pain exploded in her back. She instinctively cried out in pain, but only bubbles came out of her jaws as she felt talons digging into her back. She thrashed, trying to move her body in some way that she could get at her attacker, her back talons kicking, but only scraping against metal. Tsunami tries to gasp for breath in her gills when talons came down and wrapped around her throat, starting to strangle her. She tried to force breath through, but the dragon who had her pinned was bigger and stronger than her. Panic flashed in her mind as she thought she was going to die.

She tried to think, but her head was going fuzzy, darkness slowly encroaching on her vision. She needed help, fast. She did the only thing she could think of. She flashed her scales as brightly as she could, filling the tunnel with a blinding flash of multicolored light. The talons on her loosened, and she took her chance, slamming her tail into the head of her attacker, knocking them off of her. She spun around to face her attacker once her scales dimmed, but the tunnel was suddenly empty. She winced, feeling the blood from her wounds leaking into the sea water around her. Her mother had to know about this. She was right. There was an assassin.

She got out of the tunnel, flying up to Coral's level of the palisade, landing with labored breath as she interrupted a report from Moray, the daughter of Coral's brother, Shark. Tsunami wheezed a little, still recovering from the attempted strangulation. "Mother..." Coral looked over to reprimand tsunami, the pearls that hung from her horns and shoulders glinting lightly, but her eyes widened as she saw the blood dripping from Tsunami's back. "Tsunami, what happened?" Anemone, Tsunami's 2-year-old sister came up, looking concerned as well as Tsunami gave a cough to clear her throat, speaking in-between breaths. "Someone... Just tried to kill me... in the tunnel to the palace..." Coral frowns. "Are you alright. Do you nee-" Her head snapped up, looking in horror. "The deep palace! My eggs!" She scrambled onto her talons, before looking to Moray. "Get Whirlpool and Shark. We need to check the deep palace!" Moray nodded furiously as she flew off.

Coral didn't wait as she jumped off the balcony to fly to the tunnel, the harness attached to Anemone dragging her along. Tsunami desperately wanted to rest, but knew she had to be present for this. She jumped off, flying down to the tunnel, following her mother and sister as they swam out into the open ocean. What felt like hours flew by as they swam through the sea water currents, Tsunami still not used to how much rougher the sea water was on her gills, and even worse was the salt of the sea stinging into her wounds. They swam down into an underwater trench where the deep palace finally came into view. They swam down as fast as they could, hoping against hope it wasn't too late.

It was too late. At least, for one of queen Coral's daughters. They had opened the royal hatchery, to see barely anything had changed. The kelp that acted as nests for the eggs was undisturbed. A large statue of Coral's eldest daughter, Orca, stood as if it was guarding the eggs, ruby eyes gleaming. All was well except for one, lifeless corpse of a dragonet, who had been broken out of her egg and strangled to death by heavy talons. Being underwater, Tsunami couldn't see it, but knew that both she and her mother were crying. One of the eggs was still intact, untouched, but it was horrible, seeing the body of her sister, her life taken before she had even hatched. Coral rushed out to punish the guard who hadn't been doing her duty when Tsunami looked to the other egg, containing the only other possible sister she could have. She wrapped her talons around it, feeling the small heartbeat inside, before carrying it out of the hatchery with her. "No one will harm you, little dragonet. I will never let anyone harm you."

Coral had loudly protested Tsunami taking the egg back to the summer palace, but if there was anything Tsunami had inherited from her mother, it was her stubbornness. She swam out of the deep palace, the egg strapped to her chest with a harness similar to the one Anemone wore. The ocean beat at her, currents flowing wildly. A storm was raging up above the water's surface. She swam for what felt like hours against the beating current, before stopping at an underwater cave to rest for a little while. "Why am I so stupid? This was a stupid idea. I don't even know how to get back..." she curled up in the cave, needing to rest for a few minutes at least. She had run herself ragged all day.

She woke up an hour later to a nudging against her side, looking to see Riptide, smiling to her as he looked at the egg. He flashed his scales, the ones that Tsunami recognized as 'follow' lighting and dimming as he gestured in a direction. Tsunami nodded, not wanting to argue. Riptide led her into a current that was at least a little calmer than the rest of the ocean, Tsunami not feeling kicked up sand getting in her gills. They swam for a while as the storm got even worse up above, riptide looking back, before flashing a few scales, Tsunami's eyes widening as she recognized the last phrase Riptide had taught her. "I will protect you..." Tsunami couldn't help but blush at this, hoping the murky ocean water was enough to hide it. They arrived at the palace, Riptide turning the other way as he waved to her, causing her to smile as she waved back, before headed inside.

She had apparently also inherited Coral's fury when she came to the lowest cavern to find that her friends had not been taken care of at all. In fact, Clay had been chained to the wall as the huge storm raged outside, and the cavern was filling with water quickly which threatened to drown him within an hour. She had nearly torn the head off of one of the guards but had to remind herself to act rationally instead of impulsively. She stood in front of the guards who had the keys, looking to the with an understanding expression. "Please... if you want this war to end before more dragons die, I need my friends to be safe. We are meant to stop the war, but we can't do it alone. Please, help us." the guards debated for a while, knowing it went against commander Shark's orders, but they also realized they needed to do something, one of them handing over the keys and a pot of fish. Tsunami nodded in thanks, before flying back down, to see that the water had risen further. She quickly went Clay and used the keys to unlock the cuffs on his talons. talons. clay nodded in thanks as they headed up to a higher cavern, Tsunami undoing the harness that held the dragonet egg on her and handing it over to Sunny, who took the egg with joy and her own version of a fierce look as she cradled it against her chest.

Tsunami nudged clay lightly as he shivered. "You okay, big guy?" Clay nods, giving his dopy warm smile. "Yeah. As long as you all are." Tsunami couldn't help but smile as Glory scoffed. "Well, I'm not okay. Being stuck in that wet cave for nearly two days, and FINALLY the prim and pretty princess has time to visit us." Tsunami frowned. "Hey, a lot of things happened, okay? You weren't being droned on about lessons, given a month's work of homework in a night, and having to see..." She winces, remembering the last thing that happened yesterday. Finding the body of their Skywing guardian, Kestrel. "... Guys... I don't think there's a better time to tell you all... Mom's soldiers found a dead Skywing on one of the islands outside... It..." She swallowed, looking to sunny with an apologetic expression. "... It was Kestrel."

Sunny almost immediately had tears in her eyes. "N-no... Not Kestrel! Why? How?" Tsunami grimaced. "Sunny... I know you cared about her, despite her borderline torture every day. I'm not saying she deserved to die, but... I didn't really care about her." Sunny frowned indignantly through her tears as Clay put a talon around Sunny's. "Hey. I'm sad too. She didn't deserve to die, especially so soon after finally finding out Peril was alive all these years." Tsunami frowns again. "There's more... Someone tried to kill me earlier today." Clay's head shot up at that. "What!?" Tsunami nods. "My back is still aching. I managed to get them off of me and drive them off, but I have no idea who it was." She sat down, dragging over the pot of fish that Clay and Starflight started to cook with their fire, Tsunami thinking for a long time, before sighting heavily.

"Guys... I'm starting to run out of ideas. We need to figure out what to do next, and... well, this assassin who tried to kill me and is killing mom's eggs... I can't figure out how they're doing it. I'm scared." Glory was the one who had the most violent reaction. "You? The brave and reckless Tsunami is scared?" Tsunami growled. "Well, it's not like I know who's face I'm supposed to claw off!" Starflight nodded. "It seems physically impossible to attack you, get to the deep palace, kill a dragonet, then disappear without anyone seeing them." Tsunami nods. "That's what is freaking me out. They would have to either have super speed underwater or could teleport or something." Starflight shook his head. "Sorry Tsunami, I can't make heads or tails of it..." Tsunami nods. "Yeah... and that's why I'm worried of what we might have to do... What I'll have to do, but... I can't risk losing my only other sister..." She sighs, giving an apologetic look to Sunny. "Sunny... I think we need to ask Wither for help." Sunny jolted to attention. "No! We... We promised we wouldn't get him in trouble." Tsunami nods. "Yeah, I know... but he's the only one that isn't someone we don't... sort of know and he seemed informed despite being isolated. I know it goes against our promise, but he might be the only one who can help us figure this out, and maybe get it so you guys aren't being fed scraps." Clay nodded. "Yes. More food is good." Sunny still didn't look happy. "But... We promised..." Tsunami nudged her with her snout. "I know, sunny. I'll be the one breaking the promise, not you. I just... I don't want to risk my sister." Sunny thought for a while, before drooping her head sadly. "Alight... This must have really frazzled you." Tsunami nods. "Yeah... It has."

They all slept together that night in their usual pileup, but awoke to the most terrifying sight of a Sandwing watching them from the entrance to the alcove they were in. Starflight instantly recognized the Sandwing from the descriptions in his scrolls as she gazed at them with pure black eyes, green hued sunlight glinting off of her pale gold scales, the black diamond pattern on her scales being a giveaway. He whispered to the others. to the others. "Princess Blister." Blister's eyes narrow at Starflight. "That's queen blister to you..." She brings herself up, giving a sickly-sweet smile. "Hello, dragonets of destiny. I hope you're well awake today. I heard from my dear ally Coral all about you five, and I hope I can show you why you'd be making the right choice if you make me queen." Tsunami frowns, before shaking her head. "Approach this carefully, Tsunami. Don't cause problems." "My apologies, Princess Blister, but I have business with my mother today."

Blister stilted her head, still smiling. "Well, I suppose we're both going the same way then. And please, refer to me as Queen Blister." Tsunami bit back a growl, before going to the entrance of the cave, giving one last rueful look to Sunny. "... Hope it turns out alright." Sunny nods. "Just... don't ask too much from him." Tsunami nods. "I won't. Just there and back, okay?" She turns, trying not to show her scowl as Blister and her guards flew up to Coral's throne, Tsunami stepping in as her uncle Shark was leaving. "... Mother." Coral looks to Tsunami, relief in her expression. "Tsunami... I feared the storm would take you." Tsunami nods. "It was hard, but I managed... I'll stay with the egg in the Royal hatchery tonight. No one will get her on my watch, but... I'd still like to figure out who this assassin is before that." Coral nodded. "I just can't figure out who it is. It's been eating at me all this time." Tsunami grimaced lightly as she thought, gathering her courage, before finally speaking.

.. I think I know someone who might be able to solve our problem." Coral's head snapped up, causing Anemone to yelp as she was tugged upright. "You do!? but... Another outsider is the last thing we need right now." Tsunami nods. "Trust me. If we go to him, he'll probably help then leave as fast as he could. He... doesn't like company, as far as I can tell." Coral nods. "Alright, dear... Wait, where is my egg?" Tsunami paled a little. "Um... Sunny has it. She can keep it warm and safe." Coral looked to Tsunami angrily. "You left my egg with the Sandwing?" Tsunami nods. "Mother, please trust me. Sunny would rather eat a live slug whole than hurt your dragonet."

Tsunami looks to anemone, smiling at her, before she turned to Coral. "Mother, please... I think we need someone who can look at all of these facts from the outside to determine what's going on. But there is one catch... We can't get him involved in the war. He's been isolated for... I don't even know how many years, and specifically stated he wants no part of it." Coral frowned. "Sounds like a traitor to his tribe." Tsunami sighs. "You'll see what I mean when we get there." Blister smiled as she stalked up closer, Tsunami jumping as she hadn't even noticed Blister approach. "Now you've piqued my interest. I'd like to meet this mystery dragon of yours." Tsunami frowns until Coral nodded. "Yes. If it means saving my last daughter from this assassin, I'll give this dragon of yours a chance for us to meet him. Where is he?" Tsunami winces. "... Just follow me. I can lead you all there."

They all took off into the tunnel, Coral bringing Anemone and some of her guards while Blister gestured to two Sandwing guards to follow, Tsunami flying ahead while thinking. "Am I doing the right thing?... Wither... He just wants to be left alone... But I need to ask him. I need to do this. For my family... for my little sister." She flew into the entry tunnel, then burst out of it into the open air over the ocean, leading the others towards Wither's island, hoping against hope that she wasn't making the wrong decision.

Well, there you have it. It might just be that I like making context for events happening, but I felt this was a good way to sort of do a median introduction to how I might end up portraying the Dragonets for the rest of the story. Again, I hope I did it justice. Not as much comedy in this one, but I plan on there being more blend of both lighthearted and more serious moments. I'm gonna try to make my chapters around 3000-4000 words long but might do some shorter chapters sometimes. It's not that I want to pan out a chapter's length, but that I sometimes find a way I want to leave the chapter off to keep a sort of attention grab but have a hard time making it any longer than it already is since otherwise, I'd have to merge two chapters together, and I want to leave room for myself for a steady pace when writing this. For now, though, review if you want, always up for tips or advise. And I'll see you guys next Friday.