I was practically bouncing with both excitement and nervousness. 'Would I be in a Winglet with my sister? Would I make a good impression? What if I mess up? What if-' I was brought out of my mental panic attack by my sister putting a wing around me comfortingly.

"Calm down, Wave. It's going to be okay. I'm sure you'll make a good impression, don't worry so much." Clearfrost spoke up calmly. I slowly relaxed and we walked up to the entrance desk.

"Hello, my name's Fatespeaker. What are your names?" The NightWing asked, as she handed each of us a scroll tied with a black leather band.

"My name's Nightwave, and this is my older sister, Clearfrost." I said, giving a nervous smile. "Well, here goes." I said, looking at my sister, who looked back at me with a bright and encouraging smile on her face.

I Wonder what winglet I'll be in? Will I be with my sister? Will my Clawmates be nice? Will they even like me? I thought, I took a deep breath before reading.

"WELCOME TO

THE JADE MOUNTAIN

ACADEMY!"

With that opening sentence, I could not help but feel welcomed. After reading through the introductory paragraphs that told the reader what they would be learning at the academy, My eyes fell upon the desired contents of the scroll...

The Winglet placements.

Before reading, I took a deep breath...

Here we go, time to find out who my clawmates will be for the next four years.

JADE WINGLET

IceWing: Frostfire

MudWing: Crane

NightWing: Peacemaker

RainWing: Mango

SandWing: Viper

SeaWing: Seashell

SkyWing: Ruby

Maybe I'll be in the Gold Winglet? I thought to myself, with a bright smile on my face. I then read into the Gold placements.

GOLD WINGLET

IceWing: Clearfrost

MudWing: Amber

NightWing: Stargazer

RainWing: Evergreen

SandWing: Spike

SeaWing: Dolphin

SkyWing: Cliff

I was really hoping to be in a Winglet with my sister. But maybe I'll be in the Silver Winglet? I thought, I pushed the sad thoughts away and kept reading the list of dragonets.

SILVER WINGLET

IceWing: Winter

MudWing: Copper

NightWing: Dreamseaker

RainWing: Glorious

SandWing: Arid

SeaWing: Hurricane

SkyWing: Inferno

Interesting group of dragonets in that winglet. I thought, with an amused smile on my face and a twitch of my tail.

Copper's not one of my favorite colors, but... Oh well. I thought, with a shrug of my wings. I then read into the Copper placements.

COPPER WINGLET

IceWing: Frostbite

MudWing: Alligator

NightWing: Moonwatcher

RainWing: Citrus

SandWing: Cactus

SeaWing: Starfish

SkyWing: Cynder

There was one more Winglet left, the Quartz Winglet. I took a deep breath and shook out my wings.

Taking a gulp, I continued to read into the Quartz placements...

QUARTZ WINGLET

IceWing: Ermine

MudWing: Reed

NightWing: Nightwave (Oh Three Moons! Thank you!)

RainWing: Willow

SandWing: Hyena

SeaWing: Tempest

SkyWing: Zephyr

Relief washed over me, thank goodness! I was not in someone else's place. I was glad that I hadn't been forgotten. And, if i might add, quartz was a pretty stone.

"What?! Why are SkyWings at the bottom of the list?!" A voice from behind me remarked with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"I'm a Princess! So shouldn't I be in either the Gold or Silver Winglets?!" The SkyWing yelled, her tail lashing.

"A SkyWing Princess, hah? Well, this should make things more interesting." I muttered to myself, with an amused smile.

I turned to see a SkyWing with auburn-colored scales and when she spread her wings wide open, their red membranes almost looked like fire for a moment.

I rolled my eyes in slight amusement at the SkyWing dragonet who stormed over to Fatespeaker, the older NightWing didn't seam fazed in the slightest. I waited patiently until the SkyWing was done venting her frustration.

I said goodby to my younger sister as she made her way to her Winglet's Common Caves. Once she was out of sight, I walked over to the SkyWing who looked up when I approached her. She then looked down at her scroll, most likely looking for my name.

"Nightwave, right?" Zephyr asked, a hint of familiarity in her voice as she said my name.

"We're in the same winglet," I said with a nod to the Princess.

"Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you." The Princess replied, with a small smile. Then she frowned once more, most likely thinking of the previous Conversation.

"C'mon, let's head to our cave. We can talk on the way there." I said, motioning with my tail for the SkyWing Princess to follow me.

The Quartz Winglet's common cave was circular in shape. In the center of the cave was a fire pit, with seven cushions circled a safe distance. Along the walls were storage containers and book shelves, all for the winglet's personal use. The cave was also connected to three smaller caves, where the winglet, I correctly assumed, would sleep.

When we entered I put my bag down on a sleeping platform near the other end of the cave. As I was organizing my scrolls I felt something collide with me. I yelped and scurried backwards in surprise.

"Hey, watch where you're going! Couldn't you tell that I was trying to take a nap there?" The RainWing snapped angrily. I lowered my head in shame. As the RainWing hissed and her eyes glared at me.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mea-" but I was cut off by the still fuming RainWing. "I don't care, you should still watch where your going!" She hissed in a low tone.

"She said she was sorry. So back off and let it go!" Zephyr shouted, glaring at the RainWing. I sighed and shook out my wings.

Suddenly the RainWings demeanor changed and she stared at me with wide eyes. I blinked and looked up from reading my scroll.

"Hay! Aren't you that NightWing who filled our classroom with your amazing paintings?" The RainWing exclaimed with a wide grin on her face. I nodded and smiled shyly at the prize.

"The one and only," I replied, with a bright smile and a flap of my midnight black wings. "The name's Nightwave," I answered with a bright smile on my face.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. The name's Willow." The RainWing said with a smile and a shake of her wings.

I vaguely remembered Willow, she was usually pritty calm and reserved, but she could also be pretty loud for a RainWing. She would snap at anyone who EVEN DARED to call RainWings lazy. I laughed quietly at the silly and quirky RainWing dragonet.

"I plan on showing everyone more of my paintings. I just hope they have a cave where I can put them on display." I mumbled the last part to myself with a slight frown.

"The Academy has some places where you can put your paintings." Came a new voice from the entrance of the sleeping cave.

The three of us looked to see a SeaWing about our age walk in. With her scales a light blue, aqua green wing membranes and eyes. I couldn't deny she looked pretty. Her calm gaze and demeanor also relieved me, and maybe not all of my clawmates would bicker?

"You must be... Hurricane, right?" Zephyr asked, the first to recover from the appearance of the new arrival.

"Tempest," she corrected, though with a sincere smile and a nod of her head in greeting.

Before I could introduce myself, Tempest was already speaking.

"Perhaps we could have introductions in there?" Tempest asked as she pointed her tail out to the common cave. I could just barely see someone sitting on a cushion reading a scroll.

Zephyr, along with me and Willow, nodded as the three of us followed Melody outside to where the other dragonet was sitting.

The dragonet in question was an IceWing. Though her scales were completely white, her tail spikes and horns were a dark blue, which I thought was odd since I had always heard IceWings were always white. She was wearing a sapphire necklace around her neck and a ring, also embedded with a sapphire, was on her horn.

As the rest of the Winglet approached her, the dragonet looked up from her scroll and at Zephyr, Willow and finally me, though I noticed her gaze on me was much longer.

"The name's Ermine," She said after a short while before diving instantly back into her scroll.

With a sigh, Tempest sat on a cushion beside Ermine, implying both dragonets knew one another, as I sat across from the three. I noticed Zephyr and Willow glance at the other, clearly waiting for the other to take their seat in some kind of silent contest. Eventually it was the SkyWing Princess who sat down beside me, while Willow sat beside Tempest.

"I'm Princess Zephyr," The SkyWing introduced herself. Turning her attention to Ermine's scroll, she asked, "What are you reading?"

"Hm? Oh, just a scroll about IceWing history." Ermine responded, her tone changing ever so slightly. "In particular, how the Circles came to be." Continued Ermine, frowning slightly at the mention of the circles. "And how they developed over the years, and the effect it had on the non-aristocratic IceWings." She explained.

Me, Zephyr and Willow glanced at one another. I found this... Interesting to say the least. I had always learned at school that it was rare for an IceWing to actually think outside of the circles.

"That is kind of weird," Zephyr answered bluntly, voicing our thoughts out loud. "I mean you clearly look to be in the aristocracy..."

"Ermine is from the circles, though she's much more... open in her opinions about it... Most of the time she's pretty quiet and she tends to keep to herself when I'm not there." Tempest explained, answering for Ermine. "At the meetings that the older IceWings have every few months... Let's just say she's caused some IceWing spikes to rattle." Tempest added, clearly poking fun at her friend good-naturedly.

Ermine rolled her eyes at Tempest. "Haha, IceWing puns. Hilarious and original! What's next, coming up with the cool and cold jokes?" Asked the IceWing with a mix of betrayal and a pout on her face. But Ermine was clearly being sarcastic. There was no mean spite in her tone when talking to Tempest.

"So you're like, what, against the circles?" Asked Willow, frowning.

"Not necessarily." Ermine added. "A hierarchy or chain of command is certainly needed. I'm not an anarchist or anything... But in practice, the system of the circles are flawed and dated. It doesn't have to go away, but it does need to change." She explained.

"Willing to change traditions, but keep somethings in place." Zephyr thought aloud. "I think you'd like my mother."

And, if I were honest, I liked Ermine to. I had heard bad things about the aristocracy from Moon and Quibli over the years. Apparently they had a friend from their winglet, an IceWing Prince, who was once part of the circles... But even after doing so much to prove himself, he was still in exile from the IceWing tribe.

But Ermine was from the aristocracy, yet she did not like how it operated. I wondered what kind of system she would include if she were in control of it?

Ermine nodded in agreement at Zephyr's statement.

"I've read scrolls about Queen Ruby and how she reformed the Sky Kingdom...Ruby is one of the good queens that have recently ascended to the throne. Moorhen has always been decent, but real change came in the form of Glory and Thorn. They're much better then Coral and Snowfall." She said, turning to Tempest. "No offense about Coral, of course."

The SeaWing shrugged her wings. "I live in the Kingdom of the Sea, but I cannot say I have much emotional connection there."

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. How can you live somewhere but not love it?

"I have done a lot of traveling for most of my life," Tempest explained. "While I am loyal to the tribe, I wouldn't say I bleed for the Queen."

Now that was a thought I had a hard time understanding, being ruled by a Queen who you didn't like. I had heard somethings about Queen Coral, but at the same time my mother told me that complaints about Coral by SeaWings were rare...

Though if rumors were true, Coral may not have been Queen for much longer.

A silence fell on the group yet again and this time, it was Tempest that tried to break the silence.

"Has anyone seen the SandWing and MudWing who are supposed to be in our Winglet?" She asked.

A few hours later, we were all chatting happily when we herd yelling outside of the our sleeping cave. We all pocked our heads outside to investigate. We saw Tsunami, one of the teachers. Behind her was a SandWing and a MudWing.

"Hyena, please. Can you stop picking fights with other dragons! It's disturbing the other students, and it's really unnecessary." Tsunami said, earitation showing in her voice.

"Were those... Our Clawmates?" I asked, as I turned to Tempest and Ermine, who both nodded their heads in answer to my question. I sighed as I wispered something into Ermine's ear.

When they were gone, I looked at my Clawmates, Harmony and Willow looked rather amused at the sight that had unfolded. Melody shook her head, though she was struggling to hide an amused smile as well.

Ermine, on the other hand, had her talons over her eyes, exasperated at what had unfolded.

Zephyr, not holding back her amused grin, said, "I think they were."

"...I like the SandWing!" Said Willow, smirking. "I like her style. Not sure what to make of the MudWing though... Seems like a bit of a wuss." She said with a shrug.

Ermine, meanwhile, removed her talons from her eyes to stare at the leaving dragons…Only to then quickly dive into her scroll again. "Nope, nope, nope. Not going to get involved..."

Me and Tempest glanced at each other, both chuckling at their clawmates reactions.

Something deep down told me that this was going to be an interesting four years.