A/N: Yes, I know it's been awhile, but I did say this would be a slower updating story. And it will likely continue to be so. That is all I have to say for now; enjoy the chapter!

Moon woke up with a groan, an ache in her neck and wings from a rough night of sleep. Sunlight from a window got in her eyes, causing her to blink and shake her head in annoyance at the brightness of it. She felt groggy and not at all rested from her trip.

Her eyes focused and she was moderately surprised to see an unfamiliar setting around her before the memory of the past night came back. She was with Winter; she was safe. Even if the room she was in felt drab and unused and not at all homey, she allowed herself to relax as she realized that there was nothing to worry about waking up in this unfamiliar room. Lifting her head, she glanced towards the window, trying and failing to gauge the time from how bright it looked outside. Giving a huff at the lack of anything besides a fair certainty that it was still morning and that she hadn't slept in too terribly late, she slowly stretched her wing out to grab her son, asleep beside her, and pull him a bit closer.

…And she suddenly panicked as she realized that he wasn't there.

Moon's head immediately whipped away from the window and to her side, where Coldshock had gone to sleep peacefully beside her the previous night. The dragonet was nowhere to be seen, and her heart began to pound in her chest. She swept her tail around as she stood up, hoping to find and touch him with it as she frantically looked around the room for any sign of the black hatchling. With each second that passed without seeing his scales, she became increasingly worried until she was almost trembling, the fog in her mind from the lack of sleep swept away as her body went on full alert.

She was just about to yell for help when she finally noticed that the door wasn't fully closed, a small sliver of light from the main living area outside creeping in. Still more than a little concerned, she made her way to the door and cracked it open, peering out into the dining area where she and Winter had spent the last afternoon talking.

A sigh of relief escaped her as she almost immediately caught sight of black scales, and her wings and stance relaxed at seeing Coldshock okay. She was so certain she'd closed that door, though; how the small dragonet had gotten out was far beyond her. But the important thing was that nothing had happened and that her alarm was unwarranted.

As it turned out, Coldshock apparently had escaped to spend some time with his father; the next thing she saw after her son was Winter with him. Neither the Icewing nor their dragonet caught sight of her as she looked out at them, still mostly concealed behind the door, and so she took a moment to just watch.

Winter was…making breakfast? That's about what it looked like. He had a plate full of about a dozen fish that he was doing something with. He seemed to be adding a powder to them, maybe a sort of seasoning. She tilted her head in confusion as he moved a couple of them to a sort of metal pan and set them over what appeared to be a bed of hot coals. She hadn't really looked over his living space before, but she noticed now that there was a counter area that seemed to be specially built for whatever it was he was doing—a metal top with an indentation built in to hold those coals so they wouldn't set anything on fire.

Coldshock, too, watched him work. The little dragonet was on the table across from where Winter was working, and as the Icewing moved to and fro, he bounded across the table to watch him. Every now and then Winter would pause and give a small nuzzle to his son, but if he seemed to get too curious or close to what he was doing, Winter gave him a small but firm push back so he could work.

She cocked her head, amused as she went to peer into their thoughts. But the only ones she could hear were her sons. Moon frowned as she tried to read Winter's mind, but couldn't. Looking him over, she suddenly felt her heart sink as she saw a bracelet with a familiar stone on it.

Winter was wearing his skyfire.

Shaking her head, Moon tried not to allow that to sting as much as it did. After all, with what had happened before, why should he allow her access to his innermost thoughts? Why should he trust her with that when he clearly didn't even trust his own body with her? No, she imagined she deserved that from him. That level of trust needed to be earned once more. She gave a sigh, trying to resolve that she would do it.

Moon could soon smell the fish sizzling on the coals, an odd but appealing aroma accompanying it, no doubt from whatever Winter had added. The Icewing turned back to do some more work—flipping the fish, it seemed—and Moon watched in sudden horror as Coldshock unexpectedly leaped onto Winter's back. Winter himself tensed up at the sudden and unexpected contact, and he looked back with wide eyes at his son, but Coldshock just tilted his head curiously and Winter relaxed a little. He went back to what he was doing as Coldshock crawled across his back and up to his should and peaked over it.

Winter's back was to her, so she didn't have an amazing view, but she almost laughed at how careful Winter was suddenly acting with the dragonet perched on him. Every other second he nervously looked over to make sure Coldshock wasn't about to jump off his shoulder onto the coals, although their son made no move to do so. All he did was occasionally shift from one shoulder to the next to get a good view of whatever his father was doing, giving small squeaks of what she could have sworn was approval.

Moon couldn't help but smile at the scene, especially when Winter finished what he was doing and turned away from the counter area and back to the table. He leaned himself down and Coldshock, as though sensing what Winter wanted, hopped off his shoulder and back to where he'd started. The Icewing grinned and gave him a small pat on the head before retrieving the fish he'd just cooked. Setting two of them down on a small plate, he gingerly cut into one with a claw, cutting out a minuscule bite. Moon tilted her head in confusion at the tiny morsel before watching Winter bring it not to his own mouth, but instead offering it Coldshock.

The small black dragonet looked at the bite in confusion for a moment, then slowly reached his head out and took it from Winter's claw. He chewed for a moment, cocked his head as if in deep thought, then swallowed. Immediately Coldshock lashed his tail and wiggled his wings and opened his mouth for more, and Winter obliged, cutting out more small bite sized bits of fish for him to eat.

Coldshock was just finishing up the first fish when Winter finally noticed her and motioned for her to come over. A bit hesitantly, she did, making her way towards the table where they both were. Her stomach gave a bit of a rumble as she spied the plate of fish more closely—she hoped there were enough to share.

"Sleep well?" Winter asked her as Coldshock bounded to the end of the table she sat down on, gave her an affectionate nuzzle, then rushed back over to Winter for more food.

She shrugged her wings, ignoring the urge to bring up him wearing the skyfire. "Not really," she answered honestly, and Winter's face fell a little, "I was just a bit stiff from travel," she tried to clarify rapidly, and that seemed to make him feel better. "Anyway," she looked pointedly at the second fish that he now cutting for Coldshock, "Since when do you cook your food? I though Icewings hated warm meals."

"That's a bit of a misconception," Winter told her, "We're actually fine with warm foods. But it's true that we almost never go out of our way to cook it. No, this is something I picked up from the Skywings here. And the Seawings, too, to a lesser degree."

"Really?" Moon asked, "I wouldn't have thought."

"You get into a lot of habits you never thought you would when you live in a town with every tribe in it," Winter explained simply, "You pick up a few things here from the Skywings, a little there from the Mudwings and the Seawings…it's quite the learning experience."

"Huh," she tapped her tail, "I don't think I would have expected you, of all dragons, to take to them, though. I mean, you were always so…Icewing-y."

Winter gave a sigh. "Yeah, I was, wasn't I? But I've had some time now and, well…dragon's change, you know?"

She gave a small smile. "Yes…I do."

Winter began to cook a few more of the fish as Coldshock started to slow down with his eating, no doubt getting full. The dragonet gave a small burp as he finished the last little bit of the second fish, then slowly made his way back over to her. He curled himself up in front of her and gave a yawn, and she raised a claw to stroke him as he closed his eyes and relaxed.

"Hungry?" Winter asked, offering her the fish that were now almost done. She gave a nod and he gave them to her. The smell was good, but even so she hesitated before taking a bite; Nightwings didn't normally cook their food either, only having it sometimes a bit charred from their breath. But she had to admit that as the flavor exploded in her mouth, it tasted good. Heating the fish seemed to make it a bit more juicy, and whatever spices or whatnot Winter had put on it really enhanced the taste.

She swallowed and ran her tongue through her teeth, enjoying the flavor. "This is delicious, Winter," she told him, "Do you cook like this every day?"

He shrugged his wings as he began to finish doing up the remaining fish. "Not really, no. Only every now and then. I just thought that I'd give you a bit of a surprise, since you seemed so tired last night."

That was…extremely thoughtful of him. Considering how the previous night had ended with him pulling away from her like she had firescales, she hadn't expected him to anything for her. But Winter was, as she'd observed before, a dragon that did care. One that went out of his way for her. A dragon that would allow her into his home and into his life despite what had happened.

She thanked him as she finished the meal before her, and then ate a couple more that Winter finished cooking but didn't eat himself. His guess for how much to get came out just about even, as the only leftovers were the fishbones from Coldshock's meal. Of course, their son probably could have eaten them fine, but Winter had cut around them instead of risking him choking. It was probably for the best, actually.

Winter disappeared outside for a few moments with the scraps, no doubt to dispose of them someplace, and returned promptly. He took a deep breath as he looked at her and Coldshock, and then gave a small grin. "It's a lovely day outside," he announced, "Are you ready for that tour?"

"Tour?"

"Of Sanctuary," he said, "I did promise you last night that I'd show you around."

"Oh, yeah…" Moon trailed off. Honestly, she'd been expecting more discussion over their current…situation before they did that this morning, but she supposed it was all the same. She wasn't exactly looking forward to the inevitable talk to come with Winter, so it was probably best she enjoy this time while Winter seemed to be in a good mood.

"Anything wrong?" Winter asked, seeing her response, and she shook her head.

"No, nothing. Let's go, then," She tried to sound enthusiastic, and in truth she was a bit excited to see Sanctuary, and see everything, but right now her heart wasn't in it. After all, their situation was…tenuous, to say the least. And she was not up to seeing other dragons right now. Or being in public really. Being in public…with Winter…

"Wait," she said, "I don't think…I mean…" she glanced down to Coldshock, who'd fallen asleep some time ago, "What will other dragons think?"

Winter tilted his head in confusion. "Of what?"

"Of you…and me…and our son," Moon tried to explain, "I mean…we're not exactly mates. Even if we did mate. That is to say, I don't want any of your friends to look down on you or think less of you because of me, or…"

Winter cut her off with a shake of his head. "That won't be a problem," he told her, "Believe me, you don't need to worry about it at all."

"Really?" Moon asked, "Because I would have thought—"

"Moon, this is Sanctuary," Winter told her, "Every dragon here has a clouded past. Almost half were deserters, many exiled. Others came because of doing unspeakable things during the war, things they cannot go back home for, or anywhere else. There's always an issue, always a reason, that a dragon is here. And no one asks what that reason is, Moon. Sometimes someone will share, many have, but many don't. No one will think less of me because of you. Nor will they think less of either of us on account of our son. They have their own demons to worry about."

She nodded. That made sense enough, even if she still couldn't help but be a little worried. After all, Winter saying that every dragon had a dark shadow wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the dragons that made Sanctuary their home, but then again, what should set expect?

She roused Coldshock from his slumber, the black dragonet giving an annoyed yawn at his nap being interrupted before he perked up and looked around.

"Ready to go, then?" Winter asked, and as Moon nodded Coldshock made his way over to his father and gave him a look of curiosity. Winter gave an amused huff before and picking him up and setting him on his back. Coldshock gave a squeal of delight as Winter left the house, taking him into the sunlight outside.

Moon gave a small smile before following them out, preparing herself to see what would be, one way or another, her new home.

Winter began the tour with just a broad walk throughout the town. While Sanctuary had grown quite a bit since he'd first started living here several years ago, it was far from the largest town in Pyrrhia, and as such even a walking tour would hardly take much time. If he wanted to do it by flight, it would probably have only taken a matter of minutes, but there wasn't as much fun or connection in that.

"It's nothing elaborate, but it's become home," Winter told her as they walked through the streets, rather empty at this time in the morning. Coldshock looked around with interest at all the new sights, taking it in. In truth, Winter wasn't very sure what exactly to make of the "tour" when there wasn't much there, but all the same it felt nice to be sharing it with someone.

And at least Moon seems interested, he thought to himself as he pointed out the various buildings, from the town hall to the local shops. He was worried about her initial hesitation, but seeing as hardly any dragons gave them a second glance, she seemed to relax. After all, she could hear in their minds that they didn't really care, or at least were respectful enough not to ask why he was with a Nightwing and carried a hybrid dragonet on his back.

Winter rubbed the skyfire band on his arm at the thought of Moon's mindreading. He wasn't exactly thrilled over the prospect of using it again—in truth, he'd rather not—but it was better this way. He needed the privacy of his own thoughts to figure out where to go from here, now that Moon and his son would be staying sometime. That, and that he didn't quite Moon to hear if he started to have certain…thoughts about her. Like the ones that had led to that night, that had led to this situation.

He shook head as he brought her to one of the most important buildings in town, at least to him. It was a rather innocent structure, hardly different from the huts that surrounded it, but it wasn't the building that was important. Rather, it was the dragon that lived inside.

"This is Riptide's hut," Winter told her as they approached, "He's more or less the head of the town, even though there's been talk of creating an official town council. Which he'll probably lead once it's done, even if he spends more time off with Tsunami than here nowadays. Anyway, if you ever need anything, you can ask him, assuming he's here."

"Good to know," Moon said, "I mean, I've met Riptide a few times. He spent quite a bit of time at Jade Mountain my last year there. I was actually at his wedding ceremony when he married Tsunami."

"Oh," Winter paused, then shrugged, "Then I suppose you definitely would know him, then. So, I guess there will be at least one other familiar face here for you." He tuned to move on to the next place of interest but paused. "Actually…while we're here…" he made his way to Riptide's door and knocked.

He hadn't really expected the Seawing to be in, and so was a bit surprised when the door opened and Riptide poked his head out.

"What can I do for you, Winter?" he asked once he looked him over for a moment, until his gaze fell on Coldshock, still riding on his back. Riptide tilted his head in a bit of confusion, but like all of the other dragons in Sanctuary, said nothing about him. "And before you ask, no, the supplies you requested from the Sea Kingdom haven't arrived yet."

"That's…disappointing, but not why I'm here," Winter said. In truth, he'd about forgotten about the order he'd sent for the Seawing ink and scrolls, which he'd heard were rather superior and he'd been wanting to try. He motioned back to Moon. "I was wondering if there was a spare hut or two. I have another dragon who wants to move into Sanctuary."

He tried to ignore how Moon's wings seemed to droop as he posed the question. And in truth he wished he didn't have to. He would want nothing more than to take Moon in, to act like nothing had ever happened. But he couldn't run that risk. He couldn't allow himself to be that close to her, not now. It was just asking for a repeat of what had happened.

"You do?" Riptide took a look at Moon, and his eyes widened a bit in recognition, "You're…"

"Yeah," she gave an awkward nod, "I am."

"Huh," Riptide gave a knowing look at he looked at Coldshock again, then his face turned to one of thinking as he tapped his tail. "Actually, Winter, I'm afraid we don't have any huts open at present."

"But I thought we just finished construction of a dozen more on the east side of town. Aren't those still available?" Winter asked, confused.

Riptide shook his head. "Nope. They got filled almost as soon as we completed them. I thought you knew that. At any rate, I was planning on suggesting another expansion at the next town meeting…"

Winter suddenly felt his own wings droop like Moon's just had.

The Seawing gave him a concerned look. "Why? Is there an emergency? Is something wrong?" he looked over at Moon, a frown on his face.

Winter shook his head. "No. No emergency. Not now, at least."

"If you say so…"

"Just…let me know when we can expect more, please," Winter said, "That will suffice, for now."

Riptide nodded. "I will."

Winter thanked him and made his way back to Moon as Riptide closed the door and returned to whatever he was doing before. She shifted a bit uncomfortably on her claws, and he gave a sigh. He didn't want to say what he had to say, but it would have to be said.

"It looks like you'll be living with me after all, for a while at least," he tried not to let it come out as a growl.

Moon nodded and twitched her tail nervously. "Thank you."

He met her eyes and saw the sincerity in them, and it was almost enough to take away the feeling of frustration that he felt. After all, he didn't want to push her away. In fact, if he was honest with himself, he wanted quite the opposite. But he couldn't just open himself right back up like nothing had ever happened. He refused to let himself make the same mistake over again, not if he could help it. Then again, his greatest fear was just that—that he couldn't help it.

He shook his head and returned her nod, then shook his wings. "Well…that's about everything here in town, then," he said, trying to put some energy in his voice that just wasn't there at present, "Want to see Sanctuary, then? My Sanctuary, I mean."

Moon perked up a little. "The scavengers?"

"Yeah," Winter felt whatever that mood was begin to dissipate a little, "The scavengers."

Her eye scales seemed to shimmer as Moon gave a smile. "I think I'd like that a lot, actually."

Winter cast a glance back to Coldshock. "Can he…"

"I've flown with him before. He can hold on," Moon answered his question before he could finish. "Just…fly slowly, okay?"

"I will," he raised a wing and nudged his son with a thumb-claw as he readied himself. "Hold on," he told Coldshock, who seemed to flatten himself out in anticipation. And the hybrid dragonet was not to be disappointed either, as Winter took off a moment later, making his way high into the sky.

Luckily, the flight to his scavenger sanctuary was short, and so he didn't have to worry too long about his son falling off, even if he did glance back to make sure he was okay every other second. But in the end he and Moon made it there without incident, and in fact Coldshock seemed to be quite enjoying it, standing up a little to catch the breeze of the wind as they went.

He landed in a small clearing conveniently located next to the observatory that he used as his primary mode of researching them. Its entrance was outside the large barrier that he and those who'd helped him create it had built to keep the scavengers in, but it also sat atop a large hill that allowed him to look down on the small village that they'd built. He couldn't see everything that went on, of course, but he could see enough that he rarely felt the need to leave and fly over the sanctuary or scout the edges of it.

Moon looked around in interest as they approached the entrance, and Coldshock hopped of his back to make his own way over. Winter almost laughed as his son suddenly practically disappeared in the tall grass, just his head poking out as he tromped through it, following him and Moon to the structure.

"It's…interesting," Moon said, glancing at it before they entered, "I have to say that it's not what I thought it would be, not that that's a bad thing."

"Really?" Winter asked her, "What were you expecting?"

She shrugged her wings. "I don't know. I guess I expected a secret valley in the mountains, or maybe an island. Instead, you pretty much just built a wall around them."

"Well, it works," Winter told her simply, "They try to climb it every now and then, but we've only ever had a few escapes, and only one scavenger that we actually lost."

She gave an interest hum as he opened the door to the shelter to let them inside. The observatory itself was really just a medium sized log cabin, made to be a single room with a wide window that stretched the entire distance across the length of the building that faced out into the sanctuary. Against the window were a pair of desks with scrolls and ink that he often sat at to both look out at the scavengers and write down observations. On the far wall were several shelves full of more scrolls—both filled and empty—and various other supplies that came in handy for running the operation.

Coldshock was the first to enter rushing in with the boundless energy that only comes from dragonets as he fearlessly entered this new area…and then he immediately gave a squawk and hopped right back out, rushing behind one of Moon's legs. Moon gave him an odd look, and Winter frowned in concern until he realized what must have happened.

"Was it something I said—err, didn't say?" a new voice asked from inside, and a familiar orange Skywing poked his head around the door.

Winter gave a small laugh and shook his head. "No, I just don't think he was expecting to see another dragon inside," he turned to Moon, "This is Swallow, my assistant here in Sanctuary."

"Oh, yes," Moon said with a nod, "I think I remember you mentioning him."

"And Swallow," he said, turning back to the Skywing, "This is—"

"Moonwatcher, I presume," Swallow finished, giving a grin.

Moon cocked her head. "How…?"

"Winter talks about you all the time," Swallow explained, "Like, all the time. What other Nightwing dragoness with silver teardrop scales could you possibly be?"

"Is that so?" Moon said with a grin.

Winter shifted a bit nervously on his feet at that as Moon gave him a mischievous kind of look. "Swallow's been with me since the beginning," Winter said, changing the subject away from how much he may or may not talk about her, "I couldn't have gotten this far without him."

That was the truth. Swallow had almost as much passion for Sanctuary as Winter had. Back when he'd met the orange Skywing almost by chance while traveling to gain support for it, Swallow had immediately jumped on board with the idea, providing work, energy, and even coin for the big project. In fact, at this point it was almost wrong to call him an assistant, with the exception of the fact that he was more than content to let Winter do all the writing when it came to the papers and studies they published.

Swallow himself was a younger dragon, but that only meant his age was a couple years below Winter's. He was an avid jokester who reminded Winter of Qibli at times, but unlike the Sandwing he knew when to mellow out when Winter needed his peace and quiet. And unlike many of the other dragons in Sanctaury, Swallow had been completely uninvolved in the war, which meant that he had very few of the scars that were prominent on many of the other dragons in the town. He could still hold his own in a fight, though, something that Winter learned firstclaw when the two had gotten into a friendly sparring match. Winter had won, but only barely.

"And who's this?" Swallow asked, bending his head down and looking at Coldshock, who still stood behind his mother's leg for protection.

"This is Coldshock," Winter said, then hesitated for just a moment, "…my son."

Swallow pulled his head back up and looked at him in confusion. He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it again, then finally decided to speak. "Oh," he said, and that was it.

Seeing that they wanted to enter, Swallow stepped aside and made his way back to his desk. Coldshock was a bit more hesitant this time around, but quickly warmed up to the place once he realized that the Skywing wasn't going to hurt him. Soon he was poking through every corner of the room while Moon looked around.

"Well, what brings you to Sanctuary?" Swallow asked as he sat down at his station, "Though I suppose I can wager a guess…"

"I'm just giving them the tour," Winter explained, "Moon and Coldshock will be staying with me for…for the time being."

"Oh, that's neat," Moon said, distracting him, "I get it now. You can see everything from here, can't you?"

She was looking out the wide window and down on the scavengers below. And as she said, he really could for the most part. All the scavenger's huts were to the side of a small lake in the center, the primary water source for them. From here, they were all in a clear line of sight, and he could watch them walking back and forth across the small settlement they had. In fact, he could see several out there now, doing various scavenger activities with names that he himself had coined in his papers. His only gripe with it was that the scavengers hadn't been considerate enough to build it so that none of the buildings blocked his view, but it was nothing he couldn't live with.

"Well…not everything," Swallow said, "But yes. Most of our work comes from just looking out there and watching. It leads to some pretty boring days, actually."

Winter rolled his eyes. "You know what you signed up for."

"That I do," Swallow snickered, though Winter couldn't imagine what he found so amusing.

He walked up beside Moon, who was still looking out and watching the scavengers. "Did you build those little huts yourself?" she asked, "They look rather dragon-ish."

"They do, don't they," Winter observed, "But no, we didn't. They built them themselves. Scavengers are rather smart little things. That's one of the things that makes them so fascinating to watch."

"They're complex, too," Moon agreed, "Even from here I can read some of them. They have a definite sense of emotion. Thoughts and feelings almost on par with dragons, actually."

"Read them?" Swallow asked from where he sat, "You mean…oh! That's right! You're a mindreader."

Moon nodded. "I am, actually."

"I remember Winter saying you were," Swallow went on, "I always wondered what it would be like to read a scavengers mind. Hey! Maybe you can help us," he turned to Winter, "Think of how much we could learn from having a mindreader mind read scavengers."

Winter looked at Moon. The possibility had crossed his mind, but he wasn't about to ask her to do that, not if she didn't want to.

Before either he or Moon could respond to Swallow's suggestion, they suddenly heard a small screech and something darted across the floor towards the Skywing. An instant later they saw Coldshock racing after it. It took Winter a second to realize that it was a female scavenger, running like its life depended on it as Coldshock tracked it down.

It tried to flee behind Swallow, but Coldshock intercepted it before it could make it. The scavenger then tried to zig-zag away, but Winter's son wasn't dissuaded. In a quick pounce he had the scavenger pinned to the ground. Of course, Coldshock was only about the same size as the scavenger was, so 'pinning' in this sense was more just sitting on top of it as it tried to turn and throw him off.

Coldshock looked up at him and Moon with pride, and Winter almost laughed at his son's first interaction with scavengers…right up until he opened his mouth and went to take a bit out of it.

"No!" Winter yelled, rushing forward and picking Coldshock up before his bite could land. Luckily, the dragonet had frozen in confusion at his yell, or else he probably wouldn't have stopped him in time. Coldshock gave a whimper and a look that clearly asked Winter: "Why shouldn't I eat it? It's prey."

"No," Winter repeated, "We do not eat other dragon's pet scavengers."

"Pet?" Moon asked from where she was still standing. She'd taken a step forward to help, but Winter had beaten her to it.

"Yes," Swallow confirmed, picking up the shaking scavenger, who clung to his claw, "This is Tulip," he told her, "She's my pet."

"Oh. So that's why she was up here," Moon said in realization, "I thought you had an escapee."

"Nope," Swallow shook his head, "She lives with me. She's a good little scavenger," he gave Tulip a little nuzzle, and she seemed to relax.

The Skywing turned to Coldshock, who was still being held by Winter and who still looked thoroughly confused. "No eating Tulip," he told him, pointing to his pet, "You can eat wild scavengers, but not Tulip, and not any in Sanctuary." He pointed out the window to the others.

Coldshock cocked his head, still confused.

"Perhaps we should wait until he gets a little older to see if he's interested in Scavengers," Moon suggested, and Winter nodded his agreement. As much as he would have liked Coldshock to take right to scavengers, he wasn't sure what else to expect when introducing him to what was, for all intent and purposes, just food.

"Are all your scavengers pets, then," Moon asked curiously, and Swallow answered her with a shake of his head.

"Only Tulip," he told her, "I found her alone one day while we were setting up Sanctuary, before we actually caught the scavengers that are there now. I kind of just took to her, I guess. I did try to reintroduce her to the others, but for some reason she didn't seem to get along with them, so I took her back into my care," he set Tulip on his shoulder, "Honestly, I kind of see her a secondary field of research. Looking at the differences between wild scavengers and pet ones. I might write a paper on it someday."

"That'll be the day," Winter mumbled to himself.

"Pardon?" Swallow asked.

"Nothing."

The Skywing huffed and Winter grinned as he set Coldshock back down since Tulip was now safe where the dragonet couldn't reach. "Nothing too interesting today, I take it?" he asked.

"Nope," Swallow answered with a shake of his head, "Just scavengers doing their normal stuff. They really are creatures of habit."

Moon gave an interested hum at that, peering back out at them.

"Well," Winter said, "If that's the case, would you mind taking care of things for the day. Moonwatcher and Coldshock are still getting settled, so I'd prefer not to just abandon them."

"Of course," Swallow gave a wave of his wing, "By all means, do what you need to."

Winter thanked him, and once Moon finished looking around, they took off flying back to town. It was nice, Winter had to admit, to be able to show Moon what he'd been doing since Jade Mountain. It really was something he'd been looking forward to. But touring Sanctuary with Moon was one thing, living with her was another. And like or hate it, Winter was going to have to do just that.