Prologue

"Firefly! Do you want to play?" Peacemaker, the other nightwing hybrid dragonet, was bouncing with energy.

"If you want something to get you busy, go collect strawberries or something." Firefly wasn't in the mood to talk to him.

"Or you could get Hope to fill out these forms? School starts in 2 weeks," said Moon quietly.

"Yeah!" Peacemaker shouted enthusiastically. "What's a form!"

Moon sighed and put some papers in Peacemakers tiny claws. "Just take these to Hope please."

"Ok! What's Jade Mountain like?"

"You'll see. It has all these big tunnels, and the teachers are great."

"Ooooh. Sounds fun!"

With that, Peacemaker scurried off. Firefly crept out from behind a tree.

"He's gone?"

"Yes, he is."

"What's mind reading like?"

Moon looked confused for a moment. "Where did you learn that I have mind reading?"

"I don't know. You just look like you do. And sometimes I get this prickly sense in my brain. It's weird feeling." Firefly stared up at Moon with wide eyes.

"When were you born again?"

"I dunno because Silkwind and Destiny never told me and then I went here. But I think I would notice if I could brain read and get visions."

Firefly was a half Silkwing half Nightwing dragonet with 4 tiny wings. No one knew if she would go through metamorphosis at all or if her wings would just get bigger over time. She had a black stripe that reached from her nose to the tip of her tail, and a black belly. She also had specks of assorted colors on their wings. She was purple and teal in the rest of their body. Moon thought she looked a little more like a Silkwing than Nightwing, but she could still have powers. She would have to tell the teachers to keep an eye on her.

Moon had mostly stopped the noise of thoughts in her head when she didn't want it and tried to stay more present, but the constant thrumming still crept its way into her conscious brain sometimes. Fireflie's thoughts seemed louder than most for some reason. I wonder what will happen at school. What if I can read thoughts? Moon knew she couldn't, but she hadn't encountered any mindreaders who couldn't keep their thoughts hidden yet, so she wouldn't know.

What is going on with this dragonet?

Supernova was annoyed. Fierceteeth, the high and mighty self-appointed Queen, was being just a tad bit stupid. As in, she was asking half of the small group to go and be diplomatic. With other tribes. What was she thinking? There were only 16 full grown dragons and 2 dragonets. They couldn't afford to cut their group in half. (Technically 4/9ths but still…) Also, wasn't the entire point of them splitting off to be Nightwings? All superior and stuff? Her guess was that at the last Queens Meeting, which occurred every month, Snowfall had managed to convince Fierceteeth that they should at least try to be nice. She didn't know how Fierceteeth had been allowed to even go to the Queen Meets, but she wasn't complaining. From what she could gather, it was all the Queens talking politics (boring) and giving information away (what was the point of spies if the Queens just did that? But she guessed it benefited their group…).

She was SO thankful that Strongwings went as the Queen's advisor/note taker/bodyguard. That meant she could stay at home! Whether this counted as a home, she couldn't tell. 1 tiny brick building, the palace, 10 big tents, 1 small tent/nursery, and a big rock in the center wasn't much. But it WAS home, no matter what others said.

The queens were stupid. Snowfall was meant to be fierce and in control. Supernova liked to joke that she was Fierceteeth's role model.

That was before Snowfall became a goody-two-shoes diplomatic and overly-nice snotface.

That was before snowfall became like all the other queens.

And for some reason, Supernova had to go on the mission.

What was the mission? Strike up some alliances, get some dragons to join them (other tribes-ew) and worst of all, make some friends. The 8 dragons leaving would each get a partner. Now that there were 12 recognized groups, the tribes, the new "Sunwings" and the Talons of Peace, each pair had to visit 3 assigned groups and return by the next 6 months.

"STRONGWINGS!" Fierceteeth hollered across the camp. "WHAT in the THREE MOONS have you been DOING?"

Supernova left her tent to go watch. Strongwings mumbled "There was a-" before being cut off. By then the whole camp had gathered.

"I don't care WHAT there was, I needed you to finalize who is going, the partners, and pack supplies! They leave tomorrow!" In some ways Fierceteeth reminded Supernova of Queen Glory. "Fine! Just go pack 4 sets of supplies. I'll deal with the rest. You and Silverblaze will go to the Rainwings, other Nightwings, and Mudwings. Futuretail and Comet! You'll go to the Seawings, Sandwings, and Icewings. Supernova and Legend, go to the Silkwings, Hivewings, and… the Sunwings." she said that with scorn in her voice. "And finally, Mountaintop and Passion will go to the Talons of peace, Leafwings-wherever they are, and the Skywings."

"But Passion and Legend are just dragonets…" Strongwings faltered under Fierceteeth's glare.

"It'll do them good. Besides, Passion is 7."

"And I'm 4!" Legend held up 3 fingers.

Great. Supernova would have to deal with that when trying to do an already stupid mission. This was going to be one heck of a ride.

Boredom. That's what Earwig did all day.

Checking dragons for weapons? Boring. Making sure no dragons snuck past? Boring. Ever since Queen wasp was defeated, dragons had been going back and forth between continents. And for some reason, there had to be security checks. And for some reason, it was mostly Hivewings managing them.

Apparently it was to "gain trust" or something.

Earwig just thought it was punishment.

"Next!" He shouted. A Seawing came forth.

"Here's my pouches. Got 'em from the Leafwings a few days ago. It's just edible plants."

Earwig looked inside. He recognized them. The Seawing wasn't lying.

Looked like the line had ended for now.

He wanted to join the Sunwings, the new group of dragons consisting of Skywings and Hivewings, but he had to be at the security checks 4 days a week. He was put on the phyria side of the checkpoints.

For a fast flier, it took about 8 days to go to another continent.

He was not a very fast flier.

He had 3 days a week he didn't have to work.

It didn't look like he would be able to visit the Sunwings while he had this job.

He sighed. He would probably be here for a long time coming.

That's when he was gagged, (was that a sleeping dart?) passed out, and thrown in a sack.

"What did you do that for?" a dragonet looked up with wide eyes.

"Security is stupid."

Then they flew off.

"I'm gonna drop him off at the next island."

"OKAY!"

"Be quiet."

"Ok..."