Chapter 18

"Not too much has changed in Sanctuary," Winter said as he led a small group down the streets of town. "There are some new shops and stuff, but I doubt it would be anything you'd be interested in."

"I wouldn't be quick to assume that," Turtle said as they walked, "Several of those new shops look like they'd be worth stopping to look in. Kinkajou and I would have stopped in some yesterday but…well, we weren't exactly in the mood…"

He trailed off and glanced back to Kinkajou and Moon, who were trailing behind the two males. They were both unusually silent. In fact, Winter was surprised that Moon was there at all—he was sure that she would have declined to go on the little tour of Sanctuary with the dragons that caused her so much grief. She'd cried for at least an hour after they'd left, and she hadn't felt well the whole rest of the day. But the new day had brought some change in her disposition, and she had felt comfortable enough to come with them.

Which Winter was happy about, in a way. Turtle and Kinkajou were their friends. There had been some hurt that had happened the day before, but he hoped they could all move past it. The present was still very, very awkward, though. Kinkajou had been sending both him and Moon subtle glares and frowns since the moment they met back up, and Turtle didn't really seem to know how to act either. And poor Moonwatcher had to listen to all that they thought and didn't say out loud, which Winter could tell was taking its toll. It was almost enough to make him offer her his skyfire…almost.

"Are the scavengers doing well?" Turtle asked. "I'd like to go see your sanctuary again while we're out. And I didn't get a chance to ask: have you made any changes to the enclosure?"

"They're doing fine, thanks," Winter answered. He was relieved that Turtle at least was trying to act normal through everything, "We can go over there whenever you want. Although I really haven't made any big changes since the last time you were here. The scavengers have made some themselves, though."

"Oh?" the Seawing asked.

"Just some more buildings and stuff. It's pretty fascinating, but nothing groundbreaking."

"Ah," Turtle nodded. Several more steps passed in silence. "Oh, is that a new restaurant?" he asked, pointing to a building down the street. Winter followed the point of his talon to see he was looking at The Yellow Cod. The Seawing eatery was still in the process of being set up, and it was the place where he and Moon had a date planned for on opening night.

"It is," Winter told him, a slight smile gracing his face for the first time that morning at the expectation of that date, "Authentic Seawing food. Should be good."

"I never took you for a seafood enjoyer," Turtle observed. Winter just shrugged his wings.

Another silence fell. Winter wanted to be more talkative, to share more about the town's growth, but the situation was…well…he didn't want to accidentally bring up yesterday. He didn't want another fight or more tears. At least Coldshock wasn't along to complicate things—he'd opted to stay at home and entertain himself through drawing. Luna was with him, too. The raven hadn't seemed keen on being anywhere near Kinkajou, for some reason. It was a little odd for both of them to stay inside when they could be outside, but Winter wasn't about to question it.

"I also didn't get a chance to ask," Turtle tried again, the Seawing being the only one really trying to keep up any semblance of conversation, "What happened to your wing, Moon?"

Winter glanced back to see Moon perking up a little at the mention of her name. The continual presence of the wrap around her wing made it more than clear that something was wrong, but up until now there were more pressing things on all their minds than explaining the details to their friends.

"I had an accident," Moon said somewhat flatly, "I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into some construction material that fell on me." It wasn't the full truth, but it was truthful enough.

"Oh, that's horrible," Kinkajou said, speaking up herself for the first time in a while. She sounded genuinely sympathetic. "Did you break it? I remember there was an old Rainwing named…I think his name was Acai…anyway, there was a tree that fell on him and broke his wing. He was never able to fly again, at least not for any length of time."

"I did break it," Moon confirmed with a small nod, her voice a little wary speaking with the Rainwing. "But the doctor thinks I should make a full recovery, thankfully."

"Didn't keep her from helping to teach Coldshock how to fly," Winter added.

He noticed that Kinkajou suddenly frowned, but Turtle looked intrigued. "He's flying?" the Seawing asked. "He seems a little too young for flight."

"He's learning," Winter clarified, "He can't do much more than a glorified glide at present, but I think he'll be soaring pretty soon. Coldshock is a very fast learner."

"He gets it from his mother, I'm sure," Moon chimed up, surprising Winter with the joke. Turtle chuckled and Winter grinned.

"I like to think a little of it could be from my side, too," he added, teasing back a little, "Icewings may be stubborn, but we can learn, given the chance."

Moon smiled somberly. "Very true."

"Oooo! Wait, are those mangos?" Kinkajou suddenly interjected, pointing to one of the stalls set up on the side of street. Winter recognized it as one of the regular businesses of the town, run by a Mudwing but catering to all tribes with a large selection of foods from across Pyrrhia. That included trade with the Rainforest, and it wasn't too unusual for the vendor to have fresh fruit. Which was nice, especially for a dragoness like Moonwatcher who loves eating fruit—it was where she got most of her food that Winter didn't provide via hunting.

Before Winter could say yes or no to Kinkajou's obvious quandary, the Rainwing was already at the stall, eagerly handling the fruits and testing their ripeness. By the time they caught up with her she already had some picked out and, with a moment of prodding on her part, Turtle coughed up some coin to the Mudwing vendor. As they stepped away, Kinkajou offered each of them a fruit. She especially emphasized the gesture to Moon, who accepted it—it was a piece offering, of sorts.

"You probably won't want one, but—oop!" she began to say when she offered Winter the mango, but gave small exclamation of surprise when he took it. "I thought you still didn't like fruit."

"Tastes change, even for Icewings," he told her, pausing to peel the skin of a mango with a claw before taking a bite. While it was still true that fruit wasn't his favorite, living with Moon had definitely exposed him to it more. And he'd grown to genuinely like some of the ones she'd had him try. Mangos weren't quite his top fruit, but he had to admit that Kinkajou could pick a good one as the juices satisfyingly coated his tongue.

"You seemed to downplay it, but the town does keep getting bigger," Turtle observed as he munched on his own fruit. "I don't remember them having mangos last time we were here. And there are a lot more houses."

"Not enough, though," Winter said, "There are a lot of dragons on the waiting list to have a place of their own. It seems like every time we finish a building project, we have to start another one."

"Is that why Moon is living with you?" Kinkajou asked, a note of suspicion in her voice, "Or are you…"

Moon frowned as Winter shook his head. The mango peace offering seemed to not have lasted long. "There isn't a house for her, yes," he told the Rainwing, "Once the new set of houses get built…"

He trailed off, not quite wanting to finish the sentence. He didn't want to put it into words. Sure, the idea had always been that Moon would move out once she was able…but…did he even want her to?

Winter shook his head. Now wasn't the time for that question.

"Do you want to see the scavengers?" he asked, changing the topic, "We might as well go now."

"Sounds good!" Kinkajou said with sudden enthusiasm, thankfully letting the previous issue drop. "Is that one scavenger still there? The funny one? What was her name?"

"Poppy?" Winter asked, pretty sure that was the one she was talking about. It didn't surprise him at all that the ditzy but energetic scavenger that went around petting wolf cubs was Kinkajou's favorite. "Yeah, she's still there."

"Good!" Kinkajou grinned. "Think she'd want a mango?"

"Probably," Winter shrugged as he began to lead them to the edge of town, then onto the path through the woods that led to the scavenger sanctuary. It had been worn down much more recently than in the past—Winter had found himself walking more than flying recently on account of Moon's broken wing, even when she wasn't accompanying him.

The four dragons talked as they walked, mainly sticking to inoffensive and general topics. Winter told them how he was going to be taking over the town management from Riptide, and Turtle filled them in on the goings on in the Sea Kingdom while Kinkajou talked about what Queen Glory was doing in the Rainforest. It was nice to just catch up a little bit—it had been far too long. Moon participated in the talk too, but not much. She didn't volunteer what had been happening in her life, short of joining the reading club. She mentioned a few things about Coldshock, too, but that seemed to make Kinkajou uncomfortable and the topic was quickly changed.

"Like I said, I haven't made too many changes," Winter said as they exited the woods and entered into the clearing where the observatory stood, "They're all settled in, so there's no use in changing things when we don't have to."

"Make sense," Turtle nodded as they entered the building.

They were met inside by a startled Swallow, who quickly relaxed as he recognized the visitors. The Skywing had been doing his normal job of observation duty, as evident by the scribbles on a scroll on his desk. Winter had only sent him a message saying he couldn't join him today—he hadn't said why—so Swallow likely hadn't been expecting any visitors.

"Well, that explains the sudden change of plans," Swallow said with a slight grin mostly directed at Winter, "Another surprise visit?"

"Something like that," Winter mumbled, not quite sure what to make of his assistant's knowing look.

"Good to see you again…Swallow, right?" Turtle said, giving a friendly nod.

"Yes," The Skywing confirmed, "And good to see you, Prince Turtle. And you too, Pikachu."

"It's Kinkajou. You know that, Swallow," the Rainwing corrected him with an exaggerated roll of her eyes, causing Turtle and Swallow to snicker. Winter grinned too, but he noticed Moon looking lost at the interaction. Of course, she had no idea that Swallow had mistaken Kinkajou's name at their first meeting, causing it to be a running gag between them all when she visited. One that Turtle seemed to enjoy the most at how flustered she got over it. "It's not even a real word!" was her usual protestation whenever the Skywing called her by the name.

Winter smiled at the memory. It was always good when Turtle and Kinkajou visited, especially since they always seemed to be rather interested in the scavengers (in fact, Winter had to practically keep Kinkajou from insisting on going into the enclosure and playing with them on her first few trips). Their visits broke up some of the monotony of his studies, and it allowed some reflection on the past and optimism for the future of his project.

Up until Moon's arrival, he had always looked forward to when they would drop in. Often they did so together, but sometimes it would just be Kinkajou that showed up. Regardless, they were his most frequent visitors besides Peril—which was why he felt so much more awkward and uncertain in their interactions today. He hated having to tiptoe around the subject of his son and his relationship with Moon.

"Everything good today?" Winter asked Swallow, trying to take his mind off the unpleasant thoughts.

"All scavengers accounted for," the Skywing reported, "Nothing out of the ordinary. Seems like a lazy morning down there, aside from the Brute making a couple scenes."

Kinkajou wrinkled her snout at that. "You still have that scavenger? I thought you were going to get rid of him."

"I…don't think I ever said that," Winter told her, trying to remember if it had ever been mentioned. He had considered it at one point, depending on if the Brute hurt the others, but it had never come to that.

"Well, you should have," Kinkajou pouted, "He's mean. He bullied Poppy, you know?"

"He bullies all of them," Swallow snorted.

"Regardless," Turtle interjected, "It's not up to you to determine how Winter runs his sanctuary. After all, negative relationships between scavengers are important to study, too."

Kinkajou lashed her tail and frowned. "I guess soo…" She peered out the window and down at the scavenger village. "I bet Qibli would have removed him."

A sudden silence filled the room at the name of the Sandwing being invoked. Winter's eyes flickered to Moon—she looked even more tense than she had been all morning.

Kinkajou seemed to realize her mistake and shook her head. "Sorry—I didn't mean—" she stammered, "I just mean…I think he would have some unique ideas on how to run it. He'd probably have a few recommendations to improve efficiency and all." She paused. "Has Qibli ever been here to give any ideas?"

"No." Winter said bluntly. The Sandwing had never bothered to visit Sanctuary, let alone the scavenger sanctuary.

"Oh," Kinkajou deflated. She opened her mouth to say something, but thought better of it.

For his part, Winter looked back at Moon. He didn't know how sensitive she was to idea of her former mate, but that wasn't all she had to contend with. She was a mindreader, after all. Whatever Kinkajou had meant to say but hadn't, she'd heard it nonetheless. And while Moon was no delicate flower, she was not raised with the same stoic abuse that Winter had—if words affected him, he knew that they would affect her much more.

Are you okay? He mouthed the words to her as Swallow began to awkwardly tell Turtle and Kinkajou about the recent scavenger activities. Moon gave a small shrug of her wings and looked towards the door. He could tell what her thoughts were before she mouthed the words to him:

I want to go home.

Despite Moon's wishes it was still nearly a half an hour before they arrived back at the house. Fortunately, things had gone mostly well after they had reached the scavenger sanctuary and Swallow had more or less taken over when it came to a tour. Turtle and Kinkajou had spent a good while looking down on the bipedal creatures and observing the changes in their little village, with Kinkajou in particular taking some time to locate and ask questions about the one named Poppy.

That at least had given a brief respite, her friends attention towards Winter's studies instead of on her. Because as much as they tried to hide it, it was clear to Moon that Turtle and Kinkajou had thought of little besides her and Winter and Qibli all morning. She'd heard plenty of it, the "why did she?" and "how could she?" and "I still can't believe that they…" repeating over and over in their heads no matter how much she tried to drown it out with the sound of rain.

But what was worst was Kinkajou's thoughts. Not the ones that subtly insulted Moon—those she may have deserved. And not the ones when she thought of how Qibli must feel or how Winter had betrayed all of them or how awful the whole situation was. No, the one that bothered Moon the most was when Kinkajou consistently thought to herself: I need to fix this.

It about made Moon clench her claw every time the thought crossed the Rainwing's mind. It wasn't Kinkajou's situation, and it wasn't her life. She could have her opinions and thoughts on what Moon should or shouldn't have done, but she had no grounds to try to meddle in it. Like she'd been looking for an opportunity to do all morning. Like she'd been trying to do with the Qibli comment at the sanctuary.

Moon sighed, glad to be the first one through the door and glad to be back in a place where she felt she had more control. It may be Winter's house, but it had become hers as well, and immediately the smells and sights calmed her down and removed some of her tension. Especially as she saw Coldshock right where she'd left him, the dragonet still busily doodling on some parchment with a long quill and ink-stained paws.

Her son looked up and smiled in greeting, but the smile faded a little as he looked behind her to see Turtle and Kinkajou entering. Moon wasn't quite sure what her dragonet had against the pair of friends, but he had never been as hesitant and uncertain as he was around them. But then, she still wasn't sure whether Coldshock shared her gift of mindreading. He hadn't obviously expressed it, at least. But perhaps he was picking up the same thoughts from the pair that Moon had.

…But Moon was certain that Luna was no mind reader, being a bird. And as soon as Kinkajou crossed the threshold into the house, she heard the shrill cry of the raven ring out. There was a flurry of feathers and the ringing of metal as she banged around in the birdcage that Winter had insisted that she stay in during the tour. Moon stepped to the cage and opened it, and Luna hopped out and onto her shoulder. The bird turned its sharp gaze on Kinkajou and screeched again, ruffling her feathers in agitation.

Kinkajou frowned as she looked at the bird, and Moon heard in her thoughts the memory of Luna pecking at her the day before (the memory was oddly satisfying to Moon, though). "Sloths are quieter pets," she mumbled just loud enough for everyone to hear. Turtle mentally agreed, and while she couldn't read Winter's mind she had a feeling he did too.

Then again, she also couldn't help but notice a shiver of displeasure in the bird's head, seemingly from the comment. Avian minds weren't the same as dragons or as refined as scavengers, but Moon did get the distinct impression that Luna disliked Kinkajou. And at the moment, Moon couldn't blame her.

"Well, thank you for the tour," Turtle said with a small yawn as he stepped inside behind Kinkajou, "I always enjoy seeing the town. There's something inspirational about so many dragons from different tribes working and living together and building a better life."

At least Moon could agree with that. It was one of the reasons that she felt so at home in the place. Sanctuary was a microcosm of what the Dragonets of Destiny and most of Pyrrhia had been working towards since the end of the war. Different tribes and different cultures coming together in peace and sharing ideas and customs. It was a far cry from the unforgiving uniformity of the barren Sand Kingdom.

"I rather enjoy it," Winter responded to Turtle's comment, taking a seat at the kitchen table and inviting the other dragons to join him, "It's been…" he hesitated, searching for the right words, "It's been a good place to start over."

His eyes flickered to her, and the edges of her mouth turned up a little. It really has been. For both of us, Moon thought to herself. She stopped by Coldshock to give him a hug hello before approaching the table and sitting with the other dragons. Her son went back to his drawing as she sat next to Kinkajou due to it being the only available spot.

Luna, still on Moon's shoulder, croaked angrily at Kinkajou upon entering her direct proximity. Kinkajou frowned and mock bit at the raven, causing the bird to hop back onto Moon's other shoulder furthest from the pink dragoness. Kinkajou gave a satisfied smirk as she settled back on her haunches.

"Has any of your family visited you here?" Turtle asked, "This place is definitely out of the way from the Ice Kingdom."

"Hailstorm came by once," Winter told him, "He could only stay about a day, but it was good to see him. I think he was impressed, even if he isn't as sold on the whole 'tribes living together' thing as you are. He's the only one that's made an effort, though…not that my sister is even able to. And my mother…"

He trailed off, hints of sadness in his voice. Winter didn't talk too much about his family, but Moon knew he still had a mix of resentment and hurt where they were concerned. Those scars ran deep, and she could see it in how he interacted with Coldshock sometimes. Fortunately, his upbringing seemed to only motivate him to be better and avoid the same harshness he was treated with, even if she sometimes saw a hint of the Icewing harshness in his eyes before he quickly suppressed it.

"And…uh…what about you, Moon?" Turtle pivoted, noticing he'd accidentally struck a small nerve with Winter, "Have you gotten any visitors?"

"None aside from Peril," she answered, "And even then, she was more here to visit Winter. I wrote to my mom and told her where I was so she wouldn't worry, but I asked her not to come. I'd prefer to talk to her about everything on my own terms, you know?"

Turtle nodded, but then Kinkajou had to open her mouth. "What about Qibli?"

Moon stilled, eyes shifting towards the Rainwing. As if in an imitation of her mind, she heard a series of quiet but angry sounding croaks come from the raven sitting on her shoulder.

"What about him?" she asked, her voice as cold as Winter's breath.

"Did he come to try to visit you?" Kinkajou asked, "I mean, I'd assume that he'd want to make sure you got settled and see that everything is all right. Or just to talk some or…"

"Kinkajou…" Winter said, his voice low but threatening.

"Kinkajou…" Turtle also said, more cautiously. He gave both Moon and Winter an apologetic look, "We don't have to get back into that."

"No," Moon ignored them and spoke to Kinkajou, meeting her eyes and answering her question, "I have not seen or heard from Qibli since I left him in the desert."

The Rainwing squirmed under her gaze, displeasure in her mind at the answer. Maybe he thought he couldn't…Kinkajou thought to herself, then stopped her thoughts as she remembered Moon's powers. Her scales paled a little bit, then shifted back to normal.

"What about you?" Winter asked, trying to redirect the conversation away from the tension, "On our walk to the scavenger sanctuary you said that things are going well in the Sea Kingdom, but how are your sisters getting along? Any changes with them?"

"Not too much to say," Turtle answered, relieved that his mate had quieted, "Auklet is in her second year at Jade Mountain, and Anemone is…well, she's Anemone," he paused to give an amused huff at his own words, "I guess the only thing of note is that Tsunami is considering stepping down as the head of Jade Mountain in the next year or two. Apparently, she wants to be able to spend more time with Riptide and any future dragonets—I have a letter from her I need to give Riptide while we're here, by the way—and she's going to give the job to Sunny. Of course, mom is toying with the idea of stepping down from the queenship to focus on her writing and wants Tsunami to take over, so who knows what will happen if she chooses to do that."

"I always thought Tsunami would make a good queen," Moon said, "She ran the school well, despite our little misadventures with Darkstalker."

"Thank goodness for that, too," Kinkajou mumbled, "Glory woulda killed me if we'd gotten it closed."

"If Darkstalker got Jade Mountain closed, I think we would have had bigger things to worry about," Winter observed with wry amusement.

"That's the truth," Turtle nodded, "Still, I kind of miss it in a way. The adventure and all. Being a part of something bigger."

"If I recall correctly, you weren't exactly enjoying the situation at the time," Moon said, remembering back to their first year at school. She vividly remembered Turtle being far from the bravest dragon…at least in the beginning.

"No, he wasn't," Kinkajou grinned, then looked at Turtle, "You took the Rainwing way out and hid yourself like camouflage. Which don't get me wrong, was actually a brilliant move. Possibly the best one you could have done. I probably wouldn't have thought of it. But it's a far cry from what most of the brave heroes in your mother's stories would have done."

Turtle cringed a little. "Yeah but…at least I performed when it mattered."

Kinkajou's smile widened as she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "You sure did, bubble-breath." Turtle rolled his eyes at the pet name but grinned.

"It's a shame that we don't see too much of each other these days," Moon said, suddenly feeling a twinge of nostalgia to that time. It all seemed so much simpler back then. Maybe not the Darkstalker part, but the school part. The making friends and forging her own way part. Now everything was more complicated, with her relationships and a son and all that came with it.

"We really should be more intentional about meeting up," Turtle said, "Maybe set a day where we can all get together. Oh, that's it! Tsunami mentioned maybe having a class reunion for all the first-year students sometime. We should organize one."

"Oooh! Yes!" said Kinkajou, her voice just shy of a squeal, "That would be good. We could get the whole Winglet back together. Even Umber, maybe, if we can swing it. It can't be too hard. After all, we'd have a Jade Winglet reunion right now if we just had Peril and Qibli. Three Moons, it would be nice if they were here right now."

Moon couldn't really bring herself to share that last sentiment, but she did like the idea of seeing every dragon except for one again. She nodded noncommittally. "Yeah, that would be nice."

"I think so," Kinkajou went on, "Especially if Qibli was there. I'm sure it would give the two of you a chance to talk a little bit. Maybe work some things out…"

Moon frowned, realizing too late the trap she had walked into. "I'm not sure that—"

But Kinkajou wasn't done. "I know things aren't good between you right now," she continued hurriedly, "But you and him are both good dragons. You're both our friends, right Turtle?"

Turtle grimaced, not wanting to be brought into this. He raised a talon to try to stop her, but Kinkajou wouldn't be stopped. Moon could hear in her mind the sudden rush of cautious excitement as the Rainwing finally began to express what she'd been keeping bottled in all morning.

"All relationships have rough points," Kinkajou went on, "Not even Turtle and mine is perfect all the time. But you have to be able to work through these things. To make little sacrifices now and then. I'm sure that if you talked to him, you two could figure things out. If you'd just go to him—"

"I am not going back to the Sand Kingdom," Moon said firmly, barely keeping venom from her voice. She did not like or appreciate where Kinkajou was going with this, and she felt a twinge of fire spark in her chest. On her shoulder, she heard a low hiss coming from Luna's beak and felt her talons gripping tighter.

"But why not?" Kinkajou asked, ignorant of the now gathering storm, "You may have been unfaithful, but I'm sure Qibli can forgive you. I know that he cares for you, Moon. If you apologize and own up to what happened, I'm certain that he'll take you back. He might even…" she paused for just long enough to look back at Coldshock, then gave a quick shake of her head, "Well, you can figure out something with your son. My point is that you should at least try to fix things, right?"

But Moon's anger was only growing. When she'd heard Kinkajou's words and thoughts the day before, they had stung her and shamed her. Now they only infuriated her. The Rainwing had every right to judge her for what she had done, but she had no right to try to dictate her reaction to it. And with every word, Moon began to shake in her scales, the spark of fire within her burning brighter and brighter as if she were about to summon her breath to burn the house down with everyone in it.

"Even in the worst situations, Qibli is the kind of dragon that will listen and be compassionate," Kinkajou forged on, "You might be able to make things like they were before, at least a little. Don't you want that, Moon?"

And with that, the fire in Moon was finally released.

"No!" Moon practically screamed, silencing the Rainwing, "No! Never! Not again!" She lashed her tail and violently stood from her spot at the table as Luna leapt off of her with an alarmed squawk. The raven landed on the table with a flurry of half-flaps of her wings. "I am not going back to Qibli. I am not going back to the Sand Kingdom. I'd rather face the flames of the abyss and the fury of the Moons than have to go through that again."

"It can't have been that bad," Kinkajou said, her voice suddenly much meeker.

"Not that bad? Ha!" Moon couldn't keep back a sneer, "Do you have any idea what it's like to be trapped in a place surrounded by unbearable heat and suffocating dryness, the very weather sapping your soul as it drains your strength? Do you have any idea what it's like to live among dragons that barely care for life, where backstabbing and cheating is the norm and the streets are barely safe even in the capital and where dragons look at you like you're a piece of meat to be devoured? And do you have even the slightest idea what it's like to have the dragon that's supposed to love you and care about you abandon you over and over again, leaving you at the slightest beck and call of a queen who he unquestioningly loves and serves more than he ever would for you? The other things I could endure, but to endure it alone is far, far too much."

Kinkajou paled, her scales turning a shade of white as Moonwatcher exploded on her. She opened her mouth and began to stammer something, but it was Moon's turn not to be stopped.

"Qibli had his chance," Moon hissed, "I gave him plenty of opportunities. I told him I hated it, and he promised to spend more time with me to make it better. He never did. I told him I didn't feel comfortable with the former Outclaws in the palace and the gangs of dragons in the streets. He laughed—laughed—and said that I would get used to it. If Thorn needed him, he went no matter how badly I wanted him to stay. And when I begged him to move, to get away from the place that I felt was slowly killing me, he didn't even entertain the notion. No, Kinkajou, I'm not going back to that. I will never go back to that. I don't want to fix things with Qibli. Having an egg with him was my last try, and it only ended in me making my mind up to leave like I should have done a long time before."

There was silence for a few moments as Moon inhaled a few deep and shaky breaths. She took note for the first time of the other dragons in the room besides Kinkajou, who were staring at her. Winter had a mild look of shock on his face—likely from the way she spoke instead of the actual information. She had said most of that the night they had mated, after all. Turtle's gaze was more surprised, but also somewhat sympathetic. That does sound awful, he thought to himself, I don't know if I could have put up with that either.

It was Kinkajou, of course, who spoke next, sounding defeated now as she gave a final try. "But…you love Qibli. Don't you?"

Moon took another deep breath, calming herself down a little bit. "I don't anymore," she said, an odd note of finality in her voice that surprised herself. She'd never said something like that out loud before. "I…I don't know if I ever really did. I loved who I thought he was, when I thought that he loved me, too. But then I learned who he really was, and what his priorities were when it came to me and everyone else. He isn't a bad dragon…please don't think that I hate him. But he wasn't who I thought he was at heart, and I couldn't stand to live like I was anymore, especially with a son to look after."

She looked at Coldshock, then winced as she realized that he had been watching the whole thing with wide eyes. She hadn't meant to go off on Kinkajou like that in front of him, but at the moment she hadn't exactly been thinking. But Coldshock didn't appear to be too affected by it. He just titled his head a little, looking more confused than anything. Moon heard a twinge of concern in his mind, but not much else.

"I…I'm sorry, Moon." It was Turtle that finally spoke. "I don't think either of us realized that it was like that."

"Yes…but…" Kinkajou stuttered, trying to think of what to say and how to say it. Moon narrowed her eyes at her, but before the Rainwing could speak again Luna hopped over and pecked hard at her talons that were resting on the table. "Stupid bird," she exclaimed, batting Luna away.

Moon just turned away from her, still hearing Kinkajou's thoughts that refused to concede Moon's argument. If you two would just talk! You could fix it, she thought, and the idea made Moon clench a talon in anger and frustration.

"I…I think you two should go," Winter spoke, his first words in a while. Their two friends looked at him, unsure.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Turtle stammered, "Maybe meet back up later?"

Winter shook his head. "No. I mean leave Sanctuary. I think we all need some space."

Turtle hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Ummm…yeah. Come on Kinkajou, we should probably get going."

"But…but…" Kinkajou tried as Luna hopped forward to peck at her again.

"Kinkajou," Winter said, standing himself and stepping towards Moon. His voice had just enough of an edge in it to be threatening, "I think Moon has enough of you for now."

Winter had no idea how right he was.

Kinkajou raised a talon to object, but Turtle grabbed it and gave her a tug. "That's enough," he said, then to Winter: "We'll write before we come next time, okay?"

If there is a next time, his mind added.

Winter gave a small nod, and with that Turtle practically dragged a reluctant Kinkajou to the door and out into the street. Moon could hear her mind's protests for some time after the door was closed behind them and the house quieted down.

Beside her, Winter shifted on his talons. "Are…are you okay?" he asked in a strange parallel of the previous day.

Moon swallowed, then nodded. "Actually…yeah," she said, and she meant it. It hurt, but her words had been burning within her for some time. It felt good to get them out. If her "friends" insisted on hating her for them, then that was their problem. At least now they knew the full story.

"Good," Winter said uncertainly. He tapped a talon on the floor, clearly not sure what to say or do. "Do you, uh…would you like me to brew some tea?" he offered, "That and a scroll may be a nice way for you to recover or….I don't know…" he trailed off.

Moon closed her eyes and nodded. "Thanks. That sounds good."

Winter brewed the tea and brought her a cup as she grabbed the scroll for her reading club and settled down near to Coldshock in the other room. It was delicious, and it helped her mind relax from the argument. And unlike Qibli had ever done when she needed him, Winter was there with her for the rest of day.

A/N: Hopefully the longer chapter makes up for some of the wait this time. I normally try to make Winter and Moon's parts the same length, but it just didn't seem to work that way and I was not about to shorten the drama in Moon's section.