Silenced Voice

PART ONE: LOST, Chapter 1 Moon

The wind blowing from the desert blew the sand so that it was difficult to see ahead, and Moon had to close her eyes. She slowly turned back to return to her apartment, which was inside the walls of the fort. It was impossible to enjoy walking here, with the feet sinking into the sand and the claws unable to grip the ever-moving dunes, not to mention the grains of sand penetrating everywhere and the merciless scorching of the sun. The scales constantly felt too dry and almost the only colors in the desert were sand and the blue of the sky. A hint of greyish green from the cacti here and there.

She missed the rainforest. Its freshness and greenery. Countless shades of color as well as smells and sounds. Kinkajou's happy company. She knew that Qibli was needed here. He held an important position in Thorn's service as her advisor. Qibli would not be able to move to another part of Pyrrhia, even though he had assured Moon that he would follow her wherever she wanted to go.

Everyone thought they were dating. That they would get married soon. But Moon wasn't sure. She had thought that she wanted to be with Qibli. That she absolutely loved him. Qibli was safe, kind, and smart. He worshiped the earth under the claws of Moon. She didn't want to give him up. It was hard to imagine such a feeling of security being found anywhere else.
But was that the right reason to be with someone? There were certainly worse reasons. Still, Moon couldn't shake the feeling under her scales that she didn't belong here. She didn't belong in the desert. Each day dried her insides more and more as she longed for something - or someone. Was the reason actually the desert? Or a longing for someone?
The same feeling had consumed her on Jade Mountain as well. Someone was missing there.

She had finished her three-year studies at Jade Mountain Academy at the same time as Qibli, Turtle, and others half a year ago. Kinkajou continued the next semester because she had learned to read later, and Winter had not returned to study. They had last seen a year ago in the Sanctuary. It was a town established for the dragons of different tribes and located in the Sky Kingdom. Winter had a study of scavengers going on there, which included studying their language. A SkyWing dragon named Sky helped him with his own scavenger who could speak dragon. It was amazing and fascinating to Moon and explained why she could sense the emotions of scavengers but not other animals. The scavengers had revealed themselves to be almost dragon-like in their intellectual abilities.

The queens had agreed that hunting and eating scavengers was forbidden, and Moon thought that was a great step forward. The new queen of the IceWings, Snowfall, had even broken the Great Ice Cliff that prevented dragons from other tribes from crossing that border. The ranking system in the Ice Kingdom was abolished after the queen broke the ranking wall.

Winter had been given the right to visit his family, although he had reportedly only been there a couple of times since the IceWings had fought the NightWing army led by Darkstalker. Instead, his brother Hailstorm was one of Queen Snowfall's most important generals and had recently married the queen's closest friend Lynx. Snowfall's older sister Crystal had received official permission from her queen to marry the MudWing she had fallen in love with, and they lived in Sanctuary and visited the Ice Kingdom regularly. Snowfall's youngest sister Mink was currently studying at Jade Mountain.

The dragon tribes of the distant continent of Pantala kept in touch with their Pyrrhian friends, and both sides had also been visited. Moon had played a significant part in saving all the dragon tribes from the mind-controlling force. The world had truly changed. Moon sighed. She had visions of the future but didn't know what her own future was.

She was deep in thought as she stepped through the gate back into the shelter of the outer walls of the fortress, and was startled violently when Qibli landed right next to her.
"Moon! I'm looking for you everywhere!" Qibli exclaimed in joy at the same moment that Moon almost jumped in the air in fright.
"Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out," Qibli reassured, and continued, "I figured you'd gone out for a walk, but I couldn't believe it until I'd poked around here. There is no dragon weather there."