Just a little Glorybringer for ya

Thoughts, a visit, and a crack

In the Rainforest....

Glory frowned as she slept during suntime. She had been deep in a dream when Sunny had oddly appeared. She knew what this meant. Sunny was dreamvisiting her, and by the look on the Sandwing's face, it wasn't to say hello. 

"What happened?" Glory asked, skipping any greetings. Sunny glanced down, her face a mixture of shock and grief. 

"There was an explosion." she said softly. "In the history cave. Two students died and a couple more were injured." In the real world, Glory's scales went bright green and white before they calmed down. Deathbringer frowned at her, wondering what was making her nervous. 

"Who died?" Glory demanded. Fear was seeping through her. Joy and Rainkeeper were alright, weren't they? They had to be. 

"A Skywing dragonet named Carnelian, and a Nightwing dragonet named Bigtail. We figured you should know in order to notify his family." Sunny replied. Glory nodded, secretly relieved. "But there's one more you should know about." Sunny added. "Tamarin was hurt pretty bad in the explosion. Clay's trying his best, but he's not sure if she's going to be okay." Glory froze. Tamarin was hurt? Oh no. Not Tamarin. What about Kinkajou? Glory didn't want to know how her over excited friend would react if Tamarin died. 

"Is that all?" Glory asked, praying that it was. Sunny nodded. 

"We're addressing the students tomorrow, and are announcing that if anyone wants to leave that there will be dragons to escort them home." she explained. "If you have any dragons that would be up for it then it would be helpful." Glory thought for a moment. 

"Don't worry." she told Sunny. "I'll come." 

Air was horrified as the Dragonets of Destiny addressed the school. Leave JMA? Why would anyone want to do that? What if her friends decided to leave? Or worse....what if her father didn't think it was safe for her to stay and sent her home? Air loved her mother and Squelch and she missed them, but she didn't want to leave JMA. Not when she was having the best time of her life, well, minus all the explosions and death and potential murders going on...

Joy stared wide-eyed as the teachers talked. This was it. She was sure of it. Mother and Dad were going to show up any minute and drag her and Rainkeeper home. Despite herself and what she had originally thought about going to the school, Joy didn't want to leave. And she knew for a fact that Rainkeeper didn't want to either. They were going to have to pry his cold dead talons off  the art cave wall to get him home. Joy liked the excitement of JMA. It was a lot more interesting than sorting fruit in the forest.

Nightflyer listened nervously. Mother and Father wouldn't send him home, would they? Sure, they'd probably like the idea of knowing who was watching over Firefly while they were here, but they'd also have to deal with the fact that their dragonets were alone at home while they were teaching at school. It all seemed kind of backwards if you asked Nightflyer. Sure, he missed his odd little sister, but he was not leaving. There was no way he was going to leave Air. Oh, and Joy, and Moon, and Qibli, Kelp, Winter, and the rest of the friends he had made. But...secretly, it was mostly because of Air. Damn that hold she had on him. 

The next day, Glory, Deathbringer, and the other dragons that would be guiding students home, Six-Claws and Reed, arrived at JMA. Joy was walking to the Prey Center when she spotted her parents. She thanked the moons that she was alone before rushing over. 

"DAD!" she yelled, barreling into Deathbringer. His face broke out in a huge grin as he hugged her. 

"Hey Joy." he greeted her. 

"Don't hog her all to yourself," Glory commented, pulling Joy into a hug of her own. Joy inhaled deeply, and sure enough, they smelt like the rainforest; like home. 

"I missed you," she mumbled. 

"We missed you too." Glory declared, squeezing her again before releasing her. "Now, where can we find that brother of yours?" she asked. Joy grinned. 

"I'll go get him!" she announced, running down one of the hallways. 

"Call me crazy," Deathbringer began. "But I think she got older." Glory grinned. 

Air glanced up from her sculpture as a familiar bang sounded on the door frame. 

"Hey Joy," Rainkeeper greeted her, not even looking up from his painting. Her entrance was common. Joy bolted across the room with a big grin on her face, and grabbed Rainkeeper. 

"Come with me, she ordered. 

"Why?" he questioned. She stared at him. 

"They're here." she told him. Rainkeeper dropped his paintbrush and ran out of the room with Joy, leaving Air extremely confused. 

Deathbringer glanced up at the sound of fast approaching talons. Not a moment later, Rainkeeper and Joy burst in. Rainkeeper ran over and hugged them. 

"What are you doing here?" Joy asked, clinging to her dad. 

"Sunny asked us to come and escort the students from the rainforest that want to go home." Glory explained. Their eyes widened. 

"Do we have to go?" Rainkeeper asked. Deathbringer and Glory exchanged a glance. 

"Do you want to?" she questioned. 

"No!" they said in unison. 

"Then you don't have to." Deathbringer assured them. Rainkeeper let out a sigh of relief. 

"Have you made any friends?" Joy nodded. 

"I've made a whole bunch. I'm friends with Clay's daughter Air, and Tsunami's twins, Kelp and Seashell. I'm also friends with a Sandwing named Qibli, a Seawing named Turtle, and an Icewing named Winter." she replied. 

"I am friends with Air too." he said briefly. "That's all." 

"Okay," Glory said encouragingly. "Don't be afraid to make more." Rainkeeper smiled at her. 

"I'm not."

Later....

Moon glanced around at her friends in the Prey Center. Most of the Winglets didn't really stick together when they didn't have to, but Moon's did a little bit. Winter never sat with them, of course, but the rest of them usually did. The group would always sit on an area of rocks near the fruit pile. Nightflyer and Air would sit on one rock, Kelp and Seashell on another, and Joy, Moon, and Qibli on the last one. Moon frowned. 

"How do you do it?" she asked. They glanced at her. 

"Do what?" Joy asked. 

"Go about your day not hearing any thoughts but your own." Moon explained. 

"It's simple," Qibli offered. "We don't know any different. We don't know what it's like to hear anyone else's thoughts, and you don't know what it's like to just hear your own. So, it's easy for us because we're used to it." he explained. Before Moon could reply, Nightflyer gasped and a loud CRACK echoed through the cave as a stalactite fell from the ceiling and plummeted right towards a group of Icewing students.