The next afternoon, the Silver Winglet met in the music cave. It was like being inside a singing bowl; the music catapulted around the high, smooth walls like thread winding around and around the assembled dragons.
Eclipse had followed Ostrich over to a wing-shaped harp. The SandWing picked it up and began playing it as Umber tried keeping up on a hollow stringed instrument as tall as a dragon that boomed in a deep bass register.
Eclipse noticed immediately when Moon and her winglet arrived. The sense of her sisters anxious excitement overlaying everyone else around her.
Moon and Eclipse made eye contact and Eclipse grinned at her. But before Moon could trot over Kinkajou jumped forward.
"Let's join in!" Kinkajou cried happily, shouting over the music. She seized a pair of gourds that rattled as though they were full of dry seeds, and she tossed Moon a wooden box.
The box was square, as long as Moon's forearm, and looked like it had several metal tongues of different sizes attached to the top of it. A label carved into the side said it was a mbira. When she plucked one of the tongues with her claw, a reverberating, twangy noise came out, and it turned out to be a slightly different noise for each tongue.
Eclipse suddenly sensed Winters arrival, wrapping chilly talons around her mind. Of course there was already a chilling mind hiding somewhere in the cave but Winters mind was just different.
Moon - to shy to make music - sad, she's missing out, rang Kinkajou's mind. Eclipse saw Moon notice her trail of thought and began trying to match the rhythm of the music already booming throughout the cave.
Eclipse trotted over, throwing a wing over Moon's shoulders and guided her a bit more into the cave, releasing her shortly after to begin swaying on her feet with the music.
Soon after that, Qibli came bounding into the cave and straight over to the drums, where he ousted a bewildered Thrush. As he began to play, Eclipse felt Moon's anxious thoughts begin to wither away for the first time all day.
Qibli drummed with his whole body, like he was dancing and drumming at the same time. His tail thumped a rhythm on a huge bass drum behind him, while his front talons jumped and skipped and bumped from one small drum to another.
Anemone grabbed Turtle and started dancing, and after a moment, Kinkajou, Boto, and Sepia joined in. Sepia dragged Eclipse in as well and she started dancing with them too, twirling in tight circles and laughing.
It was even better than the raindrop trick; here, with the drums echoing off all the walls and swallowing individual thoughts, Eclipse felt like her head was clear and she didn't have to worry about anything.
It seemed to work for Qibli, too. For once, his mind was moving at about the normal speed of other dragons, absorbed in the pounding below his talons.
Afterword, to both Moon's and Eclipse's surprise, Winter caught up with them on their way to the library.
"I want you to look at my scavenger," he said to Eclipse brusquely. Don't make eye contact! he was shouting at himself. Don't think about her! You're a disgrace to the royal IceWing lineage, Winter! Your brother would never have been so weak!
"Oh, well," She faltered. "I don't really know all that much about scavengers."
"Then use your intuition or whatever," he said. Or whatever, his mind echoed ominously.
"We were just heading to the library so, maybe later?" Eclipse said, twining her tail around Moons when she sensed her mind race with anxiety.
"Fine, I'll bring him there." He whisked away before she could protest.
"Oooo," Kinkajou said, pouncing on the sisters intwined tails from behind them. "What did he want? What did he say? Can you believe he initiated a conversation and aren't you so excited?"
"It was nothing," Moon said.
Oh, Moon. Sometimes it's like talking to a tree, Kinkajou's mind sighed.
"Um," Moon said quickly, "just, he's bringing Bandit to the library for Eclipse to look at."
"Oh, wow!" Kinkajou said turning her attention to Eclipse. "He must like you, to be asking for your help, right?"
Eclipse searched Kinkajou's face and thoughts, but found no jealousy under those words. Kinkajou seemed as delighted by the prospect of witnessing a romance as she was by the idea of being in one; it was all part of the thrilling new drama of school to her.
"Uh -" Eclipse felt her cheeks burn annoyingly. "I'm pretty sure he hates me. I did threaten him on the first day."
It was odd, because she thought she, of all dragons, should be able to be sure about how another dragon felt about her. But being able to read Winter's mind somehow didn't make him any less confusing. It almost seemed to make things worse, actually, as if she were trapped in a maze of icy mirrors. She wondered if that was how he felt all the time.
Sunny and Fatespeaker were in the library with Starflight; Fatespeaker was reading to him and Sunny was sorting a new bundling of scrolls into neat piles.
"Hi there," Sunny greeted them warmly.
"We have some free time before history, and Moon said she'd help me practice my reading," Kinkajou said, turning her scales the color of old scrolls with black speckles.
Sunny tilted her head and glanced at Eclipse.
"I'm just tagging along," Eclipse smiled.
"That sounds great," Starflight said. "did I hear Carnelian with you?"
"Yes," Carnelian muttered behind Eclipse, causing her and Moon to both jump. The raindrop trick must be working well. "Is there any news from Queen Ruby?" Maybe calling me home? Or at least sending me new battle formations to learn?
"You got a letter this morning," Fatespeaker said, producing a small scroll from under the desk. She handed it to Carnelian, who inspected to seal suspiciously and then retired to the darkest corner to read it.
Kinkajou had just chosen a scroll called Journeys in the Ice Kingdom when Winter came hurrying in, carrying a covered cage. He set it down in front of Eclipse and whisked the cloth off.
She crouched to peer inside, trying to ignore how furious and resentful he felt about asking for help.
The cage looked a bit like a tall birdcage, but with an elaborate little environment constructed inside of it. There were stairs, a kind of running wheel on the lower level, a nest with tiny blankets piled on it on the upper level, and a swing hanging from the top bars of the cage.
It took Eclipse a moment to spot Bandit, because he was buried in the heap of blankets on the nest. But as the light filled the cage, a furry head slowly emerged, and then the rest of him, emitting little groans and rubbing his arms.
"Awww, he's so cute," Kinkajou said.
Winter snorted.
"Who built all of this?" Eclipse asked. Moon had re-adjusted herself to sit beside Eclipse, brushing their wingtips together. Moon touched the cage with one claw. It was very detailed; it must have taken a long time and a lot of thought.
"I did," Winter nodded. "All the stuff inside. I thought he'd like it, but he's hardly used any of it - he won't climb on the swing or use the running wheel. Mostly he eats and then goes back to sleep. I thought scavengers were curious and unpredictable, but he's been unbelievably boring." The IceWing gave her a sideways look. "Any suggestions? Is he sick? I've been feeding him fruit, so he's eating fine. Why won't he do anything?"
What can I say without sounding suspicious? Eclipse wondered.
Moon extended one talon through the cage. The scavenger jumped back, then looked up and seemed to remember her. Tentatively Bandit stepped forward and out one paw on Moon's talon.
"He looks sad," Eclipse muttered. Winter's ears flicked at this, his eyes scanning the small creature.
"Maybe he's depressed," Sunny interjected, coming over to peek inside. "Webs was like that for a while after the Summer Palace attack. He didn't get out of bed for months."
"Oh, poor little Bandit," Kinkajou said.
"Webs is a dragon," Winter pointed out. "This is a scavenger. Next you'll be telling me the cows and fish in the prey center are moping."
"He could be lonely," Eclipse suggested. "I've read scavengers are social creatures."
Moon blinked at Bandit and withdrew her claw. He sat back down on the blankets, his shoulders slumped.
"That's true!" Sunny said. "Scavengers usually live in packs. Although I met one who was happy with just the company of dragons for a long time, but Flower was kind of special."
"Bandit might be special," Winter huffed.
"He might be delicious," Carnelian muttered from her corner. She was grumpier than ever, because the letter had rejected her official request to be sent back to battle training. "I can think of one good way to find out."
Winter hissed at her and Eclipse shot her a glare. He turned to Eclipse and growled, "So, what? Should I get another scavenger, just to keep this one happy? What if that one is depressed, too?"
"Or you could make friends with him," Moon offered. Eclipse was just as surprised by Moon's boldness as she was.
He folded his wings back and drew his head up. "What?"
"Flower and Smolder seemed to really like each other," Sunny said.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Winter demanded. He flung the cover back on the cage. "This is useless," he growled, and stormed back out of the library with it.
Sunny shrugged at Moon. "Don't feel bad, he's just worried about Bandit. I thought it was a good idea." She moved back to her pile of scrolls.
Moon curled her tail and wings in. It was true, Winter was worried about Bandit, but he was also mad at the sisters in a kind of general ongoing way with no particular reason behind it.
Kinkajou nudged Moon shoulder. "Ignore him. He clearly doesn't like hearing good advice. Let's read about IceWings instead and see if they're all that full of themselves." she started unrolling the scroll on one of the low wooden tables. "Glory once told me that IceWings and NightWings have always hated each other, and it goes back to some big tragedy in the IceWings' past, but mostly written by NightWings or SeaWings and never talked about the details. I'm so curious, aren't you?"
Queen Glory, Eclipse couldn't help but correct the RainWing in her mind, earning her a glance from Moon. Eclipse trotted to the library entrance, having half a mind to seek out Winter and try to help him a bit better than she could inside the library.
Please stay, Eclipse, Moon's mind whined. Eclipse couldn't help him anyway, even if she wanted to. Not without giving herself and Moon away. Eclipse walked back over to the wooden table and sat beside Moon silently.
"Did you try asking Starflight?" Moon asked Kinkajou.
"Yes, but he didn't know either," Kinkajou said. "So I have to learn to read, so I can read all the scrolls ever written about IceWings and figure it out myself."
The two worked on the scroll for a while, Eclipse chiming in a few times as Kinkajou puzzled over the words and turning lavender with delight when she got them right. After a while Moon paused, thinking, and said:
"Winter and Icicle might be able to tell you."
"Ha ha, can you imagine them telling me anything?" Kinkajou said, turning herself a chilly blue. "We don't share IceWing secrets with mere RainWings, haughty sniff."
Moon giggled and Starflight looked up with a smile. Eclipse grinned to herself as well, huffing a laugh.
"I'm glad you two are getting along," Starflight said. "We spent a lot of time working out all the clawmates."
"I'm still not sure about all of them," Sunny chimed in, frowning anxiously.
"Like me?" Carnelian asked. She had been pacing along the shelves, pulling out scrolls, glancing at them, and shoving them back in. Now she came stomping over to the desk. "Maybe you could move me to a cave where there's less talking all the time."
"Don't be silly," Kinkajou said. "Moon hardly ever talks. She talks more in her sleep than she ever does when she's awake."
"I do?" Moon said, horrified.
"Three moons, yes," said Carnelian. "And that's exactly what I mean. It is so annoying. One of them talks all day and the other one yammers all night."
Mother, why didn't you ever tell me this? Why didn't you warn me? Moon thought. Why didn't you think that talking in my sleep might put me and my secrets in danger? And why didn't you tell me? she glanced at Eclipse.
I didn't know, Eclipse thought back, just as shocked as Moon. Did she do the same? We went to sleep more or less at the same time back in the rainforest.
"What do I say?" Moon asked nervously.
"All KINDS of fascinating nonsense," Kinkajou said. "Darkness and thunder and talons of doom and who knows what else. You must be reading something really exciting. Can I borrow it when you're done?"
Oh, three moons. . . Eclipse thought, slightly horrified.
"Um," Moon said, shifting on her talons. "You know, I think I might head to history a little early, if that's all right."
"Why?" Kinkajou asked.
"I just - want to look at the old maps." Now that she said it, it sounded like a good idea. Maybe she'd find a clue about the old Night Kingdom somewhere on there.
Kinkajou wrinkled her nose and turned a pale orange. "Spend more time in that dank hole? No, thank you, I'll be there when I have to."
Eclipse silently trotted after her sister, giving Kinkajou a small wave before ducking out of the library cave.
I doubt the maps will be helpful, Darkstalker pointed out as the pair headed through the Great Hall.
I know, Moon thought. NightWings were the ones making the maps for hundreds of years, and they made sure to erase any trace of either NightWing kingdom, old or new. Still. . . maybe there's something.
At least you're looking, he said quietly. Maybe you haven't completely forsaken me yet?
I think I should wonder around and look for clues on this killer situation, Eclipse offered, definitely not ignoring Darkstalker. We haven't been focusing on that as much as we should be.
Before Moon could answer they both faltered as a flash of light suddenly blistered through their minds, then vanished.
Eclipse and Moon shared a confused and half panicked look. They were halfway down the tunnel to the history cave.
Did you do that? Eclipse asked.
No. Wait - watch out -
A slow sting was making its way up her spine, along her neck, to the base of her skull. . .
A moment later, a pain shot through her like a claw raking through her eye socket.
Eclipse staggered forward as Moon collapsed to the floor, clutching her head, and the vision came.
Hazy images of roaring flames tearing along the walls of what looked to be the history cave, swallowing the maps, leaping to the seated dragonets, in the space of a breath. Fire blistering along Moon's scales, her sisters voice screaming. She couldn't see much more through the haze but she could see other dragons, burning and writhing in agony.
Everyone was dying.
Moon was dying.