'It is so hard to breathe in this smoke!' Rainwatcher thought as they flew over the night kingdom 'How could anyone live here?'
"Poor NightWings" Kinkijou said sympathetically "Can you imagine living here?"
Rainwatcher definitely couldn't. Their was lava everywhere! The whole place was run down and there was an ACTIVE VOLANO! And the air! You couldn't even breathe or see the sky through all the black clouds. Unsafe, unsafe, unsafe, SO UNSAFE!
"POOR NIGHTWINGS?" Winter yelled "The NightWings kidnapped you. The NightWings tortured you! The NightWings were planning to take over the rainforest! AND YOU SAY POOR NIGHTWINGS? They deserve to have a home like this!"
"Winter!" Moon yelped
"I know, but it's still so sad." Kinkijou looked down at the ground and some of her scales turned blue
"Interesting" Qibli said "Even after the NightWings did that to you, you still treat Moon like a best friend."
"And Firefly. And Rainwatcher. And Deathrbringer can be pretty cool sometimes-"
"Nope" Firefly interrupted quickly "One time I called him, and then he said 'Sup?' It was the most traumatising thing ever"
"And the time he tried to dance? I'm scarred for life" Rainwatcher added
Everyone laughed at the joke "To be honest, Firefly, you've got to admit, he is a pretty cool dad" Qibli said "For all I know, my mother killed my father because apparently he 'cared too much?'"
"How can someone care too much?" Firefly asked "Well, It's lucky you inherited that personality and not your mothers."
The group of dragons landed down at the front of the ruined nigthwing fortress, and Rainwatcher nearly singed the end of his tail from the lava.
"How do you know about my mother?" Qibli asked
"Who hasn't? The O' Great killer, that Blister, Blaze and Burn tried to hire in their armies" Firefly replied "Also, isn't in Moon's prophecy we find the lost city of night and then Jade Mountain is safe or something?"
On the way to the tunnel to the night kingdom, Moon had told Firefly and Rainwatcher about her prophecy and how going to the night kingdom might save everyone and all of Jade Mountain.
"I think that it might be the actual lost city of night... like from Darkstalker's time" Moon trailed off "I think that's the one we need to find"
"Oh" Kinkijou said "You couldn't have mentioned that earlier?"
"Sorry, I thought this would work..."
Rainwatcher listened in... was that? No... It couldn't be. But it sounded like a dragon was coming from inside the fortress. He looked to the side and saw that Moon was listing in too. Rainwatcher almost fell back into the lava when he saw scales flash inside. Firefly jumped into the fortress and tackled a dragon. She pulled the dragon out into the light and Winter gasped.
"Icicle!" He yelped as she roared in agony as Firefly snapped one of her spikes.
Icicle managed to get a grip of Firefly's snout and Kinkijou jumped to help her, but ended up flying out of the fortress and almost landing in the lava. Rainwatcher felt wingbeats behind him and saw sleep darts flying towards Icicle and Firefly.
"Icicle, you are under arrest for murder and attempted murder" Mother announced and Firefly jumped away as she started clawing at her.
"WINTER!" She cried "What's happening to me?"
"Sleep darts" Father said proudly "You'll wake up fine in a few hours."
"NO!" Icicle yelped "I... CAN'T SLEEP! SHE'LL VISIT ME!"
Even though Icicle didn't specify who, her mind boomed with thoughts of Scarlet. Winter walked up close to Icicle, and he leaned in even closer, and for some reason, now Rainwatcher couldn't read Icicle's mind. Winter whispered something in her ear, just before she drifted off to sleep
THE RAINWING HEALERS HUT
"What do you mean she has to stay asleep?" Winter cried "I need to talk to her!"
"And I need a prison." Glory replied "Apparently the RainWings don't have one. I have one prisoner and his jail sell is quick sand"
"We don't imprison, we banish" Jambu said "What could be worse than being kicked out of the rainforest?"
'Lots.' Mother thought 'Lots of things'
"Who would do this to themselves?" Ibis asked (She was one of the rainwing healers that helped Starflight and Webs) "Not sleep for five days?"
"Reminds me of the rainwing who couldn't sleep." Jambu said "That was the saddest case I've ever seen."
"A rainwing who couldn't sleep?" Firefly asked "What was that?"
"He had a snout deformity." Ibis said "It was awful, we couldn't fix it."
"Yeah, he couldn't sleep for more than an hour, and couldn't change his scales." Jambu explained "That is a cautionary tale of what happened when you don't sleep enough. Ahem, your majesty"
"I do sleep! I have been having suntime every day!" Glory yelped "Go be mean to Firefly, she doesn't have any suntime at all!"
"Because I have better things to do than just sleep" Firefly objected "And plus, I've been filling things out for Starflight's scroll, remember? I think it was something called... A Guide To Your Fellow Dragons?"
"A Guide To The Dragon World," Moon corrected "Rainwatcher and I are doing: The truth to nightwing powers. And Kinkijou's writing a story? I think."
Icicle twitched her talons, as if she was ready to fight something in her sleep. "Oh! And Wren is writing something in there too!" Firefly added "Remember, father"
"What? I don't know what your talking about" Deathbringer left the room awkwardly 'she still haunts my dreams' He thought
FIREFLY'S ROOM. LATE AT NIGHT
Rainwatcher couldn't fall asleep. He was worried Icicle could wake up. He was worried Moon and her friends would get attacked by hers since they were watching her, Moon was trying to read Icicles mind. Firefly was awake, and Rainwatcher felt like she literally never slept. He decided to fly up to the roof of their hut, and saw Firefly staring at the Moons.
"Hey, Rainy" Firefly said and Rainwatcher jolted
"How did you know it was me?" He asked
"Well," Firefly turned around "You always walk slowly when you're approaching someone, and I can remember you talon steps."
"That's...." Rainwatcher didn't know how to finish that sentence "Unsettling"
"I know..." Firefly trailed off "Do you ever wish you could just fly away to the moons?"
"What?"
"Like, you could just fly away without ever stopping to think, and all your problems would go away." Firefly looked back at the moons. There crescents hung high in the sky above the rainforest. Rainwatcher went back to bed, and couldn't stop thinking about what Firefly said. 'What if she did fly away?'
He was awoken by talons pushing on his arm "Rainy!" Kinkijou said "Wake up! Moon saw scarlet! Get some paper!"
Rainwatcher ran to Firefly's bed, and some paper was lying neatly on a pillow, and some letters from starlight for his new book. 'Ink! Where are you?' He thought desperately and without knowing, accidentally knocked an inkwell on the ground. He quickly picked it up and flew to the healers.
"I've got the ink and paper!" Rainwatcher yelped as he almost tripped over a bed and Kinkijou laughed
"Thanks" Moon replied and started drawing weird shapes that looked some-what like trees. Rainwatcher saw Qibli wasn't looking at the paper, he was looking at Moon! 'Does Qibli like Moon too?' Rainwatcher thought 'Who does Moon like? Qibli or Winter?'
'RAINY!' Moon yelled in her mind 'STOP THAT! They're both great friends.'
'And great boyfriends' Rainwatcher tried to do his father's smirk, but failed again 'HOW DOES FIREFLY DO THIS?'
"What is that?" Winter asked "I think that looks like the sky kingdom."
"But none of us have been to the sky kingdom" Qibli added
Icicle's talons twitched again. Rainwatcher noticed a vine-bandage over her half spike that Firefly ripped off. 'Wait. Where is Firefly?'
"FIREFLY'S BEEN THERE!" Kinkijou yelped and everyone jumped. Some Rainwings woke up and glared at her. "She might know where it is." Kinkijou added in a whisper
"Or father" Rainwatcher agreed "They've been all over the continent"
"Winter, are you sure that you can go through with it?" Moon asked in a soft voice "I mean, they're not your favourite dragons."
Winter looked coldly at her "I can go through with it. If it's to save my brother. I can do it."