Inferno twiddled her talons, glancing over Ink's history scroll, even if she wasn't sure what it said. Webs's voice droned on in the background, and the SkyWing struggled to stay awake. It had been two days since she and Ink had started attending classes with the Silver Winglet. While she'd enjoyed her time at Jade Mountain so far, her exhaustion really made it difficult for her to pay attention to Webs' already dry lectures. Ash had talked to her again last night, and it felt like she'd hardly slept a wink. He'd been more persistent in his dream visits recently, going from once or twice a week to almost every night, and it was really taking a toll on Inferno. Still, she understood his concern. She was in a new environment, around a lot of unknown and strange dragons, and he just wanted to make sure she was safe.

"And that concludes our discussion on how IceWing culture has been impacted by temperature changes across Pyrrhia," Webs finished. The SeaWing glanced across the room, to a large hourglass sitting on a desk. Sand was falling through it, before gently settling in a pile. There was still a bit of sand in the top of the glass.

"It looks like we still have a bit of time before the next class period," Webs muttered, pondering something. Skytaker raised their head in excitement, hoping that Webs might let the Winglet out early. Webs glanced down to them, and rolled his eyes.

"Since we don't have enough time to start on our next unit, I suppose you all can go—"

"Yes!" Skytaker interrupted excitedly, flapping their wings around. "C'mon Sepia, let's go see how Tiger's doing!" They quickly ran out the door, with the rest of the Silver Winglet following.

Webs sighed. "I would recommend using this extra time to go to your next class early, or even better, to study for our upcoming test." Just as Inferno and Ink were about to exit the room, he shot Inferno a glare. "Inferno," he commanded, "would you mind staying for a few moments?"

Inferno gulped. Was she in trouble? She wasn't even enrolled in the school yet, had she done something wrong? "Yes, professor?" she asked, turning to face Webs.

"You mentioned to me that you're from the Talons of Peace, correct?"

Inferno nodded. Why did he care about that? Something didn't happen to the Talons, right? What if her mother had gotten hurt?

"Was my son the one who told you to come here?"

"Riptide?" Inferno asked. She shook her head. "No, sir, not him."

Webs narrowed his eyes, sending a shiver down Inferno's spine. "That's what I suspected. Tell me then, who was it?"

Inferno blinked for a few moments, unsure how to respond. She couldn't actually tell him that Ash was the one who suggested it, of course. "Um—" she stammered.

"You don't have to tell me," Webs growled. "It was Avalanche, wasn't it? What, does she want to finish the job?"

"Finish the job?" Inferno asked, unsure what he was talking about. She glanced back to Ink, who was still watching them.

"I spent six years raising their precious Dragonets of Destiny, and she and Morrowseer repay me with an assassination attempt." Webs ranted. "They got Kestrel too. She might not have been the nicest dragon, but she was my friend. I don't see why Riptide is bothering to try and reform them, they're all just a bunch of kelp-eating scum. Back when I joined, Clarity was in charge, but she just let Morrowseer and Avalanche trample over the Talon's morals. I'm surprised Riptide hasn't put all of them to the justice they deserve." Webs turned back to Inferno. "If you're here to kill me, don't think I'll go down without a fight," he hissed. "There are ways to kill even dragons like you."

Inferno shuddered, and took a step back, lowering her head. Ink suddenly stepped around her, between the SkyWing and Webs.

"She's not here to kill you, she just wants to learn like the rest of us," the hybrid snarled. "And don't you dare threaten her. She's a good dragon."

Webs continued to frown, looking down at the dragon in front of him. "So you think," he snorted. He looked back at Inferno. "If Tsunami wants you to stay, I can't do anything about that. But don't even think about trying to cause trouble here." The SeaWing lifted his head up high and walked around the two to exit the classroom, careful to keep his distance from Inferno.

Inferno carefully watched him leave, uncomfortable. She was starting to have doubts about joining Jade Mountain. She'd have to have classes with this dragon every day. Maybe there was some way she could get him to like her?

"Wow, who bit his tail?" Ink asked Inferno.

Inferno shrugged her wings. "I don't know." She looked back to Ink. "Why did you defend me?"

"Huh?" Ink wondered, slightly confused why Inferno had asked the question. "Well, we're friends. If he's being a jerk to you, it's my duty to step in. You'd do the same for me, right?"

"Yeah," Inferno quietly replied. If a teacher was yelling at Ink, would she defend him? But what if she scared the teacher, and they expelled her for that?

Ink cocked his head, and gave the SkyWing an examining look. "You've had friends before, right?"

Inferno shuffled her wings back and forth. "I mean, I guess." There was Trustbreaker. And Ash.

Ink frowned, and flicked his tail back and forth. "Anyways, I also had a bit of personal stake in the conversation. I got a bit annoyed with Webs being rude about Clarity."

Inferno's eyes lit up. "Clarity?" she commented, surprised. "You know her?"

Ink chuckled uncomfortably, and scratched the scales behind his horns. "A little more than just know her. She and her mate helped raise me after Queen Glacier took their dragonet. Like an aunt and uncle."

Inferno's jaw almost dropped. "You've met Fracture?" No one in the Talons had met Fracture, except for Clarity, Avalanche, and Trustbreaker. She blinked for a few moments, shocked. This small, unsuspecting, weird hybrid had been raised by the mysterious leader of the Talons of Peace.

Ink nodded, seemingly unaware of Inferno's surprise. "Yeah. He's a cool IceWing, no pun intended. I know he's can be a bit aloof, but he's genuinely a brave and kind dragon who wants everyone to be happy. It's why he founded the Talons."

Inferno shook her head back and forth, and Ash's suspicions suddenly made sense. "So that's how you knew my name before I told you!" she exclaimed. "You're part of the Talons too, and someone must have told you about me! It's not like there are many fireborn SkyWings out there." She breathed a sigh of relief. She'd had no reason to worry about Ink after all. Ash would be happy to hear this.

Ink uncomfortably smiled, knowing that Inferno was wrong. He considered telling Inferno about his visions, and how he already knew who she was. He was half-NightWing after all, so it's not like it could be that shocking. But Inferno spoke before he had a chance.

"Did you know Trustbreaker?" the SkyWing asked.

"Yeah," Ink nodded. "I met him a few times. His cat is cute."

"Sapphire," Inferno replied. "Did Trustbreaker let you pet him? I've always wanted to, but, you know . . ." She waved a claw around in the air, smoke emanating off it.

Ink smiled. "Yeah. Are you telling me you haven't met Fracture?"

Inferno shook her head. "Never. Most of the Talons don't get a chance to meet him. Some of us don't even believe he's real, although Trustbreaker told me enough about him that I believe in him."

Ink snorted at the absurdity of this. "Don't worry, he's very real. He's just been busy with taking care of me and other stuff, I guess. I hope you get to meet him one day, he's really a fun dragon to be around. Do you mind if I ask how you ended up with the Talons?"

"Oh," Inferno replied, shuffling her wings again. "It wasn't really my choice. SkyWings . . . like me aren't really allowed in the Sky Kingdom, so my mother brought me to the Talons. They were kind enough to take me in, so I've just been there the whole time." Well, that wasn't exactly true. There was at least one fireborn who'd been allowed in the Sky Kingdom. But being made Queen Scarlet's murder-weapon was worse than death. With the Talons of Peace, Inferno had been taught not to ever hurt other dragons or threaten them with her firescales from day one. Goat had made a good choice.

"How did you join the Talons?" Inferno asked Ink. Oh. She shouldn't have assumed he was in the Talons just because he knew Fracture. "If you are in the Talons, I mean. Not that there's anything wrong with not being in the Talons." Although, there were some dragons who didn't agree with that statement. What if Ink thought that it was ever dragon's duty to work for peace?

"Oh, sort of the same as you, I guess," Ink answered. "My dad is part of the Talons and is old friends with Fracture, so he kind of just brought me in after my actual parents died. I'm a hybrid, and my dad is . . . unusual, so there's not really many places for us in normal dragon society. I lived in Possibility for a while though."

"You're an orphan?" Inferno asked, surprised. She winced, realizing that might be a sensitive subject. "Er, I'm sorry about that," she continued, trying to correct the situation. "It must be hard not knowing your parents."

Ink shrugged his wings. "I guess. This might be weird, but I think I'm sort of lucky. I had a good family, better than the one I would have had." In reality, he really did know his parents, at least one of them, from his visions. He knew what his life would've been like if Loresearcher and Torrent hadn't died, at least in small glimpses. As guilty as he felt for thinking it, Ink knew that he was much happier raised by Griffin, Clarity, and Fracture, without an uncaring and fickle father, without a cruel and cold brother.

"Huh," Inferno answered. "Don't worry, it's not weird." In all honesty, it was a little bit weird. But even with their differences, Inferno started to feel that maybe Ink was a little bit like her — a misfit brought into the Talons of Peace.

"Yeah," Ink smiled. "Can I ask you something a little personal? I don't want to seem like I'm criticizing you or anything."

Does he want to ask about my firescales? Inferno wondered. It was nice that he'd asked for permission first, most dragons just went ahead and asked super-personal questions. "Sure, go ahead."

"Why didn't you speak back to Webs?" Ink queried the SkyWing. "You were just kind of silent. Was it because he was a teacher?"

Inferno stood silent for a moment, stiff. She hadn't been expecting that question. She took a deep breath, and reminded herself that Ink was a friend. She could be open with him. "I didn't want to scare him," she answered. "I could hurt him really easily, and if he's worried I might get angry, he might get frightened and do something unexpected. Or he could tell Tsunami that I threatened him, and I'd be kicked out of here." Or even worse, what if Inferno did get angry, and hurt him on purpose? She shuddered. "Like what happened with Ermine."

"With Ermine?"

Inferno sighed. "When I arrived at the school, he was being really rude and said I was like Peril, and I snapped at him a little. I didn't mean to scare him, and I didn't think I was being threatening, but he ran off and got Tsunami and she got all angry at me for scaring him."

Ink thought for a moment. "I'm sorry about that," he replied. "But you can always speak back to me if I'm saying something rude, and I'll try and help out if Webs keeps giving you trouble. Can I tell you a secret?"

"A secret?" Inferno asked, unsure why Ink changed the conversation so quickly. "Sure. I won't tell anyone." What if she was promising too much?

Ink tapped his talons on the ground, wondering how to ease into this. "Do you remember Polar?"

Inferno snorted. "I don't think I could forget. Not that Polar's a terrible dragon or anything, he's just . . . rememberable."

Ink laughed. "Don't worry. I know his personality is a bit gritty. I was just thinking about him since we were talking about our connections with the Talons of Peace."

"The Talons of Peace?" Inferno asked. "He's not part of it too, is he?" She really didn't see the IceWing as rebellious.

"No, no," Ink answered. "But I told you that Queen Glacier took Fracture and Clarity's dragonet before banishing them from the Ice Kingdom, right? Well, apparently Polar's that son."

"Wait, seriously?" Inferno gasped. "But he's nothing like them. I mean, I don't think so at least."

"Yeah," Ink confirmed. "He thought they were dead when I met him. He really hates them too. He feels like they betrayed him and Queen Glacier. I wanted to tell you this because I think all of us being here at once is a really weird coincidence, especially with the drought and Thorn's death. Like, what are the chances of three dragons, each with connections to the Talons of Peace, all arriving at Jade Mountain at once?"

"Um, I don't know," Inferno replied. Is this some sort of conspiracy theory?

Ink opened his mouth speak again, but a dragon's yell interrupted him. "Hey, Ink, Inferno!" Skytaker's voice called. "What are you still doing down here? You don't want to spend more time in Webs' class, do you?"

The SkyWing-NightWing dragonet walked into the room, one of their foreclaws wrapped around Ermine's tail, dragging him in. Ermine glanced up to the two with a sigh, having given up on resisting Skytaker.

"Guess who just arrived?" Skytaker asked excitedly. Not giving Ink and Inferno any chances to guess, they explained. "The Jade Winglet. They've returned! Ermine saw them flying back, and came to alert me."

"I was alerting Tsunami, not you," the small IceWing grumbled. "And you didn't have to drag me all the way down here."

Skytaker ignored him. "They're sort of like celebrities here. You should meet them and say hello before the next class starts! Although it might be delayed since they've come back. C'mon!"

With no hesitation, Skytaker turned around, and started to drag Ermine back up the tunnels. The IceWing sighed, and Ink turned to Inferno. He'd tell her about his visions later. "You want to go?"

Inferno hesitated a moment. "I mean . . . not really."

"Oh," Ink said, frowning. "What's wrong?"

Inferno huddled her wings in next to her body. "Peril's in the Jade Winglet," she sighed. "I don't want to meet her."

"Peril?" Ink asked, confused.

Inferno scratched at the cave floor. "I know dragons have said that she's changed, but I heard stories about her from the other Talons when I was growing up. The awful things she did as Queen Scarlet's champion. My mother would tell me never to become a monster like that."

Ink pondered on this for a moment. "Well, it's not like you'll turn evil just by talking her. Anyways, you'll have to meet her eventually if you stay here. I can go with you, if you want. That might make it easier."

Inferno shuffled her claws. Ink was right. Peril would probably want to meet Inferno eventually. Unless Peril saw Inferno as some sort of threat, which would probably be worse. "Alright."

Ink smiled. "Great, let's catch up to Skytaker and Ermine before they get away." He quickly ran into the tunnel leading from the classroom. Inferno followed behind, making sure to keep a distance from the tip of Ink's tail.

It wasn't long before Skytaker and Ermine came into view, Skytaker having been slowed down by dragging Ermine. Ermine glanced over at Inferno cautiously as he saw the two approach. "You can let me go," he grumbled to Skytaker, "I can walk."

Skytaker continued this for a moment, and suddenly dropped Ermine's tail, causing the IceWing to fall flat on the ground. He slowly got up and followed after Skytaker with a sigh.

"What's with you always sitting at the academy's entrance?" Skytaker interrogated Ermine, not bothering to turn their head to face the IceWing. "Were you waiting for the Jade Winglet to come back? Seems pretty boring."

Ermine kept his head low, and shrugged his wings. "Not much else to do here. And I like the mountains. They look a little bit like home."

Skytaker snorted indignantly. "'Not much else to do?' What do you mean? There's plenty to do. Why don't you hang out with your winglet or something? You're in Quartz with Newt, right?"

Ermine gave out a loud sigh. "No one there likes me."

Skytaker rolled their eyes. "Then maybe start being a little more friendly instead of moping around all day. You can chill with Silver if you want. Hehe, chill."

Ermine shook his head and grumbled. "I'm going back to the Ice Kingdom soon anyways, so it doesn't really matter."

Skytaker swished their tail back and forth. "Alright," they replied. "Suit yourself. But you're free to come over if you want to."

It wasn't long before the four reached the entrance of school. It was busier than Ink had ever seen it, with the platform filled with students of all ages as they greeted the returning Jade Winglet. Skytaker nudged Ink with a wing, and lifted up a claw. "That's Winter, Kinkajou, Mouse, Turtle, and Peril," they said, pointing to each of the dragons in succession. "Aww, I can't see Moon and Qibli. Maybe they're talking with Tsunami?"

Skytaker's guess was confirmed to be false as the booming voice of a dragon suddenly yelled from behind. "EVERYONE QUIET!" Tsunami ordered as she walked into the entrance cave. She barged into the crowd, clearing a path within students to the five dragons of the Jade Winglet. The SeaWing fumed as she glared up and down the five dragons. Turtle shyed back a little from his older sister. He didn't need mind-reading to know that she was already thinking of a suitable punishment.

"I see our most of our missing winglet has returned," Tsunami growled, glaring at Turtle. "Where are Moon and Qibli? If they're hurt—"

"You really don't need to worry about them, they're fine," Kinkajou suddenly spoke up. "They're in the Scorpion Den right now, not that the Scorpion Den isn't dangerous, but they'll be safe since Qibli knows his way around there. I know that since he led us around th—"

"You were all in the Scorpion Den?" Tsunami interrupted.

"Yeah but it's fine we're all fine," Kinkajou hurriedly continued. "There were like a few dragons who were glaring at us in not so nice ways and there were some mean comments but like there are seven of us so who's going to bother us? No one smarter than a camel. Which there were a lot of. But Moon got an urgent vision so we kind of ha—"

Tsunami made a loud coughing sound, and glared at Kinkajou. "I'm sorry, what did you say? Moon is learning long division? That's very good for her. You know what Kinkajou? It's a bit crowded here so how about you and I go back to the headmaster's cave and talk about this where it's more quiet. I'll get to the rest of you troublemakers later, so don't think you're not getting out of discipline. That goes for the rest of the winglets too, if you ever decide to fly off on a non-sanctioned field trip."

Kinkajou rolled her eyes. By now, Moon's powers were one of the worst-kept secrets in the school and the rainforest, and with more NightWings and NightWing-RainWing hybrids with powers coming on the way, there wasn't much point in hiding them much longer. The students were asked not to talk about them to dragons outside of Jade Mountain, since Queen Glory was trying to keep the NightWing powers a secret, especially with all the fiasco when everyone realized (incorrectly) that the NightWings didn't have powers. Still, rumors spread like a wildfire.

Kinkajou followed Tsunami as she walked back through the crowd, leaving the students to greet the remaining four dragons of the Jade Winglet. As Skytaker and Ermine walked into the crowd, Inferno stayed back with Ink. She ducked her head slightly as she carefully watched Peril, who was chatting with a few of the students. She seemed . . . normal. How could they all just talk casually to a dragon who'd brutally killed hundreds? Only Trustbreaker, Ash, and Goat had treated Inferno normally like that, and she wasn't even a mass murderer.

Suddenly, Peril turned her vivid blue eyes towards Inferno, causing Inferno to shudder. She'd been seen. Ink turned to her, feeling the air around him get warmer. "Don't worry," he calmed her as Peril started to walk through the quickly parting crowd towards Inferno, "it'll be alright."

Turtle trailed behind Peril as the excited fireborn walked up to Inferno and Ink. For a moment, Peril stood in silence, staring at Inferno, whose tail was defensively between her hindlegs. Ink suddenly felt the temperature around him get even warmer, and forced himself to avoid instinctively backing away.

"You have firescales," Peril said, her eyes wide open. "Like me."

Inferno opened her mouth, but she wasn't sure what to say. What could she say? Peril didn't give her the chance. A goofy grin suddenly washed over Peril, and the SkyWing rushed forward. Alarmed, Inferno covered herself with her wings, and put her foreclaws defensively in front of herself. Peril climbed into them, and wrapped her forearms and wings around Inferno in a hug.

Inferno shuddered as Peril embraced her, the SkyWing's scales rubbing against her own. She closed her eyes as her muscles tightened in fear. No one had ever hugged her before, and she'd tried very hard to forget the few times she'd ever touched another dragon.

Inferno slowly pushed Peril off of her, and took a step back. She glanced down to Peril's claws, as Peril took them off Inferno's body. They didn't appear to be bloodstained, although there was no telling how many dragons had died under them.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Peril shouted excitedly. "What's your name? Where did you come from?"

Inferno tried to stammer something up, but couldn't. Ink took her place. "She's Inferno, and I'm Ink. We're prospective students from the Talons of Peace. Sorry, she's a little bit tired," he commented to Peril. "She didn't get a lot of sleep last night."

Inferno silently thanked Ink. It was technically true — she hadn't gotten a lot of sleep last night. She wondered if Peril also had her deceased sibling in her head. This dragon didn't seem like the murderous killer everyone had told Inferno she was. Maybe her sibling had convinced her to do it somehow?

Ink noticed the SeaWing behind Peril staring curiously at him, as if there was something curious about the hybrid that he'd noticed. Ink gave Turtle a smile, trying to comfort him.

"Ooh, the Talons of Peace?" Peril asked. She touched Inferno's neck again, causing her to wince. It didn't hurt, but the feeling of another dragon touching her own scales was weird. Especially this dragon. She took a deep breath. Calm, kind, and careful.

"I know a few dragons from the Talons of Peace," Peril commented. "They're good dragons. I don't know if it's because the Talons raised them right, but you have to be a really great dragon if they raised you. I mean the Dragonets of Destiny, of course. You've met them, right? Have you met Clay? You weren't raised together, were you?" A dark thought seemed to quickly flash across Peril's expression, but she quickly hid it. "Of course not, the Dragonets were sort of raised alone, and didn't meet most of the other Talons. He told me this. I haven't seen him since we got back."

"Skytaker mentioned that Clay left right before we got here," Ink explained, trying to get Peril's attention off the shaking Inferno. "I think he went to the Sand Kingdom, after Sunny. Or Queen Sunny now."

Peril looked a little bit crestfallen, but her mood perked back up. "Oh, that's alright," she said, reassuring herself. She turned to Turtle, who was still inspecting Ink. "I guess we missed him, huh. Because we were also in the Sand Kingdom. Not where Clay is in the Sand Kingdom, because the Sand Kingdom is really large and we weren't near the palace, but missed as in we were in the same general region. Even though he's about the same distance from the Scorpion Den as the Scorpion Den is from Jade Mountain. So not really just missed him at all. Oops."

Turtle lowered his head down, trying to see under Ink's wings. Ink shuffled them, hiding the underside from the prying SeaWing's view. "Hey, um, Peril," Ink commented, trying to get the SkyWing's attention again, which was still focused on the other fireborn. "Sorry to interrupt the conversation, but Inferno really should go sleep now. Maybe we can continue this later."

Peril blinked. "Oh, alright. That's fine. I'm not at all disappointed in this." She turned to Turtle. "Really, I'm not."

Turtle shrugged his wings. "I didn't say anything otherwise."

"C'mon Inferno, let's go," Ink suggested. He held out his claws, but realizing how bad an idea that would be, carefully pulled them back. He glanced back at Peril. "Sorry, she's been using your room to sleep in while you were gone. Since you're back, I can fireproof the guest room. Maybe get a few rocks in there so that Inferno doesn't roll in her sleep." Polar wouldn't be happy to have a living fireplace in the room, but he'd just have to bear through it.

Inferno nodded, and gave out an exaggerated yawn. "Yeah, um, goodnight Peril. And, um—"

"Turtle," Turtle reminded her. "Don't worry. I'm used to it."

Inferno winced, and slowly shuffled away, Ink waving behind her at the two Jade Winglet dragons. As they left, Turtle glanced curiously at Peril. "Well, that was an interesting encounter."

Peril nodded. "She hates me, doesn't she? Ugh. You'd think that other fireborns wouldn't hate me, right? Nope. But that's alright. I'm used to dragons hating me on first sight. Just like you're used to dragons forgetting your name."

"It's less forget than not being able to distinguish me from my brothers," Turtle replied. "And I doubt she hates you. She's probably just shy."

Peril shook her head. "She was scared. I've seen enough dragons frightened of me to know."

Turtle wasn't quite sure what to say. The two stayed in silence for a moment. Turtle glanced around the room. Somewhere amidst the crowd of students, he noticed another SeaWing, carefully watching Inferno. An adult. Maybe a new teacher? he wondered. The SeaWing suddenly noticed Turtle's gaze, and ducked, slipping into the crowd. Turtle frowned. Strange. But it wasn't that unusual for a dragon to stare at Peril.

"Did you notice anything weird about Ink?" Turtle asked.

"Ink?" Peril considered. She hadn't really paid much attention to him. "I dunno. He didn't have gills, did he? That's sort of weird. He's a hybrid, right?"

Turtle nodded. "I'm pretty sure. But not that. He looked a bit like a few of my brothers. I guess you wouldn't have noticed that." He lifted a wing up, showing the starburst patterns beneath them. "Dragons in the royal family have these starburst patterns beneath our wings. I tried to check if he had them, but he moved his wings against his body so I couldn't see. It was a bit suspicious."

"You think he's part of the royal family? Even though he's a hybrid?" Inferno asked, surprised. She frowned. "You don't think Queen Coral did it with a NightWing, did she?"

Turtle snorted, and rolled his eyes. "No, of course not. But he could be like a second cousin first removed or something like that."

"Could be a nephew," Peril suggested, "you have so many brothers, maybe one of them did it with a NightWing."

Turtle winced. "Please don't say it like that. But maybe. A number of my older brothers have left the palace. I don't know, maybe it's just a weird coincidence."