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The trip home had been much slower than the trip there. Fallon and Keira often stopped for a quick break mostly to drink some water, but he wanted to check on her wounds to make sure they wouldn't grow into anything worse. The makeshift bandage he made out of leaves wasn't the best thing for her, but it at least covered her cuts. The last he checked on them, the bleeding had stopped completely and it looked like they were healing already. That calmed his senses a little, but she looked so tired and exhausted that he worried that she wouldn't make it home tonight.

But Keira pressed on headstrong; Fallon didn't hear a single complaint from her the entire trip back. When they finally reached Mongrove again, the moon was full in the sky, providing plenty of light for them to see. He led Keira to the infirmary and quietly tapped his talons on the door. A healer came moments later and let them inside.

"Apologies for the late intrusion," Fallon said. "Keira has two deep cuts that need tended to." Fallon recognized the healer as the same dragoness that had taken care of Keira before. He felt relieved, knowing that she would take good care of the white dragonet.

The green dragoness nodded and took them into another room. "It's perfectly alright, sir." She opened a cupboard and withdrew some bandages. "It wouldn't be the first time," she said with a grin.

Fallon rumbled in amusement. It was the second time now that he brought Keira here after night had fallen. He hoped this would be the last, but at least this time she was in relatively good condition.

Keira sat quiet and still with her tail curled around her talons. She looked up at Fallon with a soft smile, and he returned it with a gentle nuzzle.

"You know what she said isn't true, right?" he asked her, looking into her deep, crimson eyes. He hadn't had much time to talk with her yet and ask her about what she saw, but with the tiring condition they were both in he figured that would have to wait.

Keira nodded and shifted on her paws. "Even if it was true, I'd still rather be here with you than with her." A big grin curled her lips as she lightly laughed.

Fallon chuckled and hugged her with a wing. "I'm glad you're alright."

The healer stepped over and gingerly removed the blood-soaked leaves around Keira's muzzle. She wiped away the blood staining her white snout with a wet cloth, but to Fallon's surprise there were no cuts there. The two gouges that split apart her scales were completely gone.

Keira looked cross-eyed at her nose and scrunched her brow before touching it.

"Where are the cuts?" the healer asked, just as confused as they were.

"They were right here," Keira said and rubbed her smooth, healed scales around her snout. There wasn't a single scar across her seamless scales. "I was wondering why it didn't hurt anymore..."

The healer looked up at Fallon to confirm it and he nodded. "I had tied the leaves around two deep cuts."

Where could they have gone? How could they have healed so fast? Were there any cuts to begin with? Fallon pondered, trying to think of any possible way they could have healed. He never heard of any type of magic that could heal so quickly. The leaves he used weren't extraordinary in any way either; he took them from a regular bush.

"That is very odd," she said, "but I guess my work here is done." She packed up the bandages and put them back in the cupboard.

Fallon dipped his head and took Keira with him out of the building. "Sorry to disturb you. Rest well."

"You do the same," she said and shut the door behind them.

"Did I use magic?" Keira asked hopefully.

Fallon shrugged his wings. "I don't think so... Even with a Water-dragon's healing capabilities, there usually remains a mark or a scar. I'm... not quite sure what that was." He looked up at the starry night sky and took in a deep breath of the cool air. He felt exhausted.

"Let's go home and rest."

* * *

School was going increasingly well for Ruari. The next few weeks seemed to pass faster than he could keep up with, and the season had changed before he knew it. Winter had finally come. Snow covered the ground as far as the eye could see, and the temperatures rarely rose above freezing. It seemed to get colder each day, so he and his friends would spend more time inside the school.

The classrooms were kept warm by individual furnaces. In the back of each classroom was a large, rotating crystal; when heat was applied to it by a Fire-dragon, it would radiate the warmth evenly throughout the class as it traveled up several magic-infused chords that stretched across the ceiling. Ruari learned that most buildings nowadays had stone walls that were enchanted with magic to completely insulate and seal rooms together, so it was very easy to keep a stable temperature.

About every two hours or so, Ciara would be the one to heat up the crystal for the class, despite her groans of disapproval. Surprisingly, she was the only fire-dragon in the classroom; the other classrooms usually had a few, as it was a common element among dragons. After she finished, she would flop down back in her seat as if she was exhausted and lie down on her belly.

Ruari brought Aidan back to attention with the nudge of his tail while Master Ardan spoke about today's history lesson. They both sat in the left side of the class, next to another. In front of Ruari was a copper-scaled student--he couldn't remember his name--and behind him was Ash, a gray-scaled dragoness. He spoke to her briefly before and learned that they were distantly related. Des seemed to taking a liking to her the first time they had met, and Aidan seemed to like her too, but his attention was always focused on Ciara.

Master Ardan continued, "So, in order to protect the land, over one-thousand Earth-dragons gathered at the eastern edge of the continent. In less than a few days, they managed to move the earth and form a giant wall all along the eastern coast, hence the title, 'Earthmover'. The wall shielded the land from being consumed by the tsunami. To this date, it has been the only time in history where North and South worked together; and to this date, the wall is still standing."

Then a loud gong sounded and rang through the building, echoing off the stone walls. "Well, students, that is all the time we have for today. After winter break, we'll begin discussing advanced, mathematical equations!"

The class groaned.

Master Ardan chuckled and waved with his wing as the classroom dispersed and shuffled out. "Have a wonderful break!"

Aidan bumped into Ruari's side as they stepped out into the cold, a big grin spreading his lips. "So, what are you going to do for winter break?"

Ruari sank his talons into the cold snow and smiled. "I don't know... Read and study like I always do, I guess." They walked out into the large courtyard as snow fell gently from the sky in large, fluffy flakes.

"BORRRING!" Aidan chimed. "Let's go on an adventure! We've got a few weeks to look forward to, so why not have all the fun we possibly can?"

Ruari grinned and thought about the adventures he and Raegan used to go on. Only a couple of them had been truly adventurous, but the rest were just as fun! Most of them had been exploring their neighborhood, as Ruari wasn't very comfortable with straying too far from home.

It was mostly his sister that taught him how to fly while their father was away from home and their mother was busy guarding the city. Almost as soon as he was able, Raegan took him across the city. He remembered how scared he had been when he lost sight of her and wandered around a street, crying and whimpering... But she comforted him afterward and made everything all better!

I miss her... he thought with a brief feeling of glumness.

"I-I don't know... We wouldn't go too far, right?" Ruari asked while he pawed at the snow. He saw Desmond's purple scales hopping over their direction as he frolicked through the massive snow drifts in the courtyard. Huh, I usually never see him coming.

"Well, it's not much of an adventure if you don't explore a little!" Aidan said and nudged Ruari's shoulder with a wing. "Besides, you'll have me as your guide! I'm going to be an official explorer someday!"

He rolled his eyes. "What could possibly go wrong?"

"Nothing!" Aidan guaranteed with his biggest, most reassuring grin he could muster.

Ruari giggled and shook his head incredulously. "Shall we go get Des?" Ruari looked at where he last saw the violet dragonet out in the open courtyard, but he had completely disappeared.

"Sure! I bet he's still in class where it's warm and cozy," Aidan snickered. "He used to live a lot farther south before coming here, so I bet he's shivering right now!"

"But he was just right th--"

"I love the snow!" Des exclaimed right behind them, rolling around on his back in the snow.

Ruari jumped and spun around, startled. "H-how did you..."

"Oh, there you are!" Aidan said, unfazed. "Want to go on an adventure with us?"

Des wiggled around and nodded. "That sounds fun! But I can't today... I'm supposed to help my dad clear off the snow from our house. You get so much of it here!"

Aidan nodded his head and flung some snow at him. "We get quite a few winter storms every year. It's been pretty mild so far!"

Des yelped as he was struck in the face with a flurry of snow. He promptly kicked some snow back at Aidan in retaliation, which then quickly escalated into a play-fight. Ruari shielded himself with his wings from all of the snow being flung around and backed away as they started wrestling. He glanced around, hoping there wasn't anyone watching them, but he saw many pairs of eyes looking over their way. Students were still filing out of their classrooms, chatting about the winter break and their plans until two wrestling dragonets caught their attention.

He shrunk back and watched them roll around in the snow, growling and playfully trying to assert dominance over another. Teeth were bared and claws harmlessly scraped across scales.

And it wasn't long before there were other dragonets wrestling around in the snow too. Everyone always had energy at the end of the school day--and the beginning of winter break was no exception--so it wasn't a very rare occurrence, but usually Ruari was as far away from the action as he could get!

Ruari wasn't surprised when Des tired out first; he was a bit smaller than Aidan, but the spry, red dragonet had more energy than Ruari could imagine. It seemed endless!

The two of them were both panting hard with Aidan sitting on top of Des, grinning horn to horn. "Gotcha!"

Des wriggled beneath him and sighed. "Get off me, you fat lard!" His tail lashed back and forth.

"What are you going to do to make me?" Aidan teased, looking down at the struggling, purple dragonet.

"Stop being such a bully," a soft, female voice said from behind them. Ruari turned and saw Ciara as she flicked her white, gold-laced scarf over her neck and peered at them with annoyed eyes. "It's immature."

Aidan immediately went wide-eyed like a hatchling being scolded and hopped off of Desmond. He smiled and did a curt, little bow with his head, touching his right paw to his left shoulder as he did so. "At once, your majesty. Apologies for my behavior; it won't happen again."

Ciara scoffed and snorted. "I am not your queen! Stop calling me 'your majesty'!"

He nodded and said, "Of course, milady!" Ruari thought it was obvious that Ciara didn't want to be treated as nobly as she acted, so he wondered why she always seemed to appear so 'high and mighty' at school. And he also wondered why Aidan teased her like that if he liked her. None of it made sense to him!

"Honestly, I don't understand you!" Ciara huffed and adjusted her scarf another time before storming away. Did she like or not like Aidan?

Aidan watched her go with a longing look in his eyes. Des stood up and brushed the snow off of his purple scales and shook his blue hind paws clean, giving a shiver after he finished. "It does get pretty cold," he said and pulled his wings against him.

"Do you think she'd go on an adventure with us?" Aidan asked wishfully.

Ruari sighed and rubbed his temple. "Why do you like her so much?!"

Des grinned and bumped into Aidan's side. "It wouldn't hurt to ask! I've been talking to Ash a lot after school; we could ask her too! It turns out she's my neighbor."

"Is there something I just don't get?" Ruari asked desperately.

They both looked back at him and then at each other. They each shrugged their wings and giggled. "You'll understand when you're older!" Aidan said.

Ruari sighed and slashed at the snow. Even his friends had to be two and three years older than him!

"So, will tomorrow work for our adventure?" Aidan asked. "I guess it'll be the three of us this time and maybe Ash, if she wants to go."

Ruari and Des nodded. "Where will we go?" Des asked. "We've gone everywhere around the city together before school started."

Aidan nodded and pondered. "Hmm... Let's go to Vance!"

Ruari meeped and shook his head. "That's too far!" Vance was a small, lakeside city about a few hours south. It really wasn't very far, but Ruari had only visited another city one time before in his life, under the safety of his parent's wings.

Aidan booped the black dragonet's nose. "Oh come on, it's not that far! It's supposed to be an adventure, remember!"

Ruari wiggled uncertainly and sighed. "Okay... fine. But I'll have to make sure my parents are okay with it first." He secretly almost hoped that they would say no to save him the anxiety, but he did want to play with his friends.

"Then it's settled!" Aidan cheered. "Where do you live, Ruari? Des and I will come get you."

"The fourth house from the west on the north side of Whiteclaw street," he answered, pointing to an imaginary map in his head.

Their eyes went wide. "Oh, fancy! I didn't know you were rich!" Aidan said. "It's no wonder you're so smart. I bet you had a private teacher!"

Ruari's face flushed as he shook his head. "Uhm... n-no, I mostly taught myself everything. And we're not that rich..."

"Only the richest families in the clan live in that area," Aidan said. "You might as well be Frostfire's son! You do have black scales and all. Not many dragons around here do."

Ruari shifted on his paws and bared a big, embarrassed grin. He had never told his friends much about his family, not even the big detail that he happened to be the clan leader's son. "I uhm..."

Aidan's mouth dropped. "You are his son!" he claimed. Des seemed surprised too, but hadn't lived here long enough to be _that_surprised. "You have the scales, the horns, and everything! I can't believe I didn't notice before..."

Ruari nodded and molded some snow in his paws, squeezing it tightly. "B-but that doesn't change anything, right?" he asked worriedly, looking up at his friends. A pair of golden eyes and a pair of crimson eyes stared widely at him back.

Ruari had always been worried about not fitting in. Being the youngest and one of the smartest in his class, he already had a hard enough time being different from everyone. He didn't want to make things worse by also being known as the clan leader's son, so he kept quiet about it, trying to be like everyone else. Most of the older dragons and teachers recognized him anyway, but it wasn't quite common knowledge, thankfully.

"Well, uhm..." Aidan fumbled for words--the first time since Ruari had met him.

"Of course not!" Des said and stepped by Ruari's side to give him a firm nuzzle. "I think Aidan's just worried because of all the mean things he's done to you!"

"I haven't done any mean things!" Aidan retorted and hugged around Ruari with his wings.

Ruari squeaked and tried to wriggle free. "H-hey!"

"But your dad won't hate me, right?" he quickly added. "If I tease you a little..."

Ruari shook his head and managed to free himself. "No! Why would he?"

"No reason!" Aidan said with a giggle as he pulled away from Ruari. "Just have to make sure I don't get exiled or something. Guess I can't pick on you as much anymore."

"You can! Errrm... I mean, you won't get in trouble for it... I just don't want anything to change between us," Ruari said sheepishly.

"Good 'cause they won't!" Aidan started to trot away. "I'll see you two tomorrow, then!"

Ruari and Des waved goodbye and watched the red dragonet take off into the sky.

"My dad said that Frostfire was a great leader. It's why we moved here," Des said kindly. "We weren't happy where we were living, but life is a lot better here. We have a lot more freedom to choose what we want to do, and there's a school here where I can study. We didn't have one of those: not many cities do."

Ruari smiled and nodded. He knew that their city, Mongrove, was a good place to live. There were plenty of jobs and plenty of diversity too with all the different clans being allied with them. "Thanks, Desmond."

He smiled and dipped his head respectfully. "I suppose I better get going too! See you tomorrow!"

He waved to the purple dragonet too as he left, leaving Ruari to himself. He looked around and saw that most of the students had left, though there were a few groups straggling around, chatting. He sighed and joined the many colorful specks in the sky, turning and tilting his wings until he angled towards his home.

* * *