Chapter 3:

The flight back to the Rainforest took several days, Moonlight and Tamarin Just flew silently most of the time. The Nightwing would sometimes gives the Rainwing a gentle touch on her wing to indicate a change of direction or when the wind fluctuated so that she didn't drift too much. Moonlight had offered Tamarin to rely on her vision to navigate. Her unique ability allowing her visualize the auras of all plants and animals, permitted for an easier trip as she had memorized the patterns on the way to the Seawing Palace.

The two dragons would stop here and there whenever they needed to take a break or to shelter from the inclement weather that would make the flight too difficult to continue. Although Moonlight could see the difference in auras between the day and the night, where the shifts in strength and activity between the nocturnal and diurnal plants and animals were most obvious, it didn't make much of a difference to her, as she wasn't really affected by the light from the sun and neither was Tamarin, or so she guessed.

Among the Nightwing tribe, some dragons had adapted back to their natural night life cycles, but a certain portion of them remained active, either because they were so used to it that they didn't feel the need to change or because they became accustomed to be with the Rainwings and thus didn't care changing either way.

They flew right under the clouds, where Moonlight could see the wildlife underneath. It looked like a flickering of white, and sometimes, color dots when flying over a forest or a land with an abundance of plants. The most intriguing for her was when she flew the first time over the sea, it was so flashy and bright, she thought the water was alive. And it had only been when the Seawings took the time to explain that the sea was inhabited by the plankton - an aggregation of thousands upon thousands of miniature sea creatures that would eventually grow and become either much larger sea creatures or serve as food for the other animals - that she understood her mistake.

She had had to learn how to shield her eyes from the sea when she was nearby as its life activities were too dazzling for her to stare at it for a long time. She had told Tamarin about it and the Rainwing took the opportunity to teach her how to write it down on a piece of scroll with her letter-presser, so that she could recount it to StarFlight when they get back.

"There is never a better time to learn!", Tamarin softly proclaimed.

"You sound like StarFlight.", had Moonlight retorted in a heartbeat.

The larger dragon turned her head towards her in what seemed to be a reaction of surprise. The dragonet blinked twice, was that a smile she noticed on the Rainwing? Surely her ability wasn't powerful enough to make out more than just the curves and outlines made by the auras... Of course, some were more defined than others: on those, she could almost see the fine lines of each bump and muscle while others were more crude and felt like rough sketches of a dragon's contours. The former tended to be from dragons who managed to control their feelings well and remain calm in most of the situations such as Tamarin, while the latter was more akin to dragons whose attitude were prone to sudden changes in emotions.

She wondered if she could eventually learn to improve on her vision and maybe try to see more of a dragon's details if she mastered her concentration further, and perhaps, one day discern the flashing Seawings' scales, that they kept mentioning to her, when they talked in aquatics.

"Moonlight?", a soft voice called next to her.

"Yes?", she turned her head to Tamarin.

"I think we're drifting East.", she stated calmly.

Moonlight fluttered. She had spent so much time daydreaming about the last few days in the Seawing kingdom, she didn't even notice the air currents pulling them away from the coast as they were now straight above the sea.

She immediately corrected herself and indicated to Tamarin with a gentle push on her wing.

"Hmm, sorry, I was... thinking.", she apologized.

"No need to apologize," Tamarin replied in her usual soft tone, "nonetheless, when you will be flying alone, you will have to be careful. Remember to stay focused, it's the only thing that let you see the world around you."

"I know..." She spat, "And yet, I can't get rid of the blinding sea, how ironic..."

"You're still young and we do not know the full extend of your power, maybe one day you will learn to control it..."

"And if I don't?", she turned her head to the Rainwing.

Tamarin remained silent for a moment. Her neck bent slightly as if she tried to look at her own wing.

"Then you will learn to live with it.", she said, raising her head as if she tried to look at the sun, her voice just slightly colder than usual and her aura a little bit dimmer.

Moonlight wondered what Tamarin didn't tell her, did she have any regrets? Anything that happened to her when she was her own age? She had wished for a brief moment that she could see her the way other dragons did and maybe learn her secrets.

She dipped one of her wings and instinctively the other pushed against Tamarin's.

"I think we should land for now", she offered.

"Alright, let's rest.", Tamarin agreed.

She slowly spiraled down with the larger Rainwing alongside her until they reached a few meters above the ground and flapped steadily to gracefully touchdown.

She proceeded to describe what the place was like where they landed. From the boulders that would make nice seats to the flat pieces of stones covered in moss, she had learned what wood, sand or stone appeared like from the way the plants' auras behaved on each of them shortly after she was born.

The little Nightwing looked around and found a couple rabbits she hunted before coming back to Tamarin who had laid down against one of the boulder. Their backpack was stretched out on the grass and she had taken out a few dried fruits. She didn't need much to sustain herself although the trip had been longer than what she usually traveled, so from time to time she had asked Moonlight to help her pick up fresh fruits from where they stopped. She has such an incredible sense of smell, Moonlight thought, she can differentiate edible fruits from dangerous ones, and also how ripe they are, all that without even touching them.

Moonlight had always been fascinated by what the Rainwing could do and it reassured her when she had doubts about being a blind dragonet and how she could be of any use to her tribe.

Sure, StarFlight was blind too but it was not the same thing, he used to have vision and knew what things looked like even if he couldn't see anymore. As for Tamarin, she was like her, born blind.

In the Rainforest though, there was a constant buzz of life around her and it hardly felt like she was blind at all, she could see all the dragons and animals, flying, crawling or hiding, no matter how well.

Tamarin could often point at a sound or a vibration and tell her what made it, rarely being wrong, whether it was a rabbit or a sloth. She pretty much could name any animal from their sound. If she hadn't been a vegetarian dragon, she would have been a very skilled hunter.

Tamarin wrinkled her nose when Moonlight mentioned that to her, and they burst out laughing before eventually falling asleep, under the strong rays of midday sunlight.

They woke up at dusk, stretched longly and ate the remains of their food before taking off to the skies again.

Tamarin would often use the long stretches of the voyage to teach Moonlight some tricks about the air currents and how to ride them while also saving her energy.

Of course, gliding with large wings was easy when you were a Skywing but not so much when you are a Rainwing or a Nightwing, then you would have to beat them more often, and still travel slower.

In order to avoid flying across the sea without resting, Tamarin and Moonlight had agreed to follow the coast and pass over Safe Harbor, then up and around between the Rainforest and the Mud kingdom to arrive directly facing the Nightwing village instead of traversing the forest. While this path had increased the length of their journey by a few days, they had Queen Glory's permission to stroll around.

"Take your time and make sure to enjoy yourselves!", she had insisted before their departure.

The little Nightwing had been somewhat reluctant to leave her parents, she had never really gone away from them before, probably just for a day or two to go learn with either Tamarin or StarFlight. The Jade Mountain Academy was not very far away from the Rainforest.

And while she had been too young to attend the Academy, they both agreed to teach her how to read so that she would stop constantly pestering them about it. Either Tamarin almost every day she would meet her in the Rainforest, or StarFlight whenever he'd travel here, or when Moonlight visited Jade Mountain. Which was way too often, according to Tsunami. Her mother would often have to fly there for her business researches and the library offered a calm environment to work. She brought Moonlight with her whenever Wanderer, her father, was at work. Too dangerous for her, they kept repeating, so she had been immersed in literature very early on.

StarFlight was certainly delighted to read her history scrolls from all the tribes.

Most of the time, she'd fall asleep right after he finished reading a scroll but she always managed to remember every single word of it and was able to recite them without mistake.

And then when she started asking to be taught how to read, StarFlight became worried and began looking for scrolls about teaching to young dragonets. He was quite concerned that it might hurt her mental development.

Nonetheless and despite his thorough digging, he couldn't find any study about it and had to cave in to her demand. Moonlight would then be the youngest and second blind dragonet to learn at the Academy.

Of course, she hadn't been introduced to a winglet, she would learn from within the Rainforest with Tamarin and then have follow-up in-depth lessons with StarFlight, or sometimes Fatespeaker, whenever she was at the library.

The librarian also promised Starchaser that he would use the time to study Moonlight's powers. He even took the opportunity, one day, that Mayfly visited the Academy to have her examine the little Nightwing.

The Mudwing had been as thorough as can be. A bit too thorough if you asked Moonlight. The thick talons of the large dragons pulling on every single one of her scales as if she tried to reach under them, the cold instruments poking and pressing over her tongue, under her wing and between her talons.

"Well, as far as I can tell, she is no different than any other Nightwing, despite her blindness, that is. I must say there is so much about the Nightwings that we lost over the centuries because of that blasted...", she caught herself and sighed then turned from StarFlight to Moonlight and pat her head gently.

"Sorry kiddo, I wish I could have been of a better help to you."

She hadn't really understood what the doctor meant at that time though. Yet, she knew she was different, or at least, that's what she kept hearing anyway.

StarFlight even went as far as to ask his own sister, Fierceteeth, if she could have a look for scrolls that may still remain in the Lost City of Night's library, but either she was reluctant to help him or she had no idea what to look for, she hadn't been able to find anything of use.

When she reached two years of age, Moonlight had felt like she probably met all of Pyrrhia and more. She became sick of having dragons visit to examine her and leaving without making any progress.

Eventually, the flow of strangers dried down and now when she'd visit the library, it was only StarFlight, Fatespeaker, her mother and herself. So, she picked on reading as fast as they could print the scrolls and books, a courtesy of the Patalan dragons.

StarFlight had offered her her own letter-presser for her hatching day so she could start learning how to write scrolls and correspondences. She hadn't had much use for it yet as she was still trying to figure out how to use it, here the patterns for each letter and there the grammar and punctuation. Some were a bit tricky to her as they felt very much alike under her talons.

Of course, she had been very eager to use it but StarFlight remained hesitant to teach her too much, so she would just play with it, trying to invent her own stories whenever she had the opportunity.

A few times, Fatespeaker had stopped her seconds before she'd imprint a rare scroll and swapped it with a blank one that she could fill up at will.

She had been so proud the day she received it, she flew directly from the Jade Mountain Academy to the Rainforest to show her parents and then had to apologize to both them and Clay for leaving the school without telling anyone.

It was one of those times where StarFlight and Fatespeaker had offered to travel with her from the village to the Academy as Starchaser was too busy to accompany her.

"If I know my history about the Academy, it's a tradition for dragons with big destinies to leave it suddenly", Clay had tried to jokingly reassure Starchaser and Wanderer giving her a knowing wink.

Her mother didn't feel less worried though, she'd noticed that her aura had faded slightly, something Moonlight would eventually understand meant worry or reluctance.

She'd wondered if she was afraid for her daughter to have mighty and dangerous adventures like Moon, the Nightwing seer, did, or if it was just a normal reaction.

Well, if Moon could have done it while she was a dragonet, why not me too? Of course, she had friends with her... and she wasn't blind. But for sure, it wouldn't stop her from trying. She imagined herself coming back triumphantly after defeating some sort of enemy to the kingdom, and all that on her own. It would surely impress many other dragons if she had such a destiny, wouldn't it?

Is Mother scared that her daughter can have a big destiny or does the fact that I am blind has anything to do with it?

She remembered the day she hatched, how overjoyed her mother was.

"Look, her egg is silver!", she said softly to Wanderer.

Moonlight first sight was her mother's aura, brighter than anything else, it felt protective and warm, in that dazzling sea of wavy clouds that danced all around her.

Was the world just dark with blurry shapes?

It was Wanderer who first noticed how peculiar her eyes looked, as if there was a membrane covering them.

Starchaser dismissed his concern. For her, Moonlight appeared to react like any hatchling would.

"She has the silver teardrops too!", she exclaimed.

Her mother gently picked her up from the ground, was it how it felt to fly?, and gently held her against her chest. Wanderer had then wrapped his wing over Starchaser and the baby as they walked back to the village.

"Pree!", Moonlight cawed.

"Preeee!", she stared at a tree while her talons made a grabbing gesture at something there.

Her mother tried to followed her gaze but stayed perplexed when she couldn't see anything.

"You are a bit too young to climb a tree, aren't you Moonlight?", She was holding the hatchling in both her front talons and looked directly at the dragonet.

"I guess she is going to love trees", Wanderer shrugged.

"I'm not sure", replied Starchaser. Her eyes scrutinizing the tree.

From her souvenirs, Moonlight vaguely remembered seeing something in that very tree.

The dragons landed right at the entrance to the Nightwing village. It was already the middle of the day and the sun was high and hitting hard on their scales.

A pungent and acrid smell welcomed them as soon as they stepped into the forest. Moonlight turned her head to Tamarin, hoping the Rainwing could help her figure out what the scent was but she seemed to have taken an unusually worried attitude as she started to walk cautiously into the village.

She couldn't remember the last time the Rainforest had been that quiet, there would always be the sounds of dragons at work or flying around, birds chirping and sloths... slothering.

"Where are they all? Why no one has come to greet us?" She pondered.

"Stay alert, Moonlight, this is not normal.", Tamarin had stated as if to answer her question.

They walked further down the village, their ears trying to catch any suspicious noise. As they approached her cave, Moonlight started hearing murmurs and noticed a group of very dim auras.

If it wasn't for their faintness, she would have guessed that almost all the village had been assembled on a spot in front of her cave. She could make up both Rainwings and Nightwings auras and she even noticed Queen Glory among them.

The group turned as to greet them but remained silent when they approached then slowly split apart in two halves forming a neat alleyway of dim light that lead to the entrance of her home.

Moonlight looked left and right at the dragons, who stood there like a line formation, and they all appeared to stare at her... gravely? She didn't understand what was going on and couldn't figure out why they were standing here of all places.

"What is happening?", she asked herself.

She took a step forward and walked through the door. The stench was hardly bearable now. She wasn't as good as Tamarin yet to work out what it came from and this was something she never smelled before but it didn't feel like it was something that she should be breathing here.

"Did someone burned something here?", She took another step.

Splich, sploch.

Moonlight had just stepped into what felt like some kind of sticky liquid. It was cold, slimy and certainly liked to stick to her talon.

There was a soft gasp outside and she turned around.

"What?" she asked them impatiently, she couldn't keep up with the silence anymore, why would anyone not say anything?

The crowd's auras varied in intensity, some were almost indistinguishable while others were very bright. She could notice fear and reluctance to say something in most of them but in others it felt like anger... and it was very strong.

The first dragon to talk after what seemed like an eternity was Queen Glory.

"Moonlight...", why does it feel like she has a hard time speaking? "We don't... We don't know what happened."

The dragonet cocked her head.

"What do you mean?" She turned her head around, she couldn't find anything special or at all in the room, just a faint light on the table away from her, all she felt was the disgusting sensation of whatever it was that remained stuck under her talons.

"Ugh, what's this?", she asked raising her front leg. All the dragons seemed to crawl back into a smaller shape, their auras fading even more.

She searched for familiar shapes like Glory or Tamarin. But when she finally located her, she understood from the way her aura changed that the blind Rainwing had figured out something she hadn't yet.

She exhaled and focused on her concentration, maybe she had missed something. She tried looking for her parents both among the crowd and in the house. But their auras were nowhere to be seen. She knew what they looked like, they were unmistakable to her and yet they felt cruelly absent from here.

If something had happened here, why weren't they already here, trying to clean the mess or shoo the crowd away?

She turned once again to Queen Glory.

"Where are my parents, Your Majesty?", she inquired, "and why are all those dragons here?"

"Yo... your parents...", the Queen's voice trailed off, as if she wouldn't say more... or couldn't?

"What about them? They aren't here... where are they?", her voice became more irritated.

The crowd fell silent again and for a heartbeat, all auras seemed to vanish into darkness.

Startled, Moonlight took a step back and bumped into something behind her, in the middle of the room.

She turned around slowly and instinctively reached out with her talon. The cold and soft surface flexed as she pressed her claw. Inquisitively, she trailed along the delicate and spongy membrane. She traced ridges that felt like scales. The further she brushed, the clearer it appeared the shape formed a leg.

There was no mistake about it.

She continued until she reached a part where it grew into a much larger surface, some angles felt very hard as if the spongy matter under the skin had given way to very hard and sharp object. She paused where she thought she touched... a chest? It was undeniably dragon scales under her talon and she surprised herself hoping to feel a heartbeat.

But it was cold and hard and without a beat, and it didn't have an aura.

So it can't be a dragon, all dragons have an aura...

Then what was it she had touched?

Her breathing was shallow, all sounds from the outside became like buzzes that she couldn't understand, her brain felt as if it was spinning inside her head.

Her talon resumed its journey over the surface and then bumped into a firm object that chimed slightly when her claw hit it. She brushed over it slowly and immediately recognized the shape.

It was a necklace.

But not just a necklace.

It was her mother's necklace.