THREE YEARS LATER

Peaceflyt was the type of dragon who always wanted to fit in, but never could. First of all, he was a tribrid. RainWing, SeaWing, and NightWing. I mean, hybrids were more common now than twenty years ago, but they were still a sight to see. Second of all, he had a weird name spelling. Well, maybe it wasn’t weird, it was just different. He did think ‘Peaceflyt’ was cooler than ‘Peaceflight’, anyway.

Third, he was a mind-reader. Mind-readers are also slightly more common now than twenty years ago, since the NightWings moved into the Rainforest and could now have eggs in the light of the moons, but there were still only a few of them. And finally, he was an ANIMUS. A.k.a. one of the most powerful powers anyone could have. He’d only used his powers a few times for small enchantments, but he still sometimes wished all that power could be in someone else’s talons.

Those were some of the things he was thinking about while he was out picking berries for his family.

A sudden voice yelled through the trees, startling him out of his thoughts and making him drop a few blueberries. “PEACEFLYT! It’s time to go to the family reunion!”

“Oh, crap,” Peaceflyt muttered. “Do I have to?”

“Peaceflyt!” Floral yelled again. “You have to come!”

“Fine,” he grumbled. Peaceflyt had had some bad luck with family reunions, given the last time he went to one some dragon almost attacked him.

‘I have to go to another family reunion,’ Peaceflyt thought sullenly. ‘I mean, you probably already knew that, though.’

He knew Peak was flying just above the rainforest, close enough to hear his thoughts. She couldn't go inside the forest, because she had firescales. I mean, I guess she could, because she could control them, but if she got too angry? There would be a forest fire. 

Peaceflyt glanced out of the out of the forest, where he could see a streak of dark red through the trees. He waved a quick talon goodbye, and headed toward the center of the Rain Kingdom.

He heard a voice as he approached. “Finally! I've been waiting for, like, an hour.” Oh. It's Autumn, he thought. He sometimes wondered why his sister had been named Autumn. She wasn’t LeafWing, and she also hadn’t inherited any of her mother’s RainWing traits.

“Autumn,” Seawatcher replied. “It's only been ten minutes.” Peaceflyt stifled a laugh.

“Whatever.”

“Hey, Autumn,” Peaceflyt said as he approached her. “Are you gonna spend your time there with Lilac?”

“I don’t really know,” she replied. “I actually don't really want to go, but mom says I either have to go or spend the whole day working for Deathbringer.”

“Oh. Okay. Also, there’s this one NightWing who’s black and red and very violent and angry, so avoid her,” warned Peaceflyt.

“Well, I can be violent,” Autumn said, looking him in the eye. “Maybe we can be friends or someth-”

“NO, no, no, no, I mean like she won’t hesitate to kill stuff.”

“Ohh.” Autumn looked slightly worried now, and Peaceflyt knew he probably shouldn’t go much further into details.

He got interrupted by Peak's thoughts in the distance. ‘Do I need to melt off Deneb’s stuck-up face yet? Joking- unless I actually need to. Oh, and does your family know that you're an animus yet?’

‘I thought I told you about that! But maybe I didn't,’ Peaceflyt responded. ‘Only my parents do. I think. I'm not sure Autumn does.

He looked over, and Autumn was staring at him. “What were you doing? Staring into space?”

“Yyyyeah,” he said.

‘Okay. I’m going to try to avoid her, obviously. Although I’m hoping she won’t remember me. I mean it has been three years.’

“Peaceflyt!” Autumn was shaking him. “Mom and Dad are already a quarter mile ahead of us! Stop doing whatever you're doing and hurry up!” She launched herself into the air and flew through the trees.

“Okay, coming.” Peaceflyt joined her and they flew toward the edge of the forest.

‘Are you gonna be coming with us?’ Peaceflyt mentally asked Peak.

‘I’m flying above you. Look up,’ She thought.

 He looked up and saw the bright shadow above him. ‘Okay, question answered.’

‘I told you I was flying above you squirrel brain,’ she thought at the exact same time. ‘Oh, also, don't forget to tell Deneb that I'm above her if she threatens you.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘I will.’ He looked up at the red and purple shape of Peak in the sky above him and let his wings catch the breeze, carrying him toward the plain by the mountains.

. . .

About ten minutes later, Peaceflyt guessed, they arrived. He hovered in midair for a moment, checking to see where Deneb was, if she was here. ‘There.’ He thought. ‘That’s Deneb. The red and black NightWing in the corner.’ The look on Deneb’s face was hard to decipher, but it looked like she was making a mental list of who to murder first.

Please don't look at me… Peaceflyt thought worriedly to himself as he landed, edging toward Deathmaster and avoiding Deneb’s eye. He changed his scales to black to look more like he actually would fit in. 

Still, Deneb must’ve seen his scales change or something, because she swung her head over to him. OH NO, Peaceflyt’s mind immediately thought.

Don’t freak out. I’m here, Peak reminded him, making sure to hover out of Deneb’s sight.

“Well. Look at you,” Deneb said, walking slowly toward Peaceflyt. “A very weird looking dragon. What tribe are you from, anyway?”

“Um…” Peaceflyt started, but didn’t finish. He could hear from Deneb’s mind that she was just trying to distract him. Deneb looked seemingly angrier, given that her distraction problem did not work.

Her brow was furrowed and her claws looked ready for attack. “Where’s a friend to protect you now?” Deneb asked, grinning wickedly.

“A-a fri-” Peaceflyt stuttered, then stopped himself, then scolded himself mentally. He cleared his throat, but couldn’t stop his voice from shaking. “Oh, a friend? I have a friend, all right. In fact, look above you, and you’ll see her.”

Deneb started approaching more slowly and glanced upwards. His friend is probably another crazy dragon like him. (Peaceflyt felt like he had been punched in the gut at these words, as he tried so hard to fit in.) They’ll probably not be able to stop me, anyways.

“Oh. Just another SkyWing,” Deneb observed. “I can take a SkyWing in battle. I’ve taken dozens of SkyWings. And your friend will be next.”

‘Is she blind? I’m glowing. Last time I checked, most SkyWings don’t glow.’ Peak thought.

‘I don’t know. She probably just thinks of you as just another dragon she’s going to kill,’ Peaceflyt thought, then added, “She’s not a normal SkyWing, though. She has firescales.”

Deneb’s eyes widened for a split second, and she retreated backwards. Peaceflyt had never seen Deneb retreat from attacking someone before, much less look afraid.

Peak dove toward the ground where Deneb was standing. Peaceflyt honestly kind of liked Deneb looking scared of his friend.

“You weren’t perchance going to attack your own cousin, Deneb, were you?” Peak asked with fake ignorance. Peaceflyt could see she was straining to keep her scales at a mere SandWing level of warmth.

‘She killed her sister!’ Peaceflyt exploded suddenly in Peak’s mind. ‘A cousin would mean much less than a sibling. Probably.’ He stopped, and then quietly mumbled, ‘Well, if anyone means anything to Deneb.’

“Wait,” Peak said, just loud enough for Floral to hear her. Peaceflyt could feel the anger coming up inside her.

‘You never told me that Deneb killed apparently DOZENS of dragons!’ Peak thought, outraged. ‘AND she killed one of her sisters! As a dragon with a dead sister, I call dibs on killing her.’ Peak was trying to remain calm, but Peaceflyt could feel the burning fiery rage in her thoughts, and if he looked up, it looked as Peak was like a miniature sun in front of him. 

She took one sharp breath, and she suddenly calmed down. She reached into thin air and her enchanted fireproof cloak suddenly appeared in her talons. Peak put it on. Deneb was still in an attack pose but speechless. ‘No,’ Peaceflyt heard Deneb think. ‘Is she an animus?’

‘Peak,’ Peaceflyt thought. ‘How did you calm down so fast? That doesn’t seem like… you.’

‘Years of self-control,’ replied Peak, with a chokehold on her emotions.

In the few seconds where Peaceflyt and Peak were exchanging their thoughts, Deneb saw her chance to attack. She lunged upward at Peak, talons outstretched. Peak, who had either heard Deneb’s mind or just had really fast reflexes, shoved Deneb away without getting scratched, but her talons were slightly heated with annoyance. She cooled her scales down as fast as she could to avoid setting Deneb on fire, and Deneb barely got burnt. Peaceflyt leaped away from Deneb, who was falling toward the ground.

SMACK! Deneb’s head hit the ground really hard, and her whole body came tumbling down afterwards. Peak was only about fifteen feet in the air, but Deneb’s impact on the ground sounded like she had fallen off a cliff.

“You blatant fool.” Peak said, disappointed in Deneb’s idiocy. She walked over to Peaceflyt, now cooled down.

‘She must have the literal brain of a squirrel to think it was a good idea to attack a  firescales.’ Peak added with her thoughts.

‘She probably does have the brains of a squirrel. Maybe like a squirrel that was enchanted to kill everyone,’ Peaceflyt thought, half joking, then looked over to his left. ‘DENEB’ was the first thing he thought of when he saw the NightWing approaching. But this one didn't have dark red underscales. This NightWing only had light gray underscales. 

Phew. Peaceflyt breathed a sigh of relief. It's not Deneb.

“Hello,” Milkyway said, looking at her unconscious daughter on the ground. Oh, good, she thought immediately. Finally I can keep her contained, at least for a little bit. It's really the only way for her to stop hurting innocent dragons, to keep her either contained or by my side. I wonder why Deneb has to be such a difficult daughter. Peaceflyt could honestly NOT see the family resemblance between Milkyway’s kind passiveness and Deneb’s murderous personality.

“Who got her to quit avoiding me for this long?” Milkyway asked Peaceflyt and Peak, tilting her head. Peaceflyt glanced quickly at Peak, and she slowly raised her talons.

“Wow, really? How'd you do that?” Milkyway asked. “Anyway, thank you so much!” She bent down and grabbed Deneb by the tail. “Who are you anyway?”

“Peak,” Peak answered. “One of Peaceflyt’s friends.”

“Nice,” Milkyway responded. “I know I already said this, but thanks.”

“No problem,” said Peak. Milkyway smiled, and walked away happily with Deneb’s tail slung over her shoulder.

’Umm… good job? Apparently?’ thought Peaceflyt, looking at Peak, who had made herself look like a regular SkyWind and not a hybrid, behind him.

‘Thanks?’ Peak thought with exaggeration and sarcasm, smiling slightly.

Peaceflyt could see Deathmaster staring at them from a cluster of trees to his north. He beckoned for Peaceflyt to come over, and he nodded. Now I can spend some time at a family reunion actually NOT almost getting killed, he thought drily.

. . .

Peaceflyt, Peak, and Autumn were talking to Deathmaster, Deneb’s younger brother, and Nightlight, Deneb’s clutchmate. Peaceflyt guessed that Milkyway had hidden Deneb off somewhere, because he'd seen her a few minutes ago, and Deneb wasn't on her shoulder. He honestly wouldn't blame Milkyway; carrying a NightWing almost as big as her for the whole day would be pretty tiring.

“Peaceflyt,” Deathmaster said. “Why did you bring your friend again?”

“She just came along,” Peaceflyt said.

“Um,” Peak interjected. “More like I was saving you from Deneb.”

“Yyyyyeah,” Peaceflyt said awkwardly. ‘Right. Thanks for doing that,’ he thought afterwards.

‘Well, what can I say except you’re welcome,’ Peak sang inside his head.

‘And thank you,” Peaceflyt replied. “So, anyway, Deathmaster-” 

A loud screech came from the East, startling everyone. Nightlight glanced around worriedly. “D-don’t worry, it could be a large group of scavengers,” Deathmaster said, peering out of the trees to the noise’s location. “Sometimes where I live, they have these gatherings and they're really loud.”

“I don't think it’s scavengers,” Peak observed as an angry yell broke the silence again. “I’d better go check.” She stepped out of the clump of trees and met Peaceflyt’s eyes. “Are you coming?”

“Umm…” I don’t really want to… Peaceflyt thought. “Sure.”

They flew over to where the strange noise was coming from, with Peak’s SkyWing-like wings keeping her in front of Peaceflyt. 

They landed right where the strange noise was coming from. Peaceflyt’s eyes couldn’t see anything as he glanced around, but he heard a cough behind him that made Peak swivel her head around. “Who’s there?”

“Who is that?” a muffled voice said quietly, coming from a small cave three-quarters covered with boulders. 

“Who are you?” asked Peak as she lifted two boulders and threw them aside. Peaceflyt stretched his neck to see what was inside.

“You,” Deneb said roughly and angrily as she slowly lifted her head up. “Have you come to knock me unconscious again? You know, as soon as I get free, I’m getting my revenge on both of you.”

Me? Peaceflyt thought angrily. What did I ever do to her? He turned around and Peak was looking behind her, like she’d seen something. However, she quickly turned around and decided to annoy Deneb instead. “When you escape?” Peak taunted. “Don’t you mean if you escape?” 

‘What if she has help?’ Peak thought worriedly.

‘I’d like to know who would help Deneb,’ replied Peaceflyt. ‘Milkyway might, because she’s Deneb’s mom, but she’d keep an eye on her afterwards.’

‘The Queen of the SkyWings would befriend a sociopath killing machine that doesn’t have the brains to up-rule her.’

‘Hmm. Probably. Peaceful definitely isn’t the word I’d use to describe Ember.’

‘Really?’ Peak thought with exaggerated inquiry. ‘That’s the same dragon that exiled me from MY kingdom! And as a PRINCESS, I can say that MY AUNT is a horrid, non peaceful camel-eating squid-face.’

“PEACEFLYT!” Autumn yelled, running into their conversation. “The reunion’s over, hurry up!”

“Okay! Coming!” he yelled as his sister’s dark indigo figure took to the sky.