As they flew away from the school, thoughts clouded Peaceflyt’s head. I hope Peak is okay. I hope she knows we’re coming to rescue her. He glanced over at Atacama and Pyramid’s determined expressions. Actually, I think she knows we’re going to rescue her. I bet she knows her friends would do anything for her. Except me. Because I’m a coward. I wish I could enchant something that would make me more brave, but I’m not supposed to use magic to mess with my personality. Now that I think about it, being brave could probably get me killed easier. So maybe I’ll just not be brave. For now.

From there his mind went to think of all the dangers they might face. Who will we encounter? Whoever we do, I really hope they aren’t mean. Well, there is a war going on, so- Oh, right, duh. He looked backwards at his scales. I forgot to change my scales. I guess I’ll take care of that. He willed his scales to change color, hiding the wave patterns on his back and making his fluorescent SeaWing scales look almost identical to his RainWing scales. He glanced over at his friends flying beside him, and none of them seemed to have noticed.

“Are we completely sure that we know where we’re going?” Peaceflyt asked after flying about ten minutes more. They were currently out of sight of Jade Mountain, and tall mountains were all they could see.

Atacama glanced back at him. “We’re going towards the Kingdom of the Sea, right? So all we’re going to do is…” She paused for a second, thinking. “Fly over some mountains, go over the Mud Kingdom, and fly across the ocean- Oh, yeah." She groaned. "We have to fly across the ocean.”

Pyramid sighed.

“Across the ocean?” Walnut asked. She sighed. “Well, it's not the entire ocean, so I think we can make it.”

“I probably can,” joked Pelican.

“You’re lucky,” Sparrow said. “All of us have to fly across the ocean, but you can just swim across.”

“Yeah. But I hope I don't run into any other SeaWings,” said Pelican.

“Why?” Walnut asked.

“Because I'm supposed to be in school,” he explained. “And since my mom is the queen, I’m thinking if I run into any other SeaWings, they’ll report to my mom that I’m not in school. And then she might notice that you guys are gone from school and are heading towards the ocean.”

“Oh,” Walnut said. “Well, let’s hope that we can make it across to the Thousand Scales, AND that we can make it across without running into any SeaWings.”

What if we need the SeaWings for something? Peaceflyt’s mind worried.

“Are you sure we have to go over the ocean?” Walnut asked. “Can’t we fly over the Tail Peninsula? Wait, never mind. Anything that can get us to Peak quickest would be the best.”

“Yeah. Because it would take way longer to go over the Tail Peninsula,” Peaceflyt pointed out.

“I’m just not built for flying long distances,” Walnut said. “But any route that will get us to Peak fast will be worth it, I think. I just wish there’s something that could remind us that we won’t all die or get hurt on this trip.”

Like a prophecy, Peaceflyt thought. A vision of dragons who were an odd gray color flashed quickly through his head. He faltered in the air. Where did that come from? I'm not a prophet. I don't have visions. He tried to assure himself that he didn't have another power, but the vision of the strange gray dragons seemed unsettlingly real. He pretty much knew that he couldn't see the future, because there were no indications that he ever could.

“Do we know where we're sleeping tonight?” Sparrow suddenly asked. “I hope it's not on top of a mountain or glacier. That wouldn't be the best place to sleep.”

“True,” Peaceflyt said. We definitely should've studied our route before we left. Could we go back to school and borrow a map? He looked back at the miles and miles of mountains. He wasn't even completely sure which direction Jade Mountain was in at that point. No. It would definitely take a while to just get back to school. I guess we'll just have to wing it.

. . .

About three hours later, the sun was starting to go down in the horizon, and Peaceflyt was starting to tire out. Actually, he'd been tired out for a while, but his wings were starting to get really sore at this point. They had stopped multiple times throughout the mountains, resting and talking. They hadn't had much luck trying to find food, given as there weren't many green mountain valleys they could see. So far, they’d only caught a mountain goat, which Sparrow had shared with Atacama and Pyramid, and some fish, which Pelican had shared with Peaceflyt. Walnut had only had a few blackberries that she'd found on a bush a while back.

Peaceflyt looked over at Walnut, who was struggling beside him. He knew RainWings were probably not supposed to fly dozens of miles in a day. She glanced back at him with an exhausted but determined expression, as if all that mattered was rescuing Peak.

And it kind of is. That's the whole reason for this mission, right? Well, I guess all that matters is that we rescue Peak and don't die. That's another good reason.

“Can we… try to find… another resting point?” Walnut said in a strained voice.

“We stopped at one twenty minutes ago,” Pyramid said. “I guess we could try to find another one, but we're right in the middle of a humongous mountain range.”

“Wait,” Atacama said, looking down. “I think I see a cougar down there.” Her voice sounded excited. “I'm going to try to catch it.” She smiled at Pyramid and Sparrow and dove down, extending her claws out to snatch it. She wasn't fast enough, though; it leapt into a thicket of tight bushes where it would be able to hide.

“Talons and tails!” Atacama cursed. “I only had, like, two bites of a mountain goat for lunch, and the second animal I see in hours gets away from me!”

“I can try to get it,” Sparrow offered. “No promises. I’m not a great hunter, but I’m supposed to be able to hunt in the mountains.”

“Sure,” Atacama said. “I’ll take whatever, as long as I get food, because THREE MOONS I AM HUNGRY.”

Peaceflyt hovered in the air next to Walnut and Pelican, watching Sparrow grappling with the bushes below. After a few moments, she came back with the cougar in her talons.

“Yes!” Atacama exclaimed, as Sparrow tossed part of it to her. “Thanks, Sparrow.”

“No problem,” Sparrow said, tossing another piece to Pyramid.

Peaceflyt stared at the piece of cougar in Atacama’s talons, his hungriness suddenly kicking in again now that he could smell food. “Um…” he hesitated as Atacama turned her head to him. “Can I have a tiny bit? I’m also really hungry.”

Atacama looked down at the cougar in her talons and back at him, probably deciding whether she should eat the whole piece to fulfill her hunger or give some to him.

“Fine,” she decided, tossing part of the leg to Peaceflyt.

“Thanks,” he said gratefully, and glanced over at Pelican flapping beside him. “Do you want any?”

“I never really… liked cougar,” Pelican admitted. “But I guess I can try a little bit, since I haven't had food in so long.”

”Okay,” Peaceflyt said. He ripped off a tiny piece and handed it to him.

Pelican hesitantly bit down on the cougar. He made an odd face and swiftly spit it out.

“Ew. Mountain animals,” Pelican said, disgusted.

“EW?” Atacama protested. “Mountain animals are good!”

“Not to me,” Pelican replied. “I like seafood better.”

“I... prefer neither,” Walnut interjected, panting behind them. “I don't... really like meat in general. But then, most RainWings... don't... eat meat. Speaking of which… if any of you see a bush with berries or fruit, can you tell me?”

“Yeah, if we can ever find any plants,” Peaceflyt said, a mix of sarcasm and sadness. “I’ve barely seen any foliage since we left. Not counting the river valleys.”

“Hopefully we'll be out of the mountains... soon,” Walnut replied optimistically.

Peaceflyt thought she was being a bit too optimistic, as all he could see were craggy peaks. But deep down, he also hoped that they could finally land on some flat ground.

“Should we take a rest soon?” Walnut gasped after about a few dozen more minutes of flying. “Actually… I'm going to… land on that spot over there.” She indicated to a small piece of mountaintop ahead of them that was significantly flatter than its surroundings.

She put on a burst of speed and flew to the small snowy plateau, exhaustedly landing there a moment later. She glanced up at Peaceflyt and smiled.

When Peaceflyt landed next to Walnut a minute later, he collapsed on the ground, realizing how tired his wings were.

“Yeah, it's really tiring, right?” Walnut said sympathetically. “Especially when you're small and your wings are meant to be flying through trees. Not like I’m saying that out of personal experience.”

“I get it,” Peaceflyt replied. “I even think Atacama and Sparrow are tired.” He motioned to the dragons with his head, who had just landed and were panting off to the side.

“I want to fall asleep,” Atacama complained. “But I also want to rescue Peak! I want to do both at the same time! Or I wish that I wasn't so tired!”

“Yeah, same,” Sparrow said in between breaths.

Pyramid landed last, next to Sparrow, while Pelican collapsed next to Peaceflyt.

Peaceflyt got up off the ground and sat up. He looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly starting to set, and the sky was tinting orange.

His stomach growled, and he realized how hungry he was again. ‘When will we have our next full meal?’ he thought sullenly. He saw Walnut dozing off to his right and decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a nap just for a few minutes…

When Peaceflyt opened his eyes about ten minutes later, he found Walnut gone. He quickly stumbled onto his talons and looked around.

“Walnut went off to look for fruit,” Pelican told him, seeing his franticness.

“Oh. Okay.” Peaceflyt walked over to the mountainside and looked down. It took him a few seconds, but a glint of yellow finally caught his eye.

She must be concealing herself, making sure she doesn’t get caught. I guess she found some fruit, Peaceflyt thought. He knew that it was hard for many RainWings to conceal their emotions when they were really strong. Walnut, Peaceflyt guessed, was really happy that she finally found some food.

“Peaceflyt!” Walnut said happily. The air materialized and Walnut appeared, running up the mountainside. She held out both her talons, which were full of berries. “There were a bunch of bushes down there, so I got as much fruit as I could!“ She threw some berries into her mouth. “I’m so hungry.”

“Same,” Peaceflyt agreed. He secretly wanted some of Walnut’s berries, but he didn't want to sound forceful.

“You can have some, if you want,” Walnut said.

“Oh. Ok. Thanks.” He held out his front talons and Walnut dumped a small amount into them.

For a while, they just sat there eating the berries. Pelican came over at one point and started talking to Peaceflyt about where to sleep. “I wish this mountain range was less pointy. I mean, if I have to, I can sleep on a mountain, but it would be really nice to have a kind of flat place to sleep. That’s not cold.”

“Yeah.” Peaceflyt looked at the sun setting. We have to go so much farther. “We should probably go before it gets too dark.”

“I agree,” Pyramid said from his left. She heaved herself onto her feet. “Let’s go find a place to sleep.”