Pantanal immediately ran out of the house. “Pantanal, no!” Peaceflyt cried. Don't get involved!

He ran right up to the larger one of the MudWings. “DOGWOOD!” he yelled. “What happened?”

Dogwood shook his head, indicating that he would talk about it later. “Go back in the house,” he scolded.

Peaceflyt pulled his head back inside the house as Pantanal ran in.

“I’m sorry!” Dogwood cried from outside. “It was an accident!”

“But look what you did to her!” Harmony held Horizon up. The dragonet was crying, and her left wing looked slightly off.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Dogwood repeated. “I didn’t mean it!”

Harmony ignored him. “The nearest decent hospital is in Possibility. Great,” she grumbled. She put Horizon in her pouch and flew off as quickly as she could.

Peaceflyt looked outside again and saw a whitish-red blur in the sky. Dogwood and the other MudWing glanced nervously at it, then hurried inside the house.

“Dogwood! Mudpool!” Pantanal exclaimed, running up to them. “What was that?”

Dogwood and Mudpool sat down near the mats, where Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow were talking. “An accident,” Dogwood said, as Pantanal sat down next to him.

Mudpool held back a laugh.

“No, it was!” Dogwood objected as Peaceflyt sat down next to Pantanal.

“Ok, but what actually happened?” Pantanal asked. “And don’t say ‘an accident’.”

Dogwood went off, explaining what he and Mudpool had been doing for the past hour. Melospiza, who turned out to be Pantanal’s aunt who’d lost all her siblings in the Hybrid War, had come over to listen. Dogwood was just at a part in his story where they’d somehow killed a bunch of impalas with makeshift bows and arrows (“Because we got distracted and wanted to mess around,” Mudpool added) when Peaceflyt felt a tap on his shoulder. Surprised, he turned around, but the dragon who tapped his shoulder was just Walnut.

“Hi,” she whispered, waving. Peaceflyt saw something blue behind her, but it was just Pelican, who’d also come over to listen. They both sat down next to him as Dogwood was getting to the interesting part of the story.

“So after that, we flew back. And then right before I landed, I thought I saw a bird fly under my wings. And I was still flying, so I obviously had to keep using my wings. But it turned out it was a dragonet and I guess I crushed its wing with mine,” Dogwood said. “And you know what happened next.”

“So you didn't mean it,” Melospiza said.

“No. Well, it wasn't my fault the dragonet flew right where she could get hit.”

“I can still see why that hybrid got so mad, though,” Pantanal added. “I think she's watching out for that dragonet. But I think she needs to keep a closer eye on it.”

“She is watching out for that dragonet,” Walnut stated. “We met them coming here.”

“Really?” Pantanal asked. “What were they like?”

“They were pretty nice,” Walnut said. “If it weren't for them, we’d still be lost in the mountains.”

Dogwood suddenly looked slightly guiltier. Mudpool nearly laughed at him again. Peaceflyt smiled.

. . .

The rest of the evening seemed to pass by uneventfully, much to Peaceflyt’s delight. He didn't need any more unneeded stress in this already stressful mission.

For most of the time, Peaceflyt, Walnut, and Pelican just talked with Pantanal and his siblings. Atacama, Pyramid, and Sparrow occasionally joined in too, but they mostly had their own conversation.

From talking with Pantanal, Dogwood, and Mudpool, Peaceflyt had found out some things about the siblings he didn't know before. They were hatched right by the ocean, but eventually moved closer to the Rainforest to avoid flooding that was happening there. That was where Pantanal had met Citrus, a RainWing, and Copper, a SilkWing. Citrus was Peaceflyt’s younger cousin, so she’d convinced him to come meet her at a marketplace just outside of the Rainforest. When Peaceflyt arrived there, he’d met Copper and Pantanal and got to know them. Another dragon, a SandWing named Arabian, started arriving at those meetings later on, though Peaceflyt didn’t know too much about her. Together, they formed a band called the Copper Dragonets. (Or at least, that was the most popular idea for a band name because they couldn’t think of anything else). Citrus played the flute, Pantanal played either the trumpet or trombone, Arabian played drums and other percussion-like instruments, and Peaceflyt played the piano. Copper was the lead singer, but occasionally Peaceflyt would have to be a backup singer in case Copper didn't show up to meetings.

So far, the band had composed one song, which they hadn't named yet and were still working on practicing.

“On that subject, have you practiced the song recently?” Pantanal asked Peaceflyt.

“No…” Peaceflyt replied. “I probably should have, though. Have you?”

“I was hoping you wouldn't ask that,” Pantanal said, with a small laugh in his voice. “I haven't touched a trumpet since our last meeting.”

“So you haven't practiced for like two months?”

“Yeah.” Pantanal laughed louder. “I probably need to practice if we're actually gonna finish it. Too bad I didn't bring my trumpet here.”

Their conversation was cut off by Melospiza, who announced that she was going to read and she expected everyone to be quiet. She also ordered Mudpool and Dogwood to make dinner with what they killed from their hunt earlier.

“We can go get the impalas, if no one stole them,” Mudpool said. “We caught a few more things while hunting, but Dogwood kept eating them.”

Dogwood looked embarrassed. “I was hungry!”

“It doesn't matter,” Melospiza said matter-of-factly. “If no one stole the impalas, go get them. If someone did steal them, go and hunt some more until you catch something decent.”

“Ok.” Dogwood and Mudpool both nodded. They hastily ran outside and took to the air. Melospiza watched them leave, then went to her stone desk and grabbed a scroll from underneath it. She walked over to her corner of the home, which was decorated with a few drawings of her siblings, and sat down to read.

“What were we talking about again?” Pantanal asked. “Oh, yeah, music.”

Him and Peaceflyt talked for a while more, until Dogwood and Mudpool came back with three impalas speared in their talons. “Nobody stole them,” Mudpool announced.

“Okay,” Melospiza said, not looking up from her book. “Good job. Now are we going to have it raw or prepared?”

Dogwood looked at Mudpool. Mudpool shrugged and dumped the impalas into the floor.

“We have visitors, why don't you prepare it?” Melospiza suggested.

“Sure,” Mudpool said. “Dogwood, can you drag them to the desk?”

Dogwood nodded curtly, and picked up the impalas. He walked over to Melospiza’s desk and dumped them there.

Pantanal looked at Peaceflyt. “I might have to go and help.” Peaceflyt nodded, and Pantanal got up and walked to Melospiza’s desk, where Dogwood was skinning them.

Soon, dinner was ready. Pantanal, Dogwood, and Mudpool had the impalas prepared on a smooth red cloth on the ground. They had been cooked with the siblings’ fire and had different types of seasonings scattered across them.

Melospiza was the first one at the food. She bent down, inspecting it.

“Looks good,” she said. “You’ve outdone yourselves.”

“You told us to prepare it for our guests,” Dogwood pointed out.

“Yes, but I wasn't expecting it to look this good,” Melospiza said. “You, Mudpool and Pantanal aren't that good of chefs.”

Pantanal, who was standing on the opposite side of the food next to Mudpool, jokingly rolled his eyes at Peaceflyt and smiled.

“If no one minds, I'm going to start eating,” Melospiza announced. She sat down and clawed a medium-sized chunk out of one of the impalas.

Walnut looked at her with disgust. “I'm going to go get some fruits from outside,” she said hesitantly. “Do you want any?” she asked Peaceflyt.

“Sure,” Peaceflyt replied. She looked back at him, smiled, and hurried outside.

Peaceflyt turned his head back on the meal in front of him. Pantanal, Mudpool, and Dogwood were already eating along with Melospiza. Sparrow was too, but she kept running over to Atacama and Pyramid after she got her pieces. Peaceflyt also noticed that Pelican wasn't eating.

“Hi,” Peaceflyt said awkwardly, sliding up next to him. “Are you… hungry?”

“Yes,” Pelican replied grumpily. “I just wish I'd get to have some seafood for once today.”

“You could always go outside and ask someone if there's anything in the river,” Peaceflyt said. “There are probably SeaWings here. Maybe.”

”I’ll just go and dive in the river and see if I can see anything,” said Pelican. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Sure,” Peaceflyt said. “But first I'm going to grab a little bit of the impalas, because I'm hungry and there might be nothing there.”

“Okay,” Pelican said, as Peaceflyt ran to the impalas on the ground. He nearly ran over Mudpool as he bent down to get a piece. “Sorry,” he murmured.

Peaceflyt got back up and walked to Pelican with a large chunk of impala in his mouth. “I’m ready,” he said as he swallowed his food.

Pelican smirked at him. “Okay,” he said.

The two walked outside and down the streets Pantanal had shown them up when they first arrived. They reached the river surprisingly soon without getting lost. Peaceflyt didn’t see Walnut, so he assumed she went another way to get the fruits.

Pelican and Peaceflyt walked down to the rivers’ edge, which was still in sight of the market. “Do you want to go in first?” Pelican asked.

“No, you go,” Peaceflyt said, beckoning to the river. Pelican nodded and dove in, and Peaceflyt, closing his eyes, soon followed.

As soon as Peaceflyt couldn’t touch the riverbed, he opened his eyes. For a few seconds, he couldn’t see Pelican and panicked, but it turned out that was just because the water was really muddy. He squinted, swam further into the river and found him.

‘Hello,’ he flashed in Aquatic. He couldn’t actually fluently speak Aquatic, because it was physically impossible for him to do. Since he was a hybrid SeaWing, he hadn’t inherited all of the stripes needed to speak it.

‘Hello,’ Pelican replied, spotting him. ‘Come.’ He gestured downwards.

Peaceflyt swam towards the SeaWing. When he got there, Pelican plunged down further.

What? Peaceflyt thought, unsurely. He slowly followed him, looking out on all sides.

Suddenly, he saw some flashes of light in front of him. It was Pelican, saying something about fish.

Peaceflyt tried to figure out what he was saying. He got close enough to Pelican to see his face in the dark water. This river's deep, he thought subconsciously. Pelican flashed the thing about fish again, and Peaceflyt, unsure, flashed ‘What?’

Pelican flashed it twice more before he realized Peaceflyt didn't know what he was talking about. Instead, he lit up all his stripes and pointed under him.

Peaceflyt looked down. Right under their tails, a school of medium-sized fish were swimming. Apparently they didn't know that two huge dragons were just above them, because they seemed in no effort to swim away. Peaceflyt curled in his tail to make sure it didn't startle the fish.

Suddenly, Pelican dove into the school, stabbing multiple fish at once. He swam back up to Peaceflyt with a fish on each claw. Peaceflyt gave a talons-up, and swiftly tried to swim after the now-escaping school of fish. They were surprisingly fast, and Peaceflyt only managed to catch two before he decided that it was a waste of time chasing after them.

He swam back to Pelican, who was waiting for him. He'd already eaten one of the fish on his claws. He pointed up to the surface, and Peaceflyt nodded. Both of them burst up through the surface of the water and flew back to the house.

When they got there, Walnut was back. She was sitting on her mat with fruit in her talons, waiting for them.

“Oh, hi!” she said, noticing them. “I see you went fishing!”

“Yeah, we did,” Pelican replied, sitting down and dumping all the fish he'd caught on the ground.

“I was wondering where you were,” Walnut said, looking at Peaceflyt, “but no one knew. But Pantanal said that you went off with Pelican.”

“Yeah, he really wanted seafood,” Peaceflyt said jokingly. “So I came with him.”

“Okay, but I caught, like, half the entire school of fish!” Pelican said expressively. He picked one of the fish off the ground and ate it. “And I really wanted seafood.”

Peaceflyt stuck one of the fish on his claws in his mouth. “Could you tell what fish that was?” he asked Pelican.

“I don't know! It was dark!” he replied. “I'm just glad I don’t have to eat more land animals.” He ate another of the fish.

Peaceflyt ate the second one he'd caught, and then headed to the impalas which everyone was crowding around. He peeked over Pantanal’s shoulder and noticed that most of it had been eaten.

“Oh, you can have some,” Pantanal said, noticing him and moving aside.

“Uhh… thanks,” Peaceflyt said hesitantly, walking up to grab some.

After eating the bit he grabbed, he walked back to Pelican and Walnut, who were having a conversation.

“Oh, do you want any fruits?” Walnut asked, turning to Peaceflyt.

“Sure,” he said. Walnut went over to her mat and grabbed some apples.

“I found an orchard a few roads away from here,” Walnut explained. “All the fruits high up were gone, but most of the ones close to the ground were still there. Apparently everyone who lives here is tall. I guess it's good that I'm short.” She leaned forward and handed an apple to Peaceflyt.

“Thanks,” he said, biting into it. Walnut walked back to her mat, grabbed an orange, and ate quietly. Peaceflyt and Pelican looked at each other and decided to join her.

. . .

Nightfall came quickly. Peaceflyt and Pantanal decided to go out for a flight just to stretch their wings and talk, right before the sun set.

“So have you seen Copper recently?” Peaceflyt asked him. “Or like anyone?”

Pantanal laughed. “That’s what I was going to ask you,” he said. “But no. The last time I saw him was during our last practice. Have you seen anyone?”

“Uh… not since our last practice either,” Peaceflyt responded. “But I did see Citrus a few days ago in the rainforest.”

A few days ago, Peaceflyt thought. He had a hard time believing that only three days ago, he’d been at school with barely any worries at all. Was it three days? Or four? However long it was, it seemed like weeks ago to Peaceflyt. Back then, his only worries were about school and friends (and Deneb, his mind interjected). But at least he didn't have to worry about his best friend dying. Or him dying. Or five more of his friends that were coming with him dying.

Pantanal must have noticed his worried face, because he put one of his talons on his shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

Peaceflyt snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”