Sunny climbed on Starflight's back, and they all took off in the air. Clay followed Tsunami closely, she was making sure he could feel her tail so he wouldn't miss any change of direction. Glory stayed behind Clay to redirect him on the right way in case he deviated.

The closer they flew to the islands, the bluer the sea seemed to get, at some points, they could even notice coral reefs down under the surface. It was a sight you would have little chance even to find back home.

For the whole trip, Glory described the land to Clay, until they found a small group of dolphins.

"Can we eat them ?" Clay asked.

"No." Riptide said. "Queen Coral has forbidden it. She thinks they might be distantly related to us."

Ashley and Tsunami both looked down at the creatures with scepticism.

I know why she decided on that. Ashley thought. But even just considering it, that's just plain weird. That would be concerning, even.

He raised his sight, there were now a lot more islands present in front of them, and without any doubt, one of those was house to the summer palace. It was impressive, he couldn't even guess any shape that would give away the construction. They were deep in Seawing territory now.

He noticed a formation of about a bit more than a dozen dragons flying toward them, all green and blue.

"Here comes our welcoming committee." Riptide said.

Ashley squinted his eyes at them. They all seemed much bigger than the dragons currently around him, and from what he could manage to see, they didn't look really happy either. He could see some of their scales light up, probably relaying themselves soundless orders. He could hear them hissing from the distance.

He decided it would probably be better not to be noticed, he climbed down Tsunami's back and made himself smaller, but still kept observing the incoming troop.

"Uh-oh." Riptide muttered.

"Clay, stop and hover," Tsunami instructed, the Mudwing obeyed, and the other dragonets soon followed.

"What's happening?" Sunny asked above Starflight's shoulder.

"The advance guard." Riptide said, he circled around the group and stopped in front to face the incoming Seawings. "They make sure no one even gets close to the Summer Palace."

The group of Seawings quickly caught up and surrounded them, all of them keeping a careful distance. One of them, of an almost grey colour, stood in front, looking straight at Riptide. His eyes were of a bone-pale shade, and his horns twisted slightly towards each other. But the most remarkable feature about him was the spiral-looking patterns on his wings.

Shark. Ashley figured.

"Rrrriptide." The dragon growled with a sounding irritation. "What are you dragging home now ?"

"I've found the missing princess."

Err, a bit overexaggerating his role there. But I guess it'll make it easier for him.

A wave of surprised shock took the dragons around them. Ashley felt a shiver run down Tsunami's scale as everyone looked at her. He looked behind, where some of them could see him, and noticed their astonishment at the sight of a scavenger riding a dragon, an heir, to add to that.

"Oh, really ?" Said Shark. "You, Riptide ? Of all dragons ? What an unusual coincidence." He glanced at Tsunami from top to bottom with a sharp eye but didn't notice Ashley.

"And who are you ?" She demanded.

"This is Shark." Riptide said with a very non-challenging voice. "Commander of palace defence and brother to the queen."

"Oh, really ?" Tsunami responded with a purposely insolent tone.

Shark narrowed his eyes. "What makes you believe this snip of a dragon comes from the stolen royal egg ?"

"Why, do you lose a lot of eggs ?" Tsunami jumped in. "Maybe whoever's in charge of defence isn't doing such a good job, then. Oh, wait, that's you, isn't it ?"

Yeah great play there, FUCK that guy ! Ashley thought, he always loved to read this guy getting owned, and seeing it was even more gloating.

"Her story makes sense." Riptide continued desperately. "She knew about- about Webs. He raised her. And look at the glow patterns under her wings."

A few Seawings twisted their necks to stare at Tsunami's wings, the few that got a little too close for comfort got snapped at by her. And the ones behind kept their distances, most of them looking at her wings, but more interested in giving worried looks to Ashley.

Tsunami lit her wings up, revealing the spiralling patterns of her scales.

Most other Seawing had similar patterns, they had more basic stripes and starbursts, but no spirals, except for, of course, Shark.

He let out a long hissing breath. "Very well." He said. "Kill the other four and bring her."

"Don't you touch them !" Tsunami immediately yelled. Ashley slipped down as she whirled around and smacked a Seawing that was reaching for Clay. Starflight had already ducked under Clay's wings for protection, and Glory raised her neck, ready to spray anyone coming close. Ashley reached for his weapon but couldn't grab his pistol, so he pulled off his blade, careful not to hurt Tsunami.

"I am the queen's daughter, and I order you to leave these dragonets alone." She shouted.

Ashley saw the guards hesitate, looking from Tsunami to Shark repetitively. Eventually, the royal raised a talon and made a circle movement with his claws. This made all the Seawings relax, but Riptide was still clearly tensed up, and Tsunami seemed to have noticed it. Ashley remembered what the gesture meant, he grumbled, strengthening his grip on his knife.

Tsunami craned her neck to look at him. "Is there a problem ?" She muttered.

"Yes, there is." Ashley answered, frowning at Shark who still somehow didn't seem to have noticed him. "I'll tell you later."

The Seawings behind them seemed even more lost than before by the sight, and this time Shark noticed it and gave a judging look at his niece. Ashley hid behind her neck before he could see him.

"humpf, good." Tsunami continued, trying to sound like someone in the lead. "Now take us to my mother."

"The queen is conducting business at the Deep Palace." Shark said flatly. "We will take you to the Summer Palace, where you may wait for her." He twirled his talons another time, signalling two of the Seawings to leave, probably porting the message to Queen Coral, and then he made a signalled something else with his lighting scales, and the escort finally took off into the direction of the Summer Palace.

Shark took the lead, flying fast into the currents of the wind followed by the dragonets and Riptide, all closely surrounded by the rest of the guards.

For most of the trip, everyone kept quiet, but Ashley noticed two guards discussing in whispers. He couldn't understand what they were saying, but they would occasionally glance at Tsunami's back. He did manage to hear the words "why" and "scavenger" in their conversation, and the whole tone of it felt rather perplexed.

Islands were flashing by below them as they flew, most of those were more of occasional packs of rocks and sand peeking through the water, probably able to let only a few people stand on. A few others, in front of them, looked much more interesting. One particular island stood out as looking like a giant dragon skeleton was lying there, overgrown by moss and looking like it had merged with the landscape.

The skeleton seemed to be pointing its nose toward a much more busy island, completely surrounded by cliffs, and covered by a dense forest, almost a jungle. The trees showed thick foliage and vines were wrapped all around their branches, making it extremely hard to navigate for a human, and almost impossible to even enter for a dragon.

Without a warning, Shark suddenly dived right toward the water at the bottom of the cliff. He splashed between two horn-looking rocks and disappeared under the surface. Tsunami stopped, startled, blinking and looking from side to side in incomprehension.

But then, one by one, the other Seawings followed and dived at the exact same place.

"Clay, stop." Tsunami.

"So we have arrived." Ashley observed, peering to the side. He finally put back his blade inside his bag and made sure it was strongly closed off.

Tsunami looked at the last other Seawing still flying beside them. "Riptide ?"

The dragon was looking at Ashley, somewhat dumbfounded. "How did you- ? Erf. Yes, that's the entrance." He said. "There's no other way in. You'll all have to swim."

Sunny made an unhappy noise. "How far ?" she asked Riptide.

"You only have to stay underwater for short swims." he answered. "It has been redesigned so Queen Blister in particular can visit."

"And she hates water." Sunny said hopefully. "since she's a Sandwing, too."

"Is she, uh- is she here now ?" Starflight asked with a distressed voice.

Riptide shook his head, the Nightwing immediately looked much more relieved. "She is not fond of swimming, and even after all the changes we've made, she rarely visits."

Ashley heard her sigh, looking around, he saw that every dragonet was at least a bit relieved by the news. Seeing how it went with Burn, there was no doubt they weren't looking forward to meeting her sister, and he wasn't particularly excited about it either. But of course, that wasn't really an evitable event.

"She will be." He said.

"What ?" Starflight turned his head to him, looking worried.

"She will come as soon as she learns that you are here. That is no doubt."

"It makes sense." Clay said, trying to look like he was responding to him, but he was mostly looking at the cliff behind them. "Sadly."

"Stay close behind me." Riptide said. "I'll light up my stripes so you can follow, and I'll flash them to signal you to surface at the breathing spots."

"Um." Clay said. "So... about this blindfold, uh... any chance-"

"Once we're in the tunnel." Riptide answered. He twisted to dive between the rocks just like the previous Seawings, but Tsunami stopped him.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"Wait." She said. "What about Ashley ?" She pointed a claw at him.

"Huhhh..." Riptide looked blankly at the man.

"I can hold my breath for a minute, don't worry. Just make sure I don't slip away, I can't see shit once in the water." Ashley saw Starflight look at him once more, as if he was registering a mental note about him, again. "As long as this doesn't happen, we're good." He ended in a more joyful tone, smiling. And giving a thumbs up.

"Alright." Tsunami said. She looked at Riptide.

"We good ?" He asked.

"We good." She confirmed.

He nodded and twisted once again, this time diving for the water between the rocks.

She followed him and splashed between the rocks. Ashley felt slapped in the face but did not slip away, and despite Tsunami's scales being more slippery in the water, it was safer to grab her than other dragons who wouldn't really know where they were going. When he reopened his eyes, his vision was completely blinded by bubbles floating all around.

Surprisingly, his eyes didn't hurt, he wasn't able to see clearly in the water, everything looked blurry, but the salty liquid didn't seem to attack his eyes, thankfully.

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, just Tsunami looking around in confusion and searching for Riptide. But then a striking pain took Ashley on his arm. He winced, strengthening his grip and gritting his teeth.

As the water quickly soaked and filled his clothes, it reached his still-open wound, mixing it with a rushing salted water, attacking the forming crust.

He let out a muffled growl of pain, letting out a few bubbles of air. Tsunami quickly turned her head to check on Ashley, but he gestured toward the direction he could see Riptide's lights.

He couldn't see it well, but he guessed she made a worried expression before quickly swimming up to the other Seawing. Swimming at a cluster of long kelp and passing through the sticky and slimy plants.

Tsunami followed Riptide into the dark tunnel, and despite not being completely dark thanks to the Seawings' lighting scales, Ashley couldn't see a thing. Not that he cared at the moment, he was just making sure not to lose control of his breath and not let go of Tsunami.

After a bit, he saw the water around flicker with light and felt Tsunami dive up, he looked at the ceiling and saw an approaching opening.

As soon as they hit the surface of the water, he threw his head back and took a huge breath of air. Sunny and Starflight both rose from the surface and gasped for air like they were about to drown. Clay came off the surface and pulled off his and Sunny's blindfold.

"Good thing this breathing hole is here." Clay remarked as Ashley looked down at his arm. "So close to the entrance, I mean."

"Queen Blister insisted on it." the Seawing answered.

The space was just big enough to let their shoulders touch the surface of the water, there was no dry place to stand on, and the only light came from a small hole in the roof that led to the outside.

Ashley could feel Tsunami vibrating with excitement, but he was more interested in the redness that was spreading inside the water.

"FUCK" He cried, immediately gathering everyone's attention.

"What- is something wrong ?" Sunny worried, stretching her neck toward him.

Ashley breathed out, holding his arm and trying to tighten the bandage, but he felt like it only scratched the wound more.

"Oh no." Tsunami said. "Is that my fault ?"

"That's not good." Starflight observed, he then turned to Riptide. "You may want to warn the guards, this will attract nearby sharks."

"It's not your fault." Ashley said in a low tone. "Just... go. The sooner we'll be in the better it will be."

Tsunami blinked once, before turning around, splashing water on her friends. "Alright. Let's go, let's go." She tried to sound worried, but there was a clear hint of excitement.

"Good grief." Glory said with a shake. "It's like you've been possessed by Sunny or something."

"Come on, we're almost there." Tsunami flashed her lights happily, flash-banging Ashley in the process.

"I can swim from here." Sunny said to Starflight, letting go of her grasp.

Riptide sank below the surface and Ashley took a deep breath, then, Tsunami ducked in the water, whirling with excitement.

The next moments were spent navigating the now wider tunnel. Tsunami seemed to have an easier time moving around and swimming behind Riptide. They regularly stopped to breathe inside of air pockets like the first one, and it quickly became an annoyance to Tsunami's eyes, having to stop every time clearly upsetting her.

Ashley could understand, those air pockets were close considering the dragon's speed, and he would have gladly passed a few of them to leave the tight space quickly. But even more, that swim felt like his wound was being slowly ripped off by the currents despite it being tightly sealed under the fabricated bandage.

After a turn, the tunnel suddenly felt more lightened up. Ashley looked over Tsunami's shoulder and saw what looked like the end of it, finally reaching a more natural and stronger light, instead of just being lighted by glowing scales.

She slowed down and reached for the outside, only to emerge at the surface of an open lake. She and Ashley breathed deeply, and she shook her wings to let go of the dripping water. When she looked around her, she noticed a hundred dragons surrounding them, all staring at her. She kept her wings half-foiled, keeping Ashley out of their sight.

Ashley looked up, four pillars of a blueish white were rising from the lake and bending toward each other, forming a pavilion in the middle. Surrounding the lake, there were cliffs on all sides filled with caves from where cascades were falling to the lake. And the ceiling, well, it was a mix of trees, foliage, roots, and vines. It was covered by the forest they had seen from outside which formed a thick roof above their heads.

There were no sounds, only the noises of waterfalls, dragons breathing, and the other dragonets paddling awkwardly and loudly in the water to reach for a more tangible piece of land. The noise echoed horribly in the silence of the scene, but the four other dragonets eventually reached a small beach and settled there.

Tsunami stayed on top of the water for a while, observing her surroundings. Many Seawings were floating on the water, but the biggest part of them were staring up from the caves on the walls. On one of the pillars, Shark stood unmoving, glazing intensely at the princess.

Ashley felt her neck move as she took another breath.

"Don't embarrass yourself." He advised just loud enough for her, and she stopped her mouth half open.

She swam to a loose island the size of a dragon in the middle of the lake and stood there for a moment, considering her options. Eventually, she spread her wings wide, and lit up her glowing scales, showing everyone around the intricated spiral motives under her wings.

Murmurs spread between the dragons, but they couldn't hear anything of what they were all saying, and Ashley didn't manage to understand most of the dragon's expressions.

That's the moment Ashley felt his grasp go weak. He slid sideways and fell in a loud and echoing splatch on the muddy ground of the small island. All the murmurs stopped, and he felt all the eyes drawing on him.

The surroundings went silent, and the only words that broke out clearly to him was a muttered "What's that ?" by one of the Seawings surrounding them.

He laid on his back a moment and saw from the corner of his eyes Shark finally acknowledge his presence, looking unpleasingly surprised. The Seawing then reported his attention to Tsunami who gave him a defiant look.

She slowly lowered her neck to look at Ashley with worry. "Are you ok ?" She whispered.

He moved his head slightly to the side, glancing down at his arm. He could see trickles of red come from under the browned fabric and dripping on the wet floor.

He rested his head on the ground and closed his eyes for a second, breathing deeply.

When he reopened them, Tsunami's head was standing just a few feet away. He breathed out. He carefully straightened up. Putting himself in a sitting position before staggering up on his feet, placing his hand on Tsunami to pull himself.

When he got into everyone's sights, he heard multiple gasps before murmurs started again, and there were even more of them this time.

"A scavenger...", "...how...", "...her pet ?", "...no one noticed him ?", "What is Shark doing ?"

On the other side, Sunny, Starflight, Glory and Clay were all looking in their direction, looking concerned. Ashley raised his arm, waving faintly at them.

He took a step back from Tsunami and dropped his bag on the ground, then grabbed his bottle and took long sips. The water had been warmed by the Sun hitting them during their flight, but it felt better than ever. His feet stomped the ground heavily as he packed his bag back, and Tsunami lowered her head to speak at Riptide who was floating nearby.

"I think you should take me somewhere I can wait for my mother." She tried to whisper, but her voice reverberated all around, and even more murmurs rose from the assembly of Seawings.

"Up there." said Riptide, nodding to the top of the pavilion. He glanced at Ashley then Shark. "You should bring your friends."

The dragonets on the other side had their wings spread and were gasping in an undignified way, looking all wet. Except Glory, who was peering in a nearby cave. Her scales were showing shades Ashley hadn't seen yet, sizzled with azure blue. The few dragons that weren't directly staring at Ashley and Tsunami were looking at her with amazement.

Tsunami thwacked her tail into the water to get her friends' attention and pointed a claw to the pavilion, Clay nodded at her and signalled the others.

The heir looked at Ashley with wondering eyes.

"Just take me up." he said in a tired voice. "I don't think I can hold by myself this time."

She nodded and grabbed him carefully of one talon, then, she kicked the ground and took off, followed by the dragonets and Riptide who quickly caught up, looking uncomfortable with all the scrutiny happening.

"Tell me about the Summer Palace." Tsunami said, trying to distract herself and the others.

Riptide flicked his tail at the cliffs. "Guest rooms are in the caves. Queen Blister usually stays in the one closest to the tunnel. We brought in extra sand to line the floor for her, and it's the only cave where fire is allowed."

He then turned his head toward the pavilion and indicated it with his snout. "She meets with Queen Coral on the second level from the top, which is only for visiting royalty. Each level has a different purpose- for instance, there's a floor for dragonet school visits, one for celebration spectacles, and one for war planning. When they are here instead of the Deep Palace, the Council meets on this level, halfway up."

He paused, allowing Tsunami to take time to register the information.

Ashley glanced across the middle level, there were about a dozen of dragon-sized pools, with small channels of water crisscrossing the centre, making a sort of star-like pattern. In front of each pool, something was written in emerald letters, but Ashley couldn't read them. He squinted his eyes, wondering if his mind wasn't playing games, but it wasn't. Those words were written in a language he couldn't read, it was draconic.

He blinked a few times, he could notice clearly the different letters, but couldn't make out what they meant. It was obvious that this language had been designed for creatures with claws, looking at those, he could see a lot of lines that would be easy to reproduce just by scratching a surface with something sharp.

But before he could study the elements more, Tsunami flapped her wings stronger to fly up and catch up to Riptide.

"Council ?" She said.

"They prefer the Deep Palace, as does the queen." Riptide answered. "Only Shark and Lagoon are here at the moment."

"So which level is for missing princesses ?" She asked jokingly.

"I think the top pavilion would be best." Riptide said. "That's for new visitors, and we hardly ever have any of those. Queen Blister was probably the last- oh, no, it was that Nightwing."

Ashley's mind shot open, he didn't remember that part. That was probably Morrowseer, and his presence here probably meant that he knew they were going to the palace already. He shivered, the Nightwing wasn't the most accommodating, and he remembered his despicable look each time the dragon had seen him.

"What Nightwing ?" Tsunami asked.

"I don't know," Riptide answered her. "He only spoke with Her Majesty and Queen Blister, and all I heard was that he wanted to fly out through the canopy instead of the tunnel- but of course, they wouldn't let him do that. He looked big and bad-tempered."

"Sounds like Morrowseer." Tsunami muttered.

"What did that fucker expect ?" Ashley added. "He wouldn't even fit in there. that dragon is so big they would have to take off half the trees to let him in." He took a deep breath, frowning. "This guy really thinks he's above all the laws."

"That's the impression I got from him." Riptide said. "I don't like him, he looked like trouble too.""We don't like him either." Tsunami said plainly. "And you're right."

Riptide nodded faintly at her, then glanced down where Shark was still standing, looking up at them. "I can't believe you spoke to Shark like that." He whispered. "I've never seen anyone talk back to him, apart from the queen and Queen Blister."

"He deserved it." Tsunami countered. "Arrogant blowfish-head. When I'm queen, I'll make him go sit in a lagoon and grow seaweed."

Riptide coughed hard, hiding a laugh. "Don't talk like that !" He whispered. "Don't you know the difference between brave and reckless ? Shark will eat you and your friends for lunch if he thinks you're a threat to him."

"Pfft." Tsunami said. "He can try."

"Yeah. He can try." Ashley said defiantly. "We'll see who's head will blow up first."

Riptide gave him a startled and horrified look but didn't ask for more precisions.

"By the moons, you make me nervous." He said with a shudder.

They reached the last floor. It was a complete and unique piece of stone, as if the whole level had been carved at once, at the end of it, there were two thrones, one for the queen, and one much smaller on the side.

Tsunami carefully put Ashley on the floor, looking with interest at the two pieces of furniture, tilting her head. Ashley staggered on his feet, struggling to keep himself up. His vision flickered as he took an awkward step on the floor.

The other dragonets landed behind them, crashing loudly onto the stone. Clay caught himself on his own feet and almost fell from the other side. Glory darted in his way and pushed him back on the floor, then flew around to land beside the thrones.

Starflight arrived last, letting himself fall on the ground as if he couldn't stand on his legs anymore. He lay there panting for a moment, looking pitiful.

"This is a really big thing !" Clay said to her and Riptide, amazed. "I mean, this thing we're standing on. What do you call it ? It's really tall. Taller than our prisons in the Sky Kingdom, I think."

Ashley reached a hand to his head, feeling a headache start pounding in his head, his legs felt heavier than before. He took deep breaths and coughed up.

"I like it." Clay went on, sitting down and splashing Glory with water without noticing. "Of course, it's much nicer to be this high when your wings are free. But at least the Skywings gave us a pig sometimes. Do you have pigs ? Octopi would be all right instead if you don't. Or squid. Or manatees. I could go for a manatee right now. Or a whale. I'm not fussy, is what I'm saying. Say, how did you make this big thing ? Did it take forever to build ?"

Urgh. Clay... Ashley grumbled, wobbling on his feet to find a place to sit.

"The pavilion? An animus Seawing designed it, many generations ago..." Ashley didn't hear the end of what Riptide was saying, his legs went weak and he slipped on the floor. He fell into a thin pool of water, preventing him from hitting the floor hard. His hand scrapped the sturdy floor, but he couldn't get a grip to put himself back up.

"Hey ! What's wrong with Ashley ?" He heard Sunny cry out loud. He heard her come closer in a hurry. "Ashley !"

He felt his grip loosen as he noticed Sunny's worried face appear above him.

Then his vision faded to black, and he lost consciousness.