Ashley was sitting on a boulder, one hand on his chin. He was silent, his eyes looking into nothing. His face was dark. In front of him, four dragons were sitting in a circle.

He could hear the thundering storm outside the palace crashing against the isle. The light inside the cave flickered and flashed, illuminating the space at each lightning strike.

They had moved to another cave after Glory dragged Ashley back to the Dragonets. With a bit of 'persuasion', as Glory puts it, they managed to find a place in a higher cave, away from anything that could get flooded.

"So... uh... Ashley has a 'book' with me on its face, and he knew about an animus dragon in the Seawing tribe ?" Clay asked out loud, breaking the silence.

"That is exactly it." Glory flared.

"So what ?" Sunny asked. "What does it change ?"

"What does it change ?" Glory echoed. "Everything ! He lied to us." She pointed a claw to Ashley. "We can't trust him."

"How..." Every dragonet turned their head to Starflight. He was holding Ashley's book, trying to examine it from all angles, comparing its front page to Clay. "How do you come across such an accurate depiction of- one of us... before meeting us ?"

Ashley shivered, what could he possibly answer to that ? There was no easy way out of the situation. No, not this time. He had been caught on the spot, and out of every possible outcome, none would be good.

"It's-"

"How old is that ?" Starflight cut him, looking at the book, his eyes showing his usual fascination. "It looks like it was just made, yet it is soft like a scroll that had been folded and unfolded countless times." He passed his claws between the pages, careful not to scratch them.

Ashley raised his head, meeting glances with the Nightwing. He couldn't lie, whatever he said, they would know if it was the truth or not.

"I got it eight years ago." He resolved to say.

"It's older than us then..." Clay almost whispered.

Ashley could hear Sunny gulp with resentment, feeling betrayed and disappointed, probably.

"What haven't you told us ?" Glory demanded, she leaned forward, squinting her eyes at Ashley. "I have a feeling that it is a lot."

He breathed out then locked eyes with her. "You would be right."

Glory raised her eyebrows, surprised by the sudden confession, before getting back the her grumpy face.

"Is that animus story even true ?" Glory asked.

"Yes ! Yes, it fucking is !" Ashley answered almost angrily.

It's not, it isn't even remotely true. But I'm not spending three months trying to explain the reality to you and then trying to fix your mental state after learning it. Ashley stared fiercely into Glory's eyes. He could read on her face that she didn't believe him, yet she did not push further- almost as if she guessed why.

"Hey, let's not dispute it right now. Plus, I'm pretty sure all that doesn't negate all his previous statements, right? I mean, they still make sense," Sunny said. Glory rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

"Except on one point." Starflight said, and Sunny twisted her neck to look at him with a wondering glance. "Do you remember the discussion we had the first day we flew above the sea ?"

"Oh yeah." Sunny responded, a shiver running down her spine. "It still gives me chills sometimes."

"Well, there are few things to say about it." Starflight began. "But first, such numbers are just not possible with the population of scavengers that we know."

"Which means ?" Sunny tilted her head.

"It could only have happened before the Scorching." Sunny nodded, not really understanding Starflight's reasoning.

Ashley blinked in incomprehension. I shouldn't have told them this, should I ? They are going to make completely wacky theories now...

"So that would mean this story is at least five millennia old. But when we... huh..." Starflight shifted, uncomfortable. "When dragons attacked the scavengers of the time, they destroyed everything within their reach. It's also impossible that any clear document about it would have survived the years or not many. Those stories always fall to legends as time goes on."

Ashley was starting to understand what Starflight was theorizing, and if he was right, he found it hilarious.

"Yet." He continued. "Ashley knows very precise pieces of information about it, almost from a know-everything perspective. So that means it didn't happen that long ago, or at least, recently enough that it wasn't yet outclassed by something else."

"What are you trying to say ?" Clay asked, thoroughly lost.

"What he means." Glory said. "Is that if you take all that, and add the fact that Ashley does not look like any other Scavenger known to dragonkind, then there is a not-so-low possibility that Ashley comes from before the Scorching." Starflight nodded in agreement.

Ashley blinked multiple times, looking back and forth from Starflight to Glory. Eventually, he started laughing.

Glory stared at him, then Starflight, startled, to which the Nightwing only responded with a shudder. "What's so funny ?" She asked.

After calming down, Ashley finally spoke up. "I'm not five thousand years old." He let out a chuckle of amusement.

"What are you going to say then ?" Glory burst out. "That you come from another damned world ?"

"Hey calm down Glory, no need to yell so much." Sunny proposed.

"I can yell all the way I want !" The Rainwing retorted, Sunny took a step back, offended. Glory's scales were shifting from all shades of red, with sparkles of grey stripes appearing here and there, the more time passed, the faster it went, as if it matched her growing irritation. "Tell me ! How come you aren't even upset at him." She cried. "Were you ever suspicious of him ? Even when we didn't know each other yet ?"

"Of course I have !" Sunny answered. "But where do you want to go if you show your mistrust to everyone all the time ?" She asked in the same tone. "I am upset, I feel betrayed, friends don't lie to each other. But that doesn't mean I have to lash out at once !"

"I agree with Sunny." Clay added. "We can talk this out, like civilized dragons."

Glory scowled. "Are you saying I am uncivilized ?"

"No !" He said, then his voice reduced to a mumble. "But a little unhinged, maybe."

"Alright, alright..." Glory breathed in and out deeply. For a moment, she looked as if she was about to calm down, but her scales remained the same red. "Let's 'talk' this out, then."

"Ashley ?" She called the human, showing him her back.

He had been staring at her for the past minute now, watching the whole scene as she came so close to a possible realization of what was up with him. There wasn't any hint of remains of lightness in the air anymore.

"Y- yes ?" He asked.

Abruptly, she whirled around in a crimson fury. "WHAT IS THE POINT OF YOU ?" Ashley widened his eyes and pushed on his legs to jump back, and then, everything became blurry. All he remembered was the deafening voice of a dragon shouting at him, making his ears ring and his vision falter as he fell backwards, a red face appearing in front of his view, looking enraged, the noise of metal sliding along the stones, and finally, him holding his knife pointed toward Scarlet.

And then nothing, nothing came nor moved. All that motion blur that surrounded him a moment ago faded away in a blink, and he could only hear his own breath and heartbeat.

He realized he was still in the cave, and the crazy dragon queen wasn't there. Instead, Glory was standing in front of him, her colours slowly losing their saturation, and a hint of blueish green showing up on her face as her eyes were, now, glowing with concern.

Ashley's knife appeared blurred in front of his eyes. His attention was caught by a simple "ploc" noise. He raised his sight, his arm was still holding the blade toward Glory's snout, which now had a visible cut, and a few droplets of red dropped on the ground occasionally, breaking the deafening silence by echoing in the cave. The tip of his trembling knife was red, explaining Glory's injury.

The four dragonets were all staring at Ashley, each showing a different degree of concern. To them, there was no question : Ashley was terrified.

Five seconds passed with no one moving, and then, Ashley dropped the knife. The metal blade fell on the floor, making repetitive noises as it bounced on the rocks. After a moment that felt like an eternity, it stopped, and only the echo was left.

"Glory ! That's too far !" Sunny cried.

Glory snorted, slowly, she raised a talon to wipe off the blood from her snout. She turned around and started walking toward the opposite side of the room. When Clay saw her injury, he took a surprised step back out of shock and looked from Ashley to Glory with confusion.

Ashley stood up, wavering in place for an instant, then he advanced to the middle of the room and grabbed the book.

"We are done here." He said, turning around to reach for his backpack, which he dragged back to a corner of the room, and started accounting for everything he still had inside.

The rest of the day was spent in the loudest of silences, the only noises being the floor scratching by the dragonets' talons and Clay's stomach gargling due to his constant hunger. At some point, Ashley could feel Sunny approach him from his back, probably wanting to sort things out, but she ultimately left and sat by the entrance next to Starflight, both staring into the palace that was slowly going to sleep.

Eventually, the storm completely hid the Sun, and it quickly looked as if it was night, no light was left to hit the inside of the cave except for the glowing lichen. So, Ashley promptly fell asleep, exhausted to no end, as the other dragonets were lying down in their place to rest.

Later that day, he was awakened by a shrill female voice.

"Where are my friends !?" Shouted the panicked voice. "And why is there a guard knocked out at the entrance !"

"Argh." Glory growled, straightening up. "Why her nowww..."

"Tsunami ?" Sunny squeaked, peering through the opening of the cave.

"WHERE- oh." Ashley heard a dragon land nearby as he rubbed his wet eyes. Tsunami looked inside, seeing that everyone was shivering due to the cold of the night. "This is a terrible strategy."

She swept her gaze from one end of the room to the other.

"Seriously, why did you all stay so far apart ? You're guaranteed to catch a cold that way."

“Oh.” Glory said icily, still visibly irritated. “The Seawing princess has time for us all of a sudden.”

“It’s only been a day.” Tsunami said uncomfortably. “Mother’s kept me busy.”

Glory snarled at Tsunami. “Well, we feel so blessed that you found time to visit. Please do impart some more incredibly brilliant wisdom on us.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Things... Happened." Sunny said sleepily, to which Tsunami responded by raising an inquiring eyebrow. At the same time, Clay stood up and stretched, making a metallic noise as the remains of the chain at his talon clung against the floor.

Tsunami's sight was drawn to the origin of the noise, and her expression shifted to shock as she saw the chain. "What is that ?" She questioned, pointing his talons with a claw.

"The guards chained Clay after bringing us to the cave. I was sure you would come for us eventually, but Ashley blew the chain before." Sunny said.

"I was personally sure of the opposite, so him figuring something was quite surprising, especially considering everything else." Glory said, squinting her eyes, she turned to Tsunami. "Don’t you have a feast or a coronation or a beheading to attend ?”

Looking at Tsunami, Ashley noticed something wrapped around her, a sort of harness, that was visibly holding something spherical near her chest. And by the sound of it, Glory noticed it too. “Wait, is that an egg ?" She said. "Wow, they work fast in the Kingdom of the Sea. Who’s the lucky father ?”

“Glory, stop sniping at me for TWO SECONDS, please.” Tsunami said. She slung the harness off and carefully handed it up to Sunny. “Sunny, I need you to take care of this. It has to stay warm, and you’re the only one who can keep it that way.”

“Me ?” Sunny’s voice was filled with delight, almost excitement. “You want me to do something important ?”

“Really important,” Tsunami said. “That’s the very last female dragonet Queen Coral may ever have. Somebody wants it dead, and we’re going to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

Sunny grabbed the harness and wrapped it around her twice, nestling the egg into her warm scales. Ashley was looking at the scene completely dumbfounded, probably due to him having just woken up, but still. Entrusting someone to take care of a child who wasn't even born yet sounded absurd, seeing that scene unfold in front of his very eyes was almost lunar. Yet, knowing the story already, it made a lot of sense for it to happen.

“So keep it warm and safe, and for goodness’ sake don’t break it, and don’t let Clay anywhere near it in case he accidentally sits on it.” Tsunami finished.

“I would never !” Clay protested as his stomach unsurprisingly growled.

“Haven’t they at least fed you ?” Tsunami asked in a dubious tone.

“We got some breakfast leftovers this morning.” Clay said with a sigh. “Very extremely tiny small crabs, and a bit of meat.”

“I am going to claw someone.” Tsunami snarled. She then sat beside Clay and held the loosened chain. "Couldn't you completely remove it ? Like melting it ?"

Starflight leaned over and pointed at the broken end of the chain "We tried, it only worked because of Ashley's thing." He turned his head to his friend. "It was pretty loud." He said in a weird factual tone.

They heard another dragon land in front of the cave, and they turned to face it, but it was only Riptide.

"how do we get those off ?" Tsunami demanded.

He rubbed his snout nervously. “You’ll need the key from the guards.” He said. “But they’ll never give it to you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Tsunami growled. “Hide if you need to.” she said to Riptide. “I might have to bring a guard back with me. By force, with my claws through his ears.” she muttered as she stomped out of the cave.

She took off and flew away from their sight, aiming for the pavilion. Riptide followed her shortly and stood by the door, watching.

Ashley stretched and passed his hand through his completely disorganized hair. He sighed, he could also feel his beard had grown a bit more since he last remembered checking. Facial hair is going to be a problem if I don't find a way to deal with it soon enough...

The dragonets looked at each other awkwardly, Clay raised his talon with the chain to stare at it. Over the ledge of their cave, behind its entrance, Ashley could see the water level rising as the rain was dripping from the foliage that served as a roof to the palace.

"What should we tell her ?" Sunny wondered.

"Why do you ask ? You think we shouldn't ?" Glory responded coldly.

"Seeing how you reacted, I wouldn't expected her to take it well either." Starflight said. "We at least could make it less sudden than what you told us when you got back."

Glory grumped. "Maybe."

Tsunami didn't take long, after just a few minutes, they saw her flying toward them with something in her talon.

“Hooray !” Sunny yelped when Tsunami landed and held up the keys.

“Wow,” Glory said. Sounding almost impressed. “I did not think that was going to work.”

"Oh have a bit of faith sometimes." Tsunami replied. "Alright give me your talon." She said to Clay, who held it up for her. She quickly found the lock and inserted the key inside. She rotated, and the metal bracelet split up in two and fell on the floor. Clay held his talon and rubbed it for a moment, his scales red due to the friction of the chain.

“All better.” He said, grinning at her.

"I have to go." Riptide said. "I can't stay here."

"Alright." Tsunami turned to face him. "Thank you." She said insistently. "Really."

He shuddered with a smile and looked behind. "I should get out of here before someone sees me."

She nodded and wound her tail around his. “I’ll look for you again tomorrow, if I can. There’s a lot of Aquatic I still have to learn.”

Riptide slipped out of the cave and dove for the flooded lake, splashing into the water. Tsunami leaned above the ledge to watch him leave by the tunnel, seeming more alive than she ever looked before.

"Someone got a soft heart." Ashley muttered louder than he wished. He saw Tsunami's face start to turn pink.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.” Glory started.

“Don’t you dare,” Tsunami said, shoving her tail onto Glory's snout.

The Rainwing squawked indignantly and flapped her wings to get away.

Starflight blew a small spurt of flame into the air to try heating the cave more while Sunny curled around the egg, stroking it and murmuring to it.

“The dragonet can’t hear you.” Tsunami pointed out to Sunny.

“We don’t know that.” Sunny said. “She might be scared. I’m just telling her it’s all right, and we’ll take care of her.”

Ashley saw Tsunami hold off a smile, Sunny was always ready to do her best to help anyone, and it was always very refreshing to see. Especially when compared to the 'real' world.

Can I even call it that ? This world feels very real as well. Ashley wondered, not knowing what to think anymore. Maybe... more, than back home, somehow. Ashley lost himself in his own thoughts as the joyful atmosphere with the dragonets seemed to come back slowly, he saw Tsunami leave to find some food but paid no attention to it.

A week ago, I was home, I could sleep on a real bed. Things made sense as they were supposed to. He looked down at his newly healed hand. Now, I'm in this world, there's magic and dragons, things that aren't supposed to exist. Worse, it's just a book, yet, I am here. He looked up at Glory, who he noticed regularly eyed at him. And I am fucking everything up. So why do I feel so much better being here then ? What is there that I didn't have ?

If I could find the answer as to why I am here, it would make everything so much easier.

Eventually, Tsunami came back with three cauldrons and dropped them on the floor. One contained fish, one some clear water, and the last one some sort of seaweed-mushroom salad, her words. She said she found them on the kitchen level, unguarded, so she thought they might as well go to her companions.

Sunny didn't wait to shove her nose in the salad cauldron, Starflight, for his part, stared at the fish one, and shot a burst of fire into it without asking, cooking all the fish at once.

“Hey !” Tsunami protested. “I like them raw.”

“Overruled.” Glory said. “Raw fish is gross.”

“Raw fish is awesome.” Tsunami insisted.

“You have unreliable tastes.” said Glory. “You think your terrifying mother is awesome.”

“She is not terrifying !” Tsunami said. “She’s a wonderful queen !”

“That is what all the scrolls say.” Starflight pointed out through a mouthful of charred fish.

"She wrote them." Ashley said, munching a fish as well at the same time, not having hesitated once to grab a fuming crispy fish and ignoring the heat in his hand.

"What ?" Starflight asked, taken short. He tilted his head at him. "Really ?"

"Yeah." Ashley continued, his mouth full of fish. "You could figure it out just with a bit of research. or-" He pointed at Tsunami. "You can ask her."

Starflight gave Tsunami a quizzical look, as she looked at the human with doubt. "Yeah." She said. "He's right, she wrote most of those."

“She’s a writer ? I had no idea. That’s so- I mean, I wish I- do you think she’d read something I-” He stammered to a stop and fidgeted for a moment with the cauldron. “It’s cool, is all.” he mumbled, shoving a fish in his mouth.

“Anyway, it’s not just the scrolls. Her subjects think she’s a great queen, too.” Tsunami said loyally but with a hint of discomfort in her voice.

“Compelling.” said Glory. “Except for the part where she’s killing off all her daughters.”

Ashley turned to her all of a sudden, not having expected the straight answer at all. Tsunami stared at her, too shocked to answer.

“Well, wait.” Clay said. “That’s just a theory.”

“A good theory.” Starflight observed. “With her daughters dead, and no sisters either, no one will ever be able to challenge her for the throne. She could be queen for a hundred years and die peacefully in her sleep instead of in combat.”

Sunny pulled the egg closer to her and patted it reassuringly. Oh, so that's why she thought the egg might feel unsafe. He looked at the dragonets. When did they come up with this ?

“No !” Tsunami blurted. “You’re so wrong ! She would never- you haven’t seen how protective she is. I mean, look at how she takes care of Anemone.”

“Like a crazy dragon.” Glory interjected, waving a smoky fish at Tsunami. Ashley chuckled, there wasn't much arguing possible against that.

“It’s a good way to make herself look innocent.” Starflight offered. “Besides, think about when the murders started.” He waited with an undertone on his face.

“Oh dear.” Clay said, rubbing his head. “Did we really study this ?”

“I don’t know either.” Sunny whispered to him.

“Starflight.” Tsunami growled. “Just tell us.”

“Very well.” He said. “It was right after the only challenge Queen Coral has ever faced. Her first clutch of eggs had one female in it-”

“Orca.” Tsunami guessed.

Ashley spat a fishbone out. "That's her."

Starflight who was about to continue stopped in his tracks and diverted his attention to the human. "Sorry ?" He said.

"Coral is not killing her daughters, Orca is." Ashley said bluntly.

"But- Orca is dead." Starflight countered.

"Maybe." Ashley said. "But something that you don't seem to know : she was an Animus." Starflight's mouth went agape, even Tsunami took a step backwards in anticipation. Ashley saw Glory's gaze instantly focus back on him. "It's not that much of a secret." He said, trying to soften the atmosphere. "But to be fair it's the kind of knowledge that never really leaves the tribe, especially because they are so isolated."

"And it couldn't be my mother." Tsunami intervened. "She's not like that. She loves her daughters. When she found the other egg broken-" She paused, realizing they didn't know anything about her last adventures. Except for Ashley, of course, but she wasn't aware of that.

So, she proceeded to tell them about everything that happened to her while she was separated from the group. She told them about when she attended the council with her mother, about her scrolls, she told them she had been attacked by an armoured dragon, and how Queen Coral had reacted when Tortoise failed to protect her eggs, and one ended up broken, with the dragonet inside having her neck snapped. Coral's fury had been indescribable, she had ripped off all of the dragon's teeth and claws before killing her in the middle of the crowd.

But before she could continue further, Clay cut her in her tracks. “Someone tried to kill you ?” He said. “Are you all right ?”

“I’d like to know what would have happened to us if they’d succeeded.” Glory said angrily.

“Are you saying Sunny’s in danger now ?” Starflight demanded at the same time. “Because of that egg ? Why would you do that to her ?”

“I don’t mind.” Sunny said, cuddling the egg to her chest. Even though she did look paler than usual.

“No, listen.” Tsunami said. She took a step back toward the cave entrance. “Don’t you see ? We’re doing a good thing by keeping this egg alive. And now Queen Coral has to take care of all of us, because we’re protecting her daughter. She can’t chain you up and not feed you anymore- if that was even her idea in the first place.”

Glory and Starflight exchanged unconvinced glances, Tsunami frowned at them.

“And if we find the real assassin.” She hurried on. “then we’ll be heroes.” She turned to Ashley. "So what were you saying about Orca ?"

Ashley filled his bottle in the water cauldron, giving himself time to think of an answer.

"Well, we know she was an animus, and she wanted to be queen, she wouldn't have challenged Coral otherwise." Tsunami nodded in agreement. "If I remember correctly, I think she was renowned for sculpting and was pretty good at it. But the most important probably were her last words to her mother."

"What about it ?" Tsunami inquired.

"I don't remember them word for word, but I think it was something similar to 'I made you a gift, now you will rule forever.' Something along those lines."

"And no one ever questioned it ?" Starflight wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Certainly not my mother." Tsunami said. "You would have seen how she still adores her, I don't understand it."

"To me, it sounds as if by the time of the fight she already had a plan considering future heirs." Ashley said. "And most probably already had a spell ready for it."

"She would have enchanted something to kill the heirs for her." Starflight guessed. "That could make sense."

"More than my mother killing her daughters." Tsunami said fiercely.

Ashley tried to direct Tsunami's line of thought where it was needed, without giving away too much. Meaning not telling the answer right away. If he could at least remain coherent with what he let the Dragonets know to not sink deeper into trouble. "My guess would be on a statue since she likes those so much."

Tsunami's eyes lighted up with a revelation. "There's a statue of her inside the royal hatchery !"

Glory slapped her own face with her talon hearing this. "Oh my moons what is this queen..."

"Well, that's your answer then." Ashley said.

"But what about the dragon that attacked Tsunami then ?" Clay jumped in.

"That could be something else ? Unrelated to it maybe ?" Starflight supposed.

"I think it's Shark." Tsunami said, showing her teeth. "I thought it was him killing the eggs, he's the one who made Tortoise leave her post when the egg was destroyed. There would have been a secret way inside and he would come in to break the eggs. But if the thing with Orca is true, maybe he knows something and is part of a greater scheme."

"Those are... big accusations." Starflight said.

"You didn't see how he looks at me and anemone, just like Moray. He looks like he's just waiting for a reason to kill me- us. He really doesn't like us."

"I don't think that Shark guy likes anyone." Ashley said. "He seems very antipathic to me."

"Plus, everything matches, he was everywhere something wrong happened, and never present at the moment they did." Tsunami paused to breathe. "He could have attacked me in the tunnel. Queen Coral thought she’d sent him on ahead already, so nobody knew where he was exactly."

“Tsunami.” Clay said, nosing her with his snout. His forehead crinkled worriedly. “It doesn’t sound like you’re safe here. Maybe we should go.”

“Or at least we should go.” Glory suggested. “You can stay here if you really want to. We could leave now, while no one is guarding us.”

Ashley noticed the glint of hesitation in the Seawing's eyes, she wanted to stay with her friends, she didn't want to leave them behind, but she didn't want to leave the chance to find a place with her family behind either.

Sunny was the one to break the silence next. “No. I’m not leaving this egg until it hatches.” She rested her talons on it protectively. “And we can’t split up. We have to fulfil the prophecy together.”

“I agree with Sunny.” Said Starflight. “I don’t love it here either, but we have to stay until we meet Blister. That was the whole point of coming here.”

“Then I think you should stay with us.” Clay said, taking Tsunami’s talons in his. “So we can keep one another safe.”

“All right.” she said as if he’d convinced her. “Then I can help you protect the egg as well.”

“You’d better.” Starflight muttered, glancing at Sunny with a worried look.

"That's it sorted then." Tsunami said, looking from one to another. Eventually, she noticed Ashley ripping a fish in two with his two hands. "Wait, since when do you have your arm back ?" She asked, pointing a claw at him.

"Oh yeah." Glory said. "Ashley has a lot of things to tell you, and a few other things to clarify."

"What ? Did I miss something ?" Tsunami tilted her head with visible scepticism on her face.

"As Sunny said to you earlier, things happened." Glory answered, she then directed her sight to Ashley.

She had that face of someone thinking "I'm going to expose you until you spill everything up."