Bright morning light filtered through the canopy, casting puddles of green sunshine all across the Summer Palace.

Two nights had passed since Tsunami went to the Royal Hatchery, where she fought Orca's stone statue and proved it to be the reason behind Coral's inability to keep her daughters. But it didn't quite prove Riptide's innocence yet, and Coral wasn't quite ready to let go, so she kept him imprisoned in the meantime.

Most of the Seawings left the palace the same day, leaving only soldiers, and a few other dragons that volunteered to take care of the place. All the Sandwings stayed on site, and Ashley and the Dragonets were kept nearby.

But after some time, the Skywings gave no signs, and some Seawing returned. Because if they wanted to attack, they "would already be there."

Of course, Ashley was extremely sceptical about this line of thought. But at least he managed to rest properly in the meantime. It was, after all, the first time that he slept with a roof above his head since he was brought to this foreign world.

Tsunami returned to them as soon as her 'investigation' had finished. She had said that she wanted to take a break from her mother's political schemes.

Ashley, for his part, made sure to check on his bag. He noticed his book's paper had crimped a little due to the humidity, or maybe because of when they entered the palace. But except for this detail, everything seemed in order, his weapon was safe and unloaded, the rest of his armour still packed in his bag. He kept his knife on him in case he needed it, but he was too lazy to have to search for it.

And to be completely honest with himself, he didn't trust the Sandwings, even though he noticed some glances that were more curious than hateful.

But now, he and the Dragonets were sitting on one of the beaches surrounding the palace's lake, with a little emerald-green dragonet jumping on the sand and stomping it with its feet. When sand flew into her nose, she stopped and sneezed hard enough to throw herself backwards. She then sat up and gave Tsunami an indignant look.

“Well, stop putting sand in your nose, then,” she suggested.

Her little sister shook herself, spotted a tiny crab digging in the sand, and pounced. The crab vanished into its hole, and the dragonet looked at her empty talons in confusion.

“So, what’s her name?” Sunny asked. She leaned into Tsunami’s side for a moment and a look of relief showed on Tsunami's face. Despite the events, the Dragonets had eventually forgiven their Seawing friend.

“It's hard to think of the perfect name,” Tsunami responded. “Mother said it was up to me, so I must be careful.”

“Maybe you should call her Walrus,” Glory offered, dissolving in giggles.

“She’s not a Walrus!” Tsunami said. “She’s much more dignified than that!”

The dragonet jumped at an insect in the air, lost her balance, and landed with her head in the sand and her tail sticking straight up. She flailed her wings furiously until Sunny gently lifted her free.

“Very,” Glory said. “Very dignified.”

"What about Cutefish." Ashley proposed with a smirk. "I think it's fitting."

"She is adorable." Sunny agreed.

"That's not even a name!" Tsunami cried.

“She’s awfully cute,” Clay added. “I think she has your snout, Tsunami.”

Tsunami's face softened a little bit, she flicked her tail, pleased. Her gaze wandered around before landing on someone behind Ashley. The human turned around and saw Starflight anxiously staring up at the pavilion, twitching his claws in the sand.

Glory noticed him too and poked him sharply in the ribs.

“What’s going on with you?” Glory demanded. “Why are you crawling around licking Blister’s talons? You've already been told why you shouldn't do that.”

“I’m not!” he protested.

Tsunami gave him an accusatory glance. "Oh yeah?"

"Alright... maybe I am." Starflight looked down. "But they told me to!"

"So you're just going to listen to the Nightwings like a mindless sheep then?" Glory said. "You don't even know them!"

“But what if I just think she could be a good queen,” he mumbled.

“Oh come on, you don’t even believe that,” the Rainwing countered. “Back under the mountain, you specifically said she was kind of evil and probably had sinister plans for all of Pyrrhia.”

“Oh, you did say that,” Clay agreed. He poked a hole in the sand for the small dragonet to climb into. “I remember that.”

Starflight flashed him an annoyed look. “That you remember?”

"Why don't you drop the façade Starflight? She's not even there." Tsunami asked. Her little sister rolled into the hole and then jumped back out, flapping her wings to shake off the sand.

“Well- at least Blister’s smart,” Starflight stammered. “She’s- uh... she’s better than Burn or Blaze.”

"You forget that she hurt one of our guardians." Sunny brought up sharply. "And that she's keeping a close eye on us, we have dragons to help but we can't even leave."

"yeah, I took a look around, there are guards everywhere we could hide," Glory said. "Unless you can turn invisible of course." She added with a proud smirk.

"We need to meet Blaze. Maybe all the stories about her brainlessness have been exaggerated," Tsunami proposed.

“Doubtful,” said Starflight glumly.

"So we're done here then?" Glory asked Tsunami. "All we need is to find a way out."

Ashley stood up and stretched his arm with a growl of satisfaction.

"What about you?" Tsunami pointed a claw at him. "You look a lot better than before we came here."

"Yeah, I feel a lot less on the verge of death. You can probably guess why." Tsunami nodded. "I really don't like Blister, but at least I finally had some good rest." The Seawing looked at her friends and Ashley noticed a hint of guilt on her face.

Ashley felt something sharp tickling his leg and looked down, at his feet, the baby dragon was studying the human with wide curious eyes.

"Hey, could you try not to harm my pants? Those are the only ones I've got," He asked her, she lifted her chin straight up to look him in the eyes and tilted her head.

They stared for a moment, then she smelled his clothes and started scratching his leg again, he tried to move away but she quickly jumped to catch him.

"Someone is feeling playful today," Glory observed as Ashley sighed.

He felt the sting of her claws climb higher and let out a yelp of surprise. "Hey, what's-" Before he could protest, she jumped up and caught onto his back, making him almost lose his balance. Amused, the five dragonets watched him as Tsunami's sister used her tiny sharp claws to creep up onto his shoulder. He felt her surprisingly strong talons dig into his skin. Not enough to make him bleed, but enough for it to hurt.

"What the hell is she doing?" Ashley said. The dragon eventually reached the top and sat on his shoulder, its forelegs holding onto the top of his head for stability and messing his hair up.

The baby dragon stretched her head up and happily chirped at Tsunami.

"I think she likes you," She said to Ashley who was still trying to keep his balance. He gave her a dead glance, which prompted Glory to giggle.

Wingbeats sounded in the air above them, and they all looked up to see Coral, Anemone, Blister, and Moray circling down from the Summer Palace pavilion.

When they landed, Coral gave a disgusted look toward Ashley but didn't speak up. Anemone raised a talon to her snout, hiding a laugh.

"I see your daughter can already tell which species is superior to the other." Blister let out sarcastically.

"Of course," The Seawing Queen responded. "My dragonet is the smartest in the world."

The dragon finally decided to jump off and ran to her other sister. Anemone laughed and flipped her over once she reached her. The tiny dragon yelped, struggled upright again, and started clawing her way up Anemone’s leg just like she did with Ashley.

“Have you picked a name?” Anemone asked Tsunami.

“What do you think of Auklet?” Tsunami said.

“That’s a kind of seabird,” Starflight said in his know-it-all voice, looking at Clay.

“Oh,” Clay said. “Cool. I mean, I knew that.”

Ashley stared at Tsunami, she was looking at her mother with a look that showed both pride and relief.

“Orca’s statue has finally been destroyed,” Queen Coral said with a sigh. “It was so beautiful, too. She was so talented. I can’t believe she hid her animus powers from me. She could have trained with Whirlpool, too.”

“Wow. She really missed out,” Tsunami said with audible irony, winking at Anemone.

“We’ll have to examine all the things she carved,” Coral mused reluctantly. “Just to make sure there aren’t any other enchantments lurking around.”

“So we’re sure it was Orca, right?” Tsunami asked. “No one else in the palace could be an animus?” Her voice wavered slightly at the last words. She was aware of Turtle, Ashley explained it to them earlier, even if he chose not to give his name away, so only Glory knew it was the prince.

But they already knew it wasn't him, Orca was the murderer, not another dragon.

Coral shook her head. “Before we destroyed it, Anemone reanimated the statue and made it reveal who had enchanted it. It said Orca, plain as day.” She sighed again. “Orca carved that statue and dedicated it to the hatchery shortly before she challenged me. I gather she expected to win, so she was setting up a way to get rid of her possible heirs and challengers.”

“That explains her last words to you,” Moray hissed.

“Yes,” said Coral sadly. “She said, ‘I did this all wrong. You’re going to rule forever, aren’t you, Mother? You should thank me. No one can stop you now.' ”

Ashley noticed Tsunami's spine shiver, she twisted her neck and gave him a side glance before reporting her attention to her mother again.

“But...” Clay said hesitantly. “But if Orca was the assassin, then who attacked Tsunami in the tunnel?”

Queen Coral shrugged. “We’ll catch them eventually,” she said. “That’s how stories work.”

"Yes, but life isn't a fictional story..." Ashley muttered to himself, putting his hand over his face. He did not even acknowledge the fact that theirs was supposed to be, everything here was as real as it was back home, at least it felt like it to him.

Ashley saw Tsunami reach to her neck with one of her talons. The Seawing hadn't come unscathed from her fight in the hatchery, she would live, but she had a few ribs fractured and a nasty scar crossing her gills covered with bandage. But of course, she was still as fierce and proud as ever.

“Now that we are certain of the real assassin,” Tsunami reminded Coral, “you promised to set Riptide free.”

“I know I did,” said the queen. “But I’m not sure quite what to do with him. Clearly, he can’t stay in my kingdom. He’ll have to crawl back to those Talons of Peace and see if they’ll take him.”

“Maybe he can come with us,” Tsunami said, then snapped her mouth shut. But it was too late. Coral and Blister were now both staring at her in a very uncomfortable way.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Oh Tsunami... Ashley thought.

“With you?” Coral said slowly. “Are you going somewhere?”

“We- I- yes- I think we should,” Tsunami said. She felt her friends shifting closer together behind her. “I don’t belong here, Mother. I wanted to, but- I’m only causing trouble, and I’m not doing what I was hatched to do. I don’t speak the underwater language. I don’t understand the Council. You have two daughters now who could be great queens one day.” She nodded at Anemone. “But my destiny is somewhere else. I have to go stop the war. With my friends.”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Blister said softly while narrowing her eyes at her.

“I don’t know,” Tsunami said. “We’ll figure it out.”

"Properly," Ashley said. "We're going to do that the right way, and that implies not staying motionless under five rocks."

"We? According to the latest news it doesn't seem to me that you are a dragon, scavenger." Blister responded.

"I'm not planning to leave those kids anytime soon," Ashley said defiantly, which visibly upset the heir.

“We were thinking we should go meet Blaze,” Clay suggested. “Just to be fair.”

"Clay you mudhead!" Ashley and Glory exclaimed at the same time. "Are you fucking dense!?" The human finished, Glory stared at him with a startled face.

"What? "

“H- hey, it won’t change how we- I mean that we think you’re-” Starflight said hurriedly to Blister, then trailed off under Tsunami’s baleful look.

“No,” said Blister as she stepped closer. “No one is leaving.”

“You can’t tell us what to do,” Tsunami said.

“I am your choice,” Blister hissed. “The Ni — the Talons of Peace want me.”

“Oh?” Glory said. “Do they know that?”

Ashley quickly grabbed his bag and set it on his back, there was no easy way out.

“It’s not their decision anyway!” Tsunami said.

“Your lives could be very easy from here on,” said Blister. “All you have to do is tell everyone the dragonets of destiny have chosen me as the next SandWing queen. And you can do that from here, where I can keep an eye on you.”

“Where you can keep us prisoner, you mean,” Tsunami said angrily. “We’ve had quite enough of that, thank you. Mother, tell her you wouldn’t do that to me.”

Queen Coral gave Blister an anxious look. “My dear, I’m sure they will still choose you after meeting Blaze. No one would choose her in a million years.”

"That I can agree with," Ashley said, trying to defuse the situation. "An incompetent leader would just let the Sandwings into a second civil war right away. Burn is also already out of the question."

“Perhaps, but first you'd have to survive that long,” Blister said smoothly, she then faced Coral. “You know better than anyone how dangerous it is out there, Coral. Remember what happened to Gill. We’ll really be protecting the dragonets by keeping them here.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” Coral said, sounding relieved. “She’s right, Tsunami. Just stay here and we’ll take good care of all of you.”

Tsunami looked back at her friends, Ashley saw Starflight looking terrible, as his habitude, but the three others seemed hopeful Tsunami could get them out of the situation. He stared back at her and met her glance. He gave her a look that said "If you want us to get out of here, you better come up with something good."

“This isn’t the right place for my friends either,” Tsunami continued. “Glory wants to go home- right, Glory? And Sunny should find her parents. It’s not fair that I get to do those things and they don’t. We just-” She squared her wings. “We have to go, and if you try to keep us, you’ll be no better than the Talons or Queen Scarlet.”

That's a good start.

Blister glared at Starflight. “Don’t you have something to say about this, NightWing?”

"No, I don't think he does," Ashley responded instead.

Starflight stared down at his talons miserably.

She hissed. “Useless. There is something wrong with all of you, isn’t there? Maybe that dirty scavenger tainted your minds. But you’re the dragonets I have, and I’m not letting you go.” Blister turned to Coral. “Throw them in your prison.”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Tsunami said. “Mother? Right? You wouldn’t do that?”

“It might help your decision,” Blister hissed, “if you knew exactly who killed your husband in the SkyWing arena.”

Ashley saw Tsunami freeze into place, but he wouldn't hold himself for much. I can play that game too.

Coral’s gills flared and her eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

“You know he died in the arena,” Blister said. “But do you know who his opponent was? The dragon who ripped the life out of him?”

"But maybe you should also know," Ashley said suddenly, "that Blister is the one who took away your vengeance on Webs by killing him herself. That she wants Riptide dead for her own reasons and doesn't care even so slightly about your daughters. And that's without mentioning the gaslighting and manipulation tactics she uses to have you trust her."

Blister arched her neck like a cobra and hissed at him, but Ashley didn't flinch. She looked ready to stab him with her poisonous tail, but all she said was, “You’ll be sorry for that, you worthless scavenger.”

"You will be sorry when I see you disintegrated into ashes or when I blow your brain out of your skull." Ashley shot back, even taking a step toward Blister who frowned even more. He could feel the terrified glances of the Dragonets behind him.

Coral wrapped her wings around Anemone and Auklet and took a step back toward the water. She looked from Blister to Tsunami and Ashley like she wasn’t sure who to trust anymore.

"You pest should learn where your place is," Blister spat. "I could rip your head off right now. You scavengers are nothing but prey to us."

Ashley continued regardless of her threats. "Yet you are still scared of us, because you know very well it doesn't stop there." He looked at her in the eyes. "Your plans hold no considerations for your dragons and your allies. And that is exactly what is going to lose you."

“Don’t listen to them, Coral,” Blister said. “They’re only dragonets with a scavenger. Dragonets never know what’s best for them, and scavengers always try to harm anything they can.”

“I think we can be pretty sure prison isn’t at the top of the list, though,” Tsunami snapped. “And from now on, Blister, you show some respect and address my mother as Queen Coral.”

Smoke curled from Blister’s snout, the Sandwing's nice façade was now completely down.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Coral said, signalling with her tail. A platoon of SeaWing guards appeared from one of the caves. “But for your own safety, Tsunami, you’re staying here for now.”

“Mother!” Tsunami yelled. She smacked a guard in the snout with her tail and bared her teeth at another. “Think for yourself for once! Let us go!”

But Queen Coral turned away, avoiding Blister’s gaze as well. She curled Auklet into one of her talons and flew back to the pavilion with her daughters.

"Who's sorry now?" Blister asked Ashley, still inches away from his face, hatred was wrinkling her snout.

"because you think you won there?" Ashley replied. "That was the only chance you got to determine your own fate princess. Now you can go and fuck yourself in the arse, because next time we will meet, you will be brought further down than your mother could ever have been." He was almost spitting into her face. "I know everything, the Nightwings can't help your fate. You are set to die, Blister."

"Am I supposed to believe that the pathetic creature you are can hurt me?"

"I have killed bigger and heavier than you before," was the last thing he said before a Seawing guard grabbed him and started bringing him to the prison cave behind the dragonets.

Few Seawings were looking at them, staring from the distance without saying anything. But among all of them, Ashley recognized one smaller familiar dragon. Turtle.

He gave the worried dragonet a significant look, hoping he would understand his help was going to be needed.

To his surprise, Ashley was lifted up and the guards started flying toward the ceiling. They reached for a cave near the canopy, a blue flickering light seemed to be emitted from inside, and he noticed crackling sounds reminiscent of electric cracks coming from inside.

The guards landed in loud thuds and he was dropped onto his feet, he glanced behind and saw the dragonets being prodded inside with sharp spears.

In front of him, a huge cave dimly lit was crossed by a long swirling stone bridge. On the side, many different dragons were kept prisoners, but they weren't kept in by bars and walls like in a regular prison. Each 'cell' was a small island encircled by water, and, to prevent dragons from flying away, they were surrounded by cascades falling from the ceiling and pouring water all around the islands.

It looked surreal, but he wasn't fooled by the look of the prison, he knew this choice was purely practical. If he hadn't already known it, the noises and lights would have quickly given away that this water was filled with electricity. Ashley could feel his hair dress on the back of his head already.

He looked at the water cages. Behind the wet curtain, he could see Skywings, Icewings, Sandwings, and even a very large Mudwing spread across multiple cells. Most prisoners looked wary of the water and would flinch at any stray droplet.

Ashley peered into the canals, many iridescent jellyfish were pulsing here and there, but most importantly, dark green shapes would occasionally swim between the creatures. Close by, one of those shapes surfaced. Its flat head poked the surface to let its nostril up for a second before sinking back into the water.

Ashley stepped back and stumbled against a guard's leg, it was huge. The creature was almost as long as he was tall and appeared as thick as a dragon's tail. A few bubbles fizzed and snapped for a moment where it had been.

The guard growled at him and he quickly moved away, feeling unsafe. Sunny was pressed against Clay, her eyes wide and terrified. Unsurprisingly, Starflight was lost in studying the cages.

The guards pressed them forward and they walked along the bridge, passing numerous dragons. Ashley tried to see if he could find Riptide, but they were passing too fast to have time to make up who was hidden behind the cascades. He almost had to run to stay within the dragon's pace.

They finally stopped before one of the largest prison islands. It was similar to all others except for its size, and no water was coming from the ceiling.

“Hop over,” growled one of the guards. “All of you.”

“What if we don’t?” Tsunami asked.

“Then you’ll be dragged off to separate cages, instead of getting to share one,” he answered.

Clay jumped over the moat immediately. His talons scraped against the hard rock floor as he landed with a heavy thud. He turned and reached out to catch Sunny as she leapt after him. Starflight followed, and then Glory, and finally, reluctantly, Tsunami flapped her wings to lift herself over the chasm and land beside her friends.

That left Ashley on the bridge, who was last.

"Well, and how am I supposed to get there now? Magically develop the ability to fly?" He asked.

"You jump, and if your pathetic legs can't get you so far you swim."

"Swim? I ain't getting wet in an environment that is packed with electricity."

"Not my problem." The Seawing pushed him straight into the moat.

"Ashley!" Sunny cried as he fell into a splash of water.

Bubbles of air surrounded him and blocked his vision for a moment as he sunk under the surface. Eventually, the last one climbed to the surface and he could finally see where he was.

There were Jellyfish all around him, slowly moving into the water. Thankfully, none were close due to his splash. He looked toward the island and noticed its base was sinking even deeper into the water. In fact, it was more akin to a platform which had been risen to the surface, and the water he was in shaped into a surrounding corridor with no floor, as he only saw darkness when he looked down.

He noticed some sort of round door behind him and grabbed onto it, then pressed his legs against the wall and pushed. Slowly, he swam to the other side, trying to avoid all the jellyfish the best he could. He felt one of the animals brush against his legs, but thankfully his clothes were ample enough to protect him against the sting.

It was only a matter of seconds before he reached the other side. Once there, he grabbed the top of the wall and pulled himself out of the water just in front of Sunny.

"Oh my moons are you ok?" She asked worriedly.

Ashley stood up, squeezing his clothes to wring out the water. Great, I'm all wet now. He turned around and faced the Seawing guards, shooting them a furious glance. One of them started pulling on a chain, which opened the door he saw a moment earlier and three of the large snake-like creatures wriggled through it.

At the same moment, a roar made itself heard and water started falling all around the island they were standing on.

Ashley turned around only to see the dragons stare at him just in time to see Starflight draw Tsunami away from the water.

"What?" he asked. "Some poor water ain't going to kill me."

"We just- weren't sure you could swim," Tsunami said.

Ashley blinked a few times at the answer. "Of course I know how to swim, that's part of the basics."

"Oh..." Tsunami said almost disappointed.

“What are those creepy things in the water?” Sunny wondered while looking at the moat.

“I think- I think they’re electric eels,” Starflight said.

“Oh, brrrr,” Glory said, shaking out her wings as if they were covered in bugs. “The scrolls about them gave me nightmares for months.”

"You? Nightmares? You're joking right?" Ashley said to her, she nodded. "Crazy."

Sunny twined her tail around one of Clay’s forelegs as if she were trying to get even closer to him. “What’s an electric eel?” she asked.

“They give off a kind of shock,” Starflight explained. Behind him, a blue fizzing light sparked up the waterfall and vanished again, making all the dragonets jump.

"yeah, and electric shocks are no joke," Ashley said. "It's basically the same stuff as in a lightning. You can guess how being struck by it would hurt."

“And it can be strong enough to kill a dragon,” added Starflight. “Especially in salt water, and when the eels are as big as the ones down there.”

“So all this water around us-” Tsunami started.

“Could be charged with deadly force at any time,” Starflight said. “Not all the time- it’s not a constant current. But if they’re mad or hungry, they’re probably giving off shocks pretty frequently, and then just touching the water could transfer that to you. Even if it only stunned you, it would hurt a lot.”

"And immobilize you too," Ashley said. "Electric shocks can contract your muscles for a second. That means you can't move." He noticed Sunny curl up a little more at those words.

Tsunami frowned at the cascade. Through it, they could see the blurry outline of the guards slithering away. Evidently, they trusted their nasty prison set up to keep the dragonets and their friend in.

“I can’t believe we’re prisoners again,” Clay said with a sigh. “Why does this keep happening to us?”

“I know!” Sunny agreed. “Doesn’t anyone trust the prophecy? If they believe in it, can’t they have faith that we’ll do the right thing?”

“Everyone is trying to make sure the prophecy turns out the way they want it to,” Tsunami said. She turned in a circle, but there wasn’t enough room to pace without brushing her wings or tail into the water. She sat back down with a growl. “It would be helpful if the stupid prophecy had been a little more clear about what was supposed to happen.”

“Why didn’t you use your venom when they grabbed us?” Starflight asked Glory.

“Believe me, I will,” the RainWing said fiercely. “I’m waiting for the right moment.”

“I think that’s smart,” Tsunami said. “Even with Glory’s magical death spit, we probably couldn’t have fought off the whole palace, and it would have given away our best secret weapon.”

Glory looked surprised at the remark. “Well, thank you,” she said. “Although I’m going to vote against calling it ‘magical death spit,’ please.”

"Vote discarded," Ashley said. "Magical death spit stays."

“Maybe tonight,” Tsunami said, lowering her voice. “When most of the palace is sleeping. Maybe we can fight our way out then.”

“Past the water with the shocks that might kill us?” Sunny asked. “What good is magical death spit against lightning eels?”

“Electric eels,” Starflight corrected her.

“We are NOT CALLING IT MAGICAL DEATH SPIT,” Glory said.

“Or-” Tsunami looked as she remembered something. “Maybe we can convince someone to let us go.”

“I like that plan,” Clay said, bobbing his head.

“I like the one where we melt everyone’s eyeballs on our way out the door,” Glory said.

"Ew," Ashley said. "That's gross... and inefficient."

“With magical death spit,” Sunny said, then buried her head in Clay’s wings to hide her giggles as Glory glared at her.

“Three moons, Glory,” said Tsunami. “That’s horrible.”

“Who are you?” Glory asked. “What happened to the SeaWing who’d fight her way out of anything?”

“I’ll still fight,” Tsunami said. “I’m just saying, there are a lot of these guards who are really on our side. I bet we can find someone to help us.”

"You're right," Ashley said. "Many dragons are tired of fighting and would gladly help you. Knowing when to pick your fight is important, being able to avoid it is better."

"I'm glad to see you learned it," Ashley said to Tsunami with a grin.

Tsunami just huffed in response and lifted her chin with indignation.

After a few seconds, Sunny lifted her snout. “Did you hear something?”

“Like what?” Starflight asked.

The little Sandwing hesitated. “It’s hard to be sure over the water sounds.”

“Probably nothing,” Tsunami said. “Nothing helpful anyway.” Sunny frowned at her.

“Someone’s coming,” Ashley observed. He narrowed his eyes. "Multiple someones."

Two blurry shapes were approaching on the path toward them, one of them was paler than the other, but both seemed small.

“Is that what you heard?” Starflight asked Sunny.

She shook her head, looking perplexed.

As the dragon came closer, Ashley thought he recognized the colouring. And the size.

“Anemone?” Tsunami called.

“There you are!” Anemone hurried over to their cage. She stood as close as she could get to the moat and the crackling water.

Behind her, Turtle was standing, not looking very confident.