“Count on it!” the wind type hatchling replied confidently. Then her stomach rumbled. “...Maybe after I eat,” she corrected herself with a laugh. “Are you hungry?”

The violet revealer dragon yearling shook his head. “I already ate before the storm started. But you go ahead and hunt here if you want,” he invited her, gesturing with his blue-spotted arm in the direction of what Gretel’s distant sight could see was a foxhole.

“Oh, I've never hunted land animals before,” she said. “Maybe you can teach me sometime! For now, I'm too hungry to focus on learning, so I'll just explore and find some birds along the way.”

“Alright. Have fun.” There was a neutrality to his tone as if he were masking disappointment.

She tilted her head. “What? I'll be right back!”

His ears instantly perked up at that, and he let out a relieved sigh. “Oh! Okay. S-Sorry…!”

The hatchling laughed. “You're good. See ya in a bit!”

With the skies clear, Gretel easily took flight and circled the large island on a tilted glide. In the highlands all the way on the other side from the forest she had met her new friend in, her keen eyes spotted roughly seven adult revealer dragons, two hatchlings around her own age, and a yearling. Three were fully grown–roughly twelve-and-a-half feet tall–and two were just slightly smaller, their size indicating they were twelve years old. But the final two adults, the youngest of the seven, were only around six-feet tall; they got her attention just because she recognized their colors: the female was violet while the male was blue. I'll bet they're my friend’s parents.

Without thinking, she used her control over the surrounding air to stifle the sounds of her flapping wings and hovered in a steady descent to get nearer. Based on their sizes, the youngest adults were six years old, which made her second guess if they were his parents; given that he was over a year old, they must have been juveniles a year away from adulthood when they'd had him.

They seemed to be getting along, but she noticed they were actively avoiding the hatchlings, who were chasing each other around the second couple. The yearling stayed by the lone eldest dragon, who shared similar colors with him and one of the hatchlings, both keeping watch.

That must be the leader and his two sons, Gretel thought. The female hatchling looks to be from the second youngest couple. Not much of a society, yet, if the ten of them are the only ones in it. I wonder if they've been on this island for long?

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Her thoughts were interrupted by a growl from her empty stomach. Movement from a bird flying out from the treetops below her caught the white wyvern’s hot pink eyes, and she instantly summoned a wind and spread her purple-striped wings to surf it swiftly toward the prey, catching it between her small-but-sharp fangs. She chomped then swallowed her kill nearly whole. Finally, she returned to the lowlands.

Her friend was waiting for her beneath the tree, almost as if he hadn't moved from that spot in the near-half-hour she'd been gone. He looked kind of in a daze, like he was daydreaming. Gretel silently landed behind him and summoned a light breeze against his backside, grateful that her volume control muted her giggles as she waited for him to notice her.

His folded wings opened slightly as if by instinct in response, but he didn't turn around. He's really in his own head, isn't he? Well let's see him ignore this! The striped hatchling pounced up with a strong enough tailwind to boost her, and the force of her front paws pushing his mid-back made him stumble forward.

“What the–” he cried, startled, then finally looked back to see the wyvern landing lightly from back-flipping off of him. She ended her abilities and audibly laughed at his bewildered expression. “What was that for?”

“Fun!” Gretel managed to answer after catching her breath. “Speaking of fun, what do you like to do? Have you been daydreaming this whole time?”

He hid behind his wings with embarrassment. “N-No!”

“It's okay if you were,” she assured him. “I was just curious, that's all.”

“Um… Maybe I'll tell you later.”

“Oh, alright. By the way, I think I found your society!” the hatchling reported cheerfully. Her smile fell when his green eyes widened with horror. What's with that look?

“You didn't try to talk to them, did you…?” he asked quietly, but his tone had a serious weight to it.

“No way! I don't wanna get killed!”

He visibly relaxed.

“That's why I thought I'd talk to you instead,” she continued. “Ten dragons is an awfully small society.”

“Ten?” he echoed, shocked. “There were only eight besides me when I was there…”

“So, nine, including you? That's even smaller!”

“Yeah…”

“How come?”

“I don't know all of the details… I was hatched on this island, but my family apparently came here from some other land. Wanted a territory of their own, I guess.”

“What other land?”

“Beats me.”

Revealers can't fly as far as wind types, so their original island can't be far from here. Maybe I can find it!

“So, um… About what I do for fun…” the violet yearling continued. “There isn't really much to do by myself. I always liked listening to the birdsong, though. In open spaces where revealers usually live, we don't hear many birds or songs at all. That's… kind of why your singing drew me in.”

“Oh, right! Do you still want me to teach you? To sing, I mean?”

“Yeah!” he immediately answered with an excited flap of his blue wings. Then the biped caught himself and retreated a step, covering his mouth with his clawed hands. “Th-That is, if you're still willing to teach me.”

She giggled with amusement. “Of course!”