A cold wind blew across the wooded mountain summit, cutting Zephyr straight to his bones. It was a cold night, and uncomfortably dark. The night was too windy and too cold for even the moon to show her face, her luminosity buried behind a myriad of thick clouds, leaving poor Zephyr all alone in the dark without the faintest light to accompany him. He wouldn’t be outside right now, if it were up to him.

Zephyr was a Eudimorphodon, a type of little winged-reptile, or pterosaur. Contrary to his name, he did not care for the wind, especially when it blew as strongly and fiercely as it did on this already bitterly-cold night. He wasn’t the adventurous type; if he had his way, he would be snugly nestled inside the monastery walls beside a roaring fire, a stone tablet from the monastery library in his claws. But tonight, he wouldn’t be allowed to have his way.

He had been asked (or, as he might frame it- coerced) by his friend (though, standing outside in this bitter cold, he might be inclined to reconsider whether that status was still applicable), Tempest, to keep a look-out for him. It was a simple job: just stand outside and keep an eye out for his return, making sure nobody else came to investigate his disappearance- especially not any of the monastery Elders. Sure, real simple.

And real miserable too. Aside from just being cold, Zephyr was awfully nervous. The cold, at least, he could try to mitigate; he still hadn’t quite grown into his robe and so there was still a sufficient outgrowth of fabric he could wrap around himself, like a cowl or a blanket. It didn’t help much, and the robes were crafted from an itchy, uncomfortable fabric that made them particularly unpleasant to wear as it already was, but it still made him feel a little better.

But his nerves, those he couldn’t help so easily. Leaving the monastery without an Elder’s supervision (or at the very least, their permission!) was expressly forbidden. But leaving the monastery to go visit the local village- and, what’s worse, leaving to visit a girl from the village, was especially egregious. Dozens of potential punishments flashed through the young pterosaur’s mind: starvation, banishment, or even- though he dreaded to even consider the awful possibility- loss of his library privileges! If he lost access to his beloved library over his lovestruck friend and some girl he had never met, he would- …well, he wasn’t imaginative enough to think of what he would do. But it would definitely be something bad!

Tempest, he thought. You had better get back here soon! If I get in trouble over you- he paused, letting his teeth chatter in his beak for a moment. I’ll be really mad!

Where was he, anyways? Tempest had promised to be back at least a half an hour ago and he clearly was not back yet. Zephyr’s mind spun again, running through a variety of unfortunate scenarios that could be delaying his friend: maybe he had been attacked in the village, or crashed into a tree on the way back (it was very hard to fly at night!), or- worst of all- maybe one of the Elders had caught him!

If they found him, Zephyr thought, overtaken by brief panic. Then they must know I’m out here too! They must be coming for me next! The pterosaur spun around, eyes darting all around through the darkened mountaintop all around him, half-expecting to be immediately greeted by a pair of angry adult eyes. Finding no one, Zephyr exhaled a sigh of relief and returned to his lonely vigil.

The wind blew again, stronger this time, and Zephyr buried his head into his robes. The clouds parted just a little, finally allowing the faintest sliver of moonlight to peek its way through. There, flying just beneath the wooded ridgeline shone a pair of eyes, making their way towards the mountain’s summit. Tempest! No, wait- there were two pairs of eyes, and they were rapidly ascending to meet him!

Zephyr spun around once, and then again, scrambling to find somewhere to hide, to escape from those quickly-encroaching eyes, to no avail. In a sudden panic, the little pterosaur buried himself into his robes and fell to the ground, hoping it would be sufficient to hide him from view in the dark. With a rushing whoosh, two sets of feet landed on the earth beside the cowering Eudimorphodon.

“Zephyr?” A familiar voice called out his name as strong claws gently lifted him to his feet. Standing before him was Tempest, a muscular Caelestiventus. Another pterosaur, Tempest was robustly built and easily dwarfed Zephyr. He wasn’t fully mature either, but he had already overtaken the smaller pterosaur by about a foot. There was a smile painted across his beak and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “I’m glad you’re still out here! I was worried you might’ve got cold wings and ran back to hide in the monastery. Wasn’t this more exciting than those boring tablets you’re always reading?”

“No. And they’re not bor-” Zephyr began, a hint of indignation in his voice, but Tempest was too excited not to continue. He swept one wing aside to reveal another figure landing just behind him- a female figure. She was another Caelestiventus, like Tempest, but more slender and lithe. She was still taller than Zephyr.

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“Zephyr, this is Celeste,” Tempest said, waving his wing between the two of them. Celeste offered a graceful semi-curtsy, dipping her body and splaying out her wings out to the side. For his part, Zephyr offered an awkward, half-hearted wave.

“Tempest,” Zephyr hissed, sidling up beside his friend and attempting a whisper. He was not good at whispering. “It’s bad enough that you went into the village to meet her, but you brought her back with you? You know girls aren’t allowed in the monastery!”

“Technically, these aren’t part of the monastery grounds,” Celeste chimed in. Zephyr glared, and she stifled a mischievous giggle. “Not that we intend to stop here, though. Tempest promised to give me a tour.”

“You did what?”

Zephyr was not highly regarded for any sort of subtlety, and the explosive emotional mixture of anger, horror, fear, disgust, and betrayal spiraling through his mind must have been plainly apparent upon his beak.

“Now hold on, Zeph, just relax,” Tempest wrapped a wing around his friend’s shoulder and did his best to keep him calm. “It’s just a quick look around. Completely harmless, I promise. We’ll be in and out before anyone-” Tempest pushed Zephyr away and narrowed his eyes, his gaze locking with something standing behind the smaller pterosaur. “Didn’t I say to make sure you were alone when I came back?”

“What?” Zephyr stammered, spinning to see what Tempest was looking at. “I don’t understand. We are alone!”

Tempest pointed to a sizeable boulder resting just a few yards behind them. A guttural, booming laugh sounded from somewhere nearby, and then- to Zephyr’s horror- the boulder began to stir. At first the mass merely lifted itself a few inches off the ground. Then, after a brief stretch, the gargantuan figure stood erect to its full height, towering easily six feet off the ground. Two bright yellow eyes blinked as the figure shook itself. Its gaping maw- itself almost as large as Zephyr was- curled into a toothy smile. The rest of its body- what Zephyr had mistook for a boulder- stretched on almost fifteen feet further before ending in stocky tail. An ill-fitting robe was draped across its body.

“We are?” the figure asked, his voice low and commanding. Zephyr and Tempest recognized him at once: Pax Excelsus, another member of their order.

“Pax! How long have you been waiting there?” Zephyr exclaimed, instinctively scrambling away from the colossal reptile. Pax still hadn’t finished growing either, but it hardly mattered. Hardly anyone in the land could rival the size of a Postosuchus, let alone a pair of little pterosaurs. If they didn’t know him, they would be wise to take to the air and flee. Celeste made a move to do just that, but Tempest waved her down and she stood her ground.

“A while.” Pax grinned, the moonlight glinting off his teeth. “You’re kinda a crappy lookout, Zephyr. If I had been the monster in one of those little stories you like to read so much,” he paused for effect, before extending one long claw to poke the pterosaur in his chest. “You’d be the reason all the heroes died.”

Zephyr opened his beak to defend himself, but Tempest stepped forward and cut him off. “You aren’t allowed to be out here right now either, Pax. If you go tell the Elders, you’ll be in just as much trouble as the rest of us.”

“I didn’t bring an outsider- a female outsider- here, Tempest. That might look a little worse than our just going out on a little late-night nature walk- right, Zeph?” Pax shot a grin at Zephyr, who shrunk under an instinctual urge to shield himself from those glistening teeth.

“I think, maybe,” Zephyr stammered, pacing. “Maybe this got a little out of hand. There’s been enough excitement for one night, right? Maybe we all ought to just head home, before it gets too late.” He spun to beckon to beckon to the female Caelestiventus, who looked far more amused than bothered in the slightest- either by the hulking reptile standing in front of her or the threat of any sort of punishment to her new friends. “Celeste, maybe you want to head home?”

“No thank you,” she replied, before stepping out and formally introducing herself to Pax Excelsus, who shuffled into an awkward bow in turn. “Your home is so isolated and mysterious, and I was promised a tour.” She nodded to Pax. “If your big friend obliges?”

“He does,” Pax said, beaming, before casting a nod to a visibly-tense Tempest. “And he certainly has no interest on tattling to the Elders. This is the most exciting thing that’s happened here in months; at least since Elder Stultum got attacked by a temnospondyl after falling in the pond. I’m in.”

“Then it’s settled,” Tempest said, taking Celeste by the wing. “We’re going on a moonlight tour.”

The pair of Caelestiventus passed Zephyr and Pax, with Tempest leading the way down the summit and back towards the monastery. Pax turned to join them, leaving Zephyr alone at the mountain summit. He certainly did not consider the matter settled, and he still did not think this was a good idea. The moon was out in full by now, shining a lunar spotlight down on his summit perch. He also did not like being alone, even if the moon was kind enough to finally accompany him, and he had to admit that Tempest was right- this was more exciting than his stories. A nasty, biting wind blew once more, and the little pterosaur finally made up his mind.

“Wait, I’m coming too!” he called to his friends, scrambling down the mountainside. Tempest looked back and smiled, beckoning him to hurry to catch up.

They did still need a look-out, after all.