Evening sat in the leaf-carpeted clearing, staring up at the starry sky.

      It was winter, and she could see soft petals of snow falling softly from the sky. She squinted through the incoming tide of snow, but couldn't see the moon.

      Sighing, she picked up her leaves and set them under a small shelf. Since Evening was little, she loved sorting leafs. The old ones in this pile, the green ones in this one, and so on. She felt like each leaf deserved to be with its friends and family.

      Not that her family was much together, anyway. She desperately wanted to sweep her family all up into a pile, their own pile. But no, it had been five moons since Cloud disappeared, River never left her cave, and Ash flying around desperately for food. Twenty-nine moons since Star had flown away, just like Cloud. And even Rain. Rain, whom pretended like he didn't care for anything, was caught staring at the skies freckled with stars, wings drooping and head bowed. And Evening? Evening came to her clearing every single day, from sunup to sundown, gazing at the tall pine trees, wondering where Cloud could have possibly gone.

Evening had delicately raised a claw to drop the last leaf into its designated pile when a black shape descended upon her from the flurries of snow at a rapidly increasing rate. Alarmed, Evening scooted back to no avail as the shadow fell on top of her leaf piles with a sickening thud.

Evening let out a soft cry of exasperation as her leaves were thrown everywhere, scattered across the clearing and bushes beyond. But quickly her mind was occupied by the motionless shape in from top her-a young dragon.

Evening kept her distance as she eyed the dragon in shock. He was adorned in dark green scales, his leg twisted at a strange angle from the fall. Thankfully, Evening's large leaf heaps softened the fall. Evening could barely make out the slight heartbeat in this new dragon's chest.

Evening had never seen another dragon in the Abandoned Forest before. River and Ash had spun stories for her, about how the tribes slowly killed off dragons until they all left, and only their family stayed behind, lying on the low. Humans were strictly forbidden. Evening knew this, and had no intention of doing so, but she couldn't help wondering... were humans why Cloud and Star left?

Evening snapped out of her trance and crashed through the bushes, running all the way home, before skidding to a stop in her cave. Nobody greeted her or came out to meet her. Evening had long let go of the idea of salvaging her family. Sometimes, in the dark, secrecy moments of the night, she would think resentfully of Star and Cloud, but then quickly shake it off as soon as it came to her, horror-struck by her dark thoughts.

But for the first time in her life, Evening did not run straight to Mother; she ran to her own cave, alone and silent with only the moon.

The next morning, Evening hastened to her clearing, both anxious and excited to see the mysterious dragon. but when she arrived, she halted and stopped, for the dragon was not here.

Leaves were strewn across the clearing haphazardly, signaling that the dragon was not gone, but he obviously woke up and left. But how? He looked about Evening's age; too young to fly. And what about his leg?

Evening, dejected and relieved at the same time, turned around to leave when she heard a faint rustle. She whirled around and squinted- there, in the bushes. A faint track of trampled brambles and thorns. That must be where the strange dragon went. Hesitantly, Evening stepped towards the bushes and pried apart the leaves.

The strange dragon lifted up it's head and stared at her. Frozen in shock, Evening stood there, her arms outstretched as her claws snagged on the leaves. Then to Evening's surprise, he smiled.

"Didn't know there were other dragons here, too. Speaking of which, where am I? Nice to meet you, by the way. I'm Pine."

Pine held out a long, green claw as Evening just gaped at him, thankfully gathering herself into a sitting position.

At last, Evening stammered something like, "I-I-I-uh... Evening. This is- the..."

Pine's grin stretched wider. "Cool name! Can you lead me to the Dreder?"

Evening blinked and stared. "Dreder?"

Pine's grin stayed the same, if not a little forced, as if to say are you wack? "The clan leader. You know?"

Evening, mute once again, could only shake her head. "In the Abandoned Forest?"

Pine's eyes grew huge and his grin grew impossibly wider. "That's where I am? Way too cool. I've heard only, like, five dragons live there. Are you one of them? You must be. Way way way too cool."

He seemed to disregard the bump on his head or his twisted leg. Evening glanced around at the unfamiliar scenery surrounding them, a small alcove among the dense foliage of great oak trees. "Um. Uh. Er-"

        All Evening could muster out was confused stammering, as Pine's jaws opened to clarify his introduction. He unfurled his wings as far as he could and said proudly, "I am Pine of the Islands!" He grinned spastically at Evening, as though expecting it would fix her confusion.

       "Pine... islands?'

       For the first time, Pine's grin faltered and shrunk. "You really don't know who I am? Oh, wait, maybe you can't talk. Is that why you can only mutter?" His smile was back again, as blinding as the piles of fresh snow.

Evening somehow regained her composure and choked out, "I can talk. I have-have never heard of where you come from." Curiosity began to overcome her as she inquired timidly, "I never knew there were other dragons. Do you come from far away?"

Pine folded his wings back against his sides. "She talks! Really? That's so cool. I've heard all about you, though. That's strange. You didn't even know there were any other dragons?"

Evening paused."No. you've heard all about me?"

Pine shrugged. "Yeah. That new dragon always talks about this place."

Evening's eyes grew bigger than watermelons as her mind latched onto a ludicrous thought, fleeting like a shadow, crazy things she'd pondered in the comfort of her cave, deep into the night. "New dragon? Were his scales... white?"

Pine cocked his head to the side as he thought hard, green claws flexing unconsciously. "Yeah, I think so. Name was something like Sky or Thunder. Maybe Cloud. Came with a little human that won't leave his side."

Evening stared at him, jaw slack, before turning around and fleeing through the forest.