The SeaWing tiredly let out a sigh, angling his wings awkwardly to catch the wind current, which was nothing like the water currents he was used to. He reached towards the pouch around his chest, checking to make sure it wasn't in danger of flying off. His gaze was fixed upon the entrance to his new school, 'Jade Mountain Academy.'

As he slowed his wingbeats and hovered closer, he could see several other dragonets there, and a few adult dragons who were presumably parents coming to say goodbye. Seven thought wistfully of his own mom and dad, who couldn't go with him due to their stressful jobs at the palace.

"I'm sorry, we're just too busy to spend time with you." Starfish, his mother, had said while nervously fiddling with the webs between her claws. "You know how the queen is. Her Majesty won't tolerate us abandoning our work for something like this."

"You'll meet plenty of friends at Jade Mountain." Seven's father, Oyster, reassured him. "You can't be a lone wolf forever; it's not good for you."

And off they sent their own dragonet to a strange mountain academy with dragons from all tribes. As if the school he usually went to at the Sea Kingdom wasn't good enough, Seven thought with a slight huff of indignation.

Looking around, he begrudgingly decided it couldn't delayed for any longer. He may not want to go to this school, but that didn't mean he was going to make a bad impression.

Seven carefully glided down into the entrance. A welcome banner was strung up above, which he didn't even bother to read all the way through. He headed into the Great Hall, which was bigger than he'd expected. He estimated that it was big enough for about a hundred dragons to fit inside, with plenty of open air to fly overhead, as long as you weren't dumb enough to crash into a stalactite.

The blue-green SeaWing stopped suddenly, and took a scroll out of his pouch, which listed all the Winglets and each student in it.

It was delivered by a Talons Of Peace member, sent on a mission to advertise the school after a few previous dragonets had graduated from the academy. The only other student that Seven could recognize was Deep, whom he'd only talked to once.

He was studying the names closely, until he heard clawsteps growing closer and closer to him. He looked up only a moment before a light pink female dragon barreled into him, sending them both crashing onto the stone floor.

His immediate thought was that he was being attacked, and then wondered who'd be stupid enough to attempt assault in public with others around.

"Oops! Sorry, sorry!" The pink stranger jumped off immediately, staring at Seven apologetically. "I got carried away! Anyways, hi! Are you Seven? You must be, right? Such a weird name, but I guess I can't really judge. Ha!"

The SeaWing gingerly got up from the floor, fully aware of all the curious eyes on him. He picked up his scroll and stuffed it back into his pouch as the dragon who'd ran into him continued talking. "I'm Rhodochrosite, but you can call me Rhodo for short!" She beamed. Seven was suddenly hit with a sense of dread. He recognized that name— they were part of the same Winglet.

"I bet you're wondering how I knew who you were." Rhodo babbled on. "Easy! I asked every single SeaWing here if they were part of the Silver Winglet, and they ALL said no! So I just knew that you were the one for sure!"

"Really." Seven replied dryly, slightly agitated by this talkative dragon. Now that he was thinking clearly again, he fully realized that she was a pink SkyWing, which surprised him. He didn't know they could be pink, but he supposed there were odd colors in every tribe. SeaWings were certainly no strangers to the concept of unnatural scale colors.

She was also weirdly small for a SkyWing. Even if she was at the minimum age required to attend Jade Mountain Academy, which was three, SkyWings tended to grow faster than other tribes. Though she looked very young, her petite body was curved in a way that suggested she was a skilled hunter. Her wings were also huge, which meant she was probably flew very quickly. She was wearing a leather pouch around her neck— perhaps she was a messenger.

Rhodo kept smiling at him brightly. "Wow, we're in the same Winglet!" She clapped her talons together like a hatchling. "This is so exciting. I met our IceWing earlier, but I sort of left her at the prey center. Let's go, let's go!" And with that, she happily bounded away, leaving a disgruntled and confused SeaWing behind to follow her.

"Wait!" He called out, to no response. What in the moons was that? Seven thought as he trailed after her, expertly dodging and weaving around other dragonets and keeping his eyes locked on Rhodo. It wasn't very hard to do, since her pink scales stood out like gleaming jewels on the sea shore.

They ran through several tunnels. Rhodo had clearly memorized the map with how confidently she took every turn, which was actually pretty impressive in Seven's opinion. They passed caves that looked like dormitories for students, each one with a marking above it to indicate which Winglet it belonged to, before finally arriving at what appeared to be the prey center.

The overwhelming scent of wild animals assaulted his snout, causing him to cough a little. The entire left side of the cave wall was open to the outside, guarded with a short wall of rocks to prevent the prey from escaping. Several cows, sheep, chickens and goats were running around in a frenzy. A SandWing was ripping apart some meat in the corner, and two IceWings seemed to be arguing over something.

A pile of colorful fruit that Seven had never seen before laid against the stone wall, alongside some fish stacked on top of a net.

"Three moons." Was all Seven could say before Rhodo went over to one of the aggressive-looking IceWings and tapped her shoulder with a gleeful expression.

"What?" The IceWing snapped. She was bigger than Seven, certainly bigger than little Rhodo. Her scales were shiny and white like fallen snow, and looked just as menacing as they were beautiful.

The SkyWing didn't seem phased in the slightest. "I found our SeaWing!" She grinned, gesturing towards Seven, which made him unreasonably nervous. "Isn't he so pretty? Where are the others?"

"Probably in the art or music cave like a bunch of lazy RainWings." The IceWing flicked her wing impatiently. "Now can you leave me alone? Brumal here stole my goat, and I want him to go catch me another one."

Brumal, who was even larger and bulkier, scowled. "How many times must I tell you, Subzero?" He hissed. "I didn't know you were hunting that goat, and even if I did, I am not catching you another one like I'm your servant or something."

"I'll go and fetch the rest of our Winglet." Rhodo spoke up, looking a bit more wary than she did a moment before. "Seven, you stay here and get to know some dragons!" She perked up at him, smiling. "Or get some food! You must be pretty hungry, right? I think I saw some fish over there! Your tribe likes that, right? Okay okay, I'm done talking. Bye!"

"Wait, but I—" Seven didn't get to finish protesting before she ran off again. "See you!" She yelled as she dashed away.

The SeaWing growled in frustration, glancing back at the two IceWings who had resumed fighting. I shouldn't have come here. He thought miserably, wanting to ditch the school altogether and go hide somewhere secluded until the semester was over. The dragons here are crazy.

Seven ripped his gaze away from the argument and went to go hunt some prey. Rhodo was right about one thing: he was very hungry. He hadn't eaten anything since he caught a talonful of tiny fish yesterday afternoon. He spread out his wings and launched himself near the roof of the cave, careful not to bump into any stalactites.

It was more difficult to fly without any wind currents, but he was able to balance himself quite well, and soon he was gliding in a circle above the panicked animals like an eagle who just spotted fresh prey.

He swooped down suddenly, talons outstretched towards a cow that had made the unfortunate mistake of standing still a split second too long.

He was so swift and focused, he didn't notice someone else darting towards his prey at the same time.

And that is how Seven crashed into a dragon for the second time that day.