"It's been so long since I've been in here," Sapphire stared into the room, doing a circle as she looked as the vibrant reds of the scarlet red that hung from the round ceiling in gentle loops hand up by golden anchors nailed into the carved pillars embedded into the smooth sandstone walls in the circle-shaped room.

"It's only been a few moons," Scorpion chuffed, "it hasn't changed that much."

"But that was almost a year ago! Last time we came here it was for Fennec and Sandstorm's, the Sundance's, hatching day. There's always so long between visits, it feels like forever ago." Sapphire's wings drooped as she looked at the decorations hung around the room as Scorpion frowned behind her.

She's right, we do hardly get to see each other, and it's harder when we're almost a whole continent apart.The SeaWings had a generally easier time traveling to visit them in the desert than they did trying to get to the Summer Palace hidden away in the Bay of a Thousand Scales. They swam along the coasts before cutting into the mainland using the estuary that split off into the Great Five-Tail River, following the longest tail that pointed to the heart of the vast desert and towards the stronghold. Scorpion didn't know how long exactly it took, but she knew it was less of a journey compared to her family having to travel to the Summer Palace, it was safer for them too, under the cover of the tides.

Then, an idea popped into her mind.

"What if we found a way to talk outside of celebrations and visits?"

Sapphire looked back at her with a hum, "how so?"

"Well, what if we wrote to each other? Through letters and scrolls, like Pearl and Camel?"

"That would work!" Sapphire beamed, the small SeaWing practically dancing around Scorpion. "We'd need messengers, like Sizzle and Clownfish."

"It shouldn't be hard to hire personal messengers, I could ask Ringtail about getting one." Scorpion's dad was the one who talon-picked Sizzle out from a lineup of possible messengers, and so far he seemed to be the best at picking out the perfect dragons for the job. "He'd probably go through several line ups himself before picking the top dragons from each for me to pick through."

"And when I get home, I'll get one too."

The two continued to talk about what kind of messenger they'd want to get, until Scorpion remembered the necklace laying patiently on her bedside table.

"Oh! I have something I wanted to show you."

"Hm? Oh, what is-"

Scorpion reached out and grabbed the sides of Sapphire's face, the SeaWing's webbed sail sticking straight up in surprise as she turned her head the other way. "Don't look."

"Wha- How can you show me then if I can't see it?"

She snorted, "Cover your eyes."

"Now this seems excessive," Sapphire laughed.

Scorpion waited until her friend covered her eyes with her small, webbed talons before she let go and turned to grab the necklace, hooking it off of the table with her claws. Standing herself behind Sapphire, the SandWing held the necklace between her talons, claws hooking gently around the polished pearls and opals that sparkled and gleams in the sunbeams that stretched across the room, warming her back while Sapphire hid in the shade provided by the walls.

"Okay, turn around-"

Sapphire's tail twitched, her ears perking up at the sound of Scorpion's voice, instinctively swiveling in the SandWing's direction as she turned around, her palms still cupped over her eyes.

"-and open your eyes."

The SeaWing lowered her claws, blinking a few times to adjust to the light before an awe-filled look spread across her face, looking at the necklace of polished opals and pearls in Scorpion's talons.

"I saw it at the stall where we all got our piercings," she explained as she held it out, "I thought you would like it."

Sapphire reached out, taking the necklace from Scorpion and holding it up in front of herself, a smile stretching across her face, her frilly ears wiggling happily. "Scorpion, it's beautiful!"

Scorpion walked around her, holding out her palm as she placed the necklace in Scorpion's claws, the larger SandWing holding it up and motioning for Sapphire to lift her head up, leaning forwards. "I think it just slips on, not a clasp." She held the necklace open, slipping in over her friend's head and over her horns, pulling it down to let it settle around her neck.

Sapphire moved to sit upright, tilting her chin down as she held the main opal in her claws, rubbing at its smooth and polished surface with the pad of her thumbs. The sunlight glinted off of it, reflecting a large array of shimmering colours that danced and shifted like RainWing scales. The pearls seemed to glow like tiny moons strung from the silver string that held the whole necklace together, stretching out like a web, the rounded pendants hanging from them akin to dewdrops in a spider's web.

"It's amazing, Scorpion," Sapphire smiled.

"I thought you'd like it."

"And I thought I was the one who was supposed to bring a gift since it's your hatching day," she replied.

As they laughed, a ticklish, fluttering feeling filled her chest. It made Scorpion's chest hurt, but in a good way.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"Now I know it's a little late,"

"Dad, it's fine, it's not that late-"

"Well, all my dragonets should be well rested, so let me apologize for keeping you out of your room then." Ringtail lightly flicking the tip of her snout with the top side of one of his claws as they walked down the torch-lit halls.

It was darker than normal, no sunlight streaking across the floor and lighting the palace in a warm gold, reflecting the heat of the kingdom built around it. Instead, thin moonbeams slithered across the floor and creeped up the walls in between the spaced torches. Their faint warmth, flames lightly crackling as they flickered, rolling over Scorpion's scales in gentle waves as they passed them. After Scorpion had given Sapphire her necklace, the two made their way to the courtyard where on the way, Scorpion had run into Ringtail and asked him about getting a messenger as Sapphire waited for her down the hall, shuffling in place as she waited.

Partially through their stay at the oasis, Sapphire had been called to see earl, along with the rest of her siblings, leaving Scorpion to head back to her room and wait for her friend to return. When a knock came to her door after the sun had already begun to set, she didn't expect it to be her dad. The older SandWing had a grin on his face as he ushered her down the hall.

"I've got some choices picked out already and wanted to see what you thought," Rattetail went on. "Just a few, no more than a dozen."

The pair made their way down the last short spiral of stairs that's walls pressed in close, shortening the spiral but making her unease of the claustrophobic space spike, but they soon were out and in one of the back ground floor halls that led around the courtyard and towards the throne room. The walk around the the open corridor, walled off completely to her left while airy and open to her right, leading into the actual courtyard where the small oasis reflected the slivers of moonlight from the claw-shaped moons above them, dark clouds faintly streaking across the glowing giants and dancing stars.

Once they wrapped around the open hall, they were greeted with the throne room doors, a pair of guards positioned outside. "Wedhi, Skink," He greeted, the two guards dipping their heads as they reached out to pull the hooped knockers, the large wooden, golden lined doors pulling open with an echoing click. The sight of the torch-lit throne room greeted her, along with several dragons and armed guards all awaiting their arrival. The armoured soldiers lined the gold-trimmed carpet that led up to the row of a dozen golden and copper thrones. In front of the guards were a row of anxious looking dragons, who all perked up at the sound of the door.

Most of them were SandWings, varying from shades of shimmering gold, speckled tan, dusty grey, to coppery brown. But there was one dragon that stood out among the rest. She was taller than the rest, close to Scorpion's height but still ever so slightly shorter, pearly white wavy horns and shimmering golden eyes that blended yet popped against her peachy orange scales. Her tail was lighter, speckling off to blend in with the rest of her body, matching her left arm with the same markings.

A SkyWing.

"Applications came in quickly once I put out a for hire scroll on the royal board," Ringtail motioned towards the lined up dragons who all sat upright. "You don't need to pick one of these if they're not what you're looking for."

There was an advisor in the room, standing by the lined up dragons. Once King Ringtail was done speaking, he stood up before bowing before the two royals. "Your majesties."

"Bontebok will go through them all with you," Ringtail smiled, flicking his wrist towards the advisor.

He was around her parents' age with shimmering golden scales that looked polished, glittering in the torchlight with an orange sheen. Several hanging earrings pierced his ears. A golden mantle hung from his shoulders, draping along his back with thinner pieces wrapping around his tail, shimmering chains hanging from the material. Bontebok wore a thin, golden nose hoop piercing, a tiny amber pendant hanging from the hoop.

She looked at him, "you're not staying?"

"I want to go check in on your mother, even with guests she's been working her tail off in regards to the trail, apparently they've been causing quite the commotion in the dungeons, and Queen Dandelion hasn't been giving her an easy time." He spun around, brushing his wing with hers, "I'll be back before you know it!" The king walked through the entryway, the doors closing behind him with the same thundering click, the golden knocking thumping on the other side of the door once the guards let them go.

"Alright your majesty," Bontebok clapped his talons, "ready to go through the possible hires?" With a dip of her head, they began to go through each one. Names, flight travel, and experience. Swiftly moving down the line, from dragon to dragon.

"Bask," rumbled an older SandWing, dipping his head to Scorpion, his eyes blinking lazily, "I used to be a traveling merchant, so I know the dunes and steppe well."

"Experience?" Bontebok questioned.

The older SandWing blinked, "what?"

"Your experience," he questioned again with a flick of his tail, "what's your experience in being a messenger?"

"Oh," he blinked again, "none. Unless traveling merchant experience counts as messenger experience."

Scorpion frowned as they moved onto the next.

The next SandWing was younger, around her mothers age and sat upright, her back straight and wings pressed tightly against her sides, her ears pinned back. "Granite," the coppery ground out, "former bounty hunter, I have experience delivering scrolls between bounty hunter guilds, your majesty."

"A former bounty hunter would be a wise choice, your highness," Bontebok commented as they began to move onto the next, "two occupations for the price of one."

Generally, the next few dragons were all the same, being dragons in search of employment and having little to no experience, but having experience in traveling across the kingdom or even outside of the kingdom itself and into the territory of the other tribes. The only ones that really stuck out in her mind were the former bounty hunter, Granite, and the SkyWing, Funnel.

"Funnel." The SkyWing dipped her head before straightening herself back up, paler coloured tail waving by her talons with unease. "I have experience in being a personal messenger, and have traveled across Pyrrhia since dragonethood!"

Scorpion blinked, she doesn't look any older than me.

"Well your majesty?" Bontebok smiled, waving his talons along the line up. "Any that catch your eye?"

She looked back down the line of dragons a few times, her narrowed black eyes always seemed to be drawn towards the former bounty hunter -her eyes shot back up the line- and the SkyWing. They have the most experience, she looked back at the older dragon with a frown, he does too but as a traveling merchant. Bask's ear flicked, his eyes blinking slowly.

He looks half asleep, her tail swishing across the ground caught his attention for a moment before relaxing once more on his haunches.

"Granite," the mentioned SandWing's ears perked, "Bask," the older SandWing startled, "and Funnel. The rest can be excused."

Soon enough, Scorpion found herself in the throne room with the three chosen dragons and Bontebok. "I want to know how far you've all traveled, and how you traveled."

"Oh, that's easy," Bask huffed, "walking."

"Walking?"

Bontebok made a frustrated wheezing noise, sucking in a sharp breath at Bask's resposes as Scorpion pressed further.

"Why were you walking?"

"Well, I was lugging around a merchant's car full of goods and I can't exactly fly with that, your majesty."

"Would you have a cart with you on these deliveries?" Walking across the continent would take forever, Scorpion could practically feel the frustration of having to pull a cart like a camel or mule, dragging it up mountain sides or having to find ways to get it across cliff faces or rivers. Just pulling it through the endless stretch of desert, endlessly walking until reaching the steppe where the terrain started to become more rocky, covered in patchy, dry gross that whistled and crinkled.

"Yes," the old SandWing nodded.

With a dip of her head, she motioned towards the doors. "Alright, thank you for your time, Bask." Scorpion's gaze shifted towards Funnel and Granite as Bontebok led Bask out of the throne room, the large doors shutting behind him, echoing around the room.

"You don't have to pick one tonight, your highness," the advisor spoke as he came up beside her, keeping a tail-length apart. "King Ringtail plans to look through more tomorrow before your hatching day," he added.

"Well I'd like to see which I'd prefer, and if I don't decide tonight, I can have them in with the second lineup tomorrow." Her eyes landed on Granite, "how do you tend to travel?"

"By wing," the ex-bounty hunter gruffly replied, "I travel along the northern coast."

She turned to the SkyWing, "and you?"

"Uh- by wing! But I cut through the mountains, there's a lot of tunnels that I use as shortcuts," Funnel explained, "I've gotten used to them, so I can fly right through them without having to see anything."

Scorpion blinked, intrigued. "And how much does that shorten your trip?"

"A few days. I make trips to some of the settlements between the Sky Kingdom and the Rainforest, passing on letters and taking deliveries. They don't generally take too long, and I'm able to finish them in a week or two."

She knows shortcuts, so maybe she's been doing it for a while? And she regularly delivers letters for other settlements, Scorpion looked back between the two dragons once more, she's also a SkyWing, so she'd be faster already, but Granite is a SandWing, feeling her mind having made her final decision.

"Funnel, I'll hire you as my messenger."

The reaction was instant, the pale SkyWing's eyes widening in joy, her wings shivering with excitement, looking ecstatic. "Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't let you down, your highness!"

"Are you sure, princess?" Bontebok questioned.

"I'm sure."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The next morning was full of excitement, dragons bustling about as they started to prepare for the big celebration that was soon to come. Tomorrow, Scorpion thought as she and Sapphire trailed after Thorn and Ray with Maelstrom trotting up ahead, tomorrow we'll be nine. Shadows danced along the walls through the arching windows, dragons flying about, carrying long wing lengths of cloth between pairs.

"Should we take a peek at the arena?" Ray peered back at her.

Thorn shot Ray a look, "Uh, no, that would ruin the surprise-"

"Your parents put guards to make sure you couldn't." Maelstrom cut in.

"How do you know?" Ray shot back.

"I saw them."

"How'd you see them?"

"I was trying to sneak into the arena last night."

"Why were you sneaking into the arena, Maelstrom?" Ray quickened his pace with a grin, "why were you sneaking into the area, Maelstrom?"

"Looks like Ray's got a new target to annoy this morning," Scorpion whispered, Sapphire letting out a snort as they watched the SandWing prince trot after the SeaWing princess, pestering her as the two went back and forth, Thorn swiftly passing them with a tired grumble. "Maybe Thorn will get a break."

"He wanted to go to the library, right?"

She nodded, "Thorn was wanting to read some more records, he was asking Quicksand about it this morning at breakfast."

"Did he say what he was looking for?"

"Not really, no." Scorpion shrugged.

As they passed one of the side corridors, a dragon reached out and touched Scorpion's shoulder.The large SandWing froze up at the touch with a jolt, blinking as her head snapped towards the other. It was Quicksand. Her sister gave her an apologetic smile as she pulled her talons back. "Sorry, Scorpion. I just needed to ask you for something."

Sapphire peered around her, Scorpion raising a brow at Quicksand as she took one last look towards her brothers and Maelstrom who continued off down the hall. "Sure, what is it?"

"I was hoping you'd be able to watch Hop, Dash, and Jumpy?" She quickly added, "I didn't want to leave them with any of the servants or guards, and everyone else is busy preparing for tomorrow. I can just bring them with me if you want to spend the day with them instead." Quicksand motioned towards the others as they turned down a corner, tails slipping out of sight.

"Your scavengers?" Sapphire asked.

"Yeah, I just don't want to leave them alone in my room. I'm scared they'll get out like last time."

Oh Scorpion remembered last time. The whole palace had gone into a search for the three scavengers that had somehow undone their cages latch. She still remembered the shriek that made the whole ground shake, Quicksand going into hysterics as she frantically searched for them. They'd luckily been found before any dragon snapped them up or brought them to the kitchen, but they had been on their way there themselves when they were found creeping along the wall like little shadows. Quicksand refused to let them out of her sight since, either taking them with her, or having someone watch them.

"Are they still there now?"

"Yes, I got a soldier to watch them, but said I'd be right back. I made sure he was watching the cage when I left."

"How long are you going to be gone?"

"Not long!" Quicksand smiled, "Me and Sundance are going out for a little bit-" Scorpion felt a spark of annoyance shoot through her at the thought of watching the scavengers for Sundance, even though it's for Quicksand, not her. The SandWing flicked her ear, forcing herself back into listening to her sister. "-with Dusk and Tarantula, we'll be back before sunset, is that okay?"

Looking back down at Sapphire, the SeaWing's friller ears wriggled with a smile. Turning back to Sundance, she nodded, "alright, we'll look after them."

"Oh thank you, Scorpion!" Her sister exclaimed, starting to swiftly follow the hall. "I'll be back before you know it!"

"Come on Scorpion!" Sapphire grinned as the small SeaWing charged past her, Scorpion following after her as they went along the side corridor Quicksand had originally come from. "I wanna see the scavengers!"

"Wouldn't you see more in your kingdom?"

"On their little floating rafts, but not often!"

It didn't take them long to reach Quicksand's room, and just as her sister had said, there was a guard seated across from the cage, watching it like a hawk with his hooked spear held tightly by his side, the sharpened blade pointed at the ceiling. His ears twitched as he looked at the two princesses. "Your majesties," he dipped his head before turning back towards the cage.

Quicksand's room was more packed than Scorpion's, shelves lining the walls packed full of scrolls and loose papers all stacked messily. Small trinkets and oddities littered her tables that filled in the spaces, curving along with the walls, where the shelves couldn't. Ink pots, feather pens, and coils of string by scattered papers. Her sister's bed was similar to her own: round with soft pillows and blankets, instead of a shimmering veil of red cloth draped from the tumbaga frames they were a vibrant yellow. By the nest of blankets and pillows was a large, arching window lined in thick curtains tied together with golden rope, the bundles of cloth spiraling loosely to the floor. Directly across from the door was Quicksand's small balcony, each of the royal bedrooms having them. They weren't big, small enough that a dragon would have an awkward time attempting to land from flight.

Following the guards gaze to their right was a golden wire cage that took up a good lower half of the wall, standing at eye level. Inside the cage were different levels covered in soft blankets and more trinkets that looked like pieces of carved wood. There were two small shapes moving around in the cage, Dash pacing in front of the door, and Hop sitting by a bundle of shifting blankets. Dash was a broad shouldered scavenger with short fur, the tallest of the three. Hop was the smallest with a large poof of wooly, spiraled fur. At first she didn't see Jumpy, until the scavenger's paler face peeked out from underneath the bundle of blankets, her eyes blinking from that harsh light.

"We're here to watch Quicksand's scavengers," Scorpion nodded towards the cage, "you may go back to your duties."

"Is Princess Quicksand not returning?"

"Not until later tonight, no."

"Alright," he dipped his head, standing as he tucked his spear under his wing. "Have a good day, your highnesses."

As the SandWing guard slipped out of the room, Sapphire rushed towards the cage as soon as the door clicked shut behind them, an awe filled look on her face. The scavengers flinched back, Dash leaping away from the front of the cage with a shout. "They're a lot bigger than I remember!" She said as she peered between the thin golden wires that held the cage together, looking at Dash as the male scavenger peered back.

"You probably haven't seen them up close recently," she shrugged with a remark, "and I thought you'd say they're smaller than you remembered."

Sapphire snorted, unimpressed, "not every dragon gets a growth spurt at three."

"And not every dragon misses theirs."

Scorpion laughed as Sapphire tried to swat her with her tail, the SandWing leaning back out of her reach. Sapphire was right through, Scorpion used to be the smallest of the triplets, being the last one to hatch. She was only the smallest for a year before she caught up in size to her brothers, and it wasn't until she turned three that she started to outmatch them in height. She just didn't seem to stop growing until she was almost level with Camel and Vulture. While for Sapphire, the SeaWing princess' growth seemed to slow once she reached three. To Scorpion, her friend only reached her shoulders.

"Har har," she snorted, turning back to the scavenger's in their cage, changing the subject. "Can we take them out?"

"They might try running off."

"What if we only did one at a time?" The SeaWing looked back at her with a pleading look in her eyes. "We'll make sure to lock the cage again! And Quicksand is sure to have some treats for them somewhere, right?"

At the mention of treats, Hop perked up from where she was sitting. "Well now it just looks like you just said the magic word." She nodded towards the scavenger. With a huff, the SandWing made her way towards the cage, resting her talons on the thin bars by the double latch. "You go look for the treats, I'll get them out, okay? I'm fairly sure Quicksand gives them some camel jerky."

It didn't take long for things to go downhill after that.

As Sapphire searched for the treats, calling for Scorpion's help to look, the three scavengers had managed to undo the latch on the outside of their cage. She thought she heard a light click as she and Sapphire searched, but it wasn't until she had a small leather pouch, the smell of camel jerky wafting up at her snout, in her palm and turned to find the cage door swinging open lazily, the three scavengers gone.

"The scavengers!" Scorpion roared as she dropped the pouch, rushing at the cage as she peered inside. Nothing. Reaching in, she stuck her claws under the soft fabrics, feeling around in Jumpy's usual hiding spots.

Nothing! Scorpion felt panic surge through her body, her tail coiling as her eyes darted around on the floor. They were small but not tiny, so they shouldn't be hard to spot, a claw under the average dragon's elbow.

"They have to be hiding in here! The door's closed!" Sapphire began searching some of the shelves around the room, behind stacks of papers and scrolls as Scorpion took to the other side of the room.

They're too small to have opened the door, a quick glance confirmed that, the door sealed shut, and even if they did get it open, they wouldn't close it. Scorpion made her way towards the bed, peering under the long blanket that draped over the soft edges. There wasn't any space beneath the plush nest of blankets and pillows, but there was enough fabric pooling out of it that the three scavengers could hide underneath it, and Jumpy preferred hiding under them.

As the SandWing searched around the bed, her barb snagged on something. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes landed on the tied off curtains that hung loosely, folds rippling like waving petals, held tight near the base of the open window they framed. Scorpion blinked, a sinking feeling pooling inside her chest like heavy lead as she noticed one curtain cut short. Leaning out of the broad ledge, her claws gripping the gritty bricks, peering down the sudden drop.

Where are they!? Scorpion's eyes scanned the walls and pillars, the sun beaming down in a whistling haze. They couldn't have gotten far- "There!"

Clinging to the ledge, shuffling along the wall with their paws stuffed into the lines between bricks, their tiny claws wedged into the gritty holes, were Jumpy, Dash, and Hop. Jumpy's small, beady blue eyes were screwed shut, barely opening from the sun's sharp glare while Hop and Dash helped her shuffle along, the two other scavengers on either side of their paler companion. The three were making their way towards some of the lined windows of a lower corridor.

"Sapphire, I see them!" Was the only heads up she gave the SeaWing before she charged for the balcony, jumping onto the carved railing before diving with a leap.

Hop gave a screech as Scorpion angled herself towards the three, her wings flaring out and casting them in a large shadow, as her claws shot out to grab them. Dash shoved the other two out of the way before leaping after them into one of the archways, Scorpion slamming into the outer wall, claws digging into the bricks as she pushed herself into the window. The sounds of wingbeats behind her and the feeling of a shadow cooling the scales along her back letting her know Sapphire was hot on her tail.

She pulled herself up with a grunt, her tail rattling as she landed in the corridor. She twisted around, trying to spot where they went, before she saw movement at the end of the hall. One of the scavengers dashing out of sight around the corner. Scorpion didn't hesitate before rushing after them, racing down the hall before skidding around the corner.

Jackal and Sandstorm were walking down the hall, the three scavengers racing off behind them as the two older princess spoke in hushed whispers, blinking in surprise at Scorpion as she charged past them, shouldering them out of the way as they roared in surprise.

"MOVE!" She growled, the air lashing her face as she ran.

She faintly heard Sapphire exclaim a quick "Sorry!" before she heard the small SeaWing following behind her along with the snarls of her sisters. Scorpion pushed herself to go faster, putting more force into her bounds, stretching out with each stride before practically slamming her claws into the floor, hooking into them to push herself farther.

Almost there!

They were quickly outrun by the towering dragon that charged after them as in her next stride, she swiped at them with her talons, only to be met with empty air as she skidded across the floor, her claws leaving sandy scratches across the floor. Scorpion blinked, looking at her empty palm, what in the three moons- looking up, she saw a crack in the sandstone that reached up along the wall, spreading out into a triangular shaped hole, and a small body slipping away into the walls.

"NO!" Scorpion pressed herself up against the wall, hooking her arm into the cracked hole, jagged pieces of limestone digging into her forearm. She was only able to go up as far as her elbow before the hole constricted sharply around it, jagged pieces digging into her scales and skin like tiny teeth. She swiped around, hearing screeches and shouts, the sound of the three scavengers ushering each other through the dark as Scorpion's claws blindly tried to hook them out, grabbing at empty air before slamming a fist in frustration with a snarl.

Sapphire skidded to a halt beside her, her sides heaving as her webbed sailed flapped along her spine. "What happened? Where'd they go?"

"They're in the walls!" She pulled her arm out, slamming it into the wall. "They're-!"

Sapphire flattened herself to the ground, slipping her arm into the hole and feeling around. The SeaWing princess shuffled closer until her neck pressed against the limestone, her arm inside of the hole all the way up to her shoulder. "It's really sharp," she winced as she felt around, Scorpion crouching down next to her as she pressed her ear up against the wall, listening. She could hear her feeling around, her small hooked claws scraping against the rough and grainy stone. "I think I can feel where they went."

What if they're lost in the walls forever? Quicksand would kill me! Scorpion's mind tried to defend herself, she hadn't even opened the cage! They're opened it before on their own, they just waited until we weren't looking! Then how wouldn't the three scavengers escape in the dead of night? Maybe Quicksand puts a cover over the cage and blocks the cage door somehow.

"Do you feel a tunnel or something?"

"It feels like the whole brick split open," Sapphire ground out with a wince. Scorpion could already imagine that when the blue SeaWing pulls her webbed talons back out, there'll be speckles in tiny dots of scarlet reds and glowing blues from where the jagged rock dug into her smaller scales and pierced her skin. "It goes farther back-" she paused, blinking, "I feel a breeze!"

"Then it must lead outside," Scorpion cursed.

Racing back down the hall to one of the airy windows, calling over her shoulder "Stay there! You'll catch them if they come back through!" as she practically leaped out of the window, jumping off of the ledge, her wings catching on the gentle breeze as she flew along the outside wall, the sun making the sandstone radiate a blazing heat that pulsed against her scales.

Hole or crack, hole or crack, her eyes scanned the lower walls on the stronghold, looking for any cracks or holes large enough for them to slip through. If they're trying to get away, they wouldn't just go to another part of the palace.

The peachy coloured SandWing flew over a patch of small palms, their fanned leaves rustling as she touslsed them, her tail clipping their flowery tops as she flew past before looping back. And stopping, hovering in the air, her wings flapped heavily with thunderous beats.

They'll either be out here, or still inside.

Scorpion didn't hear any shouts from Sapphire, so they had to be in the walls still or outside. Taking another look behind her, her eyes scanned the ground. The outer walls of the stronghold were lined sparingly with palms and other desert flora, speckling off into open sand before reaching the wall that lined around the palace like a moat. Patrols of soldiers would make their rounds on either side, making sure no dragon snuck inside.

Though some manage to get in still, it made her wonder how long they had to have been watching the palace to have been able to sneak in. Even then, they wouldn't know the inner guard routes inside of the actual palace, and that's how they got caught, it's like a labyrinth in there.

She shook her head, stay focused.

Scorpion flew along the wall of the palace again, keeping close to the wall, but there was still nothing. Had she missed something? Was the breeze Sapphire felt just from another crack in the bricks too small for them to fit through? They're solid limestone after all, maybe they didn't go anywhere, or didn't open up enough for the scavengers to fully escape. With a frown, she flew back to the window, perching on the windowsill and asking if they'd come back through.

"No, I haven't felt or heard anything." Her friend shook her head.

Puzzled, Scorpion flew along the wall again and again, but still, nothing!

Where could they have-

A flicker of movement caught her eye, the SandWing's head snapping around at the sight of two thin brown and sandy yellow tails. They slipped away behind one of the smaller guard buildings that were dotted around the outer yard within the fencing walls. Scorpion's mind went blank for a moment as she stared at where the two tails disappeared. They were barb-less, not even a fake stinger made of metal some soldiers wore if they had lost or were born without a SandWing barb.

That's not a soldier.

Her wings shot her off through the air and away from the palace, tucking close before flaring back out again as her hind talons dug into the warm sand, the fine grains shifting underneath her claws as she landed with several crunches. Scorpion's tail raised up behind her as she rounded the corner of the guard hut.

Standing in the shade of the simple shaped, sandstone hut, were two dragons. A young SandWing, no older than Cactus or Vulture, was talking in a hushed whisper to a spotted dragonet whose yellow scales looked as though she'd been drenched in mud. The dragonet's back was to Scorpion, the dragonets two barb-less twisting like writhing snakes in the sand with their heads pinned down. The older of the two's black eyes shot up, meeting Scorpion's as she pulled the dragonet under her wing by her arm.

Scorpion's lips pulled back in a snarl, "trespassing into the palace grounds?"

"I just came after my daughter-!" The SandWing was about to hiss until realization seemed to dawn on her, "Queen- no, you're too young to be the queen but you look just like her..." her eyes scanned her up and down, making Scorpion's scales ripple with unease. "Princess Scorpion?"

"In the flesh," she snorted. At the SandWing's claws were Hop, Dash, and Jumpy, the three scavengers glaring up at the dragonet that stared at them with narrowed green eyes, her mother using her legs to separate them. "I believe those are mine." She pointed towards the three creatures.

"They're your sisters," the other asked, "Quicksand's, right?"

"Yeah, and if they were to be served up on a platter, she'd have my head on a stake."

"Wouldn't want that then, wouldn't we."

The SandWing leaned down, using her tail to nudge the three scavengers out towards Scorpion, who scooped them closer with her talons, Dash barking up at her in annoyance. When she looked back up, Scorpion's eyes landed on a piece of jewelry that hung from the other SandWing's neck.

It was a pendant, shaped like a golden coin, round and flat, strung up by a thin string of yarn or tattered rope. The pendant itself was stamped with a symbol, one she'd heard her parents talking about before. It was a snake,a hooded cobra with its hood flared out like a pair of wings, tongue slipping out to taste the air. It was coiled in an upright position, as if eyeing down Scorpion to strike at her It's tail curled upwards from the coil, a SandWing barb attached to the end.

The Barbed Cobra's.

The SandWing must've noticed her stare as she looked down at the pendant, cupping it in her talons. "Don't worry," she smiled, "we're not here to overthrow the monarchy. Just visiting for your hatching day celebration, Sally here hasn't seen anything like it before."

The dragonet, Sally, peered up at Scorpion from where she hid away underneath her mothers wing. The more Scorpion looked at her, the odder she was. Star-like markings speckled her wings, tiny white scales lining her neck and either tail. Her snout looked odd too, with scales above her lips and her brows replaced with scales. They were too rigid and layered to be SandWing facial scales. Her odd colouring too, sure some SandWing's could be brown, but most were dusty, not muddy.

A hybrid, maybe part NightWing.

"Just here to see the celebration?"

"Yes, we're staying near the outskirts of town, I just didn't think Sally would run off while we were in the market."

"I was exploring," the dragonet defended with a flick of her tail.

"Yeah, exploring-without-telling-me, and stealing scavengers."

"I didn't steal them!" Sally exclaimed, "I just saw them, didn't think they were pets. What's the point of pets anyways? They're just food you keep around longer."

"Well my sister doesn't think so," Scorpion shrugged, one of her talons snagging the loose pelt that Dash wore as the taller scavenger tried to slip away, dragging him back, "she'd burn the whole kingdom to the ground if she needed to."

Sally made a face but didn't say anymore.

"Well," the SandWing sighed, "we better be off. Again," she looked back to Scorpion, "my deepest apologies for intruding."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," she dipped her head, reaching down to scoop the three scavengers up into her arms, Hop and Dash yelping in protest. "I won't report you,.....?"

"Aardvark, and thank you, your highness."

With that the pair took off, leaving Scorpion to stand thee in stunned silence, watching them go. Aardvark....Aardvark, the leader of the Barbed Cobra's. With a shake of her head, Scorpion turned her attention back down to the scavengers in her grasp as she leaped up into the air, her wings carrying her back to the palace.

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-

The NightWing slipped between two SandWing abodes, lurking down the empty streets of the once bustling market he'd been down just days before, when he bumped into the SandWing triplets.

Never thought I'd actually agree with other dragons, saying it's something else to see royalty up close.

The princess was a lot bigger than he expected, towering over him when he reached down to pick up the necklace that slipped from her large talons, the way her sharp black eyes, her iris' like a ring of desert sand shrouded by a sparkling night like obsidian, it felt like her gaze along could pierce through his very soul. SandWings and IceWings were said to have eerie eyes, but SandWings definitely had it worse, especially the ones whose iris' were so dark, they blended in with their sclera.

The crunching of sand reached his ears, the NightWing all but rolling into the shadows as a pair of SandWings slithered past, their faces covered in silver armour that glittered in the moonlight, their eyes like hollow pits if it weren't for the moon's reflection. He peered back out, watching the pair of soldiers march past. The desert is more guarded than any other kingdom I've seen, he slipped out from his hiding spot, treading lightly across the steadily cooling sand that warmed his talons, the faint memory of the days blazing heat radiating off the sand as a chilling breeze grazed his back.

No matter how much he missed the comfort of the rainforest and it's noise-canceling canopy, he couldn't go back, I can't put them at risk. He thought back to his parents, his father and his scrolls, his mother with her herbs and healing pollutes, and his little sister who had only just turned four. He knew what would happen to them after he refused the offer, he became another dragon on the hit list.

They'll be wondering where I am soon, he stopped, staring at the palace that reached up like a steep hill, its towers like claws reaching up into the sky, but I have to stop this, I made a promise.

They'd be striking soon, they had to be, with the hatching day celebration tomorrow and the town bustling with life, it would be all too easy to slip away unnoticed. Shadowsplitter couldn't go home,

Not yet.

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- MindlessTyper