[Art by me]

The walk home was longer then Oro remembered; not sure if it was because he was nervous of the eyes he felt, or for some other reason. Lyre and Crusade were quiet, as if they too didn't feel comfortable at that end of the forest.

When they pressed pass the jungle bushes, the sound of excited dragonets greeted them. Swiftflier stood in the gazebo, her tired dull gray scales reminding Oro that of stones stacked onto one another.

She held a small scroll with her talons, presumably doing roll-call. Crusade smiled, finally piping up since the entire trip back, still holding the small possum in his talons.

"Looks like we made it, right Ziggy?" he asked, petting the small baby on the head. The possum hissed again, its fur bristling.

"Ziggy?" Lyre asked, raising a brow at the other. Crusade nodded, lifting the small creature up as he cradled her in his talons.

"Yeah, suits him, don't you think?" He said.

"Suits her, she's got a pouch on her belly, banana breath," Lyre said, gently taking the small possum up to show her stomach. Crusade let out a soft 'whoa', a look of confusion in his eyes.

Oro looked over to the other dragonet, before nudging Crusade with a wing. "C'mon, looks like they're going to start. Lyre, could you watch... Ziggy?" He looked over to Crusade, earning a nod in return.

Lyre scrunched her nose, looking at the small hissing ball of baby fur, a flare of disgusted dark green on her ruff.

"Do I have to?" she asked, reluctant to even be holding the small pouched mammal in her talons.

"Only until we get back from flying practice," Oro answered, before turning and beginning to make his way to the vine draped gazebo, careful to not crush as many wildflowers as possible. Crusade joined his side, a small smile on his snout.

Even if the two hatched pretty much on the same day and the brown dragonet was noticeably more runty looking, Crusade stood just a bit taller then Oro. It was too be expected with him being a full blooded NightWing, rather then the other's different tribal parentage.

"Hey, Oro, what was up back in the forest?" Oro blinked, slightly confused at what the other had said. It finally clicked, making the hybrid wonder if it was even okay to tell him.

But, Crusade was there with him, not only that; but underneath that hyper bubbling personality, Crusade had a good head on his shoulders. He'd understand if he told him.

"Just... felt like something wasn't right, y'know?" he muttered, quieting as they stepped up the gazebo stairs, finally joining the other dragonets.

Swiftflier looked around. "Okay, so we have Pineapple, Parakeet, Stormyskies, Sharptalons... Crusade and Ouroboros?"

"Here,"

"Here!"

"Oh, there you are. I called you earlier, speak up next time, my hearings going bad. Okay, now that that is out of the way. Welcome everyone to Flying 101. My name is Swiftflier, or as many of you know me as Crusade's granny. I'll be your flying instructor, now before we begin, does anyone have any questions?"

Oro sat down near the back, Crusade sitting next to him. A few talons rose, a few of the more academic dragonets being the ones to ask all the questions.

"Lifebringer?"

"Ms. Swiftflier, what would you say would allow a dragon to be the quickest flier?" the NightWing dragonet asked.

Swiftflier smiled. "Ah, prefect question. Well, for a faster flight, you will need to be aerodynamic. For that you need to know how to angle your body and wings the right way for you to cut through the air a lost better. Larger bulkier dragons, like MudWings, have a harder time because of their larger mass and heavy body structure."

"Take a SkyWing for example, they were lean with sharp angles to them. They're horns are twisted the right way for air to pass through without causing a disturbance in their..."

Oro felt his eyelids grow heavy, his wings sagging a little as the lack of sleep hit him. Moons, why did he insist on reading that entire scroll at moonhigh...

He tried to perk his ears to listen, his black eyes having a small sleepy shiny to them as they grew more and more unfocused. His head lowered, feeling himself quickly being pulled in by sleep.

"Arix!"

Oro opened his eyes, staring into solid gold ones. There were no whites or pupils in them, just completely gold eyes.

"Oro, wake up!" Oro jolted up, his wings opening a little in fear. Crusade stood by him still, but the quick action caught the attention of some of their classmates.

"Wha?" Oro looked to Crusade, seeing the look of relief on the other's face. "What happened?"

"You started snoring, Swiftflier nearly caught us," he whispered, looking over to his granny. Swiftflier continued on with a lecture of some sort, something about safe flying procedures.

"Oh, sorry. What happened?" he asked. Crusade flicked his wing, staring straight ahead.

"She went over basic flying instructions, aerodynamics, and stuff like that. We're about to try our first branching session," he replied.

Oro looked back, ears pinned back. Now he definitely wished he didn't doze off. His eyes narrowed slightly as he began to think. Who was that thing he saw in his dream? Who was Ar... Arilis? Ar-something.

"Alright everyone, follow me. Up the tree and stop at the first branch or platform you get to," Swiftlfier said, beginning to make her way to one of the giant trees that the RainWings built their kingdom in.

Excited talking and laughter filled the air as dragonets waited for their turn to climb up the ladders, some of the more daring ones scaling the trees. Crusade bounded over to it, Oro walking behind him, the latter still trying to thing about what happened.

'I shouldn't be worry about this. I probably just ate something a little funny last night,' he told himself mentally, slightly sweeping the ground behind him with his tail as he did so.

Eventually, everyone was in the trees, beginning to practice their take off. A lot of the RainWings picked up on the gliding easily, mostly because it was in their blood to do so, adapting to gliding then actual full length flights in the tightly spaced trees.

NightWings were having a bit of fun of their own, a pair or two even trying to play tag in the air. Oro smiled, about to jump in and try it, before noticing Crusade.

It was like the dragonet turned into a block of ice, staring at the forest floor they were only, maybe, ten foot from. His black claws dug into the bark as he stared down, ears pinned back, his tail seeming to try and wrap around the branch like a RainWing's.

Oro felt an uneasy presence in his belly, carefully making his way to him. "Crus?"

Crusade blinked, looking to him. "Y-yeah? What's up?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine! Just... looking."

Crusade splintered the wood under him from his tight grip, taking a shaky breath. Oro frowned, resting a talon on his shoulder.

"Is this about earlier?" he asked. Cursade looked at him, his eyes flickering for a moment, seemingly hesitate to answer. He let out a small whimper, looking back down.

"Yeah..." Oro frowned. Crusade had been so excited to finally learn how to properly fly. Before he just barely fluttered about, bouncing around, telling Oro that one day he'd fly up to the clouds and touch one of them.

Now, he looked nervous to do it again after nearly breaking neck when he fell out of the air. The hybrid reached out with his wing, gently nudging him with it.

"C'mon, we can go together. Afterwards, we can go hang out and get something to eat." Crusade glanced to him, a small fraction of a smile coming to him.

"Okay..."

Oro turned back to the ground before them, lowering his front half slightly to get ready to jump. Crusade copied his actions, Oro quietly counting them off.

"One... two... three!"

Oro leapt forward, his wings opening and catching a warm breeze. Crusade sailed above him, his starry wings flapping above him as he pushed himself upward, higher in the air.

Swiftflier's voice caught their attention, looking over to her as they tried to get use to the air under them.

"Not bad, not bad. Ouroboros, your take off could use some work, but that's okay, we're just starting. Crusade, remember to tilt your wings when you catch a gust, it'll help you adjust the airflow under you!"

Oro gave a small nod to her, feeling himself begin to slowly glide down to the ground. Crusade stayed above him, claws digging into his palms as his wing caught an uneven sweep of wind.

The hybrid landed at last on the mucky ground, looking up at the colorful sky above him. RainWing and NightWings dragonets laughed and cried out in happiness as they flew, the former of the two tribes cascading in all different colors.

Golds, warm oranges, lively greens, purples, pinks, and different hues of black filling the sky with shimmering silver scales, standing out against the brightly sunlight behind them. Oro smiled, watching them all, being reminded of the rainbowed winged scarlet macaws and other colorful birds of paradise.

His black eyes had a glimmer of joy and awe, watching them all above them. "Ourboros, is everything okay down there?"

The dark forest green dragonet looked to Swiftflier, nodding his head. "Yes, ma'am, everything is fine!"

Swiftflier flew down to join him, standing tall as she towered over him. She looked up at the sky with him, a smile on her old, rough face.

"It's a wonder how at one time RainWings and NightWings hated each other. Now look at them, happily flying around with one another and laughing."

Oro looked to her, his ears perked. He hard been told stories of the past of how NightWings, before coming to the rainforest, would kidnap and experiment with RainWings and their venom. It was the legendary Queen Glory that lead the way to free her tribe, and even took mercy and let the NightWings in after their island was destroyed by a volcano.

Now, nearly four hundred years later, long after Queen Glory's passing, her two tribes now lived in peace with one another.

"Yeah..." he mumbled.

Oro watched for a few more heartbeats, before the uneasy feeling of someone watching him again made his freeze. He looked over his shoulder, wings close to his side.

There at the forest's edge stood a dragon, a hooded cloak over their face and body. They tilted their head, before reaching up and taking the hood