Solar woke to voices sounding outside her and SkyChaser's den. She opened her eyes, and slipped out of the den.

SkyChaser was already at the prey hollow, picking out a squirrel and a hawk owl.

     "Good morning, love!" He called to Solar when he noticed her.

     Solar licked his cheek lovingly as he nudged the owl toward her.

     "So, what's going on?" Solar asked, motioning toward a group of Drolgons surrounding Sapphire.

     "I don't know," SkyChaser replied, finishing his sparrow. "Let's go check it out."

     Solar gulped down the last bites of owl, briefly remembering the hawk owl that Eclipse had caught, but she pushed the thoughts of Eclipse down and followed SkyChaser over to the crowd.

     "What were you doing, sneaking out of the camp at night?" Solar heard HailClaw ask Sapphire in a low growl. "You know, there are murderous beasts out there."

     "I- I was just... I..." Sapphire spluttered.

    It seems as if she met with Eclipse, Solar thought. The sparkle in her eye is back... which confirms my suspicions. Doesn't she know she could get exiled if she meets with Eclipse? Or... is she trying to be exiled to be with her?

     "Alpha, I'm sure it's nothing!" SunnyHeart defended her Drolgonet.

     SkyChaser brushed his wing against his mother's to calm her. SunnyHeart was bristling at the idea of one of her Drolgonets sneaking out of the camp to meet with a murderer.

     Solar stood beside Sapphire, and she touched her nose to Sapphire's ear comfortingly. She knew doing this would tell Sapphire that Solar knew she was meeting with Eclipse.

     I'll keep your secret safe, Solar tried to think into Sapphire's head. And she might have imagined it, but she thought Sapphire slightly shook her head.

     What are you thinking?! Solar thought, frustrated. She knew her little sister would never want her best friend to be exiled because of her.

     "Sapphire, explain," HailClaw ordered.

     HavenFlight, who was with Ragged at HailClaw's side, gave Sapphire a look that said – more gently – to explain.

     "I... I'm really sorry... I was-" Sapphire was interrupted by a blood-curdling screech, and every Drolgon turned their heads to the direction it was coming from.

     "Meadowlark!" HavenFlight yelped, racing across the camp toward his mate. "SpringShine!" He called to the healer-Drolgon. "The Drolgonets are coming!"

     SunnyHeart, Breezy, HavenFlight, RoseWish, SpringShine, and QuietFlower guided Meadowlark quickly over to the mossy patch.

     Beside her, Solar felt Sapphire breathe a small sigh. Solar knew that if Eclipse was still in the Pacree, Sapphire would be glad that there had been a distraction, so that she didn't have to explain herself. But on this occasion, Solar suspected that the sigh was of disappointment, since now Sapphire would have to find a new way to get exiled.

     "Please, Sapphire, don't do this," Solar whispered firmly, locking eyes with Sapphire. "I know for certain that Eclipse wouldn't have wanted this. And I'm sure you'll have a happy life here. I know how you feel, though... I miss and love her too, and even though I know the love between sisters and best friends is different... it's quite similar."

     Sapphire just looked sad, and then glared at the ground, walking away to her den. This made Solar smile. She had gotten the reaction she was hoping for out of Sapphire. Now she knew something about her for certain.

     Solar heard SpringShine ordering some other Drolgons to go get herbs and poultices.

     "QuietFlower, What are you doing here? I need space!" SpringShine snapped.

     "I want to help!" QuietFlower protested.

     "You're not a healer-Drolgon. You're a normal Pacree-Drolgon. So go away, or do something useful!" SpringShine told the small she-Drolgon.

     "I'm no good at fighting or hunting," QuietFlower insisted. "My destiny is to become a healer-Drolgon, I know it. And I know that I'll never love again, so I can focus full-time on healer-Drolgon duties," she added sadly.

     "Fine," SpringShine sighed. "You know some of the herbs, so go get me raspberry leaves and a stick."

     QuietFlower nodded dutifully, and darted away into SpringShine's den to find the herb and the stick.

     "It's okay, Meadowlark..." HavenFlight was murmuring. "Our Drolgonets are going to be so beautiful."

Meadowlark's breath was coming fast and heavy.

"You'll have around five, I think," SpringShine announced.

     QuietFlower arrived with the raspberry leaves and the stick, and SpringShine nodded with approval. She told Meadowlark to eat the raspberry leaves, and Meadowlark obliged. Then she took the stick in her mouth as SpringShine instructed her to.

     "When the pains come," SpringShine told her, "bite down as hard as you can on the stick."

     Meadowlark nodded weakly, and when her body convulsed, she bit down. There was a small crack from the stick.

     "QuietFlower, you know what raspberry leaves are used for, right?" SpringShine asked.

     "Yes," QuietFlower replied. "They're used as a painkiller and to stop bleeding for a Drolgon when she has her Drolgonets."

     "Correct." SpringShine gave her approval.

     Meadowlark convulsed again, and the stick splintered between her teeth.

     "Go get another stick!" SpringShine ordered.

     QuietFlower raced off.

     Solar shoved her head into SkyChaser's chest, unable to listen to Meadowlark's agonized cries anymore.

     "Do you want to go for a walk?" SkyChaser asked gently.

     Solar nodded, and followed him out of the camp.

     They walked side by side in silence for a while, their fur brushing.

     "What do you think Sapphire was doing?" Solar asked, wanting to see if SkyChaser had found out, and wanting to break the silence.

     SkyChaser stayed silent.

     "I'm pretty sure she was going to the border, trying to see if Eclipse was there," Solar said at last.

     "You-?" SkyChaser turned on her, surprised. "How do you know?"

     Solar laughed. "She may be your sister, but she's a she-Drolgon like me and I know how her brain works! And plus, she...." She trailed off, thoughtful.

     "So you know?" SkyChaser asked. "Her secret?"

     "Of course. It's painfully obvious," Solar said quietly. "I can't believe Eclipse hasn't found out yet."

     SkyChaser nodded. "Totally."

     "Meadowlark is in so much pain..." Solar murmured sympathetically.

     "Yeah..." SkyChaser agreed.

     "If we had Drolgonets, I..." Solar trailed off. "I don't want to be in that much pain."

     "I know. But... Drolgonets would be so wonderful! They'd be worth it," SkyChaser murmured, twining tails with Solar.

     "They would be," Solar agreed, licking his face, and nuzzling his cheek.

     "Let's go to the ruins of the old dragon city!" SkyChaser suggested, bounding ahead.

     Solar ran after him, hard on his paws. At last, they arrived, and Solar jumped up onto one of the broken-down walls.

     "Bet you can't catch me!" She teased, jumping onto a higher wall.

     SkyChaser laughed, and leapt after her. Solar leapt higher and higher, until she was at the highest wall. She waited until SkyChaser was four metres from her, and she hopped off the wall, onto the ground.

     SkyChaser landed beside her and she jumped  on him, rolling with him down the small hill.

     When they got to the bottom of the hill, Solar pinned SkyChaser.

     He yelped playfully, and Solar hopped off of him. She flapped into the air, and flew back to the ruins.

     As she tried to land on the highest wall, but her front paw slipped, and she fell.

     She felt herself plummeting to the ground, and then she yelped in pain and she landed on her side, her shoulder making a popping sound.

     The wall was twenty-five metres off the ground.

     SkyChaser rushed over to Solar, and started whimpering and nudging her. Solar groaned, and whined with pain as SkyChaser heaved her to her paws.

     Solar leaned heavily on his side, and he kept his wing over her back to support her.

     Solar started limping sluggishly with SkyChaser's pawsteps as they slowly made their way back to camp.

     As Solar and SkyChaser entered the camp through the archway, there were gasps of shock. Solar could barely hear    SkyChaser call to SpringShine, and she felt herself being guided by QuietFlower over next to Meadowlark. She could faintly hear Meadowlark's loud whines of pain.

     Solar realized that SpringShine was saying something to QuietFlower and SkyChaser. "Dislocated shoulder... hit her head... back in place... lucky she didn't die..."

     Solar heard little bits of what SpringShine was saying, but it sounded like SpringShine was a world away from her.

Then she felt pressure on her legs, wings, and the dislocated shoulder. Suddenly QuietFlower, who was the one with her paws on Solar's shoulder, gave a massive heave when SpringShine told her to.

     Solar howled in agony as her shoulder popped back into place. Then the paws that had been holding her down released, and Solar breathed heavily, relieved to be over with the pain. Now not disoriented with pain, she could hear better.

     "Solar? Solar, are you alright?" SkyChaser was yelping, sniffing at Solar's shoulder in fright.

     "I'm... fine..." Solar muttered with a lot of effort.

     "Oh, thank the spirits!" SkyChaser swept her up in his wings, and covered her in affectionate licks. Solar gave a weak smile, and touched her nose to his cheek.

     "Honestly, I don't know what you two were thinking, going out and hurting yourselves while I'm busy with bringing Drolgonets into the world!" SpringShine exclaimed with a huff. "And Solar, you could've died falling from that height, so consider yourself extremely lucky!"

     "Um... I'm sorry?" Solar said quietly, feeling intimidated by the healer-Drolgon yelling at her.

     She looked over to Meadowlark, to see that there were three Drolgonets suckling at her belly.

    Two more to come, she thought.

     As she watched, SpringShine nudged another Drolgonet to Meadowlark's belly. There was a strong-looking dark brown he-Drolgonet with lighter brown stripes, a very light brown she-Drolgonet with a golden-yellow chest, dark brown stripes on her wings and tail, a dark brown muzzle, and paws. She looked like her mother. There were also two very skinny and small she-Drolgonets – one was light cream with white stripes, (she looked like her father) and the other one was dusky brown with a cream chest, paws, and muzzle.

     Then, around two hours later, the fifth Drolgonet came. But as Solar watched, still laying in the healer-Drolgon's den, he didn't move. He was skinny and small like his sisters, and covered in blood. He had a white pelt and light brown tail and legs. SpringShine and Meadowlark fiercely licked his fur backwards, trying to get him to breathe.

     But much to Meadowlark's despair, it was no use, and the Drolgonet was already dead. SpringShine hung her head, and Meadowlark wailed heartbreakingly.

     HavenFlight pressed his head to his mate's comfortingly, a sorrowful look on his face.

     The sun was down by now, and the camp was in shadow as the night strengthened. SkyChaser grabbed a hare from the prey hollow, and gave it to Solar. Then he grabbed two mice for himself, and settled down beside her.

     "QuietFlower, come here," HailClaw called from his ledge.

     QuietFlower padded over, SpringShine at her paws. SpringShine sat below the ledge, and HailClaw jumped off his ledge to stand in front of QuietFlower.

     "I have heard that you want to be a healer-Drolgon," HailClaw said. "Is that right?"

     "Yes, Alpha," QuietFlower replied, dipping her head respectfully.

     "Then I will let SpringShine perform the ceremony," HailClaw announced.

     SpringShine stepped forward to take HailClaw's place.

     "QuietFlower," SpringShine began, "Pacree Sky honours your thoughtfulness, and your skill with herbs. From now on you will be a healer-Drolgon, and my apprentice. May the spirits guide you." She touched her nose gently to QuietFlower's head, and then the two of them padded off to SpringShine's den – which was now QuietFlower's, too.

Solar could just barely hear them talking.

     "I'm sorry I doubted your abilities," SpringShine murmured. "And I'm sorry I snapped at you a lot; helping a Drolgon give birth is a very stressful thing, as you will come to learn."

     "It's alright," QuietFlower replied lightly. "I'm happy that I know where I belong in the Pacree now. I can't wait to start training with you."

     Maple, CedarShade, and Pearl went to the entrance to the healers' den to congratulate their littermate.

     Solar rested her head on SkyChaser's shoulders, and watched drowsily as Wind and DarkFlight chatted, as Sapphire paced just outside of her den, and as HavenFlight and Meadowlark grieved for their Drolgonet.

     Then she suddenly remembered something that Eclipse had said:

     "Whether you believe in the spirit realm and The Dark Place or not, the Darkbeasts are coming. They will attack us, bent on vengeance and thirst for blood."

     Solar could faintly recall Eclipse saying it would happen in some amount of days, but she couldn't remember how many. Was it three? If so, it hadn't happened. But she thought it was probably just her sister being paranoid.

What are Darkbeasts, anyway? Are they like assassins, or something? I don't believe in spirits and all that, but what could've made Eclipse so terrified?

     She pushed the thoughts away, as she dozed off in the slightly warm sunlight.