Moon Rising (10 page)

“That’s not quite how I would put it,” said Tsunami. “But yes.”

“What if we would
prefer
to be in a group with other IceWings?” Winter asked. “Such as my sister?”

“That’s not how the winglets are set up,” Tsunami said. “But you’ll be in some bigger group classes with her and have plenty of time to make other friends as well.”

“I love our winglet,” Kinkajou volunteered.

“When do we eat?” Umber asked. “Just kidding. Pretending to be Clay.” He grinned, then shot a look at Qibli.
Did he think that was funny? I hope that was funny. Did I sound like an idiot?

Oh, it’s Qibli he noticed,
Moon realized,
not Winter.
It was impossible to ignore how handsome Winter was, especially with Kinkajou thinking about it all the time. But it was true that Qibli was good-looking, too, in a warmer way, now that she looked. His thoughts were so distractingly fascinating that she hadn’t noticed it before.

“Ha! Actually I brought food,” Tsunami said. She cleared aside a tangle of vines and revealed a carved stone bowl full of fish, which she set in the middle of the floor. “Help yourselves.”

“Awesome,” said Turtle.

“Yyyyyyyuck,” said Kinkajou. “I’ll wait and have a banana later, thanks.”

Moon took a step toward the fish, but so did Winter, and she jumped back to stay out of his way. He gave her a curious look.
She’s frightened of me. Mother would be so proud.
He turned away, skewering a fish on one of his claws.
I guess I did threaten to slice off her face.

“Here,” Qibli said, taking a fish and handing it to Moon. She could feel the heat rising from his sand-yellow scales as she accepted it.

“Thanks,” she said. He smiled crookedly at her, thinking rushing, busy thoughts about what else he could do to get her to like him, and trying to fit her into a pattern of other dragons he’d known before. She had never met a dragon who had so many thoughts a minute. Consciously he was thinking about her; unconsciously he was observing that Carnelian was the most battle-scarred and probably the most unpredictable dragon in the cave, so he was angling his tail toward her, just as a precaution. And part of him was also remembering what he knew about Tsunami and the kinds of dragons she liked, while yet another part was planning to go out and survey the mountains later.

It was almost like reading a scroll, or maybe like reading five scrolls at once. Moon wished she could escape his attention and just listen to him think for a while.

“Right, introductions,” said Tsunami. “Carnelian? Want to go first?”

No,
muttered the SkyWing’s brain. She heaved a deep sigh. “I’m Carnelian.”

There was a pause.

“Anything else?” Tsunami prompted. “What should we know about you? Family, favorite color, anything?”

Carnelian growled, low in her throat. “I’m a loyal subject of Queen Ruby,” she said finally. “I’m in the camp that believes Queen Scarlet is dead, and if she isn’t, I’d be happy to kill her myself to protect my queen’s throne. I’m here because my queen told me to be, although I
should
be training with my battalion and guarding her palace, not eating slimy wet fish with a bunch of spineless dragonets.” She frowned at them all for a moment. “And my favorite color is red.”

Insecure,
Qibli thought, studying Carnelian.
Only comfortable when she’s fighting. Worried we’ll think she’s dumb and that Queen Ruby will find out she’s dumb and all her chances of advancing to general one day will be ruined. Is she as stupid as she thinks she is? Have to wait and see.

Moon blinked at him. None of that was obvious, but it was all there in the less conscious parts of Carnelian’s mind. He was right. How could he know all that?

He couldn’t be a mind reader, surely, or she’d be able to tell. Had he figured all that out just … by noticing?

“All right,” said Tsunami. “Good to know. Kinkajou?”

Bright flares of yellow and purple shot across the RainWing’s scales. “Oh, sure; I’m Kinkajou, I’m a RainWing, and I’ve never met any SeaWings or SandWings or IceWings before, I mean, apart from the dragonets of destiny, of course, because I’m really good friends with them. I’m excited to learn how to read and I want to know everything about all your tribes and I think this school is the best idea in the world. And
my
favorite color is yellow!”

“Of course it is,” Carnelian said.

Should I tell them about being a NightWing prisoner?
Kinkajou wondered.
No, that’s a little grim for first impressions.

“Your turn,” Kinkajou said, bumping Moon’s side. A flurry of happy thoughts leaped through her scales into Moon, pushing her past her nervousness.

“I’m Moonwatcher,” she said softly, “but please call me Moon.”
Or nothing, that would be all right, too. I guess I can’t say, “Please don’t talk to me at all,” can I?
“Um. I grew up in the rainforest.”
And I’m a mind reader. And I can see the future, and I’m afraid Turtle might kill his sister, and I’m pretty sure someone is spying on our dreams, and that the whole mountain might fall on us one day. Also, I miss my mother.
“I like scrolls,” she finished nervously.

How did she grow up in the rainforest?
Winter thought, narrowing his eyes at her, but Tsunami had already turned away and Moon couldn’t jump in to explain, in case he guessed that she’d read his mind again. She focused on her talons, avoiding his gaze.

“Me too,” said Turtle. “At least, I like scrolls that weren’t written by my mother. I’ve read way too many of those.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m Turtle, by the way.”

Used to being invisible,
Qibli thought, tilting his head at Turtle.
Almost prefers it, but not always. Easygoing. Doesn’t want to try hard enough to be noticed. I wonder how much that armband is worth. Don’t recognize the kind of stones. He looks like he wants to go back to bed.

Moon listened intently; she hadn’t been able to figure out anything about Turtle at all. Qibli seemed to think the SeaWing was harmless. She wondered what he’d think if she told him about her vision — not that that conversation was ever going to happen.

“I’m Qibli,” said the SandWing. “I was one of Thorn’s Outclaws before she became queen. My plan is to learn everything as fast as possible and then get back to help her run the Kingdom of Sand.”

“I’m sure she’s lost without you,” Winter said scathingly.

“And I’m sure
you’re
perfectly
essential
to the operation of
your
kingdom,” Qibli shot back. Winter frowned, and Qibli thought,
Ah, that hit home. I was right; he doesn’t think he’s worth much to his family, although he would like us all to think differently.

“And I’m Umber,” said Clay’s brother. “I think — I think we might have been in a battle together once,” he said to Carnelian. “I mean, you look familiar.”

“Oh,” she said, squinting at him. Her frown softened. “I didn’t realize you fought in the war, too.”
Where SkyWings and MudWings were on the same side,
she thought quietly.
Maybe I do have allies here.

“Yeah, with my brothers and sisters — my brother Reed is our leader,” he said. “But he said Sora and Marsh and I could come to school now that the war is over, since there’s so much we wanted to learn. I miss him and Pheasant, though.” Memories flashed through his head, of flying surrounded by other brown dragons, whisking through clouds and turning and diving all together. Marshes, a muddy swamp camp. A large brown dragon cuffed his shoulder affectionately; another one dropped a pig in front of him and waved for him and Sora to share it. All of them laughing around a fire.

“They can visit anytime,” Tsunami promised. “They can even camp out and live here if they want. The more the merrier.”

“They’re working for Queen Moorhen right now,” Umber explained. “But maybe one day.” His wings drooped a fraction of an inch, and then he pulled them back up.

“Well,
I
am Winter,” said Winter.

“Queen Glacier’s nephew,” Qibli said at the same time as he did. Winter straightened up and glittered dangerously at him.

“Don’t you mock me,” he said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Qibli said innocently.

“If you’re the Head of School,” Winter said to Tsunami, “does that mean you’re the dragon to talk to about getting a private cave?”

“Why, yes, I am,” Tsunami said. “The answer is no.”

“See, I’m your destiny,” Qibli said to Winter with a cheerful shrug.

Wish he were my destiny,
Umber and Kinkajou thought nearly simultaneously. Moon smothered a giggle and got a pleased look from Qibli.

“Can we get on with the discussion?” Winter asked. “What exactly is the point of this?”

“The point is to talk about anything you want to talk about,” Tsunami said. “To find out what dragons from other tribes think, and see things from a new point of view. I’m sure it’ll be different when you have this class with Starflight or Clay or Sunny, but I, for one, think you guys should pick the topic.”

“All right,” Winter said. “I want to talk about NightWing powers.”

As far as Moon could hear, no one noticed her expression of terror before she managed to fix her face. Except maybe Qibli, who thought,
Is she all right? Winter’s such a moonlicking crocodile, picking on her for no reason.

Kinkajou, also, glanced at Moon and thought,
Poor thing,
she’s
not going to enjoy that.

“Maybe we could talk about the war instead,” the RainWing suggested. “I want to know what Queen Thorn is like. You’ve been inside the SandWing stronghold, haven’t you?” she asked Qibli.

“Wait, I’m confused about the NightWings, too,” Turtle said before Qibli could answer. “Is it true they don’t have powers anymore? Just because they moved to the rainforest?”

“I heard a rumor that they
never
had powers,” Carnelian chimed in, suddenly animated. “That they made all of that up and they’ve been lying to us for thousands of years.”

“But what about the dragonet prophecy?” Umber challenged, flicking his tail. “About my brother and his friends ending the war?
That
was clearly real, because look, it came true.”

No, it wasn’t,
Moon thought.
All the NightWings know it was false, because there haven’t been any true prophets in the tribe in forever. But they won’t admit
that
to anyone outside the tribe.
Not even her; she’d figured it out by reading their minds.
Most of them are furious that the world knows they have no powers.

“What if they’re lying
now
and they secretly
do
have powers but don’t want us to know?” Turtle asked.

Moon shivered involuntarily and focused on the fish in her claws.

Oh, snail droppings,
Tsunami cursed inside her head.
I told Starflight we’d get asked about this. I never remember our story. And why should I have to lie? To protect the NightWings’ precious reputation, or the worthless Talons of Peace? Who cares if the prophecy wasn’t real, now that the war is over?

“It doesn’t really matter, right?” she hedged. “The war is over. There are no more prophecies. We can do whatever we want, which includes ignoring the NightWings if we want to. No offense, Moon.”

“It
matters
if they were
manipulating
us,” Winter hissed. “Do they have powers or not? Or did they when they lived in their secret location? If so, were all of them psychic, or just a few? And how did they lose them?” He shook his head, his icicle-sharp spikes clattering faintly. “There are thousands of dragons who are still terrified of the NightWings — they deserve to know the truth.”

Tsunami looked calm, but Moon could hear her squirming on the inside.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU,
the SeaWing thought.

“Well, nobody’s sure what the truth is,” she said finally.

“Nobody’s sure?” Winter swept one glittering, pale blue wing toward Moon. “We have one right here. This is all about understanding other tribes, isn’t it? Can’t we ask her?”

Three moons, the horrible force of seven pairs of eyes staring at her — green, amber, black, blue, orange — ranging from curious to hostile with matching tidal waves of emotion behind them. Moon wondered what anyone would do if she bolted from the cave. And maybe flew all the way back to the rainforest without stopping.

“Moon doesn’t know anything,” Kinkajou jumped in loyally. “She wasn’t raised with the other NightWings; her mother hid her in the rainforest. She’s been told all the same lies as everyone else.”

Moon thought perhaps she loved Kinkajou at that moment more than any other dragon she’d ever known.
Please, please believe her
, she prayed.
Don’t ask me any more questions.

“Oh.” Winter gave Moon that look again, the one like she had shifted her scales and turned out to be a different dragon than he’d expected, or possibly a howler monkey and not a dragon at all.
Maybe I don’t have to hate her after all,
he thought.
But still … a NightWing’s a NightWing, and none of them can be trusted.

Aha,
Qibli thought.
That explains some things. She doesn’t have the same beaten-down yet insufferably smug aura of the other NightWings. Does she miss the rainforest? Or is she happy to finally be with other dragons? Was she lonely? Must have been alone a lot. Maybe she prefers it. Or maybe she’s not used to making friends. I could be her friend. Careful, Qibli. Figure her out first.

“Look, the important thing is that if the NightWings ever did have powers, they don’t anymore,” Tsunami said, spreading her wings so the sun shone through her royal pattern of phosphorescent scales. “As long as everyone knows that, the NightWings can’t manipulate the other tribes ever again. So just remember that there’s no mind reading, and there’s definitely no seeing the future. NightWings are not these all-powerful mystery dragons who know everything. And if someone ever tells you you’re in a prophecy, tell them to eat their tails. I wish I could have done that to the Talons of Peace a lot sooner.”