The days that passed were monotonous and in most cases, extremely boring.

Every day, Carmine woke up at dawn, got ready, flew to school (which was already a change from the schedule she had with Gust), survived Professor Sylph's lessons, flew back to the palace to read and attended evening aerial and battle training lessons with army mentors Mother had specifically appointed for her (she guessed at least because, moons, were they boring).

Schooldays had become even worse. Professor Sylph never made her do homework because he was afraid to strain Carmine's "precious claws", and making small talk with Copper and Jay became more and more frustrating with each passing day.

It usually involved Copper talking about Dusk, and Jay commenting on the quality of the education of the academy.

Carmine just nodded and smiled, because both subjects were extremely uncomfortable for her to talk about.

But she couldn't understand why these schooldays weren't as interesting as the first one had been.

But of course, logic came to her aid, and she understood.

It was because a certain SkyWing was in a hospital bed recovering from some serious trauma.

And that was all Carmine could think about.

-/-

The royal palace was having a feast.

A full moon was shining in the sky, and of course, the whole kingdom was celebrating.

Carmine had danced and talked and feasted with the guests, but she decided to take a break and found herself alone on a solitary balcony that looked over the kingdom.

The view was beautiful. The whole SkyWing capital was lit by lanterns and there was music everywhere, both from the party and from the city.

It was in these moments that Carmine would truly be content.

She was a princess looking over her beautiful kingdom, with not one care in the world, and with power over everything.

It was satisfactory for her.

But of course, it didn't last long. About a month had passed from the incident, and Wisp had completely disappeared. She was meaning to ask a member of the Council if he had been excused or something, but she decided against it. He had done nothing wrong, so surely that wasn't the case.

"Stop thinking about him. Think about the moons, the party, the sky," The princess thought stubbornly.

She decided to take a short flight to clear her mind. She knew this would be, once again, a choice she made... but she knew it was a completely harmless one this time.

The breeze was cool and she had to blink frequently to be able to see. But when a SkyWing was flying, everything else in their mind would disappear, and leave it's place to an unconscious joy that would infect you from snout to tail-tip.

And Princess Carmine was no different.

The stars were shining shyly in the sky, completely overshadowed by the bright full moon, which looked like a white pupil over a dark iris that was the night sky.

The SkyWing princess flew over the city, and then higher, doing flips in the sky, and looking over the kingdom.

"This feeling makes life worth it. Whether you're a queen or the lowest-born peasant. It's worth it when you're a SkyWing."

Distracted by her content thoughts, she nearly missed the shadow flying under her, quickly, and without spotting her.

Another SkyWing was flying up there.

Carmine smiled and decided to follow along. It was probably a city-dragon that was flying to the festival in the main plaza.

But when the stranger brought her to fly to the academy district, she had a feeling this wasn't a city dragon.

"Great job. I found myself following a bandit or an assassin. Amazing, Carmine, JUST AMAZING!"

But curiosity consumed her common sense, and she followed the SkyWing sneakily when he landed.

She was surprised when she saw that the dragon had lead her to Pyre High Academy. Carmine immediately thought must mean that the SkyWing was a thief rather than an assassin.

The great wooden doors of the academy creaked but opened as the thief pushed his way inside. Carmine was able to sneak between the closing gap just before the door closed with a loud THUD.

With slow, light, and steady steps, she followed him through the corridors of the academy. From the way he moved and the fact that he didn't hesitate one moment when choosing where to turn, Carmine guessed that he knew exactly what he was doing.

The SkyWing ran to Hall Cliff, the room where the SkyWing princess's class was held every day.

And there, she waited outside. Patiently.

Minutes passed, and the SkyWing stayed inside.

She cursed under her breath. The guardian of the academy was probably at the festival. He wouldn't be back anytime soon.

"Your options are two. You either run away and pray to the moons he doesn't hear you, or your go inside and pray to the moons he doesn't know how to use throwing knives...
Oh, screw it. I'm going inside."

She grabbed an empty torch, lit it up with a flame of fire, and walked inside the room, wings outspread, and trying to look imposing, like a guardian.

The room was already lit by a torch. The SkyWing was standing by the scroll rack, stuffing some scroll in his satchels. He reeled when he heard the door open, and turned around, half spreading his wings in a crooked manner.

Carmine's heart missed a beat when she recognized the golden-scaled dragon.

"Wisp?"

He relaxed, tucking his wings. His shoulder had still a healing scar on it, but his wings seemed to have fully recovered.

He opened his mouth and pulled back his head.

"What are you doing here, princess?"

"I should ask you the same question" Carmine replied sharply.

Wisp's face contorted in discomfort. "Unlike most dragons here, I can't allow myself to fall behind. I missed almost a moon of school, which means I need to catch up. Whether that means temporarily borrowing scrolls after closing time or not."

Carmine was surprised. She hadn't thought of that at all.

"I thought you were here to-,"

"Steal?" Wisp asked, raising his head.

The silence that followed was the answer he was expecting.

"That's what you get for being the son of a traitor. But dragons are never interested to hear the whole story. I'm leaving, so there's no need to call your guards," Wisp growled and made his way to the door.

Carmine spread a wing to stop him before he could leave.

Their eyes met.

"Wait... Wisp, I'm sorry," she stammered, trying to formulate a sentence. "You don't deserve to be judged because of your blood. I was a hypocrite, but I know how you feel. I would- I would have saved you even if I had known who you were, all those days back."

Wisp smiled. His smile had a weird effect on Carmine. She felt like she wanted to smile, too.

"I know. I know because I knew you were different from the day you joined our class and made an honest mistake, like any of us. You're a SkyWing, and we all are. So if you think that we're so similar..."

He searched for words, but Carmine had already guessed the end of his sentence.

"I don't see why I can't be your friend."