(<Fern's point of view>)

I could be found preparing to go to the council meeting, shuffling quietly around in my barren room, I kept the small space clear of as much plant life as I could, hating the pull of power I got from them, I can't understand how Lichen could put up with it, despite his... incident of the past he still found comfort in the plants surrounding him.

I sighed, grabbing a bag off a hook on the wall, I slung it neatly on my shoulder, careful not to obstruct my wing movement "Time to go I suppose. " I mumbled softly to myself. "Another day, another attempt to get the council to listen to proper reasoning."

"So your heading out now?" I nearly jumped out of my scales when at the soft whispery voice speaking directly behind me, you'd really expect a blind dragon to be a lot louder with his approaches.

"Good morning Lichen." I spoke, turning to cast my younger brother a sideways glance, he had a small smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "Greetings dear sister."

"Came to give your big sis a hug goodbye?" I ask, turning the rest of the way around and holding I wings open as a silent offer. "That'd be nice." Lichen responded, leaning in and wrapping his wings around me. "I wish you luck with the council." He spoke when they separated, tilting his head up so he appeared like he could've been looking me in the eye, his smile became a bit more teasing as he added. "And with Mushroom."

I batted him lightly with my wing, stepping around him to get to the door. "See you later, Lichen."

"See you later."

I reached a talon up, pushing the door open and began to step out as I heard Lichen scoff. "You make that so unnecessarily complicated, you know." I stiffened. "I know you prefer to use your powers for opening doors, but I... I just don't." I spoke softly, swallowing back a lump in my throat. "And I would prefer if you'd stop bugging me about it."

Lichen gave a soft sigh. "If you insist."

Me and Lichen had moved out of our adopted parents house about a year and half ago.

My talons scraped against the ground as I stalked through the village, eyes followed ms as I walked, whispers sounded as I passed, dragons who knew I planned to unite the council under my rule, it would be safer that way... wouldn't it?

My adopted parents were the last king and Queen the tribe had since the council had been started and I had learned quite a bit from his teaching.

These dragons didn't seem to think so...

I pushed through the doors of the council chamber, putting on a formal grin as I flared her wings wide. "Greetings my fellow councilors! Your leader has arrived."

"You," One of the other members spoke up, Ash, his voice crisp. "Are not our leader. The point of the council is that everyone is held in equal rank."

He was my adopted father and his mate Holly was my mother.

"Yeah!" Their youngest member, a dragonet of only a couple years at most, agreed enthusiastically.

Sapling was added to the council by the invitation of Ash, he liked to get the points of views of Rosewings of all ages, not just adults.

"Calm down, it's just an expression." I just barely held back the snap in my tone as I respond, narrowing my eyes just the slightest bit at Sapling, the young dragonet sticking his tongue out at me.

"What does that mean?" Sapling asked after a moment, tipping his head to the side, his gaze drifting towards his mother, Petal, she opened her mouth to respond when Mushroom spoke up. "Let's get this meeting started, we're all here." I could've sworn he mumbled something under his breath at the end but I wasn't close enough to catch what it might have been.

I Had to take control of the council somehow, I was still trying to figure out the specifics of this plan, but I knew the basics, take over, then kick out the oddlings that dared to call themselves Rosewings, I knew that I wasn't the only one who saw the misfits, as I liked to call them, as a threat, they had strange powers as well as their natural Rosewing ability to control and move plants, that made them dangerous.

My gaze drifted unbiddenly towards Mushroom, his head had those strange mushrooms growing atop it rather than the normal Rosewing flower, I couldn't bear the idea that he was a misfit as well...

He will stay... I couldn't bear to kick him off the island... now Evergreen on the other talon, I'd be more than happy to see her gone.

I slammed my talons down the table in front of me and opened my mouth to try to speak when Ash began to speak, I cast my father a glare but listened nonetheless as he rattled off all the events in the time since their last meeting, I hated being interrupted but... despite him stepping down from the throne to form this pathetic group of whiners... he still had my respect, I desperately hoped I could convince him that the tribe needed purification, I didn't want to be against my father in any wars, should they break out of course.

The council went on for a majority of the day, covering everything that had happened, thankfully, according to all their reports no fights broke out among the tribe, I knew first-talon how dangerous those could be, I absent-mindedly reached up to brush gently at my throat for a moment before giving a firm shake of my head.

"I have to propose an idea!" I spoke in a clear, loud voice before I could talk herself out of it. Ash cast me a somewhat annoyed look. "Fern, I don't care what you think here, but I am not appointing you leader."

"That's not wh-"

"The meeting is adjourned." Ash stood up, casting me a quelling look as I tried to speak again. "I'll see you all at our next meeting."

The members of the council were Holly, Petal, Sapling, Mushroom, Ash and myself.

Holly was the quietest member of the council, only speaking when she wanted to make her opinions known and she like I said earlier Ash's mate, Petal was Sapling's mother, the dragonet asked her plenty of questions, his young age and curiosity meaning he wanted to know what was truly being said, then there was Mushroom, my heart gave a soft flutter just at the thought of him, I knew he liked to spend his spare time between meetings reading the many books from the Rosewing archives, trying to connect the dots in the vague patches of our, and other tribes history, Ash, the founder of the council, he held the council together and kept them from dissolving into arguments, he may not accept the title of leader but he certainly felt like one to Fern.

"Alright." Mushroom replied, standing up as well. "Now if you will excuse me, I can hear my books calling for me." I gave an small smile towards him, he certainly had a way with his words.

Mushroom's scales were mostly a red color with a pale green underbelly with an common rosewing moss growing from it kinda like fur of an animal, Mushroom colored spots dappled his wings and mushrooms grew on his head and tail, his tail tip looked like it had been dipped in red and white paint.

He was a misfit, a fact I knew and hated, my brother was a misfit as well, i still loved him even though he was a misfit, I didn't like the all misfits just my brother, Lichen and Mushroom.

I myself, am an mostly a foresty green with a deep green underbelly, light green eyes, and dark green horns, my council band was wrapped around my leg, a vine bracelet with a wooden circle charm, it was carved with a small crown symbol, I have a sunflower growing from my head and wing tips as well.

I found the sun had set when I stepped outside, that meeting went on longer then the others, normally there was still some time left in the day when we got out.

I walked home by myself and walked inside, the glow-lamps weren't on when I arrived but it was normal for Lichen to leave them off, it wasn't any difference to him as he was blind, I glanced around the main living area, reaching a talon up to brush one of the closed flower buds on the wall, it bloomed open with a glow that illuminated the area around it, although it was faint, I'd have to get Lichen to fuel it with some more power later so it could be back to full brightness since my powers weren't strong enough.

"Lichen?" I called softly, no answer, but then she noticed bits of a dinner was left on the table and I could heard some snores from Lichen's room, he was asleep I realized, good he wasn't gone I saw that he left me a plate.

"A plate of dinner for me." I say quietly, sitting down at the table and scooting the plate closer, my brother was always nice, I smiled as I thought about him, I ate the dinner, it was of course prepared slightly messy but it still tasted good, thats what matters, I finished off the plate, then went to bed.

<●>

I got up the next morning, there wasn't a council meeting today as I recalled, though thinking of the council, Ash would give out various tasks for the council members to do over the week.

And on the topic of tasks... my current task was to make sure that we have enough food from the orchard and vegetable gardens, I walked out of my room to see that Lichen had made breakfast for us, it was my normal job in the mornings.

"Good morning Fern." Lichen said, inclining his head towards me.

"Morning Lichen." I replied.

"Come have some breakfast?" Lichen offered.

"Alright." I accepted, with a nod.

We ate together in silence.

"I'm going to head out and get some work done." I say when I finished.

"Okay." he replied with a nod.

I walked out of the house, the entrance was on the ground, one of the fewer Rosewing houses not positioned among the trees, it made it easier for Lichen so he wouldn't bump into things, although nowadays he was so used to his surroundings that he didn't anymore. I mean after all, there's no possible way he really could be a... what was it called.. Plant-watcher..?

Our home wrapped around the base of a tree, while other Rosewings had tree houses with stairs leading up to their doors, I took the path to the orchard to check on there fruit supply.

"Hello Fern! Are you here to check on the orchard and vegetable gardens?" An Rosewing I knew to be Herb asked as I approached.

"Yes Herb, I am indeed." I answered, giving an nod.

Another Rosewing, Herb's mate Milkweed came out of their house nearby, the two were both normal Rosewings with the regular flower, not misfits... safe to be friends with. "Hello Fern, how's your day been?" Milkweed asked.

"It's been fine so far, now I have came to check on our food supply. Is everyone getting enough food?" I ask.

"Oh yes, everyone has had way more then they can eat before it goes bad and we have plenty of dried stuff saved up for the winter!" Milkweed answered with a grin.

I could trust Milkweed and her family to tell the truth, Milkweed was an old friend after all, she could be shy towards dragons she didn't know, that was why it was always her job to check on there food supply because Milkweed would have a hard time talking to other dragons otherwise.

"My three eggs hatched yesterday, so I have been having a hard time keeping up with around here." Milkweed said, bouncing on her toes slightly as she broke the news. "They are just the sweetest little things!" Herb nodded in agreement. "You should meet them Fern, then you can also report the council on the newest tribe members."

I gave a nod. "That would be nice, and also, if you need, I can help keep an eye on them so you can work?" I offered.

"Thank you Fern, that would be ever so helpful!" Milkweed answered, grinning.

"That's what friends do, Milkweed." I respond, returning the warm smile.

Plus I wanted to get to know Herb a little better, since I already knew Milkweed fairly well.

"You know our dragonets will be able to help out around here before you know it." Herb said.

He is a good dragon and a amazing mate for Milkweed.

"They're quite the talonful right now though." Milkweed said as she walked towards her house.

"So what should we do first?" I ask.

"Check what's ready to harvest, whatever is we can gather." Herb answered.

I have all day to report back to Ash on how there food supply was, it wouldn't matter if I helped out some, we walked down the path to the fruit trees, Herb caught up with me holding two baskets one for me and one for him. "Here." Herb said and gave me one of the baskets.

"Thanks, I forgot to get one." I thanked him.

"No problem." Herb said.

"So what drew you to Milkweed?" I ask, tipping my head slightly to the side.

"She's a kind dragon, you know that, when I met her it looked like she had no friends, although now I know she has you as a friend and you seem to be a good friend for Milkweed." Herb answered.

"She helps me when I have too much to do so I do the same for her." I replied.

"Oh so Milkweed has helped you before?" Herb asked.

"Yep, when we were younger she would help me take care of my little brother, Lichen when my parents were busy." I answer.

"Yeah, I think I know him, isn't he that blind Rosewing I've seen in town?" Herb asked.

"Yup,that would be my brother." I answered.

"I thought so." Herb replied "He's lucky to have a sister like you."

I smiled at him. "How about we get started?" He nodded and I helped him until all the tasks he assigned were complete.

"Would you like to meet me and Milkweed's dragonets now?" Herb offered.

"Of course!" I answer happily.

Herb lead me to the house that they lived in.

"Huh-uh-I!" a small dragonet said, bouncing and tottering his way to stand in front of me, he tilted his head up to look me over. "Nnnnn-eeewww dra-gone!" He yelped pointing at me, I giggled. "Yes I am new."

"That would be Fungus, he's a pretty fast learner, and here are his two sisters Maple and Mallow." Milkweed said, coming over, she lifted her wing to show two female dragonets who were just hiding under her wing.

"They seem to be learning fairly quick!" I commented, Fungus bounced up and down. "Kwwwiiiickk!" He yelped, "I kwik!" He was of course saying it a bit wrong but he definitely had the spirit.

"Yeah, they keep repeating things we say around them, although as dragonets typically do, they are struggling with pronunciations." Milkweed spoke.

"Da!!" Fungus screeched as he ran over to Herb.

"Hi Fungus." Herb said.

"Wha? Whooooo dat?" The orange and green dragonet she guessed was Maple asked, pointing a small claw at me.

"That's Fern, she's a friend." Milkweed answered.

"Feeee errnnn... Feerrrnnuh." Maple spoke, trying out the new word. "Yuh-eww bee fwend?"

"They're adorable." I comment. "Thank you." Milkweed replied.

"I need to head out now, I might be able come back later though, just have to report back to Ash." I told my friend.

"Kay! Don't have too much fun without me." Milkweed replied.

I turned and walked out of the house and back to the main area of the village, following a path to Ash's home, he stepped gingerly outside, glancing up at the patches of sky that were visible between the leaves.

"Hello Fern, how's the weather looking for today?" Ash asked. "I believe at most we might get a minor drizzle after sundown, not much, just what the plants will need to stay healthy."

He gave a nod. "Good. Speaking of plants..." he inclined his head towards me, having to tip his head up to look me in the eyes. "How are the gardens looking?"

"The gardens are doing fine, no need to worry." I answer. "Herb and Milkweed are really good at their jobs, they've gotten lots of dried stuff stored for the winter season."

I had to restrain myself from sharing the news of the dragonets, he never told me to inquire on family stuff, and plus it isn't my news to share, Herb and Milkweed deserve the honor of announcing it to the council.

"That's good." Ash replied, giving another nod.

"Well I'm going to head out, see you later dad." I say before turning and walking away.

"Bye Fern." Ash replied.

It probably won't be long until those three are running around the village and heading to the dragonet school, I gave a small smile, recalling me and Lichen's days there, my brother used to be so shy, tripping over my tail while ducking behind my wings to hide when others tried to talk to him, eventually though I had worked up the courage to talk to Mushroom and he had introduced Lichen to Evergreen, now the two were friends.

I had to fight back a scowl at the thought of Evergreen, the Rosewing was one of those dragons who was so overly cheerful that everyone seemed to like them, that was one of the major things stopping me from taking charge of the council, Evergreen seemingly without knowing it, held the misfits all in a web within her talons, they would of course band together no matter what, but... Evergreen was the one who could turn Lichen and Mushroom against me... and that honestly frightened me.

"Hi Fern!" Sapling yelped as he rushed past her, nearly trampling my talons, Petal was chasing after the dragonet, frantically trying to catch him.

"Having a hard time keeping up with him?" I asked even though I knew the answer. Petal's only response was a nod as she ran off.

That Dragonet may be good during the council meetings, but he wasn't outside of the meetings.

I, being a council member, was fairly well known in the village.

"Hello councilor Fern!" a Rosewing I didn't know called, waving to me.

"Greetings... um.. I'm sorry, what might your name be?" I ask as I neared him.

"Oh right, I'm Lime!" he answered, grinning.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Lime." I replied. "You too Fern!" Lime said smiling.

The village always had some Rosewing doing something, whether it was Rosewings talking or working the village always had something going on.

"So how is your day going?" Lime asked. "It's going fine." I answered.

"Well I'm going to be off now, bye Fern!" Lime said.

"Bye." I replied. He gave a final wave before he walked off.

I decided I would see what my brother was up to, I walked off to see if I could find Lichen would he be in the forest?

"Hey sis, you looking for me?" A whispery voice sounded from behind me.

I turned around to see my brother there. "Yeah I was actually." I answered.

"Why? You know I can take care of myself." Lichen bristled slightly.

"Just to spend some time with you." I answered with a smile.

"Ah, yeah I can understand that reasoning." Lichen said.

"So, do you want to take a walk through the forest with me?" I asked. "Sure" Lichen answered, they walked out of town together.

"Milkweed's eggs hatched, didn't they?" Lichen asked

Milkweed and Herb hadn't told any dragon about the eggs in general, let alone that they had Dragonets, how would Lichen know?

"Remember my plant powers are strong, I could see the moment the eggs first cracked through my power, I know there names are Fungus, Mallow, and Maple." Lichen said

I stayed silent for a long moment, aware but not acknowledging the movement of the vines and roots around them as my brother shifted them around, eventually I spoke. "The dragonets are fine, fairly good at talking so far."

"That's good" Lichen replied, if he was at all bothered by my avoidance of the topic of powers he didn't show it.

Plantseers weren't actually real were they? My mind wondered, I quickly buried the question away, not wanting to acknowledge it.

"I spoke with Evergreen yesterday, she said Mushroom doesn't have the same feelings for you as you do for him." Lichen said gently brushing his tail against mine.

"Hm." I say in what I hoped was a careless tone, I didn't want to deal with the throb my heart gave at that, Evergreen must be lying to get rid of me... to keep me from her brother... I will not stand for this.

"So what have you been up to recently?" I ask, shoving my thoughts to the back of my mind.

"Nothing really that interesting." Lichen answered.

A male Rosewing came out of the undergrowth before I had a chance to respond, I stumbled back a few steps, glancing at Lichen, my brother looked completely unfazed.

"Well, uh... I wasn't expecting any dragons apart from me and Goldenrod to be out here." he said.

"Well, we weren't expecting to run into you either." Lichen replied, pausing before adding. "Well, Fern wasn't, I could feel the disturbance among the plants."

The new Rosewing had a red flower on his head and green eyes almost the same as Mushroom's, which made me wonder if they were related, he also had deep green scales with mint green horns.

"Well, I'm Leafstalk." he said.

"I'm Fern and this is my brother Lichen." I introduce myself and my brother.

"Lichen.....I feel like I have heard that name in my daughter's messages and how great a friend he is" Leafstalk said to himself

Lichen's ears perked up. "Oh! You must be Evergreen's father!"

A second dragon came out it was a female this time, she had Emerald green horns and sky blue eyes and her feet were the same the same color as Evergreen's scales, but the rest of her body was golden like Mushroom's horns and she had vines that grew from her head like Evergreen.

"Hello my name is Goldenrod, you two are...?" She asked.

"Fern and Lichen." I answer, trying not to wrinkle my snout at the misfit, almost that entire family are odd... I wish Mushroom wasn't a misfit, I will need a excuse to keep him around when I enact my plan.

"I believe you have already met my mate Leafstalk." Goldenrod said and twinned her tail with Leafstalk's.

"Yes we have." Lichen replied. "And you're Evergreen's mother."

"Well what brings you to our place." Goldenrod asked.

"We were just taking a walk through the forest, we weren't expecting to meet anyone." Lichen answered.

"Ah okay." Goldenrod replied nodding.

"We should probably be heading back to the village though." I told my brother.

"Okay, bye." Goldenrod said.

"Bye." I replied curtly.

Me and and my brother walked back to the village.

"They seemed like nice dragons." Lichen spoke aloud.

"I suppose." I responded.

We walked into the village and towards our house.

"So were just heading home now?" Lichen asked.

"Is there something else you want to do?" I wondered.

He shrugged. "I guess not." We walked inside.

"I'll make dinner." I say as I walk over to the kitchen.

It was getting into the evening so it was probably best to have dinner soon, after I finished we ate and then talked for a while.

"We should probably head to bed, tomorrow will be another interesting day." Lichen said, we walked to our rooms Lichen went in his and I went into mine, my room doesn't have all that much but I do have an desk a mirror and a bed I just never really found anything that interested me plus it let me stay focused to have an pretty empty room and I didn't really want to keep any plants in my room.

I walked over to my bed got in and closed my eyes, next thing I knew I was getting up out of bed for another day, I wonder when Milkweed's dragonets will start helping out, why don't Leafstalk and Goldenrod live in the village? I wondered in my mind, it most certainly was active today.

Maybe they just don't like all the excitement in the village so that's why they don't live in it, after meeting new dragons especially ones like Leafstalk and Goldenrod my mind would buzz with questions about them.

"Morning Fern." Lichen said from the doorway.

I turned to see him and smiled.

"Good morning Lichen." I greet him, I had been cleaning off the feathers I had on me that were from my bed

Rosewings didn't often kill animals, we mostly used shedded fur and feathers for stuff like bedding.

"You know you could always keep plants in your room especially by the window where they would get lots of light." Lichen suggested

"I think I'm fine with the Glow lamp... I don't need more." I replied.

Lichen's room was covered in plants of all different kinds but the most in his room was vines they were everywhere and they wrapped around his bed and around the room.

"You could have a window box of flowers and put some small plants on your desk?" Lichen suggested.

"You just really like to have plants everywhere, don't you?" I asked an small laugh escaping when I spoke.

"I do." he replied with an smile.

"You've already taken over half the house with plants, this is my safe space that you can't add plants to." I say falling into an defensive pose.

The plants all over the house were overwhelming because of their pull on my powers, it always felt especially strong since I used it as little as possible.

"I guess so.." Lichen replied.

"Why don't we go and get some breakfast?" I suggest.

We walked out of the room and to the kitchen and I made us breakfast and then we ate.

"There is another council meeting today." I mention.

"So you need to head out soon?" Lichen asked.

"Yeah I do." I answer.

"Well I'm gonna need to head out now, bye Lichen." I say.

"Kay bye." Lichen replied.

I walked out of our house, I saw Mushroom and Evergreen come out of their place, a little bit later Mushroom walked to the council meeting building and inside, Sapling ran past with Petal following him and I followed behind the two of them the three of us walked in.

"Hello you three." Ash said. "Three?" Petal asked, she looked behind herself and saw me. "I didn't realize you were behind us." Petal said.

"I know." I respond.

"Well, it looks like everyone is here." Mushroom said.

Holly sat next to Ash as she normally did and I took my seat.

"Well let's begin." Ash said.

We had our council meeting which ended earlier then normal, I walked out with Mushroom and I heard a familiar voice screech "Feeeeeeeeerrrrrr!" She turned to see Fungus sprinting towards me, close behind him Herb was coming running.

"Oh great Evertree... dragonets are fast!" Herb gasped.

"Do you know this dragonet?" Mushroom asked me.

"This is Fungus me and Milkweed's dragonet he ran off." Herb answered. "Have Maple and Mallow ran off as well?" I asked.

"No but this one decided he didn't want to rest when he was supposed to." Herb answered. Mushroom smiled at that

"Evergreen never wanted to sleep when she had to." Mushroom said.

"Don't all Dragonets not like to sleep when they are supposed to?" I ask amusement in my voice.

"Yeah, they don't seem to..." Herb replied.

"Ferr? Puh-lay?" Fungus asked.

"Only if Herb doesn't mind." I replied to the dragonet.

"Yeah you can, maybe it will tire him out." Herb answered, I followed Herb and Fungus out of the village, then Fungus whipped around and jumped at me I fell to the ground he had surprised me with his sudden attack, Fungus was kinda clumsy because he was a dragonet but I could guess he would become a agile young dragon.

"Oh no I've been beaten by the powerful Fungus, what ever will I do." I say lifting my claw to my head with much dramatics, I was playing along to make him happy.

"Yeww evil dray-gone yeww can no win!!" Fungus said.

"No I cannot I've been beaten by you." I replied.

I gently faked trying to push Fungus off, he giggled as he kept me pinned.

"Oh Herb help me this little warrior has trapped me." I asked.

"Alright." Herb replied. "Wha? Da!! nooooooo!" Fungus cried. "Yep, I'm on Fern's side." Herb replied and he grabbed Fungus off me and spun him around in his grasp Fungus giggled the whole time.

"You ready to go sleep yet?" Herb asked.

"Nevaa noo sleppp.." Fungus answered.

"Yes he is." I answered for Fungus.

"FEEERRRR!!!" Fungus shouted in outrage.

"Well I guess that means you have to go to bed." Herb said.

"Nooooo, me's not tir‐" Fungus broke off with a yawn.

"You know that sound you just made means your tired." Herb replied, Herb walked home with Fungus in his talons after he thanked me for the help.