"So.. what ? They dragonet-proofed this whole place ?" Firefly said, her voice laced with amusement.

"Yeah, basically," Mirage laughed. "They removed all the stalagmites and stalactites, put carpet everywhere, barricaded the tunnels with seaweed, and used glowing sea pickles instead of candles and fire."

"Were you that rambunctious as a newly hatched dragonet ?"

"I must have been if I managed to find this place all on my own."

Firefly and Mirage were in an open cavern on the other side of the hills. The side that was exposed to the beach and ocean instead of just trees. The cave had many vents in the walls, letting golden sunbeams flow through into the otherwise dark room.

The two hybrid dragonets were perched on one of those vents, claws holding tight onto the stone below them.

To end the house tour, Mirage had decided to bring the Obsidian Winglet (plus Lychee) to one of his favourite places in the whole island. They had all hung out on the cave floor for some time until Clandestine broke away to check on Kaolin. Then after her, Nemertea went for a swim. After that, Arete took off to stretch out his wings. Soon, everyone left except for Firefly and Mirage.

They had been talking a lot, getting to know each other and sharing stories of the crazy things that happened when they were younger.

"My turn.." Firefly mused. "Right after I hatched... a fire broke out in the royal hut. My dad suspected that something must've knocked off the candle on my mom's table."

Mirage's interested stare turned into a concerned one. "Did they tell you about this or..."

"I pried it out of my late great great something grandmother," Firefly answered the incompleted question with a shrug. The shrug seemed very out of place.

"Firefly... Whatever or whoever started that fire could be the same dragon that's trying to kill you right now."

"I know," she sighed. "I'd be lying if I said I've never considered that possibility."

They stayed in utter silence, Firefly not wanting to give up the nice time they were having to talk about this matter and Mirage afraid to make her upset.

Firefly was about to say something but was interrupted by Mirage twinning his tail with her's in a reassuring way. Naturally, her ruff turned pink.

"Sunsets or sunrises ?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Firefly hadn't been expecting that. Any of that. Not the twinning of tails, not the change in moods, and certainly not the random question.

"Where is this question even coming from ?" she said, raising an eyeridge.

Mirage looked away from her. Instead, he fixed his gaze at the scene that was displayed in front of them, a beautiful sunset.

The sky was only half blue, the other half being a soft, warm orange. White clouds went a few shades darker with pinkish-orange highlighting it's absurd shape. And in the middle of the picture, half submerged in the water, was the bright ball of fire that is the sun, slowly but surely getting swallowed up by the reflective ocean. It was a breathtaking view.

"Oh," Firefly breathed out. "Sunsets. Especially ones like these in the rainforest."

"Really ?" Mirage urged her to continue, not tearing his eyes from the line where the sky met the sea.

"Most dragons like the sunsets that make the sky pink and purple and pastel blue, but I like the regular orange-y ones better," she talked on. "The color scheme just catches my eye more."

Mirage was still not looking at her. But at least he was wearing a small smile.

"Why do you like sunsets ?"

"Hmmm.." Firefly thought for a minute. "They signal that the day is ending. It's time for you to stop working and worrying about everything and just.. rest for a while. It's like its congratulating you on surviving the day... and that now you can finally throw everyone else's expectations out the window so you can focus on just yourself... So you can finally be free.."

Mirage was staring at her again now. Wonder in his black eyes. Suddenly Firefly was more interesting than the gorgeous sunset she was talking about.

Firefly caught him wide-eyed and decided to stop her nonsense babbling.

"AND it means it's almost time for bed, I guess," she rolled her eyes.

Firefly gave Mirage a sideways glance and saw that he definitely hadn't seen that coming. His eyeridges were touching, his eyes were squinted, and his mouth was slightly opened. If that expression were on anybody else, Firefly would assume they were judging her. But on Mirage ? Firefly couldn't help but let a giggle out.

Apparently he hadn't expected that either since he shook himself but ended up losing his balance and falling backwards, nearly bringing Firefly with him because of their entangled tails.  He regained his bearings, though, and was able to flare out his wings just in time before his head banged on the stone floor.

Firefly, however, had lost all hope of regaining herself ever again. She was laughing hysterically as Mirage plopped himself back beside her, arching her back and digging her claws into the stone so she won't fall too.

Mirage huffed, trying to act annoyed but knowing fairly well that he was the type of dragon that'll laugh just because other's were laughing. So, eventually, he did.

Laughter filled the cave. The sky was getting darker but their giddy state made the whole world seem so bright.

Mirage was the first to get ahold of himself. "Well I like sunrises better."

"That's nice," Firefly giggled.

"Ask why !" He insisted.

Firefly composed herself before genuinely asking "Why ?"

"Because while you look forward to escaping everybody's expectations, I look forward to another chance of proving myself worthy."

Comprehending what he said wasn't as hard as she thought. Firefly should've guessed that he was an optimist.

"You're very... positive," she remarked.

Mirage shrugged. "I can be dark and gloomy sometimes."

"Are you calling me dark and gloomy ?"

"I wouldn't dare," he stated teasingly

"Good," Firefly nodded. "Because if you're not careful with your words, I'm pretty sure no one would suspect me for pushing you into the ocean."

Mirage blinked a few times. "See ? Dark !"

Firefly rolled her eyes before playfully hissing at him, her black forked tongue dancing in the air.

Soon, they were in an intense staring contest. One dragon was determined to keep their eyes opened and full of fire and the other just had an amused smirk on their snout. Surely you can guess which one is which.

Of course, Scarp chose this time to burst into the cavern, uninvited. Mirage and Firefly instinctively blinked and looked at the Skywing.

A rainbow of colors flashed on Firefly's Rainwing scales : red for how mad she was of him for interrupting the moment, green for how worried him rushing to find them made her felt, and pink for how flustered it made her when Scarp found them gazing into each other's eyes. Her ruff stopped at an color that could only be described as the ugly brownish thing you get after mixing all the primary and secondary colors together. It wasn't like she cared, though.

"Firefly !... Mirage !..," Scarp said in between pants. "Turtle.. done!"

Whatever color had taken over her ruff was now replaced with an excited lemon yellow. Turtle being 'done' meant that he was finished drafting his enchantment, meaning Kaolin would wake up, meaning possible new clues and pieces to the puzzle.

And Firefly knew they needed all the clues they could find.