The first new rule to be set in place was that we weren't to wander the tunnels alone. Despite being a safe haven, getting lost in the vast territory of the mountain was still a worry of Mum and Pop's. Very often, the four of us would travel as our own miniature pride. That's when we discovered what we called the Hidden Room. It was a small pocket in the rock that only a hatchling could reach, as the crack we squeezed through to get there was very small.

     It was covered in soft, dry, den moss and the warmth of sunlight peeked in through the crack. Seth climbed up on of the walls and perched on the outcropping above our heads. He let out a hatchling chirp of triumph.

     "I'm Pop!" He explained. "The big leader."

     "I'll protect you from our enemies!" Ronan added, gleeful as he ripped up some of the most.

     "Who are our enemies?" Seth suddenly sounded fearful.

     "The beetle pride!" I grinned.

     "Aha!" Ronan bounced across the floor to the exit, "they've taken the rest of our territory, and our gold, but they won't get everything. We'll rally together, and take our gold back."

     "There's an enemy scout right there!" May shrieked, darting towards a beetle scuttling across the ceiling, and snapping it up in bite. "Our enemies are delicious."

     The gold ended up being the deer Mum brought back at dusk. We swore her into Seth's pride over the meal, as she was our champion in overcoming ferocious beetle pride. Soon we adopted the name little pride, due to the fact our home base was for small dragons only.

     Our prime directive was to protect the tunnels from beetle pride, but any other dragon would have said it was cause havoc wherever we went.

     Our rank soon grew, as other hatchling became old enough to travel the tunnels under Seth's "trustworthy responsibility as the eldest out of all of us". The first to join us was Kiri. She was a wyvern hatching from the den closest to ours, I was told she was a deep red in color. Apparently similar to my brother's coloring, whatever that means, and she became quick friends with May. Kiri was loud and had an affinity for leaves, especially eating them.

     She made a good addition.

     "Onwards leader!" Ronan roared with all the force his tiny lung could master, pumping his tiny wings as he and Seth shot down the tunnel, with us tumbling after them.

     Nothing could quite compare the adrenaline rush of running through the dark, our night vision still massively undeveloped, with a dim sense of where we were going. Here in little pride, if the leader crashes into a rock because he can't see in the dark, we all do. The first time we came back with bruises and a few missing scales Pop laughed and said he admired our loyalty.

     There was a shriek and Seth my have stopped because all tumbled into him, forming into a giggling ball of thrill-happy hatchlings.

     "A new comer!" Ronan was the first to figure out what we'd hit.

     "Stand down," Seth ordered. "Hello? Are you all right?"

     The new hatchling let out an indignant snort. He was a wyvern, and smelled of running freshwater, exposed mineral, and of the cold. "Uh, I think so."

     "Are you bleeding?" May rushed forward, "It's when juice comes out of your body. It's supposed to stay inside."

     "No," the hatchling replied. "Who are you guys?"

     "Little pride, at your service. We protect the mountain from the evils of beetle pride."

     "Hey, I'm the leader!" Seth nipped at Ronan. "What's your name?"

     "Tallin... wait, you're Gideon's hatchlings!" He realized, and he paws scuffled against the ground.

     Seth clicked in confusion. "What are you doing?"

     "Bowing? It's what my cether taught me to do when you meet Gideon's family."

     Seth went quiet, I got the feeling he was looking between us to see what to do. "Why?"

     "I don't know." Tallin shrugged.

     "My Mum taught me as well." Kiri added, "I bowed to May the first time I met her and she said I didn't have to."

     "You don't." I decided, "there's no reason."

     "Okay," Tallin chirped, "do you mind helping me? I think I'm lost."

     "Oh, that's no problem." Seth stepped up, "Longtayle here, my brother has the whole mountain memorized, where's your den?"

     "I don't think he knows, Seth," I snorted.

     "I do not."

     "Oh," The scales on Seth's thin tail clicked together as he curled in embarrassment. "Your parents?"

     "My cether's name is Hemlock and my pather's name is Kindle."

     "I know where that is." I made a mental note of their names, adding it to the list. I placed Tallin's name in the spot between them, then tilted my head. "Fea Kindle gave Pop a bag of dried fish last year, he spoke of your egg. We walked past your den maybe... half a dozen times."

     I'd like to say the quiver of astonishment from Tallin's spines didn't stoke my ego, but here we are. I was picking up on a weird vibe from Seth, something between insatiable curiosity and nervousness. I waited for second, he did nothing. Alright, hold your silence then.

     "Follow me." I turned to Seth, "I will meet you back at Hidden Room before the sun sets."

     He hesitated, "but Mum said—"

     "I won't get lost."

     His jaw snapped shut as I turned and walked away, Tallin padding nervously after me. Unlike Kiri, he stood on his hind legs and stepped lightly. He probably wasn't as strong as her, or quite as willing to fling himself into the unknown. Not the usual little pride material, but...

     "Do you go on many adventures down here?" He asked, breaking the silence.

     "Yes."

     "Isn't it scary?" He skipped slightly to keep up with me, probably making small talk just so he didn't loose the sound of my voice.

     I dropped my tail so it slithered along the ground with a trackable hiss. "I don't feel that way. I think it's quite exciting. There are some places down here even our parents haven't been."

     Tallin shivered, "you like it in the dark? Don't you like being outside where you can see things better? There's no color down here."

     I didn't answer him for a moment, trying to wrap my tongue around what words to use. "I don't see things, it's the way I hatched. I don't know what colors are, but that doesn't particularly bother me. I like the outside, but it can be awfully noisy. Down here, everyone moves just the same as me." I paused, and let out an amused mrr, "I suppose to does get cold sometimes."

     "Oh," Tallin chewed on that thought. "I see, you know the mountain well."

     I could hear the faintest of mountain beats, even now. "I do."

     The tunnel ahead of us grew smelly with other dragons and the noise of general chatter surrounded us. Tallin began to take bigger steps as he recognized the rock around him.

     "This is my den right here, thank you!" He chirped.

     He hesitated before rejoining his family. I tilted my head. I measured the thread of silence between us and made a decision. I think perhaps, the others would like it.

     "Tomorrow at sun high. There's a crack in the outside of the mountain, a few wing-lengths from the opening tunnel." I started. "Bring something from your hoard."

     "Can I bring one of my friends?"

     I raised my brow, "sure."

     Tallin skittered off happily, clicking and chirping with glee. A warmth blossomed in my chest, similar to when May and I pressed our faces into budding flowers and covered our muzzles in pollen. I quite liked making friends. The feeling dissolved almost as soon as it came and instead a strange prickling washed over me. My spines twitched, something felt wrong.

     I ran back to where I promised my brother I would be. It took only a few minutes but it felt like forever that way my heart pounded. I shoved my head through the crack in the Hidden Room, and took a deep breath, it was empty, and the scent was stale. They hadn't returned here.

     I fluttered my tiny wings and shot down the tunnel to our den. Seth's scent was here, along with Ronan's. Mum gasped as I scuttled into the nesting room. Pop was here as well, and my brother's. My ears flew back when I realized what was wrong.

     "Where's May?" I demanded.

     "We were hoping you knew." Mum's impression changed. "We told you not to travel alone."

      "I'm sorry, I was walking another hatchling home. May can't have gone far, though. She was with us when we met with him, it must have been when we split up." I started to turn around, but then Pop's massive form leapt across the room and he let out a deep, subtle growl.

     "You will stay here," his voice softened. "Don't worry, we will be able to find her. As you said, she can't have gone far."

     I let out the breath I had been holding, "but—"

     "Seth, watch your brothers." Mum's tail swished past me and out of the lip of the cave.

     I paced back and forth across the room, my tail flicked back and forth. Irritated was an understatement. There was a burn in my chest and in my jaw. If I'd known any better, I would have called it fire. Pop would have called nerve. However, in the thick-headedness of my youth and the slow hammering of worry lacing my tongue, I gave it the name bravery.

     "What are you thinking?" Ronan asked, I could feel his eyes on me.

     "I'm thinking Seth's right. I have this mountain memorized," I hissed under my breath.

     It was late, meaning the sun no longer illuminated our den. May had told me the tunnels were darker at night. Apparently, the absence of light was like walking through a thick, cold brush. If she'd gotten separated, she would be stumbling around, lost. She was too stubborn to sit still and wait for someone to find her. I would have to catch up.

     I paused before my claws brushed against the smooth floor of the next room. I looked back at Seth, waiting for his reaction. He sucked in a breath, and his little claws kneaded the ground as he weighted the options, I'd given him.

     "Longtayle," his voice quivered, "I trust you. Don't make me regret it."

     The final syllable dropped from his lips and the next moment my feet hit the ground. Nostrils flaring, I soaked of the smells clings to the walls, picking up May's, and clutching onto it like a barnacle in the sea caves below. My parents had been here, they were following her scent as well. Maybe I'd rushed into this, maybe Mum was right.

     My parents' trails split from mine down the path we had traveled earlier, but we had come back to the den from another direction. The way we'd come didn't smell of May because we hadn't come back with her. Mum and Pop were going to end up trailing us all around the mountain, and that would take forever. They would lose us when they got to the lake.

     I took a deep breath and took the other tunnel. She'd been there when we ran into Tallin. That was up ahead, past more forks. She could had easily gotten turned around there. It happened to us in a group a few times, months ago.

     I passed the first fork, there was no sign of her. I passed the second, nothing. My throat was dry as I came across an underground river. There was May's scent on one side, and on mine, the muddled, tainted smell of dragons whose prints had been momentarily washed clean. Well... this might be a problem. The cavern the stream flowed through wasn't big, Mum could had opened up her wings in here. I walked up and down it try to figure out if May had crossed it.

     There was an impression in the moss where I'm guessing she laid from a few minutes. She'd sharpened her claws on the bedrock. This must have been when she realized she was lost, and waited to see if we'd come back for her.

     I had come back.

     So where did she go next? She hadn't crossed into the tunnel beyond, I don't think she left this room. The only fresh scent here was us, and... hold on. I waded through the creek and push my nose against the rock on the archway on the other side. Weird... there was another dragon's scent here, it blended in with the cave-smell almost perfectly. It was fresh too, the same age as May's.

     My head was starting to hurt. If she'd seen another dragon, why didn't they bring her back? She would have said she was lost. Pop said every dragon in the mountain was a friend. If the dragon had come from elsewhere, they would have smelled like it. I didn't even know if there was an elsewhere.

     I heard the gurgling sound of bubbles from behind me. That's when it suddenly snapped into focus. I padded back to the waters edge, close enough that it ran over my claws. I tilted my head, and waded in until I was standing in the middle, the water came up to my back. Following the current downwards, I realized the spot where the water sprouted from the rock was big enough for a hatchling to crawl through.

     I don't why May would hide, but I also didn't see any other possibility. I pressed my wings against my body and dipped my head under the surface. My second eyelid dropped down, and I felt the fluff of my gills crawl out from the slits in my next. I took a deep breath of water, and clicked three times.

     To my relief, I got three clicks back, in the same sequence. Our sequence. I yanked my head back above the surface and squeezed the water out of my gills. May's head popped up next to mine, and she licked my nose.

     "Thank Skylark." She breathed, crawling onto the bank, dripping. "I was so worried no one was going to find me."

     "Are you alright?" I asked, sniffing her for injuries. She smelled okay, but she didn't sound like it.

     May shivered, not from the cold. "I stopped to look at some rock flowers, then realized I didn't know where you guys had gone. I waited here for you to come back... but then... this other dragon found me."

     "The dragon with no smell." I sat down next her and helped lick the water off her scales to warm her up again.

     She swallowed, "He spoke differently, it scared me, so I hid underwater."

     I couldn't help but feel the shiver run down my spine. "Let's go back, Pop will know what to do."

     We walked back slowly, I draped my wing across hers, so she wouldn't get lost. My parents had already returned to the den, having lost the trail at the lake. I assume to question us about where we'd gone that day, but ere distracted by my absence.

     I could tell they wanted to yell at me, but quickly realized May was with me. Mum rushed forward and scooped her up. Pop leaned in and they both fussed over May. I shook off the remaining dampness and sat down next to my brothers. I could feel Seth's relief melt off of him in waves.

     "I told you." I said to him.

     Pop heard, and turned to me. "Yes, Seth told us what you did."

     I clenched my jaw, ready to accept my punishment.

     "I think we owe you an apology," Pop purred.

     I hesitated, "what?"

     Mum placed May gently back on the ground and she skipped towards us to greet her brothers.

     "We may have underestimated you." Mum added.

     "I'm impressed," Pop chuckled, "but you also scared us half to death, so how about we come to a little agreement."

     "Like what?" Ronan chirped. "What did we do?"

     "You took responsibility, love. It's very impressive," Mum cooed.

     "You disobeyed me," Pop bent down to stare each of us down. "If it had not been for your sister's wellbeing, you would be in more trouble."

     I blinked, "oh, so you're not mad?"

     "No, you're still grounded, of course." Mum let out a small laugh. "But instead the rest of your lifetime, how about we shorten it to two weeks, love?"

     "That sounds appropriate." There was a soft noise as his muzzle brushed against hers.

     After we'd been put to bed, Mum and Pop stayed up and talked to May late into the night. Like she promised, May told them about the dragon with no smell. She didn't tell me anything else, and Mum and Pop never spoke of it. I noticed they continued to talk long after we'd fallen asleep. Though curiosity drove me half-mad, I figured it must not be a big deal. Instead I focused my attention on the fact it had been me who found May, I figured it out, nobody else could have done that, and they were proud of me.

     Seth was our leader, Ronan was strong, May was smart, and despite my doubts, I was their equal.