"Ugh, I still have no idea what to do," Lily groaned. The DirtWing was surrounded by scrolls. She was currently reading A Detailed History of Dragon and Scavenger Interaction. Eclipse was skimming through Scavenger Ways: A Complicated Yet Simple Culture. They had been in the library for hours.

"I was thinking of doing a report on scavenger tribes and the types of scavengers. You know, like, there's no way the scavengers living in the desert and grasslands are the same as the ones living in the arctic. I like the idea, but it seems so unoriginal. I want to use a live scavenger in my project," Eclipse added. Her midnight blue eyes darted over to Lily as the DirtWing jumped up.

"That's it! If you're not gonna use that idea, I will! Thanks so much, Eclipse!" Lily gave Eclipse a quick hug and darted out of the library. Eclipse gave a heavy sigh, then sat up. Maybe it was a good thing Lily had taken that idea. Eclipse had something much, much better. She ran speedily out of the library to speak to Swift.

"You want to choose your own scavenger?" Boa was asking Eclipse. She glanced around like she just wanted to give Eclipse a random one of the many scavengers in the lab.

"I asked Headmaster Swift about it. He said it was all right. Headmistress Rain had some dragons build an enclosure for it in my cave. Don't worry, I'm fully prepared. I've researched their diets, and got some fruit and small chickens, and I've roasted the chicken. There is a tiny hammock and a nest in the enclosure, and a little pool of water." Eclipse listed these things off on her claws.

Boa gave a long blink, then clenched her teeth. "Fine," she sighed. "Go look around and pick one. Males are over there, females on that side." She pointed to left and right sides of the bright biology cave. Returning to her desk, Boa's scales showed hints of red. Anger, Eclipse thought.

Eclipse instantly went to the right side of the cave, the female side. There were six cages lined up on that wall, each holding a female scavenger. Peering into the first cage, Eclipse instantly shook her head at the cowering scavenger and moved on. The next two scavengers were also cowering, and the third was sleeping. Scavengers four and five shouted at Eclipse, and the dragonet began to worry that she wouldn't find a scavenger suited to her project.

Finally, she came across the last cage. It held a younger scavenger with long, light-colored hair and small green eyes. The scavenger scrambled up from eating when she saw the big dragonet with jewel-like scales outside her cage. Eclipse gently out one of her claws in the cage. The scavenger squeaked quietly to herself, then slowly reached out with one of her paws and placed it on Eclipse's claw.

"Hey, Boa," Eclipse called, dragging her gaze to the JungleWing. "I'll take this one." Eclipse gave the biology teacher her student card, bought a scavenger pet guide, and picked up the scavenger's cave. One of the other scavengers yelled loudly, but Eclipse's scavenger just cheeped back calmly. As least, it gave Eclipse the impression of calmness.

Once she got back to her cave, Eclipse set the cage down in the corner where the scavenger enclosure was. It was the most extravagant enclosure Eclipse had ever seen, even better than the ones at the StarWing palace menagerie.

There was a moat of water around the main structure in the enclosure. Just beyond the moat, a tiny hollow scoop in the ground held food; berries and the roasted chicken. Above that, a platform rose up from the ground with little stairs leading up to it. This platform had a soft moss and grass nest like the one Eclipse had back home in the grasslands. There was another platform over this one, except it had a latter going up to it from the nest platform. That platform had a slide winding from it down to the ground. Eclipse had gotten the idea for the slide from a dragonet playground. From the slide platform, there was a bridge leading to another platform that was over the moat of water. The entire enclosure was surrounded by little metal bars, like a bird cage.

The scavenger let out a squeak when she saw the enclosure. Eclipse wasn't sure, but she thought it sounded like a squeal of excitement and amazement. Pushing the cage so the door of it lined up with the door of the enclosure, Eclipse pointed a claw at the scavenger. "No trying to escape. I need you here, and I really thought you'd like your new home."

The scavenger squeaked again, and it had the same scolding tone Eclipse had just used. The StarWing smiled.

Eclipse fumbled with the cage latch for a second, then opened it and the enclosure door at the same time. Both swung outwards, but on opposite sides, so they formed a tunnel for the scavenger to walk through. The scavenger ran into her enclosure, so Eclipse closed the enclosure door and latched it. Eclipse then backed away to give the scavenger time to explore and eat.

My project won't work unless she trusts me, and for that, I have to give her time.

"Queen Wave is the queen of the WaterWings. Who did she challenge to become queen?" Tundra asked, sweeping his thin, whip-like over the cave floor.

Viper raised his barbed tail and Tundra gestured toward him. "Queen Wave challenged her sister, Queen Turtle."

Tundra nodded approvingly. "Good, now, Macaw, who are Queen Wave's daughters?"

Macaw narrowed her gaze at the culture teacher. Eclipse cringed, knowing how the JungleWing hated not having her royal title. Macaw's scales turned purple, and her ruff and ears were deep red.

"Macaw," Tundra said again, a slight hiss in his voice this time. "The names of the WaterWing princesses, please."

Macaw visibly clenched her jaw, then answered. "Princess Foam, then Princess Angelfish, then Princess Minnow. Princess Foam is the oldest, but most dragons say Princess Angelfish will challenge first. However, most WaterWings like Princess Minnow best, even though she's only nine."

"Thank you, Macaw. Now, Lily, can you tell me who the heirs of the StarWing throne are?"

Eclipse stiffened. She never really liked talking about StarWing royalty, but no one had ever guessed why.

Lily scrunched up her face in thought. Eclipse felt a pang of pity for her friend, who never seemed to be able to remember royalty or successions.

"Umm," Lily muttered, "the queen's daughter, the queen's sister, and—"

Suddenly, a FireWing burst into the cave through the open roof. Eclipse recognized him as the dragon who had been guarding the school when she and Viper had snuck out. "Tundra!" he gasped. "Swift needs you! There's a dragonviper in the history cave."

"By all the ice flows, how? Never mind. Inferno, watch my class for me. I was just quizzing them on the tribe queens and their heirs." The SnowWing gave the class a stern look, warning them to behave, and swept out of the cave.

Inferno turned to them and smiled. His orange scales practically glowed like a StarWing's in the sunlight. "Hi, everyone. I'm Inferno, one of the battle trainers here. I guess today I'm teaching culture. Who can tell me who the queen of the SnowWings is, her heirs, and the queen she challenged to take the throne?"

Eclipse extended one of her purple-blue wings slightly, and Inferno pointed a talon at her. "Queen Blizzard is the current queen. She's got only two heirs; Princess Ptarmigan, her one-year-old daughter, and Princess Crystal, her sister. She challenged her mother, Queen Permafrost. Frostbite is actually the son of Queen Permafrost's ex-husband, Bobcat, which technically makes him a SnowWing prince."

Inferno shifted. "You know a lot about succession. You also seem familiar from somewhere. What's your name again?"

Oh no, Eclipse thought. She didn't want anyone to find out who she was. "Well, erm," she spluttered.

Viper stepped in to save her. "You wouldn't know her. She'd never left grasslands before she came here."

How little he knew.

"So, have you all decided if you want to be the winglet to travel the continent?" Inferno asked, blinking his yellow eyes warmly.

"I don't know about them, but I want to go," Macaw said haughtily. "I miss the rainforest horribly."

"I want to go, too!" Lily chattered. "I've never seen the arctic, or the grasslands, or the volcano territory, or the ocean, or the-"

Reef stopped her. "We get it. You've never been out of the marshes."

Viper nudged Eclipse with his wing. "Don't you want to see the whole continent?" he asked.

Eclipse gave him a smile. He was always so patient with her, despite her shyness, and her stubborn streaks. "Well, yes," she breathed. "I want to see the rainforest most of all. It sounds so colorful. And I would like for you all to meet my mother, and my aunt, and my cousin." She tilted her head in her usual shy way. The entire winglet, except Smolder of course, had a softer expression cross their face.

Won't they be surprised when they find out who my aunt and my cousin are!

The winglet was released when Tundra came back. Inferno informed him that the Jade Winglet wanted to be the traveling group.

Eclipse hurried to the prey cave, grabbed some berries, mango, bananas, and a pig and returned to her cave. Macaw and Lily were in the library researching for their projects.

"Hello," Eclipse said, setting the food on the ground. She lit the fire pit in her scavenger's enclosure. The scavenger slid down her slide and came up to the door of the enclosure. Eclipse quickly killed the pig and opened the enclosure door.

The scavenger held out her hands. Eclipse gave her the fruit and set the pig over the fire. The scavenger stored the food in separate containers she had made out of grass. Then she left the enclosure to sit on Eclipse's nest. Eclipse took a deep breath and set her mind on the task at hand.

She was going to teach this scavenger to speak Dragon.