Eclipse woke up the next morning, ready for learning. Lily was still asleep, and so was a JungleWing, whose chameleon-like scales were pulsing different colors.

That must be the JungleWing princess, Macaw.

Dragonets started flooding the tunnel, walking to class. "Lily! Wake up!" Eclipse whispered. The DirtWing opened her eyes and looked up at Eclipse.

"What?" she grumbled.

"It's time to go to class! Everyone's leaving!" That made Lily jump up.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" The two dragonets left the cave, following the flow of other young dragons. The followed the tunnel to the entrance cave, then turned to look at the other two tunnels.

"The scroll said it was in the culture cave, which is the fourth cave on the right tunnel. The middle tunnel goes to the library, prey cave, and history room. The right tunnel has the culture cave, the music cave, the battle cave, and the outdoor pavilion, which is used for medical classes." Lily recited, to Eclipse's surprise. She hadn't realized that Lily had such good memory.

They went down the right tunnel and counted the caves until the reached the fourth one. The cave had a long entrance tunnel that opened up into the actual cave. The cave had no ceiling; it was open to the wide, blue, cloudless sky. Lily and Eclipse were the first to arrive, and Tundra was there to welcome them.

"Welcome, Lily, Eclipse. Yes, I remember your names. I've remembered every dragonets' name. Oh, and welcome Frostbite," he said to someone behind them. Looking over her shoulder, Eclipse saw that it was a pure white SnowWing. He had a whip-like tail and a ruff behind his ears.

More dragonets walked up behind Frostbite. There was Macaw, the JungleWing princess and the blue-green WaterWing that was behind Eclipse at the enrollment table yesterday. The SunWing that Eclipse met yesterday was also there. His pale green eyes lit up when he saw her.

The SunWing walked over to her. "I was worried I wouldn't see you again. I never caught your name."

Eclipse inclined her purple-blue head shyly. "I'm Eclipse." She couldn't believe that this SunWing wanted to know her name.

"That's really pretty. I noticed that your eyes look different from the rest of the StarWings."

Eclipse looked away, embarrassed by her deformity. "I was hatched with it," she mumbled.

The SunWing lifted her head with his wing. "I like it. I'm different too. I have this." He spread his wings, showing her their undersides. Each wing was pale yellow with sprinkles of pitch-black scales, like black rocks in a desert of sand. Eclipse, mesmerized by this differentiation, reached up with her talons. She ran a claw lightly across the scales on his wings.

The SunWing's wings trembled slightly and Eclipse drew her talon back sharply. "Did I hurt you?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine. It just feels weird. No one has ever touched them before. I'm Viper, by the way." He folded his wings back.

Tundra interrupted whatever Eclipse was going to say next. "Let's begin!" The dragonets gathered near their teacher. Eclipse noticed that their winglet's FireWing was missing. Tundra started the class. "Welcome to the Dragonet Academy. Most of you know who I am, for I was at the enrollment table yesterday. If you don't remember, though, I'm Tundra, the tribes and culture teacher. In my class, we will be learning about the different tribes, and their cultures, hence the name of the class. Since this is the first class, however, we will just get to know one another.

"You all together are the Jade Winglet. You will take your classes together for the rest of the school term. Why don't we go around the class and introduce ourselves? Would you like to start?" He pointed his tail at Lily, who, being her excitable self, nodded eagerly.

"Hi, I'm Lily, a DirtWing, obviously." She rolled her eyes. "I have four brothers and three sisters and I absolutely love meeting new dragons." She gestured to Eclipse.

Eclipse ducked her head timidly. "I'm Eclipse," she said quietly. "I don't have any brothers or sisters. I hatched during an eclipse, which is where I got my name, and I like learning new things."

Silence followed her words, and Eclipse knew they were waiting for her to say more. Viper stepped up next to her and spoke. "I'm Viper. I have a half-sister who's the same age as me named Hornet; she's Queen Scorpion's daughter. No, my mother is not the queen. My mother died when I was three. My father had Hornet with the queen. I'm looking forward to making friends and learning as much as I can so I when I finish school, I can teach Hornet since she can't come here."

Eclipse felt her heart melt. Of course Viper would come here for his sister! He was so kind. Eclipse wondered how many more dragons like that were left in the world. It seemed like every dragon these days wanted to resort to fighting and war as the answers.

The WaterWing went next. His name was Reef and he was the son of a high-ranking General in the WaterWing army. Frostbite told everyone that he was the SnowWing queen's cousin. Macaw talked about all the fancy things she had in the rainforest that weren't here.

The FireWing was still missing, Eclipse realized. A voice spoke from the entrance of the topless cave. "And I'm Smolder. I'm so pleased to meet you all." The flame-colored FireWing that almost fought Viper yesterday walked into the cave. By the tone of his voice, he was definitely not pleased to meet them.

Viper narrowed his eyes at Smolder and tilted his barbed tail towards him, while Eclipse ruffled her leathery wings. "Nice of you to show up," Reef snarled.

Smolder ignored the comment. He was staring at Eclipse. "Is it true that StarWings can make their scales shine like those little lightning bugs?" he sneered. By the stars above, he did not just call me a bug! Eclipse thought fiercely.

Eclipse lifted her chin. "Is it true that FireWings set themselves on fire when they get mad? Talk about anger issues."

Smolder's scales burst into flame. Smoke spiraled out of his nostrils. "I guess StarWings aren't as talented as we all thought. The only thing they can do is glow and breathe fire. Do you know how many tribes can breathe fire? Nearly all of them."

Eclipse stepped towards the fiery dragonet, anger pounding in her skull. "I could melt the scales right off your body!" She started heating up the scales on her tail, which ended in a spray of feather-like spines. They were flexible and able to handle more heat than the rest of her body, which was enough heat to melt dragon scales, and dragon scales were tougher than diamonds.

Viper pushed in front of her. "What's your problem?" he asked Smolder. "Do you think it makes you look strong to pick on females?" He arched his barbed tail over his back.

Tundra finally broke in. "That's enough! Save your energy for battle training. It's time for you to switch classes. You all have music next. It's two caves down, and don't kill each other on the way there."

Eclipse shot a final glare at Smolder and left the cave. She turned on Viper, who was right behind her. "Why'd you do that? Do you think I can't defend myself? It's because I'm a female, right? Well, guess what? I could beat any of you males in battle!" With that, she stormed off to the music cave.