Umber felt his breath quickening. "Winter, wait, let me explain. Sora's here to make peace with you, she doesn't want to fight. None of us do," he added, spreading a wing over his sister. "She did what she did because she wanted vengeance for – for Crane."

Sora let her head fall in submission, her jaw hitting her armour-scaled chest. "Please forgive me, Winter," she whispered. "I just... I couldn't let it go. I never intended for anyone else to get hurt, and I know what I did was wrong. I promise after this visit you'll never have to see me again."

There was a brief moment when Winter's eyes widened, his mouth opening in surprise. He sighed through his nose, nodding.
"I accept your apology, Sora." His voice was quiet, not nearly as harsh and Umber was expecting. 
"I in turn apologise for Icicle's behaviour – she was a danger to us all, but you have no need to worry about her anymore. For her crimes, she is awaiting trial at the Ice Kingdom." The IceWing regarded the dragons in front of him, thinking; before he smiled – a genuine smile, asking for peace and connection.
"I appreciate your grace and your honour," he said to Sora, "and I would like to be friends, if that's alright with you."

Sora looked at him, blinking. With a relieved cry she couldn't control, she rushed forward and enveloped the IceWing in her own hug.

Umber smiled, twining tails with his sister. He brushed wings with Winter when the IceWing returned her hug, both of the boys giving Sora the time she needed.

When she pulled back again, Winter's smile was still there when he commented, "you MudWings love physical affection."

Umber and Sora laughed, sharing a glance and each seeing the relieved, light, happy glint in each other's eye.

The guilt was gone, the past was behind them.

"Thank you," Umber spoke for both of them.

Winter dismissed the matter with a wave of his wing. "If I deserve redemption, I don't see why you shouldn't get that same chance."

Umber grinned. "I quite like this new stick you've turned over."

Winter rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "You and everyone else," he remarked. The tip of his tail flicked up, as if he had remembered something. "Speaking of everyone else, it's probably time for you both to come see them."

Umber's heart lit up, doing a small jump. "Yes!" He agreed, smiling at Sora. He looked back at Winter. "Please lead the way."

Bowing his head at the both of them, Winter turned and took to the skies.

›◊‹

Winter landed in Sanctuary's marketplace. 

As Umber touched down beside the IceWing, he couldn't help but be impressed. When he first heard of Winter's Sanctuary, he had pictured a small scavenger den made of stone and grey bricks, but he hadn't known the town was for dragons as well as scavengers. Qibli hadn't been kidding in his past notes when he had compared Sanctuary to Possibility!

"The meeting place is in there," Winter nodded to a tall grey building. The Sanctuary's own great hall, Umber guessed.

"Of course, we're not rich enough to afford diamonds or jewels to 'bedazzle' the Grand Hall, so don't expect the place to be lathered with as much grandeur as its name expresses," Winter continued as he lead the two MudWings to the Grand Hall, winding around the stalls and returning friendly hellos and waves as merchants and shoppers recognised him.

Winter pulled aside a red velvet curtain that served as the Grand Hall's door (Umber remembered he had heard from Qibli that Winter had only installed those instead of actual doors because Moon preferred them). "Hey everyone!" He called, putting a stop to the excited muttering that had been happening seconds prior.
Inside was a round wooden table with chairs. Sitting on the chairs: Moon, Kinkajou, Turtle, Clay, Tsunami, Riptide, Peril who was awkwardly shifting from talon to talon on the stone floor beside Clay, and –

Qibli, Umber breathed.

"Umber! Sora!" Clay shouted, leaping out of his chair and lunging towards his siblings. Brown wings enveloped over brown wings as the Bigwings pulled his youngest brother and sister into a huge hug, squeezing the both of them tightly.

"Clay," Sora replied, her voice breathy with hope and tender relief. Tears had begun escaping her eyes.

"I'm never letting either of you go again," Clay decided stoutly. "That's it. Nope, no more running away for you two."

"We're done running," Umber declared as he pulled away.
As Sora stayed with Clay, Umber turned to the rest of his friends. "We've missed you all so much," he said.

"We missed YOU," Kinkajou responded as she hugged him fiercely. "So don't ever run off again! You can't escape us anymore, Umber!"

The MudWing shook his head. "Good, I don't want to."

Moon smiled. "It's good to see you again, Umber," she said.

Turtle came up next to Kinkajou, and she pulled away, allowing him to then lean into Umber. "I missed you," he said. "I'm glad you and Sora are all right."

Umber closed his eyes. "I missed you too, clawmate," he hugged the green SeaWing.

"Wow," Peril said. "It's such a shame I burn everything I touch to a crisp, otherwise I would totally be in on this hugging thing. Like, wow. You can't imagine."

Despite her sneaky tone, Umber offered her the warmest smile he could. She grinned at him knowingly, then gave him a warm smile of her own.

Tsunami walked up to Umber then. "Good to see you again, you rascal," she said affectionately as she brushed his wing.

Riptide chuckled. "If anyone can warm the heart, it's my girlfriend."

Umber had been conscious of Qibli staring at him the minute their presence to the group had been made known, and the SandWing had waited patiently for his turn to greet his friend. Sort of like the buildup to the big finale.

Now, Qibli was standing just behind Turtle, who conceded.

"Umber," was all the SandWing said as he hugged his clawmate. 

At the touch of their scales, Umber's heart thumped harder. He felt the anxiety drain out of him, rejoicing in this moment. 

"I missed you," Qibli said tenderly. "I mean, like you've heard from everyone else," he added jokingly. "I'm so glad that you and Sora are here. It's wonderful that we can all get along now, without any looming dragons from the past or threats of war. You know?" He smiled.

Umber nodded, some unknown part of him now fulfilled – he had missed Qibli's jokes enough to pang his heart.
"Like a breath of fresh wind," he agreed. The two pulled back, grinning at each other.

Winter walked around to Moon. "We weren't interrupting anything, were we?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. We were just waiting for the guests of honour."

Riptide regarded the congregation politely. "With all due respect, Tsunami and I best be going; a visit to Auklet is long overdue." He offered his wing to his girlfriend, who showed him her teeth in a grin. 

"We're only going because I want to," the royal SeaWing reiterated to the room. Riptide and Clay both laughed at the same time, and the two SeaWings disappeared behind the velvet curtain.

"We don't have any other matters to discuss today," Winter addressed the council. "Let's go out and have fun, in honour of Umber and Sora."

Qibli bumped his wing to Umber's. "You're a guest of honour!" He celebrated. "How do you feel?"

Umber couldn't stop his smile – he felt like his snout might break in two. He regarded the room – all of his friends were fine, but they were better than that; they were thriving. And Umber didn't feel sad that they had grown without him, like he might've been once when they first met; because he didn't see a room full of dragons happy to live without him. Moon and Winter were leaning into each other; Peril and Clay had their tails twined, Kinkajou and Turtle were brushing wings; and Sora was finally with her older brother again.

And Qibli was right next to Umber, clasping his claws with his own, beaming at the MudWing.

And all of them were not only happy that Umber and Sora were here with them – they wanted them there.

Umber met Qibli's eyes with his own. "It feels like I can breathe again."