Flame stirred early in the morning. He'd slept poorly, but at least he hadn't had any more nightmares. He stretched his neck before noticing where he was. Then he remembered what happened the night before.

He'd decided to stay at Summit Central. Because Ardor had convinced him.

"That was probably a bad idea. How did that ditzy dragon ever manage to convince me?" He didn't ponder very long over that question.

He stood up and noticed that the other curtains were all closed. The dawn sun was just beginning to show up over the cliffs, and Flame realized that the other "dragonets" were probably still sleeping.

He huffed. "Good, that gives me time to go catch my breakfast," he thought, before quietly sneaking out, and taking off into the cold morning sky.

Flame twisted in the sky, feeling the wind racing past his scales, and enjoying the beautiful scenery stretching underneath him.

He loved the Kingdom of Sky, and he hated the fact that he'd had to wait so long in his life to truly enjoy it.

The SkyWing dipped towards the ground, in the plateau surrounding the mountain where Summit Central was. There, he started scouting the land to see if he could find any prey.

Before long, he noticed a herd of mountain goats grazing the grass of the high grassland.

Extending his claws, Flame dove towards the herd. But he wasn't fast enough, and one of the goats bleated loudly as they saw the SkyWing diving toward them. In a heartbeat, the herd started running, dispersing across the grassland.

But the SkyWing wasn't taken aback. He picked one goat, one who was heading towards the center of the grazing land, and glided over them, until he was in their reach.

Flame grabbed his prey roughly, plunging his claws in the animal's neck and quickly killing it, perhaps a little too messily for the SkyWing's taste.

Nevertheless, he landed on a nearby slab of rock, and neatly consumed his meal, after lightly scorching the goat with his fire to make it more palatable. He couldn't understand why NightWings preferred their food raw, or how he'd ever managed to survive living on that putrid island.

After eating, Flame took some time to look around. And that's when he noticed that, at the base of the mountain, was what looked like a cableway station.

He took flight once more and hovered close to it. Just as he had imagined, it was indeed a pulley station for what looked like two cable cars. Even that early in the morning, he could see a few dragons operating the complex pulley system with a set of rocks and mechanical contraptions.

Flame landed underneath it and looked up. He didn't know how many wingspans were between the mountain's base and Summit Central, but he imagined it was a lot.

But that begged the question: why did a tribe of flying dragons need a pulley system and cable car? SkyWings could fly, and so could all other dragons. Why create such a complicated project to fix a problem most dragons didn't have?

"Hey, Quag! Pass me that crate!"

Flame seemed to recognize that voice. And sure enough, as he walked closer, he recognized that dragon too.

It was the wing membrane-less dragon from the day before. The one who had attacked him to defend Ardor.

Flame felt his claws clench the ground, but he didn't act upon his desire to claw at her face with viciousness.

"This is your second chance. Try." He heard Ardor's voice echo in his head. With one deep breath, he walked closer.

The wingless SkyWing noticed him approaching immediately. Flame saw her snarl for a heartbeat, but her face was soon contorted in her usual look of silent anger.

She and Flame glared at each other for what felt like forever, and he couldn't stop himself from lashing his tail.

The dragon the SkyWing was talking to, a resolute looking ashen-scaled MudWing whom she had referred to as Quag, looked at them in quiet confusion.

"Everything hm, alright, Ire?" He asked, glancing at her and then at Flame with concern, but looking away when he noticed the latter's scar.

Ire looked down at Flame for one last moment and then shook her head. "No no. Everything is smoking fine. Keep stacking those crates in the car. Flame here is just... going back to the hospital," she said with a flat, warning voice, almost as if saying 'I'm about to send you there myself if you dare say otherwise'.

Flame didn't respond. He let Ire get back to stacking some crates in the car before walking closer, admiring the size and complexity of the station and pulley system.

"Quite impressive, isn't it?" He heard Quag comment, as he stepped close to him. The older MudWing smiled proudly, "it's pretty new, but we're all proud of Conny here."

"Conny?" Flame questioned internally, "did they give the cable car a name?" He snickered to himself at how silly that idea sounded.

Quag looked at him and then jumped slightly. "Hey! How about you go up with it? Ire is supposed to go up for her morning shift, and she could definitely use some company," he proposed with a nod.

That was a terrible idea.

Ire flared her nostrils as she heard what Quag had said. "No! Absolutely not. Flame can just, fly up himself and get out of our way," she said with a growl.

"Nonsense! Stop fuming before you spew, Ire," Quag said, and for the first time, Flame noticed that he was wearing a dark brown sash with a golden triangle on it. It was exactly like the one that Ire was wearing, minus the golden triangle.

Despite her angry look, the SkyWing gave in. She climbed on the cable car and made space for Flame, who reluctantly clambered on behind her, avoiding her eyes, and staying well away from her.

He saw Quag giving a sign with his wing to some other SkyWings working at the station, and before Flame knew it, he heard a loud thud, and the cable car took off into the air.

The SkyWing hung on the wooden base with his claws and felt the urge to use his wings and fly away from there. But he noticed from the corner of his eyes that Ire didn't budge.

He suddenly realized why this cable car system was established. It was for dragons like her. It was the only way for Ire to reach Summit Central, without other dragons flying her in.

That realization made his heart twist more than he'd hoped for. "She must feel sad. I wonder how long she's been unable to fly. I wonder what happened to her."

The cable car ride was quiet all the way up. Flame concentrated on the clouds above him because he soon realized that looking down made him feel dizzy. Which was weird, considering that he wasn't scared of heights or flying.

They reached the top in what felt like a handful of seconds. Some SkyWing at the top station aided the cable car with anchoring with the mountainside, and Ire then began to help with quickly unloading the crates. Flame had to wait for them to finish before stepping out.

That had been... an experience. Some broken part of him started to internally debate if he had found it more fun to fly down or be transported up. He quickly brushed that thought aside, embarrassed. Every true SkyWing would prefer flying over anything else.

"Hey, scarred-face."

He whipped around to see Ire look at him with burning eyes. He recoiled when he heard the nickname she had used for him, snarling.

"You know my name, smoke-breath," he warned with a deep growl.

She huffed. "Sure thing," she said, and then considered something before adding, menacingly, "then tell me, why won't you leave me and my family alone?"

"What?"

"Flame! Ire! Good morning!" Flame didn't have to look behind him to see Ardor and Placoid arrive at the cable car station. The SeaWing had a tired expression behind his glasses, and the SkyWing was as bouncy as ever.

Flame walked towards them, in an attempt to get away from Ire. But her question hung in his mind.

What had she ever done to Ire, or her family?

But at the same time, why did she look so, familiar?

Flame couldn't connect the dots, but he knew that somewhere in his past, he and Ire had met before.