Sahara barely had time to register her tail whipping around the corner of the art cave as Starmind dragged her down the hallways.

"Wait- where are we going?"

Starmind whisked her down the stone passageways.

Sahara had to admit her shock. For such a small, wiry dragonet, Starmind's strength was incredible. However, it must have been adrenaline-fueled, as the pace she ran at slowly wound down.

Soon, they were panting outside an unknown sleeping cave, their muscles burning. Sahara flopped her tail aimlessly over the stone as she peered into the cave.

How odd, she thought, there are only brown dragons here!

Seven or so MudWings were curled up over each other, overlapping and underlapping and overlapping again. Their tails were intertwined and their wings covering each other.

At the side, with her wing around another dragon, Sahara spotted her clawmate Heron. A tiny sack of burgundy material sat around her neck. It was patterned with an amber color, as to blend in with her neck.

Overtaken by curiosity, Sahara crept into the room, tail poised above her head. Slowly, she sidled across the cave to where Heron was sleeping. Carefully, she unhooked the sack and lifted it over Heron's head. She nearly dropped it when Heron snorted in her sleep, though.

Pushing open the clasp, Sahara gasped as a dazzle of light unfolded. The pouch was filled with little gold filaments, as well as the tiniest crumbs of gemstones such as amethyst, moonstone, emerald, and Sahara even spotted diamond.

Where did Heron get all of this? Sahara pondered. Carefully, she pulled the drawstrings shut and clasped the pouch back together. She dropped it over Heron's head and dashed out of the cave, tiptoeing over stray limbs and tails.

She only looked back when one of the dragons exhaled the tiniest spurt of flame on accident.

Starmind was staring at Sahara, dumbfounded.

"Why in all of Pyrrhia and the three moons would you do that??" Starmind whisper-shouted.

"I... was curious. I saw her statues in the art room and saw that she had these little gemstones embedded in them." Sahara replied matter-of-factually.

Starmind rolled her eyes, and turned down the hallways. Sahara did a little leap-flap with her wings and followed.

As they slithered into the room, they were met with quite the surprise. Two rather large SandWings were sitting in the middle of the cave. Sahara could barely see Conch's miserable face poking out of the water, dripping wet on her snout.

"Well, you're back." The first SandWing hissed unpleasantly.

"Desert?" Starmind quivered. The friendly dragon peered out from out of the sand pit.

"Well, well, well. Imagine poor Conch's surprise when she woke up, early in the morning, to a poisonous tail heating up her water. Then, she is questioned by a nasty SandWing who is out for blood. Not only that, but her clawmates are missing! Nasty shock, isn't it." The first dragon flicked his tongue between his teeth.

"Kangaroo, calm down." Desert said simply.

"Do you care to explain yourself?" Kangaroo the SandWing said. Sahara squeezed her eyelids. This was it. The time the world found out about her, one SandWing at a time. A single tear quivered by her eyes and shimmered over her black scales.

"What's wrong," Kangaroo leered, "Scavenger got your tongue?"

Starmind spoke up.

"The sand got stuck between her scales, you wad of camel spit. We were heading to the lake to clean up."

"And you didn't invite your poor, SeaWing friend? You know how much they love water." Kangaroo spat. Starmind narrowed her eyes. Sahara watched as Conch's tail was yanked out of the water by sandy talons. Her head had disappeared, but then resurfaced.

"She-uh, Conch doesn't like to be woken up. I take it you don't either." Sahara retorted, her voice cracking. Kangaroo whipped his tail on the sandy pit, sending uncomfortably warm sand everywhere. It showered Starmind. Desert opened her eyes and sat up.

"Dude, by all the moons, can you not calm down for once? These are my students, I'm not gonna let you bully them."

Desert thwacked Kangaroo in the shoulder with her wing. Kangaroo narrowed his eyes and flicked his tongue. He then swept out of the room, tail lashing akimbo. Conch ducked under the water to avoid it. She didn't resurface.

Desert held out her claws, palm-up.

"I'm sorry guys. Kangaroo doesn't like dragonets... Or dragons, for that matter."

"Then why does he work here?" Sahara inquired.

"He's doing...community service. For three years. I guess he's kind of bitter because of that. Queen Palm turned him over to us. He's a criminal, but a petty one. Anyway, I know you guys are new here, but that's no excuse for breaking the rules. This is your warning. Now, go to bed and I'll see you tomorrow."

Desert scrunched her snout and plodded out of the room. Sahara waited for the swish-clack swish-clack sound of her tail to fade away before settling in her sand. Starmind slithered onto her ledge.

The sand was warm, but Sahara didn't like it. Instead, she pulled a red blanket off of a shelf and cocooned herself in it.

Was she akin to a butterfly? Just a little worm, waiting for her true wings to sprout? Sahara put her mind to rest as sleep overtook her instantly.