Abysssight's eyes slowly opened as she felt something lightly tapping her snout. Her gaze landed upon Stalker, who was playfully trying to wake her up. Abysssight concentrated on her breath, heating it up to a pleasant warmth, but not hot enough that smoke or flames would be able to accidentally hurt her furry friend, and blew it onto her. Stalker jumped back with a surprised chirp at the sudden warmth, after which she shook out her fur and head-bumped the dragon's snout. Abysssight glanced through one of the holes in her hut that allowed the tree it was attached to to grow through it. She could still see the faint light of the setting sun shining through the dense trees. Which meant she was up earlier than usual. Despite that she still stretched her wings out and yawned. Carefully getting out of her hammock to avoid catapulting her margay off of it. She felt an uneasy soreness running through her back, and glanced at one of the windows that was supposed to allow sunlight to shine into the hut. Despite not being awake during the day, and generally preferring the darkness of the night over the brightness of the sun, she had specifically designed that window to let the light fall on her while she slept. Her experience amongst the RainWings might have been awful, but she'd always liked the warmth on her scales during Suntime. She sighed as she noticed a giant leaf had fallen onto the window, blocking off any light that might have been able to reach that spot. That explained her soreness, welp, she'd have to remove that leaf before going back to bed in the morning. She slowly made her way to the food storage, took a mango, and threw some meat towards her margay, who had made its way out of the hammock. She decided to go flying for a bit, to try and get that sore out of her back, and walked towards the door. She expected Dawnbringer to be there, waiting for her, as she'd done in the past few days, but surprisingly, the landing platform was deserted. Abysssight realised her friend must have decided to come when the moons were actually visible, after all, she had lectured her about coming too early to her house, and letting herself get cold in the process. Abysssight'd just have to make sure her little flying trip didn't last too long. She was about to head off when she felt something scramble upon her hindlegs. Looking back, Stalker was trying to hold onto her scales. "You wanna come too?" she asked her pet. Stalker gave a chirp in response, looking absolutely adorable trying to climb onto the bigger creature. Abysssight let out a chuckle, cupped up the margay with her front claws, and set it on the ground. She swiftly went back into the hut and grabbed a carrying bag made of giant, sturdy leaves, which she hung around her neck. Stalker was still attempting to try and climb onto her, which made moving around the already tight entrance of her hut even more challenging. After she made it out onto the platform again, she could feel her pet starting to slip off her scales, and immediately reached out to her. Stalker was a Margay with little patience. If something came to her mind, she'd seemingly not stop until she got what she wanted. She reminded her a lot of how she used to be back when she was still a dragonet in the Rainwing village. She held on to the protesting margay, and placed her in the leaf bag. She knew Stalker liked sitting on her back more, but it was just too unsafe during flight. Stalker wasn't a sloth, who'd be able to wrap her arms around her neck. "Stop squirming Stalker, you'll fall out if you don't." she exclaimed with a sigh. Trips like this always went the same way. Stalker loved to fly with her, but was nearly always too energetic or stubborn because she needed to sit in a bag to make it work out smoothly. Stalker looked up at her, her big, dark eyes blinking innocently. Abysssight gave in, defeated by her adorable pet. She shook her wings out, and carefully took off. Keeping one of her front legs close to the bag, just in case.

The weather was nice during their flight, though Abysssight was able to tell it would rain soon, so she had made sure to head back home before the downpour. When she arrived, her friend was waiting for her, as expected. She let Dawnbringer inside, and managed to block off some of the most open windows just in time to see the first drops of water fall from the dry interior of her hut. Dawnbringer was looking around in awe, which reminded Abysssight that this was the first time her friend had really been inside of her hut. They'd usually just chill at Dawnbringer's, or on the platform in front of her hut. "You really made this? On your own?" Her friend asked, astonished. Abysssight simply nodded. Ever since she was basically silently casted out of the RainWingvillage when she was 4, purely because she was different from them, she'd been living on her own. Slowly learning how to survive. It wasn't like she wasn't allowed into the village anymore, but it was clear to her, even then, that she wasn't really welcome either. She used to have a small group of RainWing "friends", which came by to see how she was doing every once in a blood moon. Though even those days have been long gone. The only RainWing that occasionally visits her now might as well be the worst one of them all. To her it seemed more like he came to mock her than anything else, to remind her how much she isn't one of them. She hated that dragon with a passion. Living on her own had never been easy, especially not as a helpless dragonet, but she managed it, somehow. Her home wasn't perfect, but it was how she liked it. Though looking at the way Dawnbringer stumbled around, she realised it really wasn't made with more than one dragon in mind, especially not someone who's not used to the RainWing ways of moving around. She realised she'd have to make some adjustments, not that she expected her situation to change, but maybe just in case. "Say, how's that SandWing doing? Is she still hanging around the RainWing village?" It had been a little over week since Fennec arrived. She hadn't seen her since that first day, but knew Dawnbringer saw her often enough. She apparently stayed in the RainWing village for the majority of her day, and visited the NightWings in the late afternoon. But she'd always be gone by the time Abysssight woke up. Not that it mattered much to her. "Fennec? Oh, she's fine. She's been talking nonstop about you, and your heroic actions." Abysssight looked up in confusion. "What?" she asked, while trying to concentrate on her scales. Dawnbringer chuckled, "Was that a shift?" Feeling even more embarrassed, Abysssight gave her friend a soft swipe with her tail. "Just, shut up." She said. She checked out her own scales, which looked slightly paler than before. She hated that they did that. Usually, she was able to keep her scales in the perfect shade of purple. The shade that would hide anything RainWing in her. But over the time they spent together, her friend had figured out how to get her out of that shade. She took a deep breath and concentrated on darkness. Closing her eyes, and letting the darker colours run through her, until her scales were the perfect colour once more. "I was kidding by the way." Dawnbringer continued, still softly laughing. "She didn't really mention it all that much. Though she does seem grateful. She's asked a few times where you were, and if you were gonna come to the village." Abysssight nodded "And what did you tell her?" She asked her friend. Dawnbringer shrugged her shoulders. "I told her how it is. You never come out during the day. What else could I have said?" "She didn't think that was weird?" The question came out before Abysssight realised it. What did it matter to her anyway? She didn't care about what others thought of her. She didn't care about anyone. Besides, everyone thought she was weird, what did it matter if that SandWing did too? But still, for some inexplicable reason, she just wanted to know. She glanced up at her friend, who looked at her with a weird face. "Why would she think you're weird for being nocturnal? She actually assumed all NightWings were." Abysssight didn't know how to respond to that. Instead, she just looked out of one of her windows. Stalker was sitting on her usual branch, though more so on it's outer edges, to avoid the rain that partly dipped in. Speaking of rain, she noticed the weather had calmed down already. Dawnbringer noticed too, as she was getting up from the spot she had made herself comfortable in. "I should probably get going." she said. "Ever since my aunt's been injured, my parents' been keeping her shop running. I promised Bloodmoon to help out later today." She looked at her friend. "Your aunt has a shop?" She asked. She didn't really know a lot about Dawnbringer's family, other than the members she met. According to the scroll that was delivered to her friend, only her niece was ready to come back home, While her aunt would still have to stay in the care centre until she fully stabilised. Though they were allowed to visit. But other than that, she knew nothing about them. Not even their names. Dawnbringer just nodded. "Sincere's Goods." She said, "She sells a bit of everything. Though her shop only really hit off once we moved away from the island. My mom and grandmother have been keeping it going ever since the attack. Though both have other jobs as well, so my mom's been trying to get me to run the shop. I'm supposed to take it over if Sincere isn't able to run it anymore. Or at least until Shadowsong or Eternal are old enough to do it themselves. Though I seriously hope she comes back soon. I don't want to be a shopkeeper." Her friend sighed, and started making her way to the door. Abysssight decided to go with her, she had nothing better to do anyways. "What do you want to do? For a job, I mean." Dawnbriner looked at her. "This might sound a bit silly, but I always wanted to be a traveller, or explorer, like Stormbreaker. Well, he's currently more like, a messenger or spy, but you know what I mean, right? Sadly, Bloodmoon doesn't think that's an actual job. My father offered to take me with him on my 10th hatchingday, but Bloodmoon forbade it. Saying I was more useful on the island." Abysssight looked questioningly at her friend. "If you want to be an explorer, why haven't you just left the kingdom? You're old enough to live on your own anyways." she asked. Dawnbringer just shrugged. "Fear of being alone, I guess. I could always try joining my father, but he respects Bloodmoon too much. He knows she doesn't like me going with him, he'll try to stop me, I'm sure of it." Abysssight nodded in understanding, and decided not to ask any more questions.

The rest of their trip to the NightWing village was peaceful and silent. And when they arrived at the store, Abysssight was shocked. It looked like they were in the middle of building it, even though they had animus magic. She learned that they had decided to not use any magic, since they knew Sincere, which she had figured was her friend's aunt's name, would prefer it being made by talon. The store sold several completely different items, just like Dawnbringer had said previously. In one corner there were plants and greenery, then another had sanitary stuff, there was jewellery and accessories, there was a place with crafting materials, and one with general house equipment. Most of it seemed talon made. Apparently, Sincere's husband was a wood and stone carver, while she herself liked to make scrolls and flower arrangements whenever she wasn't working in the shop. Their daughter, who was named Eternal, liked to paint, and even some of her works were sold at the shop. They looked great for being made by an 8 year old. There was a clear difference between the pieces painted before she moved to the rainforest, and the few she managed to paint afterwards. The first few paintings were all dull in colour, mostly grey and black, with sometimes a little bit of colour, mostly shades of orange and red. While the more recent ones all had a riot of colours. As if a rainbow had exploded in every one of them. For the past 2 or so hours, Abysssight had attempted to explore every nook and cranny of the store, while her friend was watching from a distance, either cleaning or helping shoppers. Despite the many, many things the shop held, it was surprisingly rather small, which gave it this cramped, unprofessional look. But despite that, all the items were of good quality.

Dawnbringer eventually walked up to her. "Hey, I've got a break, you want to come with me to the library? I need to give back a few scrolls I borrowed." Abysssight just nodded and followed her out of the store. She had been to the library a few times before, mostly to get those scrolls for hatchlings. Her friend had attempted to teach her how to read, but she hadn't made much progress. She could only read slightly better then before they met, which isn't that big of an accomplishment, as she wasn't able to read at all back then. On their way to the library, they suddenly heard someone call. Abysssight turned in the direction of the sound, and saw a pale yellowish shape come towards them. Next to her, Dawnbringer shot forward. "Fennec! What are you doing here this late?" Abysssight slowly came forward as well. Even in this little light, the SandWing's scales looked rather clear and unmistakable. They didn't look quite as pretty as they did a few days back, when there was still a little sunlight outside, but they still had that oddly beautiful look she noticed the first time they met. Just as before, she was able to feel a pleasant warmth surrounding the SandWing, making her think of the sunshine she'd missed today thanks to that stupid leaf. Fennec was playing off the fact that she obviously came by hours later than usual. Trying to act like she hadn't even noticed the time difference. "So, what are you two up to?" the SandWing asked, Abysssight noticed her eyes were focussed on her, but didn't make a remark about it. "We're headed to the library", Dawnbringer answered. "Why don't you come with us?" she offered. Fennec seemed to appreciate the offer and went along with them. The library was pretty much in the centre of the NightWing village, and was one of the bigger buildings there too. There were quite a few NightWings walking around the building. She saw an older dragon talk playfully to two dragonets, one of which looked like it was still having trouble breathing, likely an after effect from being born on the NightWing island. It suddenly started coughing, resulting in the older dragon becoming worried. Another pair of NightWings, maybe a year or two older than her, came out of the Library, holding more scrolls than she thought was possible to carry. They seemed to excitedly be talking about something. An ancient looking NightWing was nibbling away on a piece of prey in front of one of the houses, while a younger dragon was attempting to show him something. She saw a small group of young dragonets running off to another building, one of them yelling they were going to be late to class again, and for the rest to hurry up. The place was surprisingly lively at this time of the day, by now, all RainWings would be fast asleep. As she and her companions were entering the library, she also noticed the sadder parts of the NightWing's lives. A bunch of "missing" posters were plastered on the walls of the building. She guessed most of the recent ones were just dragonets who got lost in the forest, and would turn back up in a couple of days. But she noticed a few posters that dated back to over a year ago. Likely dragons that went missing in the chaos of the volcano eruption. The oldest poster she was able to find was almost completely torn up and faded, she wasn't able to see the face of the dragon who'd gone missing. All she was able to make out was "5,001 AS", which was 11 years ago if she wasn't mistaken.

When they were about to reach the front desk, Dawnbringer suddenly stopped and went through her scrolls. "Hey, I seem to have forgotten one of the scrolls at my home, and I really need to turn it in." She looked at Abysssight and then at Fennec. "Why don't you two go look for something interesting in here, while I go get my missing scroll. I could read with you later Abysssight." Abysssight sighed, then nodded. "Sure, I can do that." she said, Fennec too seemed to agree with Dawnbringer, and they headed towards the scroll shelves. Abysssight didn't like being alone in the NightWing library, she always felt embarrassed not being able to read and all. Usually when she and Dawnbringer went together, they first searched the non-fictional historical section for some of Dawnbringers scrolls, then went to the pyrrhian travel, legends and mysteries aisle and lastly they would take a small stop at the "scrolls for hatchlings and dragonets" section. Dawnbringer usually choose the scrolls, so they wouldn't be too long in that aisle before moving on, then they'd look at which ones she was interested in afterwards. But now she had to do it on her own, she glanced at Fennec, nervously, would she find it strange that she couldn't read? Or that she'd be hanging around the dragonet section. Only then, Abysssight noticed Fennec had been looking at her with a questioning expression. She must have asked her something. "What was that?" she asked. "I just asked if you were a reader." she repeated. Abysssight shook her head. "I don't read a lot" she admitted, not revealing the reason why she didn't read. "What about you?" she continued. Fennec shrugged her shoulders. "I usually don't have time to read, but I do enjoy it. A few weeks ago I managed to get my hands on "The Labyrinth Sprinter". It's pretty good, but that's honestly one of the only scrolls I've read since I left my parents. Before that point, most of the scrolls I read were for my younger brother. I'd read ahead, making sure it was suitable for him, and then we'd read the scroll together. He used to love that. With the war going on, our parents often didn't have the time to do these things with him, or with me for that matter." She sounded sad. "How come you left your home?" Abysssight asked. Fennec sighed. "I didn't want to be a royal messenger, like my mother was, I don't like being forced to spend all my time going from castle to castle, trotting after the queens. For what I wanted to do, it was just more beneficial to move out of the Stronghold, and live in Possibility instead." she answered. "So,do you live alone now?" She asked, but Fennec shook her head. "No, I don't. That was the original plan though, but I was fortunate enough to meet some dragons that offered homeless dwellers a place to stay." she giggled at her own remark. "Speaking of which, I should probably go back to them soon, they'll be wondering where I've been all this time. I usually stay away for a couple of days, but never this long without properly informing them. Sometimes I wonder what they're doing while I'm away, rather or not they miss me just as much as I miss them. And if any new dragons have joined our household since I left." By now, they had walked through a few aisles without really looking for any scrolls. Abysssight decided that she would start pretending to browse some of them, so it didn't look as if she were just walking aimlessly. She thought about what Fennec was saying. Could she ever live like that? Surrounded by other dragons, dragons who actually cared about her, like Dawnbringer? She'd been living on her own for the past 6 years, but she did wonder what it would be like if she actually did live a life like that. What would her life have looked like if she had decided to stay with the RainWings. Her mind suddenly had a picture of Gecko in it. He used to be one of her friends back when she was a dragonet. She hadn't seen him in years, but somehow, he seemed to have been the only dragon there who actually didn't openly avoid her, or was openly scared of her, or anything like that. She remembered actually liking him, and him actually looking for her once he had noticed she had left. But that was a long time ago. She hadn't seen him since she was 7. He has moved on, just like the other Rainwings. She couldn't imagine any world in which she'd have been happy staying in the RainWing village. They all were equally terrible. "What about you?" she heard Fennec ask. "Do you live with someone?" Abysssight shook her head. "I have a pet, like i told you a couple of days ago, but other then her, and occasionally Dawnbringer" and him her thoughts interrupted her words, she shook her head and continued. "No other dragons come close to my hut." She finished. "Not even your family?" Fennec asked. "I'd rather not talk about that." There was a moment of silence, when Fennec suddenly asked something not a lot of dragons had dared her to ask before, though she was sure most would've if they had that chance. "I'm not trying to sound insensitive. I've noticed you're not quite like the other NightWings" she began. "I mean, you don't live with them, you don't follow their lifestyle and you look different somehow, more lean and flexible, mostly. So, I guess my question is, Abysssight, are you... a hybrid?" Abysssight stared at the scrolls in front of her. It was always something she wasn't proud of, and she was surprised someone had dared to ask her. Even Dawnbringer hadn't, but she was sure her friend had noticed a long time ago. "Yes." she answered. "I grew up amongst the RainWings." she said, silently, so no one but Fennec could hear her. "My father's tribe. I never knew what was wrong with me, why I was so different from the rest. I only found out last year that my mother was a NightWing." she could feel her talons trembling. "I'm sorry, Abysssight." Fennec said. "I didn't realise this affected you so much. I wouldn't have asked if I'd known." She shook her shoulders. "It's okay." she said, trying to keep her cool. "I think it's best if I go back outside for a bit." Fennec nodded, and stayed behind a bit. She didn't understand why she had been willing to tell her that. If any other dragon had asked her, she wouldn't have said anything. Perhaps it was just because she reminded her a bit of Dawnbringer, the only other dragon she'd share those things with.

It took some time before Dawnbringer had returned with her scrolls, and had come back out with new ones. Fennec was with her, the two were casually talking. By now it was pretty late in the night. And it would be time for Dawnbringer to return to the shop, and for Fennec to go back to the RainWing village. The two dragons met up with Abysssight outside of the building. Fennec looked at them. "I think it's time for me to go back." she said. "To Possibility, I mean." "Oh, really?" Dawnbringer said, she sounded a bit disappointed. "Yeah, I'd like to pay a visit to my parents on my way back, and I don't want to be away from home for too long. It has been fun being here though." Abysssight had been avoiding her eyes, but she knew Fennec had been looking at her. "You can always come for a visit, both of you." She said. "I'm sure the others wouldn't mind, and I'd love to see both of you again sometime, I could show you around the city." Dawnbringer nodded. "Sure, I'd like to come by sometime in the future. Just tell me where I need to be, and I'll find it!" Fennec smiled, and she watched as the two dragons exchanged a small piece of a scroll where Fennec had been writing on, after which they said their goodbyes. "I should go back to the shop, before my mother decides to come look for me." Dawnbringer said, and turned to Abysssight. "You know where to find me, I'll leave you two for a minute." After that, Dawnbringer left, leaving Abysssight behind with Fennec. "Sorry, again, for what happened back there. I didn't mean to bring any unpleasant feelings out." Abysssight shook her head. "You're fine." Fennec seemed to think for a minute. "You know, Dawnbringer has said a lot of positive things about you, it sounds like you two are great friends. She had told me a bit of what your life has been like in the past year, she's very concerned about you, you know." she narrowed her eyes. She didn't like it when Dawnbringer was talking about her behind her back. She knew she didn't mean any harm, but she preferred it if she didn't. Before she could make a remark, Fennec continued. "I'm glad I have had the possibility to meet you, you seem like an interesting dragon to be around. I wish I could've gotten to know you better." Abysssight was surprised by the honesty with which she spoke. A part of her realised she kind of wanted the same thing. She did like Fennec, even if the two times they had met were strange. But the SandWing seemed friendly, and she felt comfortable enough around her to share things she normally wouldn't share. Fennec sighed. "I hope we meet again sometime. Goodbye for now." Abysssight nodded, she didn't know what to do. She looked down at her talons when she responded "sure, until some other time.". After that, Fennec left, and Abysssight watched her go. Conflicting thoughts raced through her head, but she tried to silence them. After a few heartbeats, as she felt dragons beginning to stare at her, she turned around and headed towards Sincere's Goods. She'd later decide how to feel about this situation.