The day Peril received the letter

"Mum, there's a letter for you!"

Peril yawned, blinked, and mustered the strength to open one eye. She was incredibly tired- who knew taking care of a single dragonet would cause THREE SLEEPLESS NIGHTS IN A ROW?!?!

"Could you just bring it here, please? I bet you can't get here in five seconds flat!"

Peril, Clay and Bronze had been living on the side of a mountain for... was it three months now? Clay had gotten Riptide and a group of dragons from Sanctuary to build it all up for them in just one month. Peril had been spending most of her time in the house ever since. She wasn't complaining or anything, but sometimes it did get annoying when she wanted to go out flying and she couldn't because she had to look after Bronze. Even so, her love for Bronze outweighed her annoyance, and Peril found that most of the time she was happy, even if looking after a dragonet was stressful.

Bronze practically exploded into the room, his copper scales dull with dirt (he had previously been playing outside) and the letter, tied with a now tattered red ribbon, crunched in his talon.

Placing the letter down beside Peril's snout, Bronze paraded around the room.
"That was only four seconds!" He cheered, "bet you can't beat that record." Peril chuckled, got up, stretched her wings and scooped Bronze up for a hug.

She booped Bronze on the nose and kissed his forehead, "I'm sure I can't. Thank you for bringing me the letter." Before Peril could set Bronze down, he squirmed out of her grip and ran out the door, almost crashing into the wall as he went.

'Silly dragonet,' Peril thought fondly, picking up the letter (which had fireproof handles, so the person who had sent the letter obviously knew about her firescales) Yawning again, she went to her favorite spot in the house- a small desk, covered in coffee cup stains, that sat right next to a window that always let in the sunrise. It was a beautiful one this morning - splashes of blue and pink and splatters of gold and orange shone on the rays of sunlight the burst through the clouds. Peril took in a moment to stare at it, and then looked down at the desk. There was a fresh cup of tea with a note slid underneath the teapot.

Hey Peril~
I've gone to Jade Mountain today... I'll be gone for a while today, but I'll have tomorrow off to give you a rest.
Love you most,
-Clay

That was the general message, but there were so many spelling and grammar mistakes that Peril could hardly make out what it said. Sighing softly, Peril touched the letter and watched as it turned to ash. Sometimes it was hard, being a fire-scales. The whole house had to made out of things that weren't flammable, and nothing in it could be flammable either. She couldn't stay too close to Clay for long. It was a miracle she could touch her own child.

Peril slowly took a sip of her tea. Then looked down at her letter.

It had only one word scribbled on the front - Peril. Very vague.

Careful to only touch the stone handles, Peril opened up the letter in a few quick motions.

Dear Peril.

The longer Peril stared at the letter, the worse she felt. Her heart had dropped right into her talons the moment she realized these words... they were from Crag. Her friend, her enemy... her friend.

It took her long, agonizing seconds to take in every sentence. The way Crag's writing swopped and curved like midnight ribbons made her want to smile and cry and scream and hurt. Crag had been alive - and now was dead. Peril had thought of her almost every day since she had disappeared. Every. Day. As much as Peril wanted to remember the splatter of blood on Crag's scales, wanted to remember the way Crag's claws had ripped into her own, all she could think about was that sunset body, Crag's ruby scales scattered along her tail glimmering like jewels, her perfect smile... All Peril ever seemed to think about were the good things. And all those good things... Peril had actually thought they were genuine. Every nice time they share... deep down, Peril refused to believe it was fake. 

And that's why she was shaking, sobbing, when she read that Crag had loved her. She never knew that Crag liked females that way, let alone herself. And... Peril didn't even know if she liked Crag back.

'Don't think like that. You're with Clay now, and have a wonderful dragonet, and everything is fine...'

Was everything fine, really?

It had to be.

Peril threw the letter at the door.
The handles shattered.

She didn't care about the storm that was on tomorrow's horizon - she was going to find Crag's house as the sun rose the next day.

 But before she could do anything, there came a soft knock on the door.

"Hey Peril! It's me, Moon!"

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I'm not sure who I'm going to do next - maybe Peril again?

ANyways, lots of people want to sequel to this book, so... I'm making one! Yaaayyyy.