as the sky grew purple and gold, the sun lowering itself below the horizon, basil, rainstorm, and prism were flying out of the academy with their things wrapped in sacks.

"i live near the beach," prism called back to them, "my village is pretty big, lots of other rainwings. they'll like seeing you guys! oh, and you can meet apricot, and you gotta see the local hatchery. and you'll have to try phlox's mango drink! it's the best in the village!"

basil's mouth watered at that idea. she'd only had mango once, back in the mud kingdom when a rainwing traveller stopped by and offered it to them, and she'd loved it.

as they flew, gigantic trees began to show up, soon taking up the entirety of land below the three dragonets. the canopy was so thick that basil doubted light ever got through. how does anyone see down there?

prism began to veer toward the sea, and after a while more, she swooped down and disappeared into the trees. basil narrowed her eyes in the gloom, unable to see anything in the darkness of night, but rainstorm lit up her glowing scales and led the hybrid down into the rainforest.

bugs chirped and clicked around them as soon as they entered the biome. somehow, moonlight pierced the thick leaves and cast an ethereal beauty onto the area. basil was shocked.

prism switched her scales to a bright, neon pink so they could spot her better and began gliding between the branches. she was obviously trained in this, as basil and rainstorm stumbled trying to follow.

after around ten minutes, the tree trunks parted and they slid through a curtain of vines. here, the canopy was cut away for what looked like half a mile. moonlight poured into the clearing, and rainwings dashed around, laughing and playing in the night. basil spotted more than one nightwing among them. leaf huts were built into the trees, with wooden platforms supporting them, glowing faintly with lanterns. in fact, the lanterns were hung all around the village. basil was starstruck and nearly fell out of the sky.

"come on, this way!" prism turned toward one of the huts, "i live up here."

as they landed on the platform out front, basil realized how large the hut was. over five dragons could easily fit inside. pink, purple, and white flowers were woven into the outside walls, growing up along the branches and glittering faintly in the moonlight.

"apricot, phlox! im home!" prism's scales had turned back to their usual colors.

within seconds, an orange-and-red rainwing stuck her head out of the entrance. she smiled widely when she saw prism.

"prism!" who basil guessed was apricot wrapped the slightly shorter dragon in her wings, hugging her tightly with a trill of excitement. prism gave a delighted yelp and wound her tail around apricot's. the two remained in the embrace for a few more moments before prism leaned back and motioned to her friends.

"apri, these are some of my friends from the academy. that's basil," she pointed to the rain-mudwing hybrid, "and that's rainstorm."

"oh, hello!" apricot chirped, smiling brightly at them, "im apricot. prism lives with me a phlox."

as if on cue, a white-and-gray rainwing then exited the hut, nearly tackling prism. she laughed as he hugged her then stepped back.

"i missed you!" he lightly smacked her shoulder with his talon, and she chuckled, "me too, phlox."

rainstorm shifted her talons awkwardly, and apricot's feet flashed dark purple for a moment as she turned to the seawing, "you two should come inside! prism and us used to sleep in hammocks, but i dont know if you want to."

"a hammock sounds fine." basil's wings twitched. rainstorm nodded, then entered the hut. the other three dragons were close behind.

the floor of the hut was covered in a carpet made from white flowers, and the walls were decorated with broken stained glass and more flowers. there was a small desk against the far wall, decorated in scrolls and pencils and inkwells, and multiple soft-looking bag things scattered around.

"what are these? and why the glass?" rainstorm poked one of the bag things.

"we got those from an icewing trader! they're called bean-bag chairs." apricot flopped into one. she sank slightly into the blue fabric, but looked utterly comfortable. "and the stained glass reflects light from the sun or moons, it looks super cool."

basil approached the desk. prism scurried up behind her, smiling at the writing scrawled on most of the papers. it looked like gibberish.

"this is the secret language we made when we were younger," prism explained, picking up one of the papers, "its a translated version of that old seawing tale, the missing princess. its in our room at the academy, remember?"

basil nodded, but the memory brought a foul taste to her mouth. she first noticed those the day icecap was brutally murdered by, seemingly, nobody.

the hybrid and rainwing turned when phlox loudly entered, "hey, orchid and some other dragonets are going down to the beach to release some lanterns! you should come with!"

prism chirped something alike that of a parrot, turning and hurrying off to join him. basil and rainstorm followed her, apricot right behind them.

as they exited the hut, phlox and prism took off, their scales glittering beneath the moons' glow. apricot yanked on rainstorm's talons and the two flew away together. basil ducked then leapt into the air, plummeting for half a second before catching herself, speeding off after the others.

after a couple minutes of flying, the thick tree trunks cleared, and the group swooped down onto a beach. a cluster of other rainwings were further out, splashing about in the shallows, laughing.

"ORCHID!" prism yelled, racing across the sand and tackling a purple-and-pink rainwing into the sea. both resurfaced in a fit of giggles and hugs.

"orchid and prism hatched together," apricot explained, "they aren't actually related, we tested that during a game night a couple years back, but they're like sisters."

basil nodded, but yelped and stepped back as sand hit her face due to rainstorm racing off to cannonball into the ocean. when she'd cleaned her snout, phlox and apricot had run off to join them too. the hybrid shook out her scales and followed.

as she neared, the chattering and laughing grew louder, and she counted nearly fifteen dragons around her, including her friends.

she was pulled from her thoughts by a tug on her wing. looking down, she saw a young dragonet, maybe only five or seven years old.

"hey! heeey! why're you all patchy? did you roll in paint?" she begged, staring up at basil with wide, sunset-colored eyes.

basil smiled and crouched down to the dragonet's level, "actually, im a hybrid. my father was a rainwing,  just like you!" she whispered.

"woaah!" the dragonet gaped, "what's your name?" she murmured back, a playful sheen in her gaze, "im called eventide!"

"my name's basil. can you swim, eventide?"

"a little, but ocelot said i cant swim tonight because the older dragons are making the water all wave-y. she's my big sister, so i have to listen to her, even though she's no fun." eventide pouted slightly.

basil leaned closer, "weeeell... what if i told you that i can take you into the water?"

eventide perked up, her tail curling in the sand. yellow flooded her scales.

"here, climb up onto my back," basil extended one of her broad wings and eventide hauled herself up, clinging to the hybrid's neck, "hold on tight!"

basil slid past the other dragons, walking a couple feet down the beach before wading into the sea. here, the water was calm, and if eventide slipped off she was confident in her ability to save the little rainwing.

she moved slowly until the water rose up to her shoulder. eventide gasped, running her talons along the surface, sending ripples spiraling away from them.

"this is soooo cool! ocelot would yell at me if she saw me swimming this far from shore." the dragonet scooted up basil's neck, clutching her talons.

the hybrid angled her head so eventide was more comfortable, "well, ocelot sounds pretty boring."

"she is! she wont even let me go play with the other dragonets my age, she always hauls me around to be with her teenage friends. they're no fun either. i wanna go drop indigoarrow berries, but if i get out of her sight, she throws a fit!"

basil listened to the little dragonet's rant, glancing over to the group of older dragons. she could spot rainstorm and prism engaged in a splash fight.

"weeell..." she replied, looking up at the star-flecked sky, "am i any fun?"

"oh yeah, totally!" eventide popped up onto basil's forehead, leaning down to look at her while upside-down, "you're not like her friends, they just talk about boys and berries, but you're suuuuper cool!"

basil smiled at the dragonet, "thank you. but we'd better start heading back, i dont want your sister getting worried." eventide frowned at this, but just slid back down to her shoulders as the hybrid turned and started wading back to shore.

once the rainwing had slipped back onto the sand, basil patted her head and scampered off the other dragons her age.

she paused on the edge of the ocean, giggling when she saw rainstorm being smothered beneath a nightwing's talons. she went under for a couple moments, the nightwing flaring their star-flecked wings with triumph. suddenly, rainstorm exploded from the water, scaring the poor dragon nearly out of his scales.

"aha!"

basil yelped as something heavy came down on her shoulders, throwing both to the sand. she tilted her head to see prism perched atop her back.

"c'mon! mudwings can swim, can't they?" prism peered at her friend.

"yeah, yeah, i can swim." basil rolled away from the rainwing, standing up and shaking out her scales, "let's go!"

with that, she splashed into the water, prism on her heels.

===

hehh sorry for the awkward finish, wasnt sure how to end it