Sunlight.

Warmth

Whack

"Ahh, sizzling scorpions that stings!" Venom cursed to herself. She rubbed her head. Sometimes it was just dumb luck that she forgot her bed was built so close to the ceiling.

Venom the SandWing looked around her hut. Mostly barren, except for her bed, a stack of scrolls, and a workbench covered in paints and inks. She looked down at her talons, which were blotched in that same ink. an artist must pay a price for beauty, she supposed. Venom's whole family had been a long line of artists who painted for their queens and nobles. It was only fair that she take up the practice. She wasn't paid much for her art, but some dragons who could appreciate fine works would definitely throw a few coins in for it.

Venom stretched her arms and talons, wiggling her claws. She yawned, and slunk off the bed, dropping noisily to the floor.

"I wonder what I made last night." she mused, unrolling a scroll on her workbench.

Venom had figured out a very long time ago that she would often paint while she slept. Every night, she'd leave a blank scroll on the table before bed, waking up to usually quite well-done artwork.

This, unfortunately, was one of those times.

A landscape of burning trees and clouds thickened with blood was spread out before her. Around the darkened grass, lay the corpses of hundreds of dragons from every tribe. Far above, in the heat of the reed sky, flew a wing of huge, things. They were made of metal, and seemed to fly without flapping their wings, and in a perfect formation. It was, unnerving, at best.

Venom clasped her silver armband, and rolled up the scroll. She'd try to sell it, just to get it out of her hut. Maybe some sadistic dragon in Possibility would love this sort of thing. There were a lot of dragons left still like that, even after the war.

She tucked the scroll, along with three others she painted, into her leather pouch. Venom took one last look around her hut to make sure everything was in order. She adjusted the silver band on her arm, and walked out the door.

"Ah, Possibility. The name speaks, huh" Venom spoke to herself. The town was already bustling with busy dragons, despite it being not even dawn. SkyWings flew in groups overhead, SandWings chattered away with friends and lovers, MudWings slept peacefully under the rising sun in warm puddles of mud. Merchants carried their wares to the river markets, and dragonets played tag in the fields of grass.

Venom sucked a deep breath of air in. popping the bones in her neck, she started down the winding cobbled roads of Possibility.

As Venom approached the marketplace of the city, she looked around at the lovely silver disc decor that studded the bridge railings and tree branches and everywhere they could be hung. The full moon festival looked so much fun already. Tomorrow, not only SandWings would be dancing and feasting, but other tribes have decided to join into the celebration that was just for the sake of having a party.

The SandWIng settled behind her stall in the heart of the marketplace, and pulled the curtains back to reveal the paintings that hung from every surface. Beautiful landscapes, seascapes, tapestries, sculptures. Venom unrolled the three scrolls from her satchel onto the glass counter. One was of three beautiful SeaWings swimming on a backdrop of blues and greens, another scroll depicted a SkyWing of the most vibrant fiery gold and orange, its wings flared and roaring into the rolling gray clouds. The final was the desolate bloodbath she picked up from her workbench this morning. The first two, Venom hung right above her booth. The last she hung on the far wall, right behind where she usually sat.

Hours passed, and Venom sat, bored. A few dragonets would wander past, look at her art, and then dash away. Her friend Canyon, a red-gold SkyWing, came over to visit, give Venom a few cooked rabbits, and even buy the SkyWing painting. Venom waved as Canyon flapped away into the bustling crowd of dragons.

Venom spotted in the crowd, an unusual palette of forest green and baby-blue scales. A RainWing, quite uncommon in Possibility. They usually never left the rainforest. His deep red eyes scanned the crowds, and he limped as he walked. As Venom looked closer, the RainWing only had three legs, the back left was only a stump, wrapped in horribly disgusting bandages. The RainWing fiddled absently with the leather straps latticing his neck and chest. His eyes widened upon seeing Venom's stall.

Oh moons. I hope he doesn't come over here.

The RainWing limped over to Venom's booth, his eyes scanning each and every work, from the paintings hung above the booth, to the wooden and marble dragon figurines on the shelves behind glass casing.  He looked most intently at those. The whole time his scales never shifted.

I thought RainWing's scales changed color?

"You made these yourself?" he asked, without looking up or with a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Y-yes, I did. Carved with my own claws."

He looked over at a figurine made of twisted metal wires, it was in the shape of a bird, its wings spread. It wasn't any particular bird, but she thought it was pretty.

"May I have a closer look at this one?" he asked. He didn't have to specify, they both knew what item he referred to. Venom ducked down and retrieved the metal wire-bird from its spot on the shelf. She placed it on the glass counter for the RainWing to pick up. He turned it over in his claws, tracing the crisscross of wires that shaped each feather.

"How much?" he asked, placing the bird back onto the counter.

"Five gold" she said simply, preparing a small leaf bag for his purchase.

"No need." The RainWing stated. He fished out of a pouch around his neck a handful of gold, well over five, but not bothering to count. "Keep the change." He picked up the bird carefully, and turned his eyes to Venom. "May I prop myself up here?" he asked.

"Sure, of course." Venom tried to smile.

The RainWing, with a grunt, propped his elbows on the glass counter, balancing carefully on his one leg. As Venom looked, more than half the dragon's tail was missing too, he had nothing much to balance on, and probably wasn't the best flyer for it.

Reaching into the pouch again produced a thin strand of leather. Working with his claws, the RainWing carefully wove the string into the wire-bird, and created a simple pendant. He smiled, pleased with himself, and draped his new treasure around his slender neck.

"Thank you." he said with a nod. Carefully getting all three feet back to the ground again, he gave a meek little bow and limped away.

Soon, near evening time, Venom closed up shop, shutting the booth's drapes to cover her art safely inside. It was an average business day. Most had payed her in dead things she ate, but she had sold a few landscapes, and even that really nice painting of a coral reef to a homesick SeaWing.

Venom decided to take a walk among the other few shops still open this close to dusk. Lanterns hung from rope strung between the stalls, bathing the cobbled streets in spheres of warm orange-yellow light. They didn't give off much heat, but Venom found that okay. She could heat herself with her own scales. Plus, the cloudless, starry night was thick with warmth and humid from the rivers and lakes around Possibility.

As Venom strode past the few open booths, dragons who were trying to get rid of the last of their wares dozed off sleepily under the warm light, or were still shouting to passing dragons, babbling about sales or special items. Venom walked up to another SandWing, running a booth for rugs and hand-knitted blankets. Well, he was more or less sleeping than working. His head rested on the wooden counter in front of his booth, eyes closed, and breathing deeply. Venom reached up to tug on a blanket hanging above the booth. Behind her, a SkyWing soldier of Possibility watched her intently, boring holes that spelled "Thief" into her folded wings. She shot him back a friendly smile, pulled the blanket from its rack, and watched the guard's muscles tense, ready to pounce. Venom shook the blanket out and draped it over the SandWing merchant's back, closing the curtains on his booth for him.

Venom looked back at the soldier, he wasn't as tense, but still was wary of her slinking form. A lot of dragons were still jittery like that, the war left a lot of jumping nerves shot. She understood, that was how her father was. He still lived at home with Mother in the Sand Kingdom, crazy out of his deserted mind.

She smiled lovingly at the soldier, who then seemed to relax just a little more, and walked on her way.

A few booths down, an anxious MudWing clicked his claws together, counting the minutes until closing his shop. Many animals in his booth screeched and cawed, despite the majority being asleep. A pet shop, Venom deduced. Below her, something squeaked, and grazed her bleached scales with tiny, stubby talons.

Venom looked down, and a tiny, squishy face peered back up at her. A scavenger sat timidly in a wicker cage with three others, who were all asleep. Its little face was framed in short, cropped, dark fur, and it wore a cute little shirt and shorts of rabbit fur. The scavenger looked with its dragon-like, brown eyes, from Venom to the leather, silver-studded treasure around Venom's arm. It squeaked with excitement, and looked back into Venom's amber eyes. Its little paws clutched its wicker cage, and shook the rather flimsy bars.

"Scavengers, huh?" Venom asked the MudWing.

"Yep!" she said, looking away from the clock. "I know it seems like ages since they've even had a den on the continent. I found those four wandering the beach. The one who's looking at you was really hurt, the others had minor injuries. I don't know from what though, but his little leg is messed up pretty bad. If you can fix him, he's yours for half price. Of course, some other customers wanted them for tasty delicacies for a feast or party. Either way, he's eight gold."

Venom rummaged around in the pouch on her right calf, and fished out eight gold, every coin that came from her peculiar RainWing customer this afternoon.

What a coincidence.

Venom placed the money in the MudWing's outstretched palm. After pocketing the change, she turned around and returned with a small wooden box, air hole poked into its sides. "Extra three gold for a carrying case." she smiled.

"No thank you." Venom said. She was too broke for that. The MudWing ducked down and hefted the wcker basket onto the counter. She flipped the latch, as the other scavengers woke of and scurried about. The one who'd seen Venom earlier stayed still, holding the wicker bars.

He's smart. Venom thought. I bet he knows exactly what's happening, too. Clever.

"Which one did you want?" The MudWing asked, her talon inside the cage, ready to prowl for Venom's scavenger.

"Hold on a moment." Venom suggested, holding up her talons. "I want to try something. Just leave the door open for a moment."

The MudWing frowned, but obliged. It seemed she was more than desperate to do anything to get home soon.

For a moment, all the scavengers inside didn't move. Venom lowered her head eye-level with the black-haired boy, and watched. The creatures chittered among themselves, some cried, others looked frightened. Venom's scavenger looked quite clam. He held up those little, squishy paws, and shushed the others quietly. He sat down once they'd quieted, and squeaked something to them. The others began to cry all the more. He held out his arms, and the others scurried to him and... Venom couldn't believe her eyes. The scavengers were hugging.

The MudWing looked absolutely as bewildered as Venom. When the little animals released one another, Venom's scavenger stood up, waved goodbye to the others, and walked over the threshold of the cage. The MudWing picked up the wicker container with the other scavengers inside, and set them back on the ground, still amazed. The little scavenger walked to the edge of the counter, and sat down in front of Venom's snout. He looked up at her with those big, brown eyes, and smiled.

Venom couldn't believe it. Neither could the MudWing, who was furiously taking notes on what just happened.

"Insight." Venoom said, stretching an open talon to her new pet. "You will be called Insight. Those dragon's eyes look like they can understand so much more than others of your kind."

Insight crawled onto Venom's hand, and patted one of her black claws. Venom lifted to the scavenger up to her head, where he sat with contempt, one hand on her horn.

"I've never seen a scavenger act like that..." The MudWing said, closign up her shop. "Have a wonderful evening."

"You too." Venom half-waved goodbye, and walked off down the road to her home. Insight looked longingly back at the other scavengers, before waving sullenly good-bye.