Dreamseeker's wings ached.

They'd been flying for two days. Even at the group's pace, they still wouldn't reach Jade Mountain until nightfall, which was the absolute worst. Cold was starting to set in, and despite Venom's heated scales flying right ahead of him, Dreamseeker could feel the nip biting under his scales. He hated the cold. It was so unfamiliar for fall for it to be this cold already.

Ash landed first on the steps of Jade Mountain Academy, followed by Venom, Dreamseeker, and then Capuchin, who landed funny and stumbled a bit before sourly shrugging his shoulders like he always did. The SandWing shook her wings, their heat melting the snow around her talons. It had been falling forever now, and Dreamseeker tried to hustle everyone's tails inside. Ridiculous, Ash and Venom looked around dizzily like they'd never seen snow before, and Capuchin just, scowled. That wasn't a normal RainWing thing, Dreamseeker thought.

Inside, a young-ish MudWing met them. He smiled, and welcomed them with a cheesy "Behold Jade Mountain Academy" sort of thing. The hallways around them were mostly deserted. Most students seemed to have left for winter break, to be at home, warm with their families.

"We want to see the headmasters." Venom said sweetly to the young MudWing. No one called them "The Dragonets of Destiny" anymore. The three left didn't seem to want to be reminded of the war.

"Okay. Master Starflight could see you, I suppose." the dragonet smiled.

He led them down many winding stone tunnels. While the others were determined on their course to the library, Dreamseeker let his mind and eyes wander to the walls around them. Drawings of little dragonets, posters with announcements on them. Some he'd seen in his dreams, others just looked vaguely familiar. Dreamseeker tried not to think about it much, his visions. He wasn't as powerful as her, but NightWing legends told of a dragon named Clearsight, the love of the Darkstalker. She was a little crazy, and was frantic about her visions, to the point of paranoia, or at least those were the rumors. He preferred to let them come naturally. The brightest were the most likely, the most memorable were the best futures, an the fleeting, terrifying ones were the least likely and highly dangerous. Those were the categories. He tried to keep his focus on the most likely ones.

The library was nice. Dreamseeker took one look at the scrolls, and felt a calm about his ashen scales. He wasn't all into the knowledge like other NightWings, but would much rather spend his time hunting or flying, or sleeping really.

A small, weathered voice was speaking in the center of the room. Two dragons, one Sand, one Night, both ancient, sat on a pad of cushions. the NightWing's head rested on the SandWing's shoulder, and she read to him. From the looks of it, he was blind, a strip of violet cloth wrapped around his head.

Sunny the SandWing stopped reading, and Starflight's head rose from her shoulder, smile fading to neutral expression.

"Yes, Beetle?" Starflight said tiredly.

"Visitors, sir." Beetle stated, then scurried away.

"Oh please, come in, won't you?" Sunny smiled brightly through her wrinkles. Neither dragon moved, but the Possibilities walked further inside, settling down in front of them.

"I thought there were five of you." Capuchin snarked immediately.

"Pretty sure there was six." Ash corrected.

Either way, Sunny's face fell. Starflight sensed she was upset and spoke for her.

"Only three of us now. Clay is sleeping quite a few caves into the mountain. He never gets up anymore. Peril is still alive too, but she spends her time staring into the underground lake. She wasn't one of the core five, yet she is still a good friend."

"Told you there were five." Capuchin grinned at Ash.

"Both of you grow up." Dreamseeker snapped. He swatted both dragons on either side of him with his starry wings.

Venom shook her head and changed the subject, before Sunny's sweet face could be even more distorted with pain.

"We've come with a message from the Queen of the SandWings."

"Is it regarding that awful earthquake the other day?" Starflight asked, suddenly worried.

"Starflight, dear. There was no earthquake. It would have woken Clay up." Sunny soother him, wrapping her tail around the distraught NightWing's.

"Clay's old, we're all old. He wouldn't wake up even if Jade Mountain collapsed around him." Starflight shook his head.

"Anyways." Sunny continued, turning to Venom again. "Tell us, what has Queen Sandstorm sent you with?"

Venom handed Sunny the scroll, who looked it over, told Starflight something, and turned to the rest. Her expression was turned over from worried to terrified. She looked at Dreamseeker.

"Go wake Clay up. He needs to be here."

Dreamseeker grumbled, stood up and walked out of the library, leaving the others there to mumble among themselves like frightened dragonets. He figured Sunny would recognize him. She probably remembered the face of every former student.

Dreamseeker took his pacing swiftly down the hall, taking every right turn until coming into Clay's room, the one Dreamseeker remembered from school. As expected, the big MudWing was sleeping, half on the floor, snoring.

Alright, Clay." Dreamseeker said, prodding the ancient dragon in the wound on his leg. "Time to get up. Come on."

With a snort, Clay woke up, batting his wings around. He fumbled to the floor, stood up with a start, and groaned, rubbing his back.

"Three moons, ouch. Oh, Dreamseeker! What a nice surprise. Always a pleasure to hear from a former student!" Clay said, smiling.

"I'm afraid this surprise as you'd wish it to be, Professor Clay." Dreamseeker shook his head. "Sunny and Starflight are waiting for you in the library."