"hey, wader, are we almost there?" axolotl asked the mudwing next to them.

"yeah, we're pretty close," said mudwing answered.

"good. i'm getting tired," axolotl replied with an audible yawn.

"stay awake, axolotl. he did say we're almost there," coral said firmly.

"yeah, axolotl, you can do it!" auklet said encouragingly.

the four dragons swam on, the water slowly becoming more and more brown. the seawings looked down in disgust, while the mudwing looked delighted.

"we're here!" wader said cheerfully. "i'm finally home."

"this is your home?" axolotl and auklet said incredulously.

they had good reason to be surprised. wader's home, in fact, was a vast swamp, and a very muddy one at that. it seemed like the mud was never-ending, coming from seemingly nowhere; there were plenty of reeds and cattails all over.

"finally, some mud to soothe my muscles." wader said with a smile. he waded through the water toward the riverbank. his talons squished in the mud, and he let out a contented sigh.

"this is the life..." wader said sleepily. then he looked up suddenly. "do you guys wanna meet my family?" he asked.

coral looked apprehensive. "i'm not sure we have the time to—"

"YES!" axolotl and auklet shouted in unison.

"cool, let's go!" wader said excitedly.

as they trudged through the mud, axolotl began to notice moving shapes that they soon recognized as mudwings. there were dozens of them, just laying in the mud.

suddenly, a small chocolate brown mudwing jumped onto wader. they seemed very excited to see him, as if he'd been gone for days.

"wader! where've you been?! you've been gone forever!" the small dragonet said in a hurry.

three other dragons had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, also looking happy to see wader.

"hey sienna. i'm sorry i disappeared, i didn't mean to." wader said gently, smiling down at the smaller mudwing.

"wader!" a lighter brown mudwing with an even lighter tan underbelly said. "we missed you, big bro. where'd you go?"

"you won't believe it, amber, but i somehow made it to the edge of the delta," wader explained. "all i remember is sleeping in the mud, then i woke up and i was there."

"that's strange... you really don't know?" the other mudwing replied.

"hey, wader?" sienna asked the bigger dragon, cutting into the conversation.

"yeah?" he replied.

"who are those dragons?" sienna finished her question.

"hm? oh! these are the dragons who sort of 'rescued' me. this is axolotl, auklet, and the ex-queen coral." wader satiated her curiosity.

"wow! you used to be a queen?" sienna then turned to the seawing. "that's really cool!"

"yes, i suppose it is," coral replied elegantly, though there was pride in her voice.

"so this is my family, guys. the one with bright blue eyes and the vacant expression is catfish," wader started to say.

"hey! i do not have a 'vacant expression'." catfish said indignantly.

"haha, sure. anyways, the one with the lightest underscales is amber," wader continued.

"hello," amber said with a smile.

"the one with brown eyes and the cool disposition is muskrat," wader said.

"how do you do?" muskrat said politely.

"and finally, the one clinging to me is sienna," wader finished.

"hi!!" sienna said excitedly.

"wow.. you have a big family, wader," axolotl said in surprise.

"yeah, but i wouldn't trade them for the world," wader replied, smiling.

"wait.. you've introduced us to your siblings but... where's your mom and dad?" auklet asked curiously.

at that, all four mudwings looked down at their talons. they seemed... sad.

"well.. our mother died in the war of sandwing succession, and our father..." wader started.

"our father's never been a part of the family," catfish finished for him.

"oh.. i'm sorry for asking," auklet said, bashful.

"it's okay, you didn't know," catfish said kindly.

a short silence fell over the group, broken by coral.

"so. i suppose we shall be going, then," coral said, slightly impatient.

"aww, do you have to go?" sienna said sadly.

"yes, i'm afraid we do. we have many royal duties to attend to, and we can't stay here forever." coral explained gently.

"well, i hope you can come visit!" amber said.

"oh, i would love to! can we mother?" axolotl asked hopefully.

"yeah, can we mom?" auklet asked her parent.

"i suppose i can let you come here every so often. but not every day! you have many duties as a princess and an heir to the throne." coral relented.

"yay, thanks mom!" the two young royals said in unison.

with that, the three seawings said their goodbyes. however, axolotl couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. as they swam back towards home, they didn't hear the screams of the mudwings back in the swamp.