Suddenly there was a thundering crash from the central cave. The dragonets heard the entrance boulder slam back into place, then the rumbling of heavy footsteps. From the extra squish-flap of them, Overcast knew it must be Webs.

"That's the entrance boulder!" Tsunami exclaimed, hurrying to the door.

"This late at night? Something's happening," Overcast agreed, following the SeaWing.

Tsunami's spine-ridge stood up. "We have to go find out what."

Starflight spread his wings slowly. "I'm sure they'll tell us what the fuss is tomorrow morning," he said in a wasted attempt to leave it.

"We can't wait that long!" Overcast urged. 

Tsunami jabbed him in the underbelly with her tail. "Don't be a smoke-breather! Let's go!" The SeaWing whirled out of the cave, followed by Overcast and Glory. The RainWing's scales were already changing to match the mottled grey-and-brown rocks; in a moment, the dragonets knew she'd only be visible if you knew what you were looking for.

Starflight slipped past Overcast to join the RainWing, and the two of them hurried away toward the tunnel that led to the big dragons' cave. Almost immediately, both of them vanished into the shadows. Hidden by their colouring, they'd get as close as they could to eavesdrop on the minders.

But the remaining three dragonets had an even better shot of hearing everything, if they hurried. Overcast could already see Tsunami charging across to the river.

"What about Sunny?" Overcast heard Clay call quietly from behind her. If the IceWing focused, she could hear their little sister rummaging around in their sleeping cave, putting the scrolls in their selected spots.

"We'll come up with something to tell her later," Tsunami hissed back, already ankle-deep in the rushing water.

Overcast could see Clay's disappointed expression, and felt shared in the emotion: even though keeping the spying games hidden from Sunny was the most sensible thing to do, it still didn't feel right lying to her.

That was why the IceWing brushed wings with her older brother, smiling smally at him. Cheer up, Clay, she thought. It'll be okay. 

Tsunami disappeared into the river with a nearly soundless splash, the pale green flecks under her dark blue scales shimmering as she swam upriver.

Overcast slid in after her, welcoming the cool water once again. She felt the impact of Clay behind her as he entered the water, and Overcast knew her relief was shared by him when Tsunami activated the glow-in-the-dark stripes along her tail.

IceWings couldn't see in the dark like SeaWings, nor could they breathe underwater, but they can hold their breath for a decent amount of time and swim well. This was not unlike the MudWings, who could hold their breath for up to an hour if they wished. This was why Overcast, Clay and Tsunami used the river to get closer to the others.

Overcast swam a little ahead of Clay, and the latter caught up to Tsunami as she was wriggling through the underwater gap in the cave walls. Squeezing through the gap always gave Overcast some underlying anxiety, even though she was just slim enough to make her way through without too much of a struggle.

The IceWing dragonet swam through after Tsunami, tucking her wings in as they scraped against the scraggly rock.

Overcast turned her head to see Clay just as he got stuck. A flurry of anxiety coursed through her veins, but went unneeded as a moment later, the MudWing popped through with a whoosh of bubbles.

Tsunami's tail went dark as they swam quietly into the guardians' cave. The three older dragons hardly paid any attention to the river – except for Webs, who sometimes slept in the shallows. But it would never occur to them that three pairs of dragonet ears might be poking out of the water, listening.

Clay drifted to a stop near the entrance while Tsunami swam to the far side of the room, and Overcast compromised by setting up shop in the middle of them. The IceWing always worried that her bright silver scales would get her caught, which is why she stayed away from the torches down near Tsunami. Some nights, when the minders' whispers got caught up in the hum of the river, the proximity interfered with the whole eavesdropping section of the spy games – but at least the SeaWing dragonet didn't share this same problem. 

Though tonight, Overcast was pretty sure everyone could hear everything, including Glory and Starflight in the passageway outside. From the way Kestrel was shouting, it wouldn't have surprised her if the SkyWings up in the mountain peaks came roaring at them to shut up.

"Coming HERE? With no warning? After six years, suddenly he's interested?" A jet of fire shot out of Kestrel's snout and blasted the nearest rock-column, leaving a smouldering black mark.

"Maybe he wants to make sure they're ready to stop the war," Webs suggested.

Dune snorted. "These dragonets? Then he's going to be very disappointed." He eased himself onto a flat boulder, stretching his foreleg stump and mangled wing toward the fire in between the three minders.

The rough SandWing dragon never discussed his scars or how he lost his foot, but the dragonets could guess what had happened from the anger in his voice whenever he spoke about the war happening beyond the cave walls.

The fact that he couldn't fly was probably the reason the Talons had chosen him for underground dragonet minding-duty. The moons above know he wasn't picked for his warm, nurturing personality.

"We've done our best," Webs shrugged. "The prophecy chose these dragonets, not us."

"Does he even know what happened?" Kestrel demanded. "Does he know about the broken egg and the RainWing? Or the defective SandWing?"

Fury took place of the earlier anxiety within Overcast's veins, overtaking her blood and making it boil. Defective in your eyes, maybe, she thought poisonously, but Sunny is ten times the dragon you'll ever be.

She noticed Clay floating closer, and followed him, allowing herself to linger higher than he in the water. Through the ripples, Overcast could see the guardians gathered around the fire.

Webs flapped his wings in dismissive distress. "I'm not sure what he knows, or why he even cares. The message just said 'Morrowseer is coming'. I'm supposed to meet him and bring him here tomorrow."

Morrowseer.
The name sounded familiar. After a little turning her brain over, Overcast remembered him as the NightWing who delivered the prophecy ten years ago.
Oh. Morrowseer.
The one who had received the prophecy.
COMING HERE.

"I'm not worried about Sunny," Dune contributed. "We followed the prophecy's instructions. It's not our fault she's the way she is. But the RainWing... he's not going to like that."

A deep growl rumbled in Kestrel's throat. "I don't like it either. I never have."

WE KNOW, Overcast screamed inside her own head. YOU NEVER SHUT UP ABOUT IT. It took all of the IceWing's self-control not to lunge out of the river and tear Kestrel's wings to shreds right then and there. 

Overcast often found herself fantasising about the day when she and her friends would stand up to the minders and fight back. The one detail that stayed the same in all the different variations in Overcast's head was how the IceWing got make Kestrel pay for all the times she insulted Glory, or was too harsh on Clay during training, or was mean to Sunny, or unreasonable with Tsunami, or short with Starflight.
Sure, Glory and Overcast didn't get along all the time, and sometimes Starflight acted like too much of a know-it-all... sometimes Tsunami was too bossy, and there were times when Clay was a bit annoyingly slow or Sunny a bit annoyingly excitable. But nothing made Overcast more furious than whenever Kestrel mistreated the dragonets.

Overcast knew the future was uncertain, and she knew that there was a large chance that everything would go wrong within seconds of the dragonets being outside. But she also knew that she would fight to defend her friends, her siblings, until her dying damn breath.

"Glory's not that bad," Webs reasoned. "She's smarter than she wants us to know."

"You overestimate her because you brought her here," Dune responded, his voice gruff with the confidence that said his mind was made up on the topic. "She's lazy and worthless like the rest of her tribe."

Oh, Dune, Overcast felt disappointment seep into her bones like slush. Please don't. Please try to see Glory through our eyes, not Kestrel's.

"And she's not a SkyWing," Kestrel snapped. "We're supposed to have a SkyWing!"

The anger inside Overcast's chest gave way to sympathy. She wished Glory didn't have to hear this. She wished she could find the words to let the RainWing know that none of them believed what the two minders said, and that she's just as important as any nameless SkyWing. 
I'm sorry, Glory. I know we don't always get along, but they haven't been fair to you. You don't deserve this. I'm sorry.

"Well, I never thought Morrowseer would come look at them!" Webs argued. "After he dropped off Starflight's egg, I assumed we would never hear from him again!" He stared into the fire for a moment, watching it crackle. "After all, the NightWings want nothing to do with the war."

Ah, NightWings. Mysterious and pompous and secretive, annoyingly so. The dragonets often wondered if any of them even had any powers, as Starflight himself was, so far, living proof that they didn't. Starflight obviously fought against this train of thought; the epic wonderfulness of the nighttime tribe was his favourite topic.
Which is fair. Tribe pride is important. Overcast herself could go on for hours about how cool (pun so intended) IceWings are if she wanted to.

"Do you think Morrowseer's coming to take us out of here?" Tsunami whispered.

"Maybe?" Clay replied, his voice quiet.

"Did the Talons of Peace say what he wants?" Kestrel asked.

"Well, it's his prophecy," Webs said. "I guess he wants to make sure it'll actually come true."

Overcast felt Clay jolt from behind her, vibrating the water, and realised Webs' words had made the kind but sometimes slow MudWing remember who Morrowseer was.

The dragonets had learned about Morrowseer during the small scraps of history lectures Webs had given them, but they'd never really lingered on the NightWing character. Who had delivered the prophecy never really seemed as important as who was in the prophecy.
But it was apparent that Morrowseer was more important than the dragonets had realised. He was certainly much of an annoyance to get a rise out of Kestrel, and even then it was obvious she was as angry as she was because of anxiety.

Overcast felt a dark shiver overtake her – tiny, but there. Something told her that Morrowseer was a dragon they should approach cautiously.

"So that's it, then," Kestrel snarled. "We have no other say in the matter?"

Webs shook his head, at a loss of options.

Dune flexed his good wing. "What time is he due tomorrow?" He asked, his voice gravelly.

"In the evening," Webs replied. "We should probably go to sleep soon."

Tsunami turned, her blue body slender in the water. "Let's go," she whispered, passing her two friends by and disappearing below the water.

Clay happily obliged, swimming away silently toward the hole underwater.

Overcast followed her friends, ducking down and descending into the deep with a flurry of bubbles.

The last thing she heard was Kestrel's dark muttering, before that too went up with the gentle whoosh of the river.