"What?" Lavender felt speechless yet she was able to speak, though it felt as though she hadn't spoken at all as her mind swirled like a storm. She doesn't care? How could she not care!? The NightWing's are a part of the tribe!

"You heard me," Dandelion hissed with an annoyed lash of her tail. "She. Can. Have. Them." The Queen spat.

"How could you say that! They're your subjects!"

"Not anymore. They're finally out of my talons. Those NightWing's are nothing but trouble and all they do is complain, so why should I care what happens to them?"

Lavender was silent from shock, even Salamander looked surprised as her emerald green eyes were widened slightly, a look of disbelief clear as day on the other hybrids face.

"But...." Lavender felt her frills droop down the sides of her face, her talons curled as though they wanted to dig into the wooden floor beneath her, her tail started to lash before her frills fanned out in aggression. "They're your tribe! You're part NightWing! The whole reason you have NightWing blood within you is so you care about both tribes!" Lavender shouted, her scales shifting rapidly from black to lighter purples and shades of pink. Almost as though her scales were confused on what they were supposed to do. Her scales couldn't turn red to show her anger, so they flickered rapidly between pink-ish purple and black. "What kind of Queen are you!" She hissed, anger lacing her words as venom seemed to be dripping from her voice.

"How dare you speak to your queen like that!" Queen Dandelion hissed as her wings flared out, her teeth bared dangerously at Lavender.

"You're no Queen of mine if you don't even care for your tribe!" Lavender spat, her frills fanning dangerously at the sides of her head as her wings flared out at her sides. "I only speak the truth, and the truth is you're an awful and disgraceful excuse of a Queen."

Now both members of the royal family looked furious.

"How dare you insult the Queen like that!" King Palmtree roared as he stood up from his seat.

Lavender looked at him challengingly, her pink eyes narrowed as her tail lashed back and forth behind her. She could see from the corner of her eye that Salamander's body stiffened, her two tails lashing along side Lavender's, her wings flared slightly.

"She's no Queen if she doesn't care for her subjects." Salamander spat from beside Lavender.

Queen Dandelion let out a hiss as Salamander tugged on Lavender's tail, making her follow her out of the palace as the royal family shouted after them.

"We should probably go before they send any soldiers after us." Salamander suggested.

"They don't have soldiers, they do have dragons with darts though, so we should be worried about that." Lavender huffed as the two soon made it out of the palace, opening their wings to take off into the air.

It was silent between the two as they flew. Lavender's mind was racing like a raging storm with whirling winds. The Queen doesn't even care about the NightWing's, she'd just let half of her tribe go. What's going to happen now? I thought they'd be able to help keep the NightWing's where they belong, they've always been with the RainWing's, at least as long as I can remember. She thought as they flew. Why is everything going wrong? What's going to happen with the NightWing's? What's going to happen to dad? Will he be dragged away to be with the NightWing's? Will Animosity force him to be with her again and to leave mom?

"Lavender?"

Salamander's voice pulled the smaller hybrid from her thoughts.

"You're crying."

"Huh?" Lavender reached up with one of her talons to brush her cheek just under her eye, and she felt that she was indeed crying, or at least tearing up.

"Are you crying about what happened with the royals?"

Lavender couldn't muster any words, so she just silently nodded in response.

"Don't cry, laugh!" Salamander offered her a smile. "You wanna know why?"

"Why?" Lavender asked as she whipped away the rest of the tears that were threatening to fall down her face. She didn't even know she was crying until Salamander mentioned it.

"Because those two are somebody else's damn problem now."

Lavender couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. Salamander was right, those two shouldn't be her problem anymore. If they didn't want to help the NightWing's, it wasn't her fault. I'll find another way to keep the tribe together. If the last pure RainWing Queen could, then why can't I?

"Once we get back to the village, I can ask my father to look through some of his scrolls."

"Scrolls? What good would rolled up paper do?"

"History scrolls you dumb lizard! He's got so many that he could open up his own library if he wanted to." She told her. "If we can find out how the last RainWing Queen united the two tribes into one, then we can do the same thing and keep the tribe together!"

"Are you sure that'll work?" Salamander questioned as they flew in the direction back to Lavender's village as the sun was now setting, turning the sky scarlet red as a few stars poked their way through the sky and were already twinkling.

"It has to work." She stated with determination clear in her voice. This has to work, she told herself. I can't let the tribe split apart.

The sun continued to set behind them as they flew through the darkening rainforest and by the time they got back to the village, the three moons were already in the sky and shinning brightly. Two were full while the third was half full, looking small in size compared to the other two.

"You're not going to start reading through every scroll your father has now, right?" Salamander asked as they started to descend into the village where NightWing's were still up and active. Most NightWing's were.

Lavender remembered that when she was little, she'd asked Silentbreath why some NightWing's stayed up at night, she was three years old at the time.

"Silentbreath!" Lavender called as she raced through the village towards the old NightWing's hut, which was easy to find since it was on the other end of the village and was the smallest hut in all the village.

When the dragonet finally made it to his hut, her frills twitching and fanning out in curiously, she saw him sitting outside with a small piece of wood within his talons, slowly carving away at the wood. He looked up at her with his blue eyes that seemed to be as dark yet as beautiful as the sea itself.

"Yes?" He grunted as he lowered his talons slightly so the piece of wood wasn't directly in front of his hunched over form, which, now had straightened itself. She noticed that he always hunched over his work and she'd always hear him complain about his back, which, he should stop hunching over like that so he won't hurt his back anymore, but anyways!

"I've got a question!" She stated as she walked over and sat in front of him, her pink eyes sparkling in curiosity.

He let out a hum that seemed to rumble in his throat. "What is it?" He tumbled as he placed his piece of wood beside some blocks of untouched wood that didn't fit inside of his hut.

"Why do some NightWing's stay up reeeeeaaalllllyyyy late?"

"You mean at night?"

"Uhuh." She nodded.

"Well, NightWing's used to be nocturnal," the old NightWing huffed lightly as his tail twitched. "And some still are."

"Why?"

"In the old days, the NightWing tribe used to be nocturnal. It was just how things were. We blended in more with the night and could be in plain sight without being seen nor heard. We were a stealthy tribe, one to be feared." He grunted.

"Were RainWing's nocturnal too? That'd be weird since they all like sun time and they can get really grouchy when they don't get their sun time." She thought aloud before she gasped. "We're RainWing's super grouchy because they stayed up all night and didn't get any sun time!? Were they so grouchy that they wanted to do something so they changed to being away in the day and they were all happy again!" Her small wings flapped happily at the thought along her sides.

Silentbreath looked at her for a few moments, as though trying to figure out if her question was serious or not, but eventually he let out a rumbling chuckle that sounded more like a chuff from a tiger, if that tiger was instead a large NightWing.

"No, RainWing's have always been diurnal."

"Ohhhhhhhh, That makes sense." Lavender nodded her head. "Can I watch you carve again today?" She asked, the subject changing within seconds which made the old NightWing give her a silent nod.

She smiled widely, her frills happily twitching as she moved to sit right in front of him, her back pressed against his underbelly. She watched as he reached over to grab the small block of wood he had been carving before she came over.

Lavender's eyes were wide in awe as she watched his talons work in front of her.

Lavender cleared her head with a twitch of her frills as they landed onto the packed down muddy soil that he soft grass grew within.

"Come on, let's quickly get inside." Lavender spike softly, almost in a whisper as the two started to walk through the village. Lavender focused to have her scales shift to black to blend in and look like Strongmind who had joined the group of NightWing's rather than a random purple dragon leading Salamander around.

As they walked, she noticed that Salamander would shake her talons every few seconds as though they were covered in mud.

"Why are you shaking your talons so much?"

"They feel sticky and slimy." The older hybrid complained.

"Well then you probably stepped into a patch of muddy ground. To avoid that, try walking on the glass. You'll step on the blades of grass rather than any mud." She suggested as they kept walking.

"You could've told me that sooner." Salamander huffed as they kept walking.

It didn't take them long before they arrived at Lavender's family's hut. She quickly opened the door and stepped inside, Salamander following in soon after.

As soon as she closed the door, the saw the hut was mostly empty, expect for Strongwings and Shadowsplitter sitting at the table silently talking to one another before they noticed their arrival.

"You're back!" Shadowsplitter said quietly, almost a whisper.

"Yeah," Lavender nodded as the two hybrids walked over towards the table. "Where is everyone?" She asked.

"Your mother asleep in our room." Strongwings explained as he fixed his glasses.

"Funnel's home to bed in my room." Shadowsplitter huffed lightly. "And Sapphire's in your room. I don't know if she's asleep or not though."

"She's in my room?"

"She wanted to wait for you to come home." Her father softly spoke from where he was seated.

"Oh! Dad, do you mind if we go through your scrolls? Specially any about the last RainWing Queen who united the RainWing's and NightWing's?" Lavender asked, but before her father could speak, Salamander butted in.

"Tomorrow, Lavender, not tonight."

"You just don't want to read."

"Yup, and I'm tired." The older hybrids dramatically yawned, earning a scowl from Lavender who in turn got a smile from Salamander. "So which way to your room?"

"Really?"

"Yup, you dragged me here so your bed is also my bed." She stated as she started to make her way to the rooms in search for Lavender's room.

Lavender groaned with a huff before looking at her older brother and father who were both looking at her. Her father had a confused look while Shadowsplitter looked at her with a smug grin and an eyebrow raised, to which she glared at him before giving them both a shrug and walking over towards Salamander, listening to the soft tap of her talons.

"Come on, this way you dumb lizard."

"Your dumb lizard who is rather fashionable I might add."

"Shut up."

"Only if you make me."

"Salamander!" She hissed quietly, earning a laugh from the SandWing-NightWing hybrid.

The smaller hybrid lead Salamander to her room and as she opened the door, she spotted Sapphire fast asleep below Lavender's hammock in a small bundle of blankets. The small SeaWing's luminescent scales softly glowing, which softly lit the room in a soft blue glow.

Lavender softly smiled before she put one talon to her snout, telling Salamander to keep quiet to avoid waking up the kind hearted SeaWing.

She lead Salamander to where she kept some of her spare blankets, handing over a few for Salamander to sleep on where ever she liked within her room.

Once she was settled, Lavender quietly got within her hammock for the night, feeling her sore body practically sigh in relief at the chance to rest, especially her sore wings. Within seconds, Lavender felt herself drifting off to sleep, listening to the soft snores from Salamander and watching the soft glow of Sapphire's glowing scales dance around her room softly, putting her into a calm and dreamless sleep.

————————————————————
I'm surprised I got this chapter done today, but I guess since it's a weekend and I haven't really had the motivation to draw lately, so, yeah.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because I sure did enjoy writing it!

- MindlessTyper