It was dark by the time the dragons found land. Holler had flown on up ahead to do it, and came back squawking when he'd spotted an island. By the time they reached its shores, Herring had passed out from his injuries, and Holler and Saguaro had to drag him onto the beach and into the thicket of trees.

"He's all dead weight, jeez!" Saguaro sputtered as she dragged Herring under a palm tree. The SeaWing's head lolled against the trunk of the tree where she sat him up. The blood wasn't dry yet, but most of his wounds were so swollen and angry with saltwater that they hardly bled anymore.

"Oh no. Oh no oh no. What do we do with him??" Holler cried. He turned puke-mint green with terror. "If Herring dies. If anyone dies. Oh Squelch. He'll be heartbroken. Garnet will be-"

"Holler." Saguaro stopped him with a stern word. "Don't panic, I know what to do. I need big, flat leaves. Clean ones. Not eaten by bugs. That and if you can find any comfrey."

"What's comfrey?"

"Herbs with big purple flowers the size of hummingbirds. I need the leaves from that too. Can you do that for me?"

Holler nodded. "yeah. Yeah I can! I'll be right back! Palm leaves, comfrey. Palm leaves, comfrey." He chanted as he bounded away into the vegetation. Saguaro waited until he was out of earshot before she let out her breath.

"Whew. Okay. One step at a time, Saguaro." She said to herself, inspecting Herring carefully in the starlight. It was so hard to see his wounds in this dark.

Saguaro you managed to save a SkyWing from frostbite wounds long enough for an interrogation. I'm pretty sure you can keep this SeaWing from dying. She thought. She quickly went to fetch water from a nearby stream, and used it to wash away the salt crusted into Herring's gills. That much she could do with such minimal light.

Herring took a surprisingly strangled breath, and Saguaro jumped clean out of her skin and a couple feet away. He gasped again as he woke up, but then his breathing steadied.

"Oh thank fish, it was just a dream." He rasped. Herring's head hit the palm tree trunk with a muted thunk. There was a screech from somewhere in the trees.

"A dream?" Saguaro paced back to Herring's side and cleaned his neck. "What kind of dream?"

"I dreamt that I was drowning." He said simply.

"Well, you do have a lot of salt and blood crusted everywhere." She squinted. "Do you think drowning is worse for a SeaWing than it is to other dragons? Like, what if your gills just stopped working while you were a mile below water?"

"Hm.. never thought about it.. not till now." He said. Softly, the space between the two was lit with the glow of Herring's spotty scales. They pulsed with a faint greenish light, that fluctuated with every breath he took.

"Thank you." Saguaro whispered.

"No. Thank you. I don't remember.. falling asleep.."

"You passed out, more like. I sent Holler with some herbs and things. He should be back soon."

Saguaro continued her work scraping salt from Herring's gashes. He seethed at the pain of the process, and his wounds began to bleed again. At least they did so slowly.

"Saguaro!! I got it!" Came Holler's voice as he tumbled through the trees. His arms were full of leaves, plenty of palm and fern and comfrey. "And I found someone else too!"

Saguaro turned and her eyes met his. Their red seemed to practically glow in the dark. Orphaner stood like a mountain behind Holler. Suddenly, she got the feeling that everything would be okay.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked. "Did you abandon Garnet? And Squelch??"

He shook his head. "No. She actually told me to follow you. I said I'd be as inconspicuous as possible."

Saguaro snorted. "You're about as inconspicuous as a boulder in a field of daisies."

Orphaner shrugged. "I try my best."

"Hey. Kind of bleeding out here." Herring said.

Saguaro gently took what Holler had gathered and began to chew several comfrey leaves, while tearing the others into long strips. The wad of chewed comfrey was pasted over Herring's wounds and wrapped with the leaves to keep them sealed.

"Ew. I hope your mouth is clean."

"Cleaner than yours. You smell like burnt shit." She retorted

Herring rolled his eyes. "I like my food cooked. I get it, not normal for a SeaWing. Sue me."

"Holler, could you go run and find some mint, if possible?" Saguaro joked. "We want Herring's breath to be fresh for all stealth missions from now on. Wouldn't want his stink alerting the guards."

"Hey!"

Holler however, certain that Saguaro was 100% serious, nodded and flew off into the woods again.

Herring opened his mouth and breathed heavily on Saguaro. "There, how's that. Now you gotta smell it forever."

"Only until Holler gets back." She laughed, and finished wrapping his neck. "There. All bandaged up. How do you feel?"

"Like a turd that just got stepped on." Herring answered.

Orphaner and Saguaro laughed.

"You look kind of similar, too." Orphaner said.

"Oh HA HA. you're SO funny." Herring sneered.

Saguaro whacked Orphaner with her wing stalk. "Okay. Come on. We've teased him enough. Herring, are you hungry? We'll get you something to eat."

"Fish please. Any kind. Oh or if you find any little beach crabs, I'll eat those. Roasted, of course."

"Of course." Saguaro smiled. She and Orphaner trekked through the ferns and out to the beach.

"Lovely night, isn't it?" He asked.

"You really are a terrible liar." Saguaro said, digging in the sand for crabs. "Garnet didn't tell you to come at all."

"Ok this time I really am being truthful." Orphaner said. He stalked a quick circle around her, and rested his head on her shoulder. "She really did tell me to keep an eye out for Herring specifically. She mentioned he's not a very strong flier. And Holler is well, not very strong. In general. And you can't fly. Really some crack team of misfits she put together, huh?"

"You wouldn't say that if you saw what he did to a SeaWing earlier. This venom he had, it must have been a venom. It ripped right into this dragon's face." Or was it more of a melt? Either way it was grisly.

"It was definitely more of a melt. I've seen RainWing venom is action once before." Orphaner said.

Saguaro shot him a look. A suspicious look. A look that said It's awful funny how you keep saying exactly what I'm thinking.

But Orphaner ignored it. "Must have been gruesome. I was still miles behind you guys, so I'm sorry I wasn't there to help."

"It's all right. We fared for ourselves just fine."

"So you think he'll make it?"

Saguaro dug up a crab and gave it to Orphaner to hold. "Of course. I've done field medicine for years. He just needs rest."

Orphaner smiled like an idiot, and flipped his tail over Saguaro's. "Aww. Well, ain't it good to know we've got someone so caring looking out for us."

The two dragons went about collecting more food for Herring, and set up a small camp when they returned.

"If you're cooking, cook. But no campfire tonight." Holler said. "We want to be undetected. I did a preliminary search of the island, and there isn't anyone else here. A ramshackle hut built into the south beach, but it looked abandoned."

"Thanks, Holler." Saguaro smiled. She cracked open a coconut and scooped its innards out, eating them along with the fruits and nuts Squelch had given her.

Herring quickly ate whatever food was given to him as Orphaner cooked it, and soon he fell asleep again.

Holler touched the SeaWing's collarbone, just below his bandages. "He'll be okay, right Saguaro?"

She nodded. "He will."

Holler smiled, and curled up in the crook of Herring's open wing. Soon he was asleep, and Orphaner and Saguaro followed close behind.