Starcrossed

Chapter 4: Rainstorms and Thunder and Lily

It was hard roaming around with a bunch of RainWings when you're tribe did horrible, terrible, unforgivable things to them. Starseeker always felt the sideways glare of a RainWing staring at him, and he felt like the most guilty dragon in the world. He was glad the Dragonets of Destiny didn't know Morrowseer was his father, though. That would make things worse.

He had explained to the Dragonets of Destiny that he and Moonwatcher weren't spies, they were just Dragonets that wanted nothing to do with the NightWings.

Tsunami didn't believe him. Obviously. Glory didn't really care, since there were hundreds of RainWings, and as long as he didn't sneak off, that proved he couldn't communicate with NightWings. Sunny didn't mind either, she was too busy worrying. Starflight seemed nervous about everything. Clay...Clay welcomed them, and the first thing he did was offer them a pig.

The camp settled on the west side of Jade Mountain, and some dragons discovered an old NightWing living in there — Stonemover. Turns out he was Sunny's father, too, and he was an ANIMUS. WHAT.

Also he had slipped that NightWings didn't actually have powers.

Starseeker had nodded to them, confirming it.

And...let's just say, after that, dragons looked at Tsunami differently from that day on.

Moon had gotten more quiet, too, looking out into space more often. Must be because she's never been around this many dragons before, he had told himself, but only halfway believed it.

After a long day, he found an opening in Jade Mountain, kinda like a rocky version of a balcony, and flopped onto it. He was usually with Moon, but she had found a bouncy RainWing named Kinkajou, so Starseeker had a little time to himself.

Rain was starting to dribble, until it all came pouring down, like a bucket of water spilling. Starseeker didn't budge, allowing the sky to drench him.

"Don't you love rainstorms?"

Starseeker turned his head, and saw a RainWing, about his age. She was a gorgeous azure color, with splotches of deeper cobalt blue down her neck. Her ruff and inside wings were lavender, and her eyes were bright and devious, filled with hidden knowledge — like she knew more about you than you knew about yourself. She wasn't looking at him, she was staring out into the sky, smiling slightly.

Starseeker followed her gaze into the stormy clouds. "Uh. Not really." he said. "I mean, it's kind of dark, you know? And wet. Super wet. And then, after you're soaked, you get cold, and then there's the wind, and at that point you're freezing, wet, and you can't see anything. And, oh, did I mention the lightning? And thunder?"

"If you think so negatively about it, why are you out here, silly?" Before he could respond, she went on. "Rainstorms don't have to be bad, you know."

"Really."

"Alright, Mr. MoodyFace, look at it this way: what would happened if there wasn't any rain? Imagine if the storms just stopped. Take you're time, I don't mind."

He did. He thought about that for a moment. Rain was water, water helped plants grow. What if there wasn't any green life? Then everywhere would be the volcano island. Dark, hot, rocky, sharp.

"It would be a nightmare," he said.

The RainWing stifled a dramatic gasp. "NO WAY."

"What?"

"No one has ever acknowledged me like that before!" she cried. "It's usually 'ROAR, can't you SEE that I am TRYING to teach YOUNG IGNORANT DRAGONETS like YOU how to shoot their VENOM? Stop asking pointless questions and BY ALL THE MOONS PAY ATTENTION FOR ONCE, DO YOU HEAR ME???????!!!!!!!'"

Starseeker laughed, and he laughed for the first time he had in a while. But the next thing she said squashed any happy light bouncy feelings to dust: "Hey, your father is Morrowseer, right?"

"Wha — no — that's not — I mean, I'm not — uh —" he faltered. "He's not my father!'

She gave him a skeptical look. "Uh-huh."

Starseeker sighed. "Yes," he admitted. "I'm his son, and Moon is his daughter. How did you know?"

The azure dragonet stared off. "The younger dragonets weren't aloud to go into battle, but I camouflaged anyway, just to have a look. I regretted it. There was so much blood, and venom, and dragons dying everywhere....I couldn't take it. I was about to fly back, preparing myself for being yelled at from Bromeliad —" She frowned "—when I noticed you and your sister sneaking off into the trees. I followed you. I think  your sister sensed me somehow, but it could've been my imagination. Anyway, I was there when Morrowseer cornered you. I knew he was your father right away. The way he looked at you, the way you looked him, the fact that cornering you into the trees would be worth it, for someone as heartless as Morrowseer. Yes, I was one of the RainWings to get kidnapped. Also, you looked pretty horrified. He can't be that bad, right?"

"Sure. Not when he's an evil mastermind who wants to rip open the world and hunt down Moon."

White rippled along her scales, then vanished. She grimaced. "Yyyyyyyyyyyikes. And I thought having no parents was bad."

"Oh, my mother's nice, she's just locked up in a dungeon somewhere. Moon's all I have." He felt tears burning in the back of his eyes, but ignored them.

The RainWing slid a wing gently over him — cool, smooth, unblemished scales, yet very wet. "Sorry."

He was about to say it was totally fine, when she suddenly jumped up. "Wait! What did you say? Somewhat ten seconds ago?"

"Uh, my mother's nice, but —"

"No no, before that."

"'Not when he's an evil mastermind who wants to rip open the world and hunt down Moon'?" He realized, just then, right there, he had uncovered Moon's secret. Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no! Moon! Forgive me!

An enormous grin spread across her face as her scales erupted into fireworks of gold, indigo, slight emerald, and yellow.

"Do I want to know what those colors mean?" Starseeker asked nervously.

"It means I just figured out your little family secret." she replied pleasantly, grinning with an her teeth. "There are a lot of possibilities, but here's my most probable hypothesis of what happened since eight years ago: your mother hid your egg somewhere — the rainforest, maybe? — but she made the mistake of telling your father. She had another egg, and this time she didn't show Morrowseer. This is Moonwatcher. This part is tricky, but, I think sometime later, your mother was going to visit Moon, but she didn't know Morrowseer was following her, so...you know the rest. Oh, I'm Lily, by the way."

Starseeker stared at her, eyes wide, jaw unhinged.

"Well?"

"TEACH ME YOUR EVIL WAYS," he begged. She laughed. "How did you do that?! And now, you're going to tell me you know why NightWings don't have powers anymore."

"I do have a theory about that," Lily said thoughtfully.

....

........

.............

"WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"What?"

"I was joking!"

"Oh."

"Tell me you were joking."

"I was not joking."

"...Three moons, Lily."

"Oof, it's really pouring, isn't it? C'mon, lets go inside before the sky drowns us alive."