Shifting tides (work in progress)

Chapter 2

Abysssight set foot in the NightWing village, it had been a while since she'd been there. She looked around, most NightWings didn't even notice she was there, as she had expected. And the few who did notice, either acted like they didn't or looked at her with some form of resentment shining through their eyes. Dawnbringer's hut was located near the outer edge of the village, which was a good thing for her. The less NightWings she'd have to see, the better. In the past year, she had done her best to recognise all the NightWings, and learn all their names, but eventually, she gave up on that after she figured she wouldn't be staying in the village. One of the dragons she never learned the name of was the sick reddish-black dragon she had to pass nearly every time she visited her friend. She was fairly sure she was the same dragon that shouted at that guy that ran into her that first time she visited the village. Which reminded her that he hadn't seen that dragon ever since that day. She didn't really know anything about either of the two, only that the reddish dragon was terribly ill, and that she wasn't the nicest dragon to be around. Today too, she was passing by the sick dragon. As always, the dragon was sitting just outside her hut, staring into the distance with clouded eyes and a sour face. Abysssight had heard that her illness had made her blind, and that moving her safely to the Rainforest had been quite the hassle. Sometimes she wondered who the dragon was, and why she was sitting around looking bitter all day, or where the other dragon had gone, but even now, she just ignored her curiosities and walked passed. It wasn't her business anyways, and Dawnbringer would be waiting for her.

When Abysssight arrived at her friend's place, she was shocked to see how different it looked from the last time she had been there. It was mostly bigger, and resembled more of a house than a hut. Mightyclaws clearly had made use of the powers he received from Darkstalker. Abysssight only knew the gist of what had happened, but she was aware of the fact that Mightyclaws had kept his powers to draw stuff and make them a reality. Building houses had never been this easy, it was partly why she didn't come to the village anymore. Before Darkstalker, Abysssight would come to help with the buildings, but now that wasn't necessary anymore, she didn't have any other jobs she could do, so she also had no reason to come back. She knocked on the door, and a small, male NightWing opened the door. The young dragon, who she assumed was about 2 years old, looked at her weirdly, as if she was some weird creature he had never seen before. The dragon turned around "Auntie" he called, and ran off. Abysssight stood there in a moment of confusion, but after a few seconds, Dawnbringer's mom, Bloodmoon, came back, with the small dragon half hiding behind her leg. "Oh, hello Abysssight. Nice to see you." Abysssight greeted the dragon too. There was a short awkward silence before Bloodmoon stepped aside, and let her pass through. "Come in." she said, trying to sound as polite as possible. "Dawnbringer is in her room, I'll go get her." Bloodmoon left her alone in the room with the small dragonet. Who was still looking at her weirdly, which she decided to ignore. Bloodmoon was a good dragon, she would never act wrongly towards Abysssight. But she couldn't help but notice the discomfort every time the two crossed paths. She didn't blame Bloodmoon, a lot of dragons were uncomfortable with her being near them, and they had good reasons for it. She just hoped that some day, the two of them could talk without the awkwardness around them. Like she did with Dawnbringer and her dad. Stormbreaker wasn't home often when she visited. But when he was, he seemed happy,and up-beat. He would often joke around, tell them stories about his past, or just, peacefully join in on conversations. Now too, the dragon popped his head out from one of the rooms. And waved at her. "I went to gather some fruits for you." He called, "Not gonna lie, that curved yellow stuff tastes kind of bitter." Abysssight suppressed a laugh. "You mean bananas? You did take the peel off right?" By the look of his face, she could tell that he didn't. At that moment, some smoke started to come from behind him. "Oh cinders! Our food!" He turned around and went back inside the room, which Abysssight assumed was the kitchen. She suppressed a chuckle, and sat down on one of the cushions that laid in the corner of the main hallway. "Are you Dawnbringer's friend?" A squeaky voice asked. Abysssight looked around, and noticed that the voice came from the small dragon, that was still staring at her. Before she could even say "yes", the small dragon continued. "Why do you look so weird? I've never seen a NightWing that looks like you." Abysssight shuffled with her talons. Many dragons must have thought this, but never had anyone said it out loud, in her face like that. She wasn't *that* different from the other NightWings, was she? The dragon pointed at her face. "Why is there a white scale there?" He asked. Abysssight thought about the small, white, teardrop scales that were located beside her eyes. It was always one of the first things that made her unusual NightWings noticed about her. Other than her, she knew of only 2 NightWings that had these scales. She had seen a dragonet a few months back with teardrop scales, Moon something, and according to Dawnbringer, Darkstaker had had them too. Though she never saw the massive dragon up close, nor did this dragonet apparently. According to Bloodmoon, the teardrop scales gave NightWings the ability to read minds. Her friend thinks that they are the cause of her sudden headaches. Abysssight never felt like this "power" was of any use to her. If anything, it barely worked and just caused her to feel pain. Nevertheless, Bloodmoon still felt weirded out by it. "Shadowsong!" Shouted a familiar voice. The small dragon looked behind him, as Dawnbringer came down the stairs. "Sorry about my nephew, I hope he didn't bother you." Abysssight shrugged it off, it was just a dragonet, right? What did their comments really matter? Dawnbringer said something to the small dragonet, after which he left, and ran up the stairs excitedly. "He's been living with us ever since that fight at Jade Mountain. His parents and older sister haven't been able to care for him, too weak from heavy wounds." She signed. "We haven't told him yet, but his dad never made it to the care centre." She suddenly felt bad for the dragonet. She had sort of known what losing a parent felt like, well, she had known what missing a parent she never met, felt like. She was nine when her father finally revealed himself to her, as well as when he gave her the crushing news that her mother had died before her egg hatched. Ever since, she had wondered how different her life would have been if she had lived. She shook her head, this wasn't about her, she was here to celebrate her friend's hatchingday. She was sure she'd make it the best day she could.

"Have you heard about what's going down in the Icekingdom? Apparently a big group of strange, unknown dragons have settled down there." Stormbreaker said. The five of them were sitting around the dinner table. Abysssight had a bowl that mostly consisted of fruits, with a few vegetables mistaken for fruit mixed in with them. It was a bit of a mix-match, but tasted surprisingly good despite being made by someone who had no knowledge of them. Dawnbringer and her family were eating some creature she'd never seen before. According to Bloodmoon, it was a crocodile. They apparently lived in the Mudkingdom, and were sort of dangerous, especially to eggs and very young dragonets. It was a better option than most of the innocent creatures that lived in the Rainforest. "Hah, the IceWings allowing strange dragons in their precious kingdom? I doubt it." Bloodmoon said. "Especially with their new queen. She seems even more of a narrow minded hothead than Glacier was. At least Queen Glacier wouldn't dare to start a fight with the NightWings." Stormbreaker shook his head. "We can't know that. Glacier never knew where the NightWings lived, she couldn't attack us even if she wanted to. Besides, it's sort of our fault that she's dead." "Our fault she's dead? Please, stop with that nonsense. She would have died sooner or later anyways." Dawnbringer rolled her eyes. Apparently her parents didn't argue a lot, but ever since that new IceWing Queen got the throne, they didn't seem to be able to get their minds on the same line. "What do you mean, strange dragons?" Abysssight asked, in an attempt to stop the bickering. Stormbreaker seemed to think for a minute. "I don't know who or what they are to be honest." he said. "All I really know about them is that they apparently lived on a different continent we didn't know about, and fled to Pyrrhia for one reason or another. They apparently sort of look like RainWings from afar, mostly colourful. But that's all I really know." Dragons from another continent? Could that really be true? What would they be doing here. Abysssight shook out her wings. By now her bowl was empty, as was her friend's. Meanwhile, Shadowsong's side of the table had started to look like a battlefield. Bloodmoon was frantically trying to clean up the mess the young dragonet made, which he seemed to find hilarious. Dawnbringer stood up from the table, took her stuff, and brought it to a sidetable. Abysssight copied what she did. "We're going outside". Her friend called to her parents, after which she lead Abysssight out of the house.

"I bet you're going to love this." She exclaimed. Abysssight looked questionably at her friend. "Love what?" She asked. "Well, a few days after we came back to our home here, two new dragons joined. They live here now. I'm sure you're gonna like their company." "New NightWings? Why would you think i'd enjoy their company specifically?" Dawnbringer shrugged her shoulders. "Just a feeling I have. I think you'll have a lot in common. Look, there they are!" Dawnbringer pointed in some direction, and Abysssight looked at what she pointing.. Two dragons were sitting not too far in front of them. A greenish Nightwing who was definitely older than her, and a young, black dragonet, seemingly still a hatchling. It was hard to see from where she stood, but the dragonet's starlike scales seemed off. "These are Hope and Peacemaker". Dawnbringer continued. "Hope's not from around here. We don't really know where she lived though. And Peacmaker's her son. He's a hybrid." Even before she was able to tell her what kind of hybrid he was, she had already guessed it. "Night-Rain." She said. Dawnbringer nodded her head. "Isn't it exciting? You two could prolly find a lot of things to talk about. With you having lived with the Rainwings and all." Abysssight knew her friend was just trying to be a good friend, but this just wasn't it. She felt some sort of anger building up. "Neither of them have ever lived with the RainWings. Now have they?" She half-shouted. Trying her best to keep herself calm. Dawnbringer looked at her, sort of shocked. "Yes, but." She started saying. But Abysssight stopped her. "They couldn't possibly know what it's like. I just don't think this is going to make anything different." She sighed. "I'm going home." Abysssight said. She could see the hurt in Dawnbringer's eyes, and a rush of guilt rippled through her chest, but she ignored it. She took off and flew back through the rainforest. Right before leaving the NightWing village, she could see the colourful scales of a RainWing from the corner of her eyes. She looked at it, recognising the new queen, before continuing her way back. By now, the sun was going down. Usually, she would only wake up by now, but she had woken earlier for her friend.

She was getting closer to her hut when she heard a sudden rustling, which ended in a screech and a loud cracking sound. She looked in the direction the sound had come from, but was unable to see anything through the darkening, dense forest. Cautiously, she landed and stalked through the trees. Trying hard not to make too much noise. She could hear something groaning, and when she slowly pushed through a bush, her eyes landed on something she had never seen before. A clump of vines hung down in a net between a few trees. In the midst of this clump of vines, she could see a dragon.