The Burning Hive

And how the other tribe dies

4 months later...

Redstripe didn't know what to expect when he was told to meet up with a group of some of their mysterious benefactors outside the hive, in the middle of the night, alongside a few of his comrades, Atala among them, to act as liaisons, but it sure as all moons wasn't this.

From what he had been taught early on in his life, the Leafwings were a tribe that had been completely exterminated by Queen Wasp during the Tree Wars a few decades back, an event that had led to Queen Monarch abdicating her throne and allowing the Silkwings to be subjugated by the Hivewings in order to avoid a similar fate befalling her tribe.

Clearly, what he'd been taught about Leafwings as a dragonet was wrong, as standing before his very eyes, were a group of four supposedly extinct Leafwings, their fully green bodies blending in almost perfectly with the tall grass around them. Redstripe wouldn't have even known they were there if one of the Leafwings hadn't gotten up from their hiding place, before signalling the others to show themselves.

Redstripe was still struggling to contain his shock as one of the Leafwings stepped forward towards their group. "Any updates?" she questioned curtly, clearly unsurprised at their presence.

Atala wasted no time in launching into what seemed like a serious conversation with the Leafwing, she too seemingly unsurprised at the existence of the Leafwings.

As Atala and the Leafwing got deep into their talk, Redstripe took the opportunity to turn to another of his fellow freedom fighters, Grayling, who also didn't seem all that startled by the sight of the Leafwings. Though, to be fair, both Atala and Grayling had been in the group for far longer, which might have meant they'd been meeting with these Leafwings for a while.

"How," Redstripe lowly hissed, "in all of the moons above, did you find Leafwings, and how long have you been meeting them?"

Grayling regarded him shortly, before answering nonchalantly, "We've been meeting them for about a week at this point. As for your first question, it was more of a lucky accident that we discovered them. I and a few members just happened to catch them snooping around the hive. Luckily, they weren't in a "kill now, ask questions never" kind of mood then, because I get the feeling Belladonna is very ruthless when it comes to any threats."

Redstripe mentally stepped back a bit to digest the information. The fact that not only were the Leafwings still alive and kicking, but that the Chrysalis had been in contact with them a mere week ago, and they were already able to hold conversation like the one Atala and the Leafwing dragoness were having, was mind-boggling to him.

"Does anyone else know?" asked Redstripe.

"Oh yeah, the leadership was quite gracious in informing many of our members about our newfound cooperation." Grayling rather nonchalantly replied. Privately, Redstripe felt a little embarrassed he'd somehow missed such an important piece of information like that.

Thinking back on Grayling's words before, Redstripe found something that made him curious. "If... Belladonna..."

"That's the one Atala is talking to. As for the other Leafwings, the one on her right is Hemlock, her mate, the two on her left are Pokeweed and Bryony, respectively." Grayling helpfully supplied.

"Uh, thanks Grayling, but, if she's a ruthless type, why didn't she just kill any of you when you ran into them?"

At that, Grayling responded, "Well, she apparently thought the Silkwings would be hardly a threat to her, so she told them to stand down. After explaining the Chrysalis to her, she seemed open to start cooperating with us."

"Any particular reason why?"

Grayling merely shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm certainly not complaining. We need all the help we can get if we want to turn everything around in this hive."