moon between (under renovation)

14,Qibli

Qibli blinked. Three moons, was that really QUEEN THORN?!?! How embarrassing, to find his well, mother and leader in her palace with a girl. They'd somehow fallen asleep while reading to each other. How could he be so careless?

"Qibli, hi," Queen Thorn was saying. "Look, I'm really sorry to bother you, but the dragons who were supposed to work on the plants today never came, and some mimsoyweed sprouted. Its hypnotic properties put you two to sleep."

Moon was blushing, pink spreading from her snout to cheeks.

"I'm really sorry we bothered you Queen Thorn." She glanced at Qibli, obviously mortified. What had he led her into?

"I apologize as well," he mumbled.

The small dragon next to Queen Thorn looked up from a scroll he was holding.

"Queen, this puts us exactly .019 moons behind schedule. You still have to do exactly twenty-eight tasks and make a decree and-."

"Thank you Desert Rose. I'll be sure to figure those things out. Will you please go and fetch the gardeners?"

"But Queen-!"

"Desert Rose..."

"Yes, majesty, I'm going. I'm just so worried you'll be behind schedule," she piped as she hurried off.

Queen Thorn sighed. "Desert Rose is my new assistant. She is very young, and very sweet, but very sensitive."

Qibli was still embarrassed about the whole mimsoyweed incident.

"Qibli, can I talk to you quickly please?" Queen Thorn asked.

"Yes," he muttered. "Moon, just a sec."

"Okay," she whispered, her eyes suddenly focused on an interesting spot on the floor.

After they rounded the corner, Qibli told his adopted mother everything in one short burst.

"So I invited Moon on a date but it was really Kinkajou and Kinkajou became Moon and then we flew from the rainforest and we read and our tails twined and we fell asleep and Moon likes Winter better than me and she probably hates me right now and yes." Qibli was out of breath.

"Woah, it sounds like you are having some issues," Thorn said.

"Tell me about it," said Qibli.

"Listen, when I first became mates with Smolder, we had some difficulties. He had a bad history with another girl, lots of drama. But, we talked about it and really figured out we were meant for each other."

Like he would ever talk to Moon. Risk breaking his heart forever? Not a chance. Not until he had something animus touched to make him stronger, better.

"I know you are disagreeing with me in your head right now, but hear me out. Maybe you could spare a lot of suffering from both sides."

"Okay," said Qibli. Maybe he'd think about it. "Thanks for the advice."

"No problem." She nuzzled his wing and smiled.

Returning the smile, Qibli went out to Moon.

She didn't look very well. She was sweating, digging her talons into a nearby scrollcase, and softly wailing.

"Moon! Moon! MOON!" Qibli screamed.

She continued to wail. "What is going on? Are you having a vision?"

Through clenched teeth, she nodded.

"W-Wint-ter in t-trouble," she gasped.

"What is going on here?" Queen Thorn quickly returned. "Moon are you okay?"

Moon stopped trembling.

She took a deep breath. "Qibli, Winter and Kinkajou are in trouble. All I can see is water and blood. Lots of blood. We last saw them in the rainforest. Could they have been ambushed there?"

How would Qibli be able to confront his friend again after what happened?

Desert Rose had scurried beside Queen Thorn. "There are a lot of waterfalls in the desert. Maybe they were attacked there? OOH! Maybe by a NightWing!"

Moon looked slightly embarrassed.

Queen Thorn gave her a stern look. "I'm sorry!" she squeaked.

"Hush, Desert Rose. This is serious." Queen Thorn glared. She then laughed a little, though barely noticeable, to herself. "How about you accompany them to the rainforest? After all, you are a skilled fighter."

"But what about our tasks?"

"Those can wait for tomorrow. For now, this is a more important mission. It's an order too."

Desert Rose sulked. "Fine."

***************
Over the course of the next hour, the dragons got ready to return to the rainforest. Qibli's wings ached from so much flying. They were finally ready to go.

The dragons took off. They were on their way to save Kinkajou and Winter.

A/n: Sorry for the long updates: I've been so busy with school!! This is going to be 20 chapters, getting longer like this one. Yay!
Enough chatter.
Peace! ✌️