Claws poked at Droplet's wings, shaking her awake.

"Go away. I'm still tired." Droplet grumbled, rolling over and wrapping her wings around herself in an attempt to keep her annoying sister away.

Rainstorm shook her a few more times before letting up. Droplet sighed in relief and snuggled deeper into her soft bed of woven seaweed and cotton. Before she could sink back into the hazy world of sleep, sharp claws seized her ear.

"WAKE UP SLEEPY HEAD!" Rainstorm roared.

Droplet yelped and jumped up, flaring her wings. Her sister, Rainstorm, stood in front of her, watching her with dark blue eyes.

"What was that for?" Droplet asked, lying back down.

"Don't even think about going back to sleep." Rainstorm said, hauling her out of bed. "Emerald already left, and if I don't catch more food than him, I have to give him my sand dollar. But if I get more than him, he has to give me his conch shell." 

"Where do I come in?" Droplet asked, gazing longingly at her woven seaweed mattress, covered in blankets and feathers.

"We all have to hunt, so the deal is that if you win, we make you new paints, but if someone else wins, you make them a sculpture." Rainstorm said impatiently. "And I got stuck with the job of getting you out of bed. Come on. Let's go already." 

"Is the sun even up yet?" Droplet asked as her sister dragged her out of the room the three of them shared.

"Who cares? Emerald already has a head start because you slept in again." Rainstorm growled.

Droplet sighed. Her siblings were always making bets with each other. Sometimes, like this, they would rope her into them. Not that she'd mind making someone a carving. She loved making art, whether it was painting or carving sculptures out of wood or weaving bracelets.

The tunnel they were walking down split, and Rainstorm took the path to the right. The left branch led to the school that their mom and dad worked at. Tsunami, their mother, had helped create the school several years ago, and her three dragonets had been raised in it. Their room was separate from the main school, but still connected by a short tunnel. Tsunami and Riptide's room was connected to that passage. But there was also this tunnel, which led outside.

They passed the branch that led to an underground lake, and daylight soon filled the tunnel. Droplet breathed in the sunlight and closed her eyes.

"Ok, here's the deal." Rainstorm said, hauling Droplet into the air. "I claimed the river, and you get the woods." She flicked her tail at the dense forest at the base of the mountain. "Emerald took the lake. Meet at the prey center in an hour." She shoved a woven basket into Droplet's talons. "See you then." 

Droplet nodded and glided down to the forest at the base of Jade Mountain. Rainstorm veered off to the large river that was always full of fish.

It didn't take long to fill the basket with things she'd scavenged from the forest. Nuts, berries, wild herbs and vegetables. The RainWing and SilkWing students at Jade Mountain liked that kind of stuff. She spent the rest of the hour catching squirrels and mice and even a wild pig. Then she gathered up her haul and flew to the school cafeteria, where Emerald and Rainstorm were already waiting.

"There you are. Finally." Rainstorm said, flicking her tail. "Did you only get leaves?"

"The RainWings like forest stuff." Emerald said, thwacking Rainstorm with his tail. "And you have other stuff too, don't you, Droplet?" 

Droplet nodded, showing them her three squirrels, two mice, and one pig.

"Ok, so that's fourteen points." Emerald said, counting. "Plus... let's say five for all the greens. So nineteen all together. How much did you get?"

Rainstorm flicked her tail at the net of fish lying beside her. Emerald sorted through it and finally said, "Seventeen."

"What? What about my salmon?"

"Those count for two, not three."

"That's ridiculous."

"I'm counting mine the same way!"

"Yeah, but I caught three salmon and you caught two!"

"Oh, good, you guys hunted." Both were distracted by the sound of their mother's voice roaring down one of the tunnels. A moment later, she stepped into the cafeteria, deep blue scales shining in the early sunlight that shone in through the open wall.

"Yep, and I won." Emerald said, puffing out his chest. "Twenty one points. Hah!"

Rainstorm flicked her tail and growled. Droplet bumped her with her wing. "I'll find you a new sand dollar if you want. Or I'm sure Queen Coral would be more than happy to get you another one."

"Oh, this was another one of those bets." Tsunami said, rolling her eyes at Droplet. Droplet smiled back. She loved it when Tsunami did things like that. Little glances or eye rolls, just for her.

"Yep, and I won." Emerald bragged.

"Only because I forgot we changed the point system." Rainstorm said, snatching up two of her fish and storming off to a corner of the room.

"You guys eat up." Tsunami said. "We're going on a field trip today. Or did you forget?"

"We didn't forget." Droplet said. She blinked at Emerald's dumbfounded expression and Rainstorm's curious head tilt. "Or at least... I didn't forget." 

Tsunami laughed. "Well, we're leaving for the kingdom of sea with the four oldest winglets right after breakfast. You three are coming. Mother has been sending me letter after letter asking you to visit."

Queen Coral of the SeaWings was Tsunami's mother, and in turn, Droplet and her siblings' grandmother. So far, none of the other SeaWing princesses had had dragonets. Tsunami said a few of the princes did, but neither she nor Coral paid them much attention. But Droplet often thought about her thirty one uncles, and their dragonets who were her cousins. Only one of them visited. Turtle, who seemed to be noticed by both Tsunami and Coral. He lived in the rainforest with a RainWing called Kinkajou, and had visited with his two one-year-old dragonets a couple of times.

Droplet picked up one of the salmon and walked over to sit next to Rainstorm. By now, a few of the school's many students were coming into the cafeteria. A few MudWings grabbed the pig and hauled it off to share. Some dragonets, mostly RainWings and SilkWings, crowded around the large pile of fruit that sat by the river. Droplet's basket of forest greens and berries and nuts was over there too.

"Hi!" A MudWing bounded over to them, followed more slowly by a SandWing. The MudWing was holding two fish, and the SandWing had a tallonfull of greens from Droplet's basket.

"Hey." Rainstorm huffed, clearly still annoyed about losing the bet.

"Don't mind her." Droplet said, flicking her tail at Rainstorm. "She's just mad because she lost a bet with our brother."

"You're Tsunami's dragonets, right?" The MudWing asked, passing one of his fish to the SandWing. She began sprinkling herbs and crushed nuts onto it.

"Yes." Droplet said, taking a bite of her fish.

"We're in the new winglet. This is our first field trip." the MudWing said. "I'm Heron, by the way. This is Cholla."

"I'm Droplet. This is my sister Rainstorm. Our brother Emerald is over there." She flicked her tail at Emerald, who was sitting with a couple SeaWings and SkyWings.

"Nice to meet you." Heron said, smiling. "What winglets are you guys in?"

"We're not in a winglet." Droplet said, fidgeting with the tail of her fish. "We just live here. Our mom is head of the school, so we help out where we can. Like hunting and gathering for the students. Sometimes we join classes."

"Cool." Heron smiled. Beside him, Cholla blew a burst of flame onto her fish, which wafted delicious smells. Delicately, she began to eat. "You're coming on the field trip though, right?"

"Right." Droplet told him, finishing her fish. Beside her, Rainstorm finally looked up.

"I can find a new sand dollar and give it to Emerald instead of mine!" She cried, grinning. "Yes. Good plan, Rainstorm." She jumped up and hurried off down the hall, leaving Droplet blinking after her.

"Do you know when we're leaving?" Heron asked, stuffing the rest of his fish in his mouth. Cholla blinked at him. 

"Right after breakfast. It's an overnight field trip, so only the oldest winglets are going." Droplet explained. "Actually, I should probably get going. I'm supposed to help get the sapphire winglet ready."

"Ok." Heron said. "We're in peridot. See you around?"

"See you." Droplet said, returning his smile. Cholla looked up, blinked and gave a shy smile, then turned her attention back to her fish.