It was a dark and windy night in the marsh. The howling wind blew the reeds into a sort of canopy. As a result, the Mudwing patrols failed to spot the dark blue shape that slowly crawled to the edge of a small clearing. Stopping to check around itself, the creature rose to its full height, revealing itself under the dim moonlight. It was a Seawing, on Mudwing territory no less! Rather than looking around curiously or determined as a spy would've, he looked rather anxious, jumping at every twig snapping and reeds rustling. Besides that, he was also very intent on what looked like a Mudwing carefully treading toward him on the opposite side of the clearing, also looking nervous. However, unlike him, she also was very excited about something that she was DIEING to tell the Seawing. However, safety first. "Stingray?" "Is that you?" She called quietly, just in case there were patrols in the area. "Yes it's me Estuary!" Stingray replied, exasperated with a small hint of annoyance. If they were going to be caught they would have been by now! "How are-, wait, what happened?" Stingray said cautiously, noticing the look on Estuary face. "I had it" she replied softly. "Had what?!" "The egg of course!" she exclaimed. Ugh, males can be ignorant sometimes! "Wait, THE EGG?" "Ermmergerd I'm a Dad!" Stingray at this point was running around flapping his wings wildly, and unconsciously yelling in in Aquatic at the same time. In other words, freaking out. "Can you stop that?!" Your going to get us caught!" Estuary whispered. At this, Stingray calmed down. "Ok ok, I'm chill." "What are we going to name it?" At this, Estuary looked thoughtful. "It just, feels, like a boy, so I was thinking, maybe Delta?" "As in a middle ground between the ocean and the marsh!" Stingray looked like he was going to explode with happiness, he was sooo exited to meet his son once he hatched! "That's perfect!" "You think?" "YES!" They sat together under the 3 moons, listening to the crickets chirping the bull frogs croaking; their tails twined. After a bit, Estuary broke the silence. "Well, the moons are starting to go down. I guess we better head back to our tribes before they find we're gone." At this Stingray nodded, knowing that she was right. However, he wished still that they could sit like this in the slowly fading dark forever, in peace. "This sucks! Stingray blurted out. "Why do have to fight this stupid war for dragons we'll probably never meet and for a Kingdom on the other side of Phyrria!" "I just want to be here, with you!" At this, Estuary leaned on Stingray's shoulder, and stared at the setting moons. "No one likes this war, three moons, even our QUEENS want this nightmare to be over!" "But I do know that once this war's over, we can be together with our dragonet and be a real family." "But in order to do that," Estuary continued, "we need to survive this war first, and to do that, we need to go before our tribes find out we're gone and KILL us!" At this, they both laughed. And at the moment, it seemed as if the future was bright. However, fate had a different plan. Neither of them heard the footsteps and wingbeats until they heard a voice that filled them with dread. "I'm afraid it's a bit too late for that now, is it?" Stingray and Estuary whirled around, and saw what confronted them. A Mudwing patrol of 4 dragons where staring at them a mixture of emotions. Glee, shock, sadness, and hatred. And above all, betrayal, aimed at Estuary for what she did. The Mudwings seemed as if they where waiting on someone and didn't attack. At this realization, Stingray sized up the patrol, hoping to spot any escape routes or weaknesses. 2 dragons were hovering, while the other 2 were on the ground facing them. The front one of the two on the ground was a female, slightly bigger than him. With a jolt, he recognized this as Crocodile, the leader of a wing of Mudwings who tried to invade the Bay of Scales, unsuccessful, obviously. As if she saw the the memory in his eyes, she stepped forward, and as she spoke, Estuary recognized her as the one who spoke to them earlier. "Well, I did NOT expect this!" "And an EGG as well?" "Tsk tsk, Estuary, have you no shame?!" "On the bright side, we'll get to kill something, or somethings after all, eh guys?" At this, Stingray only saw red, and leaped at Crocodile, who was laughing, with a terrifying roar. Since he had the element of surprise, he was able to shred her right wing and slice open her back left thigh before she recovered, and threw him off her. "AHHH!" "I'll fillet you alive you BASTARD!!!" Crocodile screamed with rage and pain. Stingray saw that he completely shredded her back left thigh, and tore of chunks of her back. With a twinge of satisfaction, he realized that if she survived her artery being cut, she would have a SERIOUS limp, and likely not be able to fight again for the rest of the war, if not her life. His satisfaction was short lived however, as he realized that the rest of the Mudwing patrol crowded around him and Crocodile, cutting off any chance of escape. However, he saw that all attention was lost on Estuary, who was in a bundle of reeds crying and staring at him, silently willing him on. Realizing that he could still save Estuary, he gave her a smirk, and before Estuary could stop him, he gave a resigned sigh and charged at Crocodile, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Yo, mud-for-brains!" "Come get some!" As the Mudwings piled on top of him, clawing and biting, he saw that out of the corner of his eye, Estuary got the signal and was flapping desperately to where looked like a clump of mud, with dark blue splotches on it. He smiled, and for the first time in 12 years, he was at peace. Meanwhile, Estuary grabbed the egg and looked back. Stingray was giving the patrol a run for their treasure, but she could see that the numbers where overwhelming him. With a sob, she flew as fast as she could in the direction of the Scorpion Den, for she knew what Stingray was trying to accomplish. As she flew, she looked back, expecting to see brown wings coming after her, but instead, she saw a flash of blue from underneath the writhing pile of dragons, and caught sparkling eyes and a smirk, before it disappeared forever. "I'll never forget you Stingray!" She whispered fiercely, and started beating her wings as hard as they'd allow, "I promise that our dragonet will grow up and do the things we never could." "I swear by the 3 moons, he's destined for great things..."