A bright yellow dragonet sat upon the flat roof of her sandstone hut. The sun reflected the light on her scales like the color of a sunflower on a summer day. Her red horns were gorgeously curved behind her and her green frills were folded up close into her neck. Her barbed tail swung loosely off of the edge in total relaxation as she dipped her gorgeous feathered quill in the inkpot set next to her and started to write.

"Dear future Sunbeam,

Today I am getting ready for Jade Mountain Academy. I leave tomorrow, and to be honest, I'm a little nervous. I know Terracotta, Obsidian, and Storm are coming, but how will the other dragonets take the fact that there will be four hybrids in one place, possibly sharing a room with them? Will we be separated from the rest of the students? Well, I'm sure you know since you already went through this. I seriously hope that that overactive insane RainWing (what was her name? Kinkajou, I think) doesn't come. I've had enough of her for a lifetime when I met her in the Rainforest looking for my dad. Mother is extremely happy to be rid of me for a whole year, she can't wait to get me out of the house. Dingo, on the other talon, has promised me that he is going to do a year's worth of pranks as a farewell gift. Well, so much for a good family. On the brighter side, even though it's only been two weeks, I can't wait to see my friends again, Terracotta especially. Best friends never should be away from each other for that long, it gets boring. Well my future self, I guess I better go finish packing. I hope to keep up this writing stuff while I'm at Jade Mountain Academy, although it might get hard with all of the classes and such. See you in the future.

Sunbeam

Rain-SandWing

9 years old"

The yellow dragonet set down the scroll and the quill, satisfied with her work. Capping the inkpot and cleaning the quill, she stuffed them in a small, tan leather satchel along with the scroll. Standing up, she brushed herself off with her talons, then spread her wings, launching off of the hut and soaring above the busy streets of the Scorpion Den. SandWings were everywhere; it was market day, and carts with food, pottery, jewels, and more goods lined the sandy road. The view of many, multi-colored tent tops from the sky above was absolutely stunning. The dragonet glided down to the front door of her hut on the side of the street, checking behind her before sliding in through the door, completely uninformed of what dangers lay in store for her at Jade Mountain Academy...

~<>~<>~<>~

Sunbeam awoke at the early hours of dawn to the absolutely marvelous sound of a loud horn.

Oh, excuse me, not marvelous.

After scolding her younger half-brother for about a minute straight, who just stood there with a very amused expression upon his face, Sunbeam finally got him to leave. Shaken, the bright yellow dragon got right to work. Grabbing her pre-packed bag (she was surprisingly quite an organized dragonet), Sunbeam swung it around her shoulder and headed out her bedroom door. She packed lightly, only a few blank scrolls, a couple of quills, one inkpot (the Academy letter noted that they will have free refills there), and two, very special, animus-touched objects that she obtained from an island out off the coast of the Rainforest kingdom.

Gliding down the hallway, she entered the living room where her mother lay sprawled out on the couch sipping from a greenish bottle of fermented cactus milk, which was funny in a way because her mother's name was Cactus, but Sunbeam didn't like to think about that concept too much.

The living room wasn't too fancy; there was a camel couch, a wooden table, and a knit rug on the sandstone floor. A typical SandWing living room.

"I thought you were leaving," Cactus drawled. She was a good sized dragon for an adult, muscular and heavy. She wasn't too bad in looks either despite the long, ugly scar on her right forearm from when she was an Outclaw. Apparently, from all that Sunbeam could get out of her, she was in a battle between Burn's soldiers with a couple of her comrades, and they barely made it out alive. Cactus left with a deep wound on her arm, leaving her with a very slight limp and a weak leg, making her unable to continue her duties as an Outclaw.

Sunbeam felt a little pinch inside her stomach, one that she always felt when her mother talked to her like she was a sickness, a germ that no one wanted to have around. "I am leaving, but I wanted to say goodbye to you first."

Cactus snorted and almost did a spit take with her drink. "And what did you expect from me? Sympathy? 'Oh my Sunny-B dear, I'm going to miss you so much!'"

"I told you not to call me that," Sunbeam pointed out bitterly, she was starting to regret stopping to say goodbye, but she knew deep down, somewhere in that black, cold heart there was a spot of warmth for her mother's only daughter; otherwise Cactus would have kicked her out ages ago.

Straightening herself on the couch, Cactus did the most odd thing. "I do hope that you stay away from destiny though, it can be quite cruel."

Sunbeam's eyes widened a bit, did Cactus just say something... Nice to me? Something that shows that she cares about me??

The moment was short-lived, for as soon as it had happened, it was gone and Cactus was back to being a slumped over hunk of a SandWing drinking fermented milk.

"Well, what are you standing there for?! Get outta here!!" Cactus roared, swooping a sandy colored talon in Sunbeam's direction, signaling to leave.

Sunbeam did so without hesitation. She moved right out of the sandstone doorway and into the entryway, dining room and kitchen which all were stationed in one large room. Dingo, her brother, was nowhere to be seen, but the yellow hybrid dragon had high suspicions that he wasn't done with her "goodbye presents" yet.

Dropping her satchel by the door, she glided over to the light green cupboards and dug threw one of them in a sloppy fashion, sliding boxes and bags of various foods and ingredients around. Upon finding a particular favorite, she revealed a small sack of dead snakes and dried fruit. Snatching it up, she backed out of the kitchen, letting the cupboard door swing shut behind her.

Walking over to the small camel rug in front of the front door, she noticed her bag was gone.

"Dingo? Where did you put it?" Sunbeam asked the air with a frustrated tone.

No answer came.

Sunbeam, with a sigh of annoyment, dropped her head straight backwards and stared at the ceiling, ending up staring right at her satchel.

"How in Pyrrhia..." Sunbeam muttered, reaching up to grab the hanging leather bag. She only realized the possible explanation once she had yanked hard on the satchel's bottom.

Dingo.

The satchel fell right too her, along with a ton of sand.

It got everywhere, in her eyes, in her mouth, in between her claws. It really didn't help the fact that she was trying to leave on time to get to registration day at Jade Mountain Academy.

"Dingo, this is the last straw! I'm trying to leave here and you are not helping!"

A small giggle came from somewhere behind her, but Sunbeam didn't care. She wasn't going to bother with a snappy, annoying little brother.

She was going to leave, and she was going to like it.

~<>~<>~<>~

During her way to the gates of the Scorpion Den, Sunbeam passed a couple families who were saying goodbye to their dragonets nicely, caringly, lovingly, as they send them off to Jade Mountain Academy.

The hybrid would never have a family that would do that for her, and she had to accept that with the knowledge that she wasn't hated, just not fully wanted.

And she did. She did accept that because she had dragons who loved her, the Crossbreeds. Her group of hybrid friends. Terracotta the MudWing/Scavenger, Obsidian the Sky-NightWing, and Storm the Sea-IceWing. They would never turn on each other, they would never leave each other in a time of need. It's just how it worked.

Sunbeam took a deep breath at the exit to the Scorpion Den. The only other time in her life that she had left those gates, she had ended up on a dangerous quest that almost killed her. She desperately hoped that this time wouldn't be the same.

Nodding to the guards stationed by the door, she proceeded through the enormous wooden doors and into the open world ahead.