They had been flying nonstop for almost a day now.

Clearwing's wings felt like they were going to fall off, and the strained looks on her companion's faces told the same story.

Maxilla had been transferred to a hammock and gotten a more effective bandage at some point during the flight, and a group of five or six LeafWings was helping carry her (though they had argued pretty intensely when Clearwing, Io, Swordtail, Cricket, Blue and Luna had given up their turn, most likely something about "helping the enemy" or what have you). Coal was still being carried, although he was tied up and blindfolded to stay safe.

They were only just reaching the Poison Jungle's border when Coal woke up. His mind had screamed GET OUT OF MY HEAD just before, which nearly knocked Clearwing out of the sky. Coal, now awake and under Queen Wasp's control, thrashed and struggled against his LeafWing captors, knocking off his blindfold. Wasp screamed through the black dragonet, but it was muffled by the bindings tied around his mouth to prevent him from breathing fire.

"How do you like it, Wasp?" Belladonna said in Coal's ear, leaning in close. "How do you like being at the mercy of your enemies? Feeling powerless?"

"Mm phmm nm pmlms!" the queen hissed. Suddenly Coal's eyes rolled back, and terrified gold lenses stared out at the LeafWings. He began struggling even harder.

"Mmm! Mph mmm-mm fmmp mmmf!"

"Coal!" Clearwing flew to his side. Tears started pouring down her face for at least the fifth time this week, but she barely noticed. "Oh my stars, I was so worried about you." She buried her face in her talons, then paused suddenly.

"Don't untie him. Wasp can still get back into his head, and we can't risk that."

"Clmmwnn?" Coal looked at her with a startled and somewhat scared expression.

"I'm sorry, but the SilkWing's right," Sundew said, narrowing her eyes at him. "We can't have you torching down our home."

Coal's face became understanding and subdued. "Nmm-fmm."

"Can someone get the blindfold back over his eyes?" Clearwing added, a hint of guilt in her tone. "In case she can still see what Coal's seeing. This place is supposed to be a LeafWing secret."

A brownish LeafWing eagerly flew up and tied the blindfold tighter so that it wouldn't be knocked off next time Wasp took control.

"I'm still not 100% about bringing strangers into the Jungle," a LeafWing came up beside Belladonna, trying to whisper.

"Are you saying that my friends are strangers?" Luna hissed, overhearing him.

"N-no," he yelped, and veered off toward the back of the group.

"Alright," Belladonna said, spreading her wings to address the LeafWings, SilkWings, and HiveWing (since Max was still unconscious). "Since you're new to the Jungle," her gaze fell onto Cricket, and her eyes narrowed, "each of you will have a LeafWing partner to keep you from getting eaten by death plants. Not that I particularly care if you do, but Luna seems to, so thank her for convincing me to keep you alive."

"Thanks, Luna," Clearwing said, trying to hide her giggles even in the seriousness of this situation. Belladonna glared at her and the SilkWing shut up.

A LeafWing flew up to her, one with pale green scales spotted with an off-white color and some shades of light brown. Her wings were large and a darker green than her main scales, and there was a speckling of golden scales across her snout. Her startling golden eyes made Clearwing think of Coal, and how badly they needed the antidote.

"I'm Clearwing," the SilkWing said.

"Birch," the other dragon replied.

Two by two, the dragons dove into the trees. Belladonna went first, brushing her wings against a particularly densely-packed area of plants, and suddenly leaves folded back over leaves, making a gap just wide enough for a dragon to fly through with their wings folded in. As they flew, Birch pointed out some particularly dangerous plants, and after each lecture she would wave her wings at the jungle and say, "But really, all of these will kill you if you eat them or touch them or breathe on them the wrong way." Clearwing had found this fact quite charming.

There were a few places where the dragons had to wade through thick mud, and Clearwing helped carry Coal above the ground. She looked over and saw Blue helping with Maxilla. In others, they had to climb through the trees, and Coal had to be as still as dragonly possible. Once, they even managed to somehow drop Coal right into a carnivorous plant, and Luna had nearly burned down the rainforest while cutting him out. That had earned a glare and quite a bit of yelling from Sundew and a few of the other LeafWings.

Even so, the group somehow managed to step up to the gates of the LeafWing village. Wasp had taken over Coal again, so his body was thrashing and struggling like his life depended on it (it actually depended on the opposite — twice the LeafWings holding him had made faces at each other like "if we drop him into a carnivorous plant and say it was an accident, do you think anyone will blame us?").

"HMMMM! NMM FM! HM! RMM MMFM NNNMMM HRRM!" Belladonna rolled her eyes. For some reason, the LeafWing took off Coal's muzzle. "I'm going to kill you. Untie me now and it'll be painless."

"Ha, no," the LeafWing said, putting the muzzle back on. Coal was returned to his normal self, still looking somewhat troubled.

Finally they reached a massive dome — a barrier, made of plants, that must hold the LeafWing's city.

"Wow," Swordtail said.

"Wait 'til you get inside," Luna grinned over at Sundew, and even the fierce LeafWing couldn't seem to keep the smile off her face.

"Mff ml ml fnnn," said Coal.

Belladonna, Luna, and Sundew strode toward the main gate, where a dark green LeafWing with pink streaks through her summer-green wings sat, poised as a carnivorous plant. It actually took Clearwing a few moments to realize she was even a dragon at all, even with her backstory unfolding like the pages of a book in her mind. The sleek and elegant dragoness nodded at the three as they passed by, and then suddenly a bundle of Swordtail came barrelling past, cramming himself into the detoxification chamber with them.

There was some startled yelling coming from inside as water sprayed down over his head, and Clearwing stifled a laugh.

Then it was Swordtail's guide, Birch, and her turn. She closed her eyes as water poured from above, and then she was in the LeafWing village. She let out a gasp.

It was absolutely beautiful.

Huts woven from branches and leaves (that looked like they grew into their shapes, she noted with fascination) lined the path that wove around the village. A few green-and-brown dragons were arguing out in front of a massive building, made of the same materials as the huts but much bigger.

The leafy dome let green light filter through its leaves, so it almost felt as though the village was underwater (the water still dripping from Clearwing's wings added to that effect). Even Coal seemed to tell this place was interesting through his blindfold.

A LeafWing turned around and stared at the group of dragons. "Hey, why did Belladonna bring HiveWings into the village?!"

Suddenly all of the teeth and claws of the LeafWing Village was pointed at Cricket and the unconscious form of Maxilla.

"Please, stop!" Clearwing yelped, but none of them were going to listen to a random SilkWing dragonet.

"Mmmm phm nnmph!"

"They're with us, don't worry," Sundew hissed, looking over at her mother. "Friends of the flamesilk."

About half of the dragons' wings relaxed, but the other half came over to argue with Sundew and Belladonna. The older LeafWing silenced them with a lash of her tail, and everyone went back to what they were doing (more or less).

"Also, what is this?" A LeafWing said, lifting Coal's blindfold.

"Hmmph hm hrrm!" Coal mumbled angrily.

"Whoa." The LeafWing backed away. "Is he..?"

"Not from the Distant Kingdoms, no," Belladonna replied. "But Wasp wants him back pretty badly, so he must be important for something."

"Hmm." said the LeafWing, who was apparently named Byblis.

"Nm, pmmm HMMM hmm nrmm!" Coal said accusingly.

"What about Max?" Cricket asked, taking a step towards the unconscious HiveWing. Blue did the same. Belladonna sighed, rubbing her temples.

"What a very needy bunch of dragonets you are," she sighed. "Alright. One of you go with Sundew to the healer's."

"I'll do it," Cricket said. She and the green-and-gold dragon picked up Maxilla's hammock and Cricket almost immediately started asking her questions. Sundew looked over at Luna with a help me face on.

"Nmmm, hm mnfmn fm?"

"Oh, and put him just... anywhere. But don't untie him."

"Mrr rrm hm," Coal agreed. "Qmmm Wmmp nm nph mmm hmmp."

Clearwing decided to follow; she needed to help him in case... in case what? Am I making up excuses just to be with him now? She sighed, trailing after the pair of LeafWings. They took him inside the large building that served as the center of the village, and inside, Clearwing saw with a small gasp, was made entirely of polished wood. But this wasn't a dead tree — this was living, growing, right under her talons. The SilkWing dragonet tried to hide her smile. This was so cool.

They walked up a flight of stairs, stopping in a large room. The centerpiece was a large wood table, with an extensive map of Pantala drawn on a leaf. There were red marks over each of the Hives, except for Bloodworm Hive, which was scribbled out completely. Clearwing involuntarily shivered.

The LeafWings laid Coal on the ground in the corner, near a window that overlooked the village.

"If he needs anything, I'll get it," Clearwing said. One of the LeafWings nodded; the other settled his wings against his sides with a soft sigh.

"The feast will be starting in a while," said the first dragon. He had dark green scales and streaks of grey-green in his wings. "You might want to attend."

Unfortunately, Coal had been taken over at just that moment. "MRRRMPH. Hrrmph nmm hurr nfrnm. Hn mmmph nmmm hrr." She returned Coal to himself again. "Nmmm hm nm nh. Nff, hpmn nmh phn hrmmph." Clearwing assumed that meant "I'm going to sleep," because with that he got comfortable and his mental shield started to expose the tangled mess of vines that was his mind again.

"Maybe I will," Clearwing replied, watching as a startled but somewhat happy-looking dragon helped carry a large, dead panther into the village. She noted with the tiniest sliver of pleasure that the LeafWings seemed to be accepting the SilkWings with open wings. She hadn't seen any sign of Cricket or Max, but she hoped they would get just as warm of a welcome.

With a sigh, she spread her wings and leapt down from the top of the stairs to the bottom level of the building. She nearly bumped into Belladonna, who gave her a steely glare before turning and marching up the stairs.

Clearwing decided to avoid finding herself on the wrong end of a bombardier beetle so she quickly headed for the doors.

"What's happening?" she asked Luna, who was looking at a pile of fruit with an indecisive look on her face.

"Not much yet," the SilkWing replied. "But I heard there was going to be dancing. Do you think Blue's going to do that with Cricket?"

"Oh," Clearwing was startled. She hadn't realized that in this version of the universe, Blue and Cricket came together. Because of me, she realized. I made that happen. On accident, but still. Also, what am I thinking, this version of the universe? This is the only version of the universe, silly overcrammed brain. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe? I guess that would be more morally acceptable here, since back in the Hives SilkWing-HiveWing relationships are totally and absolutely one hundred percent forbidden."

"I know," Luna laughed. "You're acting as though I'm one of the LeafWings living on the outside. I actually remember, on the day of my metamorphosis, joking about having a forbidden love with a HiveWing named Hawker." She smiled wistfully. "I almost wish I could go back in time, actually. Back before everything started going arghhh crazy all over the place."

"Are you going to dance with Swordtail?" Clearwing asked, changing the subject.

"Hmm," Luna said thoughtfully. "Yes, yes, and definitely yes. Did you know that Sundew has a girlfriend?"

"What?" Clearwing nearly spilled the cup of something interesting she'd picked up less than a second ago. "Sundew?" Why didn't I see that in her past? Can she block me the same way Coal can, or was I just distracted? Maybe a mix of both.

"Yeah. I don't know her name, but she certainly doesn't like Mandrake, and you've seen how she talks to Cobra Lily. She's totally into girls."

Clearwing peered over at the fierce LeafWing who, in fact, was chatting with the guard from earlier. She heard Cobra Lily say something like "beautiful", and the SilkWing nearly laughed.

"Do you think she's her girlfriend?"

"Maybe."

Well, that was something to think about. Cricket joined a little while after that conversation, and she and Clearwing happily talked about plants and how cool the dome was. She didn't end up dancing with Blue. After the feast, Sundew showed the dragonets around the village, and (to Cricket's utter delight) explained the types of plants used to make the dome. She seemed quite proud of it herself, and talked about how she protected it from infestations of insects.

Then the LeafWing showed them where they were going to stay.

"How will we tell these apart from the others?" Cricket asked, eyeing the three empty nests wearily. "They all look the same."

Sundew let out a dramatic sigh, probably thinking something like "they are not the same, they're made out of different plants and looked totally different, yeesh, Cricket, are you blind or something? Well, I guess that's why you have glasses," but she dug her claws into the soil and a small vine curled up around the doorway of one of the huts.

"There," she said.

"Whoa," Io breathed.

"Did you do that??" Cricket yelped. "How is that scientifically possible and can all LeafWings do this and is it genetic and-"

"See, this is why most of us don't like strangers in our jungle," Sundew sighed. "Because of all the questions." Clearwing could see that she was joking, but Cricket looked genuinely apologetic.

"Sorry," she said.

"I'll answer a bunch of your questions in the morning," Sundew offered. Then she whisked away, leaving them alone in their part of the village.

"I'm going to sleep," Swordtail announced, flopping down into the largest nest. Blue curled up next to him, and Cricket and Io took the other hut. Luna, apparently, had a nest of her own built, and she left to go find it.

"Aren't you going to try to sleep, too?" Cricket asked from inside the nest with the flowers in the entrance.

Clearwing did. She wanted to sleep for a month. She wanted to lie down and let the earth reclaim her. She couldn't even remember the last time she slept. Was it in Jewel Hive, in the bookstore, two days ago? The fact that she genuinely didn't know was disturbing. But she had to do a few things first.

"In a bit. I want to go check on Maxilla. Oops," she realized after she said it. "I'm going to get my eyeballs poked out, aren't I?"

Cricket stifled a laugh, since she was the only one who actually understood that joke.

Clearwing found Max laying peacefully in a bed of leaves, a long grey-green LeafWing murmuring to himself as he stood over her. He didn't look particularly pleased to be saving a supposed enemy's life, but he also seemed troubled with her injuries. Clearwing had never seen the HiveWing so still, though. Other than the time she'd hidden behind a couch, when they first met. There was a bandage wrapped around her head, and her chest rose and fell softly.

There. Now she hadn't lied to Cricket.

The SilkWing slunk down the path, using the light of the moons dimly shining through the leaf dome and the moonbuds that had opened up around the village to guide her. She found Sundew cured up in a nest of her own, staring into space as though counting down seconds to... something.

She sat that way for a long time.

Finally, Clearwing decided the LeafWing must just have trouble sleeping, and turned to go, but that was when Sundew sat up.

The gold-and-green dragon stealthily padded to the far side of the barrier, away from the entrance. The wall here looked impenetrable. What was she doing?

Suddenly the plants parted, just big enough for her to hop through. They closed neatly behind her, looking just as impossible to break through as before.

Sundew was sneaking out.

And Clearwing was going to find out why.