"So, what now?" Coal asked.

Everyone else had left, including the guards. Sundew and Nettle had fought, but Cobalt and Fusca apparently wanted as little "above-dwellers" in her kingdom as possible, and the FormWings and WebWings had been ruthlessly determined to follow their queen's orders. It was almost a little scary, Clearwing had decided.

"I don't know. I hope our friends are okay," the SilkWing said.

"I do, too," Cricket agreed.

"I wish we were allowed to leave with them," Coal sighed. "But I guess it is reasonable to assume that I'm still under Wasp's control."

"do you mind if I ask how you feel when Wasp takes you over?" Cricket asked after a few moments of silence. "If it's too much, then you don't have to, b-"

"I don't know how others take it, but it's terrible," Coal said abruptly. "Every time I try to move, I'm held in place, and I still feel everything and see everything and I just can't handle it. And it's painful; the worst pain I've experienced in my life, over and over again."

Clearwing winced. Wasp had stabbed Coal while he was awake; Clearwing had thought that was the cruelest thing she had done to him. This was much worse. Coal was already curling his claws defensively just talking about it.

Clearwing wrapped her wings around Coal in a tight hug. "Coal, I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Coal leaned into her. "It's okay, Clearwing. It's not your fault," he replied. Something in Clearwing's mind made her think otherwise. "I just wish I had told you sooner."

Now it makes sense why he was so eager to take the cure, Clearwing realized. He wasn't just uncomfortable with being controlled; he's in pain.

Coal suddenly twitched, his talon reaching for his heart. His mental shield partly dropped, allowing Clearwing to see the vines tangling his mind die out and rot away. The Vine realized this as well and panicked.

No... it said. No, no, NO!

It's too late, Clearwing said to it, mocking it with its own words from when it took Coal over. He's lost to you. Say goodbye to your plaything.

NO! KILL HER! KILL HER NOW! The Vine screamed, But to no avail. Coal had already fallen unconscious from the effects of the cure and collapsed into Clearwing. She smiled as she saw his mind clear and free for the first time in... a week? Was it really that long? Clearwing couldn't remember. But it was a relief to finally have him back.

"So, you two are really in love, huh?" Cricket asked with a "when's the wedding?" look.

"Uhh... yeah," Clearwing said uncomfortably. She and Coal hadn't really talked about their relationship... maybe later today they could work it out. "We haven't really worked out the details."

Cricket's eyes made their someone-built-a-Hive-just-for-me thing again. "How long have you been together? What do you like about him? What does he like about you?" Clearwing shot her a look that said "please don't." "Oh, do you not know?"

Clearwing sighed and dragged Coal to one of the walls, where she propped him up against it. She laid down next to him, forming a tight ball and twining her tail around his.

She hoped Coal would wake up soon. She hoped Sundew and Willow and everyone else were okay. She hoped she herself and Cricket would be okay.

What more will happen to us? She thought as she drifted off to sleep beside Coal. She really needed to sleep. It's been two weeks since we were truly happy together; when nothing was wrong with our world.

Then she fell asleep, and had a strange dream from another continent.

The SilkWings and LeafWings touched down to a barren white landscape filled with snow. Coal breathed a little fire into his cupped talons to warm up before helping a few SilkWings that had fallen into the water.

After spending a few seconds to recover from the long flight and to get used to the cold, Clearwing rushed over to help Coal. Even he, with his strength and resilience, was thin and exhausted as he struggled to pull up even the lighter dragons.

After pulling up the last dragon, Coal gathered some firewood and dug a small fireplace in the snow. Dragons huddled around the small fire to get warm. Coal wrapped a wing around Clearwing, pulling her closer to him.

"What do you think we should do now that we're here?" Coal asked Clearwing. "I mean, we're in the Distant Kingdoms, but do we go back to Pantala? Do we make this place our new home? If this place is as big as Pantala, it can't all be this terrible." He motioned to the landscape around them.

Suddenly two shapes appeared out of the white. They had shimmering scales like ice, and long, curved talons that looked razor-sharp. Clearwing let in a sharp inhale.

IceWings. From my visions. It's really happening. The first dragons from the Distant Kingdoms we'll ever meet.

She saw cold anger etched onto the face of one of the dragons, and the other IceWing seemed more ruefully hopeful. The two dragons landed near the refugees, but still a safe distance away.

"I... don't know," Clearwing said to him, looking over at the IceWings. He followed her eyes and landed on the new arrivals.

The larger dragon — who Clearwing realized with a start was a queen — stepped forward, glittering with malice and distrust. Clearwing was suddenly reminded so much of Wasp that she had to sit down with her wings over her head.

"Who are you?" the IceWing demanded. "What are you doing in my kingdom?"

Hazel sat down and began to talk with her. Clearwing turned to look at Coal.

"Is she safe?"

"I don't know yet. But she doesn't want us in her kingdom, that's for sure." The SilkWing shivered. "I think that's Queen Snowfall. From my visions."

"Snowfall," Coal echoed. "The one who wants us out? Oh, yeah, of course. Right, yes, so, should we go and fight her?"

"No, that'll make her hate us even more," Clearwing replied. "Just... try not to act... terrifying, I guess?"

Suddenly Bumblebee jumped towards Snowfall. The IceWing queen snarled and pulled out a dagger, just stopping herself from throwing it at the dragonet. Bumblebee let out a yelp and stared up at the queen, before suddenly bursting into tears.

Cricket stepped forward and-

Clearwing was thrown out of the vision. Voices could be heard outside the cave. "I can't stand it anymore! So what if I was appointed her guardian, this is over! Done! End of discussion!"

"Leafcutter," another voice said, "you can't just throw a dragonet into a random cave and expect the king and queen to just give her a new guardian."

"Watch me!" the first voice — Leafcutter — said, and suddenly a HiveWing dragonet barely a week old was thrust into the cave. "I've had enough of her and I'm not taking care of her again for the rest of my life!"

The HiveWing dragonet, seemingly aware of this, jumped into Cricket, who caught her with a yelp. A FormWing, presumably the one talking to Leafcutter, stepped into the room. "We're very sorry, this is Bumblebee. We took her from the Jewel Hive hatchery and appointed Leafcutter as her guardian but then this happened, so if you don't mind keeping her for a day or two, we need to find her a new guardian. Thanks!" the FormWing quickly said and left.

"Um," Cricket said, holding the dragonet at arm's-length. "What?"

"She's..." Clearwing trailed off, not sensing any Vines taking over the tiny HiveWing's mind, "not under Wasp's control. I don't know how, but Wasp can't get to her."

"Beemish," Bumblebee chortled.

"Oh. Wow." Cricket brought the tiny dragonet to her chest. "How did the FormWings get a hold of her?"

"I haven't the faintest idea," Clearwing replied. "But something about this feels right. I'm not quite sure what. But Bumblebee is supposed to be with us."

"Snoooooooodooooooooo," the dragonet said mournfully.

Coal gave her a look. "That sounds like Sundew's name."

"Maybe she saw her on the way out?" Clearwing shrugged helpfully. "I can't see her history. There's too little of it, it's all just flashes of light and dark and color."

"We should take her with us," Coal said unexpectedly. "What if they cured her? If a baby can survive it, then that means anyone can, right? And we can't just leave her here, especially if her 'guardian' doesn't want her anymore."

"I agree," Cricket replied. "Between her and Coal, we might be able to replicate the cure and save my tribe."

"Then it's agreed," Clearwing said. "We're taking her with us. But first, we have to get out of here and make sure Wasp doesn't kill our friends. Oops," she said. "That was kind of dark. But Wasp is supposed to be attacking today, which means that we have to get back to them."

"Oh, and one last thing," the FormWing poked her head into the cave, "The king and queen want to see you."