"WE are your kin, not that lowly scrap of a dragon. I am your QUEEN!"

"The universe... time... something's wrong. Something I don't know if I can fix."

"Threaten us and your 'barrier' goes up in flames."

"Blue!" "Luna!"

"Who are you?" "I'm Cricket."

"Welcome, Coal. Here to serve me at last?"

"Don't worry, Clearwing. I'll be right here."

Clearwing woke up with a gasp. These dreams were new, and different. While her dreams with the Hive being burnt had been long and elaborate, these were just snippets of words and scales.

Well, except that last one. The last words were paired with Coal looking over her with a soft and sad look on his face as silver silk curled around her. She looked at her wingbuds, seeing that they were even more unfurled.

That was when she realized with a start how soon her metamorphosis was. She was spinning her cocoon tomorrow. It was terrifying to think of being seperated from Coal and the flamesilks and the world.

Speaking of Coal, he was right beside her. "Coal," she whispered. The black dragonet just mumbled in his sleep; something about Father and no and five more minutes. "Coal, get up." No response; just more mumbling. Clearwing sighed and rolled her eyes. "Coal, come on, get up, this is really important."

Coal woke up. "Dad, I... oh, hey Clearwing."

"Coal, listen I'm going into my metamorphosis tomorrow. And I'm getting new visions..." she trailed off. Something strange was happening. She let out a small gasp, but the black dragon must've not heard her because he rolled over and said, "Alright, I'm going back to sleep."

Whatever kept Clearwing from seeing into Coal's mind, it had stopped happening, showing her everything: a dream to find his own kind (if there was such a thing), a wish to make more friends, a second personality — like an instinct almost — that was violent and defending, like what Clearwing had seen with Luna and the HiveWings.

And... a feeling for her that was more than just friendship.

It was all too much for her. She laid down, thinking about what this meant.

The feelings Coal has for me... Clearwing thought, well, it explains a lot — why he defends me so fiercely, why he always wants to tell me everything, why he seems to want to be with me more lately... She shied away from her other thoughts.

His 'second personality' explains a lot too, actually. His face with the HiveWings in the cavern was probably that leaking though. And Luna; that was the first time anyone had asked what he was, so it probably unnerved him or gave him some sort of shock. And how come, since I've known him, he's been the one dragon I've never been able to read, and now he's the dragon I can see the most of?

She didn't have any thoughts about anything else she saw, so she decided to just sleep it off.

But just before she fell asleep, a thought hit her like a Hive collapsing onto her.

Do I feel the same about him?

Clearwing's dreams were troubled, full of screaming dragons, crying dragons, burning dragons, poisoned dragons, and dying dragons.

Lots of dying dragons.

In her dream, she saw a book. Worn with age and crinkled pages, with a dark blue cover. It sat in an orange-brown HiveWing's talons.

A hatchery visit.

Hidden catacombs far beneath the surface of Pantala.

And vines. Vines everywhere. Stretching from one end of the continent to the other, laughing (if vines could laugh).

Clearwing was jolted out of her sleep by strong talons.

"Clearwing," Coal said, urgency in his voice. "Are you okay? You were crying and saying something in your sleep."

"I've never done that before," the SilkWing blinked slowly, looking around. She, Coal, and the flamesilks were laying in the middle of the savanna, surrounded by waving grass and peaceful breezes. She wondered how long it would be until Wasp noticed her flamesilks were gone.

She wondered how long it would take until the queen came after them.

It was only a matter of days, wasn't it?

She involuntarily shivered, from her antennae to the tip of her tail.

"I-I'm fine," she said honestly, although her voice was shaking and she didn't know why. She didn't even remember what she had been dreaming about. Probably about something bad happening to Coal. If that was the case, she'd have to protect him. Not that he couldn't do a fine job of protecting himself, but still.

She looked down at her wrists.

They were glowing.

Not with a molten-lava or fireflies-under-her-scales sort of glow, but a moons-on-a-cloudy-night kind of glow, soft and gentle, almost like a lullaby, but with colors instead of words.

It was still terrifying, though.

She tried to look into Coal's mind again, but to no avail, strangely. His head was back to the faint fuzz that she always got when she tried to see his past. She wondered if he was voluntarily shielding his mind from her, or if it was just something that naturally kicked in whenever he was awake.

"Coal," she said, "my metamorphosis is soon."

"I know," Coal said. "How... do you feel about it?"

"Terrified."

"I'd probably feel the same way in your situation." He looked at Clearwing, the gold of his eyes contrasting the dark night and his black scales. "But hey, we'll watch each other's backs, right?" To Clearwing's surprise, Coal twined his tail around her's. "We'll keep each other safe."

"Yeah," Clearwing said. This moment felt oddly... comforting. "Yeah, we will."

She reluctantly untangled their tails and glanced over at the sleeping form of Blue. She had to check something.

"I'll be right back," she whispered.

"Blue," she said, nudging him awake with her tail. "Wake up. I have to ask you something."

"Hmm?" the SilkWing opened his blue eyes and looked at her sleepily.

"Do you know a HiveWing named Cricket?"

He shook his head. "Why? Do you?"

This hit her like a shockwave.

"What? But she-" Alright, Clearwing. Calm down. Just tell him. "I saw her in your past — I'm sure I did, she was right-"

"You saw her in my past," Blue echoed.

"I can see things," Clearwing said in a rush. She had no time to explain the specifics of her powers to a random dragon she'd just met. She needed to go live in a cave with a lot of scrolls and try to figure out what was going on. "More than other dragons. I can see the past and the truth and it's out there somewhere if I look. Make sense?" She smiled lopsidedly and Blue gave her a funny look.

"Not really, but sort of. But who's Cricket, if she's so important?" Clearwing felt an emotion spiralling out of his mind — confused but happy, if she felt it right. When she tried to figure out what it meant, it disappeared.

"She's the dragon you fall in love with," Clearwing replied. "Or, fell in love with, except you didn't, and I don't know why."

Blue looked at her, settling his wings. "I can tell that you think this is important. So I'll try to remember if I've ever met anyone named Cricket." He was telling the truth; he wanted to help her figure out this mystery.

"And one other thing," Clearwing added hastily. "Well, two. I've been saying a lot of things to you, so I guess you don't have to listen to me if you don't want to. And second; I know where your sister is."

"Luna?" Blue sat up in a hurry, his antennae unfurling and waving wildly. "She's alright?"

"She's fine. She's with the LeafWings. She burned down Bloodworm Hive."

"Oh, Luna..." Blue covered his face in his talons. "Of course she did. She always complained about the HiveWings. She always said she wished that things were a little bit more even."

"I'm sorry, Blue."

She left the flamesilk to himself, wading back through the grass to Coal.

"He must feel like I dropped a really heavy book on his head," she said with a sigh. "I wonder if he wants to see his sister, or if he's afraid of what she's become." She glanced up at Coal. Am I afraid of you? I don't think so. I don't think I could ever be. I think maybe... I do love you back. She shook her head, and looked down at her wrists again. They were glowing brighter now; and the sun was climbing in the sky. She hadn't realized how long she'd been talking to Blue.

"It's starting," Clearwing whispered. "Oh my goodness, it's starting." She held her talons away from herself just as silk started spiralling out of them. "Oh my goodness, should I do something, why don't I know what to do, how come I don't remember..." She trailed off as the silk started wrapping around her forearms, snaking around her wingbuds.

"Coal..."

He looked at her with his golden eyes. She wasn't sure if it was just the silk trance starting, but it almost sort of looked like he was crying.

"Don't worry, Clearwing. I'll be right here."

And then soft silken wings wrapped around her, and for the first time in years, Clearwing fell into a dreamless sleep.