Clay knew he was improving.

At least, that's what he told himself. And it had to be true; he didn't end up aching all over after practice.

As much.

Suddenly, Clay was hit in the head, knocking him to the hard cave floor with an "OOF"!

"Stop daydreaming and get your head in the fight!" Kestrel shouted at him. "How are you going to fulfill the prophesy if you can't fight?"

Clay groaned. Why did she have to always criticize him? It seemed that nothing that he did would satisfy her.

Standing up again, Clay got into a battle stance and said, "Okay. I'm ready."

Kestrel swung again, but this time, Clay managed to awkwardly dive out of the way of Kestrel's talons and onto...the ground again.

Okay, so maybe Clay wasn't doing as well as he wanted to believe he was.

"You dived out of the way?!" Kestrel screamed, her voice cracking a little. "If you did that in a real fight, your back would be vulnerable!" She started to make a hissing noise, the noise Skywings made before they breathed fire.

Instinctively from experience, Clay ran for cover behind a stalagmite, ready for the fiery inferno to be unleashed.

"Actually, I think Clay's doing pretty well," a voice piped up brightly at the cavern entrance.

Kestrel stopped hissing and she and Clay turned around to see Sunny standing there smiling happily like she always did.

The Skywing snorted. "You think this worthless Mudwing is doing well?" She asked of her.

"Clay isn't worthless!" Sunny defended. "He works harder than a...a" the Sandwing hesitated.

"A Rainwing?" Clay asked her, standing up from

"We don't know if Rainwings are lazy! Just because the scrolls say so doesn't mean it's true!" Sunny said stubbornly. "Who knows? Maybe they work harder than us!"

That was Sunny for you: Always looking on, well, the sunny side of things. Clay had no idea how she did it, staying positive and bubbly, but she did it.

"Sunny, could you go, please," Clay asked kindly. Even though he wanted her to stay, he knew Kestrel wouldn't like her positive comments.

"But I came here to cheer you on," Sunny said, her scorpion tail drooping a bit. "But if you want me to go-"

"Wait! You can stay!" Clay said finally.

"Actually, Sunny," Kestrel corrected, "Clay and I were just finishing practice so I could go hunting." She frowned. "Don't know why I do it for you all, but I do."

"Oh. Okay then, "Sunny smiled, unfaltered by the Skywing's bad mood.

After Kestrel left the cavern, Sunny turned to Clay. "She's gotten nicer, don't you think?" She said nonchalantly, trotting happily out of Clay's sight.

That almost made Clay burst into laughter.

__________________________________________

After a minute of sitting alone in the cavern, Clay decided to go see what everyone else was doing.

Kinder? Clay said to himself, reflecting on what Sunny said. Kestrel isn't kind and never will be!

But then Clay stopped. Well, she does have a son, and she is nice to him.

Kestrel's son, Dullfire was interesting. He was born a twin and had no fire; instead, his sister, who was also in their egg was hatched with both their fire.

Kestrel tried to run away from the SkyWing Kingdom with them, but Queen Scarlet caught them. She said that she would save her and one of her children on one condition: the other had to die. Kestrel complied and killed her daughter. Her burning scales managed to leave them scarred for the rest of her life.

Clay walked past the library, thinking about this just as he heard a CRASH! Quickly, the mudwing ran inside to see a pile of scrolls on the ground, someone covered in the mound.

"Hawk!" the figure under the pile groaned. "I told you, I don't need help organizing the scrolls!"

Nearby, the Skywing dragonet Hawk smiled sheepishly, holding a scroll. "I just thought It would be faster if I did help." It looked like he was trying to hold back a smile, but was doing a horrid job at it.

Yes, there was another Skywing here, totaling to three altogether. Clay felt lonely many times. After all, he was the only Mudwing he knew, and everyone else had another dragon of their kind. Well, there was Asha, the female Mudwing who brought him to the mountain as an egg, but she was forced to go back to the Mud Kingdom to fight in the war.

Clay walked into the room, curious. "Hey, Hawk," He said to the red dragon. "What happened?"

Hawk was about to explain when the pile --actually, the dragon in it-- spoke.

"I'll tell you what happened!" Starflight shouted, popping out of the mound, his black scales becoming visible. "Hawk here just had to interrupt me while I was organizing the scrolls-which, might I add!- I never would need to do if he put them away where they belonged!"

"Aw, you're just being a Crabbywing," Hawk joked, elbowing the Nightwing.

Starflight frowned. "You can go, Hawk, before you mess anything else up." Clay could tell Starflight was getting frustrated.

Hawk's wings drooped a bit. "Oh. Okay then," He muttered, handing the scroll over to Clay. "He'll need help."

When the sound of his footsteps was quiet enough, Clay looked at Starflight. "He was trying to be helpful, you know." He said to him.

Starflight sighed. "I know. But he can be so irritating!

Clay began to put scrolls back on the shelf. "So, have you talked to Sunny yet?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

Starflight stared blankly at Clay. "Of course I've talked to her! It's not like we've never seen each other ever!"

Clay shook his head. "No. I mean talked to her. As in a confession of...love."

Starflight's eyes widened. "How did you know I..?"

"Um, you always fidget when she's near you and you try to avoid her specifically when you're embarrassed. It kind of shows."

"It can't be that obvious, can it?" Starflight marveled like he found a new scroll on nightwings, or even any new scroll.

"What are you two talking about?" Sunny asked walking into the room, the Seawing dragonet Tsunami behind her.

Almost immediately, Starflight went tense, smiling awkwardly at Sunny. "Oh, hi Sunny!" He spoke quickly, turning his attention to her.

Sunny beamed back a smile. "Hi, Starflight." She said. "We were just heading to the dining hall. Wanna come?" She looked at the pile of scrolls and said "What happened?"

"Oh, you know, just Clay being clumsy is all," He lied. "We have to put these away, then we'll be there."

"Okay!" Sunny said, giving them one more grin before trotting away.

"It's obvious you like her, you know." Tsunami whispered to Starflight before following her.

The two sat still for a bit, then Starflight sighed. "Okay. So it's that obvious."