Whitedust opened her eyes to see the morning light shining in her window. She wondered how long she had slept the night before, not responding to Scroll and all.

"Ugh," Whitedust said as she heaved herself up to sit atop her sandy bed. She hated waking up in the mornings. Most dragons (so her parents had told her) wake up early with a positive and bubbly attitude. Whitedust was just exasperated in the mornings, she didn't know what she could do in the mornings, or how she could escape all the lies she'd began to cover up. Life was just too hard sometimes.

She remembered what had happened the night before. Her father wanted her to explore the Sand Kingdom. Again. She didn't understand that. She was four years old, not two! She wasn't a baby, and she hated how she was treated like one. She didn't even know why her mom and her dad-

Whitedust's eyes widened, not being very sleepy anymore.

Her dad.

He was thinking to himself last night. During the conversation. He wanted to snoop around in the scroll to see more of her secrets. Whitedust's neck stretched out as her head under into place; she then gripped her claws on to the side of her bed and leaned forward, making her look underneath the bed.

The scroll was still there. Whitedust let out a sigh of relief as she reached her talom under her bed to pick it up. She leaned back and sat against the wall on her bed. She looked at the sheath intently, studying every detail of it. She took one talon, and popped the scroll out of its sheath and began to examine the scroll itself. She remembered that every time she would receive a message from Scroll, the side rims of the scroll would light up. But how... Of course, it's animus touched she thought; anyone would be anle to figure that out. But by whom?

Whitedust hadn't remembered where this thing had come from. In fact, she hadn't even remembered ever being able to read minds, or use animus magic until it arrived. What kind of an IceWing, or SandWing at that matter could read minds? Not any one dragon of their species could do-

Whitedust paused for a moment, and began to convey her thoughts. What could have happened to her? She wasn't born with these abilities. And frankly, she didn't like them. They were beginning to freak her out. Why can't I just be like other dragons? She thought, Normal dragons. Being a hybrid is one difficulty to live with, but I don't want all this animus magic and mind reading stuff. I just want to be a normal dragon.

She thought for a moment. Dragons don't just gain magic powers overnight. So someone must have.... Enchanted her. She wondered if that was true or just a bizarre thought coming from the back of her head. But if it was true, the real question was: who did it?

Whitedust wondered what that past dream represented a few nights ago. She wondered who that was. Was that Scroll? Or was that the dragon who enchanted her to live a hell of a life? Or was it... Both?

Whitedust's spine shivered all the way down just thinking of that. She didn't want to think of that. Maybe it was wrong to talk to a mysterious dragon on the other end of the scroll without even knowing his name. Or worse, maybe it was wrong to have a crush on a dragon she'd never met before.

Whitedust shook her head. She didn't want to think of any more of this. As she sat on her bed, she began clawing at the edge of it, scraping some sand off the side, making the dusts tumble to the floor. She couldn't just sit there all day; she had to get up and do something.

Maybe begin writing that story I told Mom and Dad about... She thought. Yes, of course, the story to cover up the lies she didn't want to tell.

Whitedust shook her head again. Don't think of that.

She turned around to her left to look out the window. It was hot outside of course, but Whitedust could withstand it. She looked at the sky and it seemed about midday. Which meant her dad was probably out talking to the queen or wanting to find use of his strength somewhere now that the war was over. Whitedust had no clue as to where her mother might be though. She could be sleeping, or waiting downstairs for her, or anything.

Whitedust turned around and hopped out of her bed. She had to go to Possibility. That's exploring the Sand Kingdom somewhat, right? She grabbed the scroll, stuffed it in the sheath, and wrapped it around her neck. She needed to find a replica or something of her scroll so she could write her story. She took a step towards her bedroom door, opened it, and flew down the stairs quickly but silently; hoping not to cause a ruckus on the way down.

She peeked her head around the corner and saw no one at the table. Which meant her mom was outside in the garden (which she had started the moment they got their new house in the Sand Kingdom) Or out buying supplies for her garden. Whitedust didn't know why her mother liked gardens so much. Surprisingly enough, Whitedust didn't really know her parents all that well (yet she loved them nonetheless). Sure, she was two days old when she first "met" them, but they didn't stay with her in the Sand Dune. They visited, fed her, and left. On and off for about five times a week. They hadn't really started fully living with her every day till she was two years old.

Whitedust felt guilty. Her little self still didn't like that her parents had left her for so long, and she didn't understand. Little Whitedust was pretty snobby. That's why Whitedust felt guilty; she believed that her relationship with her parents wasn't strong because she held a grudge against them. Maybe that's why they acted so weird around her.

Whitedust stepped around the corner and began to slink her way out of the house. She swung the door open and smelled the fresh air. She closed the door, and hopped up into the air heading in the direction of Possibility.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whitedust flew to Possibility, which appeared to be a short flight from Thorn's Stronghold. She began to walk between the tents and posts. She scanned her eyes through the items the dragons were selling, looking for a red scroll.

"Whitedust!" She heard a voice behind her.

Whitedust grunted and rolled her eyes as she slowly turned around. Barren was a good distance from her, but he was getting closer to her. Now, that much information, Whitedust would be fine with that, but as Barren was running towards her, his front talons were waiving in the air like a lunatic's.

Whitedust was so embarrassed. She didn't know what to do, she didn't know where to go. She froze still and waited for Barren to approach her.

Three moons, she's got such beautiful eyes, thought Barren, and horns. I wonder if anyone has ever told her that. Or if I'm the first. If I tell her, I wonder what she'll do... his mind began to drift into thoughts of what Whitedust's reaction might be if he called her the most beautiful dragonet in all of Pyrrhia. The thoughts were images that flashed in his head, and they telepathically went in to hers as well.

Now that Whitedust was actually focusing on it, she could hear all the crowded voices around her, pounding her head, and Barrens lovey-dovey thoughts weren't really helping it. Her head began to really hurt, but she didn't want Barren to see her making a face, then he'd just begin asking questions.

Some of the options for Barren's dream fantasy were her slapping him across the face, which she so very wanted to do at that moment. Other options (and the majority of them) involved him sweeping her off her feet, flying away in the sunset, hugging in Possibility right at that moment, and even touching snouts with one another.

Woah, Whitedust thought. This dragon really was head over heels in love with her, and he'd only met her in one day. Did he really think she was beautiful? She sure didn't feel beautiful, that's for sure. It was kind of unsettling, but if she were to be in any relationship, she would have to accept the fact that Barren was a better bet than Scroll was.

Whitedust has to admit, she didn't even know Scroll's real name. Or his tribe. She was very flustered by all of this, but she did know what to do: not to message Scroll all day. She was agitated that Scroll could act like that to her, and she'd just given out her secrets to him. She just needed rest from placing her ink on that scroll for a day.

Whitedust blinked. She came back into focus on the real world to see a Barren staring at her. "Oh, umm" Whitedust said blinking a few more times, "hi Barren."

Aww, Barren thought sweetly, she remembered my name. Wow, I wonder if I really do matter to her. I hope I do!

Barren shifted from one talon to the other. Should I give it to her? I wonder if she'll like it or not... He thought, and as he did so, he began to take a piece of parchment out of his bag and handed it to Whitedust.

"Here," He said with a big fat grin on his face, "from me to you." Oh, I hope she likes it! I worked so hard on it!

"Thank you." Whitedust said cautiously, taking the parchment from his talons. She unraveled it and stared at it for a bit. It was a drawing. Of her.

The drawing was very sketchy, and Barren seemed to make Whitedust look bigger than she actually was. Whitedust was a small, skinny dragonet, and Barren seemed to have made her look a little bulkier than her normal form. He also seemed to manage to make her look a lot prettier than she actually was. Whitedust had a very low self-esteem, and had no confidence in her appearance. She looked over the sketch and the rest of it was perfect. He had all the horns and scales, and tail right too. He had probably thought of doing this after their first encounter of course, because she saw nothing like this in his head before.

Why isn't she saying anything? Does she not like it? He thought, anxiety building up on to his face. Oh she doesn't like it, I knew that was stupid.

"This is gorgeous" Whitedust said, interrupting his thoughts. She didn't want to hear any more of that.

Just like you, Barren thought as he said aloud, "thank you" and grinned a bigger grin.

"And all those.. scrolls in there" Whitedust gestured her head towards his bag.

Barren stifled a laugh and said, "yeah I call them all Scroll, because they're like, a family of scrolls, you know?" That sounds a lot weirder out loud. Oops.

So that's what he meant by telling Scroll! It was just like, a journal or something like that! Whitedust sighed in relief and realized that Scroll hadn't been lying (that time).

"Can I have one of those? The scrolls? Just a blank one" asked Whitedust. She knew she would need it for her fake story.

Oh this is a sign she likes me, I know it! Thought Barren, and Whitedust managed not to roll her eyes. Barren plucked a scroll out of the bag and handed it to her.

"Thank you." Whitedust said to him smiling a little.

Oh, her smile is so pretty... he thought to himself. She's so pretty.. "you're welcome."

Barren took a step towards Whitedust, and this made her alarmed. She stayed in place, but jerked her head back in confusion. Barren didn't know this, he was all dreamy-eyed.

Okay, I gotta admit, he's cute, Whitedust admitted to herself. Then, she got a little more alarmed to realize that Barren was not stopping on his shuffle towards her, and she began to feel a little out of place.

This is it! Barren thought to himself as he grinned at her. The dream, the fantasy, all of it!

Hold on, She thought to herself, he's going a little to fast now... "I have to go," Whitedust said, and without waiting for a response, she flew up in the sky, darting in the direction of her home.

The last thought she heard from Barren was: What did I do wrong?