Whitedust's eyes widened, but she kept walking. She tried not to jump the moment Barren had thought that. He was probably still looking at her (she sort of sensed it) as she walked. She wondered who he was thinking about.

Wait... what? She thought. No, no, no... It's not Scroll, is it?  "Not MY Scroll." She mumbled aloud.

Whitedust noticed how weird that sounded. To both herself, and to any dragon that might have been walking about. It was early in the morning, but no dragons were in the streets yet. Her ears perked up, and she tripped over her own front legs. "Three Moons..." She said as she was stood up as soon as she fell, hoping no one saw her (even Barren, who was probably already gone). Whitedust shook her head. No, maybe? I must go ask Scroll...

As Whitedust was about to walk back home, she didn't even take three steps before she heard a voice: "Snow!"

Whitedust responded with a moan. She turned toward the noise. It was Oryx. And behind him was Blaze. Each of the dragons' talons hit the ground. One: THUMP. Two: Barely a sound, just the dust of sand particles. That was Blaze alright.

"Meet Q- um.." Oryx glanced over at Blaze. Will she be offended if I call her 'Blaze' and not refer to her as a queen? But then again, Thorn is the queen, not her... And when I came into the throne room, she seemed pretty pleased with how she was living... "Uh, Whitedust, meet Blaze" He flinched and closed his eyes. Whitedust had never seen her father conceal in fear before. He was always her role-model, the dragon she looked up to, the dragon she knew who never feared anything. But though, his face looked as though Blaze was going to turn around and slap him in the face right then and there.

But his mind's thoughts were different: She won't do anything. I know. Queen Blaze isn't like that. She's never hit me or any other soldier. And I am almost positive that she forgives me because I am probably still the best fighter in this kingdom... Right? Thorn didn't ask me to become a soldier again, wait, there's no war, that's why...

Well, Blaze thought, This is the little dragon that Oryx risked his life for? Huh, what a cute, odd looking dragon. Kind of pretty. She cocked her head at Whitedust, but not nearly as pretty as me. That was all Whitedust got from Blaze's mind. There wasn't that much going on in there.

Whitedust tried not to flinch. She didn't know what to say or do. She looked over at her father, and he was looking at her with his eyes widened. What was the last thing he said? 'Meet Blaze'?

"Nice to meet your acquaintance," Whitedust said. She didn't know if she was supposed to bow or not.

Blaze smiled. But it wasn't an evil smile, it was a kind one. "You too, Darling!" Her face lit up.

Huh? So she's not secretly evil on the inside, hm. Whitedust thought in confusion. She tried to reach inside Blaze's mind and pull something out, but all she got from Blaze's mind were the same words that she had already said, adding the emphasis to how she herself was prettier.

"Splendid!" Blaze announced. "Oryx, Dear, tell me all about your precious dragonet." She motioned toward Whitedust.

Ack! Please don't keep me here, Dad! Whitedust thought, and it was clearly written all over her face, but Oryx didn't seem to see her. He was too flattered by Blaze.

"Why, Blaze, I do apologize for eloping with Harp," Oryx said. But as he said it, his mind thought the opposite. He didn't even have the slightest of guilt for leaving Blaze's army for Harp. He continued: "But you must understand, that I love her with all my heart." He put his talon on his muscular chest. And I would travel to the ends of Pyrrhia, and even to the "lost continent" to look at her beautiful face... He thought. "And I can assure you, that your army was probably quite alright without me, but I had a decision, and I made it. I chose-"

"Oryx, Oryx, Oryx, you're fine." Blaze said. "I didn't ask you about you and Harp either. I asked you what your daughter was like."

Oh. Oryx thought. Whitedust had just read in his mind that he had scripted that speech since day one of his arrival in the Sand Kingdom. "Yes, yes, I am sorry. She is such a wonderful dragonet, and she very well-behaved for the age of four, isn't that right, Whitedust?"

For some reason, Oryx mentioning Whitedust's age made her think of Scroll. She just wanted to run away from the two adults, and hide in her room and talk to Scroll for the next few hours. I'll be there soon to ask questions...

"Uh-um, yes, right." She replied.

Blaze was confused now. "Wait, is her name Snow, or White Dust?

Whitedust hated it when dragons called her White Dust. She had been in the Sand Kingdom for almost a month now, and when she first arrived, everyone there said 'White Dust'. It was pronounced Whyt-dust (kind of. Just MUSHED together), not White - Dust. That was just weird on so many levels. "It's Whitedust." She responded to Blaze, "My father just calls me Snow as a nickname."

"Oh, cute." Was Blaze's reply. She paused and shifted to her right. Then she said, "Well, I hate to break the conversation with you two, but I need to go..." And finish my nap, because THORN woke me up WAY too EARLY! "To help do important things." Was the only excuse her mind could come up with.

"No, no, no," Oryx spoke first, and for half of a second Whitedust thought he was trying to stop Blaze until he continued, "I completely understand your stress."

Of COURSE you do. Blaze conceitedly thought back, but said aloud, "Oh, yes," She fake-yawned, 'covering' her mouth with her talon, waving it back and forth. "Well, I will talk to you later, Oryx."

"Of course, my q-" About to say 'queen', Oryx quickly thought of a good word to cover it up, "companion" It wasn't a very good word to cover up with, but it took him less than a second to come up with, so Whitedust applauded him for that. It sounded more like: Of course, my c-ompanion, like CO, OMPANION.

Blaze flew off without another word to be spoken. She seemed like a pleasant dragon overall. But Whitedust figured that the Blaze everyone knew (the LOVE ME, LOVE ME! I am loveable to ALL who comes across ME!) hadn't woken up yet, or she had gotten grumpier since the SandWing Succession. Probably (and hopefully) the first option.

Oryx started walking home; he wrapped his wing around Whitedust so she could walk alongside him. "What was she thinking?" Oryx whispered.

Whitedust forgot that she told Oryx and Harp about her abilities. "She didn't think that much." She responded, "I don't think that she has the ability to even think up to three sentences, but she can speak, like, thirty in two minutes. And she is just thinking the same words she is spouting off."

That's a little rude. Oryx's ears dropped slightly, he seemed disappointed. "Oh..." Well, what if I-

Whitedust stopped thinking and listening to thoughts. She just realized that she had the ability to listen to he dad's thoughts again. How?! She thought. Wait, this doesn't make sense. Just an hour ago, I couldn't hear his thoughts and now I can?? What if he is like, taking a shot, and the symptom ran out? What if her mind-reading was just all over the place, what if-

"I see you've met Barren" Oryx broke her thoughts.

Whitedust sighed. She tried to show her father that she wasn't at all attracted to that SandWing, but she thought that was a huge mistake because Oryx took that sigh the opposite meaning Whitedust was trying to show.

"Do you like him??" Oryx nudged her as she walked.

"Ew no, Dad!" Whitedust stuck her black tongue out.

"Mmm-hmm" Oryx winked at her. "Right."

"Dad," Whitedust said. "When you met Mom, what did you feel?" Oryx was about to answer, but Whitedust continued, "You felt this weird sensation in your stomach like you couldn't move or speak, right? But you HAD to make a move because you knew that someone would snatch her up in a heartbeat, and you wanted to be that someone."

Oryx looked at his daughter in confusion as he reached his talon to his head.

"No Dad." Whitedust touched his thick forearm. "I didn't get it from your mind. I just... Know." She wasn't going to tell him that she could read his mind again, it was an opportunity, so she added, "Besides, I can't read your mind anymore, remember?" She lied.

"Right," Oryx said.

"Well, I am NOT getting that feeling, Dad. I don't think that Barren is the one for me."

"Well," Oryx argued, "How do you know how that feels? 'Just... Knowing' isn't a good enough excuse."

Whitedust crossed her arms and sat on the sand. "I don't know! What if I like someone already?"

Oryx gasped a friendly, kind, fatherly gasp. "Who? Who's your crush?!"

"Someone. Maybe! Dad, I didn't say I did like someone, I just said 'What if'!"

Oryx smirked. "Mmmm-hmmm" He raised his eyebrows.

"Alright, alright!" Whitedust tried to laugh it off. "Let's get home." She bounced up to her feet and started walking with her father's wing around her.

Whitedust wasn't entirely sure yet, but she had a twenty percent chance of having a crush Barren, but the eighty percent... Was Scroll.