swimming along the coast with their mother, coral, and their sister, auklet, axolotl was eagerly looking forward to arriving at the delta.

'are we almost there?' axolotl flashed to coral.

'yes, now calm down a little,' coral flashed back.

'okay, okay,' axolotl flashed dejectedly.

soon they arrived at the delta. exiting the water, the riverbank squishy with mud. among that mud was a figure that axolotl couldn't quite make out.

"mother, what's that?" axolotl asked.

"i'm not sure. stay here while i go look," coral replied.

axolotl, of course, didn't obey; neither did auklet. the two followed the larger dragon to the figure, caution in their every step.

"is... is that a mudwing?" auklet asked incredulously.

"i think so.. a rather small one though. is it a dragonet that got lost?" axolotl questioned, looking up at their mother.

"i'm not sure..." coral replied.

suddenly, the mudwing stirred. coral put her wings in front of her children to protect them.

"....ugh.... uhhh.. who are you?" the mudwing questioned, blinking at the brightness of the sun.

"we could be asking you the same thing," coral replied defensively.

"'we'?" the mudwing asked.

uh oh. mom gave us away. axolotl thought.

"she's talking about us," auklet said as she came out from behind her mother's wings, and axolotl did the same.

"oh! you have dragonets! you.. are my age right?" the mudwing said.

"yeah! actually, she's a year older than i am, but still. how many brothers and sisters do you have? do you live around here? are you the bigwings?" axolotl bombarded the mudwing with questions.

"enough. what is your business here?" coral inquired harshly.

"uhh... i don't really know. all i remember is going for a swim and then... i dunno," the mudwing replied. "waking up here, i guess."

"and your name?" coral asked, slightly more gentle this time.

"i'm wader. who are you three?" the mudwing—now known as 'wader'—asked.

"i am ex-queen coral. you may have heard that my daughter, tsunami, took the throne. these are my dragonets-"

"i'm axolotl! and this is my sister auklet! it's nice to meet someone from a different tribe!!" axolotl said energetically, accidentally interrupting their mom.

coral sent axolotl a small glare for interrupting her, then turned back to wader.

"so. you don't remember how you got here. do you remember where you're from?" coral asked the smaller dragon.

"yeah, i live just up the river, a while away. my brothers and sisters will be wondering where i am..." wader trailed off.

"so you do have siblings! oh, they'll be so worried! mother, we have to get him back to his family!" axolotl cried.

"what about your mother and father? where are they?" auklet questioned the mudwing.

"...they... they're not around..." wader said sadly. "i'm the caretaker in my family. i'm the bigwings. i have to be strong. for them."

"oh, that's so sad! mother, we have to help him! please??" axolotl said to their mother.

"yeah, mom, please??" auklet asked as well.

"fine, fine, we will help. but only because he seems really desperate, and because you both asked," coral replied to her children.

"yay! thanks mom!" the two said in unison.

"i am sure i will regret this decision," coral sighed.

"thank you! thank you so much! i promise, once we get back home, i will repay your kindness!"

and so the four set off down the river, not realizing what would happen next...