Moons of Power

Hello, everybody! This is my very first page on this wiki, so while I am figuring everything out I will do my best to do everything correctly (Please bear with the messy page for now). I plan to make the coding nice eventually, but that's pretty far back on my list of priorities. Moons of Power is my first fanfiction, and I will upload chapters as I finish writing them. School started again recently for me, but I'll still try to update as regularly as I am able. For myself to keep track, there are currently 12,420 words and it takes approx. 52 minutes to read on average, although the second number may be incorrect.
This fanfiction is by CriticalPoultry; please do not take any of the characters or plot. Names of characters and places are okay for you to use, though, because there are only so many in the dragon world. Also, please do not edit anything without my permission, even for spelling or grammatical errors. I welcome critique and suggestions, but it is not a guarantee that suggestions will be taken. Everything is a work in progress. More writing will be flying in soon (hopefully)!
==Notes==
Warning: This fanfiction contains themes such as death and murder, as well as mild violence. However, it is no more violent/dark/etc. than the original Wings of Fire books. There are also major spoilers for all three arcs, including The Flames of Hope, so I advise you to read at your own risk.
Synopsis: Hollow lived for her entire dragonethood in a small Pantalan town, with her LeafWing mother. But when an unforeseen disaster shatters her world, she is forced to start her live anew, venturing out to find a fresh start in Pyrrhia, where her NightWing father lives. The next brightest night is approaching, the first one since the hatching of the prophesized Dragonets of Destiny. When Hollow learns of her role in a prophecy foretelling the return of animus magic, she ventures out to seek her future. With the outcome of a war hanging in the balance, and the sacrifice of a life lurking within the words of the prophecy, Hollow must decide the world's future, before the moons are full and it is too late.
A Guide to the Dragons of Pyrrhia & Pantala (5105 A.S.):
SandWings: Leader) The SandWing Council, led by Mesa
MudWings: Leader) Queen Nutmeg
SkyWings: Leader) Queen Kindle
SeaWings: Leader) Queen Anthias - Other) At war with the IceWings
IceWings: Leader) Queen Solstice - Other) At war with the SeaWings
RainWings: Leader) Queen Ranunculus 
NightWings: Leader) Queen Ranunculus (NightWing Province led by Fatelight; current debate over official leadership)
HiveWings: Leader) President Thrip
SilkWings: Leader) The SilkWing Assembly - Other) Closely allied with the LeafWings
LeafWings: Leader) Queen Hazel - Other) Closely allied with the SilkWings
==The Animus Prophecy==
When from across the land once lost
Comes a traveler of grief and loss,
When the moons are full
And a new war has been stated
Will return a lost power
Never equated.
Come darkness, come forest,
Come water and the chorus
Of ghosts of the lost talons found.
Seek the pact the past formed twice
And go to the battle 
Of  ocean and ice.
If kingdoms rise from cities’ demise,
If from icy regret the power will arise,
Darkness will rise to bring the light
And if one ghost falls to save the rest,
Two shall die
But all shall rest.
__FORCETOC__
==Prologue ==
The most prominent thought in Aye-aye’s mind was that the sun was reflecting off her scales. She also knew, more distantly, that she was sitting in the IceWing palace, and that she was mere minutes away from the most important meeting she would be likely to ever have. She was vaguely conscious of the golden bracelet around her forearm, keeping  her alive in the frigid weather, one of the last few remnants of animus magic.
However, her mind repeatedly returned to the fact that her iridescent black scales were catching the glare of the sun through the clear ceiling, drawing attention to her unusual appearance.  Though the bulk of her body was black, like a NightWing’s, her dark scales caught the light unusually and she was speckled with HiveWing and RainWing flecks.  She also bore SeaWing markings on the undersides of her wings and a spine rowed with the IceWings’ signature spikes.  Being originally from the city of Possibility, where all dragons lived in peace, her ancestors had been from many different tribes.
It was for this reason, Aye-aye reasoned, that Queen Fatelight of the NightWing province in the Rainforest Kingdom chose her to meet with the IceWing queen. She knew that close ties to the throne such as the ones she had also couldn’t hurt, but Aye-aye, with her scales that reflected so many dragon tribes and her honest expression, had been the obvious choice of dragon to represent the NightWing queen. After all, a revelation such as the one that had summoned Aye-aye here was one that should promote the equality of all dragon tribes, as it ultimately affected each tribe the same. Though it had been with haste that Aye-aye had been called to be a messenger of Queen Fatelight’s, she took it as her solemn duty to inform the queen of the IceWings of the danger that had been brought to light. So now she stood, with crooked glasses and awkwardly held overlarge wings, in a secluded corner of the IceWing palace at the far north of Pyrrhia.
And this brought her thoughts back to the room she was in, where the floor and walls and the very air she was breathing seemed still and frozen.  Aye-aye supposed everything around her was, as the IceWing palace had after all been crafted with ice. She studied those around her more carefully than she had when she first entered the room.  There were a dozen or so other dragons in the large room reserved as a waiting area for the most important dragons, such as nobles and royalty, including Queen Solstice of the IceWings herself.  They were all waiting to relay an urgent message or give a monumental speech to some significant IceWing; those matters, however, were negligible in contrast to what Aye-aye had to say. She reprimanded herself for her thoughts, remembering not to think of herself as of more value than any other. Although…in this case, she was.
Just as she had this thought, a voice from the far side of the room announced Aye-aye’s name.  This caught her off guard just enough that for a moment she lost her hard-earned composure, and she quickly had to collect her expression to its neutral state. Professionality was important, now more than ever. Several other heads swiveled involuntarily towards the direction of the speaker as well. Because the other occupants of the waiting room were IceWings, a RainWing name such as Aye-aye’s was unusual given the setting; and Aye-aye had little RainWing in her, too, making her name seem still more out of place.
Turning her body to face the speaker, Aye-aye saw a stiff-looking IceWing who looked as though they had found themselves too serious to smile for several decades.  Perhaps they, like Aye-aye, were wearing a mask to hide the terror they felt at the prospect of their important job. She proceeded towards them, trying to gather all the strings of information that seemed to have untwined in a moment in her head.
Bowing her head out of courtesy, she tried to clear the sense of nervousness that had rapidly approached and said, “Hello. I represent Queen Fatelight of the NightWing province, and I have an urgent message to relay to your queen.”  She hoped her words sounded natural, though she knew they desperately did not.
“Follow me.” the IceWing replied. Aye-aye trailed a few feet behind, her thoughts spiraling rapidly. She hoped that she could remember what to say…that she could inform Queen Solstice about what Fatelight had told her…and that she wouldn’t start a war between the IceWings and NightWings while doing so.
The two dragons proceeded down the hallway, which slowly sloped downwards so that the light seeping through the ice was replaced by the warm, wavering light of steadily dying flamesilk.  A silence settled between them as they walked briskly down the hallway.  To distract herself from her nervousness, Aye-aye wondered what the IceWing in front of her was thinking.  Were they wondering why Aye-aye was meeting with Queen Solstice, or did they already know?  Aye-aye knew that many years ago, as Pantala and Pyrriah were just discovering each other, Queen Snowfall had done away with the IceWing’s system of dragons being assigned to circles that determined their ranks. Now, she knew that the IceWings had a less strict hierarchy, similar to the other tribes.
After they passed several doors on both sides of the hall (all locked or guarded, Aye-aye noted), the IceWing stopped and turned towards two dragons guarding a door to their right.  The IceWing said something that Aye-aye could not make out, and the guards opened the door.  Aye-aye entered after the other dragon to see a large, spacious room well-lit both by flamesilk and many light globes from the ancient Gift of Light. The proportions of the room seemed almost comical for a meeting of two dragons. Across the room, at the end of an exceptionally long table and under a ceiling of unreasonable height (they couldn’t have gone that far underground) stood a dragon who could only be Queen Solstice of the IceWings.
The IceWing who had accompanied Aye-aye bowed respectfully, and announced, “Your Majesty, the NightWing envoy has arrived.” Solstice put down an important-looking scroll she had been studying and looked up with a regal, composed expression clear on her face. Solstice gave a nod and began to make her way down the room.
“Thank you, Icecap. You can go now.” the queen said politely, and the IceWing (Icecap) turned and left.  Solstice then turned towards Aye-aye. “So, Fatelight sent you. What’s your name, then?” Aye-aye blanched slightly at being addressed by a real queen, who was not the self-proclaimed ruler who was elected to lead the NightWing province. She was also terrified of the fact that the queen in question was Queen Solstice, who was currently fighting a vicious war against the SeaWings. She struggled to answer both questions at once, and her words spilled out in the wrong order.
“Uh- yes, Your Majesty.  Aye-aye, my name is.  A… and Queen Fatelight did send me.” Aye-aye closed her eyes for a small moment in an attempt to clear her mind. When she opened them again, Solstice gave her a small, polite smile. Aye-aye could not yet tell what kind of a ruler Queen Solstice was. She knew that the queen was proclaimed by her subject to be a just ruler, tough yet fair. Solstice was apparently very smart as well; she was fighting the war against the SeaWings, most of whom were living underwater, and was more than holding her own. And yet the messenger also knew of the brutal fight she had won to become queen, and of her prowess in battle. She decided to wait and see.
“Your Majesty, I am here to deliver a message of highest consequence. I have been sent by my queen to inform the IceWings of this message before any other tribe. It was only days ago we learned of this, and only a few NightWings beside myself have been told. I know not much could be disclosed in a scroll, when Queen Fatelight first had word sent explaining why I am here, so I am not entirely aware of what you already know. I am unsure of what anybody else for that matter, including myself, knows. But…” 
Aye-aye was about to utter the most important sentence of her life. She could feel her heart pounding in her claws, or perhaps it was the pressure that was weighing down on her to deliver this message appropriately. It would decide countless monumentally important things that were to come. The fates of thousands of lives rested on her. She had to speak her next words with caution. “But animus magic can return.” 
Aye-aye watched  Solstice’s expression carefully before she revealed anything else. At first only a small impression of shock registered, then questioning, then a small, fleeting expression of what could only be fear…
“So Fatelight is still calling herself a queen, then?” was all the incredible force of a dragon in front of Aye-aye said at first. Aye-aye stood up taller so she would not be cowering.  She had not noticed how Queen Solstice’s wings reflected colors that seemed to come from deep within her scales, so that pale peaches and deep blues could be seen as if the queen were eternally facing a magnificent sunset. She also took in how Solstice’s posture caused her rather small frame to make the huge room they were in seem quite tiny. Aye-aye knew that although the queen was formidable, thinking this would not help her. She forced her thoughts to clear.
“Y-yes, Your M-majesty. Queen Fatelight considers her title fitting. She leads the NightWings, after all. A-and she recently found an unknown animus spell. That is, she and many of her best seers had a vision showing the possibility of the return of animus magic. Well, when I say the possibility– No, I will get to that. A prophecy came with the vision– though it did not reveal as much as the vision itself–but I do not know its contents, so I can only do my best to explain the vision how it was explained to me.” The truth was that she did know the prophecy, but some things in the prophecy were still to be kept a secret from… present company. Lying convincingly, at this point, was the most important thing.
“The spell is likely quite old, or at least any records of it were lost, if there were any. We do not yet know how it is contained, or what exactly is stated, but many seers are working tirelessly to learn more, so we do know that it will allow a dragon to give animus power to someone of their choice.” Aye-aye said all of this in a rush, squeezing her eyes closed as she did so.
“And any dragon can activate the spell?” Queen Solstice inquired.
“No, Your Majesty.” Aye-aye said while her stomach lurched at Solstice’s question. The queen had arrived at the reason the NightWings had to tell the IceWing queen first, out of the whole world. Despite the history between the two tribes, which was shaky at best, there was a reason Fatelight chose Solstice to be the first to be informed of this dangerous new discovery. If the NightWings selected the IceWings to know of this spell before the RainWings, whose laws the NightWings abided by, there had to be a reason. And there was no doubt Solstice was realizing this as well. “No, only whoever is the keeper of the Forbidden Treasury. Only the c… only the current IceWing queen.”
Aye-aye opened her eyes, which she had forgotten she had closed, so they could meet the eyes of the queen. She saw a vivid expression of discovery, twisted excitement, and ultimately a deep hunger for more power. Perhaps it was Aye-aye’s imagination, though, because in the next second it was gone. However, even a momentary glimpse into Solstice’s feelings at this revelation was enough to cause Aye-aye confidence to quake. 
“How many animus dragons can be made from the spell? And are there other limitations surrounding its parameters, known examples of what it cannot do?” Queen Solstice asked calmly. All good questions for keeping her kingdom safe. Also, the conversation was perhaps getting closer to the thirst for power Aye-aye had sensed within the queen.
“We do not know the entirety of the spell. This information was not present in the prophecy, I was told, and therefore it is more difficult for seers to decipher this information. It was seen quite recently, and as I said the few NightWings that know of it are working towards uncovering more of the spell. Actually, the discovery was quite recent, and it was the top priority of Queen Fatelight to inform you.” The messenger’s initial response was brief, containing information that Solstice either already had been told or could have figured out. Aye-aye intended not to reveal more than she had to, because she was questioning Fatelight’s decision of telling Solstice of the spell so soon. However, Solstice’s inquiring glare pushed the nervous dragon to speak further.
“B-b-but the NightWing queen does know from her visions, and from the visions of her subjects, that in nearly all futures there will be an animus dragon made. No one knows who, or when; it is too soon to tell even likely possibilities from any future. All current evidence is pointing towards the conclusion that only one animus can come from this specific spell, and that they can only be a dragon, not a human. As far as we know, though, the dragon will have all the capabilities of the… animi… of history. We think that perhaps the spell was created by a descendant of Whiteout, the sister of… of Darkstalker. 
“There is another thing to the spell. We think that whatever item the spell is contained in may be in the Forbidden Treasury itself, and that it has been for quite a long time. And still we can only guess at why the spell was created, but perhaps it was a safeguard for if another animus caused the magic to disappear, as Jerboa did. Because Jerboa’s spell caused all animus magic to be lost, even in dragonets with animus ancestry who hatched after the spell had been cast, the dragon you choose will perhaps be the most powerful being who will ever again be on this planet. For this reason, the decision of choosing which dragon is not one to be taken lightly.”
The queen’s expression sent a shiver up her spine. Who was she–Aye-aye, a nobody from Possibility–to dare warn a queen as though she was an equal? Solstice’s veil of control had slipped away for a second, again revealing the angry side of the queen. Aye-aye knew that even without magic in the world, this dragon’s soul was unstable enough. She had to find a way to say so, but she was terrified enough at how this meeting was going already. Her voice shook. 
“And… I have one last… one last m-m-message for you. The next brightest night is approaching, the first one since the dragonets of destiny hatched, which you of course know. If animus magic returns and any NightWings hatch when the three m-moons are f-f-full…” 
Aye-aye had to pause, her voice was so unsteady. She still did not reveal the whole prophecy. If the queen knew that the animus would be chosen on the Brightest Night, history could be repeated all too easily. “We remember Darkstalker, is all. Queen Fatelight connected the spell and the moons, and the previous time a thrice-moonborn animus hatched, a lot of dragons got hurt. Don’t let that happen again.”
“Of course; IceWings understand the pain Darkstalker caused.” Queen Solstice replied, and the regal, majestic IceWing queen seemed to be back. “Although… would it be wise to allow any NightWings to hatch on the brightest night? Ask Queen Fatelight that for me. Perhaps it would be safest to avoid the problem entirely.”
“I will.” Aye-aye said, though in truth Aye-aye knew that Fatelight saw any dragonets hatched that night as an opportunity to gain more independence for the NightWing province. She of course didn’t say that to the IceWing queen, though, because the IceWings were weak allies of the NightWings at best. 
Aye-aye pushed her glasses further up on her nose. After a moment of silence in which the two dragons waited to see if the other had anything to say, Aye-aye bowed her head again and said, “Shall I go now, Your Majesty?”
“Yes. Go, and thank Queen Fatelight for telling me about this… matter. I will have my dragons search the Forbidden Treasury for whatever the spell may be, and I will let your queen know when I find it.” Solstice seemed to completely be the calm, strong figure every book and scroll described her to be. The flashes of anger and greed Aye-aye thought she had sensed were gone, like the vague memory of a dream.
As Aye-aye approached the closed threshold, she paused and said abruptly, “Choose wisely. When you find the spell, choose a dragon who will use their power for good. And do not use their power to win the war against the SeaWings. Magic used in war has never ended well in history. I know I am an inferior, a lowly messenger from no specific dragon tribe, but I speak these words from my heart. If you value your own soul, heed my warning.” Without another word, she made her way out of the room and past the guards. She didn’t look back at Queen Solstice’s expression; she could imagine it already.
As she briskly walked down the hallway, mind struggling to process the interaction, her head pounded with all she had said and all she had learned. How Queen Fatelight might react when Aye-aye told her how it had gone, Aye-aye had no idea. She herself hardly knew her own reaction. Queen Solstice seemed to be a confusing character at best. Aye-aye didn’t want to imagine what she was like at worst. 
And yet she also seemed prepared to keep her tribe safe at any costs; history seemed to be correct about that part of her. Aye-aye deemed the meeting inconclusive when it came to the precautions that needed to be used with the IceWings. Solstice was satisfactorily informed of her new power, though, and so Aye-aye considered her job completed. She would return to the NightWing province with her job completed, and with luck peace would continue between the IceWings and NightWings.
Solstice seemed to think, though, that she was the superior dragon in the alliance between the IceWings and Fatelight, and that a long-lost animus spell that catered specifically to her own needs only reinforced that fact. Aye-aye, though, wasn’t sure how much longer the alliance would last, with Solstice as the IceWings’ queen. Solstice seemed… like a dragon it would be wise to keep an eye on.
And the flashes of darkness she had seen on Solstice’s face made Aye-aye anxious. She knew she had to tell Fatelight about the shadows inside of the IceWing queen, despite it seeming childish and rude to say such things aloud. Aye-aye felt a chill run down her spine that had nothing to do with the cold when she thought about Solstice being the only dragon who could decide the outcome of a dragon being given nearly limitless power. 
She was scared, she realized. This was a fear that ran deeper than her usual, constant nervousness that was like the thoughtless chatter of an old friend; it was the feeling that came between falling and landing as one braced for impact, only the sensation didn’t leave. She hadn’t yet hit the ground. Aye-aye and thousands upon thousands of others would plummet with full force when Queen Solstice chose the animus, and she was scared for all of their sakes when she did.
= Part 1: From Across the Land Once Lost=
==Chapter 1==
The sea was cruel. Hollow was certain of this, as she faced the ocean’s gaping jaws. She stood on a thin strip of rough beach, the back of which was lined with jagged rocks that were like teeth in an ocean-sized jaw, in which there was a tongue in the shape of waves that was waiting to swallow her. As a thousand tiny needles of rain pierced her scales and even the gulls fled the beach for cover, Hollow willed herself not to look back at the continent of Pantala where she had lived her whole life; she knew how easy it would be to flee back to warm shelter and passively polite society and to overpowering, unending aloneness. 
So instead she stood in the jaws of a sea that with rocking waves and howling wind seemed to mock her intention of flying across, and ignored the cold that had settled deep within her bones. Hollow told herself that this was fair weather compared to what many dragons dealt with, and that there was no excuse for her whining. Her fear of the water, though it was well-justified, would not hold her back from traveling to Pyrrhia, where she could begin her life anew. Her LeafWing ancestors had crossed over the same waters nearly one hundred years ago, to escape the othermind, the evil presence whose sinister name had both crushed her tribe and allowed it a new life. Hollow would follow in their footsteps, and leave the now powerful LeafSilk Kingdom to seek refuge in the land across the sea.
At least, that was her current plan. Though Hollow did not want to seriously consider this worry, a small part of her was tugging at the concern that she would not be accepted as a resident of Pyrrhia, saying, What if I’m not worthy of living on Pyrrhia? What if I fail them? Hollow tried to ignore this side of her that worried about disappointing anonymous others, though. Whenever possible, she attempted to leave these feelings behind with the constant companions of grief and fear that had plagued her since tragedy had struck her small village just days before. She hoped to leave her past, and her sadness, behind on this Pantalan beach. 
If she were to ever reach the other side of the sea, though, she had to begin crossing. The weather was only going to get worse and the daylight dimmer, and she wished to reach the first island by nightfall. She spotted a small fleet of boats some distance off the shore, and allowed herself for a moment to regret not having the luxury of being able to take one. She and her mother hadn’t had much need for the coins now used as a global currency, living in a small seaside village where they caught food themselves and required few possessions. Therefore, the pouch on Hollow’s neck containing the widely issued map of islands leading across the sea, and the money she had brought with her, was lighter than she would have liked.
It’s no matter, Hollow told herself. I have enough to get myself to Pyrrhia, and to pay for food and shelter for a few weeks, if I use the coins sparingly. And it’s better that I’m not taking a boat. Boats have other dragons to interact with. And they don’t provide as much protection from the weather as others say they do. You know that, Hollow; that’s why you’re here. So, without looking at the boats again, Hollow tried to shake some of the water off of herself and, before she could stop herself, launched into the sky.
Hollow knew that the star patterns on the underneath of her Pyrrhian-shaped wings would stand out against the clouds, as would the golden LeafWing flecks on her scales. Despite her wings and two black NightWing horns on her head, her dark green scales, pointed snout, and green frill across her back and tail made her look mostly LeafWing, if an obvious hybrid. If she hovered in the air, she would look like a break in the clouds, showing a sky full of yellow and white stars. She wouldn’t hover, though, because everything seemed freer and faster in the air than it ever could be on the ground. Hollow had always loved the feeling of carelessness flying had brought her, and no dragon with a brain would choose to do anything but speed through the sky at a breakneck pace when the opportunity was presented. 
It wasn’t much drier in the air than it was beneath the waves, but flight made Hollow feel better than she could have imagined. Her spirits soared as she was launched into freedom. The air was salty, humid, and much colder than Hollow thought Pantala ever should be, but she was free and alone and for all she cared, the rest of the world could disappear forever, because there was no one else around Hollow for her to worry about. It felt incredible to stretch her wings; she hadn’t flown in days. Hollow felt as though she could stay in the sky forever. For a moment, it seemed as though all her problems simply melted away.
Of course, that moment soon ended. She had to think about her future on Pyrrhia. She had a plan of what she would do once there, though it was loose and flawed. Hollow had never met her father, but she knew from her mother’s stories that he lived in the RainNight Kingdom, in the NightWing province. She knew that he was a seer of Fatelight’s, though his talent was mediocre compared to that of most other seers, that he had always been a kind and quiet dragon who preferred the company of books and scrolls over most dragons, and she knew his name: Feldspar. This, however, was all Hollow would have to go by when she would try to find him. Beyond that, she could only hope to be taken in at least until she could find her feet on the new continent.
There were still possibilities Hollow didn’t want to consider until they were realities– What if Feldspar wouldn’t take her in as his daughter? And what if she couldn’t find other work? What if she couldn’t find him, or he had changed since Hollow’s parents knew each other, or countless other what ifs that Hollow could not yet know the answer to. Hollow wasn’t even certain he was still alive.
I won’t know anything, Hollow concluded, until I get there. That wouldn’t be for a week at least. Hollow expected her journey to be on the longer side, because although Hollow was a strong flier for her age, even the most athletic six-year-old dragonets were smaller and slower than full-grown dragons. Even now her lungs were beginning to burn, and her wings were aching slightly.
She should have been nearing the first island, though. The little sunlight being admitted through the clouds was dimming quickly, and she had been flying for quite a while. Hollow decided to fly lower, so she could better watch for the small fragment of land. Soon enough she spotted it to her left, appearing through the waves as though it was adrift in the water. She would stop there for the night, to rest and hopefully wait off the storm.
Hollow veered towards it and dived, and soon landed with little grace on the sandy, sodden beach. Two boats, one dragon-sized and looking as though it had been there for quite some time and one that was built for humans, were securely tied to a dock on Hollow’s right, and a cozy-looking two-floor shelter had been constructed in the center of the land. The shelter, which appeared to be an inn, was surrounded on three sides by a copse of tropical trees. The open side revealed a door, which Hollow noted could be opened by both humans and dragon, and two small windows on the first floor. From the windows shone warm golden light that pierced the darkness in a tiny yet welcoming way. Hollow imagined looking down on the entire ocean from high, high above, and seeing the island like it was a single firefly in the night, providing light and safety to all who saw it. She found that she wanted nearly nothing more than to enter the building and rest.
The moment Hollow turned the low door handle, she was hit with the pleasant smells of dusty wood, fresh cooking, and a crackling fire. Tables and chairs dotted the majority of the floor, and in one corner a small group of humans was chattering quietly. The building was creaky and slightly shabby in appearance, but kept a remarkable amount of cold out. On one wall was a small hearth and a staircase, leading presumably to a second floor containing rooms to stay in. Across from that, on Hollow’s right, a HiveWing was cooking vegetables in a pan, on a stone shelf overtop a smaller fire.
A wave of fatigue overcame Hollow, and she realized she was starving. As she approached the counter in front of the HiveWing, a wave of tired dizziness passed over her, and she took a moment for her head to clear before she cleared her throat and said, “Excuse me, ma’am? How much would dinner cost?”
Hollow had spoken so little in the blur of the past few days that her voice felt odd in her throat. The adult dragon turned around, and her eyes softened slightly at the sight of the drenched and exhausted dragonet.
“Oh, sit down, child.” the HiveWing said, gesturing towards the row of chairs in front of the counter. Her face held concern for Hollow, who was appearing unaccompanied on an island in the ocean. Her voice was soft and worn, and she appeared to be slightly past middle age. Hollow, deciding that this dragon looked safe enough, sat with some difficulty on one of the stools. She became aware that she was still dripping water, and tried to tuck her wings in closer to her body.
“I can spare the money,” The HiveWing said, “If you can’t.”
Hollow nodded and, maintaining guard politeness, said, “That would be great. You’re very generous. Thank you.”
The HiveWing had taken the vegetables off of the fire, and had begun to stack dishes on the back counter onto shelves. “Name’s Caddisfly.” she said.
Hollow, seeing that she was supposed to give her name and deciding that she liked this weathered dragon who lived on the sea, replied to Caddisfly, “My name is Hollow.” And then, surprising herself, she added in a rush, “I used to live in the LeafSilk Kingdom with my mother. She caught fish in our village, and… one day there was an accident. Now I’m traveling alone to find my father in Pyrrhia.” She was even more surprised to find tears in her eyes, stinging and small like pinpricks.
Caddisfly’s face was comforting, but not quite pitiful, in a way that Hollow liked. She glanced away, granting Hollow a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes. After a moment’s silence, Caddisfly asked, “Veggies or fish?” The question was so abrupt that Hollow looked up, startled, and Caddisfly had to clarify. “To eat.”
“Oh…” The mention of fish caused Hollow’s appetite to decline. Although she had eaten fish nearly every day of her life prior to now, she could hardly bear the thought of it. She blinked, closed her eyes, and looked back up, forcing her small smile to return. She couldn’t break apart, not here, not now, not ever. “Um… vegetables would be great, thanks.”
Caddisfly seemed to notice Hollow’s lapse in attention and eyed her with suspicion, but thankfully said nothing about it. She proceeded to scoop some of the vegetables off of the pan, and onto a clean wooden plate. Handing the plate to Hollow, who found that its contents were still warm, Caddisfly turned towards the stairs to greet a dragon coming down the steps.
Seeing the approaching figure, Hollow turned around to see a SkyWing, approximately Caddisfly’s age, at the base of the stairway. He gently breathed more flames onto the hearth, nodded towards the group of humans, and took a seat at the counter several seats away from Hollow.
“Hello, Stratosphere, dear.” Caddisfly said to the SkyWing. So she knew this SkyWing. An old friend, or her partner, perhaps? She turned to the kitchen fire, grabbed two mugs and filled them with water from a pump and, in a perfectly routine way, began making two cups of hot tea.
“Hey, Caddisfly. I finished cleaning upstairs, but the ceiling is leaking again. Honestly, every time there’s a storm, now.” Stratosphere’s eyes were kind, like Caddisfly’s, and both dragons had the same look about them, as though they were both sturdy old carvings, strong despite being left to weather in the rain. “And guess what I learned earlier today? You know the old MudWing living on one of the middle islands, Bass? Yeah – well, when I was restocking earlier today, I overheard that he’s retiring. And about time, too, he’s ancient…”
Hollow kept half an ear on the conversation as she scooped the vegetables into her mouth. It appeared to be mostly cabbage and carrots, and thankfully, mercifully, tasted nothing of fish. The sound of the conversing humans carried across the room, and Hollow understood only about every fifth word– something about economics, was it? It was that, Hollow decided, or a debate about birds; she wasn’t certain which.
Though the schooling of dragonets in the LeafSilk Kingdom provided much insight as to the intricacies of history and art, and Hollow had listened dutifully, linguistics was admittedly a weak point in her education; ever since humans and dragons had reached a state of peace, most humans were taught Dragon, and learning often did not reach the other way around.
Hollow had finished her meal and was looking for a lull in the conversation between Caddisfly and Stratosphere to ask the cost of a room, when Caddisfly broke off her end of the discussion to ask Hollow if she would like a cup of tea.
“I’m really quite alright, actually.” Hollow responded. It seemed wisest to rest before continuing her journey tomorrow, rather than stay up talking to strange dragons, albeit the nicest strange dragons she had met in quite a while.
“No, no, you look frozen, child. I insist; you’ll warm right up.” It was true – Hollow did feel as though her wings and limbs were carved from blocks of ice. So she stayed sitting, not really believing she would be able to sleep anyway, while Caddisfly proceeded to fill a mug with hot water and make tea. When Hollow was handed the hot wooden cup, she took it tenderly in her talons and began to blow it cool. 
“Strato and I used to live in the LeafSilk Kingdom too, actually.” Caddisfly began. “I grew up in the Hives, and he grew up in the Sky Kingdom, naturally, but we met when my grandmother moved my family out of the city. We lived there for years, happily, but there were a few skirmishes between the Hives, oh, years and years before your time, and... our son got caught in one. He couldn’t get out of fighting, and he… he was killed. So we abandoned everything and moved out here, and we’ve been here ever since, on the archipelago.” Caddisfly finished her tale with a glint of sad reminiscence in her eye. Stratosphere caught her gaze and began to speak as well.
“That was a longer time ago than I care to remember. Nowadays, it seems more like a different life entirely than a piece of our own history. And we have no regrets, Caddisfly and I, but sometimes I wonder how else things could have gone.”
Hollow wondered if her life was on the same track. She was running from tragedy, just like they had; was her future too bound to an inn in the middle of nowhere? As much as she liked the cozy building that served as a fortress against the cold, Hollow wanted to do more with her life. She didn’t know what yet, but she would find out… for now, though, her tea was loosing its warmth. The three dragons finished their drinks in silence, each lost to their own thoughts, and when Hollow’s cup was empty she inquired about the cost of a room. Food may have been free, but she didn’t want to push her luck.
“Two copper scales, dear.” Caddisfly answered. Hollow suspected this was a discount, and that she was being charged at all only for her own benefit. but she said nothing as she procured the metal coins in the shape of dragon scales from her pouch and placed them on the counter. Caddisfly dug through a cabinet behind the counter, and pulled out a lantern that Stratosphere breathed a flame into to light it.
“Thank you so much.” Hollow said honestly. She was exhausted in earnest now, and the tea really had warmed her up. She stood, holding the lantern, and began to weave her way through the chairs and tables. “Is there any one room in particular…?”
“Take any you like, they’re all unoccupied.” Stratosphere told her. “Not the third room on the left, though; the ceiling leaks, and there’s a draft.” Nodding gratefully, Hollow proceeded up the narrow staircase. It jutted out the side of the house, teetering perilously over the ground. It seemed stable despite its creakiness, however, and did just as good a job of keeping the heat out as the rest of the house. Beside Hollow was a narrower row of smaller steps, intended for humans. Hollow was mildly surprised at how the inn provided equal accessibility to both humans and dragons, but upon reconsideration she supposed it seemed less unusual; there weren’t many options in the ocean and accessibility for both species was more necessary than optimal.
The top floor was a narrow corridor leading to six separate rooms. It was lit by a wavering lantern hanging from the ceiling, and behind Hollow, the back wall held a window overlooking several trees and beyond that the dark, endless ocean. Peering through the first room on her right, Hollow saw that everything inside it appeared human-sized, and she moved on to the room beyond it.
Seeing that everything in it was of the correct size, Hollow closed the door to her room and saw it was snug and practical, containing a bed on each side with a small table in between, a circular rug on the floor, and a small desk equipped with ink and a small role of parchment. A glass window, looking old and worn, yet recently washed, was on the exterior wall, and Hollow took the bed beside it.
As she lay on top the layers of blankets that were stacked over the wood, Hollow realized that she dearly missed her hammock on Pantala. She wondered what her small house, now unoccupied, looked like at the moment. The outside would still look identical to when it had been lived in, save the note declaring Hollow’s departure tacked to the door. Had it been cleared out inside yet? Was it for sale already? Hollow could so vividly imagine the exterior of cobbled stone and yellow-painted wood, the interior filled to the brim with yarn and art and books, that she had a fleeting moment of regret ever leaving.
It was fleeting because if she were to return, she would be returning alone and the house would still feel empty.
Hollow took the map from out of the pouch on her neck and studied it. There were a few islands to rest at tomorrow, and two that looked large enough to have food that wasn't fish. She decided to aim for the farther one, feeling confident that she could complete the journey. The hardest leg would be in several days, when she was reaching the end. There were the fewest islands there, and she would be weary. She would have to conserve her energy better, and rest when the opportunity presented itself. There was no point in worrying about that now, though.
She carefully tucked away her map, sealed the pouch, and closed her eyes. Despite the physical fatigue she felt, and the mental tiredness she had felt downstairs, her mind now felt restless. She tried focusing on her breathing, slowly filling and emptying her lungs, and just as she was certain rest would never come, she was taken by a deep, dreamless sleep.
==Chapter 2==
(Chapter 2 isn't finished! I'm most of the way done with it, though, and I wanted to upload what I have of it so far.)
It was nearly dawn, and Hollow watched from her window as the last stars disappeared and the sky grew from blue to purple to deep red, eventually blooming into breathtaking pink-orange rose colors. Last night’s storm had finished completely, leaving a clear sky and still water that looked like a flat slate in the dim light. Traces of the wind were left behind, though: small plant debris was strewn across the beach, the ocean had left behind seaweed and driftwood for the beach to claim, and a visible, stagnant humidity hung in the air. Hollow pressed her snout to the glass of the window, and felt a warm day coming through the cool material.
Hollow wasn’t sure if Caddisfly or Stratosphere would be awake, but she wanted to get an early start and decided to check anyway. As she passed through the hallway, she saw that five of the six rooms were taken. Evidently, more travelers had arrived after Hollow.
When Hollow came downstairs, she saw that Stratosphere was already standing brightly behind the counter, awaiting customers, and that Caddisfly was seated at a table, sleepily eating half a cooked salmon. She looked up when she heard Hollow, and awakened slightly.
“Hello, child.” She said brightly, but with tiredness still behind her eyes. She seemed genuinely pleased to see her, as though she didn’t meet a great many nice dragons. “You gonna eat before you go today?” Hollow shook her head. She was hungry enough that she could have, but she wanted to get a move on before the heat of the day.
“No, thank you. I don’t want to impose on you any longer.” She said, hoping that she could leave quickly, before she changed her mind and stayed for too long.
“Oh nonsense, child! You’re no bother to anyone. Are you sure you can’t eat?” Caddisfly prompted.
“Thank you, but I really should get going now. And again, I feel very grateful towards you and Stratosphere for letting me stay, and for just… being kind.” Hollow replied earnestly as she moved towards the door. Caddisfly let her go, but when Hollow exited the building, Caddisfly followed. The HiveWing took a deep breath of the warm, salty air, and turned to the younger dragon.
“Good luck out there.” Caddisfly said. “It’s a dangerous world, and you have potential– I can tell. You’re destined for great things, kid.” Hollow nodded uncertainly at the dragon’s strange prediction, took a moment to orient herself with the direction of the island, and took off into the warm air. She looked behind her once she was flying, at Caddisfly on the beach, and saw that the shores of Pantala were no longer visible in the distance.
She felt surprisingly sad at this. She was leaving Pantala because she had to, because there was no choice, because there was nothing left for her there but sadness and self-pity, but for the first time in the dragonet’s life her home was completely out of view. She didn’t plan to return, but everyone she had known was still there: friends, teachers, neighbors, most of whom were likely wondering where she had gone, all moving on with their lives as normal. 
But Hollow’s mother wasn’t there, and that was all that mattered. And with Caddisfly back inside the now very distant inn, and the sky and waves clear and uninteresting, Hollow was left to dwell on this thought.
It wasn’t long, though, until she spotted the first small island. It looked tiny and empty, with only a few scrubby trees dotting the middle. Hollow moved on, remembering the many islands on her map and knowing she couldn’t rest yet. Her wings ached, though, and she knew she would have to pause her journey midway through the day. Hollow was slightly worried that she was already getting tired. She slightly slowed her pace, and promised herself that she would rest at the next opportunity.
Hollow flew on for a while longer, focusing mostly on the rhythm of her wing beats, when she spied a bird in the distance. She found this mildly unusual; she had not seen any sign of birds the whole day, and had assumed she was too far away from any large land mass. It was flying slower than Hollow, though still unusually quickly for a bird, and its flying seemed off in a way Hollow couldn’t describe.
It was a minute or two later that Hollow realized it was a dragon, and not an animal. They appeared from a distance to be larger than Hollow, and their scales flashed a bright white under the clear sky, a white that from a distance Hollow had assumed was the pale coloring of a seagull. So an adult IceWing, then, was traveling from Pantala… But if they were so close, and had not passed Hollow, why had she not seen them in Caddisfly’s inn? And their flying was slightly erratic, as though it was urgent that they arrived in Pyrrhia as soon as possible, but Hollow was still faster.
In the distance was the second island, large enough that it would have other dragons on it. Hollow got the sense that the IceWing in front of her was not going to stop, and she was worried about them, so she tentatively called out, “Hello?” The dragon didn’t show any sign of hearing Hollow, though they were now close enough to have been able to, so she sped up to reach them.
Once Hollow was beside the dragon, she slowed to match their pace and saw that they were a male IceWing with an expression of terror that lay under exhausted blue eyes. His scales were pure white, but were matted in a way that Hollow hadn't heard of before; he most likely wasn't entirely IceWing, then. It took the dragon a moment to notice Hollow, but once he did he faltered slightly.
“Hello…” He wheezed without slowing. His breath was short, and he clearly had difficulty drawing enough of it to form words. “What are you…doing…here?” He kept his eyes in front of him, barely glancing at Hollow. The dragonet decided to try and help this dragon, though she wasn't sure why.
“I’m Hollow.” she said, deciding to answer. “Are you alright?” She asked in return.
“I’m can't… I need to… or else…” Was the only answer Hollow got. The two were now nearly directly over the second island. Hollow decided to try and calm him down once on the sand.
“Come on.” she said, grabbing his talon. The IceWing appeared hesitant but fatigued enough not to argue, and he glided down to the sand, landing next to Hollow. He gave a slight flap of his wings, and looked up at the sky anxiously. Hollow decided to ask him basic questions. “What is your name?” she tried. “You need to rest.”
“I can’t… stay,” the dragon said. “or she’ll kill them all… I can’t return… but I have to…” He gave a small cry of despair, looked up at the sky again, and then said, with a touch of impatience, “My name is… Boreal. I work for Queen Solstice of the IceWings.” The dragon, Boreal, was catching his breath, though he still seemed quite winded. “Can I go now?”
“No.” Hollow pressed on. “Who is she? Who will she kill?”
“Solstice… I work for her… I remember things… I was visiting my half sister in the Hives…” Boreal paused, looking annoyed and still slightly manic, and then seemed to decide that it would be best to tell his story to shut Hollow up. He began again, “I work for Queen Solstice as a scribe, of sorts. I can remember every word she says, and I record her speeches once they are finished. I edit them a bit, of course… put her words into a better light for history… but I shouldn’t be telling you that. My half sister lives in the Hives, and I got permission from Queen Solstice to visit her. Yesterday, though, I got a letter saying it was urgent that I returned. It was signed by Solstice herself, and it was a bit unclear. Something about a prophecy, and the NightWings…but it was odd. The queen seemed to think I wouldn’t return…she threatened them…said I need to return or they’ll die…my family…I’m scared…” He broke off into incoherence once more, and Hollow hopelessly looked around the beach as a dragon approached her.
He could have been a SkyWing-LeafWing hybrid, Hollow thought, with orange scales and leaf-shaped wings. She tried to pat Boreal on the wing in what she hoped was a comforting way, and turned to face him.
“Is the IceWing bothering you?” the hybrid asked Hollow.
“I– no.” Hollow started. “He needs rest. He can’t leave here until he sleeps, please.” She hoped her expression was calm and certain, despite the fact that she still felt nervous. “He won’t make it if he keeps flying without rest for much longer. I think he said that he was in the Hives yesterday, and I don’t think he’s stopped flying since.”
“Okay…” The other dragon said tentatively, and began to walk away. Hollow, remembering her earlier promise to herself that she would stop here, dragged a protesting Boreal over to the shade of a copse of trees in the center of the island and set him down, where he sat with a huff. He did know that he needed rest, though; a moment later, he lay down in the shade and closed his eyes. Hollow then found a patch of grass to sleep on a few feet away, where she could keep an eye on the IceWing and prevent him from leaving and hurting himself, and promptly fell asleep.
When Hollow awoke, she could still feel the cold radiating off of Boreal’s scales. He had fallen into a disturbed yet deep sleep, oblivious to all but whatever was making him scowl in his dreams. Two other groups of dragons were now resting around her, and three humans were fishing near the shore. Hollow stood up and stretched, and realized that she was now only partially in the shade, whereas when she had fallen asleep, she had been in the middle of it. 
Gazing up at the sky, she saw that it was well past noon, and that she had been on the island for perhaps two or three hours. That was too long for Hollow’s liking; it was quite a distance to the day’s final destination, and it was all too easy to get lost at sea in the dark. She could make it, though; she was a swift flier, and were she forced to spend the night on one of the many tiny islands that were barely visible on her map, then so be it. She had a slight worry that when Boreal awoke, he would continue on again without stopping and eventually get himself killed from exhaustion, but there was nothing more Hollow could do about that. She worried for a moment about if she'd done the right thing, making Boreal stop. If it really was urgent that he get to Pyrrhia... but he could easily have died... Hollow could only hope she had done the right thing.
The setting sun was in the same direction as Pantala, to Hollow’s west, so Pyrrhia would be in the opposite direction, along with the next island. There was a breeze to Hollow’s east, which was good; if the tailwind continued, she could perhaps come to the next large island even before dusk. And Hollow was making fair progress so far; in the twenty-four hours since she had started her journey, Hollow had come further than she had expected.
So thus far, Hollow’s journey had been fair, even if the events she was running from were not, events that still stuck to Hollow’s mind like cobwebs in the corner. And it was with pleasure that Hollow leaped into the air once more, letting the currents carry her across the ocean. And as she flew, she pondered the circumstances under which the IceWing Boreal became so distressed.
He had mentioned a prophecy, though nowadays such things were not uncommon. So why was it such a big deal? And NightWings – that would line up with a prophecy. But Hollow was venturing to the NightWings’ home; was she unknowingly flying into trouble? And Hollow had learned from every scroll she had ever read that Solstice was a good queen, one that was rational and just, so why did Boreal seem to think that she was threatening him? But he seemed certain of what he had read. But still, news traveled the swiftest between continents, and Hollow had heard not another word about Solstice.
Hollow’s mind continued to debate back and forth like this for quite a while, as she pondered the subject with idle interest. The hours passed by quickly, as did the water beneath her wings. And stopping only once for a brief break, she had arrived before the stars on a darkening island as the second sun of her journey slipped behind a vast, calm curtain of deep blue. The moons, one full, had already risen up behind her, and were gathering light now that the sky was darkening.
The island was larger than the one of Caddisfly and Stratosphere, but it was also much more barren. The docks were starker, the sand flatter, and the warm atmosphere that was clearly present even from the stormy exterior of the inn was missing. It had no permanent building in its center, and instead only a jumble of tents were assembled around the large, oblong disk of sand. A night’s board certainly wasn’t free, and the only dragon of authority seemed to be a sour-looking SilkWing sitting under an open tarp with some boxes and crates under it, some distance to Hollow’s left. She proceeded there.
His expression perfectly matched his subdued chartreuse scales, and the scowl he wore seemed to be telling Hollow that she was wrong to ever think of approaching him. But he stood and opened a crate full of thin reed baskets, and, knowing what Hollow was about to ask, filled one with some sort of mush-brown gruel from a barrel. He motioned as if to hand it to Hollow, but pulled it back before she could take it and spat,
“One jade scale for a tent and a meal. And return the bowl in the morning. I’ll know it if you don’t.” It was now Hollow's turn to scowl; that was blatantly overpriced. She grudgingly handed him the money, and the SilkWing set the food on the ground in front of Hollow and returned to doing nothing on the other side of the tent.
Her glower didn't leave as the SilkWing turned away. A whole jade coin, and for what? The honor of being one of many dragons to stay at his oh-so-glorious island of misery? Twitching her tail, she took the box in one talon and walked to the conglomeration of tightly-packed tents. She had not been assigned a specific tent, so Hollow had to spend some time patrolling between the thin alleyways of sloped fabric walls before she found one suiting her needs:
It was a small thing, made for a single dragon, with an open flap revealing it empty with a relatively sheltered interior. Hollow entered it and let the pinned-up opening fall, before laying down with a small huff, with her head facing the entrance. She closed her eyes for a minute, allowing her tired body to acknowledge its rest. Then, she turned her attention towards the box of flavorless sustenance that await at her talons.
Hollow sat up, picked up the box, and gulped its contents down; it poured easily, and the box was shortly empty. Hollow’s hunger had receded afterwards, but the food left a lingering sliminess in her throat. A gale was now gathering around Hollow, and through the many tents around her the wind still lapped at the tent’s opening and licked at the gaps in the fabric.
So much for a whole jade scale, Hollow thought to herself sullenly. The two copper coins she had paid at the inn were exceptionally little, and Hollow didn’t expect to get off so easily again, but she had overpaid by at least three times, for this! A jade coin was worth about thirty copper coins, and Hollow only had so many of them. A talonful of copper, or silver-painted coin or two, even, would have been a much more acceptable price.
Hollow wondered how much other customers were paying. Certainly many would not stand for this, and the SilkWing would have been forced to change his prices. Hollow was a lone dragonet, though, for whom the likelihood of arguing with a stranger in the middle of the ocean was quite slim. A thought came into Hollow’s mind, a thought that was always clinging to the back of her consciousness, but rarely making a full appearance… Was it because she was a hybrid?
Well over half of the dragons in today’s world had at least two prominent tribes in them, though! And one would be hard-pressed to find someone without any recent traces of several tribes in their blood. Take the very dragon under the tarp who overcharged me, Hollow thought. That’s an unusual color for a SilkWing to have. One of his great-grandparents could easily have been a HiveWing.
The pit of Hollow’s stomach burned out of anger, as though she had swallowed fire. She felt as though she had been robbed, or lied to, and still worse was the thought that there was only her to blame, for not fighting back. But she was only a dragonet, and it shouldn’t have to have been up to her! If her mother was here…
But her mother was not here. Fig was dead somewhere in the middle of the ocean, along with her fishing boat and the rest of its crew! Tears burned in Hollow’s eyes, and for once she let them come. She didn’t know whom they were for– herself or her mother– and she didn’t much care either way. She let herself sob silently into the tent floor, while the wind howled its sympathy all around her.
Is the wind now my only friend? Hollow thought to herself dryly. But soon her sobs subsided into gulps of air, and the gale became almost like a lullaby, and as Hollow’s eyes grew heavier and her heartbeat slowed, she found her breaths steadying too… and soon she was asleep.
There was no more breeze in the morning, and the sky was dormant and low, as though the thick clouds that hung low in the air were painted cotton miniatures held by a drowsy puppeteer. Hollow had woken up with the inside of her tent damp, and small pools of water lay on the flat sand, evidence of a rain that she had slept through. And the air and sky threatened to release a downpour on top of Hollow, but that was no reason for her to delay her passage, she perhaps foolishly figured. So she grudgingly returned the reed box that had contained her dinner to the SilkWing, studied her map for a moment to properly orient herself, and planned her day’s journey: there would be a large cluster of islands Hollow would fly over that day, before the chain thinned more towards Pyrrhia. The day would be Hollow’s last for easy travel, before the journey became more strenuous.
This island had nothing more for Hollow to do, so she lifted off into the air. The ocean appeared sullen; it was dark and cold, and its mood didn’t appear to be planning on relenting. But it was crisp out, and the softly churning sea was visible for miles in every direction. And it was soon that the next island was visible, and then the next, but Hollow did not stop until the clouds let go their rain at long last, and began to pelt a torrent of rain at Hollow. She began to struggle in the rain as soon as it came, finding herself veering and dipping dangerously, and through blurry, water-filled vision she searched desperately for the next island.
Soon she found it, a small fragment of land barely clinging to the vast ocean. It looked susceptible to being hit by a giant wave, and offered little to no protection from the sky, but Hollow knew that from the air she would surely soon be thrown into the roiling sea, so she landed on the bare island and curled herself up into as tight a ball as she could.
The cold tore at her, and the saturated sand she was on slowly penetrated her scales and made the cracks between them feel gritty. Tears burned in Hollow’s tightly shut eyes and she tried to close her ears to the wind, but it was no use; the very world seemed bent upon making her life a misery, ever since the Pantalan sea claimed her happiness. She did not know how long she lay there for, but she felt the minutes stretch into hours and still the wind howled. It was only after she ran out of tears and she became officially wetter than she had ever been before that the sky ended its temper tantrum to slowly reveal a glimpse of the sky, surprisingly bright as the noon sun burned its way through space.
Hollow looked up at it with red eyes and stood, surprised at how quickly the clear, endless blue was once more forming. It had felt later than it was, too; even between the hours she had already spent flying that day, and the eternity she seemingly spent on the island, it felt impossible for it to be noon already. So she lifted off, and let her wings catch an air current that carried her far through the day. It was only when the curtains began to rise on the night that she began to search for the next island selling shelter and food, and she landed at a busy-looking one before too long.
On it were many shack-like structures, with human-sized ones one side and ones suited for dragons on the other. Each had a number in dragon carved into the wood above a fabric curtain door, starting at one and going on. In the center was an elderly MudWing standing behind a beaten wood counter. 
A dim bell of recollection sounded in Hollow’s mind, and she remembered the kind SkyWing Stratosphere mentioning the MudWing on Hollow’s first night traveling– Bass, the MudWing’s name was. Timidly Hollow approached the counter, and laying a talon on her pouch of money in order to open it, she said, “Hello, sir. Can… Can I buy a meal and a room, please?” The dragon glowered down at her with distaste, as though by asking a simple question the dragonet was a squeaky wheel that refused to be quieted.
“One silver and four copper for a fish and a night’s stay.” Bass said with a deep, resounding voice containing a hint of human accent in it. Hollow pulled back her wings a fraction of an inch. He had only offered fish, and though she hated to be that dragon…
“I’m sorry, but do you have any food besides fish?” she asked in as polite a voice as she could muster. It would be unreasonable for him to not– most RainWings and Silkwings were vegetarians, and it wasn’t like there were plentiful fruit trees ready to be picked in the center of the ocean.
“Sorry, kid, that’s all I got.” The MudWing said. “Take it or leave it, it’s one silver scale for a room.” Perhaps it was the strain of the day, or the cold of the storm that still clung to her scales, but Hollow felt her throat tighten, and tears threatened to well in her eyes. She could only nod as she extracted the coin from her pouch and handed it to Bass, and she turned  away as soon as she was able. She couldn’t break down, especially not in front of a stranger. She barely heard the MudWing call out, “And take building twelve!” after her, and she faintly wondered why all the buildings could hold so many dragons when different parties were different sizes.
It was only when she saw herself reach the room labeled as room twelve did she realize that she heard many voices coming from inside the walls, sounding tired yet perseveringly cheerful. So multiple groups stay inside each building, Hollow figured. She swallowed, blinked rapidly to clear her eyes, and pushed her head through the curtain.
Inside were seven other dragons– two adults, one a RainWing and the other a SilkWing, and several dragonets. They were all talking, the five dragonets with their bubbly personalities and the parents, they must have been, with their caring yet tired replies. Hollow cleared her throat to announce her presence, and they all looked at her. Her throat still felt tight, but she was confident that she could speak.
“H-hello. I’m supposed to stay here as well, I think?” Hollow said with uncertainty, as she fully entered the room. As her talons brushed against the loose earth, she noted that the room, though fairly large, was cramped with eight dragons. The adult RainWing looked at Hollow and nodded, smiling bracingly at Hollow’s nervous form. Hollow then stepped forwards to an edge of the room and lay down, closing her eyes.
“You aren’t eating?” the SilkWing asked concernedly. Raising her head, Hollow shook it.
“I… can’t eat fish.” she stated, now telling why. The RainWing nodded solemnly at her.
“Yeah... We’re all vegetarians, the lot of us, and it’s a good thing we stopped at midday to eat, what with five dragonets. I don’t know what that MudWing was thinking.” She then scooped the smallest of the dragonets away from Hollow. Hollow felt herself relax at the RainWing's soothing presence, and she felt as though she was peering through a clouded window down on another family's life.
“It… it’s alright,” Hollow said, not sure why. She rested her head down on the ground again, and felt the tiny weight of the dragonet press up against her side. As she felt herself slowly nodding off, she smiled despite the hunger gnawing at her from inside, despite the tired and hopeless feeling that still stuck to her, despite having absolutely no place in the world and no known reason for being in it. Just before she slipped into sleep, as her thoughts were twisted between dreams and consciousness, a notion crossed her mind, midway between reason and nonsense.
I’m a ghost of the waves, she thought without thinking. I’m as lost as the sea, and I’ll spend the rest of my time ever churning, just as the water that killed me. Perhaps it was her hunger, or her sadness, or perhaps she was still shaken from the storm she had gotten caught in earlier, but this realization, premonition, whatever you have it, it sunk itself deeply into the corners of her thoughts, to sink down and be forgotten in the morning.
The next day, Hollow traveled with the RainWing-SilkWing family, stopping at midmorning to eat at another island. She was slower as a part of the group, but she was grateful for the company. Despite this, though, she found herself interacting with the others little, staying quiet and mostly watching the ocean beneath her. The adults attempted a few times to reach out to her, appearing concerned for the lone, despondent  dragonet in the center of a sea, but Hollow avoided their questions. She was close to Pyrrhia, and getting closer every second. She couldn’t talk about her mother now, when she was so close to escaping her memories forever, though they still haunted her endlessly. 
Fig leaving before Hollow awoke, as she did every morning… Hollow going to school, playing with her friends, hardly noticing the dark sky, not knowing life as she knew it was already over… getting pulled out of class, along with a SilkWing, to meet the school principal… the SilkWing lost his brother, and the principal lost her wife…
Hollow’s face must have shown her pain, because she was getting worried looks from the family. So she forced her expression clear, looked away, and allowed the time to be carried away by the breeze.
That evening, Hollow was starving. She was grateful for the food she had eaten earlier, but it had not lasted. So she bought plenty of greens from a human selling food, the exchange awkward as the SilkWing parent struggled to translate, and ate alongside the family.
In the morning, Hollow woke before the others. She opened her eyes to the day, blinking blearily as the sun shone through the open door of the shack in which she was staying. Quite near the opening was a bird, one that clearly would not live much longer in an ocean full of dragons, and should have known better than to stand directly in front of one. Hollow mildly considered eating it, when–
A bird!
Hollow felt as though a bucket of cold water had been splashed over her. Jumping to her talons, she felt herself fully awaken. Birds lived on the continent… they only flew so far offshore… Hollow was close to Pyrrhia!
As she left the half-cabin, structure, she felt a small, fleeting moment of regret at leaving the hybrid family behind without saying anything. But she had never even learned their names, and her future, her future, was too close for it to be denied to her any longer. So without another moment’s hesitation, Hollow slipped undetected from the room.
And as she felt her talons on the damp sand, the air as it slid across her wings as she began to fly, the smell of salt that had lived in her nose for the past several days, she wondered if she would ever return to Pantala. She had made many happy memories there, but that age of her life felt like it was years past. Her friends would miss her, perhaps, but that didn’t matter. They didn’t matter. So, no, Hollow didn’t figure that she would return to Pantala, at least within the far future. And when she thought of her later life, of her memories of now being faded, when she wondered if then she could bear the thought of return, she only flew away faster.
Her heart raced from anticipation and excitement, and even as her lungs began to burn she found she could not slow down. But soon she spotted land way off in the distance, far, far too large to be an island, what Hollow knew was the coast between the Sand and Ice kingdoms, and her feelings immediately lurched in the opposite direction like they had been snagged by a hook.
Panic, began to creep over her. Her breath quickened. A whirling feeling. Her life was devoid of choices. Her mother was gone, gone forever. She was alone... she needed to land… to land… why was she even here… she couldn’t go on… her wings quivered… there was an island... and as she tumbled ungracefully onto the sand, she felt only absently aware of herself. In front of her, so close she would reach it that day, was her entire life. She would live and breathe and love and lose and cry and laugh and die on that giant piece of land. In front of her was everything, everything that could ever be for her, and there was nowhere else for her to go. Her vision clouded slightly, but she could not stop here. She had to go on… she would be alright… so she tried to pay attention only to her breathing, and as she counted the beats of her breaths, bit by bit she felt herself becoming calmer.
Hollow rested for a while, and continued flying when she was able. She found herself slightly ashamed of her near panic attack, as though the seaweed and sharks below her were watching. Her exhilaration at the prospect of arriving had ended, but so had her terror at it, and now she felt entirely neutral. What would happen, would happen. The sun crawled slowly across the sky; so did Hollow across the water. Pyrrhia grew larger as it approached, or, Hollow figured, as she approached it. The flat plain of the desert became clear, and soon after so did the slight unevenness of the land, and then it was all bathed in warm amber light as the sun bade its command for the stars to arrive. Eventually Hollow was flying over the shore, eventually she was landing.
And as her talons brushed against the pebbly, moonlit ground that would be her next day, her next year, her next century, she thought about the superstitions of both her tribes. The LeafWings loved the sun, as it gave them plants and energy, but she was leaving them now, to arrive at the home of the ones whose namesake was the dark. They of course loved the moons, the NightWings, and considered their time of day lucky. As the sun, Hollow’s former source of prosperity, slipped away entirely, Hollow pondered its meaning. 
Was the night indeed lucky, and would her future reflect that? Or as the final rays of the day creeped away, was her future going with them? Hollow was a dragonet alone in the middle of the world. Had she acted too rashly in her leaving Pantala? Would Pyrrhia become her true home? Should she have left her past so that she could live life to its entirety, or in leaving did she make an irreversible mistake?
----(Hi. Chapter two was way too long! It's twice the size I was aiming for it to be, and hopefully I won't make that error again. I sort of lost motivation for a while, but I'm back now! This is a work in progress, and I'm trying to upload more whenever possible, as I write it. I don't know if the chapters are a good length, or if I tend to ramble, so if you have any suggestions at all, feel free to criticize what I have so far. There will be some action soon, I promise.)
Aye-aye & Hollow (character pages)
The Poems of Two (Fanfiction)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)
Category:Genre (Prophecy)
Category:Genre (Adventure)
Category:Content (CriticalPoultry)