'Dusky' is a male SilkWing dragonet who
was introduced in The Flames of Hope. Although formerly under the
control of the othermind, he currently resides in the LeafSilk Kingdom
with his Unnamed characters#SilkWings|mother.

## Description

Dusky has lavender scales with speckles of dark blue and turquoise. He
has a star-shaped white scar on his forehead over his left eye, and
another scar near his wingbud on his right shoulder. He is tiny, but
still larger than Freedom, and he has a sweet face that reminds Wren of
baby Sky. He also has a trusting expression that Luna said reminded her
of Blue. He has large, dark eyes, and is smaller even than most
two-year-old dragonets, appearing fragile and breakable.

## Personality

Dusky has a trusting expression, and often speaks quietly and softly. He
seemed to be unsettled and scared by the whispers in the dark that
surrounded the SilkWing refugee camp. He is agreeable, matter-of-fact,
quiet, wary, and has a small voice; while he does not say much, he is
twitchy and jerks awake several times during sleep. He seemed to have no
problem with any of the Pyrrhian newcomers, and his eyes became sad at
the prospect of Luna leaving him alone. He was fierce when he saw what
had truly happened during the Scorching, and stated that he wanted every
human to burn after what they had done. He was also firm towards Freedom
when she demanded that he give her his memories, and was confident as a
young dragonet.

## Biography

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

left
The Flames of Hope
Dusky was one of the
many SilkWings who went into hiding in the underground caverns. He
stayed close to Luna when she arrived and told her that there were
whispers in the dark saying, "You're mine now, little dragon." Later,
Dusky was seen with Luna trying to sleep, though he startled awake several times. A dragon named Whitespeck came to check
on Dusky and revealed to Luna that Dusky's mother was missing and that
his father was killed in a construction accident when he was only one.
Luna was shocked that Dusky was alone, but Whitespeck informed her that
since Dusky was the only one in his household, he was forced to work on
Lady Bloodworm's construction projects.

Dusky was later taken by Vole into the abyss, forcing Luna to go after
him. In the abyss, Dusky and Luna encountered the skeletons of
Cottonmouth and Lizard who showed them through Mindspace|the mindspace
of events happening in real time and the origins of the Scorching. Dusky
watched the events of the Scorching with Luna, and was then sent into
the mindspace, along with Luna. He refused to give his memories when
Freedom asked for them, until Luna made a deal with Freedom which
involved him giving her his memories. Dusky offered to give his memories
before Luna. The memory shown in the book was of Dusky and his father,
arguing first over who was 'dada' and then about what they would have
for dinner. Freedom reacted negatively to Dusky's memories, saying that
it must be weird to have a parent that cares about their child.

In the epilogue, Dusky was reunited with his mother, who cried when she
got to see her son. They went to live in the LeafSilk Kingdom, where he
has sleepovers with Bumblebee.

## Relationships

### Bumblebee

Dusky loved Bumblebee's ferocity, and Bumblebee was easier at bedtimes
when they had sleepovers.

### Cricket

Cricket offered one of her talons to Dusky when he was scared, and he
touched his nose to it. Cricket told him that it was all right to be
scared, and that he could always talk to her or Luna whenever he felt
that way.

### Unnamed characters#SilkWings|Father

Dusky beamed with delight around his father, and Dusky's father
explained things to him kindly, wrapping his silk around one of Dusky's
talons. After Dusky shouted "BABABAS" in response to Dusky's father
mentioning dinner, he dug out a banana, to which his father began
laughing. He then leaned down to nudge his dragonet with his snout,
telling Dusky that he loved him. After reliving the memory, Dusky began
to cry, and he agreed with Luna when she said that his father was
wonderful.

### Freedom

Dusky was at first firmly against giving Freedom his memories, and
Freedom was impatient towards him, despite him being wide-eyed as he
asked her how the mindspace worked. Even after she called him a bozo,
Dusky asked Freedom if there was any way to let her free of the
mindspace, to which she lashed her tail and narrowed her eyes at him.
Dusky stated that he thought Freedom was funny and fun to play with, and
although she was very loud and sometimes scary, she was very brave and
interesting, and he did not want her to go away.

### Luna

Upon first seeing Luna, Dusky bolted straight to Luna's talons and
looked up at her with hopeful, awestruck eyes. She was sympathetic
towards him upon seeing his scars and realizing that he had worked as a
construction apprentice, and he eventually edged so close to her that he
was nearly sitting on her talon. When Dusky realized that Luna was
planning to leave the SilkWing refugee camp, he suddenly jumped forward
and wrapped his claws around her leg, pressing his face into her scales
and pleading with Luna to let him stay with her. She felt a stab of sad,
familiar sympathy towards him, and touched his head lightly whilst
asking if anyone would be looking for him if he were to come with her.
Luna then curved one wing around him, assuring that he could of course
stay with her and giving him flamesilk to light his path. Although Dusky
is twitchy and startled her several times during the night by jerking
himself awake, she could not bring herself to send him away, and he
later clung to her tightly, begging Luna to take him with her; Luna
agreed after telling him to be careful, after which he snuggled into her
neck. After encountering Vole, Luna tugged Dusky into her arms, partly
to comfort him and partly to comfort herself; when it was time for them
to briefly part, Dusky whispered "No, no, no" and was trembling
violently; he also looked sad when she left, but did not argue with her.
Luna then thought about how she would like to make a tapestry for Dusky.

When Dusky was captured by Mole and Raven, she pleaded with the humans
not to hurt him, and it made her sick with nerves when the humans
brought him close to the Abyss village. She was firm towards the humans
when she told them that they could not have him, and was relieved when
they released him, her talons outstretched to catch him. When he shouted
for help, she was quick to oblige, and she is gentle towards him. She
felt closer to him after experiencing his memories.

### Whitespeck

Whitespeck checked on Dusky as he was sleeping beside Luna, and spoke
softly when he mentioned the state of Dusky's family. He would have
liked to adopt Dusky, if the HiveWings had allowed him to do so, and
made sure that Dusky got something to eat while they were living in the
SilkWing refugee camp.

## Quotes

No. They're gone. It's only me. Just Dusky. I can be really
quiet, really. You won't even notice me. Please? I don't want to be
alone in the dark anymore. I'm afraid I'll get lost and no one will ever
find me.
to Luna
The Flames of Hope
121

-----

Bloodworm Hive's rules were very strict. One member of each
household must be employed on Lady Bloodworm's pet projects — even if
that household consists of only one small orphan. The day after his
father died, they came and dragged him off to work on the same
construction site. He has to split his time between there and school.

Whitespeck to Luna, about Dusky's life
The Flames of
Hope
129-130

-----

Do you want one? Maybe you'll like them better if you get a
real hug?
to Freedom, after she said that she disliked hugs

The Flames of Hope
279

-----

And you're funny. And fun to play with, and very loud, and
scary sometimes, and bossy all the time, and brave and really
interesting, and I don't want you to go away either.
to
Freedom, before her death
The Flames of Hope
305

-----

She's already dead. What we're doing is setting her free from
the plant.
to Luna, about Freedom
The Flames of Hope

307

## Trivia

  - Dusky is absolutely terrified of humans, and has bad dreams about
    them.
  - His name was originally going to be used as Blue's name.