'Kestrel' was an adult female SkyWing who was introduced in The Dragonet Prophecy. As
a member of the Talons of Peace, she was tasked with guardianship over
the Talons of Peace#Members|dragonets of destiny, primarily teaching
them tribe strengths and weaknesses. She was murdered by Blister in the
epilogue of The Dragonet Prophecy.

## Description

Kestrel had jewel-hard, bright red-gold scales the color of rust and
flames. She had orange-yellow eyes, as well as a red tail, wings and
talons. Her tongue was forked.

She was enormous, bigger than Ex-Queen Scarlet and more than twice the
size of Sunny. She had several odd scorch marks across her palms caused
by carrying Peril, as well a burn mark on her cheek. She was
grumpy-looking.

During her imprisonment in the SkyWing palace her talons became blunt,
and her scales became scraped and chipped.

## Personality

Kestrel was mean, grumpy, aggressive, easily irritated, and insensitive.
She yelled a lot, and was mentioned to hate everything. She never
believed that dragons could keep their word or care for other dragons.
She often fought unfairly when teaching the dragonets of destiny battle
training, stating that "Nothing I do is cheating". She would often
punish the dragonets of destiny by taking away all of their cave's
torches; in addition, young Starflight feared that Kestrel would be
furious if his friends ripped one of the cave's maps, insisting that
Kestrel would do something awful to them as punishment. She was
initially assumed to be cruel and naturally hostile, but was later
revealed that this was because she was bitter about being lied to and
losing both her dragonets. She abused Glory due to her being a RainWing
and not a "powerful" SkyWing. Kestrel seemed to hate all of the
dragonets of destiny and was excessively hostile towards them; she
herself seemed to be a core reason the dragonets loathed life
underground, as brought up many times later on in the books on how
Kestrel treated them. However, Kestrel seemed to have a protective side,
which was shown when Morrowseer and Blister tricked her into believing
that the dragonets were in danger. She arrived immediately to "save"
them, hinting she did have some protectiveness over the dragonets.

## Biography

left
Pre-Series

[File:KestrelDragonets.png|thumb|Kestrel](File:KestrelDragonets.png%7Cthumb%7CKestrel)
and her dragonets Peril and Sky Years before the events of The Dragonet
Prophecy, Kestrel was one of Queen Scarlet's most loyal soldiers. Under
Scarlet's orders, she entered the SkyWing breeding program and produced
one large egg containing twins, which was a rare occurrence. One of the
dragonets, the female (Peril), hatched with twice the amount of fire she
should have had while her brother (Sky) had almost none.

Since SkyWings always killed such dragonets for the danger they caused,
Kestrel attempted to escape with them but was caught at the Diamond
Spray River. Scarlet told her that if Kestrel killed one, she would not
be held responsible for her disobedience, and the other dragonet would
live. Kestrel decided to kill the fire lacking dragonet, yet the
dragonet secretly survived after she dumped him into the river.
Afterwards she went looking for him, however she was unable to find him
and assumed he was dead.
[File:PerilPast.png|thumb|Kestrel](File:PerilPast.png%7Cthumb%7CKestrel)
being forced to abandon Peril Scarlet went back on her word and ordered
her guards to attack, forcing Kestrel to flee for her life. Kestrel
attempted to save her daughter but burned her palms on the dragonet's
scales. She was forced to leave her surviving dragonet behind and could
not return to her, as she knew Scarlet would kill her.

After this unfortunate event, she became a member of Talons of Peace,
where she was assigned to be a guardian for the dragonets of destiny,
along with Webs, Dune, Hvitur and Asha.

-----

### The Dragonet Prophecy

left The Dragonet Prophecy (book)|The Dragonet
Prophecy
In the prologue, Kestrel found Hvitur's dead body
and the Unnamed characters#SkyWings|shattered SkyWing egg at the base
of a mountain after he had been murdered by Burn and had a short, snappy
conversation with Webs before the prologue ended, speaking of Webs
retrieving an egg from the Rainforest Kingdom. It also included the news
of Asha's death, where she got caught in a skirmish and was killed, but
not before she got Clay's egg to the Talons of Peace.

Six years later, Clay was having a battle training lesson with Kestrel
and was deeply failing at it. Kestrel started telling him to reach for
the "monster" inside him, referring to him attempting to break everyone
else's eggs at hatching. Tsunami bit one of Kestrel's scales off to get
her to stop picking on Clay. During the dragonets' reenactment of the
War of SandWing Succession, Kestrel came in and yelled at them about how
they were "too old for games" and punished Tsunami for talking back.
Later, after Morrowseer's visit, Clay eavesdropped on the guardians, and
found out about Kestrel's plan to kill Glory. To prevent this from
happening, the dragonets came up with a plan to escape the cave by
sending Tsunami down the underground river to find the cave entrance
outside. However, Kestrel and the other guardians chained up Tsunami,
forcing Clay to be the one to go down the river. Tsunami was later freed
by Starflight and Sunny using their fire. In the meantime, Glory stayed
hidden from Kestrel using her color-changing scales to stay invisible.
This effort thwarted Kestrel's plan, who instead took off to look for
Clay, Tsunami and Glory, believing that they had escaped. Tsunami and
Clay were able to reunite with the rest of the dragonets of destiny
while she was gone. Unfortunately, their reunion was cut short by Queen
Scarlet, who had discovered their location through a smoke signal. While
Scarlet and her guards planned on taking the dragonets back to the Sky
Kingdom, they were interrupted by Kestrel. Kestrel tried to convince
Scarlet to take her only and to leave the dragonets out of it, calling
them "useless". Scarlet refused, ordering her guards to take Kestrel and
the dragonets of destiny.

She was seen as Peril hid behind Clay, wondering about the trial she was
forbidden from watching. When Peril burst from her hiding spot, Kestrel
was stunned by the revelation that her daughter was still alive. Scarlet
appeared to find their relationship amusing, and Peril offered to go
through the challenge of the SkyWing palace#SkyWing Arena|Champion's
Shield to rescue her mother. After Glory shot venom onto Scarlet's face,
leaving the Sky Kingdom in disarray, Clay, Peril and Tsunami left to
rescue Kestrel while the others took shelter near the Diamond Spray
River. She later parted ways with them and her daughter, but Peril
believed she would have time to talk to her mother after making sure
that Queen Scarlet was dead. Kestrel told them that if they needed her,
they should send a message through the Stonemover|Dragon of Jade
Mountain.

In the epilogue, Blister and Morrowseer betrayed her. First, they told
her that the dragonets were in danger, to get her to come. Then
Morrowseer said that neither the dragonets, Blister, nor himself needed
her anymore; Blister then slashed Kestrel's throat and stabbed her in
the chest with her venomous tail barb. Morrowseer proceeded to fling her
off the cliff and into the ocean.

left The Lost Heir

Urchin found Kestrel's body upon a boulder at the base of a cliff near
the Summer Palace. She was murdered violently before the arrival of the
dragonets of destiny at the Summer Palace, having her throat slit and
her heart stabbed by a SandWing's tail — earlier found to be killed by
Blister in the epilogue of The Dragonet Prophecy. At first, only Tsunami
and Coral's court knew about the murder, although the other dragonets
eventually found out. Sunny was distraught over Kestrel's death, even
though Tsunami assured her that Kestrel, with her foul temper, did not
deserve Sunny's grief. Blister said that it must have been very
upsetting for Tsunami to see the dead body of a dragon she may have
wanted to slit the throat of a few times during her life. Tsunami and
Starflight both noticed the fact that Blister was not meant to know that
Kestrel's throat was slashed, and figured out that she must be Kestrel's
murderer.

left The Hidden Kingdom

Glory thought about how she was angry at Kestrel and Dune for
mistreating her and at Webs because he agreed to let Kestrel kill her.
She also was annoyed at Tsunami for not telling them about Kestrel's
death right away.

left The Dark Secret
In Starflight's dream, Kestrel stormed into the study room and
destroyed the scroll about the prophecy that Starflight and Sunny were
reading. She then yelled at Webs for "filling their heads with questions
and ideas."

left The Brightest Night

Sunny told Peril of Kestrel's death. Peril seemed devastated
and deeply shaken, even though she had shown distaste towards her
mother. When Sunny first heard the name Jade Mountain in the book, she
remembered someone had said something about the mountain but did not at
first remember what it was. When Sunny saw Jade Mountain, she remembered
that it was Kestrel who had mentioned the Dragon of Jade Mountain, and
wondered if Stonemover was that dragon. Later, Sunny mentioned Kestrel
as one of the dragons who did not survive to see the end of the war.

-----

### The Jade Mountain Prophecy

left Moon Rising

Kestrel was indirectly mentioned when Clay told Kinkajou that, back
then, the guardians had brought live prey for the dragonets to practice
hunting without having to leave the cave.

left Escaping Peril

Kestrel was mentioned several times, including when Peril and Turtle
talked to Cirrus and the Talons of Peace.

left
Darkness of Dragons
When Sunny told
Qibli to go to history class, Qibli said that the class was "torture."
Sunny responded by saying that he was lucky that he did not have to do
battle training with Kestrel.

-----

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

left
The Flames of Hope
When Tsunami
shared a memory of her and the other dragonets, it was mentioned that
they could not tear the map or else Kestrel would be furious.

-----

### Legends

left
Dragonslayer
At first, Wren saw
Kestrel shortly after finding Sky. She hid and wondered if Kestrel was
Sky's mother and if she was making sure Sky was dead or looking for him.
Eventually, Wren spotted the burn marks made by Peril as well.

Kestrel later appeared with the younger dragonets of destiny, watched by
Wren and Sky through the "sky hole" at the top of the dragonets' main
cave. When Sky trembled in fear, Wren wondered if that was because
Kestrel was the same mountain dragon going after Sky a year earlier.
Wren had thought that Kestrel was there to make sure that Sky was dead.

-----

### Field Guides

left
A Guide to the Dragon World
Kestrel
was mentioned in Coral's scroll about the War of SandWing Succession to
have been killed by Blister.

She was later mentioned in the SkyWing chapter to be one of the dragons
that Scarlet wanted to kill, although Scarlet noted that she should
thank Kestrel for Peril.

## Relationships

### Chameleon

Upon hearing Kestrel's name, Chameleon flared his wings and asked for
more information. He was fully a SkyWing upon meeting her, and she never
knew that he was originally a RainWing. She did not know who he was and
thought that he was assigned to partner with her in the breeding
program, but he stated "But I knew her. I am unquestionably your
father." to Peril.

### Clay

Clay was often the one to be picked out of all the dragonets to learn
how to fight because of his ability to breathe fire and his size.
Kestrel expected Clay to be the dragonet who supposedly tried to "kill"
the other dragonets of destiny during hatching, and often used this as
an excuse for expecting Clay to win every fight. Kestrel was shown often
visibly disappointed in Clay, loathing how he did not use his "inner
monster" to help him fight like a SkyWing.

Clay did not think of Kestrel quite as strongly as the other dragonets,
but it was revealed that he thought of her as hot-tempered and mean when
he stops an argument by saying that they are "mini-Kestrels."

### Dune

Dune helped Kestrel and Webs raise the dragonets of destiny while hidden
in the caves. Kestrel seemed to be neutral with him, and tolerated his
strict and slightly rough personality.

### Glory

Kestrel never liked Glory, and claimed she never would, a feeling that
Glory shares. Her hatred stemmed from the fact that originally they were
supposed to get a SkyWing egg for the prophecy, however they had to use
Glory's egg as a replacement. Kestrel did not like RainWings in general
and saw them as "wretched creatures," and "nothing like SkyWings." She
would often verbally abuse Glory by calling her "lazy" and using "lazy
RainWing" as an insult to her and her friends. She would also often
physically abuse Glory. She, along with Dune, would call her a mistake
and growl at her constantly. When Morrowseer ordered the guardians to
dispose of Glory, she expressed no remorse, and claimed she did not care
about the RainWing dragonet.

### Peril

It is likely that Kestrel cared about her daughter, as she tried to flee
with her despite getting burned. Kestrel was surprised to learn that her
daughter, whom she thought was dead was alive the whole time. However,
when Kestrel expressed wanting to talk to Peril, Peril stated that
because she believed Kestrel killed Sky and abandoned her and she had no
desire to know her. She spoke to Kestrel without any warmth in her
voice, and when Kestrel offered Peril to come with her after they
escaped the Sky Kingdom, she refused, stating that she had never
imagined Kestrel as she was, and thought that Kestrel would not be good
for her.

### Scarlet

Initially, Kestrel respected Scarlet, but was also a bit fearful of her
– she was one of Queen Scarlet's most loyal soldiers, but when Scarlet
ordered her guards to attack her, Kestrel was forced to flee for her
life. Kestrel hated the queen very much afterwards for lying to her and
forcing her to lose her dragonets. She was aware of how manipulative
Scarlet was as she was immediately able to tell that Peril's
"requirement" of black rocks every day was one of Scarlet's tricks.

### Sky

Kestrel seemed to care about Sky before his supposed "death" in
Dragonslayer when Kestrel roared and flew over the river, looking for
Sky. However, this might have been her searching for confirmation of his
death rather than his life, showing that she did not care if he was
dead, though it might have been an act, as Queen Scarlet was likely
watching. After failing to locate her son, Kestrel believed Sky had
perished. Kestrel never learned that her son was still alive and well.
The loss of her dragonets also prompted Kestrel to take her anger out on
the dragonets of destiny.

### Starflight

Kestrel would often insult Starflight just like all the other dragonets,
likely because he could not and did not want to fight.

### Sunny

Kestrel seemed to dislike Sunny the least. The optimistic dragonet was
most likely treated better by the guardians, including Kestrel. However,
Kestrel called Sunny "defective." Sunny cried after learning of Kestrel's death. It was mentioned in The Brightest Night (book)|The
Brightest Night that Sunny mourned for Kestrel.

### Tsunami

Tsunami heavily dislikes Kestrel, and Kestrel felt the same way. Kestrel
severely punished Tsunami to the point of chaining her up when she
disobeyed an order. Kestrel seemed to consider Tsunami the strongest out
of the dragonets, as she said that the SeaWing was the only one who
could have stopped her from killing Glory.

### Webs

Webs helped Kestrel and Dune raise the dragonets of destiny while hidden
in the caves. Kestrel seemed to be neutral with him, like Dune.

## Quotes

We await the wings of fire. […] Not that it'll do us much
good now. […] Hvitur is dead.
to Webs
The Dragonet Prophecy
prologue

-----

Oh, how amazing! I've never seen Kestrel be mean before!

Tsunami, about Kestrel
The Dragonet Prophecy

-----

Of all the horrible ideas. RainWings are wretched creatures.
Nothing like SkyWings.
about Webs' plan to replace the broken
SkyWing egg with a RainWing egg The Dragonet Prophecy (book)|The
Dragonet Prophecy
prologue

-----

I'm your teacher. Nothing I do is cheating. Get down here and
fight like a SkyWing.
to Clay, after stomping on his tail

The Dragonet Prophecy
3

-----

Where's the monster I saw when you hatched? That's the dragon
we need for the prophecy.
to Clay
The Dragonet Prophecy
4

-----

Aren't you sweet? Protecting a dragon who tried to kill you
while you were still an egg.
to Tsunami, about her protecting
Clay The Dragonet Prophecy

5

-----

We'll tell you what you need to know about the prophecy. […]
You don't need a pile of gossip and rumors and speculation cluttering up
your tiny little minds.
to Sunny and Starflight
The Dark Secret
92

## Trivia

  - Kestrel's tongue was described as forked, but SkyWings do not have
    forked tongues.[1]
  - Blister does not slash Kestrel's throat in The Dragonet Prophecy
    (graphic novel), yet in the The Lost Heir (graphic novel) Kestrel is
    shown to have had her throat cut out.