'Qibli' is a male SandWing dragonet and the main
protagonist of Darkness of Dragons. Formerly a member of the Outclaws,
he is attending Jade Mountain Academy as a member of the Jade Winglet
and is currently in a relationship with Moonwatcher.

## Description

Qibli is wiry and narrow-shouldered, with pale, light, sandy-yellow
scales and yellow wings. His snout is speckled with a few tiny dark
brown freckles and has a small, rakish scar zigzagging across it. He
wears a small, shiny, warm, gold hoop earring in his left ear that is
hung with a warm, orange-amber teardrop. He is scruffy, scrawny, and
slightly larger than Kinkajou. He has sharp obsidian-black eyes.

## Personality

Qibli often makes witty jokes, clever observations, and tries to get
along with everyone, especially upon first meeting them. Moonwatcher
describes him as one of the smartest dragons in Pyrrhia. He was once
able to come up with three different escape plans in less than a minute,
 and he is intelligent and sincere, using his brain to solve problems.
He is open about his feelings, and he is friendly and observant. Winter
once thought that if anyone could solve the mystery of Pyrite, it would
probably be Qibli. He often does not need to yell.

Qibli is also funny, interesting, honest, practical, generous, and
charming. Qibli is selfless, stubborn, and compassionate, and tends to
be talkative, observant, gentle, excitable, and optimistic. He is fair,
peculiar, clever, hopeful, cheerful, and enthusiastic. When others are
in danger, he becomes genuinely concerned, his voice suddenly gentle
instead of playful. Moonwatcher observed that instead of thinking of
just one thing, he is often thinking about several things at once. He
has a map of the school in his head, which he used to try and find Ostrich. He cares about other dragons very deeply and
wants to be considered significant by others. He is often tempted to
steal things due to his Outclaw upbringing, and his thoughts are
complicated and careening. He is not a sneak, and refuses to betray
those he loves, even by pretending to. Qibli is accustomed to simpler
tastes, and when he sees decorative wealth, he is only reminded of how
it could have been used to help other dragons instead of just being
another decoration. He is reasonable, but does not like to be described
as normal, and he knows how to play tricks with his words. He is also
willing to push aside rationality in order to help others. He loves
meeting new dragons and trying to read them, and he is always
considering how other dragons think and what they are like on the
inside. His brain is organized, his thoughts are constant, and he is
willing to admit and apologize when he is in the wrong. He is
intelligent and has several big ideas, but the desire to be liked lies
underneath everything he does. He is not usually quiet.

Despite his external good nature, Qibli has been deeply affected by his
abusive relationships with Vulture, Cobra, Sirocco, and Rattlesnake, and
although he often tried to drown out their voices by focusing on his
life as an Outclaw, the smallest things can bring painful memories
crashing back in. He constantly faces insecurity about being ordinary,
small, insignificant, and useless. He desperately wants other dragons to
like him and cannot seem to resist dragons who smile at him or seem to
enjoy his company. Due to his desire for other dragons to like him, he
had no issue with a spell that would make everyone like him and did not
believe that it was a completely selfish thing. However, after Winter
yelled at him about it, he realized that it was selfish. He often feels
anxious or blames himself very harshly whenever he makes a mistake. He
is said to talk so much that when he was gone hunting, the other members
of the stealth team could finally get words in. Qibli likes to have
someone to argue with, usually Winter.

## Biography

### The Dragonet Prophecy

left The Brightest Night

Qibli was a member of the Scorpion Den's Outclaws, who guided
Fierceteeth, Strongwings and Preyhunter to the Outclaws lair to speak to
their leader, Thorn. When Preyhunter told Thorn of Morrowseer's death,
she lashed out angrily and pinned Preyhunter down with her claws and had
her tail to his heart for thinking he was lying. When Preyhunter lashed
out at Thorn, Qibli and Six-Claws were among the first to rush to her
defense, although Thorn herself had already stabbed Preyhunter's heart
with her deadly tail.

Later, Qibli followed Thorn and Sunny to Thorn's tent as they discussed
the "Wanted" posters. Qibli stubbornly told Thorn that he was not going
to leave her alone with Sunny because she was, at that time, a stranger.
Sunny was revealed to be Thorn's long lost daughter, and though Qibli
thought this was a con, Thorn reassured him that she was indeed her
stolen daughter. Qibli seemed a bit jealous of Sunny. When a messenger
informed Thorn of a dragonbite viper and a fire near the orphanage,
Qibli and Sunny were left alone together for a short amount of time.
During that time, Qibli lectured Sunny about the Outclaws, but she fell
asleep shortly after Thorn's departure.

When the Outclaws attacked SandWing stronghold|Burn's stronghold to
rescue Sunny, he fought alongside Thorn and Six-Claws, narrowly saving
Thorn's life by pushing a rival SandWing soldier away. After Thorn and
Sunny escaped the library, they saw Qibli and some other loyal Outclaws
resuming the fighting. Qibli said he had known Smolder was up to no
good, and he knew to never trust a Dragon royalty|royal, though
Six-Claws sarcastically commented that he met many royals.

Qibli, along with Six-Claws, and the other members of the Outclaws
witnessed their leader, Thorn being chosen by the dragonets of destiny
(mainly Sunny) to be the new queen of the SandWings and finally ending
the War of SandWing Succession|war. Qibli would later be chosen as one
of the five SandWings to attend the new intertribal school, Jade
Mountain Academy.

-----

### The Jade Mountain Prophecy

left Moon Rising

Moonwatcher caught Qibli's attention, when he was in the main hallway of
Jade Mountain Academy as he was speaking to Ostrich. She heard him
observe how she was twitching back her wings, and he wondered if she was
plotting something or she was just shy.

Later, in the prey center, he interfered when Prince Winter confronted
Moonwatcher about his pet scavenger, Bandit, and how she was not allowed
to eat him. Humorously defending Moon from Winter's offensive threats,
he helped Winter understand that Moon had been trying to save Bandit,
not eat him. After the interaction in the prey center, the school
teachers thought it would be better to replace their winglet's IceWing
and SandWing with Winter and Qibli. Qibli also attended a meeting
concerning their Winglet the next day, where he defended Moon again as
Winter was trying to pry her supposed NightWing secrets out of her.
Tsunami made their winglet go hunting, and Qibli congratulated Moon when
she killed a goat. At the prey center, they shared the goat, and Qibli
talked a bit about his past. After mentioning his family, he said the
best part about them was that he would never see them again. Moon then
had a vision of Qibli close to the age he was now, asking three larger
SandWings "Where is she?".

The next day, he showed up after Winter when Moon was warning everyone
about the fire. He asked her what was wrong and tried to stop Carnelian
from going inside, lying and saying that it was because it smelled bad.
When the cave blew up, Qibli then defended Moon a third time from Winter
when he asked her how she knew. Qibli found out that Moon was a mind
reader, thinking that she thought of him as a terrible dragon, or maybe
even realized his feelings for her and then ran off. The next day, he
told Moon that he wanted to help her find the murderer who was
terrorizing so many dragons.

Qibli then told Moon to check Pike, Flame, and Icicle. They were all
dead ends, and they later went outside to try Onyx. Qibli asked
questions to get Onyx to admit that she set the fire, and everyone in
the circle respected him. After they knew it was not her, Moon lied to
Qibli about the skyfire, which made him distrust her again. Moon read
his thoughts later, wondering if he should tell the MudWings. He then
appeared when Moon went to see Sora. When Sora and Umber left, Qibli
followed Moon to the library. They both knew that the killer was Sora
and that Icicle had been conspiring with Ex-Queen Scarlet to kill the
dragonets of destiny.

When they got there, Icicle was creeping up on Starflight, ready to
attack. Qibli warned Starflight to look out, but as he did, Icicle
pinned Starflight down and twisted around to use him as a shield. Moon
begged her not to kill him, and Winter overheard the conversation and
questioned his sister. Icicle warned Winter to stay out of her way. Moon
heard Icicle's thoughts as Qibli got too close to her and shot
frostbreath at them as she shoved him out of the way. Moon took the hit
on the edge of her wing, then Icicle smashed Starflight's head, knocking
him out. Moon landed next to him, making sure he was alive. Qibli threw
himself at Icicle, and she threw Qibli on top of a desk, which he slid
behind. Icicle then went for Moon, and Winter tried to get her off, but
Icicle was bigger and stronger. Icicle then stated Starflight was the
reason the IceWings died in Scarlet's prison. Moon replied that Winter
and Starflight were good inside. Winter then smashed his tail onto
Icicle's head, which caused her to let go of Moon. She had a gash on the
back of her head and cuts from Qibli. Icicle then revealed that
Hailstorm was alive and she was working with Scarlet to get him back.
She then flew out the window while Winter shouted for her to come back.
Qibli got back up, with bruises all over his face and his earring nearly
torn off. He thought about how disappointed Thorn would be if she saw
him get knocked out by an IceWing.

Later, Qibli was with Moon, when she asked Turtle to give Qibli and
Kinkajou skyfire. When they wondered where Winter was, Qibli told them
that he left and was not in their cave.

left Winter Turning

Qibli annoyed Winter by making clever observations about Winter's plans
but still wanted to be friends. Winter got rid of Turtle, and Qibli said
that he could not get rid of the rest of them as easily. This annoyed
Winter very much, but he "allowed" them to follow. They all ended up
flying to the Rainforest Kingdom|rainforest to warn Queen Glory about
Icicle coming to kill her.

When they arrived in the NightWing village, Winter noticed Qibli and
Kinkajou looking at Moon and her mother with longing expressions, and he
wondered about their family stories. Qibli followed the group to the
RainWing royal pavilion, and snuck behind Moon, Winter, and Glory when
they went to the banyan tree. Glory soon stopped and called out Qibli
for following them, but allowed him to go with the group. Qibli saw the
dead NightWing body covered in frostbreath. He and the others were later
locked in the wingery and escaped to the NightWing tunnels where they
find Icicle. Kinkajou tackled her to the ground out of rage, saying that
nobody would kill her queen. Just before Icicle was about to kill her,
Glory showed up suddenly with Deathbringer and her RainWing guards and
tranquilized Icicle.

When they went out looking for Scarlet after Icicle was
Dreamvisitors|dreamvisited, they met Squid and Riptide, two SeaWings
from the Talons of Peace, by a river. They looked at the drawing, and
Riptide summoned two SkyWings, Avalanche and Pyrite. Avalanche seemed
like she wanted to rip off Qibli's tail barb, most likely because her
son, Flame, had been scarred by a SandWing barb. Pyrite claimed to know
where it is when they mentioned that they were looking for Scarlet.
Winter observed that Qibli had feelings for Moon and wondered if his
feelings were as obviously shown as Qibli's.

When they found the mountain Moon saw in the dream, they took a short
rest. Winter was dreamvisited by Scarlet, which meant she was spying on
them. They look around and find a shredded camp and one of Scarlet's
scales, and they discover she had been there. They started looking until
they found a cave, and while Kinkajou and Pyrite were still sleeping,
they crept up on Scarlet and Chameleon|her companion and overheard her
yelling at her companion and ordering him to bring Pyrite to her. When
they got back to camp, Winter confronted Pyrite, and she attacked him.
Qibli fought her while Winter and Moon fought Scarlet's companion. Qibli
pinned Pyrite to the ground, and Winter tore off the necklace that she
had previously refused to remove. Qibli jumped back at the sight of her
scales falling off to reveal Hailstorm. However, Kinkajou was severely
injured by ex-Queen Scarlet's NightWing companion.

When they got to the town of Possibility so that they could take
Kinkajou to the hospital, Winter got worried about Hailstorm's confusion
and decided to wear the necklace so he could know what Hailstorm was
going through. Before he could do so, Qibli tore off number four of the
conditions, which roughly was, "feels the need to wear this necklace
with life/death urgency." When Winter put the necklace on, he turned
into Pyrite. When Qibli asked him if he could have the necklace back,
Pyrite gave it to him, and Winter appeared again. Winter decided to go
back to the Ice Kingdom, and Qibli tried to reason with him, but Winter
ignored him, and Qibli gave him a week to come back to them. When Winter
was leaving, Qibli called out, "Don't be a stranger!"

left Escaping Peril

Qibli flew above Peril and Turtle when Turtle healed himself in the
river. They greeted each other when they met. Qibli was suspicious of
Peril and said to Moon after she told Peril that Qibli was "probably the
smartest dragon in Pyrrhia" and had already come up with five ways to
kill her by then. Qibli stated that he had only come up with three so
far and pointed out to Peril that she still referred to Scarlet as "the
queen."

When Peril burned Winter while trying to dive away, Qibli, Moonwatcher,
and Turtle landed below the arch and gathered around Winter. Qibli
frantically tried to think of a way to heal Winter, stating that Winter
could breathe frostbreath onto his scales and mentioned that no cactus
sap healed burns. Qibli got pushed aside by Turtle as he worked with his
animus-touched river stone. He asked why Turtle had "a magic healing
rock." He quickly figured it out and exclaimed that Turtle must be an
animus.

Later, he said that Winter running into Peril looked like a fight when
Peril tried to convince the group it was an accident. Qibli noted that
Winter left pretty firmly and questioned why he even got a vote on
stating whether Peril was the danger in the Jade Mountain Prophecy.

When they got the Darkstalker's scroll|scroll from Chameleon, Winter and
Qibli got into a fight on how to use it, which caused Peril to burn the
scroll and to unintentionally free Darkstalker.

left Talons of Power
Qibli watched Darkstalker emerge from the Agate Mountain|mountain. He
quickly noticed that Darkstalker was ignoring Turtle, understanding that
Turtle had cast some sort of spell. He then asked Winter if he was
alright when Winter suddenly forgave Darkstalker easily, unlike his
usual demeanor. When they left to go hunting due to Darkstalker's
insistence, he gave Turtle a meaningful look and pointed to Jade
Mountain, trying to signal to him to warn the school.

Later, he told Peril to talk to Clay instead of worrying about it, then
asked Turtle if he was like that around Moon. When Turtle was puzzled,
he immediately said "never mind" to him and told him that he did not
know yet if Darkstalker was evil, and Turtle should keep a lookout. When
Turtle went to see Winter and Qibli, Qibli mentioned how odd it was for
Winter to act this forgiving. After Winter stormed out, Qibli
reluctantly asked Turtle if he could make him an animus but immediately
dismissed it when he saw Turtle's reaction and instead asked for a spell
on his earring that would shield him from all of Darkstalker's
enchantments. Turtle did, and when Qibli tried it on, he mentioned that
he felt more connected to himself, proving that Darkstalker made an
enchantment that made everyone like and trust him; however, Turtle
thought it might just be a psychological effect. When Darkstalker came,
knowing that a spell had been cast, he asked Qibli if Anemone had passed
by at all. When Qibli realized that Darkstalker could sense animus
spells being cast, he said he did not think she had but suggested that
she might have. Darkstalker asked Qibli to tell his history scroll to
roll up to test if he has animus powers, and when it did not work,
Darkstalker informed Qibli that he would have made a formidable animus
with his mind.

When Turtle planned to follow Darkstalker and Anemone to the rainforest,
Turtle gave him one of his enchanted slates. These slates were enchanted
so that when Turtle got a writing idea, he would write it on one slate,
and the writing would appear on the other. After Turtle left, Turtle
sent him messages several times. Turtle told Anemone to find Qibli for
help when Darkstalker summoned all the animus dragons from Pyrrhia.

left
Darkness of Dragons
Qibli watched
Darkstalker leave with the NightWing students, Turtle, Anemone, and
Moonwatcher.

In a flashback, Cobra snapped at Qibli that he would never amount to
much, and she discouraged him from trying to be a hero, as he would only
fail after he delivered to her a coconut that he stole from a fight
between a cat and mouse earlier in the day. She beat him with Thorn
watching. Thorn then proceeded to take Qibli away from his home and
mother (who happily agreed) and into cities unknown to him. She asked
him what he did to the spiny mouse as he set the mouse free. Thorn
assumed he had rescued it and complimented him on his cleverness, saying
his skills were what she wanted in her organization.

Qibli noted that ever since that day, Thorn had his complete trust and
loyalty. However, he now thinks of Moon just as much, if not more than
he thinks about Thorn, and wondered if Moon would ever love him back
with the same hopefulness he used to show toward Cobra. Qibli then
snapped out of his pondering and flew up to Winter, who was sorrowfully
watching Moon fly away with Darkstalker and his followers. Qibli, while
he is observing how Winter was watching Moon fly away, thought about how
Moon would choose Winter and his beautiful scales and heroic personality
over himself. When Winter caught Qibli watching him, he claimed that he
was watching the sunset, and Qibli sarcastically responded that the
sunset was the only interesting thing. Winter then said that once Moon
comes back with the others, everything would be normal again, but Qibli
disagreed, asking how things could be normal if Winter returned to
school after faking death to his tribe. Winter said he never planned on
going back to the school, and Qibli realized he came back because
Moonwatcher was there. Qibli decided that he needed to break the
supposed spell that Darkstalker cast on Winter, for Winter's sake and
Moon's, but he struggled to find out how. Qibli then realized that he
could duplicate his enchanted earring using Turtle's duplicating bowl.
Qibli then brought the bowl out, only to realize he did not know how to
use it. Peril walked by, and with her, he figured out how to use the
bowl. With his new enchanted earrings, Qibli confronted Winter and tried
to give him one, but Winter was clear he would not put anything magic on
him after what happened to Hailstorm. Qibli scolded himself for not
guessing Winter would be a stubborn, "stupid donkey."

Later during history class with Webs, many dragonets questioned Webs
about Darkstalker. Winter then haughtily announced that he trusted his
judgment better than any scroll's and got into an argument with a
MudWing named Sepia about his sister Icicle, who was a murderer and
collaborating with Ex-Queen Scarlet. Qibli soon realized that Onyx and
Ostrich were not there in the cave with them while defending Winter. He
found this troubling, as Ostrich particularly liked all her lessons,
along with the fact that Sunny peeked in, got a worried look, and
hurried on. Webs agreed eventually to tell the dragonets about
Darkstalker if they stopped fighting. When Qibli stated that Webs' claim
about Darkstalker being humble and unambitious was now wrong, Winter
disagreed with him. He said that it was not like Darkstalker had
demanded to be NightWing king immediately. Ironically, the slate that
Turtle enchanted began writing the words "Darkstalker wants to be
NightWing king" across its surface, and Qibli had to restrain himself
from laughing.

Sunny asked Webs to give her Qibli and gave him worrying news; Ostrich
and Onyx had gone missing. Qibli hurriedly made multiple earrings
through Turtle's enchanted food bowl. When he looked for the dragonets
of destiny to give the shield earrings to them, he found out through
Sunny's dream-visiting that his grandfather Vulture had Ostrich in the
Scorpion Den. He argued with Clay in the weapons cave about how he could
not face his grandfather with only three daggers, a sword, and a big
stick, saying if he went to him unarmed, it would be like "cutting his
own throat and hanging his corpse from an alley wall." He was then
interrupted by Winter, who offered to go with him. Qibli claimed that it
is because Winter adored him. While Winter muttered about how his plan
was already backfiring, Qibli worried about how Winter was under
Darkstalker's spell and might be spying on him for the evil animus
NightWing. But he decided to let Winter come along, thinking that later
he may get Winter to wear his earring. Winter and Qibli set off to the
Scorpion Den.

When they landed, Qibli worried about how the shadows stalking them did
not do anything but watch, and he hurried to his old home. There he
cannot find Cobra but was met by his siblings Sirocco and Rattlesnake.
They had acquired new tattoos like Vulture's and took Qibli and Winter
into Vulture's compound. There they found Vulture watching two
scavengers in a maze. Winter defended them, and Vulture waved away the
guards and the scavengers. He also started the train of thought to lead
Qibli into figuring out the truth about Onyx - that she was Prince
Smolder and Palm's daughter. He also said that she would be challenging
Thorn for the throne. Vulture noted that Cobra, Qibli's mother, was
imprisoned in an oubliette for giving Qibli away. Vulture then demanded
that Qibli give away all of Thorn's secrets for his friends', mother's,
and own release. Qibli pretended to write down Thorn's secrets in a
scroll, stalling, then he made more throwing stars from the one Ostrich
swiped in Turtle's doubling bowl while his mother caused a scene. They
then escaped and left for Thorn's palace, where Qibli found Thorn,
Smolder, and Typhoon, a SeaWing-IceWing hybrid from Possibility. Typhoon
talked about how all the IceWings in the settlement had gotten
suspiciously sick. Qibli suggested giving enchanted earrings to the
staff (Thorn and her subjects), and more for Typhoon to take to all the
IceWings in Possibility and the Ice Kingdom to be free from
Darkstalker's plague and spells. Qibli suddenly ordered the Outclaws to
pin Cobra to the ground and looks in her bag, finding weapons and
poison. Accusing Cobra that she was not really in the oubliette all that
time, and it was a setup to get close to Thorn. Afterward, Winter jumped
into the air to get Darkstalker to heal the whole IceWing tribe being
under Darkstalker's spell. Qibli tried to get Winter to wear the earring
so Winter could be free from the Darkstalker's spell. Winter objects to
this loudly, and in the process, freezes Qibli's arm, causing him to
pass out, right after Thorn jabbed an earring in Winter's ear. However,
directly before Qibli passes out, he called Winter a friend and asked
Thorn to get earrings for everybody.

Thorn's doctors healed Qibli's arm, and he woke up in a room with
Winter, who grudgingly apologized for fighting with Qibli. Qibli got to
work making more protection earrings, even though Typhoon had already
left with the two still in Qibli's bag to give to the sick IceWings.
Winter watched as he doubled his earring in Turtle's bowl and asked if
Qibli was secretly an animus dragon also (along with their clawmate,
Turtle). Qibli thought darkly of how Winter took his one chance with the
enchanted scroll away and responded instead with a mention of Turtle's
magic. They make many more protection spells for all of Thorn's staff
and the IceWings. Thorn walked into the room and asked what Qibli was
doing but, after watching him, corrected herself with a more specific
question of how. Qibli explained, and Thorn asked why they could not
just have Qibli's animus friend stop Darkstalker with a spell. Qibli
said that magic could, but the particular dragon could not. She also
asked for some earrings to give to Coral and "Mudhen" (a typo for
Moorhen). Winter joked awkwardly about how they would inflict Qibli's
terrible fashion sense on the whole continent. They planned on who would
take the earrings to wear, and Thorn told Qibli and Winter that she
would handle it with her messengers.

They then returned to the balconies and found out that the Talons of Power, Vulture's followers, were filling
the skies fighting the Outclaws, and the "nightmarish shape" of Vulture
holding the Eye of Onyx that he stole from the treasury. He gave a
speech, stopping the fight, and wrongly shaped Qibli's words that he
yelled at Vulture in his favor. Vulture claimed that the threat of the
bombing was the MudWings, and says that he had proof. He is cut off by
Queen Thorn, who told him to bring the MudWing to her for questioning
instead of illegally taking him into custody and for a real SandWing
duel in the dueling grounds if there was a serious challenger. Vulture
counters by claiming he had the Eye of Onyx, so there was no need, but
Thorn revealed that that one was just a fake that she kept for fooling
thieves and saving their lives while she was wearing the real one.
Vulture tried to fight back by questioning whether the one Thorn wore
was the real one, and she calmly responded that the real Eye of Onyx
killed anyone not worthy of the throne and that it had not killed her
yet. Qibli caught that she implied Vulture would be dead if it were not
a replica. Winter muttered to Qibli the connection around Onyx's name to
the eye of Onyx, and Qibli frantically searched for Onyx in the crowds
of SandWings all around him. He spied a flicker of movement and shrieked
to Thorn that she's right below her. He dived towards her, and Thorn
fended off her attacker. She told Qibli not to hurt Onyx, and he found
it hard not to protect his queen more, protesting. Onyx claimed the
crown should be hers, and Thorn scoffed, saying Onyx should fight her
like a real queen and that "this crown will never fall to a sneaking,
sulking, shadow-killer."

They went to the arena grounds, where Smolder, Onyx's father, talked to
Onyx. Qibli was worried that since Onyx was truly royal blood, the Eye
of Onyx might choose her, causing him to try and call up a storm that
would delay the battle. He regretted it instantly after using Anemone's
magic bracelets, but it was too strong and made a sandstorm. Thorn raced
to get everyone inside, and they lost Onyx, Vulture, and Smolder in the
process. Once they were all safe, Qibli and Thorn went looking for them
and find Onyx and Smolder in the dungeons, where Onyx was injured.
Smolder was scared of the "mad prisoner" who is Prickle, Palm's sister,
and Onyx's aunt. Ostrich and Six-Claws find another entrance from the
outside of the dungeons, and they made it back outside, where Qibli saw
all the damage he had done. He vowed not to use the bracelets again, as
Thorn scolded him earlier for "controlling" the weather.

During the fall of Jade Mountain, Qibli also provided Princess Anemone
with a spell to stop the battling NightWings and IceWings at the Battle
of Jade Mountain, then Darkstalker took him to the cave where he was
trapped in and offered to make him an animus. Qibli turned him down and
was rescued by Moon and Kinkajou and later oversaw the fall of
Darkstalker with Moon, Foeslayer, and Kinkajou.

He later appeared at the end of Darkness of Dragons when Moon asked him
to come back to Jade Mountain and wanted to be together with him. Moon
also asked Qibli if he wanted to check something out with her, which he
gladly agreed to. They arrived at a small Jerboa III's hut|hut near the
border of the Ice Kingdom. They meet a dragon named Jerboa III, the
dragon Moon saw in a vision. Jerboa III allowed them to enter her hut
where they see a dragon they have never seen before; a dragon from the
lost continent.

-----

### The Lost Continent Prophecy

left The Lost Continent

In the epilogue, Qibli meet Luna for the first time along
with Moonwatcher, his new girlfriend. Qibli was shocked to see a dragon
from Pantala for the first time and commented on how Luna had so many
wings and asked if it was hard to fly with all those wings, then
answered his question, saying that it was a silly question. When Luna
told them that they needed to get her home, Qibli told her that he "had
some ideas" to get her back to Pantala.

left
The Hive Queen
In the prologue,
Qibli arrived with Turtle and Tsunami at Jerboa III's hut as Moonwatcher
began to recite the prophecy. Afterward, Turtle accused him of his soul
spell "breaking" animus magic, as neither he nor Anemone could use
spells anymore; Qibli immediately denied this. He told Luna that he
thought of swimming to Pantala to clarify before Tsunami mentioned it.

left The Poison Jungle

Qibli was mentioned by Tsunami when she was in the SapWing
village.

left
The Dangerous Gift
Qibli first
appeared when Queen Snowfall and the Pantalan dragons took shelter by
Jerboa III's hut. He appeared multiple times alongside Moonwatcher and
eventually followed the refugees to Sanctuary. There, he happily
reunited with Winter, and appeared later on with Thorn, as part of the
queens summit. Qibli was eventually chosen as one of the eleven
representatives to go to Pantala.

left
The Flames of Hope
Qibli appeared
when Luna was talking to Jerboa III. He told her how they should
probably stop fixing things and then nothing would go wrong. He then
told Luna that Tsunami wished to show her something. On the way to Pantala, Qibli made fun of Bullfrog, telling him that his
"constant talking" would be heard from miles away. He was captured by
Wasp after encountering several HiveWings on an island, along with Moon,
Pineapple, and Tsunami.

Later at Wasp Hive, Qibli, Pineapple, and Tsunami were being
interrogated by Cottonmouth through Wasp, and Qibli was taunting them
and joking around. He gave the signal for Pineapple to spit venom into
Wasp's face, and after some fighting the three of them managed to
escape. On the way there, Qibli worried that Pineapple would be upset
about using his venom on another dragon, and flew by him to comfort him.
However, since Cottonmouth was controlling Pineapple at the time, he
gave strange responses, which worried Qibli. When the three of them saw
a fire, Qibli said that it would be a good idea for the rest of the
stealth team to start a fire as a signal then turn invisible. Moon
tackled him in an invisible hug, and told him that she had not wanted to
leave him. Qibli joked to Sundew and Lynx that he had stood there like a
hero while Pineapple saved everyone. Qibli secretly asked Moon to check
whether Pineapple was himself, and when Moon found out Pineapple was
being controlled by the othermind, Qibli yelled at everyone to wake up
and that Pineapple had the othermind in his head. While the stealth team
continued on their way to Lake Scorpion, Luna, who was in the mindspace
at the time, had the idea of sharing the stealth team's memories in
order to get Freedom on their side. Through Moonwatcher, the stealth
team were able to share their memories with Freedom. In Qibli's memory,
an older female SandWing was shown defending a younger Qibli after
another dragon tried to steal his toy. He was surprised that the older
dragon would help him, and the older dragon told him it was for justice.
Qibli then claimed he would fight for justice too, and attacked the
dragon that had stolen from him. After the stealth team arrived at Lake
Scorpion, a fight ensued between them and Cottonmouth's dragons. During
the fight, he jumped in front of Moon in order to protect her from the
impact.

-----

### Field Guides

left
A Guide to the Dragon World
Qibli
was indirectly mentioned by Starflight as one of the students who found
Python's letter in the library of Possibility.

In the NightWing chapter, Qibli was mentioned by Moon in her
introductory letter to Starflight before her scroll about NightWing
powers.

## Relationships

### Cobra

Cobra is scornful towards her son, and reminded Qibli during his youth
that he was useless and a waste of scales. He still hears her voice all
of the time, reminding him about how wretched she thinks he is. He
followed behind her like a little trail of footprints when he was young,
and often wished desperately for her to show approval or affection
towards him, but Cobra did not care at all what he did or how he was
affected. He used to lie awake watching her, hoping for a glance that
would show that she did love him. He often tried to prove to her that he
was a dragon good enough to be worth loving, and often made things up in
his head to try and convince himself that Cobra cared about him. Cobra
considers him a half witted idiot with crazy ideas, completely ordinary
and useless, and doubts his ability to ever do anything important, but
he still desperately desires for her to want and care for him. Later on,
she snapped at him even while pretending to be loving towards him in
order to infiltrate the SandWing stronghold. After her betrayal, Qibli
fought to keep a tremor out of his voice and reflected on how he had
always wanted to trust her, but she had lied to him throughout his
entire life.

### Moonwatcher

When Moonwatcher first mentioned that she had been speaking to
Darkstalker, Qibli developed a strange intensity in his eyes, and he
worried that she might like Darkstalker better than him. He later
defended Moonwatcher from Winter's unkindness.

If it were up to Qibli, he would spend every day of his life flying with
Moon. He recognizes subtle things about her, and thinks about what she
would do when he needs motivation. Everything is less awful for him when
he is with her, and he often wishes that she were by his side. When Moon
was in danger, he leaped aside to protect her with his wings, and he
looks at Moon like he loves her. When Qibli spoke about how free he
thought Possibility was, Moon looked at him like he made sense. When
Moonwatcher said that she was unsure if anyone would want to come with
her to fulfill the Jade Mountain Prophecy, Qibli waved a wing at himself
as though it were obvious. When Winter told Moon he should have nothing
to do with her, Qibli sounded genuinely angry. He feels a need to know
whether or not she is safe, and during his time away from her, he felt
like he was a broken vase and she was the piece that would fit him all
back together. He once thought that his ideal future would be as a loyal
advisor to Thorn, but as he continued thinking about it, Moon appeared
in the vision alongside him as his partner. He wants to make her smile,
and she makes him happier than he has ever felt before. For Qibli, being
around Moonwatcher feels like being on a team with someone who works
with him and makes his own brain work better. He once stated that he
would be there for Moon anytime she needed him, and thought that if Moon
ever died, it would kill him as well. She often turns to him for
physical comfort, and he is considerate of her needs. During the journey
to Pantala, Qibli and Moon slept side by side at night.

### Sirocco and Rattlesnake

Sirocco and Rattlesnake told Qibli constantly during his dragonethood
that he was useless and a waste of scales, and he still hears their
voices in his head all of the time. They are scornful towards him and
often stole things from him when they were growing up. Qibli had to use
tricks quite often just to stop them from stealing his food. Although
they were awful to him, he refused to let Cobra kill them.

### Thorn

Qibli looks at Thorn as though she has the eyes he trusts the most.
Thorn brought Qibli as her SandWing advisor during a meeting with her
fellow queens, and although she looked worried when Qibli suggested
traveling to Pantala, she agreed that he was the best choice. Qibli
thinks of himself as Thorn's second-in-command. Thorn unofficially
adopted him as a young dragonet, and assured him that while he was under
her care, he would be wanted and cared for. She is friendly towards him,
and after she complimented his cleverness, she won his eternal undying
loyalty. Thorn trusts him and he is filled with rage whenever she is
spoken negatively of. He refused to betray her, even by pretending to,
despite being threatened by Vulture and his Talons of Power, and she has
taught him things that have made him stronger. He wants to protect Thorn
at all costs, and her face lights up when she sees him, although she can
also be stern in certain circumstances. She is his leader and his
friend, and she changed his life.

### Turtle

Upon seeing Qibli in Possibility, Turtle gave a cry of delight, and
Qibli later laughed at one of his jokes. Qibli felt exasperated with
Turtle not giving him enough information through the slates, and later
guilty about yelling at Turtle in his head. When Darkstalker threw a
huge rock on top of Turtle and Anemone, Qibli and Moon moved the rock
off them.

### Vulture

Despite being Qibli's grandfather, Vulture hates and haunts him. He
would rather fight someone who was generally evil like Darkstalker or
Scarlet than face his grandfather. Stealing from Vulture would mean
certain death, and Qibli felt enraged when Vulture spoke badly of Thorn.
Vulture considers Qibli to be the smartest of Cobra's dragonets, and
while they are both equally observant, Vulture was deceptive towards
him, and worms his way into Qibli's head to make him doubt everything is
real. Qibli is terrified of him. When Qibli knew he would have to face
Vulture to rescue Ostrich, he was so terrified that he did not trust
himself to stand up while preparing in the weapons cave. He stated that
if he went to Vulture unarmed, he may as well slit his own throat and
hang his own corpse from an alley wall.

### Winter

Qibli always had a teasing relationship with Winter. When presented with
the option of sharing a cave with someone else, Qibli refused, saying
that he did not mind. He wanted to get Winter to like him and often
teased him on purpose to try and form a friendship with the prickly
IceWing. Qibli is often envious of Winter, and while he considers Winter
very handsome, he feels drab by comparison and is self-conscious about
Moonwatcher preferring Winter over himself. However, after Winter saved
Qibli's life, he was grateful in his thanks, entirely too sincerely for
Winter. Qibli looked to Winter like he was waiting for him to decide
whether or not to reveal important information. He also purposefully
paired Moonwatcher and Winter together during the search for Hailstorm
in hopes that searching with her would keep Winter going. He was quick
to blame Winter for what happened to Darkstalker's scroll. Qibli has
helped Winter become less serious, and had an irrepressible grin on his
face when speaking to Winter in Sanctuary. Qibli considers him a best
friend and is affectionate and genuinely delighted towards him. Winter
sometimes looks at Qibli as though he will never understand him, but he
genuinely likes Qibli, and considers him a best friend. Winter is
surprised that he considers Qibli a best friend, especially since Qibli
won Moon's heart. Qibli had teased once that he and Winter would end up
getting married one day.

## Quotes

I'm not leaving you alone with no stranger. All prophecy-like
or not.
to Thorn, about Sunny
The Brightest Night
71

-----

No one is getting sliced up or frozen and snapped apart. […]
What is wrong with you? Did you even try just asking nicely? […] Hey.
I'm the idiot clawmate, although most dragons call me Qibli. My
intimidating acquaintance here is Winter. What's your name?

to Moonwatcher and Winter Moon Rising

44

-----

Winter, you need to seriously cool down! Get it? Because he's
an IceWing? I know, I'm hilarious.
to Winter
Moon Rising
45

-----

Indeed. […] The scavenger with the silly name is Winter's
pet. Nobody told me we could bring pets here, but I guess the nephew of
the IceWing queen gets some special privileges. And if you didn't know
he was Queen Glacier's nephew, don't worry, he'd have told you sometime
in the next five minutes.
to Moon, about Winter
Moon Rising
46-47

-----

I don't mind. […] I mean, I don't mind the scavenger. His
owner is the one I might be allergic to.
about Bandit and
Winter Moon Rising
52

-----

See, I'm your destiny.
to Winter, about their shared
winglet Moon Rising
85

-----

Terribly undignified. We would never allow such
higgeldy-piggeldy shenanigans in the Ice Kingdom.
imitating
Winter Winter Turning
160

-----

What is with you and faces? […] You should try threatening
someone's elbows or ankles once in a while, just for a change of pace.

to Winter Winter Turning
32

-----

Stop, stop it. I see you going to the giving-up place in your
head. Get yourself out of there right now. We do not know he is dead any
more than we did an hour ago. What we have to do is keep searching,
because he's only definitely dead if we give up and sit here like moping
camels. You are not allowed to mourn until you see a dead body, do you
understand me?
to Winter about Hailstorm
Winter Turning
165

-----

Make bananas. Absolutely terrifying. Run for your life.

to Winter about Mightyclaws' power
Talons of Power
90

-----

History! How can we possibly sit in a dark cave listening to
Webs drone on about the ancient past? This is history, happening right
now. We're in the middle of it, or we should be.
to Winter

Darkness of Dragons
17

-----

It's one of the first spells I thought of. If I'd gotten
Darkstalker's scroll — if I had all that power — first I'd protect my
soul, next, I'd cast spells to protect everyone I love, and then … I'd
do a spell to make everyone like me. Even Winter, even Peril, … even my
family. Would that be wrong? I wouldn't abuse it the way Darkstalker
has. I wouldn't be tricking anyone into doing the things I want them to
do. I just want other dragons to like me — and some of them won't, no
matter how hard I try.
thinking
Darkness of Dragons

51

-----

Geegaws. How can you call me weird and then use ancient old
worm words like that?
to Winter
Darkness of Dragons

61

-----

She doesn't trust me with them. She's like Turtle and Peril;
she thinks I don't deserve magic, or that I'll do something terrible
with it. But I wouldn't! I'd be so careful. I'd think through
everything that could go wrong before I did anything. And I have so many
great ideas! I would have been the right dragon to take care of
Darkstalker's scroll, I know I would have, no matter what Winter thinks.

Qibli's thoughts
Darkness of Dragons
64

-----

There's nothing weak about being compassionate.
to
Cobra
Darkness of Dragons
126

-----

But the world is different now than it was in Darkstalker's
time. In his time, the IceWings would have all been in the Ice Kingdom,
isolated, where a plague could wipe them out without knowing until it
was over. In this world — a world with Possibility in it, and the Talons
of Peace, and hybrid dragons and soldiers from different tribes who
fought alongside one another in the Great War — in this world, we can
see the dying dragons. We can see them, and we can save them. We can
stop him.
Qibli's thoughts
Darkness of Dragons
137

-----

You said the name Capybara when you were pretending to read my
scroll of information for Vulture — but I hadn't written that name
anywhere in it. You also mentioned Thorn's morning meetings with her
most trusted advisors. You'd only know about those details if you'd been
out of prison this whole time, spying on Thorn with the Obsidian Mirror,
right alongside Grandfather.
to Cobra
Darkness of
Dragons
140

-----

Such as the fact that he killed his father; the fact that his
seer girlfriend thought he was so dangerous he had to be hidden under a
mountain for all eternity; he can enchant dragons to do anything he
tells them to, or turn them into other dragons entirely if he wants; the
fact that he just tried to kill the entire IceWing tribe with magic; and
the fact that he's so charming and sincere that smart dragons tend to
like him even when they're not enchanted to; Also, I'm not sure there's
anyone who can stop him. I'm not sure there's anyone he cares about
enough that he'd listen to them — or anyone who's willing to try.

to Hope when she asked him what his concerns were regarding
Darkstalker
Darkness of Dragons
279

-----

Don't be selfish, Qibli — you wanted to make her smile. If
taking her to Winter would make her happy, isn't that what you want?

thoughts
Darkness of Dragons
250

-----

But there are so many dragons here. Angry dragons, violent
dragons, injured and dying dragons. Won't it be overwhelming? Won't it
hurt you, to have all their minds flooding into yours right now?

to Moonwatcher
Darkness of Dragons
314

-----

I'll always be close, if you need me.
to Moonwatcher

Darkness of Dragons
269

-----

I hope she comes out of this still thinking there's good in
other dragons. I wonder if she's right, or if she sees us that way
because that's how she is. I wonder if those dragons up there would
fight like this if they could read each other's minds. If everyone could
feel what she's feeling — if they understood all the other dragons
around them — would they still be able to kill each other?

thoughts about Moonwatcher
Darkness of Dragons
315

-----

So … why didn't you do that? To the IceWings. When you first
came out of the mountain and you saw visions of them threatening your
tribe. Why didn't you enchant all of them to want peace with you
instead? Or cast a spell to make all IceWings and NightWings forget
their ancient hatred and forgive everything that's happened? Why didn't
you use your magic to avoid war, instead of trying to kill them all?

to Darkstalker about the IceWing plague
Darkness of
Dragons
331-332

-----

The fact that you can't be good on your own. That's part of the
problem. You shouldn't need a dragon on your shoulder telling you that
killing all the IceWings is wrong, or that taking over your father's
mind was an awful thing to do.
to Darkstalker

Darkness of Dragons
335

-----

You didn't lose your soul because magic ate it away slowly.
[…] You lost it because you chose to do terrible things, over and
over again. Each terrible thing, each betrayal, each murder, added to
this mountain. That's not the magic's fault. That's you. That's who you
chose to be.
to Darkstalker
Darkness of Dragons
339

-----

That's the spirit, Hey, I have an idea: let's stop fixing
things, and then maybe nothing else will go wrong.
Qibli, to
Jerboa III and Luna
The Flames of Hope
8

-----

But then you remembered that I'm very clever and would totally
figure out how to escape on my own. […] Right? Guess what I did, guess
what I did. I stood there, like an absolute hero, while Pineapple saved
all of us. Didn't I, Tsunami?
Qibli, to Moonwatcher

The Flames of Hope
255

## Trivia

  - Qibli can play the drum.
  - According to Winter, Qibli has an annoying "let's be sensible about
    this" voice when trying to reason with someone.
  - Qibli is a wide-open desert kind of dragon and makes a lot of noise
    in enclosed spaces.
  - Qibli is a compelling storyteller.
  - On the cover of Darkness of Dragons, Qibli is missing his scar.[1]
  - Qibli remembers the first three years of his life with much more
    clarity than most dragons.
  - The first thing Qibli stole in the Scorpion Den was a runty, spotted
    persimmon that had fallen under a food cart.
  - One of Qibli's recurring nightmares is of him dying in a dark cave.
  - Qibli is roughly based on one of Tui T. Sutherland's sons, Elliot,
    though Sutherland mentioned that the dragon who represents her son
    the most is Cliff.
  - When asked about the love triangle in arc two involving Qibli,
    Winter, and Moonwatcher, Tui stated in an interview that she wanted
    to try to challenge herself by writing a love triangle where "you
    really like all of them, and any of the three can be together,"
    which made Tui feel conflicted when it came time to decide the final
    pairing. In this case, Tui wanted Moonwatcher to pick the nice guy
    who cares about her and does all the right things.
  - Qibli's theme song is Stand by You by wikipedia:Rachel
    Platten|Rachel Platten.
  - Qibli likes his scar and considers it to be a part of who he is.
  - Qibli's scar is not visible in Scholastic Homebase.
  - He was missing his scar on several pages in the Moon Rising (graphic
    novel).
  - In some of the panels in Moon Rising (graphic novel), his earring
    appears on his right ear instead of his left.
  - Qibli knows how to play charades and taught Swordtail how to play
    it.