“True,” Fatespeaker said, and lapsed into uncharacteristic silence for the rest of the flight.
The orange RainWing led them to a tree house that matched the one in the dream Starflight had stepped into. The walls were mostly open to the outside, letting sunshine and fresh air pour in, and Glory stood behind a wooden desk, although there were no scrolls in front of her in real life. Three small RainWings were lined up before her in varying shades of green, apparently relaying reports from around the forest.
Glory saw Starflight coming and flared her wings.
“Starflight!” she cried joyfully. She jabbed her own forearm with one of her claws. “I’m not dreaming. You’re really here!”
He landed beside her. “We found a way out — Fatespeaker and I — this is Fatespeaker — because I had to come warn you,” he said. His eyes drifted to the trees around them. “Where’s Sunny?”
“Teaching a dragonet class how to read, or helping the healers with Webs, I think,” Glory said, waving her claws. “Warn me about what?”
“The NightWings are planning to attack you tonight at midnight,” Starflight said. “Maybe sooner, if they figure out where I’ve gone and why.”
“Tonight?” Glory rubbed her front talons over her head. “Go get me Mangrove,” she said to one of the small RainWings. “And you, find Grandeur.” The two of them nodded and flew off in a hurry.
“I have some ideas for defense,” Starflight started.
“I hope one of those ideas is ‘attack them first,’” Glory said. “Because that’s my plan.” She glanced out the window at the position of the sun in the sky. “I can get my army ready to fly in an hour. Sure. Organizing RainWings, no problem. It’s only roughly as hard as getting a hundred butterflies to fly in a straight line.”
“Starflight?”
A glimmer of gold scales flashed in the corner of his eye, and Starflight felt his whole body fill with light as he turned around and came face-to-face with Sunny.
Sunny spread her warm golden wings and Starflight fitted his own wings around hers for a hug. It always felt like exactly where he should be, even if just for a moment.
“I’m so glad you’re all right!” she said, stepping back and examining him for injuries. “I was checking on Webs and then this SkyWing came in, of all things, and I was showing the healers how to get the cactus milk into his wound when someone said two NightWings brought him in and I knew it must be you. You know, I wanted to go through and find you, but Glory said no.” She wrinkled her snout at the new queen.
“Glory was right. It’s too dangerous there,” Starflight said.
“Oh, please. Where have we been lately that isn’t dangerous?” Sunny said. “All the more reason we should go rescue you. Although I wasn’t really worried, because of course you had to be fine so we could fulfill the prophecy, right? And look, you rescued yourself, which is so impressive.”
Starflight guessed that the grin on his own face was probably a little goofy, but he couldn’t seem to squelch it.
“And you are?” Fatespeaker interjected, clearing her throat and sidling so close to Starflight that she bumped one of his wings.
“I’m Sunny,” said the little SandWing. She tilted her head at Fatespeaker. “Wow, your silver scales are so cool. That one looks like a bracelet — like you were born with your own treasure.”
Fatespeaker’s wings relaxed a little. She held out her talons to peer at the anklet of star-bright scales. “I never thought of it like that. I was about to say your scales are a great color. All the SandWings I’ve met were sort of pale and dusty-looking.”
“I know, I’m weird,” Sunny said agreeably. “You’re the alternate NightWing, right? Glory said Starflight had lots of nice things to say about you.” Fatespeaker gave Starflight a delighted look that made him unaccountably nervous. “What was it like growing up in the Talons of Peace camp?”
“So bizarre,” Fatespeaker said, folding her wings and leaning toward Sunny. “We were always moving so no one could find us. And everyone talked about peace, but it seemed like all we were doing was avoiding soldiers and waiting for the prophecy to come true.”
“But it must have been amazing to live with so many dragons from different tribes,” Sunny said, her eyes shining. “You’d get to see what really makes them different, and the ways they’re all the same, too.”
“I was thinking about that!” Fatespeaker said. “I was the only NightWing, so I was always trying to figure out which other tribe I was most like. But —”
“— you could find something in common with all of them,” Sunny guessed.
“Exactly!”
“All right,” Glory interrupted. “As strangely adorable as you two are, I need you to either go away and discover your twin souls somewhere else, or focus on battle planning with me.”