Chapter Text
Moonwatcher’s favorite thing about the sky was the gradient. It wasn’t just one color, it was both white and a dark blue. The best thing about living in the new Nightwing clearing in the jungle was that Moonwatcher had finally been able to discover the sky’s gradient. The weightlessness of clouds in the sky made her feel light and free.
The morning’s flight had shown Moonwatcher that even within the Nightwing village, she had still only seen a patch of the vast sky. But now, standing in front of Jade Mountain Acadamy’s entrance, nothing but sky and the tips of mountains around her, the endless sky took up almost everything Moonwatcher could see. She could keep flying forever and reach nothing more.
The purple that bled across her vision wasn’t helping, either. After years and years of only seeing her mother’s colors, Moonwatcher was excellent at naming each of Secretkeeper’s emotions. Especially her anxiety. Secretkeeper’s anxiety was toxicly vibrant, reminding Moonwatcher of poison dart frogs. The pink violet couldn’t grow quick enough to block out all of the things that might hurt Moonwatcher.
The sky soaked up Secretkeeper’s violet anxiety, leaving Moonwatcher exposed. It was going to come for her, cover the world in nothing but blue. Moonwatcher tried to fold herself into the green-blue of Secretkeeper’s wings instead, desperate to start counting the stars along her wings.
“No, not now Moonwatcher,” Secretkeeper whispered, her breath smelling red like the fresh meat they ate before the flight. “We have to go inside.”
It was hard to believe Secretkeeper when Moonwatcher could see how scared she was.
“I’m good,” Moonwatcher whispered back. Whispering was the volume Moonwatcher normally spoke at, though. It was the volume her mother used her whole life, after all. It was the volume that kept her hidden. This school was the opposite of hidden.
“I’m sure we can just step in momentarily. We have talons of time to decide whether you should stay, after all,” Secretkeeper said, louder this time. At a ‘normal volume.’
The violet in the air said that Secretkeeper was lying. That Moonwatcher needed to leave now. There was nothing to be trusted here, nothing to wait for or believe in. She could not get away quick enough.
But Secretkeeper started walking toward the entrance. Moonwatcher scrambled to catch up as dragons of colors as plentiful as parrots began to block her mother from view. She wasn’t fast enough.
There were more dragons here than there were in the Nightwing village. There was so many. The colors of their scales and auras blurred Moonwatcher’s vision. She couldn’t pick out the color of the ground beneath her, the auras so bright they burned into her eyes. The worst part? Of all the auras, none of them were the right color. None of them were pinkish violet.
Moonwatcher stumbled, tripping over a dragon tail. It was- blue, probably. Maybe purple? It was very pale- she bumped into a wing. That one was dark brown. Yes, definitely. Her talons caught on a rock- was that rock green? No, it was moss. She had gotten caught on moss. Dragons kept bumping her, she kept tripping, and she couldn’t see Secretkeeper.
Then Moonwatcher smacked into a wall. A very pale grey wall, her snout burning red. Her face felt wet, tears welling up in Moonwatcher’s eyes. She needed to go home. Moonwatcher needed to go home right now. Violet is a warning, violet is important. She’s learned by now, it’s always better to listen to the violet. Caution comes first.
The blues of the sky will eat away the grays of the mountain and then the dark green of Moonwatcher’s scales. Everything would be blue, everything would be sky. Nothing would be Moonwatcher. Nothing would be left of her . She should’ve stayed home, stayed safe. She should’ve stayed nothing on her own terms, nothing where she could still see her favorite colors, nothing where no one would watch the world crumble with her.
“Are you good?” The yellow was ambushing, a fog of yellow warbler feathers. Actually, it was more like every shade of yellow that had ever existed. It had tints of orange and green, it was dark and pale, it was… no, most of it was a least a little desaturated.
“Qibli, who is that?” There was pink at the edges of the yellows, a pale pink like syngoniums.
“Hang on, don’t crowd them. Hey, do you need to go outside?” The yellows leaned warmer, blending nicely with the pink. Moonwatcher couldn’t tell whether to panic at the monotony or to calm from the lack of competing colors.
“I’m gonna touch your claw, ok? Can you look at me? You don’t look great.” The voices and their conversation feel mountains away, their words underwater. Then something rests on Moonwatcher’s claw. She freezes, not that she was moving much before.
“Sorry. I’ll get off you,” The voice is clearer now. It’s got a rhythm as intrinsic as bird calls, but the beat is of hummingbird wings. The light pressure on Moonwatcher’s claw disappears slowly, carefully. At the same time, the swimming yellows melt into two groups. One continues flowing between colors. The other solidifies into a sand color. Then a dragon’s face.
“Do you hear me now?” The dragon stared at Moonwatcher. Their expression was calm, their eyes focused on her. The constant twitching of their ears was awfully distracting, though. The dragon’s question finally clicked- Moonwatcher nodded. She could hear them.
“Good. My name is Qibli. I’m a fellow student! Or, I assume you’re a student. I hear some dragons brought sibilings, though- you are a student, right?” Qibli’s eyes stayed focused on Moonwatcher but their attention seemed as varied as their aura’s colors.
“I’m a student,” Moonwatcher said. Qibli’s ears flipped to her. Both of them.
“Say that again?” Qibli’s aura started to straighten out, narrowing to just a few colors. Moonwatcher could hear their claws start to tap instead.
“I’m a student,” Moonwatcher said again, and this time she noticed how her voice got lost in the big room. The noises that she couldn’t hear over the colors became apparent, rattling in her ears.
“A student, huh? Cool.” Qibli nodded in one confident move, replacing Moonwatcher’s hesitant nod. His ears started to flip around the space again and the tapping slowed down. “Like I said, I’m Qibli, that’s Ostrich.” The pink at the edges of Qibli’s yellow melted into another dragon, a grayer version of Qibli. The two of them (Sandwings, Moonwatcher was pretty sure,) stood close to each other, mimicking each other. Moonwatcher could see their ears flick towards the same sounds and their tails curled the same way.
“Hello,” Ostrich said, much slower than Qibli, “do you need to step outside?” They smiled hesitantly, their deep brown eyes flicking across Moonwatcher’s whole body.
“I need to find my mother,” Moonwatcher said. Her habit of whispering everything was becoming increasingly noticeable as both Sandwings leaned a bit to hear her.
“I don’t see any Nightwings,” Qibli said, tilting their head towards the rest of the room. “Could Six-Claws and Kindle help?”
“Oh, yeah!” Ostrich lights up at the names, her aura glowing a sunset-pink, mixing in beautiful ways with her yellow-gray scales. “I think they were looking at the winglets? I still can’t believe that they got every different tribe in each winglet.”
“It was their goal, wasn’t it?” Qibli says, pushing their yellow toward the crowd and only leaving a bit of green-yellow listening to Ostrich. “I think the sign is over there.” They point across the room, to a spot Moonwatcher can’t see. It dawns on her that the two dragons want to go back into the crowd. Which is, to say the least, not preferable. Moonwatcher shifts from leg to leg.
“Come on, my parents can help,” Ostrich said, smiling, coming up to Moonwatcher’s side. Moonwatcher stumbled, following the two through the crowd. It was easier this time, even with Qibli’s nebula of an aura blending with the rest of Moonwatcher’s sight. There was a lot of green on the ground- a lot of moss. There were two different types, one pale and scraggly and the other short and dark. Moonwatcher stepped from one patch to the next, letting the soft moss sooth her talons.
Her companions didn’t comment on her odd walking pattern, a massive relief. The Nightwings always had a comment on which stones she stepped on or her choice of branch. The first positive side of this school, Moonwatcher supposed. Maybe , if she had Qibli or Ostrich with her, then maybe she could stay. Nothing bumped into Moonwatcher with Qibli and Ostrich on either side. It was a bubble of pale yellow protection, and she imagined this was how Queen Glory felt with Deathbringer at her side.
The three of them arrived at an enormous black board quicker than seemed possible. There was white writing across the board, categorized into 3 sections: WINGLETS AND SLEEPING CAVES, CLASSCAVES, HELP. Next to HELP was two adult Sandwings, one of them a similar gray-yellow to Ostrich and the other a golden brown. Their auras were tomato red and dried out bamboo green, respectively.
Ostrich went directly to them, their wing poking Moonwatcher as the last trails of washed out pink slipped past. The vibrant yellows flowing behind Moonwatcher waited for her, and she felt Qibli close behind her as Moonwatcher slowly followed Ostrich to their parents.
“Six-Claws, Kindle,” Qibli said, their voice rising just above the murmur of the crowd.
“Have you found someone from your winglet?” The dragon with the green aura asked.
“We don’t know, we’re just trying to find their mother,” Ostrich said. “Uh- oh, what’s your name?”
“Moonwatcher,” Moonwatcher whispered. She felt herself getting even quieter with all four dragons’ eyes on her.
“Moonwatcher, these are my parents Six-Claws and Kindle,” Ostrich said.
“Qibli! They’re in your winglet!” The dragon with the red aura - Six-Claws - called. Their voice was loud in the important way, like when Queen Glory talks.
“Oh really? Which winglet?” Qibli says, taking a quick glance at the black board.
“I don’t remember, I’m sure you can find it on there,” Six-Claws said, waving their talons at WINGLETS AND SLEEPING CAVES.
“I want to see too!” Ostrich said quickly, almost interrupting Six-Claws as they bound in front of Qibli. “Oh look!” Ostrich called, their pink cooling to a bit of a purple. “I’m in the Silver winglet! That’s two down from the Jade winglet- that’s you, Moonwatcher.” Ostrich pointed at the relevant parts of the board.
“Oh, where are you sleeping? We could go get you set up in the sleeping caves now?” Kindle said, glancing at the white words scrawled on the board. “No, wait, you should check your mailboxes first.”
Qibli stretched a wing out, tapping Moonwatcher before she could blink then they walked off with their aura boiling and popping it’s multitude of shades. Ostrich wrapped their wing around Moonwatcher and guided her in the direction Qibli went. The moss got in the way this time. Moonwatcher tripped over patches in Ostrich’s hurry to catch up with Qibli.
There were holes in the wall with names engraved under each of them. Qibli’s aura’s main color was that of the inside of a nectarine when they stopped, and they were running a talon over an engraving. Ostrich leaned over to look at the engraving.
“Found yours alread?” They said, their gaze switching to all of the other names.
“Yea,” Qibli said. “The engraving is good, isn’t it? They put a lot of resources into this school…” They trailed off, looking away from the engraving and into the catty.
Moonwatcher quickly found her own catty and pulled out two scrolls, one wrapped inside of the other. Both were new, their fresh pale paper emphasizing the yellowness and faded text from the scrolls Moonwatcher was used to reading from. The first scroll was a map of the school, as far as Moonwatcher could tell. She started opening the other when she heard a loud giggle next to her.
It was a bright lavender dragon that Moonwatcher was pretty sure was flying with her earlier, making this dragon a Rainwing. They had pulled open the scrolls and was staring at the second with… amusement? The dragon’s aura was a beautiful, rich mahogany.
“I really should’ve thought-” the dragon turned to Moonwatcher, and the lavender scales around their eyes turned a shadowy brown. Their aura went vibrant, and they turned and ran into the crowd.
“That looked… odd,” Qibli said behind Moonwatcher. Moonwatcher jumped before she nodded. She couldn’t imagine anyone going toward the crowd, especially not in distress.
“Yea, what’s so scary about Moonwatcher?” Ostrich said, which hadn’t even occurred to Moonwatcher. It was odd, she supposed, that the Rainwing was scared of her .
“Ok, are you all ready to find your rooms? We found the numbers for you,” Six-Claws said, appearing from nowhere and towering over Moonwatcher. Kindle was beside Six-Claws, their green looking lime-like.
“Moonwatcher, I’ll see if I can find someone who can find your mother, alright? Your cave is 2,” Kindle said, their head tilting.
“Ok,” Moonwatcher said, nodding. Kindle slipped off, and Ostrich guided everyone else down a long hallway.
The stone color switched abruptly to a much darker, blue-ish grey. A few paces after that was the first doorway, covered by vines. 1 was engraved above it, the indent painted dark green. Six-Claws said that Qibli was cave 3, so they could keep going. At the entrance to the next cave, Six-Claws waved for Moonwatcher to go in.
“We’ll come back once our bags are set down, ok?” Ostrich said, their smile a warm peachy color.
Moonwatcher slipped into her room, no need to watch them walk away. The vines covering the cave door slipped over Moonwatcher, silky smooth and slightly cold. The inside of the cave was cast in green light, the leaves covering the one window, tinting the sunlight. The room had two beds, a light brown hammock and a shelf the same color as the wall covered in the thick dark green moss from the floor of the Great Hall. There was an assortment of shelving around the room, one next to the door, one above the stone bed, and two next to the hammock. There was also a wooden box under the hammock, a dusty brown hide covering one side.
Moonwatcher lifted it up to find that the box was a third bed for the room, and the reason the hammock had two shelves. The box was just big enough to comfortable fit Moonwatcher, and was probably the coziest thing she’d seen in her life. The bed practically called to her, and before she could think twice she had crawled inside.
The bed was a hidey hole, secret and safe and quiet. Her clawmates wouldn’t see her, the sun wouldn’t touch her, and the colors of the outside room were gone. She could pick whatever colors she wanted to see inside of this box.
“Moonwatcher? You still in here?” Qibli called. Moonwatcher had completely missed them walking inside, but it was nice that they hadn’t spotted her yet. She could chose to reveal herself.
Speaking of, Moonwatcher poked her snout out of the box, the leather draping awkwardly against her head.
“Oh, that’s a bed. Neat,” Qibli said, a dark yellow-orange blending their aura. They poked their snout close to Moonwatcher. “Cozy down there?”
“Yea,” Moonwatcher said. “Oh, what if it’s someone else’s?”
Qibli shrugged, their scales rippling in a golden cascade. “None of the shelves are occupied yet, right? What are they gonna do?”
Qibli swiveled their head, taking in the room. Their talons tapped the ground, a smooth rhythmic sound that was like being rocked to sleep.
“Two clawmates, huh? Hope they’re nice enough, the room looks like it could get crowded,” Qibli said, squinting at the hammock.
“Oh, could it?” Moonwatcher said. She hadn’t thought about sharing the room. The box was a safe hideaway, but she couldn’t hide all the time. She wished she had Qibli as a clawmate, meeting Qibli and his family was quite enough new dragons for today. Or maybe the next Iua moon cycle. She felt Qibi watching her.
“Any space can get crowded, I guess. It all depends on the dragons,” Qibli said, their words matching the rhythm of their talons. “Hey- you up for a question?”
“Sure,” Moonwatcher said after a pause.
“No one I’ve ever met has been named Moonwatcher, so I’m not being rude, ok?” Qibli waited for Moonwatcher to nod. “Moonwatcher is a girl name, right? Because of the moons?”
OH. This was how other dragons figured out that Moonwatcher was a girl. Because it was a girl’s name, no Nightwing had to ask what she was. That was why they all called her a girl but she could never figure out what they were.
“You good? I didn’t think it was that complicated question, sorry,” Qibli said, their aura twisting and flipping above them.
“I am a girl,” Moonwatcher said, then paused, thinking. “Are you?”
Qibli tilted their head, green marbling across their aura. “No. I’m a boy, Qibli is a boy name, it’s a wind. Those are boy names for Sandwings.” They- he carefully explained to Moonwatcher. It was perhaps the slowest he had spoken so far, his talons tapping the floor at twice the speed of his speech.
“Oh, sorry,” Moonwatcher said. Qibli shook his head, his eyes trained on the cave wall behind her.
“No worries, just not used to it. Common Sandwing knowledge, y’know? My mom wasn’t trying to be creative,” he said. His eyes flicked back to Moonwatcher and a slanted grin lit Qibli’s face. “That’s the beauty of this school though, isn’t it? We have no idea.”
Moonwatcher smiled softly as Qibli’s colors swirled and expanded, his brain imagining things she couldn’t guess. Qibli’s wonder felt enticing, the best conviction anyone could give her to stay.
“I still need to put my bag up,” Moonwatcher said, stumbling out of her box bed. She missed the comfort of the tight space almost immediately.
“Right. I think I’ll check out the communal space while you do that. Be right back!” Qibli said, their nebulous aura lingering after they steped through the vines. As she watched his colors fade, Moonwatcher realizes they looked as vast and colorful as the sky.