Author's Note: To my recent guest reviewer who is having trouble understanding how this story relates to the movies: It doesn't. This is the third book in a series of its own, and the first two books go very off the rails from the canon, starting just after HTTYD1 and focusing on Beryl, Hiccup, and the people they meet along the way (some more than others).

Now, normally I would put this at the bottom of the chapter (actually, normally I would respond to the review with a PM, but this is a guest and therefore I can't do that), but given the contents of this chapter, it's kind of important that said guest knows this before reading the following chapter. If you want to know who the heck certain people are, what's up with Beryl's tail, where Hiccup is in all of this, what's up with Berk, what parts of canon still apply, etc, you'll want to check out the previous two books. It's not mandatory to do so, Lily will be learning the important things in due time, but she certainly isn't going to get the complete picture the way the books give it, and some of the things readers who have read the first two take for granted might come as a shock to you...

Anyway, for the rest of you: Enjoy a long-awaited event!

Snow was falling, thick and fast, much to the enjoyment of most of the pack. Light wings caught flakes in their mouths, tossed piles of wet slush at each other, and generally messed around. The first big snowfall was a time when almost anyone could act silly, and nobody would care. Even the lingering specter of danger was not enough to dampen the fun...

Except, of course, for those on patrol, who Lily had just finished making sure knew there would be no slacking off today. It would be cold, snowy, and dark for the next pawful of moon-cycles, so they weren't going to miss anything, even if the novelty would wear off in a few days, as it did every season-cycle.

That done, she lingered on the plateau, watching the fun from afar. She couldn't let herself participate, the same reasoning behind why she could not act immature or silly at other times also applied here, but watching was enjoyable in its own way.

Hyperactive fledglings were racing between the rocks, amazed that their Dams and Sires were acting as crazy as they were. Said Dams and Sires were as often as not chasing them, sometimes with a tailful of snow carefully held at the ready for when a fledgling was caught. It had only been snowing for half a morning, but there was already quite a bit on the ground.

Fire caught her eye, bright against the dull greys and whites of the valley, and she could see Crystal in the distance, playing some sort of game with Root, Rain, and Mist. The four were flaming aimlessly at the sky, using the kind of fire breath usually reserved for heating stone to sleep on. Small clouds of mist were rising from above each of them, snow instantly melted and then evaporated. It was an extremely odd-looking activity, and Lily didn't see the point of it, but they were having fun.

All was well. There were no problems here. Watching her pack have fun was one of the things that made all of this worth it. All of the frustration, difficulty, and pain she had endured and would continue to endure was for this. Even if enjoying their happiness vicariously wasn't quite the same as actually doing something fun.

A roar of challenge broke her fleeting satisfaction, shattering it in an instant. She looked up, knowing that it had come from above, and already dreading another attack. The two light wings patrolling closest to the valley had both roared at a small flock of swiftly approaching figures, partially obscured by distance and the falling snow.

Lily didn't need to roar orders to her people; other light wings, those Beryl had chosen, were already flying up from the valley, on course to intercept with violence, if need be. The pack was no longer unprepared, and a second strike from a lone killer had been anticipated. It had only been half a moon-cycle since that terrible day, and the lingering regret sharpened her pack's reactions. Another lone dragon wouldn't stand a chance.

But there were a lot of dragons in that flock. Around a dozen, from what Lily could see, all growing more distinct as they closed in-

And all familiarly-shaped, not angular and foreign like the last visitor had been. She knew the silhouettes of light wings. She also knew that there weren't enough patrolling light wings in that direction to possibly group up, so some of them had to be foreigners, and from there it all fell into place. She didn't even need the extra hint of Beryl flying out to meet them halfway to know who some of them had to be.

The defensive force also flew out to meet the approaching dragons, and no violence ensued, further proving what Lily was beginning to make out through the driving snow.

"Lily, are those the dragons I think they are?" Crystal asked, jumping up to stand on the plateau and looking up with wide, hopeful eyes.

"I think so," Lily said reassuringly, surprised by how fast her friend had made it to her. "Are you ready?"

"No, and I do not think that would change if I had a hundred season-cycles to prepare," Crystal asserted nervously, kneading the rock. "What do I say?"

"Maybe wait to see what they have to say to you?" Lily suggested. "Find out what's on their minds. This is big for them too, right?"

"Yes, you are right," Crystal sighed. "Here they come..."

The visitors were flying in, now getting close enough to be distinguishable. Lily did her best to examine all of them before they got too close, attempting to match appearances to names and wondering why so many had come.

The orange one with scars so plentiful as to be noticable from a distance had to be Ember. She wanted to talk to him, as he had known her pack long before she was even hatched. Root would probably want to talk to him too.

Next to him was a familiar light wing with red eyes. Pearl. Another dragon Lily wanted to speak to. Really, she would talk to everyone who came, in time. She needed to know who she was hosting.

On Pearl's other side was a smaller dragon, one that was…

Lily could not help but stare for a particularly long time at the one she thought had to be Pearl's son, a dragon distinct from dark wings and light wings alike. Parts of him were white, and parts a deep blue-green, but those were in the minority. Most of his body was somewhere between the two extremes, a gradient like snow melting to reveal grass and water, the cold-season fading away. The parts of him that were pure white had the slightest green glint, but most of him had no glint and looked more like a dark wing than not. Nobody could mistake him for anything other than what he was, something new and unique. He was also a little undersized, implying he was not yet fully grown.

"Wow," Crystal breathed, also obviously entranced. "Thaw is amazing. Beryl told me what he looked like, but seeing it in person blows his description out of the water."

Lily nodded, glad to have a name to put to such a distinct dragon, and tore her gaze away to examine the rest of them.

Storm was easy to identify, a blue and grey shape in the distance, flying confidently. Flanking her on either side were two normal light wings, Thunder and Lightning. They were still too far away to see properly.

Somewhat under Storm flew Spark, his gold scales clearly visible. To his right, two other dark wings were gliding in, one light green and the other grey. Those had to be Thorn and Herb, if Lily was correctly remembering the names Beryl had only mentioned in passing over the last few moon-cycles. By extension, the fully-grown light wing beside them had to be Silva.

Lily held in a groan, seeing that her life had just gotten a lot more complicated for no apparent reason. She had no idea why they had brought Silva, or indeed why the majority of them had come at all. The only ones who had reason to come were Lightning, Thunder, and Storm. Maybe Spark if they needed a guide, but even that was a slim excuse, given Storm had been to the valley before.

The group dove once they passed the mountains, angling toward the plateau. Lily belatedly realized that they were coming right for her, and that she only had a few more moments to compose herself.

"There they are," Crystal whispered.

Lily put a wing over her friend, ignoring the throbbing ache in her back, and steeled herself. This would get chaotic if nobody took charge, and Crystal deserved better. She was going to make this as smooth as possible, for her sake.

Beryl's pack, for that was the only name she could put to their motley group of dark wings and light wings alike, set down on the plateau, landing all across the far end. All together they took up more than half the plateau, with the orange one, Ember, standing closest to her. She knew better than to assume that was a coincidence.

That didn't mean she was going to play along with how he thought this should go. She had her own priorities, and spoke before he could even open his mouth. "Before anything else, I think Crystal has waited long enough."

"Agreed," Ember rumbled, seemingly taking no offense.

Two adult light wings threaded their way out from behind the dark wings and approached, eyeing Crystal curiously. Thunder, the male, had a dark blue glint to match his cobalt eyes, while Lightning was yellow in both glint and eye color. Lily wondered whether there might have been a little more to their naming scheme than just a self-absorbed surrogate Dam, as she had assumed.

Thunder shrugged his wings and broke the silence. "We do not know you," he announced with a mournful rumble.

"But we would like to," Lightning continued, picking up where her brother had left off. "So… hello?" She walked closer, and nudged Crystal hesitantly. "We understand."

"Storm made sure we knew why you had her take us," Thunder agreed, mirroring his sister with another nudge. "It was a good decision."

Crystal closed her eyes, whining softly. "I wish I had not."

"But we can make up for lost time here, now," Thunder countered solemnly, leaning in.

"Maybe… not here?" Crystal asked hesitantly, looking around. "Somewhere more private?"

Lily sighed, knowing what Crystal was looking at without even having to check. Of course, the rest of the pack had noticed the obvious event going on in the middle of the valley. Of course, they were all watching and turning a heartfelt reunion into something awkward.

"I could scare them off," Lightning offered conversationally, glaring at the audience focused on their reunion. "Storm, a little help?"

"You can go to Crystal's rock," Lily announced loudly, stopping that line of thought before it could get going, "and I will punish anyone who eavesdrops." She would come down harshly on anyone messing with the event Crystal had been waiting five season-cycles for.

Storm nodded. "Good to hear." She looked over at Crystal, meeting her eyes. "We should also talk, I think, but I will not intrude."

"No… No, you should come with us," Crystal offered, surprising Lily, and by the looks of it Storm as well. "I cannot just take over, you are their Dam too. I do not want to just pretend you do not exist."

"I will catch up to you in a little bit," Storm offered, before casting her adoptive children a significant glance. "Do nothing I would not do," she said seriously.

"And nothing you would do but regret later," Lightning chirped innocently. "So, where are we going?"

Crystal shook her head, purring softly, and hopped off of the plateau. "This way. Storm?"

Storm waved her tail dismissively. "Like I said, I will be along." She looked around the plateau, glaring at some of the light wings seemingly at random. "And I will be making sure none follow."

Lily was less than happy to hear that; she would have to keep an eye on Storm, lest she cause trouble by defending the reunion a little too harshly. But that would have to wait; there were greetings, introductions, and a few warnings to give first.

She approached the orange dark wing, noting that Beryl was talking quietly to Spark in the back, having at some point joined his family on the plateau.

"I am told you are alpha," the dragon who she knew must be Ember said neutrally. His voice was not as deep as she had expected, masculine but not gravelly or particularly threatening. He did not sound so dangerous, even if his body told a different story.

"I am," Lily agreed. "This is my pack. I am willing to offer your family shelter here as long as needed, but you and your people are under my authority for as long as you stay here. I will tolerate nothing you would not allow done to your own, and depending on what morals you might hold, nothing I would not allow done to my own." She knew it was more than a little hypocritical to talk as if his group might have shady practices, when she had weeded out so many of the same from her own pack, but she didn't care.

Ember nodded, either understanding her reasoning or pretending that he did. "Reasonable enough, and well worded." He took a look around, searching for something or someone. "Where is Beryl?"

"Back here," Beryl replied, winding his way back up to the front of the group. "I was trying to find out why you brought everyone into a warzone."

Ember chuckled wryly, walking up to stare down his son. "What, you think it's a bad idea?" he asked, slurring his words. Lily wasn't all that surprised to find out he too had the accent.

"Yes, it would have been, if you had come a few days ago," Beryl shot back. "What if the valley was on fire and hunters were everywhere?"

"I'd find you, help Storm and her children find Crystal, and get us all out of here," Ember shot back. "But I have more faith in you than that! I expected to find at least a score of burned out hunter ships sunk in the water nearby! You're slacking."

At that, the tension Lily didn't think had ever really been there dissolved, and Beryl embraced his Sire, purring loudly. "Good to see you."

"And you." Ember pulled back, rose on his hind legs, and placed a paw on Beryl's forehead, awkwardly rubbing it. "Son."

"What is this?" Beryl asked, looking up in confusion. "You look ridiculous."

"That's the point," Ember huffed, backing down. "Never mind, I'll explain later. So… no trouble here?"

"Some, but I think trouble hasn't come looking for its fallen friends yet," Beryl explained solemnly. "It's coming, though." He turned to Pearl and Thaw, who were watching with similar expressions of amusement. "Good to see you, too."

Pearl nuzzled Beryl affectionately. "And you. So, you stayed out of trouble?" She spoke very much like Beryl was her own, with only a hint of distance between them. Lily found that mildly amusing, given Beryl was older than Pearl was, but also sweet in a way.

"More or less. Did Thaw behave?" Beryl asked, looking at his younger brother.

"It would be strange if he did not," Pearl remarked.

"Of course," Thaw added, his voice surprisingly deep and resonating for a fledgling, then nudged his older brother affectionately.

"And it is also good to see you, Lily," Pearl added with a purr, startling Lily, who had been content to watch. "I did not get a chance last time I was here."

Lily had not expected Pearl to be so happy to see her, or so happy in general. The mental image she had of Pearl in her head was not a happy one, and hearing of Pearl's new attitude from others was not the same as seeing it. "I think we should catch up at some point," she suggested, wanting to see more of Pearl's changes.

"You will be one of those I wish to speak to," Pearl agreed, looking around warily. She put a wing over Thaw, pulling him a little closer. "And I look forward to that conversation, unlike another I'm sure I'll be having soon…"

It wasn't hard to guess what Pearl meant by that. "Diora," Lily huffed. She hadn't thought about what Pearl – and Silva – being here would mean for that particular bush of thorns.

"And Ivy, if he decided to grow a spine," Pearl added casually.

"He's dead," Lily revealed. "Has been for a while."

She didn't know what she was expecting Pearl's reaction to be, but a neutral huff and a shrug of her wings certainly wasn't it. "I will not lie and say that bothers me all that much," Pearl said coldly. "I suppose it would be too convenient for the same to be said of Diora."

Lily did not show her surprise, but she did mentally adjust her assessment of Pearl in light of that response. Happy she might be, but she wasn't entirely over her past here, no matter the unaffected airs she put on. If she truly didn't care, she wouldn't be holding Thaw close and wishing Diora had died too.

Then again, maybe she was over it, and just dreading the energy-draining argument Diora was sure to pull her into any moment now. Lily decided to not make any assumptions until she had time to prod Pearl into speaking in a more private setting. Assuming she understood Pearl's lot in life had led to dire consequences in the past, and she was eager not to repeat that mistake.

"Diora is still alive and still pushy," Lily said, answering Pearl's question. "I'm surprised she has not decided to interrupt yet."

"I was waiting for an introduction. Or to be called for." Diora leaped up onto the plateau, looking distinctly displeased, though she could have introduced herself at any time. "You have some nerve, coming back after stealing my daughter away."

Ember put a wing over Pearl, mirroring what she was still doing to Thaw. "Tread carefully," he warned. "I do not stop my mate from fighting her own battles, but I also do not take kindly to abuse of any kind."

Lily shivered, thoroughly disturbed. Beryl had been vehement in his hatred of Diora, but Ember was somehow worse while being far less aggressive. She didn't know why, but there was no arguing it, not even as he verbally stepped back from the coming confrontation. The promise that he would intervene if Diora got out of paw was worrying in its own way.

"Your mate?" Diora asked with an uncharitably amused rumble. "What could you possibly-"

"Save the insults and cruelty for someone who will tolerate them," Pearl snarled.

"You stole my daughter, and I think you should be punished for that," Diora asserted, dragging them right to the problem Lily had hoped she would have somehow forgotten about when faced with Pearl herself. "Alpha?"

Lily huffed in annoyance, glad she had put Crystal first and gotten her out of the area before this stupid problem could rear its ugly, frustratingly restrictive head. She didn't know how to handle it just yet.

But, assuming she had guessed the identity of one of the light wings in this new group correctly, she might be able to resolve it simply enough. "If I am not mistaken, Silva is here," she said neutrally. "What does she say about all of this?"

"Pearl explained what she wanted to do, and I agreed," a female called out. "I was not stolen." Silva pushed her way between Spark and one of the older dark wings, and faced her Dam with an unimpressed look. "I was not happy here. I was far happier with Pearl and the others."

"A fledgling of only a few moon-cycles would not know that," Diora replied, staring at her younger daughter. "Now I do not know you. You were taken from me." Her unhappy whine sounded sincere, but Lily wasn't convinced.

"Then follow in Crystal's pawprints and make up for lost time," Silva suggested. "I am my own person, and I can judge for myself whether you are worth knowing."

Pearl sighed, and Lily saw a little of what had to be going on there. Pearl would not want her younger sister hurt by Diora, but Silva must be headstrong enough to want to find out who Diora was for herself. It was not a bad decision on Silva's part, but Pearl didn't want her hurt.

"Of course," Diora exclaimed, putting a wing over Silva, "we can do that. I am just mad it had to be lost at all. And I do not like the one who raised you."

"Pearl?" Silva glanced over at her sister. "She did not raise me, she knew that would be complicated. Thorn and Herb did." She gestured behind her, to the two dark wings who were watching quietly. "They are great."

"I do not like you, either," Diora growled, addressing the both of them. "You took my duty as your own without permission."

"Like us or not, we do not care," Thorn replied breezily. "Maybe Silva can find something worthwhile in you, or maybe not. We will let her try." She nodded politely to Diora, clearly dismissing her. "Go on. We will be around if you need us."

Lily was more surprised by that reaction than by anything else so far. The confidence there, to trust Diora would not succeed in prying Silva from them, or in doing some other sort of insidious harm… if they knew she was capable of it, but they had to know, Pearl would have told them.

"All I wanted," Diora asserted happily, clearly faking it, at least to Lily's eyes. The angry twitching of her ears and tail gave her away.

"We can fly and talk," Silva offered, leaping into the air without waiting for an answer. Diora stifled a growl and followed her.

Pearl looked after them. "I could almost think she only hates me," she said quietly.

"She kind of does," Lily agreed, lowering her voice. "I don't know what she wants, but you should be wary." If she knew anything about Diora, this wasn't the end of it. If she couldn't play the victim by referencing her lost daughter, she would do it some other way, and Pearl or the people she cared about were the easiest villains for Diora to use.

"I worry more for Silva than myself," Pearl huffed. "I can handle myself."

"Silva is stubborn and intelligent enough to see through anything Diora tries," Ember hummed reassuringly. "She will grow tired of your so-called Dam long before any permanent harm can be done. She is an adult who can leave at any time, now."

"It is her choice," Pearl sighed, leaning into Ember. "I just don't like watching a potential disaster unfold without trying to stop it."

"A small disaster," Ember said soothingly, "and one that will help her learn to trust you a little more."

"And Thorn and I will supply shoulders to cry on or neutral perspectives as needed," Herb added, speaking for the first time since they had landed. "All young adults think they know everything, and this is just Silva's version of that."

"Far less dangerous than, say, going out on a moon-cycle long flight without one's Dam when one does not know the world very well," Thorn added, looking over at Storm.

"I did that once, and I came home fine," Storm retorted.

"Skinny and near-dead of exhaustion is an odd version of fine," Thorn remarked casually.

"I did not die, and I recovered quickly. Fine is relative." Storm pawed at the plateau. "Someone say something, so I can waste some time before I go after them."

Lily snorted at that, and she wasn't the only one. "I have a few questions for you, as it happens," she offered. "Why Thunder and Lightning?" She wanted to hear how Storm explained it.

"I was raising them, they needed names, and their eye colors fit," Storm listed. "Their glints also turning out to fit was a bonus. Do you disapprove? Because honestly, I do not care about whether you like it."

The implied corollary to that was that Storm did care about how Crystal felt about it. Lily supposed that was probably for the best. That Storm cared at all how Crystal took any of this was good enough.

"I was just wondering," Lily explained. "I have also heard from Beryl that they are very much like you, blunt and tactless." Those exact words might not have been said explicitly, but that was the general idea.

Storm nodded agreeably. "Yes, they are."

"Though we were somewhat successful in teaching them a little tact," Thorn added. "Something Storm refuses to learn."

"I am who I am, and tact is not part of that," Storm said lightly. Then she turned to Lily. "By the way. You are alpha, so you would know. How many unmated males are there right now?"

"Not many," Lily answered. Rain came to mind, along with Root, but neither was likely to be what Storm was looking for, or interested in her at all. "We have not fully recovered from what Claw did to our pack over the season-cycles, and there are still quite a few unmated females waiting."

"As I suspected," Storm said bluntly. "Fate wants me alone. I am surprised you have any unattached."

Lily didn't bother to answer that; if Storm investigated, she would find out easily enough. Rain did not like any of his suitors, and Root didn't have any suitors in the first place.

Thinking of Root reminded Lily of a responsibility she was forgetting, and she growled at herself. "I was told some of you can see with sound, and can teach it."

Storm shrugged her wings, and gestured to Ember and Pearl. "Those two, and me."

"We are to teach someone, right?" Pearl asked. "Someone who needs to learn?"

"Yes," Lily agreed. "He is probably not here. I will take you three to him."

"Yes, but we may as well take it in turns," Ember rumbled. "Only one of us is needed to teach, and it may be easier to learn in a one-on-one session."

"I will take the three of you to him and let you work it out," Lily conceded, seeing no problem with that. Though, if she was going to take them herself, she would be leaving the rest here to be swarmed…

"Everyone," she said loudly, addressing the many onlookers around the plateau, "these dragons are our guests, and will be treated politely. They will be following our rules, just like Beryl does, and will not be pestered or mobbed."

Ember purred lightly, nodding respectfully to Lily. "And if anyone has a problem with someone from my family?"

"I will bring you into it," she agreed. "Do you expect many problems?"

"I expect a few complaints about Storm," Ember admitted. "She can be a bit much to get used to."

"So long as she does not do anything terrible, a few complaints are tolerable," Lily replied agreeably. She would reserve the right to determine what crossed the line between obnoxious and problematic, but an abrasive attitude wasn't enough to get someone kicked out of the valley. Not on its own. "Now, if you three will follow me…" She couldn't see anyone where Root and the others had been before, and assumed he had gone back to his family rock, knowing that she could find him there.

"And Thaw," Pearl added, keeping her son close.

Thaw shrugged out from under his Dam's wing and looked over at a group of older fledglings, who were even now beginning to bore of the spectacle and running in aimless circles around a boulder.

"Or Thaw will go make some friends," Pearl corrected herself with a laugh. "Go ahead."

Thaw purred thankfully and jumped out onto another rock, quickly dropping down onto the ground outside of the small blockade formed by the audience.

Lily led Pearl, Storm, and Ember through the rocks in another direction, now even more curious… and a little troubled. She recalled how Diora had wanted her daughters; silent and pliable. Why was Thaw looking to be so similar to that?

She could at least touch on the subject now. "Pearl, I notice Thaw was very quiet, for a fledgling. Is he shy?"

Pearl came up to walk beside Lily, looking her in the eye. "No, he is not shy, he just does not say as much as other dragons. Believe me, I was worried about it until I understood, and he talks far more than he used to." There was regret in her voice at some specific memory related to that. "I did not want him to be how my Dam wanted me, but as it turns out that was not it at all."

"He's the strong and silent type," Ember added from behind them. "Smart, observant, and content to observe most of the time."

"There had to be an exact opposite to me somewhere in the world," Storm mused, "and he just so happens to be related to me, too."

Lily couldn't hold in a snort at that. Storm had just called herself unobservant and stupid, in a way, though that clearly wasn't how she had meant it.

"He's fine, that is just who he is," Pearl summarized, bringing them back around to the original topic.

"I see." She would wait until she could get Pearl more or less alone to ask the myriad of other questions she had saved up. "Root's family rock is over here."

"I was under the impression everyone sleeps in the caves during the cold-season," Ember rumbled. "Will he be there?"

"He might not, but it's the first place to check," Lily replied. "And we do all sleep in the main cavern, but it's not quite cold enough for that yet." Any day now, but not quite yet. She wasn't looking forward to moving everyone in there, truth be told.

"Where should we sleep?" Ember asked. "While we are here, that is."

"You can pick out spots in the first chamber of the main cavern system," Lily offered. That would be the most convenient place for them to rest, given everyone else would be moving in there soon enough.

The conversation was cut short when they reached Root's rock. Lily held up her tail to stop the other dragons, and nodded up at the rock. "I will let him know what is going on."

She jumped up, landing on the edge-

And came face to tail with Root, who was staring in the exact opposite direction, his tailfins less than a pawlength from her nose.

She huffed loudly, knowing he would both hear and feel it. "Root, do you know what is happening?"

"Crystal left, Rain said there was a group of dragons approaching, and Mist offered to bring me to them but I said I would rather come here," Root huffed. "I can guess. Have you brought them?" His voice quivered in anticipation.

"Yes." Lily motioned with her tail, and the other three dragons jumped up, though that made it more than a little crowded. Ember immediately jumped over to an adjacent rock, clearing a little room. "You may want to turn around to face them."

Root turned around, his eyelids pulled up to display exactly what he hoped would soon be compensated for.

Lily took note of each newcomer's expression upon truly comprehending Root's condition, seeing it for themselves.

Pearl winced, cringing in sympathy. That was no surprise, and far more kind than most reactions, because she did not bark or gasp.

Ember sighed lightly, bowing his head. He had clearly seen terrible things before, but this was new. More hints that his past was long and eventful.

Storm, on the other paw... Storm did not react. At all. She looked Root up and down, taking him in calmly, barely even looking at his face. "At least your eyes are your only problem," she snorted.

Lily hesitated, a rebuke on her tongue-

"I suppose," Root agreed, not sounding at all offended. "And you would be?"

"I am Storm," Storm said, sounding surprised in turn that her remark had not been scolded or taken badly. Lily held her tongue, not wanting to make Root wait any longer than necessary.

"I am Ember," Ember chimed in. "And my mate, here…"

"Is called Pearl, and can introduce herself," Pearl remarked slyly.

"But if you introduced yourself, he would not know you are spoken for," Ember laughed. "How else am I to be sure he knows?"

"I would let him know if it came up, of course," Pearl remarked, lightly slapping Ember's side with her tailfin, leaning backward to reach him on the other rock. "But that is not what is important right now. Root, we can all see with sound, and we can all teach it. We plan to rotate until you decide if one of us is better suited to teaching you than the others."

"Please, I would take any teacher," Root exclaimed. "How long will it take?"

"It took me a moon-cycle," Pearl recalled. "And it took Storm almost three to learn, though we had the same lessons and the same teacher."

"I was somewhere between those times myself. It was a long time ago when I learned," Ember recalled. "So probably a moon-cycle, at least."

"Then can we start now?" Root asked eagerly. "If it must take so long, at least let it begin now."

"I can start," Pearl announced. "I remember how the first lesson goes."

"And what of us?" Storm asked.

"Storm tomorrow, and Ember the day after," Pearl decided. "There are three of us, so teaching every day will be easy. And I think Root will be fine with an intense schedule."

"Definitely," Root agreed. "Here?"

"It's going to be a lot of roaring with weird tones in the beginning," Pearl explained, "so why don't we take a walk and find somewhere private?"

Lily understood now why Pearl had chosen to take the first shift. She knew the valley, and could go somewhere with Root without needing another dragon to show the way.

"I am going to see how Thunder and Lightning are doing," Storm announced. "It has been long enough."

Ember looked around aimlessly. "And I think I will go catch up with Beryl." He leaped over long enough to nuzzle Pearl, and nodded to Storm. "I will find you all tonight. We are all sleeping in the same place, at least, so that should not be hard." With that, he leaped up into the air, presumably to search the valley for the one black patch in all of this fresh white snow and scale.

Lily was left in the odd position of not knowing what to do. Ember was gone and she would not be able to follow, as he was flying. Pearl and Root were already off, walking among the rocks in the general direction of what was usually the shaded side of the valley; the sun was shining through the clouds, and the snow had mostly tapered off, so it might actually be shaded once more soon enough.

Storm looked around, obviously unsure of where to go, and Lily saw an opportunity. "I can take you to them," she offered.

"Better than trying to find three light wings in a pack of them," Storm agreed.

Lily dropped off the edge of Root's family rock, idly wondering where his parents were, and began to walk in the direction of Crystal's rock.

"Why not fly there?" Storm asked, coming up beside her.

"Because that would require being able to fly," Lily explained shortly, flaring her wings as much as she was able. "So no, if you follow me, you walk."

"Fine." Storm followed in silence for a pawful of heartbeats. "So… mind telling me the names of all the unattached males around?"

"Sure," Lily huffed. She would not be to blame if Storm found the whole list short and lacking. "Cloud, who is only interested in one dragon who cannot stand him, Rain, who has a score of interested females after him but enjoys the attention, not the commitment they want, and Root. That is it until the hot-season, and then you will be competing with a dozen other females for two or three males." She had almost added Blur at the end, before remembering that he was dead.

Storm groaned. "And with my luck, none of them will be able to stand me."

"Probably," Lily agreed. Though Root had taken Storm's tactless remark in stride, he likely was just too excited to care. Not to mention that nobody wanted to be mated to a blind dragon. It was cruel, but there was nothing she could do to fix it. Storm was probably not even going to consider him.

Though maybe that lack of interest in Root would change once he could see to some extent? "You know the ability that Root will learn," Lily began. "What would it be like for him to use it at all times?"

Storm barked a cynical laugh. "Annoying. Not for the one using it, for everyone around him. Also probably not possible to use all the time. At best, he will have to roar every time he wants to 'see' what is around him."

Lily's heart sank a little. So Root would be even less desirable than before, a loud, sightless dragon that was constantly roaring. But at least he would not be totally blind.

"Still better than nothing," Storm asserted, echoing Lily's conclusion. "And he can learn to not care whether he bothers others. They would be petty to resent it."

"Not everyone can be so uncaring," Lily countered. "Root does not like to be seen as or treated differently. He will hate that he is an annoyance, even if he does treasure the ability." She could almost imagine Root learning and then not using it, simply because he could not stand the idea of aggravating everyone around him with constant roaring.

"Maybe he will surprise you," Storm shot back. "I can teach him to ignore complaints. I have plenty of practice."

"We will wait and see," Lily said, not wanting that to happen. "Maybe it will all work out." She was not so naive as to really believe that was likely, but it was possible.

By the time she turned a corner and saw Crystal's family rock, the sun was back out, shining down on the valley, surprisingly close to setting. It had been hard to keep track of time when the clouds covered the sky, but she had not expected it to already be so late.

Ahead of them, on Crystal's rock, sat three light wings, one facing the other two. Lily stepped to the side and let Storm pass to join them…

And when nobody was looking, slunk around to listen from a dark corner. This might be private, but she felt she needed to know how it all played out first-paw, to get the measure of whether she would need to comfort Crystal later.

At the moment, not much was being said. Crystal, Thunder, and Lightning shifted aside, making a place for Storm, who took it without speaking.

"So…" Crystal began, at a loss for words.

"I have something to say," Storm admitted. "Or really, a question. You have talked to them for a while. I know it is impossible to get to know a person in a short while, let alone two, but… did I do well?"

Lily was once again surprised by how Storm approached things. She had gone straight to what sounded like an immensely important question, without even trying to sound out what the answer would be first. Blunt was a good description for her.

"Yes," Crystal said with a decisive nod. "Of course, it would be very hard for me to say otherwise, with them right here," she noted wryly, "but yes, definitely."

"We told you that," Lightning complained.

"I needed to hear it from the one with an unbiased opinion," Storm retorted. "And now, I have."

"How are we going to do this?" Crystal asked plaintively, switching topics. "I do not know how to work it out."

"We do," Thunder rumbled. There was not a single sign of the little fledgling she had called Burble in the confident male he had become, and Lily couldn't quite connect the two in her mind yet. It was an odd feeling that almost distracted her from what was said next.

"We had three moon-cycles to think about it," Lightning explained. "And we know how we want this to work."

"This is news to me," Storm admitted, her frills flaring in amusement. "Have you two learned to keep secrets?"

"No, you just never asked what we talked about in the air all day, every day on the way here." Thunder shrugged. "We did not see a reason to tell you until now."

"Basically, we want to stay with Storm," Lightning began. "And we want to get to know Crystal. I do not know if Crystal would be willing to come home with us, or if we would all stay here, or if we would travel back and forth."

"Staying here means we have chances at mates right nearby," Thunder said.

"If we want," Lightning clarified. "Neither of us is particularly desperate, unlike Storm."

Storm nodded, not at all objecting to being called desperate.

"But at home, we have the other people we care about," Lightning continued. "We stick together. Leaving them permanently is not an option."

"So… ideally, we would all move here and live here with this pack," Thunder said. "But we cannot count on that happening."

"Even if it makes total sense, and for more than just us," Lightning added. "Thaw will need a mate, as will Silva. Not to mention Beryl and Spark. Chances are some or all of those mates will come from here, given how many dragons are here, and how few of our kind are out in the rest of the world."

"So we do not think anyone would really mind staying, except maybe Pearl, and she has Ember to help work that out," Thunder concluded. "But that is not our choice. If they do not stay, then we will work something else out."

Crystal blinked, clearly shocked by how thorough an answer that was. "I see… I do not want to leave my pack. This is home, and I fought to make it somewhere worth living. To leave would be to give up what I fought for."

"We will figure it out," Storm interjected. "As for you and me…"

"You are their Dam, I am simply a new person they have been told gave them up," Crystal said quietly. "I expect nothing but to be allowed to know them. How far that goes is up to them."

"No further than it does with Storm," was the answer from Thunder. "We will not put you above her."

"Or below her," Lightning clarified. "You are important too."

"Sounds like they are electing you my co-Dam," Storm noted wryly. "Do you have a mate? They could probably use an actual Sire of some sort to look up to."

"No, I do not." Crystal shrugged. "Not a surprise. Quite a few females still do not around here."

"Knowing my luck, you will find one before I do." Storm complained. "So that is that. Now, how much have you been told?"

"Random stories, many of which are embarrassing for someone involved," Crystal recounted. "Not much else."

"So there is more to tell," Storm purred.

Lily turned away, not feeling like there was anything more for her to hear. Storm was… different, to say the least, but she had good intentions. Crystal's children were smart, caring people who echoed Storm's mannerisms but still managed to be their own people, from the brief glimpse Lily had just gotten. That was enough; far more than enough.

Lily wandered away, looking for something to do. She had focused enough on the newcomers for now; her life did not revolve around them.

O-O-O-O-O

Later that day, after a long afternoon of keeping tabs on the patrols and watching from afar to be sure her fledglings weren't mobbing the visitors, Lily checked in on the sparsely populated main cavern. Most of the pack had yet to move in, since she had not officially announced that it was time, but there were always a few anxious Dams who went early, and this season-cycle was no exception.

She only went far enough in to see that the newcomers were settling in nicely. The older mated pair, Herb and Thorn, were settled in an out-of-the-way corner. Storm was there too, talking to a pair of light wing females Lily did not know very well. Thunder and Lightning were probably somewhere with Crystal.

Silva was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Diora, though Lily had not expected to see the latter. Thaw was clearly visible, wrestling with some of the other older fledglings.

Lily watched as Thaw tumbled over, pinned on his back by another male fledgling somewhat bigger than him. His paws waved dramatically in the air, the pads a scuffed grey sporting a few distinctive scars. There was probably some tale of fledgling misbehavior resulting in an accident behind those, and they didn't seem to bother him any.

She purred as Thaw turned the tide on his opponent, and continued looking through the cavern for the other newcomers. Pearl and Ember in another corner, so tangled she would not have been able to determine where one ended and the other began if they were not so wildly different in color. Both were watching Thaw.

Spark was in the center of the main cavern, holding the attention of four different females, talking confidently enough to each in turn. He was so innocent, and it seemed that her fledglings were at least not physically chasing him this time. All four females were definitely eyeing him, but no more than that.

That was everyone, more or less, aside from Silva, Diora, and Beryl. Lily left the cavern, walking out into the cold evening air, her paws crunching the small patches of snow that had not already been trampled. She would walk until she found one of those she sought. Some part of her couldn't rest until she knew where all of the newcomers were, and what they were doing.

O-O-O-O-O

Beryl ended up being the first she found, if only by a few moments. She came upon him in a tight alleyway between rocks, looking out at something. It was a very familiar sight; she was sure she had looked quite similar when she herself was eavesdropping on someone.

She tapped Beryl's tailfins, reveling in the chance to startle him with that. He always guarded them so carefully.

Beryl's tail flicked away out of reflex as he jumped, turning awkwardly to look behind himself without knocking his head against a rock. His posture relaxed once he saw it was her, and he gestured silently out at whatever he was watching.

It was an invitation, and Lily did not hesitate before accepting, sitting up on her hind legs to see past him.

She was not surprised to see who Beryl was spying on. If she had been asked to guess, Diora and Silva would have been the first possibility to come to mind. She could not hear them from here, but their body language was clear, and it told an interesting story. Diora was emanating regret, to the point where it seemed faked, while Silva was skeptical, and a little angry.

After a long moment and a few indistinct words growled between them, Diora's posture changed. She shrunk in on herself, now sad but not regretful. Lily knew that look well; she was playing the victim.

Then the two moved, walking out of sight.

"That is not going to end well," Beryl rumbled quietly. "I had not wanted them to ever meet."

"Not your choice to make," Lily responded.

"No, but I feel responsible. Our family looks out for each other." Beryl looked back at her. "Very much like you do for your own people."

Lily nodded, surprised by how much that moved her. She had not thought of Beryl as being like her for his own little pack, and in truth she suspected Ember was the one who really held her role there, but it still fit surprisingly well. "Today was a day of our people meeting, then, was it not?"

"Pretty much." Beryl backed up out of the narrow passage, now entirely facing her. "I'm not happy with all of them being here, though. We know danger is coming."

"Now is not the best time for bringing fledglings to visit," Lily agreed. "But it's safe for the time being."

Beryl huffed in uneasy agreement. "For now."

"But… why did they all come?" she asked.

"Funny story," he grumbled. "According to Spark, Storm wanted him to come along because he knew the way whereas she hadn't been here in season-cycles. Then Silva said she wanted to go, and Pearl was not happy with that. She decided she was going to go to look out for Silva, and then Thaw said he would rather come with her, and Ember suggested he go too. By that point, it was looking like Thorn and Herb would be the only ones not going, so they decided they would rather tag along as well."

"So there's no real reason for most of them to be here," Lily huffed. She backed up, allowing Beryl space to leave the narrow passage, and he immediately took it, walking out into the open.

"No… though now that I think about it, Ember might be able to help us out," Beryl said.

"With what?"

"The prisoner," Beryl replied. "I'm going to go ask him about that. He could get answers."

"How?" Lily asked, immensely curious. What could Beryl's Sire do that he himself could not?

"I… Let me talk to him. It might not work out." Beryl shook his head. "I can't say quite yet."

"You know, I don't like secrets being kept from me," Lily warned. "I'll do my best to find them out."

"I don't think you could figure this out on your own," Beryl chuckled. "I would tell you, but this isn't mine to tell. Just let me ask him about it first."

Lily was of half a mind to demand he speak, since she could see no innocent reason to keep it from her, and Ember was not someone she particularly trusted… But doing so would break the hard-earned rapport she had built with Beryl, in not demonstrating even a shred of trust. She wasn't willing to do that. "I'll wait," she conceded.

"Thank you," he murmured. "For this, and for not being too suspicious of my family. You welcomed them much more easily than you did me or Spark."

"That was a problem I have long since mastered," Lily snorted. "Besides, you spoke well of them, and Pearl was there, and Spark delivered what was promised. I don't have any reason not to welcome them." Especially if some of them could be of use. She had not forgotten that there was a danger bearing down on the valley, and she would take any advantage she could get. A group of worldly, battle-ready dark wings that might be convinced to help defend her pack would not be spurned.

Author's Note: And here's another one, this time responding to a guest reviewer who called themself dragonlover7:

I'm glad to hear you enjoy my stories. That being said, I find it odd that amongst all of the various actual atrocities and morally grey things in this series (including but not limited to a protagonist who is capable of stealing bodies via murder and who is also suicidal for a good portion of the previous book), you picked out Pina and Dew as the point at which the story strayed from a 'moral' depiction of things. And the introduction of the concept of divorce, too; that's a strikingly specific duo of lines to draw, and one I certainly cannot agree with, either in this context or in general.

I'll leave it at that; the end of a chapter entirely unrelated to such things is hardly the place for discussion, and even if it were there would be little more to say. I will continue to write as I think best, and that may or may not be 'moral' in your view. You will read or not read, as you choose. (Also, in the event that you want an actual discussion, I'd totally be up for that, but you would have to make an account here. I'm not going to hold such a thing in author's notes.)