Wings of Fire: The Secret of Silverstripe

~Ch.21: The Final Report and the Return~

About three days later, Silverstripe and Emerald arrived back at the Talons of Peace settlement.

"Whoa! Are those SkyWings? And SandWings? And IceWings? And MudWings? And SeaWings? And NIGHTWINGS?" Emerald gasped as she saw a couple of NightWings fly over the settlement. Silverstripe didn't know who they were, but figured that they were some of Morrowseer's workers, like Defender and Starseer.

Silverstripe nodded, smiling at the dragonet in amusement.

"Is it true that NightWings can read minds and foretell the future?" Emerald asked Silverstripe as they looked for a spot to land.

She knows my other secrets. What's one more?

"No," Silverstripe replied. "My father never could. He said that once the NightWings had powers, but they disappeared over time. Don't let them know that you know, though. It's supposed to be a tribe secret."

"Cool! You're a hybrid, too?!" Emerald exclaimed. "A spy and a hybrid?!"

Silverstripe smiled and nodded at the dragonet. "That's why my stripes are silver, and my scales are so dark. My mom is a SeaWing, and my dad is a NightWing."

They landed on the edge of the settlement, a few dragonlengths from Morrowseer's hut.

"Here we are," Silverstripe said. "Now I need to go talk to Morrowseer and deliver the final mission report. You need to go to the head of the Talons. He's a SeaWing named Nautilus. He'll interview you and give you an official membership."

"He's not going to brainwash me, right?" Emerald asked skeptically.

"No, no," Silverstripe said, smiling at the dragonet with amusement. "He'll just ask you about your life, why you want to join, et cetera."

"Okay," Emerald said. "Good luck on your report to Morrowseer!"

"Thank you," Silverstripe said. "I'm going to need it."

"Where is Nautilus?" Emerald asked.

"Over in that hut, sorry," Silverstripe said, pointing to the hut a few dragonlengths from Morrowseer's.
Emerald bounced over to Nautilus' hut while Silverstripe sucked in a deep breath and walked into Morrowseer's hut.

"Greetings, Morrowseer," Silverstripe said as she padded inside the dim room.

Morrowseer looked up from a pile of scrolls on his desk and glared at her. "Why are you here, and not in the Kingdom of the Sea?!" the large NightWing snarled.

"The assassin broke Queen Coral's eggs and I was forced to evacuate," Silverstripe said, wincing at the NightWing's anger. "I brought a new recruit to the Talons as I left, and I have a little more information about the SeaWing army," she added, handing Morrowseer a slate from her pouch. "Turquoise... he stayed behind in the hatchery."

"So you mean to tell me that you forfeited the mission," Morrowseer growled, tucking away the slate in a shelf behind him.

Suddenly, everything her parents had warned her about, about not speaking up to Morrowseer, about staying calm and formal around him, all went silent within her mind. She flared her gills defensively and bared her teeth as she growled, "I had to or I would have died! "Besides, I gathered plenty of information during the mission. I found out much more about the SeaWings than one of your NightWing spies could ever find out in a year!"

Morrowseer paused in thought, surprised and tense from her display of aggression. He took out a stack of slates and scrolls from underneath his desk and laid them atop his desk to examine. "You discovered Commander Tempest's plans for the war, you discovered a great deal of the SeaWings' military positions, you discovered the SeaWing Queen's lack of heirs, and their relationship with Princess Blister," he said after a moment.