Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ouch…what the- Where-?

Despite the rapid pounding behind his eyes, Luna still tried to force them open, wincing at the assault of pain brought by the bright starlight. No, wait, it was too yellow to be pure starlight. Sunlight. Sunlight passing into Earth’s atmosphere.

His wary curiosity rose, but he did not try to re-open his stinging eyes, and instead refocused on his form. It felt stiff, yet warm, as if he’d been laying here for a while, soaking up the heat that seemed to permeate from the very rock beneath him. And it was rock he was laid on, sandy and coarse with the scent of baked air. Wait. Scent? Since when can I smell things?

As he shifted the unfamiliar form, he heard an odd scraping against the ground, as if rock was striking rock. The new limbs responded easily enough, pulling inwards towards his core in an attempt to lessen the feeling of being watched, and the threat that seemed to come with it. He counted four limbs, then another that felt more akin to a tail he’d heard Earth mention, and finally two more that seemed to rest limply across his sides. What the?

In sudden agitation, Luna moved his new tail in a fast beat, hearing the swish of air and feeling the spray of sand that came with it. His eyes gained the courage to try again, blinking open to see he was indeed on his planet’s surface, the distant Sun yellowed and surrounded by bright blues. The ground beneath was dry, almost Martian in its colour, with boulders of rock breaching the sea of sand at intervals. The only indicator that this was in fact Earth was the odd green plants sprouting from cracks and breaks in the scorched land. Where on Earth am I?

Lifting his head, Luna was surprised to realise how far he could see before needing to push up with his legs. A long neck then, certainly longer than the humans have. Swinging it around, Luna tried to make sense of the body he was now seemingly stuck in.

In the sunlight, he could only squint at the harsh shine his scaled hide reflected back at him. Tiny shales ranging from grey to white shimmered down his neck, melding with the armour of scales covering the rest of him. He could see where his neck met with the rest of the body, two shoulders rising from the long torso alongside two new joints Luna had not seen before in an Earthling. They seemed to be connected to the shoulder bones, rising from them into huge lines of bone and skin, arranged like a bird’s wing. He was reminded of bats, and the strange bone hands of their skeletons. As he tried to stretch them out, he was mesmerized to see how the sunlight shone through the skin, revealing a faintly familiar pattern. It looks just like my surface, stretched over skin.

The rest of his body was more understandable, passing from a wide chest into a more concave abdomen, which then fell into a pair of hind legs studded with the same scales that covered his whole body. The tail that spilled behind him was long, twisting into a curl at the tip, with a small line of thin spines rolling from his back. 

Lifting one foreleg, Luna tried to touch his face, only to be met by a spark of pain as his claws caught on the scales there. More gingerly, he ran a claw up from his nose until it encountered a long horn, slightly curved. Further investigation revealed another, on the other side of the back of his head. Luna wasn’t sure what to make of any of this so far. Am I alone? Why is this even happening?

As his eyes adapted to the glare, he scanned the area for others. At first, he saw nothing, but gradually the lumps and odd rocks around him became something else. One tail there, a horned head there, and finally he spotted a mix of colours he could never mistake for anything else. 

Rushing across the soft sand proved to be more difficult than he’d anticipated, and the first slide into a face-plant was certainly humbling. Shaking himself off, Luna kept going until he reached the blue-green form. Unlike his own, this hide was covered in a layer of feathers, rippling lightly in the warm breeze. The form was larger too, at least 2 feet taller at the shoulders, and the horns atop the head branched and rose unlike his smaller curved ones. The eyes were already blinking awake, the one facing Luna opening to reveal the familiar blue hue.

“Earth!” Luna gasped, unused to the way his breaths seemed to demand more time before speaking after that run. The sand in the air was similarly odd, catching in his throat and drying it out, leaving him feeling distinctly croaky.

“Luna?” The head rose, a feathered ruff of greens fanning out in surprise. Earth’s eyes scanned his moon’s new form, a confused frown twisting the narrow snout. “What? Why are you a dragon?”

“Is that what I am?” Luna asked, turning to look at his own wing as Earth reached out for it. The planet froze as he caught sight of his own clawed arm, staring at it in utter bemusement.  

“W-why am I one too?” Earth frowned, twisting his neck to glance behind at the large feathered wings resting against his sides. They shivered, fluffing up so quickly Luna was momentarily concerned his planet had exploded into feathers. “Why am I fluffy?”

“Probably because you’re soft.” A familiar voice joked, and a red-scaled form bounded into the Earth’s side, pushing sand against the wings. Mars studied the feathers, trying to pull one from the mass. “What even are these? They’re so oddly shaped.”

“Ow! Leave them alone!” Earth turned with a snap, the wing yanking itself from the curious dragon’s claws. “Feathers. Birds have them.”

“But not dragons?”

“Dragons don’t have anything. They don’t exist, not on my surface.” Earth grounded out, waving one wing out in disbelief. “What the fuck is happening?”

“You tell me dude, this is your surface.” Mars rolled his eyes, the swirled horns atop his head almost white in the sunlight. A tail flickered behind him, spiked with an oddly bulbus, sickled end. “I just woke up like this.”

“Me too.” Luna added, his own tail swishing in agitation. I don’t like how involuntary that is. I’ll need to find a way to stop that.

“It seems this issue spread a bit further than you three.” The deep voice joining the conversation almost made Luna jump, despite the easy recognition. What is wrong with this body? It’s like I’m paranoid.

“Jupiter!” The two rocky worlds exclaimed in relief. While Mars had been a few inches shorter than Earth, Jupiter was at least twice the height of Earth at his shoulder. The huge dragon peered down at them, wide head topped with long, spiralling horns that seemed to melt into the sunlight. The familiar colours that usually adorned the giant planet were now scattered into a sea of glinting scales, covering the broad-chested form and sparkling in the sun. Down his neck, a swathe of longer, brighter scales fell, making his neck seem larger.

“Earth, do you have any idea why this has happened?” Jupiter asked with a rumble, his new form forced to bend his neck down to face the living planet. “You said these forms are not from your surface?”

“Definitely not. Dragons are just a myth. My Earthlings made them up!” Earth’s wings rose at his agitation, flinging sand at Luna and Mars standing beside him. “And I haven’t the slightest clue why we're here! I was in my orbit two seconds ago.”

“Same here.” Mars agreed, shaking his back to remove the sand. His own wings were held close to his body, rust red and flecked with darker scales, narrowing to points at their ends. “One second I was watching my moons, the next I was here! Wait, are Phobos and Deimos here too?”

“I’m afraid quite a few of us are here, unfortunately.” Saturn, standing only a foot shorter than Jupiter’s bulky form, stepped forward. Luna had not even seen the yellow-cream dragon’s approach, his scales too reminiscent of the very sand they stood on. His body was broader than Jupiter’s, with wings that appeared to curve at the ends rather than terminate into points. Under the giant’s stocky legs, a handful of small dragons peered about in wonder. 

“Amalthea? Metis? Himalia?” Jupiter peered down at the smaller dragons, each roughly half Luna’s own size. The grey-brown patterning on each varied so minutely, but the gas giant clearly recognised them as his own. “Where are the rest? Is it only you three?”

“W-we think so?” Metis stammered uncertainly, following her fellows as they dashed towards their planet. 

“We found Saturn’s moons too! But only a few.” Amalthea piped up, attempting to stand up on her hind legs for a better view of Jupiter. “The big ones are here too! I saw Europa! She’s back! She’s so shiny!”

“That’s good to hear.” Jupiter commented distractedly, already lifting his head to search for the Galilean moons. Luna tried not to feel too apprehensious about the supposed return of the exiled moons. “We need to gather everyone and get a count of who is here.”

Luna raised his head to the rest of the surrounding desert, the lumps and bumps from earlier now revealing themselves to be other scaled creatures, many already making their way over. His eye caught on a sharp glint of blue, shining harshly in the sunlight, and his eyes adjusted to make out a wide-winged dragon with rows of spikes rolling down his back and spreading from the tip of his tail. A slightly larger, paler dragon stood awkwardly nearby, his own smooth-ridged dorsal fin flowing to his tail. More dragons closer to Luna’s own size were talking in a huddle, the familiar green-orange of Titan catching his eye. So many are here.

…

In the end, they managed to round up and count every dragon in the radius of a few miles. Presumably, that was all there was, but Luna wasn’t about to go out and check. The heat was bad enough, and he’d already seen more than a few celestials accidentally step on sharp plants or rocks with clumsy feet. 

All the planets were here, from Mercury to Neptune, and most major moons as well. None of the dwarf planets had been found and Luna really hoped they weren’t lost somewhere. In terms of minor moons, it seemed like only three of each giant’s group had been brought with them, as well as Phobos and Deimos. No sign of the Sun.

“WOW! This place is so fun!” The terrors themselves were currently Luna’s problem, as the larger moon tried to keep them in sight while the planets spoke. He'd much rather be listening in, but the two younger moons had disappeared and no one had wanted to go looking. So, obviously, Earth asked him to. And Luna was very bad at ignoring his planet, it seemed. It’s looking more tempting by the minute, though.

“Get back here, guys! We can’t get lost!” Luna scrambled to follow the red-brown dragons as they scuttled under bushes or clambered up rocks. His lungs seemed to protest every extra movement, this body strangely reliant on repetitive breathes. He’d heard Earth speak of his Life’s dependence on oxygen, but actually dealing with the demand was a whole ‘nother thing. Worst of all, even when he stopped moving, the body still forced him to pant and gasp for extra air. This is terribly designed.

Luna skidded to a stop in the loose sand, his wings raising involuntarily to try and counterbalance the force of the stop. Neither Martian moon was in sight. His eyes, still getting used to the bright sheen everything seemed to have, squinted into the vast desert around them. Because that’s where they were, according to Earth. A desert. Or at least a desert transitioning into scrubland, given the vast swaths of grasses and shrubs. Luna didn’t really care either way, as long as his throat could stop hurting soon and his organs could quit complaining. 

“Up here! Luna! Up here!” The laughing cries of the little moons had Luna swinging his head up, eyeing the branches of a scraggly tree he’d been seeking some shade under. Twin tails curled from the highest stretch of the tree, golden-red eyes blinking down at the grey dragon. “We found this awesome thing! It’s so tall!” 

The tree barely passed Luna’s head, but he wasn’t about to start an argument with these two. Instead, he reached up to pluck the closest one off the tree, his clawed forearm clumsily trying to grab the dragon’s middle without harming him. Phobos made this endeavour harder by squirming. “Stay still! Your planet will kill me if either of you get hurt.”

“But we’re just having fun!” Phobos protested, his own small claws digging into Luna’s in some attempt to dissuade him. “We wanna explore!”

“We don’t know where we are. And if we get lost, no one is going to know how to find us.” Luna tried to reason, tossing an anxious look back at the larger group. They still seemed to be preoccupied by their discussion, no heads turned in their direction. In his distraction, Phobos had scrambled free. 

“Oof.” The little dragon had over-compensated as he was freed, tumbling off the branch to land with a spray of sand on the ground. Luna was about to panic, but the little dragon quickly bounced up again to shoot off into the nearby brush. “Catch me if you can!”

“Ugh.” Luna huffed, his muscles already stinging from his previous chase of the little moons. The grey moon trudged after the dragon’s path, surprised to find he could detect a faint scent everywhere Phobos had stepped. Maybe this will be easier than I think.

As he paced around in the dry grasses and spiky thickets, Luna tried to picture how an Earthling would do this. He seemed to have all the senses of one now, he should probably learn to use them. Scent made sense, in a way, like a cloud of invisible molecules left behind by every creature. Not the same as gravity or heat, but similar enough in concept. Hearing was easy and familiar, though the range was different and appeared to be influenced by more than just distance now. 

Touch was maybe one of the newer ones, having no real counterpart for celestials. Sure, they could ‘feel’ their surfaces and the general heat of the space around them, but no actual contact was ever possible. If a celestial was touching another, something had gone very wrong. But, in this form, everything was touching all the time, constantly sending new information to Luna’s brain. And he had a brain now, which was weird to think about. A fleshy lump of neurons and electrical signals now powered his thoughts, rather than his core. Eww.

“Luna! Look at this!” Phobos’ call forced Luna’s head up, his eyes trying to adjust to the light again after so long aimed at the ground. These things are pathetic.

Taste was a sense Earth had often spoken of in envy, but Luna really wasn’t seeing the appeal. His mouth tasted like sand, dry air, and something metallic. Not an enviable experience. Luna spat out another mouthful of sand after another trip into the nearest sand rise, his foot caught on an exposed plant root. Ugh.

“What is it, Phobos?” Luna asked as he drew closer to where the sound appeared to have come from. He knew Earthling hearing tended to use triangulation to work such things out, but the reliability of such a thing was yet to be seen. “Phobos?”

“What is this?” The little moon spoke, close enough that Luna could finally see him. The moon was sat in the sand, his forearm reaching out to indicate a strange creature he’d clearly flipped upside down. From the lack of movement, Luna guessed it was already dead.

“Please don’t touch it.” Luna sighed, eyeing the creature. “I don’t know what it is.”

“But I’m hungry!” The exclamation caught Luna severely off guard. Hunger wasn’t something they’d encountered before, but it did seem to be the right word for the twisting pain his abdomen occasionally pulsed with. But, looking at the dead animal, Luna did not think it looked very appealing at all, certainly not enough to remove the feeling of hunger.

“We don’t know what we can or can’t eat, Phobos.” Luna tried to sound authoritative about this, worried the little dragon would try anyway. “We have to wait for the others. We have to ask Earth.”

“Aw! But I’m hungry now!”

Luna ignored the complaint, scooping the creature into his own claws to keep it separate from the moon. As he studied the creature closer, he could see six spindly legs, with two more appendages made up of sharp-looking pincers. A thick, dark tail curled behind it, tipped with a bulbous hook reminiscent of Mars’ new tail tip. Odd looking creature.

“Luna! Luna?” The voice of his planet drew Luna’s attention away from the Earthling, his neck twisting around to find the blue-green dragon making his way across the scrub towards them. A few other dragons were slinking along as well, including an annoyed looking Mars. “Why’d you leave Deimos in a tree? He couldn’t get down.”

“Oh, sorry.” Luna flushed, realising his mistake. Now that he looked, he could see the other little dragon he’d been following was now huddled on his planet’s back, resting against the red scales. “Sorry, Deimos, I was following Phobos and got distracted.”

“By what?” Earth asked, close enough now to peer at Luna’s cupped talons. “Luna, you should probably put that down.”

“Why?” Luna asked, but did as Earth instructed, not looking to argue with the only Earthling expert in the area. “What is it?”

“Scorpion. Some kind of Thicktail, I think.” Earth lowered his head to look closer. “The tail is venomous, the scorpion stabs it into prey to kill. It can be deadly to larger Earthlings in some species, but this one looks dead at least.”

“Yeah, Phobos found it dead.” Luna assured, now even more glad of that fact.

“Why does the tail look like mine?” Mars asked, peering down at it too. He flicked his tail around to inspect it, causing Luna and Earth to flinch back. “Sorry. Does that mean my tail is dangerous?”

“Probably. Please don’t test it on anyone. I’m sure we’ll find some threat at some point.” Earth grimaced at the tail waving in front of him. “Be careful with it. We don’t really have the equipment to make an antidote.”

“Of course. I’ll be careful.” Mars promised, curling the tail back on itself until he had a spiral, the deadly hook nestled in the centre. 

“Can I eat it now?” Phobos asked, clambering over to look up at the Earth. The ruff of feathers fluffed up at the question.

“Do you want to?”

“Don’t let him eat it, Earth.” Mars protested. “You literally just said it’s venomous."

“Yeah, venomous, not poisonous.” Earth corrected. “If we remove the tail, he should be OK.”

“‘Should be OK’?” Mars muttered disbelievingly. “No, I’m not letting my moon be a test subject for this.”

“Lots of Earthlings eat them. It’s a food source at least.” Earth shrugged. “We need to work out what we can and can’t eat pretty quickly. This can be a start.”

“Why? How long are we going to be stuck here?” Luna asked, dismayed that his planet seemed to be fixing to stay. I don’t want to be stuck in this dustbowl.

“We don’t know. Jupiter agreed that our best bet is to start looking for water.” Earth muttered, looking over his shoulder at the gas giant slowly approaching, wings casting shade over the moons following in his wake. “Then shelter and food. We need to get our needs met before we can start moving away from here.”

“So, where to, Earth?” Saturn asked, having followed Jupiter to them, his tail flickering at his side in rapid swishes. Behind them, the two ice giants also approached, their moons following as fast as they could manage. Earth raised his head to scan the area.

“Water will be near denser, greener plant life than this.” Earth strained to stand up on his hindlegs, the sand-clogged feathers spilling grains back onto the ground. His tail rose to help his balance, feathers flaring into a wide fan at the end. “There. That looks greenish?”

Jupiter rose up as well, peering in the same direction as Earth indicated. “If you think so, Earth. We are all at a severe disadvantage when it comes to knowledge of survival on your surface, you will have to guide us.”

“I thought we agreed Jupiter was in charge?” Uranus piped up with an annoyed tone. “Since the Sun’s not here.”

“I can be in charge of us as a group, but the details of our interactions with this land will be Earth’s say.” Jupiter explained to the ice giant, his height rivalling Uranus’ by a good few feet. “It is his surface, and he knows the most about this.”

“Well, we should get going, then.” Earth tried to project his voice far enough to reach the stragglers at the end of the huddle. “If planets can let the smaller moons ride on them, we might be able to move faster. And, everyone, keep count of your travelling group and call out if anyone is missing or struggling. The heat is dangerous and we need to look out for each other.”

The gathered dragons nodded, exchanging worried glances and uncomfortable expressions. Luna shook himself off, picking up his feet to catch up with Earth as the group began to move. Phobos cast one last longing look at the dead scorpion. Small moons hopped up onto larger dragons, while major moons took up long strides to maintain pace with their planets. Luna was almost glad he and Earth weren’t that distant in size. One stride from Earth was one and two thirds for Luna, so his speed needed little adjustment to keep up.

The ground varied in texture, some areas as hard as rock while others caused feet to sink infuriatingly. The foliage only increased in density, catching on claws, tails, and scales. Earth lost more than a few feathers to the spiky thorns. Luna gave up trying to pick the burrs from his scales.

As they walked, Luna tried to distract himself from the relentless heat and baked surface by studying his fellow rocky worlds, all of whom were following close beside Earth. Venus was surprisingly similar in build to his own planet, with the same branching horns and narrow nose. The main difference was the feathers. Where Earth was covered in them, Venus only had a few, localised solely on his upper neck, just below his horns. They resembled his scales, red, orange, and yellow, with a few flecks of black. 

Mercury was nearly the same size as Luna, only a few centimetres taller at the shoulders. The planet appeared grey at first sight, plainer looking than Luna himself. But, in the sunlight, his scales shimmered iridescent flecks of colour, a rainbow hidden within the dull sheen. His wings were far smaller in proportion to his body than any other planet, but they were shaped into narrow points that reminded Luna of birds of prey Earth often spoke of. 

The distant smudge of green still sat across a yawing stretch of scrubland, the air blowing in eddies to spray sand at the group, and the sky itself becoming painful to look at from the searing heat. Every breath felt useless in the fight to cool down, every particle already warmed beyond helping, and the dryness in his mouth only got worse. Sand was sliding between scales and sticking, creating a scattering of irritation across the very legs Luna was trying to keep moving. The grey dragon tried to think of the cool of his usual orbit, the simple pleasure of having nothing touching his surface from any angle, only Earth's distant gravity to ground him.

“Are you doing okay?” Earth’s whispered question drew Luna from his musing to meet his planet’s odd-coloured eyes. The feathers around his neck were slumped down, pressed against his skin to shield it from the Sun’s glare. “Any headaches? Dizziness? We should get there soon, but heatstroke needs to be caught early, especially out here.”

“I-I’m feeling fine, Earth. Just a bit overwhelmed.” Luna admitted with a sigh, keeping his head down to avoid the bright sunlight. “This is crazy. Why are we here?”

“I don’t know, Luna.” Earth cast a look back, checking on the end of the line for stragglers. “I’m hoping if we can keep everyone alive until night, I can work out where we might be. I have a suspicion already, but confirmation would help.”

“Where do you think we are?”

“Based on the plants, climate, and ecotype, somewhere in the southern end of Africa.” Earth whispered to his moon. “If we can get to that green area, I might be able to find some human thing and get an exact location.” 

“You think humans will be out here?” Luna wasn’t sure why anything that didn’t have to be out here would bother. The Sun alone made it unbearable. 

“Maybe. If they’re anywhere, it’ll be near water.” Earth hummed, “They’re everywhere on my surface. I told you as much before.”

“Yeah, but here? There’s nothing here!”

“There’s plenty here. You already met one of the animals, and we’re surrounded by the plants.” Earth countered. “Anyway, this is probably as inhospitable as it gets. It’s not the rainy season, and this area clearly hasn’t seen any rain in weeks.”

“So, when will it rain again?” Luna had never thought of rain as so appealing before. 

“That’s what I want to see the sky for. If I can work out where we are, and when, then I can get a rough guess.” Earth revealed, nodding to the sky. 

“I don’t see how.” Luna huffed, trying to ignore the growing pain in his feet as the burning ground was eaten up by their strides.

“You will.”

…

“This isn’t water, Earth.” Mercury poked the oddly thick-leaved plant disdainfully. “The ground here is just as dry as everywhere else.”

“It’s not.” Earth waved his tail to the trees that rose around them, just tall enough to provide shade for the largest rocky planet. Behind Luna, the moon could hear the ice and gas giants trying to crouch down under the merger shade. “These trees wouldn’t be this big if there was no water. It’s just deep down.”

“So, it’s useless to us.” Venus hissed, kicking another scrub with his foreleg. “I’m not digging.”

“We don’t have to.” Earth nodded to some of the thick-leaved plants Mercury was playing with. “Those are succulents. They have swollen leaves because they store water. We can eat them.”

“I am not doing that.” Venus hissed, the feathers on his ruff rising in agitation.

“Fine. There's always these things.” Earth, in a move that probably wasn’t as painless as he made it look, picked up a longer, spiky plant with no obvious leaves. “Apparently they taste like cucumbers. Not that I know what that means.”

“Is that safe?” Luna asked, eyeing the spikes arranged on the plant. “Looks painful.”

“Cut the spikes off.” Earth drew one of his claws down the side of the plant, the spikes falling off onto the sand below. Luna made a note to not stand there any time soon. Once Earth had de-spiked the whole thing, he split it in half, offering one half to Luna. “Try it. It’s either this or digging.”

“...thanks.” Luna gingerly took the offered plant. The sap was already seeping from the wounds left by Earth’s talons, temptingly moist despite the stickiness. The reasonable part of his mind wanted to avoid putting this strange biological weirdness anywhere near him, but the new, animalistic part was thirsty and hungry and didn’t really care how Luna fixed those things. 

The first bite wasn’t much of anything, if Luna was honest. The texture was the most noticeable part, both hard and surprisingly easy to break at the same time, while the flavour seemed to be mostly a mild tanginess, similar to the smell it gave off. Luna only managed a few bites before having to put it down, his dismay at the feeling of the sap clinging to his mouth roiling his stomach more than the hunger had. “Ugh.”

“Yeah, not exactly the best fix for water.” Earth frowned at his own piece, a few bites also taken out. “We don’t really have a lot of other options, though. I can’t see a river or anything else green for miles.”

“I guess it’ll have to do?” Mars frowned down at a handful of the thick-leaved succulents he’d been trying to force down. “Is there enough here for everyone? Seems a little small for the giants.”

“Ah, yeah, probably not. We might just have to dig.” Earth looked far more worried now, glancing up at the sky with squinted eyes. “The Sun will set soon, so it’ll be cooler then. We can dig in the dark.”

“Why?” Mercury asked, happily munching on a few of the rounded thick-leaves. “Won’t it be hard to see?”

“Maybe. But it’ll be hard to stay alive if we tried digging in this heat.” Earth explained, then picked up another stem of spiky plants to de-spike. “We’ll divide what’s here up among the others. Try and make sure everyone has at least a go at eating them.”

...

Luna ended up dragging a few of the weeping plants over to the Saturnian moons, who were all huddled under the shade of one tree. Their planet was laid out under another tree nearby, his head resting on Jupiter’s shoulders as they talked quietly. 

“I’ve got some-” Luna wasn’t sure how to describe what he was holding. “-stuff for you guys.”

He’d awkwardly curled one wing under itself at his side to hold the plants, and now he fumbled to grab them back out with his talons, the sap already covering the wing and his claws. Eww.

“What are they?” Titan had stepped forward to accept one of the plants, turning it over in his talons to inspect it. “Are we supposed to do something with it?”

“Eat it.” Luna nodded to the plant as more of the moons came forward to grab one. “It’s got water in it, according to Earth. We need water to stay alive now, like Earthlings do.”

“Ugh! This is so gross!” Dione complained, her claws gingerly holding the plant away from her. “You want us to eat it? No thanks!”

“Fine, die of dehydration.” Luna really wasn’t in the mood for trying to convince ten moons to at least try not to pass out. As much as he’d disliked the experience of eating the plant, he’d still ended up finishing it out of necessity. “We’re going to try digging for water at night, but for now this is all we have.”

“This blows.” Mimas grumbled, his dark grey scales contrasting harshly with the rings of white around his eyes. Or eye, in this case, the other socket empty and black. “Why are we even here? What the Stars is even going on?”

“We don’t know.” Iapetus turned a worried look to the rest of the moon group. His half-and-half surface had been almost perfectly reflected into the dragon form, splitting him in two along the sagittal plane. “We can only trust that we will learn more soon, and in the meantime, we need to listen to the only planet and moon with any experience of Life.”

“Titan has Life too!” Janus, a smaller moon about the height of Luna’s foreleg from talons to horns, bounded forward to add.

“Not nearly complicated enough for me to know anything about surviving on Earth.” Titan protested, eyeing the plant he was still holding with a determined expression. “Well, here goes nothing.”

Watching Titan’s expressions as he ate the plant almost made this whole thing worth it for Luna. The overwhelming urge to laugh was making breathing a bit difficult, but his body seemed to feel lighter at the amusement, like he’d been suddenly hit with more energy than before. He’d listened to Earth’s rambles about all the chemicals Earthling brains use to control and induce the meat bit to move and stay alive, but actually feeling it was far more crazy than his planet ever made it seem. 

“Having fun there, Titan?” Saturn had noticed the crowd his largest moon had acquired, peering over at them all with a bemused expression. “Oh dear, what’s that face for?”

“He’s eating a plant!” Janus exclaimed excitedly, “Luna says we have to or we’ll die!”

“Um-” Luna’s amusement vanished in the face of Saturn’s disturbed expression. “No, that’s not what I said. Earth just thinks it’ll be better if everyone tries to get some water before night falls.”

“Oh?” Saturn frowned, eyeing the plant Dione held out to him as an example. “Those don’t look very pretty. And we have to eat them?”

“Ideally. But we are planning to dig a hole for water later, once it cools down.” Luna explained, but Saturn didn’t seem terribly impressed by that either. 

“Dig? That sounds terribly exhausting.” The sand-coloured dragon heaved a breath, pawing at the soft ground. “Do we have to? Why can’t we just wait until it rains? It’s always raining on Earth, as far as I know.”

“Yeah, but not here.” Luna struggled to keep his voice calm. It wasn’t Saturn’s fault he’d never experienced or heard about anything Earthlings actually have to do to survive on his planet’s surface. The adjustment was going to take time. “It hasn’t rained for weeks, and probably won’t rain for weeks more. And you won’t last that long without water!”

“Well, that certainly sounds like ‘eat this or die’ to me.” Hyperion laughed, unconcerned by Saturn’s quick glare in his direction.

“I’ll go get some more plants. Eat those ones.” Luna huffed, turning away from the group and pacing a few metres away, trying to work out why his heart was racing and his breathing was acting like he’d run a mile. His frustration was making thoughts surprisingly difficult, and he had the distinct urge to curl up and block everything out. What is going on? I was fine a second ago!

He gave into the demands of the strange mood that had fallen over him, curling his head and tail into a tight circle with one wing thrown over to hide his eyes from the outside world. His breathing didn't improve, but the jittery feeling was lowing its intensity to a mild buzz rather than an all-consuming urge. The dark at least seemed to be helping with the pounding pain his brain had decided to add to the mix. 

“Luna?” The voice caused his shoulders to tense, even as his muddled mind recognised the speaker. He carefully drew back one wing so he could see the dragon before him.

“Earth.” Luna forced out, his voice tight. The feathered dragon took a step forward, only to pause as Luna drew back. The moon didn’t understand why he was acting like this. I know Earth! I trust him!

“Luna? Are you- No, you’re clearly not okay. Is there any way I can help?” Earth awkwardly asked, the concern in his voice making Luna feel even worse. “Can you explain what’s upset you?”

“I-I don’t know! My organs are being weird just ‘cause I snapped at Saturn and tried to tell him we might all die out here! And now my stupid fleshy brain is mixing everything up and making it worse. And there’s sand in my scales and it really itches.” Luna finished lamely, his breathing calming slightly just from speaking it all aloud. “I wanna go home, Earth.”

“I know. I do too.” Earth hummed, gently curling his soft body around the moon and drawing one wing over Luna’s side. The feathers tickled his nose, but Luna felt far more grounded as he rested his head on the downy side, the scent almost familiar despite his recent acquisition of a nose. “It’s going to be hard. If we have to survive here long term, I’m definitely going to freak out too, don’t worry. Being an Earthling is hard and uncomfortable and messy. ”

Earth’s words weren’t helping Luna’s optimism for the future. He knew far less than Earth, but even he had seen the horrible, painful fates of so many life forms over the years. If that happened to one of the others…it didn’t bear thinking about.

“But, we can survive. We have more knowledge between us than your average Earthling, as irrelevant as much of it might seem. We have wings, and if we can master them, we can move to a better location.” Earth explained. “We are relatively big, most of us. Food might be a struggle, but we can learn and we’re equipped with plenty of weapons. The area isn’t great, but if we can find out where we are I can try and navigate to a nicer, wetter area. There are plenty of Earthlings in far worse situations right now, and they’re surviving as well.”

“Hm.” Luna hummed against his planet’s side, the feathers in front of his muzzle ruffled by the air. “Why did I just- freak out, then? I’ve never felt like that before.”

“Earthling bodies are weird. They’ve been selectively bred for generations by every threat and predator on my surface, and that tends to come with some built in panic buttons. If the brain thinks there’s a threat you need to run from, it shocks you with adrenaline to try and be helpful.” Earth smiled ruefully. “It’s not very good at telling the difference between a bad conversation and a lion, though. Sorry.”

“Oh. So my brain was the problem, then.” Luna sighed, already done with this free-trial of being puppeted like a meat sack. 

“Not really. It was trying to be helpful. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the boost when a real threat comes after you.” Earth joked, laying his own head onto the sandy ground. “Man, this heat really does make Earthlings sleepy. We might as well rest for a bit, just till night falls.”

“Okay.” Luna shuffled a few of his limbs into better positions, trying to get as comfortable as possible against his planet’s side. The repetitive breaths from the dragon beneath his head felt soothing and soon he was dozing off too. “Thanks, Earth.”

“No problem.”

…

“How are we supposed to dig a hole in this stuff?” Uranus complained, his claw-marks re-filling with sand after every drag. “It’s too shifty. And I can barely see.”

“Really? I can see great!” Neptune offered at his side, the wide-eyed planet also attempting to dig into the ground, his disproportionately large wings trailing in the sand as he failed to keep them neatly on his back. “Not a lot of colour, though.”

“We need to dig in the lowest part we can find.” Jupiter swung his head around to peer down at a clump of trees in a small ditch. “Down there.”

“You want us to fit in there?” Saturn frowned at the tight thicket of branches. “I’ll catch my scales on every branch, Jupiter! Not to mention the insects!”

“Rip the trees out.” Uranus suggested coldly, his whip-thin tail striking the ground in irritation. “They’re half your size. Just remove them and we can start digging.”

“I really don’t think that would be polite to Earth-” Jupiter started, only to be interrupted by the planet himself.

“Just do it. We’re going to have some impact on my surface to stay alive, a few trees is the least of it.” Earth huffed, watching the argument with the air of a tired teacher. Luna was still sticking to his side, not interested in going anywhere right now. He probably could've just stayed asleep under the trees with the rest of the rockies and moons, but his planet had been called on to supervise the giants as they dug.

The darkness had fallen surprisingly quickly, and so had the temperature. Rather than being too hot, Luna was starting to feel too cold. Luckily, he had a fluffy planet’s wing to hide under. The sky was open and shining with the familiar pin-pricks of light, curved above their heads like a dome. A few hours of darkness had already passed and his celestial form was rising full and bright into the sky, passing between the Pegasus and Pisces constellations, aiming for Aquarius. 

Staring at his physical form, Luna felt a sudden longing to speak to Dark. The other side of his form didn't seemed to have transferred to this one, leaving his mind oddly empty and lonely. Sure, Dark would sometimes sleep for extended periods of time, leaving Luna in silence, but he rarely felt so unreachable. Maybe it's for the best. Dark would hate this.

“I think we’re in early September.” Earth’s muttering caught Luna off guard and he tilted his head to see Earth was gazing at the sky too. “Definitely the southern end of Africa, going by the constellations at this time of night. And the full moon, of course!”

“What does that mean for us?” Luna asked, not sure what use knowing the month was. 

“Well, it tells me we might be waiting a bit for rain. It’s definitely the dry season.” Earth moved his head around to take in more of the constellations. “It also gives us a start point for our time-keeping. We know we arrived on a full moon, and in roughly a month we will see another one. Hopefully we’ll be far away from here by then.”

“We’re moving?” Luna asked, watching as Jupiter tried to yank a tree out with his teeth. The tree snapped. 

“We have to.” Earth confessed, turning his head to one side. “East is that way, and we will aim for that tomorrow. Hopefully, after some water, everyone can be convinced to try flying.”

“Ah.” Luna had not considered that. Wings had barely registered in his mind as anything other than uselessly gangly limbs, but obviously Earthlings used them for flight. As easy as floating through air usually was, the idea of having to manually generate enough lift to oppose Earth’s surface gravity with these floppy bone-skins alone sounded exhausting. 

“It’ll be fun!” Earth grinned, peaking down into the ditch to check on the progress. Jupiter and Saturn had managed to extract the trees, leaving only a mound of disturbed earth in their place. Uranus and Neptune were already digging, with Saturn hesitantly approaching to help. Jupiter was inspecting the roots of one of the destroyed trees. 

“What’ch looking at, Jupiter?” Earth asked, getting up to approach the gas giant. Jupiter turned to greet him.

“Earth, Luna. I was just wondering if the roots might give us a clue as to how deep we’ll need to dig.” Jupiter pressed one claw to a lower root, showing the dark soil caught between the tangles. “This dirt is darker and colder. Do you think-”

Jupiter’s words abruptly paused as Earth boldly stuck his tongue out to touch it to the dirt. Luna shared a bemused expression with the golden dragon before Earth withdrew his tongue to speak.

“Yep! Wet dirt.” 

“Earth, was that really necessary?” Jupiter sighed, while Earth just laughed. 

“Come on Jupiter, we can’t be so delicate about this stuff. I can’t imagine how you’ll manage to eat a bloody carcass at this rate. Saturn might faint.” Earth pointed out, turning his head to check on the ringed giant, who was still only touching the dirt with the tips of his claws. 

“This is a hard adjustment, Earth. He just needs some time. We all do.” Jupiter replied sternly, but the concern in his gaze as he watched his fellow giant gave it a softer edge. “I fear he is quite upset by all this already.”

“Well, I know what might cheer him up!” Earth pointed one talon high above them, just east of Luna’s own form. “Up there, that little dot, that’s Saturn. If we had a telescope, we’d be able to see his rings.”

“Indeed.” Jupiter mused, his own head upturned to look. “I will have to point it out to him.”

“Yeah, and if we had a good telescope, we might have been able to see Neptune as well.” Earth added, apparently not done explaining the night sky to Jupiter. “He’s really close to Saturn at the moment.”

“That’s quite fascinating, Earth.” Jupiter replied politely. “It is certainly strange to see our home and forms from your perspective. We all look very small.” 

“Except Luna.” Earth added brightly. “Luna’s lighting this place up like the Sun! We should enjoy it while it lasts!”

“It gets darker than this?” Uranus, who must have been listening in, suddenly raised his head from the ditch. “This is bad enough!”

“Yep, sorry.” Luna smiled apologetically. “I’m not a full moon all the time. The light is only this bright once a month, roughly.” 

“Ugh!” The ice giant flopped onto the ground in defeat, having pulled his bulk from the ditch to lay in the moonlight, and spoke through his clenched teeth. “This is torture.” 

“Take a break if you need one!” Neptune stepped up from the hole, peering down at the pale, moonlit dragon as dark mud dripped from his razer-sharp claws. “The mud is really sloppy now, so I can’t imagine we’re far.”

“It is?” Earth shot forward to gaze into the hole the ice giants had created. Luna scrambled to follow. “Yes! OK, we need to clear as much of the mud out as we can. It’s going to taste gross, but we can drink this.”

“I’ll wake the others.” Luna offered, darting off into the trees again to find the rest of the group.

He stumbled over the rockies first, quite literally, nearly earning a stinger through the eye from Mars. He hurriedly conveyed the news before running off before Venus could get mad that he’d trailed dirt all over his tail. 

The moons had gathered further back in the trees, huddled together despite the heat. Luna knew a few of the moons were hesitant about Ganymede and Europa seemingly being back now, but compared to the planets they were positively jumping for joy. The two exiled moons hadn't even approached their planet yet, still hurt and confused by the way Jupiter had reacted during the trial. Luna wasn't sure where he stood on the whole issue, or if he even needed to be involved at all. It all seems a touch silly in the face of this situation.

“Guys! They found water!” He gasped out as he approached the mass of moons. A sea of half-glowing eyes rose to face him, more funny than eerie when he could name every face he saw there. There was a scuffle of wingbeats and hissing before the whole group was up and following Luna back to the hole.

As they arrived, Luna saw Jupiter withdrawing his head from the ditch, muzzle stained dark with mud. Saturn was curled up completely, his talons delicately trying to remove the mud caked to his sand-bright scales. Neptune was off to one side, trying to wipe the mud off on a nearby tree, while Uranus just stared forlornly at the ground, mud dripping from his teeth. 

Earth was showing the other rocky planets how to dip their heads down and drink. Venus appeared just desperate enough to give it a go, while Mars and Mercury watched on with doubtful expressions. Luna led the moons over.

“How’s it taste?” Callisto asked as they reached the hole, eyeing Venus’ wet muzzle with a dismayed expression on her speckled face. The orange-yellow dragon huffed and drew back his teeth in a grimace. 

“Disgusting. But it’s water. And the best we’re gonna get apparently.”

“Unfortunately, yeah.” Earth agreed, nodding to Mars to have a go next before turning to the moon group. “OK, we are going to be orderly about this and stand in a line. Once you get a drink, leave the line. If you want a second drink, go to the back of the line. If the water looks low, scoop the mud out or call one of the giants over to do it for you.”

The majority of the gathered moons nodded, though Luna noticed the disdainful looks of a few thrown his planet’s way. Mars had finished by now, and Mercury was seemingly sikeing himself up for the task. The small planet appeared to take one big mouthful, then threw his head back to force it down. Luna wondered if that was actually a good idea.

“You go first, Luna.” Earth indicated to the hole after Mercury was done, the smallest planet gagging slightly in a distinctly unappealing review of the experience. Luna shot Earth a look, noting the lack of mud on his planet’s face.

“What about you?” Luna asked, stepping back to indicate the hole. “You first. All the other planets have done it.”

“I can go later. It’s fine.” Luna searched his planet’s face, trying to work out where the sudden reluctance had come from. Hypocrite.

“You can’t get on Saturn’s case for being squeamish if you're not even willing to do it.” Luna accursed, gratified to see the feathers on his planet’s ruff rise in agitation. He wasn’t about to let his own planet go without water over a silly reluctance. “Don’t be delicate, Earth. We’re going to be eating Earthlings soon, like you said.”

“Don’t remind me.” Earth deadpanned, his glare sharp in the moonlight. “Fine. OK, it’s just mud. Just mud. Just mud…”

As Earth whispered this to himself, he lowered his head into the hole and shut his eyes, drinking deeply from the dark water. Watching the specks and clumps of dirt floating in swirls as the planet drank, Luna was hit by the realisation that he was next, and now, to avoid Earth’s endless teasing, he’d have to do it more confidently than the planet. Just mud, just mud, just mud…

“Ugh.” Earth withdrew, shaking his head to dislodge some of the mud, then turned a smirk onto Luna. “Your go!”

With a smirk of his own, Luna confidently dipped his head in and slurped up a mouthful. And quickly realised his mistake. Oh Stars this is terrible! Ew ew ew ew!

“What’s the matter? Not very fond of mud?” Earth’s teasing voice ignited a short fuse of spite in Luna, and the grey dragon used it to gulp the mouthful down. His next draw was slower, with the distinct goal of minimising the amount of dirt clumps he was forced to swallow. Once he was done, he withdrew as calmly as he could pretend to and marched off. He heard Earth tell the next moon to go ahead before padding after his moon. 

The water felt like it had triggered some reflex in his chest, the back of his neck tensing and almost painful to resist. Luna clamped his mouth shut and tried to ride the wave of discomfort. Never again.

“You good?” Earth’s question was a bit redundant, since Luna was actively trying not to hurl. Once his stomach stopped playing roll-about, he glared at his planet. 

“What do you think?” 

“Not great then? Yeah, but hopefully tomorrow we can find a new water source, or dig a new hole.” Earth laughed, reaching up to wipe the mud from Luna’s face, and his voice dipped down to a more serious tone. “We will have to do that again in the morning, though.”

“Ugh.” Luna flopped down onto the sand, his stomach protesting the distinct lack of food and overabundance of mud. “If I have to choose between that and dying, I might pick the latter.”

“Don’t be silly!” Luna turned a glare on the Earth until he crumpled. “OK, yeah, that was horrid. But, we can’t give up just because the water tastes bad.”

“Why not?” Luna knew he was being unhelpfully dramatic, but the pain in his stomach wasn’t giving his brain a lot of joyful chemicals to work with. Earth laughed and flopped down beside him, watching the moons take drinks one by one from the hole. 

It was almost peaceful, for what it was. Laying under the spray of starlight, a comforting reminder of every other night of their lives, while the dragons around him settled into naps and quiet conversations. Earth was gazing at the sky again, and Luna was happy to just doze.

The peace didn’t last long, however, as Earth was soon nudging him awake again. 

“Luna. Luna, wake up.”

“What?” Luna groaned, blinking his eyes open. It was still dark, his celestial form now higher in the sky, nestled in Aquarius. Earth was indicating another constellation, just on the northern horizon. The calm that had settled over him was hard to shake off, even in the face of Earth's expression.

“Cygnus is wrong.” At first the words coming out of his planet made no sense; but, as Luna studied the familiar constellation he realized Earth was right. Cygnus was tilted, Deneb was now pointing straight down rather than at the angle expected to the horizon line. “It’s pointing compass north.”

“Why?” Luna asked, bemused by the randomness of this change. “Are any other constellations wrong?”

“Not as far as I can see.” Earth hummed, tilting his head at the stars. “I can’t think of any reason they would, or even could, move.”

As the two dragons stared, the stars shifted again, the constellation tilting slightly to resume the normal appearance. Luna blinked in confusion, and suddenly the constellation was wrong again, pointing north once more. “This is really weird.”

“I think we have to go north.” Earth’s words sounded distant, as if the planet was still deep in thought as he spoke. “Why else would it point so accurately to the north? And only one constellation, the northern cross. It has to be deliberate.”

“I guess?” Luna really wasn’t sure about this. It seemed like a strange way to communicate such a thing, but they hardly had any other clues about their purpose here. “So, we go north? Straight north?”

“No. No, that would be a bad idea.” Earth hummed to himself. “We’ll still go east, till we reach the coast. Then we can follow the coast north and hopefully stay close to water.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Luna grunted, not nearly knowledgeable enough to even guess at the kinds of areas they’d be flying through. Trying to survive here had been bad enough, and everywhere else was likely to present just as steep a learning curve for the group. “We’ll have to get everyone there alive.”

“Yep.” Earth breathed, his voice sounding momentarily overwhelmed by the task ahead. “But we can do it! We’re celestials, after all. We can deal with a few days stuck on my surface. And the Sun will probably kill us if we lose anyone.”

“Sounds likely."

“You ready?”

“No.”

“Good, me neither.” Earth grinned at him in the full-moon light. “Let’s do it!”

Chapter Text

Normally, falling asleep was easy. So easy that Neptune often did it to pass the time, letting his mind amuse itself for a bit while he got to skip a bit of boredom and darkness. Just closing his eyes was enough, provided his moons weren’t shouting and his orbit wasn’t too full of asteroids. But then, if it was full of asteroids, that probably meant he had drifted from where he was supposed to be and should probably go back rather than fall asleep.

Now though, that trick wasn’t working, despite all the conditions being met. His moons were all asleep around him, full of muddy water and covered in sand, but sleeping peacefully. Even Triton, who rarely slept for very long at all, was curled up and snoring. Neptune absentmindedly wondered if he should mention that to him. Probably not…I don’t think he’d find it very funny, especially if the little ones overheard.

But Neptune couldn’t help the way his mind seemed to be latching on to those little things about this whole experience. The colour of his moons’ scales, the length of their wings, the pitch of their voice; it was all so familiar yet oddly off-set, like someone had pulled the Universe just off-centre. Even I feel…off. Like my molecules aren’t where they should be. And I suppose they aren’t, if we’re really on Earth’s surface. I’m definitely not supposed to be there, I’m pretty sure of that much.

Anyway, back to sleeping. Or not sleeping, as it seemed. He didn’t know if it was the sensation of sand, mud, thorns, and various tiny Earthlings crawling over his scales that was keeping his mind zapped awake, or the twisting, gurgling noise his and every dragon around him’s stomach kept sounding into the night. Or maybe it was the feeling of eyes in the dark, some unseen watcher peaking at him and his moons. His tail curled around the small sleeping forms.

Raising his head again, Neptune tried to see the watcher his mind was convinced of, but found nothing but scrub and trees for miles. Even at the edge of the group, the land was open and empty, devoid of his watcher. The Earth’s moon was still up, but hovering at the horizon now, ready to go to bed itself. Neptune tried not to feel jealous. It’s fine. Celestials don’t need to sleep that badly.

Lowering his head back to the sand, Neptune scrunched his eyes shut and tried one last time to will himself to sleep. It was no use. He was awake, and would just have to stay that way until the rest of the group got up. At least this area is a bit more interesting than my orbit.

Blinking his eyes open again, the ice giant slowly studied the area once more. The hole they’d dug was still there, a mound of earth next to it along with some ripped up trees. The various planets and their moons had eventually settled down in a loose circle, a few under the treeline and others just splayed out in the open air. Neptune’s eye lingered on Uranus, whose pale scales seemed to reflect the light of the satellite above them in equal intensity, and watched the rise and fall of his breaths as he slept in a tight coil. A few feet from him, his moons were huddled together in an interlocked pile of glistening scales and twisted horns, the occasional grunt or hiss echoing across the clearing. 

After scanning that side, Neptune turned his attention to the land behind him. His own moons had decided the tree Neptune was now pressed against was the ‘best one’ in the area. He hadn’t yet figured out their criteria for this decision, but he did know that meant they had to sleep there. And it was a fine tree, as far as Neptune could tell. He’d only seen a handful of the things, though, and none had been terribly stand-out examples. I wonder if we’ll see more on our adventure tomorrow? That would be nice. Maybe we’ll find one big enough for its shade to cover my whole body!

Out past the tree were thickets of tangled plants, obscuring Neptune’s view of the ground and giving the area an ominous feel. As he watched, his eyes caught on flickers of movement from between the straggly leaves and thorns, the sound of rustling twigs and disturbed sand. As he stared, the dragon thought he could make out a small body edging through the brush. What is it? An Earthling?

Curious now, the giant gently but quickly extracted himself from the moon pile. He carefully nudged the sleeping dragons into a position closer to their major moon, trusting that Triton would wake should anything approach them. A part of him, the scared and nervous part, didn’t want him to leave the others. It tried to draw up scenarios of danger, but Neptune had so few references for the threats of this land it was coming up empty. The curiosity was winning. They’ll be OK. We haven’t seen anything more threatening than a thorn so far.

Now freed from the huddle, Neptune tried to re-focus on the creature in the bushes. The flickering movements had stopped, but the dragon’s ears were picking up a fainter sound. A soft thumping, paired with little puffs of air. Zeroing into the sounds, he began to pad through the thistles, wary of his own loudness all of a sudden. His tail swept high, avoiding the plants and sand as he went. He drew the wide wings on his back up and clear of the brush, the lower points of the joints twinging at the weight of them.

In the silence of the night, a sudden burst of noise from the brush startled the dragon, who froze. Whatever he’d been following had seemingly dashed into a run, the dark form tearing from the thicket to race across a sandy clearing and down another ditch, similar to the mud-water hole. Neptune was chasing after it before he even registered his movements.

Peering over the slope of the ditch, Neptune attempted to keep his presence as unseen as possible, his heart racing with curiosity. This was nothing like the Kuiper belt, that’s for sure. He crouched low, wings pressed to the cool sand. With only one eye over the dune, he spotted the beast.

It was small, smaller even than Larissa at the moment, and covered in fuzz. Not the same kind as the blue-green dragon though. This stuff looked thinner and denser, shaded so similar to the very undergrowth it stood before. Two long appendages rose from its head, swivelling left and right as the creature nervously stared about. Neptune continued to stare right back, intrigued by the little beast. So tiny and soft. Yet it is surviving in this rather uncomfortable place, while we are stumbling around cluelessly and disrupting its night. 

Sorry if I scared you, little creature. Neptune whispered to it in his head, unsure if verbal apologies would be appreciated by such an anxious Earthling. The almost constant shaking and nose-twitching looked exhausting, and Neptune was reluctant to scare it into more running. 

Just watching the beast seemed to slow time, every twitch from the small body catching his eye and forcing his focus, and even his strange organic corebeat began to slow. He rarely felt this level of sustained focus on anything, and unlike the few topics that enthralled him like this, this creature wasn’t easy to see the appeal of. He didn’t know why this had captured his attention so surely; it felt as if this new organic brain was drawn to it, seeking out its every move and calculating against a thousand years of past instinct. It didn’t start freaking him out until his body tried to move forward at a crouch. No! We’re watching. I don’t want to scare them!

Unfortunately, this break in his concentration caused the dragon to flinch back from the low crawl he was in, his horns catching on a low branch. The sudden rustling and falling leaves caused the beast to shoot off at a run, darting further down the long ditch. Neptune followed quickly after, hoping to see where it was going. 

The ditch widened as he ran, the slopes falling to calmer angles, and the ground at the bottom clearing of debris and plant life. The sound of the creature was long gone by the time Neptune thought to stop, now stood in the trough of the scar on the landscape. The earth was oddly geometrical, sheets of dry, crumbly mud peeling off the surface in odd shapes. As he stepped onto it, the ground turned back to dust under his talons, coating his scales with rusty powder. 

As the dragon studied the fascinating shapes, his hearing caught a new sound, once again forcing his mind to abandon all in favour of looking to the source. In the dark, colours were so muted Neptune first struggled to find the small movement. The Earthling was holding still, only the rapid rise and fall of its chest giving him any indication of it being a living thing. It was covered in the same long, intricate structures as the blue-green rocky planet, pressed hard against its sides. Neptune froze, hoping the beast would calm if he remained just as still. His breathing slowed and his mind zeroed in on the small creature. 

More time must have passed than he thought, because the darkness was becoming harder and harder to see the details of. The gradual lightening of the area was messing with the boundaries of shapes, fuzzing them into hazes of muted colour and vague impressions. The beast on the tree branch remained, seemingly calming down despite his presence, the light now revealing a bright blue hue, spread throughout the feathered covering, with a patch of duller browns along the back. The creature’s eyes were pinpoints of black, only one visible as Neptune watched. The front of its face looked nothing like the last beast, straight and narrow to a sharp end. 

Neptune stayed there, mesmerized once again by the sight. The light continued to rise, washing away the fogginess and replacing it with the dry sand and pale colours of the day before, revealing more small beasts that began to move and dash about. Insects buzzed around Neptune’s form, but he remained still, determined to see what the little creature would do.

He was rewarded as the Sun’s light finally fell through the tree and lit the beast’s feathers, sending it into a full-body shiver that raised the delicate structures up, the little beak opening to cry a sharp note. Two more cries answered it from further down the ditch, and Neptune fought the urge to glance in their direction. The creature hopped from one branch to another, before taking off so fast the dragon struggled to find it again. The small dash of blue rocketed across the sky, darting between the low trees to rise above and twist in the air, letting out more cries as it went. 

“Wait! Where are you going?” Neptune uselessly asked after it, his own wings trying to rise as he ran after it, only to fall back uselessly. Following the tiny dot was difficult, even when they broke out of the ditch and raced across the open land. Thorns stabbed at his talons, but Neptune ignored them in favour of the mystery getting away from him. Even as he pushed the legs of this form faster, they failed to even meet the speed of the creature, let alone catch up to it, and his rapidly constricting chest forced him to stall.

Momentarily distracted by the demands of this organic body, Neptune was forced to stumble to a stop, his legs folding involuntarily underneath him. His breaths dominated his mind, driving every thought away in some attempt to keep Neptune focused. He would have grumbled about this, but the pain in his middle gave him pause to consider that maybe, just maybe, the organic brain had a point. 

As he laid on the rough ground, he felt the Sun’s radiation beating down harshly on his scales, warming the air he drew in and turning every scent slightly burnt. The wide, flat, oddly long rock he’d fallen on was heating up as well, a strange stickiness and foul note to its smell. 

The beast was long gone. The sky was back to the bright blue of yesterday, stretching into the vast horizon with only a distant roll of rocks to break it up. As Neptune tried to lift his body off the ground, he studied the rock again. It was very even, lined up and dashed with faded colours in neatly partitioned gaps. It seemed to roll on forever, racing to the horizon at both ends. Weird. I didn’t know rocks could form so uniformly? And so singularly?

“Neptune? Neptune!” The sound was distant at first, so faint Neptune had initially dismissed it as his mind being silly again, but it grew in strength until he was curious enough to pull his attention from the strange rock and glance in its direction. Across the vast scrubland he’d run over, a pale dragon was following his path of crushed plants and upended roots. “Neptune! What- What are you doing out here?”

“Uranus! Hi!” Neptune smiled excitedly, his tail waving happily at the sight of his best friend. As the pale dragon stumbled onto the rock as well, he struggled for breath before replying. Neptune politely waited, curious about why these bodies appeared so poorly adapted to running. “Look at this really weird rock! It’s so straight, do you think-”

“Neptune!” Uranus gasped, his head rising to stare at the blue dragon. “Why’d you run off, mate? We couldn’t find you! We didn’t even know where to look! You can’t just wander off here, we aren’t in our orbits!”

“Oh! I was just following a little Earthling I saw! It was so close to our mud-hole, I wanted to get a better look! I only went a little bit away!” Neptune tried to re-trace his steps, but found it hard to link his current location with that ditch he’d started by. “I’m sure I’d have found my way back!”

“Mate, we don’t have time for you to wander around the bloody desert after little organics, getting lost and dying in some stupid accident ‘cause you tried to run off a cliff edge or something!” Uranus complained, his voice croaky from the run over, and probably the frantic anxiety he seemed to be leaking all over the place. “Just look how far you are! And you’re covered in dirt and spikes and- and your wings, mate.”

“What?” Neptune glanced down at Uranus' dismayed comment, finally noticing the mild heat coming from his outer-most wing bones, the ones running along the furthest edge of the wide span. The scales on them were rubbed raw, a distinct red colour catching his eye as he studied them. I must have forgotten to keep them up while running. Sorry, wings!

“Neptune, we can’t be careless out here. You heard Earth, we can get hurt, or starve, or die of thirst, or get bit by something, or…” The pale dragon implored, trailing off with an overwhelmed expression. Neptune tilted his head in confusion, not sure why Uranus was getting this worked up about such a small thing. 

“It’s OK! It doesn’t even hurt!” Neptune tried to reassure him, smiling his best smile to hopefully cheer his cousin up. “We’ll be fine! We found water yesterday really easily!”

“Water’s just the first thing! And that was awful! Even you didn’t like the taste!” Uranus added incredulously. “You spat the first mouthful out! At Saturn!”

“OK, but that was kind of funny?” Neptune blushed, the memory invading his mind with rude clarity. “And it wasn’t that bad if you turned your brain off.”

“Neptune, I think you’re the only one that can do that, mate.” Uranus muttered, but a smile of amusement was growing and lighting up the face of the tapered snout. “Come on, we need to get back. Your moons were throwing a fit when you weren’t there.”

“B-but-” Neptune trailed off, glancing once more at the dark grey rock. As he stared, Uranus was already walking away, forcing Neptune to bound after him. “Wait up!”

Remembering to raise his wings this time, the blue dragon trailed after his friend as Uranus led them back to the water-mud hole. The strange rock was swallowed up by the slight rising of the land, and Neptune debated if he should mention it to the others. It didn’t seem immediately important, but the oddly randomless form of it was standing out in his mind. If I remember it, I’ll bring it up.

The sunlight was getting almost painful now, burning down on his shoulders and sinking into the dark blue scales. His wing-edges were stinging more prominently now that he knew about the damage, uselessly reminding his brain that something was wrong. It was an odd sensation, the almost pulse-like recurring pain. In his planetary form, pain was rare and usually only for an instant, like an asteroid breaking his atmosphere up or solar flares superheating his particles, quick to fade and even faster to forget about. This organic body, however, seemed to cling to pain, stuck in some feedback loop of reporting it over and over again. And healing appeared even more inefficient, since his scales had not yet reformed and smoothed over the damage like his atmosphere would have. This is all very weird.

He must have run further than he realised, none of the land around him looking even slightly familiar. The ditch looked very different in the sunlight, far more open and longer than he’d appreciated at the time. His gaze caught on brief movements within the branches of the bordering trees, the occasional flash of colour trying to draw him back to his chase. He considered it, but then remembered that Uranus would definitely get even more upset with him, and his moons would probably not appreciate being left for longer than necessary. Well, Triton might not mind, he’s probably still looking to get away from me.

…

“Neptune! Neptune!” The cries of his little moons greeted the two dragons as they approached the clearing, quickly being swarmed by Proteus, Nereid, and Larissa as they jumped over Neptune’s back. He spotted Triton following after them, his head lowered and body tense.

“Where’d you go? Did you find anything cool?” Proteus fluttered his grey-white wings to catch his planet’s eye, grinning up at him.

“Anything we can eat? We’re hungry!” Larissa complained, hanging from her sharp claws that were now wrapped around one of Neptune’s horns, pulling his head to an angle.

“Triton told us we had to wait for you to get back, but I would have found you so fast!” Nereid proclaimed boldly, glaring at the major moon. Triton, for his part, just sighed tiredly, his spiked tail casting a wide half-circle in the sand behind him.

“Well, I found this funny little Earthling-” Neptune began, only to stop as the rest of the gathered dragons approached, the stern expressions on the largest two making his core flip. Oh dear, maybe Uranus isn’t the only one my wandering annoyed.

“Neptune, where have you been?” Jupiter’s voice was hard, but the anxious flickering of his wide-fanned tail was too noticeable for Neptune to truly fear the dragon, despite his height advantage. He may not know much about the planet, but he’d never gotten the impression the oldest was the type for shouting. 

“I found him all the way over there!” Uranus pointed vaguely with one claw, his wings raised in some attempt to look bigger under the stares of Saturn and Jupiter. “I think he just wandered off to look at stuff.”

“Neptune, is that true?” Saturn asked, frowning. 

“Yep! I saw this really fuzzy Earthling! And a feathery blue one! And-” Neptune excitedly relayed until he was interrupted again.

“Dude, you can’t just wander off.” The blue-green planet complained, his narrow snout curling into a frown as well. “We need to stay together out here, especially when we don’t know the area. And we don’t have time to spend all morning searching for everyone. We need to move fast if we want to get to the Pole in a good time.”

“The Pole?” Uranus tilted his head at the word, confused and wary. “What’s that? Why are we going there?”

“Earth believes it is where we are meant to go to escape this situation.” Jupiter elaborated to the ice giant. “It is the northmost point of the planet, where the magnetic pole is.”

“And I see absolutely no reason why we should just go along with this stupid plan!” Venus hissed, shoving his way to the front of the huddle. “He only wants us to go galivanting over his surface because he stared at the stars for too long! That’s not a good reason to do anything!”

“For the last time, I’m not making this up, Venus!” Earth snarled back, the feathers around both planets’ necks rising at the tension between them. “You’ll see it too! Tonight!”

“Sure, and until then we’re just supposed to follow you around this wasteland?” Venus countered, claws digging into the dry sand as his tail lashed the air behind him. “I’m not walking all day in this heat just for us to find out you’re insane and leading us in circles!”

“I mean, maybe we should just stay near the water? Now that we’ve found it?” Mercury added to Venus’ rant, his small wings pressed to his sides nervously. Earth huffed, shaking his head in exasperation.

“And how long do you think we’ll survive here without food? Sure, you’ll feel fine for a few days, but give it a week and you’ll barely be able to move. We need to move now, while we’ve still got fat reserves, and get somewhere with stuff to hunt.” Earth stamped one foreleg on the ground as he spoke, the sharp teeth behind his lips peeking through. He swung his glare to Venus. “And we won’t be walking, dummy. Look at your back, what exactly do you think those are for?”

“How should I know? I’m not infested like you!” Venus snapped, rolling his eyes and raising one orange-red wing to look at it. “You’re not talking about flying, are you? That sounds worse than walking.”

“How? Flying is fun, I think? The humans are very jealous of the Earthlings that can fly.” Earth informed him, shaking his own wings out and spreading the feathers. “We should be able to. Everyone's wings are big enough, and we’re surprisingly light for how big some of us are.”

“We don’t know the first thing about flying, though.” Uranus complained, eyeing the feathered wings doubtfully. “How is that supposed to get you into the air?”

“It should be pretty easy.” Earth deflected, his eyes not meeting the confused ice giant as he spoke. “I mean, birds do it, and they make it look simple.”

“So you don’t know?” Mars called out the blue-green dragon, his own smirk growing with mild amusement. “Earth, you can’t expect us to fly if you, the Earthling expert, doesn't know how to.”

“Mars has a point.” Saturn nodded, turning a worried glance to Jupiter. “How can we fly and find this ‘food’ we need, if even Earth doesn’t know how?”

“We can learn. It should be simple physics.” Earth argued, and Neptune raised his head in interest. “We generate lift with our wings, and the rest should make sense once you’re in the air.”

“OK!” Neptune thought that explanation was a bit vague, but he was excited to try regardless. He stretched out his wings, taking a step back when one nearly smacked Uranus in the head, and tried to flap them, like he’d seen that feathered creature do earlier. 

Sand quickly became the only thing Neptune could see. And taste. It was harder than he expected to keep both wings on the same rhythm, the effort spent trying to raise and lower them rapidly rendered the limbs numb and heavy. Despite the force his flaps were clearly working on the air around him, his feet remained firmly on the ground.

“Neptune! Stop it, please.” Jupiter’s shout trailed off as the blue dragon stilled his wings, happy enough to give them a rest after all that. When Neptune looked around, he was dismayed to see an awful lot of sand covering his fellow dragons. Mars and Venus were shaking it off, while Mercury appeared to be half-buried in the stuff, clawing his way out again. Earth had raised his wings over himself and his moon, but now the feathers looked almost muddy, rather than the vibrant colours of before.

“Mate, next time, do that further away.” Uranus grumbled, shivering his whole body to dislodge the sand covering. Neptune grinned sheepishly, turning back to Jupiter, who only offered him a mild frown. 

“Sorry! I thought it might work! Like the little Earthling I saw before.” Neptune tried to explain, not totally sure why it hadn’t. Maybe my speed was wrong? Or was I holding the wings at a different angle?

“You saw a bird?” Earth asked, his head down as he ran talons through the feathers of his head and neck to loosen the build-up of sand. 

“I guess? It was tiny and blue and covered in feathers, like you!”

“OK, first of all, I’m not that small.” Earth rolled his eyes, but he didn’t sound as annoyed as before, despite the sand still falling from his wings. “Second of all, we can't just copy any bird we see. Birds, bats, anything that flies has different strategies depending on size, wing-shape, and even wing-to-body ratios.”

“So, what does that mean for us? We have to guess?” Luna poked his head out from under one of Earth’s wings, fixing his gaze on the sky. “I’ve only heard of a few birds before, and I’ve definitely not seen any yet.”

“ I can take an educated guess, and we can go from there.” Earth settled on, ignoring the faces half the rocky planets pulled at the statement. “What we really need is open space for run ups. I don’t think any of us are dead-lifting our way into the sky when the wind is this low.”

“We have to run? Ugh.” Uranus complained, tossing his head towards Neptune. “It was hard enough to run after him. I swear my scales are half peeled off at this point.”

“Ideally, we need open, flat ground with little-to-no plant life.” Jupiter mused, his head swivelling to scan the area over the heads of the gathered dragons. 

“Oh! Hey, Uranus, what about the weird rock I found? The long one with all the little marks?” Neptune jumped up excitedly, the memory still fresh enough to weed out of the rest. While the pale dragon sighed, Earth’s head shot up to stare at him.

“You found what?” The feathered dragon stepped closer, curious and oddly interested in Neptune’s words. “What did it look like? Was there anything else weird nearby?”

“Um, I’m not sure? It was very straight, with oddly even coloured lines on it, but it smelt horrible.” Neptune relayed, excited that his discovery was notable. 

“Where is it? How far?” Earth asked more urgently, glancing past the two blue dragons to peer over the desert they’d crossed. The land looked as barren and featureless as before, and Neptune couldn’t picture where his weird rock had been.

“I can find it again.” Uranus gathered his wings to his back, flicking his tail impatiently. “It’s near that weird long ditch with all the cracked mud.”

“What! Why didn’t you say you found a riverbed?” Earth flared his wings slightly, his face nearly meeting Neptune’s as he rose onto his hindlegs. “Guys, these things are important to mention!”

“Mate, we didn’t know it was important! How could we know?” Uranus argued back, using one foreleg to push the smaller dragon backwards from his near-touching glare. Earth caught himself from tripping over entirely, huffing and backing up from the two dragons. “We don’t know anything about your stupid surface, let alone the weird things on it.”

“Uranus, insults will not help.” Jupiter corrected with a stern look, before turning to the affronted living planet. “Earth, what does this mean for us? Will this help us find food?”

“Yes! If we can follow the riverbed, even if it’s dry, we can find more water, hopefully. And where there’s water, there’s animals!” Earth waved his flared tail wildly, nearly smacking Mars in the face. “I think we should go to the ‘weird rock’ and the riverbed. If it’s what I think it is, we can use it as a runway, and maybe find some more clues about our location!”

“Very well.” Jupiter nodded, turning his gaze to fall over the rest of the planets and the moons who had gathered off to one side. “Everyone! Let’s all have another drink, then we’ll follow the ice giants.”

A few grumbles sounded from the moon huddle, but each one slowly rose and approached the water-mud hole from the night before. The rest of the planets hung back to speak amongst themselves, but Neptune hurried after Uranus, helping to dig more of the sandy mud out and reveal more water. A couple of the larger moons joined in to help, but it was still quite a task to get a substantial amount uncovered. His claws and forelegs quickly became coated with mud again, but he didn’t mind. It was better than actually having to drink it. 

As he sat watching the last few moons dip their heads in for a drink, quickly followed by the rocky planets, Neptune tried to rub the mud off. Leaves had worked last night, but the rough texture was distinctly unappealing this morning. He was just beginning to resort to licking it when a voice startled him.

“Um, Neptune?” Triton was standing beside him suddenly, the sunlight turning his grey-white scales into crystals, the pale pinks and blues showing more prominently. His oldest moon was staring at the hole with a bored expression, mud still darkening his muzzle, but the rapid swishing of his tail against the sand told Neptune he was nervous. 

“Hi, Triton!” Neptune greeted happily, smiling at the moon despite Triton not looking in his direction. The tension between him and his moon wasn’t exactly unexpected, but he had hoped that it would relax over time. Though, now that he thought about it, it had only been a little while since their talk back in orbit, before the mess with the Solar System trials. “What’s up?”

“This whole situation, Neptune. That’s ‘what’s up’.” Triton sighed, his narrow wings falling down to rest below his shoulders. His head dipped down, the pointed horns almost transparent in the rising light. “I-I know we aren’t- I know I’m still working out how I feel about…everything.”

Neptune stayed silent, not wanting to risk anything he added thoughtlessly to interrupt or derail whatever Triton needed to say. His oldest had been very quiet after that last conversation, and what Neptune had been forced to explain clearly hadn’t driven him away entirely yet, but the blue planet was still anticipating a reaction. Anger, maybe. Or fear. Neptune just hoped Triton wouldn’t leave permanently this time; he didn’t think he could cope with all the other moons being so upset again. 

“But, Neptune, we need to take this seriously if we want to keep Proteus, Nereid, and Larissa safe. If Luna is right, and Earth is right, this is a dangerous place for the little ones. So…” Triton took a deeper breath, finally turning to meet Neptune’s gaze. “We need to work together, properly. Without this stuff getting in the way. No wandering off without telling each other, no hiding stuff, no running off in a huff. I’m sorry, by the way, for that. I shouldn’t have left the kids like that, but I needed some space to- to work stuff out.”

“That’s alright, Triton!” Neptune smiled as reassuringly as he could, trying to work out what he needed to reply with in turn. He wasn’t completely sure why Triton was so worried about this, maybe he had the same anxieties as Uranus, but if his moon wanted them to get along better Neptune was definitely willing. “I’m sorry as well, for wandering off this morning. I guess I just didn’t think much about it, but I can’t really remember?”

It was odd how much his memory issues seemed to have transferred to this organic body. His wind was not roaring in his atmosphere anymore, but thoughts still seemed to slip and slide around at random even without them. The ice giant tried to refocus on the conversation before he slid down some hole in his mind.

“A-and I’m sorry, for hiding. For hiding everything. You should’ve been told, even if the Sun couldn't know about what happened.” Neptune admitted softly, trying to get out the words he hadn’t been able to articulate before during their last emotional conversation. Triton at least seemed to be listening and not running away or shutting down like those times either. “I agree, we should work together! This place is so much more complicated than our orbit or the Kuiper Belt.”

“Yes, it does seem to be. I think we have a long journey ahead of us.” Triton muttered mildly, but the curl in the corner of his mouth lightened Neptune’s core. His oldest moon reached out one wing to tap against Neptune’s own. “Deal, then?”

“Deal!” 

…

“Ugh! When will we get there?” Nereid whined for what was starting to feel like the seventh-thousandth time, but Neptune knew he had only counted six. Unless his memory was going funny again, in which case it might be many, many more. 

“Why are you complaining? You aren’t even walking?” Proteus grumbled, his rapid leaps and bounds to keep up throwing sand and rocks up behind him. Triton, who was currently a few paces ahead, turned his head to eye the moon with an incredulous look.

“You don’t have to walk, Proteus. Neptune already said you could ride.” The oldest reminded him. Neptune smiled at the little moon and tried to indicate to his back again, but the dragon shook his head stubbornly. 

“Nope! I’m a big moon, so I have to walk!” 

“You’re barely bigger than us!” Larissa laughed from her perch between Neptune’s shoulders, her little claws delicately gripping the spikes there. Nereid, sitting further down, rolled onto her back to look at Proteus upside-down. 

“You look so silly!” She laughed, almost tumbling off Neptune’s back as she rolled right side up again. “Just get up here! We wouldn’t be at the back if Neptune and Triton didn’t have to slow down for you!”

In truth, Neptune really didn’t mind the slower pace. Sure, it was harder to hear what the other planets were talking about as they got closer to the weird rock, but that was hardly a new experience for the eighth planet from the Sun. At least back here, he only needed to keep track of four other dragons. 

The walk back to the strange rock had at least been more tolerable than the previous day’s walk. For one thing, they had water in their bodies, even if it came with an odd muddy after-taste. And, once they’d reached the dried riverbed, the whole group had been able to walk in the shade for a while as they traced the river’s scar in the land. Earth had been up front, explaining something about seasons and rainfall cycles, but Neptune hadn’t paid it much attention. He’d been trying to find his little bird friend from earlier, but unfortunately it seemed like the other Earthlings were shy and had fled before the larger group. In fact, the land felt oddly tense as they walked through it, as if every creature was watching them and waiting for something.

Now, they were making the final stretch across the scrubland Neptune had run across earlier, the odd rock already visible. Up ahead, the main group was beginning to slow and approach it, hesitant of the new sight. Neptune spotted Uranus pointing out the markings to the others, the blue-green dragon immediately darting over to take a look. Triton tossed his head in agitation, glancing back at Proteus with a sterner expression.

“Kid, get on Neptune’s back. We’re going to miss important information if we hang around like this.” Neptune wasn’t sure that he saw Triton's point, but their recent agreement to work together probably meant he should help, or keep his mouth shut at the very least.

“But I wanna run!” Proteus protested, but Triton had turned back to fully stare at the white-grey moon, weakening the little dragon’s resolve. Neptune lowered one of his wings so Proteus could climb up it, trying not to wince at the small claws digging into the skin.

“All aboard?” Neptune asked with a grin, double checking the three moons now arranged on his back. All three had grabbed a hold of his spine spikes, though Nereid probably didn’t actually need to use her teeth. 

“Yep!” 

“Let’s go!” Neptune darted forward, trying to find a lope that didn’t jostle his moons too badly, but could also keep up with Triton. His oldest was bounding ahead, wings slightly raised and billowing when the air caught under them, tail held still and straight behind him. The ice giant studied the run, moving to imitate the stretched stride, counting the footfalls in his head. Back left, back right, front right, front left.

It must have worked, because before he knew it they were screeching to a halt at the edge of the rock, a tangle of thickets abruptly finding themselves flattened by Neptune’s talons. The little ones tumbled off, excitedly jumping around on the new surface. Triton watched, his gaze straying to the sky and far distance periodically.

“Wow! This really is a weird rock!” Nereid flapped her splotchy grey wings as she stared down at the dark, porous rock. Her claws caught in the small gaps and holes, and the smell Neptune had detected before was far stronger under the midday Sun. 

“Guys, stay close to us. We need to hear what the others are saying.” Triton was already making his way to the huddle, hanging back slightly when Neptune moved to join the planets while he slotted in amongst the major moons. Neptune nudged in beside Uranus, peering down at the rocky planet who was talking.

“-not really, but we can follow it further if we have to.” The feathered dragon indicated with one foreleg to a small, rectangular, red and orange sign stuck in the dirt beside the rock. “That sign probably represents a certain distance, and larger signs might have words on them.”

“Is it wise to follow this ‘road’?” Saturn questioned doubtfully, his head raised up to eye the distant riverbed they’d left behind. “I’d rather we stay near that nice shady area. You said we could follow it for water?”

“True. I don’t know. If we follow the road, we might find more clues about our location, but the riverbed has a higher chance of water and food.” Earth mused, tapping his claw impatiently on the road. “What do you think, Jupiter?”

“I believe we should stick to the plan of following the river after we use this rock to learn to fly.” Jupiter decided, his neck-scales already drooping in the intensifying Sun. “I’m sure we will find more of these ‘roads’ in the future, Earth. If one is out here, in this inhospitable place, others will be easy to find in nicer areas.”

“OK, we should get to work then.” Earth nodded, giving only one last look of longing to the endless stretch of road behind him. “How should we do this? How much does everyone understand about flying?”

The circle of blank faces that met that question nearly forced a grin of amusement onto Neptune’s face. It was such a bizarre situation, to be watching these beings, some of whom used to be larger than the very planet they stood on, be so confused by only a few words. And Neptune was right there with them, not entirely convinced anyone was getting off the ground today. My flapping earlier didn’t work terribly well, so I hope we don’t all have to try that again.

“Ah, okay, um…” Earth frowned, wings fidgeting behind him as he spoke. “Anyone want to try? No?”

“Earth, just demonstrate it. We aren’t going to understand it if you try and describe it.” Mercury complained, waving a foreleg at the road behind him. “Do that run-up thing you mentioned.”

“Ugh, but-” The feathered dragon lifted one wing to stare at it, sand still stuck within the structures lining his limb. “I have to get this sand out first. Feathers don’t work when they’re full of muddy sand.”

"Sounds like an excuse to me." Venus rolled his eyes, getting up from the laid down position he'd been reclined in. Earth shot him a glare.

"It's not! You can see for yourself, half my wing is just sand!" The feathered dragon shook one of the wings, a cascade of pale grains falling to the road surface.

“Fine! I’ll try, then.” Venus strode forward, his own red-orange wings gleaming in the sunlight. “You pick your silly feathers clean, and I’ll work this thing out for myself.”

“Sure, okay, but be careful with-” Earth’s parting words for the orange dragon went unfinished as Venus leapt into a bounding run, wings already out and working at the air. 

Neptune watched in mild fascination as the little rocky planet threw himself full-force down the rock, wings flapping away, only to jump and crash back down again. Despite the results, this didn’t seem to dissuade the dragon, who shot up again and got right back to running. At his side, Uranus nudged him with a laugh.

“How far do you think he’ll run?”

“He seems pretty determined." Neptune mused, absentmindedly watching the dot grow smaller and smaller. 

The rest of the group seemed quite content to just watch, the living planet meticulously pulling and shaking the sand out of his flight-feathers with only the occasional glance in Venus’ direction. Jupiter’s tail was thumping the ground, his eyes trained on the distant dragon with a frown of worry, while Saturn settled down on the hot rock with a bored sigh.

“Is he coming back?” Luna’s words drew Neptune’s eye back to the dot, which was indeed getting a bit bigger. And higher. 

“Ha, he actually did it?” Mars laughed, rising onto his hind legs to peer at the incoming dash of orange, his own wings rising in amazement. “Venus! How’d you do it?”

The flying form was closer now, and Neptune could make out the almost frantic flapping that seemed to be keeping the dragon in the air. It looked rather exhausting, and definitely worse than running, from the sound of Venus’ breathing.

“H-how the f-fuck! Do I land?” Venus gasped out, getting worryingly close to the gathered group with his uncontrolled trajectory. Earth paused in his preening to smirk at the planet, rolling his eyes with a laugh.

“Work it out! You did the first bit, it seems.” Earth shook out his wings, turning to a frowning Luna with a tilted head. “You wanna try too?”

“Earth. At least tell him how to get down again before you send more of us up.” Luna argued, eyeing the dragon currently struggling to rein in his speed and still slow his descent. Jupiter was cautiously reaching out his forelegs to try and catch the orange dragon, while Saturn had rapidly evacuated the crash zone.

“I don’t know how to land anymore than you do.” The blue-green dragon huffed, his tail flicking behind him. “Presumably, you don’t want to be going too fast.”

As he spoke, Venus finally lost the last of his altitude, landing on Jupiter’s chest with enough force to send the large dragon to the ground. Neptune peered over curiously, smiling at the rocky planet as Venus crawled off the giant, shaking his body out with a scowl. Jupiter wheezed for a bit as he hauled himself back up, turning a disapproving look at Earth.

“Earth. We don’t have time for you to sit on anything you know that might help us.” Jupiter ground out, and even the bold rocky planet seemed to finally sense that he was playing with the end of the oldest planet’s patience. “You said there are strategies? Tell us those.”

“Well, that might take even longer, honestly." Earth shivered his wings, the feathers rising up before slowly flattening again. “If I tell you some basic ones, everyone needs to try one they think fits them, and I’ll help anyone who’s still stuck. OK?”

“Yes, Earth, that is fine.” 

“Great.” Earth let out a heavy breath before turning to Mercury. “Let’s start at the smallest.”

“Hey, I’m not the smallest here.” Mercury protested, but Earth rolled his eyes.

“Maybe not, but we’ll be here all day if we start with the moons.” Earth cast a quick glance over the little moons, a thoughtful frown flickering over his face. “Most of them have very small, broad wings, so I think the frantic flapping strategy might actually just work for them.”

“Really? Yay!” Two of the smallest moons, rust-red in colour, began to do as the living planet suggested, only to be pulled back down by Mars. The red dragon hissed something into their ears, both of them settling into a vibrating sit. 

“OK, Mercury. Your wings are small, short, and narrow.” Said planet looked more displeased with each additional description. “I think you’ll be pretty fast when you’re up, and turning will be easy. Long distance might be a bit harder, though. A good jump is probably all you’ll need.”

“Um, okay, do I just…” Mercury trailed off, eying the road Venus had just returned down. “Go then?”

“If you want to get out of this desert, I recommend it.” Earth waved his foreleg at the gathered major moons as well. “If any of you have similar wings, follow Mercury and have a go.”

As the scattering of moons rose and followed, Earth got back to analysing the wings of the other rocky planets. Neptune tried to keep his focus on the words, but his vision was drawn to the small pack of dragons further down the road, leaping into jumps and trying to gain lift in the dry air. Triton had reluctantly followed them, his head swivelling back to check on the little moons beside Neptune at every opportunity. The ice giant tried to smile reassuringly at him.

“-Neptune.” Startled from his staring, Neptune glanced around to see Earth looking up at him with narrowed eyes, studying the wings he was half-resting on the floor. Picking them up a bit more, Neptune grinned at him. 

“Hi!”

“Hi. Anyway, your wings are actually a bit oversized, which probably means you can glide for a pretty long time. There are species of bird with similar wings that basically never land for most of their lives.” None of Earth’s words sounded terribly appealing. He didn’t want to be stuck in the air for days, even if his wings dragged a bit on land. “You’re going to need quite a run-up, though. When you run, try to hold your wings as straight and level as possible, and once you’re up, try to find warm rising air. Those wings won’t be able to flap very fast, so don’t exhaust yourself trying.”

“Yep! OK!” Neptune nodded, hoping his confusion wasn’t too obvious. Earth seemed to accept this as enough information given and moved on to Uranus beside him. At his feet, Proteus and Nereid were trying to pull his foreleg away from the group.

“Come on, Neptune! We wanna try flying!” Proteus fluttered his wings wildly, straining to get more than a few inches from the road surface. Neptune padded hesitantly after them, finding an open area of rock with a clear view of the endless horizon.

“Go on! Let’s fly!” Larissa jumped up, her dark grey form hovering for a brief beat before falling down to the road again. “We wanna see you fly!” 

“Um, yeah, let's give it a go then!” Neptune forced, still trying to order the Earth’s words into instructions he could follow. Run, and hold my wings out? 

His little moons stood back, their excited grins following him hauntingly as he tried to get into line with the road’s dashed patterns. The Sun was beating down, turning the rock almost painfully hot under foot.

Heaving in a breath that filled his whole chest, the ice giant crouched down and struggled to recall the run pattern he’d copied from Triton. He could picture it in his mind clearly, but actually translating it into physical movement was strangely hard. He missed his planetary form, where every whim of his mind had been child's-play to mimic. Left back, right back, suspension, right front, left front.

The frustration seemed to inject his new form with energy, his claws digging into the grooves of the road seconds before he pushed forward on his hind legs, pushing off with the left and then the right, falling into the shaky rhythm from before. The organic form briefly protested, stinging and clenching, smoothing over only as his stride lengthened. His breaths fought to catch up with the sudden speed, causing his chest to constrict in mild pressure, before they too fell into the new pace. 

As his confidence grew, his shoulders rose and his neck followed, forcing him to face the straight run of the road ahead. His strides lengthened further, each one feeling more like a leap than a step. It was exhilarating, how easily the distance disappeared under his feet, so different from every other type of movement he’d ever known. This was nothing like the pull and push of gravity, but somehow it felt so much more powerful and natural in this body. It wasn’t until his mind stopped shouting in excitement that he remembered he was supposed to be trying to fly. 

OK, Neptune, wings as straight as possible. This was easier said than done, the wind resistance his speed was building up becoming a crushing barrier to his new appendages. Slowing his pace for a few seconds, he was finally able to force them open, the air catching under them immediately. The negligible stinging from earlier grew as the wind slashed against the unhealed scuffs. Neptune struggled to angle them in a way that wouldn’t further slow his run, forcing his legs to keep at it even as wind slapped into the underside of the membranes. OK, step one, done. Now, flying?

He was pretty sure Earth had said not to flap, but he tried it anyway; a slow, deliberate down beat, both wings in sync as he moved them. The air seemed to respond instantly, rolling under his wings and billowing out the skin between his bones. He flapped again, and this time the air rolled harder, forcing his shoulders up with the updraft. Excited now, Neptune repeated the slow, repetitive wing beats, feeling the pressure of his feet against the ground steadily reduce, until he was detached from it entirely. 

The brief vertigo of finding himself aloft was beaten down by the thrill of watching the ground race away below him, shrinking as he beat his wings again and rose higher. The air felt wilder up here, threatening to toss his rhythm into chaos; but his large wings were proving the feathered dragon right, every gust of air was trapped and utilized to gain more height. He tried to move his head, hoping to see where his moons had been left, only to quickly stop at the abrupt dizziness it gave him. Instead, he gently tilted his body, pulling his wings around in a wide arc to head back the way he’d come. 

Gazing down, he was dismayed to see just how far he’d run, the rest of the group a collection of multi-colour dots ahead of him. A few dots were in the air as well, taking uncertain laps of the area in wide circles. As he glided closer, Neptune spotted a grey-silver shape racing towards him with angled wings. The shape came at him from above, arrowed down to just miss the blue dragon’s wing by centimetres. Neptune fought not to back-flap or flinch away, but he tried to tell himself that Triton knew what he was doing. The mildly terrified yelp his oldest let out didn’t help.

“Ah, sorry, Neptune.” Triton awkwardly shouted, his wings flapping rapidly to rise back to his planet's level. Unlike Neptune, his moon seemed to rely on constant wingbeat to stay up, rather than the occasional slow one. “Still getting-he hang of this. Europa-most -ocked Lun-ut of the sky.”

“Sounds fun!” Neptune wasn’t totally sure he’d gotten all of that, the wind catching in his hearing and throwing the words around. Triton’s deadpan expression informed him that he’d definitely gotten the wrong idea. “Where are the little moons?”

“With you, I -ught.” Triton sighed, looking down at the road below. “If they didn’t foll-ou, they probably couldn’t- this high. I’ll look for them.” 

Without another word, the dragon folded his wings back into narrow slips, aiming for the ground. Neptune tried not to squeak in dismay at the speed of Triton’s descent, his breath only returning after he saw the moon land at a much slower speed. Not terribly gracefully, however, but Neptune wasn’t going to mention that.

“Neptune!” Drawn from his anxious watch of his moons, the ice giant turned to the familiar voice. 

“Uranus!” He cheered, flapped his wings to rise above the paler dragon and float down onto his other side. His friend was flying in a similar style, only his wings were far narrower and sleek, and not a wing beat was witnessed as they flew side-by-side. “We’re flying! This is so fun!”

“Yeah, mate! You shoulda’ seen it, t- Saturn had to eat his words after you to-off like that! He was trying to convin-Earth we’re all too big for this! As if he knows more about this stuff!” Uranus relayed, grinning at the memory. Neptune was honestly just surprised they’d been watching him. He’d have thought the rest of the planets would’ve been more interested in their own flying attempts.

“Did Saturn get to fly yet?” Neptune settled on asking, trying to pick out the gas giant from the mess of dots below them. “Are we floating here until everyone is up?”

“Earth told me-stay up, and they’re work-n getting the little moons up.” Uranus huffed, ignoring his first question and swinging his nose to point to a huddle of white-ish dragons. “Titania is trying to see if the larger moons can car-the smaller ones up, so they can ride on our backs. I don’t know if it’ll work, but trying to land sou-way more difficult.”

“I guess? But we can’t go anywhere without everyone.” Neptune pointed out, his attention back on his own moons. Triton appeared to be trying to take off with Larissa on his back, but the weight clearly exceeded his wings’ capabilities. “Maybe we should go down?”

“Wait a bit, mate.” Uranus cautioned, tilting his head towards a group of dragons flying closer to the two. Neptune had to squint against the bright sky to make out the details. The green was easy to identify, followed by the red and orange dragons trailing in the wake of his wings. The uncertain rhythm of their flight made it hard to predict their target, forcing Neptune to still his wings entirely and maintain a steady glide as he watched them.

“Woo! Yes! OK, that’s t- giants up!” Earth cheered, falling into a glide just under Neptune’s left wing. The wide tail fan that splayed behind the feathered dragon tilted slightly in a gust of wind, rolling the dragon over and forcing him to quickly straighten out again. “Jupiter is giving-go now, and hopefully Saturn will g-desperate enough to try.”

“How are we gettin-moons up?” Uranus asked, eyeing Mars warily as the red dragon almost collided with his wing. 

“We’ll relay -em up!” Earth assured him, waving one wing at Mars’ back. Upon closer inspection, Neptune could make out two smaller dragons, pressed tight to their planet's scales as he flew. “Venus and I are la-nough, it might-ake a minute. Keep gliding arou-, maybe a little lower?”

“OK!” Neptune grinned, subtly trying to shake his head in an attempt to clear his hearing. He wasn’t looking forward to an endless guessing game every time someone spoke to him in the air. 

“Good! See-in a bit.” Earth’s parting words were ripped to shreds by the wind, the blue-green dragon folding his wings similarly to Triton’s stunt from earlier, falling quickly towards the ground before throwing them open again. Neptune ideally wondered if he could try that. Probably not a great idea. Maybe if we find some really soft ground?

The two ice giants settled into a wheeling glide, slowly growing closer and closer to the ground. The rocky planets darted about below, trying to convince some of Saturn and Jupiter’s moons to help their ferrying efforts. A few stubborn minor moons still tried their luck, flapping rapidly into the air and dashing to their respective planets. Neptune tried not to worry too much when Proteus tried to imitate them, only to flop back onto the road. They’ll get there, hopefully.

…

The Sun was threatening to touch the horizon by the time everyone was both in the air and understood what they were doing. The hearing problem was not exclusive to Neptune, it seemed, and each planet and major moon needed the instructions shouted at close range. This had not been an easy task to complete, given both the number and spread of these dragons, all twisting about half-controlled in the air. Neptune felt guilty for being kind of glad he only had the one major moon to keep an eye on, rather than Saturn’s seven. 

“What did he say again?” Neptune asked, watching the riverbed float by below his talons as he soared, the minute weights of his three small moons pressing down on his spine. Triton, who was flying just behind his right wing, sighed and winged up to Neptune’s head, speaking as clearly as he could manage while avoiding accidentally striking the blue dragon with his wing beats. 

“We’re following the riverbed until he dives, then we all have to land.” The silver-grey moon repeated, lifting his head to find the blue-green speck at the front of the flock. Jupiter flew just behind him, his slow, repetitive wing beats stirring the air in his wake and forcing his moons to fly above or below him. Saturn also stayed aloft with regular motions, only his wake appeared to fade and dissipate far quicker than Jupiter’s, the air simply rolling off the ends of his curled wing tips.

“Ugh! I’m hungry!” Nereid whined into Neptune’s ear, having clawed her way up his neck to precariously grip his horns, her unbalanced form threatening to block Neptune’s sight entirely. The low stirring of anxiety pricked at the blue dragon's core, even as he knew Nereid would be able to fly should she fall. How long she would be able to fly was another matter entirely. 

Precariously trying to look down without dislodging the moon, Neptune was surprised to see the land was progressively growing greener, the plant life spreading further from the riverbed and invading the surrounding arid scrubland. To their right, he thought he could see odd structures, and more strange long stretches of rock. Faint glows rose from them, drawing Neptune’s gaze further. The waning sunlight was muddying his vision again, blurring details and leaching colours.

“Neptune! I think we-ing down!” Triton’s call snapped him out of the trance, his oldest already angling his wings down in a fast stoop. 

Neptune moved to copy him, the sudden increase in speed unnerving him and forcing his other moons to lie flat against his spikes. The rest of the flock was descending at a similar dip, following the diving form of the living planet. A streak of grey followed in his wake, twisting to flare their wings as the feathered dragon threw his own out to halt his rapid descent. Neptune studied the way that the fanned tail seemed to aid the slow down, spreading the force from the wings alone. One glance at his own tail told him he could not rely on a similar method.

One benefit to being at the back of the group was making itself abundantly clear as the first few dragons touched down. While the rocky planets seemed to recover quickly enough from their bouncy, tumbled landings, watching Jupiter land felt more like witnessing an asteroid impact in slow motion. The large dragon held his forelegs out in front of him, his wings thrown back to catch the drag of the air, but his efforts did little to soften the force of his touch down. Saturn, a few paces behind, was forced to abort his own landing in favour of dodging Jupiter’s, winging back up to swing round for another go.

Neptune tilted his wings up slightly, extending his landing track and angling it a few feet from the mess Jupiter had carved into the sand. Trying to judge his speed by the rapidly passing bushes, the blue dragon gently attempted to curl his body forward, using his tail and lower body to create some drag. It might have been working, but too soon he felt his claws touch sand, streaking through it as vegetation tangled on his limbs. 

Panicking, Neptune back winged and just as abruptly found himself face-first in the sand. A plume of the stuff rose around him, falling down to coat his scales in a fine layer of rust-red. At least his speed had not been so great as to carve a hole, and his form felt relatively un-harmed by the sudden stop. Swinging his head around, Neptune quickly checked on his little moons. Three pairs of eyes blinked up at him, shaken but not hurt. Well, that went better than I expected. 

“You guys good?” Triton fluttered down beside them, eyeing the dusty dragons warily. Neptune shook out his wings, causing the little moons to hop off and dash at the older moon. 

“Did you see? Did you see that big cloud of sand!” Larissa cheered, her leap onto Triton’s tail sending up another small eruption of sand. “It got in my mouth! Did you crash too?”

“Um, no.” Triton tried to pull his tail out from under the moon as he replied, quickly using one foreleg to stop Nereid from her own attempt to jump onto his back. “Come on kids, let's go to the water.”

“WATER?” Proteus cheered, jumping up to flap his wings, peering over to where the rocky planets had ended up. “We found water?”

“We must have. Earth said that’s what we were headed for.” Triton responded, turning to start pacing over to the gathered dragons. Neptune picked himself up to follow after him, gingerly avoiding the thorny bushes scattered around. The land dipped down as he walked, falling into a steady slope.

The area they had landed wasn’t too dissimilar to the last place, hot and dry with minimal plant life, only a few larger trees, and a huge ditch. The main difference was the muddiness of the ditch. Where the last place had cracked and peeling shells of dirt, this area had puddles of thick, viscous earth, dotted around a centre pool of murky liquid. Further down, similar splashes of moisture could be seen, each one varying from green to brown. Neptune had been under the impression water on Earth was blue, or at least clear. Well, you learn something new every day, I suppose.

“Earth. This isn’t water. Why can’t you just find us proper water?” Mars sounded exhausted, his tail curl drooping and revealing the sharp tip to the sky. At his side, Mercury slumped onto the ground with a sigh.

“This is water. What do you want? A nice chemically treated glass of bottled water?” Earth huffed, though his gaze fell onto the pool with a frown. “This is the best we’re going to get without flying further. And I don’t think anyone wants that.”

“Nope!” Mercury’s head shot up, his snout twisted into a frown at the very idea. “I’m not flying another inch. If we have to move, just carry me.”

“Why would we bother?” Venus sneered, then flicked his tail at the water with a questioning look at the Earth. “We can drink this?”

“I mean, the other option is digging another hole.” Earth stared at the water, feathers rising into a fluffy cover over the dragon’s form. “I’m going to find a place to sleep. We wasted too much time today to spare any for hunting.”

“What?” Uranus shoved forward, his lips pulled back in a growl, “Why not? We’re hungry. My moons aren't going to sleep without food.”

“They’re welcome to try, but in the dark I doubt you'll find anything nearby.” The blue-green dragon shook his wings out, indicating to his moon who was standing by the edge of the pool. “Just be careful with-”

“Is that water?” Saturn lumbered up, his wings dragging and tail leaving a trail in the sand behind him. In front of him, a few of his moons darted ahead to the water’s edge. “Finally. Did we really have to fly for so long? My wings feel numb!”

“Wait, guys-” Earth had turned back now, striding back to the pool just as an orange-green moon was bending down to drink, followed by Saturn himself.

Earth’s words were drowned out by a sudden eruption of water and noise, the spray reaching even Neptune still standing nearer the back. Triton ducked under his wing at the roaring, his own tail curling around the three smaller moons. A foul scent hit his nose as it rose from the stagnant pool. He vaguely registered that Saturn had surged into the water, but he couldn’t make out any details over the crashing and snarling.

As the splashing ceased, Neptune could make out Saturn again, the ringed giant bent over the water with his neck tensed and eyes wide. Below him crouched his moons, backing away from the water as a few more weakening splashes broke the silence. Stepping closer to see over Venus’ back, Neptune’s gaze zeroed in on the red leaking into the muddy liquid, pooling from between Saturn’s clenched jaw. Held limp within it, was an Earthling, scaled and brown with small stubby limbs twitching at the pressure breaking its skull.

“Woah, um, yeah, those exist.” Earth stepped closer, careful to avoid the edge of the pool, his voice a forced calm. “Is everyone okay? No one got bit?”

“T-that Earthling tried to eat me!” Cried a small moon, his two-toned grey scales paler than before as he shook in place. Titan, standing over him, pulled the small moon back from the water and the dying Earthling. Saturn seemed frozen in place, the feeble struggles having died down entirely as the beast was drained into the water.

“What happened?” Jupiter's voice broke the tense quiet as everyone tried to work out what had actually happened. The huge dragon was walking stiffly up to the group, shadowed by his moons. Two of them, yellow and black, dashed up to Titan when they registered the scene. 

“Something tried to bite Janus, but Saturn- Saturn killed it.” Titan hesitated, glancing with concern at his planet, who still held the corpse in his jaws with a vacant expression. Jupiter wasted no time approaching his friend, his wings raised to place over Saturn’s back. Earth jumped forward to halt his path forward.

“If you step in there, you have to be ready to fight one as well. There’s always more than one. We need to get Saturn out, not throw more of us in.”

“Very well.” Jupiter replied stiffly, his jaw working as he stared down at the rocky planet in poorly hidden frustration, his tail sending eddies of sand into the watching dragons. He returned his attention to the ringed planet. “Saturn? Are you okay, my friend?”

Saturn’s jaw quivered, a distressed groan rising as he fought to speak around the flesh between his teeth. Jupiter carefully stretched his neck out, trying to grasp the creature’s tail and pull it away, but Saturn backed away with a muffled shout. His feet found dry mud behind him, his legs shaking as he hauled the beast out of the water. 

As the scaled body slipped from the dragon’s jaws, Neptune couldn’t help his curiosity at the sight, leaning over the rocky planets to peer closer. The creature was longer than Triton, though far less tall, lacking both wings and anything resembling a proper neck. The huge jaws seemed to take up most of the front end, while the back tapered into a thick-hided tail. One look at the ruined skull and sightless eyes rolled Neptune’s stomach enough to turn him away, lowering his gaze to the sandy ground below.

“W-what-” Saturn stammered, his jaws still parted as he gagged on the blood smeared over them, limbs shaking as he backed away from the corpse. “I-I- didn’t- I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s alright, my friend. You just reacted to the situation, and I’m sure you had a reason.” Jupiter spoke calmly, his eyes carefully avoiding the dead animal between them. He gingerly stepped over it to reach Saturn’s side, gently pulling the other away from the pool and the mess. 

“Yeah, you saved Janus, Saturn.” Titan trotted over, the smaller moon following him to their planet’s side. Saturn reached out a muddy foreleg to loop around his little moon, pulling the shaking dragon closer until Janus was resting against his side. 

“Are you alright? I’m s-sorry if that scared you.” Saturn whispered, his voice still struggling around the words as he tried to rub the blood off in the dry ground beneath him. He glanced at the Earth as he continued. “I’m sorry, Earth. I-I didn’t mean to kill it. It just happened so fast I-”

“Don’t apologize, Saturn. I should’ve remembered them faster.” Earth kicked the sand near the water’s edge, a pebble bouncing briefly over the surface before more forms writhed under it, the shadows and scaled backs of more creatures rising to snap at the rock. “Water, especially around here, will be full of them.”

“How are we supposed to drink it, then?” Uranus complained, his gaze stubbornly turned from the gore leaking into the mud around the dead creature.

“Well, I think Saturn’s just demonstrated how to deal with them.” Mars pointed out, “Though, I doubt all of us can do that.”

“Mars is right.” Jupiter nodded to the red dragon, who looked up in surprise. “If anyone wants to drink, they must be escorted by one of the giants. We will go in groups, and the giant will test the water first for those beasts.”

“They’re crocodiles." Earth corrected, but dipped his head in agreement. “They are evolved as ambush hunters, and they will lay as still as possible until they think they can get you. The only way to deal with them is to see them before they can strike.”

“Earth, your Earthlings are bloody creepy, mate.” Uranus shivered, his wings pressing tight against his body as he edged towards the water, his moons hiding behind him. “We can drink this, though?”

“Yeah. It won't taste great, but it’s all there is.” Earth sighed, staring down at the dead crocodile. Luna pressed against his planet’s side, his head moving to nudge Earth away from the sight. The blue-green dragon ignored the effort, reaching out a claw to poke the scaled skin. “We can eat this. If anyone wants to try.”

“Ew, no.” Saturn grimaced, still spitting bits of blood from his teeth. Jupiter shot him a look, and the ringed planet appeared to backtrack. “I mean, no thanks, Earth. Maybe you’d like to try it, my moons?”

The sea of reluctant faces that met his statement seemed to disappoint Jupiter, who then turned his own gaze to his moons. They similarly shook their heads, backing away from the body. Jupiter sighed heavily, finally glancing at the rocky planets.

“Anyone? We have to learn to eat this stuff, or we’ll have a hard time reaching an end to this.” Jupiter pressed, unimpressed by the frowns on the other planets. 

“Make Earth do it. We’re not the ones that insist on eating dead Earthlings.” Venus waved a foreleg at the feathered planet, who was still staring blankly at the corpse. “I thought plants were edible as well? Why can’t we eat those?”

“Our teeth, dumbass!” Earth whirled around with a sudden hiss, his focus on the crocodile broken. “And our abdomens, and our legs! If you actually looked, you’d see there's no way we have the stomachs for plants. Our digestive system is short, our teeth are sharp, and our whole body is designed for an active predator. You can try eating plants if you want, but don’t whine when you blow up with gas or starve to death!”

“Earth! That is unnecessary.” Jupiter stepped in, glaring down at the rocky planet as Earth swallowed tightly. “We cannot be fighting or shouting at each other over simple questions. I understand you are stressed, but so is everyone.”

“Sorry, Jupiter.” Earth mumbled, lowering his gaze and fluffing up his feathers to hide in the down. “Sorry, Venus.”

“T-that’s fine…Earth?” Venus sounded caught off guard by the apology, his own wings fidgeting in agitation.

Jupiter sighed again, pulling himself up to stare at the gathered moons and planets. His golden gaze fell over them, the worried expression melting into determination. “We will sleep near here, under those trees on the riverbank. Each planet will escort their moons to the water, and I will escort the rocky planets and their moons. Tomorrow, we will find food.”

As the groups split into fractions, each moon seeking out their assigned ‘water-guard’, Neptune cautiously approached the water. Out of the corner of his eye, he vaguely registered Jupiter picking up the dead creature and hauling it across the mud to one of the trees. Just as the blue dragon was feeling prepared enough to lead his moons over to the water, Uranus mumbled into Neptune’s ear.

“This is shit, mate. I’m hungry now.”

“There’s that crocodile?” Neptune suggested, though his own stomach rebelled at the very idea of putting such a thing in his mouth. Looking over at Jupiter revealed that the gas giant was already trying the beast, his expression not exactly selling the experience.

“I’m not eating some slimy lizard. I want to find real food.” Uranus insisted, nudging Neptune’s gaze to the top of the slope. “We could go hunt? You can see just fine in the dark, we’d have no problem. And I have a place I want a better look at.”

“Um, but I don’t know how to hunt?” Neptune whispered back, painfully aware of the listening ears of his moons and Uranus’. “Anyway, we have a water mission right now!”

Trying to inject more energy into his limbs than he had to spare, Neptune trotted down to the last few paces to the water, staring hard at the murky slop. His first footstep sank disgustingly deep, and the second one let out an ugly squelch as he sunk into it. Extracting one foreleg, he swiped experimentally at the water, hoping nothing would jump out at him like it had for Saturn. 

“Can we drink now?” Nereid asked from the muddy shore, her own claws slowly dipping into the sodden earth. Neptune took one last swing at the water, cautiously optimistic that nothing was nearby. Or if it was, it had decided to avoid him. Moving his body so as to create a barrier between the rest of the water and the small patch he’d check, the ice giant indicated to his moons.

As the four of them approached to dip their heads, Neptune tried to find Uranus. His friend had wandered off in a huff, stamping in the mud to clear his own area of water for the Uranian moons. Titania watched with a worried grimace, her tail-tip twitching. Ariel, a pace behind her, was crouched down as if to pounce on it. Umbriel stepped on her tail in time to interrupt her launch. 

Neptune tried not to feel too apprehensive about Uranus' plan. He really didn’t know if they’d find anything, and even if they did, he doubted it would be appetizing. But, Uranus was his friend, and if he insisted on it, Neptune would have to go. I’ll leave the little ones with Triton, though. They probably need some rest.

…

“Neptune. You can’t be serious.” Triton’s unimpressed stare wasn’t helping the bubble of nerves rising in the blue dragon’s core. He shuffled his feet in the sand, trying to ignore the way his head felt heavier and the base of his shoulders stung mutely. “You want to go running off again? In the dark? Just because Uranus wants to?”

“His moons are going too, the big ones.” Neptune added, glancing at the ridge of the riverbank where the pale scales of Uranus and his moons were watching, waiting for him to join them. “He thinks we’ll have more luck at night and…I think it would really help calm him down, if we can find something his moons can eat.”

Triton eyed him for a few more seconds, the spikes at the tip of his tail carving grooves in the sand as he flicked it. The Earth's moon was near-full, casting light across the whole area, the puddles of water turned silver in its gaze. The rest of the system was huddled under the trees, curled into piles or pressed side by side. His own little moons slept a few feet away, oblivious to their conversation. 

“Fine. Whatever.” Triton muttered in frustration, and Neptune was about to take this as the end of the argument, only for the moon to raise his head again to glare at the planet. “But I’m coming to. I’ll ask Callisto to keep an eye on the little moons.”

“Why? You don’t need to come, Triton. I’ll be fine, and the kids will want to follow if you go.” 

“Not if they don’t wake up before we get back. And anyway, I can see fine as well, so I can help.” Triton stood up with a stretch, turning to head towards Jupiter’s moon pile. Neptune could only watch in bemusement as his oldest whispered to one of the moons, her head rising to gaze at Neptune from across the gap. 

“Let’s go.” Triton hissed, pacing back towards him with Callisto following, her speckled form turning to his moons and curling up nearby, her bright eyes fixed on the departing dragons. Neptune trudged after Triton, really starting to wonder why his limbs felt so weighed down. The headache wasn’t helping. 

As they crested the ridge, the two dragons spotted the moon-bright scales of Uranus and his moons already making their way across the scrubland. Neptune broke into a run to catch up, his oldest moon keeping easy pace with him. The air was colder now, every scent sharpened and confusingly mixed. He could hear the scuttle of Earthlings, but nothing big enough to see over the thorns. Details were back now that night had truly fallen, but colour was gone now until dawn.

Slowing to a trot, he grinned up at Uranus with a playful smile. “This is exciting, isn’t it? Off on an adventure!”

“Sure, mate.” Uranus had his gaze trained on the horizon, watching the stars intensely. “I think Earth was right. That constellation, it’s acting weird.”

“What?” Neptune followed his gaze, letting it fall on the arrangement of stars. They looked fine to him, but he wasn't super familiar with the Earthling constellations. He wasn’t totally sure what Uranus was talking about, but decided it would be silly to ask. Instead, he replied, “Yeah, I guess so.”

“So, we’re stuck going north, then.” Uranus’ defeated sigh caught Neptune by surprise, unsure why his friend was so dismayed by that. It sounded fun to Neptune, a trip across the surface of a living world he rarely saw anything of. Sure, the last few hours had been a bit uncomfortable, but nothing unbearably awful. He might even end up enjoying this little romp across the planet.

“It’ll be fine! I mean, we have the planet himself here to guide us, don’t we?” 

“Maybe.” Uranus’ single word reply damped Neptune’s resolve to keep talking, sensing that he might be pushing the patience of his friend.

Turning his focus to the land around them, he tried to make out any details. The area was open and flat, shadowed only by small plants and lit into a faint glow by the satellite above. “So…where are we going?” 

“Wherever we can find food.” Uranus pointed with his muzzle toward the way they had come earlier in the day. “I saw something before, when we were flying. It looked like big Earthlings, all stuck in one place.”

“That sounds convenient.” Triton muttered at his side, stepping close enough to be hidden from the moonlight under Neptune’s wing. “How far? Are we walking the whole way?”

“Not too far. It was close, I was going to mention it to the group, but then Earth dived and all that mess with the water happened. And I doubt Jupiter would have let us go.” Uranus avoided his gaze, picking up his pace slightly.

They continued in silence, the dark land stretching before them in unbroken waves, with only the occasional tree or crumbled rock to mark their path. Despite the quiet, there was still a general hum to the air, the distant buzz and hiss of something tiny hiding within the grasses and thickets. The odd call or sudden movement startled the group, but the dragons kept their attention forward, trying to peer deeper into the night.

Just as Neptune was beginning to get concerned about the distance they were putting between them and the rest of the group, a faint oddity appeared in his vision. In the darkness, a line of tall, thin poles rose from the earth, linked by tendrils of flicking, shiny strings. Interested now, he paced towards them, quickly followed by the rest of the hunting party. 

“Keep quiet.” Titania whispered as they got closer, her gaze straining to see through the gloom. Something was moving in the darkness trapped there, low noises setting the group on edge.

As they reached the lines, Neptune peered down at them, his foreleg stretching out to touch a claw to the shiny strings. It was harder than he’d thought it would be, covered in fine spikes and linked to the poles by more shiny material. He pressed against it, feeling the spikes poke at his scales. 

“Look.” Triton’s whispered voice drew Neptune’s gaze up, finally spotting the Earthlings just beyond the odd barrier. They were huge, larger than anything they’d seen yet, and Earth would have needed to stretch his neck up to be able to look them level in the eye if he was there. They were spindly creatures, long legs with a wide, feathered body balanced precariously on top, an even thinner neck rising into a point so small Neptune was hesitant to call it a head.

“Food.” Uranus smiled, tilting his head to the beasts. “A few of them, and we could feed half the group.”

“Y-yeah.” Neptune paused, suddenly hit with a deep reluctance. As he watched the dozing creatures, he fought not to picture that fluffy Earthling from the morning, or the beautiful bird he’d witnessed waking up. The visceral images of the dead crocodile overlaid the beasts in front of him, turning his organic stomach to knots. We have to do it. Think of your moons.

At his side, Triton was tensed to leap, his muzzle touching the strange string as he slipped deliberately under it. Neptune reached one claw out to hold the spikes up, hoping to avoid his moon catching himself. The other moons crawled under as well, Ariel practically dashing forward only to be halted by Titania. Once the moons were all under the barrier, Neptune wondered how to get over himself.

Uranus answered that question by pushing down on one of the poles, the material creaking ominously as he lowered it towards the ground. The strings strained, vibrating with a tinny noise that froze the group, gazes turned to the creatures. Not a peep. Uranus cautiously continued until he could step over the pole, feet just avoiding the spiked wire. Neptune padded after him, the anxiety in his gut shifting into anticipation, and the energy he had been lacking flowing back into his body.

The ground on the other side of the barrier was strangely barren, devoid of the grasses he’d grown used to walking on. Instead, it was scratched raw, only the occasional root or thistle showing through. They had no cover except the darkness, but these Earthlings seemed oddly unaware of their presence. Keeping low, Neptune followed the moons as they crowded together.

“What’s the plan?” Triton whispered once the two planets arrived, his wings pressed so close to his back Neptune almost couldn’t distinguish them from his body. 

“Um, kill them?” Ariel frowned, “What else?”

“OK, but we still need a plan. We can’t just run at them.” Miranda argued, eyeing the area. “They’re trapped in this barrier, could we try to corral them into a corner?”

“How are we going to kill them?" Oberon whispered faintly, “I’ve never killed anything before! What do we do?”

“Go for the head, like Saturn did.” Uranus said, his own shoulders tense and gaze wary.

“The head. The head that’s at the top of those massive bodies?" Triton muttered sarcastically, frowning in thought. “What if we herded them to you two, and you guys killed them? We’re probably better at running around in a tight space, and you two are tall enough to bite their heads off.”

While the rest of the group nodded, Neptune fought not to picture what he’d have to do, forcing his throat to quit the strangling sensation. The growl in his stomach helped, but his mind still bucked at the idea of tasting blood. You have to, Neptune. Your moons won’t eat unless you hunt. You can panic about it later, back in our quiet orbit.

“Neptune?” When the ice giant looked up, he saw that the rest of the group had spread out to take their places, Uranus now crouched in one corner while his moons slowly circled the huddle of Earthlings. Triton was hanging back, looking at him searchingly. Neptune plastered on a smile and nodded to the moon, indicating for him to go. Triton gave him one last look before stalking forward, his tail held inches from the ground as he snuck up on the beasts.

Neptune retreated to another corner, trying to force his mind into a more dormant state. He grasped at the feeling of excitement that was tingling at the back of his mind, letting it flood forward and drown the rest out. He lowered himself to the ground, eyes pinned on the nearest creature, his thoughts lost in the overwhelming focus and single-minded determination to feed this organic form. The rest of the world faded into disinterest, every twitch of a feather far more fascinating than the scents on the wind or the calls from the desert.

Time shifted, stretching and shrinking until Neptune barely registered the first leap. Titania had rushed the beasts, forcing them towards the side Neptune and Uranus were hiding in. Beside her, Triton and Oberon pounced as well, driving any individuals that tried to swerve past Titania back into the huddle. Ariel and Umbriel flanked them, keeping them moving forward; while Miranda leapt at the charging herd, causing them to split to either side of her. It started rather controlled, but soon the beasts were upon the planets and the shrieking started.

The Earthlings made horrible noises as they met Neptune’s claws, his clumsy attempts to hold one down only ending in a talon to the nose. Unseen before, the beasts had sharp ends to their feet, similar to the dragons’ own, and they used them quite effectively. One tried to kick at Neptune’s eye, and only his height saved him from a blinding. Frustrated, he swung his tail at one of the beasts, the wet thump of his tail-spines lodging into its neck nearly destroying his resolve to finish this, breaking his brief focus. Get it over with. Quickly. 

The moons had mostly given up their efforts to corral the beasts, now chasing them and trying to leap onto their backs for a shot at the head. A few of the more confident fliers had skipped the back entirely, only they struggled to actually aim at the fast-moving targets. The Earthlings were speedy, agile, and clearly willing to put up a fight despite their panic.

Another beast leapt at him, feet posed to strike his side, only for Neptune’s jaws to meet around its neck, the limp body dropping from his teeth. Staring at it, the nausea rose back violently. 

“Neptune!”

Snapping out of it, Neptune swung around to find his moon trying to hold off two of the beasts, dodging their slicing feet. Without a thought, Neptune shoved forward to grasp one by the head, his tail quickly decapitating the other with a forceful swing. With both dead before him, he tried not to shiver too obviously. How long will this last? I want this done

Any pretence at stealth had fled long ago, so Neptune lifted his voice above the chaos to call an end to the hunt. Uranus must have caught his words, because soon he was echoing the call. No one objected, the array of bodies already darkening the ground standing testament to their success. The remaining beasts finally stilled in one corner, pressing hard against the wire until their feathers ripped, beaks parted in pants. The wires cut at their legs, dripping more stains onto the dirt. 

The moons began to haul their kills over, expressions ranging from horrified to thrilled. Oberon tripped as he tried to drag one by its broken neck, his feet slipping on the blood from another beast. Umbriel was trying to dislodge one that had tangled itself into the spiked wire in its panic, her yanking only ripping limbs from the body. Ariel was staring at one of the creatures, her eyes stuck on the blank gaze that met hers. 

Neptune looked down at his own mess. Four dead beasts, only two still in possession of a head, and only an aching face to pay for it. His head felt fuzzy, like all his thoughts had been atomised and thrown into the air, only to fall back down onto him mind in fragmented specks. The ground felt distant, like he was back in his orbit and detached from everything again, rather than an organic being clamped to the surface by gravity.

Triton was attempting to pull another beast towards Neptune’s pile, the creature’s blood leaving a morbid trail. He stared as the headless neck became caked with dust. I want to go home.

“Well, that was a success, don’t you think?” Uranus walked over, his own footsteps shaky with adrenaline. Blood coated his jaw, and the stains spread distractingly to his neck as he spoke. “We need to get this back before the Sun rises. Do you reckon the moons can carry one?”

Neptune just shook his head, words not finding their way to his mouth over the oppressive attempts to drive all thought from his mind. He numbly registered Triton arguing with Uranus, but it didn’t matter. He was still staring at the creature he’d bitten the head off of. The blood was on his tongue, and the head was probably in his stomach, slowly being dissolved in the organic acid. His mind screamed. 

Dimly, he felt something being placed onto his back, multiple things from the feel of it. The pain behind his shoulder blades flared pathetically, giving up after Neptune's mind ignored it. His body was moving, but he had no say in it. The stinging on his legs as they curiously stepped over the barrier tried to ground him, but he just slipped deeper, unwilling to fight the pull.

Ahead of him, he could see Uranus' bright blue tail waving as he walked, and Neptune settled on merely following that. That single moving point of bright swishing and dipping in front of his eyes. He followed it until the light began to fuzz his vision again, colours blending back into the area and stealing the details. His body ached, the pain in his head growing nearly blinding, but that felt very distant right now. The dragon just kept walking.

…

Something must have happened, because he found himself in the riverbed suddenly, the limp forms of Earthlings spread around him. They looked dead, and the drying blood felt odd to look at, but he couldn't work out what they were. They had feathers, so maybe a bird? But they were awfully big. Confused, he shook himself off and tried to see who was nearby. Up on the ridge, he could see the sleeping forms of the rocky planets, their moons huddled up with them.

Uranus was a few feet away, talking to the other giants excitedly, both Jupiter and Saturn appearing barely awake. His moons were standing to one side, staring down at the things on the ground with curious expressions. Neptune padded over to them, offering a smile at their greetings, and settled down onto his side just beside them. Triton was watching him oddly, but that was nothing new. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, vaguely bemused by Uranus’ attempts to wake up the rest of the group as he danced up the sandy slope to reach the rocky worlds. The Sun looked like it had only just risen, the air still cool and pleasant. His eldest moon turned a quizzical look towards him, his frown deepening.

“We went hunting, remember?" Triton tried, his tail waving in a slow arc. Neptune decided to nod like he recalled this, smiling at his moon. He must have mentioned it earlier and I let it slip my mind. Sorry, Triton.

“Well, it looks like you found lots of food! Well done!” Neptune didn’t particularly like the idea of doing it himself, but it was something to celebrate if Triton had gone and done it. His moon was so brave!

“But- yeah, we did.” Triton stopped himself before settling for a nod, still eyeing Neptune warily. The blue dragon tried not to feel too hurt by his moon’s continued reluctance towards him, clinging to the memory of the deal they’d made to work together. We’re making progress, and that’s honestly more than I’d hoped for in the past.

“WHAT! What did you do?” Earth’s loud shout drew all eyes to the blue-green dragon that surged over to the pile of dead Earthlings, his feathers puffing him up to seemingly twice his usual size. He grabbed one of the animal's tiny wings, the brown feathers scraggly and wide, his claws trembling slightly as he touched something there. “Where did you find them?”

“In a strange silver barrier.” Uranus grinned triumphantly, his tail curled behind him as he indicated to the pile. “Enough food for everyone! And it’s not covered in mud!”

“Y-you-” Earth stuttered, dropping the wing to glare at the pale dragon. “You idiot! This- this will kill us! Ugh!”

“Earth?” Jupiter asked, reaching out to touch the panicking dragon with one foreleg. “What is wrong? Are they bad to eat?”

“No- I mean, yeah, but- but not because-” Earth gasped, shaking his head and gritting his teeth. He grabbed the wing again, pulling at a strange blue piece that was seemingly attached to the limb. “These belonged to the humans! We’re doomed now!”

“Why? Nothing saw us take them, and how were we supposed to know?” Uranus frowned, agitated at the lack of joy from his successful trip. “Anyway, why does a tag mean humans get them? They were all alone out there. I didn't see anything that said 'Mine, hands off'.”

“The tag means a human farmed them, so they own them, by human law. And now you-” Earth growled, tossing his head in frustration. His moon padded up carefully, trying to see what the fuss was about. “They won’t ignore this. We can’t- we can’t ever hunt from anything in a barrier like that again, or anything that looks like it has a tag, OK?”

"Earth, he didn't know." Luna tried, his head lowered to peer at the dead creature. "It was one mistake."

"Yeah, one mistake that'll piss every human off in a ten mile radius." Earth huffed, flinging sand into the air as he slapped his tail down. "We cannot do this again, understand?"

“I still don’t understand why?” Saturn joined in, sniffing at the bodies. “They’re much more appealing than the last few things you’ve offered. Surely the humans aren’t that attached, if they left them all alone?”

“Oh, believe me, they were attached. This is probably some poor guy’s livelihood.” Earth hissed, his anger simmering into a defeated mask of bitterness. “You better hope they don’t have trackers. Or that farmer doesn’t have the means to spread the word.” 

“Earth. Stop muttering so ominously about this. It’s one time, we promise not to do it again.” Saturn offered to the living planet, who only glared back at the giant.

“Earth, we’ll talk later.” Jupiter told the feathered dragon, dismayed by the response of a stiff nod and nothing else. The gas giant turned to Uranus with a smile. “Thank you, Uranus and moons, for finding the food. This will save us a lot of worry.”

Jupiter eyed the Earth for a few more moments before turning to the pile, a few moons already trying to pull some from the selection. “Let’s divide this up as evenly as we can. No taking more than you need. We have to be collective about this if we want to all make it back to orbit.”

“Yes, Jupiter.”

Neptune was still puzzling over the conversation he’d just witnessed when Uranus was suddenly standing before him, leaning down to look Neptune in the eye from his lying position. In his jaws were two of the animals, which he dropped in front of Neptune and his moons. They rolled slightly in the dust, tickling Neptune's nose.

“Here. For you guys! Thanks for the help!” Uranus grinned, and Neptune was so glad to see the happiness in his friend’s face again he momentarily forgot his confusion. The pale dragon nudged one of the dead things towards Neptune, the limp feathers rustling together in an oddly familiar way. “They actually don’t taste too bad, once you get over the organic-ness of it all. Luna says it’s a bird, so we have to be careful not to eat the feathers.”

“Food!” The three little moons cheered, bounding up to one of the birds. Triton stepped up as well, beginning to meticulously pluck the feathers so the younger dragons could eat. At least they seem excited to try it.

Neptune eyed the bird that had been left to him, absentmindedly plucking the feathers as he fought to identify the slow-burning pressure in his chest. It had no clear origin, only that it intensified when he stared at the bird. The planet tried to brush it off as his usual weirdness, continuing his task until he had a bald, gangly creature before him. It didn't look appetizing.

One glance to the side showed him that the little moons had already begun eating. And that one glance rolled his stomach so badly he almost shot up in surprise. Clamping his mouth shut, Neptune turned away. What is going on? 

Focusing back on his own meal, Neptune gingerly used one claw to tear the belly open, the meat giving easily under the slightest pressure. And that was as far as he got, because the next thing he knew, he was standing to one side trying not to hurl. He suppressed the urge to whine, curling up to keep his gaze from the thing. Stop being pathetic. We can’t just ignore this food Triton got for us. That Uranus brought to us. 

But Neptune couldn’t do it. Even as he forced his gaze back to the bird, it felt like his whole body was trying to reject the food before he’d even tried it. The creature lay in the sand, the missing head and split belly leaking into the sand. You’re wasting food now.

He shut his eyes, hoping if he removed the sight his brain would shut up, moving to touch the bird with his mouth. The texture of the meat felt like fire on his senses, the tightness in the back of his throat roaring back with a vengeance. He spat out the mouthful, swiping dust over it to hide it from his view. OK, that didn’t work.

“Neptune?” The voice of his youngest present moon called, and the planet dragged his eyes open again to look at Larissa. She was watching him with a bemused expression that vanished as she met his gaze. “Neptune! Are you going to eat the bird? It’s so tasty!”

Neptune forced his face to stay fixed into a wide grin as he gazed at his little moon. “I’ve already tried one, Larissa. Are you still hungry?”

“A little bit! And Triton was complaining about the amount of meat in the bird, so I think he’s hungry too!” Larissa began eyeing Neptune’s discarded bird eagerly. Neptune tried not to feel too relieved.

“Then you guys can have that one. I’m just going to go get a drink.” Neptune forced himself to stand slowly, the shakiness in his limbs catching him off guard. What is wrong with me?

“Thank you, Neptune!” Larissa’s call followed him as he stepped carefully down the slope to the muddy water, the initial relief hardening into regret. 

As he dipped his head to drink the muddy water, he spotted his eldest watching him from their meal, his gaze trained on the blue dragon with an odd frown. Neptune's stomach rolled again for a completely different reason. He was lying to his moons again, technically. And after just promising not to. He didn’t like lying, it never felt very natural or even nice, but he didn’t know what else to do. This wasn’t something his moons needed to worry about. They needed to focus on staying safe on this planet. I’ll just have to keep trying. Maybe it’s just that kind of Earthling I can’t eat?

They would surely encounter more types of food soon, and then he could find something his mind didn’t want to reject outright. He had time, the Earth had spoken like they could go days without eating even in these weak organic bodies. And anyway, it can’t be that important. I’m still a planet, not an Earthling, and I’m sure this’ll sort itself out.  

Chapter Text

“Did you see that? Europa! Did you see?” The excited giggles and squeals from the tumbling little dragons drew the pale moon’s attention to their game. 

Himalia was straddling little Portia, forcing the silver dragon against the rough rocks they were resting on. She almost moved to intervene, but Portia had used the momentary distraction of her opponent to dislodge Himalia’s forelegs and wriggle away, her tail swishing tauntingly.

“Get back here!” Himalia gasped in outrage, charging after the Uranian moon, only to trip on a crack in the rocky surface and slide along the ground. Now Europa pulled herself to her feet, nudging the little dragon to check she was unhurt. “I’m okay, Europa! Help me catch Portia?”

“You know that wouldn’t be fair.” Europa smiled, watching as the silver dragon reached her hiding place of Titania’s wing. “And I doubt Titania will let me attack Portia.”

“You could fight Titania while I get Portia?” Himalia offered, jumping up in excitement and flapping her stone-grey wings in Europa’s face. The pale moon pretended to consider the idea with an exaggerated expression.

“Hmm… only if you promise to behave with Ganymede and Callisto later.” Europa offered, recalling the amount of chaos the little moons had caused this morning. “They don’t need all this energy after today.”

“Aw! But we’ve been sitting around all day!” Himalia complained, but her excitement had her leaping around the larger dragon. 

“You might have been, but they had to get up before dawn and find that food you ate.” Europa recalled her brief annoyance at not being woken up for the training hunt, but the Earth had claimed that two groups, one at dawn and one in the afternoon, was the most efficient hunting routine. And Europa wasn’t exactly in a position to argue with the Golden Boy of the Solar System. “When we leave you with them, you need to behave yourself.”

“OK! We will!” The little moon promised, her bright smile only slightly unnerving with the sharp teeth on full display. “Now come on! We have to get them!”

“Alright then. What’s the plan?” Europa fell into a crouch beside the smaller dragon, eyeing the target still hiding under Titania’s wing with a smirk of triumph. Himalia dragged her little claws through the earth below them as she returned a glare.

“You distract the big one, and I’ll get her!” Himalia gave the pale dragon no time to register her words before she was tearing off across the gap of shrubbery, aiming for a large bush a few feet from Titania’s resting spot. Europa smirked to herself and began to follow at a slower stalk, trying to keep her wings and tail from disturbing the nearby plant life. This should be fun.

Keeping her footsteps light, she circled around to hide in the shade of an overarching tree, hoping her bright scales might fade away a little without the sunlight. Now closer to her target, she crawled as low to the grounds as she could, her legs becoming stiff and pained from the tension she held them in. 

Titania was still unaware, her head dipped down to talk softly to the moon hiding under her wing. Across the stretch, Europa saw her hunting partner was wiggling excitedly, ready to pounce. Better not keep her waiting.

“Ack!” Titania let out a shriek of surprise as Europa took a flying leap at her side, forcing the moon into a roll as they grappled. Quickly recovering from her shock, the Uranian moon growled and twisted her body to face Europa, trying to push the larger dragon off of her. “What are you-”

“Come on! Fight me!” Europa grinned despite the struggle to pin down the other’s limbs, her breaths coming in excited pants. “Let’s see what the largest Uranian moon can actually do!”

“Get off you great lump!” Titania writhed for a few more seconds before she abruptly fell limp, her head falling back onto the sand. Momentarily, Europa was scared she’d actually hurt the smaller moon. What? I barely touched her?

Lightening her grip to peer closer, the Jovian moon was caught off guard as the dragon below her suddenly surged up, her claws wrapping around Europa’s neck and forcing her to the ground with a thump. Now above her, Titania laughed, her wings raised high over her back in triumph. 

“Hah! Fooled you.” Titania hissed into her ear, grinned excitedly as Europa returned with a glare. The pale moon used her hind legs to kick at the dragon’s underbelly, hoping to dislodge her, but Titania quickly dug her own claws in to halt her. “What? Can’t take a bit of pain, Europa? I thought you wanted a fight?”

“Ugh!” Europa roared in frustration, swinging her tail to slap at Titania. While that proved inefficient, it at least distracted the moon long enough for Europa to twist her foreleg out from under Titania’s chest. The extra limb gave her enough force to shove the smaller moon off to the side, her fall unbroken thanks to the forelegs still wrapped determinedly around Europa’s neck. I need to get her off my neck.

As Titania struggled to right herself while maintaining her hold, Europa utilized her freed legs to push away from the moon, stepping on her and tugging as hard as she could without feeling like her neck was about to snap. They wrestled in the sand, each trying to unbalance the other’s grip or stance. The dusty air flung up from their activity itched at Europa’s nose and throat, but she couldn’t cough around the tightening grip on her neck. 

Finally, in a surge of frustration, the pale moon shoved forward and sent the two of them into a roll, the sloped ground aiding her momentum as they scrapped. Hissing in surprise, Titania’s head swung around to work out what was happening, only to be met by Europa slamming a clawed foreleg against her head, holding her to the ground as the rolling stopped. Against her side, Europa felt them collide with something solid and warm. 

“What are you two doing?” The voice was incredulous and mildly annoyed, the larger beast swiftly shoving the two apart. The grip on her neck disappeared, but so did her hold over Titania’s head. We were just getting into it! Stupid planets!

“Uranus! We were just…playing?” Titania tried, her own scales turned rusty and dull by the sand and earth caked over them, the silver shine hidden. Uranus frowned down at her suspiciously, turning to look at Europa. 

“With this moon? Isn’t she one of the exiled ones?”

“Not out here I’m not!” Europa bristled, glaring boldly at the ice giant. “Jupiter’s in charge, and he has no problem with us!”

“Only ‘cause you’re his moons.” Uranus muttered, his tail whipping the sand behind him as he drew it around Titania, pulling her closer to him. Away from Europa. “We all heard what you tried to do to the Earth. What you did do to Mars and Venus.”

“Look, Ur-anus, I don’t really care what a second rate ice giant thinks about me. You don’t get to decide who I’m allowed to interact with.” Europa hissed, her wings raising and tail-tip twitching in agitation. Titania was frowning now, eyeing her planet and the moon warily. Ugh, I don’t have to put up with this!

Without waiting for a reply from the offended ice giant, she swung around and marched back to the rock she’d been lounging on. I don’t have time for ice giants.

The Sun’s light had warmed it as the day drew long, drawing the tired and achy moons to lay out on it in piles and huddles. Europa’s eye caught on the green-grey scales of Ganymede, the large dragon still splayed out next to Io and Callisto. His form was only marginally larger than the other Galilean moons, but he still rivalled the smallest rocky planets in bulk.

“I’m so done with this. I’d rather be banished at this point, at least then I don’t have to hear the gossip.” She fumed as she padded up, shoving Io along the rock until she could fit between him and Ganymede. Their scales pressed against hers on both sides, comforting despite the heat. We never get to touch like this in our real forms. Moons aren’t exactly impact proof.

“You don’t have to listen to it.” Ganymede mumbled, eyes still closed as he rolled over to sun a different part of his body. “Just ignore them. Jupiter said we’re good, so we’re good.”

“For now.” Callisto added unhelpfully, her head resting on dark talons as her black eyes fixed onto Europa. “We don’t know what’s going to happen once we’re back in orbit. Jupiter can’t exactly stop the Sun from just sending you two away again.”

“He’ll convince the Sun to let us stay.” Europa insisted, glaring at the larger dragon. “He can stand up to him, I’m sure of it. And we have this whole trip to try and convince him to believe he can, too. And we can show him just how amazingly skilled and useful we are as we travel.”

“Well, starting fights with other moons isn’t exactly giving him a lot of ‘good qualities’ of yours for him to argue with. I’d recommend not pissing off the other planets as well.” Callisto countered smugly, her tail flicking pointedly towards the ice giant who was still talking to his moon. Titania didn’t look terribly happy, and Europa couldn’t blame her. Ugh, why are planets always kill-joys?

“It wasn’t a fight. We were playing, like the little moons do.” Europa nosed towards the wrestling forms of Phobos and Deimos, being watched over by a tired-looking Luna. “It was kinda fun, actually.”

“O-oh! C-can we p-play too! I-I wanna f-fight G-Ganymede!” Io’s head shot up in sudden interest, his small ruff of scales under his chin flaring wide. “P-please!”

“Ugh, no. It’s a waste of energy.” Ganymede grumbled, unmoving even as Io dragged at his wing to try and initiate a spar. “Knock it off, Io. My back is still sore from all that stupid crouching Golden Boy made us do.”

“W-was it f-fun, at l-least?” Io asked, dropping the limp wing and instead moving to stand above Ganymede’s head. “G-getting to h-hunt?”

“Sure, for like five seconds.” Ganymede irritably lifted his head to shove Io back, his swing falling short as the yellow dragon danced out of the way. “The rest was just a whole lot of crouching and walking. I swear I peeled half the skin off my feet.”

“It wasn’t that bad.” Callisto disagreed, stretching her own star-speckled wings to catch the sunlight as it began to dive for the horizon. “If you actually listened to Earth, he was explaining useful information. We need to learn more about this place and how to survive in it, even if you dislike the teacher.”

“I don’t dislike him, I just don’t trust him.” Europa bit back, letting her gaze stray to where the rocky planets were already standing up and stretching for the late hunting trip. “He has no reason to help us and he’ll sooner leave us to the Earthlings than give us good info.”

“If you won’t trust him, at least trust me.” Callisto stared hard at the pale dragon, unnerving her with those ink dark eyes. “Listen. It might come in handy, especially if Ganymede retained nothing from this morning.”

“Hey, I retained plenty.” Ganymede finally opened one eye to glare at Callisto. “See prey, stalk prey, catch prey. Simple as.”

“Well, I can see you’ll be a fine hunter in no time.” The sarcasm from the darker moon was getting exhausting to hear, so Europa instead peered back at the growing party of dragons forming below the rocks. 

When Earth had first suggested the dawn and afternoon hunts to the group, they’d already been flying for most of the day. The meal of ostriches that morning had certainly helped, but even that did not encourage enough enthusiasm for any volunteers that night. Between the bone-deep exhaustion and unfamiliar territory, no one was going anywhere. Jupiter had settled on a compromise; half the group would wake up early the next morning for a training hunt/scouting trip, and the other half would do the same in the afternoon. And I got to sleep in this morning, yay.

The planets and moons that were gathering weren't shaping up to be much fun, either. Earth was there, of course, as the only celestial with even a smidge of knowledge about hunting, alongside Mars and Luna. Saturn was standing nearby, casting nervous, begging looks back towards a lounging Jupiter, who only nodded him towards the hunting party. His moons, Titan, Dione, Tethys, and Mimas, were talking to the Uranian moons, Miranda, Oberon, and Umbriel. 

Much to Europa’s horror, Uranus was also standing uncomfortably beside the rocky planets, his gaze down and wings hunched. She already wasn’t looking forward to a boring hunt, and now she’d have to tolerate a planet that had already pissed her off today. No small moons had been assigned to these hunts, and the only two viable hunters from the Neptunian system had already gone at dawn. I think I’d even prefer loony Neptune over Uranus.

“Come on, Io. We better go meet them before Golden Boy loses any more feathers.” She smirked, waving her tail at the yellow dragon. Of the three options, being paired with Io wasn’t the worst. Ganymede would’ve been better, but Callisto would've been worse. “Let’s learn to hunt, shall we?”

“O-oh! Y-yeah, l-l-let’s go!” Io leapt away from the grumpy Ganymede to chase after Europa, shoving into her so fast they tumbled off the rock, rolling down the sandy slope below it.

“Ugh, you great lump!” She grumbled, wrestling him down onto the dusty ground. He giggled excitedly, kicking at her underside with his hindlegs, trying to shove her off. She grabbed one of his legs and used the limb to force him onto his side, only increasing his giggles.

“S-stop, ha, ha, i-it t-t-tickles!” Io laughed, now thoroughly pinned by the pale dragon. She was about to crow her victory, when the larger moon simply moved to stand up, forcing her to fall off his back. She scowled. Unfair. At least with Titania, I was the bigger dragon. How am I supposed to beat anyone bigger than me if this stupid body is so much weaker?

“If you two are done, can we get going now?” The drawl of the red planet harshly reminded her of where they were. And that the whole hunting party had seen their little play-fight. “We don’t have time to watch you two roll around like that.”

“I think it’s kinda cute.” Earth grinned, his feathered ruff raising slightly when Europa shot at glare his way. “You looked like two lion cubs.”

“I don’t even know what those are, but I’m gonna take it as an insult.” Europa hissed, gratified to see the grin slowly disappear from the blue-green dragon’s face. Her core sank again when he kept talking, though.

“It’s not an insult. Play-fighting is good, actually, especially with us being so new to these bodies. Learning how to move them in a fight is vital.” Earth nodded towards Mars’ moons, who were now under the watchful eye of a bored Triton, wrestling with the three little Neptunian moons. Their own planet was curled up tight under a nearby tree, fast asleep, his wings pulled forward to block the light of the Sun. “Play is how young Earthlings hone their instincts and build muscles for the future. We should all do it, ideally.”

“Nah, I’m not rolling around in the sand, regardless of how ‘useful’ you think it is. No offense, mate.” Uranus muttered, drawing shapes in the dirt with his claws. “When are we heading out? Since you want to show us 'proper' hunting so badly.”

“Killing ostriches in an enclosed space is not hunting, it’s stealing.” Earth was clearly fighting back the urge to argue further with the ice giant, and instead took a deep breath to face the whole group. “OK, if everyone is ready, let’s head out. We’re going to search some of the areas we had luck in this morning, then loop around and search the new areas.”

“Got it.” Luna nodded, moving first to follow the feathered dragon as he led them away from the make-shift camp they’d been lying in all day. 

The rest had been appreciated, even if it felt a bit like time-wasting. Jupiter had assured them that down-time would serve them better in the long-term, but Europa was mostly just horrified by the constant weaknesses these Earthling bodies seemed to reveal as they went on. They need water, food, rest, shelter, can’t be knocked around too much, can’t sit in the Sun too long, can’t rest in one position without getting achy after a bit. Honestly, horrible design.

…

“You can’t be serious.” Miranda’s dismayed voice echoed Europa’s own thoughts as she looked down at the muddy water, the viscosity reminded her more of lava than pure liquid. “I’m not putting that anywhere near me!”

“It’s either that or you get really good at hiding.” Earth pointed out haughtily, indicating to the Uranian moons and their planet. “All of you have ridiculously bright scales, and everything will see you coming from a mile away. You too, Europa.”

“Hey! I’m not rolling in mud!” She hissed back, offended by the very idea. “Why aren’t you rolling in it? Or Mars? Or Saturn and his moons?”

“Well, unlike you, my colouration isn’t going to stand out quite as much as yours’ will.” Earth ruffled his feathers irritably. “Same goes for the others. They’re all sandy, grey, or dirt coloured already, so they don’t need to worry about it.”

“I don’t care about any of this enough to roll in mud.” Europa reiterated, casting a brief glance at her scales. They were rather bright, even in the low afternoon sunlight, but that wasn’t something she was going to be punished for. “You can send me back to the camp if that’s such an issue. I don’t even want to be on this stupid hunt.”

“A-aw, E-Europa, d-don’t leave m-me behind j-just ‘cause o-of some m-mud!” Io protested from his spot beside Luna, both moons watching the standoff with curious eyes. She bared her teeth back at him, frustrated to realise she’d never hear the end of it from Callisto if she quit this early and left Io by himself. I bet Callisto didn’t even have to roll in dirt this morning!

“You’re free to leave if you want, Europa. I’m not going to force you to stay. But-” Earth rolled his eyes, looking the moon up and down with a considering gaze. “-I can assure you that learning to hunt and fend for yourself out here will allow you to ignore me and go off on your own far sooner than having a sulk and sitting in camp will.”

“Don’t be stupid. You’re never letting us hunt unless you're watching. We all saw you blow up at Uranus.” Europa snarked back, offended that he even thought that lie would convince her. Screw Io, I’m so done with this pompous planet.

“You think I want to wake up at dawn and dusk every day we need to hunt? You think I wouldn’t 100% prefer to be asleep right now?” The living planet’s tone held more frustration now, his tail turning the dirt beneath it into a shower of particles that fell over the blue feathers. “I want everyone who can hunt to do so with at least a basic understanding of how and the skills to get by on their own. Not stumbling around by themselves, getting gored by a hippo, stuck in a trap, or pissing off the local human population. If you can’t do that, go back to camp.”

“I’m not stupid!” She hissed, trying to recover her expression after the unexpected outburst from the feathered dragon. “I can learn any of that easily.”

“Prove it, then.” Earth smirked in return, his tail curling up in satisfaction as he indicated to the mud again. “You can’t hunt with scales that bright in a place like this. Maybe you’ll have luck in the arctic, but we have a long way to go before we get there.”

“Fine!” She snapped, turning not to the mud, but to the dusty earth a few feet from it. The playfight with Titania sprung to mind, the way the dust had coated her pale scales so thoroughly that the other moon had looked almost brown. “But I’m not rolling in mud. I’ll camouflage myself my own way.”

The pale dragon stubbornly refused to even glance in the direction of the others as she lowered herself awkwardly into the dust, fighting to think of a way to not look like an idiot while rolling around. Europa settled on laying flat against the dirt, before quickly shoving herself onto her back with her legs and rapidly fanning her wings. Flipping back over to repeat the move, she rolled her head in the loose dust thrown up by her movements, holding her breath as the dirt invaded her nose. Her eyes remained clamped closed until she pulled herself to her feet, resisting the urge to shake off the dirt she could already feel clumping between her scales. 

“There! Done!” She grinned triumphantly, blinking at the mess on her once-bright form. The rusty, pale dust had thoroughly stuck to her skin, rendering her no longer the brightest thing for miles around. “How’s that? No mud needed!”

“Hm, I suppose that is a cleaner option.” Earth considered her camouflage with an amused eye, turning a curious look to the other pale dragons. “Do you guys want to try that too? It might not stick as long as the mud, so you’ll have to remember to re-coat yourself regularly.”

“Still beats the mud, mate.” Uranus huffed, using his bulk to sweep clear a larger area of dirt for him and his moons. “Come on, guys. I want to get this over with quickly.”

“You might be out of luck, then.” Earth laughed, glancing at the sky with a considering frown. “It took us over five hours to find the kills we brought back this morning. This is going to take a while, unfortunately."

“Ugh!” Europa snapped her wings against her sides, a rush of dismay weakening her legs at the mere idea of spending that much time walking around in the low Sun. I’m going to have such a headache. 

“C-come on, E-Europa. I-it’s not t-that bad!” Io rumbled, leaning his head annoyingly closer to her own. His gold-yellow eyes twinkled with amusement at the unimpressed glare she shot at him. “W-we can b-beat Ganymede a-and Callisto! T-they only c-caught one E-Earthling!”

“True, I suppose.” She mumbled, vaguely aware of the rest of the group either finishing up their rolling or beginning to follow Earth as he led them away from the dust and mud. She nudged Io in the side as she spoke, bounding ahead of him and joining the march. “Let’s go, then! We have a mission now. Beat Callisto’s score.”

“A-and G-Ganymede!” Io called after her, springing forward himself to match her lope. 

The two of them fell into step with the hunting party, headed by the living planet, his moon, and the red planet. Just behind him trailed the various moons of the giants, all walking with lowered heads and curious glances at the scenery they passed through. Bringing up the rear was Saturn and Uranus, neither planet looking terribly excited by the thought of the next few hours. 

Even with the lowering of the Sun, the land still vibrated with heat, the very air buzzing and saturated with a cocktail of scents the dragon couldn’t hope to differentiate. The ground radiated warmth with every footstep and even her best attempt to avoid the organic plant life ended in failure. As one thorn caught her side, she swung her head in frustration and aimed a bite at the offending Earthling, only to get a mouthful of sharp, tiny fronds that stuck to her tongue and the roof of her mouth. Gagging, she spat them out with a snarl of frustration. Ew! What the Stars, why are these plants always attacking us? I thought plants were the passive ones.

Her efforts to rid herself of the spores was rudely interrupted by her nose and throat suddenly tensing, a new irritating sensation rising so rapidly she couldn’t suppress it fast enough. “Achoo!” 

The sneeze was loud, alerting the attention of the rest of the group, who turned curious looks back at the pale dragon. Swallowing down the almost painful urge to repeat the embarrassing involuntary action, Europa brushed the last of the strange grains from her snout and stubbornly kept walking forward. Her ears burnt as she picked up muttered words ahead of her, but she tried to ignore it.

Unfortunately for her, Io’s head turned back to whisper the message that had travelled from the front of the group. "E-Earth says w-we have t-to be q-quiet, E-Europa.”

“I was being quiet!” She hissed back, lifting her head to glare at the feathered lump of irritation. He wasn’t even looking at her, his head instead turned to the air as he led them around a large bush. 

If the living planet had a plan, it wasn’t obvious enough for Europa to discern it from their movements alone. They seemed to be taking a very inefficient route around the area, dancing in an uneven, zig-zag line towards a rise of rock. If she squinted, she could almost picture the land without the endless coat of plants, a nice and familiar stretch of barren rock. While her own surface was mostly ice, the rocky surfaces of her fellow moons was one of her favourite things to notice. It’s just so much neater and calmer than this organic mold.

Her vague theory about their destination was thrown out into orbit as they suddenly turned, dodging the rock entirely and heading into the long shadows it cast on the ground. Long, thick clumps of the tall, thin plants grew tightly, obscuring the forms of the first few dragons to crawl into them.

Crouching, Earth indicated for the rest to copy, slipping his own wings down and back to melt into his flanks. The feathers along his spine fell flat, lowering his profile closer to the ground and messing with Europa’s attempts to watch his movements. 

Nevertheless, she imitated the dragon’s action, bending her legs and holding her tail level and still. Her head lowered, the tension rising along her neck causing a nauseating pain to run down her spine. Tail and legs slowly beginning to tremble, she begged for the stupid planet to get on with it.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only one with reservations about this, as Mars had crept forward to speak softly to the living planet. Europa was a few paces back, too far to hear, but she could see the smirk Earth threw his friend’s way. The green-blue dragon pointed ahead with his muzzle, flicking his tail to signal the rest to crawl forward.

“See that?” He whispered, eyeing the curious and cautious dragons now flanking him. Europa squinted into the dusky light, trying to determine what had caught the planet’s attention. Nothing stirred in the stretches of shrubland spread before them, only the low wind spinning the occasional spray of sand their way. 

“What?” Luna asked impatiently, following his planet’s gaze without luck. “What are we looking at?”

“Down there, past the trees, do you see them?” Earth’s focus remained locked forward, his words muttered low and soft. The groups leaned forward as one, trying again to locate the point of interest.

Expanding her scan beyond the first few feet of land, she surveyed the open stretch that lay past it. The grasses there were paler, swaying hypnotically in the breeze, while the few bushes present seemed to slump into the tide of fronds without a fight, saved from obscurity by the shock of green they added to the landscape. She saw nothing. Nothing except for plants.

“Follow the shadows. They aren’t stupid, they know how to hide in this land.” Earth’s cryptic advice didn’t help her mood, but she did as he suggested. Tracking the shadow-line of the distant bushes and low trees, she began to make out small points of movement. Swishing tails, tossing heads, the occasional flash of pale or white fur. Got you.

“Let’s get them.” Mimas shivered with anticipation, wiggling his hindquarters excitedly. But as the one-eyed moon moved forward, Earth halted him with a glare.

“No. Not yet. This hunt is for learning, so…” He stared out at the beasts one last time before turning fully to the group. “Tell me how I found them. Any guess is a good one, just have a go.”

“Ugh, you want us to quiz you?” Uranus complained, crouched uncomfortably low nearer the back of the huddle. “Why can’t you just tell us?”

“Will you listen if I do? I think it’s more useful if you’re forced to think about this a little bit before I tell you.” Earth smirked, casting his eye over the hunting party. “Any guesses?”

“Um…you saw them?” Tethys tried, his teeth clenched as his limbs protested the sustained crouch. 

“Nope! Seeing your prey is the last part, not the first.” 

“You saw where they were this morning?” Oberon had a go, his voice hesitant and doubtful. 

“Nah, but that is a good idea. Prey can be quite habitual at times, so recalling the movements of your target is always useful.” Earth corrected, swishing his tail as he spoke. “Think. What was I doing before we found them?”

Europa rolled her eyes as hard as she physically could, desperately cursing her past self for agreeing to this. All I saw him do was take us on a wild, unpredictable pattern while he stuck his head up in the air like a fool. The only thing it did was keep my nose full of stinky Earthling-…hm.

“The wind?” She said before the idea could run away, feeling more confident when the Earth offered her a surprised look. “You kept us facing the wind. And you kept smelling it.”

“Exactly! Well done, Europa, 10 points!” His condescending grin bit at her abused patience. “See, I knew you’d enjoy this once we got going.”

“Whatever.” Europa hissed, turning away from him to peer again at the distant creatures. They still seemed unbothered, nosing around under the trees and dozing in the grasses. 

“Scent is one of the biggest give-aways for any Earthling. They can’t often hide it or disguise it, so they are always mindful of the wind. What you want, ideally, is the wind blowing into your face. You want to be downwind.”

“Why?” Mars asked, also eyeing the beasts curiously. “Is that where we are now?”

“For now, yes. If the wind shifts, we’ll need to come at them from a different angle.” Earth nodded, then continued. “Downwind, you can smell everything upwind of you, and everything upwind of you can’t smell you. If you get this wrong, you risk your target scenting you miles before you even see it.”

“Can we hunt now?” Miranda asked impatiently, ignoring the annoyed glare Umbriel sent her way. “I wanna hunt!”

“In a sec. We still need to cover a few more things before we have a go at stalking.” Earth chided, much to the disappointment of the listening moons. “For starters, don’t force your crouches like that. The movement should feel fluid, not stiff or painful to maintain. Staying still will hurt, but not badly enough to leave lasting pain.”

Europa frowned at his words, offended by the way his gaze fell squarely on her own trembling legs. She clenched her jaw, forcing the limbs to still and endure the strain. 

“Secondly, keeping silent is vital. No talking, no arguing or shoving, just focus on the prey.” Earth continued again. “When you get close, you need to decide when to spring and who to spring at. The gemsboks will run and they will run fast. We can’t match their speed for long. You have to catch one before it can start running at full speed.”

“How do we catch one? They look big.” Mimas croaked, eyeing the distant beasts apprehensively. 

“If you get that far, I’ll be quite surprised." Earth’s dismissive comment only solidified Europa’s determination to prove him wrong. “But, if you do, aim for the underside of the throat or the spine.”

“Does that kill them? If you bite it?” Miranda asked for clarification, her own determination shining in her gaze.

“It should do. It has to be a hard bite, as hard as you can manage. Don’t let go until it stops moving.” Earth’s tone lost its carefree air as he explained, the dragon’s jaw tightening. “But, most importantly if you engage with one, keep yourself safe first. They will try to kick, bite, and gore you. Don’t risk it if you’re not confident.”

Europa fought down the urge for another eyeroll. The idea of a fleshly, spindly Earthling like that being a threat to her was laughable. I’d sooner feel threatened by Io!

“Thirdly, once you lose the cover of plants, that doesn’t mean you have to jump at them. Go slow enough, and they might not see you for a while.” Earth raised a claw to his own head, indicating to his eyes. “Our eyes are forward facing, so we can very easily judge distances, but most prey animals have eyes on the sides of their heads. They can’t focus as easily, so as long as you are slow and steady, their eyes will struggle to pick you out of the background.”

“Why? If they’re ‘adapted’ shouldn't they have fixed that issue by now?” Mars questioned, bemused by the idea. Earth shook his head before replying.

“It’s a trade off. Eyes on the sides give them a far wider range of vision than us. Their only blind spots are right at the front and right at the back. Everywhere else they can see.” Earth nodded towards the distant herd. “Keep that in mind while approaching. You can’t just aim for the back and assume they won’t see you.”

“Got it.” 

Europa tried to picture having such a field of vision. Their vision in space was honestly pretty similar to this, barring the oddly increased sensitivity to the Sun’s light. But having your eyes point outwards, in a way that lets you see both behind and in front at the same time, sounded like a headache. I definitely wouldn’t sacrifice my depth perception for it, at least.

Earth must have given a signal she didn’t catch, because all of a sudden the rest of the dragons were slinking away into the brush line, melding with the long shadows and dry grasses. Hurriedly stalking after them, she attempted to find that ‘fluid’ motion Earth claimed was possible in a crouch. Leaning most of her weight onto her forelegs, she focused on reducing how far her shoulders rose as she crawled forward. It was awkward and distracting but she kept trying, reluctant to be less capable than that trumped up planet.

The scent of her fellow celestials kept her on track for a while, but soon the trails began to diverge and scatter. Drawing on the mental map of the land they’d seen from under the rocky outcrop, she concluded that the living planet must have instructed them to try different approaches. Testing the wind, she darted down the one she reckoned was ‘downwind’, as Earth had put it. See, I can hunt all by myself already. He can buzz off.

Falling back into her shaky crawl, Europa realised her hindlegs were now the prevailing issue, holding her tail and lower back above the grasses as she moved. Her attempts to partially lower them only resulted in more strain to her chest and abdomen. But, surprisingly, when she folded them almost completely below her, the pain faded. Actually moving in such a position was another fight, but she pushed through it fast enough to catch up with the others.

Ahead of her, she could see the switching tails of at least three other moons, but their grey-brown scales made it hard to identify them. The scents were far too muddled and strange for her to filter through them. The only scent she honestly thought she would recognise was Io, but he clearly wasn’t in this team. 

She silently slunk beside them, grinning at the lack of notice her low stalk attracted, and turned her gaze forward. A few hundred feet away stood the Earthlings, larger now that she was closer. They rose at least a shoulder’s length above her, with long, thin legs and a thick neck that melded into a long, black striped face. The head was topped by two spikes of dark material, while their feet seemed to be furnished with lumps of a simpler origin. A long, brush-tail fell behind them, swinging up periodically to snatch at buzzing beasts.

At her side, the three others moved forward as one, circling onto one beast near the edge of the group. Europa wasn’t interested in sharing her glory with a team, though. Instead, she fixed her gaze onto the largest beast she could pick out. The spikes on it were far thicker and darker than its fellows, and the broad chest put her in mind of the kill Ganymede had brought back. It had been a smaller beast, but the thick haunches and ribcage had stood out amongst the rest of the kills. You’re mine.

Ignoring the movements of the others, Europa crept up on her target. The grasses rose just high enough to shield her approach, the smaller blades tickling her nose as she stalked. The creature was unaware; its side-on gaze blank and stupid. She was finding it harder and harder to picture this beast as any threat at all. Maybe Earth is just exaggerating? He’s always hyping up his Earthlings, even the silly ones.

As she drew closer, she felt her organic heartbeat increase, sending a thrum of energy into every limb in just a few seconds. Her breath struggled to slow as she pushed forward, the new shakiness to her legs making the process more treacherous than before. She tried to slow every movement down, so slow she was getting impatient with herself. Eyes pulled wide, the pale dragon drowned out every input but her prey, every twitch of its flank seared itself into her frozen mind.

The distance between them had diminished without her notice, and soon she found herself just a few feet from the creature. Her form was hidden only by the grasses and her wings fought not to shiver with anticipation as the dragon bunched her legs to spring. Locked onto her target, she leapt.

The first coherent thought she registered was ‘ouch’. She found herself abruptly back on the ground, her jaw smarting as she opened it. The beast was already dashing away, its flight alerting the rest of the herd. Snapping her jaws in frustration, Europa took off after it. 

The beast was fast, faster than her, but it clearly had not considered that she could fly. Using her wings to push her form forward, she stretched one foreleg to grasp at its tail. At the edge of her vision, she registered one of its hind legs changing pace. Smack.

Rolling into the dirt again, Europa growled fiercely, curling her leg up as it radiated pain. The beast was further now, continuing its stride across the barren land towards the startled herd. As she stared at it, she swore it turned that blank gaze back at her, taunting her with its freedom. The dragon’s growl vibrated up her throat, escaping as a gasp of fury. 

“A-are you o-okay, E-Europa?” Io fluttered down beside her, his own claws empty and teeth clean. How are we going to beat Callisto now? “D-did it h-hit you?”

“No!” She hissed, shoving past him as she turned back to the rest of the group. Thankfully, they didn’t appear to have had much luck either. A few moons had stained jaws, but no prey lay dead before them. Io bounded after her, his stare burning a hole in her wings.

“Good first go, everyone. You all got very close with your stalking.” Earth began, his gaze lingering on the pale dragon uncomfortably as she joined the huddle. “Practice will help you get better, but don’t be discouraged by failed hunts. Even the most powerful predators in this environment fail at least 75% of the hunts they start. And this failure can be as early as those first few feet of stalking.”

“How are we supposed to catch anything then?” Uranus complained, crawling out of the brush him and Saturn had hidden in. “We didn’t even get close enough to try!”

“We can adapt our hunting strategies based on who’s on the hunt.” Earth nodded to the gathered moons, “The moons and Mercury are all small enough for most pack hunting strategies like chases and stalks to work, with some teamwork of course.”

Europa scowled at the living planet when his eyes darted to her as he spoke.

“But with the other planets, I’m thinking we use you two as something to funnel prey towards.” Earth considered Saturn and Uranus, eyeing their claws and bulk. “Larger predators tend to be ambush hunters, not chasers, so if the rest can coordinate enough to drive prey towards you, you should have no problem catching it.”

“Oh? We kinda did the same thing with the ostriches, actually.” Miranda piped up, her planet shooting her a disgruntled look as she brought up the event again. “It worked really well!”

“Well, you should have plenty of practice, then!” Earth grinned back at the Uranian system, his tone clipped and careful. “Let’s keep moving. We’ll try that strategy on the next prey we find.”

The rest of the group seemed happy enough to trail off after the blue-green dragon, but Europa could feel her patience wilting into nothing. Her leg and jaw stung, refusing to fade even when she rubbed them with her other foreleg. I hate this pathetic organic cage, all it does is complain and complain without fixing anything. I KNOW MY LEG HURTS, STOP TELLING ME!

“E-Europa? A-are you r-ready?” Io’s head bonking into hers’ didn't help. If anything, her patience began to implode, reaching new depths of irritation she’d never tapped into before. Like a black hole, infinitely big and inescapable.

“BACK OFF!” She snapped, shoving his head away as it pricked at her aching jaw, forcing him to take a step away from her. Her scales felt too hot, burning along her spine even as the sunlight weakened and the shade grew. Raising her wings at least broke their contact with her sides, but now she just felt angrier. I’d peel these scales off if this body wouldn’t protest about it. 

“E-Europa?” Io’s confused, hurt voice drew her back into her head, releasing the focus from the organic body. The yellow dragon was watching her from a few feet back, eyes wide and worried as he tried to work out what she would do next. She lowered her gaze, ears burning with embarrassment and a hint of guilt. 

“I-I’m fine, Io. Sorry for snapping at you.” She ground out, lowering her wings to try and appear less threatening. Her friend still looked uncertain, his eyes lingering on her face with a tight jaw, but he nodded at her words. 

“T-that’s OK, E-Europa! D-do you w-wanna go b-back? T-this is r-really boring, i-is’t it? I-I know I-I’m getting t-tired.” His stammered attempt to give her an out was touching, if a little humiliating. Am I so bad at this that IO of all moons wants us to stop? Ugh, no, I’m not giving up until I prove I can hunt and fend for myself!

“No. Let’s catch up with the others. We have an Earthling to hunt.” She threw on her brightest smirk, leading Io after the departing group. 

They’d gotten a few metres ahead of them, so she broke into a trot trying to catch up. The stinging in her leg forced her pace to remain slow, but the more she pushed the limb the looser it became, letting her resume a near-normal rhythm. She heard Io behind her, also breaking into a faster lope to chase after her. 

Turning her nose to the sky, she tried to work out how Earth had located the last herd. All the scents in the air mixed and shifted so rapidly that trying to follow one set her head aching. The wind was blowing stronger now, the heat of the day still caught in its particles, so every breath in felt like swallowing that muddy water again. 

They’d reached the end of the group within a few minutes, the huge tail of Saturn blocking her view of the rest of the hunting party. Huffing out a frustrated, winded breath, she slowed her pace and tried to recover some air before attempting to sprint around the giants. While it had taken a bit of trial and error, she now had a much better understanding of this Earthling respiration system than when they’d first arrived. It still perplexed her that such an inefficient system was the best they had, but learning to work with it rather than against it had vastly improved her experience. 

With her breath back, she turned to eye Io as he loped after her. Indicating with her head, she watched his gaze light up in understanding, his trot shifting into a new gear. Assured that he would follow, she darted around the slower tread of Saturn, ducking under the pale-blue tail of Uranus as it swung over her path, and bounded forward to slot in between Luna and Umbriel. The silent moon gave her a hard stare, but it was quickly broken by Io also joining the line by shoving in behind Europa. Oops. I hope Umbriel isn’t too offended by that, or I’ll find something gross on my head in the morning.

“Nice of you to catch up.” Luna’s snarky, nasally voice turned her attention forward again. She smirked at him, glancing conspiratorially towards the front of the party.

“Why’re you so far back? Did your planet get tired of listening to a moon?” She teased, half expecting him to just ignore her. But the grey dragon surprised her by glaring back.

“No. I’m back here because I got tired of listening to planet gossip. But, clearly, I won’t be escaping it if you’re here still.” 

“Still? In case you haven’t noticed, I’m on this hunting trip too. I’m not going anywhere.” She bristled, offended that anyone else would think her likely to bale on this task. Even if I did want to leave, they shouldn’t point it out.

“Sure, Europa.” Luna dismissed, his head facing the front again as he loped after Tethys. “If you want my advice-”

“I don’t.”

“Fine.” Luna sighed, the raising of his wings giving away his own irritation. “I won’t tell you how to learn to hunt, Stars’ knows I’m not the one to speak on it, but I really do think you should try to calm down a bit more. If you rip up a gazelle in front of Earth, he’s not going to like you much.”

“I really, really don’t give an asteroid about what your planet thinks of me.” Europa hissed back, attempting to keep her voice low. “Nothing I do is going to improve his option of the moon who tried to kill his lifeforms, so I’ll rip up all the Earthlings I like.”

Luna turned his gaze to her for a moment, his face pinched and eyes searching. “Europa, he’s not going to hold that against you forever. Sure, I doubt you two will ever be best buddies, but you shouldn't give up so quickly. And you really shouldn’t try to make it worse.”

“Don’t tell me what to do, Earth’s moon.” She shot back, her tongue hesitating on the last words. In her rational mind, throwing that name back at Luna felt a bit too mean, but her jaw hurt and her leg hurt and the walking was getting exhausting and this conversation was draining her, so she did it anyway. 

After Luna turned away again, she was left with only the walking to think about. It seemed to last an age, every step feeling both insurmountably hard and wholly insignificant at the same time. It all blurred together until she felt almost unconnected from her mind, reduced to a lump of nerves piloting a flesh body. 

By the time they slowed to a stop again, she was so unaware that her feet kept moving regardless, leaving her stumbling into Luna’s tail. The abrupt hiss and subsequent tail-slap broke her daze, but her head still felt fuzzy and vague. Ugh, I never thought I’d crave muddy water like this.

Thankfully, it seemed Earth had been thinking along the same lines. They’d drawn to a stop beside a small, grey-brown pool of water, bubbling up from a cracked rock and gathering in a low ditch. It smelt fine enough, though her definition of ‘fine’ had certainly been irreversibly damaged by this whole experience. 

“Drink a few mouthfuls, then we’ll search the area in teams.” Earth flicked his tail as he peered down at the water, lowering one leg tentatively into the pool. “Saturn? Can you check this for crocodiles?”

“Um, o-okay.” The ringed giant hesitated, then slowly pushed forward to begin a cautious, nervous search of the pool. Europa idled beside the pool, watching with a bored expression as Saturn froze after each step he took. Why’s he so worked up about this? He killed the last one no problem, and Jupiter made it look easy when Metis almost got munched yesterday.

“A-all clear.” Saturn reported, quickly removing himself from the brown water, casting a sigh at the muck now speckled over his sand-gold scales. The rest of the group wasted no time in darting forward to gulp at the water, forcing it down despite their dry throats and clenching stomachs. 

When she finally felt fully conscious again, Europa pulled back from the water and tried not to gag at the after-taste it left. As wonderful as water felt to drink when her organic body demanded it, she still couldn’t get over the wretched tang of mud and bacteria, nor the thought of them now residing in her stomach. Her stomach, that, as Earth had unhelpfully told them, was also full of bacteria. I want to be a rock again.

“Are you not thirsty, Saturn?” The timid voice of Tethys caught her ear and the pale dragon turned a curious eye to the two. The moon was watching his planet with a confused expression while the gas giant remind a few steps from the pool. Saturn appeared to be attempting to rub the muck off on a nearby tree. 

“Oh, um, no, I don’t really feel that thirsty, my moon.” Saturn turned to Tethys, eyeing the pool doubtfully. “I’m sure we’ll find more later, but I don’t need it right now.”

“Oh, okay, if you're sure?” Tethys seemed reluctant to leave it at that, but the gas giant smiled down at him and nudged him back towards the water.

“I’m quite sure, Tethys. Go get some water before Earth starts bossing us around again.” The ringed giant joked, and his moon smiled brightly back at the sound of his name. 

“OK!” As Tethys darted off, Europa turned her own gaze to the area around them. It was denser than the last place, covered with more plants in various colours from brown to brown-green. The undergrowth was thicker too, offering few empty patches of earth beyond the shade of the trees. 

Just as she was considering starting her own ‘team’ to get the hunt going sooner, Earth indicated for the others to gather closer to him. Pulling herself to her feet, she trotted over and slipped in next to Io, making sure to press against his side and fight the urge to flinch away. Thankfully, he seemed to get the message easily enough, resting his head on hers for a breath before drawing back.

“We’re going to slip into two groups. Each group will have one giant so we can practice driving the prey into them.” Earth used a claw to draw two circles in the dirt, indicating to them as he spoke. “I’ll go with Saturn, while Mars and Luna will go with Uranus. The rest can divide themselves up, four to Uranus’ group and five to Saturn’s.”

“Why can’t I go in your group?” Luna questioned, his tail-tip flicking as he peered at the circles. 

“You know more than Mars about my surface, and between the two of you, I’m hoping you can solve any issues that come up.” Earth pointed out, waving a wing at the gathered group. “I can’t be in both groups at once, and I know I can trust you the most to keep things safe!”

“Fine, OK.” Luna huffed, but his upturned mouth gave away his pleasure at the praise. Europa mimed a gag to Io, but the yellow moon wasn’t looking at her to catch it. “But if anything happens, we need a way to find each other.” 

“Good point. If it’s an emergency, shout as loud as you can?” Luna gave his planet a deadpan look, unimpressed by that solution. “Fine, what about…whistling?”

“Earth, none of us know how to do that.” Mars sighed, tilting his head to the sky to monitor the Sun’s approach to the horizon. “How do your Earthlings do it? If they get separated and need to find each other?”

“Um, hope for the best?” Earth frowned, his ruff rising as he searched for an answer. “Honestly, the only way I think we’d manage it is some kind of audible signal. We can’t feel vibrations, and I assume none of you are confident enough with tracking to do it that way. Flying and trying to spot the other group likely won’t work either, as we should be pretty hidden.”

“OK, so we shout? That just seems unlikely to work over long distances." Mars argued, taking a step back to consider the area. “What if we can’t hear you?”

“Maybe less of a shout and more of a roar? I know we haven’t tested it, but we should be able to make a noise of a similar volume." Earth muttered thoughtfully, pointing one claw at Saturn and Uranus in turn. “You two will probably make the lowest frequency roars. Don’t test it here, but if you get in trouble try to be as loud as you can.”

The two giants nodded, exchanging a bemused expression at the idea. Europa was kind of curious now. She wanted to know if she could roar as well. I’ll test it on Callisto tonight or something. Should be a laugh at least.

“Any more questions?” Earth turned to Luna again, but his eyes passed over the rest as he spoke. Europa quickly joined in with the wave of head shakes. “Remember, stalking is just the first bit, and if you’re not confident don’t push it.”

“We know, Earth.” Mars stepped forward with a smile, meeting Uranus’ gaze. “Let’s get moving. Who else is with us?”

“I’ll go!” 

“Me too!”

“Don’t leave me with Dione!”

As the moons scampered over to Mars and Uranus, Europa was dismayed to realise who they were left with. Io had remained by her side, thankfully, but now he was joined by Dione, Titan, and Oberon. Great. No one fun.

“Let’s go.” Earth swung past the group, marching farther into the shrubbery without another glance at them. Saturn hauled himself up to follow, quickly joined by the moons. Europa fell to the back of the line, letting her gaze search the area.

They must have travelled for at least an hour before anything changed. The Sun was almost touching the distant hills now, setting fire to the faint, wispy clouds hovering overhead. The wind was cooler now, but still saturated with information Europa was too exhausted to unpick. The water helped, but her jaw still twinged when she stretched it. If nothing else, it at least made her think twice before speaking.

When the Earth finally slowed, it felt like a wave passed over the group, forcing each dragon into as low a crouch as they could manage. While she was gratified to discover her crouch was smoother than Io’s, her leg protested loudly enough to add an interruption to her rhythm. Ugh, it’s been at least an hour now, why hasn’t it faded yet? Asteroid impacts barely last this long!

Ahead of them lay another pool of water. Shallower this time, but far wider, surrounded on all sides by dry ground and pungent balls of organic matter. The scent was painfully strong, ruining any appetite she had for the water. 

Earth stayed silent, flicking his tail slowly to the left and fixing his gaze in the same direction. Following it, all she saw at first was the treeline, dark and shaded as the sunlight disappeared. Recalling his earlier lesson, she narrowed her eyes and tried to see through the shadows to the Earthlings sheltering beneath. 

She was immediately disappointed to realise these beasts were far smaller than the last quarry they had stalked. The body was similar, with long legs and broad chests, but they lacked the spikes of the last herd. The coloration was far duller, a brown sandy coat divided along the middle, small dashes of black decorating the back and head. Half the herd was laid down, licking and sniffling at each other, while the rest stood alert and twitchy, their short tails and small ears flickering wildly. Grey-brown birds hopped among them, nipping at the beasts with red-yellow beaks without challenge.

“I-it’s still b-bigger than G-Ganymede’s.” Io whispered into her ear, reading her mind in an irritatingly accurate way. She shook him off, grumbling to herself. No, this won’t do. I need a real catch.

Throwing a pointed look at the yellow dragon, Europa turned and began to stalk away, intending to search the area for something better. Io watched her leave, his face conflicted as he anxiously eyed the rest of the moons. She indicted towards them, glaring at him when he tried to move after her. Stay there. Earth will notice if both of us are gone.

Thankfully, he seemed to get the message, however reluctantly. Before he could change his mind, she stalked away into the undergrowth, keeping her steps as light as she could. After she’d put a few metres between herself and the others, she began to scent the air.

It wasn’t much clearer over here, the rancid stench of Earthlings still thick and cloying, but this time she forced herself to sift through it. Letting the stench roll over her mind and fade into the background so she could see what was beneath. Once she got past the overwhelming scent of those other beasts and their foul pool, she picked out a new scent she’d not smelt before. And it was strong, close by hopefully. Got you.

Tracking the single scent proved to be far easier than she’d first expected, further proving her hypothesis that hunting was easy and Earth was making it hard on purpose. In fact, she was so enthralled by the trail that she very nearly walked right into the beast. Her hunt was saved by the sudden, overwhelming wave of hot, stinky air that slapped her right in the face as she crawled under a bush. The pale dragon froze, spotting the target ahead of her as it rolled in the dusty earth.

That’s more like it. She smirked to herself, staring in satisfaction at the huge beast. As she watched it pull itself back up from its dust bath, she noted that it was even taller than the gemsbok from before, with thick sides and rounded shoulders. The neck was wide, adorned with a hanging flap of skin that swung under its huge chest, and the head was decorated with spiralling horns that reminded her of Jupiter’s. The face was dark, shifting to a grey-brown as the skin reached the shoulders, terminating in a pale red-ish behind garnished with a long swishing tail.

Trembling with excitement, Europa lowered her body closer to the dirt, analysing the beast. It looked similar enough to the last target that she felt safe aiming for the throat again, but the feet gave her pause. They were broad, wide and splayed under the creature’s weight, yet it moved with a lightness she struggled to connect with the hulking form. Can it run? Earth said most things would, but this thing is so bulky.

Shaking the doubt from her head, the pale dragon tensed her legs, slipping the hind ones into the perfect position to spring. Her target remained unaware, nosing at a treeline nearby with drawn back lips, giving her a lovely view of the green mess all over its teeth. Gross things.

Choosing her moment, Europa launched herself full-force at the beast, aiming for the exposed throat. The creature let out a groan of surprise, and faster than she could track, it swung its whole body around to face her head on. Growling, she snapped at the horns now blocking her path, her frustration boiling over. The beast bellowed back, stamping its reinforced feet against the sand as it mock-charged her. 

The horns passed close to her nose, forcing her back, but she imitated the movement back at it, slamming her feet against the ground and snarling at it. It seemed to work for a second, the beast eyeing her with a slow weariness to it. Then it charged.

She felt herself freeze, flinching back and ducking away from the gleaming horns that filled her vision. Her breathing stopped as her entire organic body seemed to shut down abruptly. Right before the beast could make contact, however, it was suddenly blocked from her view. The bellow from the beast was met by a snarling growl, drowning out her squeak of surprise when she found herself unharmed. Instead, she was pressed beneath a warm body and all she could see before her was dust and, horrifyingly, feathers.

“Get off!” She snarled, her mind regaining control now that the beast was driven from her thoughts. In its place was a far more annoying target. One that darted off of her at the first opportunity. “You waste of space dust! I had that!”

“A ‘thank you’ is usually the more appropriate response.” Earth glared at her, his easy tone doing little to hide the anger in his body language. “And, no, you definitely didn’t ‘have that’. You almost got impaled.”

“I was trying to hunt it! It would’ve run off before it hit me. You said herbivores do that!” She hissed back, caught between embarrassment and outrage that the feathered dragon would dare interrupt her hunt. 

“No, I said most herbivores do that. The small ones, the ones that aren’t three times your size.” He snarled, lips pulled back to expose sharp teeth. “You just tried to fight the largest antelope currently on my surface. And a bull at that! He would’ve beaten you into the ground for fertilizer.”

“I. Had. It.” She reiterated, reluctant to show any of the doubt his words spread into her mind. He just doesn’t want me to be better than him at hunting. That would be really embarrassing; if a Jovian moon beat the Golden Boy on his own surface.

“You-” Earth cut himself off with a frustrated snarl, whipping around in a tight circle as he glared at the ground. His talons dug ruts into the soil, dislodging pebbles and even more dust. “I can’t- I’m sending you back. You’re banned from hunting!”

“What! You can’t do that!” She squawked in outrage, throwing her wings out in anger. “You’re not in charge! Jupiter is!”

“Yeah, so? He’ll agree with me. You can’t be trusted to listen, so you can’t be trusted to hunt.” Earth’s breathing was trying to return to normal, his chest rising and falling too rapidly. “Until Jupiter says so, I’m not taking you on any hunts.”

“What, ‘cause I went after the ‘wrong’ Earthling? Are you going to ban everyone who kills something you can’t handle?” She shoved forward, glaring up at the feathered snout, his narrowed eyes meeting hers with equal fury. “We don’t have to listen to you, Earth. We can survive just fine! You’re barely helping with all your silly rules!”

“They’re not silly!” Earth exclamation must have sounded just as pathetic to his own ears, as he quickly reiterated, “The rules are there for a reason! You idiots just don’t listen to me! You’re all acting like we’re still in orbit! Like things can’t hurt us or kill us! Like actions don’t have consequences!"

“You sound hysterical, Earth.” She sniffed haughtily, mildly unnerved by the desperation the living planet was leaking into his words. “Maybe I will go back to camp, and tell Jupiter all about this. I’m sure he’ll love to hear about you ruining my hunt.”

“Why-” Earth frowned at her, swallowing down his frustration to look at the pale dragon more closely. “Why are you so angry at me? Before the hunt you already looked ready to ignore everything I said. What did I do? I thought after the trial-”

“I don’t care about the trial!” She snarled, severely thrown off by the sudden subject change. “You’re the one who hates us! We tried to kill all of this!” She threw a wing out to the surrounding area, glaring at the planet. “And now you expect us to trust you? I’m sure you’re just waiting for the perfect opportunity to drop me off a cliff or let me starve!”

“W-what? Why would I do that?” Earth glared at her, tail twitching as his gaze shifted to her eyes. “I-I’m trying to keep everyone alive. That still applies to you, even if you hate me.” 

“Like I’d believe that.” She barked out a bitter laugh, offended that he was even trying to lie to her. “You almost bit Uranus' head off ‘cause he didn’t do what you said. You shoved me just for hunting the wrong Earthling. You care more about your silly organics than any of us!”

“Europa-”

“No, it's fine, Earth, I get why you feel that way.” She lowered her tone to a more level one, mock-grinning at the confused planet. “But don’t expect me to trust you. I know where we stand, and that’s fine. I’ll go back. And you can explain to Jupiter why I’m not trustworthy.” 

“Wait, Europa-” But she didn’t hang around. Dashing back through the trees, she aimed for an area of open ground. Once out, she leapt into the air and beat at the wind, curling it under her wings and propelling herself upwards. 

It was only once she was far enough to ignore the shouting that she realised she wasn’t entirely sure of the way back to camp. The Sun was sinking now, turning the land dark and unrecognizable. She whirled around for a few minutes, trying to remember which way the sunlight had been facing when they’d begun. Asteroids.

A few more spins later found her circling over some patch of shadowed trees that she’s momentarily mistaken for water. Grinding her teeth in frustration, she looped around again; only to narrowly miss another dragon in the air.

At first glance, she thought it was Callisto, come to taunt her with smarmy words and confusing sarcasm. However, the moon before her remained silent, her narrowed eyes fixed firmly with Europa’s own.

“Umbriel?” The nod she received confirmed it, and the dark moon glided up to fly alongside her, pointing with her muzzle towards some distant point. 

“You know the way back to camp?” She asked, hope rising in her exhausted chest at the quick nod from the Uranian moon. Swooping after her, Europa pumped her wings faster to keep up.

The darker moon’s wings were similar to her own, only they widened at the ends rather than narrowed like hers. Like Europa, she flapped in a steady beat, only far slower than the pale dragon’s almost frantic downbeats. Her scales blurred her edges with the growing twilight, forcing Europa to keep a careful eye on her as they flew.

“Why’d you leave the hunting group?” Europa asked, aching to make idle conversation of some kind. The oppressive silence mixed with her growing anxiety around talking to Jupiter about all of this wasn’t helping her exhaustion. 

Umbriel turned a blank stare towards her for a second, before refocusing on their destination. Europa knew the other Uranian moons knew how to read their fellow moon, despite her silence, but Europa had never given much thought to learning how. Until now. Maybe we should all learn, just so we can talk without the planets’ hearing?

Giving up, Europa settled for a quiet flight behind the darker moon, watching her tail-tip to try and keep herself awake. The distance seemed farther than they’d walked, but maybe she was recalling it wrong. It was certainly easier to forget distances when interesting stuff was happening around her. The sky, while far less messy and irritating, was painfully boring. 

“Are we nearly there?” She called, watching the dragon for any reaction at all. Umbriel, however, just kept flying, ignoring her words and powering on. “Fine. I’ll shut up.”

That got a reaction, though only an amused smirk. The pale dragon shot back with an unimpressed scowl, resolving to keep her mouth shut tight until they landed. It can’t be that much farther, can it?

…

“Hey, Europa- Woah, what happened, babe?” Ganymede’s greeting floated over her head as she fluttered down, her claws catching on the rocks and forcing her into a stumbling landing. The pale dragon brushed past him, offering only a shoulder nudge as greeting. 

Her wings felt like rocks, stiff and heavy, while her legs felt shaky and numb. She could feel the eyes of the other Jovian moons following her as she walked, but all she cared about was getting some sleep. Not even the rumbling of her stomach could rouse her. 

Jupiter was laying with them, his large form curled around Amalthea, Metis, and little Himalia. He reached out a foreleg to the pale moon, offering her a crinkled smile. She took his offer, flopping against his side and pressing her head behind his shoulder to block out the world. 

“Is everything okay, Europa?” He softly asked, lowering his head to her ear for privacy. The temptation to talk, to just spill this whole horrible day out to her planet was strong, but she held her breath instead. I don’t need Jupiter to lecture me about shouting at Earth. He’s going to hear all about it anyway.

Her planet seemed to take her silence for mere exhaustion, his head gently touching her own before drawing back. “Alright, you get some sleep, and we can talk in the morning."

Europa would’ve sighed if she had the energy, but the call of sleep was far too powerful. Pressing her head harder into Jupiter’s warm scales, she curled up and let her mind drift off. Her aches and pains floated away gradually, releasing her from the tension she’d carried back from the hunt, and her body softened against the gas giant. 

Just as she was slipping into sleep, the dragons around her decided to break the soft silence. Her jaw ached too much for her to muster even a scowl of annoyance, stuck in a strange limbo between awake and asleep.

“Is she okay?” That sounded like Metis, her quiet voice whispering up from behind her. Ganymede, who’d apparently followed her over to Jupiter’s side, spoke in reply.

“Y-yeah, she’s all good, Metis. Don’t worry.” She heard him shuffle closer, his breath tickling her neck as he watched her. “Just tired, you know?”

“Oh, is hunting that exhausting?” Amalthea piped up with her question, and Europa felt a pressure on her tail as the smaller moon walked over it. “She didn’t bring anything back, though?”

“It’s still tiring to walk around in this heat, chasing after those speedy little Earthlings.” Ganymede explained lightly, then softened his tone to add, “This whole thing is a big adjustment for everyone, so she’s probably feeling that as well.”

“...yeah, I want to go home too.” Europa’s core clenched at Himalia’s small confession, the urge to comfort the little moon nearly forcing her back to wakefulness. “This place is scary! And smelly, and yucky, and itchy!”

“I know. We’ll get out soon.” Jupiter rumbled softly, her headrest shifting as the gas giant moved under her. “Until then, we’ll look out for each other.”

“Yeah, at least we’re not alone out here.” Metis agreed readily, the light sound of her footsteps moving closer until she was curling up beside Europa. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.”

As the various Jovian moons shuffled and slotted in around her, Europa felt something in her organic chest settled down, as if the mere presence of her friends was calming her core. If she was more awake, she might have protested the huddle on the grounds of embarrassment, but she was just too tired. I’ll complain in the morning. Then I’ll have the energy to care.

…

“Europa! Wake up!” The sound of Himalia squeaking in her ear was not how she wanted to re-enter the waking world. A groan slipped from her jaws as she blinked an eye open, glaring at the sunlight. Her limbs were stiff, and when she tried to move them they painfully made their preferences clear. Stars, no wonder Ganymede was so pissy yesterday. I feel like I’ve been turned back to stone.

“Himalia. It is still far too early to be jumping around like that.” The flank she was leaning against vibrated as Jupiter spoke, reminding her that she’d pathetically curled up next to her planet last night like a child. Ugh, and now he’s going to wonder what’s wrong with me. I hope Earth didn’t make me sound too ridiculous. 

“Oh, but I wanna play!” Himalia’s protests were quickly smothered by a new voice joining the conversation that was apparently happening right next to Europa’s head. 

“L-let’s go p-play, then! E-Europa can j-join us l-later, r-right, J-Jupiter?” Io was back then, though she wasn’t sure when. He sounded far more awake than her, which was terribly unfair. Jupiter’s chest rumbled again as he replied. 

“Of course. Thank you, Io.” The sound of two sets of footsteps, one far smaller than the other, faded quietly away. The return of blissful silence was ruined by a heavy lump pressing against her other side.

“Are you feeling any better, babe?” Ganymede asked, his head resting on top of hers and blocking her view of the area. The loss of the bright sunlight was nice, but the weight slowly crushing her leg was not. 

“Get off my leg before you damage it.” She mumbled, trying to wiggle it free. He grunted an apology, quickly shuffling his mass off the poor limb. Pulling it back to her side, she blinked her eyes open to meet his. 

Ganymede was still staring at her, his face lined with worry as her gaze drifted from him to the camp beyond. The Sun was up, but only just, still stalking the horizon and leaving plenty of shadows. She could almost make out a few dragons in the dawn haze, shuffling around, stretching, or still curled up asleep. One in particular caught her eye. The blue-green dragon almost resembled his true form at that moment, curled up so tight he was a near-perfect sphere. 

“I’m fine." She grumbled, nudging Ganymede’s head away with a soft shove. He withdrew, keeping his body pressed against hers’ as he spoke.

“That’s good! I was worried- I mean, not worried, just- concerned, you know?” His awkward, stumbling sentence was too hard to follow this early in the morning, so she just grunted back at him. “Anyway, Jupiter wants to talk to you.”

“Ganymede, that can wait until she feels ready. It’s no use having a conversation if half the participants are still asleep.” Jupiter chided, his head lowering to peer into her face. The relieved, caring smile turned her stomach to rock. He must not know yet, then? Or he’d definitely be more annoyed at me.

“I can talk.” She insisted, eager to get her side of the story out before Earth could contradict her. She vaguely registered Ganymede scampering off, the traitor. She met her planet’s gaze, trying to fake a confidence she normally didn’t lack quite this much. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Europa.” Not a great start, she thought, forcing herself not to wilt under Jupiter's sterner eye. “Last night, you came back alone with only one other moon. Earth’s group didn’t return for another two hours. Why did you leave the group?”

“Is Umbriel getting interrogated too? How do you know it wasn’t her idea?” Europa deflected, scrambling to decide what he needed to know and what could possibly be kept secret. Lying to Jupiter, especially after the Moon Revolution mess, sat heavy in her chest; but she wasn’t willing to get blamed for everything that happened. 

“Uranus assures me that Umbriel left specifically to guide you back. She claims you were having some trouble.” Europa’s face flushed at that, ashamed that another moon had been forced to hold her hand all the way home like she was a little lost kid. “Europa, if hunting is too much for you-”

“No. I can hunt. I want to hunt.” She insisted, appalled by the suggestion it was ‘too much’. “I-I just need some more practice. That’s all.”

“Hm, well, Earth has requested that you be taught by someone else.” Her core dropped at the mention of the living planet, all her plans falling into a black hole of panic. “He seems to think you will do better with another teacher. I must admit, it is odd to hear Earth admit defeat with anything, so I’m curious how you managed that in just a few hours.”

“Maybe he just can’t handle a lady? You know what those rocky planets are like, not a civilized woman among them.” She tried to joke, curling her snout to exaggerate her expression of disdain. Jupiter didn’t laugh, though. He merely watched her. 

“Europa. I know you and Earth have had a…rocky relationship in the recent past. But I insist that you try and put it aside while we are here. Earth is our only link between this organic world and ourselves, ignoring his advice would be unwise.” Jupiter continued. “But, I will honour his request. When I talk to him today, I will ask who is making the most progress as a hunter. Do you have anyone else you think will not mix well with you?”

“I want another moon to teach me. If I have to have a teacher.” She grumbled, already deciding that she wasn’t taking on any new teacher. At least with another moon, she could pressure them to lie and let her go solo. “I’m not listening to any stuck-up planet.”

“Hm, if you insist.” Jupiter’s expression cracked at her words, his gaze saddening as he listened to her. “I’m sorry, again, for not standing up to the Sun. I’m glad you’re here, even if this is not a pleasant situation to be in.”

“I-I didn’t mean you! You’re fine! I-I understand why you couldn’t.” She stammered, backtracking at the realization her words had hurt her planet. While she was still a bit angry about the banishment, she reserved that anger for the Sun. It was his tyrant rule that kept planets like Jupiter under his thumb, scared and reluctant to stand up for what they wanted. 

“Thank you, Europa. I hope we can fix all of this once this is over.” Jupiter leaned down to touch his muzzle to hers’, the size difference making her feel even smaller than this conversation already had. “Today is a flying day, so we should go see if there’s anything left from last evening’s hunt. We’ll need as much energy as we can get.”

As her planet pulled himself to his feet, Europa moved to stand up as well, the fuzzy feeling having faded to a low buzz. The problem leg still ached, but not badly enough to impede her walking. Trotting after Jupiter, she scanned the camp.

The rest of the dragons were rising now, pulling themselves out of huddles or unfurling from comfy patches of grasses. Mars was standing in the open air, flapping his wings and shaking off the dust and grime he’d accumulated. Venus was still blinking himself awake, glaring at the sky in irritation. Earth and Mercury watched from the treeline, their heads bent together as they talked. 

Saturn appeared to have fallen in a ditch at some point, his scales caked with sandy mud that he was meticulously picking from his wings. His moons were mixed with Uranus' and Neptune’s, all of them chatting while the younger moons darted around in play. The two ice giants hung back under the shade of the rock, the darker dragon still laid down while Uranus experimentally straightened his wings and readied for a take off. 

A small collection of dead Earthlings had been left to one side, hidden by a ring of rocks and plant life. As she picked through them, she was dismayed to find only a few scraps of meat left, the bodies thoroughly picked clean before she’d arrived. She tried to work out what kinds of creatures they’d been, but without the whole body she was lost. Residing herself to chewing on a few fleshy bones, she tried to picture the day ahead of them.

If this flight was anything like the last one, it was going to be ridiculously long and dull. Opportunities to drink or eat would be minimal, especially for the giants who took forever to get up and down out of the sky. The major moons had the most freedom, relatively, but even their flight was trying. Last time, the moons had made a game of darting down and grabbing random items, and now that most of them knew how to hunt she could see this getting messy really quick.

“Is everyone ready?” Jupiter called, his voice easily crossing the clearing and stirring the last few stragglers. Europa finished off her bone, leaving it in the dirt and dashing over to Jupiter again. Venus jumped up as well, shaking out his wings hurriedly while Neptune finally joined his moons beside Saturn, Uranus following closely after.

“Yes, Jupiter.”

“Good. Earth?” At his name, the blue-green dragon lifted his head to the gas giant, his eyes passing over her offensively easily. “Where are we aiming for today?”

“Northeast. More east than north, though.” Earth sounded uncertain as he continued, but he maintained his firm eye-contact with Jupiter. “I think I know what we might find in that direction. A landmark I can use to navigate.”

“What will it look like?” Jupiter questioned curiously.

“A ring of hills, basically. You’ll know it when you see it.” Earth brushed off, raising his wings and looking to the sky. “We should head off soon. I want to get there before nightfall, or we might miss it.”

“Very well. We will fly until you locate this landmark, or until the Sun sets.” 

…

“C-can the S-Sun s-se-a-any fa-ster?” Io’s words were harder to follow than usual as he shouted them into Europa’s ear, his wing beats barely avoiding her own as he winged past. He had a point, though. The Sun was still plenty high in the sky, despite the seemingly vast distance they’d crossed. No signs of any ‘ring of hills’ in any direction.

Europa just rolled her eyes in reply, not willing to waste energy on shouting over the wind. The land below them was dust brown, broken up only by odd blocks that divided the area up. Luna had claimed they were the work of humans, but Europa had a hard time believing such small things had managed to make such a vast mess across their planet’s surface. Luna had only returned a dry smile, muttering something about ‘quarries’ being worse.

She tried to keep her head facing forward, pulling her legs in further to let her form slip more easily into a shallow dive. Tilting her wings at the right moment, she rose up again in a neat curve, now a few feet ahead of Io. The yellow dragon grinned playfully, moving to copy her stoop and rise trick. She tried to ignore his smug grin when he rose a few feet ahead of her. 

They were trying to keep within the slipstream of Jupiter’s huge form, using the free drag-shield to preserve some energy, but it was hard to stay in just the right spot when their natural flight speed exceeded Jupiter’s. It was an issue with all the giants; they were slower in flight than their moons and the rockies, but they could also fly for far longer stretches without rest. It was a balancing game, trying to maintain speed without draining energy too rapidly. 

She was at least glad her planet was not always at the back. She was nicely situated in the middle of the flock, while the ice giants were sent to the back. Their lack of regular wingbeats made her inexplicably nervous, as if they were about to simply fall from the sky without the constant fight against gravity. Despite her disbelief, they glided along happily enough, their moons darting around them periodically.

Just as she was settling into her mindless flight again, a disruption from the front caught her eye. Earth had darted ahead of his group, dipping beneath a cloud that had moved to block their view of the ground below. Jupiter took notice, his own head rising in interest at the blue-green planet’s movement. Europa tried to peer through the cloud as well, half-tempted to follow the feathered dragon. No. I’m not going to be able to talk to him for at least a millennia or two. If I even have to at that point.

As the flock eyed the cloud warily, a dash of blue shot back up, breaking through the misty air as he pushed himself skywards. Twisting at the peak of his rise, Earth darted towards Jupiter rather than continuing ahead. The gas giant raised his head to meet him. 

“It’s dow-here. We can land-ere, but follo-me closely. I nee-make sure n-mans are i-e area.” Earth reported, backwinging to imitate a shaky hover, a relieved gleam in his eye at the idea of a landing. “I’ll t-to set us dow-ear water too, but most water s-es up here are man-ma-nyway, so it might be hard-locate one without humans.”

Jupiter nodded, having apparently understood all of that. Without another word, the blue-green dragon turned and began a slow stoop, giving the giants a chance to slow their descent more easily than that first time. Europa winged after her fellow Galilean moons, trying to keep them in sight as they dived below the clouds.

When she managed to blink the condensation from her eyes, she was momentarily confused by what she was seeing. The land up to this point had been virtually flat, unbroken stretches of featureless, barren surface with only a few rises of land. But now, out of the endless smooth, rose a vast circle of hills so neat it looked deliberate. The hills were smooth and rolling, not the terrain she usually associated with such a raised feature, and the vegetation on it was thick and wide-spread. 

Earth adjusted their approach angle a few times, guiding them away from the centre and more towards the northeast side, lowering their altitude steadily. When they finally had the go-ahead to land, they were gliding over a wide stretch of grasses.

Europa winged away to the side, aiming for the edges of the landing zone to avoid the inevitable crash landings of the gas giants. The small moons, who had been tucked along their planets’ backs, shot off to the sides as well, unwilling to endure the rough landing.

Jupiter came down first, narrowly avoiding a personal meeting with the ground, before Saturn very nearly forced him to anyway. While the two gas giants tried to untangle themselves, Europa watched as Uranus touched down, his landing far neater than Neptune’s, which threw a cloud of fresh dust into the air. Well, no one's dead. I consider that a success.

“What is this again, Earth?” Mercury’s question met the living planet as he approached the vague huddle the rest of the dragons had created while they waited for the giants to recover. The blue-green dragon lifted his wings as he replied, grinning triumphantly.

“The Pilanesberg Alkali Ring Complex.” He smiled, seemingly gratified by the ring of confused faces he received in reply. “It’s a volcano that basically collapsed in on itself, leaving just a raised ring of hills. Obviously, it used to be a lot taller 1.3 billion years ago, but erosion has worn it down. Now, it’s a nature preserve.”

“Nature preserve? What’s that?” Titan asked, his curious gaze wandering over the rolling hills around them. The air was as dry as everywhere else, but she could catch the faint whiff of water despite the heat.

“It’s a place the humans have decided to keep protected from any development. They basically try to maintain it as naturally as possible, so they can preserve the species that use this habitat.” Earth clarified, adding at the end, “It’s still the dry season, so hopefully not too many tourists are around, but we need to keep hidden just in case.”

“We can’t hunt, then?” Uranus grumbled, overhearing Earth as he padded up to the group. Behind him, Neptune was staring around at the geography with wide eyes. 

“Not here, no. The animals are monitored, and while a few dead ones won’t cause much confusion, a dozen or so will.” Earth insisted, but Uranus just nodded without further argument. Europa was almost disappointed it hadn't devolved into an argument. “We can drink and rest here, then I think we need to do a bit of night flying.”

“What? Why?” Saturn’s dismayed voice appeared over Europa’s head, the two gas giants having finally reached them. “I-I can’t see anything when it gets dark, and you want us to fly?”

“Earth, why do you think this is necessary?” Jupiter asked more calmly, lowering his head to face the feathered dragon. 

“Now that I know for sure where we are, I know we are currently between two major cities. Johannesburg is one of South Africa’s largest cities, and Gaborone is the capital of Botswana. We still have over a day’s worth of hard flying left before we reach even the edge of Kruger, and I don’t want to risk being spotted in the more populated areas. We only have to fly one night to reach a less busy area.” Earth implored, stepping forward as he spoke. “One night, then we can rest for a day or two and continue as normal.”

“The rest of the trip? Won’t your Earthlings be a problem later on?” Mars asked, a confused frown on his face. The two little Martian moons darted between his legs, chasing each other with a level of energy that made Europa faintly jealous.

“OK, yes, we might need to fly at night a few more times to get to the Arctic, but once we get to Kruger it won’t be needed for a while. When we get to the east of the continent we can follow the coastline up, and I can steer us away from any other capital cities.” Earth elaborated, turning his gaze to Jupiter’s to see what the largest planet thought. 

“Very well, Earth, if you think it is necessary.” Jupiter relented, drawing a deflated sigh from Saturn, and then added, “We will set off after everyone has had a chance to rest and drink. And we will only fly as far as we have to. No longer than 5 hours, Earth.”

“Yes, OK, that can work.” Earth nodded, dipping his head and continuing to mutter under his breath about distances. Europa ignored him, choosing instead to pad over to the moon cluster that had formed near one side. 

The rest of the dragons moved apart, some aiming for the sparse trees and flat rocks, while a few others began investigating the slopes. When Europa reached the moon group, a few were already making their way to the dip in the land ahead of them. Ganymede was with them, seemingly leading the way. Biting down a stab of offense, she flapped her wings and glided down the slope after them.

“Where’re we going?” She asked, bumping her shoulder into his as she landed beside the grey-green dragon. Ganymede at least offered her an abashed look, finally realizing he’d set off without her. 

“Water. Titan reckons there’s some in this ditch.” Ganymede explained, pointing down the slope to where the hills met in a deep verge. 

“It’s not a ditch. It’s a valley.” The green-orange Saturnian moon corrected as he loped forward to join them. “They form on my surface too, only with ice and methane rather than rock and water.”

“Whatever, dude. I just want some water, and then a nice long nap before Golden Boy drags us around again.” Ganymede grumbled back, peering ahead to the valley below. 

With the hills rising on all sides, entering the dip felt like being surrounded and enclosed, drawn to the bottom by gravity and time. Even the plant life reflected the eerie feeling, all clumped near the shallowest point with only a handful of determined individuals still clinging to the higher reaches. Past the slump of trees, Europa could just about make out the shimmer of Sun-lit water. 

Behind them, now cresting the ridge, she could see the giants slowly making their way after the moons. Uranus and Neptune seemed to have decided that chasing each other down the slope was an appealing activity, despite the dirt and grime that quickly coated their shiny blue scales. Half the moons were forced to leap out of the way as the two ice giants tumbled past, a few angry hisses following them down. 

They reached the water before Jupiter, so Europa was reluctantly forced to watch Uranus’ clumsy attempt to check the water for Earthlings. It was either him or Neptune, but Neptune’s moons had already instigated a splashing contest around their planet, rendering the water uselessly mucky.

“Um, OK, it seems alright?” Uranus turned a third time, dragging his tail in a wide circle through the water. His moons took that as permission to drink, so Europa copied them. The water was marginally better than the previous offerings, less muddy and more just gritty. She tried to keep her head lowered as long as she could. Hopefully her pale scales would blend in with the rest of his major moons and he wouldn’t notice her too quickly. The last thing she needed was another sour look from an uppity ice giant. 

“Europa?” Asteroids.

“Yes?” She tried for a casual tone, lifting her head from the water to meet Uranus’ eyes. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

“You’re hanging around my moons a lot.” He stated in a tone Europa was struggling to categorize fast enough. 

“So? Is that not allowed?” Europa bristled, already exhausted by the idea of another argument. Uranus blinked in surprise, apparently caught off guard by her reaction.

“Wait-Wait, I didn’t mean that in a bad way. I-I was just curious? You aren’t exactly…”

“‘Exactly’ what? The kind of moon you want yours to associate with?” Europa curled her lip, irritated that this planet was trying to dance around this after his previous words. “Unfortunately for you, even ‘exiled moons’ can befriend your moons, even if you can’t.”

“I-I didn’t mean it like that.” Uranus stammered pathetically, only serving as fuel to her annoyance. “I-I was just worried, but if Titania- If my moons are your friends, I just want to clear the air a bit?”

Europa eyed the ice giant carefully, trying to work out what he was attempting to get out of her. She wasn’t even that close with any of his moons. Ice giants are so weird.

“Fine. Go ahead.” She sniffed, backing away from the water and already deciding where to go next. Her fellow Jovian moons had gathered on a raised rock a few feet from the pool, and she could already discern Ganymede’s bulk stretched out across it. “ What do you want to say?”

“Sorry? I-I didn’t mean to sound so rude yesterday?” 

“Is that a question or a statement?” She glared, not in the mood to puzzle out another celestial's words. “I can assure you, I really don’t care about what you said. I don’t listen to planets, as a rule.”

“I can tell.” A hint of amusement snuck into Uranus’ reply, and he seemed to relent on his painful attempt to apologize to her. “You’re a strange moon, Europa.”

“You’re not very good at apologies, are you?” She snarked, but kept her own tone light as she turned away from him. “Good try, though. Nice talking to you, but I got a nap to catch.”

“Yeah, me too.” He smiled hesitantly, and Europa fought down the urge to say something more scathing. She didn’t want the planet getting the impression they were even slightly on good terms. I’ll find a way to make it clearer later, but Jupiter won’t be impressed if I start a fight right now.

Scrambling over to her moon group, Europa clambered up the rock and flopped down beside Ganymede. He was already half-asleep, grunting at her arrival and laying one wing over her as she pressed against him. The Sun was still firmly up, so she buried her head under his wing to try and block the light from her eyes. Letting her thoughts float away, Europa began to slowly soften her breathing to match the dragon beside her.

Abruptly, Callisto’s dark eyes peered under his wing to meet hers, disturbing the doze she’d been slipping into. Glaring back, she nosed her way forward to meet her stare. The bright speckles on her muzzle glinted in the shadows cast by Ganymede’s wing, taunting her with their appealing sparkle. I don’t think I’ve ever been this envious of Callisto’s surface before.

“What?” She hissed when the moon remained silent, half-tempted to curl up again and ignore her completely. 

“Luna tells me you’ve upset his planet.” Her blank tone gave nothing of her own opinion on this, so Europa decided to return the same energy.

“So? Upsetting Earth is as easy as orbiting Jupiter. It’s a consequence of my existence.” She forced her face to remain as still as she could, imitating Callisto’s ‘I know more than you’ voice as well as she could manage without laughing. “What’s it to you? You don’t like him either.”

“No. But I do have a vague interest in keeping you out of any more trouble.” Callisto’s half-lidded eyes examined Europa as she spoke. “Luna also told me you’re refusing to learn how to hunt.”

“I’m not refusing! I got banned!” Europa protested, avoiding the dark moon’s gaze as she added, “It was for a stupid reason, anyway, so it doesn’t count. Jupiter didn’t confirm it, so I’m technically not even banned at all.”

“When you have to bring ‘technically’ into it, you’re already screwed.” Callisto huffed, a small glint of humour shining past her shadowed tone. “What got you ‘not banned’ then?”

“I don’t even know! He just got all worked up after one of his stupid Earthlings tried to poke my eye out. It wasn’t even close to me!” Europa embellished. “He’s just looking for an excuse to keep me from hunting. I’m certain I can do it just fine if he backs off for once.”

“Well, you’ll need to work it out, because no one is going to let you hunt without some proof that you know how.” Callisto hummed, her eyes slipping closed as she fully rested her head against the rock beneath them. Europa grumbled at the blatant disregard for her personal space, but dropped it in favour of a growing idea.

“I don’t need to be ‘allowed’ to hunt. I can just go and do it.” She grinned as Callisto re-opened one eye to glare at her suspiciously. “And when I bring back a massive kill, they’ll hardly be able to argue I don’t know how.”

“Ah, there it is.” Callisto sighed, letting her eye close again. “The stupid, reckless idea.”

“You can just ignore it. I’m not inviting you along anyway.” She shifted, pulling her head farther underneath Ganymede’s wing. “You’ll just ruin the fun.”

“Oh well, what a shame.” Callisto’s voice was already dozy, yet still as emotionless as ever. 

As Europa listened to the slowing of her fellow moon’s breaths, she began to link together a rough plan. Without any prior information about the area, she couldn’t be sure what they’d be able to hunt at the next stop, but she fully intended to find out. All she needed to do was get Ganymede on board, then they could sneak away when the flock landed. Sure, they’d be tired, but not too tired to find a few Earthlings to bring back. I’m sure the other moons will appreciate the food at least, even if the stuffy planets get pissy about it. Yes, it’s the perfect plan.

…

“This is a terrible plan.” 

“Will you be quiet? I’m trying to hear if we’re being followed.” Europa snapped back, straining to weed out the sounds not caused by Ganymede’s lumbering footsteps and constant whining. Her scales itched from the dust they’d rolled in, making her twitchy and impatient. 

Just as she finally drowned him out, a new set of footsteps appeared. Two sets, in fact.

“You’re doing a terrible job, then.” The familiar drone of Callisto sank Europa’s core into her talons. Great. And three guesses who she brought with her.

“W-where are w-we g-g-going, E-Europa?” Io bounded forward from the darkness, his yellow scales still recognizable in the low dawn light. Faced with all the Galilean moon, Europa forced out a steadying breath.

“Hunting. But I don’t need an entourage.” Narrowing her eyes at Callisto, she tried to ignore the pleading gaze Io sent her way. “Go back to Jupiter.”

“You don’t tell me what to do.” Callisto pointed out in a monotone voice, slipping past Europa to peer over the ledge of rock. 

The Earth had set them down in a small ridge of hills, overlooking a sparsely populated human area, with strict instructions to stay far away from the building and roads. The land they were on was apparently a ‘national park’, but they weren’t allowed to hunt without him because it was also a ‘game farm’, whatever that meant. Europa had stopped listening after that.

The area was far emptier than the last hunting spot, with nothing but cragley rocks and scrawny trees to decorate it. They’d only made it a mile or so from the others and she still hadn’t even caught a whiff of Earthlings. The only scents she could find had been along this ridge, emanating from the odd structures and barriers below. These Earthlings have trapped all the food down there. How are we supposed to eat if everything is owned by humans?

Despite her distaste for Earth’s rules, the idea of raiding the silver barriers still gave her pause. While she knew and cared little for humans, she was not ignorant of their power. Somehow, these tiny creatures had made it into space, so they must have some level of intellect she wasn’t interested in testing. But there must be some prey down there that isn’t contained or tagged. That’s what we need to find.

“So…are we still going?” Ganymede interrupted her internal debate, joining the three of them at the ledge. Io was practically vibrating at the sight, but Callisto continued to frown down at the structures.

“This is a terrible idea. If we’re hunting, we should do it away from the humans.”

“We already tried.” Europa insisted, her tail flicking in agitation. “There’s nothing for miles. And I want to get this done before the Sun rises. Also! I didn’t ask you to come along as well!”

“I’m not about to let you do something stupid without being able to watch.” Callisto teased, a rare smile playing at the sides of her mouth. “At least if I’m here, maybe some sense will leak into your brains.”

“Aw, Callisto, are you being sentimental?” Ganymede grinned, leaning against the dark moon to intentionally unbalance her. “Come on, it’ll be just like old times. The Galilean gang, off on an adventure.”

“To steal.” She shot back, shoving him off with a huff. Europa copied Ganymede’s grin, nudging the grumpy moon with her shoulder. 

“Nope! To explore!” Europa stepped back, turning to a steep trail of rocks that sloped down the side of the ridge. “We’re going, whether you follow or not.”

“Ugh. Come on, Io.” Callisto lowered her head to sigh, then waved her tail in front of Io to get his attention. As she began to pick her way after Europa, the dark dragon eyed the sky warily. “We need to be quick. The Sun’ll be up soon.”

“No time to waste, then.” Ganymede responded, jumping down after her to balance precariously on the rocky slope, digging his claws into the thin layers of dirt. 

The four dragons carefully shuffled down the rock face, attempting to keep their squeaks and gasps to a minimum when they skidded or tripped. The sky stayed dark, but the edges of the horizon were just beginning to lighten when they reached the outskirts of the gathered structures. The barriers here weren’t as shiny as she’d expected, and they smelt more of trees than anything metallic, but they barred their path all the same. The low buzzing that seemed to permeate every human structure was louder than ever, humming around them as they stalked along the edges.

“What are we looking for?” Ganymede whispered into her ear, creeping forward to crouch beside her. Europa scanned the area, lifting her head to draw in the scents around them. 

“Food. Anything outside the barriers.” She indicated towards the far side of the barriers, where the land opened out. “We’ll head there. Keep away from the human stuff.”

At Ganymede’s nod, she set off again, leading them along the tree-scented barrier until it opened out into scrubland again. Her ears caught the faint noises of small creatures scurrying in the brush, heightening her hopes for an easy hunt. The air smelt of Earthlings now, the faint wind blowing a cocktail of new scents her way. 

Heading into the wind, she took them past the human structures and its weird buzzing, beyond the strange barriers, and away from the ridge their fellow celestials slept upon. Her heart picked up its pace as she broke into a trot, following the trails left by seemingly hundreds of Earthlings. This’ll be easy. There’s so much here!

Eventually, they reached a small pool of water surrounded by low bushes. A few metres away, a small Earthling structure rose on a thin quadruped tower, the edges of the roof sloped and the only entryway seemed to be an equally thin arrangement of sticks. The distance seemed too far for anything within to hear them, and the scent was weak enough to hide under the musk of the pool, so Europa began to stalk. The others fell into their own hunting crouches, slipping into the sparse bushes around the pool.

At first, she couldn’t see any Earthlings at all, despite the overwhelming smell of them. However, when the first light of the dawn began to touch the area, it was as if they had been summoned. Small, wary groups of thin-legged beasts approached the pool, ducking down for brief mouthfuls of water before their heads shot up again, staring into the darkness for the unseen eyes. Perfect

They weren’t the big, impressive beasts she’d been hoping for, but her desperation and hunger convinced her that these skinny little things were more than enough. She was so tired of failing at the basic tasks of being a stinky Earthling, she was just about ready to take anything that came their way. Tamping down the overwhelming urge to jump out at them, she slowly began her approach. Steady. Don’t miss this time.

At her sides, she could faintly make out the feather-light footsteps of her friends as they mirrored her, drawing into a rough half-circle around the pool. The creatures were none the wiser, still taking turns to sip at the pool’s edge with tense stances. A few heads periodically twisted their way, but their eyes floated over them without focus, and no alarm was raised.

She scanned the herd for her target, honing in on a beast with a distinctive twitchiness to its form that far exceeded the others. She wasn’t sure why this one drew her attention, but she wasn’t about to question it too much. She just needed to make a kill. Any kill.

She’d quickly reached the limits of the cover offered by the plants, forced to venture forward into open land, trusting that the darkness would be enough to hide her movements. Annoyingly, the Earth’s advice about slow movements still rang in her ears as she approached. Her legs shook minutely as she balanced carefully before her strike, shuffling her limbs into position. Removing the last shreds of hesitation from her mind, she leapt at the beast.

The bleat of surprise lasted only a few seconds, but it felt far longer as she fought to hold the creature down, her jaw struggling to clamp tightly around the squirming, blood-slicked neck. It kicked out relentlessly, delivering more than a few painful blows to her underbelly as she shook its neck, trying to break it. Earth made this sound much easier than this. STOP WIGGLING!

Eventually, the bleating melted into wet, crackly breaths as the damage to its neck weakened it. She tightened her bite, hoping to end this sooner so she could stop hearing every strained breath the beast took. Her heart was beating so fast she felt almost dizzy with it, and her mind felt fuzzy and distant as she listened to the last signs of life leave the body beneath her. Letting go of the neck at last, she found herself meeting its black, blank stare with a wave of guilt. I’m sorry. But I had to do this. 

She slowly dragged herself back to the present, following the sounds of her fellow moons finishing their own kills. Raising her head, she spotted Ganymede standing triumphantly over another beast, its neck bent backwards unnaturally. The smile he sent towards her was bright, but the dark liquid staining his jaw dampened the image. 

“We should start heading back.” Callisto broke the silence, already dragging her own kill towards the direction they’d come. Io bounded next to her, a far smaller version of the same creature clamped between his jaws. Europa turned her head to the sky, dismayed to find that it had noticeably lightened since they’d set out. Stars, the others are going to wonder where we are if we don’t beat the sunrise.

When she glanced down at her kill again, she hesitated before grabbing it, once again caught on the eyes. It looked…wrong, almost, to see them unmoving and drying in the dusty air. The wetness they’d had only a second ago was quickly being sucked away, replacing it with a simple structure rather than a breathing lifeform. Organics are so weird. How did this body built from the non-living even gain Life in the first place? And why is it gone now?

“Europa?” 

Ganymede’s call snapped her out of it, reminding her that now was not the time to contemplate how Life even existed at all. Forcing herself to avert her eyes, she grasped the creature’s lower neck in her mouth, hauling it up from the ground and pulling it onto her back. Keeping the floppy, still warm body balanced between her wings was a trial, especially when she started to feel the cold trail of blood leaking down her shoulders. Ew.

Hurrying after the others, she was dismayed to find that her leg was aching again, more insistently as her heart rate calmed down from the hunt. Already fed up with it, she kept walking as normal, refusing to let this annoying feedback loop interrupt her stride anymore that it already had. The weight of the prey on her back made this a challenge, but Europa was good at challenges.

The land was steadily lightening as they moved, the stars slowly fading as the horizon leaked sunlight into the inky black. The small, thin clouds that still hung in the air shadowed the pale orange sky, matching the darkness held by the vast stretches of land and trees she could just begin to see. The cold air stirred restlessly, shifting and spinning around them as they tried to follow their trail back. Night had turned the ground cool to the touch, and the ache of cold was almost soothing on her worn feet. In the distance, a creature was singing a sharp, high tune.

“Don’t tell me you’re lost.” Callisto muttered, stepping up beside Ganymede when he paused at a rise of earth. Europa trotted up after them, eyeing the horizon for their target. “We need to get back before the rest wake up.”

“I know that, Callisto! And you’re really not helping right now!” Ganymede hissed back, his nervous tail-twitching and tense stance highlighting the situation. He raised one foreleg to point into the distance. “I think…it’s that way.”

Europa squinted into the lightening sky, her eyes stinging after so long in the low light of twilight. Nothing about that area ignited her memory, but neither did any other direction. She felt her heart rate quicken again, the sharp panic feeling oddly exhausting as it raced through her organic veins. Beside her, the other Galilean moons twitched their wings and drew in dismayed breaths.

“It’s not.”

The sudden voice made them jump, their wings raised in unison to bash uselessly against each other. The prey on her back slipped off, rolling into the grass with a stiff thump, but she paid it no mind. Her ears strained to locate the source of the voice, her eyes near-useless against the low shadows that still plagued the scrubland. 

The voice spoke again, confirming her rising fear.

“You know, I’m really starting to think I’m talking gibberish every time I try to explain basic rules to this Solar System.” The hissed words grew closer as the figure emerged from a nearby bush, his cover abandoned in favour of berating the moons. “Either that, or you’re all trying to give me as little sleep as possible for some messed up experiment. So which is it?"

“Earth.” Ganymede began, lifting his head to meet the angry dragon as he stalked towards them. The grey-green moon’s wings lifted as his stance widened, eyeing the feathered planet warily for his next move. “We were just hunting. We didn’t approach any human settlement, and no one was hurt or spotted.”

“Hm, I can see that.” Earth glanced at the kill that still lay beside Europa, returning his gaze to Ganymede’s with a curled lip. “I suppose I will have to trust you on that, but that doesn’t explain why you are currently walking farther away from the camp, however.”

“Oh…” Ganymede glanced the way they had come, his wings and tail drooping as the Earth’s information sunk in. “OK, in my defence, it all looks the same around here.”

“And you wonder why I don’t want you guys solo hunting yet?” Earth asked rhetorically, rolling his eyes towards Europa. She stayed as still as she could, hoping maybe his eyes would pass over her like the Earthlings’ had. “What was the plan, then? Walk out here, get lost, and then hope for a miracle? You’re lucky Io is bad enough at stealth to step on my tail.”

“O-oops. S-sorry, E-Earth!” Io called, lowering his head in embarrassment, his own kill spat out on the ground at his feet. Europa couldn’t help her own sigh of defeat slipping out. We’re so screwed.

“Earth-”

“No! I don’t want to hear it. All we are going to do now is go back to camp.” The blue-green dragon stamped his foot, tossing his head towards the horizon. “We need to get back without getting spotted. Something you’ve made significantly harder by walking straight through a game farm.”

“But we didn’t see any humans? Can’t we just walk or fly straight back, since you know the way?” Ganymede suggested. Europa eyed the beast she’d killed, trying to picture how she would take off with the added weight. I guess it’s doable, but I’ll look silly trying. And I’ve had my fill of looking stupid in front of Earth recently.

“We can walk, sure. But flying is out of the question.” Earth huffed like this was obvious, drawing a scowl onto Ganymede’s face. “Unless you want to fly ridiculously high, the humans in the area will spot us. And even if they wouldn’t know what they were looking at, I’d rather we didn’t add to the rumours Uranus’ stunt may have already started.”

“Fine. We walk then?” Callisto stepped forward, her thin horns lit by the growing sunlight, turning them red-tipped. “How far is it?”

“Far enough that I doubt we’ll beat the Sun.” Earth complained, turning away from them to re-enter the bushes. “We still need to try, though. Jupiter won’t be happy to find all of us missing.”

The planet’s form melted into the plant life, his colouring muted by the strong shadows still staining the land. Around her, her friends reluctantly began to follow, picking up their prey and setting off again. Europa heaved a sigh, bending down to haul the beast onto her sore back. The body was stiff now, which made the balancing more awkward than before. 

“C-come o-on, E-Europa!” Io encouraged, straying at the edge of the shadows to wait for her. As she trotted down to him, he leaned in closer to whisper in a fugitive tone, “H-he’s really b-bossy, isn’t h-he?”

She nodded back with a smirk, nudging him onwards with her snout. Io laughed, picking up his kill and bounding away into the brush. Following after, she tried to shift into a faster lope, but her leg felt both numb and stiff at the same time. Stupid thing. This better heal soon, or I'll chew it off myself.

The Earth set a gruelling pace across the warming land, his march unfaltering as he led them back. Ganymede, Callisto, and Io chased after him, leaving Europa to try and force her leg to cooperate enough for a run. The Sun was properly showing now, the orange glow forcing her head down to avoid the glare. Around them, the small noises of Earthlings became more insistent with each minute, the world waking up to find them loping past.

After a while, she glanced up to see their progress, only to find her sightline empty. Pausing, she stared around, trying to find them again. She dipped her head, checking the faint trail of footsteps and scent that still pointed ahead of her. They must be straight ahead. Earth seemed pretty certain about this direction.

The low scuffling of Earthlings was growing louder, triggering some part of her organic brain into panic. As her heart rate once again raced forward, she broke into a run, using her wings to awkwardly clamp the prey against her back. The trail ducked under some trees, so she dove in and scrambled through as fast as she could, ignoring the thorns scarping her scales. 

Bursting out of the trees, she spotted them a few metres ahead, their bright scales shining in the sunlight. Heaving in another breath, she dashed after them, each step sending fire through her leg. Trying to ignore it as she had before, the pale dragon kept going, forcing the leg to take her weight despite the pain. It worked…until it abruptly didn’t.

Mid stride, her leg suddenly crumpled, folding underneath her and sending her into the sandy soil. Her wings flared, releasing the kill held against her back, and flapped in an attempt to catch her fall. It made little difference as her head thudded into the earth, sending new pain signals over her body. Momentarily stunned, she lay there for a few breaths, trying to regain control of the fleshy form. The foreleg stung fiercely, brighter and hotter than before, and any movement echoed the pain throughout her skeleton. Owww.

“Ugh.” She groaned, lifting her head to blink at the problem leg. It looked much the same as before, only now it radiated heat when she touched it gently with her nose. The talons below it twitched when she tried to move them too, while the shoulder felt frozen and immovable. Rolling onto her side, she gingerly attempted to stand, only to flop back down before the leg even touched the ground. Stars, what do I do?

“Guys? Ganymede! Io! Callisto!” She called, raising her head to shout in the direction they’d been going. As much as she didn’t want to be found like this, she wasn’t stupid enough to just lie here and hope they could find her again. “Ganymede-”

Just as she moved to call again, an odd noise interrupted her, sending fresh fear into her body. Her legs tried to push her up, faltering again and achieving only a new bruise. Swinging her head around frantically, she tried to find the culprit. 

The noise came again, a low chuffing, followed by rapid paw steps. Fighting down the urge to try and rise again, she let out a low growl of her own. 

“Back off!” Her words paused the creature’s approach only for a moment, the pace returning and getting closer. She found herself lowering her head, pulling her limbs in and wrapping her tail around her body. 

Just as the beast broke cover, her eyes lighted on the prey still laying abandoned beside her. Snatching it up with her teeth, she dragged it into her circle before facing her attacker. I’m not giving up my only kill, especially not to a smelly Earthling.

Out of the shadows stepped a large, sandy furred creature, taller than Europa. Its eyes were facing forward, staring into her own with sharp, yellow irises. The head was haloed by a thick, dark ruff which flowed down under its belly, while the rest of the body was sleek and pale. The tail was tipped, similar to the huge antelope from before, only shorter. 

As she froze under its gaze, she noticed movement to the right of her. Another beast, very similar in size, also began to approach. And, glancing to the left, another. What? What should I do? Earth never said what to do about anything like this!

She growled again, rising into a fearful snarl as one beast charged at her, taking a swipe at her kill. She snapped her teeth closed on thin air as it dodged away from her clumsy attack, circling her with its packmates. While she tried to recover from her quick movements, another dashed in for a go. 

“Leave it! It’s mine!” She growled, swiping at it with her only good foreleg. Unfortunately, this left her rolled on her side, struggling to right herself without her other leg. The first beast darted in again, this time aiming for her neck. Startled, she twisted around to shove it away with her wing, only to receive a claw rake across the outer edge. 

Her snarling turned more desperate as she fended off the three beasts, exhausting herself with every last minute swing or dodge. At one point, the smaller of the trio managed to get their jaws around her prey’s leg, yanking it out from under her claws. A frustrated roar broke from her mouth, momentarily startling the creature.

Dragging her prize back, she snapped her jaws angrily at the nearest one, catching its ear and ripping it till she’d claimed it for herself. Spitting it out before the beast, she stared back at its wary eyes. I’ll do worse than that, so back off!

If the beast got her message at all, it didn’t take it into consideration, darting towards her side again for another pass. Following it around, she tried to fight down the dizziness flooding her vision. Even her good legs were shivering now, her breaths heaving her sides up and down painfully. The beasts looked almost as tired, their jaws parted in exhausted pants, while their lined, skin-tight chests quivered. We both can’t keep this up…but who’s going to give up first?

Europa tried not to let the thought settle in her mind, but she was seriously beginning to think it would be her. Her only hope for help had disappeared into the distance, and she wasn’t even sure if giving these creatures her kill would solve the matter. She still couldn’t walk, and the hungry gleam in their eyes told her what fate awaited a downed animal around here.

Another swipe had her stumbling, breath catching in her throat as her head touched the ground again. Pushing back up with her neck, she felt her chest vibrate with a new sound, a low, tired whine. Too exhausted to stop it, she focused on the next beast’s attempt to grab her prey.

Whether it was the beast’s own exhaustion, or some energy of hers she’d pulled from her core, the dragon managed to wrap her jaw around the creature’s neck. Clenching it as hard as she could, the pale moon growled in frustration as the thick fur filled her mouth. Desperate to keep her small win, she clung on regardless, forcing her dwindling energy into the bite. 

The creature writhed beneath her, clawing at her snout and neck to try and dislodge her, but she kept going. Slowly but surely, the struggles weakened, until the beast was barely moving at all. Jaw, neck, and body trembling, she swayed with exhaustion and pain as her mouth remained clamped around the neck, all other senses fading out. Her thoughts felt murky, slipping away whenever she tried to assemble them. 

A sharp roar startled her mind back to itself, a sudden weight pulling the body from her teeth. Collapsing, she struggled to make sense of the scene before her as she lay in the sand. 

The beast she’d bitten was now being held down by a blue-green dragon, his own jaws tossing the creature into the bushes. Turning to the other two, he stalked over to stand between her and the growling beasts. The food she’d hunted lay a few feet away, ripped open by one of the creatures. Her eyes tried to close at the overwhelming wave of failure that flowed over her at the sight. I lost it. My only success.

Above her, Earth growled again, snapping at the bolder of the two remaining beasts. Catching his distraction, the second beast darted in and tried its usual trick of going for her wings. Earth met the creature as it did, slashing his claws across its jaw. She forced her eyes open wider, confused by the sight of the living planet hurting one of his own Earthlings. 

The beast jumped away with a snarl, twisting back towards the kill they’d stolen. Whining, she desperately tried to stand up again, unwilling to let them take it and run. Before she could even do more than raise her head, however, Earth flared his wings and stamped the ground, forcing the beast to flinch away from the kill. The living planet quickly grabbed the bleeding body and dragged it back to her, keeping himself between her and the watching beasts. 

With her prize safe, she let herself relax back against the floor, trying to recover her breaths and stabilize her orbit. Everything whizzed around her, leaving her feeling weightless and floaty in an almost nostalgic way. I really, really want to go home now.

The continuous, low growling coming from Earth rose suddenly, and her eyes snapped open to watch one of the beasts try to nip at his hindlegs. He twisted towards it, and she tried to open her mouth in warning as the second beast shot forward right on que, aiming for her kill again. 

Hauling herself over the body, she snarled and blindly swung at it. The beast swiped back, wrapping one clawed paw over her injured leg while the other batted at her face, the sharp teeth inches from her muzzle as it pulled her head down. The pale dragon roared in pain as its jaws dug into her snout, drawing a cut through her upper lip. Her neck trembled, folding under the weight of the beast as it latched onto her. No one better tell Jupiter I died to a stupid, stinky Earthling. This is pathetic.

“Europa!” The call was loud, but she was a bit too occupied to link it to a name. Even as the roaring grew closer and louder, even as the heft was ripped from her head, she stayed still. Her skull rang with every sound, debilitating her and draining the last of her energy. 

“Europa?” Something nudged her side, another voice almost in her ear as it whispered. The nudging started up again, more insistent now. “Europa? Come on, I-I know you’re okay, so quit it!”

She recognised that voice, though the tone was odd, far too strained to be who she was thinking of. They sounded scared, though, so she tried to move if only to stop their panicking. Can’t even die in peace around here.

“...mh.” She groaned, forcing a deeper breath to try and clear the fogginess in her brain. The dragon beside her shifted from nudging her to softly touching her head, still whispering as they spoke. 

“Europa? Can you open your eyes?” Fine. Ugh, why can’t I at least have a nap first?

Forcing her eyes to flicker open, she was greeted by a dark muzzle inches from her face, the speckles almost invisible under the new sunrise. Her brain finally let her connect the voice with the face, and she sighed in unexpected relief. Callisto. They came back.

With her eyes open, she slowly began to regain her other senses, as painful as that was. Hearing, she definitely could have done without, but at least it alerted her to the scuffle taking place a few feet from her position. 

The beast that had attacked her was being held down by Ganymede, and surprisingly, Earth. Both dragons were keeping it in place, while Ganymede had his own jaws around its neck. And while the Earth looked away, he didn’t try to stop the moon as he finished it off. 

Now dead, the beast was discarded as the two dragons turned back towards Callisto and her, bounding towards them. Ganymede reached her first, his head quickly dipping to touch hers’ gently, his eyes roaming over her whole body frantically. Earth followed more slowly, his claws and jaw stained with a red he was trying to wipe off. 

“Europa? Are you okay? What happened?” Ganymede worried, his gaze settling on the side of her mouth. As she opened it to speak, it stung fiercely, reminding her of the bite left by that creature. “Why didn’t you follow, babe? We couldn’t find you! And then Earth said he heard something, and-”

“Ganymede. Panicking isn’t going to help.” Callisto cut in, her voice back to its more understandable monotone. She indicated to Europa as she spoke, her tail curling over the pale dragon’s back. “She’s exhausted."

“Any other injuries?” Earth asked, pushing in to peer down at her. His claw moved to gently touch her jaw, right where the pain sparked from. She was too tired to even snap at him for the audacity. “That cut needs washing. Did they get you anywhere else?”

“My wing.” She croaked, trying to raise the limb from her side. The claw marks had dried red, but they still sung with pain as she shifted the wing. Earth studied them, his face tensed along his brow. “Stupid beast got a lucky swipe.”

“Hm, indeed.” He replied absentmindedly, still eyeing the wounds. His own wings flickered behind him as he continued. “You might be okay to leave these ones, as long as you don’t pick the scabs or strain the limb. They’ve clotted very quickly, so hopefully they stay like that long enough to heal.”

“How long will that take?” Ganymede asked, his body settling on her other side as she pulled her wing back. “We’re supposed to fly today, aren’t we?”

“We can stay for a day or so. The hunting will be harder, but we can’t risk her reopening the wounds and possibly infecting the wing.” Earth reasoned, and Europa scowled at the way they’d begun to speak as if she wasn’t right there. Before she could cobble together a snarky comment, Earth spoke again. “We need to get back. I don’t know how long Jupiter will keep the group in one place before sending someone to find us. We can’t risk more celestials getting lost.”

“R-right.” Ganymede nodded shakily, turning to her again and pressing against her side. “Can you stand?”

“Of course.” She grumbled, her previous fear and panic fermenting into embarrassment and shame. Her kill still lay before her, broken open and covered in dirt, while her body felt ready to collapse in on itself. 

Trying her hind legs first, she slowly pushed up with them, warily testing her good foreleg for any shaking as it took her weight. The injured limb stayed curled against her chest, reluctant to even try and stretch it out again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Earth’s gaze zero in on her useless leg.

“What happened to your leg?” He blurted out, stepping into her path before she could even try to hop forward. 

“None of your concern.” She ground out stiffly, her old anger at the living world rising again. 

“Actually, it definitely is.” He sighed, ignoring her glare as he reached out to touch the limb. His foreleg paused inches from it, his gaze returning to hers’. “I’m not going to hurt you, Europa. I just want to help.”

She wanted to protest, to shout again about his hatred of her and his love for the Earthlings, but the recent fight rang loudly in her mind. The Earth had injured, possibly even killed, his own Earthlings to save Europa. He didn’t even try to stop Ganymede from snapping ones’ neck. 

“...fine.” She relented, nodding for him to continue.

The touch hurt, more than she expected, but she held her breath and tried to stay quiet as the Earth gently pulled the limb from her side. He frowned as he ran his talons across it, testing the scales along it with his own. 

“It’s inflamed. But I can’t see a cut or feel a broken bone.” He muttered, possibly to himself, before glancing back at her. “What caused this?”

“I-I’m not sure?” She tried, then dipped her head to avoid his gaze, too exhausted to play ‘avoid the question’. “It got kicked. By an Earthling.”

“When you caught that?” He asked, glancing at the prey beside her. She shook her head, tensing as his gaze narrowed. “When?”

“Uh…back with the gemsbok?” She breathed, trying to remember how long ago that even was. The Earth frowned in confusion, so she elaborated. “It wasn’t this bad before, just a bit achy. I could ignore it. But it just…gave out when I was trying to run after you guys.”

Ganymede’s neck rested over hers’, placing a light pressure that helped settle her racing heart. He rumbled against her, “Why didn’t you say anything? I’d have never agreed to this hunt if I knew you were hurt!”

“Exactly! We had to go hunting! I-I couldn’t keep being terrible at it!” Europa protested, ashamed by the pathetic whine in her voice. “It wasn’t that bad! I could still walk fine!”

“Did it hurt, though? When you walked on it?” Earth asked, moving his talons to touch the joint of the limb. She nodded stiffly, confused as to what he was thinking. “Europa, I know it feels like these organic bodies never stop complaining about things, but pain signals are there for a reason. You need to listen to them and treat injuries more gently. Otherwise you get this.”

“What’s wrong with it, then?” She huffed, her ears burning as her humiliation grew. Stupid Earthling rules. They couldn’t just evolve an ‘instant healing’ trait?

“Most likely a muscle tear.” He hummed, gently releasing her foreleg to curl against her side again. “I can’t feel anything broken or popped, thankfully, but it’s going to need a lot of rest if you don’t want a permanent limp. If it’s a larger tear than I think, you might not be able to use that leg again.”

“What! B-but-” She flinched back, horrified and near-nauseous with panic. “I can’t hunt? Ugh, Jupiter’s never going to let me out of his sight again!”

“For good reason.” Europa ignored Callisto’s unhelpful comment, reflecting on the…regretful-looking Earth? Huh? I didn’t know he could make that face.

“I’m sorry, Europa.” He breathed, staring at the limb before lifting his gaze to meet hers’. “I know you really want this, to be able to prove something, but you don’t need to risk your health for it. No one is going to think less of you.”

“Easy for you to say.” She hissed, but the bite wasn’t there. Her core felt deflated, trapped in the gravity of this dumb rock she was stuck on. “Is there really nothing I can do to fix it?”

“Rest. Lots of it. Don’t even move that limb until I check it again.” He forced a more optimistic smile now, injecting some levity into his words. “I know it probably goes against every rule in your mind, but please listen to me just this once. If you rest that limb enough, it may heal well enough for me to teach you hunting before all this is over, okay?”

“Okay.” She conceded, dipping her head as his words sank in. At her sides, the pressure of Ganymede and Callisto helped to ground her in the moment. At least I have them…wait?

“Where’s Io?” She raised her head again, glancing around the wreaked clearing for the yellow dragon. 

Ganymede tensed, sending her a sheepish look as he admitted, “Oh, yeah, oops. We left him to follow with the prey.”

“You did WHAT?” Europa exclaimed, turning on the grey-green dumbass. “What if he gets attacked too? Why’d you leave him?”

“Babe, you were in trouble! I had to come save you as fast as I could! And he offered to watch the food!” Ganymede tried to defend himself, taking a step back from her angry stare. With Callisto moving to take more of her weight, she swiped at him with her tail. 

“Don’t do that again!”

“Yes, babe.”

…

Thankfully, Io’s only attackers were a small collection of striped creatures he’d been distracted by. Distracted enough that, by the time they’d limped over to him, he still hadn't registered their presence. He was crouched low against the sandy soil, staring as tiny heads popped up to stare back at him warily. 

“Io! I see you’ve found the meerkats.” Earth trotted up, sporting her messy kill along his back. She’d tried to protest his insistence on bringing it back, not least of all because the blood was ruining his pretty feathers, but he’d won in the end. At least now she’d have something to show Jupiter. Maybe it’ll soften the blow of one of his Galilean moons being rendered useless?

“O-oh! Is t-that w-what they a-are?” Io raised his head at the words, turning to see them approach. His excited smile slipped away as he noticed her, though, and he abandoned the meerkats to run towards her. “E-Europa! W-what h-happened?”

“Lions.” Earth replied, revealing a name she could put to her attackers at last. “Starved ones at that. Some coalition down enough on their luck to try and steal from a dragon.”

“O-oh? B-but are y-you o-okay?” He turned the question directly to her, his eyes quickly catching on the jaw scratch before lowering to the curled limb. “A-are you h-hurt?”

“I just need some rest, Io.” She downplayed, too tired to go through another humiliating round of explaining her own thoughtlessness. “I’ll be fine.”

“G-good!” He smiled brightly again, pressing his head under her jaw gently. Despite the mild sting, she allowed it, glad that he trusted her enough not to ask awkward follow-up questions. I’ll get enough of that from Jupiter.

“We still have a ways to go. We better keep moving.” Earth interrupted, pulling the bodies Io had been guarding onto his back. Io darted over to pick one up, quickly balancing it on his back as well. “The Sun is well and truly up now, so I reckon Jupiter’s going to bite my head off for this.”

“He won’t.” Ganymede stated, more certain about that statement than she felt. “I’ll speak to him, let him know it was our fault. He can’t blame you for saving his moons.”

“Don’t phrase it like that.” She hissed in his ear, but he just smiled in reply. Earth at least looked grateful, though the amused grin on his face as he watched them was a point of annoyance. 

As they walked on, Europa tried not to panic about her options. Even with two other moons to lean on, she was the slowest walker there, forcing everyone to adhere to her pace. The leg ached, her shoulder growing tired of holding it up. But when she moved to stretch it, the pain flared back to life. On top of that, her other legs were growing tired under the uneven weight distribution, leaving her winded far quicker than her helpers. 

The idea of sitting around camp like this, even for just a few days, sounded agonizing. Especially if all her friends were out hunting while she was forced to rest and stay still. She wouldn’t even be able to play properly with the little moons. Himalia's going to be so disappointed. 

“Your face is awfully wrinkled there, Europa.” Callisto nudged her face, breaking her thought process. “Worrying about anything silly again?”

“Shut up, Callisto.” She mumbled back automatically, thinking it over in her head before adding. “I-I don’t want to be useless. Jupiter’s always expecting great things from us, and I’ve only been letting him down recently. He’ll be so disappointed."

“Europa, he won’t be disappointed.” Callisto assured her, continuing in an uncharacteristically soft voice. “Upset? Worried? A bit angry? Sure. But not disappointed. He just wants you to be safe, especially after almost losing you two to exile.”

“Callisto’s right.” Ganymede added, “He’ll probably sit you down for a lecture about ‘not being foolish’ and ‘using your head’, but he’ll be more relieved than anything. And now he gets a captive audience for his stories, eh?”

“Oh Stars, I didn’t even think of that.” She moaned, but even that situation seemed less unappealing by the minute. As dull as he could be at times, finally getting off her feet and resting with her planet sounded wonderful. Maybe this rest thing won’t be so bad…at least until the boredom sets in.

Up ahead, Earth was acting weird. He’s risen onto his hindlegs, his wings raised on either side of him as he flickered them, scattering light into Europa’s eyes irritatingly.

“What’s he doing?” She asked Io as they caught up. The yellow dragon grinned at her widely before explaining.

“H-he saw J-Jupiter! I-in the d-distance.” Io turned back to watch the feathered dragon. “H-He’s t-trying to g-get his a-attention.”

The two moons beside her moved forward curiously, forcing her to do the same. Straining her eyes, she tried to find her planet in the messy mix of browns and greens. She was half convinced her eyesight was failing as well, until she realised the ‘hill’ she’d been overlooking was getting steadily closer. 

Now that her planet was only metres away, her previous calm began to leak out of her again, the brief uplift from her friends fading away like the dawn. She didn’t have a plan, not even an opening statement, when her planet finally reached them. 

He was alone, slowing from his lope to stop in front of Earth. The two planets exchanged a few words, before his gaze rose to settle square on her. Times up.

“Europa?” His voice was confused, and his face was lined with worry as he dipped down to find her eyes. She pulled her gaze down, twisting her head to avoid his stare. “Why did-”

“I’m sorry!” She gasped out, interrupting him before he could ask more. She was so exhausted, she just wanted to sleep, not further drain herself by recounting the last few days of embarrassment. “I-I didn’t- I just wanted to help! To be useful! So you can keep us!”

“Keep you?” He frowned, not following her erratic thoughts. “Why- Oh, Europa, I’m not going to let Sol send you away again, no matter what. I-it was my mistake, letting him do it the first time. I could have stood up to him.”

“Hey, it’s okay, Big Guy.” Ganymede led her closer to the gas giant as he spoke, grinning up at their planet. “We’ll worry about it later. I think Europa just wants a hug right now.”

“No I-” She tried to protest, but once Jupiter had pulled her against his side, she found herself speechless. 

Her leg complained at the movement, but she adjusted her position to let it flop against her planet’s warm scales. As she tried to lift her head up to glare at Ganymede, Jupiter’s muzzle gently pushed her back down, the low rumbling from his throat weakening her resolve to stay awake. Letting her head fall down as well, she sighed into the embrace, relieved to finally not be moving. Every limb in her body leaked with pain, each one slowly drained by the heat radiated from the gas giant holding her close. 

A part of her that was still paying a bit of attention to the world around her registered movement as her planet gently settled her over his back. His wings rose around her, holding her still as she dozed off. The occasional rumbling below told her he was probably talking, but not to her. She wouldn’t have been listening even if he was. She was far too lost in the waves of sleepiness her organic form was being melted by. The lingering worries that rested on her chest became lighter and lighter, until she could merely blow them away. And while they’d inevitably rest on her again when she woke up, that wasn’t her concern right now. She was exactly where she wanted to be, just for the moment, and that was enough.

Chapter Text

“Is that it? Up ahead.” Mars raised his voice over the winds billowing into their faces, using his nose to point vaguely down at the ground below. 

On his right, Earth beat his wings to avoid narrowly missing Mars’ own, squinting down at the distant surface intently. Wind whipped at both their eyes, forcing them to shutter against the sting.

The land had fallen into open grasses and brush after the brief mountains they’d fought their way across that morning, leaving Mars oddly glad to see such empty stretches again. Now, the colours were shifting from dulled browns to darker shades, airbrushed with faint yellows and greens. While the air this high up was choppy at times, the slipstreams and eddies that had chased them over the rocky heights had nearly tossed many of them into the dirt below. Even his little moons had struggled to stay anchored to his back, their little claws digging in tighter and tighter until he’d needed to ask them to stop. Boring is better than that, at least.

“May-? It loo- the same as-erything else.” Earth’s scattered reply reached his ears, the feathered dragon shaking his head in some attempt to clear his vision of the small clouds that had rolled under them. “I’m looking fo- somewhere near-river, bu- can’t see-this high up!”

“Should we go lower?” Mars suggested, eyeing his friend carefully. 

The living planet had been more stressed than usual lately, much to everyone’s disadvantage, considering he was the informant for this trip. Mars had only truly noticed it after he’d come trailing back with Jupiter and all the Galilean moons one morning, telling everyone that they needed to stay in that rocky, uncomfortable camp for a few more days. It had not been a popular decision, but few could argue when one of Jupiter’s own moons was injured and in need of rest. 

The Earth had been non-stop since, taking groups out for supervised hunts or trailing groups on solo trial-hunts. And when he wasn’t doing that, he’d been talking the ears off of any soul who would listen about where they were heading or why it was an ideal route. Venus had snarked that Earth was talking mostly just to convince himself, but Mars had just felt tired watching him. It seemed like the longer they stayed in one place, the more agitated Earth got. It gave us a few more opportunities to improve at hunting, I suppose. But I’m certainly glad to be moving again as well.

Earth glanced quickly over one shoulder, checking the locations of the following dragons, before sending him a stiff nod. Mars copied the blue-green dragon as he slowly tilted his wings down, marginally dipping their steady forward course downwards. The slope was miniscule, but still significant enough to drop them below the cloud line after a few minutes. 

The area below was open and flat, coloured only slightly more than the previous land they had crossed by short, leafless grey trees. Now that they were closer to the ground, he could make out the sliver of brown tracing its way east beneath their flight path. It seemed to wind around little islands of dirt and plants effortlessly, joined by other smaller streams as it flowed onwards. The empty edges told him this river, while far bigger than any they’d seen so far, was not at its fullest. Mars found himself painfully reminded of his own long lost rivers that had carved his surface into similar rivets so long ago. 

Landing sites seemed to be in short supply, a thick layer of trees coating every stretch and hill, so Earth kept moving them forward, adjusting his stoop into a horizontal flight once again. As the living planet swung his head to and fro searching, Mars tried to do the same. 

I’m not really sure what we’re even looking for. Mars traced the river, hoping to spot some area with no sharp trees or thick vegetation. The land raced beneath them so fast, it was difficult to pick out areas of actual use and not just oddly coloured patches of plants. Beside him, Earth’s steady path forward remained unmoved, informing Mars that his friend was having similar luck.

Just as he was about to request they go lower, a strange anomaly caught his eye. To the north, just off his left wing, the land appeared to darken minutely, as if shadows had coalesced over it. Risking a full head-turn, Mars fixed his gaze on the landmark, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. 

It looked like a hole. A massive, ridged hole, carved into the Earth’s surface and scattered with tiny Earthling structures around the rim. The west sides were hugged by deep, jagged shadows, displaying the stepped structure that had been formed in the walls. Mars didn’t know much, but he did know that holes didn’t form like that naturally. Humans.

Earth had made it something of a game to point out areas of human influence while they flew, showing Mars the farming field lines and concrete roads with a fascinated air, but Mars had found it all rather morbid. He’d known the humans had been shaping his friend’s surface for a while now, but it was jarring to see just how numerous they really were, even in this seemingly inhospitable land. And now, he felt almost sick at the sight of the damage, the sheer scale of the wounds torn into the planet by his beloved Earthlings. The fact he too must have seen it, but didn’t even bat an eye nor call Mars’ attention to it, told the red dragon this wasn’t something he wanted to talk about.

“There!” Earth called, pulling Mars’ gaze forward just in time to avoid a mid-air collision, his single word far easier to pick up over the whistling wind. The feathered dragon stooped abruptly, flaring his tail to turn in a tight circle below Mars, and began winging towards a small area of trampled plant life. How he’d spotted it, Mars had no clue, but he trusted his judgment all the same.

Instead of immediately diving after him, Mars swung around to check Jupiter and the others had seen the new direction. All too often, the Earth seemed to forget that not everyone in their group could dart and twist in the air as easily as the smaller planets, leaving the giants to clumsily make their way down after him at sudden notice.

The two largest dragons were already beginning the slow, careful manoeuvring needed for their own landings, clearly having noted Earth’s move before he’d committed to it. Going by the sudden exodus of Jupiter’s moons, three small and one larger, the largest planet was expecting a bumpy touchdown. Saturn was similarly eyeing the patch of land uncertainly, but the only alternative option of the nearby fast-flowing river didn’t give him a great many choices. Their moons shot ahead of them, darting down and clearing away from the landing site and into the short trees.

When Mars glanced back at the ice giants, he caught Uranus attempting to catch Neptune’s attention, the darker ice giant looking half-asleep on the wing. Whacking him with his tail appeared to work, though Mars couldn’t say it looked painless. But, now that both were more or less aware, they too began their slow circling as they waited for space to land.

I should get down too, unless I want to be squished by Jupiter. Mars folded his rust-red wings, letting gravity win for a few heart-racing seconds, before throwing them out again to resume the fight. He glided, inches from the treetops, waiting for his momentum to slow enough for a calm landing. Just in time, his altitude faltered right above the clearing, leaving only a few wing beats necessary for a soft touchdown on the ruined vegetation.

As soon as he was down, Phobos and Deimos darted off his back and resumed their usual business of investigating every inch of the new area. Cautiously aware of the incoming giants, Mars was forced to scoop them up again, utilizing his thick tail to pull them along as he ducked under the treeline. 

“Aw! But we wanna play! We’ve been sitting for HOURS!” Phobos grumbled, but made no real effort to break from his hold. While it had been a bit of a nightmare at the start, Mars was beginning to suspect the seriousness of their situation was starting to dawn on his little moons just enough for them to listen. Selectively listen, that is. 

“You can play when we make camp.” Mars muttered back, forcing his larger form through the tightly packed twigs and branches to reach the flickers of colourful scales hidden deeper within. “We need to get everyone down and accounted for first, remember?”

“Yes! Oh! Can I be in charge of counting again?” Deimos asked, his wide grin and excited eyes forcing Mars to nod distantly. Of course, a real count would be conducted by some dragon who could actually make it past thirty, but letting Deimos exhaust himself trying would at least get him to sleep faster. “YAY!”

“Now shhh! Remember what I said about noise?” Mars quizzed the two as he continued, half-convinced they’d deleted that entire day of his frantic attempts to communicate some level of caution and self-preservation into his moons. As if Venus laughing at him hadn’t been embarrassing enough.

“Oh, oh, I remember!” Phobos claimed, jumping after Mars as the red-scaled dragon squeezed through a thicket of tangled twigs. “You said ‘be completely silent when I say, or a massive creature's gonna eat you!’”

“No! He said ‘be silent or I’ll eat you!”

“He did not!”

“Yes he did!”

“Nuh-”

“Quiet!” Mars whirled around to glare at them, trying to keep his face stern and unmoving despite the amusing, mid-fight pose they’d frozen into. “Or I will eat you.”

“Aw, but Mars, we’ll be good!”

“Yeah! We’ll listen! Please don’t eat us!”

“I’m not going to eat you.” Mars huffed, the exhaustion of flying all day catching up with him and dragging his body down. “But I really need you to listen when I say stuff like ‘be quiet’ or ‘stay still’. This isn’t our orbit, and you could be seriously hurt if you don’t treat this seriously. So, please, just keep your voices down for a bit, OK?”

“OK, Mars!” Phobos nodded easily.

“Sorry, Mars.” Deimos dipped his head, lifting his small shoulders and curling his short tail over his legs. Mars stepped forward, anticipatory worry twisting his core, nudging the upset dragon gently on the head.

“That’s alright, Deimos. I know you guys are just excited, and I’m glad you’re having fun with all this.” 

It was truly a blessing his little ones weren’t more stroppy or grumpy, given the harsh and unforgiving climate they’d been traveling through recently. Other planets had already had tantrums from their younger moons, often after long days in the Sun or dull hours of flying. Mars wasn’t sure if the younger ones were more affected by the conditions, or they were just more willing to cry about it to others. I could definitely go for a good cry one of these days. Not in the middle of camp, though.

“B-but what if we aren’t?” Deimos’ expression was rapidly crumpling, and Mars wanted to curse himself for jinxing it. “I-I like playing still…but the thorns are always hurting and my belly keeps aching! M-my head’s always stinging and it’s s-so n-noisy at n-night! And-and I-I wanna g-go home!”

Scooping his moons up had become as easy as breathing by this point, his forelegs gently looping around Deimos to draw him close to the red planet’s side. Phobos wiggled in as well, pressing up against his crying brother insistently. Mars carefully curled his tail around them all, keeping the pointed tip away from his moons.

“I know, Deimos, I know.” Mars muttered, waiting for the little moon to cry himself out a bit before attempting any more talking. He’d learnt long ago that trying to get through to an upset moon was near-pointless if they were too worked up to listen. And, it gave him time to consider his answer. 

I want to go home too, probably wasn’t the answer his moon was looking for, even if it was the truth. No, what he needed was reassurance that he wasn’t alone in feeling like this, but also the assurance that his planet would try to help him in any way he could. How do I say that without lying? I can only help to a painfully limited extent, and half the issues he admitted to are outside my control… Divide and conquer, then.

“Hey, can you tell me what feels like the biggest problem right now? In your body?” Mars tried, lowering his head to meet Deimos’ slowly drying eyes. The little moon sniffed.

“M-my head h-hurts.” He stammered out, one foreleg reaching up to rub at his rust-red skull. “I-it’s heavy and achy and making me dizzy.”

“When did you notice it first?” Mars probed, itching to go find Earth and ask him how to fix this. Then embarrassed that he couldn’t solve this problem with his own moon by himself, instead being forced to bother another planet about it. Later. Worry about that later.

“W-when we got past the mountains.” Deimos admitted, his head coming to rest against Mars’ leg with a sigh of defeat. “I-it hurts more now than it did earlier.”

“Let’s deal with this first then, OK?” Mars gently nudged his smallest moon towards his lowered wing, waiting for him to clamber up. “Hop up, and we’ll go find Earth. See if he can help.”

“OK, Mars.” Deimos agreed, slowly crawling back onto Mars’ back and settling into his spot just below the red planet’s shoulders. Phobos remained on the ground, stubbornly marching ahead as Mars trotted after, only occasionally glancing back to check his planet was following fast enough.

In the time between his landing and finally reaching the others, the rest of the planets had managed to make their own landings. The scales he’d spied earlier had long since migrated out into the clearing again, which is where Phobos had led him to. The ground was coated with broken, stripped branches and dried leaves, with the occasional tree entirely pushed over. Mars idly wondered what had caused this mess, since it had already looked wreaked from the air. Humans, maybe? But they seem a bit less…chaotic than this.

Jupiter was the first planet he noticed, naturally. The gas giant was sitting with a bent head, talking softly to Saturn, the paler of the two already getting comfortable on the scattered vegetation. Their moons had gathered nearby, talking in huddles or flopped on the ground in exhaustion.

Venus caught his eye next; the orange dragon flapping and stretching his wings in the centre of the clearing, being watched by an unimpressed Mercury and Uranus. The pale ice giant was spreading his own wings too, but only so he could pick stray brown leaves and twigs from them. Someone had a rough landing, then.

Earth was surprisingly hard to spot initially, but he was doing a good job of blending in with Neptune’s scales as he stood before the darker ice giant. The two appeared to be talking, though it looked more like Earth’s usual tactic of ‘talk at the person until they simply nod and agree’, rather than any equal exchange. Mars let a small grin cross his face as he walked over to the living planet. I better save Neptune before Earth talks away the last of his sanity.

“Earth!” He called out, stepping up beside his friend and throwing a wing over him. The feathered dragon jumped slightly at the contact before turning a grin to him, freeing the ice giant briefly from his lecture. “Sorry if you’re busy, but I’ve got a problem.”

“Mars? What’s the issue?” Earth glanced back at Neptune as he replied. “I can help, but I just need to finish-”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Terra!” Neptune quickly interrupted, already backing away from the two dragons. “I heard you loud and clear! It won’t ever happen again!"

“Um…if you’re sure?” Earth watched the blue dragon retreat hurriedly away, heading towards Uranus and his own moons, while Mars looked between them with a confused frown. 

“What’s that about?” Mars asked, curious now. Phobos pointedly nipped at his talons, but the red dragon merely lifted his foreleg out of reach and turned to Earth. The blue-green dragon huffed before meeting his gaze to reply.

“I don’t even know, dude. The ice giants nearly collided when they were landing, so I was trying to find out why.” Earth revealed, twitching his tail in annoyance. “From what I saw, Neptune wasn’t paying any attention and Uranus ended up in the bushes trying to avoid him.”

“Oh? I’m sure it was just a mistake, Earth.” Mars wasn’t sure why this was an issue worth reaming the ice giant out over. Half the landings they made these days were near-disasters, though they had been getting steadily better. “It wasn’t exactly an easy landing site.”

“No, but I’d still prefer it if everyone was at least awake while they landed, not staring off into nowhere with the reaction time of a dead sloth. Especially for difficult landings.” Earth rolled his eyes and lifted his wings in a shrug. “Whatever. If it keeps happening, I’ll make Jupiter deal with it. He can work out what's going on. I’m not playing mediator for the entire system!”

“Yeah…” Mars’ agreement trailed off, now unsure how to re-approach his own question for the living planet. Thankfully, Earth beat him to it, turning to him with a fresh expression and a new smile. 

“So, what was the issue?” 

“Deimos’ head hurts.” Mars twisted his body to show the little moon, still curled up on his spine with a grumpy frown, watching as Earth peered down at him. “He says it started about midday, but it got worse once he was moving around.”

“Alright, I’ll see if I can help.” Earth’s words calmed the fluttering anxiety that had sprung up in his chest, relieved that the living planet didn’t sound too worried at his description. Earth nudged Deimos gently, waiting for the little moon to focus on him before asking, “Can you tell me how you feel right now?”

“T-tired…like all m-my limbs want to fall off, b-but also my head wants to a-as well!” Deimos whined, rubbing again at his head, claws catching on his short horns. “A-and everything keeps s-spinning and tipping o-over!”

“Well, that doesn’t sound very nice.” Earth’s tone probably would've sounded patronising to the little moon in better circumstances, but Deimos just blinked dully at him instead of getting offended. Mars’ anxiety twitched back to life. “Can you open your mouth for a second? I just need to check something.”

Further igniting the red planet’s concern, the small moon actually listened and obliged the request, opening his jaws in a wide yawn. As Earth peered at him, Mars tried to see what his friend was looking for. The two rows of teeth glimmered in the sunlight, the front ones long and pointed while the teeth further back flattened out into more level peaks. The narrow tongue lay at the bottom, surrounded by pink-ish red gums. Nothing stood out to Mars, but Earth drew back with a nod.

“Deimos, how much have you had to drink today?” Earth asked, waited for an answer, then realised his mistake. “You can close your mouth.”

The little rust-red dragon snapped his jaws closed. “Um, in the morning we drank some yucky mud, I think?”

“Yeah, that was before we started flying.” Mars confirmed, recalling the hasty struggle to convince the two moons to drink before they set off for a long day of flying. “I-I don’t think Deimos drank much. Is that what’s wrong?”

“Well, that and being out in the Sun all day. I think he’s got a bit of heat exhaustion.” Earth nodded, his tone far less accusatory than Mars was expecting, given the content. I should’ve made him drink more before we left, then he wouldn’t be unwell and I wouldn’t be adding more problems to our list. 

“Dude, calm down.” Earth’s words, accompanied by a firm headbutt, snapped Mars out of his inner panic. “You’know, you look like you could use some water too, honestly. Let’s grab one of the giants and check out the river, hey?”

“S-sure, that sounds…like a plan.” Mars’ scattered thoughts weren’t helping his attempts to follow Earth’s words, so he settled for merely following the feathered dragon as he trotted over to a nervous-looking Neptune.

Phobos had decided to join his brother at some point, so now Mars was weighed down by both of his moons as he idly watched Earth recruit the ice giant for their trip. Neptune appeared to agree readily enough, though he couldn’t hear the conversation well enough to be sure Earth hadn’t re-visited his poor landing performance to aid his persuasion. 

He walked slowly after them as they made for the river, now joined by a few other moons Mars barely recognised. Exiting the clearing meant more thickets of tangled branches blocking their path, but the presence of a giant relieved a large portion of the labour. Though smaller than the other three, Neptune was still massive enough to force bushes over and crush patches of thorns that crossed his path, leaving a messy trail for the rest to pick their way through.

Mars tried to keep his focus only on navigating through the vegetation, rather than his spiralling mood. It was frustrating how quickly these organic brains seemed to fall into a well of worry and stress at even the slightest reminder of their situation. If he was in orbit, he’d merely turn to a new topic, his mind untouched by useless chemicals that latched onto stressors and heightened them over and over again, until he was stuck with a squishy brain full of negative thoughts and hopeless worries. There must be a way to flush these silly things. Clear them out and start with a nice clean mind again.

As the brush fell away, they were greeted by a few short ledges of rock separating them from the river’s banks. It was low enough to jump down, but the crumpling shale stole anyone’s confidence in such a course of action. While he waited for the dragons ahead of him to carefully edge their way down, Mars gazed out over the stream. 

It was mud-brown yet again, scattered with sticks and leaves from the bank, but the rapid flow of the water gave him hope that it would taste a mite cleaner than previous drinks. Every mouthful up to this point had been from still, stagnant, or nearly solid sources of water. A rushing, roaring river was more to Mars’ expectations when he pictured Earth’s surface, not the pools from before. Finally, a real, proper water source. Took long enough.

Taking his own careful turn picking his path down the rocks, he spied the rest of the group darting forward to stare at the moving water, impatiently waiting for Neptune to search it for unseen Earthlings. The ice giant padded aimlessly around the shallow bank, glancing occasionally up at Earth with a questioning eye. 

“I don’t think there’s anything in here…but the water keeps moving so it’s kinda hard to search.” Neptune poked at the water’s surface with one foreleg, watching the liquid splash up to strike his chest and wings. “It feels nice, though. Nice and cool.”

“Focus, please.” Earth called from the bank, his own forelegs carefully drawn back from the thick mud that stretched out to the water. “If you can’t find anything, we’re probably okay to start drinking. Keep wary, though. Crocs are sneaky.”

“I can stay in the river, if that helps?” Neptune offered, splashing back to stand parallel to the waiting group on the river bank. “To keep an eye out?”

“Sure, whatever.” Earth tiredly replied, eyeing the mud reluctantly. If Neptune noticed the dismissal in his tone, he didn’t heed it.

“Is the ground supposed to be eating my legs?” The ice giant asked after a short pause, yanking one leg from the river to show it caked in wet, clumped earth. The living planet sighed, tearing his gaze from the bank to the giant yet again. “It tickles."

“Don’t stand still. I’m really not in the mood to organise a rescue mission.” Earth ground out, pacing over to a rock that rose over the surface of the water, crouching low to spring onto it. He pulled his tail and wings high, away from the rushing brown liquid, while carefully lowering his head to drink the water tentatively. 

“Oh, OK!” Neptune yanked another leg out of the mud, stumbling forward to regain his footing in the river. As the ice giant resumed his pacing of the stream, the others began to slog through the mud to reach the water. Neptune’s own moons seemed to be fighting a losing battle with their major moon, who was desperately trying to prevent the small dragons from jumping into the river after their planet.

Mars was half-tempted to try and join Earth on his little rock, but the rising in his friend’s feathers told him any fooling around wouldn’t be met with anything but annoyance. Instead, Mars carefully stepped into the sodden ground, sinking immediately into the slop, and creeping forward until he could touch the water’s edge with his talons. 

Phobos slid quickly from his back to flop into the mud, grinning excitedly as the water lapped over his feet. Deimos needed a bit more convincing, but after being lowered onto a nearby rock just breaching the mud, he was finally convinced to drink. 

Only once he was assured that both moons had quenched their thirst did Mars lower his own head and draw in a small mouthful of the water. Past experience had warned him off gulping down huge mouthfuls, lest he find himself picking grit from his teeth all evening, but this water was mercifully smooth. The earthy-tangy taste was still present, but diluted, far more tolerable than he’d expected. I hope we never have to go so long without a river again. This is so much nicer.

“Watch it!” 

Mars’ head shot up to catch the tail-end of Earth ducking from one of Neptune’s wings, the ice giant having spread them out without warning, nearly knocking the feathered dragon from his perch. Neptune quickly pulled the offending limb back in, offering Earth a sheepish expression.

“Oops, sorry!” The blue dragon apologized, resuming his pacing to put some distance between him and the frustrated glare the living planet was giving him. His occasional wing flaps still sent sprays of water into the air, but at least he was far enough away that the feathered dragon wasn’t soaked immediately.

Not wanting to watch Earth bite another dragon’s head off, Mars waded out to Earth’s rock and peered up at him. His friend was trying to calm down, that much was obvious, but the tension in his jaw paired with the raised ruff of feathers around his neck told Mars it wasn’t working too well.

“You good, dude?” He called up, eyeing the rock doubtfully. Even if he could climb it, there definitely wasn’t enough space at the top for two dragons to sit comfortably. Earth glanced down in mild surprise before forcing out a breath and slumping his head down to meet Mars’.

“Just peachy.” Earth grumbled, pulling his wings close to his sides and curling his tail higher as Neptune’s large form wandered by again, sending splashes of water threateningly close. “Do you think Jupiter will let me run off for, like, three days? You guys’ll survive fine, right?”

“I hope you’re joking. We’d be dead by the first dawn.” Mars laughed, slipping a sympathetic smile onto his face as he considered the planet’s words. “You should still ask, though. If you need a break, you need a break. Jupiter will understand.”

“Um, maybe if I hadn’t managed to near-permanently injure one of his moons, sure.” Earth rolled his eyes, letting his head flop against the rock beneath it. “Also, we’re about to pass though one of the most popular national parks in South Africa, so he kind of needs me to guide us around the humans.”

“OK, but you can still do that while getting a bit of a break.” Mars turned the problem over in his head, hoping to emulate Jupiter’s likely solution to such an issue. “I know you’re basically the only one who knows about this place, but we’re not wholly incompetent. Hunting, for instance! You could stay at camp and let some others lead the hunts?”

“Hmm.” Earth paused in his moping to consider the red planet’s words, tilting his head doubtfully. “I guess some of them have been doing pretty well on the solo-test hunts, but do you really think they're ready?”

“Only one way to find o-” Mars’ reply was cut off by a squeal of excitement from further down the bank. A few moons had gathered into a rough circle, all staring down at something on the dryer mud.

Mars stepped forward, trying to see what the fuss was about, while Earth remained on his rock, rising onto his hind legs to peer over the group. As a few moons shuffled around, the red planet caught a glimpse of a small creature making its way along the river back, unperturbed by the flock of dragons.

“Wow! What is it?” One little Neptunian moon asked, flapping up into a jump as the creature moved slowly towards her on short, stiff legs. The creature’s yellow-black body was wide, almost round, with plates of raised ridges arranged evenly along its back. The head was tiny, poking out from under the armour at the same level as the legs, its beady black eyes vaguely considering the surroundings.

“It’s hard!” Phobos, who must have snuck away from his watch at some point, was now boldly tapping the plated armour of the creature with his talons. Clearly not appreciating this, the creature hurried its pace from amble to walk.

“Leave them alone.” Earth called over, the command ruined by the thread of amusement running through his tone. “It’s a tortoise. That shell keeps them safe, but they can still feel through it. They can also bite pretty hard, so don’t annoy it too much.”

“Ah, that’s what you’d miss on the hunting trips, isn’t it?” Mars smirked up at his friend, glad to see him looking a bit more awake now that he had an Earthling to explain. “Getting to drown everyone in your endless Earthling ramblings.”

“Hey! They aren’t endless!” The feathered snout curled in mock-offence, tossing his head with a huff. “And even if they were, they’re important enough to justify it!”

“If you say so.” Mars laughed, turning back to watch the tiny tortoise continue its steady journey along the bank, seemingly oblivious to the small horde of dragons slowly stalking after it. He was relieved to see Deimos among them, creeping after his brother with a smile, though he still looked a little woozy.

So focused on the creature, they didn’t hear the scrambling from the top of the bank until a pale, frustrated ice giant finally shoved his way past a thorny bush, shouting down at the occupied dragons. 

“Oi, mates! You couldn’t let us know where you were wandering off to? I’m so thirsty I could drink that mud from this morning!” Uranus grumbled, fumbling his way down the rocky ledge. Behind Mars, another more excited voice called back.

“Uranus! Look! The water’s so fast down here!” The splashing increased in volume, and Mars turned around just in time to see Neptune barrelling up the stream from where he’d wandered, wings held out and eyes solely focused on the ice giant on the bank. 

“Ea-” Unfortunately, his warning came too late to save the feathered dragon from being swept off his rocky perch and unceremoniously dumped into the muddy water. 

“Eek-” The squeak of shock from Earth was quickly replaced by frantic splashing as the now drenched dragon clawed his way to the bank. If he valued his life a little less, Mars would've laughed at the abrupt colour-change his friend had undergone. The thick mud immediately caked his feathers, forcing Earth to drag each limb free one at a time, hissing under his breath as he did so. 

“Earth?” Mars climbed out himself, meeting his friend on the dry dirt that had so recently been vacated by the tortoise. The blue-green dragon didn’t reply for a moment, standing stiff and tense, head lowered and wings dragging on the ground. The only movement was his tail, which flickered rapidly back and forth. Mars’ amusement shrivelled up. “Are you OK, dude?”

“I-I think you might be right about that break…” Earth breathed, mud and water dripping steadily from all parts of his body, steadily turning the parched soil a deep brown. One drop fell down his face, landing in his open, panting mouth. He spat it out. “...I’m done.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Mars tried for a more positive tone, though it might have been more for his sake than Earth’s. The exhausted, defeated expression contrasted harshly with Earth’s usual attitude, reigniting Mars’ half-buried worries that had been unearthed by the Solar System Trials. He’s just upset about the mud. I’m sure he’ll be alright after some rest. 

“Oh! Sorry!” Neptune’s loud voice made Mars jump, but Earth just sighed and kept his head down, squeezing his eyes closed and clamping his mouth shut. “Um, I didn’t mean to? Are you OK?”

“He’ll be fine, Neptune.” Mars spoke up, assuming anything Earth wanted to say was being kept back for a good reason. The blue giant blinked down at the two rocky planets with a worried frown, eyeing the mud-covered feathers guiltily. “He just needs some rest.”

“Oh, OK! I’m sorry, again!” Neptune added, glancing back at Uranus nervously before darting away to join his fellow ice giant. Mars watched him leave with a sigh, turning back to Earth and nudging his sodden shoulder.  

“Let’s get you back to camp.”

…

“What happened?” 

Luna was the first to meet them as the two planets clambered over the last crushed tree in their path; the grey dragon bounding over from a small gathering of moons, his wings and tail raised in surprise. At his side, Earth lifted his head to greet his moon, a shaky attempt at a carefree smile held there.

“Oh, just a bit of an involuntary mud bath!” The blue-green dragon grinned, shaking out his wings and trying to raise his feathers from their sodden slump along his sides. Mars darted out of range a second too late, earning a splattering of cold mud against his face.

“Ew! Earth, don’t do that!” The red dragon laughed, reaching one foreleg up to wipe at the offending liquid. Mars turned a rueful look to Luna, tilting his head towards his planet. “Watch out, he’s definitely going to try and cover the rest of us in mud in revenge."

“Did you push him in? Or did he fall in?” Luna asked sceptically, eyeing the messy feathers of his planet. “‘Cause that’ll decide where any vengeance will be targeted.”

“Hey! I’m not going to cover anyone in mud for revenge…" Earth huffed, then grinned and tensed his legs, jumping towards his moon before the grey dragon could catch the shift. “I’ll do it for no reason at all!”

“Ear-Earth! Stop! Ew!” Luna scrambled out from under the larger, muddier dragon, his silver-grey scales now smeared with tracks of brown. Glaring at his planet, the moon tried to brush the mud off, only to find it spreading farther over his sides. “Ugh! What was that for?”

“Gotta make it even!” Earth laughed, then rolled his eyes at Luna’s deepening glare. “Don’t worry, it’ll dry and come right off no problem. Your scales are easy to clean.”

“True, I suppose.” Luna remained cautious of another jump attack, but considered Earth’s words before adding, “What about you, then? Are feathers easy to clean?”

“Well, I guess that’s what I get to find out.” Earth’s shoulders slumped at the reminder, spreading one wing to examine the feathers there. “I’m not getting in that river again, so I’ll have to try another method.”

“Um, well, good luck!” Luna awkwardly smiled at Earth, glancing to one side before facing him again. “See you in a bit?”

“Wait, where are you going?” Earth frowned, and even Mars was surprised by the moon’s sudden desire to depart. Luna shuffled his wings against his back, glancing again towards the side where a few other moons were slowly making their way past them. 

“Oh, I’m going with the other moons to get water!” Luna explained, nodding to one of the larger dragons, a green-orange one, as they moved past. “...and maybe explore a bit? We won’t go far, promise!”

Earth’s face hardened for a split second, his steely eyes landing on the other moons with a glare of suspension, but the pleading gaze of his own moon quickly broke his resolve. Dropping his shoulders, the blue-green dragon sighed out a breath before nodding in resignation. 

“Fine, fine. Just, please, don’t find some stupid way to hurt yourselves? Jupiter’s already breathing down my neck about health and safety after that last disaster.” Earth huffed, waving his tail towards the two gas giants still resting at the other side of the clearing. Luna nodded hurriedly to Earth’s words, already turning to follow his friends with no more preamble.

“We’ll be safe! I’ll keep them in line, don’t worry!” 

As the moon darted off, Mars vaguely wondered where his own moons had wandered off to. He hoped they were just hanging out with Neptune’s moons still, and not joining this excursion Luna was so excited about. While he never liked to impose too much on his moons’ freedoms, it was a bit different down here compared to in orbit. If they’re not back by sunset, then I’ll worry.

“Wanna bet how long Luna keeps his temper with all those moons?” Earth’s question turned him from his thoughts, the feathered dragon still watching after the moon group as they faded into the undergrowth. “He’s got Ganymede, Enceladus, and Ariel, so I think those three will be enough to test his sanity.”

“Dude, just ‘cause you can’t control the moons, doesn’t mean Luna can’t.” Mars teased, grinning at his friend’s offended expression. “Ah, don’t worry about it, it’s out of your hands. It’s Luna’s problem now! What happened to taking a break?”

“Ugh, you know that wasn’t going to happen.” Earth sighed, picking at the mud-caked feathers on one foreleg with his talons. “Maybe you’re right, but Luna still doesn’t know many of the threats that might be around here. I can't even predict them with much accuracy.”

“Well then, what difference does it make if you take a break? If it’s all unknown anyway, you might as well rest while you can instead of worrying for no reason.” Mars wasn’t sure how much sense his argument was making, but he was tired of watching his friend being run ragged by the demands of the group. “Come on. Let’s find a way to clean your feathers, then we can have a nap.”

“A nap? Unheard of.” Earth laughed, but didn’t protest as Mars nudged them towards the sunnier side of the clearing. The two giants already reclined there only opened an eye to watch the two of them approach, before swiftly falling back into their own naps.

Just as Mars was going to ask what they should try first, Earth took the lead and spread his wings out to their maximum, holding the feathers a few inches from the ground as he folded his legs underneath him. The Sun’s light caught on a few unmuddied feathers, setting their colours aglow in the growing afternoon. 

“Will that work?” Mars questioned, settling down just at the edge of one wing and eyeing it doubtfully. Earth, his head resting against the floor of scattered plant life, opened one of his eyes at his words.

“Should do. If I can dry the mud up, then all I need to do is preen them and maybe take a dust bath or something.” Earth grumbled, his tail waving vaguely behind him as he complained about things Mars was struggling to follow. “This stupid body doesn’t even have all the stuff you need for feathers. I don’t even have a beak, let alone an uropgial gland! I better not get feather lice or I'll pluck myself.”

“What? That’s a thing?” Mars asked, not totally sure he knew what a ‘lice’ even was, but it didn’t sound like something he wanted to be acquainted with. “How do birds deal with their feathers and lice, then? Or do they all have those uropgial-thingys?”

“Hm, most species do have that gland, and honestly I’m kind of glad I don’t have one. It’s basically an oil secretion that they have to rub all over themselves. A few species don’t, but science is still a little confused on why, as the species are all so separated so it can’t be genetic. But they’re also so differently adapted, so it’s not convergent evolution either? Or maybe it is and they just haven’t found the link? Anyway, the species without them might use dust baths or powdered down instead, and I think that’s probably what…” Earth continued to explain, and Mars relaxed into his own reclined position, ready to listen to his friend ramble on until he fell asleep. 

It was a tried and tested approach to calming the living planet down, and Mars had gotten quite adept at catching a few winks despite the talking. Usually, he tried to act a bit more engaged, but the long day of flying mixed with the warmth of the sunlight on his back was flooding his brain with fuzzy, dozy thoughts, drawing his eyelids down and quieting his mind. Just a little nap. Until the Sun sets.

Even as he floated along in his mind, he could hear the background cadence of his friend, still chatting away. When the voice would occasionally pause, Mars let out small sounds of agreement or vague confusion, waiting until the noise resumed. 

Eventually, though, the noise faded entirely, leaving him with only the soft sounds of nature to listen to. Small calls and movements seemed to come from all angles, a chaotic mix of sounds and scents, though none of them caught the attention of his mind. The ground was surprisingly soft, his scales pressing easily into the trampled leaves and ferns, and even the odd stick poking into his hide couldn’t convince him to break his slumber. The heat on his back grew almost painful, but still he remained trapped in his nap. 

Significant time must have passed, as when Mars finally opened his eyes again, the sky was near-black. The stars were just beginning to show themselves, unimpeded by the light of the absent moon. The darkness was hard to see through, especially compared to their first night on Earth’s surface when Luna’s form had been full and bright. Mars idly wondered when they’d see it like that again, and if they’d be in a completely new environment by then. It felt like they’d travelled an unfathomable distance already, but Earth spoke as if they’d barely left their starting area. I’m never teasing those Earthlings about being so small again. This is miserable.

Lifting his head, pulling up his hind legs, and stretching out his spine, the red dragon bit back a groan at the clicking and popping from his body as he parted his jaws in a wide yawn. He was sure he’d never get used to the constant reminder that he had bones rattling around inside him now, nor the thought that they were melded with his flesh and regenerated his blood. Sometimes, it was a curse to remember anything from Earth’s rants.

As he moved, the small grumbles of two sleeping moons caught his ears, and he glanced down in relief to see his two satellites had returned safely at some point while he’d slept. Pressing one foreleg to each of their heads in turn, he was satisfied to find no excess heat or uncomfortable expressions. Hopefully they’ll be back to normal tomorrow…even if that means I’ll be chasing them around again.

Mars spotted movement to the side of them. The feathered dragon was awake as well, one wing bent awkwardly in front of him as he picked at the longer feathers there. Mars was pretty sure Earth had called them primary feathers, but the red planet had only been focusing on the fact they were apparently vital for his flight.

“Any progress?” Mars asked, pulling his forelegs up and repeating the stretch in opposite, before padding over to his friend. Earth lifted his concentration from the wing, dropping the feather he was running his talons along.

“A bit.” He sighed, picking up another feather to start the process again. “I’m starting to see why so many of my bird species spend ages doing this. It’s an endless task.”

Mars watched the movements for a few breaths, mildly mesmerized by the way dry flakes of mud fell smoothly from the feather’s barbs, leaving them ruffled and disordered, only for another stroke to reform the filaments together again. It certainly looked time-consuming, but also calming, making Mars vaguely regretful that he didn’t have feathers. Just maybe not all over my body. He’s barely fixed his wings, and the body feathers are still browner than the ground.

“Will you be able to fly tomorrow?” Mars didn’t know if Earth planned on another flying day, but he didn’t like the idea of more flying without a hunt or two in between. Jupiter was usually pretty strict about repeated days of flying, but if Earth didn’t like the area they might be forced to move anyway. 

“Maybe? I’d like to try a dust bath in the morning, but honestly I don’t think flying will be necessary.” Earth’s words were muffled by him running a particularly mud-caked feather through his teeth, spitting out the dirt again before continuing. “The area’s really touristy, especially during this time of year, so I don’t think we can risk it. We’ll be on foot until we reach the human camps farther east.”

“On foot? For how long?” Mars tried not to sound too dismayed by the idea, but the thought of walking any extended distance when they had the ability to fly was hard to wrap his head around after so many days on the wing. “How many days is that going to take?”

“Oh, not more than one.” Earth assured him, pulling his talons along the shaft of another feather, realigning the individual barbs back into a solid-looking shape. “It won’t be far, and we’ll probably spend some time hunting first. Ugh, that reminds me, I need to plan the dawn hunting party! And lead it!”

“Dude, don’t even worry about it.” Mars jumped in, his mouth acting faster than his head. “I’ll do it this time. I can lead a hunting party.”

“A-are you sure?” Earth frowned, and Mars fought back the mild hurt at his friend’s doubt. “I can do it. It’s fine. You don’t-”

“But I want to.” Mars insisted, his pride already interfering and strengthening his reluctance to drop this. “I can handle it. I mean, I led that group with Luna a while back? And I’m sure I can find good hunters to take with me. You can trust me.”

“I’m not doubting your ability, I’m just worried this area might have stuff we haven’t seen before.” His friend dropped the last large feather on his wing, letting the limb fold back into place on his back. “We could both take a hunting party? Then if you run into-”

“Nope! You said you needed a break, so I’m giving you one.” Mars eyed the sunken shadows under his friend’s eyes, only partially hidden by the small feathers on his face. “Dude, it’s gotta happen eventually. You can’t keep watching us forever.”

“...okay, you might have a point.” Earth frowned, lowering his head and absentmindedly running his talons through the feathers coating his neck. “But- and I’m being serious- come back the second you think something is off. I don’t care how vague or weird the feeling is, trust it and come back to camp. Okay?”

“Yes, yes, OK.” Mars agreed quickly, relieved that the blue-green dragon might finally be loosening the reins a little and dropping some of the weight he’d been carrying. Now, Mars just had to prove his trust wasn’t miss-placed. “I’ll take the best hunters I can get, and we’ll be extra careful, don’t worry.”

…

I can’t believe this. Mars grumbled to himself as he trotted along, scanning the land ahead for anything alive. The Sun had been up for at least an hour now, completely ruining his plan to find the animals in the low light of dawn. Now they were racing against the heat to catch something before all the sensible Earthlings took cover from the noon Sun. Behind him, he could still hear the back-and-forth arguing of the only two dragons he’d managed to convince. Not even Luna? Stars, those moons are getting too bold at wandering off on their own.

“Hey, Mars!” Venus’s grating voice called, breaking the tense silence he’d been stewing in. “What did Jupiter wanna talk about before we left? I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look so doubtful!”

“Shut up, Venus!” Mars snapped, not in the mood for the cloudy planet’s taunts. Especially when his pride was still smarting from the worried, hesitant conversation Jupiter had whispered to him that morning after finding out Earth wasn’t leading the hunts today. While Mars was reluctant to call it doubt, he couldn’t deny that the momentary shift in the gas giant’s eyes had hurt as he was told Mars was in charge instead. And then all the moons decided to organise their own hunting groups without me, which didn’t help at all! At least Earth wasn’t awake to see all that.

“Aw, come on guys, can we not argue? This could be fun!” Mercury piped up, taking up the rear of their little party. “We can definitely catch something bigger than the moons, if we work together?”

“Hm, that is tempting.” Venus smirked, the small ruff of feathers around his neck lifting as he grew excited by the idea. “Yeah, you know what, let’s show those moons who the better hunters are! We can find something they’d never tackle.”

“Sure, whatever.” Mars chuffed, trying to ease his tight core with a bit of levity, even as Earth’s request rang in his ears. “And when I have to drag your bodies back to camp, you can take the blame.”

“Aw, don’t be so pessimistic.” Mercury called, running up to reach Mars’ side, his stride lengthening to match the red dragon. “We won’t go after anything too big, right Venus?”

“Yeah, yeah, what the Pipsqueak said.” Venus huffed, his attention already diverted to the landscape around them as they walked on. The orange-red dragon had been both impressively grumpy and surprisingly tolerant during their time here; always willing to shout at anyone who got in his way, but oddly quiet about some of the more unpleasant parts of being an organic. Mars wasn’t sure if he should be worried that the cloudy planet was bottling things up, or relieved that he’d decided to only be difficult about select things. Either way, I don’t want to be on the other end of his snarky taunts all day.

Keeping his pace as smooth as he could, Mars skipped over a small fallen tree, eyeing some strange pale scars dragged into the trunk. As the two other planets caught up, Mars scrambled around to get a better look at them, touching one talon to the clear liquid staining the edges. It was a deep gore, thicker than Mars’ own talons could ever hope to inflict, parts of the tree’s grey bark and core having split and cracked under the attack. More alarmingly, it seemed that the attack was responsible for the tree’s collapse as well.

“What did that?” Mercury joined him in peering at the odd feature, poking the viscous, sticky leaking himself. “Is it bleeding?”

“I don’t think plants have blood.” Mars was pretty sure of that much, but the word Earth had used for the plant equivalent was evading him. “I have no idea what could do this, though. I think only Jupiter’s claws could even come close!”

“Great, so we’ve got an unknown, massively dangerous animal with claws bigger than Jupiter’s running around out here with us.” Venus grumbled as he too stepped over the fallen tree to stare at the damage. “Earth really knows how to warn us ahead of time.”

“Hey, it’s not his fault.” Mars chided, though he privately admitted a twinge of agreement. It would have been nice to get a heads up about something like this. The living planet’s words about coming back if he got concerned piped up again, but Mars wasn’t ready to give up that quickly. “That probably just means it’s not important. He told us the biggest threat around here is the humans.”

“Ugh, humans.” Venus rolled his eyes, abandoning the curious tree to keep moving in their original direction. Mars and Mercury hurried after, casting only a wary glance or two back at the dying tree. “I can’t believe we’re running scared from those parasites. We’re planets, not an endangered species!"

“I think we’re kinda both at the moment.” Mars sighed, matching Venus’ pace as well as his shorter form would allow. “We definitely count as the only group of dragons on his surface. And with only 40 members, I think that puts us thoroughly in the endangered category."

“Oh joy.” Venus sneered, his lips pulling back to flash his teeth as he spat, “That’s really reassuring. I wonder if they’ll let us eat their silly tagged animals if we mention we’re technically endangered.”

“I don’t think that even works for the real endangered animals down here.” Mercury added pointedly, slipping past Venus to take the front position. Venus half-heartedly snapped his teeth after the smaller dragon’s retreating tail, snorting out a breath of irritation.

“I’m just sick of all the sneaking around we have to do.” Venus reiterated, drawing his wings up to shake them out, narrowly missing Mars’ horns in the process. “Every time we land somewhere, it’s always ‘humans this’ and ‘humans that’! Like they could actually do anything to us? Most of us are bigger than them! Stars, Jupiter could probably just step on one!”

“That sounds messy.” Mercury muttered from ahead, still listening in despite his hurried pace.

“I don’t like it either, but they are the most intelligent lifeforms Earth’s ever had. We shouldn’t underestimate them on size alone.” Mars replied to the orange dragon, turning his gaze over the leafless trees as he tried to make out any movement between their branches. “If Earth thinks we should avoid their notice, I’m willing to trust him on that.”

“Not sure why. He’s not suddenly an all-knowing being just ‘cause we’re on his surface.” Venus grumbled back, his own gaze square ahead and eyes narrowed. “I don’t know why we’re blindly following him. We’re only going on this stupid trek to the ‘north pole’ ‘cause he saw those stars move.”

“They did move, though. You saw it too.” Mars corrected testily, not interested in having this argument again. Venus shook his head doubtfully.

“Sure, I saw some stars in an odd position, but that doesn’t inherently mean that Earth’s conclusion is right.” The orange dragon countered, lowering his head to inspect an oddly shaped imprint in the mud. Mars sniffed it curiously as well, lowering his head to peer at it, but he didn’t recognise the scent. 

“What conclusion would you come to, then?” Mars asked, waiting for Venus to finish his inspection of the imprint. It was wide and round, with no obvious details beyond that, but the size made the scales on Mars’ back tingle. 

“I don’t know!” Venus huffed as if offended by the question, tossing his head up from the imprint and stalking onwards, earning him an incredulous look from the red planet. “I just know I wouldn’t start running for the pole of the planet. What if we’re just stuck here for a set time? And we’ll have dragged ourselves to one of the coldest areas for no reason, when we could've just been chilling in a nicer place.”

“Or alternatively, Earth is right, and we prolong our stay by hanging around like you say?” Mars’ expression wrinkled at the idea of either situation, but the dragon was reluctant to completely dismiss Earth’s conclusion. “We might as well try to get to the pole, and we can turn around if it’s not the answer.”

“Turn around? Are you insane?” Venus swung his glare at him, forcing the red dragon to dance back a few steps. “I may not know much about ice poles, but nothing about them sounds hospitable for living things, and certainly not easy to cross. Do you reckon we’d be able to cross your north pole?”

“...probably not, but that’s more to do with my lack of an oxygen atmosphere, Venus.” Mars shook his own head, pondering Venus’ words. He hadn’t really thought about the end of their journey yet; the beginning had been so stressful already. But now, with the cloudy planet's worries bouncing around in his skull, Mars began to feel his own creeping doubt. “Look, we’ll deal with that when we get closer. I-I don’t even want to try planning that far ahead yet.”

“And that’s exactly my point.” Venus hissed, picking up his pace to leave Mars at the back of their hunting party. Mars dashed after him, trying not to let Venus’ words dig at him. He’s just being argumentative, as always. He’ll calm down when we find something to hunt.

Mercury had made significant progress ahead of them, and his grey-brown scales blended almost perfectly with the tree bark that the two following dragons had trouble locating him at first. His eyes gave him away, peering down at Mars from a sturdy tree trunk he’d clambered up. Venus spotted him too, rising onto his hind legs to glare at the smaller dragon.

“What’re you doing up there? Trying to hide from the scary Earthlings?” Venus teased, pressing his forelegs against the tree and digging his claws in, attempting to pull himself up after the grey dragon. Mars watched, tail-tip twitching, and tried to remember why he even brought these two along together. It’s like Theia and Proto all over again, endlessly distracted by the other’s existence, except these two hate each other instead.

“Venus!” Mercury complained, his tree perch wobbling precariously as the larger dragon tried to drag himself up the trunk. “Stop it! You’ll break it!”

“Then get down! We’re hunting, not climbing.” Venus shook the tree, unsettling Mercury's precarious grip and causing the smaller dragon to stiffen. “Why’d you even run up there? The food ain't gonna be hiding in the trees.”

“Wrong! Look what I found.” Mercury’s expression turned triumphant as Venus finally paused his attempts to push the tree, the grey-brown dragon reaching down with one talon to show a small scrap of organic material. “It was up here, caught on one of the thorns. It smelt like food, so I followed it up.”

“What is it?” Mars asked, padding closer to peer at it beside Venus. Mercury was right, it certainly smelt like a carcass, though slightly sour and rank. There was fur on it, still clinging to the slip of what must have once been the skin of an animal. “It’s just a dead bit of an Earthling, not food.”

“Yeah, but why was it up here?” Mercury indicated to the tree’s branches. “It smells like those four-legged spindly things we usually catch, and I doubt they can climb a tree like this.”

“Does it matter?” Venus frowned, tail twitching and ruff bristling with annoyance. “It’s not what we’re looking for, so I don’t care.”

“Aren’t you even a little curious?” Mercury queried, but let the scarp of skin drop to the leaf-coated floor, jumping down after it. “It’s like a mystery, with clues and stuff.”

“Sure, if you’re a tiny little moon.” Venus sneered, kicking the lobed leaves over the scrap dismissively. “All I care about is getting this hunt going so we can return with some food. That’s all that matters.”

“Who put a stick up your-”

Whatever Mercury intended to say was abruptly interrupted by a sharp, loud noise, almost like a rumble turned into a shout. It shot through Mars’ bones, forcing him into a startled crouch beside his friends. The sound was repeated, though fainter, and Mars swore the ground itself was grumbling beneath them. His talon-pads tingled with the vibrations, tickling his throat and turning his stomach.

“What. Is. That?” Mercury whispered, his own form tense and lowered, wings half-spread for take-off. The rumbling came again, deeper and softer, but it still felt larger than anything Mars had heard so far on Earth’s surface.

“Whatever it is, I’m not sticking around to find out!” Venus hissed, the ruff of feathers coating his neck now pulled up into a mane of oranges and reds around his head. “See ya!”

As Venus darted away from the sounds, Mars turned to Mercury, intending to try and keep at least one of his group members nearby. But, by the time he’d opened his mouth, Mercury was a streak of grey flashing after Venus. Left with no choice, the red dragon ran after them, half-indignant and half-glad for the chance to escape whatever beast could make such an imposing sound.

Running was exhilarating, Mars had quickly found when they’d arrived. Not as thrilling or freeing as flying, but the simple rhythm of the organic body as it powered itself into movement was enough to lend some vitality to Earth’s old awe-filled rambles when his Life first began to tread the land. Every breath felt important and every footfall predicted the next, forcing the runner’s mind into a focus normally reserved for hunting. Mars would almost prefer running to flight, if only the cost to his energy wasn’t so painfully induced by panting. 

Keeping Venus’ orange tail in his sight-line, Mars charged after his fellow planet, hoping he’d slow before they ran into some new danger. Mercury was presumably nearby, though Mars’ doubted his ability to pick him out of the foliage as they dashed by. Luckily, Venus seemed nearly as desperate for a breath as the red planet when he finally skidded to a halt, ending the short chase.

Slowing to his own stop, Mars threw his head down in an exaggerated gasp, panting with a parted jaw. He could hear Venus doing the same, and Mercury stumbled over not a second after the red planet. Swallowing to regain some level of concentration, Mars shot his friends exasperated glares. 

He’d intended for the stares to knock some sense into his companions, but instead it did the opposite, as Mercury and Venus inexplicably burst into laughter. 

“Ha, ha, ha, we-we just-” Mercury tried to speak, choking around his chuckles as he attempted to tumble closer. “What-what were we even-?”

“Stars, we’re so screwed.” Venus muttered, but the last few seconds of giggling kind of ruined the stoic tone he was going for. The fact that he immediately fell into another round of chuckles didn’t help. 

Mars watched for a few breaths, bemused, before deciding to just join in. It was pleasant to laugh, even when he didn’t quite understand why, and hearing the simultaneous amusement from his friends seemed to fuel the feeling. Soon, the red dragon found himself stumbling closer to the two, caught in his own laughter. We must look crazy, giggling like proto-planets.

“Guys-guys, we can’t-” Mars tried to rein in the situation, but talking was a bit difficult at that moment. His chest was starting to hurt from the strain and the smile pulling his jaw was beginning to ache, but he couldn’t seem to calm down. 

Flopping his body onto the ground, Mars used the solid surface to press his head against, trying to focus on that sensation rather than the infectious laughter. Slowly but surely, his racing heart and straining lungs smoothed back into their normal rhythm, releasing his breathing from its entrapment. Around him, he could vaguely hear two more bodies calming themselves down. Euh, I’m glad Jupiter didn’t see that.

“We’re being ridiculous." Mars huffed, grinning at his friends as they slowly recovered from the last few minutes. “Earth’s never going to let us hunt alone again if we spend the whole time laughing.”

“Ah, let him complain. I don’t care.” Venus waved a taloned paw dismissively, pulling himself shakily to his feet. “This whole situation is ridiculous. No amount of laughing is going to make it worse.”

“Wow, Venus, that’s an awfully positive attitude for you.” Mars couldn’t help but tease, pleasantly surprised to hear the dragon show some levity. “Did that giggling knock your brain back into alignment?"

“I’ll knock your skull out of alignment, rust ball.” Venus shot back, but Mars had seen too much to take his threat with any caution, flashing a bright grin in response.

“Uh, guys, why did we even do that?” Mercury asked after coughing up the last of the sand his laughing had inhaled, his voice more gravely than usual.

“Which part? Running from a silly Earthling sound? Or the falling over ourselves giggling?” Mars chuckled, lifting his tail into its habitual curl and shaking out his sand-smeared wings. 

Venus’ tail swished harshly across the ground as he snarkily replied. “Ugh, I can’t believe we just ran scared from some tiny Earthling! We didn’t even see it!”

“Yeah, but it sounded big. And Earth’s already told us to avoid unfamiliar animals.” Mars reasoned, though he also felt a twinge of indignation at the memory. I’m billions of years old and thousands of times their size. It’s humiliating to feel this small.

“Earth would tell us to avoid a rock if it looked funny. He’s just paranoid.” Venus rolled his eyes, glaring out at the surrounding trees that still blocked their view in every direction. “Just yesterday, I swear he shoved some poor little moon away from a tiny, legless Earthling. What was that creature even going to do? It had no limbs!”

“He still knows more than us, Venus.” Mercury put in, saving Mars from having to reply himself. While he was sure Earth had a good reason for such an action, the red dragon didn’t know enough to defend his friend from the accusation. Mercury added when Venus failed to follow up, “It’s probably best to have a paranoid guide than a complacent one.”

“Are those our only two options?” Venus grumbled, “I’d rather a guide that I could trust to act logically.”

“By your definition of logic, or his? ‘Cause he probably thinks he’s acting perfectly logically too.” Mercury pointed out, which only served to further Venus’ growing annoyance. Mars was faintly aware that he’d need to step in soon if he wanted both his hunting partners to come back unscathed. “I’m just saying, you’re not really in a position to fairly judge Earth’s advice.”

“And you’re not in a position to talk back this much, Pipsqueak!” Venus hissed, marching up to the smaller dragon with raised wings. To his credit, Mercury met the outburst with a carefully blank expression, staring hard at the orange dragon until he simmered down. 

“Are you two done?” Mars called out, half-tempted to make some insinuating joke about their current proximity and intense eye-contact. Unfortunately, all that came to his mind was Theia and Proto’s old spats, and he valued his head enough to avoid mentioning that to Venus. “We are still on a hunt, you know?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re coming.” Venus waved him off, turning abruptly from Mercury and stalking in a seemingly random direction. Mars shared a confused glance with the smaller dragon, but Mercury just shrugged and trotted after him. Mars bit back a sigh.

“Where are you going?” He shouted after the orange dragon, dashing forward to catch up and pad by his side. Venus kept his head high and eyes forward, even when Mars spoke again. “We were supposed to keep an eye on our direction.”

“Smelt something.” Venus muttered back, and Mars realised the dragon beside him was lifting his head to scent the air, not to avoid Mars’ eyes. 

The red dragon turned his own nose to the soft wind, trying to find the trail Venus was picking up on. After a few seconds of inhaling, he detected the faint scent of meat, though it was strange and seemed to be covering up other, harder to place smells. Still, he was curious now and any easy meal would mean a faster return to camp.

Following the trail was easy enough, as it dipped and ducked under the trees just as they did, almost like the meat itself had been up and moving. Mars struggled to understand why something that definitely smelt dead was seemingly walking ahead of them, but he wasn’t overly alarmed. Maybe we’re following a sick animal? Or a predator we could steal from?

Finally, they reached a small clearing in the trees, coated in the little lobed leaves that covered most of this land. In the centre lay a carcass of some beast, laid on its side and cut open at the middle, blood already drying around the wound. It was huge, bigger than Venus and likely closer to Neptune’s bulk, and the thick skin was stone grey. A few wary, dark feathered birds were hopping around the body, their bald heads dipping up and down as they eyed the meat.

“Huh? Free food?” Mercury mumbled, creeping forward to approach the beast. Venus shoved past him, marching towards the kill confidently.

“Stop gawking at it. It ain't gonna get up.”

While Mercury and Venus darted over to the dead animal, Mars felt a tremor of caution run down his spine as he slowly padded around the body. He’d see the same bird species happily snatch even the tiniest scraps of meat from their camp kills before, and Earth had proclaimed them as the ‘clean up crew’ of the area; but these ones looked far less energetic, and much more uncertain of the food before them. A few oddly still individuals didn’t seem to be doing well at all, slumped on the ground in feathered heaps.

As Mars rounded the clearing to get a better look at the creature, he realised something had already taken parts from it. Clumps of flesh mixed with rivets of dark, drying blood that trailed from the beast’s face, where a large, open gash tore from above its wide nose and flopped lip. A smaller, similar wound was positioned just behind it, and the head rose into a large hump along its shoulders before falling over the wide, still body. Two mirrored wounds dripped black liquid from the sides of the creature’s head, turning Mars’ stomach with unease.

“Guys, maybe we should just leave it?” Mars backed up from the body, only to trip over something hidden in the leaves. Spinning around, he hooked a claw through a strange loop of shiny material, flinching back as it tightened around the digit. What the-?

Quickly yanking his claw free, Mars raised his voice more urgently. “We’re leaving! This doesn’t feel safe.”

“Stop being a coward." Venus grumbled, but at least had the sense to lift his head and eye the clearing carefully at Mars’ words. “There’s nothing here. Except an easy meal, of course.” 

“I dunno, Venus. This does seem a little odd.” Mercury’s strengthened Mars’ resolve to get them moving away from this, quickly. “I mean, why is this animal already dead with no predators around?”

“I don’t know, I’m not the Earthling expert.” Venus huffed, poking the bloated, grey body with one talon. “It smells OK, if a little stale. We won’t even have to hunt if we bring this back.”

“And how exactly do you expect us to do that? It’s probably heavier than Uranus!” Mars ignored the childish snickers, glaring at the orange dragon. “No, this is too weird, We’re leaving. Now!”

“Geez, who put you in charge?” Venus had abandoned the body entirely now, fully turning to sneer at the red planet. “What if I just want a snack, then? We can eat some of this and have more fuel for our hunting.”

“No.” Mars stamped, punctuating his point as he stepped into Venus’ space. “This whole situation is too weird, the air smells weird, I don’t like the look of those birds, there's a strange string on the floor... I don’t think this is safe to eat!”

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Mercury asked curiously, peering into the body cavity and sniffing. “I-I guess it does smell a little odd…? But why?”

“I don’t know, but I do know I’m not eating something like this without more information." Mars declared, tensing as Venus’ cocky grin remained on his smug face. “Don’t, Venus!”

“What? I’m just amused at how fast Earth’s paranoia spread to you as well.” The orange dragon laughed before turning back to the body. “I’ll just take a little bite, and then you’ll see it’s perfectly fine.”

“Don’t!” Mars repeated, growling a warning from deep in his chest. The other dragon failed to heed it, his jaws already opened to an exaggerated degree as he moved to bite the exposed flesh. Infuriated, Mars threw himself at Venus with as much strength as he could muster, forcing the larger dragon to roll onto his side, snarling furiously. 

“Oi!” Venus snapped, curling to aim his jaws at Mars now. Jerking back from the attack, the red dragon focused on positioning himself between Venus and the body. “Why’re you so upset about this? It’s just a dead Earthling.”

“I’ve already explained why, Venus.” Mars snarled, flaring his wings to further block his view of the body. “We. Are. Leaving. Jupiter put me in charge of this hunt, and I say this is dangerous."

“Jupiter reluctantly let you be in charge of this hunt.” Venus sneered, clearly more interested in aggravating him now that an argument had been started. “You know he’d rather Earth do this ‘cause he knows you’re as clueless as the rest of us. And nothing you do is ever going to change that in his eyes. You’re trying too hard for his approval like a little pathetic moon.”

“I’m trying to help us all get out of this alive! That’s what I care about right now!” Mars growled, infuriated by his words and infuriated by his own reaction to them. “You might not give half an asteroid what happens to yourself or anyone else out here, but I do!”

“You don’t know anything about how I feel, Mars! Don’t act all self-righteous now, we’re both well aware of why you’re so strung up.” Venus twitched the tip of his tail as he turned his head sideways, to where Mercury was awkwardly watching their fight play out. “I’m sure Jupiter already thinks you’ve screwed after that whole fiasco, so you really don’t need to keep trying so hard.”

“That mess wasn’t only my fault, Venus.” But Mars could already feel the pit of self-loathing ebbing its way into his organic stomach, eating away at his anger and curling it into fear and anxiety. “You played your part and so did Earth. It wasn’t any one person's fault.”

“Sure, maybe not. But you don’t feel that way.” Venus hummed, stepping into Mars’ personal space this time. “So don’t start getting all uppity at me when we both know you’re just as bad.”

“Stars, Venus, you really are hard to be friends with, aren’t you?” Mars snarled rhetorically, spitting out the last sentence without a second thought. “I can see why Theia never-”

He didn’t get to finish his words as he abruptly found himself pinned under the mass of a furious, seething dragon. Kicking out at Venus’ underbelly, Mars used his forelegs to block the orange dragon’s snapping jaws that closed uncomfortably close to his neck. His breathing stuttered as the larger dragon’s weight crushed his ribcage.

“Get off!” Mars hissed as they wrestled, ducking another lunge to nip at Venus’ foreleg before it could slash his chest. The dragon’s other talons quickly wrapped around Mars’ neck, pushing his head down and breaking his grip on the limb. Venus’ furious face leaned down to glare at him, fuzzing slightly at the edges when he increased the pressure.

“Take. That. Back.” 

“What? Can’t handle-” Mars ground out, only to be forced into choked silence by Venus’ grip on his throat. Instead, he glared stubbornly at the larger dragon, hoping he hadn’t horribly misjudged his fellow rocky planet’s willingness to kill him. Oh, Jupiter is going to have a field day if I’m dragged back dead at Venus’ hands. I don’t even know who he’ll be more disappointed with.

“Guys! Stop!” Mercury's calls went unheeded as the red dragon managed to aim a solid kick into Venus' abdomen, shocking him enough to weaken his hold on Mars’ neck. Once again able to breath, Mars shoved at the talons pushing him down, dragging his body sideways to try and dislodge Venus. 

“Ahh!” As Venus stumbled to one side, trying to keep a hold of Mars, he suddenly reared back and swung around, abandoning the fight entirely. Leaves shot up around him, obscuring Mars’ view as he quickly picked himself off the ground and dashed over. Partially glad that the fight had been interrupted, the red dragon couldn’t deny the swell of panic that rose in his throat. What happened?

“Get it off!” Venus was clawing around one of his hind legs, catching his talons on another string of shiny material, his movements restricted and furious. Mars eyed the wire as it tightened, recalling the speed at which his talon almost got trapped in one. 

“Stop moving!” He ordered, moving to grab the offending leg. Venus hissed at him, but thankfully didn’t seem as interested in biting him as before. “It tightens when you struggle. We need to get your foot out.”

“I can see that!” Venus glared, unhelpfully trying to pull the limb towards himself again.

“I said ‘stop moving’!” Mars snapped, tightening his own grip on the leg. “Mercury! Come help me find a way to break this wire.”

As the small dragon darted over from his perch a few feet away, Mars focused on the task at hand. The loop had closed firmly around Venus’ limb, digging into the scales enough to warp a few of them. When he tried to bite the wire connecting to the loop, his teeth quickly grew sore while the wire remained intact, earning him only a metallic tasting mouth. 

Eyeing the wire again, he noticed an odd lump of strangely shaped metal at the place the loop tightens from, drawing his focus. He tried to bite it as well, but got a similar result. Still, he was pretty sure that part was their answer. Just as he was about to try again, Mercury called out loudly.

“Does this help?” Raising his head, Mars watched as Mercury yanked more silver string from the leaf litter, pulling on it until the tension broke with a muffled twang, leaving Mercury with a mouthful of tangled wire and dead leaves. 

“A bit?” Mars answered, noticing that the string leading to the loop was lax and limp, allowing Venus to pull his limb closer to himself warily. Unfortunately, the loop itself was still tight and stuck thoroughly around his leg.

“Well, we got him half-out?” Mercury pointed out, walking over after quickly spitting the wires out of his jaws. “That’s good enough, right?”

“Shut your hole, Pipsqueak!" Venus glared, reaching down to try and push a claw between the wire and his scales. “Get it off!”

“How? We can’t bite through the wire, and even if we could, your leg is in the way.” Mars lowered his head to stare hard at the odd mechanism at the loop’s start, testing it gently with one claw. “I think this is human-made.”

“Of course it is! Just my luck that you shove me into a human trap!”

“Hey! I didn’t shove you. You attacked me!” Mars lifted his head from the trap to snarl back at the orange dragon, only to catch himself falling into the lead up to another fight. I have to ignore him. That’s what a real leader would do. He’s just in pain and lashing out again.

“Maybe we should ask our impartial witness?” Venus grumbled, side-eyeing Mercury as the grey-brown dragon twitched his wings nervously at being addressed.

“I’m not getting involved. You two were both being idiots, as far as I could tell.” Mercury mumbled back, keeping his distance from the fuming orange dragon. “Maybe we should go back to camp and ask Earth? He’d probably know how to release it.”

“I’m not walking all the way back on a numb foot.” Venus argued, and while his stubbornness was unhelpful, Mars was more alarmed by the idea the leg was going numb. That can’t be good.

“Let me try something.” Was Mars’ only warning for the orange dragon before he man-handled the leg out from under Venus and wrapped his talons around it. Using a careful claw, he poked and prodded at the mechanism, watching the way it moved slightly and appeared to be made of interlocking pieces. Definitely human.

“What are you doing?” Venus leaned over the red dragon, watching his every move. “If you cut my leg off, I’ll bite your wing in half.”

“Would you shut up? I’m trying to save your leg, not remove it.” Mars grumbled back, re-focusing on the picture he was building in his mind of how the trap worked. Somehow, that metal clasp lets the wire tighten, but prevents it from loosening…but that bit connected to it must have some purpose. If I just push this back as far as I can…there!

The wire slowly slipped back the way it had come, releasing the tight hold around the leg as the claw pushed the metal clasp back. Mars carefully kept his claw in place as the loop widened, wary that releasing it would trap the limb once again. Venus was rather impatient, though, so it took a few tries to widen it enough to fully remove his leg.

“Ha! I’m out!” Venus crowed, gingerly placing the sore limb back on solid ground and turning a grin to Mars. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Mars shot him an unimpressed glare, resigning himself to another barrage of snarky comments, until Venus’ expression shifted to an almost embarrassed one.

“I mean, thanks, I guess.” While it sounded mildly painful for the orange dragon to say, Mars was pleasantly shocked to hear any thanks at all, even more so after their fight. Huh. Venus is so confusing. 

“You’re welcome.” Mars absentmindedly replied, meeting Venus’ eyes as he slipped into a softer tone. “I’m sorry about earlier. I-I shouldn’t bring her up just to get a rise out of you. That’s not fair.”

“I-It’s fine, Mars. I was being a bit of an asteroid too.” Venus reluctantly admitted, lifting his wings in some unconscious attempt to shield his words. “Sorry, by the way, for not listening.”

“Let’s just agree we both reacted badly and promise to listen to each other a little more calmly next time?” Mars offered, not expecting a serious response. But even a joking reply would give him a bit of hope that they were making progress. 

“As long as you don’t mention this to Earth. He doesn’t need the ammunition.”

…..

“I still can’t believe you managed to not only push Venus into a snare, but also fumbled your way into releasing it without any experience!” Earth exclaimed for what was starting to feel like the hundredth time, grinning at his friend widely. “I mean, it’s impressive, dude!”

“I get it, Earth. And I didn’t push him, he fell in.” Mars corrected, leaning his head against his forelegs as he tried to wake his body up under the dawn light. He was deeply regretting telling Earth the edited version he and Venus had thought up on the trip back. They’d removed the fighting and dead Earthling, but the bruising around Venus’ leg had made the snare impossible to hide.

“Potato, pato-o.” After that nonsensical statement, the living planet seemed happy enough to drop the subject, though his grin stayed fixed on his face. “At least you guys caught something. It would’ve been a bit embarrassing if the moon groups did better than you.”

“Sure, I guess.” Mars huffed, recalling the single ‘kudu’ they’d basically tripped over on their way back to camp. The beast had nearly kicked Mercury into the dust, but at least it had been something to drag back. Earth had claimed that the size and lack of horns was usual for the female of the species, but Mars had still been a little embarrassed to present the kill when half the moons had caught adorned individuals. At least ours was larger than theirs, if a little less exciting to look at.

“Anyway, I meant to say ‘thanks’ for taking the hunt yesterday.” Earth’s expression softened minutely, an apologetic tone running into his voice. “I know it probably wasn’t easy and it sounds like you got pretty lucky with that snare situation. I really do need to do some kind of crash-course for the rest-”

“It’s cool, dude, I was happy to.” Mars interrupted before his friend could ramble on further. “I hope you got some rest? Jupiter didn’t seem to know what you did all day yesterday.”

“Oh, I was just following the river for a few miles. It was actually really nice, I saw so many animal and plant species up close! I even got to watch a leopard drag something up a tree!” Earth smiled at the memory, his tail waving back and forth happily. “Remind me to show you something later, ‘cause I didn’t even know I could do it until yesterday! And, it also let me scout our route for today, so I’ll be able to-”

“Dude, you were supposed to be relaxing, not planning.” Mars nudged the feathered dragon’s shoulder, a playful tone smothering the mild exasperation. 

“It was relaxing! Just… also productive!” Earth defended, throwing Mars a look that dared him to argue further. The red dragon only rolled his eyes, far too dozy from waking to start an argument this morning.

“Where’s Luna?” Mars’ little moon, Deimos, asked as he crawled up his planet’s spine with a few unnecessary jumps. “We wanna play!”

“Ugh, I don’t even know.” Earth grumbled, lifting his head to glance around the stirring camp of dragons. “He came back last night, but then ran off as soon as the Sun showed his face.”

“Is he with his moon friends?” Mars wondered, quickly glancing back to check that both his own moons were accounted for. Deimos was obviously here, as Mars could distinctly feel the sharp pin-points of his claws in his back, but Phobos was a little harder to spot. His larger moon was still curled up by his side, blinking wearily at the sunlight, his red-brown scales blending with the leaf-litter.

“Must be.” Earth concluded, his gaze settling on a patch of shadows at the edge of camp. A few glimmering scales could be made out in the shade, in enough colours that Mars was willing to bet quite a few moons were gathered there. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy he’s making friends…it’s just a little weird to be away from him this much.”

“I get it, dude. You two have basically never been separated until recently.” Mars sympathized. While he was mostly glad Luna and Earth were getting a little less co-dependant, it was still odd to witness after 3.4 billion years. “It’ll take a bit for it to feel normal.”

“Well, Luna seems to be having no trouble at all, running off at every opportunity." Earth sighed, lowering his head onto his forelegs and displacing a few feathers. “Maybe I’m just being silly, or overreacting again?”

“Come on, Earth, you know he’s as bad as you about this stuff. His friends are probably having this same conversation with him.” Mars pushed back, not liking the direction Earth was taking with his words. “He’ll always come back, and when he does he’ll be just as glad to see you as you are to see him.”

“If you say so.” Earth’s muttered reply wasn’t all that reassuring, but Mars was reluctant to push any further. He wasn’t good at serious conversations, and he really didn’t want to say something wrong and mess things up any further. 

The two sat in comfortable silence for a few more minutes, watching as the giants finally started to stand and stretch in the low dawn light. The ice giants were seemingly trying to test who had the longest wingspan, leaving Saturn to grumpily duck under one of Uranus’ wings as he made his way across the clearing. Jupiter merely nudged Neptune’s wing until the ice giant realised he was there, retracting his wing quickly so the large dragon could pass. As both gas giants appeared to be wandering in their direction, Mars forced himself to sit up and greet them.

“Hey Jupiter, hey Saturn!” He called out, relieved to see Jupiter reply with a small smile of his own. Beside him, Earth greeted them a tad unenthusiastically.

“Well, we survived another night.” The feathered dragon joked, though going by the scowl from Saturn, it wasn’t taken as one. “Ready for another day?”

“As ready as we’ll ever be.” Jupiter humoured him, settling in front of the blue-green dragon more comfortably, while Saturn flopped down more forcefully. “You mentioned we’d be walking today. Is that wise, given the reduced speed?”

“It’ll slow us down, but this place is so full of human tourists our only other choice would be a full night of flying.” Earth explained to the giant. “If we can get about 2/3rds of the way down this river, we can fly overnight for only a few hours and be out of here. And once we’re in Mozambique, it should be pretty easy to start turning north and hop from water source to water source until Malawi.”

“Are you certain? Earth, we can’t risk anymore days of no food or water, so if we get lost-”

“We won’t.” Earth interrupted the larger dragon, surprising even Mars with his confidence in his words. “I know you’re worried and I get it, but I won’t let that happen, trust me.”

“Of course I trust you, Earth. I’m just still concerned that many of our group have not been getting enough to eat.” Jupiter continued, his comment dimming the living world’s spark for a breath. Out of the loop, Mars tried to exchange a confused glance with Saturn, only to find the ringed giant digging his claws into the ground with uncharacteristic agitation. 

“I know, okay.” Earth sighed, his own claws curling up where they rested in front of him. “We can relax a bit once we get out of South Africa. Most of Mozambique’s human population is on the coast, so we’ll be able to find safe areas to hunt for longer-.”

“You said that last time too.” Saturn’s low, bitter comment caught the other dragons off guard, but the ringed giant just shook his head at the looks he received. “I’m sorry, Earth, but I just don’t see how this is getting any better? Even if we find this place without humans, we’ll still have to hunt and fly and get covered in bugs and drink mud and get hurt! It’s endless!” 

Before Earth could open his mouth for some blunt words about ‘survival of the fittest’ or ‘the circle of Life’, Mars spoke up instead, hoping another non-living planet’s words might help a bit more. Earth, as much as he tried to show them the better parts of this situation, had a bit of a bad habit of over-explaining things in place of any real advice. 

“Yeah, this whole thing is really draining. Honestly, we could definitely do with a proper rest soon.” Mars turned his suggestion to Earth, who was at least exercising enough self-restraint to not immediately argue the logistics of such a thing. 

“While it might not help all of those issues Saturn brought up, I must agree that a break would be useful.” Jupiter’s support softened some of Mars’ apprehension about speaking up. “What do you think, Earth?”

“I think you guys are hoping for something you won’t find.” Earth started off snarkily, but calmed his tone into a more reasonable one as he continued. “Like Saturn said, regardless of where we go, hunting and finding water will take most of our time. Most water sources, especially in the dry season, are going to be close to humans or human monitored areas, and the ones that aren’t will be hard to find. I don’t disagree with the idea, I’m just not sure we’ll find the kind of relaxation you’re hoping for until we’re back in orbit.”

“Alright, I think I’ve heard enough. We need a solid plan for today at least.” Jupiter moved the conversation forward, nodding to Saturn, Mars, and Earth in turn. “If today is going to be a walking day, as you suggested, then I think we should try to take it slow. That way, we can accommodate individuals who may not be able to handle a long walk. Also, we’ll stop regularly to try and hunt. Does that sound reasonable?"

“We might get a bit pressed for tim-” Earth started, but was quickly silenced by a pointed stare from Saturn. “I mean, that sounds fine, Jupiter.”

“Good. I’ll gather the rest and explain the plan.” The huge dragon steadily pushed himself back to his feet, his vast wings shadowing Mars and Earth momentarily as he stretched them. Saturn pulled himself up reluctantly as well, nodding absentmindedly at his friend’s muttered words as they walked away. “I suppose we should divide into groups? Or maybe…”

As the two giants wandered back to the rest of the group, Mars turned a bemused expression to his friend. “What was all that about?”

“What? I’m just trying to be realistic.” 

“Not that.” Mars shook his head, clarifying. “That bit about us not having enough food? I thought the hunting was going alright?”

“It is, but we’re trying to feed forty obligate carnivores, some larger than any active predator currently on my surface. We’re burning fat too fast.” Earth indicated where the gas giants were speaking to the ice giants. “See the lines on some of the others’ chests? Those weren’t there two weeks ago. It’s not too bad now, but me and Jupiter are trying to keep an eye on it.”

“Oh?” Mars studied the forms of his fellow planets and the moons that had gathered around them. A few looked more obvious than others, but none looked bad enough that he’d have noticed without Earth pointing it out. “So…it’s not dangerous yet?”

“It shouldn’t be. We are still bringing back a lot of food.” Earth tilted his head with a small grimace. “But, I think the giants are getting the short end of the stick, given their higher caloric needs. The problem is, I don’t think they realize how much they actually need. I mean, Jupiter only brought it to my attention because Uranus complained.”

“Hm, well, I guess that means we need more hunting parties?” Mars didn’t know what to do with this new knowledge. He wasn’t even sure he understood why Earthlings needed to eat, let alone what would happen if they couldn’t. “That’s at least something we can get the others doing as well.”

“Yeah, and now that you’ve proven you can lead hunts, we can cover even more ground!” Earth stood up quickly, his plastered-on grin efficiently covering the earlier worry. “And hey! Luna’s little moon group can take a few trips too! We’ll catch up with food easily!”

“That’s the spirit!” Mars grinned back, nudging his friend’s shoulder as he clambered to his feet. “Race you to Venus’ tail?”

“Oh, you’re on!”

….

“Isn’t there supposed to be some green around here?” Venus’ snarky voice sounded ahead of Mars, and the red dragon lifted his head to watch the living planet roll his eyes at the orange one. “I’m just saying, It’s been nothing but dry leaves all day.” 

“That’s ‘cause it hasn’t rained in Stars knows how long.” Earth huffed lightly, dipping his head to the leaf-litter below their feet. “Once we get a bit farther down, there’ll be less of the mopane trees and more open grassland. These trees like to drop their leaves during the dry season.”

“Seems counterproductive.” Luna, trotting at his planet’s other side, eyed the clear, bright sky above them. “I thought plants loved sunlight? Doesn’t it help them make their food?”

“Yeah, but they need water as well.” Earth explained. “They’ll die without water, just like us. Life is impossible without water, even in places like this.”

“Can’t they use that river?” Mercury asked from Mars’ left, turning his small grey head to glance at the slow, brown river a few feet away. “Or is it too far?”

“I’m sure some of the closer trees can use it, but yeah, it’s not a reliable source for the rest.” Earth agreed, smiling back at the smaller dragon. “Luckily for us, we can walk to water sources.”

Indeed, walking is all they had been doing for a good few hours now, going by the height of the Sun. Keeping the river on their left, they’d slowly been picking their way through the trees and small patches of grasses, heading vaguely east at an almost painfully slow pace. The rockies had already been forced to sit and wait for the rest of the party to catch up a few times, which was starting to have a noticeable impact on their patience. Mars just hoped they’d find something to eat soon; otherwise Phobos and Deimos would make good on their threats to chew someone's tail off.

“What a blessing.” Venus grumbled sarcastically, shaking his wings out and tossing a glance over his shoulder. “Is it a good idea for us to be leading the way?”

“What? You don’t trust my stellar navigational skills?” Earth smirked back, ruffling his feathers into a mess of greens and blues. Venus snorted in reply, waving his tail towards the giants following a few metres behind. 

“Hm, maybe, but I’d prefer it if we weren’t the first to run into trouble when we have some convenient dragons twice our size that could do it for us.”

“Yeah, but then we’d have to trust them not to get lost or distracted.” Mars pointed out jokingly, hoping his voice was quiet enough to avoid floating back to the giants’ ears. “I don't think we've even sent them out to lead a hunt yet.”

“That’s more due to the fits half of them throw every time I try.” Earth complained, ducking under a low hanging branch. Mars’ eye caught on the odd break in its trunk farther up, but decided it wasn’t worth interrupting Earth’s rant to point out. “I mean, Jupiter’s fine, but a bit too big, honestly. And Uranus and Neptune never seem to stay on task long enough to catch anything before their moons start taking over. Don’t even get me started on Sat-”

Earth’s words were drowned out by that sharp, ear-piercing scream from the day before. Mars’ entire nervous system turned on, electrocuting the red dragon into an embarrassingly high jump. Mercury and Venus didn’t fare much better, with the former darting up the nearest tree while the latter scrambled pathetically at the trunk. Even Luna looked unnerved, quickly ducking under his planet's wing to stare wildly around the area. Only Earth remained unaffected, standing still and staring in amused confusion at the chaos. 

“What is wrong with you guys?” Earth laughed, his smile growing as excitement entered his voice. Mars watched him carefully, trying to determine if he was hiding the logical terror one should feel at that ground-shaking noise. “You’re scared of- Oh, you’ve gotta see these Earthlings! They’re the best-”

“Earth, I am not getting anywhere near whatever just made that noise.” Venus hissed, his harsh tone undermined by the nervous shivering of his feathers as another low, muffled call echoed through the ground. Mars tried not to give into the urge to shoot up a tree like Mercury.

“Aw, don’t worry, they’ll be friendly!” Earth said, then tilted his head to add more softly, "Probably."

“What was that?” Mercury called down from his perch, but Earth didn’t have time to elaborate or deny before the rest of the system began to catch up. Uranus, followed by a trail of moons, wandered over to stare up at Mercury incredulously.

“What are you doing in the bloody tree, mate?” The ice giant asked bluntly, turning his stare to the unnerved rocky planets still on the ground. “And why do you all look scared out of your senses?”

“Is there a threat, Earth?” Jupiter lumbered over hastily, his wary gaze scanning the surroundings for any movement. Mars subtly began to shuffle closer to the arriving giants, not keen to be caught outside of their protection around whatever Earth was getting so excited about. He’d seen his friend fawn over the dinosaurs long enough to know his enthusiasm wasn’t limited by things like common sense or self-preservation.

Earth, unfortunately, proved him right by rolling his eyes at Jupiter and setting off in the direction of the horrid noises, tail and wings raised confidently. “Come on! You gotta see them!”

“Are we seriously getting closer to that sound?” Europa, who was currently sitting along her planet’s back with a few of the smaller moons, leaned down to question in dismay. As the call split the air again, Mars found himself agreeing whole-heartedly with her scepticism.

“We can’t just stand here, though. Our guide is running off to get eaten.” Saturn worriedly pointed out, stepping after Earth before freezing and turning back to Jupiter a touch too hopefully. “Unless that’s the plan?”

“No, Saturn, we’re not letting Earth get himself into trouble.” Jupiter chided his friend with a nudge to his shoulder as the larger dragon passed, heading after the quickly vanishing blue-green blob. “We’ll follow, but carefully.”

As a group, the rest of the system broke into a short lope to catch up to the living planet, wavering a few feet behind him as he scrambled over another fallen tree. Mars could smell something now, a foul, almost dusty scent that grew stronger as they approached the source of the low rumbling under their feet. His heart rate picked up and he couldn’t help but curl his tail up anticipatorily at the idea of a possible attack.

Up ahead, Earth had paused on a small ridge of rock and dirt overlooking the river that presumably flowed below, staring hard at the land. Mars scrambled up beside him, peering down at the water himself. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was even looking at, all he could see were massive, grey-brown rocks that seemed scattered haphazardly within the current. A few seconds later, however, the rocks were moving. 

Frozen in confusion, Mars struggled to make sense of these beasts, their huge size and odd proportions throwing off his shaky understanding of Earth’s current life forms. Their bodies were staggeringly large, a few clearly rivalling Jupiter's impressive height, and the grey-brown skin was thickly wrinkled and coated with wet mud. The massive body was held up by four limbs that resembled tree-trunks more closely than legs of any kind Mars knew, and they terminated in round, flat pads of flesh. But the strangest part was the appendage that rose from their faces; it seemed to move almost independently of the animal, touching and grabbing with a level of precision Mars more associated with humans.

“What’s on their faces?” Phobos had clambered over to Mars’ shoulder to glance round at the beasts, his large eyes blown wide in awe. Deimos quickly scrambled up beside his brother, wiggling with excitement.

“Trunks!” Earth replied proudly, his own gaze brightening as he watched one beast raise the limb into the air to deafen the watching dragons with another trumpet. “Aren’t they amazing? I love elephants, they’re the largest land animals I have at the moment and one of the smartest after humans!”

“Are they dangerous?” Uranus was eyeing one of the larger individuals, one that had a pair of sharp white spears protruding around the ‘trunk’. Mars felt his trepidation rising again at the sight of those weapons on such a huge creature. Just ‘cause Earth likes them doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat.

“Um, well, they shouldn’t be. Elephants are usually pretty calm, though obviously there are exceptions.” Earth considered, his enthusiasm waning a little as he spoke. “These ones probably don’t even mind humans, since they see them so often. I’m not sure how they’d react to a novel species, though. We aren’t exactly the average visitor.”

“Ah, so that means we’ll be turning around and getting on our way?” Saturn asked hopefully, lowering his head to meet Earth’s gaze. “Right?”

“Ha, no.” Earth flashed a bright grin at the heartbroken giant, bounding down from the rock to dash down the riverbank. His progress was swiftly stalled by Jupiter reaching down and stepping firmly on the feathered tail. Earth whirled around with a small growl. “Hey!”

“Wait, Earth. You say they might not react well to our presence, so why do you want to meet them anyway?” Jupiter questioned, keeping his foot on the tail even as the living planet tried to work it out from under him. Though Mars was fighting down a laugh at his friend’s predicament, he could see the tell-tale glint in his eyes that this was something he wasn’t going to drop easily. 

“Come on, Jupiter! Don’t you want to see them as well? They’re super social and intelligent! And massive ecosystem drivers!” Earth listed, hopping in place now that he’d given up freeing his tail. His voice turned more pleading as he added, “I’ve never seen them this close! I just wanna try to meet them, please?”

As Jupiter hesitated on whether or not to let the planet continue down the riverbank, Mars moved to stand beside Earth, turning his own face to the gas giant. Even if Mars was a little unsure of this whole idea, he really didn’t want more conflicts or frustrations being sown between the planets he cared about. At least if he’s with us, we can keep an eye on him. And who knows, it might be fun?

“Let’s just give it a go, hey?” Mars offered to the gas giant, hoping he sounded level and reasonable as he spoke. “Learning more about them will probably be useful for any future encounters, won’t it? And if we’re careful about it, we can get out of there quickly at the first signs of aggression.”

“Hm, very well.” Jupiter hummed, still eyeing the creatures sceptically, but lifted his foot to release Earth. Thankfully, the feathered dragon didn’t immediately shoot down the bank, he did however carefully pull his tail as far from Jupiter’s range as possible with a pointed huff. “Slowly. And only one of us will approach at first. Someone who can take off quickly if needed.”

“I vote Luna!” Earth’s sudden, immediate call startled the moon in question, who jumped up from his reclined position watching the elephants from the rock. “He’ll be perfect for it! He’s small and good at take offs, and he’s basically the same colour as them!”

“Maybe if I was covered in mud.” Luna grumbled, but trotted over anyway to join the conversation. “What am I doing?”

“You’re test subject number one. We need to see how the elephants react to dragons before we can approach them as a group, so you’ll go and greet them.” Earth’s explanation didn’t ignite much enthusiasm in the moon’s face, but Luna also didn’t look partially against the idea. “It’ll be fine. And if they charge, just fly away.”

“‘Just fly away’, yeah, maybe if I’m not flattened first. You told me once that they’re pretty fast when they wanna be.” Luna argued back, glancing down at the herd of creatures. “So…I just gotta walk up to them? Or just stand nearby and hope they don’t eat me?”

“They won’t eat you, silly. They’re herbivores." Earth ruffled his wings and waved a forelimb at the elephants. “Just walk where they can see you, but don’t make eye-contact or move deliberately in their direction. I’ll watch how they react and come out with you if I think it’s okay. We’ll do this incrementally."

“Fine. Let’s go get trampled by elephants then.” 

….

By the time the rest of the system had heard this mad plan, half of them vehemently decided to stay on the rise and avoid the situation entirely. Jupiter had left a reluctant Saturn in charge of this group, with orders to stay nearby and drink water upstream of their little experiment. The appeal of the elephants was clearly not worth the risk for many of them. And as the other half were now sitting in soft, muddy soil, getting bitten by a million buzzing insects, Mars was beginning to regret his choice. If this takes too long, they’ll have to dig us out.

He was currently getting a front-row view of poor Luna’s attempt to look non-threatening as he approached the river, his wings tightly tucked in and tail low. Beside Mars, Earth was crouched and watching intently, scanning the herd of elephants ahead of them. They still appeared unaware of their existence, happily continuing their splashing and trumpeting to one another, occasionally using those weird trunks to touch and hold each other. It was oddly familiar, at least to the organic part of his brain, and he could almost picture them talking and playing with each other like his friends would. Earth called them intelligent. I think I’m starting to see why.

Luna finally reached the water’s edge, dipping his head both to drink and to avoid staring at the beasts now a few metres away from him. Still, the elephants played and seemingly ignored him. Mars nudged Earth’s shoulder.

“Have they even seen him? They look pretty unbothered.” Mars noted, watching Earth’s eyes tracing over the elephants repeatedly. 

“A few have seen him. Look at that one.” Earth whispered back, nosing towards a larger individual who had subtly shifted to stand between Luna and the herd, though its eyes looked almost closed. “She’s probably the matriarch, so if she thinks Luna is a threat she’ll either chase him off or move the herd on.”

“So she’s the leader, basically?” Mars clarified, eyeing the huge beast more critically. She certainly looked the part; a massive frame covered in that thick, wrinkled skin that seemed to droop off of her, with impressive tusks framing her long trunk that curled and uncurled under her vast head. The large, nicked ears that fanned on either side of her head caught his attention as they moved back and forth periodically. “So…what does she make of Luna?”

“Well, she’s clearly curious, but uncertain.” Earth stated, and Mars was left wondering how his friend had gotten that from the frankly bored expression the elephant sported. His incredulity must have shown on his face, as Earth added, “See her tail? It’s stiff and downward, so she’s not too happy, but her eyes and ears are still relaxed. She’s swaying her trunk and pretending to drink while she works out what Luna is.”

“I-I did not get that at all.” Mars muttered back, frowning at the beast to try and read the signs Earth listed. Her ears and eyes certainly looked calm, but now that he knew to take the tail into account, there was a new tinge of tension in her form he hadn’t registered before. “What’s the next move, then? Just wait for her to decide?”

“Basically, yeah. She’ll- wait, look.” Earth interrupted himself to indicate back towards the herd. Mars instantly saw what had caught his attention and his body tensed unconsciously. One of the smallest elephants had spotted Luna and was now dashing across the shallow water with its uncoordinated truck held high, letting out little noises as it went. 

Luna stiffened and moved back from the water, but the little elephant stopped a few feet from him anyway, flaring its ears into disks and throwing its trunk at the river to splash the air around it. The grey dragon stayed frozen, lowering himself as much as he could while the little elephant paraded in front of him.

“What’s it doing?” Mars whispered, ready to rush in if Luna needed back up, and Earth was tensed beside him as well. “Is it going to hurt him?”

“He’s just a baby. Showing off and pretending to be intimidating.” Earth told him, lowering his voice to add, “It’s the adults I’m worried about.”

Waiting for Earth to continue with some instructions or something useful, Mars watched as more elephants began to congregate along the water’s edge, rumbling and spreading their ears as they faced Luna. The baby’s mother, presumably, was trying to pull the little one back into the herd’s line, but the baby wasn’t interested. He kept staring at Luna, swinging his trunk around in messy circles as he shook his head. The matriarch stepped forward to also try and drag the young one back, her deep rumbling penetrating Mars’ bones.

“What do we do? Should Luna run?” Mars whispered more insistently, tilting his head to look at Earth without fully breaking his watch over Luna. “Earth-”

“I wanna try something. Wait here.” Earth muttered, and without any elaboration, slinked out of the undergrowth they were crouched in. Mars gaped after him dumbly. I swear to the Stars he’s going to get himself killed one day. 

Stuck between following his stupid friend or doing as he asked, Mars was forced to watch the feathered dragon slowly but calmly wander up to Luna. The elephants clearly didn’t know what to make of this new arrival, grumbling and raising trucks towards the hiding place the rest of the group was concealed under. Great, and he’d given away our cover too.

Just as he was about to turn and call for the others to evacuate, Earth reached his moon and proceeded not to talk, but to echo the small trumpeting noises the baby elephant had made seconds before. It was an almost perfect mimic of the sound, and clearly good enough to confuse the elephant herd, who suddenly looked far more intrigued than fearful. What is he doing? And how?

The matriarch reacted first, stepping forward with her trunk stretched out, sniffing the two dragons suspiciously. Earth mimicked the sounds again, lowering himself beside Luna and keeping his eyes down. A few of the other adults began to shuffle forward, curiously waving their trunks, but remaining behind their leader. 

At Earth’s third repetition, the matriarch finally stepped out of the river and neared the two dragons, who held perfectly still as she danced her trunk over their backs and heads, pinching at Luna’s spine spikes and Earth’s feathers. Given that Earth had nearly bitten Mars for similar acts, he suspected Earth was exercising some impressive self-restraint as the elephant tugged at them, even pulling away with one of the dragon’s blue feathers in her grasp. She waved it around in front of her eye for a few breaths, then dropped it into the river behind her. The little elephant ran after it, excitedly splashing the water as he tried to grab it for himself.

The matriarch continued her assessment of the two creatures, pushing and pulling various parts, looking for a reaction. When her leg kicked at Luna’s side, Mars nearly rushed out after him, but the blow barely moved the moon, as gentle as it was. Her trunk twirled around one of Earth’s antlers, pulling to slightly and forcing the dragon attached to bend his neck awkwardly. It looked painful, and Mars was concerned the elephant wouldn’t know to stop, but the second Earth mimicked another squeaked trumpet, she released him without argument.

“What is he doing?” So caught up in watching the scene unfolding, Mars nearly jumped at the sudden voice and approach of Mercury, who blinked at him from the gloom of the thicket they were sheltered under. “Why’s that elephant touching him?”

“I think she’s trying to work out what they are.” Mars mumbled back, not sure how to explain anything of what he was seeing. “I mean, he hasn’t gotten stomped on yet, so it must be going alright.”

“There’s still time.” This time, Mars was prepared for Venus’ appearance, and only shot him an unimpressed look for his comment. “What? He’s surrounded himself with those beasts now. I hope he isn’t expecting a rescue.”

Glancing back at the elephants, Mars was amazed to find Earth and Luna standing up, with the herd crowding in on all sides to touch and sniff at the new creatures they’d found. Even the baby was now permitted to approach them, his silly little trunk flopping over Earth’s head as he tried to avoid getting smacked in the face. 

“I think he’s got it under control.”

…

 “Go on, admit it. You like them!” Earth crowed happily as Jupiter nervously accepted the once over from the matriarch elephant, clearly trying his best not to flinch away from her probing trunk. They were near equal in height, with Jupiter only winning due to his long horns and neck, while their frames differed wildly. Where the matriarch was as stocky as a boulder, Jupiter was far more trim and lanky, though Mars would only call him that in comparison to an elephant. 

“I suppose I can see the appeal.” Jupiter quietly relented, watching with an awed expression as the elephant gently stroked his wings and rumbled at him. “She’s very…interested in us. It’s almost as if she wants to understand us.”

“I’m sure she does.” Earth grinned, pausing to mimic a small rumble back to the matriarch, who swung her trunk over to bop him gently on the head. “They’re ridiculously smart, and very emotional. Learning is their way of life out here.”

“Aw, I think they’ve adopted you.” Mars laughed as Earth ducked another trunk-hug from one of the other adults. Even though the herd had been confident with greeting the rest of their group, they still seemed to prefer Earth and his moon, probably due to his copying of their voices. “How’re you doing that, anyway? The mimicking thing.”

“I didn’t even know I could do it until yesterday.” Earth explained, giving up and letting the elephant drape her trunk over his head and fiddle with his feathers. “I was watching some mongoose chattering and giggling, so I tried to copy them, and it worked! They went ballistic, it was hilarious! You guys should try it sometime.”

“Nah, I think that’s a ‘you’ thing.” Mars dismissed, not willing to admit he’d already tried to copy the funny squeaks from the baby elephant as it ran circles around him. “It’s useful, though.”

“You think?” Earth grinned sarcastically as the elephant proudly waved another plucked feather from his head. “I’ll be bald by the end of this.”

“Well, then you’ll match the other birds we keep shooing off our food.” Venus snarked, standing stiffly by the edge of the clearing and eyeing the elephants suspiciously. “Is this really something we should be wasting time on? Don’t we have places to be?”

“We’re fine, Venus. Even if we get to our goal today, we’ll still have to wait for nightfall to get out of here. And we’re nearly there anyway.” Earth brushed off, ruefully watching his feather get passed around the herd. “Don’t be so grumpy, we’re making friends!”

“More like you’re being harvested for trinkets." Luna put it, currently stuck between two elephants as they tried to stretch his wings out. “How many feathers are you going to let them take?”

“Well, not the important ones.” Earth assured him, carefully pulling his wing closer to his side as a curious trunk tried to pry it open. “I’m a little worried the local humans are going to find these weird feathers and get all excited, but as long as it's only small ones we should be fine.”

“Here’s hoping.” Venus grumbled, trying to subtly avoid the wandering limb of the baby elephant as it tried to touch him. “If we get in trouble 'cause of your feathers, I won’t let you live that down.”

While Earth laughed at Venus’ threat, Mars scanned the rest of the group, trying to keep track of everyone. His eyes found his own moons first, relieved to see they were sticking with Jupiter’s moon Europa and the other little dragons, splashing at the edge of the water with one of the smaller elephants. The other moons were scattered throughout the herd in various states of awe or nervousness as the elephants touched and tried to play with them. A few, like Io, had even entered the river with them to splash and roll in the mud, sending up loud trumpets from their elephant companions. Mercury was seemingly trying to test one of the creatures; arranging a line of various stones and twigs which he watched the elephant pick up and inspect. Shaking his head in exasperation, Mars vaguely wondered what Saturn and the ice giants were up to. We’ve been gone for a while now. They might be getting worried.

“Hey, Jupiter.” Mars called, stepping over to the larger dragon who was still having his horns inspected by the elephant leader. He seemed calmer than before, at least, even settling down to make the task easier for the matriarch. “Should I go find Saturn’s group? Just so they don’t wonder what we’re up to.”

“Thank you, Mars, that would be very helpful.” Jupiter nodded, and Mars fought not to beam too obviously at the words. Wasting no time, he bounded back up the riverbank and began to search for their missing half. 

The tracks they’d left were nice and clear, so all Mars had to do was follow the mess of footprints and tail-drags until he began to hear voices up ahead. The trees were larger here, growing just tall enough to tower over even Saturn, giving the area a blessed amount of shade from the midday sun. Pausing, he listened in for a few minutes, frowning at the weird structure they seemed to have decided to surround. 

It was pale red, same as the dirt under his talons, only it rose unnaturally tall and narrow from the ground it resembled. The sides were oddly lumpy, and the whole shape was slumped near the bottom and far narrower at the top, making it stand out harshly against the brushes and trees near it. Saturn was seemingly trying to convince the others to leave it be, but a curious few were still stepping forward to poke at the mound. Mars tensed, darting forward to try and see what kind of threat this structure might pose. It’s almost taller than the elephants. Whatever made it must be huge, or very powerful.

“Mars!” Saturn greeted him with a relieved expression, flapping a wing in exasperation at the rest of his group. “Please tell them not to touch it! They won’t listen to me!”

The red planet wasn’t sure why Saturn thought the ice giants, their moons, and the ringed planet’s own moons, would be more likely to heed the word of a rocky planet over him. Instead of questioning this or warning them off immediately, Mars moved to inspect the situation himself, not wanting to test his limited authority for little reason. It’ll just be even more embarrassing when they ignore me, if it was for no reason at all.

“What’ve you guys found?” He asked, facing the friendliest face he could find in the huddle. Unfortunately, that face was Neptune, who didn’t look entirely sure himself.

“Bitey little creatures!” He exclaimed, lifting a claw to show Mars a small collection of pale, miniscule insects that were currently trying their best to bite the hard scales of his talons, gripping the edges with tiny mandibles. “They got a little upset when we poked their home, I think.”

“Y-yeah.” Mars agreed hesitantly, not sure what he was looking at. Peering past Neptune, he spotted the small hole they’d made in the side of the structure, which was currently bleeding out hundreds of similar white-brown creatures of various sizes. “Maybe don’t do that, then?”

“We only did it once!” Ariel, one of Uranus’ more unpredictable moons, bounded up to assure him. Her own talons were also swarming with the creatures, but they seemed less interested in biting her. “Aren’t they so cool! We think they made this thing, ‘cause we keep seeing some of them moving dirt around and adding it to the hole we made!”

“That’s… fascinating." Mars smiled weakly at the moon, wondering if he should go back and get Earth. He’d know what these insects were, and probably how to read their body language or mimic their communications or something ridiculous like that. He’d at least know more than Mars currently did. Are they dangerous? Should we run away? Are they going to poison us or just pathetically bite at our scales? 

Just as he was about to shoo them away from the mass of creatures, he felt a tingle rise from his own legs. Glancing down warily, he suppressed a shiver at the sight of more of the tiny specks making their way over his own red scales, looping in small circles and touching the heads and hinds of their fellows as they wandered past. He watched them for a few seconds, surprised to find a shaky pattern in their movements, searching new areas but always making sure to head back to their own kind for a check in. The dragon squinted down at the mound itself, spying the hole and the flurry of movements around it as these microscopic beasts quickly and efficiently worked together to repair the damage of creatures thousands of times their size. The simple existence of just one insect seemed near insignificant to the red planet, but when faced with their towering structure he could not hope to replicate, he felt oddly humbled. 

I suppose Earth had a point, during all his rants and raves about the tiniest of his Life. Mars had never really wanted Life, not like Earth had, and not like Proto and Theia had, but he wouldn’t have hated it if it led to moments like this on his own surface. To know these tiny consciousnesses were scrambling around, going about their small yet impressive lives while even smaller organisms below them did the same, all the way down to the simplest amoeba…it was somehow terrifying as well as awe-inspiring. I wish you two had been able to see this too. I didn’t get it at the time, and maybe I still don’t, but I think this is what you wanted. A living world.

“Um, dude, are you crying?” Uranus’ awkward voice broke his reminiscing, snapping him back to awareness of where he was, and who was currently staring at him while he got teary-eyed over some insects. “Did they manage to bite you? I wasn’t sure if they could, but those little pincers look vicious.”

“Uh, no, I wasn’t- I wasn’t bitten by them.” Mars tried to recover some dignity, standing back up after sharply wiping his eyes of moisture. He faced the gathered dragons, fighting to ignore the tickling rising up his leg from the insect’s wandering. “We’re going back to the elephants. Earth’s probably ready to move on soon, but you might still get to meet them.”

“Oh? He didn’t get you all flattened, then?” Dione asked, shaking off a few bugs from her tail and already starting back the way they’d come. “I’ve got to see this.”

“Hey, wait up!” Tethys called, bounding after her alongside the rest of the Saturnian moons, and even a few Uranian ones. Saturn sighed as they left, picking himself up and starting after them, leaving Mars with the ice giants. Uranus was already up and ready to go, but seemed to be waiting for Neptune, who was still staring at the mound of insects. 

“Come on, mate. We can go get a better look at those elephants Earth was getting excited about.” Uranus nudged his friend, drawing his attention and using his tail to guide the blue dragon with him. “And we can finally get some water.”

“Wasn’t Saturn supposed to lead the group to water?” Mars asked in confusion, receiving an eye-roll from the pale dragon. 

“He couldn’t lead an asteroid into his orbit.” Uranus joked, walking after the rest of the group now that Neptune seemed willing to follow. “His moons started wandering off, so we had to spend most of the time tracking them down again. Then Titan almost exploded with excitement when we found that mound, so we were stuck watching it for ages. It didn’t even get interesting till Ariel got annoyed enough to stick her talon in it.”

“Hey! You dared me to!” Ariel, who’d apparently been walking next to her planet this whole time, piped up indignantly. Uranus at least had the wherewithal to look embarrassed. 

“Right, yeah, anyway. All’s to say, we weren’t that productive.” Uranus summarised, lifting his head to stare ahead at the nearing riverbank. “What did your lot end up doing? Just taming elephants?”

“More like getting adopted into their herd, but basically the same thing.” Mars grinned, stepping up to the edge of the bank and looking down. 

Just as before, Earth was slowly leading each of the newly arriving moons to an elephant, instructing them on how to act and letting the beasts greet them in their fashion. Saturn had somehow shuffled over to Jupiter, and was now trying to dodge the attention of the matriarch elephant as she insisted on treating him the same as his similarly sized friend.   

“Oh wow! They look so friendly!” Neptune smiled as they watched the scene below, his little moons already breaking away to tumble down the bank and meet the creatures, followed more carefully by Triton. Neptune grinned at Uranus excitedly. “Let’s go say ‘hi’!”

“Yeah, that sounds good, mate.” Uranus agreed, following the moons down to the river. 

Mars remained on the rocky overlook, satisfied to watch from a distance for a few minutes. Despite all the excitement, his stomach still ached for food and his scales stung under the sunlight, reminding him that even when they were having more fun than they’d ever had in orbit, they were still bound in organic, demanding bodies. But it’s okay. We’ll eat before late afternoon, even if only a little, and we’ll sleep until Earth wakes us up for the night flight. I have no idea where we’re going after that, but I guess that’s just part of the adventure. 

….

This adventure blows. Mars grumbled to himself, nervously eyeing the sky above them. They’d only been in the air for a few hours at most, but their clear night sky had already been completely obscured by thick grey clouds, blocking even Earth’s ability to navigate with much accuracy. Mars knew he would’ve switched to landmarks, but it was hard to see how when the land below them was cast in impenetrable shadows. They hadn’t seen the moon for long when they’d awoken, but even the meagre light it had shone from the horizon had given them something to see by for a bit. Now even the faint starlight was gone. We’re going to get so lost.

The wind was becoming an issue as well, blowing harshly into their faces as they tried to maintain a shaky formation. Jupiter and Saturn had taken front positions, with Saturn holding just behind Jupiter’s left wing. And behind Saturn’s own left wing rode Uranus, with Neptune copying on Jupiter's right wing. It gave them an odd pointed formation, but it seemed to be working well enough against the headwind, even giving the moons and rocky planets room to hide from the worst of the gusts. Still, flying was exhausting them too quickly.

He was about to attempt to shout this to the dragon next to him, despite the roar of the wind, but when he looked around, Earth was no longer there. Glancing around frantically, heart racing, Mars finally spotted the blue-green dragon trying to power his way to the front of the flock, clearly aiming for Jupiter’s attention. Mars watched, not sure he had the energy to copy his friend with two small dragons on his back, and just hoped he was requesting a landing. I could sleep for two days after this, food be damned.

Off his right side, he caught a few of the moons trying to stay steady as a gust of wind slammed into them, forcing a few to roll and adjust further down the slipstream. It almost looked fun, and if he’d had the energy he might have tried the manoeuvre himself, but the risk of being blown wildly off course rang in his ears. 

Up ahead, Earth had reached Jupiter and was gasping out a shouted mess of words, too torn apart by the time they reached Mars to be decipherable, leaving him with only the urgent expression on his face to guess by. As he’d hoped, Jupiter appeared to be preparing to land, but before he could feel any real relief about that, a blinding flash of light spotted his vision and sent his mind into a panic. And it quickly became obvious he wasn’t the only one.

All around him, dragons began to break formation and dive, either out of fear or due to the blinding flash. Mars dropped down after them, trying to see where they were going in the darkness, hoping to corral them towards one of the giants at least. The effort was mostly ruined when the sky itself began to growl. 

What do we do? Mars frantically stared between the dark sky and pitch black ground, horribly disoriented. He could feel his moons digging their talons into his back to stay attached, glad for the confirmation that they were still with him. His wings flapped wildly, suddenly unsure of how far down the ground even was and reluctant to smash into it, and he tried to regain some sense of his location. Nothing. Just darkness in every direction. What do I do?

He was about to head back up again to maybe gain a better view, when an ear-splitting roar broke into the chaotic night, snapping him towards the noise. The roar repeated again, soon echoed by a lower, thunderous call that rivalled the sky’s own cry. As Mars hung in the air, disoriented and panicky, the sounds seemed to draw him in. So he began to try and follow them.

Whoever was behind the sharp, piercing roars must have been deliberating trying to act as a signal for the group, as they continued to repeat their calls in a predictable pattern despite an increasing amount of returning roars from other lost dragons. The lower toned voice only repeated a few more times before falling silent, seemingly reaching the first caller. Mars raced through the air, growing more and more anxious to be surrounded by the system again as the sky flashed and roared above. 

Unless his ears were deceiving him, he was soon right above the caller, though the ground was still unseen. Trying to slowly lower himself down, he tilted his head left and right to focus the sound to one point, aiming as close as he dared. The last few feet of air was thick with trees, but he was too desperate to backtrack, merely folding his wings over his moons and throwing himself through them, hoping he didn’t get injured in the process. 

With an exhausted gasp of relief, he finally felt solid dirt beneath his body, letting himself fall onto it and lay there for a few calming, slow breaths. His head buzzed uncomfortably and his eyes strained to see into the inky night surrounding him. He could hear Phobos and Deimos crying, causing him to curl around them and quickly check for any injuries from the rough landing. They felt physically okay, but continued to cry as he held them.

“Shh, you’re alright, we’re alright. We just need to get to the others, OK?” Mars whispered, gently looping his foreleg under them and holding them close to his chest. The growing headache was exacerbated by the loud, and now very close, shrieking call, forcing him to get back on his feet and wander sightlessly towards the sound. Trying to walk with the moons held under him was awkward, but not anymore awkward than stumbling around in the dark already was.

Before he even got there, he could tell something had changed in the air, and not just because of the lightning in the distance. No, now he could scent something he’d not encountered before, but the smell alone seemed to trigger some instinct of calm and focus, strangely at odds with the way his night was going so far. 

By the time he reached the caller, his ears were ringing and he swore random points on his body were suddenly rather cold. Stumbling into the clearing, he was beyond relieved to hear a lot of other voices, and he began to tally them up in his mind. Mercury, Luna, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Uranus, Ganymede, Titan, oh, that must be Oberon? I think?

He tried to make out who was still calling, not instantly recognising the roar. He suspected that the lower tone had been Jupiter or Saturn, but when he nearly bumped into the caller he wasn’t expecting Neptune’s weirdly shiny eyes to glance down at him, blinking slowly. He blinked dumbly back, not sure where he was going beyond reaching this location. Luckily, Neptune seemed to realize this, pausing in his calls to nudge him sideways until his flank hit another dragon.

“Mars?” The familiar voice asked, and as Saturn’s wing rose over him, he was surprised to feel the sharp, cold spots fade away. Under the tented wing, he felt himself being shuffled against by a collection of other dragons taking shelter under here, all blind and oddly damp. Not caring much for dignity at this point, Mars carefully pressed himself against the dragon next to him, using his own wing to cover them slightly. They froze for a few seconds, clearly unsure, before curling against him in return, silently agreeing to a temporary peace under Saturn’s wing. He released Phobos and Deimos from their hold against his chest, but they stayed as close as they could, curling up and almost instantly falling asleep. As he lowered his head to rest along another dragon’s back, he tried to listen in on the small conversation happening nearby.

“How many is that now?” Saturn asked, and Mars could hear his claws anxiously pulling up dirt in his worry. “I have Mars and his moons now, so that’s just Rhea and Mimas.”

“And Io.” Jupiter stated, his voice interrupted by another roar from Neptune. “But Triton’s gone out to find them, and they should be able to follow the racket Neptune’s making.”

The two seemed to fall into silence for a beat, letting Mars nearly drift off entirely as the damp and cold was radiated away by the huddle of dragons around him. He couldn’t identify any particular individual by scent, which at least told him his fellow rockies weren’t here. Cuddling up with moons. Who would've thought it possible after that mess back in orbit. Seems so silly now.

“How’s Earth?” Saturn’s question broke his hazy nap, focusing his attention again. What? 

“Wet, and probably more than a little miserable, but he didn’t seem in pain. Hopefully being out of this weather will help.” Jupiter replied, and Mars was beginning to find it hard to hear them over the persistent pattering that seemed to have increased in volume in the last few minutes. “I just want to get everyone accounted for, then we can deal with any other issues.”

“It sucks that only Neptune and his moons can see in this crap.” Uranus joined in, having apparently been beside Saturn the whole time. “I can barely see my own feet, let alone any missing moons.”

“Are all your moons accounted for?” Jupiter asked the ice giant.

“Yeah, I’ve got them all, thankfully.” Uranus mumbled, and Mars heard the sound of shifting scales as the dragon moved. “Let’s never fly in cloudy weather at night again, hey? I’d rather keep my ear-drums next time.”

“Indeed, though I think we were caught unawares this time. Earth did not expect the storm to break so soon.” Jupiter added, “Next time, we won’t chance it.”

“Good to hear.” Uranus settled into silence for a stretch more, before piping up again. “Oh, hi, Triton. Any luck?”

“Io’s here, and Mimas.” Triton’s voice spoke up, and soon another small body was pressed under Saturn’s wing, shivering against Mars’ side. He unfolded his other wing to drape it over Mimas, hoping it might help warm the cold moon up. Triton was talking again when he refocused, though he only caught a few words before the moon was off again, “-’ll find her, don’t worry.”

Triton’s departure quieted the last of the conversation, and the giants seemed to be trying to curl into themselves as much as they could without disturbing their huddles of dragons. Mars could feel the allure of sleep grabbing at him, but he strained to stay awake, at least until he’d know the last of their group was safe. Neptune’s calls were beginning to weaken, the dragon’s voice becoming strained by the repetitive use, so soon the only noise was the pattering and the breathing of dragons around him. The mix of warmth and soft pressure dragged at his eye-lids, drawing them to close. I’ll stay awake… I’ll stay…I’ll…

Stars! Mars snapped back to awareness abruptly, immediately dazed by the return of his vision. Though the light was dim as it streamed through Saturn’s wing membrane, it was bright enough to tell him he’d fallen asleep. Did everyone get back? Who was the last moon? Rhea?

Glancing around the now illuminated huddle of dozing moons, Mars found himself trying to count them. He got as far as five before completely losing track. They’re all grey or sandy coloured, and I can barely tell where one moon ends and another begins. What colour is Rhea?

At his side, Mimas seemed to be slowly waking up himself, parting his jaws in a wide yawn before opening his single eye. Sitting on his blindside, Mars was suddenly very aware that these moons likely weren’t expecting to wake up cuddling a planet. This is awkward.

“AH!” Unfortunately, Mars didn’t even get the chance to approach the issue before Mimas swung his gaze towards him, jumping away when he registered the red dragon covering him with his wing. Mars pulled the limb back, curling his legs around his small moons as he watched the Saturnian moon react. 

“Mimas, not this early, please.” Another voice muttered from the mess of dragons, a narrow-eyed Dione glaring across the space at the disruption. It was almost funny watching her expression change as she registered the planet. Her voice took on a colder edge as she spoke to him. “What are you doing here?”

“Um, Saturn put me here?” Mars shrugged, trying to push himself to his feet and leave even as the pattering persisted beyond the veil of Saturn’s wing. “I didn’t pick it, trust me.”

“Hm.” She considered his words, tossing her head and sighing. “Fine. I suppose you haven’t done anything to hurt us by sleeping here. Just don’t do it again.”

“I don’t plan to.” Mars returned, now detached from the warmth of the moon pile. He’d left his own moons in place, certain they would be among friends here, even if Mars was not. Before leaving, he turned to ask, “Is Rhea here?”

“Why do you need to know?” Dione returned, but her gaze flitted over another grey moon near her worriedly, which was all the confirmation Mars needed.

“No reason. I just wanted to make sure no one was missing.” He replied honestly, ducking out of Saturn’s protection to face the world again, escaping Dione’s searching gaze.

Immediately, he wanted to go back. The sky was still depressingly grey, spitting water down on them in a constant, irritating splattering. Even trying to take a deep breath led to more than his desired amount of water going up his nose. Ugh, of course it’s rain. Wait…rain? Literal water from the sky? I thought I’d be more excited about this, honestly. After all the talk of it.

It was soothing, he supposed, the smell far more appealing than he’d ever imagined. The physical sensation, however, was a whole different story. Each rain drop struck his scales and seemed to leach heat from them, and as the water ran down his form he couldn’t help a small quiver.

“Mars?” The voice was softer than he was used to hearing from that individual. He raised his head, surprised to see Uranus curled around not only his own moons, but a shivering Neptune as well. It wasn’t a great fit, and most of the sleeping blue dragon was still exposed to the rain, but Uranus didn’t seem willing to shift his position. Neptune’s own moons were presumably under their planet's wing, but Triton was off to one side, just about avoiding any physical contact with the planet, stubbornly wrapped up under his own wings. 

“Hey. Everything…OK?” Mars asked, not sure what else to say in the face the night they’d had.

“As OK as it can be, I guess.” Uranus grumbled, eyeing the sky and flinching back from the rain that hit his pupils. “The sky stopped trying to drown us a bit before dawn, but it’s still coming down even now. You’d think the atmosphere wouldn’t be able to hold this much water at once in such a small place.”

“Ah, well, as long as it’s calmed a bit?” Mars wasn’t sure what the difference between ‘trying to drown us’ rain and this rain was, but he wasn’t interested enough to ask for clarification. “Did everyone get here in the end?”

“Yeah, everyone's been counted in, according to Jupiter. Good thing too, ‘cause I am not listening to that much roaring ever again.” Uranus shuffled the wing Neptune was under, glancing down. “I mean, it was a bloody good idea, but damn are my ears still ringing.”

“Hm, same here.” Mars let the conversation pitter out, not sure what he should be doing now that he was awake and covered in water. Jupiter and Saturn still looked thoroughly asleep, and he couldn’t see any of his friends up and about. I guess I can go check on them, at least. They’re probably all with Jupiter’s moons.

Padding away from Uranus, he approached the huge wing of the gas giant, trying to find an easy way under. The side was blocked by the bone of the wing, but the backside was limp enough to nose his way under. 

The difference in air temperature was the first thing he registered, soothing after his short stint in the rain. The light was different too, more orange and brown than Saturn’s underwing lighting, with striation covering the membrane above his head. Quickly scanning the space, he picked out his fellow rocky planets.

Venus was an easy spot, having curled up separated from everyone else, while Mercury seemed to have melded into the moon pile like Mars had with Saturn’s moons. It was odd to see a moon like Ganymede willingly snuggled up next to a planet, but Mars wasn’t going to question it. Earth and Luna were also easy spots, with the moon curled around the smaller moons while Earth was curled around him. They all seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and the urge to join them was far more powerful than his need to go outside and be helpful. 

Creeping carefully across the length of the space, Mars softly settled down a few inches from Earth’s side, aware of his current dampness and how that might be received by the feathered dragon. The feathers already seemed barely dried from the night before, ruffled and misplaced. Instead of adding more water to the situation, Mars settled for gently, carefully pulling a few of the messier feathers through his talons, imitating the movements he’d watched Earth perform before. 

It was strangely relaxing, and before Mars knew it, he’d preened all the feathers along Earth’s back and tail. Moving over to the head, he was amused to see the feathered dragon lean into the action, pressing his head against Mars’ talons as they threaded through the structures. More motivated now, Mars continued to softly fix and arrange the feathers around his friend’s head, moving down to the neck when he ran out. 

Around the time he was seriously considering trying to preen the flight feathers, Earth rolled over with a small groan, squeaking with surprise when he was met by Mars’ own wing. The half-asleep dragon’s head shot up, blinking rapidly and shaking himself into awareness. 

“Mars? What- I thought Saturn put you with his lot?” Earth mumbled, still adjusting his eyes to the light. Mars smiled back, glad to finally have someone to talk to. 

“Yeah, but I got kicked out when I nearly gave Mimas a core-attack ‘cause he realised we’d been cuddling.” Mars joked, settling more firmly against Earth’s side now that his own hide was dryer. “You alright? Jupiter made it sound like he’d picked you out of a puddle.”

“Ha, I wish.” Earth laughed, stretching one foreleg with a lazy yawn. “He basically broke my landing, actually. I wasn’t having a great time trying to fly with wet wings, so down I went, only to land on poor Jupiter’s back and nearly scare the scales off him.”

“Wow, sounds fun.” Mars sarcastically noted, fighting the urge to adjust one of Earth’s feathers that he’d ruffled out of alignment. “That explains that then. So…what’s the damage?”

“Damage? I mean, I think I just bounced off him, honestly.” Earth twisted his head towards his back. “The worst will be my feathers. They’ll need to- why are my feathers already fixed?”

“Oh, um, I got a bit bored waiting for you to wake up?” Mars grinned sheepishly, abruptly aware that maybe preening the feathers without Earth’s consent wasn’t the best move. “Sorry, I won’t do it again-”

“No, it’s fine. If I’d trust anyone to do it, it would be you.” Earth admitted, which didn’t help as much as the living planet probably thought it would. The old, nagging reminder that he still hadn’t ever told Earth and his moon about their forebears pushed front and centre in his mind. Not now. Definitely not right now.

“What am I, an asteroid?" Luna’s indigent noise of protest snapped Mars out of his little spiral, forcing a laugh from him instead of a sob. “No, no, it’s fine Earth, I’ll leave you and Mars to preen each other to your cores’ content.”

“Luna, don’t be silly!” Earth reached over to pull him moon closer with one foreleg, refusing to let the grey moon squirm away. “Of course you’re allowed as well! I appreciate the help, honestly, guys. It takes entirely too long.”

“Would you three shut up!” Europa’s sharp voice interrupted them again, her pale horns barely visible over Ganymede’s bulk beside her. “I am trying to sleep here!”

“Oops, sorry, Europa.” Earth called back, surprisingly friendly towards one of the moons Mars was certain had wanted him dead back in orbit. Wow, maybe this whole experience really will fix things with the moons? If Europa and Earth can interact civilly, it feels like anything is possible.

Earth slowly drew himself up, shaking out his wings and assessing the flight feathers. Mars winced at one primary, which was bent nearly opposite to the root, surrounded by an unsightly smear of dried blood. His tinge of pity turned to confusion when Earth grabbed the offending feather in his teeth and twisted it out, spitting the feather out onto the ground in front of him. A bit more blood pooled from the feather’s origin, but Earth didn’t seem overly concerned.

“Dude, don’t you need that?” Mars could only ask, thoroughly unnerved by the ease Earth had done that, ripping an entire feather from his wing without flinching. A feather that could bleed, apparently. Just behind Earth’s shoulder, he could see Luna peering cautiously down at the feather too.

“Nah, not when it's already broken like that. It’s just an infection risk at that point.” Earth explained, turning the feather’s shaft to show Mars the dried blood around a crack near the base. “I have to remove it so a new one can grow in its place.”

“That’s…uncomfortable.” Mars shivered, endlessly glad he hadn’t been given a form also covered in feathers. “Are you sure feathers are worth it, dude? This stuff sounds horrible.”

“Oh, I’m sure when you lot are all itching your skin off during a shed, feathers will seem far more appealing.” Earth rolled his eyes playfully, but Mars felt his core sink at the ominous promise of some unknown downside to scales. We better get back to orbit before that happens.

“Are you done plucking yourself now?” Luna asked with a disapproving frown, shuffling his own wings and yawning. “Can we go back to sleep? No one else is even up yet.”

“Nah, I’m going out there.” Earth nodded to beyond Jupiter’s wing, an excited grin already worryingly cemented on his face. Mars tried not to sigh too obviously. “I’ve waited far too long for some rain. It just sucks that it started at night.”

“Aren’t you going to mess up your feathers again?” Mars eyed the nice, neat arrangement he’d created, imagining it soaked and scruffy again. “I only just fixed them, dude!”

“Well, you can always fix them again?” Earth replied cheekily, already padding to the back of Jupiter’s wing to nose his way out. “Come on! It’s not even raining that heavily anymore. And who knows what we’ll find out here? I have no clue where we are.”

“Is that supposed to sound encouraging?” Luna muttered beside Mars, watching the feathered dragon’s tail disappear. “Ugh, do we really have to follow him? I’m still tired!”

“Stay if you want, Luna. I can keep an eye on him.” Mars told the moon, pulling himself to his feet and starting to follow after Earth. “He’ll probably come running back after the first muddy puddle anyway.”

“True.” Luna wrinkled his nose at the thought, before smiling softly at Mars. “Just try to both come back in one piece. Stars knows we don’t need Jupiter waking up to another missing group.”

“I’ll try my best.” Mar winked, slipping out from under the wing and blinking against the shine glistening from every surface. The Sun had finally broken the swath of clouds above them, beaming down rays of light that sparked off each rain-sheened leaf, rock, and dragon scale. The end result was a world of glinting stars spread over his vision, dazing his gloom-adapted eyes.

He caught up to Earth easily enough, the blue-green feathers nearly glowing as the light rain trickled over them. The feathered dragon was staring up at the sky, letting rain fall into his parted mouth as he blinked water from his eyes. Mars wasn’t sure of the efficiency of such a method of water acquisition, but at least Earth seemed to be having a good time. As he got closer, he was surprised to see that while the majority of the rain drops soaked into his feathers, a few repelled them, sending them to the ground unchanged. 

“Are you actually getting obsessed with my feathers or something?” Earth joked when Mars failed to greet him, staring instead at the structures. “Dude, I’m flattered, but-”

“I’m not!” Mars balked, glaring at Earth’s teasing and embarrassed by his own inability to defend himself from the accusation. “I was just wondering why some of the water isn’t being soaked up, is all. Just seems a bit odd that it’s not consistent.”

“Hm, I’m not totally sure myself, actually.” Earth turned to look at his own wings as well now. “I know I don’t have any oils for them, but I suppose the structure of the flight feathers might be making them a little water-proof? I’ll have to see how they hold up long-term, and if maybe substituting the oils might help? Though I’m a bit reluctant to go around smelling like fish.”

“That’s the two options? Wet feathers or fish smell?” Mars laughed, padding ahead to try and keep them moving, uncomfortably aware of the wet soil sticking to his feet. “Yeah, no, you’ll never convince me feathers are better, dude.”

“Ha ha, laugh it up.” Earth trotted after him, tossing his head at Mars’ statement. 

They kept a steady pace, scanning the area in comfortable silence, while the world around them stirred and shied from their presence. If someone had told Mars they were actually right back where they started in Kruger, he’d have probably believed them. The area was covered in similar spindly, grey trees and low scrubland bushes, with only the occasional track or open clearing. Birds of various colours squawked at their intrusion, dancing off tree branches to dash higher into the sky, wheeling away with offended cries. A few rustling noises told them prey was present, but concealed and well aware of their existence. 

Earth led them in a rough semi-circle, attempting to keep a vague track of where the rest of the group was. The rain was petering out quickly, leaving them with only a slow breeze and the baking sunlight, and the ground itself seemed to have drunk most of the small puddles that had formed. Mars would almost say the calm, cool air was worth the torrent they’d suffered, but he reckoned the giants and those who’d been out in the worst of it would disagree. Rain and shelter is nice. Rain without is horrid. 

“Oh, hey, it’s one of those things again.” Mars pointed out as he spotted the distinct spire of dirt rising behind a bush a few feet away. Earth glanced over, grinning, and moved to approach it. Mars added as they walked, “Saturn’s group found one yesterday. They’re so weird.”

“Termite mounds.” Earth nodded, and as they reached the structure, he crouched down to stare at it. “Tiny little cockroaches, basically. They’ve been around since the dinosaurs, believe it or not. You’know, none of the worker or guard can actually reproduce, see they’re-”

Earth snapped his jaw shut as he seemed to spot something. Tensing, Mars tried to follow his gaze to try and locate the threat. As he strained to detect anything, he registered the soft, repetitive sound of soil being moved. It appeared to be coming from the other side of the mound. Earth lifted himself into a stalk, crawling around the mound slowly and carefully. Mars copied, not sure if this was a hunt or some attempt to scare off a threat.

“Yes!” Earth whispered with barely contained excitement, creeping forward to a large hole that had been dug into the underside of the termite’s nest. Peering down, Mars watched as the occasional spray of dirt was pushed back up the tunnel, accompanied by more sniffling noises. 

“What is it?” Mars asked, not able to see whatever creature was damaging the mound. “Should we stop it?”

“What? No! Dude, it’s a pangolin! They eat these guys. They’re not doing anything wrong.” Earth leaned down to the hole, sticking his head further into the tunnel. Whatever was inside made a rather surprised grunting noise, followed by a snort. Earth retreated, shaking a coating of dirt from his face. “They’re a bit unhappy to see us, it seems.”

“Yeah, you stuck your head in their house.” Mars pointed out, pulling back to sit a few steps from the hole. “Why don’t you try your mimicry thing? Try and call it out?”

“I haven’t really tried to mimic a sound that’s not right in front of me.” Earth admitted, but also shuffled back to crouch beside Mars. “I’ve only heard them when I was still in orbit.”

“But you do know what noise to make?” Mars queried, receiving a nod, and continued, “So give it a go. We might as well test this ability a bit.”

“Fine, but this might get us charged by a little horny animal, so be ready to run.” Earth laughed, squaring his head towards the mound and narrowing his eyes. Leaning forward slightly and dipping his neck, the feathered dragon began to produce small chirps and squeaks. 

At first, the hole-creature didn’t seem interested, continuing to shuffle and dig. But as Earth persisted, the digging sounds quieted and were replaced with returning squeaks, and a faint clicking sound as the pangolin slowly and cautiously rose out of the tunnel. 

As it entered the light, Mars was struck by just how strange it looked, at least compared to what he’d been picturing of a ground-digging animal. Sure, it had some impressive-looking claws up front, but it held them almost timidly, hunched over and walking on its hind legs alone. The skin was covered in plates of brown scales, so similar to their own it was a little disorientating to see on another creature, though these ones clearly attached in a different way. The scales seemed to rattle against each other as the pangolin waddled over to the two crouching dragons, its narrow snout swinging wildly as it tried to work out what they were. The tail that hovered behind was thick and long, almost equal to the rest of the body in length, and was coated in the same plates of material.

“It’s kinda cute.” Mars admitted, intrigued by the pin-prick eyes that gazed back at him warily, the pangolin rising slightly and hugging those clawed hands to its chest. The whole image reminded him of his little moons, when they’d come to him with a problem they were trying not to get in trouble for. This is adorable.

“‘Kinda’? He’s the definition of cute! Oh, I’m so glad we found one! This area was our best chance, but I still thought we might miss them.” Earth explained, his eyes blown wide with awe as he watched the creature snuffled around, confused by the lack of other pangolins he was sure he’d heard. “And to catch one while it's foraging? Even better!”

“Dude, you are such a nerd.” Mars sighed, but smiled at the sight of his friend’s excitement. As confused as he tended to be, Mars would never prefer that Earth stay quiet about these things, and it was reassuring to see him so relaxed and happy despite their situation. In better circumstances, this would be his dream come true.

“Beats being boring like you.” Earth snarked back, meeting his gaze with a toothy grin. “You can’t say this isn’t cool, though? I mean, just look at him! A mammal, and not even one of the weirder off-shoots of them, with scales! He doesn’t even have any teeth, it’s all tongue and grit! And they spend their whole lives searching around for specific types of termites and ants, even in a place like this.”

“Is that why they’re rare?” Mars asked curiously, following the little scaled beast as it trundled back down into its hole to keep attacking the termite mound. “You said you thought we wouldn’t see one?”

“Well, that was more to do with how small and solitary they are.” Earth gazed down the hole with a fond, soft smile that slipped into a frown at the edge. “This species isn’t doing too bad, honestly, at least compared to the Asian species, but the humans do kill them in pretty large numbers for the scales. I don’t even know why? It's made of the same stuff as their own fingernails, but they think it’s worth a lot, so they traffic them around the world.”

“Damn, that sucks.” Mars offered weakly, not sure how he’d tripped over that particularly sensitive topic. Most conversations with Earth seemed to skirt the issues his humans were causing, but this time his friend seemed willing to offer the information without much of a fight. What that meant for the pangolin, Mars wasn’t sure. “Are they going to be okay? Like, in the future?”

“I don’t know.” Earth said quietly, then shook himself firmly and lifted his head from the mound, meeting Mars’ eyes with a more optimistic grin. “But hey, anything can happen! And there’s always other humans trying to protect them as well. They have the advantage of being cute, and that usually goes a long way to promote their preservation."

“Sounds like they’re doing a little better than us right now, at least.” Mars joked, wondering if Venus’ silly thought from earlier held any water. “Aren’t we also endangered now? You’d think our good looks would get us some aid as well.”

“Maybe my looks would, but the rest of you are pushing it.” Earth laughed, slowly stepping away from the mound to leave the pangolin to his business and continue their rounds. “Honestly, though, probably not. We’re not animals they’ve ever seen before and large apex predators at that. They’d dissect us all before realising we were the only ones.”

“Yeah, but that’s morbid to think about. Leave that for never.” Mars brushed off, discouraged to see his friend’s thoughts turning down again. Bounding into a bouncy lope, he tagged Earth’s shoulder as he danced past, dodging away from his returning swipe. “Come on, let’s see who can beat the other back to camp!”

“I never should’ve introduced you to races.” Earth grinned ruefully, but leapt after him regardless, darting around Mars to trip the red dragon. Mars huffed indignantly as he pulled himself back up, charging after the retreating dragon.

“Oi! That was dirty!”

“Ha, you never said we were playing fair!” Earth laughed, turning to taunt his opponent with an unnecessary spin. “All strategies are game out here! Come on, prove you’ve learnt to survive!”

“You’re being ridiculous!” Mars rolled his eyes at Earth’s bold statements, nipping at his tail as the feathered dragon fled his path. “Get back here so I can beat you up properly!”

“Oh, I thought this was a race?” Earth smirked sarcastically, taking off in the direction of camp in a sudden rush. “Catch me then!”

Mars forced his breathing to steady, leaping into a dash of his own after the blue-green target. While Earth certainly had an advantage of size and skill over him, Mars knew for a fact he beat Earth in a dead sprint. I just need to avoid his tricks, and I’ll catch him easily!

The two dragons dipped and darted around each other, utilising trees and bushes to hide from or mislead their chaser. The race lasted far longer than a straight run would’ve, and Mars was thoroughly covered in mud and thorns by the end of it, but the ache in his chest was from laughter and the pain in his face was from smiling, so he couldn’t complain. In the end, all that mattered was the happiness they’d kindled from it. Maybe all of this will be worth it, and maybe we’ll even miss it, once we’re back.