---
Fenna chuckled. "That sounds like a terrible plan."
Zephyr flashed a grin. "It is. But it's ours."
He looked over one last time at Star, whose sleeping bulk shimmered beneath layered patches of drifting mist and smoky warmth. His new frame, longer and denser than any fledgling had a right to be, pulsed with dormant power. The faintest emberlight glowed beneath his molten-colored scales—softly, like a sleeping forge dreaming of fire.
"You were born to burn brighter than the rest," Zephyr murmured under his breath. "We'll keep feeding that fire. Carefully."
Behind him, the morning wind stirred embers from their small pit. Smoke curled upward toward the shining sun, and somewhere deeper in the Emberwood forest, a roar echoed faintly across the hills.
A warning. Or a promise. Nobody knew.
Their next meal was waiting for them. They just had to hunt it down.
They both looked to Star.
