Qibli

"You didn't lose your soul because magic ate it away slowly. [...] You lost it because you chose to do terrible things, over and over again. Each terrible thing, each betrayal, each murder, added to this mountain. [...] That's not the magic's fault. That's you. That's who you chose to be."

— Qibli to Darkstalker, Darkness of Dragons

Qibli is a male SandWing dragonet and the main protagonist of Darkness of Dragons. Formerly a member of the Outclaws, he is attending Jade Mountain Academy as a member of the Jade Winglet and is currently in a relationship with Moonwatcher.

Description

Qibli is wiry and narrow-shouldered, with pale, light, sandy-yellow scales and yellow wings. His snout is speckled with a few tiny dark brown freckles and has a small, rakish scar zigzagging across it. He wears a small, shiny, warm, gold hoop earring in his left ear that is hung with a warm, orange-amber teardrop. He is scruffy, scrawny, and slightly larger than Kinkajou. He has sharp obsidian-black eyes.

Personality

Qibli often makes witty jokes, clever observations, and tries to get along with everyone, especially upon first meeting them. Moonwatcher describes him as one of the smartest dragons in Pyrrhia. He was once able to come up with three different escape plans in less than a minute, and he is intelligent and sincere, using his brain to solve problems. He is open about his feelings, and he is friendly and observant. Winter once thought that if anyone could solve the mystery of Pyrite, it would probably be Qibli. He often does not need to yell.

Qibli is also funny, interesting, honest, practical, generous, and charming. Qibli is selfless, stubborn, and compassionate, and tends to be talkative, observant, gentle, excitable, and optimistic. He is fair, peculiar, clever, hopeful, cheerful, and enthusiastic. When others are in danger, he becomes genuinely concerned, his voice suddenly gentle instead of playful. Moonwatcher observed that instead of thinking of just one thing, he is often thinking about several things at once. He has a map of the school in his head, which he used to try and find Ostrich. He cares about other dragons very deeply and wants to be considered significant by others. He is often tempted to steal things due to his Outclaw upbringing, and his thoughts are complicated and careening. He is not a sneak, and refuses to betray those he loves, even by pretending to. Qibli is accustomed to simpler tastes, and when he sees decorative wealth, he is only reminded of how it could have been used to help other dragons instead of just being another decoration. He is reasonable, but does not like to be described as normal, and he knows how to play tricks with his words. He is also willing to push aside rationality in order to help others. He loves meeting new dragons and trying to read them, and he is always considering how other dragons think and what they are like on the inside. His brain is organized, his thoughts are constant, and he is willing to admit and apologize when he is in the wrong. He is intelligent and has several big ideas, but the desire to be liked lies underneath everything he does. He is not usually quiet.

Despite his external good nature, Qibli has been deeply affected by his abusive relationships with Vulture, Cobra, Sirocco, and Rattlesnake, and although he often tried to drown out their voices by focusing on his life as an Outclaw, the smallest things can bring painful memories crashing back in. He constantly faces insecurity about being ordinary, small, insignificant, and useless. He desperately wants other dragons to like him and cannot seem to resist dragons who smile at him or seem to enjoy his company. Due to his desire for other dragons to like him, he had no issue with a spell that would make everyone like him and did not believe that it was a completely selfish thing. However, after Winter yelled at him about it, he realized that it was selfish. He often feels anxious or blames himself very harshly whenever he makes a mistake. He is said to talk so much that when he was gone hunting, the other members of the stealth team could finally get words in. Qibli likes to have someone to argue with, usually Winter.

Biography

The Dragonet Prophecy

The Brightest Night

Qibli was a member of the Scorpion Den's Outclaws, who guided Fierceteeth, Strongwings and Preyhunter to the Outclaws lair to speak to their leader, Thorn. When Preyhunter told Thorn of Morrowseer's death, she lashed out angrily and pinned Preyhunter down with her claws and had her tail to his heart for thinking he was lying. When Preyhunter lashed out at Thorn, Qibli and Six-Claws were among the first to rush to her defense, although Thorn herself had already stabbed Preyhunter's heart with her deadly tail. Later, Qibli followed Thorn and Sunny to Thorn's tent as they discussed the "Wanted" posters. Qibli stubbornly told Thorn that he was not going to leave her alone with Sunny because she was, at that time, a stranger. Sunny was revealed to be Thorn's long lost daughter, and though Qibli thought this was a con, Thorn reassured him that she was indeed her stolen daughter. Qibli seemed a bit jealous of Sunny. When a messenger informed Thorn of a dragonbite viper and a fire near the orphanage, Qibli and Sunny were left alone together for a short amount of time. During that time, Qibli lectured Sunny about the Outclaws, but she fell asleep shortly after Thorn's departure. When the Outclaws attacked Burn's stronghold to rescue Sunny, he fought alongside Thorn and Six-Claws, narrowly saving Thorn's life by pushing a rival SandWing soldier away. After Thorn and Sunny escaped the library, they saw Qibli and some other loyal Outclaws resuming the fighting. Qibli said he had known Smolder was up to no good, and he knew to never trust a royal, though Six-Claws sarcastically commented that he met many royals. Qibli, along with Six-Claws, and the other members of the Outclaws witnessed their leader, Thorn being chosen by the dragonets of destiny (mainly Sunny) to be the new queen of the SandWings and finally ending the war. Qibli would later be chosen as one of the five SandWings to attend the new intertribal school, Jade Mountain Academy.

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The Jade Mountain Prophecy

Moon Rising

Moonwatcher caught Qibli's attention, when he was in the main hallway of Jade Mountain Academy as he was speaking to Ostrich. She heard him observe how she was twitching back her wings, and he wondered if she was plotting something or she was just shy. Later, in the prey center, he interfered when Prince Winter confronted Moonwatcher about his pet scavenger, Bandit, and how she was not allowed to eat him. Humorously defending Moon from Winter's offensive threats, he helped Winter understand that Moon had been trying to save Bandit, not eat him. After the interaction in the prey center, the school teachers thought it would be better to replace their winglet's IceWing and SandWing with Winter and Qibli. Qibli also attended a meeting concerning their Winglet the next day, where he defended Moon again as Winter was trying to pry her supposed NightWing secrets out of her. Tsunami made their winglet go hunting, and Qibli congratulated Moon when she killed a goat. At the prey center, they shared the goat, and Qibli talked a bit about his past. After mentioning his family, he said the best part about them was that he would never see them again. Moon then had a vision of Qibli close to the age he was now, asking three larger SandWings "Where is she?". The next day, he showed up after Winter when Moon was warning everyone about the explosion in the history cave. He asked her what was wrong and tried to stop Carnelian from going inside, lying and saying that it was because it smelled bad inside. After the cave blew up, Qibli then defended Moon a third time when Winter asked her how she knew what was going to happen. After Winter left, Moon told Qibli, Turtle, and Kinkajou that she could see the future and was a mind reader. Qibli feared that Moon thought he was a terrible dragon and that she realized his feeling for her before he ran away. The next day, he told Moon that he wanted to help her find the murderer who was terrorizing so many dragons. Qibli then told Moon to check Pike, Flame, and Icicle. They were all dead ends, and they later went outside to try Onyx. Qibli asked questions to get Onyx to admit that she set the fire, and everyone in the circle respected him. After they knew it was not her, Moon lied to Qibli about the skyfire, which made him distrust her again. Moon read his thoughts later, wondering if he should tell the MudWings. He then appeared when Moon went to see Sora. When Sora and Umber left, Qibli followed Moon to the library. They both knew that the killer was Sora and that Icicle had been conspiring with Ex-Queen Scarlet to kill the dragonets of destiny. When they got there, Icicle was creeping up on Starflight, ready to attack. Qibli warned Starflight to look out, but as he did, Icicle pinned Starflight down and twisted around to use him as a shield. Moon begged her not to kill him, and Winter overheard the conversation and questioned his sister. Icicle warned Winter to stay out of her way. Moon heard Icicle's thoughts as Qibli got too close to her and shot frostbreath at them as she shoved him out of the way. Moon took the hit on the edge of her wing, then Icicle smashed Starflight's head, knocking him out. Moon landed next to him, making sure he was alive. Qibli threw himself at Icicle, and she threw Qibli on top of a desk, which he slid behind. Icicle then went for Moon, and Winter tried to get her off, but Icicle was bigger and stronger. Icicle then stated Starflight was the reason the IceWings died in Scarlet's prison. Moon replied that Winter and Starflight were good inside. Winter then smashed his tail onto Icicle's head, which caused her to let go of Moon. She had a gash on the back of her head and cuts from Qibli. Icicle then revealed that Hailstorm was alive and she was working with Scarlet to get him back. She then flew out the window while Winter shouted for her to come back. Qibli got back up, with bruises all over his face and his earring nearly torn off. He thought about how disappointed Thorn would be if she saw him get knocked out by an IceWing. Later, Qibli was with Moon, when she asked Turtle to give Qibli and Kinkajou skyfire. When they wondered where Winter was, Qibli told them that he left and was not in their cave.

Winter Turning

Qibli annoyed Winter by making clever observations about Winter's plans but still wanted to be friends. Winter got rid of Turtle, and Qibli said that he could not get rid of the rest of them as easily. This annoyed Winter very much, but he "allowed" them to follow. They all ended up flying to the rainforest to warn Queen Glory about Icicle coming to kill her. When they arrived in the NightWing village, Winter noticed Qibli and Kinkajou looking at Moon and her mother with longing expressions, and he wondered about their family stories. Qibli followed the group to the RainWing royal pavilion, and snuck behind Moon, Winter, and Glory when they went to the banyan tree. Glory soon stopped and called out Qibli for following them, but allowed him to go with the group. Qibli saw the dead NightWing body covered in frostbreath. He and the others were later locked in the wingery and escaped to the NightWing tunnels where they find Icicle. Kinkajou tackled her to the ground out of rage, saying that nobody would kill her queen. Just before Icicle was about to kill her, Glory showed up suddenly with Deathbringer and her RainWing guards and tranquilized Icicle. When they went out looking for Scarlet after Icicle was dreamvisited, they met Squid and Riptide, two SeaWings from the Talons of Peace, by a river. They looked at the drawing, and Riptide summoned two SkyWings, Avalanche and Pyrite. Avalanche seemed like she wanted to rip off Qibli's tail barb, most likely because her son, Flame, had been scarred by a SandWing barb. Pyrite claimed to know where it is when they mentioned that they were looking for Scarlet. Winter observed that Qibli had feelings for Moon and wondered if his feelings were as obviously shown as Qibli's. When they found the mountain Moon saw in the dream, they took a short rest. Winter was dreamvisited by Scarlet, which meant she was spying on them. They look around and find a shredded camp and one of Scarlet's scales, and they discover she had been there. They started looking until they found a cave, and while Kinkajou and Pyrite were still sleeping, they crept up on Scarlet and her companion and overheard her yelling at her companion and ordering him to bring Pyrite to her. When they got back to camp, Winter confronted Pyrite, and she attacked him. Qibli fought her while Winter and Moon fought Scarlet's companion. Qibli pinned Pyrite to the ground, and Winter tore off the necklace that she had previously refused to remove. Qibli jumped back at the sight of her scales falling off to reveal Hailstorm. However, Kinkajou was severely injured by ex-Queen Scarlet's NightWing companion. When they got to the town of Possibility so that they could take Kinkajou to the hospital, Winter got worried about Hailstorm's confusion and decided to wear the necklace so he could know what Hailstorm was going through. Before he could do so, Qibli tore off number four of the conditions, which roughly was, "feels the need to wear this necklace with life/death urgency." When Winter put the necklace on, he turned into Pyrite. When Qibli asked him if he could have the necklace back, Pyrite gave it to him, and Winter appeared again. Winter decided to go back to the Ice Kingdom, and Qibli tried to reason with him, but Winter ignored him, and Qibli gave him a week to come back to them. When Winter was leaving, Qibli called out, "Don't be a stranger!"

Escaping Peril

Qibli flew above Peril and Turtle when Turtle healed himself in the river. They greeted each other when they met. Qibli was suspicious of Peril and said to Moon after she told Peril that Qibli was "probably the smartest dragon in Pyrrhia" and had already come up with five ways to kill her by then. Qibli stated that he had only come up with three so far and pointed out to Peril that she still referred to Scarlet as "the queen." When Peril burned Winter while trying to dive away, Qibli, Moonwatcher, and Turtle landed below the arch and gathered around Winter. Qibli frantically tried to think of a way to heal Winter, stating that Winter could breathe frostbreath onto his scales and mentioned that no cactus sap healed burns. Qibli got pushed aside by Turtle as he worked with his animus-touched river stone. He asked why Turtle had "a magic healing rock." He quickly figured it out and exclaimed that Turtle must be an animus. Later, he said that Winter running into Peril looked like a fight when Peril tried to convince the group it was an accident. Qibli noted that Winter left pretty firmly and questioned why he even got a vote on stating whether Peril was the danger in the Jade Mountain Prophecy. When they got the scroll from Chameleon, Winter and Qibli got into a fight on how to use it, which caused Peril to burn the scroll and to unintentionally free Darkstalker.

Talons of Power

Qibli watched Darkstalker emerge from the mountain. He quickly noticed that Darkstalker was ignoring Turtle, understanding that Turtle had cast some sort of spell. He then asked Winter if he was alright when Winter suddenly forgave Darkstalker easily, unlike his usual demeanor. When they left to go hunting due to Darkstalker's insistence, he gave Turtle a meaningful look and pointed to Jade Mountain, trying to signal to him to warn the school. Later, he told Peril to talk to Clay instead of worrying about it, then asked Turtle if he was like that around Moon. When Turtle was puzzled, he immediately said "never mind" to him and told him that he did not know yet if Darkstalker was evil, and Turtle should keep a lookout. When Turtle went to see Winter and Qibli, Qibli mentioned how odd it was for Winter to act this forgiving. After Winter stormed out, Qibli reluctantly asked Turtle if he could make him an animus but immediately dismissed it when he saw Turtle's reaction and instead asked for a spell on his earring that would shield him from all of Darkstalker's enchantments. Turtle did, and when Qibli tried it on, he mentioned that he felt more connected to himself, proving that Darkstalker made an enchantment that made everyone like and trust him; however, Turtle thought it might just be a psychological effect. When Darkstalker came, knowing that a spell had been cast, he asked Qibli if Anemone had passed by at all. When Qibli realized that Darkstalker could sense animus spells being cast, he said he did not think she had but suggested that she might have. Darkstalker asked Qibli to tell his history scroll to roll up to test if he has animus powers, and when it did not work, Darkstalker informed Qibli that he would have made a formidable animus with his mind. When Turtle planned to follow Darkstalker and Anemone to the rainforest, Turtle gave him one of his enchanted slates. These slates were enchanted so that when Turtle got a writing idea, he would write it on one slate, and the writing would appear on the other. After Turtle left, Turtle sent him messages several times. Turtle told Anemone to find Qibli for help when Darkstalker summoned all the animus dragons from Pyrrhia.

Darkness of Dragons

Qibli watched Darkstalker leave with the NightWing students, Turtle, Anemone, and Moonwatcher. In a flashback, Cobra snapped at Qibli that he would never amount to much, and she discouraged him from trying to be a hero, as he would only fail after he delivered to her a coconut that he stole from a fight between a cat and mouse earlier in the day. She beat him with Thorn watching. Thorn then proceeded to take Qibli away from his home and mother (who happily agreed) and into cities unknown to him. She asked him what he did to the spiny mouse as he set the mouse free. Thorn assumed he had rescued it and complimented him on his cleverness, saying his skills were what she wanted in her organization. Qibli noted that ever since that day, Thorn had his complete trust and loyalty. However, he now thinks of Moon just as much, if not more than he thinks about Thorn, and wondered if Moon would ever love him back with the same hopefulness he used to show toward Cobra. Qibli then snapped out of his pondering and flew up to Winter, who was sorrowfully watching Moon fly away with Darkstalker and his followers. Qibli, while he is observing how Winter was watching Moon fly away, thought about how Moon would choose Winter and his beautiful scales and heroic personality over himself. When Winter caught Qibli watching him, he claimed that he was watching the sunset, and Qibli sarcastically responded that the sunset was the only interesting thing. Winter then said that once Moon comes back with the others, everything would be normal again, but Qibli disagreed, asking how things could be normal if Winter returned to school after faking death to his tribe. Winter said he never planned on going back to the school, and Qibli realized he came back because Moonwatcher was there. Qibli decided that he needed to break the supposed spell that Darkstalker cast on Winter, for Winter's sake and Moon's, but he struggled to find out how. Qibli then realized that he could duplicate his enchanted earring using Turtle's duplicating bowl. Qibli then brought the bowl out, only to realize he did not know how to use it. Peril walked by, and with her, he figured out how to use the bowl. With his new enchanted earrings, Qibli confronted Winter and tried to give him one, but Winter was clear he would not put anything magic on him after what happened to Hailstorm. Qibli scolded himself for not guessing Winter would be a stubborn, "stupid donkey." Later during history class with Webs, many dragonets questioned Webs about Darkstalker. Winter then haughtily announced that he trusted his judgment better than any scroll's and got into an argument with a MudWing named Sepia about his sister Icicle, who was a murderer and collaborating with Ex-Queen Scarlet. Qibli soon realized that Onyx and Ostrich were not there in the cave with them while defending Winter. He found this troubling, as Ostrich particularly liked all her lessons, along with the fact that Sunny peeked in, got a worried look, and hurried on. Webs agreed eventually to tell the dragonets about Darkstalker if they stopped fighting. When Qibli stated that Webs' claim about Darkstalker being humble and unambitious was now wrong, Winter disagreed with him. He said that it was not like Darkstalker had demanded to be NightWing king immediately. Ironically, the slate that Turtle enchanted began writing the words "Darkstalker wants to be NightWing king" across its surface, and Qibli had to restrain himself from laughing. Sunny asked Webs to give her Qibli and gave him worrying news; Ostrich and Onyx had gone missing. Qibli hurriedly made multiple earrings through Turtle's enchanted food bowl. When he looked for the dragonets of destiny to give the shield earrings to them, he found out through Sunny's dream-visiting that his grandfather Vulture had Ostrich in the Scorpion Den. He argued with Clay in the weapons cave about how he could not face his grandfather with only three daggers, a sword, and a big stick, saying if he went to him unarmed, it would be like "cutting his own throat and hanging his corpse from an alley wall." He was then interrupted by Winter, who offered to go with him. Qibli claimed that it is because Winter adored him. While Winter muttered about how his plan was already backfiring, Qibli worried about how Winter was under Darkstalker's spell and might be spying on him for the evil animus NightWing. But he decided to let Winter come along, thinking that later he may get Winter to wear his earring. Winter and Qibli set off to the Scorpion Den. When they landed, Qibli worried about how the shadows stalking them did not do anything but watch, and he hurried to his old home. There he cannot find Cobra but was met by his siblings Sirocco and Rattlesnake. They had acquired new tattoos like Vulture's and took Qibli and Winter into Vulture's compound. There they found Vulture watching two scavengers in a maze. Winter defended them, and Vulture waved away the guards and the scavengers. He also started the train of thought to lead Qibli into figuring out the truth about Onyx - that she was Prince Smolder and Palm's daughter. He also said that she would be challenging Thorn for the throne. Vulture noted that Cobra, Qibli's mother, was imprisoned in an oubliette for giving Qibli away. Vulture then demanded that Qibli give away all of Thorn's secrets for his friends', mother's, and own release. Qibli pretended to write down Thorn's secrets in a scroll, stalling, then he made more throwing stars from the one Ostrich swiped in Turtle's doubling bowl while his mother caused a scene. They then escaped and left for Thorn's palace, where Qibli found Thorn, Smolder, and Typhoon, a SeaWing-IceWing hybrid from Possibility. Typhoon talked about how all the IceWings in the settlement had gotten suspiciously sick. Qibli suggested giving enchanted earrings to the staff (Thorn and her subjects), and more for Typhoon to take to all the IceWings in Possibility and the Ice Kingdom to be free from Darkstalker's plague and spells. Qibli suddenly ordered the Outclaws to pin Cobra to the ground and looks in her bag, finding weapons and poison. Accusing Cobra that she was not really in the oubliette all that time, and it was a setup to get close to Thorn. Afterward, Winter jumped into the air to get Darkstalker to heal the whole IceWing tribe being under Darkstalker's spell. Qibli tried to get Winter to wear the earring so Winter could be free from the Darkstalker's spell. Winter objects to this loudly, and in the process, freezes Qibli's arm, causing him to pass out, right after Thorn jabbed an earring in Winter's ear. However, directly before Qibli passes out, he called Winter a friend and asked Thorn to get earrings for everybody. Thorn's doctors healed Qibli's arm, and he woke up in a room with Winter, who grudgingly apologized for fighting with Qibli. Qibli got to work making more protection earrings, even though Typhoon had already left with the two still in Qibli's bag to give to the sick IceWings. Winter watched as he doubled his earring in Turtle's bowl and asked if Qibli was secretly an animus dragon also (along with their clawmate, Turtle). Qibli thought darkly of how Winter took his one chance with the enchanted scroll away and responded instead with a mention of Turtle's magic. They make many more protection spells for all of Thorn's staff and the IceWings. Thorn walked into the room and asked what Qibli was doing but, after watching him, corrected herself with a more specific question of how. Qibli explained, and Thorn asked why they could not just have Qibli's animus friend stop Darkstalker with a spell. Qibli said that magic could, but the particular dragon could not. She also asked for some earrings to give to Coral and "Mudhen" (a typo for Moorhen). Winter joked awkwardly about how they would inflict Qibli's terrible fashion sense on the whole continent. They planned on who would take the earrings to wear, and Thorn told Qibli and Winter that she would handle it with her messengers. They then returned to the balconies and found out that the Talons of Power, Vulture's followers, were filling the skies fighting the Outclaws, and the "nightmarish shape" of Vulture holding the Eye of Onyx that he stole from the treasury. He gave a speech, stopping the fight, and wrongly shaped Qibli's words that he yelled at Vulture in his favor. Vulture claimed that the threat of the bombing was the MudWings, and says that he had proof. He is cut off by Queen Thorn, who told him to bring the MudWing to her for questioning instead of illegally taking him into custody and for a real SandWing duel in the dueling grounds if there was a serious challenger. Vulture counters by claiming he had the Eye of Onyx, so there was no need, but Thorn revealed that that one was just a fake that she kept for fooling thieves and saving their lives while she was wearing the real one. Vulture tried to fight back by questioning whether the one Thorn wore was the real one, and she calmly responded that the real Eye of Onyx killed anyone not worthy of the throne and that it had not killed her yet. Qibli caught that she implied Vulture would be dead if it were not a replica. Winter muttered to Qibli the connection around Onyx's name to the eye of Onyx, and Qibli frantically searched for Onyx in the crowds of SandWings all around him. He spied a flicker of movement and shrieked to Thorn that she's right below her. He dived towards her, and Thorn fended off her attacker. She told Qibli not to hurt Onyx, and he found it hard not to protect his queen more, protesting. Onyx claimed the crown should be hers, and Thorn scoffed, saying Onyx should fight her like a real queen and that "this crown will never fall to a sneaking, sulking, shadow-killer." They went to the arena grounds, where Smolder, Onyx's father, talked to Onyx. Qibli was worried that since Onyx was truly royal blood, the Eye of Onyx might choose her, causing him to try and call up a storm that would delay the battle. He regretted it instantly after using Anemone's magic bracelets, but it was too strong and made a sandstorm. Thorn raced to get everyone inside, and they lost Onyx, Vulture, and Smolder in the process. Once they were all safe, Qibli and Thorn went looking for them and find Onyx and Smolder in the dungeons, where Onyx was injured. Smolder was scared of the "mad prisoner" who is Prickle, Palm's sister, and Onyx's aunt. Ostrich and Six-Claws find another entrance from the outside of the dungeons, and they made it back outside, where Qibli saw all the damage he had done. He vowed not to use the bracelets again, as Thorn scolded him earlier for "controlling" the weather. During the fall of Jade Mountain, Qibli also provided Princess Anemone with a spell to stop the battling NightWings and IceWings at the Battle of Jade Mountain, then Darkstalker took him to the cave where he was trapped in and offered to make him an animus. Qibli turned him down and was rescued by Moon and Kinkajou and later oversaw the fall of Darkstalker with Moon, Foeslayer, and Kinkajou. He later appeared at the end of Darkness of Dragons when Moon asked him to come back to Jade Mountain and wanted to be together with him. Moon also asked Qibli if he wanted to check something out with her, which he gladly agreed to. They arrived at a small hut near the border of the Ice Kingdom. They meet a dragon named Jerboa III, the dragon Moon saw in a vision. Jerboa III allowed them to enter her hut where they see a dragon they have never seen before; a dragon from the lost continent.

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The Lost Continent Prophecy

The Lost Continent

In the epilogue, Qibli meet Luna for the first time along with Moonwatcher, his new girlfriend. Qibli was shocked to see a dragon from Pantala for the first time and commented on how Luna had so many wings and asked if it was hard to fly with all those wings, then answered his question, saying that it was a silly question. When Luna told them that they needed to get her home, Qibli told her that he "had some ideas" to get her back to Pantala.

The Hive Queen
In the prologue, Qibli arrived with Turtle and Tsunami at Jerboa III's hut as Moonwatcher began to recite the prophecy. Afterward, Turtle accused him of his soul spell "breaking" animus magic, as neither he nor Anemone could use spells anymore; Qibli immediately denied this. He told Luna that he thought of swimming to Pantala to clarify before Tsunami mentioned it.

The Poison Jungle
Qibli was mentioned by Tsunami when she was in the SapWing village.

The Dangerous Gift
Qibli first appeared when Queen Snowfall and the Pantalan dragons took shelter by Jerboa III's hut. He appeared multiple times alongside Moonwatcher and eventually followed the refugees to Sanctuary. There, he happily reunited with Winter, and appeared later on with Thorn, as part of the queens summit. Qibli was eventually chosen as one of the eleven representatives to go to Pantala.

The Flames of Hope

Qibli appeared when Luna was talking to Jerboa III. He told her how they should probably stop fixing things and then nothing would go wrong. He then told Luna that Tsunami wished to show her something. On the way to Pantala, Qibli made fun of Bullfrog, telling him that his "constant talking" would be heard from miles away. He was captured by Wasp after encountering several HiveWings on an island, along with Moon, Pineapple, and Tsunami. Later at Wasp Hive, Qibli, Pineapple, and Tsunami were being interrogated by Cottonmouth through Wasp, and Qibli was taunting them and joking around. He gave the signal for Pineapple to spit venom into Wasp's face, and after some fighting the three of them managed to escape. On the way there, Qibli worried that Pineapple would be upset about using his venom on another dragon, and flew by him to comfort him. However, since Cottonmouth was controlling Pineapple at the time, he gave strange responses, which worried Qibli. When the three of them saw a fire, Qibli said that it would be a good idea for the rest of the stealth team to start a fire as a signal then turn invisible. Moon tackled him in an invisible hug, and told him that she had not wanted to leave him. Qibli joked to Sundew and Lynx that he had stood there like a hero while Pineapple saved everyone. Qibli secretly asked Moon to check whether Pineapple was himself, and when Moon found out Pineapple was being controlled by the othermind, Qibli yelled at everyone to wake up and that Pineapple had the othermind in his head. While the stealth team continued on their way to Lake Scorpion, Luna, who was in the mindspace at the time, had the idea of sharing the stealth team's memories in order to get Freedom on their side. Through Moonwatcher, the stealth team were able to share their memories with Freedom. In Qibli's memory, an older female SandWing was shown defending a younger Qibli after another dragon tried to steal his toy. He was surprised that the older dragon would help him, and the older dragon told him it was for justice. Qibli then claimed he would fight for justice too, and attacked the dragon that had stolen from him. After the stealth team arrived at Lake Scorpion, a fight ensued between them and Cottonmouth's dragons. During the fight, he jumped in front of Moon in order to protect her from the impact.

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Field Guides

A Guide to the Dragon World
Qibli was indirectly mentioned by Starflight as one of the students who found Python's letter in the library of Possibility. In the NightWing chapter, Qibli was mentioned by Moon in her introductory letter to Starflight before her scroll about NightWing powers.

Relationships

Cobra

Cobra is scornful towards her son, and reminded Qibli during his youth that he was useless and a waste of scales. He still hears her voice all of the time, reminding him about how wretched she thinks he is. He followed behind her like a little trail of footprints when he was young, and often wished desperately for her to show approval or affection towards him, but Cobra did not care at all what he did or how he was affected. He used to lie awake watching her, hoping for a glance that would show that she did love him. He often tried to prove to her that he was a dragon good enough to be worth loving, and often made things up in his head to try and convince himself that Cobra cared about him. Cobra considers him a half witted idiot with crazy ideas, completely ordinary and useless, and doubts his ability to ever do anything important, but he still desperately desires for her to want and care for him. Later on, she snapped at him even while pretending to be loving towards him in order to infiltrate the SandWing stronghold. After her betrayal, Qibli fought to keep a tremor out of his voice and reflected on how he had always wanted to trust her, but she had lied to him throughout his entire life.

Moonwatcher

When Moonwatcher first mentioned that she had been speaking to Darkstalker, Qibli developed a strange intensity in his eyes, and he worried that she might like Darkstalker better than him. He later defended Moonwatcher from Winter's unkindness.

If it were up to Qibli, he would spend every day of his life flying with Moon. He recognizes subtle things about her, and thinks about what she would do when he needs motivation. Everything is less awful for him when he is with her, and he often wishes that she were by his side. When Moon was in danger, he leaped aside to protect her with his wings, and he looks at Moon like he loves her. When Qibli spoke about how free he thought Possibility was, Moon looked at him like he made sense. When Moonwatcher said that she was unsure if anyone would want to come with her to fulfill the Jade Mountain Prophecy, Qibli waved a wing at himself as though it were obvious. When Winter told Moon he should have nothing to do with her, Qibli sounded genuinely angry. He feels a need to know whether or not she is safe, and during his time away from her, he felt like he was a broken vase and she was the piece that would fit him all back together. He once thought that his ideal future would be as a loyal advisor to Thorn, but as he continued thinking about it, Moon appeared in the vision alongside him as his partner. He wants to make her smile, and she makes him happier than he has ever felt before. For Qibli, being around Moonwatcher feels like being on a team with someone who works with him and makes his own brain work better. He once stated that he would be there for Moon anytime she needed him, and thought that if Moon ever died, it would kill him as well. She often turns to him for physical comfort, and he is considerate of her needs. During the journey to Pantala, Qibli and Moon slept side by side at night.

Sirocco and Rattlesnake

Sirocco and Rattlesnake told Qibli constantly during his dragonethood that he was useless and a waste of scales, and he still hears their voices in his head all of the time. They are scornful towards him and often stole things from him when they were growing up. Qibli had to use tricks quite often just to stop them from stealing his food. Although they were awful to him, he refused to let Cobra kill them.

Thorn

Qibli looks at Thorn as though she has the eyes he trusts the most. Thorn brought Qibli as her SandWing advisor during a meeting with her fellow queens, and although she looked worried when Qibli suggested traveling to Pantala, she agreed that he was the best choice. Qibli thinks of himself as Thorn's second-in-command. Thorn unofficially adopted him as a young dragonet, and assured him that while he was under her care, he would be wanted and cared for. She is friendly towards him, and after she complimented his cleverness, she won his eternal undying loyalty. Thorn trusts him and he is filled with rage whenever she is spoken negatively of. He refused to betray her, even by pretending to, despite being threatened by Vulture and his Talons of Power, and she has taught him things that have made him stronger. He wants to protect Thorn at all costs, and her face lights up when she sees him, although she can also be stern in certain circumstances. She is his leader and his friend, and she changed his life.

Turtle

Upon seeing Qibli in Possibility, Turtle gave a cry of delight, and Qibli later laughed at one of his jokes. Qibli felt exasperated with Turtle not giving him enough information through the slates, and later guilty about yelling at Turtle in his head. When Darkstalker threw a huge rock on top of Turtle and Anemone, Qibli and Moon moved the rock off them.

Vulture

Despite being Qibli's grandfather, Vulture hates and haunts him. He would rather fight someone who was generally evil like Darkstalker or Scarlet than face his grandfather. Stealing from Vulture would mean certain death, and Qibli felt enraged when Vulture spoke badly of Thorn. Vulture considers Qibli to be the smartest of Cobra's dragonets, and while they are both equally observant, Vulture was deceptive towards him, and worms his way into Qibli's head to make him doubt everything is real. Qibli is terrified of him. When Qibli knew he would have to face Vulture to rescue Ostrich, he was so terrified that he did not trust himself to stand up while preparing in the weapons cave. He stated that if he went to Vulture unarmed, he may as well slit his own throat and hang his own corpse from an alley wall.

Winter

Qibli always had a teasing relationship with Winter. When presented with the option of sharing a cave with someone else, Qibli refused, saying that he did not mind. He wanted to get Winter to like him and often teased him on purpose to try and form a friendship with the prickly IceWing. Qibli is often envious of Winter, and while he considers Winter very handsome, he feels drab by comparison and is self-conscious about Moonwatcher preferring Winter over himself. However, after Winter saved Qibli's life, he was grateful in his thanks, entirely too sincerely for Winter. Qibli looked to Winter like he was waiting for him to decide whether or not to reveal important information. He also purposefully paired Moonwatcher and Winter together during the search for Hailstorm in hopes that searching with her would keep Winter going. He was quick to blame Winter for what happened to Darkstalker's scroll. Qibli has helped Winter become less serious, and had an irrepressible grin on his face when speaking to Winter in Sanctuary. Qibli considers him a best friend and is affectionate and genuinely delighted towards him. Winter sometimes looks at Qibli as though he will never understand him, but he genuinely likes Qibli, and considers him a best friend. Winter is surprised that he considers Qibli a best friend, especially since Qibli won Moon's heart. Qibli had teased once that he and Winter would end up getting married one day.

Family tree

Unknown

Vulture

Unknown

Cobra

Sirocco

Rattlesnake

Qibli

Quotes

"I'm not leaving you alone with no stranger. All prophecy-like or not."

― to Thorn, about Sunny

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"No one is getting sliced up or frozen and snapped apart. [...] What is wrong with you? Did you even try just asking nicely? [...] Hey. I'm the idiot clawmate, although most dragons call me Qibli. My intimidating acquaintance here is Winter. What's your name?"

― to Moonwatcher and Winter

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"Winter, you need to seriously cool down! Get it? Because he's an IceWing? I know, I'm hilarious."

― to Winter

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"Indeed. [...] The scavenger with the silly name is Winter's pet. Nobody told me we could bring pets here, but I guess the nephew of the IceWing queen gets some special privileges. And if you didn't know he was Queen Glacier's nephew, don't worry, he'd have told you sometime in the next five minutes."

― to Moon, about Winter

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"I don't mind. [...] I mean, I don't mind the scavenger. His owner is the one I might be allergic to."

― about Bandit and Winter

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"See, I'm your destiny."

― to Winter, about their shared winglet

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"Terribly undignified. We would never allow such higgeldy-piggeldy shenanigans in the Ice Kingdom."

― imitating Winter

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"What is with you and faces? [...] You should try threatening someone's elbows or ankles once in a while, just for a change of pace."

― to Winter

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"Stop, stop it. I see you going to the giving-up place in your head. Get yourself out of there right now. We do not know he is dead any more than we did an hour ago. What we have to do is keep searching, because he's only definitely dead if we give up and sit here like moping camels. You are not allowed to mourn until you see a dead body, do you understand me?"

― to Winter about Hailstorm

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"Make bananas. Absolutely terrifying. Run for your life."

― to Winter about Mightyclaws' power

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"History! How can we possibly sit in a dark cave listening to Webs drone on about the ancient past? This is history, happening right now. We're in the middle of it, or we should be."

― to Winter

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"It's one of the first spells I thought of. If I'd gotten Darkstalker's scroll — if I had all that power — first I'd protect my soul, next, I'd cast spells to protect everyone I love, and then ... I'd do a spell to make everyone like me. Even Winter, even Peril, ... even my family. Would that be wrong? I wouldn't abuse it the way Darkstalker has. I wouldn't be tricking anyone into doing the things I want them to do. I just want other dragons to like me — and some of them won't, no matter how hard I try."

― thinking

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"Geegaws. How can you call me weird and then use ancient old worm words like that?"

― to Winter

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"She doesn't trust me with them. She's like Turtle and Peril; she thinks I don't deserve magic, or that I'll do something terrible with it. But I wouldn't! I'd be so careful. I'd think through everything that could go wrong before I did anything. And I have so many great ideas! I would have been the right dragon to take care of Darkstalker's scroll, I know I would have, no matter what Winter thinks."

― Qibli's thoughts

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"There's nothing weak about being compassionate."

― to Cobra

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"But the world is different now than it was in Darkstalker's time. In his time, the IceWings would have all been in the Ice Kingdom, isolated, where a plague could wipe them out without knowing until it was over. In this world — a world with Possibility in it, and the Talons of Peace, and hybrid dragons and soldiers from different tribes who fought alongside one another in the Great War — in this world, we can see the dying dragons. We can see them, and we can save them. We can stop him."

― Qibli's thoughts

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"You said the name Capybara when you were pretending to read my scroll of information for Vulture — but I hadn't written that name anywhere in it. You also mentioned Thorn's morning meetings with her most trusted advisors. You'd only know about those details if you'd been out of prison this whole time, spying on Thorn with the Obsidian Mirror, right alongside Grandfather."

― to Cobra

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"Such as the fact that he killed his father; the fact that his seer girlfriend thought he was so dangerous he had to be hidden under a mountain for all eternity; he can enchant dragons to do anything he tells them to, or turn them into other dragons entirely if he wants; the fact that he just tried to kill the entire IceWing tribe with magic; and the fact that he's so charming and sincere that smart dragons tend to like him even when they're not enchanted to; Also, I'm not sure there's anyone who can stop him. I'm not sure there's anyone he cares about enough that he'd listen to them — or anyone who's willing to try."

― to Hope when she asked him what his concerns were regarding Darkstalker

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"Don't be selfish, Qibli — you wanted to make her smile. If taking her to Winter would make her happy, isn't that what you want?"

― thoughts

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"But there are so many dragons here. Angry dragons, violent dragons, injured and dying dragons. Won't it be overwhelming? Won't it hurt you, to have all their minds flooding into yours right now?"

― to Moonwatcher

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"I'll always be close, if you need me."

― to Moonwatcher

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"I hope she comes out of this still thinking there's good in other dragons. I wonder if she's right, or if she sees us that way because that's how she is. I wonder if those dragons up there would fight like this if they could read each other's minds. If everyone could feel what she's feeling — if they understood all the other dragons around them — would they still be able to kill each other?"

― thoughts about Moonwatcher

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"So ... why didn't you do that? To the IceWings. When you first came out of the mountain and you saw visions of them threatening your tribe. Why didn't you enchant all of them to want peace with you instead? Or cast a spell to make all IceWings and NightWings forget their ancient hatred and forgive everything that's happened? Why didn't you use your magic to avoid war, instead of trying to kill them all?"

― to Darkstalker about the IceWing plague

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"The fact that you can't be good on your own. That's part of the problem. You shouldn't need a dragon on your shoulder telling you that killing all the IceWings is wrong, or that taking over your father's mind was an awful thing to do."

― to Darkstalker

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"You didn't lose your soul because magic ate it away slowly. [...] You lost it because you chose to do terrible things, over and over again. Each terrible thing, each betrayal, each murder, added to this mountain. That's not the magic's fault. That's you. That's who you chose to be."

― to Darkstalker

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"That's the spirit, Hey, I have an idea: let's stop fixing things, and then maybe nothing else will go wrong."

― Qibli, to Jerboa III and Luna

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"But then you remembered that I'm very clever and would totally figure out how to escape on my own. [...] Right? Guess what I did, guess what I did. I stood there, like an absolute hero, while Pineapple saved all of us. Didn't I, Tsunami?"

― Qibli, to Moonwatcher

Trivia

• Qibli can play the drums.
• According to Winter, Qibli has an annoying "let's be sensible about this" voice when trying to reason with someone.
• Qibli is a wide-open desert kind of dragon and makes a lot of noise in enclosed spaces.
• Qibli is a compelling storyteller.
• On the cover of Darkness of Dragons, Qibli is missing his scar.
• Qibli remembers the first three years of his life with much more clarity than most dragons.
• The first thing Qibli stole in the Scorpion Den was a runty, spotted persimmon that had fallen under a food cart.
• One of Qibli's recurring nightmares is of him dying in a dark cave.
• Qibli is roughly based on one of Tui T. Sutherland's sons, Elliot, though Sutherland mentioned that the dragon who represents her son the most is Cliff.
• When asked about the love triangle in arc two involving Qibli, Winter, and Moonwatcher, Tui stated in an interview that she wanted to try to challenge herself by writing a love triangle where "you really like all of them, and any of the three can be together," which made Tui feel conflicted when it came time to decide the final pairing. In this case, Tui wanted Moonwatcher to pick the nice guy who cares about her and does all the right things.
• Qibli's theme song is Stand by You by Rachel Platten.
• Qibli likes his scar and considers it to be a part of who he is.
• Qibli's scar is not visible in Scholastic Homebase.
• He was missing his scar on several pages in the Moon Rising (graphic novel).
• In some of the panels in Moon Rising (graphic novel), his earring appears on his right ear instead of his left.
• Qibli knows how to play charades and taught Swordtail how to play it.

Gallery

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  Qibli on the cover of Darkness of Dragons, by Joy Ang
• Error creating thumbnail: File with dimensions greater than 12.5 MP
  Qibli on the full cover of Darkness of Dragons, by Joy Ang
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  Qibli from Moon Rising (graphic novel), by Mike Holmes
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  Qibli fullbody render, edited by Mimiccering
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  Qibli from How to Draw, by Brianna C. Walsh (edited by WillowCharlotte1234)
• 
  Qibli from Scholastic HomeBase
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  Qibli from Scholastic HomeBase
• Qibli from the loading screen of Qibli's Quest, a game on Scholastic HomeBase
  Qibli from the loading screen of Qibli's Quest, a game on Scholastic HomeBase
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  Qibli on the unused full cover of the Chinese version of Darkness of Dragons, by Angelo Rinaldi
• 
  Reference by SpaceshipEarth
• 
  Reference by Spirit978

• Art by Mike Holmes, from the Wings of Fire Graphic Novels
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References

cs:Qibli de:Qibli es:Qibli fi:Qibli fr:Qibli nl:Qibli pl:Ghibli ru:Вихрь