Qibli

Qibli

In-universe information
Tribe	SandWing
Gender	Male
Age	5 years
Meta information
First appearance	The Brightest Night
Last appearance	The Flames of Hope

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.

Relationships

Cobra

Cobra, Qibli's mother, 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.

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.