It was understandable IN THE MOMENT. Leaf should have fixed the relationship when she realized she has gone too far. And Rain is smart enough to know that it wasn't Ghost's fault when she cools down after the murder. I'm not asking for them to be perfect little angels. They can feel upset and enraged in the moment. But its up to them to fix it and face the consequences when they regain their senses.

Except Leaf isn’t going to face the consequences, she’s just walking away from everything, which is exactly what she got mad at Ghost for doing when he left the mountains… 😅

I mean, I can understand why Leaf is exiling herself, she feels guilty and responsible for the deaths of the red pandas which is natural for someone so compassionate who has only been dragon speaker for like a month, and therefore lacks the experience or maturity that an older dragon speaker might have. She’s just a kid basically, who has so much responsibility on her shoulders and perfectionism towards herself that makes her feel like it’s her fault even though it was just an honest mistake that anyone could have made. In fact, if anything it was the dragon’s fault for not being more clear, if you tell the dragon speaker the red pandas are gonna be in danger from a fire, what sort of person wouldn’t rush over to get them away from said fire?

But while Leaf’s decision was sympathetic and understandable, it also seems kinda hypocritical for her to get angry at Ghost for doing something and then do it herself 2 minutes later. Imo perfectionism is Leaf’s fatal flaw, she’s too hard on both herself and others. When you think about it, both Ghost and Leaf did their best and followed their gut instincts in this book, and the catastrophe that ensued was out of both of their controls. However, because Leaf’s standards are so high on herself, she also has equally high standards for others (which can cause friction because not everyone can live up to her perfectionistic standards). That’s why when Ghost failed, she blamed him, and when she failed herself, she blamed herself just as much. It’s pretty unhealthy, but it leaves room for character development which I hope the writers deliver on.

Idk, part of me feels like The Dark Sun was a great character study for Leaf, and part of me feels like her and Rain’s reactions were highly illogical, whether they were in the moment or not. I feel like it would be a well-written character study if the writers made the triplets’ conflict more nuanced and relatable from all sides, instead of Leaf and Rain turning on Ghost for no good reason and unfairly blaming him when he’s literally their brother and has proven time and again that he’s a good panda. I mean, in Journey to the Dragon Mountain Leaf bent over backwards to convince herself that Pepper was a good panda even when he acted super sus, all because she thought he was her brother. Where is that blind trust in her real brother now? In the beginning of The Dark Sun, Leaf thought to herself about how she loved Rain and Ghost as if they’d known each other all their lives, and perhaps even more so. Where is that unconditional love now? It’s like Leaf’s attitude and trust in her siblings went from 100 to 0 in a week lol. It would be more understandable and convincing from a story standpoint if the book took place over a longer timeframe and more events happened that caused the triplets to lose trust in one another, because as it stands it seems out of character for the triplets’ relationships with one another to fall apart so quickly. I’m glad Rain came to her senses at the end of the book though, it’s about time and hopefully we’ll get to see her and Ghost working together to defeat Brawnshanks in The Lightning Path.

I couldn't agree more. I do find it intresting how this book focuses more on the characters of the book, even if Rain wasn't a protag (which I understand). If I were to write the book, I wouldn't change much apart from, Rain and Leaf's reactions to Ghost. Perhaps if Rain didn't chase him off and instead just wallowed in Pebble's death while letting the rest of the Prosperhill antagonize Ghost. I would make more sense because Prosperhill's dont trust Ghost and they could even say that they wouldn't have trusted him before if it weren't for Leaf and Rain's support. Then Ghost could see that for the better good he needs to leave, because Rain is to sad to support him, and the other pandas don't trust him.

As for Leaf, all she needed to do was look for Ghost after realizing her mistake. She maybe doesn't find him and then decides to leave for the better good. What I like most about the book is the idea of testing Leaf's positivity and resilience. I find it very intresting.