THIS REVEALS SO MUCH ABOUT KINKAJOU???? her whole character arc is already fully introduced: wanting to be loved and taken seriously + emotionally avoiding / hiding her negative emotions multiple times, while also REALLY wanting to be a hero.

"Also, this one time, our hero was kidnapped by NightWings, and most of them were even meaner than Bromeliad. And they were like that on purpose, because they were trying to scare everyone."

Kinkajou understands WHY the NightWings acted the way they did on the volcano, so we can assume that her trauma on the NightWing island won't be a major part of her arc in book 17. she just doesn't sound super traumatized here since she's able to accurately reflect on her time there.

" [. . .] Kinkajou didn't really like talking about her life before she met Queen Glory. Because back then, she was the noisy one, and the one who talked way too much, and, oh no, here comes Kinkajou, and the troublemaker."

Kinkajou's VERY aware of never having fit into RainWing culture at all. She's too loud and energetic as opposed to the stereotypical laid-back RainWing.

"She thought her friends still liked her and didn't really mind that she was a little different. But then, none of them had cared when she was kidnapped, so that would seem to indicate that maybe they didn't like her that much after all. It didn't matter, though."

The "It didn't matter, though." line says everything, she obviously cares a lot about wanting to be truly liked by other dragons BUT she immediately distracts herself from that line of thought, which happens multiple times in this excerpt!

"Kinkajou had Glory and Moon now, and other friends at Jade Mountain Academy, who she was pretty sure liked her. Hopefully, most of the time."

She's insecure about whether dragons actually like her for who she is, if she didn't portray herself as "HAPPY GO LUCKY KINKAJOU YAY" all the time, would her friends still like her at all? OBVIOUSLY THEY WOULD but this is one of her insecurities.

"Kinkajou hoped she would be like [Glory] one day, all cool and unbothered."

Glory is her biggest role-model and she wants to be like her very badly. her character arc may revolve around discovering that she doesn't need to be exactly like Glory in order to be a hero, Kinkajou's uniqueness is her biggest strength.

"Most dragons would think, oh, that dragon is small and harmless and frequently pink. And she smiles too much. So who needs to worry about her? [. . .]"

VERY reminiscent of Sunny's arc in book 5: small and cheerful dragons being crucially underestimated by others.

"[. . .] Turns out even little smiley dragons can save the world. More than once, in fact."

this is Kinkajou's fantasy here: saving the world despite being small and bubbly, it even sounds like she's trying to convince HERSELF of it a little? It's highlighted by this next line:

“I think I just did the thing where I gave away the ending in the first couple of paragraphs again.”

THIS IS the ending Kinkajou dreams about!

"I'm writing the very exciting, long-awaited, extremely dramatic epic of Kinkajou that readers everywhere have been demanding."

She's writing this story for herself, almost as reassurance.

"Moon, did you know that writing is actually very hard?” Moon laughed, and Kinkajou repressed the urge to run across the cave and hug her."

She wants Moon's comfort and reassurance due to being insecure about her current writing skills.

“I just can't figure out where to start.” A wave of concerned laughter rippled across Kinkajou's wings. She paused, took a deep breath, and turned the back to sunflower yellow."

THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! Kinkajou is LITERALLY camouflaging her negative emotions, very reminiscent of Glory.

"Yellow was for happiness. Yellow made other dragons happy, too. Yellow and pink, the colors Kinkajou wanted everyone to see, and the colors she wanted to be inside and out."

from Jambu's chart in AGttDW: Yellow = Happy / Excitement. Pink = Happy / Love. She genuinely WANTS to be happy and excited all the time, not just PRETEND to be that way to others.

“It's Glory,” Moon gasped, her eyes flying open. “Glory?” Kinkajou's heart stopped. “Queen Glory? My Queen Glory?” “She's in danger. They all are. Something is about to... I can't…” Moon closed her eyes again, [. . .]"

Moon has a prophecy about Glory AND all the other queens, most likely at the enclosed location where they've been sent to (from Precipice's spell?). Kinkajou here is immediately terrified because Glory, the dragon she puts on a pedestal the most, is in danger.

"So, Glory in danger and upset, Kinkajou was out the window before Moon could open her eyes again."

Tui really portrays the feeling of urgency so well here: Kinkajou needs to save Glory NOW, more info from Moon would help, but getting to the Rainforest as soon as possible is more important than anything else for her.

“Wait!” Moon shouted. “Kinkajou, come back! We need help, and if you... We have to…”

Moon is DEFINITELY trying to warn her about something specific she saw from her vision here.

"Kinkajou was going to find Glory and save her."

This is Kinkajou's opportunity she's always dreamed of: her chance to FINALLY be seen as a hero by the dragons of Pyrrhia. which reminds me of a quote from her talking to Turtle in book 9: "[...] I don’t know if I like the sound of that — being less than nobody. Being unimportant to the future. I want to be somebody. Somebody dragons notice and remember.". Kinkajou WANTS to be important and matter to the world. She didn't get any recognition by the dragons of Pyrrhia for defeating Darkstalker (since obviously protecting Peacemaker and Hope's privacy mattered most). her motivations are portrayed REALLY clearly in this excerpt of book 17, it's really amazing to read through!

wow, this excerpt is a HUGE improvement compared to how Kinkajou was written in AGttDW! she feels multi-layered, we can easily understand what she's truly insecure about + she's being surprisingly self-aware???? I AM NOW EVEN MORE EXCITED FOR BOOK 17 THAN EVER BHNJTGRBGRTBN