Chapter 1

A New Beginning

Winter was much more powerful than most dragons. Sure, he was a five-year-old dragonet, but he was an IceWing, and the cousin of the queen, no less. So Winter would normally live in the Ice Kingdom, but now that he'd been offered a job with scavengers, he was living with the Talons of Peace camp.

The camp was expanding. Riptide had let him put up a scavenger sanctuary, and Winter had already found a couple of the little guys. He had started studying them, and it was really cool. Yes, it was science, but he thought of it less as learning and more as having fun. Plus, it was easier not to think about Moon when he was doing something he enjoyed.

Winter shook his head. Don't think about Moon! He thought firmly to himself. Even if you're thinking about how you shouldn't be thinking about Moon.

A small squeaking noise startled him. He turned, and there was a scavenger right there, only about two feet away from him. He'd It looked to be female, with a wild mane of dark curly hair. She was smaller than the any of the others Winter had seen, but she had an air of cleverness that the larger scavengers didn't have.

"She would be perfect for the sanctuary," Winter said to himself, in a whisper, so as not to startle the little creature. He crept toward her and scooped the scavenger up in his talons. She didn't struggle; in fact, she seemed genuinely interested in Winter. Her big eyes were unblinking. It was almost creepy.

Winter set the scavenger on his back. He lifted off the ground, gently flapping his wings. He flew slower than usual, trying not to knock her off. Besides, there was no need to rush. The sanctuary wasn't far from here.

"BBBLUURRPLE!" cried the scavenger, pointing to the ground far below and clinging tighter to Winter's scales. She seemed almost scared. But was it even possible for scavengers to get scared? Did they have all the same emotions as dragons did? Winter had wondered this many a time, but he'd never tested it.

He landed at the doors of the sanctuary. Winter opened a scavenger-sized door for his new friend to go into. Seeing how agreeable she was earlier, it was a surprise to him when the scavenger planted her feet on the ground, crossed her arms, and gave him a defiant glare.

"Go on," said Winter, giving her a shove towards the door. But the scavenger grabbed his talon, and quick as can be, darted up his arm and seated herself on his shoulder. Winter sighed. She wasn't going to budge. "All right, clingy, you win," he said to the scavenger, who gave a triumphant squeak.

And just like that, a bright pink head popped out of the bushes nearby."Ooh, CLINGY? Is that the scavenger's name?" said the dragon, pulling herself out of the shrub and plopping down on the ground to sit next to Winter.

"Aargh!" Winter yelped, jumping back. "Oh, it's just you, Kinkajou. No, her name isn't-"

"Hi, Clingy! Hi, Winter!" Kinkajou interrupted as she brushed a stray leaf off of her scales. "I traveled all the way from the rain forest to come see you! It really was a long fly, but boy am I glad I came, because you have this new scavenger pet and, my, he's really cute, isn't he? Such a nice name, Clingy, how creative." the RainWing said chirpily.

Winter frowned. He hadn't planned on the name Clingy, but he knew from experience that it wasn't worth arguing with Kinkajou. And after all, the name did sort of fit.

"Thanks for coming, Kinkajou," he said. "Want to see something awesome?"

Kinkajou smiled. "Sure!" she said. Winter led her into his office room, Clingy still riding on his shoulder. He ruffled through the items in his desk. Finally, he found what he was looking for: a piece of paper showing the results of a recent scavenger intelligence test.

"You have an OFFICE? Wow! So cool," Kinkajou squealed, bouncing into the room Winter showed her the paper, and she gasped."I had no idea! Scavengers are really smart. Like way smart. But not as smart as dragons, though. Do they understand our language, too?"

Winter smiled. It was this side of Kinkajou that made them friends. Nobody else had seen what he did in the scavengers, up until now. "Unfortunately, no," he told her. "But they do seem to have their own language. They can understand each other."

"Shurbb," agreed Clingy.

The two dragons started playing with the scavengers, and they did so for hours. It seemed like only a few minutes, though. Soon, it was almost night, and Kinkajou couldn't stay any longer. "Bye, Winter!" the RainWing called as she took off. "Thanks for inviting me!"

"I didn't invite you! You just came!" he called back. "But, still... thanks for coming!" He smiled, watching her until she was completely out of sight. He heard a loud noise from behind him, and he turned. There, cuddled together, were the scavengers, all of them fast asleep and snoring.

Winter smiled. They were so cute. He headed towards his room and climbed into bed. He thought about Kinkajou's visit. She'd thought he was smart. It wasn't that often that he got to be the smart one. Moon would have been so impressed. Normally, that was kind of Qibli's thing.

Why do you keep thinking about Moon and Qibli? They're behind you now. This is your life now. A voice whispered from inside his head. His last thought before he fell asleep was, this is your new beginning.