Winter's eyes snapped open. He was lying down on his stone bed, the rock's chilly surface was right at home with his freezing scales. Winter sat up and outstretched his wings. The cave he was in was empty and dark. As he stood up, Winter wondered what woke him.

Then he heard a loud knock on his cave door. Winter groggily stood up and pried open the rock blocking his only exit. Waiting outside of the door was Clay.

"Ah, you're up!" Clay said with a smile. Winter nodded, trying to keep his eyes open. "I'm afraid to say that you're one of the last dragons still in their caves. Everyone else is eating breakfast in the Prey Center."

"Hm.. fine." Winter said in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I'll be out in due time." Winter attempted to close the door, but Clay poked his head into the room.

"I know that we've had an eventful last few months, but now that school is back in session, we all have to continue our old routines. You received a new schedule, right?" Clay attempted to sound kind. "There are 5 new dragons from each tribe here now, so there will be more potential friends for you to meet."

Winter narrowed his eyes at this comment.

"I'll see you in my class soon, I hope."

"Yep." Winter finally managed to close the door. He rummaged through the mess that was his desk and grabbed his satchel. The white cow-hide satchel contained Winter's scrolls and papers. As Winter left his cave, he remembered that he hadn't even touched the satchel in almost three months. So much had happened in those two months, dragons had died, a war broke out, Darkstalker had been defeated, the Plantean dragons had been helped.

Winter encountered a few dragons walking down the hall. Familiar faces passed him, such as Sora, Arid, Alba, and Pronghorn. But he missed the familiar faces that he had come to know.

His friends.

He hadn't seen them in 2 months. Ever since the plantean dragon arrived and they left, Winter had been alone. Turtle, Kinkajou, Peril, Qibli, and … Moon. Winter twitched his wings.

No Winter. He thought. Moon is dating Qibli. You should be happy for her. She is your friend after all. Winter nodded to himself. He wouldn't be sad. He didn't need a dragon from a different tribe. It would go against everything he'd ever been taught. I mustn't fantasize of dating a dragon of a different tribe, especially not a NightWing.

Winter knew that his friends did come back from their adventures, but he didn't want to face them again. After Qibli and Moon began dating, Winter avoided them. It was already embarrassing enough for Moon to have known that he had shown interest in her, but Qibli would never let him hear the end of it.

Lost in thought, Winter ran into a skinny NightWing. He tripped over her, as she was rather small, and his satchel spilled open. Scrolls, ink, and assorted papers lay strewn across the floor. "Oh, sorry!"The Nightwing attempted to help him pick up his scrolls.

"Watch where you're going, NightWing." He hissed. The NightWing nodded quickly and ran past him. Winter bent over and scooped his satchel's contents at once. "Pesky dragonets." He said under her breath.

Continuing on his path, Winter heard the sound of rowdy dragons screeching at each other. That horrible noise belonged to hungry dragonets in the Prey Center. He turned a corner and saw tables full of dragons of every tribe, all noisily eating. Some of them were getting up and going back for seconds, and even more were chasing their prey around the room.

Winter grumbled and joined the dragons waiting in line. His eyes scanned the sitting dragons, looking for faces that were friendly. All he saw were unknown snouts and his friends.

Is it even proper to call them 'friends' if I'm avoiding them? They're more like "Winglet members." Winter picked up a fish from the stone table with assorted meats and fruits on it. The fish, a tuna, was slimy, and it reeked of sea water. Winter turned up his nose in disgust. We certainly never had food presented in such a poor way in the Ice Palace. He shook his head and began walking to a small table which was completely ignored by other dragons.

If only Icicle was here. Winter sat down. She would keep me company, and it would nice to have another competent royal around.

Winter's first bite of the tuna was about as good as his morning had been; cold, gross, and underwhelming. He much preferred the polar bear legs that he had been served at the palace…

"No Winter." He said under his breath. "Stop comparing this cave to the beauty of the wonderful Ice Palace. You're not going back there. You've caused enough trouble there already."

After taking another bite of his tuna, Winter glanced around the cave. The Prey Center allowed for plenty of natural light, illuminating all the dragons inside perfectly. He was finally able to look at every dragon at the right distance.

As he scanned the crowd, he found his friends sitting in at a circular group. Kinkajou was turning a new color every second, Turtle watched her intently, Peril was having a conversation with Qibli, and Moon sat next to Qibli. Their tails were intertwined. Winter looked away quickly, pushing the lump in his throat down with another bite of tuna.

He quickly diverted his eyes to the other side of the room. The table with the most dragonets was full of MudWings. Winter recognized the larger ones as Reed, Marsh, Sora, and Pheasant. Winter didn't recognize the other MudWings, but he noticed a moving lump behind Reed. All the dragons were mostly turned away from him, and those who weren't paying any attention to him.

Then the lump moved.

It was Umber.

Umber stared at Winter for what seemed like an eternity, then quickly moved to be out of sight. Winter was suddenly greeted a few old memories of seeing Umber around his friends. He was always quiet and shy, Winter never really noticed him.

The bell for the student's first period rang, and Winter, with the rest of the Prey Center, made his was to his first period class, history.

Winter found the classroom easily, as it was near the dorm rooms. Upon entering the classroom, Winter found his old history teacher, Webs.

"Ahhh,… Winter, right?" Webs said. Winter nodded.. Other than him, no one else had arrived. "I'm glad to see you. Your seat is in the back of the class." Webs pointed to a table with two chairs in the back-right corner of the cave. Winter nodded and took his seat.

One by one, dragons filed into the cave, each taking a seat. Eventually, every seat filled up, except for two. One at the front of the class, and the one next to Winter.

That's fine. Winter unlatched his satchel. I prefer privacy. It reminds me of the private tutor at the Ice Palace. He knew he shouldn't have thought of the palace, but the thought was nice.

"Alright everyone." Webs closed the door. "You all know me, but I don't know you very well. Everyone tell the class your name, and an adjective to describe yourself."

Winter scoffed at the idea of trivial activities such as this, but it did give him an opportunity to memorize names.

"Witty Winter." He said as it was his turn. He was too busy memorizing names to properly think of a better adjective. Winter noticed that Kinkajou and Turtle were also in his class. If it had to be any of my friends, I'm glad its them. They won't judge me. They're not like that.

Eventually all names had been said. "Very good everyone." Webs nodded. "Now let's begin going over needed materials." He moved to the chalk board and was about to reach for a chalk piece when the door knocked. "I wonder who that could be." Webs opened the door.

Marsh and Umber walked into the class. "I'm sorry, sir." Marsh wheezed. "Our schedules were mixed up, and we had to go to the office." Umber nodded. The two looked completely out of breath.

"That's quite alright." Webs stepped closer to them. "Marsh, your seat is up front, next to Arid, and Umber, you sit back there next to Winter." Marsh took his seat. Umber quickly maneuvered around the desks to get to Winter.

"Hi Winter." Umber said cheerily as he took his seat.

"Uhhhh, hi Umber." Winter watched as he sat down and opened his own satchel.

"Back to the schedule, everyone get out your ink and quills." Webs began to write "MATERIALS" on the chalkboard. "You will be writing them down for your history scroll's protective cover. Winter rummaged through his satchel and grabbed his scroll cover and his ink well, but he couldn't find his quill.

"Oh narwhal dung." He said under his breath.

"What happened?" Umber asked, putting his own materials on his desk.

"I seem to have forgotten my quills." Winter huffed.

"Oh, I'll give you one of mine!" Umber passed a quill over to Winter's talons.

"W-….what?" Winter held the quill in his claws.

"You can have it!" Umber smiled.

"You mean it?" Winter asked with concern in his eyes. "You're just going to give it to me? No strings attached?"

"None at all." Umber picked up his own quill and began writing.

Winter stared at the quill. No one had ever given him anything without asking for anything in return. In the palace, he had always had to do a tedious chore to even be rewarded with a meal.

This simple kind gesture from another dragon had completely thrown Winter off. Umber, whether knowing it or not, had earned admiration from the young IceWing prince.

But Winter wouldn't be fast to admit it.