Hello everyone! It's been a pleasure updating this story on here, and i hope all of you have enjoyed as well. In this chapter you get to see the reason Eira is so keen on covering-for-Wren, even if she doesn't know who Wren is or what she's doing in the Ice Kingdom.

Eira

Gazing back at Wren, Eira tossed her head back forward as she lifted off and began to fly away. The feeling of having a friend again was so… wonderful. But, just as she had known would happen, the guilt had begun to trickle in. Oh, Slush. She shoved the thoughts into the back of her head and shook herself from head to tail.

Do I even deserve this? A good, pure friend? Eira dropped her wings, lowering to a stop.

Hmm… but what is wrong with Wren? She seemed so pure hearted, although secrets were buried under those talons. She found herself curious, though, about what exactly Wren was hiding. It couldn't be too bad, whatever it was, and she was sure that whatever secrets this dragon had, they were certainly not as bad as her own.

It was the morning after they had had their little nighttime adventure through the IceWing princes'' palace, and it was a very nice day. Sun shone down on the snowdrifts, causing the individual ice crystals to flash and catch the morning sunlight, lighting up the entire landscape in an ethereal, beautiful way.

She opened her mouth, flexing her jaws in a huge yawn. Wren looked fine, as well-rested as ever, behind her, but she was having trouble keeping her eyes open. She knew the effect would wear off in a little while, as soon as they started the daily warm-up training, but for now she felt like crawling into a nice soft snowdrift and sleeping for the next few years.

It was only when she just had fallen asleep that she heard laughter. It wasn't the laughter of any dragon, no, this was something more. A creak of pain was seeping into the laughter, and it had became so fierce that she finally lifted her head to see the source.

Bloody, cut, and torn apart was Slush. Just as she had seen him last. As his laughing echoed across the glaciers it began to sound like millions of voices. She stared, wide-eyed, frozen in place. She suddenly felt a jolt and was woken up by the talons of Wren.

"Are you okay?" Wren tried to hide it, although she could tell that she was wondering the same thoughts she was. "You were… looking pretty terrified… and I rushed over." Eira looked at her reflection in the frozen puddle next to her and saw a face of complete terror.

I was looking like that outside of the nightmare? What is wrong with me?

She flinched, looking up at Wren, feeling the other's dragons talons clamped firmly around her arm. Wren was looking at her with such concern - such pity. Something she really, really didn't deserve. She couldn't stand it. She fixed her eyes on Wren's talon instead.

She contemplated an answer for a moment, studying the talon. It was dull white, with blotchy little spots of gray on it, and quite scarred up, especially around the palm. It almost looked like Wren had been made to hold blades there, pressed against her skin, and they had dug in when she went to slice something. Eira shook herself, no, those thoughts would do her no good now.

"Yeah, f-fine!" She forced the cheer into her voice, wincing at the way it cracked. "Just lovely, er… should we head over to the training arena, to warm up this morning?"

Wren tilted her head, for Eira's pure horror and terror one moment had vanished like dew in the hot sun. But she seemed to think better of questioning her further, something Eira was endlessly grateful for. Wren nodded, and Eira smiled over at her.

"Let's go!" Eira grabbed Wren's wrist and pulled her into the air, taking off.

Her wings trembled slightly and she felt herself leaning to the left. As her wings brushed against Wren's, she jolted up for the slightest moment. Wren didn't notice; she was looking down at her talons, flexing them.

The training arena was made of pure ice, formed by the talons of hundreds of Icewings many years ago. Tournaments were held there over the years. Eira had joined some and sometimes even got a high ranking; but never so much to even advance to the quarter finals. Her father was ashamed of her, yes, but she thought it was a waste of time. It was a burden to fight other dragons just so your name was placed in a small circle carved in ice.

Just as they began to swoop down, Eira remembered. The Ranking Ceremony! She gasped aloud. It's today! Now!

"Got to go- no time to explain- come with me-" Eira jumbled her thoughts into a sentence. Well, she didn't believe it could be even qualified as one. Focus! She shouted in her head, taking off. Wren followed along, staying silent.

Eira made it there in the nick of time, only to be yelled at by her father.

"Where were you?!" Aufeis roared, clutching her forearm and pulling her behind a building made of ice. His claws began to dig into Eira's scales and she winced. "WHERE WERE YOU?"

Eira closed her eyes, lifting her other, free arm to block the spit shooting straight at her. She opened her mouth, preparing a lie, but nothing came out. She stood there, like a dunce, as her arm was being torn off by her very own father. Well, not torn off, for Eira would still have her arm on when this all was over, but it sure felt like someone was tearing it off.

"You know what?" He snarled, looking her dead in the eye. "You are in big trouble. Very big trouble." And with that, he took off, kicking snow in her face and reporting back to the ceremony he had just began to miss.

Eira collapsed to the ground, losing consciousness, as Wren rushed over. Wren spoke with a worried tone, but the pain of her arm drowned it out. Her eyes met Wren's and they froze for a moment. Wren signaled to her arm.

A few scales were completely ripped off, others scattered and pushed in random places. Beneath it were four evenly-sized cuts. Blood gushed out of them, making it look like a permanent wound. As she looked up, Eira saw Wren mouthing a series of words to her. Due to her being half-conscious, her hearing wasn't fully working, but she still could detect what Wren was saying.

"Eira! Is there a doctor nearby? Eira!" Tears flooded down Wren's face as she shook Eira, trying to keep her awake.

This was weird. Aren't all Icewings forced to remember the layout of the kingdom when they are young? Eira though, dazed.

"Next to the palace… take a right…" Eira blurted out as darkness poured in and she blacked out.

(flashback time)

"Isn't it weird?" Slush reached out a small talon out, pretending to grab the moon. "I mean, think about it."

"Well, kind of. But what dragon would want to fly to one of the moons, grab it, and take it back home?" Eira laughed. She had just turned two and her small party was held at her home today. Most of the guests had left, for it was getting late, but Slush had stayed.

"Why wouldn't you?" His voice was bubbly and cheerful as he spoke. "Maybe the moons are edible. Hmm." Slush's gaze drifted away from the moon and into the night sky itself.

Eira laughed. "You're just hungry."

"So you do want to go finish that polar bear?" Slush stood up and shook the snow off of his scales. "Perfect."

As the two paraded into the main room of the ice-carved house, they both made sure to be quiet and not wake Eira's father, who was sleeping in his room. Right before they grabbed the bear, sharp voices arrived at the door. Eira heard talons banging against the ice and her father leapt up to open the door. Unfamiliar Icewings stomped in.

"Slush. Male. 2 years, as of one moon ago you were found with bloodstains on your talons shortly after the death of, and very near to, the body of the royal healer."

Slush you… what… you never said that you had done that.

Eira's breath seemed to freeze solid in her lungs, and she stared at him with wide, moon-like eyes.

He couldn't have.

Yet he had been gone that very day, and come back with an extremely worried look on his face afterwards.

Not to mention how much he hated the healer, ever since she couldn't save his brother, who had returned very burned up from a skirmish along the Sand Kingdom border.

"S-slush, you-"

"Eira, Let me explain what-"

"No!" She suddenly burst out, stepping backward and backing up to one of the icy walls, shivering and withdrawing her wings when he reached out to touch one with his own.

"But I didn't!" Slush stared desperately, hopelessly, into her eyes, even as a heavy chain was thrown around his frost-marked gray and white neck scales. He stared down at it hopelessly, but didn't struggle, even as the guard yanked him roughly off his feet and began to drag him over the icy floors.

Eira stood there, trembling, as her eyes clouded over. "D-dad, is it true?"

Aufeis reached out, grabbing her arm, just as he had a few moments ago in the waking world, though much less roughly now. "Yes, your little pal is a murderer. He'll be dead before you know it, and, until then, if i catch you talking to him, you'll be in just as much trouble!"

She heard Slush yelp as he hit his head on a corner in the passage, and struggle to stand up. "L-let me walk! I don't need to be dragged! I didn't, I can prove it!"

But Slush couldn't prove it. Slush was stuck in an icy cell, far from the light of day, while dragons sorted through the evidence and sifted through the clues scattered randomly about.

As the days past, Eira felt more and more lonely. Her father lectured her on finding "good" friends that weren't "lowborn". Eira felt worse. Slush and her had been friends since both of them were just dragonets, and he was always there for her when she needed him.

Two weeks later, a trial was announced to take place on the next day. Eira begged her father to let her be Slush's defender, but he told her that no one would listen to a one year old dragonet.

"I'm two!" She reminded him.

He groaned and put down his scroll and wiped the ink off his talons, rubbing it on the cloth next to him. "Eira!" He snapped. "Let me write this! It is your own application for the Icewing school! Don't you want to get in?"

No! Eira thought rebelliously, but pulled herself away from that thought.

"Anyway, your criminal friend's father is his defender. Idiot. His rankings are going to drop so low. What did I tell you about making friends?" He snarled.

"They have to have a high ranking or everyone else will suffer." Eira rehearsed. It was the dumbest thing he had ever told her, but she was forced to repeat it. Rankings don't matter! And how will anyone suffer from a number?! But she knew that she was wrong, and her father was right. Again.

But there was nothing she could do, and the time of the trial came. Eira sat outside as her father came inside. He had the role of a simple guard, only there to make sure no one die.

A few hours passed and Slush came out. "Slush!" Eira leaped towards him, but was shoved back by her very own father. "Slush! Where are you going?"

Another guard crouched below her and winced. His face contained a lot of pity but he hid it as he turned to her father. "I'll take care of this," he said. After Aufeis walked away, the guard turned back to her. "A friend of yours?"

Eira nodded and the guard looked more concerned. "He's going to be executed tomorrow. You still can see him, though, before the execution." He looked her in the eyes. "Sorry, kiddo. He killed someone."

As the world turned to stone, Eira lost all of her breath and collapsed to the ground. Tears flooded her eyes and she pulled herself up and ran home.

(next day)

Eira stared through the bars, made of thick ice and secured with a heavy metal lock. She sat down outside of them, staring into Slush's hopeless gray-blue eyes as he lay there, in chains. She sat there, staring at him like she didn't know him anymore. To be truthful, she didn't know if she did.

She had thought she had known Slush well, but now she wasn't so sure. The Slush she knew was fun-loving, a jokester, and wouldn't hurt anyone. And yet the trial had said he was guilty of murder, of all things, and so had her father.

She couldn't be blamed for not believing him, after all, she was only two years old. She thought that her father, of all dragons, must be right. Back then he was her parent, the one dragon she thought she would aspire to be like, even if he was a bit angry and mean at times. Little did she know that would soon change.

She ducked her head, staring at her bright white-blue talons and shuffling them against the ice, not wanting to look up at Slush.

"Why… why would you do that?" Her voice was hushed, close to a whisper, as she didn't want to be heard and taken out of the prison - after all, she wasn't supposed to be there.

Slush raised his head up a bit, his face not one of guilt but a mask of pain and misunderstanding. The chains clanked as he moved, and she could see that they had rubbed the scales under them raw.

"I didn't, Eira."

"But my father said that you did! He wouldn't lie like that, I know he wouldn't! All the evidence says you did, Slush!" Even if she didn't fully trust her father, she didn't believe he was a liar. She quickly quieted her sudden outburst, looking above her nervously for any sign that other dragons had heard and were coming to drag her off. Despite everything, she still wanted to see Slush again, one last time, at least.

"Eira, I know what they said. I know I can't change my fate." His head rested on his talons, and he turned away so she couldn't see his eyes growing glassy with unspilled tears. "B-but, when all of this is over, when they find out that I didn't do it, I want you to promise me something."

Eira stood there, shaking slightly, as his words rang off the icy walls. She opened her mouth to say something, say she couldn't promise. She opened it to say that she believed that he was the killer, but she couldn't say it. Even now.

"Please, if there's any doubt in your mind, help me." His eyes stared up at her desperately, an image that would haunt her for the rest of her life. "Y-you're the daughter of the leader of the royal guard, if nothing else, you can at least convince Aufeis. H-he'd listen to you…" He trailed off, setting his head back down on his talons with a depressed sigh.

"I know you don't believe me. When all of this is over, though, Eira, I need you to do something for me. Can you do that?"

She nodded wordlessly, still shivering, though not with the cold but more with grief for a friend she hadn't yet lost. A friend she could have, should have, tried to save.

"I-if there's ever another dragon out there, one like me, help them. If there's any tiny doubt left in your mind that they did something, or are something, p-please, hang onto that. Believe in them, if you don't believe in me."

His glassy eyes stared up into hers, and he gave her one last smile, the last one she would ever see him give. "Promise?"

Eira stood there for a moment, eyes wide as she stared down at her best friend. And then there were heavy talons clanging down the steps, ready to take Slush away. She scrambled backwards as the guard shot her a suspicious look, but opened the icy cell without questioning her.

He grabbed onto the chain that was connected to Slush's talons, wings, and neck, and began to walk out with him. Slush stayed there, curled up in a ball, until the guard gave a hard yank on the chains and he stumbled forward, lifelessly. As if he didn't have the will to struggle, or fight back, as if he knew that no matter what he did his fate would be the same.

His last hope had been Eira, and she had believed in her father and the trial more than she believed in him.

Eira watched, transfixed, as he was pulled up the stairs and into the snowy light world above. She stood there for what seemed hours, but was truly only minutes. She couldn't imagine life without Slush, always there to come up with some crazy-silly plan or make a joke even in the worst of times. She hesitated for one more moment, then flung herself after them with a cry of "Wait!"

It was too late, though. She had hesitated too long. Her front talons landed in the snow and she swung around to chase after them on foot. She dodged around snow-capped buildings and the large ice palace, stopping in several courtyards where she thought it might be taking place. Have to stop it, have to stop it, have to stop it.

She couldn't run very fast, though, and several minutes had passed already when she had still been frozen down in the prison.

She swung around a final corner into the last possible place the execution could be taking place, but then stopped dead in her tracks. She was too late, and Slush lay in the snow, his throat torn in several places, one of his wings tattered, as blue blood spilled out in an ever-advancing puddle onto the snow, tainting the previously clean place.

His face was twisted into an expression of pure agony, and yet it looked like he was smiling, with the way a cut had twisted around his jaw.

"Ha… ha…." It took her a moment to realise Slush was laughing, even as blood bubbled forward from his mouth and he shook in one horrible final twitch. He had always coped with pain by laughing, and she supposed now was no different.

No, now was every bit different. She unfroze, and launched herself forward toward slush, a shriek tearing from her throat.

"NO! SLUSH!" Before she could reach the corpse, however, she found talons pulling her back roughly, an angry face staring down at her. Aufeis. Her father. She stood there a moment, in his talons, shaking violently. She sank down into a pathetic puddle of white and blue scales on the ground, wishing she was dead.

Death would be better than this. Anything, anything would be better than this.

But she couldn't go back in time, she couldn't stop what had happened.

As the dragons around her slowly cleared out, she was left nearly alone in the courtyard. A little female IceWing bustled in, then saw her tear-streaked face and immediately softened. She was no-doubt there to take care of the body, but she came over to Eira and touched her wing gently with her own.

"I'll give you a minute, but I have to get rid of the body." She said softly, before slowly moving out of the courtyard again.

Eira stumbled forward, pressing her own talons to Slush's. There was only one thing she could think to say, one thing that he had asked her to do.

"Promise. I promise."