A strong aroma wafted into her nose and Gelid woke up, sniffing the air with half her snout laying down, wondering where that scent came from. It was a flowery smell, bitter and strong, too strong, and she stopped herself from sneezing.
Something didn't feel right.
There was something soft and smooth under her, almost like grass except it wasn't grimy or dirty or wet and it wasn't like animal fur either. It was softer than that. It felt like she was laying on top of one, giant, flat leaf.
There was something similar underneath her head too, like a bag stuffed with feathers. Soft and comfortable.
Then she realised, why did she wake up here?
Last thing she remembered was being in the rainforest dark at night, on the rainforest floor. And now it was light. Not sunny light but it was day and there was something above her that stopped most the light from coming in.
She didn't remember this at all and usually she had a good memory of places she'd been to.
There was a sound that came from somewhere beyond her tail, somewhere she couldn't see. A sound of something rolling or moving over a wooden surface, like the way her tail would when walking over Vine Square.
She twisted to see what made that sound, only for piercing pain to shoot up her neck and force her head to lay back down. Suddenly her whole body ached and her talons awoke and twitched.
"Oh good, you're awake," said a voice. The voice was familiar. Not one she heard often but one she felt like she wanted to know. But whose? Whose voice was that?
Oh, Gelid realised. It's Swan. But was Swan doing? Why was he there? Or better yet, why was Gelid there? Where was there to begin with?
She heard Swan walking over calmly. He stopped in front of her, ducking down to meet her eyes. He had creamy-blue eyes, slightly more vibrant than the bright sky. And he still wore a golden helmet between his horns, though, closely Gelid was able to make out black lines around the edges. What were those about?
"How are you feeling?" Swan asked softly. She noticed his scales weren't completely white but were a mix of extremely pale blue and purple, especially down his wings and snout. "You were in a bit of pain before. I'm not sure how fast icewings heal," he said, watching her attentively.
"We heal just as fast as the others, I think. I feel...drowsy?" Gelid was unsure.
"That would be from the tranquilliser,"
That sounded like a horrible weapon. "Tranquilliser?"
"A rainwing dart. Coated from the toxin of a dart frog. I had to administer one to you before dragging you here," he said.
So not a weapon of mass destruction but it didn't help that she didn't know where she was. "Here?" What in Pyrrhia was going on?
"My quiet abode. Near the coast of the rainforest. The quietest part of the kingdom."
That didn't explain where she was exactly but recounting the journey from last night, she guessed that she wasn't too far from where the nightwings attacked her. How long would it take to fly back to the palace where - Queen Blizzard! Was her queen alright? What happened after she left?
"Queen Blizzard - Pale - do they know about-" Gelid wanted to get up, ignoring the searing pain that rippled over her.
Swan gently pushed down on her shoulder. "Don't worry, I've notified Queen Firefly what happened. Diamondclaws and Deathbringer is overseeing the nightwings that attacked you. Her majesty knows where you are and knows that I'm here too. I can tell them to send you escorts and to get better treatment. They won't be here until late, so please rest."
"Nightwings...right," She thought of Lava. He bolted when the nightwings attacked and left her. "Did you see a dark mudwing there?"
"A mudwing?" Swan's brow rose, confused. "Like the one - no, I can't recall seeing a mudwing there. Did the mudwing attack you too?"
"He didn't but..." Gelid was unsure how much she wanted to admit. But Lava betrayed her first. She never told anyone his secret, yet he wanted her killed. "He's the one that orchestrated the attack. I - I thought he was my friend."
"That'll happen," he said sympathetically. He exhaled deeply, his head tilting in a way that seemed like he lost his gaze and then found it again. "You need to rest. You had quite a few injuries and I did what I could to help you. Rest is the best thing right now."
"You're a doctor?" Gelid asked.
"I was, some time ago," his gaze went away again. He shook his head. "Anyway. You have a long cut down your neck. Try not to move too much. The end of your tail is singed-"he pointed but Gelid couldn't see"-you have at least one broken rib, and a lot of heavy bruising on your legs, under your wings and here."
Swan gently put his talon on her neck and Gelid jerked back, her body unaccustomed to the touch.
"I'm sorry. Did - did that hurt?" Swan asked.
"No, just..." Gelid wasn't sure why she did that. It didn't hurt. It was just a light touch.
Swan looked closely at her. There was something in his eyes that she never saw before. "Rest. You need it." He put a talon on hers and gently squeezed without moving her leg. "Little opal." He then let go, his wing softly brushing over her as he turned and exited out the doorway.
Gelid felt a small flutter in her stomach and she felt light, like a breeze in the wind over a shroud of trees. Or perhaps like a snowflake falling gracefully.
But she was sleepy. So she put her head on the weird bag, closed her eyes and welcomed the soft blanket of darkness over her.
Gelid awoke some time later. She felt better. The cloak of sleepiness disappeared from around her head and she even lifted her neck, though very slowly, offsetting the short bursts of pain into aches. She forced herself to sit up, feeling movement in her body again from the hours of staying still.
She was sitting on some kind of soft and bouncy material wrapped and stitched in faded green cloth. The base of it was a wooden trunk as thick as the length of her leg. It was a bed. Swan's bed perhaps? Why would Swan have a soft bed?
Gelid had to admit that although the bed was strange, she actually quite liked it. Maybe these were the reason why Swan's scales were so soft and smooth, instead of hard and spiky like hers.
Where was Swan?
Gelid looked around. She was in a closed room made of wooden planks. Facing the bed in front of Gelid was a single chest backed to the wall that looked big enough to hold a bunch of random and small things. Beside the trunk was a desk in front of a mirror.
There were small bottles stacked in a corner of the desk and scrubbing brushes piled in a small cup.
The room was more like a hut now that Gelid thought of it. There was one exit that extended out to a balcony bathed in sunlight. It seemed more like a temporary home rather than one to live in. Did Swan like the peace and quiet?
The flowery aroma was gone, instead, huffs of salt and leaves filled her nose. Was that what a beach smelt like? The ice kingdom didn't have beaches, only glaciers and icebergs along the coast. Yet, Gelid expected a beach to smell sandy, like the desert.
As she scanned the room out of curiosity, there was a section of paper ripped from a scroll in a box frame. It was in a high corner facing the rear of the bed. Sunlight gleamed across the paper and Gelid had to tilt to see it properly.
At the top of the paper was the word "Winter" with a line across connecting it to a word "Elegant". Was that a plant perhaps?
Another line fell between the words, then spreading to three more words below: "Shimmer", "Crystal" and "Python." The word "Toucan" connected to "Shimmer" and a line descended between the two. At the bottom of the line was Swan.
Was that a family tree? Icewings didn't have family trees made visually but Gelid did hear of some dragon families having them. If it was a family tree then it had to be Swan's, and all the words had to be dragon names.
Wasn't Winter an icewing name? The rest sounded like rainwing names but that one didn't.
It wasn't Gelid's business to know about families but it definitely intrigued her.
Swan stepped into the room with a basket in his mouth and he paused a step from the doorway, staring at Gelid with a raised brow. He dropped the basket into his talon and then sat it on the floor next to a tall brazier with a bundle of light bulbs tied together by a rope.
There were orange and green fruit in the basket.
"You should be resting," Swan said. He picked two fruits from the basket and then sat by the bed. His tail curled by his foot and he then placed a fruit in the coil, looking at the other fruit closely.
"Enough rest for me." Gelid responded, watching Swan delicately cut lines into the skin of the fruit with a single claw, exposing the orange flesh underneath. The skin piled on the ground, creating an almost unnoticeable stain on the wood.
"Hmph," He breathed slowly. "Well then you must be hungry."
Her stomach rumbled as soon as he finished his sentence. Gelid was hungrier than she realised. She held her stomach, hoping it would stop.
She hoped the fruit wasn't for her. Fruit didn't look right. Fruit grew on trees just asking for someone to pick it without any trouble. It wasn't worth it. A good meal was one worth finding and catching, like a seal or a polar bear amongst the ice fields. Now that was a meal Gelid wanted.
"Do you have any meat?" Gelid asked.
Swan shook his head. "No meat. Good luck finding something worthwhile in the rainforest. You might find a tiger in the mangroves somewhere if you went looking hard enough but this is better." He held the orange fleshed fruit to her.
"No thanks. I don't think-" Gelid was interrupted.
"Go on," he insisted gently. "This will be much better for you."
"I don't like it," She hoped she didn't sound whiny.
"Have you tried it?"
"Well, no," That was a good point. Swan seemed to read her thoughts and he lifted the fruit higher as an offer, a gold-metal sheath covered the bottom half of his leg. Gelid let him drop the fruit into her talons and she sniffed it. It smelt sweet, not as sweet as that food store in the nightwing village but like a raw sweetness.
"Try not to bite into it straight away. It was a hard seed in the middle that dragon teeth can't crush," Swan explained. "I'll let you eat in peace." He turned and left, making sure he picked up the other fruit.
Now Gelid was sure she didn't want it. It felt wrong to give it back so she bit the edges carefully. She ate what she could, leaving an orange oval shape that was the seed and licking the juice off her talons. She had to admit to herself that she liked it. Gosh, did the rainforest always have fruit like this laying around?
Gelid didn't know what to do with the seed so she put it on top of the pile of discarded fruit skin, and she stepped down. Two of her ribs stuck out unnaturally and then clicked back into place as she breathed. So maybe two of her ribs might've been broken.
She walked carefully to the doorway, hoping her ribs wouldn't spring out of place again. Swan was hunched over the railing of the balcony, his head resting on his two front legs and his back turned to her.
It had to be almost midday by the position of the sun.
The same fruit Gelid ate sat untouched by Swan's curled tail. Gelid eased out into the balcony and tilted slightly, evaluating Swan's expression. He looked...sad or perhaps he was thinking of something bad. Or maybe he was daydreaming because his scales weren't changing at all.
Gelid approached next to him but then her talon fumbled, hitting the back of her other talon and started to fall forward. Something strong and warm wrapped around her and she was pulled towards Swan. Her head knocked into his neck but not enough to knock the both of them over.
It was warm being encased in his wing, not warm like the humidity of the rainforest but something else.
Swan shuffled over, his wing loosening from her. "Sorry," he mumbled.
"No - don't worry. Thank you," she added. What she meant to say was "Thank you, please do that again" but that was an awkward thing to say so she kept her snout closed.
She never meant to be this close to Swan and it was difficult not to stare at him. He looked older than she realised, not quite twenty years of age but close, and he was bigger than her. His scales looked more golden, like sand, in the sunlight.
The balcony was perched and held up by two massive branches from a nearby tree. They were on the edge of the rainforest, overlooking a shallower forest with brighter leaves. There were spots where Gelid saw pools of grey-blue water and root tendrils that anchored deep into them. Was this a mangrove?
A glint caught her eye and Gelid was reminded of the gold metal plating over his leg. Bright leaf green cracks in his scales came from under the metal. She wondered about those but it was an odd topic to bring up.
"So I have to ask," Gelid said, meeting Swan's eyes. "How did you save me? I'm thankful, really, but," I never saw you coming.
"Back at the nightwing village," he nodded back. "I needed some metal casted to make more of these-" he gestured to the golden sheath over his leg-"because my previous ones had holes in them after the attack on the celebrations. I was waiting outside when I heard your friend talking about a dark place in the rainforest. I didn't want to think much of it because..." he looked away, his gaze catching something off into the distance and he closed his eyes.
Gelid followed his sight into the mangroves but found nothing of interest. "Because what?"
He opened his eyes. "But I did think of it. So I waited for the blacksmith to finish and then I went to the rainwing healers to get a small batch of tranquiliser darts, just in case. The healers didn't ask why but I was friends with them so I they probably didn't think much of it. I flew to that dark spot and there I found you pinned under five nightwings, attacking you. I couldn't leave you there," he breathed heavily.
Gelid wasn't sure what to say other than: "Thank you."
Then he smiled. "I feel better now, saving you, instead of knowing that...that another dragon fell to that wretched place."
"Why? What happened there?"
He thought about it. His wing tightened and plunked to the wooden floor, forming a cave around Gelid. "Several years ago, I went flying at nighttime, I don't know why. I just did. I was flying for about an hour when I saw a nightwing by a large trunk of a tree. A short tree. She looked very disconcerted about something but I didn't ask. I left her and flew back here. Then in the morning I flew back over there and you know what I found?" He asked her.
Gelid shook her head. "That nightwing dead, inside the hollow of that tree. I contacted Queen Glory as soon as I could. That nightwing's name was Fatespeaker and she was a friend of the queens', apparently. So that place was called Fate's Hollow in memory. And my memory too, knowing that I could've stopped what happened to her," Swan said.
"It's not your fault. How could you have known?" Right now, Gelid wanted to throw her wings over Swan but she was sure her wings wouldn't reach.
"I had a bad feeling at the time but I still didn't do anything," Swan said.
"You did something now, didn't you? You saved me."
He looked down at her with that "You're absolutely right" face and then nodded. "Now I'm going to ask you a question. Why did those dragons attack you?"
How much did Gelid want to admit? It was Swan and so far he was trustworthy. "My friend, he's in the Talons of Power. I only found out that day when he told me."
"He told you?" Swan asked. "Sounds like he really trusted you."
"That's what I thought." Gelid explained what happened. She explained that a skywing messenger arrived in the rainforest, then Queen Firefly vouched for Queen Fuchsia, ending with a war of words. She explained the mirror incident which Swan knew very little about. Then about King Sanguine's disappearance and how Queen Fuchsia blamed it on the rainwings and nightwings.
"And that's why I came to Lava for help. I thought he could send a message to the Talons to stop the war on the rainforest," Gelid explained, then taking a deep breath. She felt like she left something out.
"Ah, I see," Swan said. "Brave little opal."
Suddenly, her cheek bones started aching and she didn't know why. Then, something tapped on her mind and now that she was a bit more comfortable. She had to ask a question.
"I don't mean to pry too much, but why do you wear those?" Gelid pointed at the gold on his leg and then nodded at the helmet between his horns.
His expression turned from an easy smile to an expression of indecisiveness and pain. "Um, well, hm," he contemplated a thought. He sighed. "If someone should know, I guess - I guess it should be you," he said to her.
Know what?
Swan leaned back and then curled his tail around his feet, the warmth of his wing left Gelid. He reached for the helmet first, carefully digging the tips of his claws under the edges of the helmet and then lifted slowly. Underneath were completely charred black scales, twisted and melted in swirls and uneasy lines. Fire burnt those scales, like what happened to Squall.
He placed the helmet on the ground in front of him and then looked down at his leg with the sheath, without once looking at Gelid. He outstretched a talon over the sheath and then pulled it off. Unlike the burn on his head, this one was pink and grey, with green along the edges. There was a long and deep gash where his scales were pink. That was a wound she'd never seen before.
"Whoa," Gelid blurted. He set his talons down and she wanted to touch it, which he allowed. She ran the underside of her talon over the pink and grey scales, feeling the smooth and jagged lines.
"It looks disgusting," Swan said.
Gelid had to agree. "It does. You don't," She said to him. "So how did you get these?"
His gaze lifted to the sky. "Well, I think it was a decade ago, I was in the town of Riverwatch."
"Riverwatch?"
"It was named Possibility before the Great River War. Queen Fuchsia named it herself when she won the war," he said to her. "Now, I wanted to be a doctor so I was the apprentice of a rainwing..."
More than a decade ago...
Swan liked the sunset here. It wasn't like the rainforest where the sky was a little green and the only way to the see it was through the small holes in the trees or having to venture far beyond the safety of the leaves and vines. Not here, all he had to do was step out of the clinic and look up.
Though, no matter what, he still missed the rainforest. He missed the chattering of birds and bugs instead of noisy dragons. And he knew all the dragons there. Here, there were infinitely more and from all the different tribes too.
But it wasn't so bad in the town of Riverwatch. Everyday there was a new dragon to meet, different injuries to see and new techniques to learn.
The only reason he was there was because his teacher was sent to Riverwatch by Queen Glory because the town needed more doctors. Since he was still learning the art, he had to come too. Though, his teacher always said he needed more adventure in his life.
"Nice sunset, right?" Vivid asked, sitting beside him. Vivid was the best doctor in the rainforest and the best that Queen Glory had. She was also a good friend of the family so of course she was happy to teach Swan.
"It is. It's clearer here. You can really see the orange and red meeting the dark blue sky," Swan replied.
Vivid nudged him. "I asked a simple question not an entire scroll," she said with a smile.
Swan laughed. Vivid was always that kind of dragon that smiled a lot and was the epitome of kindness. She was basically like a mother to him.
There was a knock on wood not far away. Both Vivid and Swan twisted to look. A mudwing with light grey and brown scales poked his head between the creaking door and then emerged through slowly. He stopped a step from a tail-long counter that separated the entrance from the rest of the clinic. There was a black strap around his shoulder with a sigil of a red dragon with a gaping mouth, two legs and five tails. The guard sigil.
Vivid rushed across the garden, shaking herself when she reached the pavement of the clinic lit by fire lanterns and then approached the guard. She started talking to the guard but Swan couldn't hear.
Swan went in shortly after, standing beside a pile of rolled-up mats meant for patients.
"One sandwing, one skywing. Patrons say they were having a lot to drink when they started fighting each other and then passed out. Drunk, most likely," said the mudwing.
"Bring them in," Vivid said. The mudwing ducked out and Vivd started clearing the way, pulling a bundle of fruits to a corner. "Prep two mats and get me two jugs of clean water," she ordered Swan.
Swan obliged. He plucked out two mats and rolled them up to both ends of the clinic so that there was still a walkway between the dragons. He then went outside, picking up two empty ceramic jugs by the ropes tied around the bases. The river was a short distance away and Swan flew, sinking the jugs in the water as he flew over and then headed back to the clinic.
Vivid was standing on the grass of the garden, by the edges of the pavement. Two mudwings and a skywing guard hauled the dragons in one at a time, starting with an orange skywing with red wings, and then a large sandwing with golden-sandy scales and even more vibrant wings. The guards laid them out on the mats, with the skywing laying closest to the counter.
"Is there anything else we can do?" Asked a mudwing guard.
"Keep a guard close in case?" Swan muttered to Vivid.
Vivid nodded. "Check the bar in case there are any other incidences and can one of you stay outside the clinic? These dragons might wake up again and I don't want then causing havoc."
The guards nodded. The skywing started talking to the mudwings as they exited the clinic. Swan hoped there weren't any more drunk dragons.
He followed Vivid into the clinic once again and stopped by the sandwing first. The sandwing had an odd scar across his snout but one that seemed like it had been there for a while. Other than that, he only had a few cuts to his body.
The sandwing murmured something, moving his snout slowly left to right and his eyes kept wanting to open and also sleep.
The skywing wasn't much different, other than he wasn't murmuring. It was a wonder the sandwing hadn't yet jabbed the end of his tail against the skywing. Maybe they were both too drunk.
"Hovenia?" Swan asked Vivid.
"Yes, that might be a good idea," Vivid said. "I'll get some sleeping darts to keep them asleep."
The sleeping darts were locked in a shed next to the clinic so that they were out of the claws of wondering patients, especially dragonets.
And drunk fighting dragons, Swan thought. I suppose I should get used to it. Scorpion Venom is getting more popular, especially with veterans after the war. I'm surprised it hasn't been outlawed yet, given the recent situations.
Vivid grabbed a key from under the counter and left to clamber sleeping darts from the outdoor shed, leaving Swan in the clinic.
Swan placed the jugs in a corner between a wall and the counter, quickly realising how close the jugs were to the tail of the skywing, so then he put them on the countertop.
There was a pantry opposite the entrance into the clinic which usually gave the impression that the doctors were well supplied and knew what they were doing. Which was, of course, true.
Swan shuffled into the pantry, looking at the shelves of jars for a particular one with brown wrinkly fruit. He found it and tucked it under his wing, grabbing a pestle and mortar as well, and placed them all on the countertop.
He looked at the dragons when one started wheezing. The sandwing's stomach lifted up and down with heavy breaths. Suddenly, his black eyes opened fully and the sandwing rolled to his stomach, staring at the skywing with disdain. The skywing woke up then as well, instantly clambering to his feet and hissing.
The sandwing rose, spreading his wings to look bigger and then curling his tail defensively so that it was between him and the skywing. To be fair, the dragon was already quite large and took up half the clinic only standing. "You DARE attack me? I am Queen Thorn's royal advisor!"
"Royal my tail, sand-snorter!" Growled the skywing. "Go suck a cactus!"
Uh oh.
The sandwing roared and lunged at the skywing, peeling the mats away. He pushed on the skywing, pinning him and attempted to close his snout. The skywing headbutted the yellow dragon and pushed him away, making him stumble back to the other wall.
"Stop fighting!" Swan yelled. They didn't hear him. They didn't even acknowledge him. "GUARD!" He squished himself into the pantry, letting the mudwing guard rush in with a spear, assess the two dragons and then interfere.
"Stop! By the order of Queen Fuchsia!" Commanded the guard.
Vivid hurried in after the mudwing and then stared at Swan, mouthing to him: "What's going on?"
Swan tapped his head and then whirled his talon, gesturing to her that the dragons had gone crazy.
The sandwing tackled the mudwing guard and his spear rolled towards the counter.
"You dare mention her name!" yelled the sandwing at the mudwing. "I lost my daughter because of her!"
The skywing swiped at him and then batted him with a wing, making the sandwing get off the guard. "You lost - I lost everyone! My wife was a sandwing and Thorn didn't give two cows about her. GUESS WHAT? I had to fight for Queen Fuchsia. I found my wife's body on the battlefield. ON THE WRONG SIDE!"
"Queen Thorn is a righteous queen! Yours was the one that started the war for the stupid river!" The sandwing opened his mouth, orange glowing and rising, and he shot a breath of flame. The skywing twisted out of the way, letting the fire scar the walls and ceiling black.
"Stop this this instant!" Protested the guard.
"Swan!" Vivid shouted at him. She flicked her tail towards the door, gesturing for them to leave.
Swan stepped out of the pantry but then the mudwing was flung across the counter and landed with a crack between Swan and Vivid. He groaned painfully and then passed out. His wing wasn't in his shoulder anymore.
The spear rolled and tapped Swan's talons. He never used one before. He didn't even know how to fight. But someone had to - maybe it had to be him.
He grabbed the spear and then looked at the rivalling dragons. He didn't have to kill them, living with that wouldn't be easy but maybe subdue them somehow.
"HEY!" Swan hollered at them. The two dragons looked at him and Swan suddenly felt like this was bad idea.
"Stay out of this fancy-scales!" Warned the skywing.
"NO! Either you both get out of here or I'll make you get out!" Swan said.
"What? You?" Barked the sandwing with a laugh.
Now Swan was sure he wanted to throw the spear right into the sandwing's big gallivanting snout.
"Swan, don't! I know what you're thinking," Vivid said. "This won't end well. Let the guards take care - SWAN!"
He already made up his mind. Swan leapt at the sandwing with the spear. Then, as he was in the air, he saw the sandwing's tail in the corner of his eye, inching closer. The sharp tail ran over his leg and pain seared over his scales, like how he imagined fire to feel.
The sandwing knocked Swan out of the way and into a wall where he crumpled down from the pain in his leg. He thought he heard someone say his name but he couldn't hear. The two dragons started attacking each other again and Swan watched with blurred eyes.
The skywing leaned back and opened his mouth as wide as he could with fire rising at the back of his throat. The yellow dragon grabbed his snout but couldn't close it in time, pointing it away. Fire erupted from between the skywing's teeth at the ceiling first, then out to the garden as the sandwing struggled and the skywing flailed.
Then the fire pointed directly in Swan's eyes and he closed them as the glow engulfed his vision. No, it didn't hit his eyes, it went over them and then his neck felt numb.
Everything faded in and out, and Swan fell to black.
He woke up a few days later with a scar down his leg and black scales on his head. He didn't like them, not one bit. They were a painful reminder for Swan and what could happen if he rushed into situations.
Dragons stared at him, constantly asking where he got them from or left because of his presence. Then he decided to cover them up. Cover them the pressing eyes of other dragons. It was unknown what happened to that sandwing and skywing. Swan never asked about it or wanted to think about it more often than he already did.
It didn't stop him from learning under Vivid. He studied for another two years before he decided that he wanted to do something else in his life.
"And that's my tragic story," Swan said.
Gelid stared at the scar down his leg. She was glad that she didn't have any physical reminders on herself of something stark.
"You became a performer?" Gelid asked.
"After, yes. I tried my talon at being a chef but...fire. I don't like fire. Then I tried to be a teacher but I wasn't good at it. I was good at making the little dragonets happy though, so I guess that's why I'm a performer," Swan said to her. "I like making dragons happy. It makes me happy..."
Gelid was glad to know that he knew what he wanted to be. As for Gelid, being a bodyguard proved quite tiresome, especially if she couldn't be around Queen Blizzard all the time. Like now, for instance. She adored Queen Blizzard, don't get her wrong, but maybe this job was meant for some other dragon that didn't get distracted so easily. But she wasn't sure what she'd be if she weren't a bodyguard. A guard perhaps? No, she was in the first circle, so maybe she'd train to be a general or a commander.
Anyway, she'd talk to Queen Blizzard when she got the chance. As for now, she was nursing an ever-extending crush on Swan.
"I guess the war was still fierce back then," Swan said, alerting Gelid that he was still talking. "Maybe it's still fresh now. Queen Fuchsia won the war but dragons were still fighting amongst each other." He donned the metal sheaths back onto his scales, covering up the wounds.
"You mean like normal dragons do?" Gelid suggested. Swan barked a laugh but Gelid didn't mean it to be funny. There was still fighting now. The Talons of Power was an example.
"Indeed," He said. "I still don't know how the battle turned towards the skywings. Queen Thorn has the biggest army in Pyrrhia...except, maybe the seawings have a bigger army. No one ever sees the true extent of the tribe..."
There was something that Swan said that clicked in Gelid's mind. There was something she forgot to mention or something important that she had to think about. Battle...Turning... The Battle of the Turning Tides.
Gelid rehearsed the line in the prophecy in her mind. "Beware the dragons of ice and silver. Beware the claws of fire and night, descended upon those who survive the Battle of the Turning Tides."
She first thought the claws of fire and night was Lava...but surely not. What was the Battle of the Turning Tides? Was that about the Great River War? But that didn't make sense.
"Has there ever been a war or a battle near the sea?" Gelid asked Swan.
He tipped his head, thinking. "A recent one?" Gelid shook her head. "Not that I can think of. Why?" He asked.
"Because a nightwing delivered a prophecy." Gelid repeated what she remembered the first line few lines of the prophecy and the last few lines too. That was as much as she could remember.
Swan regarded her words, his face coiled in anxiety. "Maybe something's about to happen. Maybe there will be a fight somewhere in the future."
Gelid had to agree. Mist said the same thing, which Queen Firefly concurred as well. If something was about to happen, a fight near the sea, then Gelid had to stay alert. Every dragon had to stay alert. This 'Battle of the Turning Tides' could escalate to another war and Pyrrhia had enough of those.
The continent was still reeling after the Great River War between Queen Thorn and Queen Fuchsia, and disputes still occur.
"You know, Swan, I think you're a very smart and brave dragon," Gelid finally admitted.
His snout curved into an adorable smile tipped at her. "Says the one that followed a dragon to the darkest part of the rainforest and got herself beat up."
"Well, you're the one that rescued me."
He chuckled. Then his tail twined around hers, folding the long spikes against her scales.
Icewings were the only dragons with cold blood but all the other dragons had warm, even hot blood like the sandwings did. Why couldn't she have warm blood? Why couldn't she constantly feel the warmth that came from Swan's scales?
Gelid didn't think of what she did next. She leaned forward and closed her eyes, feeling Swan's head on top of hers. It felt unnatural at first. Icewings never did anything like that but who said she wanted to be with an icewing? Why not another dragon from a different tribe?
She sat like that for a while, as did Swan, until they pulled apart and started chatting about everything else. They talked throughout the flight of the sun across the sky and even when the ball of light floated below the horizon.
Swan hung a vine tied with light bulbs around the balcony, creating a colourful glow that dissolved into the dark depths of the rainforest and the salty trees of the mangroves. Gelid wanted to help but the moment she opened her mouth, her rib clicked out of place and she had to push it back in again. So she stayed out of his way instead.
When he was done he retreated back to her, folding a wing over hers. He offered a single orange light bulb cut from a vine to her and rolled it into her talons. Gelid stared at it intently, wondering whether it was a plant or some invention. She thought at first that it was a glass bulb filled with a weird fluid that glowed but in her talons, it was slightly squishy and nothing felt as if it sloshed around inside it.
"What are these?" She asked Swan.
"A luminescent fire berry," He said simply, like Gelid knew what 'luminescent' meant. "They grow on a special type of tree. There are three of them. One in the nightwing village, one in Vine Square and one in Queen Firefly's palace."
Gelid didn't remember seeing one in Vine Square. She probably missed it somewhere. "These grow on trees? What kind?"
"I can't recall the name but I know it's a special type of hybrid tree. You should know it. It originally came from your kingdom. What was it? A lightglow...no, a moon bush...hmm, something like that."
"You mean the Moonglobe tree? The Tree of Light?"
"That's the bug!" Swan said. What bug? "The Moonglobe tree. I remember hearing that Queen Glory received a cutting of that tree, grew it here, took another cutting and spliced it with a tree with long branches found in the rainforest. I think it took a decade for them to perfect this little beauty." He pointed at the fire berry in Gelid's palm.
"Rainwings made this?"
"Rainwings and nightwings. Us rainwings knew how all this worked - creating hybrid trees for better use. The nightwings perfected it and with all their scientific nonsense too. Who knew two tribes cooperating so well could make such unique things," Swan said.
Now Gelid was a teensy bit jealous. Why couldn't the icewings make something like this? Sure they had the original Tree of Light but still...it might've been delicately made by the claws of an icewing animus before being enchanted but it would never be as cool as this.
And warm too. Warmth danced around her claws as Gelid playfully passed the berry between her talons.
Air whooshed past them and a beating set of wings circled around them from above. Gelid placed the berry on the wooden floor, feeling all her scales stand up. She looked around, catching that Swan was doing the same.
"Evening shiny moonbeams!" It was Pale.
Pale circled around the balcony, peaking at Gelid and Swan as his wings engulfed the sky in front of them. He circled around once more and then landed with a glowing smile.
"Pale!" Gelid shouted to him.
"Whoa, whoa. You've only been gone for a day. Why is your face like that?" Pale asked.
"Like what?" Gelid asked, confused.
Pale thought for a moment, then looked at Swan. "Nevermind," he shrugged.
Swan brushed her wing. "I think your face is beautiful."
"Thanks, Swan," She brushed back then ran her talon over his.
"Ah, so cute," Pale muttered.
Gelid didn't quite hear what he said. "What?"
"Nothing," He smiled.
Gelid expected more dragons to land beside Pale but she waited for a brief minute and no other dragons came. "Did you fly here by yourself?"
Pale nodded behind her and she twisted to look, only to jump in surprise. Above, on the roof of the hut were two rainwings. The mossy green rainwing laughed and the more teal coloured one snickered with a wide grin, presumably at Gelid's reaction.
"I hope you're ready to go. Everyone has been worried about you. Then Swan said that he found you and before I knew it, I was flying with these two monkey bags over here," Pale said.
The mossy green dragon laughed again. "Says the one that actually flew into a herd of macaque monkeys."
"You two saw them and didn't warn me!" Pale countered.
"Only to see your reaction," remarked the teal rainwing.
"I'm going to stuff a dead penguin under your beds when you aren't looking," Pale said.
"I sleep in a hammock," said both the rainwings in unison, then looked at each other and chortled until Pale started yelling at them, which only made them laugh more.
Swan leaned towards Gelid and whispered. "Might be a good idea to leave before some dragons start losing scales."
"Leave you so early?" Gelid whispered back. "But..."
Swan grabbed her talon and squeezed gently. "I'm sure I'll see you again. Soon, perhaps. Send me letters, OK?"
"OK."
They nuzzled one more time and Gelid said her goodbyes, soon lifting off into the air with Pale and the rainwings.
The silent and dark embrace of the night was quick to remove what Gelid felt, feeling anxious instead. There was still a chance of being attacked again, Gelid felt it in her scales. There wasn't a path through the trees that were distinguishable so the rainwings led the way through the haze.
The trees were thin and the branches were spiky but not enough to stop flying through them. That was when Gelid figured that Lava lied. He needed more time to spring the trap for her so that was why they walked for more than half the journey.
Pale's voice broke the silence. "That's cute. You two," He said, flying next to her.
"What is?' Gelid asked, still thinking about Lava.
"You and Swan."
"Oh. I mean - maybe. It's...it's just a crush," Gelid responded.
Pale barked a laugh and then recovered. "Oh please, everyone has a crush on Swan."
Could it be? Could me and Swan be together? He'd never survive in the ice kingdom if we wanted to be...I'd have to come to the forest.
That's not bad though. The rainforest is a wonderful place to live in. Even to...no. I can't think of that now.
The world is still in danger and it needs saving first.
Maybe we can be together after.
