DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN WINGS OF FIRE OR THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION FROM THE WINGS OF FIRE SERIES; THEY BELONG TO THE WONDERFUL TUI T. SUTHERLAND. SNOWDROP IS AN OC, BUT YOU MAY USE HER. (just give credit and all dat good stuff :) PRINCESS NORTH IS ALSO AN OC, BUT I RETAIN RIGHTS TO HER.

Ch. 8

Snowfall looked momentarily startled, then laughed. "That's funny, North. Anyways, it's time for Snowdrop to –"

"Snowdrop will not die," said North, voice steely. "Not when justice has not yet been given to her."

"I have given her justice!" shrieked Snowfall. "She did all of this! She bombed the cities, she tried to kill me, she's a terrorist, I say, a terrorist!" It was only now that Winter saw the crazed look in Snowfall's eyes. Maybe she wasn't an animus, but she was going insane, this time because of her fear for any animus, even one from her own tribe.

"You." North pointed to Snowdrop. "You are Snowdrop, correct? What did you do? What is your side of the story? My dear mother did not let you speak."

Snowdrop quivered on her feet. Her arm reached for Winter's talons, and he took hers in his. "Tell her what you told me, Snowdrop," he told her gently.

"I spent six years on the most beautiful tapestry," said Snowdrop, still shaking. "Her Majesty was impressed with my skill when she had come to pick up a commission from my mother. I just wanted to impress her. I chose Arctic, our last animus prince, not because he fathered Darkstalker, but because of the lineage he came from. I didn't want to kill her, and I wouldn't have run if she hadn't sent twenty guards after me."

"Nonsense!" screamed Snowfall. "You bombed the city – You stole my treasures – You –"

"You mentioned nothing of treasures before, mother." The last word was spoken a little louder, and Winter realized then that North had not called Snowfall her mother once. What else did the queen not let her daughter do, speak out when she wanted to express something? Contradict Snowfall? Tell her mother about problems in the kingdom? All of them?

"You," she continued, pointing at Winter. "You are ex-prince Winter, right? My mother's cousin. What condition was Snowdrop in when she came to you?"

"She had been flying for five days. She was hysterical when she came to me." Winter held Snowdrop closer to him. She shivered and pressed against him.

North nodded. "And my fellow Icewings. You say that this is a kind, caring dragonet, correct?"

The crowd murmured in approval.

North turned back to her mother, who was almost spitting with rage. "That's where you're wrong, Mother. You can't keep doing this. You can't accuse the innocent. Those two dragons that you dragged in yesterday – I'll bet that those were Snowdrop's parents."

Snowfall grinned, and Snowdrop whimpered and buried herself in Winter's wing. "When did you get so smart, my darling?"

"I was always this way, Mother." It was snowing now, and the flakes caught on the princess's scales. Her head was held high, and her fury simmered in her eyes. "You just weren't smart enough to notice."

And with that, North launched herself at Queen Snowfall.

North be angy :3

In this fanfic I tried to play on a super crazed Snowfall. I made her extra paranoid towards animuses (animi? what is it?) and it causes her to go insane, much like an an animus. (oh, the irony...)