The weather in the Ice Kingdom was cruelly freezing. The cliff base the dragonets of destiny were at kept them safe, but they didn't dare venture out; none of them were used to the cold, and they'd freeze. And none of them would have a good chance to talk to Blaze or look for Mangrove anytime soon.

This made Glory anxious. Who knew what Mangrove was doing, and much worse, what was happening to the kidnapped Rainwings? Several times, she'd tried to convince her friends that she'd be fine if she went out for a quick flight and at least get an update on how the Sandwing stronghold. She had also wanted to meet up with Deathbringer again at some point and try to pry some more information out of him. He was a very shifty dragon.

But things were only getting worse, and the Rainwing felt she was running out of time. Then, things hit rock bottom. A blizzard struck, and unless someone was willing to fly out into the ridiculous storm, they were snowed in. Jambu was practically on top of Sunny trying to stay warm, much to both Sunny's and Starflight's annoyance. The inability to move anywhere was making Tsunami edgy and restless. Even Clay was complaining because he thought he wouldn't get any food whatsoever in this storm, which was true, but no one said anything as it would upset him further.

But Glory had had it. She'd been kept in by her worrying friends, left to stress out about the fact that every passing hour could be Mangrove freezing to death. And unless he was in the Sandwing stronghold, it was probably too late for him.

That night, the snow finally stopped, but everyone was too cold to do anything about it. Tsunami had stated that they should seize this opportunity to go outside and try to figure out what was happening at the stronghold, but she had said it through chattering teeth. Sunny was virtually the only thing keeping Jambu alive, with her ability to breathe fire and her Sandwing warmth. She was eager to help and was pleased that everyone was depending on her for once; although if you asked Glory, Starflight was trying to warm up a bit too often for a dragon with his own fire.

So everyone but Glory was asleep, curling around Sunny. Glory couldn't bring herself to sleep; she was too upset about not being able to do anything for hours. She looked out at the space where she could sneak out and explore the Ice Kingdom's countryside. If everyone was asleep, she could slip away and come back before dawn with some essential news. Maybe something so essential that Tsunami wouldn't even get mad for not inviting her along.

She dug her claws into the snow shelf that had built up and began to pull herself out. She tried to be as inconspicuous as possible; flaring open her wings would send a wind current onto her friend and wake them, and she didn't want that. Glory popped her head out of the hold and took a long, deep breath. Cold air was better than stuffy air in her opinion.

"Glory?" The Rainwing stifled a growl of irritation at Clay's voice. She had thought everyone was asleep. She turned to see the Mudwing raise his head, his brown eyes looked at her worriedly. "Where are you going?"

She smiled faintly. "Hunting." Moons, now I have to find prey in this wasteland as an excuse. But if Clay was promised food, he'd keep quiet, wouldn't he?
Clay grinned hugely. "Do you think you could catch a walrus?" Glory simply shrugged in reply, unable to stop yellow amusement from flickering along her ruff. "I'd love to try walrus. And try to catch a lot of prey. And be back before dawn. You know how Tsunami would react." He motioned with his tail to the Seawing asleep under his wing.

Glory gave a small nod and eagerly wriggled into the great expanse of snow. She automatically shifted into her Icewing scales for fear of being suspicious. The frigid breeze sent a chill through her scales, but she barely felt it. She was free. To go wherever she liked. But where to start first? It didn't take long for her to decide.

As a pitch-black shape was circling not far off, a rather familiar black shape. Deathbringer.