AN: This is the last chapter I have pre-written up to this point, and with school starting again for me next week, I'm not sure how much time I'll have to work on the story. It will continue to remain my priority, but I want to let you know that I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep up with the weekly updates. More likely than not, I'll end up posting chapters as I finish them, which will be at seemingly random intervals. I'll try my best to give you updates as often as possible.
Thank you all for your continued support!
"Tell me about the rest of Pyrrhia," Cornice said, searching Ozone's orange eyes as if he could absorb all the things they'd seen. He knew Ozone didn't think of his life as anything special, but the SkyWing knew so much more than Cornice about the rest of the world. Cornice had never seen anything but the Ice Kingdom.
But if he was going to be a traveler, looking for his place in the world, he couldn't face the rest of the continent blindly. He had to learn as much as he could.
However, getting Ozone to talk wasn't easy. In fact, it a lot like prying open a shellfish, the kind his older sister brought back from whatever unusual place she hunted in.
Don't, he warned himself, but when it came to his life back in the Ice Kingdom, one tiny memory could set off the chain of loneliness and bitterness.
Cornice remembered his sister showing him how to open shells, how he fumbled them with clumsy dragonet talons, how she taught him how use the ridged part of his claws to open the shells, and how very rarely, they would find pearls. He remembered putting all the pearls together in a bowl until they finally had enough to string together to make a necklace. He remembered how they'd taken turns wearing it from that day on, how big it had been on him but how much he had loved it anyway.
He'd been three years old when he stopped wearing the necklace. He hadn't seen his sister wear it in years either, wasn't even sure that she still had it. After their father's secret had come out, they'd stopped being close. Days had gone by when he wouldn't even speak to her, blaming her and Sigma both for the way his structured life had fallen apart.
But he still remembered how close they'd been back then.
She's not really my sister, he thought fiercely, with an irritable flick of his ears. No real IceWing could ever think of a red-bleeder as his sibling.
He hated how every little thing brought him back to the dragons and the life he'd left behind. He'd run away from the Ice Kingdom, crashed into a mountain, and spent the last two weeks stuck in a cave so that he could be free of them. And yet every day, something made him think of them.
You're still getting used to being alone, he told himself. You'll forget about them soon enough, and you'll be much happier once you do. But a small part of him doubted that the sharp fragments of memory would ever smooth over. The hardness in his heart thawed at times, but it always seemed to freeze over again, as jagged as ever.
"What do you want to know about?" Ozone asked, his thoughtful voice bringing Cornice back to the present. It had been only a day since he'd taken Cornice out flying, but he'd returned to make sure the IceWing hadn't had any extra soreness in his wing from using the muscles again. Cornice felt perfectly fine, but Ozone had warned him to wait a day before flying again, and he'd reluctantly obliged.
"Everything," the IceWing answered honestly.
Ozone smiled, the golden scales on his snout crinkling in amusement. "Well, I haven't been as far as the Sea or Rainforest Kingdoms—or the Ice Kingdom, of course— but I have been on short trips to the Mud and Sand Kingdoms. And I've read stories about the others and learned some of their history."
"That's more than I know," Cornice said wistfully.
"The Sea Kingdom is located off to the east," Ozone began, "on a chain of islands and the shores of the mainland. According to my friend Jackal, some SeaWings have also moved to the west coast in recent years. Those dragons prefer the cold water near the Ice Kingdom instead."
"I know," Cornice said. "Unfortunately, I've met some."
Ozone looked surprised. "Why unfortunately?"
Cornice growled softly. "They cause too much trouble."
Ozone still looked curious, but he didn't ask any more questions. That was one of the things Cornice had come to like about the SkyWing; he could either speak his mind completely or hold back any information he didn't feel like sharing, and Ozone wouldn't judge him either way. Cornice wasn't sure he wanted to admit it, but he knew would miss Ozone (at least a little) when he left the Sky Kingdom.
"The Rainforest Kingdom is home to two tribes under the rule of one queen who has both RainWing and NightWing ancestry," Ozone continued. "The RainWings and NightWings each have their own distinct villages, but there's also a mixed town where dragons from both tribes live together. RainWing-NightWing hybrids make up about twenty percent of the rainforest population. The NightWings were much smaller than any other tribe when they moved to the Rainforest Kingdom about a hundred and fifty years ago, but they've grown a lot since then. They're now much closer in size to the RainWing tribe, making up about thirty-two percent of the rainforest population. The remaining thirty-eight percent, of course, are RainWings."
"How do you know all this off the top of your head?" Cornice asked, astounded.
Ozone shrugged. "I learned it from Spark in our history lessons. I thought it was interesting, so I just kind of remembered it. It's one of the many essentially useless facts that's been floating around in my brain."
"Well, it's finally coming in handy now," Cornice pointed out, amused. He had to admit he was impressed. IceWings had to memorize the names of all their fellow nobles in order of rank, but it took lots of time and effort. He couldn't imagine just happening to remember something mentioned in passing in a class.
"Obviously, you've been to the Ice Kingdom, so I don't need to tell you about that one," Ozone said, counting on his talons. "I've heard it's really pretty there, though."
"I suppose," Cornice said, trying not to think about it. He'd never been one to see much use in beautiful things, though he did have to admit he missed seeing the contrast of dazzling white ice and deep blue water.
"The Mud Kingdom," Ozone went on, "is made of swampland. I've been there a few times. MudWings are brown dragons, so you might expect everything to look dull and muddy, but there's actually a lot of verdant plants and pools of water. I remember the trees having a pleasant fragrance, too. The Sky Kingdom has some trees, too, but the farther you go up the mountains, the fewer you'll see. I'd never been in a place with so much foliage before, so that made a big impression on me."
Cornice noticed that while Ozone had been discussing more factual things about the Sea and Rainforest Kingdoms, he'd switched over to a more anecdotal description for the kingdom he'd actually traveled to. I guess the landscape and the atmosphere are the things that he cares about the most when seeing the rest of the world, not really the society or history of the other tribes.
What other soldier would be sent on a mission and stop to notice these things? Ozone was certainly more unique than anyone else he'd ever met. He was surprised to find that he felt a spark of affection at the thought rather than his usual disdain.
"Go on," he told Ozone, who'd paused to study his thoughtful expression.
"I haven't seen much of the Sand Kingdom," the SkyWing admitted, "but I have seen that the rock formations aren't as large as our mountains, because there are lots of sandstorms which erode the stone. There also very little plant life. It's extremely hot during the day, but the lack of water makes the land lose heat rapidly during the night, when it gets very cold, sometimes even below freezing. That's why SandWings' scales give off heat—so that they can keep warm at night."
"Huh," Cornice commented. "I never knew that."
"Interesting, isn't it?" Ozone said, looking pleased. This was the most confident Cornice had ever seen him look, rattling off information the IceWing would never even dream of retaining in a surprisingly conversational tone.
Cornice nodded in agreement. "What else is there to know?"
"SandWings live in oases," Ozone explained, "so it's hard to describe their shared culture. According to Ridge—he's another dragon I train with—one of the few things they all have in common is their respect for strength."
Cornice perked up at that. Maybe there was another tribe he could reason with, who thought at least somewhat similarly to an IceWing.
"The Scorpion Den and the palace are the biggest oases," Ozone continued. "The desert is a harsh environment, so there are a lot of bandits and assassins, but there are also a lot of glassblowers due to the abundance of sand. They sell their crafts all over Pyrrhia. Traveling merchants came to my hometown once, and my mother bought me one of their pieces. It was a paperweight with a piece of cactus inside." He fell silent, his expression becoming one of fond remembrance.
"What happened to it?" Cornice felt obligated to ask. Normally he wouldn't think twice about such useless baubles, but Ozone's interest in them was oddly contagious. There was something about the SkyWing's sincere pleasure in talking about it, Cornice decided, that made him want to hear more.
"I left it at home," Ozone responded wistfully. "I didn't want to risk accidentally damaging it by bringing it to the base with me. It's the most valuable thing I own... at least in my opinion."
"What did you like about it?" Cornice asked, trying to find a way to understand the other dragon's feelings. He didn't care about nonsensical trinkets.
"It caught the light nicely," the SkyWing explained, his gaze distant, as if he were looking at an image of the ball in his mind's eye. "And it was so cool and smooth to the touch... I would run my claws over it just to feel it. The piece of cactus inside was really cool too. I liked how spiky it looked. The whole thing was just really pretty."
Cornice turned over the information in his mind. "So you like... beautiful things."
Slowly, as if he weren't sure how the IceWing would react, Ozone nodded.
Cornice was starting to get an idea. "How do you feel about colorful things?"
"I like them," Ozone answered, looking perplexed. "Especially colors in nature, like different shades of green and sunset hues and things like that."
"Oh, okay," Cornice responded. "Excellent."
"Why do you ask?" Ozone asked, tilting his head to one side.
"No reason," the white dragon responded nonchalantly.
Ozone wrinkled his snout skeptically, but didn't pry any further.
"How do the SandWings feel about outsiders?" Cornice asked him, deliberately changing the subject. "Do you know?"
"Well, Jackal and the others were nice to me," Ozone responded uncertainly, "but I imagine that's one of the things that would be different depending on who you asked. It's hard to say, because what Ridge told me contrasted so much with the dragons I met, but he usually knows what he's talking about. I'd trust what he said about their respect for dragons who are strong."
"So, if I wanted to join them," Cornice ventured, "do you think they'd accept me?"
Ozone looked hesitant. "Maybe. But... it would probably be too hot for you in the desert."
"Oh," the IceWing said, disappointed. "I forgot about that."
Ozone touched his shoulder with one wing, lightly, as if he wanted to comfort the other dragon but wasn't sure the gesture would be appreciated. "Don't worry, Cornice. It might take a while, but you'll find someplace you belong one day."
Some part of him—the fierce IceWing warrior he'd always been at home—wanted to shove the SkyWing away, but another part of him—the lonely, tribeless dragon he'd become—appreciated Ozone's concern. His tail twitched slightly, almost instinctively, but he kept himself deliberately still instead of shrugging off the other dragon's wing. "I hope you're right," he sighed.
"Actually," Ozone said, "I know how you feel. Even though I have a place with my fellow soldiers-in-training, sometimes it feels like I don't belong there. I think you've gotten to know me by now, and you know I'm not a fighter."
Wordlessly, Cornice nodded.
"I don't want to be a soldier," the other dragon admitted. "I want to go out and see the world. But by definition, there's no real place for wanderers."
Perhaps it was because Ozone was being so real and vulnerably open, or perhaps it was because he felt desperately lost in a world he'd never imagined he'd need to know. Whatever the reason, Cornice felt the words spill out of his mouth. "I don't even know what I want anymore."
For a long moment, both of them were silent.
Then Ozone said, very quietly, "I think that's okay sometimes."
For the first time, Cornice got the feeling that there was someone who not only understood his feelings, but completely accepted them. And it was a good feeling.
He was grateful for it, but as much as he wanted to tell that to Ozone, he found that when he opened his mouth, the words thank you wouldn't rise to his tongue. It had been a long time since he'd genuinely wanted to thank anyone.
"You should head back to your base now," he said instead, pulling away from Ozone's touch. "You've never come two days in a row before, and you don't want to stay too long and make your commander suspicious."
The SkyWing nodded hastily. "You're right."
He backed away towards the edge of the cave, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something else, but then closed it without saying anything as he turned around to fly away. And while he didn't so much as glance back over his shoulder, Cornice knew that Ozone must be able to feel the pair of blue eyes watching him until he disappeared completely from sight.