AN: I'm sorry about the delay! Real life obligations have become a black hole that sucks in all the time I used to spend working on my weekly updates. Thank you all for your patience! I can't promise I'll be able to wrestle my usual update day back into my schedule, but I've already started the next chapter and am hoping to get it up as soon as possible. There might also be a few delays from here on out as I dig a little deeper into my mental outline for the story, since Part Two has been kind of a nebulous cloud of vague ideas unlike the concrete timeline I had for Part One. Now that I'm here, I have to make sure that cloud actually turns into something.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling now. As always, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Cornice and Ozone flew in silence for a while.
Cornice glanced sideways at his companion, but the SkyWing's gaze was focused on something very far away.
They didn't seem to be flying in any particular direction, so Cornice quietly took the lead, angling his wings to fly in front of the red-and-gold dragon. It took more effort than usual since his friend was a SkyWing, meaning he naturally flew a little faster, but Ozone didn't seem to notice.
Cornice figured that Ozone was still upset over being expelled from the army, and that it would be best to give him time to internalize the change and really accept it. The IceWing been trying his best to be sympathetic instead of following the typical tribe guidelines and giving Ozone a speech about why he should just get over it. He was fairly confident that he was more successful than he had been last time. Then again, it would be more difficult to not empathize with Ozone when Cornice had just lost his own home only a few weeks ago. At least with Cornice it had been his own choice.
Ozone had accepted his punishment with a quiet dignity that impressed Cornice. He hadn't protested or pleaded or tried to make excuses. He'd only bowed his head and said, "I understand." That reaction was one any IceWing would respect.
So Cornice let Ozone retreat into his own mind for a while, leading the way back to the lake he'd found only a few days ago. It wasn't quite as good as snow, but it would still be an acceptable place for them to clean their wounds from the battle against the Tribeless. Thankfully, Cornice had gotten through with only a few deep scratches, but Ozone had ended up more battered and bruised. Both dragons were covered with dried blood and ash from all the smoke that had filled the tunnel.
"Where are we going?" Ozone asked, after some time had passed. His voice was heavy and slow, as if the words took more effort than they should.
Cornice twisted around to look back at his friend. "Is that even a question?"
The SkyWing blinked, coming back into clearer focus. "What do you mean?"
"I thought it was obvious," said Cornice. "We're going to the lake to wash off, and then to my cave to get something I left there, and then we're going to Possibility."
"Possibility?" Ozone echoed slowly. "That seems like a bad idea."
"Why?" asked the white dragon.
"Because we know that's where the Tribeless usually meet up."
Cornice paused for a moment, letting that sink in. "Exactly."
Ozone simply stared at him for a long moment.
"Don't you want to find out exactly what they're up to?" Cornice asked. "Aren't you hurt or upset or angry that they got you kicked out of the army? Don't you want to take the investigation into your own claws? And by the three moons, Ozone, we don't have anything else to do. We might as well be useful somehow."
The SkyWing considered this, his orange eyes thoughtful.
"Yes," he said at last. "Let's do it."
Cornice flew in an excited circle around his friend. "That's the spirit!"
Ozone gave him a tired-looking smile in response.
Cornice should have been equally exhausted, considering that they'd just been in battle, but his entire body hummed with renewed energy. He'd been itching to have a sense of purpose again. After living in the Ice Kingdom for nearly seven years, where he'd focused solely on reaching the top of the dragonet rankings, he'd felt like he was wasting invaluable time sitting around in a cave just waiting to heal.
On one talon, he no longer had to worry about any kind of responsibility, so time didn't have much meaning anymore. He could do whatever he felt like doing, whenever he felt like doing it. The constant deadline of his seventh hatching day had vanished.
On the other talon, he'd had nothing to drive him forward. What was the point of being free to do what you wanted if there wasn't anything you really wanted to do?
But now he had a purpose again: investigating the Tribeless.
The group of rebels was dangerous, and by all logic he shouldn't have wanted to get involved. But Cornice was no longer living in the Ice Kingdom, where logic trumped everything else. He still wasn't sure if he could even be considered an IceWing anymore. For the very first time, he wasn't Cornice the IceWing, Cornice of the Third Circle, Cornice the Son of Sigma and Glissade. He was just Cornice.
And Cornice wanted to investigate the Tribeless, whether that was logical or not.
We'll figure out what they're up to and stop them ourselves, he thought. Taking down the rebels wasn't a two-dragon job, but someone had to start somewhere. He and Ozone would find support where they could. The important thing was that they weren't letting anyone else decide their path and their lives for them anymore.
It wasn't much longer before they reached the lake. Cornice parachuted his wings and plunged directly into the water, while Ozone landed at the edge of the lake instead, setting down his belongings carefully on the dry land.
When Cornice surfaced, he saw the SkyWing wade in, wincing a little as the chill of the water seeped into his sore muscles. Slowly, methodically, Ozone began scooping the water in his talons and rubbing it over his grimy scales.
Cornice scrubbed the ash and blood off his own scales more vigorously. Soon he was sparkling clean again, with only a few dark blue scratches breaking up the white of his scales. He dunked his head a few times to wash the hard-to-reach places between the spikes in his mane and along the back of his neck.
"Much better," he said aloud, when he'd finished.
Ozone was gingerly rubbing the ridge above his eye, where he'd sustained a nasty scratch. He had stopped when the water was barely up to his belly, and there was still dried blood clumped between the scales along his back.
"Getting wet is a necessary part of cleaning off blood," Cornice said, dragging his friend deeper into the water so that the SkyWing was submerged up to his neck.
"But it's cold," protested Ozone, shoving ineffectively at Cornice with his talons.
"So am I," said the white dragon, flicking his tail. "If you don't hurry up and get clean in the lake, I'm going to wash you off with my frost-breath instead."
"That's not very nice," said Ozone, but he obligingly twisted around to scrub the scales along his back. Cornice was pleased to see that the SkyWing seemed to be coming out of his shell-shocked daze, the brightness returning to his orange eyes.
While Ozone finished washing up, Cornice caught a couple of fish for them to eat. The two dragonets climbed out of the water just as the sun finished its descent beyond the horizon. Ozone was shivering, so Cornice gave him some space, not wanting the icy aura emanating from his scales to make the SkyWing feel even colder.
Cornice slit the fish open and began to eat it raw, while Ozone cooked his with a burst of flame before consuming it in a few hungry bites.
"What did you leave at the cave?" asked the SkyWing.
"Something," Cornice responded vaguely.
Ozone gave him a curious look.
"You'll see," he added enigmatically.
"All right," said the red-and-gold dragon. He clearly still wanted to know, but he wasn't going to ask repeatedly and risk nagging.
Cornice felt a rush of affection for his friend. Ozone's considerate nature was one of the things he liked most about the SkyWing.
Their bellies full and some of their energy restored, the dragonets took to the sky again, heading back to the valley. Cornice hoped Claret wouldn't enforce her attack-on-sight rule just yet; while Ozone's scales were largely obscured by the infringing darkness, his own glimmered brightly in the moonlight.
"We shouldn't risk staying at the cave overnight," he said to Ozone. "Not only is it the Tibeless's hideout, but we shouldn't linger this close to the SkyWing base."
"I agree," his friend replied, shivering slightly.
Cornice couldn't help feeling nervous as he landed in the entrance to the cave he had lived in for the past few weeks. Though he'd only seen the Tribeless here once, and knew that it was unlikely they'd return so soon, the place that had once sheltered him now made him feel vulnerable. He went in quickly, grabbed the pouch full of stones that he'd dropped in his rush to warn Ozone, and reemerged just as fast.
The SkyWing looked down at the pouch. "Is that everything?"
"Yes," said Cornice, nodding. He held it out to Ozone. "For you."
The other dragonet took it, opened it, and peered inside. It was too dark to see all the different colors, but the bits of crystal glittered in the moonlight.
"They're beautiful," said Ozone. "But… why did you…?"
"They're my thank you," he explained. "For helping me recover."
"You didn't have to," the SkyWing said. In the darkness, it was hard to tell, but it looked like he was blushing a little. He wouldn't meet Cornice's gaze.
"I know," responded Cornice. "But I wanted to."
"Thank you," Ozone said. "They really are beautiful."
"I didn't get to fill the pouch as much as I wanted to," said Cornice, "but it looks like that's a good thing. Now you can put the rest of your belongings in there too, so you don't need to worry about losing anything."
"Good idea," agreed Ozone, shifting the rest of the things he'd been holding into the pouch and then tying the straps around his neck. The pouch hung against his chest like an oddly-shaped necklace, bulging slightly with its contents. The nervous tension in his wings seemed to relax now that his belongings were safely contained.
"Are you okay with leading from here on out?" asked Cornice, trying to make out the shape of the mountains along the nearly-black skyline. IceWing eyes were meant to resist harsh light reflecting off ice and snow, not unravel deep darkness. Cornice could barely see Ozone like this, much less where they were going. "I, uh, can't really see well in this kind of darkness. I'm afraid I'd crash into something."
The words were almost painful to force out, but Cornice was glad he'd said them. He couldn't let his pride get in the way of safe traveling. He'd be much more of a burden if his wing gave out again than if he had to fly behind Ozone for a little while.
"I'll do my best to lead," Ozone said, seeming unfazed by Cornice's admission of weakness. "Will you be all right following me?"
"I think I'll be fine," the IceWing said cautiously. "I should be able to feel the air from your wings. Just maybe… fly sort of slowly. If you don't mind."
"I don't mind at all," Ozone reassured him.
Cornice let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Thanks."
"I'd light a torch for you, too, but I'm afraid of attracting unwanted attention that way," his friend added. "The Tribeless might still be lurking around, and Claret warned us that she wouldn't be any more welcoming towards us."
Cornice glanced at him in surprise. It seemed Ozone had learned the hard way to be more aware of potential enemies. "Yeah, you're right. It's safer to be stealthy."
Having reached that agreement, the pair set off for Possibility.
Cornice flew close behind Ozone, trying not to feel apprehensive. He trusted the SkyWing, but it still felt wrong not to be able to see where he was going. The darkness seemed to press almost painfully on his eyes.
"Can I ask you a question?" Ozone said hesitantly, after they'd flown in silence for a while. The sudden sound made Cornice tense.
"You already did," the IceWing pointed out. "But you can ask another one."
"You don't have to answer this if you don't want to… but why did you leave the Ice Kingdom?" He paused apprehensively, and when Cornice didn't immediately answer, hurriedly added, "I know you didn't want to tell me when we first met. But we're friends now, aren't we? And I want to know more about you, Cornice."
That was true. But he was still too ashamed of his family's history to tell anyone. He was afraid he'd choke on the words. "Can I tell you a short version?"
"Of course," said Ozone, clearly relieved that the moment of awkwardness had passed.
"I didn't belong there anymore," Cornice told him, finding it easier to open up when he couldn't see his friend's face. It felt more like thinking out loud that way than like expressing weakness to another dragon. "I realized that my tribe's expectations of me were deliberately setting me up to fail. Our society's laws require an unblemished pedigree, which I don't have. And I'll never have that. It's out of my control."
Ozone was quiet for a long moment, processing this.
And then, "Is one of your parents a criminal or something?"
Cornice barked a surprised laugh. "Not exactly."
"And you're not a criminal either, right?"
Despite himself, Cornice was amused. "No, I'm not."
That was all he said on the matter, but Ozone didn't push him for anything more. The instinctive pressure of shame loosened its claws on Cornice's throat. And somehow, in some strange way, he felt a little better having laughed about it.
They traveled through most of the night in silence. By the time they caught sight of buildings on the horizon, the sky had lightened a few shades, and Cornice's eyes were released from the blinding pressure of darkness. He angled his wings to glide alongside Ozone, whose pace had slowed and whose eyes were dull with tiredness.
"I can take over from here," said Cornice.
Ozone nodded gratefully. "Thanks."
Cornice cast his gaze back down to the city they were approaching, looking for a good place to land. The crowd reminded him of Queen Nunatak's palace, actually, but the buildings and dragons were much more brightly-colored.
He felt a mixture of anger and grief at the realization that he missed it. He missed home.
As he and Ozone swooped down towards the arch of the entranceway, another dragon flying in accidentally collided with one taking off. Yellow and brown wings and tails tangled together for a moment before the dragons unraveled themselves.
"Watch where you're going, you moon-smashing idiot!" one of them roared.
"Keep your big ugly wings to yourself!" the other yelled back.
All right, maybe not so much like Queen Nunatak's palace. Cornice was shocked by their rudeness for a moment, and then suddenly, strangely delighted.
"This place is amazing," he said to Ozone, looking around in awe at the chaos.
There were dragons shoving single-mindedly through the streets, dragons flying overhead and narrowly missing signposts, a group of dragonets weaving around older dragons' legs and generally making a nuisance of themselves. There were shopkeepers ringing bells to catch passersby's attention, others calling out about excellent, one-of-a-kind deals.
Ozone mumbled something inaudible that might've been agreement. Glancing at his friend, Cornice saw that he looked faintly overwhelmed.
"You've been here before," he said, lifting his wings around Ozone to block out some of the noise and unnecessary peripheral vision. "Do you know if there's anyplace quiet where we can rest for a little while?"
Ozone thought for a while and then nodded. "We could try the library."
Cornice nodded back. "Lead the way."
Ozone visibly balked a little at the thought of pushing his way through the crowd, but then steeled his expression and began his advance.
"I think there might be more shops in this one city than there are in the whole Ice Kingdom," commented Cornice, looking around in curiosity. "You must have barely scratched the surface when you came here the first time."
"Hmm," agreed Ozone, glancing back at him.
"Where did you go again?"
"We browsed a bunch of stores," the red-and-gold dragon responded. "Uh, there was one store that sold a bunch of fancy crystals, a potter's shop… fabrics, food vendors. Kulta went to the library, but the rest of us skipped it. There was also a fortune teller."
Cornice raised one eyebrow. "A real one?"
"I think so," said Ozone. "She was a NightWing, so it's definitely possible."
Cornice wrinkled his snout, not sure if he felt more skeptical or curious.
Ozone suddenly stopped short, and Cornice accidentally crashed into him.
"Why'd you stop?" he asked, irritated.
"Oh, sorry," said his friend, sounding more distracted than apologetic. "I was just thinking… about what the fortune teller told me."
"Well, can't you think and walk at the same time?"
Ozone ignored him. "She told me something like… 'There may come a time when you no longer trust your own mind or your own heart. But know that you can always trust your acts of kindness and the friendships they have brought you.'"
Cornice studied his expression, intrigued.
"I think… I think that's now," said Ozone, turning to look at him.
Just then, a dragon accidentally knocked into him with one massive wing, making Ozone stagger back a step. The passerby turned hurriedly to face them, apology in his dark eyes. As his gaze landed on Ozone, his expression turned to one of recognition.
"Oh, I remember you!" he said, pleasantly surprised. "Ozone, was it?"
"That's right," said the SkyWing, with a tentative smile. "And you're Loess."
"Also correct," said the dragon, whose tribe Cornice couldn't identify. His build was stocky and his snout flat, which seemed to fit the description of a MudWing. But his eyes were nearly black, not brown or yellow, and Cornice could feel dry heat, much more intense than Ozone's body temperature, emanating from his scales.
"Oh, and this is my friend, Cornice," Ozone said, gesturing to the IceWing.
"Nice to meet you." Loess turned to look at him with kind, curious eyes. "I didn't expect to see a pair of dragonets out at this hour; normally it's just shopkeepers getting ready to open their stores, workers changing shifts, and the like. The city may never sleep, but the dragons living in it still need to." He chuckled heartily.
There was something oddly attractive about this dragon's warmth. Even Cornice, who had a natural tendency towards surliness, was already beginning to like him.
"So what brings you here so early?" Loess asked, nudging Ozone's wing with his own. "The two of you look like you've been flying all night!"
"Uh, we have, actually," said Ozone.
Loess looked startled, then concerned. "Is something wrong?"
Ozone hesitated. "To make a long story short, I was kicked out of the SkyWing army. Cornice and I had nowhere to go, so we came here."
Loess looked from him to Cornice and back again, seeming to draw some kind of conclusion. "I'm sorry to hear that. Say, if you need some place to stay until you find your own, I have an extra room at my house. You'd be welcome to it."
Ozone perked up. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course," huffed the larger dragon. "If I didn't, I wouldn't've offered."
Ozone glanced at Cornice, who nodded in agreement. Loess seemed easygoing, and staying with him was a better option than bunking down in the library.
"Thank you," said Ozone. "We'd be very grateful to accept your hospitality."
"Come with me, then. I'll show you where it is before I go to the shop," said the tan dragon, beckoning with one wing. He turned and headed in the opposite direction from the way they'd been headed, wading purposefully through the crowd.
Ozone and Cornice hurried after him, jogging to keep up with his longer strides.
"How do you know him?" Cornice asked curiously, under his breath.
"He's a potter," responded Ozone, also speaking quietly. "We met when I came to Possibility with the SandWings. I'd never met a hybrid before, so I asked him about his life. We had an interesting conversation."
"Oh," said Cornice, glancing at the broad-shouldered dragon in front of them. No wonder he hadn't been able to tell what tribe Loess was from.
I'm stupid, he thought. It's not like I've never seen a hybrid before.
He supposed it was easier to recognize a half-IceWing hybrid, though, than one made up of two completely separate tribes. Yesterday had been the first time he'd seen a SandWing, and if he'd encountered a MudWing in the battle, he hadn't recognized the dragon as such. Three moons, it's been a long twenty-four hours.
Thankfully, it wasn't much longer before they reached Loess's house.
Built mostly of clay, it wasn't nearly as grand as even the lower-ranked IceWing palaces, but it looked much cozier than the cave Cornice had been staying in for the past few weeks. There was a smaller section attached to the main one, and it was here that Loess led the pair of worn out dragonets.
"Make yourselves comfortable," he said. "There's a decent-sized bed, and I've got a pile of blankets in the corner. The bathroom's around the back, and if you get hungry there might be some pheasant in the kitchen. If there's anything else you need, I'll show you where it is when I get back from work."
"Thank you again," said Ozone. "Thank you so much."
"Don't mention it," said the hybrid, and Cornice got the sense that he genuinely meant it. "It's the least I could do to show my support."
Cornice found the potter's words odd, frowning as he watched Loess lumber out the door. Then it hit him. Does he think…?
"Help me with the blankets?" asked Ozone, and Cornice shook off the thought.
The SkyWing and IceWing gathered blankets and pillows and arranged them in a comfortable fashion on the bed. Compared to the hard stone floor Cornice had grown accustomed to sleeping on, the soft wool felt luxurious.
The bed was small for two dragons, though, and it took a few moments for them to find a comfortable position—Cornice accidentally bumped his wing against Ozone's tail, and the SkyWing unintentionally kicked his nose. It was still a tight squeeze, but eventually they settled down, mostly comfortable even with Ozone's tail draped across Cornice's and one of Cornice's wings sticking out over the side of the bed.
Even the closeness to Ozone's warm scales wasn't enough to keep Cornice awake.
Content and finally feeling safe, he drifted off into the soft blackness of sleep.