"Help! The Skywing! She's here to kill us all!"
Queen Scarlet. She's come for us.
As the clamor of terrified voices filled the halls of Jade Mountain Academy, everyone in the library tensed up. Moon stared out into the hall, reeling from the sudden spike in feverish thoughts from the students outside. Leaf, on the back of her neck, hugged himself closer to Moon, uncertain and afraid. Kinkajou and Sora took a few nervous steps away from the door. Starflight stumbled away from his desk, calling out to the three.
"Find somewhere to hide. Don't let her see you." Which way to the Great Hall? I have to get there. I have to protect them.
"Who?" Kinkajou jumped. "Who are we hiding from?"
Starflight didn't answer her as he went out into the cave, hurrying towards the Great Hall, brushing against the walls to guide him. Moon stepped forward to follow him.
"Aren't we hiding?" Kinkajou asked.
"Is that what you want to do?" Moon replied.
"No! I thought that's what you would want to do!" Kinkajou flared to life, her scales spiraling into mind-numbing colors. "But chasing after him to see what's happening is MUCH more exciting!"
As they both ran into the Grand Hall just behind Starflight, they caught a glimpse of the Skywing causing the chaos. Her scales were vibrantly orange, so much so that smoke seemed to rise from them, and her eyes were unsettlingly blue. While most dragons fled from the sight, Winter, Icicle and Carnelian stayed behind and watched the newcomer.
"Peril!" came a shout from behind them, as Clay barreled into the room. "You came!"
As they two embraced and conversed, Moon couldn't help but notice the burn on Clay's scales when they touched. When he let go, however, they vanished almost immediately, as if they were never there at all.
"I'll go ask Sunny where we should put you," Tsunami spoke, withholding a snappy comment towards Peril.
But as she stepped away from the Great Hall, Winter snarled, "She can't stay here! That dragon killed more than twenty Icewing prisoners." Moon looked between Winter and Peril incredulously. "She was Queen Scarlet's favorite weapon. It's one thing to force us to work with deceitful Nightwings-" Moon winced. "and lowborn Sandwings, but a straight-up murderer? No one is going to stand for this."
"A lot of dragons have done things they need to be forgiven for," Clay mentioned. "Especially in the war. The agreement between the queens was amnesty for everyone, no grudges, no revenge."
As Winter bickered, Moon thought. This Skywing, who was shying away from everyone in the room except Clay, killing so many dragons? From what Moon was seeing, there was no way a dragon this bashful could be a murderer. But on the other talon, there were those flaming scales of hers, and there was a strange, unsettling glint in her eyes…
"Even Queen Ruby hasn't agreed to pardon that dragon," Icicle spoke up. "She's been banned from the Skywing palace, hasn't she?"
"All the more reason to welcome her here," Clay answered as he swept her away to find the others. But as Moon backed up to let the flaming Skywing walk past, their eyes met for a brief minute, and Peril glanced upwards to the top of her head.
"Is that a scavenger?" she asked, her earlier discomfort having been somewhat lifted. Moon shied back from her red-hot scales, pulling Leaf down out of sight with a talon.
"Y-yes, he is. Um… Please don't hurt him," Moon pleaded, not entirely sure what else to say. Peril stepped back, looking appalled.
"I won't hurt him! He's cute!" Peril protested, before adding with a shrug, "Well, I mean, I'll try not too. Scarlet had scavengers fight in the arena a lot. I never liked it, even back then, 'cause I thought they were too cute for fighting. Too bad all the ones I tried to pet just caught on fire. Luckily, Scarlet never made me fight them in the arena. 'A waste of potential', she always said."
Moon glanced away and stepped back further. "Well..." This conversation wasn't exactly putting her mind at ease. "Don't… pet my scavenger, please."
"I'll be careful not to. I wish I could, though, his head-fur looks soft." Moon could feel Leaf shrink under her electrifying gaze. Peril looked down toward Moon. "What's your name, anyway?"
"M-Moon. Call me Moon."
Peril smiled. "It's nice meeting you, Moon." It wasn't a creepy, threatening smile either. It was a genuine smile. As she turned to walk out the room, Clay stopped in front of Moon, wrapping a wing over her like a blanket.
"Hey, Moon? That was a nice thing you just did. It'd be hard for Peril to make friends here, with her… reputation. Thanks for taking the time to talk to her."
A soft smile grew on Moon's features. She didn't exactly have a choice; Peril was the one who started the conversation, and it was pretty one-sided anyway. Still, she felt good about it. "G-glad I could help," she said.
As Clay walked out to show Peril around, Icicle glanced around the room. She looked where Peril was, the doorway she just left through, to Winter, and chillingly, on Moon. This is too much, she thought, before turning to Winter. "I'm going to report this to Queen Glacier. I'll inform Tsunami of my temporary leave, and I'll be gone by morning."
Winter looked at her, alarmed. "You're going by yourself? No messenger?"
"This information is… sensitive. I have to deliver it personally," Icicle snorted. Winter held back an objection, biting his lip. Two deep gongs rang through the mountain, catching everyone's attention. Kinkajou jumped.
"Time for history! Come on, Winter!" she exclaimed, skipping down the hall. How adorable, a Rainwing with a crush on my brother.
Winter followed Kinkajou, a faint embarrassed blush on his features. She thinks it's funny, but if she knew what I've been feeling… who I've been thinking about…
He shot a split-second glance at Moon, and ice encased his mind.
"...and that Skywing, get this, alright? That Skywing," Cedar rambled, yelling over the warbles and thuds of the chaotic orchestra of dragons around them, "was on fire! Fucking fire!"
"What?! Why?" Cobalt shouted back. It was much easier for her to out-yell the noise in the cave.
"Not, like, burning alive or anything! Her scales were glowing hot! She had to be careful to make sure she didn't bump into anyone! I've never seen anything like it!"
The two were crouched in the corner of a large-ish cave filled with dragons, almost all of them on some kind of instrument. From the deep warbles of didgeridoos to the strums of a harp to the claps of the drums, the whole room was filled with noise. There was little rhyme or reason to any of it; most dragons were doing their own thing, following their own beat. It was chaotic, every dragon sounding beautiful on their own, but the way they all fought to play on top of each other made the whole ensemble a mess.
Moon had ducked down close to them, not wanting to draw too much attention in this madness. She looked around at the other dragons, probably wishing she were confident enough to play and dance like them. She turned her head to look at the two, and Cedar caressed her snout with a hand as she smiled.
Suddenly, a Sandwing they recognized as Clown rushed past them, and made a beeline for a large drum set across the room. He hijacked it from a startled Skywing, and began to play with a fervor and passion Cedar had never seen before.
He played with his whole body, as though he were dancing along with his own beat, the powerful banging of his drums outplaying the entire room with ease. Other dragons, eager to get in on the intense beat, quickly re-adjusted their own playing to match Clown's. Slowly, the previously tumultuous orchestra began to play with a shared, steady rhythm, and the chaos was replaced with an elegant tone. And all the while, Clown kept playing the drums like they were his life.
"Damn, he's not bad!" Cobalt commented, as the beat reverberated through their bodies. They both began to tap their feet to the rhythm, with Moon nodding her head in sync alongside them. Cobalt started to nod, too, before she began rocking her whole body back and forth, and then finally, she stood up, and held out an arm to Cedar, asking casually-
"Dance?"
Cedar was taken aback; unsure of how to respond, he slowly stood from where he was, much to Moon's confusion, as she tilted her head at them. Once he was on his feet, though, Cobalt grabbed his hand and tugged him over to the center of the cave. Ignoring Moon's concerned yelp, and the curious stares of the dragons surrounding them, Cedar instead focused on how unsettlingly close Cobalt was to him. He stared into her eyes, them both being about the same height. She stared back expectantly, as though waiting for him to make the first move.
"Uh… I've, ah… never done this before..."
He gently took Cobalt's hand in his, their fingers interlocking. But as he slowly tried to wrap an arm around Cobalt's waist, her other arm grabbed his and she laughed.
"Come on, Cedar, are you seriously setting me up for the fucking waltz?"
With expert fluidity and grace, she suddenly swung Cedar around, until he was leaning backwards and Cobalt was standing over him, her arm around his waist keeping him from falling, their still-connected hands raised high in the air behind her back. The dragons collectively roared around them in amusement at the display.
Moon was still in the corner, debating whether or not she should do something.
Cedar was jolted back up with a startled yelp, and spun quickly and Cobalt twirled him around. She circled him as he spun, and tugged on his arm as he came to a stop, and he found himself holding Cobalt in his arms, opposite from before.
"U-uh-I-I..."
"Just relax and let me guide you."
And they spun like that for what felt like hours; Cobalt masterminding every step, every hand placement, every twirl, with Cedar barely managing to keep up with her fast pace and the rapid beat of the drums. They ran around the music room, weaving between the legs of some bewildered instrument-playing dragons as they jumped and swung throughout the room, the other dragons watching with growing interest. As Cobalt critiqued his poor footwork, Cedar could see out the corner of his eye that even Moon was staring at them in amazement.
Cobalt saw, too.
"Moon seems to be enjoying this," she commented offhandedly as Cedar lifted her up in the air in a dramatic whirl. Cedar could only nod dumbly.
"Yeah," he mumbled, too focused on their movements to think straight.
"Why doesn't she join us? It'd be fun." Cobalt grinned.
"Yea - wait, huh?" Cedar began to think again once he noticed he and Cobalt came to a stop. Their hands broke apart, leaving a cold void in Cedar's palms, as Cobalt sprinted over to where Moon was.
"Hey Moon, get up, stop moping, dance with us!" she shouted, tugging on Moon's talons. Moon backed further away, shaking her head. Cedar took a step forward; Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Moon wasn't the type to act very openly, much less dance. Cobalt let go of her talons and was instead pulling on her wing now.
"C'mon, please?" Cobalt pleaded. As if they could hear her, the other dragons roared in agreement. Moon looked around, panic falling over her features. Cedar ran over; he needed to do something.
He gently ran his fingers over the scales on her neck as he approached her. "It'll be alright. I promise." He slid his hands up her neck and going down the side of her head, until his fingertips were just barely dangling underneath her chin. He slowly walked backwards into the center of the cave, and as he did, Moon rose from her sitting positing to follow him, keeping his fingers touching her head as they moved.
The other dragons smiled and cooed in support, while Moon only grew flustered and tried to move away from their gazes. Cedar reached out a cool hand and touched Moon's cheek, moving her head to focus on him. "Just look at me. Nobody else, don't even think about anyone else, just look at me, and everything will be fine." Her deep, timid emerald eyes stayed glued to his, her earlier apathy melting away as they reached the middle of the cave, every dragon watching them intently.
Clown hooted something while still violently playing the drums. Moon ignored it.
Cedar shifted his hands so they were on either side of Moon's head now. He began to move his feet the same way he remembered doing with Cobalt; quick, fast-paced, fluttering above the ground. He began to spin with Moon, the two twirling and dancing the same way he did before. Moon was slow to catch on at first, having a hard time translating his two-foot dance number to her four talons. Eventually, though, her movements began to grow more graceful and, soon, more extravagant. Her wings unfurled and her tail smacked the ground with the beat as the other dragons roared in approval. Soon, it was Cedar who had a hard time keeping up, having to let go and step away to give Moon the space she needed to dance freely.
In a daring move, she jumped up on her hind legs and began to dance as Cedar and Cobalt did before, twirling and stepping through the cave as the other dragons continued playing and roaring in support. Her wings were up high now, almost scraping the cavern ceiling, her fore legs waving through the air before her as though she were conducting a beautiful orchestra. Cedar and Cobalt stared wide-eyed up at her movements and, for a split second, as the music came to a dramatic crescendo, Cedar could see the look of content on Moon's face, her eyes closed, the corners of her mouth curved upwards in a bashful smile.
And when the song came to a final, ear-splitting thump, Moon gave one final twirl, landing just in front of the cave entrance.
Face-to-face with a certain Icewing.
"W-Winter!"
Moon's previous elegance from not a second ago vanished into thin air, and she stumbled back onto four legs, barely stopping herself from completely falling on her back. When she was steady, she looked back up at Winter, blood rushing to her face. Winter was staring at her, too, his face a faint shade of blue. He was slack-jawed, blinking rapidly, desperately trying to re-find the words he wanted to say just moments before he walked in on her dancing.
I – what - was Moon – dancing – why – walked in – Qibli on the drums – beautiful – stupid –
Moon blinked, not sure what to make of his thoughts. They kept going for a split second, before running back and starting over, leaving every train of thought unfinished.
She only noticed how embarrassingly quiet the music cave had become to suddenly, when Bandit began applauding loudly, his rapid claps filling the sound of the cavern. Leaf tried to shush him with no avail. Winter blinked again, and stepped back, as if he were just shaken from a trance.
"M-Moon."
"...H...Hello."
There was a sudden series of rapid thumps behind Moon, who turned to see Qibli was back to playing the drums again. Kinkajou snagged a bassoon from an unsuspecting Nightwing next to her and began playing a quick, fluttery tune with Qibli. Soon, all the other dragons were back to playing music as though nothing had happened, and nobody's attention was on her anymore.
Except for Winter's, of course.
He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a hitched breath as he took back whatever he was going to say. He looked away toward the cave floor again. Apparently, his talons were looking astonishing today.
Argh, how do I say this? Do I just ask her outright? Should I ease into the conversation? No, too easy to make things worse. You're a disgrace to the royal Icewing lineage, Winter! Your brother would never have been so weak! The crease in his brow deepened, and Moon took a deep breath as she decided to help him out a bit.
"Is there something on your mind?" Ack. Could she have possibly picked a worse choice of words?
Winter jumped a little at the sound of her voice, then had to force himself to hide his glare. On my mind? Are you trying to imply something, Nightwing?
"You, uh, you had a kind of… frustrated scowl on your face," Moon quickly added, hoping to quell Winter's suspicions.
He blinked. No, stop that for just a minute. I need her help, he thought. "Yes, actually," he spoke slowly. "I wanted to ask you something about Leaf."
Moon wasn't expecting that. "What is it?" she asked.
"How..." Winter looked away again, picking his words carefully and deliberately. "How… come you and Leaf… your relationship is… close. But… how come I can't do that with Bandit?"
Now this Moon really wasn't expecting. "What do you mean?"
"You see..." He squeezed his eyes shut. "Can we go somewhere quieter? It's too noisy in here to have a coherent thought."
"Sure. Does the library sound alright?" "Yes." With that, Moon called out to Leaf, who was leaning up against the cave wall next to a tired Bandit, both of them breathing heavily from their energetic dance. Leaf's head shot up, and he nudged Bandit, before the two of them jogged over to Moon and Winter. Moon shared a brief hug with Leaf as he wrapped his arms around her neck lovingly, before swinging his leg over to get in a comfortable seat. When Moon looked up, however, she noticed Bandit and Winter struggling to cooperate.
"Come on, just let me carry you."
Bandit crossed his arms defiantly. "SKWIB BOBBLE!"
"Please?"
"SKABBLE!"
Winter sighed in frustration. "You see what I mean now?"
Moon reached out her talons gently, before carefully wrapping them around Bandit with little protest from the scavenger. She lifted him up and placed him safely in Winter's awaiting talons. He looked annoyed, but only snorted.
Moon smiled up at Winter. "I guess you just have to be gentle," she laughed.
Winter stared at her. How did… does she just have a way with them? "Let's… get going to the library." Winter said, with no small level of confusion in his voice, as the two ducked out of the music cave, and the loud banging of drums faded away behind them.
"So what... exactly... is the problem?" Moon asked tentatively. She and Winter had uneventfully brought their scavengers to the quieter, more peaceful library. She was constantly being overwhelmed by the noise of other dragon's thoughts no matter where she was, but in the library even that seemed more silent. She supposed the lack of people in the room helped; whereas the music room had two whole winglets in it, this room only had Fatespeaker and Starflight, with the former reading to the later, Sunny, who was sorting some scrolls, Kinakjou, Winter and herself.
"Did I hear Carnelian with you?" Starflight asked them.
"Yes," came a voice from behind them. Moon flinched, she didn't see her there. The Skywing went to check if she had gotten any letters, which she read from the darkest corner in the room. Moon nervously turned back to Winter, who had set Bandit down on the cave floor.
"I have a cage for him somewhere. Should have brought it," he mumbled. Moon tried to ignore how angry and resentful he felt about needing to ask for help.
"No, you shouldn't have," Moon insisted. Winter gave her a funny, sideways glance.
"Why not? If I don't have it, he might escape."
"That's the problem," Moon said simply. Noting his confused glare, she continued. "He wants to escape. If you form a bond with him, you won't have to worry about him escaping in the first place."
As she spoke, a frustrated crease grew on Winter's features. "And how am I supposed to 'form a bond' with him? He's just a scavenger!"
"And that," Moon couldn't help the slight edge in her voice, "is the first step. Bandit is not 'just a scavenger.' In fact, he's probably just as smart as you and I are. I know Leaf is." She and Leaf smiled at each other before she turned back to Winter. "You have to treat him like an equal."
She could hear Winter bite back a smart comment before he spoke slowly. "How… do I go about doing that?"
Kinkajou spoke up. "Carry him around with you, share some of your food, give him hugs! That's what Moon does!" Moon nodded, and Kinkajou's smile grew ecstatic. I KNEW IT! I WAS RIGHT! She mentally cheered for herself.
"You have to learn to trust him, and have him trust you," Moon added. "That's the whole point of this."
Winter looked at Bandit for a long moment, holding in a breath. Maybe… maybe she has a point after all. But still…
"What's wrong with his behavior right now?" Winter asked out of the blue. "He's always either hiding in his fur pile or trying to hurt me. Always, except for..." He trailed off. Except for when…
"Except for when… he's with Leaf." Moon finished for him. She chose to ignore the flare of suspicion he felt. Before either could say anything more, Kinkajou practically exploded.
"You think they're in LOVE?!" Kinkjou shouted, making everyone in the room wince. Fatespeaker had to shush her from across the room, but Kinkajou remained standing, her wings raised high up in the air. Moon and Winter both hesitated to respond to the awkward atmosphere.
"Ehh..." Moon let out a nervous chuckle. "Maybe?" Winter studied the two scavengers before them, apparently terrified from Kinkajou's outburst. Can scavengers… do that? He thought.
"Maybe he's depressed and just wants a friend?" Sunny walked over to them and looked at Leaf and Bandit. "Webs was like that for a while after the Summer Palace attack. He didn't get out of bed for months."
"Oh, poor little Bandit," Kinkajou said.
"Webs is a dragon, Winter mentioned. "This is a scavenger." Before he could say more, Moon interrupted him.
"And we have already determined that they feel emotions just like us," Moon pointed out, daring to shoot a glare back at Winter. "Maybe he could be lonely."
"That's true!" Sunny spoke up. "Scavengers usually live in packs. Although I met one who was happy with just the company of dragons for a long time, but Flower was kind of special."
Moon gently nudged Leaf with her snout, who returned with a large hug around her nose. "Leaf's like that, too."
"Bandit might be special," Winter huffed. Moon just gave him an encouraging smile as she rose up from Leaf's hug.
"On the other talon, maybe it doesn't have to be a 'special' thing," she said. "Maybe you can make it happen yourself." Like I did with Leaf.
By 'forming a bond' with him, yes. Winter sighed. "So what? Should I get another scavenger, just to keep this one happy? What if that one is depressed, too?" But just as the words left his mouth, he and Moon reached the same conclusion. Moon lowered her head down again and, this time, nudged Bandit with her snout. He didn't hug back, but he did give a sort of sideways smile, and rubbed her nose with his tiny paws.
"I don't think you have to. There's another one right here."
Winter regarded her for a minute before speaking. "So you're suggesting we set up these… play-dates for our scavengers?"
"Would it be more 'play' or more 'date'?" Kinkajou thought aloud.
Sunny brightened up at the idea. "That'd be perfect! Your scavengers would both be happy, you would learn more about them, and maybe you two can even learn more about each other along the way!"
Winter averted his gaze at the last part. Learn more? About Moon? Is that… wise? Is… is that what Hailstorm would want me to do? Moon caught a brief flash of an older, more upbeat Icewing in Winter's mind before he shut the memory out with resentful vehemence.
Moon thought about it, too. Winter seemed unnecessarily, well, cold, to everyone, especially to her in particular. But underneath his icy exterior, Moon had seen a side of him even he refused to acknowledge. If she could learn more about it – properly, without cheating and using her mind-reading – maybe she might be able to make another good friend. Mother would like that, wouldn't she?
"Is that… alright with you, Winter? I think it sounds… nice." Moon asked him. Winter contemplated the two scavengers before them, and strangely, took a long look at her face, before he sighed.
"...I'll give it a try."
Kinkajou and Sunny both beamed. "I KNEW you guys would make up and be friends!" the Rainwing shouted, having to be silenced once again by Fatespeaker. Moon, in a bold move, tried to give Winter a friendly nudge. But in response, he only glared and shifted away.
Right. He still doesn't trust me. He just wants what's best for Bandit.
But maybe… I'll get a chance to change that with these… 'play-dates'?
As she had that thought, the sound of talonsteps could be heard from the library entrance as Sora stepped in, shyly. "Um… do any of you know where Icicle is, by any chance?"
Winter gave a snort. "She flew off this morning to give a report back to mother. Why she didn't just send a messenger is beyond me, but she's not here right now."
"She's not?" Sora asked. Moon could feel horror creeping into her mind, as her heart began beating faster.
Winter raised an eyebrow. "...No? Why do you need her? I can talk to her once she gets ba-"
"NOPE, that'll be, uh, fine, th-thank you!" she nervously stammered. "I, uh, I just remembered I, ah, that I have to be somewhere! See you, bye!" Before anyone could stop her, she bolted the other way at record speed.
A long silence followed her departure. "What was that about?" Fatespeaker asked.
Kinkajou shrugged offhandedly. "I dunno. Probably nothing."
Cobalt sat in her cage that evening, thinking.
Earlier that day, Prickface, Moon and Sunshine had all surrounded her and Cedar and were talking among themselves, likely about them. Cedar had paid keen attention to their behavior, and shared with her the theory that Prickface might be trying to figure out how she was acting.
"He's probably asking her how to get closer with you. I mean, me and Moon have a pretty good relationship, while the one between you and, er, Prickface, is a lot more violent, especially on your side. No offense, of course." he had said.
None taken. She actually saw it as a compliment.
She suddenly heard talonsteps approaching, and rolled her eyes as Prickface walked into the cave, staring at her oddly from the doorway.
"Hey, fucker."
He walked closer, craning his neck to get a closer look at her, squinting his eyes to pour over every detail, as if scanning for any imperfections.
"Checking me out, loser? Can't even get a dragon bitch to gawk at, so you have to settle for me instead?"
Despite her words, she couldn't hold in her gasp when he reached up to her cage door and, with a loud creak of metal, swung the cage door open. But instead of reaching in and scooping her up, he quickly darted into his bed to the side, watching her from the corner.
Cobalt, naturally, only stared back.
What was he doing? Was he letting her go? Was this a trust act? Is this what Cobalt was talking about? Was he trying to… bond with her somehow?
Yeah, fat chance, Frosty the Edgelord! I'm out! Cobalt rose from the furs littered around her cage, and took a step out the door, ready to make a break for it. But before she could jump down, she made the mistake of turning her head to take one last look at the Icewing.
He was huddled down and into the corner, one of his wings unfurled, invitingly. His eyes were wide, and his expression seemed hopeful, but also a little sad? Noticing her stare, he quickly patted the ground next to him with a talon.
Was he trying to… get her to sleep with him?
Wait. No. Ew. Dial it back.
Cobalt shook her head and got another look at him. His head was low, resting on his talons, as he stared back up at her. He looked nervous about this. It was kind of cute.
Back. Back back back back back.
She took another step towards the entrance. A low, sad rumble rose from his throat. Cobalt clenched her eyes closed and cringed at the sound. She tried to deny it, but it broke her heart, watching this Icewing try to make amends with her, and here she was, tuning him out in favor of escape. He was undoubtedly an asshole, but… maybe everyone deserved a second chance, right?
With a deep, reluctant sigh, she slowly turned back to Prickface, who perked up a little at her movement. She took a few small steps towards him. He breathed slowly, never breaking eye contact. She was soon close enough to touch him. She reached her hand out towards his snout, barely tracing her fingers over his cool scales, like she recalled Cedar doing a lot. The Icewing closed his eyes and, gently as can be, moved his snout to meet her hand.
Cobalt's breath hitched. She was… petting him. She wasn't forced to be here, and wasn't trying to smack him, for once. This was all her. She moved her other arm to touch his nose again, and soon found herself resting her full weight on his snout, giving it a wide hug with both arms. His cool scales thumped steadily with life under her. She pushed herself off of him, and traced her hands down the sides of his face, down his neck, down to his chest. She knew what he wanted by now.
She laid down against him, wrapping one of his large arms around her. She smiled as she felt his heart rate rise, and his other arm wrap around her as well. His wing furled back in to surround her. Cedar was right; it was just like a big, leathery blanket.
Feeling giddy, she gave Prickface's torso a tight hug. Stars, I never imagined this would feel this… weird. In a good way. Who knew Icewings could be so damn... CUDDLY?!
As she relaxed into his icy, pale scales, she slipped into the deepest sleep she had gotten in a long time.
God dammit I need to stop writing these enormous authors notes it's ridiculous
Also HAHAHA WADDLES I UPDATED A DAY EARLIER THAN I SAID I WOULD! BET YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING! MUHAHAHAHAHAHA!
First off, I want to thank you all for the encouragement you gave me after my self-deprecating spiel from the AN of the last chapter. You're all the best, and with life IRL getting a bit rough, it's nice to hear your kind words. Of course, even if my writing quality isn't dropping, doesn't mean I won't always be trying to make it better. You deserve nothing less than the very best, and I want to do all I can to ensure that's exactly what you get. :)
About the story.
You may have noticed that, so far, I've skipped over all the scenes from the book involving Darkstalker. He's still here; I just haven't written anything with him in yet because I don't think it'd be affected by this prompt in any significant way, so I just left it out for the time being.
Speaking of which, I'm actually not sure how I'm gonna defeat Darkstalker. No, guest reviewer, I don't plan on him being defeated in a 1v1 against Cedar. However, I've heard a lot of complaints about the Peacemaker solution from the books, since it was hypocritical of them to go on about how using magic to change people was wrong, and then turn around and do that exact thing with Darkstalker. Yes, "morality is subjective" and all that, but it still felt wrong. I have a few ideas floating around my head, but nothing concrete yet. I'm open to any reasonable suggestions.
I've also skipped out on the entire part with Mightyclaws in the painting cave, mostly because the scene was mostly influenced by Darkstalker and I'd basically just be copying from the book again. I might be able to squeeze it in after this chapter for reasons I'm about to explain, but I don't know if it'd actually be that important to the story.
I think the most important part of this chapter is that Icicle left before the history cave bombing, and thus Sora never did it. Icicle, in the books, sends a messenger to Glacier about Peril, but in this story I made her go personally for reasons I can't tell you about yet. So, she's gone, Winter feels slightly less like he's being judged all the time with her not there, and the history cave bombing is delayed until she returns. That gives me a ton more time for character development and bonding, which is always good.
How was that dance scene? It's kind of hard to imagine a dancing dragon, to be honest, so I just kind of pulled that whole scene out of my ass. Hopefully, it was believable enough.
I've also realized that, apparently, some of the Arc 2 books overlap each other, like some things in Book 7 happen at the same time as some things in Book 8, as with books 9 and 10. So, to plan this out and make this work as best as possible, I think I'm gonna spend some time skim-reading the entirety of Arc 2, so next chapter might take even longer to come out.
On the bright side, I'm finally done with the track season, so chapters should also start coming a little faster, too!
Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter, whenever that may be!