Tap tap tap
The rustling of papers and claws scratching on parchment.
Tap tap
Come on, just a bit longer,
Winter almost murmured aloud.
Tap tap tap
The student beside him turned to glare as he continued drumming on his desk. He pretended not to notice. Minutes seemed to stretch for hours as he waited.
Tap tap tap
Their teacher peered out the window, frowning slightly before turning back to his papers. Several of the dragonets did the same, frantic scratching coming from their desks as they hurried to take down the last of their notes. Winter didn't bother. He hadn't been able to pay attention for half of the class, so for the rest of it he hadn't the foggiest what professor Brumal was explaining.
Tap tap t-
The moment his claw hit the ice the bell rung, signifying the end of the school day for the senior students. "Senior" schooling was supposed to be five to seven-year-olds, but it was common for royal family members to go straight to year two when they started and stay a year ahead, so long as they kept up their grades. Winter had just about managed to reach the threshold each term, but with the amount of schooling he'd missed this year, he imagined he'd be repeating year five.
The dragonets around him began packing away their scrolls in bags or satchels, but Winter's were already away. He didn't even remember taking them out. He pushed past a few on the way to the door, eliciting a few mumbled, "Sorry"s or, "Watch it!"s.
He rushed down the corridor, hoping to beat the throng of students already beginning to trail from the classrooms. Yet another thing he didn't think about at Jade Mountain, while the hallways were tighter and more cramped, they were never as packed to the gills with dragons as the halls back home.
He took a longer route to the exit, passing by Lynx's class on the way. Were she in the regular five-year-old classes she might've been in his class, but she was one of the few non-royal dragons to skip a year, so she was almost at the opposite side of the school in year six.
The sixth-year corridors were almost completely packed with dragons at this point, all of them much larger than him. He stuck to the wall, squeezing past a large group and almost getting trampled by a trio of rowdier Icewings. He was rather disappointed to find his effort had been for nought when he got to Lynx's history class to find the door still firmly closed. Through the clearer ice on the door around head-hight that served as a kind of window, he could see her professor still inside talking, so he walked on, waiting for her by the school gates.
The school building itself sat to the left of the main palace, one of the many structures littering the landscape around it. It was constructed of the same indestructible ice as the palace, and in the same style, although not nearly as elegant or impressive in size. It had been made to contain all schooling for nobles in the palace, from the hatchlings not yet able to fly to the full-grown dragons attending lectures and readings. Unfortunately for the Icewings, this magical construction meant it couldn't be changed or expanded in any manner. So as the Icewing population increased over the thousands of years after its creation, they had begun to run out of room. Their solution had been to build another, smaller school for the junior students, and use the main school building for university lectures after the seniors had been sent home. The whole thing felt incredibly short-sighted to him, did the animus not realise the tribe would grow? It made him wonder how many Icewing enchantments had been created in such a way, seemingly useful at the time only to end up more of an inconvenience than they were worth.
The grand silver gates that stood by the entrance of the school were almost always open. Winter had never been quite sure why they had been constructed in the first place. He understood there being gates at the palace, they were imposing and beautifully designed, and probably showed off the Icewings power back when they got foreign representatives visiting their kingdom. But why have gates for a school? Anyone could fly over anyway, but why would they want to in the first place? It was a school for snow's sake, a prestigious and well-funded school mind you, but a school nonetheless.
He'd been waiting almost ten minutes by the outside, with most of the school deserted, when he finally saw the heads of sixth years appear in the windows along their corridors, and Lynx thumped down next to him.
"You certainly took your time, what happened?"
Lynx had a familiar look on her face, one that screamed how desperate she was to tell you something, but how outraged she was about that very same thing.
"Professor Gelid held us back again. She was in the middle of one of her year-long lectures when the day ended, and she decided it would be a great use of everybody's time to yell at us about packing up early."
Winter laughed, "Well maybe if you didn't start putting your stuff away while she's in the middle of talking you wouldn't have this problem."
"But it's not even early!" She flared her wings in indignation, "We're supposed to leave when the bell rings right? But no, the bell doesn't dismiss you-"
"I dismiss you." They said in tandem
Lynx growled in mock anger, "Nobles, you know, back home we all just left when school was over, and if the professor was in the middle of explaining something then too bad."
"Yeah, that doesn't sound like the most effective way of learning to me."
They both took to the air, heading for one of the palace's glimmering spires.
"So," Lynx flicked him in his chest with the edge of her wing, "Are you going to talk to the Queen today?"
Winter nodded, "Yeah, probably. I mean, I hope so."
"You hope so? As in, if you don't lose your nerve?"
Winter made a small noise in the affirmative.
Lynx spun in the air, tapping her claws together, "Are you ever going to tell me about what you've found in that library?"
He glanced at her, "I've already told you no." Truthfully, he hadn't found anything overly interesting in the library, maybe a few more listings of enchanted objects than were supposed to be public knowledge, but nothing more. He mostly just used it as an excuse for busywork, so his parents would think he was spending his time well and he could be alone for a while. No, he was planning on telling the Queen about Foeslayer, who he guessed may be counted as an "enchanted object" anyway. If the rumours going around were to be believed, Moon was in some way working with Darkstalker, who apparently was alive. Most of it he was sure was nonsense, but at least asking Foeslayer if she knew anything about it couldn't hurt, she was Darkstalker's mother after all. He'd considered going down to ask her alone, but he didn't think he could face her after what he'd done down there, and even if he did, if he learned any useful information from her, in what non-suspicious way could he tell the Queen? That was the same issue as just telling Lynx about the imprisoned Nightwing and asking her to talk to her instead. If she learnt anything in what possible way could she have that amount of information on Darkstalker, and then if she told the Queen about Foeslayer it would be obvious he had been the one to tell her.
There was one more reason he wasn't going down himself, one he didn't want to think about. To see his brother again, he couldn't bear it. Part of him still hadn't acknowledged that Hailstorm was really gone. It still felt like it always had, Hailstorm was being held captive by the Skywings, and one day Winter would make up for getting him captured by swooping in and rescuing him. That wasn't a possibility now. A lot of things he'd always thought were going to happen were now impossibilities actually. Blaze would never be the Sandwing Queen, Icicle would never challenge Queen Glacier for the throne, his parents would never once be proud of him again…
"Winter?'
"Hm?" He glanced around. He hadn't noticed them landing by the tower.
"You went all quiet again, is everything alright?"
"Oh, yeah I'm fine." Lynx could probably guess part of why he'd been spacing out and spending more time by himself over the time he'd been back. He wasn't in the mood to talk about it, but he liked that she'd be there if he ever did. "When do you reckon her Majesty will be back?"
Lynx shrugged, "Probably not much longer, I'm surprised she's even been away as long as she has. That Nightwing must've given her a lot of trouble."
Winter had been curious about that too, it made him wonder if Moon had actually been caught, or if it was even her at all that'd been spotted.
One thing Glacier's extended absence had allowed him to do was think about exactly how he was going to explain Foeslayer, and why he hadn't mentioned her sooner. He hoped some reasonable explanation would come to him while they were talking, or that the Queen wouldn't mention it.
Lynx began making her way up the spiral staircase that made up the majority of the tower. Winter followed, calling after her, "Why did you decide to go here?"
Lynx's voice was muffled by the ice, and echoed off the tight walls, "It's an old guard tower, from back in the days when the palace actually had to worry about attacks, from other Icewing's and the likes. No one really uses it anymore but-" Her words became clearer as she stepped out into the room at the top of the spire, and Winter ran up the last few steps to meet her, "-it gives a great view of the kingdom, I figure we're probably better waiting for the Queen when we can see her coming from almost the Great Ice Cliff."
Winter had to agree. Although the view didn't extend nearly as far as Lynx suggested, it was certainly an impressive sight with so much of the kingdom spread out before them. "You're waiting with me?"
"Sure, not like I've got anything better to do."
"Don't you have a geography project due tomorrow?"
Lynx bit her lip, "I might. Eh, I'll do it later."
She slid down against the wall, gesturing for him to sit beside her. Part of him wanted to decline, to sit by himself and go over exactly everything he would say to the Queen, and prepare for every possible response, but he wasn't sure he could handle being by himself today.
He sat, and she rested her arm around his shoulders.
"So, what's it like being back to school?"
He frowned, "You asked me that yesterday."
"I know, I was wondering if you'd changed your mind."
Winter shrugged, "Fine, I guess. Weird."
"Weird in a bad way?"
"Weird in a... neutral way. I mean, it's nicer, but it's odd not being around any other tribes again."
She looked at him, and spent a moment picking her words, "Do you like being back?"
He stared out the window, at the vast, unending, blue skies that seemed to stretch forever, past the wisps of cloud and above even the sun itself.
"Just to warn you, I will be highly offended if you pick one of those options." She tried to joke, but her eyes were serious.
Does she mean she'll be upset if I say yes because she thinks I'm lying to her? I guess I don't know if I am happy being back,
"Yes." He said with a nod, "I belong here."
Lynx glanced sideways at Winter but didn't contradict him. She asked him a few more probing questions, which Winter answered with the appropriate amount of Icewing distance. He tried to focus on the windows, at the horizon line the Queen would surely soon be crossing, yet as they talked Winter found it harder and harder to focus, and after one particularly pointed joke at his father's expense he couldn't help but laugh, and forget, even just for a moment, everything that was happening.
Several hours and laughing fits later Lynx peered out the window, her eye's widening a scale. She nudged his side, "Hey, she's back!" She squinted, clicking her tongue, "No Nightwing though."
Winter stretched his neck to see over the windowsill, eventually standing up and moving over to the window for a better view. There she was, Queen Glacier had returned at last. As Lynx had said no black shape glided amongst her collection of guards, which made Winter's heart surge into his throat.
Either she hasn't been caught, and I need to speak with the Queen immediately to see if there's any information on Darkstalker that might exonerate her, or… Well, then I suppose I'm going to regret not speaking to her sooner for the rest of my life.
Winter rattled his tail anxiously, "Should we head down now, before she gets here, or wait a while? Should I even be speaking with her at all, I mean, I'm sure she's got many important things to attend to and-"
"Winter," Lynx waved a talon nonchalantly, "You'll be fine, I'm sure whatever it is you have to tell her is very important, and that she'd be happy to hear it." Lynx pulled herself up, stretching her snowy wings to their full length with a series of soft pops. "Besides, we've got to get to her before your dad does or she'll be gone for the rest of the day listening to updates."
Winter nodded, wringing his claws nervously, "Right, of course."
Lynx joined him by the window, twinning his tail with hers and slinging a wing around his shoulders, "Hey, what're you so worried about? She's hardly going to bite your head off, even if it is a total waste of her time."
He furrowed his brow, turning to her, "Very reassuring."
She gave him a toothy grin, "I sure am." She squeezed him gently, "You know, you don't have to talk to her if you're not up to it."
Winter sighed, glancing back out at the tundra and the approaching formation of dragons, "No, I should. I'll be fine."
"Welp, if you say so," she untangled herself from around him, stepping back to allow him to descend the staircase first.
The roof of the stairway felt much lower as they decided, and Lynx had to keep her head bowed to avoid scrapping her horns off the ice as they walked.
"And while you're gone," she said tracing a claw across the ice brickwork, "I'll go speak with Snowfall. She has been pretty mad I've been deciding to hang out with you instead of her." Winter was about to respond with something like Snowfall? You're sure? That's so out of character for her, but he wasn't in the mood. It wasn't close to a surprise Snowfall wouldn't like the idea of Lynx talking to him. Even after slipping down a few spots on the wall and allowing her to retake her place on the top of the dragonet rankings, she was still furious he had managed to hold it from her for so long.
Lynx paused momentarily by the door that connected the tower to the outer wall, but Winter continued downwards. Gliding down from the walls was always a particularly frowned upon action, and he imagined dropping down from it specifically to speak with the Queen would probably earn him a stern lecture from his father about "proper royal etiquette".
The bottom of the tower was particularly cold and dimly lit and opened out into a corridor of the palace Winter rarely if ever travelled down. He held the door open with his tail for Lynx and she shut it quietly behind them.
"So," Lynx indicated with a flick of her right wing, "I think the closest opening to the courtyard is down there."
From what Winter remembered that was true, and he half walked with, half trailed behind Lynx as he went over what he would say. Catching his worried expression, Lynx gave him a smile, slowing down and playfully bumping his side, "Come on Winter, it's not like Glacier ever gets mad, and besides, with how high you've been in the rankings lately she's probably pretty happy with you."
Winter had considered that, but given the general trend of his life he wouldn't be quick to believe that could be the case. He thought it much more likely that after everything that had happened of the last few weeks, Icicle's imprisonment, and Hailstorm's… that perhaps she had taken pity on him. Possibly his family too, with Icicle at the bottom of the seventh circle Tundra and Narwhal would probably have to move out of the palace if Winter dropped too low. He wondered how long that pity would last, and if perhaps spending the last few weeks cooped up in the library being entirely unsociable had worn it thinner.
They stepped out into the courtyard, cold sunlight and the comforting crunch of snow beneath his talons stilling his worries momentarily. He could already see Narwhal waiting near the wall of names for his sister's return, probably to spend the entire rest of the day explaining every unimportant happening that had gone on since she'd left. As if he could sense the negative thought, Narwal turned to stare at his son. Although it was impossible to make out his exact expression from the distance, he didn't look pleased, not that he ever did.
"Yikes." Lynx gave Narwal a look, "Why is he always such a sourpuss? You'd think one of the most powerful dragons in the kingdom would be happy with his position, but I guess not." She examined him closer, a sly grin spreading across her face, "Or maybe, he's miserable this time because he's been dropped a circle and he's fuming about it."
Winter blinked at her in surprise, watching his father's necklace with more scrutiny than before. Sure enough, two silver hoops hung from it.
Woah, maybe Icicle did more damage than I realised.
That leant further credence to his theory that his position on the rankings was more to do with appearances than actual merit. It probably wouldn't look particularly good on the Queen if two of her closest advisers had to be moved out of the palace entirely.
"What do you think he did to displease the Queen? Do you think it had something to do with those rumours about Darkstalker floating around, maybe he said something about him?"
Winter shrugged, trying to find a way of asking if it was him without directly saying it, "Do you know what circle my mother is?"
"Hm? First I would assume, at least when I saw her two days ago when the Queen was already away she was, so unless Narwal's moved her down she's still there."
Oh, that's… surprising.
Maybe it wasn't him then, maybe Glacier actually wasn't furious with him for working with a Nightwing, the same Nightwing she was currently hunting, and just couldn't move him down. Maybe, for once, he had actually earned a spot near the top-
No, even if his parents weren't the reason he was so high up, there had to be some anterior motive the Queen had for not moving him down. There was no way he could deserve a spot so high through merit
From behind the gates came the flapping of several pairs of wings, and a clipped, respectful voice. The gates swung open, and in came a procession of dragons, lead, of course, by Queen Glacier. She was headed towards the wall, and the disgruntled face of his father, two things he absolutely didn't want to see at the moment, and he rushed over to intercept her before she could make it there.
She was almost there, Narwal was already standing up from his bow, about to say something, but Winter got there first, "Your majesty." He skidded to stop his momentum, giving a sloppy, off-balance bow. That got him several disapproving looks from the guards behind the Queen, but he ignored them. "May I speak with you for a moment?" Narwal squinted his eyes, glaring. If looks could kill Winter would currently be in thirty pieces splattered across the courtyard.
Glacier arched an eye ridge, considering.
Great Ice Dragon why am I doing this? She's going to say no, and everyone here is going to hear her say no, and I'll've embarrassed myself- what's new- and-
"You may."
He looked up to meet her eyes. As always, they gave away nothing about what she was thinking
"Come," she flicked her tail so summon him to follow her as she made her way inside the palace.
"Your majesty," Narwal's voice was gruff and low, "If I may-"
"You may not." She barely glanced back at him, "Your status report, while appreciated, can wait."
Winter could hardly believe what he was hearing,
Did she just- she's got to have some other reason for saying yes, right?
He turned to follow the Queen catching Lynx giving him a wave from the corner of his eye. He have a faint wave back, trying to ignore the way the guards were staring at him like he'd suddenly sprouted a third wing.
They had been walking for quite some time, Queen Glacier asking him several polite questions about how he was finding things back at the palace, and Winter responding in the appropriate "talking to the Queen" manner. Glacier had never been the most emotionally involved dragoness, but today she felt particularly distant.
They'd fallen into an awkward silence, and Winter was wondering if he should try asking her something when she said, "Am I correct in assuming you want to speak with me about a particular Nightwing dragoness?"
Winter's heart lurched.
She knows she knows, I don't understand how but she-
Oh, Moon.
"I- yes." Winter winced, trying to think up a way to redirect this conversation onto what he actually wanted to tell her about.
Glacier sighed, "I understand your concern for her but I promise you she is currently alright, and should she be caught no harm will come to her."
Should she be caught!
He felt a tension in his chest lessen at those words.
She's alright, I'm not too late.
She glanced at him, pausing before continuing, "I'm sure you've heard the rumours going around about what exactly she's been up to. I wanted to know if she mentioned anything to you about any activities involving… a Nightwing animus."
Winter knew she was talking about Darkstalker, but he understood her hesitancy to say his name aloud. Even thinking his name sent ominous shivers down his spikes. Courtesy of Lynx he'd heard most of them, but there was no way he could believe them to be true. Sure, it was possible Darkstalker had survived all this time, after all his mother had managed it, but how would Moon have made contact with him, and why by all of the Ice and Snow in the kingdom would she want to help him? There was something though-
"No," Winter tried, carefully choosing his words, "She didn't mention anything about him in particular, but whenever I brought him up she got all jumpy and nervous. I just assumed she'd been told all the same legends about him as us, and that was why she didn't want to talk about him."
Glacier hummed, nodding, "Alright, thank you."
Winter opened his mouth, trying to casually mention to other Nightwing that had been on his mind, but he wasn't sure how.
Glacier caught his expression, giving him a quizzical look, "Was there something else you wanted to say?"
Winter swallowed hard, trying desperately to keep his face as neutral as possible. "Yes. It's- I know someone how might be able to give you more information on... him." He stressed the final word, still wary of saying Darkstalker's name aloud.
He wasn't sure if he'd expected to see some kind of emotion on the Queen's face, but he didn't get anything. "Oh?"
"When Hailstorm and I were sent to the Diamond trial, the frozen dragon we met down there... She- her name is Foeslayer. She's his mother."
Of course Glacier recognised the name, but when he got no reaction from her he figured reminding her of the Nightwing's importance might help. Still nothing, the Queen just looked ahead, her expression as always steeled, "Oh really. You're certain it's her? Not some other Nightwing."
"Fairly certain." He hadn't considered up until that point it was possible the Nightwing down there wasn't Foeslayer, that would explain why none knew she was down there. But it made sense to him Diamond would have stuck her down there had she ever gotten her claws on her, and why lie about something like that?
He wondered for a moment if he should ask Queen Glacier if she would consider letting Foeslayer go. He was still furious with her for killing his brother, but he knew deep down it wasn't her fault.
It wasn't Hailstorm's fault either.
But the issue with blaming neither her or his brother meant someone else was at fault, namely, his beloved tribe. His parents, for orchestrating the whole thing, Queen Diamond from constructing the trial in the first place, and his Queen for not intervening. So part of him still had to keep on laying the blame at Foeslayer's frozen talons, after all having one's entire worldview questioned isn't the most pleasant of experiences.
Glacier nodded absently, lost in thought, "Very well, I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for informing me."
She didn't sound particularly thankful. Winter wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but her voice sounded particularly strained, as though she was trying to force it even. "Of course your majesty." He bowed, walking with her a while longer until they made it to a more populated section of the palace, where Narwhal was waiting by the throne room. He slipped away with a nod at the sight of his father's sour expression, and headed down a hallway and up a twisting stairwell.
I should probably try to find Lynx, maybe she's left Snowfall already, and if not, well that wouldn't be so bad.
He felt lighter somehow, like the weight of his secret had been physically weighing him down. He bounded up the last few steps, in the ridiculous peppy manner Lynx often did. Normally he would've chastised himself for acting so childishly, but not today. The news from the Queen about Moon's apparent safety, and finally having told someone else about Foeslayer had put him in much too good a mood for that.
For once he felt normal, normal in a way he hadn't been since that day on the Sky kingdom border when he and his brother were out looking for scavengers.
Maybe everything will turn out alright.