A freezing wind blew against the shutters of a house, wrapped in ice and snow. The dark night was lit up by colorful lights, dancing across the starry background. In the most northern reaches of the Ice Kingdom, a young IceWing huddled beneath a floorboard, trying hard to keep her breath as quiet and shallow as possible. Walls of frozen dirt pushed up against her wings.

Keep calm, Crystal, she thought, they can't hear you. They won't hear you. She kept her breath shallow.

She heard the sound of clawsteps above her, and saw a razor sharp claw between the floorboards. Two adult IceWings. Palace guards. A third followed into the room after her.

"When is the last time you saw your sister?" a gruff voice asked, one of the guards. His spiny tail gently tapped on the floorboard above Crystal. If he noticed that the floor beneath was hollow, Crystal would be executed by the end of the day. No amount of rapport with Queen Glacier could make up for her crimes.

"Months. That ungrateful walrus decided she was too good for me after our father took her in." That was a voice Crystal recognized well, her sister, Clarity. She was five years older than her, in the Fourth Circle, though Crystal well knew Clarity could rise much further in the rankings if she truly wanted. "What do you want with her?" Clarity quizzed the guards. "I thought she was living in the palace now, why would she come all the way out here?"

The guard didn't answer Clarity's question, but continued looking poking around the room. "Do you know what she stole?" he asked.

"No idea," Clarity replied with a laugh. "What did she do, run off with Queen Glacier's crown or something? Decided she wanted to be queen for a change?" Clarity snorted. The guards didn't appear to find this so funny. One of them tapped his claw on the floorboard in impatience. Crystal held back a gulp. If he realized it was hollow underneath . . .

Crystal gently rubbed her claws down the small silver chain around her neck until they reached the perfectly spherical stone hanging from it. The stone was pretty, but didn't seem like anything special at first glance. It was a dark, dark purple, almost black. It was faintly translucent, and Crystal could see small particles of glowing violet swirling around inside, even in the almost absolute darkness. It certainly wasn't the queen's crown, but to Queen Glacier, it might be even more important.

The guards continued poking around for a few more minutes, until Crystal finally heard them walking towards the exit. "Make sure to give that brat my regards when you find her!" Clarity called after the two guards as they shut the door. Crystal breathed a sigh of relief; she was safe for now.

Clarity walked back into the room, and tapped a claw on the floorboards, trying to find the hollow space her sister was hiding in. When she heard an empty echo, she pulled the loose floorboards off, revealing Crystal, curled up in the small space. Clarity glared at her sister as Crystal slowly crawled out of the hole. "Okay, start talking," Clarity demanded. "What did you steal?"

Crystal held up the small spherical stone around her neck. "It's a weapon," she said, attempting to explain. "Queen Glacier wants to use it to destroy the MudWings."

Clarity looked at her younger sister skeptically, and bend down to touch the stone. Crystal nervously allowed her to touch it. "A weapon that can destroy the MudWings?" She laughed. "Does it work?"

Crystal shook her head. "Not yet, but Father thought it was almost complete. That's why I stole it. They won't be able to make another one, either, at least not before the war is finished."

Crystal sounded serious, and Clarity knew she was telling the truth. She might not have always gotten along with her younger sister, but she knew Crystal trusted Clarity with her life. That's why she had come here for refuge. "If it can really do all that, then you need to leave the Ice Kingdom, soon. Tonight if possible. They'll be back here, and I can't guarantee they won't find you next time."

Crystal nodded in agreement. She had known the consequences of taking the Darkstone when she had taken it. She rubbed between her claws. She had tried destroying it, but it hadn't worked. Crystal just had to take it with her, and the safest place was as far away from the Ice Kingdom as possible. The Sea Kingdom, if possible.

Clarity pulled out a scroll from a case, and unrolled it to reveal a map of Pyrrhia. She pointed her claw at a location just south of Queen Glacier's palace. As Crystal had suspected, Clarity had an escape plan prepared already, albeit it was intended for Clarity's use, not Crystal's. She and her mate were members of some anti-war group, if Crystal recalled correctly. She hadn't done a very good job of keeping up with her sister since she'd been apprenticed to Boreal.

"This is where we are now. Go due southeast. Not north, they'll expect you to follow the northern coast or the edge of the mountain range. Avoid towns on the way. Once you get to the eastern coast, follow it to the south, but only fly at night. The guards won't be able to see you as well then. You'll cross the Great Ice Cliff, but continue only flying at night until you get here." Clarity pointed a claw just south of the mouth of the Five-Tailed River. "I have a SkyWing friend there, her name is Avalanche. She lives in a house with blue shingles, and has bright red scales. Just tell her I sent you, she'll make sure you get through the Sky Kingdom safely."

Crystal nodded, rolled up the map, and put it into her satchel. Clarity gave her some salted seal meat, and Crystal added that with the map. "Thank you," she said to her sister, giving Clarity a quick hug with her wings.

"It's nothing," Clarity replied, pushing her sister away. "Just hurry, and be safe. May the Great Ice Dragon fly beside you." She pulled a scroll on her shelf partially out, and twisted it twice to the left, once to the right, then pushed it in again. Clarity grabbed the scrollshelf, and moved it to the side, exposing a small, narrow passageway with steep steps leading down into the frozen earth, barely large enough for Crystal to fit through. "This will get you just outside of the house, but you'll need to get flying as soon as you leave the tunnel. The guards will be watching the house for a while; I'll try and distract them after you get out."

Crystal nodded, and crept down into the passageway. The IceWing dragonet coughed slightly as the dust entered her airways, but continued on. She looked back, hoping to see her sister one last time, but Clarity was already moving the shelf again.

The passageway went completely dark, so Crystal's very limited IceWing nightvision was no use in helping her see anything. She had enough room to turn around, so she could only hope that the tunnel was unimpeded. Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, Crystal slowly walked through the tunnel, the frozen dirt closing in on her all around. She coughed, wincing as the sound echoed through.

It only took a couple minutes for Crystal to reach the exit, though it felt like much longer. There was a thin wall at the end. Crystal placed her claw around the edges of the wall: it was only loosely fitted in place. She pushed against it, and it slowly moved, pushing aside the snow that had piled up behind and on top of it. Crystal dug her claws into the cold ground of the tunnel, and shoved her body against the wall. It went another foot, and a mound of snow fell on her snout. Above, she saw the sky, green lights like waves flooding across it. She pushed against the wall one more time, and it finally moved enough for her to escape the tunnel.

Crystal clawed her way through the exit tunnel, pulling the rest of her body up. Her underbelly got caught on the top of the wall, before she pulled herself over and fell, snout-first, into the snow below. She shook herself off, and looked back. Clarity's voice could be heard in the distance, around the front of the house. Distracting the guards.

Crystal said a silent thank you, and spread open her wings. She gently pushed down with them, supplying the lift in order for her to take off. After getting to a sufficient height, she glanced back at the house. Clarity must have drawn the guards inside the house to let Crystal make her get-away. Much further in the distance, a dim light could be seen, the conglomeration of moon-globes in the palace. Crystal looked the other way, towards the south east. Nothing. Nervously rubbing the Darkstone between her talons, Crystal flapped her wings hard, flying as fast as a SkyWing.