The smells and sounds of a bustling marketplace wafted through the air, engulfing Crystal. She kept her head down, trying to make herself look as small as possible. This was no place for an IceWing; it was nothing like the placid serenity of the frozen tundra, with only the vaguest scents of a polar bear cub that had passed a week ago. A SandWing bumped into Crystal, pushing the dragonet out of his way with a hiss. Crystal shuddered as his deadly barb trailed past her, only inches from her nose.

"Have a barb wound you need healed? Brightsting Cactus at low prices!" a SkyWing vendor called out, seemingly directing his shouting towards her. Crystal placed a claw on the side of her snout, just to make certain she hadn't been scratched accidentally. She didn't have any spare change, and a scratch would be fatal if left untreated.

Crystal took a peek at the area around her. The town was primarily filled with SandWings, but a number of SkyWings were scattered around. She'd seen and talked to SandWings before, when she'd gone to the southern border with Boreal for the mining operation, but she'd only seen SkyWings in the aftermath of battles. They were allied with Burn, and the IceWings were in an alliance with Blaze. A few of the large-winged dragons gave her quick glares or frowned, but fortunately, most of them just seemed to ignore her.

Crystal quickly made her way through the town, carefully avoiding being caught by the deadly tail barbs. A blue-shingled roof,she wondered. Where could that be? So far, Crystal had no luck in finding the house, and she didn't know how much longer she had until night fell. She didn't particularly want to find out what kind of dragons were around after dark.

"You lost?" a voice suddenly asked from behind Crystal. She jumped up in surprise to see a young SandWing with golden-brown scales behind her. He had a small stick resting in his claws, with a thoroughly charred lizard impaled on it. A few of its legs appeared to have been torn off, presumably by the SandWing.

"I'm fine," Crystal warily replied. She glanced around quickly, and clutched her small satchel. Was this dragonet trying to rob her?

The SandWing looked at her curiously, examining the satchel she had moved a claw to. "I don't mean harm," he replied, snorting in laughter. "Just don't see many IceWings here. Too hot maybe. Where you going?"

"Nowhere," Crystal muttered. She didn't want to take any chances here, even if this dragonet seemed harmless enough. She was exposed enough as is, and didn't know if news from Glacier's Palace had reached here yet. She doubted it, but Glacier would have a large bounty on her head by now.

The dragonet fluttered his wings, keeping them folded in so not to brush up against the rest of the bustling crowd. "Suit yourself," he said, tearing off another leg of his lizard-ka-bob, "but you IceWings can't see in the dark, can you? Dontcha all use magical snowballs or something?"

Crystal was confused for a second, then realized what he was talking about. "Moon globes," she corrected. "I don't have any, if that's what you want."

The SandWing made a slight grimace on his face. "Aww, I've always wanted to see one. What about that thing around your neck? Is that magical too?"

Crystal suddenly covered the Darkstone on her neck with a claw. She had forgotten to take it off before she had entered the town. "No!" she quickly exclaimed, even knowing it wasn't completely true.

"Who'd ya' steal it from?" the SandWing asked, poking his nose a little closer.

"No one," Crystal hissed, "it's mine."

The dragonet snorted again. "You wouldn't be trying to hide it from me if it was yours. You'd be wearing it out and proud, walking around like no one could touch you. Don't worry, I've stolen stuff too. Gila and his snake-scaled thugs have far more than they'd ever need." He waved around the lizard on a stick, practically charcoal. "Don't wear that around after dark though."

Crystal nodded a little nervously. She really needed to find Avalanche, and quickly.

"So," the dragonet continued, "you need help finding your way?"

Crystal sighed, conceding. "Fine. What do you get out of helping me?"

The SandWing thought for a moment. "You tell me about the Ice Kingdom. It sounds nice, with palaces everywhere and enough food for everyone."

Crystal rolled her eyes. The Ice Kingdom had its own troubles, and it certainly wasn't as idyllic as the SandWing thought it was. "Alright, I don't really a choice, I suppose. I'm looking for a house with a blue-shingled roof. Ever seen it?"

The SandWing nodded. "Yeah, there's a SkyWing who lives there. She likes yelling at dragonets as we walk past. You want to see her? Most dragons try to stay away."

Crystal grimaced. Avalanche didn't sound like a dragon Crystal particularly wanted to meet, but it wasn't as if she had other options. Clarity said Avalanche was a friend, and her sister's word was good enough for her.

Crystal nodded. "Yes," she replied, "take me there.

The sun was starting to dip just below the horizon by the time Crystal and her new SandWing friend had reached Avalanche's house. It had turned out that Crystal had been in the wrong town altogether, but it was an easy mistake to make, since the two towns were close enough these days most of the dragons didn't distinguish between the two. Crystal had been searching in the western town, and she'd needed to cross the Great Five-Tail River to the SkyWing side, where the blue-shingled house would presumably be.

On first glance, Avalanche's house very much stood out. It didn't really seem like someplace for a rebel group to have a hidden base. The colorful roof not included, the architecture was clearly different from any of the houses around. While the SkyWing-built houses tended to use a grey stone and sharp triangular roofs, and the SandWings used open arches and flat roofs, Avalanche lived in what was practically a giant barn, with a blunt roof. It stood out in the city (cities?) like a toucan who'd accidentally wandered into Queen Glacier's palace, which had never happened, and of course never would, since toucans couldn't survive that far north.

Crystal walked forward towards the door. She turned around, realizing the SandWing hadn't walked up to the doorsteps with her. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Can't go with you. SkyWing said she'd knock my teeth out if I came here again."

"Oh," Crystal responded, frowning. She was somewhat hoping she wouldn't have to face Avalanche herself. "Alright, see you soon."
The SandWing shook his head a little grimly. "Sorry, gotta go now. My little sis is waiting. But nice meeting ya! Good luck with your angry SkyWing!" He waved a claw, still holding the stick, now charred lizard-less, and promptly walked off.

"Goodbye!" Crystal called after him. She sighed. She had almost wanted him to go with her. He had seemed pretty nice, but she guessed he had other things to attend to, this sister for example. It wasn't like she could just expect him to fly off with her into the Sky Kingdom. Yet, this way was safer anyways. Going alone, she wouldn't have to risk being betrayed, or someone else wanting the Darkstone for themselves.

Crystal knocked on the door to the blue-shingled house. She just realized that she hadn't ever asked the SandWing his name. If she ever came here again, she wouldn't know how to find him.

The door opened, and a flaming red SkyWing looked out at Crystal. "I SAID I'D KNOCK OUT ALL YOUR TEETH IF YOU DRAGONETS CAME BACK AGAIN!" she yelled. Crystal smelt Avalanche's sulfurous breath and almost gagged. She backed up a step.

"Er, I'm Crystal," she calmly explained. "Clarity's sister? She said you were a friend."

Avalanche let out a low growl. "Clarity?" she sneered. "She's still alive? I haven't gotten any word from her in almost a year, I'd figured Glacier had offed her by now."

Were all of Clarity's friends like this? Crystal snorted. "She's still very much alive."

Avalanche gave Crystal a long stare, scanning her up and down. "And you say you're her sister? How do I know that's true? Glacier could've tortured her for my location and sent you here to kill me."

Crystal laughed. "If I'm the best Glacier's got to kill you, then this war would've been over long ago."

"You humble yourself," Avalanche smirked, surprising Crystal with her sudden change of mood. "If you're anything like your sister, you could choke Burn with her own tail. Now get your wings in here before you attract more attention than you already have. I'm keeping a low profile."

That was a minor exaggeration, but Crystal took the compliment; Avalanche didn't seem like she would give out many more. In all honesty, Clarity had always been the far better fighter. Crystal had only made it to the Second Circle through her apprenticeship with her father, Boreal, and even then wasn't very far from the top of the Third. At least until Crystal had killed him, Boreal was Queen Glacier's favorite member of her council. Still, Crystal deeply regretted his death. He was a kind dragon, and not an awful father (which was saying a lot in the Ice Kingdom), but he hadn't cared what Glacier's ultimate plans for the Darkstone were. If there had been any other way, Crystal would've gone with that route, but she knew that if Boreal had lived, the mining operation would just continue, and all of this would be for nothing.

Crystal stepped into the blue-shingled house. It was just as tacky on the inside as it was on the outside. Series of objects and trash cluttered around it haphazardly, and charcoal was scattered around the fireplace. After checking to make sure no one was watching, Avalanche shut the door behind Crystal.

"So, how did you meet my sister?" Crystal asked the SkyWing. Clarity had been out of the Ice Kingdom a few times, to Crystal's knowledge, but she didn't know much else.

"Fracture, of course," Avalanche arrogantly replied. "You know him?"

Crystal nodded. She'd seen him a number of times before she had left the Ice Kingdom.

Avalanche snorted. "He's a nutcase, with his 'visions' and all, but he sure has connections. Got all five of us together somehow. Me, Clarity, Nautilus, and Trustbreaker. Not quite sure how he really found us all, but it was quite an accomplishment. He still wooing Clarity?"

Crystal shook her head. "No, they're mates now."

The SkyWing laughed. "Really? Did they have one of your cute IceWing rituals?"

Crystal had to think for a moment before realizing what Avalanche meant. "Marriage? Do you not have those?"

Avalanche sneered. "'Course not, it's stupid and frivolous."

Crystal frowned a little. If anything was stupid, it was the SkyWings' weird breeding program thing. Did they just not like romance or something like that? Weird.

"So, why did Clarity finally send word? Did she just finally feel like alerting me that she wasn't quite dead yet?" Avalanche continued.

The young IceWing shook her head. "I need help getting far away from the Ice Kingdom, and as soon as possible. Clarity said you'd help me through the Sky Kingdom."

The crimson SkyWing rolled her eyes. "Did she, now? That's nice of her, just giving me her little sister to take care of after completely cutting off contact for an entire year. You have a map?"

Crystal handed her map over. This SkyWing was starting to get tiring; she could see why Clarity didn't talk to her often. Avalanche tore it from the IceWing's claws and opened it. She grabbed a small piece of charcoal lying near her fireplace, and started drawing on the map with it. In a few seconds, she was done.

Avalanche gave Crystal her map back. "There," she hissed. "Just follow that line, and you'll be good. Now go."

Crystal looked at the map and frowned. There was a long black line on it, leading in curves across the Sky Kingdom to the eastern edge. "I didn't come all this way to get a line drawn on a map," she growled.

The large SkyWing gritted her teeth. "You're an ungrateful dragonet, you know that? That's the best you'll get: a path through the Sky Kingdom that avoids every dragon in the eastern half of Pyrrhia. I'm not going with you, if that's what you're asking. I have better things to do here."

"Fine," Crystal hissed back. "I'll go by myself. Where does it lead?"

"A friend of mine and your sister lives there, along with a bunch of other dragons he's gathered. He's a blindingly green SeaWing; you can't miss him."
You're one to complain about blinding scale colors, Crystal thought. She glanced out the window. It was dusk, and she didn't particularly want to go out into the town at night after the SandWing's warning. She sighed. "If you're not going with me, can I at least stay here for the night?"

Avalanche grinned, as she was pleased seeing the IceWing dragonet at her mercy. "Fine, but no longer than dawn. After that, come back and I'll knock your teeth out."

Crystal agreed to Avalanche's terms. She didn't want to come back here anyways, ever again.