Qibli flew towards Jade Mountain to tell Moon what happened, but luckily for him, about halfway there three dragons were flying toward him. A green dragon, a yellow and pink one, and a black one. As soon as they saw Qibli they flew as fast as they could.
"Qibli!" Moon screamed in delight, "You're alive!"
"We hoped you would escape," said Turtle as he flew beside Moon.
A ball of yellow came hurtling at him and he was almost knocked out of the sky, "Oh Qibli, we would have been there sooner, but we had to make sure everyone was okay at Jade Mountain. Turtle summoned Winter back and he came after you and Darkstalker. Hey, where is Darkstalker? Let me at him. And where is Winter?"
Turtle took Kinkajou by her talon, "Let's give Qibli a chance to speak."
Qibli turned away from the group. He started to sob.
Should I tell them the truth? The thought echoed around in his head, they were some of his closest friends after all. But they would probably hate him if not for Winter's accidental death, then it would be for Darkstalker's intentional one.
"Qibli?" Moon asked. He looked at her and cried harder. "How about we land? You can tell us what happened."
The group flew to a clearing of trees and they sat down. By now Qibli's face was so wet it looked like he had just come out of the water. His guilt was in full force and he broke down.
"Qibli?" Moon asked. "Just tell us what happened. Where is Winter?"
Qibli didn't reply.
She'll hate me if I tell her the truth. But if I tell her a lie it'll feel so wrong.
"Qibli?" Moon repeated, "Qibli?"
"J-j-just g-give me a-a minute," Qibli sobbed. He walked into the tangle of trees and sat down.
Is this how it's going to be. Every time a question is asked about Winter I'll break down?
He didn't want that. He wanted to be his normal and charming self, not an emotional sap. He was staring down at his talons and an idea. A single blade of grass was wrapped around his talon; it looked like a ring. He could make the grass a ring! Then he could enchant it to make him not feel emotional!
He held up the grass ring and said, "I enchant this grass to form into a ring and as long as this ring is on me I will not get emotional."
The blade of grass wrapped around his talon and hardened into a full-on ring. It felt like metal on his talons and looked like an actual ring. Qibli suddenly didn't feel sad anymore. He stepped out to his friends from the trees.
Moon wrapped her wing around Qibli, "Are you okay? Please just tell us what happened."
Qibli took a deep breath and started to talk. He told them how Winter came to save him, how Darkstalker made Qibli an animus, how Winter attacked Darkstalker and Qibli was thrown into a wall, how Darkstalker conjured up a spear, how he stabbed Winter with it, but how Winter brought Darkstalker down. By the end of the story, the group was in tears, Kinkajou was crying on Turtle who was looking down as tears ran down his face. Moon was crying the most, her silvery teardrop scales looked even more silvery from the wetness of her face. Eventually, Moon gathered herself together, "Qibli. At least you escaped."
"That must not have been easy for you, to tell us. We know you and Winter were close," Turtle chimed in.
"Listen, guys, I just need to clear my head," Qibli replied.
"We understand," Turtle said as Moon had gone back to fits of crying and Kinkajou was still crying on Turtle's shoulder.
"Good luck Turtle," Qibli said as he turned to leave.
"Good luck?" the Seawing replied.
"Well yeah. You have two crying girls with you. Even if they do stop they'll barely make it two feet."
"Wow, Qibli. Always finding jokes."
With that, the group parted and Qibli headed off in the way of the Kingdom of the Sand. But not to Thorn's but to a place where he felt he belonged now, a place where he could feel more appreciated. To the Scorpion Den. To his family. To his grandfather.
