Cricket's wings burned as she struggled to stay aloft. After the seventh leg of her flight, only the fire of her scientific curiosity kept her from flinging her massively heavy baggage down into the forests below. She had spent the past five days simply traveling, island hopping between Pantala and Pyrrhia and through the SandWing deserts to deliver some very special bookbinding equipment to Winter's human library.

Once upon a time, she called them monkeys, and the Pyrrhian dragons called them scavengers, but humans preferred to be called humans, so that was that. But even still, Cricket still caught herself calling them monkeys every so often - it would take a lot more time to undo seven years of etymology. It wasn't until recently that she discovered that they were intelligent, able to read and write and communicate like more than just wild animals amongst each other. Even more recently, she discovered that they could learn to talk to dragons.

Talk to dragons! she thought with a wonderful tremble. To think that there was an entire intelligent species out there just like them! And not only that, there were also different societies of species spread out across multiple continents! What kind of scientific progress have the Pyrrhian humans made so far? She fantasized about spending longs hour in their chemistry labs, or poring through structural designs with their architects, or even watching them refine metals in their smelteries.

Her imagination was so strong that the HiveWing forget just how much weight she carried on her back. She flew low over the water, searching for a familiar hut along the shores of the lake. Cricket quickly spotted it, though gone was the large scavenger pen Winter had built so long ago. In its place was a cabin no larger than an actual house, and before it stood an ice-blue dragon. From so far above, she could barely recognize his expression, but his pacing and sweeping tail screamed impatience.

Cricket was thankful to finally be able to land after hours on end. She dove down to the hut, flaring her wings out just enough to forestall her landing, but her legs complained anyways from the packages trying their best to crush her into the dirt. "Hey there, Winter!" she exclaimed, trying to make her voice seem not as strained as she was. "I hope I'm not late! It's such a long trip from the Hives."

In the brief time they had spent together in Sanctuary, Cricket had learned absolutely nothing about IceWings. Despite her exhaustion and her guest's inscrutable expression, she had to mentally coach herself into not letting every one of her questions spill out of her mouth like ink from a pen. Instead, she relieved herself of her luggage, delicately setting the weighty boxes down next to her. "It's been a while, Cricket," said Winter as he picked them up for her. "How many days did it take?"

She racked her mind for any information she remembered about him. Very stuffy, somewhat distant, except when it came to scavengers. "Five days," she said, entertaining what was surely polite disinterest from him. "HiveWings aren't made for flying long distances, so it was definitely a journey. I bet I'm the first HiveWing to have done a solo trip like that! Maybe they'll write a book about me someday."

"That's a long trip," mused Winter as he pulled the delivery into the cabin. "You could have just have sent for a SkyWing courier instead."

"Nonsense," Cricket said, pushing the remaining box in behind him. "I wanted to be here to make sure the equipment was installed correctly." The wood ground against the floor, drawing a look from Winter, but the HiveWing was far more preoccupied with marveling at the inside of the cabin. Row after row of empty shelves lined the walls, glowing in the afternoon light filtering down from the skylights above. In the middle laid a series of tables and comfortable-looking chairs, clearly meant to be enjoyed for hours on end. And, to Cricket's immense surprise, there was one specific section of the library fenced off with shelves that only rose up to their underbellies. Unlike the dragon-sized shelves, they were stuffed to the gills with human books and tomes.

"In any case, I appreciate it," said the IceWing, hauling one of the boxes up to the table. "It seems like Pantala has a lot of tools we could use." He unlatched it and, to Cricket's surprise, let out a soft "whoa".

She came up beside him and stared into the box as well. "Oh, that's just honeycomb," she said, fighting down the urge to ask him what he found so astounding about it. "We use it as packing material in case we need to move or transport sensitive things."

"Moving," Winter said, as if the word was foreign to him.

"Yeah, moving," Cricket said. "Like, if you want to live in a house across the Hive. That's what we call our cities. You don't move often?"

She didn't want to comment on his lost expression, no matter how valiantly he struggled to keep it hidden. Cricket reached into the box and pulled away at the honeycomb, revealing one of the two critical pieces of technology she had imported. "Now this," she said, beaming, "is what you should be 'whoa-ing' about."

Inside the box laid a pair of thick wooden slabs, bottles of glue, and a paper cutting board. "It's the best bookbinding kit that scales can buy," she said, proudly adjusting her glasses. "It's a model that isn't even released to the public yet! I convinced the maker to give me an early copy because I'd be using it in the 'land across the sea'. Books are much more compact and accessible than scrolls, so I figured this would help with organizing human research."

Winter looked admirably at the kit, but she could tell that he wasn't quite wowed by her show. "Okay, I also brought something else that you might like a little more," Cricket said, retrieving a much smaller box from the crate. She removed the protective honeycomb filler and pulled out a small, rectangular metal frame, about two talons wide and one talon long. Inlaid in it was a piece of concave glass, one that deformed whatever image was on the other side. "You know how we can barely read the things that humans write in their books?"

"Definitely. Their paw-writing is so small," Winter said with a frown. "My eyes ache every time I try to read it."

"If you can get a book for me," said the HiveWing, "I'll show you what it's useful for."

Winter dutifully left for the human section of the library, returning with a thick leather-bound book. "I've always wanted to know what this one was about," he said ruefully, "but the text is way too small for me to make out, let alone comprehend."

Cricket took the book gingerly between her talons, reaching into the box for a set of tweezers. It was a difficult effort not to damage the book, but she was careful in turning the pages of the claw-sized book. She opened it to a particularly dense page, reaching for her metal tool and holding it above the book. "I worked with a glassblower for days to get this design right," she said, barely paying attention to what she said as she read the magnified human language through the glass. "I didn't know if it would actually work, but it did! My understanding of optical physics paid off at last."

Winter sidled up closer to her, also peering through her magnifying glass. "Whoa." Winter's surprise was genuine this time. "I don't have to strain my eyes at all to read this. This book's… about… desert dragons?" His brows furrowed, and Cricket could tell he was struggling to parse the language. "Dragons of sand… SandWings!" he said proudly. "This is a human book on dragon behavior!"

"A massive book, apparently," she said, continuing to scan through the lines. In her studies back on Pantala, she had completely engrossed herself in learning the human language, and was proud to say that she was as adept as a young human child at reading it. "Though, it's kind of… nasty? 'Desert dragons will often circle their prey like vultures until they are too exhausted to move. Only then will they move in for the kill. Travelers are advised only to journey the desert at night, when dragons tend to rest.' Uh... yikes."

Winter shifted uncomfortably underneath her gaze. "Well, not all SandWings are like that," he said defensively. "And most dragons didn't know humans were intelligent! Not until recently."

"No one was curious?" asked Cricket, her head tilting. "The humans on Pantala are way more intelligent than any other animal we come across while hunting."

"Too busy being big, loud dragons to care," Winter said with a shrug. "It's not like many dragons think about animals beyond how they taste, anyways."

Cricket let out a small gasp. "How? That's ridiculous – why wouldn't they want to study them?"

She didn't expect Winter to so violently agree, but he looked at her as if she had just discovered immortality. "That's what I've been trying to say!" he exclaimed, setting the magnifying glass back down on the table. "All these years, everybody's been calling me a scavenger enthusiast, a scavenger lunatic, even a scavenger in dragon's clothes. But you understand." Cricket didn't realize such a sleek, stern dragon could look so happy, but Winter looked like he could fly to the moon and back. "I wish I could wipe their minds and make them realize that humans are this smart all over again. I'd savor the looks on their stupid faces."

"Oh!" Cricket said with a laugh. She watched as the mirth faded from the IceWing's eyes, and worried that she had said something wrong. "Did they really give you that much trouble for liking humans?"

His tail bristled as it swept across the wooden floor. "They tormented me for years. I used to keep a human as a pet – yes, I know, shut up," he said with a sigh, staring at Cricket's shocked expression. "I knew they were intelligent, but thought maybe they were intelligent like dolphins, or whales. Not capable of complex thought, though I knew there was something more to it than that.

"I have a friend who was the same way," Cricket said, thinking fondly back to a particularly angry LeafWing. "She said that my fascination with them was ridiculous. But dragons like them just don't get it." She shook her head. "Some dragons aren't just born curious."

Winter let out a laugh, which surprised the HiveWing. Given from what she knew about Queen Snowfall, she didn't think IceWings were capable of laughter. "You sound like Qibli," he said, giving her a smile. "He's always thinking, always curious, always has crazy new ideas that no dragon could ever have. Or should."

Cricket racked her memory again. "Qibli the SandWing? I flew with him to Pantala, but that was a couple years ago.? He had a scar over his muzzle, right? And a cute earring? Is that just SandWing fashion?"

"Horribly garish SandWing fashion," Winter said with a tone that told Cricket far more than she expected. "But for however bad it looked, it saved a lot of lives."

She blinked. "Saved a lot of lives?"

"When Darkstalker was reanimated," he said, as though his name was a curse. "He used animus magic to spread a deadly plague within my tribe, and Qibli's earrings protected us from dying."

Cricket stared at him as if he had just dumped a stack of encyclopedias ten dragons tall right in front of her. "Uh," she said, brown eyes as large as the moon. "Wait, okay, so… Darkstalker? Who's Darkstalker? He was reanimated, like brought back from the dead? You can do that with dragons? And hold on, you can use animus magic to kill other dragons? What's so special about Qibli's earrings, then? How did they protect you for dying? Is Qibli an animus? Wait, wait, I'm getting ahead of myself." She paused to take a breath. "Hooooooow does animus magic even work? I thought it was broken?! That's what Tsunami said a long time ago!"

She would have continued, but Winter looked as if he'd rather swallow sand. "Qibli isn't an animus, fortunately. I'm sure my life would be a thousand times worse if he was," he said with a snort. "And if you really want to know more, the library at Jade Mountain Academy has the records of the legends of Darkstalker."

"Yes," she said, "I know. I'm going to head there next after helping you set up the bookbinder here. I have another that I need to deliver to Starflight, anyways. He seemed so excited when he wrote to me – you know how it's possible to see how people feel from just how they write? I bet you can tell how Qibli is from his letters. He writes a lot of letters." Cricket adjusted her glasses and looked back in the larger box, picking out pieces of honeycomb packaging. "Or maybe I'm just weird... yeah."

She was surprised to see something besides mere disinterest flash in his eyes, but the cold IceWing didn't say else. Cricket supposed that she just had to be thankful that Winter decided to help her with pulling out the instrumentation and the wood from the box. Though she had a million other questions about IceWings, she had to be contented with only the knowledge that they were icy dragons.

Winter leaned in close, accidentally brushing wings with her as he picked up another slab of wood out of the box. The chilliness of his hide forced her to draw her self back with a shiver. "Sorry," he said, sparing only a glance at her. "IceWings are naturally cold."

"Oh," she said simply, suppressing the majority of her mind screaming "BUT WHY ARE YOU SO NATURALLY COLD?!" That drew a longer stare from the IceWing, but she ducked her head and busied herself with collecting all of the packaging material scattered on the table. Maybe she could find a more amicable IceWing, though between her sample size of Snowfall and Winter, she hazarded a guess about their unfriendly culture.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Winter murmur at the thick slabs of oak in his claws. "This wood is very high quality," he said with a frown. "I don't think I've seen anything like it before."

"It was made from one of the last few trees on Pantala," offered Cricket."It's really rare… at least there, that is."

That comment got a rise out of Winter. "The last few trees?" he asked with arched eyebrows. "You mean to tell me that Pantala doesn't have trees?"

"No, it does!" Cricket said, raising one of her claws in alarm. "It does! Mostly jungles though, in a small corner of our continent. Most of the trees have been… destroyed." She gestured up at the logs comprising the walls of the cabin. "Something like this would have cost me ten years of research funding to purchase."

She silently begged the IceWing to ask her more questions. He looked curious enough, but there was still enough suspicion laced into his expression that he turned away and looked down at the expertly finished wood again. "So how much did these cost you?" he asked.

Cricket let out a nervous laugh. "Uh, I don't…" She thought about how much of her grant money had been consumed by the two packages she had flown over the ocean, and her wings wilted. "Well, there was procuring the wood, of course, and then finding a woodmaker to level the planks – which is difficult, mind you, because finding a woodmaker in a world without wood is… not the easiest thing. And then packaging it up and making sure to keep it safe all the way here… the answer is a lot," she finally admitted with a sigh. "But it's worth it to be able to spread knowledge like this."

It surprised her to find Winter raptly paying attention to her this time. She swore his entire icy body glittered, dazzlingly reflecting the afternoon light as he smiled at her. "I'll be sure to repay you for this. Anything for human research, right?" he asked.

She nodded emphatically, grateful that she had randomly seemed to win herself in his good graces again. "Yes, definitely," she said. "I'm extremely curious to see how humans on Pyrrhia are different than the ones on Pantala. I hope you can help me with that."

"Of course!" he declared with a swagger Cricket found almost cute. "As long as you tell me about what you've found over on your continent."

"I'll be sure to send you the next Journal of Sociology next month." She considered humility for a moment, but found herself dying to tell someone who weren't her parents or Blue about her achievement. "My article is the feature! On the Behavior of Humans: A Sociological Introduction, by human researcher Cricket. I mean, a human researcher is a dragon who researches humans," said Cricket to a confused Winter. "Not like, a human researcher."

She was certain that Winter had his own host of questions, but he didn't seem to be the asking kind of dragon. "A journal is just a collection of different articles from different scientists," she said. "It's like a monthly meet-up where they compare notes and sometimes step on each other's tails and get angry at each other. It's a melodramatic scene, honestly."

He looked up at her. "Thanks for explaining that," he said, setting the wood slabs down. "It sounds like a prestigious position. Researcher…"

Cricket wasn't sure what to make of the comment – there was undeniable admiration in it, of course, but also something that made him sound defeated. Was it because he didn't like that the Pantalan dragons were more advanced than they were? Or maybe it was wariness? Were IceWings a researcher society, too? Did he see them as competition?

She had waited too long to respond. "So, you should show me how this works," said Winter, trying to smooth over the awkwardness. Everything was laid out before him – wooden slabs, threaded rods, adhesive compounds, cutting table… but it seemed like he was waiting entirely on her to guide him.

Or maybe, she thought silently, he was so lost that he didn't want to admit it.

Cricket shook the thought from her head. If that was the case, then she could just teach him! "Where do you keep your blank scrolls?" she asked brightly. "We'll have to cut those to size first before starting the binding process…"

By the time they had produced their first two books, the sun had long since set. But the two dragons were still busy as the moons rose in the sky, poring over tome after human tome. Only the sound of pens scratching on parchment filled the air inside the library, Winter and Cricket peering tirelessly through their magnifying glasses to read human books and transcribe their texts. Every so often, one of them would come across something interesting and exchange a few words with the other, but the silences were long and steady.

After what seemed to be an eternity, Cricket let out a groan and set down her magnifying glass and pen. "We've been at this for hours," she said with a yawn, stretching her translucent wings out. "How are you still working at it?"

Winter continued to write until he had finished his sentence, then looked up. "This is nothing compared to the lessons taught backed in the Ice Kingdom," he said. "At least we aren't standing in some awful, contrived manner when doing these transcriptions."

"Contrived... manner?" asked Cricket.

Winter set his tools down and stood back from the table. He stood upon his hind legs and straightened his back, head arching forward in what must have been extreme discomfort. Even so, his facial expression settled into something that reminded Cricket strongly of Sundew when she chose to be brutish. "You may not see the Queen right now," he intoned. "You must first appeal for audience with her council, from where after they shall review your case and determine whether it is worthy of her time."

Cricket couldn't help but giggle, earning herself a glare from the IceWing. "So formal!" she said. "I don't think I've heard I've heard even the royal HiveWings talk like that before."

"Yeah," Winter said sourly, falling back on all fours. "I had to do that every day."

"Every day?"

"Or my mother wouldn't allow me to be seated at the dinner table," he said with a sigh. "She was obsessed with creating the perfect IceWing children. It's how you kept your placement on the wall, after all."

Cricket's mind buzzed again, a million different questions bouncing around in her head, but this time she knew that she couldn't just dump them all on Winter. "The wall?" she asked, doing her best to sound only casually interested.

Winter blinked at her. "Let's take a break," he said.

The two dragons walked outside, the light of the half-moon painting the lake before them. Cricket took a seat in the lakeside grass, trying not to squirm as it tickled her scales. The sheer variety of plant life on Pyrrhia still surprised her, even after seeing all the wonders of the Poison Jungle. She had to try very, very hard to suppress her envy of how wonderfully diverse Pyrrhia's climes were.

Winter took a seat beside her, the HiveWing noticing how he did his best to keep his distance from her. "So, the wall was a ranking system, devised by IceWings a millennia ago" he said, "that determined your place in IceWing society. The higher your name were on the wall, the closer you would live to the Ice Palace, where royalty lived. The highest dragons on the wall were permitted to live inside the palace itself."

"Sort of like a caste system?"

"Not at all." Winter gave her a fierce look. "It's meritocracy. The harder you worked at whatever it was you were supposed to do, the higher your family name would go. If you were a warrior, that meant good performance in battle. If you were a politician, that meant how much you befriended royalty. And," he said ruefully, "if you were a dragonet, that meant good combat grades and good academic scores."

Cricket hummed, taking a moment to process the new information. "It sounds a lot like school for us," she said. "I was never good at athletics, if you couldn't tell... actually, where do you rank on the walls, Winter?"

"IceWings who don't live in the Ice Kingdom aren't ranked," said Winter with a snort. "But when I did, I always ranked lower than my brother. He led the wall when it came to the dragonets. Best grades, best combat ability, best… everything. A truly perfect IceWing. Even if I screwed up, his sheer superiority would cover for me. My family treated him as a ticket to get closer in with royalty, and… it worked."

"That…" Cricket had more questions on the mind, but knew it wouldn't be right to ask. She searched for the right thing to say, but it wasn't like she had a real family history to reflect upon. "That sucks," she said finally, feeling guilty for not producing any better answer.

But Winter seemed to take it in stride, his claws playing in the grass. "It's alright now," he said with a smile. "My cousin destroyed the old system."

"Queen Snowfall?" asked the HiveWing. "I sometimes forget you're related. Can someone so young really destroy a system one thousand years old?"

Winter stared at her, and for a moment Cricket thought she overstepped – maybe commenting on a foreign tribe's culture as if she knew it was not the best idea. But a moment later, he chuckled and looked up at the sky. "Probably not," he said simply, "but you have to start somewhere. It's a good thing, though. Back then, when I was a dragonet, I always wondered if my failures would get my family banished out of the royal castles and out to the ice floes in the sea."

He fell silent. Cricket thought about the next question she wanted to ask, riding her intuition the best she could. "So what did you study when you were a dragonet?" she said aloud.

Her intuition, unfortunately, was horrible. Winter gave her an appraising stare, then looked out at the placid waters. "I mean, uh," Cricket said, anxious to recover the situation. "I meant to ask why you were so interested in humans! In a climate like that, there must have been so few humans out there, so you probably only saw one or two of them. Right?"

Winter looked back at her, and she was happy to see that a small smile had appeared on his muzzle. "Well," he said, "I just thought they were… really interesting. Humans that lived in the Ice Kingdom bundled themselves up in animal furs, many layers thick. I would see them from time to time, moving around in little packs hunting or trying to not get eaten by dragons. They used to start campfires, but after a few other IceWings got smart about random smoke trails, they didn't really do that anymore." He played with his claws, letting out a small sigh. "I wonder how many IceWings have learned that their prey can speak the same language as them."

"So the rumors are true!" breathed Cricket, eyes wide. "Pyrrhian dragons ate humans."

"I didn't eat humans!" Winter said, his mane bristling. "I just… imprisoned one… probably against their will. But I kept them from being eaten! And Daffodil forgave me for keeping her in that little enclosure, so there!"

Cricket couldn't help but laugh at his defensive tack. "I'm not accusing you of anything, Winter," she said. "I was just thinking about how Pantalan human literature might be different than Pyrrhian human literature. SilkWings are vegetarian, and neither HiveWings nor Hivewings eat humans. There must be little in their books about avoiding dragons due to, well… being eaten, instead of just being accidentally stepped on or something."

The IceWing settled down, but still shot her a dirty look. "I'd never eat a human, before or after learning about how smart they were," he said fiercely.

"I know, Winter, I know."

"Good." He let out a puff of ice vapors jet from his snout, the crystals evaporating in the warm evening sky. Cricket was about to open her mouth to ask him about that, too, when he shot a question back at her. "So what you got you so interested in humans?" he asked.

She hoped that her face didn't convey the surprise she felt. An IceWing, asking her a casual question like that? "Well, I saw one once, and it was reading a book before I scared it off. And then I thought, wow, they can read?! I wonder what they read? And how could I not like someone who reads books?"

Winter laughed. "Really? That's it?" He seemed to think for a moment before looking at her. "Well, what if someone evil read a lot of books?"

"Then they haven't been reading the right books," said Cricket with a grin.

The IceWing snorted, but Cricket could hear the laughter in it. "Are you sure you haven't been learning your humor from Qibli?" he said. "I don't think I've met anyone else with his kind of wit before."

Cricket was no savant, but she could easily sense how Winter's voice dropped a notch, how his face relaxed at the mere mention of his name. "I'm going to guess you know him very well. A good friend of yours?"

"He's… he's a dragon," Winter said carefully. "He's definitely a dragon."

Now it was Cricket's turn to laugh. "That's the most technical non-answer I have ever heard. Do you think you'd consider being a professor at my local university?"

"What? I'm not wrong," the IceWing said with a scowl. "He is, in fact, a dragon."

"I would hope so," said Cricket, trying to stem her annoyance. The first time this IceWing has shown a hint of relatability, and he was determined to quash it like a seedling in a terrarium! "But what kind of dragon is he? Details are everything, Winter!"

"I… well, alright." He let out a heavy sigh. "He's a… very good friend of mine. Best friends, even, as silly as that sounds. We've been through thin and thick together, even staring down one of most evil dragons who ever lived."

Cricket tilted her head. "Darkstalker, right?"

"Darkstalker," Winter said. "An animus mind-reader who could also see into the future. Also, his first move was to commit total IceWing genocide, which almost worked. And somehow, that stupid sand-snorter and a few other friends of mine managed to outsmart him. Imagine that! A dragonet defeating the most powerful dragon to walk the land in thousands of years."

The HiveWing sat there for a moment, trying to comprehend Winter's words. "So Qibli defeated Darkstalker?" she asked, suddenly breathless. The sheer amount of intelligence a dragon would need to play around those impossible skills was… "He really did it by himself?"

"Well, that's what I'm told," Winter said with an annoyed flick of his tail. "I wasn't there when it actually happened – I've just been fed little bits and rumors. He told me I couldn't handle the truth – arrogant SandWing."

Cricket tried not to let her disappointment show. She was so close to living history, yet Winter hadn't actually been there when Darkstalker had been defeated… "Well, he sounds really smart," she said slowly, making a mental note to find Qibli before she left Pyrrhia. "It takes a lot of brains to be able to accomplish a feat like that."

"Overthinker," said Winter, though this time Cricket recognized a note of affection in his voice. "Be careful not to compliment him, though. I'm sure he'd hear what you say, act pleased, then try to figure out what kind of angle you're trying to approach him from."

"What do you mean by that?"

The IceWing cleared his throat and held his head high. "Oh, is Cricket trying to make friends?" he exclaimed in a high-pitched falsetto. "Maybe she wants to curry some political power in the Sand Kingdom through me? Maybe she wants some information, instead! Or oh, maybe, because I'm such a daft, stupid smoke-breather, I think that she's trying to win my affection! Oh, that must be it! Beguiled by my SandWing charm and wits and devastatingly good looks, she must have fallen for me!"

The HiveWing couldn't help but bust out laughing, removing her glasses so they didn't slide right off her face. "I've met him before! I know that's not what he sounds like," she eked out, struggling to breathe.

"Oh, of course not. He's actually higher-pitched," Winter said with a smirk. "Just a little, though. Or a lot. Actually, I prefer a lot."

"Of course, yes," said Cricket, wiping a tear from her eye. "What did you say before? He's definitely a dragon."

As the HiveWing's laughter subsided, Winter settled back down in the grass, splaying out his legs and staring at the moonlight rippling in the lake. "Yes," he said so softly she had to lean in to hear him. "He's definitely a dragon."

The look on his face was one that Cricket recognized instantly. It was a look that Blue gave her every time they so much as looked at each other. Even now, she smiled from just imagining the pure adoration and need radiating off of his silly, innocent face. "Hey," she said aloud, "do you remember Sundew at all?"

"I do," he said, the dreamy expression sliding right of his face. "The one who called Queen Snowfall a pile of icicles?"

Cricket winced. "Yeah, that sounds like Sundew alright," she said with a nervous laugh. It made it much more difficult to follow up with her actual point: "You kind of remind me of her."

The IceWing murmured. "What makes you say that?"

"I, uh," Cricket stammered, feeling sillier by the second for even opening her mouth. What was she supposed to say, that they both struck her as lovelorn dragons? "Well, she's kind of a little, uh, prickly…"

"Hm," mused Winter. "Prickly. I like the way that sounds."

The HiveWing didn't know what say next, but luckily, she didn't need to think too hard. She looked up at the sound of flapping wings, her savior descended from the skies. It was a lithe SandWing, barely larger than her, who landed in the grass before them. "Winter," said the dragon, "It's late, buddy. I thought something had happened to you."

"I'm fine," he said back, some bite in his voice. "I was just out here chatting with Cricket. She came from Pantala to deliver some research materials."

The SandWing turned his full attention to her, and she tried not to stare at the scar zig-zagging across his snout. "Oh! Hey, Cricket! It's been a really long time," he said, offering a claw. "Since Pantala, of course."

"Qibli!" she said, grasping his talons. "I was wondering if we'd get to meet again. We were just talking about you, actually – Winter's had a lot of…" She gave a sideways look to the IceWing, who glared at her, and figured that his dignity hung on the next few words that came out of her mouth. "A lot of nice things to say about you."

She knew she made the wrong choice when Qibli grinned wide. "Did he?" he exclaimed, his tail wagging behind him like a wolf's. "I've never heard Winter say anything nice to my face before. Usually the most affection I get from him is 'sand-snorter' or 'cactus-licker', or both of those together when he's feeling especially creative, so this is an awesome development! Isn't that right, buddy?"

"Bite me."

Qibli gasped. "Winter! Not in public! We have a guest here, you know."

There was so much information for Cricket to absorb. The smug, cunning look on Qibli's face and the embarrassed anger emanating from Winter's body told a story that could have filled an entire book. The HiveWing found herself smothering a giggle as she realized what kind of game the two dragons were playing, trying her best not to attract attention to herself.

But Qibli seemed to realize that she was still right there between them, and straightened himself out. "Would you like to come back with us to Winter's place?" he asked. "I'm not sure where you're lodged, but Sanctuary is hard to navigate at night."

"Would that be alright?" Cricket asked, surprised by his sudden generosity.

"Yeah! There's a guest room and everything."

She brightened up instantly. Instead of having to go to some dusty hotel room, she could spend the night with Winter and Qibli. Would they stay up long enough to entertain my questions? she thought with a quiver. Cricket knew that Qibli was kind enough to answer all of her inquiries the last time they traveled, but maybe he could get Winter to loosen up, too. "I'd love to," she said in the most appreciative voice she could muster.

Cricket didn't want to say anything to the two dragons, but the question burned like flamesilk in her mind.

How were there two guests, but only one guest room?

She had set her baggage down in the guest room earlier, which, to her surprise, was completely unoccupied. Now she sat at a table in the living room, watching Winter scoop some strangely frozen icy cream into some bowls and Qibli bury himself nose-deep in a scroll. "What are you reading?" she asked, trying to peer at the parchment.

"Oh, just a letter from Queen Thorn. Very hush hush, very confidential. Not for HiveWing eyes," he said with a dark look.

"Oh, uh, n-never mind then-"

She fumbled with an apology on her tongue before Qibli let out a laugh. "Nah, it's nothing serious. Just some research notes from an friend of ours. Do you remember Moonwatcher?"

"Yes, I remember. She's the prophecy NightWing who came with us," said Cricket, wide-eyed. "Is she a researcher now, too?"

"She's definitely a mindreader, at the very least." Winter let out a scowl as he set a bowl full of dessert right before Cricket. "Honestly, the only reason I have to wear skyfire all the time."

Qibli chuckled. "Except that one time you didn't yesterday."

"S-shut up!"

Qibli looked back at Cricket as Winter continued to plate the ice cream. "Anyways, she's in town too. She's trying to figure out the exact nature of her prophecy abilities. Even though she's nothing like Clearsight, it'd still be useful to see if she can develop a more exact form of prediction. I guess you can call that research."

"Do you think I could look at her notes?" asked Cricket, leaning so closely in that Qibli had to back away from the table slightly. "When I first heard about it, I didn't think it was anything more than fairy tales or extremely logical predictions. But I STILL can't get over that it's actually real…"

"You and me both, Cricket. You and me both." Qibli pulled the scrolls back when Winter set a bowl before him. "Again? Winter, you're spoiling me!"

The IceWing let out an aggravated sigh and came to the dinner table, his own bowl in claw. "Well, we have a guest," he said with a growl. "And we're polite to guests. At least, I am."

"Really," said the SandWing, turning his nose up. "That's not how I remember you treating me when I came yesterday. There were a lot more insults, a lot more embarrassment, but I mean… you did serve me ice cream. That much I'll acknowledge."

Cricket knew that IceWings were cold, but so much blue flooded his cheeks that she could have warmed a pot of coffee on them. "ANYWAYS," said Winter, passing her a spoon, "this is ice cream. It's a frozen IceWing delicacy. Usually you have them with- oh, wait." He turned back into the kitchen, coming back with a large pawful of blueberries. The HiveWing watched, transfixed, as he breathed a cold, wintry breath over all of the berries. "I almost forgot these," he said, dumping half a clawful into her bowl.

She stared at the frozen fruit, listening to them crackling sharply. "How do IceWings do that?" she asked, tilting her head. "I know many dragons can breathe fire, but Lynx was the only one who I'd seen breathe ice… before you, I mean. How does that even work?"

Winter stared at her as if she had just explained that she didn't know what flying was. "Well," Qibli said, drawing her gaze, "it's kind of like asking you why you have four wings. It's just part of what IceWings are."

"I know!" she protested. "But like, what exactly causes them to breathe ice is what I mean? I can tell you about the biomechanics behind four-winged lift, like… it's called wing coupling." She spread out her wings in the small space and flapped them once, showing off how they both moved at the same time. "They're functionally dipterous, which means that both wings act in tandem, so the lift generated is summated as the force vectors of… yeah…"

Qibli looked like he was trying his best to follow, or at least appear interested in what she was saying. That was better than Winter's, whose expression seemed to be a cross of confusion and annoyance. "You should really talk to Starflight," offered the SandWing. "I'd bet he'd spend day and night just listening to you talk about this stuff." He scooped a heaping spoonful of ice cream and fit the entire thing in his mouth, humming in delight.

Cricket looked down at her own bowl, digging her own spoon in the exact same way that Qibli did. "Get one of those berries, too," she heard.

She blinked at Winter. "What?"

"The frozen blueberries. Make sure you get a couple of those in with the ice cream."

So she did just that, balancing a couple of the berries in the mushy cream before taking a bite.

Her first reaction was to exclaim how cold it was, but she couldn't with all of the ice cream in her maw. It was cold and creamy, but rather flat… until she crunched on the blueberries. Then, all of their flavor burst out, coloring the ice cream with a tart sweetness that she couldn't help but swallow down. "This is ice cream, right?" she asked, letting out a low breath. She could feel the coolness of the air passing over her tongue. "I've read about it once or twice, but never…"

"An IceWing delicacy," Winter said with a smug grin. "No other tribe on Pyrrhia is capable of making such a confection."

"Easy, Winter," Qibli said with a chuckle. "If he goes on anymore, he'll convince you that the IceWings are the 'most awesomest' dragons on the continent – sorry, continents."

The IceWing snorted. "For the record, I wouldn't have said 'most awesomest'. The correct word is awesome."

Qibli batted Winter with a wing. "See?" Can't ever shut him up," he said with an affectionate grin.

Cricket laughed, concealing her surprise at how much… different Winter seemed with Qibli around. Before, he had been polite, if a bit cold, but it seemed like the SandWing was able to easily melt his glacial defenses. She took another bite of her ice cream, enjoying its frozen notes just as much as the last. Back on Pantala, there was nothing, dessert or otherwise, that was this cold.

Now she really wanted to know how frostbreath worked, but didn't have the bravery to ask Winter right now.

Qibli let out a hum, drawing Cricket's eyes to him. He frowned, toying with the spoon dug into his ice cream. "You know, speaking of Starflight… Queen Glory also has a prisoner somewhere in the rainforest who used to be a scientist. Funnily enough, he's Starflight's dad."

"Really?" Cricket's wings quivered. "Starflight's dad was a scientist? That explain a lot about him. Oh, do you think that he'd be interested in talking with me?"

"Well," Winter said, a guarded look on his face. "It depends if you really want to talk to someone who was interested in tribal genocide."

"Winter-"

The IceWing brushed his friend off with a shake of his head off, investing himself in a scoop of ice cream before continuing. "I'm fine, Qibli, I'm fine," he said. "Long ago, before you dragons came over to Pyrrhia, the NightWing tribe wanted to invade the rainforest, which was filled with RainWings. If you had to take control of a rainforest and all of its hopelessly lazy natives, what would you do? Suppose you couldn't get them to leave." He waved his spoon in the air, left and right with his options. "Do you exterminate them, or do you enslave them? That was the question that Mastermind was trying to answer."

Cricket stared at him. She had never heard of the term genocide used on this continent before, the ice cream churning in her stomach as she tried to consider the best thing to ask next. "Are you… are you sure Mastermind was a scientist? He's not like Queen Wasp, is she? Not some maniacal dictator?"

"I don't think he's a maniac or a dictator," Qibli said, giving her a wary look. "From the bits and pieces I've heard from Starflight, he was just… very interested in science and research. To him, it was just another lab experiment, like figuring out how to make seeds grow faster."

"You presoak them," Cricket said quickly. "If you soak them in water a day before potting them, they'll have germinated already. I mean, uh."

"Imagine that kind of thinking, but with dragon lives," Winter said with a small growl. "That's what Mastermind did."

"Allegedly did," Qibli said, raising a claw. "Neither of us have actually talked to him. All we know is from what Queen Glory and Starflight have told us. But yeah, he's not exactly who I would call a friendly dragon, especially if he's willing to consider an entire tribe a science experiment."

"But wait," Cricket pleaded. "That's horrible! Yes, experiments are good for gaining knowledge, but science is also supposed to be used to for good! Advance society and make life better for all dragons, not harm them."

Qibli shook his head. "You could say the same about animus magic," he said, "but it can go both ways. We have some pretty intimate experience with that."

"Darkstalker," Cricket guessed.

"Darkstalker." Qibli's spoon clacked in the bowl as he polished off his ice cream. "I still have nightmares about him. The most powerful animus dragon in the world, and surprise surprise, he just doesn't seem to have moral boundaries of any kind. Imagine being okay with murdering freely or enchanting away free will."

"But he's gone now," Winter said, looking sharply at Qibli. "Right?"

Qibli let out a sigh. "Buddy," he said, "yes, he's gone forever. And if he ever comes back, it's not that big of a deal, especially without animus magic."

"You know that wasn't what I was asking," the IceWing said, ruffling his mane. "I can't believe you still won't tell me how you defeated him. Is he sleeping under another mountain? Did you make him vanish into thin air? Did you… did you kill him?"

Cricket was surprised at how the SandWing's shoulders fell when he gazed at his friend. "I promised Kinkajou not to tell you," Qibli said, giving him a sorry smile. "No matter how much I care about you, I can't. You'll have to ask her for the story."

Winter let out a glittery puff of frost, but said nothing more. "It's… complicated," Qibli said, looking back at Cricket. "The less dragons know about the actual story, the better."

She didn't say anything, but gave him a nod. If he wouldn't answer his best friend's questions, there was no way that he'd answer anything from her.

But, to her surprise, she didn't even need to ask. Cricket backed up as Winter took her empty bowl, collecting it along with Qibli's. "I'll be back in a bit," he said. "Just going to wash these out in the lake."

Then he was gone. The moment the door shut, Qibli looked at Cricket. "Okay," he said, laying his claws out on the table. "I know that you're dying to ask me about it, and… just because I trust you after all of what happened on Pantala, I'll tell you about Darkstalker. The whole story."

Cricket blinked. He was absolutely on the mark, though she supposed that wasn't too difficult after all of the questions she asked before. But there was something about it that bothered her, despite her zest for knowledge. "Are you sure?" she asked him. "Because you wouldn't tell Winter about it…"

Qibli's eyes sank. "It's less about what actually happened, and more about whether he would be okay with how we got rid of Darkstalker. What I said is true – he's never coming back, no matter what. But how we did it… it wasn't right, but it was our only option. Winter's least favorite kind of moral quandary. His entire head would explode if he knew the truth. But…" he said with a sigh, "I think you might be able to handle it more reasonably."

"I, uh…" Her brows furrowed. Were it any normal day, she would have loved to hear the story from cover to cover, even if it took a whole night to listen to. But she thought about Winter and how quickly he had gained her respect and (maybe) friendship, and it wounded her heart to think about having such knowledge the entire time around him. It wasn't betrayal… but it was omission of the truth, at the very least.

It was a very Blue way of thinking, but she was eternally grateful the SilkWing's thoughtful nature had rubbed off on her "You're stronger than I am, you know that?" she said.

He gave her an arch look. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't think I could keep something that big from him," she said. "I know what it's like to always question and crave answers, and if I have this intimate knowledge that he wants, but isn't allowed to have…" She looked down and away from Qibli. "I can't, even if I want it so badly. I'm sorry."

She didn't know how to read the SandWing's expression. He sat there for a moment, his face completely neutral, but Cricket could tell he was thinking hard behind those glittering eyes. "Maybe you can tell me once you tell Winter," she said in a hopefully encouraging tone. "When he matures a little more."

Qibli let out a snort. "Winter? Mature? Well, maybe," he said, settling back down. "But I kind of like him the way he is now, too. Don't you?"

Cricket was certain she was being tested again, but she couldn't read the clever SandWing well enough. Was he trying to determine if she thought they were in a relationship? Were they even in a relationship?

In the end, she just told the truth. "I kind of do," she said, "except he could be less frosty as a research partner. I like him when he's around you. Like, you're the Willow to his Sundew, you know?"

A great split smile across Qibli's face, as if he instantly understood the comparison. "Hey! Hey, I'm not as soft as Willow," he said. "Though I wish I was as pretty as her."

"Right?!" Cricket exclaimed. "Sundew's such a lucky girl… I mean, I think Blue is beautiful too, but... wow. And she's literally peace incarnate, too. So calm and tranquil."

She thought she saw Qibli's face darken for a second, but he quickly composed himself. "Yeah, such a peaceful dragon…" he said, stroking his chin. "I did hear that she killed someone once, though. I, for one, have not killed someone before."

"Yeah…" Cricket let out a nervous laugh. "Maybe there's a cautionary tale in that. Don't anger the quiet ones, right?"

"Just the quiet ones. The already angry ones, you can do whatever you want with. Isn't that right, Winter?"

Cricket could hear the loud flapping of wings before the IceWing opened the door. "Were you two talking about me?" he demanded, narrowing his eyes. "What would either of you have to say about me?"

"Absolutely nothing," said Qibli. "The former Prince of the IceWings is certainly the most uninteresting dragon I've ever had the displeasure of meeting. Isn't that right, Cricket?"

"H-hey!" she stammered, wilting under Winter's terrible stare. "Don't drag me into this, Qibli! I like him!"

That drew a surprised sound from the IceWing, a ghost of a smile gracing his muzzle until it sloughed off like melted ice. "A sensible opinion for once," he said with a scowl. "Compared to whatever drivel this pile of scales has offered me in the past few days."

"Is that what you really think of me, buddy?" asked Qibli, taking the bowls from him. "Honestly, I thought we were better friends, especially after all the things we've been through."

Cricket had experienced enough of their dynamic to be comfortable laughing at their antics. As she watched Qibli put away the dishes, she thought a little harder about what the SandWing had asked her about Winter. Were they in a relationship? They seemed like it, though Winter had mentioned that Qibli was only a guest. Was he secretly wondering if she liked Winter too? Of course, there was something mysterious and beautiful about IceWings, but there was no way she was interested in him like that. Blue was her forever dragon, after all.

Forever dragon. Cricket's muzzle twitched at the phrase. She overheard Sundew calling Willow that once, but didn't ever dare to tease her about it. There was no way of being sure of whether the angry LeafWing would burst into flames or beat her senseless.

She'd probably beat me senseless while still on fire, Cricket thought pensively.

"Cricket?"

She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Qibli. "How long were you planning on staying in Sanctuary, actually? There's a painting seminar that Winter wants to go to in the morning tomorrow, so we were thinking of sleeping soon. You should come!"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, somehow drawing the IceWing's instant ire. "A painting seminar? What do they paint there? Wait, whoa. Winter, you paint?"

"Qibli! You can't…" She flinched from the low, guttural growl from the dragon, watching as he took time to compose himself. "I might," he said, staring down his muzzle at her. "What's wrong with that? Something you want to say?"

"Well," she said, heart pounding as she channeled the bravery that Qibli demonstrated every time he engaged the IceWing. "Is there something wrong with that? I'm not really good at drawing, but it's really necessary if you want to produce technical diagrams."

Qibli beamed at Winter. "See? There's nothing wrong with art! Even Cricket draws! I mean, I'm sure what you draw is a little different than what she draws, but that's okay too. Paintings of your favorite SandWing are totally appreciated-"

"Bed. Now"

Cricket couldn't help but burst into laughter as Winter pushed the babbling SandWing out of the kitchen. Qibli's claws clattered on the ground, but he relented when his friend pushed him into the hallway. "Okay, okay," he said. "Bed! You better sleep soon too, Winter."

She heard a door close in the hallway. Winter turned back to her, the darkest blues storming across his complexion. Despite how feral and terrifying the IceWing looked, Cricket found him his icy complexion far less threatening than before. "So, you and Qibli…" she started.

"You are so close to getting on my bad side, HiveWing."

Despite the snarl in his words, Cricket could see Winter's face soften. "I'm serious," she pressed. "It's written all over your face… though Sundew never got as embarrassed as you do, actually."

Winter remained silent for a second, as if connecting the dots. "So that's why you said I reminded you of her," he said at last, exhaling frost. "Because…"

"Oh, Winter," she said, feeling a pang in her heart. "No one talks about their friend's charm wit like that without being at least a little interested in them. Devastatingly good looks, really?"

The IceWing looked as if he wanted to simply sink into the floor. "You're just as annoyingly observant as he is, you know that?"

"I try my best."

"Not a compliment," he growled. "And for the record, I'm not…" He shook his head. "I'm not in a relationship with him. We're just friends! What kind of undignified IceWing would ever date a SandWing?!"

The HiveWing tilted her head. "Is that a problem here too? Intertribal relationships? But... oh, oh, I see," she said, silently wondering if Winter was trying to freeze her alive just by glaring at her. "That question's ironic, isn't it?"

"Three moons, Cricket, I-"

"Hey, also," she asked, a strange giddiness building in her chest. "You know, I was kind of curious how you have two guests and only one guest room. If I'm taking the guest room, where does Qibli sleep?"

"None of your business," he said stubbornly. "... he's sleeping with me. On the same bed. Far, far apart. Because that's how two dragons not in love sleep in the same room."

"I'm sure." Cricket stifled a giggle, doing did her best to calm herself down before addressing him again. "Well, anyways…" she started, drawing out the pause. "I just wanted to say that I like him, and I like the way your face lights up like flamesilk whenever you look at him."

From the way Winter stared at her, Cricket was certain that he would have introduced her to his tailspikes if he could get away with it. But the words seemed to sink into the IceWing, and though his blush failed to subside, there was something more akin to gratefulness in his eyes. "Thanks," he finally said, his claws scratching at the floorboards. "But don't you dare tell anyone else. It's already bad enough with Qibli teasing me at every turn."

"Your secret's safe with me," said Cricket, giving him a smile. "As long as I can come by and talk about how cute you two are whenever I see you."

She yelped as Winter growled, skittering down the hallway to her guest room. "Good night, Winter!" she called to the angry IceWing.

Cricket heard a grumbly "good night" through her closed door. She chuckled as she sprawled out on the guest bed, spreading out her wings and stretching her limbs. It had been a long journey across the ocean, so dull that at times she wondered if it was even worth it... but chatting with Winter and Qibli breathed so much life back into her ever-curious soul. She wished that she could tell Blue about all of the things she learned today, wondering how surprised he'd be when she would talk about not scientific jargon, but the silliness of the two new friends she made.

But her smile fell when she remembered something else Qibli and Winter had touched on earlier. It was clear that Pyrrhia's scientific development was far behind what she was used to on Pantala, but there was one dragon that seemed worthy of investigation, even if he allegedly had… genocidal tendencies. Cricket wasn't willing to give up so easily on a lead like that, especially if he was once heralded as a great mind of his tribe.

She leaned over to the bedrest and blew out the oil lamp, smothering her room in darkness. The HiveWing made herself comfortable in bed and closed her eyes, finally enjoying some well-earned rest after so many days of travel. Maybe she could afford to stay here for a few more days with Winter and Qibli. At the very least, their will-they-won't-they antics would keep her well entertained.

But after that, Cricket thought as she closed her eyes, she would visit the rainforest and find the lead researcher of the NightWing tribe.