DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN WINGS OF FIRE OR THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION FROM THE WINGS OF FIRE SERIES; THEY BELONG TO THE WONDERFUL TUI T. SUTHERLAND. ANY OC'S BELONG TO ME, AND YOU MAY USE THEM IF I SPECIFY.
Ch 1.
Sanctuary, Winter's shop, fifteen years later
Winter said goodbye to the last customer of the day. His quaint little shop closed in the afternoons so he would have plenty of time to start request for sculptures.
Winter made ice sculptures. Ice created through frostbreath would never melt. Over the years, he had perfected the art of sculpting, and his business was doing well. Sometimes, he would go and check out the scavenger home that was set up in the center of Sanctuary.
He was just about to finish off Queen Snowfall's huge commission (It was of her and her daughter, Princess North) when a knock on the door diverted his attention.
"Come in!" he called. It was probably just someone a little late to business hours.
Following this thought, the door was nearly ripped off its hinges by a very familiar Sandwing.
"Qibli!" exclaimed Winter, rushing to hug his friend. In the years since the Jade Mountain Prophecy, the two had become better friends. Qibli had hinted before that he was curious about Winter's shop, but Winter hadn't anticipated a visit.
"I should've known," he laughed. "What with the obscure, out-of-place 'I really would like to see your store sometime.' It's a wonder I hadn't figured it out."
Qibli smiled. "I brought-" he started, and was cut off when two yellow and black blurs promptly attacked him.
Moon came through the door, chiding them, and Winter's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't seen her since a month ago, but it felt like a lifetime, and he still felt that rush of heat come to his cheeks.
What's more, her stomach was rounder than Winter remembered. She's with egg.
He shouldn't have been surprised. It's not like Qibli was in another relationship; he and Moon had been together for a few years already, but the realization still stung, an old wound that would never heal.
"Hey," he ventured. Congratulations, he thought in his head, as loudly as he could. He didn't use the skyfire anymore, (he no longer felt the need to) so Moon definitely could read his mind.
"Thanks," said Moon softly. She probably heard everything else too.
"These are your dragonets?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Yup," replied Qibli proudly. The two promptly stopped attacking him and hid behind their father.
"Oh, don't be shy," said Moon. "Introduce yourself."
"I'm Sun," whispered the smaller one that resembled a Sandwing. She had the same eyes as Sunny (a vibrant emerald green) and her voice was similar. However, Sun had a barbed tail, and she had silver and black scales under her wings.
"I'm Lightbringer!" exclaimed the bigger one, promptly shoving her sister to the side and almost toppling her. Lightbringer looked like a replica of Moon, but there were a few random specks of gold dotting her body, and she was missing the teardrop scales. "You're shiny! Are you the mean Icewing mommy keeps talking about?"
"Lightbringer!" Moon scolded. "Winter, I swear I've never said anything like that."
"But you said that there was a mean Icewing at your school that tried to kill your teacher!"
"Oh," said Winter, chuckling despite himself. "That's my sister, Icicle. I'm Winter."
"Are you mean?" whispered Sun.
"No," Winter said, leaning down to Sun's level. "Or, at least, I try not to be." He stood. "Do you two want to play some marbles?"
"Yeah!" Lightbringer squealed. Sun smiled tentatively.
Winter looked at Moon and Qibli, who were looking fondly at him and their dragonets. "Can I?" he asked.
"Sure!" replied Qibli. "It's okay if we watch, right?"
"Absolutely," Winter replied earnestly.
Sun and Lightbringer followed him eagerly as he went over to the workbench and cleared out a space. "Sun, can you get me some water from the fountain? Here, you can use this cup."
Sun took the cup and dipped it into the fountain right besides Winter, then handed it back.
Winter poured some of the water into a ball mold. "Stand back," he cautioned, before breathing out a plume of frostbreath into the mold.
"Oooh," whispered Lightbringer.
Winter did this a few more times until there were seven marbles and the cup was empty. He handed them to Sun and Lightbringer, who squealed and ran off into a corner to play.
"Oh, Winter," Moon said, watching her dragonets. "You didn't have to."
"It was nothing," Winter said. "What have you come for? I can definitely commission a statue for you if you want."
"Oh, no no no," said Qibli, laughing. "We were in the area, and we thought we would just stop by. Sanctuary is beautiful. You even followed through on your plans for a scavenger home!"
Winter laughed. "I never lost that part of me. How've you been doing?"
An hour passed while Winter caught up with Moon and Qibli. Qibli was one of Queen Thorn's advisors now, and Moon sometimes helped at the fruit stands. Lightbringer wanted to be like her father, while Sun wanted to see the world.
Two hours had gone by when Qibli, Moon, and their dragonets exited the shop, a small statuette of the sun and the moon in hand, leaving Winter's abode a lot emptier than it had been. The sun was setting as the family flew off, rosy clouds framing their shrinking silhouettes.
He watched Moon until he couldn't see her anymore.
Winter usually went to bed at this time, but his afternoon had been taken, so he thought he might as well work a little bit on some of the smaller commissions. In fact, he might have time to finish one he was almost done with.
He had just sat down and raised his chisel to put some small details on the snout when he heard the flapping of wings, looked up at the window, and a dark shape crashed into it.
Winter is 22 now! On the official wiki, he is five in Winter Turning. Also, Princess North is one of my OC's, so she's taken :)