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. SNOWDROP IS AN OC, BUT YOU MAY USE HER. (just give credit and all dat good stuff :)

Ch. 3

Snowdrop slept through the day the guards came and the next one too. Winter moved her onto a cot near his workbench so he could keep an eye on her.

On the third day, he had just closed up shop when her eyes opened.

He rushed over. "Shh," he said, just to be safe. "You're okay."

Snowdrop lifted her head to look at him sleepily. She looked calm before something awoke in her and the same wild-eyed terror rose in her eyes. "There's guards – They'll come to take me away – I have to keep going – "

"The guards already came," he told her as placidly as he could. "They're gone. They went back. You're safe now."

Snowdrop looked even worse after he said this. "I thought she would like it – They'll take me – It took so long to weave – " she whispered, her voice hysterical, then trailed off, saying something about weavings and the arctic and guards and Queen Snowfall.

"Snowdrop," Winter said firmly. "Snowdrop. Listen to me."

The dragonet finally looked up. Her eyes were a beautiful midnight blue. Most of the Icewings he knew had navy ones.

Winter continued talking. "The royal guards came in while you were sleeping. They asked about you, but I said you just lived here and worked with me. They left already, and they went back to the Ice Kingdom. I said they might find you there. My name is Winter. The guards told me yours. I'll go into the market and pick up something for us to eat, and then you can tell me what's happened. Stay right here."

Snowdrop put her head in her talons, which Winter guessed was a yes. Just to be sure, he locked the door behind him and took the key.

The markets and shops were at the center of Sanctuary. Winter ordered some seal at the one he usually ate at.

Snowdrop was still on the cot when he came back, seal in hand. He filled the nearest wooden bowl with the steaming meat and passed it to her. He'd eat later. The statue he was doing was almost done.

Snowdrop was silent after she had finished her seal portion. She watched him work on the statue, chiseling in every scale, molding the horns, until the head was complete. He turned it around to look at it from the back, then the sides. Nothing seemed amiss, so he took out the small chisel and signed his name at the base of the statue.

The customer had wanted a statue of a dragon's head to hang her jewelry on. She hadn't asked for specifics, and she was a Sandwing, so he decided to chisel out a Sandwing head, making the horns a little longer to hang rings or other accessories on and making sure that earrings could be clipped onto the ears. (He had tested out Qibli's enchanted earring on it, and it worked.) He'd deliver it today.

However, he had something else to do right now.

"Alright," he said, looking at Snowdrop. "What happened?"

Snowdrop spoke in a quavering voice while he pulled out another statue and started working on it. She and her mother made weavings and tapestries for the wealthier Icewings. Queen Snowfall had come to visit when Snowdrop was nine, and had been impressed by her skill at such a young age. Snowdrop had wanted to weave her something special. She had spent six years weaving a beautiful hanging of Prince Arctic, not knowing that Snowfall hated animuses due to her mother's death. When Snowfall saw it, she sent her guards after her.

"I knew that she didn't like animuses, but I thought – It was our last Animus Prince, and Arctic was an Icewing," Snowdrop said, clutching the empty bowl in her claws. "I thought it would be fine I thought it would be fine I thought it would be fine –"

"How long had you been flying for?" he asked gently.

"Five days?" she guessed. "Maybe more. I was so tired. Time crept by at a different speed. And the guards were so fast – I tricked them once or twice, but they were usually on my tail…"

"Five days?" Winter exclaimed, nearly chipping off the horn of the statue, a tiny figurine. "How are you not dead from exhaustion? Did you sleep?"

"No," said Snowdrop, looking a little faint. "Couldn't… no time…"

Winter dropped his chisel and caught her just as she almost fell off the cot. "I'm kind of tired, Winter…" she murmured.

"What did the tapestry look like?" he said in a soothing voice.

Snowdrop smiled wistfully. "It was beautiful," she whispered dreamily. "It was huge, as wide as my wingspan, and it was taller than I was – Mother said it was beautiful, and that I did a really good job on the details – " she trailed off as Winter placed her back in the cot, and she was soon sound asleep. Winter watched the slow rise and fall of her chest as she drifted off.