The howling winds blew across the tundra as Glimmer trekked across the frozen landscape. This was a hunting expedition, but Glimmer had been out for hunting for ages with no avail.

The landscape sort of reminded her of the day her father died. She was absent for most of the ceremony, but had unluckily went to the courtyard to see the last of the ceremony. Queen Glacier had been standing over a slab of ice, her father's body lying on it, his eyes closed and chest unmoving. "May his spirit rise up to the sky and watch over us from the coldest clouds." That was the last sentence of the speech, as IceWings started to rise up to the highest levels of the pavilion or disappear into the castle, carrying on with their daily life if nothing had happened. Glimmer's uncle Permafrost, who swaggered the halls and was literally kissing the Queen's toes, was the only one left. Glimmer preferred her logical, understanding father much more than that seventh-circle walrus breath.

Only Beluga had comforted the crying bundle that two-year-old Glimmer had become when she failed to wake up her father.

Glimmer hated feelings. They cloaked up her logic, messed up her brain until she was vulnerable to words. They had always made her slip in the rankings when anger burst out and she had sprayed venom at Squall. They had always made dragons make fun of her when she curled up in a secluded corner, sobbing.

So she suppressed them as much as she can. Feelings? Bah. They was just a chain-and-ball in the orderly society of the IceWings.

Squinting her eyes and scanning the horizon, she spotted nothing but a bright white mass of snowflakes. The blizzard roaring in her ears seemed to have swallowed up the Ice Kingdom and everything with it. Wait. There was a polar bear, staring out at the landscape under what was supposed be a pine tree. Argggh. Glimmer wished she had inherited the sharp IceWing eyesight from her father.

Oh. Did she mention she was a hybrid? Glacier had definitely disapproved of her father after that.

Especially because her mother was a RainWing.

"A RainWing, of all tribes. No wonder you're so lazy and boring."

Glimmer really really really wanted to spit venom at Squall's FACE and stick her nose up an icicle after that comment. Her mother was AWESOME. And BRAVE, from what her father told her about Bamboo.

Stop thinking up sappy monologues! Glimmer's brain screamed at her. She flew up into the air, flapped right above the polar (and stuck out her tongue at it, but she didn't have to mention that tiny detail to the Queen) and, tucking her wings in, dropped into a spinning dive. The polar bear was almost as big as Glimmer, and noticing her, roared, stood up on it's hind legs, and snapped at Glimmer's tail. She roared in fury and dug her claws into the polar bear's back, teeth sinking intoo its neck. The polar grunted loudly, and went limp under her talons. Glimmer growled, tried to hoist it up, failed, and decided to arrange it so it drooped across her neck a bit awkwardly, contrasting with the necklace of two alternating circles on her neck. Taking off, she thought of all the other tactics she should've done against the bear. Should've done a stealth approach, then used my venom. She thought bitterly at herself.

Glimmer flew above the clouds, wincing a bit at the sudden burst of cheerful arctic sunlight, and squinted, spotting two shapes not far from her. Diamond-dust, a open-minded IceWing in her opinion, and—Squall. Glimmer growled softly under her breath.

"Woah! Nice catch!" Diamond-dust swooped by and flew alongside Glimmer, the faint silver dusting on her wings and snout catching the sunlight. Further inspection revealed an arctic wolf in her talons. "Thanks." Glimmer gave a small nod and a smile at Diamond-dust, and they righted themselves and flew on.

"Ha…even a one-year old IceWing could catch a polar bear twice that big. Or is it because you're just a useless RainWing?" Glimmer's head snapped up and she growled. Squall was circling above her and Diamond-dust like some vulture waiting to swoop in for a kill, a half-eaten polar bear carcass clutched in her talons.

"Stay calm. Don't react." Diamond-dust whispered into her ear. Glimmer glanced at her for a fraction of a second, snapped at Squall, and flew off, angling towards the tall distant spires of the palace. Growling, Squall knocked into her hard and Glimmer went spinning off balance, falling into the clouds below. The blizzard hit her hard in the face, and only just reacting, she thrashed around wildly, trying hard to regain control of her wings, but with no avail-the blizzard pushed her down as fast of the speed of three SkyWings. GLIMMER!" Diamond-dust shrieked from above, and Glimmer barely caught an glimpse of a white shape diving after her. "That child of a penguin." She growled softly, but then she hit the ground, the snow trying in vain to minimize the blast.

Glimmer had no idea what happened next, but all she could remember that the world started disintegrating and she blacked out.

—

Glimmer woke up in her room, lain down on her ice-sheet of a bed. It felt much softer than it felt normally. Twisting her neck, she found that a polar bear rug had been spread across the ledge. Sitting up abruptly, a searing pain smashed into her and she was forced down again, crying out in shock.

"Shhhh, don't move dearie." A sleek white figure glided in, holding a small bottle of ointment. Smiling sadly at Glimmer with sea blue eyes, she crouched down beside the bed. "Beluga…" Glimmer breathed softly. "Haven't seen you in a while." Beluga threw back her head and laughed, a tinkling soft sound like bells and the calls of the creature she was named after. "The Queen sent me on a mission to Blaze's stronghold, and I got appointed as an apprentice of the head healer." She explained patiently. "Hmph." I muttered, turning my head away. "Glimmer, you….you fractured some of your spinal cord. I'm afraid to say that you won't be leaving your bed for a while-" Glimmer sat up, wincing against the pain. "WHAT!? But….training starts soon and I'll be at the bottom of the SEVENTH circle if I stay in bed for that-wait, how long will it take to heal?"

Beluga sighed. "It'll take a week for you to be able to walk and fly again, and then two more for more advanced techniques, like combat and fighting. And then It'll heal completely in a moon cycle." Glimmer slumped back, defeated. "Don't worry! I told Queen Glacier and she'll temporarily freeze your ranking." Beluga comforted. Glimmer forced out a smile and looked outside. Here was a clear view of the ranking wall. In the first rankings were Princess Snowfall, Lynx, Evergreen, Caribou…then to the second-Polar Bear, Snowcap, Blizzard…There! Her name, shining below Blizzard's on the seventh place of the third circle. Hmmm, I must have slipped down because of my "clumsiness" she thought. It looked frozen with an extra sheet of ice on it. Scanning the fourth circle for Squall's name—It wasn't there. Fifth circle? Nope. Sixth circle? Nada. A weird feeling settled in her stomach when she started scanning the seventh circle. There it was, Squall's name, carved sharply right at the bottom of the seventh circle.