When Glaciers Melt

by Sandshadow9

A story in three parts. Blaze and Crystal were close once, but duties to the crown and to the war drew them apart over time. With Glacier dead, can these two dragons pick up the pieces of the family they could have been, or has their relationship been spoiled by the loss of the dragon they both loved?

4. Part 3: The Future (part 2 of 2)

~ Five years ago ~

Dusk settled over the artic, hues of purple and blue soaking into the snow like a bruise. The distant sound of crashing waves was the only indications of a world beyond this glittering landscape; all other sounds swallowed by the thick snowfall. The air was still, disquietly so. It was strange for there to be no breeze. It made the biting cold all the more nefarious as Blaze stood at the entrance to her Fortress. Her breath looked like smoke against the dark sky, a comparison that only made her shiver harder as snow piled up around her. She'd been waiting for hours, or had it been only one hour? She hadn't bothered to track the sun and now there was no sun to track.

A glade of hope warmed her scales. Maybe they wouldn't be here. Maybe Glacier had changed her mind after all…

The sound of wingbeats on the breeze crushed that glimmer of optimism.

Within minutes a crowd of six IceWings landed several dragon-lengths away from her Fortress.

Glacier had called them 'new recruits', informing Blaze that they were to camp here overnight before joining the front lines in the morning. As Blaze watched them set up a makeshift camp she couldn't help noticing how young they all were, somewhere between six and eight years old. They were solemn, as IceWings generally were, but there was a prickle of nervous energy surrounding them. They kept stretching and folding their wings, moving around the camp for seemingly no reason, repeatedly checking supplies and armor that looked perfect, and Blaze was reminded of what Burn used to call young dragons eager to prove themselves in war: fresh meat.

Finding Crystal took no time at all. She stood apart from the others, her back towards Blaze as she studied the vanishing horizon. Blaze's claws burned from the cold but she forced herself forward until she reached Crystal.

"So it's tonight then? This is it?" Blaze said by way of greeting. She pumped her wings a few times to get the blood moving. It barely worked and she quickly wrapped her cloak around herself again. Tonight the chill had reached all the way inside of her, filling her bones like lead.

Crystal glanced briefly toward her, all regel and assessing. "You're cold. You should go back inside."

"I'm not going anywhere until I talk to you," Blaze insisted. She clamped her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering but there was no fooling Crystal.

The IceWing snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. "Very well, but speak quickly. You need to go back inside."

Blaze ignored her bossy tone. She leaned down towards Crystal and lowered her voice. "Crystal, please don't do this."

Crystal's face remained neutral as ever but she cast a quick glance over her shoulder to the other IceWings. They were far enough away that they wouldn't hear anything whispered. She faced forward again. "What do you mean?"

Blaze wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake. "The war, it's too dangerous! Don't you know how awful it is out there? Don't you listen to your mother's stories?"

The IceWing swung her head up haughtily, her chest puffed out. "Of course it's dangerous. That's why I'm being sent out." Little snowflakes of frustration shot out of her snout. She shook off the snow that had been collecting on her wings, her expression terse. "I know you spoke with Queen Glacier the other day," Crystal muttered and despite the cold Blaze flushed with embarrassment. "You need to understand that this is what I was hatched for; it's my duty to serve the Tribe and if that means going to war then I will go to war."

If she had been warm enough Blaze just knew there would be smoke pouring out of her snout by now. The best she could do at the moment was huff indignantly. "Oh, I can't believe she told you about that. She promised she wouldn't. Well. My point still stands. It makes no sense to be sending an heir off to battle. Wouldn't it be better for your Tribe if you stayed in the Ice Kingdom?"

"Like a coward?" Crystal shot back and Blaze flinched. She knew Crystal was only referring to herself, but the comment hit a nerve. How many times had Blaze been accused of being a coward? Held up in her cozy Fortress while others died for her throne. Maybe she was a coward after all because now, only when someone she cared about was leaving to fight, did she stop to think about all the awful things that could happen.

All those strange and horrible stories Glacier brought back about the war rushed her mind. Queen Scarlet's awful arena battles, the way Burn would stick the heads of her enemies along the perimeter of the Stronghold, and all the torture techniques Blister had developed for interrogating captives.

She gripped Crystal's talons in her own, the numbness in her claws making it hard to know how hard she was holding on. "Please," she whispered, "stay."

Crystal didn't pull away, but she didn't waver either; her claws twitched, unused to the prolonged contact. Even with her so near Blaze felt as though Crystal was as far away as the stars – vast and unreachable. She had grown so much over the last few years and in ways Blaze didn't understand. She was rigid now, so unlike the small dragonet that used to play dress-up with her. Instead of a tiara she wore a silver helmet that dipped over her forehead and swooped down to either side of her head. Her eyes were no longer pools of turbulent waters, now they were frozen lakes, closed off and hard. She looked so unlike herself… in fact, she looked just like Glacier.

Crystal was slipping away from her, and not just because she was leaving for war. Blaze felt it with the same intense agony of losing a limb.

"This isn't some training exercise, Crystal. This is real battle. You could die out there." She was desperate and it came across as anger in her voice. Maybe she was angry; at Glacier, at herself, and the unfairness of life that had put them both in this situation.

Crystal said nothing for a while. She was watching their entwined talons as if waiting for something to happen. Then, in a voice like the first timid cracks of ice in spring, said, "I thought you'd be proud of me."

Blaze stared blankly. "What?"

"I'm doing this for you. Don't you want to go home? Don't you want to win? I could make a difference out there, in the war."

Guilt, heavy and splintering, needled into her heart. Whatever strength she had left seeped from her like ink bleeding from a wet scroll. Her grip on Crystal loosened.

What could she say? She didn't know how to tell this dragon that she loved so much that, yes there was a war for her throne but it wasn't worth her death. How could she say that when so many others had already died for her? How could she say that without sounding like a selfish coward and losing whatever respect Crystal had for her?

Crystal waited for a moment but when Blaze didn't speak she gently pulled her talons from Blaze's iron grip. "I should go; the others are probably looking for me."

The snow crunched beneath Crystal's talons as she walked away; the sound emptied Blaze of all warmth and hope. She had failed. Crystal was really going to leave her.

She turned to watch Crystal, wanting to keep her in her sight for as long as possible. Unexpectedly, Crystal paused a few paces away. The IceWing turned back to look at Blaze one last time, her features slurred by the thickly falling snow.

"I'll make you proud," she said into the snowfall. "You and mother both. I promise."

Blaze awoke at Sunrise the next day just in time to find Crystal and give her one last farewell hug, ignoring the reluctant and embarrassed way she returned the embrace, neither of them knowing they wouldn't see each other again for several years.

~ Present day ~

Blaze had a headache. It was the crashing, pounding sort, like a wild animal trying to break out of its cage. Fangs and claws and talons hammered away on the inside of her skull. She knew it was from all the crying - the months and months of it. The days since Glacier's death swam past her in a blur of hot tears and raw sobs. It hurt to move, it even hurt to think, but she forced herself to do both.

She needed to find Crystal and get this whole mess sorted out; she needed to know Crystal was safe, and most of all, she needed understand what had gone wrong, because mixed up with all the worry and sorrow was an ember of terror that was heating up with each breath she took.

Blaze had never seen Crystal act like that – had never even seen it coming, and that itself was what scared her most of all.

When had this change happened? When had Crystal gone from the little dragonet, full of soft trust, into this stranger?

There had once been a time when Crystal had told her everything, and now Blaze knew next to nothing about her dragonet. Why hadn't Crystal told her about Gharial or about moving to Sanctuary? Why hadn't she gone straight to Blaze when she left the Ice Kingdom? Blaze could have protected her, housed her, given her anything she wanted.

In her desperation Blaze had begun turning back the scroll of her memory, trying to locate the pieces that would make this puzzle come together. She had so many memories of Crystal yet only now did it occur to her that most of them were from when Crystal had been a dragonet. As Crystal had grown older her duties to the war and Kingdom had kept them apart. Even so, there was one memory that Blaze kept stumbling over, like a diamond ring that kept snagging in a silk scarf…

It had been the night Crystal had left for the war. Of all the wonderful memories she could have been thinking, why did it have to be that one? It was sad and awful and way too similar to what was happening inside of her right now. All the emotions she had stifled that night were pulsing through her again in this moment. That same immobilizing fear the she was about to lose someone she loved, the anger that she couldn't do anything to stop it, and the grinding, sickening guilt that she should have tried to anyway.

Maybe this was her brain trying to send her a warning. If so the message was clear: she couldn't let Crystal slip through her talons again.

Even if that meant drowning herself in the middle of a rainstorm.

The black lacy veil that had floated around her horns was now stuck on her face like a spider web as she soared in the downpour. Her wings were drenched and the frigid rain chilled her in a way the Ice Kingdom never had. Oh, the Ice Kingdom was still the coldest place imaginable, but there was something so horribly clingy and achy and yucky about being wet. The rain crawled between her scales and made her very bones shiver. Honestly, dragons got so up in claws about the Sand Kingdom's weather, as if a place could ever be too hot and dry, and yet they had the audacity to live in places where it rained and snowed. The nerve of them.

Behind her a blinding flash of light enveloped the sky followed soon after by a deep rumble that rolled along the clouds like an earthquake. Blaze decidedly ignored all of it.

She focused on the instructions that SeaWing had given her even though she could hardly see anything through the sleet.

One wing stroke at a time, Glacier used to tell her, when the skies of the Ice Kingdom would open up to snow fall so dense that the sky merged with the tundra below in one hazy sheet of white, focus your sight on a steady landmark and head towards it.

Blaze blinked water from her eyes. In the distance came a vague rectangular shape, its brown wooden paneling standing out from the surrounding drab greenery. As she drew closer, she could see it was a little shed. A hut, if she were being generous which she generally tried to be. There was a small copse of trees behind it, very similar to what the SeaWing had described. With a gasp Blaze wondered if she had been lucky enough to find the very place she had been looking for.

There was only one way to find out.

The wind fought her as she angled downward. She landed heavily, nearly careening into the door as the rainstorm slammed into her.

For a precious moment the wind receded and she was able to stagger upright. Blaze made to fix her veil only to remember it was now plastered to her scales. She peeled it from her face and inspected it with growing despair. The once delicate lace was ripped in several places and mud had somehow managed to stain the parts that weren't destroyed. Disgusted, she let it drop to the ground with a splat. There was no point wearing it now. Besides, she had three more at home.

Another bolt of lightning sliced across the sky making Blaze shriek. Thunder shook the air around her head like the hiss of a thousand rattlesnakes. The wind returned once again, driving the rain into her back like nails. Desperately she pounded against the door.

"Crystal? Are you in there?" she yelled above the downpour. She never imagined rain could be this loud.

Blaze's chest twisted painfully as she waited for someone to answer. There might have been the sound of murmurs and shuffling from inside; it was hard to make out with rain-filled ears. Finally the door opened to reveal a face that tore Blaze apart every time.

The fury of the storm faded from her awareness, the painful sting of rain just a numb annoyance as she drank in the angular chin and sharp cheekbones, the brow arches that could make a mountain face jealous, and those eyes as clear as the surface of an oasis.

She recalled a time when she had searched for that face in the dark hallways of the SandWing palace, nervous and excited that the captivating IceWing princess had agreed to meet with her in the moonlit balcony that overlooked the courtyard; that face lighting up when Blaze came into sight, looking at her in a way that made her legs wobble.

Cold rain splashed into her face and the illusion was whisked away. Blaze wiped at her eyes and Crystal came into focus. Crystal. Not Glacier.

Crystal's frame was willowy, more lithe and boney than Glacier's. Even with her perfect rigid posture she still somehow managed to looks as if she were trying to fold herself in half to escape notice, or maybe that was just the exhaustion weighing on her bones.

"Blaze!" Crystal cried above the uproar in the heavens, her voice thick with dismay. "What on earth are you doing out there? Come in." Without warning Blaze was pulled through the doorway, the wind giving her an extra shove that nearly ripped the door from its hinges. Whatever light had been in the room was extinguished instantly, and once Crystal was able to slam the door shut the darkness only deepened. For a suspended moment there was only the sound of rainwater dripping from scales and the gentle susurrations of multiple dragons breathing.

"Oh," Blaze gasped into the void. "Are we in a shed?"

"Actually, this is where I live," said a new voice.

A spark flickered in the shadows moments before the wick of an oil lamp caught fire. Even the small amount of light was a comfort, and in the glow Blaze could finally see that the owner of the other voice. It was an IceWing dragonet… an IceWing dragonet she recognized!

"Winter!" She stumbled deeper into the room and her wing knocked against a table, causing the tea cups resting atop to clatter together sharply. "I had no idea you lived in Sanctuary! Wait a moment…are there any other royal IceWings around that I should know about? Honestly, would it kill someone to write me a letter once in a while and update me on things like this? Oh, but I'm so glad to see you, really. Although I can't believe they made you live in a shed, what a shame."

Winter went silently about the room, lighting more candles and lamps until the room glowed a deep orange. He had a perturbed expression on, or maybe that was just how his face normally was. Winter sniffed. "My accommodations are small, yes, but they suit my needs just fine, thank you very much. Crystal, could you look in that cupboard over there. I should have some extra fabric that we can use for… the mess." He eyed the sopping trail of wet talon marks Blaze had left on his floor with distaste while Blaze studied her surroundings, biting her tongue.

Where was the carpet? The tapestries? The artwork? The decorative figurines? She smothered a gasp when she saw a humble sleeping mat rolled out on the floor along the far wall. A mat? Surely this young dragonet could afford a pillow or two. Then again, Glacier used to claim she slept her best on a slab of ice so perhaps IceWings really did hate comfort.

Crystal materialized at her side with talonfuls of cut up fabric. "What were you thinking?" she chided, and her face reminded Blaze of Glacier's that day she had left the fortress to visit the dragonets of destiny. Fury. Worry. Fear. Relief. They melted into an expression that was both soft and hard, but mostly annoyed. Crystal scattered a few of the cloth squares on the floor around Blaze's feet where the run-off water was gathering into a large puddle. "You could've been hit by lighting out there! Or the wind could have flung you into the trees!" With the extra fabric she began to dab at Blaze's arm and neck to catch the rain still clinging to her scales.

"I knew that!" Blaze lifted a wing as Crystal maneuvered around her. "Although I'm more familiar with sandstorms and blizzards – but I still know a thing or two about rain storms. Like how I shouldn't stand under trees or hold big metal sticks. I wasn't doing either of those things."

Crystal sighed in exasperation. She continued to dry Blaze's scales a bit more aggressively than needed. "Still, it was a foolish thing to do."

"I'm sorry to scare you like that, but I just had to find you." Blaze twisted around to watch Crystal as she tried to move to the SandWing's other side. "I'm sorry about the portrait. That was awful of me, I can see that now, but why did you have to run away like that? I was so worried! I've been searching for hours! Oh, but I'm so glad I found you. Gharial said to check your office first but you weren't there and so we went to talk to Riptide and he said he saw you flying with another IceWing to a house near the river so I came here right away." Blaze paused to take in a breath.

There had always been something about Crystal that left Blaze floundering. The young IceWing had always seen right through her placating words in a way that made her feel exposed and useless. Even now Crystal's face remained blank, revealing nothing. It was the very same hollowness that had overtaken her the moment Blaze had revealed the portrait, and Blaze fought to hide her dread and guilt.

Why couldn't Crystal see that everything Blaze had done had been out of love? That's why she had bought all those things. It had been her way of showing Crystal how much she cared. All those hours spent wandering the markets for the most perfect, beautiful items, appraising each for their authenticity and appropriate market value. Blaze was good at that sort of thing. She had always been the best gift giver… but not this time. She had still gotten it all wrong. She had said the wrong things, done the wrong things, bought the wrong things. Wrong wrong wrong. Stupid stupid stupid. As usual.

Her chest began to shudder and Blaze hid her rising sob with a cough.

"I'm fine," Blaze wheezed when Crystal touched a worried talon to her elbow.

Unsure about what to do with her own talons, Blaze gripped her necklace, winding the thin silver chain around her claws. "Listen sweetheart, I understand why you're mad. I only wanted to – I thought you'd like it. " Blaze's lip began to tremble. She turned her head away so Crystal wouldn't see, but she could keep back the pathetic sniffles. "You must hate me now."

Slivers of grey, murky light filter in like steam from beneath the door frame. The candles flickered nervously as the tiny house shook from the wind. Crystal's astonished face was only half lit when she answered. "Of course I don't hate you. Why would you even say that?"

Blaze stayed silent. She didn't really know why she had said it, but it felt true. She tried not to think of the look of pure anguish that had disfigured Crystal's face the moment before she fled. She tried not to think of the way Crystal had glared at each of Blaze's gifts as if they were needles stabbing into her neck. She tried not to think of how Crystal had flinched away each time Blaze had reached for her.

Crystal discarded the soaked fabric and picked up a long, dry cloth that had been set aside. She wrung it in her talons anxiously before passing it to Blaze. "And I'm not mad at you either," she went on. "I just… needed some space to think."

Blaze took the off-white strip of cloth; her thoughts momentarily consumed as she inspected the quality. It was no high grade linen but it would have to do. She dried her jewelry first before gently dabbing the moisture from her snout all while turning over Crystal's words.

The truth was she didn't know what to believe anymore.

Everything felt wrong and distorted, and with a sinking feeling Blaze wondered if it had always been this way and she had only noticed it now. She thought back to when Crystal had been a dragonet. Even then the small IceWing had clung to her demure façade; the perfect daughter, the perfect IceWing princess. At the time Blaze had approved of this, encouraged it even. That's just what you did when growing up in a palace. Blaze had a mask, Glacier had one, and of course Crystal would have one. They were shields against everything thrown in their faces, all the expectations and judgements and fear.

It turned out Crystal's serenity was not the shield Blaze had assumed it was. It was a cage, a fortress of locked doors and barred windows made to keep the dark and ferocious thing inside from escaping.

It was all too much. What was she supposed to do? All her life there had been dragons around her to solve her problems and now here was a problem only she could solve and she had no idea how. Crystal probably wanted nothing to do with her. She had already tried to make things better only to ruin it all.

Her despair must have been obvious. Cold talons wrapped gently around her arm.

"Blaze? Please don't be sad; I'm not mad at you. Really."

The tenderness of her voice nearly brought Blaze to tears. She wanted to believe those words so badly.

The air was somber in the little hut. It was strange to think that at any other time Blaze would have been the one to try and lighten the mood. That had always been her craft. It all felt so pointless now.

"I just wish you would trust me," she breathed the words out; giving voice to the ache that had been growing in her chest all these years.

A sudden clatter of noise made Blaze jump. She and Crystal spun around to see Winter sitting at his desk staring wide-eyed at the pile of scrolls he had just knocked to the floor. The poor thing looked shocked, like he had just been caught robbing his own house.

"Sorry. Very sorry about that," he apologized while cleaning up the mess. More guilt piled over Blaze. She should be the one apologizing for intruding into his home, taking up all this space. Normally Blaze would have preferred to speak with Crystal privately, in a place far away from other ears and eyes, yet there was a sense of urgency, some whispered warning that they were running out of time. Somehow Blaze knew there wouldn't be another chance like this.

Crystal cleared her throat, her breathing becoming unnaturally deep and slow.

"I do trust you," she said, turning to Blaze.

Blaze shot her a sharp look. "Crystal, please. You've spent all day lying to me, telling me you were just tired and stressed. There is something else going on here, something you refuse to tell me and you're really going to look me in the eye and say you were being honest?"

Crystal couldn't meet Blaze's eye. For a split second her façade crumpled; her brows pinched together like folded paper and her eyes began to glisten with the hint of tears.

"Oh, sweetheart." Blaze leaned towards Crystal. "It's alright to be sad; you don't need to hold it all in anymore. I know you've been putting on a brave face for me. I wish you wouldn't. All I've ever wanted was for you to be happy and I've been trying so hard to be there for you but every time I try to help…" she trailed off, her throat tight. "I keep getting it wrong and I don't know how to fix any of this. I don't know what I'm doing."

She took a deep breath, pressing the heel of her palms against her closed eyes until lights danced in her head. She couldn't become a weeping mess right now. She had to keep it together. It didn't matter how terrified she was of messing up, she had to try, because losing Crystal was not an option. She would do whatever it took to make things right between them, to make them a family again Blaze finally set her talons down, focusing on Crystal's worried face. "Can't we just talk? Like we used to? That's all I want."

Crystal shifted uncomfortably and cast her eyes towards her cousin. Winter was at his desk doing his best to look unbothered by Blaze's intrusion and the inevitable private and messy conversation he was about to be privy to.

The IceWing looked on the verge of refusing, but Blaze pushed on. "Please. I just want us to understand each other."

Of all the things Blaze had said, this seemed to change something in Crystal. Like a spell it moved over her; some of the iron in her spine softened, the steel behind her eyes falling away. The red and orange flames of the candles reflected on her scales like a million rubies. "I want that too," she whispered, as if speaking quieter would hide the swell of hope in her voice.

The tightness in her chest unfurled and Blaze could finally breathe easy again. Crystal wanted to talk; everything was going to be okay! Except that Crystal did not look enthusiastic at all.

Crystal stared fixedly at the floor. Her serrated claws were digging into the wood as if holding on for dear life. "What if," she began and swallowed hard, "What if what I say makes things worse? What if you don't like it?"

"Ha! My darling, I have heard plenty of awful things in my life. I can handle whatever it is you have to say." Blaze went to adjust her veil, remembered it was currently outside in a puddle, and instead ran her talon along her sail. "Do I need to remind you that I helped Glacier run a war campaign? I'm not easily rattled."

She ignored the dubious snort Winter made from his desk and focused on Crystal who looked troubled. Frightened even. Blaze could see the hesitation, could feel how badly Crystal didn't want to speak.

"My goodness, sweetheart, don't look so worried," Blaze tried to soothe. She brushed some stray pine needles from Crystal's shoulder and suppressed a sigh. What could she do to reassure Crystal? What could be so awful that she couldn't even tell Blaze?

Absently she pinched a couple of the pine needles between the soft pads of her talons. Their sharp scent filled her lungs just as they had all those times when she and Glacier had strolled amongst the bristling trees of the Ice Kingdom. Even in the summer the days had been cool and Blaze would whine as Glacier dragged her from her comfortable fortress for some fresh air.

The memory twisted beneath her ribs like a blade. Those days with Glacier had been a gift and she hadn't even realized it. Now they would never walk those hidden trails again.

Blaze shook of the little green blades from her talon tips. Her breath was ragged as she exhaled.

"You know, you remind me so much of Glacier sometimes," she said, not really thinking at all about the words. She took the damp cloth in her talons and dabbed at the corner of her eyes. "She used to hate talking about her feelings too. Even when I knew something was wrong she'd just wave me away. It was so frustrating; she used to make me want to yank my horns out." Blaze wanted to laugh but it came out as more of a sob. "She always looked so worried and sad, like you do."

This wasn't good. Blaze could feel herself being pulled down into deep black waters of despair. Crystal had gone rigid again, a shadow passing inside of her. Blaze focused on her breathing for a moment, realigning her thoughts. "I know I've been all out of sorts lately. I don't blame you one bit for being upset with me, but please, don't take it out on Glacier. She loved you so much. We both do."

Blaze swept her tail over the pile of pine needles that had collected on the floor. They slipped silently into the cracks in the floorboards

"I know I'll never replace your mother. She was perfect and I'm just…me." Blaze's voice began to fall apart as her tears began anew. "She should be the one here with you right now, not me. Glacier would know how to take care of you. If only it had been me instead of her…" Blaze couldn't make herself finish the thought. Her brain felt coated in tar; thick and heavy and suffocating.

The world was a tear smeared blur. Details slid away as Blaze fought to find Crystal's face once again. When she did, Crystal was looking back at her, and there was something shattered in what Blaze saw, like something had been shaken loose from a dark pit.

Thunder shook the little hut as the storm continued to thrash the sky; around them the candles guttered as if startled by the sound.

"I'm sorry, Blaze," Crystal intoned without emotion, "but you're wrong about her."

"I – huh?" Blaze stammered.

"I wish I could miss her like you do." Crystal's voice was cracked ice, fracturing more with each word. "I wish I had your memories, I wish I could look back at the time I spent with my mother and feel happy, but I don't – I just feel angry and I don't even know why." Crystal straightened her back but Blaze saw the tremble in her jaw. "But most of the time, I just feel nothing at all."

The words sank in slowly, moving from the tips of her wings inwards towards her heart, coating her insides like frost-breath.

"Crystal…why would you say something like that?" Blaze finally found her voice and couldn't hold back her mortification. This had to be a mistake, or some sort of grief-related outburst. The poor thing wasn't thinking straight. "Dear, you don't mean that. Glacier could be tough sometimes, but she only did what was best for you – "

"You're not listening!" The IceWing hissed, her wings flaring with agitation. "You said you wanted to talk – that you wanted to understand, but can't even hear what I have to say."

"Then what are you saying?" Her own voice swelled to meet Crystal's pitch, and yet it seemed to come from far away. "That you don't miss her at all? Don't you care?"

"I didn't say that – of course I care – "

"Didn't you love her?"

The question flew out of Blaze before she could think to stop it. Crystal recoiled, stumbling backwards as if shoved. Betrayal and hurt seared her face, and all too late Blaze wished she could take back her words.

"Of course I loved her," Crystal growled. Her face was flushed blue with anger; like iris petals dappling the snow. "I did everything for her. I was the perfect daughter for her, the perfect IceWing warrior. I kept my head down and did as I was told."

Her cold tone had surged into a blizzard. The vortex of her fury seemed to devour all the air from the small room.

"You have no idea how much I sacrificed for her, for the war, for the Kingdom – never putting one talon out of line, obeying every order – but when it came to me, when I was the one that needed help…" Crystal shook her head, her eyes shut against some unseen hurt. "When it matter most she acted more like a queen than my mother."

Rain continued to hammer away at the roof. From somewhere behind the hut came the sounds of trees creaking and branches snapping against the wind, the noise barely making a dent against the thickening silence of the room.

"But I don't understand." Blaze tried to put the pieces together with little success. She wasn't clever like Blister. Her older sister had always been the one who could watch and observe and figure things out. The more Blaze tried, the more her head throbbed like a low burning fire. "Glacier adored you and your sisters. She would have done anything for you."

"Anything except protecting us from her court." Crystal snatched up the soaked cloth at Blaze's feet and flung them at the foot of the door. "She let the nobles treat me and my sisters like prized fighting wolves, pitting us against each other and the other dragonets, watching as they made us jump through ever more elaborate hoops just to prove we're worth something." Heat crackled in her voice, more dangerous than the lighting outside. Forcefully she wedged the fabric into the gap beneath the door. This stopped the influx of cold air which under any other circumstance Blaze would have appreciated. Now it only made the room feel more stifling.

The IceWing's expression hardened. Words began to tumble out of her in an uncontrolled rush.

"Why didn't she make sure I went to bed on time instead of studying all night? Why did she miss most of my hatchingdays? Why didn't she tell Narwhal off for being a jerk all the time?"

At his desk Winter flinched, his wings curling closer into his body like a desert flowering withering in the sun.

"And do you know what the worst part is? In the end it was all for nothing. My mother saw right through me; I knew it the moment mother chose Snowfall to be the next queen." The IceWing rubbed at her eyes, the action making her look so, so young.

"I've always known I wasn't meant to be queen. Mother was ice to the core, sold and steady, but I was hatched soft as slush. Each day I did as I was ordered, performing my duties perfectly all while dreading the day when everyone finally discovered I was nothing but a fraud. I wanted more than anything to make mother proud but now I know she saw my shame and cowardice all along. She died thinking me nothing but weak and unfit to rule." Crystal wiped tears from her cheek. "And she was right to think that."

"Crystal, enough." The plea came out of Blaze more like an order, sharp and frenzied. Crystal's words were too much too fast, as if she had gone to drink deeply from a well only to have fallen in, the freezing water now rushing down her throat and into her lungs. Crystal stood looking at her silently though her stance was one of challenge.

"I don't understand – Glacier would never – she cared about you so much. She never once said a single bad thing about you or your sisters. Everything she did was for you three; she always tried to do right by you. I swear it."

For a moment Crystal was startled by this protest. Perhaps she had been expecting – hoping – for a different response. Wariness settled over her icy wings as they closed in tight against her body.

"Does it matter?" Her tone was ragged; Blaze felt its serrated edge press against her pulse. "It doesn't change anything."

"It does matter!" Frustration surged into Blaze along with an overwhelming defensiveness for Glacier. "At least she cared about you. At least she tried."

Crystal snorted, flurries of snow drifting from her flared nostrils. "You don't get it. She wasn't your mother."

"You're lucky she wasn't!" Blaze snapped. "Oasis was a terrible mother. You should be grateful that Glacier was nothing like her; now that would have been awful."

The furious energy that had been propelling Crystal to action came to an abrupt stop. She almost seemed suspended, frozen in a moment of shock. Blaze, too, was shocked at her admission and the fury that had been behind it – a fury that had not been meant for Crystal.

Slowly the anger that had filled the room began to recede like the pull of the tides. Crystal's body sagged and she touched the tip of her wing to her forehead wearily. "Never mind," she rasped; her tone regretful edging into pitying. "I shouldn't have said anything. I know you loved mother and I don't want to speak ill of her to you. She was a good queen; a great queen." Crystal's eyes shone in the fire-light, her white pupils burning with their own kind of heat. "Maybe that's why things turned out the way they did. She chose to put the kingdom first, that was what made her such a great leader, even if it meant she couldn't be the mother I needed her to be. Maybe we couldn't have it both ways."

The cottage door began to rattle, wind and rain working together to tear the wooden beams apart. The candle-light swayed and bowed; above their heads the roof made an ominous creaking sound.

All the arguments poised on Blaze's tongue came to a roaring halt. Her pulse was thick in her ear, booming away as if in warning. Blaze forced herself to breath slowly, doing whatever she could to regain control of her head. She hadn't come here to yell at Crystal, in fact her goal was to do the exact opposite, but surely Crystal could see how ludicrous her claims were. As if Glacier would ever be so cruel to her own daughters! The very idea prickled Blaze all over.

And yet… there was something strange in what Crystal had said. No, strange was the wrong word. Familiar, that was is. It was familiar to Blaze, although she had no idea why.

"What do you mean?" Blaze asked, surprising everyone with the sudden question, including herself. Something was nagging in the back of her mind, like when she had been younger and arguing with Blister, knowing that her sister was up to something but unable to figure it out until it was too late. As distressed as she was, Blaze still wanted to fix things with Crystal. She still wanted to understand.

Crystal stared at her warily and then shook her head. "Just ignore what I said. It was a stupid thing to say."

"No it wasn't!" Blaze took another sobering breath. "I'm sorry I snapped at you, I – I think we're both confused and upset right now." There was a subtle tremor to her words that she couldn't conceal. She implored Crystal, pouring all her desperation into her words. "Please, tell me."

Crystal must have sensed her intent for the tension around her eyes softened. Her forked tongue darted between her teeth as it often did when she was deep in thought.

"I just wonder sometimes," she began, unsteady, "if anything I did matter in the end. No matter how well mother praised me or how much time she spent with me there was always this feeling of distance between us, as if she was afraid to get too close." She laughed humorously at this. "I suppose as queen she had a good reason to be. From the moment I hatched there was always the possibility that I would be the one to kill my mother one day." As she spoke her wings rubbed together anxiously. "Maybe something like that just poisons everything from the start; it turns sister against sister and mothers against their own children. I don't know. Maybe I'm just being dramatic. I just wish I knew – well, it doesn't matter anymore. It was never going to be nice and easy between mother and I, and I just have to accept that."

A chill passed over Blaze as if there were no wall between her and the storm outside. Her first instinct was to insist that Crystal was being unfair to Glacier. Just because Pyrrhia history was full of tragic royal sagas didn't mean it was the norm! Glacier was not one of those wicked queens from the stories, the ones who would kill her own daughters to keep the throne for as long as possible.

And yet… hadn't Blaze once feared her own mother for that very reason? Hadn't she and her sisters betrayed each other and dragged the continent down with them?

The scales along Blaze's back prickled as if someone were looming behind her. She folded her wings nervously. That sensation of familiarity came over her again. It edged into her mind like a splinter, digging deeper into her until it touched something bruised.

Blaze studied Crystal in the dim light. The IceWing had her back towards Blaze, her shoulders slumped and tail twisting around her body. In the flickering glow of the candles, half submerged in shadow and despair, Crystal resembled someone from a lifetime ago…

In much the same way a sandstorm can rearrange the desert's face, Crystal's words had uncovered something Blaze hadn't even known she'd kept. For the first time in years she thought about Blister – not as she had been during the war, but long, long before. Blaze remembered the small and sullen shape of her older sister, the smell of parchment, and a conversation she wished she'd never had…

---

The day Blaze remembered had been a sweltering one, made ever worse by the stinging wind that whipped up little sand dunes in the hallways and courtyards. It snagged in her tear filled eyes as she stormed out of the throne room, her scales prickly with frustration and embarrassment.

She had only been trying to help. Her mother was so busy all the time with running the kingdom and yelling at dragons it had just seemed like a nice gesture to re-organize the treasury by colour. It had taken Blaze hooours to do it all and did she get so much as a thank you? No! Instead she had gotten hauled to the throne room and RUDELY shoved before her mother who had given her a completely unjust tongue-lashing. It had taken her mother nearly an hour to run out of steam and to dismiss Blaze.

As if she would be so easily dismissed! Blaze considered what she could do to get back at her mother.

What if she locked herself in her rooms and refused to come out until her mother apologized? That would show her… unless she didn't apologize and Blaze would be forced to come crawling out in order to eat. If anything, her mother probably wouldn't even notice Blaze's absence.

Maybe she could fake her own death and when her mother started weeping and saying how much she regretted being mean Blaze would reveal herself to be alive. Full of remorse, her mother would beg for forgiveness which Blaze would generously provide while also asking for some more diamonds.

As she wondered how exactly she would pull this off, she passed the opened door of the library and saw Blister sitting alone at a desk inside.

Just a quick glance revealed that Blister was in a bad mood. Of course, she was always in a bad mood, but this time it was especially dreadful. Her back and shoulders were hunched over a scroll, their sharp angles jutting out like the snapped trunk of a palm tree. Her barbed tail lashed, sweeping deep arcs along the sandy floor with dangerous force. Her whole form emanated a heavy menacing aura of someone wanting to be left alone on pain of death… all tell-tale signs that Blister and mother had been arguing again.

Obviously this made Blister the perfect dragon to commiserate with.

Blaze ran over, her beaded bracelets clinking together in the silent, dusty air of the library.

"Blister! You would not believe how rude mother was to me just now!" she whined and sat with a huff beside her sister. Blister didn't look up but a sneer curled out from the side of her face.

"You probably deserved it."

"Nuh-uh! Not this time!" Blaze cried. As far as she was concerned there had never been a time she deserved it. She adjusted her oversized tiara and pouted. "I was only trying to do something nice for her. She didn't have to yell at me in front of everyone and say I'm useless." That wasn't the whole story. Their mother had used some other choice words like worthless and stupid. Blister didn't need to know that. "Anyway," Blaze huffed, "I still think my way of doing things is better. I'm not going to let her boss me around like I'm just a baby."

"You are a baby," Blister pointed out. "And you're annoying me. Go away."

It took everything she had to not bite Blister. Why did her sister always have to be so difficult? All Blaze wanted was a little sympathy but noooo it was always 'Blaze you're so annoying go away blah blah blah'.

Why couldn't Blister just be on her side this once? It was so unfair. There had to be a way to make Blister see things her way. Oh wait, there was a way! It was a trick Blister herself did to Burn all the time. Anytime Blister had a problem she couldn't fix on her own she would always find a way to recruit Burn to her side, making her problem seem like a them problem. If Blister could pull it off then so could Blaze. How hard could it be?

Blaze sat straighter, putting on what she hoped was a serious grown-up face. "But don't you think mother is always mean to us even when we're not bad? We never get to wear her crowns or go to royal meetings or throw feasts. It's not fair." She sniffled pitifully. "It's like she doesn't even want us to like her."

Blister growled and shoved the scroll aside. It fell in front of Blaze, revealing a lengthy page on the effects of scorpion venom on dragons. Blister turned to glare at Blaze, fury welling in the black depths of her eyes. "Of course she doesn't want us to like her."

Blaze recoiled from her sister's sudden anger. "What do you mean? Why not?"

The dust motes swirled as Blister swiveled her whole body towards Blaze so that she loomed over the younger dragon. "It's like you said; she's never kind to us, always refusing to let us have fun or do things we like, keeping us cooped up in the palace where she can keep an eye on us." Her forked tongue darted between her fangs. "Don't you ever wonder why?"

"Um… no?"

For a moment Blister's annoyance overpowered her anger and she rolled her eyes. "What a surprise."

"Hey! Not fair," Blaze exclaimed. "I've been busy thinking about other stuff and…things."

Her sister didn't bother responding to that. "The point is mother needs to keep us close. We're nothing more than investments for her."

"Nuh-uh! I'm no investment – whatever that is…"

"Yes you are," Blister hissed. Her black eyes flashed with growing irritation. "Use that empty head for once. One day one of us is going to kill her – well, it probably won't be you – but anyway, Oasis knows this. She's always known this, and her duty is to make sure that whoever replaces her is strong enough to do what needs to be done." The older dragon's tail curled towards Blaze, the sharp, poisonous barb angled almost carelessly towards the smaller dragonet. Blaze hugged her own unbarbed tail close to her chest as Blister's words fell on her like blocks of sandstone. "Having a bunch of soft-hearted daughters isn't what this kingdom needs. Mother is trying to make us strong, don't you get that?"

No, Blaze didn't get it. She didn't get it at all. If being strong meant killing her mother then Blaze wanted nothing to do with it.

"You're wrong!" Blaze insisted weakly. She wanted Blister to shut up, or better yet, to take it all back. She didn't want to think about mother being mean to them on purpose just so killing her would be easier. It couldn't be true. Mothers and dragonets were supposed to love each other. That's how all the stories went. "I'm going to tell daddy what you said. I bet he'll say you're wrong."

"Father is an idiot," Blister bit back. Molten smoke curled from her mouth. It gathered like an ash cloud above them and tainted the air with the smell of burning dust. "He doesn't understand what it means to be a princess. He thinks we're one big happy family. Ha! How can a mother love the daughters that will kill her one day? How can daughters let themselves love someone they have to kill?" She shook her head emphatically. "Princesses don't get to have normal families. We can't have it both ways."

"No!" Blaze shook her own head vigorously, hoping to dislodge all of Blister's words. "I'm never going to kill mother. Never!"

Blister rolled her eyes. "I don't get why you're all upset about this. You were furious at her five seconds ago. No – don't start crying. I'm not going to coddle you if you do. Look, it's a good thing to be mad at mother. Can't you see that? Hating mother will make killing her easier. Making us hate her is what a good mother would do."

It certainly didn't feel like a good thing. Nothing about this felt good at all. Blaze shivered despite the stifling heat. Startling images overwhelmed her. Visions of her mother dying, her sisters slicing her throat wide open to let the blood soak into the sand.

The reality of it hit her, but even stronger than that was this new, twisting fear that settled in her stomach like crawling scorpions. Her eyes welled up with tears again.

"D – does this mean mother hates us too? She doesn't love me? Not even a little bit?"

Her voice was a pitiful wobble and the tears began to fall down her face in big globs.

Blister turned away. She snatched another scroll from the pile at her side and opened it so forcefully she nearly tore the parchment in half. "Argh, by all the moons, don't be such a cry baby." When this failed to stop Blaze's crying Blister groaned. "Would you stop it? She doesn't hate you, alright? You and Burn are fine."

"Oh. Oh, good," was all Blaze could say in between sniffles. She had been so relieved to hear that her mother didn't hate her that she hadn't noticed the sorrow in those words or the way Blister's face creased in pain.

Blaze wiped her runny nose, her cheeks and eyes prickling as the dry air sapped the moisture off her scales. An odd silence passed between the sisters. Dully, Blaze wondered if this was the first time they had ever just sat next to each other without any arguing or teasing. It was uncomfortable, made even more so by the tense emotions that still lingered in the air like that thick incense mother always used.

Finally Blister huffed, the anger seeping out like sap from burning wood. "Look, just… don't try so hard with mother. What she thinks isn't important. Just do what you want and forget about her."

Blaze nodded numbly. She didn't know how to not try so hard, or to not care about what mother thought, but knew Blister would call her stupid if she asked. She hated being called stupid by Blister most of all. Instead she poked her sister's side and, wanting to forget all the horrible things they had talked about, asked, "What are you reading now? It's not about scorpions, is it?"

Blister smiled, genuine and mischievous. "Scorpions? No, now I've moved onto… vipers!"

She held the scroll up to Blaze's face, revealing a full diagram of a dragonbite viper. Blaze shrieked and ran off only to have Blister chase her around the library with the picture until their yelling and laughter earned them a lecture from the head librarian.

---

The memory ended there but the thorny feelings stuck to Blaze's insides.

Looking back now, Blister's words that afternoon sounded more like the desperate attempts of a child trying to explain the cruelty of adults, yet at the same time she hadn't been entirely wrong. Oasis had always been so hard on them, but especially on Blister. Everyone used to say that Oasis was just preparing them for the role of ruler; that a future queen needed to be hard as iron and full of steel.

Is that what Glacier had tried to do to Crystal? Blaze wondered how old Crystal had been when she learned what she had to do in order to become queen. Had Glacier taken her young daughter aside and explained it to her as gently as possible? Had she cried? How many nightmares had she had about it?

For twenty years Blaze had been with Glacier, and they had known each other even longer. Not once did Blaze ever sense that Glacier was anything like Oasis – she couldn't be.

Crystal, as usual, seemed to pick up on Blaze's ill-ease. She forced smile which looked like more of a grimace. "I didn't mean to upset you again. I had hoped explaining would make things better. Evidently not." Her voice was tinged with self-scorn. "Please, forget what I said."

The coward in her wanted to do just that, to run from this ugly vision of unhappiness, the prophecy that Blister had seemed to know would haunt her all along. Could it really be true? It felt blasphemous to even think so, to think that Glacier was anything but perfect. The knife in her chest twisted as she remembered each of Crystal's accusations. It would be so easy, so painless, to pretend it never happened.

Instead she remembered all those lonely nights spent waiting for Glacier to come home. All the scouting operations, prisoner negotiations, attack squads, battle charges… in her own spoiled way Blaze had only ever focused on her own misery during those nights and days that spread on with no end in sight and no Glacier by her side. Only now did she recall that Crystal had visited her often during those times, always sober faced and quiet. Blaze would welcome her in, try to feed her cooked lizard (which Crystal always declined), and would attempt to make pleasant conversation about Crystal's studies. But each time, without fail, Blaze would inevitably be the one doing the most talking. Oh how she loved telling Crystal about her days as a young princess in the Sand Kingdom, she would go on for hours about the pros and cons of sapphires and rubies, and, perhaps most horribly, would tell Crystal all about the things she and Glacier had planned on doing once the queen returned.

Crystal had listened in attentive and hungry way, never interrupting and barely speaking. Blaze had mistaken Crystal's demur behaviour for shyness or classic IceWing stoicism as she happily blabbered away. Now she could see it for what it was - the look of a daughter that had been forgotten.

Then there had been that night years ago when Glacier had dropped off a shivering dragonet at her Fortress without any explanation. When Crystal had told her the story of how she had been humiliated in front of the court Blaze had wanted to go straight to Glacier and set things right. Crystal had begged her not to and that had been the end of it. Thinking on it now, shouldn't Glacier have known better without Blaze needing to tell her? What had Glacier done to stop it?

Nothing. In fact, she had sided with Narwhal.

Arrg! Why had she made that promise to Crystal? Blaze should have spoken to Glacier about it anyway and force her to put Crystal's name back in whatever spot it had been on that ridiculous ranking wall. She should have yelled at Narwhal for making Crystal feel stupid and small.

She should have marched right into the middle of the Ice Kingdom, freezing winds be damned, and growl at all those uptight snooty teachers that had made Crystal stay up all night, or those frustrating trainers that had ordered Crystal to survive on her own during a blizzard, oooh and she should have especially smacked that aristocrat that had told Crystal that her loud laugh was too 'undignified and raucous'.

And maybe, most of all, she should have begged Glacier not to send Crystal out in the war. Who cared if that was the 'duties of an IceWing Princess'? She should put her talon down and told Glacier that Crystal was her daughter too and she couldn't just send her off like that.

Blaze settled her tail around her talons, careful with the deadly barb. Crystal was watching her intently, like whatever she had to say next would bring the sky crashing down over her head. Winter had taken out a new piece of paper and a block of charcoal. He was scribbling away as if trying to draw himself a new house to hide in.

I wanted this, Blaze had to remind herself, I wanted Crystal to tell me everything and now I have to face the truth. Oh Glacier, what have we done?

This was so far beyond what Blaze had been prepared for, and yet it had been staring her in the face for so long.

Her voice drifted out of her like some awakened ghost. She found herself asking, "Do you hate her? Do you hate your mother?"

Crystal turned away, but not before Blaze saw the agonized look of her face. Her lithe body was coiled tight, like she was forcing herself to stay in place.

"No. Well… maybe sometimes I did." The IceWing's voice vibrated softly. "Or maybe I was just so angry at her and thought it was hate. There were so many times growing up when I was furious with her – there were so many times I was furious with myself, but I don't hate her." Her face darkened as storms clouds gathered behind her eyes. "It's me that I hate."

At his desk Winter had stopped writing. He looked ahead at nothing, the weariness of his face making him appear older than his years – not wiser, just tired. Some of the candles were beginning to burn low; their desperate flames flickering like a racing heart. For a moment Blaze could almost pretend it was another night back in her Fortress. The small stale room, the blizzard outside, and the desperate attempt to put light where darkness had taken root.

Crystal leaned against the crooked walls. She wiped at her eyes with her talons. "I just wanted to take care of you, or at least offer some comfort, but I couldn't even do that. I'm sorry Blaze. I'm sorry I ran away when you needed me. I wish I could do it all over again." Quietly she added, "Mother already knew I was a disappointment, but I had truly hoped I'd do better this time."

Crystal looked impossibly small, fragile, like an ice sculpture teetering on the edge of a pedestal. In that moment the shadow of Glacier that had clung to the young IceWing's scales peeled away and fell to the floor like a gauzy cloak. The specter of Blister, too, faded away as if it were nothing but a mere mirage on the desert horizon.

At last Blaze saw Crystal just as she had always been.

The same hunched over posture she had had that night long ago when Glacier had dropped her off at Blaze's fortress. The same mask of blankness she always wore when listening to Blaze talk about Glacier's return home. The same smothered fear that had been in her eyes that dusk before she'd gone to war… and the same impossibly fragile fragment of hope of a dragonet pressing her most cherished ring into the palm of another.

The SandWing's stomach knotted itself into a ball like a squirming pile of vipers. All this time she had been so afraid that Crystal had changed into something unknowable, that her years spent in that frigid IceWing court and in the war had broken her, but Crystal was the same as she had always been– silently taking on the burdens of others; putting their needs before her own.

All at once the realization hit Blaze. Crystal hadn't changed; she was just a dragon at her limited, no longer able to hide it anymore. No, Blaze was the one that had changed.

It was so painfully obvious now.

She had always been the softest of her sisters, the dragonet others tried to take advantage of because they thought she wasn't clever enough to notice. They assumed her head was filled with nothing but sparkles and glitter and over the years she had leaned into that identity, letting the other parts of her wither away like flowers cut from their roots. She stopped trying to stick up for herself when it became clear she would only humiliate herself more. She had let others make decisions for her, first it had been her mother but even when she had been freed of that chain she had willingly, even gleefully, allowed Glacier make all her choices for her in the end.

Eventually she had withdrawn into herself, only keeping surface level relationships with most dragons. She'd become self-centered as a form of protection, as if refusing to acknowledge the suffering of others and surrounding herself with beautiful things would make reality any less ugly.

It was laughable really. She was laughable. Each day she had put on her jewels and silk lined fur cloaks, dripped sandalwood perfume on her neck, thinking herself so noble and strong for keeping up appearances. How utterly and completely she had failed.

Who was she to come in here and demand answers from Crystal? What right did she have to be a part of Crystal's life when she'd done nothing but cause harm? Even now it was hard to look the IceWing in the eye. All along Crystal had carried this burden on her own while Blaze had just added more onto her back.

The last of Blaze's resolve ebbed from her, sinking out of her claws and into the ground as if fleeing. Her mind sunk with it, descending into that dark place she'd become so familiar with recently.

I shouldn't have come here. It would have been better if I had just left Crystal alone.

Crystal would be better off without me.

"With all due respect, cousin, I think you're completely wrong."

Both dragonesses started at Winter's voice and turned to look at him.

"Wrong?" Crystal echoed, her tongue curling around the word with obvious distaste.

"Please, allow me to explain," Winter said, looking awfully calm for someone caught in the beam of Crystal's icy stare. "When Queen Glacier sent me to the academy I was determined to hate it and show everyone how superior IceWings were. Not only did I fail to do either one of those things, but I also couldn't admit to myself that I was completely out of my element. Other dragons seemed to make friends so easily, trust each other and open up; things I was never taught to value let alone do."

Outside the wind fell silent, as if it straining to listen through the walls.

The young IceWing studied his claws morosely. "Honestly I still haven't figured it out, and I fear I have ruined what chance I had at a new family, or whatever it was we were. I admit it is hard not to think that something is wrong with me, and maybe there is, but I can't let myself believe it's hopeless. And I won't let you think like that either. We're living proof that dragons can change, despite what our parents said… or did to us." A beat passed before Winter spoke again, his momentum interrupted by a hitch in his throat. He picked up the charcoal he had been using to sketch passed it from talon to talon.

"What I mean is – I understand. And I know it's not my place to say this but… your mother didn't think you weak, Crystal. She was proud of you. Everyone could see that." In the ever shifting firelight Winter's face opened up revealing an anguish that could not possibly fit into one so small. He fidgeted nervously, clearing his throat. "I just… thought I'd share my thoughts. I apologize if I spoke offensively."

For the first time that day Crystal appeared alert and focused, her intense energy directed at Winter. She studied her cousin anew and did not try to hide her surprise. "I… didn't realize you felt like that."

He gave a tired shrug. "Neither did I, or at least, I didn't have the words for it until now."

Blaze, too, studied Winter. She had not known this young dragon to be so thoughtful, then again she really didn't know much about him at all. "Prince Narwhal was your father, wasn't he?" Blaze asked, even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes. And Tundra was – is – my mother."

His slip of the tongue didn't go unnoticed, but by now more memories trickled down, becoming clearer. She had never interacted with Winter as frequently as she had with Glacier's daughters. There had been a few times when Narwhal had accompanied Glacier to the fortress on an official war meeting with Blaze and sometimes he had brought one of his children. Blaze recalled an older male dragonet that had been affable enough for an IceWing, and there was also that quiet, calculating daughter that had always made Blaze uneasy, like she was being sized up by an infant. Then there had been Winter, only brought a few times but on each occasion he had looked like an arctic hare moments before being caught. She recalled watching him trail after Narwhal, who had not held back his admonishments of the young dragon, and the shallow pity she had felt for him at the sight.

After he had gone away to that school her knowledge of him pretty well dropped off a cliff and she hadn't bothered to follow up. Now she wished she had.

"And is she not worried about you living here all alone?" Blaze asked. "And shouldn't you be in school? Who's taking care of you?"

The young dragonet puffed out his chest. "I can take care of myself. IceWing dragonets don't need coddling like the dragonets of other Tribes. We are self-sufficient."

Blaze bit her tongue. She should have known better than to ask an IceWing a question like that, least of all someone with a mother like Tundra. Still, there was something greatly amiss here. Hadn't she heard something about Winter recently?

Just before Glacier's death there had been a string of gossip pertaining to the royal IceWing family that had managed to find its way across the desert to Blaze's ears. It came back to her now in half-remembered whispers – a story about two young IceWing princes being spotted in the town of Possibility a while back, and if Blaze remembered correctly, there were only two dragons in all of Pyrrhia that fit that description and one of them was in the room with her now.

That wasn't all she had learned. Around the same time Blaze had accidently stumbled across an IceWing messenger chatting with one of the SandWing guards. The messenger had been there to deliver a letter from Glacier and had been engaging in some very un-IceWing gossip while she'd waited for Blaze's reply letter. And it was certainly juicy gossip. The messenger was tittering on about something called a diamond trial and how it was the first one in decades and how this one had been between two royal princes and it was the only thing anyone was talking about. The SandWing guard had made an unimpressed snort.

"So what? The prince who cuts the best diamond wins?"

Blaze had been quietly waiting behind a sandstone pillar, not hiding exactly but she knew once she showed herself the conversation would end and she wanted to know what this was all about.

The messenger made her own derisive snort. "Hardly. This isn't a contest between jewelers. It's a battle to the death. The prince that survives is the one that wins."

Behind her pillar Blaze shuttered, deciding then to show herself and send the messenger and her horrible story on their merry way. Afterwards Blaze hadn't given it much thought. Glacier hadn't mentioned anything in her letter so Blaze had dismissed is as the indulgently inaccurate sort of gossip that dragons make up just for fun.

It wasn't fun anymore.

She could easily imagine Narwhal upholding such a barbaric tradition; he used to lecture Blaze on IceWing history and traditions what he accompanied Glacier to the fortress and his pompous condescending voice always made Blaze want to yank her ears off. Glacier though… would she really have just stood by while two dragonets, her own nephews, were forced to fight each other?

Yes, Blaze admitted to herself, finally acknowledging the unspoken blackness that shrouded her memories of Glacier – the very thing she'd been trying to ignore.

Now she felt like even more of a fool. Of all the dragons to understand what Crystal was going through it should have been Blaze. At this point Blaze had to wonder if there had ever been a moment where she had actually really been there for Crystal.

Tenderly Blaze brushed a claw against the earring that hung from her left ear. It was a small hoop made of silver, embedded with a singular blue diamond stud. It was made from the ring Crystal had entrusted to her those years ago, modified to be put in her ear where it would be safe. Perhaps it was appropriate that Crystal hadn't recognized it; the promise she had made on it was as warped and faded as the object itself.

She hadn't looked after Crystal like she had promised, and now Crystal was all grown up. She didn't need protecting or piles of gifts, which were the only things Blaze knew how to give. What could Blaze give her that she couldn't get herself? Did Blaze have anything useful to offer?

Blaze thought again about that night in the fortress so long ago, when it had just been her and Crystal and a silly game of dress up. It hadn't taken much to make Crystal open up, just some compassion, reassurance, and a promise that she would always be on her side.

Could that really be all the Crystal needed? If felt inadequate, like she should throw in a few gold tiaras and a diamond bracelet to make it truly meaningful. But Crystal didn't want her tiaras, what she needed was for Blaze to finally make good on her promise.

"Winter's right," Blaze said into the quiet. Her throat felt raw, as if she hadn't spoken in years. Her body blocked out the light of the candles as she took a step closer to Crystal, and again she was reminded of how much larger she was than this dragonet. How much older. "You haven't disappointed anyone, my diamond, and maybe you don't believe me as much as you do Winter, but I knew Glacier for many, many years and I think she would be in awe of everything you've accomplished."

Crystal's mouth twisted into a skeptical grimace. "I don't know about that. I haven't done much."

"Nonsense! It takes a lot of courage to follow your heart, especially when everyone around you is putting their grubby talons in your business and acting like your future is already set in stone. Glacier knew that more than anyone." Blaze rubbed at her tired eyes, they were starting to sting with exhaustion. She sighed wearily then added, "She'd be proud of you for having the courage to do what she never could."

The grimace on Crystal's face folded back to reveal worried confusion. "What does that mean?"

Silently Blaze sent a prayer to whichever sand spirits might be nearby. She was taking a risk here and Blaze had never been good at the whole risk-assessment stuff. Usually when Blaze took a chance at something it would backfire horribly, like the time she had tried to organize her mother's treasury, or when she had thrown a surprise hatchingday party for Burn (she had managed to stab three of the guests with her tail barb before Blaze could convince her it was a party, not an ambush). Now she was taking another risk, maybe one she should have taken sooner, but when you keep a secret for so long it eventually burrows so deep inside of you that to dig it out would leave her hollow.

She didn't know how Crystal would react to what she wanted to say about Glacier. Everything up to now would suggest Crystal would probably fling herself out the door and fly into the storm.

Or maybe she wouldn't.

Blaze was just going to have to find out.

By now Winter was leaning forward in his seat, equally intrigued.

"Well," Blaze began, gathering her courage, "did Glacier ever tell you that she almost ran away with me?"

Both IceWings snapped to attention, their eyes glittering as sharply as their diamond scales. Blaze took that to mean the answer was no.

"I guess Glacier never told you – which make sense," Blaze blurted out, suddenly nervous. "We promised not to speak of it to anyone. We didn't want it to make things complicated, but everything got complicated anyways and maybe we shouldn't have kept it a secret after all."

It was so weird to finally be saying all this out loud. Weird, but also relieving, like some of that lead in her bones was falling away.

"When did all this happen?" Crystal demanded. "During the war?"

"Certainly not! No no no. This was years and years ago, back when we were just princesses." The IceWings looked a little less scandalized at this, but not by much. She tried to by sympathetic. This was probably not something they had ever considered Glacier capable of… and they were right. Blaze tried to remember herself back then. It was like excavating an ancient city, all those years sinking into her like heat through chilled scales. "Gosh, I think I was seven at the time. Could it really have been that long ago?" It all felt like eons ago, a pocket of time where completely different problems had threatened to undo her.

"We met at a party my mother was hosting. The IceWing queen couldn't make it, or didn't want to go, so she sent her daughter instead. I wouldn't say it was love at first sight or anything." A nervous laugh escaped her. Should she tell them that their first interaction had been an argument? Gosh, she couldn't even remember what they had been yelling about, only that she hadn't been able to stop thinking about the infuriating IceWing princess with the infuriating haughty expression and infuriatingly beautiful eyes for the rest of the evening. Blaze cleared her throat a few times, feeling heat climb up her neck. No, she wouldn't tell them that. "Anyway…all you need to know for now is that there came a point where we fell in love and began to fantasize about running away – or rather I did most of the fantasizing. Glacier did more of the logistics. I assure you, it was all very romantic and exciting. We had everything planned, too. We were going to run away a week before the winter solstice, when the IceWings would be busy with their annual feast and the SandWings would be busy with my mother's hatchingday party. We were so happy..."

Blaze had to let her breath out slowly. She had known this wouldn't be easy, but why did it have to be so hard.

"I see…" Crystal breathed out heavily, leaving the rest of her words to drift away with the smoke of the candles.

Winter, however, looked ready to jump out of his seat and attack.

"But Glacier was completely loyal to her Tribe, she would never have abandoned us," he insisted. "She would have done anything for the IceWings and we would have done anything for her! She was the perfect IceWing; even as a dragonet she was at the top of the ranks. Why would she want to leave?"

Blaze only laughed dryly. "Calm down, little prince. Dragons do crazy things when they're young and in love; don't hold that against her."

This brought Winter up short. His jaw clicked shut and Blaze swore she saw a light blue blush over his muzzle. He turned away, straightening the papers on his desk with overzealous concentration.

"So mother was willing to give up everything; her rank and title, her tribe… for love?" Crystal cut in. Her initial shock had faded as the deeper significance of what Blaze said settled in. Slowly, like the last stubborn ice in spring, something changed behind those fire-white eyes.

"Of course! Glacier was quite the romantic once you got to know her," Blaze continued, warming to her topic. "Besides, we were both fed up with palace life. I hated being the little sister everyone laughed at, and Glacier was tired of the strictness of IceWing court. We just wanted to be in charge of our own lives for once and to have a chance to build that life together – far away from our overbearing mothers and conniving sisters." A deep sigh escaped from her. "We both had… complicated relationships with our families."

At this the IceWings shifted in a rare outward display of unease. Blaze allowed the pause to linger as she wondered just how much they knew about this part of Glacier's family life. No doubt they had all the facts memorized off some scroll of the IceWing royal lineages, not that that would do them any good. What use was a name or a date printed on a page? How could any of that tell you the weight of a life?

"So what happened?" Crystal pressed when Blaze remained silent for too long. "Did you two leave?"

"Obviously not," Winter answered in her place. "Glacier became queen in the end. She must have realized her kingdom was more important and decided to stay."

Crystal shot her cousin a warning look but Blaze waved off his brutal comment.

"You're not entirely wrong," she admitted, "but the truth is more complicated than that. Glacier never wanted to be queen. She was happy to leave all that to her older sister – that is, until everything went wrong."

This was the part Blaze hated to remember let alone speak of. They should have seen it coming. It had been staring them in the face for months – all of those fearful notes Glacier would write in between their love letters, the worry that her mother was becoming suspicious and quick to anger and the growing tensions with the Sky Kingdom. If only Blaze had been smart enough to see it coming. Instead she had attempted to ease Glacier's worries with soft words; that everything would be alright, that her mother wouldn't run the Ice Kingdom into a petty war, and that the future of the kingdom was secure in the talons of her older sister.

"The plan was perfect. Everything was ready… we were ready. We had been so close to the freedom we'd been craving our whole lives. Then, just two days before our runaway date I received an urgent letter from Glacier. She wanted to call off our plan. It turns out her sister had been preparing to challenge the queen for the throne before the she sent the Ice Kingdom into war." The SandWing shifted her cramping wings. All that hard flying in the cold rain was doing her in. "Glacier's mother had been getting a little… paranoid. Even more than was normal for a queen. While Glacier and I had been planning are escape, Mink had been planning her ascension to the throne… she made the challenge and lost. Glacier was the sole surviving heir."

For as long as she lived Blaze would never forget the way her heart had iced over as she read the cuttingly brief note Glacier had sent her on the eve of their departure: I'm so sorry Blaze but I can't go with you. Blaze decided to leave out the details of the disastrous meeting with Glacier that had ensued; the shouting and crying, neither of them listening to the other. Glacier had left that night manic and desperate while Blaze had retreated with a broken heart. It had felt like a betrayal – yet another dragon putting Blaze last.

"Oh," Crystal murmured. Her brow was furrowed into troubling lines. "I remember the tutors telling me a little about aunt Mink when I was younger. She had been worried the queen – my grandmother – was becoming too hostile with the other tribes so she made the challenge. I admit I never really gave her much thought." Crystal looked at the ceiling, distant in her thoughts. "I never realized mother named my little sister after her."

"Their relationship may have been strained at times but Glacier truly loved her sister," Blaze said sadly. "When she died it changed everything. That was why we never went through with our plan. Glacier decided she couldn't leave her kingdom now that she was the only heir and the only one that could keep her kingdom safe."

After their argument Blaze had returned to her kingdom a ragged mess. Under the guise of a sudden illness Blaze locked herself in her room for days, alternating between bitter rage that would send glass vases shattering into walls and soul-shaking sobs that stained her silk-clad pillows.

"Not even a week after that first message another IceWing messenger arrived at the palace," Blaze continued. "He addressed the whole court this time and said… well, he said that Glacier was the new queen of the IceWings." That had been the final spear in Blaze's heart; the point of no return.

"I'm sure you can imagine my shock – she hadn't told anyone, not even me! It was so sudden…and so soon after her sister's death…" It was a struggle to keep her voice steady. It was absurd how strongly these old feelings came back now, like an old injury acting up in bad weather. "Not to mention the scandal of it all. It was unheard of, at least in my time, for a queen to be challenged again so quickly. The IceWings were in an uproar about it. The queen was still recovering from her battle with Mink. A lot of dragons claimed it was an unfair match."

Restless, Blaze began to twist the rings on her claws. "Anyway, we fell out of contact while after that… I'm ashamed to say I was too caught up in my own hurt to reach out to Glacier in a time when she probably needed me the most. I can't imagine what Glacier had to go through. I know it changed her and not for the better. With the court at her throat she couldn't risk making waves or changing the very rules she had wanted to run away from. In the end she never did do any of the things she used to dream of doing. I think being queen wore her down."

Crystal continued to listen, silent as ever but with a thoughtfulness that relieved Blaze. She had feared another reaction like the one this morning. It seemed, at least to Blaze, that perhaps Crystal understood after all.

"That isn't to say she wasn't a wonderful queen and I know she must have seemed all powerful to you, but queens rarely are as confident and poised as they make themselves appear. Glacier worked hard to hide her insecurities and fears; maybe she hid a little too well. Once she became queen she no longer belonged to anyone, not me, not her children, not even herself. In truth, Glacier had very little power over her life. She made mistakes and probably died with many regrets." Blaze paused, pretending to study something on the ceiling while holding back more tears. "I'm not trying to make you forgive her, or to change how you feel. What I'm trying to show you is that Glacier understood your situation more than you realize, and I don't think she wanted you to go through what she did. What I'm trying to say is that you didn't disappoint her, Crystal. Not ever."

The IceWing remained silent, her expression unreadable as her wings unfurled through the stale air of the room. Blaze held her breath anxiously.

"Well," Crystal finally said with an air of great resolve, "that would have been nice sooner. I can't believe mother never told me – no, actually I can believe it." She shook her glittering wings out and the candles guttered. "I don't even know what to think. All those years spent working towards something I didn't want yet felt I had no choice in – it all feels so pointless now. I wish she would have been honest with me."

"I know, sweetheart," Blaze said gently. "If she had lived I think she would have told you herself one day, on her own terms."

This did not appear to fully console Crystal. Blaze rubbed her thumb across a stray fleck of mud on Crystal's shoulder, shrugging uselessly. "I'm sorry, my diamond. Glacier loved you in the only way she understood how. I hope one day you can forgive her."

In his chair Winter shifted, the creak of the wood made loud by the surrounding quiet. Blaze noted that he hadn't drawn anything in a while. Perhaps he was thinking of his own dead parent and Blaze wished she could gift Winter with a story too, one that would bring to light a different side of his father, a side that would be easier to forgive.

"But what does that mean for me? For us?" Crystal suddenly asked. She glanced back towards her cousin, her brow lowered in concern. "I wasn't prepared for any of this. What's the point of getting the chance to live life the way I want when I don't know what I'm doing? I was never shown how to be anything other than an IceWing noble… how am I going to do this?"

"You'll figure it out," Blaze said confidently.

Doubt colored Crystal's already worried face. "You really think so?"

"Of course!" she declared. "Besides, let's not forget that I grew up in a palace too and it certainly didn't prepare me for life outside of the Stronghold. If a sheltered SandWing princess like me could learn to live in the Ice Kingdom for twenty years than you can certainly adapt to this barbaric queen-less village of yours. And you're not alone. You have Gharial and Winter... and me of course. You'll always have me." More nervously she added, "I know I haven't always been the greatest listener and that I won't always be able to understand you the way you need, and I know you have so much emotions inside of you that you were never taught how to handle, but now is your chance to try and you will figure it out because you're brilliant."

This got a small smile out of Crystal which felt like a tide of sunlight spilling over Blaze's heart.

"I hope so," Crystal said, "but you're right about one thing. I'm not alone in this. The IceWing swiveled her head to look at her cousin. "Winter… I know we've never been very close, but you're my family and I care for you. I don't want us to be strangers again."

Winter flushed, looking for all the world like the young dragonet he was. "Oh. Yes. Of course. You're always welcomed here anytime."

Crystal smiled at him. "I'll be sure to take you up on that offer. For my part, you are always welcomed to visit my home as well. I could certainly use another IceWing ally when Gharial makes his weekly alligator stews… or is in crocodile? Either way it can easily feed ten MudWing troops which are ten less than we have." The IceWing shook her head fondly. "I keep trying to convince him to add some narwhal meat to the recipe but he says it will throw off the balance of flavors or something."

The younger IceWing dipped his head gratefully. "Thank you. I'd like that."

Blaze's chest nearly burst with pride and no small amount of relief on Winter's behalf.

I don't care how independent he thinks he is. IceWing prince or not, he's only a dragonet. He still needs someone to look out for him.

She wondered if now would be a bad time to bring up his schooling situation. As far as she knew he was no longer enrolled in Jade Mountain Academy, which was a shame. It would be nice for the little prince to have more friends his own age.

Oh! But there was someone! Blaze recalled the face of that little SandWing that had been spotted with alongside Winter in Possibility; the same one she'd seen loitering around the palace with Queen Thorn.

"Don't you have friends in the Sand Kingdom?" Blaze asked. "That little errand boy of Thorn's or adoptive son or… whatever. He has an odd name but he's always talking about you."

Winter sat up so quickly he nearly propelled himself off his chair. "Qibli? Do you mean Qibli?"

"Yes!" Blaze clapped her talons together. "The little spunky one. Have you seen him at all lately? OH! You must come visit him, wouldn't that be lovely?"

The muscles in Winter's face came to life with a dozen emotions at once: fear and worry and doubt, yet there was also hope and maybe even a hint of joy. "I – I don't know. I'm not sure he'd want to see me."

This didn't make much sense. The last time Blaze had seen the small SandWing he had been trying to convince Thorn to allow him time off from his duties at the palace in order to visit Winter. Something about a missed letter or missing a letter, Blaze hadn't really been paying attention.

"Well you should visit the Sand Kingdom anyway. I could always take you around the palace too. You've never been, have you? I could show you my rooms! And the giant palace terrariums – we're famous for them you know."

Winter nodded absently, but his gaze was aimed towards that crumpled piece of parchment on the floor that Blaze had noticed earlier.

"Maybe I should," he said. "There are dragons I'd like to connect with again. I don't know what I did… or if it even has anything to do with me, but I have been feeling adrift lately. I think I need to be the one to go to them this time."

Crystal moved towards Winter, her shadow leaping and jumping on the wall behind her. For a moment it looked as if she were about to put her wing around Winter, but then thought better of it. "Perhaps someday we can visit the Sand Kingdom together," she said. Her ears twitched as she looked at Blaze. "I'd like to see the, uh, terrarium things."

Blaze's chest swelled. She could just picture it now; the three of them romping around the Sand Kingdom. She could take them to the bazaar, get them some new jewelry – oh, and they would definitely need some sun hats. IceWings had horribly weak constitutions when it came to heat, these little dragons would burn up like dry straw in the desert sun.

Perhaps they could stick to drinking tea in the shade of a palm tree, feasting on a plate of figs drizzled in honey while watching the sun set. But she was getting ahead of herself. For now she would need to take things slow, to nurture this olive branch that Crystal was offering her.

Blaze took hold of Crystal's talons and the two dragons shared a smile. "My darling, I would love that more than anything in the world."

---

Having burned through all its fury the rainstorm passed along with a sigh. By the time Blaze and Crystal bid Winter farewell and stepped out into the sodden fields, the sky was fresh and new, opening itself to the warmth of the setting sun.

Blaze would have been perfectly happy to stay longer, but Crystal had insisted they leave. Winter had been patient enough with them and she was anxious to return to Gharial.

"I hope he didn't stay out in the storm to try and find me. Surely he went back home," Crystal worried on their way out the door. It wasn't clear if she was suggesting this to Blaze or trying to convince herself. Blaze nodded nonetheless.

"I'm sure he's fine. He seems the sensible sort."

Crystal snorted. "Then you don't know him at all."

They fell into silence. Rather than fly they decided instead to walk. The newly churned mud clumped on their talons and the smell of wet soil and field grass filled their lungs. Despite all that had happened today, the air between them felt charged, like a bolt of lightning caught beneath their wings. Things between them were clearer than ever before, and yet they had never been more complicated.

"I suppose I should be getting home," Blaze said.

more complicated.

"I suppose I should be getting home," Blaze said.

"So soon?" Crystal looked genuinely surprised and Blaze smiled warmly.

"Darling, I've been here all day. And, please don't take this the wrong way my dear, but you look awful. You need to rest and I know you won't rest with me around."

Crystal did not disagree though she deflated a little. She slowed her pace and Blaze followed her lead until they came to a stop in the meadow that ran along the banks of the river.

The distant rumble of the river was a comfort, the sound passing over the fields like a breeze.

"Thank you for listening to me," Crystal spoke. "I know what I said wasn't easy to hear, and the things you told me about mother…someday I'd like to learn more." The IceWing brushed her wings against the tall damp grass. "I've never been good at speaking my feelings but I want you to know that I need you, Blaze. I've always needed you, and I've missed you. I wish I had told you all that sooner…"

The IceWings scales glowed amber in the deepening sun, her head bowed over.

"That being said… I need to figure things out. I don't want to spend the rest of my life feeling like I don't belong anywhere. I will always love the Ice Kingdom, and I hope to see my sisters again some day, but it will never be my home again. Not like it used to. I can never go back to being the dragon I was when I was there and I don't want to. I want to find out who I am without all the rules and duties and hierarchies, and I'm not sure I can do that if I'm constantly looking backwards. I need time away from my past." Crystal paused to take a deep breath. "What I'm trying to say is – I need some space."

Blaze exhaled slowly. She had sensed this coming and it was almost a relief to finally hear it, the blow she had been bracing for all along.

Of course Crystal would need time apart. Blaze had made herself into a mausoleum; a breathing shrine to Glacier. While they grieved for the same dragon, they mourned for different things. Crystal had a tangle of love and resentment she needed to unravel – something Blaze had never been able to do for her own mother.

"I understand." Blaze forced the words out. "You need to sort out your own feelings about Glacier with me pushing my own on you."

"There is that yes, but I also need to figure out what I want from life. I know you only want the best for me, but I'm sick of pushing for the best. Right now I'm just trying to reach good enough."

In the back of her mind that old familiar voice of fear began to whisper, the one that told her that she was losing Crystal, and that Crystal wanted nothing to do with her. Blaze quickly smothered it. She had to have faith. Crystal wouldn't make the same mistakes Blaze and Glacier had made, and while Blaze wasn't entirely sure what Crystal was going to do with her future, forcing her own expectations onto Crystal would surely be the thing that drove them apart. Whatever Crystal needed to do it would bring them closer together in the end.

A gentle touch at her shoulder made Blaze look up. Crystal was staring at her worriedly. "It won't be goodbye forever. Just for a little bit," she reassured, offering a smile. "I'd miss you too much. Besides, I still want that palace tour you promised."

Carefully Blaze wrapped her tail around Crystal's and, using a wing, pulled the smaller dragon in close to her side, memorizing the feeling of their scales pressed together. She would miss Crystal fiercely, but she couldn't deny that the separation felt needed. Blaze had her own feelings to sort out. While she would never stop loving Glacier, she had to reckon with her lover's complicated history and her own equally complicated future.

After a while they resumed walking. The sky continued to darken; the grass came alive with the chirping of bugs and the warble of river-frogs. Wild flowers still dewy with rainwater sparkled in the fading light. The world felt completely remade and Blaze couldn't help but be enchanted by at all. Had she ever walked through a meadow or studied the little flowering shrubs?

"Oh!" Blaze exclaimed. "What about all the things I left at your place. I should take them back…"

"Don't worry about it. Gharial probably put them away while I was gone. Besides, you're in no position to carry all those things back with you."

"I could take a few things," Blaze offered hesitantly.

Crystal shook her head firmly, though not unkindly. "I'll put them somewhere safe for now and we can figure out what to do with them later. Maybe Winter would like some of the stuff. Maybe I'm just being snobby but I felt his place was a little…"

"Barren? Yes. I agree completely."

All too soon Crystal's house came into view. The outside cooking fire was still burning. A metal grill had been hung over the flames where a fresh cut of meat was sizzling. There was light glowing from within the house. Every few seconds a dragon-shaped shadow flickered past the windows, moving back and forth across the house. Blaze winced, wondering how long Gharial had been pacing around that small room.

"You should go inside," Blaze prompted. Crystal nodded but didn't move, uncertainly weighing down her wings.

"Am I doing the right thing with all this?" Crystal motioned to the house, the town behind it, and everything in between. "Is this the right choice?"

For once Blaze knew exactly what to say. "Yes, my darling. You're doing great."

Crystal exhaled long and slow, like she had been waiting her whole life to hear those words.

Their wings brushed together as the dusky sky pulled over them like a blanket of stars.

Without thinking, without giving herself the chance to, Blaze raised her talons towards Crystal and extended her pinky claw. "I don't know if you remember this… My sister Burn taught me about this when I was a dragonet. She called it a…"

"Pinky promise," Crystal answered astutely. "I remember." Without hesitation Crystal carefully twined her serrated claw with Blaze's, the action automatic and instinctive. Only when their claws were firmly linked did she bother to look confused. "So…what are we promising?"

Blaze thought for a moment then said, "How about… a promise to never give up on each other. No matter how hard or confusing things get we'll still have one another and, if we can, a promise to never give up on ourselves either."

The smile that spread across Crystal's face was small, but full of tenderness that wrapped around Blaze's heart. "I think that's a promise I can keep."

~ End ~

A.N.

Done at last. Believe it or not but I have been working on this chapter all along, slowly. Sometimes just editing a few words each day when I could. It was a strange and challenging and rewarding project and I'm glad to have kept with it, and I am grateful to all those who took the journey with me :3