New kindle, yay! Time to finish a book I don't even like :D

The first thing Icicle felt was the soft bear skin on her back. Then she felt the heat of the sun from the window hitting her side. Finally, there was a light weight on her chest and eyes staring curiously at her. "Not the dungeon. I'm in one of the guest rooms." She realized. "And a small dragonet is looking at me." She bared her fangs and the dragonet fell back, stumbling onto the side of the bed. Icicle was sort of amused.

The dragonet struggled to get back onto Icicle's chest and peered at her with even more interest. "Who are you? I don't know you and I know EVERYone so you can't be a someone but you also can't be a noone."

How much was the prisoner willing to humor this nuisance? "I'm Icicle. Now answer my question, why am I in here?"

The dragonet sneezed, falling back and stretching her wings. "Dunno. My name is Mink! Did you know that my sister is the Queen?" She looked awfully proud of this fact. "That makes me like, second Queen! Least that's what Lynx told me. I would make a great Queen but I don't wanna take it from Snowfall so I'm not gonna."

"Mink. Good grief." Icicle thought with irritation dripping from her scales. She looked out the window while Mink continued to babble about how great Snowfall was as Queen and in the window, she saw the portrait of Hailstorm snickering while saying something to Winter. She glared at them for not saying it to her face.

"So?"

Icicle snapped back, starting to rise up to loom over the dragonet who didn't look alarmed in the slightest. "So what?" She asked.

Mink giggled. "So you think anyone could beat my sister? I don't. She is super strong! And smart. The smartest dragon in the kingdom!"

Icicle scoffed. "I could beat her."

The dragonet shook her head. "Can't! I bet you haven't beaten a fox!"

The prisoner glared, standing over the dragonet and now out of the bed. "I've killed a polar bear."

"Snowfall's killed a million of those." She said with more assurance than Icicle had ever heard. "More than that probably."

Icicle shook her head, trying to ignore the portrait of her laughing brothers. "She can't possibly have killed that many. There aren't even that many in existance."

Mink started counting her claws then stopped. "Prove it."

"Prove what?" Icicle asked, confused.

Mink narrowed her eyes. "Prove there aren't that many."

The older Icewing needed a second to think about what Mink just said. "I can't-how do you-that isn't…There just aren't!" She said, stomping her foot. "There's like, not enough space! Or they'd run out of prey!"

"You're just making up words." Mink said stoutly. "Cuz I'm right and you aren't!"

"You can't win an argument with Mink. Just accept defeat." Lynx chuckled by the door.

Icicle looked up to snarl at the advisor. "I don't need help dealing with a dragonet." She then looked back to Mink. "YOU are just wrong!

She ignored the amused smile Lynx was giving the dragonet who grinned. "No proof then you are wrong!"

"I-GAH!" Icicle roared, startling Mink who ran back to hide in Lynx's wings. "Go away!"

Lynx lowered herself to speak to Mink. "Don't worry, she's just mad at how smart you are." Mink looked really happy about it. "Why don't you go see Snowfall? I'm sure she needs a good wake up from her favorite younger sister." Mink nodded and ran off, leaving the two alone. Lynx watched the dragonet run off before looking back to Icicle. "You look like yourself again. How did you sleep?"

Icicle stopped showing her teeth and climbed back into the bed. "Fine. Why am I here?" She asked darkly. Why didn't Lynx just bring her back to the dungeon? "She probably wants to send me back, or at least Snowfall does."

The advisor gave her a warm look. "Don't you remember? Icicle is changing the dungeon into something different." That didn't tell her anything. Lynx dropped the smile and instead gave her a straight forward expression. "Snowfall is going to sanctuary to see her cousins. She wanted the dungeon to be redesigned while she was gone and I figured you weren't dangerous so here we are."

Icicle scoffed. "Great. So how many Icewings are happy with her decision?" Lynx winced, her head falling back. "I figured."

"That doesn't mean they WON'T be happy with it! Like, in the future! The very very…far future. But still, there's hope!" Lynx said cheerfully and sat at Icicle's bedside. She groaned and fell back. "Ugh, you know most dragons would probably give you a chance if you let them give you one."

The (former) prisoner just rolled her eyes and pulled the animal fur over her head. What was the point if no one WOULD give her a chance? "I don't NEED a chance. They can think whatever they want because none of them have the guts to say it to my claws." She shook her head and curled up in the bed. "And what dragons do you think would like to give me a chance to begin with?"

Lynx seemed to be at Icicle's beside from how close her voice was. "Well…Snowfall and I were thinking of Hailstorm and Winter."

Icicle felt her eyes shoot open as her body clenched up. Her claws wanted nothing more than to rip the fur she was using to shield herself from the portraits' scorn. Just how big could the hole in her chest open up before it swallowed her whole? She took off the fur and glared at Lynx. "And why would I agree to see those two?"

The advisor didn't seem to understand her question. She lowered her head and sat back down. "I just figured you'd want to see them. I mean, I don't have any brothers or sisters but after not seeing them for so long I'm sure I'd want to."

"You already said they didn't want to see me." She said with bitterness. They didn't even bother to show up for her trial. What did she owe them? Besides, wouldn't she just ruin Snowfall's trip? And Sanctuary sounded like an awful place anyway, full of traitors and dragons who have nowhere else to go.

Lynx stretched, her tail standing on its end. "True, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't be happy to see their sister again. Especially after how much you've changed." She said with a smile that Icicle found very off putting.

The Icewing hissed quietly. "I haven't changed at all." She said with conviction. She resisted the urge to growl at the portrait of Narwhal that gave her a stupidly snobbish look.

"I figured you'd say that. But trust me, you have changed. So much so I'm sure your family would be happy to see you again. Well, maybe not Tundra but she's a stuck up pineapple anyway." Lynx giggled at her own joke before scratching her chin.

Icicle turned away with a snarl. "Those two have each other. I'm sure they're having a perfect time without me." The Icewing had to swallow back her growing anger as memories of Hailstorm reassuring Winter every time the younger Icewing messed up came to mind.

Lynx turned her mouth sideways as she clearly looked pretty annoyed at Icicle which the Icewing couldn't fathom why. "You seem really unhappy with those two and I honestly can't think of why. What did they do exactly?" She questioned.

Icicle lashed her tail beneath the fur. "Nothing. I just don't need them and they don't need me." She recalled looking for them during her trial before it began and her frustration grew as their faces never showed up. "Not frustration. Something else. But what?" It was that dark, empty feeling that made Icicle wish she could pull out her heart and smash it. "Isn't Hailstorm different anyway?"

That sounded pretty harsh and for some reason, Icicle felt bad for framing it like that but Lynx didn't look too surprised at her phrasing. She bobbed her head from side to side as if she was trying to think of how to say it. "It's a long story but basically, Scarlet turned him into another dragon so he didn't age at all. Actually, he's way closer to your age so I guess he's just barely your big brother now." She waited for Icicle to respond but she didn't. "But he's doing way better. He's not having those strange memories nearly as much and he's gotten back to his usual nice and helpful self."

Trying to keep her mouth closed instead of open in confusion and shock was not easy. Part of her should know that was ridiculous but the other part of her was willing to believe it given how crazy that month had been. "You realize how ridiculous that sounds, right?"

"You realize that you were visited by a Queen everyone thought was dead in your dreams, right?" She asked, smirking when Icicle rolled her eyes and laid back down. "I think some memory jogging from his favorite sister would help."

"I'm his only sister. And honestly, I'm sure he'd rather forget I exist." Her voice stuttered at the last part before she closed her mouth and shook her head. "And I'm sure Winter wants nothing to do with me."

Lynx shrugged as the air in the room grew still. "That last part might be true, but Hailstorm was always worried about you when we used to talk." She said, looking up in thought. "And Winter DOES care about you…I'm sure they just don't know how to talk with you."

The hole in Icicle's chest grew with each word Lynx spoke. "They could just TALK to me. THAT would give them a good chance to find out how to speak with me."

"And now you can talk to them! How fun?" She asked, clasping her claws together as if to mimic a union of siblings. Icicle was also starting to get the feeling Lynx wasn't going to drop this anytime soon if she didn't agree to go. Icicle looked back out the window and ran her tongue around her fangs. She felt Lynx's presence inch forward but she didn't look back. "Icicle? Is there something you want to get off your chest?"

She looked out into the sunlit sky, staring at one of the clouds that looked oddly like a scavenger. She blew out some icey air in frustration and hoped the void in her heart would get the hint and leave. "I don't need to get anything off my chest. There's nothing ON my chest but scales."

Lynx was definitely holding in the urge to swipe at Icicle. "I mean is there something bothering you? Like something you might want to talk about?"

"An annoying Icewing comes to mind." Icicle said, turning around and glaring at Lynx as her vision began to blur with red hot flames rising around her. "Lynx thinks she can read my mind. Well she can't." She thought haughtily.

The advisor rolled her eyes and stood up with her tail flicking to the right in annoyance. She turned from Icicle. "I'm beginning to wonder if you were actually happy wallowing in your own self pity." She muttered just loud enough for Icicle to hear.

"Good. That shows her." Icicle thought, really wanting to stick her tongue out at the smug look she was getting from her father's portrait. She didn't need Lynx prying into her personal history. What did she even want with it? "Stuff to laugh about with Winter and Snowfall probably." She thought bitterly. And yet, the hole was just growing and growing with each step Lynx took. The further the distance she put between herself and Icicle, the more that sinking feeling of uncertainty grew. And that was when Icicle found her voice once more in a much weaker voice then she was used to. "I-"

She couldn't form the words but all she needed was one letter to stop Lynx. The Icewing turned around and had her claw resting on the door. Icicle lowered herself onto the bed once more and sighed. "I just…we weren't close. Me and Hailstorm I mean." She muttered. "So there isn't much to talk about."

For some reason Lynx didn't seem to think that was the end of it. "I see. But you seem pretty sure that he doesn't want to see you. What if there was a side to him you didn't see?"

"I saw it. He just only showed it to Winter." She said, running her claws across the top of her pillow. "He always told Winter he didn't need to worry about our parents' approval. Something about how he would make a name for himself without them." She remembered trying to sleep while Hailstorm talked to Winter after his massive failure of a hunt. (SHE wouldn't have hesitated to kill that polar bear. But of course she could only find foxes and scavengers) Something Hailstorm said made Winter laugh and she could have sworn he said something about her. "Guess he did." She muttered. Lynx just stood in her spot, not saying anything. She just stared at Icicle like she was trapped in the portrait. "You got what you want. See? Nothing."

But just remembering Hailstorm talking to Winter, speaking to him in a way that he never talked to her…that strange feeling that wasn't the void or red rage came up. It was something else. Like an ice cube in the hot sun with a ball of emotions getting exposed to the terrible heat. She had to shake away those thoughts so she could hear Lynx who seemed to have found her voice. "At the banquets Hailstorm was always nice to you though, wasn't he?" She asked, genuinely curious.

The cold winds blew harder through the window. At least it was probably cold. Icewings were very resistant to it so Icicle wouldn't feel it aside from the wind blowing against her scales. "Of course he was nice to me! He is-was nice to everyone!"

She still didn't seem to get it. Lynx just scratched her ear and tried to avoid Icicle's gaze. "Soooo how did he treat you differently?"

"You just-of course you don't see it." She said with what felt like an apple in her throat. "Hailstorm treated Winter differently than how he treated everyone else. I figured you wouldn't see that." Icicle saw the portrait of Winter wince at her tone and a small part of her felt a twinge of some feeling she didn't know how to explain. She tried not to sound as harsh which was odd given how she generally didn't care how she sounded to others. "He was just…I don't know. He always talked with Winter and never with me."

The thought of seeing Hailstorm again brought up another ball of ice stuck in the hot sun. Lynx gave Icicle a small smile when she turned to face the advisor. "I think you could talk to him about it. He's pretty easy to talk to. Besides, I can't be the only dragon that has the pleasure of dealing with you." She laughed while Icicle didn't seem to see what was so funny.

"I can't-I had my chance to talk with him a long time ago." Icicle growled mostly to herself and the portrait of Tundra and Narwhal that glared daggers down at her. She bristled as the horrid memories of the former Skywing Queen resurfaced and Icicle wanted to squeeze the hole and choke it to death.

Lynx was quiet for a moment until it looked like a torch had been lit in her head. The Icewings cheerful expression dropped like a falling icicle as she stared at the dragon in the bed with pity. "You can't blame yourself for that. You know that, right? Scarlet's demands were too much." She sighed and looked out the window at the howling snowstorm. Her words didn't make Icicle's breathing steady and she hopped onto the bed and rested a wing around Icicle's shoulder. "And he doesn't hold it against you, I know he doesn't."

Was this what guilt felt like? A crushing weight that only got heavier each time you tried to push it off? She had felt it anytime her elder brother was brought up but she usually crushed it by reminding herself that Winter was the one that got him captured in the first place. "But that just left me with an even deeper weight. Not that I ever showed it. Father told me NOT to do that." She bit her lip and looked longingly at Lynx, her face unmasked and showing her hope that the words the Icewing said were true. "You're sure?" She muttered, before clearing her throat and speaking up, saying it again.

Lynx smiled widely, taking her wing off when she noticed Icicle was probably not enjoying it. "Of course! Actually, I think he would hate it if he knew how much that affected you." Though to Icicle, that sounded like something he would say to Winter, not to her. "So do you want to come with us?"

Icicle nodded and Lynx leaped off of the bed, causing Icicle to groan at the excited Icewings movements. "I'm guessing there's a catch? Is Ridge going with us or Ivory?" Both didn't sound like much fun. "Oh! Or do I have to wear that stupid ring of visitation?"

Lynx rolled her eyes and whacked Icicle lightly with her tail. "Oh stop that! You know that ring was a myth. And no, actually we were just going to go as the three of us." She looked a little excited about the prospect. Much more than Icicle was willing to be.

The former Icewing prisoner shrugged and figured that was a much better deal than she expected. "And Snowfall is cool with it? Her most dangerous prisoner out in Sanctuary?" Suddenly, the fiery rage in her stomach started bubbling up again. The idea of Icewings who she was supposed to hate suddenly seeing her? "Shut up. You don't hate them. Not yet. I don't think…" She hated this awful feeling that something could go wrong.

"Cool! I'll go tell QUEEN Snowfall that you said yes. See ya soon!" And Lynx was off, leaving Icicle alone with the portraits of her family.

Narwhal and Tundra looked just as furious and polarizing as they did when she saw them in person. Hailstorm looked…relieved? He never gave her that look before. And Winter was still a ball of nervousness. "Guess now I know what that's like." She thought bitterly as her hatred for her brothers not being there during her trial started to rise before she stomped it down hard.