Chapter 3
Qibli woke up after a good slumber in his sleeping cave at the mountain, stretching as he stood up and curled his barbed tail safely as he does after awakening, then he looked at the other alcove meant for a dragon to sleep within this cave, and gave it a disappointed look after seeing it was, of course, empty.
It had been two weeks since the battle of Jade Mountain, and his clawmate had yet to return? He expected the Ice Kingdom would be extremely busy and going through a lot, but he expected some news by this point.
But he supposed that a plague and a war is not a situation that can be completely defused in two weeks. Would he appreciate a letter from Winter? Absolutely. Would Winter honestly actually send a letter before arriving himself? Not as much in character.
He walked out of the cave, and got ready for a new day at the school. To be honest, after the entire Darkstalker situation got defused, he was about ready to go back to Thorn and help her since his grandfather was still out there and attempted his previous plan merely some weeks ago, but the queen herself did some heavy convincing, and ending with telling him that she'll be perfectly fine so he could enjoy school if he wanted that. Qibli knew she hoped he could relax after everything, so he finally accepted.
So here he was at the academy for a few weeks, not that he'd literally complain, he's enjoying his time with cool people like Turtle, more recently Peril, and… Moon. And besides, another of his main reasons to stay is that he did want to be here for the day his clawmate came back, so he'll take this vacay that Queen Thorn gave him and hope Winter will come around during that time.
He started to step out of the cave, then had to quickly jump back in right after due to almost stumbling with an approaching Sunny.
"Oh! Sorry! Was coming to check in with you and I didn't hear you stepping out," she apologized.
"It's no big deal," he quickly assured her. "Is something the matter?"
"Nothing wrong at all, I actually got some news for your winglet that I believed I should share as soon as I could," she said, bringing out a letter. "I just received this from Queen Snowfall, she told us that she's accepting letting the Icewings come back to the academy, with some new students coming over too."
Qibli perked up from these words right away, giving Sunny a big grin after she said that. "Ooh? The Icewings are coming back? Well that's just amazing news, I was missing seeing these sparkling scales."
Sunny giggled at that response. "They really are very sparkly, I kinda wonder how they do that now that you mention it."
"All part of their natural charm, of course," he replied, his mood being even better as he had this conversation now. "Did Snowfall mention a certain prince in her letter?"
"Ah, no, she didn't say names, it wasn't the most formal of letters, but I would guess that a student that was already here should be picked again, no?" She said in a hopeful tone.
Qibli nodded at that. Not having actual name confirmation is slightly bothersome, but not that big of a deal overall. He'll most likely be seeing his best friend again soon enough and that is what truly matters.
"Well, I'm off to go spread the good news to the other winglets, I hope the other Icewings managed to get friends here too, and that these friends will be happy by this development as well," Sunny said with a smile and began to walk off.
Qibli waved her goodbye, and went on his own way to the prey center to grab himself some breakfast, his mood being now about the same as always instead of almost the same while wishing to see Winter.
He got himself a whole pig as he sat down to eat it, then from the corner of his eye he spotted Moon and Kinkajou entering the room together, and clearly they spotted him as well as they walked over to his direction while getting a cow leg and a talonful of mangoes respectively.
"Mooorning!" Kinkajou said first while at the same time taking a big bite on a mango.
"Good morning to you two too," Qibli said with a grin. "Hey, were you told about the most recent news yet?"
Kinkajou looked interested in that, but Moon actually gave him a nod, so he assumed quickly that since the Rainwing did not know despite being near Moon, it means that Moon most likely gathered that from some mental eavesdropping while passing by.
"Ooh? How come you two know it and I don't yet? What even is it?" Kinkajou asked with her tone filled with curiosity.
"Queen Snowfall has recently sent a letter to the staff, we'll be getting the Icewing students once more," Qibli explained.
"Aah! That is great to hear! They were a missed sight lately," Kinkajou said, bouncing excitedly.
"So the Jade Winglet is going to be complete again," Moon said with a warm smile.
Qibli liked the sound of that, giving a nod as he gave a triumphant chomp to his pig. Once more mentally preparing himself for some of the conversations that might ensue. For example, Winter is certainly going to ask about the end of the war, so they'll have to appease him well enough without actually diverging too much into what truly happened, for the wellbeing of the new hatchling.
The rest of the day went quite normally in the matters of classes, with nothing of note happening for several hours, that is until something did happen later in the afternoon, after the lessons were done and the students had free time.
Qibli had gone back to his cave at the moment, planning to quickly finish some work that had to be done for the next history lesson tomorrow and then he'd be on his way to enjoy the afternoon with the others, and that's when someone knocked lightly on the wall outside, making him look there.
There, standing in front of the cave's entrance he saw sparkling white scales, which made him get up before realizing a quarter of a second later that this was different from the ones he wanted to see.
This Icewing had to be around a year younger than he was, and his body was dotted with a lot of gray scales randomly splashed around, with underbelly and wings being completely white, and he had stormy gray eyes as well.
"Salutations," he spoke in a clear, pompous and over the top tone, "I, an Icewing from the Third Circle, have come this far to learn in the new and prestigious school called the Jade Mountain Academy, and I have been told at the entrance that I should join an individual of the Sandwing tribe as part of the Jade Winglet, I am here so you may bow now."
Qibli was taken aback by this, but not even due to how absurd these sentences were, but due to the new knowledge he was just given.
Wait… He's my clawmate? But Winter is my Icewing clawmate!
The other icewing saw his surprised expression, and chuckled for a moment. "Ah, just kidding," he said in a more normal tone. "Bet that you absolutely expected me to sound like that, didn't you? So I had to make you think so before showing to you that actually, I am just Penguin."
"Huh, nice," Qibli said, trying to act normal and shoot a grin at him after making him fall for that. "Name's Qibli, so you say you're our new partner?"
What's going on? Why did they send a new Icewing here? Where's Winter?
"That's right! Queen Snowfall got swarmed with requests of others wanting to join this place, and I was one of the lucky few new ones that got to come alongside the other returning students. I was so mad when I didn't get picked the first time, but now I'm here," Penguin said with a nod.
More on the energetic side, seems to like talking, quite different compared to him. Qibli quickly analyzed.
"Alongside the returning students? So other Icewings that had already previously joined are back?" Qibli asked.
"Yup, so because of that, there were only two open spots for new additions, can you believe it?" Penguin replied.
Two spots, so he has to be referring to Winter and Icicle…
"So, do you know what returning students came along with you?" Qibli asked, he just had to make absolutely sure.
"Huh… What were their names…" Penguin pondered, tapping his chin with a claw. "Oh, right. Changbai, Alba and Ermine if I recall correctly?"
So truly no Winter here. I suppose that is to be expected by now given that he most likely would've come over here himself to at least say something even if he was in another Winglet for some reason.
"I see, thanks for telling me," Qibli said, and now decided to maybe get some answers in case the Icewing knows something. "So, say, do you know anything about the other two students that were here? Like… Prince Winter for example, how is he doing?"
I guess things at the Ice Kingdom must be even busier than I thought, and Winter might be needed for his natural charms of course.
Surprisingly, that question made Penguin look visibly nervous, tapping the ground with his talons a few times.
"Hm, I don't know how much I am supposed to say, royal business and all that, and that prince really made the queen mad," he said.
That did not sound good, and Qibli was finally starting to feel some nervousness. Was Winter in trouble in that case? Having the queen being mad at you is never a good thing.
"Prince Winter and I are friends," Qibli explained. "And others in this winglet have wondered too about how he's doing, so maybe just a quick thing to simply let us know?" He requested.
"Ah, oh, you were friends," Penguin said, scratching the back of his head with a claw. "Weeeeeell, sorry to be the bringer of bad news, but the day of the war, after we all suddenly disappeared back to the Ice Kingdom, there we heard Prince Winter say surprising words about how only the Darkstalker was to blame and not the whole tribe? Then Queen Snowfall got angry and called him and Prince Hailstorm to the throne room, and theeeeen…"
"And then, what?" Qibli asked, feeling dread entering his system. What did Snowfall do? He hoped the talkative Icewing would keep on talking.
"I'm afraid that Prince Winter got a public execution the next day…"
Qibli's eyes widened, and he wasn't able to hold back his reaction or act normal. He'd been thinking of Winter for the past few weeks and wondered about his whereabouts, and now… Now he learned what truly happened, and he had no idea about it.
"What!? No… That can't be right, this is Winter we're talking about, how could he be…?"
Dead… My best friend is… Dead? And it's been that way for two weeks!? What… How…?"
Living in the Scorpion's Den, life had been rough plenty of times, even beyond the first few years where he lived with his family, he had seen plenty of dragons getting attacked or dying nearby, and it was never nice.
But now this time, it was far more personal and close to him, his clawmate, bud and best friend was just gone, and he wouldn't have been none the wiser or suspect such a drastic outcome for a long time.
"Once more, sorry for giving such terrible news, Iii did not think i'd have to talk about that right away," Penguin said in an apologetic and sympathetic tone.
"It's… Not your fault. I am really sorry if I already made you uncomfortable on your first day here," Qibli apologized, then began to walk towards the cave's entrance. "I… Will need to step outside."
"Right, of course, I guess I'll just go and take a nap here while you, do stuff and, probably think and all that and huh, sorry again," Penguin said as he stepped inside and went to lay down on the spot where Winter once slept.
Qibli quickly walked out of the cave, feeling his chest heavy and his mind swarming with about thrice the amount of thoughts as usual, if Moon could read it right now, she'd be having a headache.
And then that thought gave him pause as he realized something.
Moon, she needs to learn about Winter as well, after all with everything that could've happened between them… She deserves to know now too…
Qibli sighed, rubbing his head for a moment. Too much was revealed to him all at once, and it was morally right to say it to Moon right now, but he barely even got time to process this himself, so he'll take a few minutes then search for her.
He began to wander around the mountain, deep in thought as he kept thinking about his former clawmate, thinking of all the times he made him groan with a joke or received a glare, knowing he was slowly chipping through the cold surface of his as he saw him subtly growing softer over time.
He thought of their time at the Sand Kingdom, and even though Winter was enchanted by Darkstalker at that point, for the most part in nearly everything else he was still himself, and besides the general fear and dread of flying straight to his grandfather's proximity, he really enjoyed Winter's company. Maybe momentarily not as much when he threw frostbreath at his leg, but that one was excusable.
He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking of the many conversations they've had… And then realized with a wince that the last time they talked in a complete conversation was, that time in the bedroom in the Nightwing palace where they argued, that… Was not how he wanted their last conversation to go. Especially when during that time, he outright said that he would've used a spell to make Winter like him.
Way to go, bet he really appreciated reminiscing about that same thing while waiting for his death, with everything ending in the worst way possible and you acting like a bad friend.
Qibli swallowed the guilt, sighing as he stood back up, shaking his head as he began to search for Moon. It'd be best for her if she learns the truth sooner than later, to give her more time.
So, the "search for Moon" wasn't really much of a search at the end, he really just went to the library and spotted her right there reading a scroll, meanwhile Starflight was on the other side placing some scrolls in order.
"Moon?" He called out, peeking his head into the library, trying his best to keep a neutral tone.
"Oh, hey Qibli," she said, looking up from her scroll and towards him. "Is something the matter?" She asked.
"I wanted to ask you if we could talk for some time, there's something I have to tell you," Qibli said, and despite his best efforts, Moon must have noticed some strain on his expression as she looked a bit worried.
"Of course, I'm not doing anything else really," she quickly agreed and went towards him.
"Okay, so, you think we could talk somewhere private? Like maybe the underground lake," he proposed now.
"Qibli, are you feeling okay?" Moon asked with worry as Qibli wasn't doing the best of jobs this time at hiding how burdened he was feeling.
"It's something complicated, I'll explain soon," he promised as he began to walk to the underground lake, with Moon following after.
They got there after a few mountains, and luckily there wasn't anybody else at the time. Often one could find Seawings just relaxing in the lake during free time, like Turtle, but at this moment there was no other soul in sight.
"Okay, we're here, and sorry for acting weird, I'm aware of that, it's just that… I've just got some news," Qibli began to explain now.
"And based on your face and everything, I can guess that they're bad news?" Moon replied.
"Quite bad," he said with a nod. "So I've met my new clawmate, and before you say or think so, it wasn't Winter."
"Huh? The Icewings are here, but you didn't see Winter?" She questioned.
"Exactly, and he didn't arrive at the mountain in general, because…" He began to say then stopped for a moment, looking at her.
Her beautiful green eyes were looking at his eyes, her expression being very clearly worried, but she hadn't guessed just yet what could be the true reason for Winter's absence, and Qibli was going to be the one to share those gloomy news, to the dragon that very clearly had an interest on Winter, with Winter doing so as well.
"Moon… Winter is… Gone, he's gone…" Qibli announced, lowering his head.
Moon froze in place, letting out a short gasp as her expression turned to one of bewilderment and denial.
"What…!? No! Qibli… This isn't some sort of horrible joke, right? You can't mean it. How could Winter… Be dead, after everything?" She asked, her tone stiff.
"I would never joke about that," he said in a serious tone. "My new clawmate explained the situation to me, after Winter got brought back to the Ice Kingdom, he annoyed the queen by defending the Nightwings, and the day after that he…"
Moon's body shook, her head hanging low as one of her talons scraped the ground beneath. And Qibli wasn't doing much better himself, his mood being in the dumps and hating himself for so many things related to Winter.
"Why? Why would they just kill him? I don't get it, he's a prince, related to the queen and… A good dragon! What's even the point?" She muttered, still taken aback, tears starting to appear on her eyes.
"Sadly, we forgot something during these two weeks," Qibli replied, sighing. "He literally put himself into a self-imposed exile, he was actually dead to his tribe, and we didn't think… I didn't think about that specific issue until now."
Moon let out a groan and facepalmed, looking utterly disappointed in herself. "How did I not realize that part? I literally saw the minds of his parents and some other Icewings, they were baffled by him being there. And then I just… Didn't think about it due to a whole war occurring right after."
"Your tribe was dying and everything was tense, it makes sense that with everything going on, you wouldn't think about that," Qibli quickly told her. She's already feeling bad, and he didn't want Moon to blame herself much. "What's crazy is that I forgot that detail, just always assuming that Winter was busy doing prince stuff and helping others because he would… When the actual answer was right there."
"We didn't have any time to think after teleporting both tribes," Moon said in a frustrated tone. "Darkstalker came to us right away, and so this detail just completely slipped past our minds!"
And that's it, when Moon brought the topic of the exact moment they teleported the tribes, Qibli's mind suddenly clicked on a particular detail that he feared would get to the front and center of his mind, a thought horrible that made him outright hate himself.
"When we teleported everyone back home… Due to my spell," Qibli said slowly, and Moon looked straight at him.
"Qibli?" She asked, worried due to his tone.
"It was my spell that teleported the Icewings and the Nightwings, my idea that we followed, and my wording that we exactly used," he stated, and he could see how Moon was starting to realize where he was heading to. "And when I wrote that spell, due to everything happening, the war literally above us, believing for several moments that Turtle and Anemone got crushed by that boulder, being… Scared that with him being on the frontlines, Winter could get hurt or killed. So in a rush, I again made a mistake with Animus magic, and I forgot to exclude Winter among the Icewings, so I…"
"Qibli," Moon said firmly to him. "Don't say it, it is not like that."
"But it is," he replied, his eyes locking with Moon's, his expression distraught and shaken. The last time he ever felt this down was only during his childhood. "Due to me, Winter got basically sent to die, so I killed Winter."
"No!" Moon shook her head, clearly horrified by his words. "You didn't kill him, it was a mistake that led to something extreme that we couldn't have expected."
"A mistake that could have been fixed…" He said, guilt starting to overtake him completely as he once more realized his mistakes. It was already bad when he could have killed other Sandwings, and even Thorn herself when he made that sandstorm days ago, but this time he did kill someone. "Darkstalker came to us literally moments after the spell was done, there wasn't time to fix that part right then, okay… But what about after? Winter died one day after the battle, I had a whole day to just ask Turtle or Anemone to quickly do a small spell to bring him back with us, but I did not because…"
Qibli pressed his talons harder on the solid rock floor, leaving scratches on the surface as he kept wallowing in guilt, then he lowered his voice to a whisper as the next part was still secretive.
"We solved things with you know which way, and we all just knew that Winter in particular would hate everything about our decision. So what did we do? We wasted a whole day telling each other how Winter cannot learn of how we dealt with him, so while Winter was being put on the death row, there we were distrusting him… I was distrusting him, what kind of friend am I, when I'd follow along the thought of Winter deciding to harm a baby? Winter is dead, and during that time I was perfectly ready and willing to lie to his face due to believing that. I am a horrible friend."
He looked at Moon, and that's when he realized in horror what his words meant to her as well, what he basically implied about everyone that was into the plan, and her tears intensified.
"Wait, Moon, I-" he quickly tried to correct himself.
"So… I am a horrible friend too," Moon said slowly, her face struck with realization. "I was into the plan too and even more, I was told about it after Darkstalker took you away, so I willingly went with something that Winter would hate, something that could drive us apart if he found out, so I agreed to it and to lie to him… So now it seems I won't need to lie at Winter."
"I didn't mean to make it sound like I was blaming you, or that you're at fault, Winter being gone is only my fault, you just followed through with a plan that you thought would work while under a stressful circumstance," he said, but she shook her head.
"That doesn't change how I was going to act that way to someone I consider my friend! I know you mean well, but you don't have to try taking away the pain from me," she said with a bitter tone. "I know now, I realize that mistake, and the pain is going to stay. If Winter weren't dead, I would have kept that lie for possibly years regarding the dragon that wronged him so much."
Then Moon looked unsure and uncertain, nervous too as she sighed.
"Do you… Think that Winter resented me before he… Died? Our last real conversation was basically him shouting at me because I kept defending Darkstalker, so would he…?" She said now.
"No," Qibli said with a shake of his head, at least about this he feels confident. "I doubt Winter would spend his final moments hating you or anything, you were clearly special to him," he replied in a soft tone.
Moon looked down, and Qibli could see just how broken down she appeared now. One of her friends, and a dragon that loved her, was gone, and he cannot come back. So if she wanted to reciprocate his feelings… She couldn't do it anymore.
And as the thoughts about Moon's love appeared, imagining a relationship between her and Winter, Qibli suddenly felt hollow.
I… Can't be with her. His guilty mind thought. How would it look if at any point soon, I said or tried anything after learning this? It'd look as if I was taking advantage of Winter not being there to also catch her feelings, and besides…
Moon deserves much better than the dumb dragon who gets his own best friend killed…
With a short sniff, Moon slowly looked back. "We… Should tell the rest of the winglet, let them know as well, they deserve it too."
Qibli distractedly nodded, slowly starting to walk after her, back to the upper levels of the mountain.
The winglet… It had always been evident during the first week here that Kinkajou had a crush on Winter, she won't take it well, knowing one of her friends is gone.
Turtle… I cannot really recall actual positive interactions between them, either neutral or aggressive when the topic of Turtle's magic came up, I feel like he'd be sympathetic of course but would he personally care a lot?
Peril… These two never went along, and one of their encounters ended with her nearly burning him to death, she most likely won't care much.
These thoughts made Qibli frown as he realized something saddening.
Winter barely had anyone here at the mountain that truly cared about him. Moon and I cared the most, but the majority of the students most likely won't even lament the fact that Prince Winter, the nephew of Queen Glacier… is dead.
We were one of the few things that he had out here, and we disappointed him, we failed him, and now he's dead due to my mistake.
Winter, my friend, if you even can consider me that anymore after everything… I'm sorry, I should have done better, helped you out, not have talked behind your back and be ready to lie to you.
I should have been a better friend for you.
Author's Note: And here's the end, I wanted to show Qibli and Moon's first reactions to this as these two were the closest to Winter.
At least Qibli realizes now how terrible the ending of his own book was I guess.