Chapter 10

He was a prince, why shouldn't he roam the continent? Why shouldn't a BlizzardWing prince go and meet all the other tribes? PearlWings seemed like a reasonable place to start, they were a peaceful tribe after all, they wouldn't hurt a seven year-old prince, let alone bother him too much. Snowblade would meet a few PearlWings, then move to the DesertWings and keep moving counter-clockwise around the continent.

Well... About that... Snowblade wasn't exactly seven yet. But his seventh hatching day was coming up in a couple weeks, so he was close enough to be an adult. And if his parents didn't trust him on his own by now; that was their fault, not his. Snowblade was trustworthy.

Woah... He thought, looking up at the PearlWing Mountain. It's a lot bigger than I imagined... The PearlWing Mountain was very underestimated in terms of its size in the scrolls compared to the real thing. "YAAAAAAHH! COMING THROUGH!" a voice yelled to his left. Snowblade looked to see who it was; a PearlWing dragonet shot through the bushes and leaped in his direction, but was frozen before she could land.

"What have I told you about running off?" an older voice asked from behind the bushes, gradually getting closer as Snowblade could hear talons pressing against the grass.

The dragonet rolled her eyes. "You said: 'Don't run off without your mother or I, you might get hurt', I'm not hurt though!" she complained.

"You're not hurt because I caught you. You would've landed right on your face and then you would be hurt and then I would have to magic you better," the older voice said, coming through the bushes himself to reveal an intimidating PearlWing, gazing right at the suspended dragonet.

Snowblade quickly made a guess as to where the dragonet would actually land, and the adult was right; she would've faceplanted right into the stone. "He's right," Snowblade told the dragonet, who seemed to just now notice that he was there.

The dragonet gasped in shock. "Daddy! It's a... A BlizzardWing!" she exclaimed to her father.

The older PearlWing glanced at Snowblade and immediately bowed his head. "Prince Snowblade, a welcome surprise. What brings you here?" he asked, bringing his head back up to face the prince.

"Er... Exploring the continent?" Snowblade said, his heart started to race, trying to think of a lie for no good reason, but none came.

"Ah, taking the royal tour of the kingdoms before your seventh hatching day?" the PearlWing asked, the dragonet watched in silence, her jaw hanging open in the presence of a prince.

"Yes, I just thought that I should know the tribes that I'd be ruling with one day... The same way that my parents are with the PearlWing government," Snowblade explained, making the PearlWing smile a little bit.

The PearlWing reached out a talon and Snowblade nervously shook it. He felt weirdly cold... "Nice to officially meet you Prince Snowblade, my name is Sunrise, and I am currently part of the PearlWing government," Sunrise said, gesturing to the dragonet floating in the air. "And that pain in the tail is my daughter Twilight."

"A pain in the tail?! I'm cool!" Twilight argued, offended that her father would say that about her.

"Yesterday you switched out the oils for colored water. Would you say that's cool?" Sunrise sighed, there was no hint of amusement on his face as he most likely recalled discovering that.

"It was funny! And it was also Howlite's idea!" Twilight argued, trying to struggle her way down to the ground.

"Not a word of that is true. Twilight..." Sunrise sighed before continuing. "You're three years old now, you should know better."

"I do know better! I know that you big dragons are bored and unhappy, so I'm taking it into my talons to make you happier!" Twilight explained, still trying to get down. "Can you put me down now?"

Sunrise sighed again and Twilight was slowly and safely lowered to the ground, her mischievous smile disappeared under her father's disapproving glare. The PearlWing turned back to Snowblade. "Twilight and I need to go do some things inside, would you like to accompany us?"

Snowblade could see the curious look in Twilight's eyes, silently begging for company other than her father's. Snowblade nodded at Sunrise. "Well, I did intend to meet the other tribes during my time away from the Blizzard Kingdom... I'll go with you," he said to the PearlWing, who nodded in acknowledgement and gestured for him to follow into the PearlWing Mountain.

Twilight squeezed herself between Snowblade and Sunrise, looking right up at the BlizzardWing and not paying any attention to where her father was going. "Where are we going?" Snowblade asked Sunrise, who slowed down to look at the BlizzardWing.

"Last I heard, the others were fighting... again..." Sunrise enunciated the last word like "the others" fought way too often.

Snowblade blinked at Sunrise, who only kept walking. Soon enough, they heard raised voices arguing with each other.

"-Who improved the water system when nobody else could see a solution? Me!"

"I never even brought that up, why are you mentioning that? I thought we were arguing about what to do about the ForestWings going to war with the WindWings just for territory that they don't even need!"

"We are! And then you decided to bring up experience! 'Oh Whitetail, I'm older than you so I know better than you about everything' Well, guess what Platinum? If the ForestWings are willing to go to war for useless land, then think about what's next! The other kingdoms will be targeted, and then us! Even the PearlWings will be in danger!"

"Whitetail! Platinum!" Sunrise interrupted their arguement. "We have a visitor, so if you could stop yelling at each other for just a moment..."

The arguing PearlWings looked at Snowblade and quickly bowed. "Prince Snowblade! We were not expecting an appearance from you!..." the dragon who sounded like Whitetail stammered, looking back up at the BlizzardWing prince.

"Greetings Prince Snowblade, my annoying associate is correct in his statement about your unexpected appearance," that must be Platinum.

"If you two must fight about the ForestWings with conflicting opinions, then there is a clear way to find out who is correct. Ask Chrome," Sunrise said, gesturing to a silent PearlWing in the corner who was eating a chicken.

Whitetail and Platinum turned to Chrome. "Well? Who do you think is correct? Me or Platinum?" Whitetail asked the silent PearlWing, who pointed at Whitetail and resumed eating the chicken.

Sunrise crouched low and whispered to Snowblade. "Chrome was cursed by his father when he was only a dragonet, not much older than Twilight, he cannot speak a word... Just in case you were wondering," he said, standing back up.

Snowblade looked up at Sunrise, who was observing the shocked look on Platinum's face. "If he can't speak, then how did he get elected?" Snowblade asked, turning to PearlWing in the corner.

"The curse does not keep him from communicating via other methods, that being in writing," Sunrise explained, pointing to a small scroll that rested by Chrome's tail along with a sealed inkpot.

Whitetail had a look of victory on his face. "There you go, the most observant PearlWing in the whole world agrees with me!" he gloated in Platinum's face, bursting into hysterical laughter at the look of disappointment that Platinum bore.

"Yeah, that too," Sunrise added. Snowblade saw Chrome wave at Twilight with a smile and gesture for her to join his side, which she gladly did with a wide grin.

"She seems to like Chrome," Snowblade commented on Twilight trying to fit her small body in the space that Chrome's tail made while not touching the scroll and inkpot.

"She does. Twilight has always enjoyed Chrome's company... I suppose that you have other places to be now?" Sunrise asked, turning to the BlizzardWing prince with a genuinely curious expression, he wasn't trying to be rude or get rid of him.

"Yes... My next stop is the Desert Kingdom," Snowblade said, turning to walk away from the PearlWings. "Have a good day."

"Hey, tell your mother and father that the PearlWings say hello when you get back home," Sunrise called to Snowblade as he was already leaving.

Snowblade turned back around to look at Sunrise and smiled. "Will do," he said, giving a quick nod and leaving the cave.

Author's Note: In case you haven't guessed, that is the same Twilight that was the protagonist of The Primordial Land, this chapter is the day Snowblade and Twilight met.