Chapter Text
Winter had been sent to bed by his mother, Tundra, in his pastel orange tank top and black shorts, after a long lecture on how utterly, and entirely improper he is.
Again.
He sits down on his mattress, pulling his knees to his chest and burying his head in them. He gets to go to sleep like this a lot. When he’s bad, he’s punished just like every other dragonet on Phyrria! He’s just punished a bit more harshly than most, which makes sense, because he’s royal! He needs to know how to behave and be polite!
But, tonight felt different .
He had accidentally dropped his plate, which in his defense was because Icicle tripped him, and Tundra got understandably mad!
“Winter! You walrus faced brat ! I’m going to tell your aunt to stuff you into the bottom of the seventh circle so I never have to lay my eyes on you!” She had yelled, her tail lashing angrily behind her. The clinking of the tail spikes on the white tile floor was enough to put the young dragonet on edge.
Winter wanted to try to diffuse the situation, and calm his mother. “I love you…” He whispered, and it was true! He does love his mother!
“WELL I DON’T!” She screamed back at him, and that… hurt. He- He doesn’t believe that, she was just mad! She was his mother , she had to love him at least a little! That’s how it works, mothers love all their dragonets equally!
And, it didn’t always feel like that, with her constantly comparing him to Icicle and his lost brother Hailstorm, but he knew he was loved just as much as them!
It takes a while for him to fall asleep, with his father coming home, he could practically hear his parents silent greetings, then their claws, clinking against tile as they make their way to their room.
His dreams are loud, filled with bright colors, a stark contrast from the icy blues all around him, lions, and eccentric, playful, but edging on angry music danced around his head, he smelled foods filled with spices he’d never even heard of.
An unusual, but still fun dream.
Then, he woke up.
And, he wasn’t anywhere he’d ever been before.
All around him were large green trees, with high, towering canopy’s, laced with vines and flowers throughout. He smells sweet, and bitter fragrances, each one entirely different from the last. There’s loud squawking and chirping everywhere, it surrounds him.
It’s a kaleidoscope of pure, undiluted life.
It drowns him.
At first, he stares in awe of his surroundings, just admiring it all, and taking it in.
Then, the temperature hits him.
It’s hot , unwaveringly, and smolderingly hot . Far too hot for an icewing. It’s also humid, which just makes things even worse! His scales must be melting off, it’s so so so hot! Winter moves somewhere more shady, wanting at least a little relief from the heat. He sits down on the scratchy green grass, under one of the many many trees, not wanting to move in the humidity in the slightest.
Winter ends up sitting there for a while, just admiring the forest and melting in the heat, he wonders where his parents and Icicle are. They have to be looking for him, right?
Are they worried about him?
They have to be!
Do they miss him?
It’d sure be weird if they didn’t!
It’s sunset by the time anything happens.
“Chayanne!?” A voice yells, they have an accent and seem to be a bit older judging by the grittiness of his voice.
Winter has to decide what to do.
Run, hide, or let them find him,
Winter chose to hide, it’s too hot to run, and he’d rather not have someone kidnap him. He looks around and eventually settles for a big viridian colored bush. He crawls into it, leaves for sure getting tangled into his spikes, but he can handle that. The man who had been yelling before walks over, he’s human… At least partly.
He’s much taller than Winter, and has bright blonde hair topped with a bucket hat, with what Winter assumes are antlers poking out of it. He’s wearing a Hawaiian shirt, some sandals with socks which makes even Winter make some assumptions, but the most noticeable thing about the man…
Are wings .
The man has two large black wings stretched out from his back, they’re HUGE. Bigger than Winter’s entire body including his tail, it makes him wonder if the man can fly, that’d be cool! He watches the man search for whoever he guesses “Chyanne” is, he seems to give up after a couple of minutes, and he’s about to leave when…
A giant ass spider appears right in front of Winter.
“AAAAAH!” Winter shrieks, and who can blame him!? The thing is GARGANTUAN! He jumps out of the bush to book it somewhere far far away from the spider but runs into something.
Or, more like someone , and falls flat onto the grass.
“Uh- Hi, mate? What’s your name??” The man greets, a bit awkward, and with a confused look on his face, he looks a bit surprised by Winter’s fall.
Winter squeaks at the man's greeting, but quickly straightens up and becomes as proper as he can. “Winter.” He says simply, still on the floor, and a bit offended, because who doesn’t know who he is!? He’s the queen’s nephew for god's sake! He’s literal royalty!
“That’s a nice name.” The man says with a small chuckle at Winter’s standoffishness. He puts a hand out for Winter and he hesitantly takes it, wanting to get off of the bug infested ground as soon as possible.
Without his permission, Winter is picked up!
The man pokes and prods at him, presumably checking for injuries.
The entire time, Winter gives the man the stinkiest stink eye he can manage.
Winter can just tell by how the man’s studying him, that he’s trying to figure him out. Eventually, the man finishes his evaluation and holds Winter as if he were his own child, Winter doesn’t know exactly how to feel about it, because it’s really nice to be held like this.
“Chayanne, Tallulah, come here!” The man calls out.
Two young dragonets around Winter’s age run over.