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“Wait, Moon. I don’t think…” Winter began.
Moon’s emerald-green eyes flashed towards him. “I’m sure you think on a regular basis.”
“No! Wait, I mean, I do think, but I just don’t think that…”
“Who or what’s ‘that’? Just say what you want to say,” she cocked her head. “I’m listening.”
“Moon,” Winter groaned. “You know very well what I’m thinking. My skyfire’s currently at home.”
She half laughed, half sighed. “Yes, fine, fine. Honestly, I can’t say I’m not nervous either. But, well, my mother invited us to dinner, and the least we can do is show up. Plus, she said she made roast beef. I promise it’s nothing like you’ve ever had before. I’m sure you’ll get along with her."
The IceWing snorted. “Don’t try to hide the fact that your mother rather dislikes me.”
“She hasn’t met you yet; it's just because of the old IceWing and NightWing rivalry,” Moon reasoned. “And we were both invited, not just me. Come on, we just have to walk a few more minutes till we get to her house.”
“Well…”
I’m worried about messing up…
“Winter…you won’t. It’s just a simple dinner. Act like you would when Turtle and Kinkajou visit.”
“I doubt your mother would appreciate me discussing politics.”
“Yeah, maybe not that part…But she’ll definitely like you. I know she will. Let’s-a-go.”
She walked a bit ahead, only to return when she realized Winter wasn’t following. She softly placed a wing on him. “Winter…is it really too much?”
The IceWing slowly looked up at her. “...Excuse me?”
She sighed. “I mean, I get it; my mom can be rather intimidating at times. I guess I was hoping for this dinner to be a chance for you two to meet each other, but it’s really too stressful for you, we could always cancel…Wait, where are you going?”
“To your mother’s house,” Winter snapped. “IceWing etiquette demands that we show up, or it could be considered insulting. I will meet your mother, we will get along, and…Wait, this was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”
Moon skipped ahead of him, declining to answer, though she did playfully flick him with her tail as she passed by.
Winter sighed, smiling, and followed her.
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Soon, they arrived at an ordinary-looking house, the front porch occupied with various pots of beautiful flowers that were neatly arranged in a square formation. As Winter admired them, he suddenly remembered they’d forgotten to bring a present for Secretkeeper.
Shoot.
“Winter, it’s okay, don’t bother,” Moon whispered to him, then knocked on the door.
“It’s common courtesy!” he whispered loudly back as he scoured around for anything that could perhaps be a suitable present, his tail whipping nervously.
Crash!
Winter froze.
As it turned out, he’d single-handedly (clawdedly?) wiped out a row of pots. Now, their contents were sprayed all over the deck, the dirt a stark contrast with the pristine white wooden planks.
Winter scrambled around, quickly picking up the flowers and sweeping the dirt into a pile. Moon also helped, frantically gathering up the pot fragments.
“Careful, don’t cut yourself,” Winter whispered to her.
“I will, but—Shoot! She’s coming! Quick!”
Winter quickly swept any excess dirt into the cracks between the planks, silently cursing at himself for messing up. Then, as the door creaked open, Winter jolted up and turned, plastering a smile on his face, still holding the flowers in his talons.
He didn’t really know what he was expecting Secretkeeper to look like, but apart from a few wrinkles around her eyes, a sterner expression, and the lack of the silver teardrop scales, she and Moon looked exactly the same.
“Moon!” Secretkeeper exclaimed as she tightly hugged her daughter.
“Hi, mom,” Moon said as her mother finally let go of her. She smiled sheepishly. “I’d like to talk to you about—”
Her mother was not listening, however, as she turned her now positively icy gaze onto Winter. “Ah, yes, and hello to my son-in-law, too.”
“I…I…”
He stopped. What could he say that would be appropriate?
…Well, surely there was no harm in being polite? What could go wrong?
Thus, in his best IceWing royalty ahk-cent, quoth Winter, “Most gracious mother-in-law and noble bearer of my love’s lineage, I bow mine heart and soul before thee. May thy days be gilded with peace forevermore, and may thou smile over our sacred matrimony with counsel wise as the stars. ‘Tis a rare honor to be in thy most esteemed company.”
He finished with a flourish of his talon, placing it over his heart and bowing.
Crickets chirped.
“...So, Moon,” Secretkeeper finally said as she turned back to her daughter. “This is your mate? An… interesting …choice.”
Winter wilted a little.
“Mom…” Moon sighed. “You know we could just leave.”
Secretkeeper sniffed. “Well, I wouldn’t want to miss a chance to have a conversation with my dear daughter, would I? You two had better get in, then. The food’s getting cold.”
She went in, leaving the door open.
Winter sighed.
Well, that probably could’ve gone better. Perhaps he should’ve expected that frosty reception.
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As the two entered, Winter couldn’t help but look around. Secretkeeper’s house was very cozy-looking, with fluffy carpets and plushy-looking furniture. Various pictures and paintings were also hung on the walls, and there was a fireplace (which Winter was not a huge fan of).
Naturally, then, Secretkeeper was shooting him some rather icy glares that went wonderfully with the house’s atmosphere.
Winter sighed deeply...and accidentally blew frostbreath all over the nice cream-colored sofa.
Secretkeeper quickly scrambled over to assess the damage.
Meanwhile, Winter was muttering, “Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry—”
Secretkeeper sighed. “Just…go to the dinner table, will you? Also, what’s your name?”
“I’m…I’m called Winter,” he mumbled before realizing he didn’t sound confident enough. He tried smiling and stuck out his talon, hoping she’d accept the talonshake.
Then he realized he’d been holding the flowers from the front porch this entire time, so it looked more like he was presenting her with a nice bouquet (which wasn’t even that nice, Winter had to admit, since he’d been nervously shredding petals the entire time).
At least Secretkeeper looked delighted as she took it. “Oh, wow, thank you! Are these hyacinths? They’re such a wonderful shade of blue!”
…Well, at least that solved the problem of the hostess gift(?).
Winter quickly made his way to the dinner table, trying to not accidentally bump against and tip over any of the vases that were placed here and there.
As he sat next to Moon, he glanced at her.
She smiled at him. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry,” she whispered.
“Should I tell her about the flowers though…?” he whispered back.
“I’ll…see if I can tell her about it. Don’t worry, I’ve probably broken like fifty pots when I was a dragonet.”
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Secretkeeper eventually returned, humming what Winter recognized as a popular SeaWing shanty from a few years back, the flowers placed in a garish porcelain vase.
It made Winter think of the time Kinkajou had decided it would be a good idea to blind everyone by making her scales alternate between hot pink and lemon yellow every other second.
Wonderful memories, he thought drily.
It was certainly preferable to this dinner, however. As Secretkeeper continued to gush over the flowers, Winter felt himself almost sweating.
“They really are beautiful! Where did you two get these from?”
“From…from Safeway…?” Moon offered. “Wait, no, actually, mom, I wanted to—”
“Remind me to go there sometime, then. I can tell these were grown with care. My, they’re just like my own flowers! I always wake up at six to water and prune them. I’ll give you two some to take home later.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” Moon quickly said. “And, uh, I wanted to tell you about—”
”What, my nonexistent car’s extended warranty or something? No thanks. That same SandWing’s been hanging around for the past few months, trying to talk to everyone about it. He drinks too much, I say. Though I guess it doesn’t help that there are five pubs in the area. Yet somehow there’s no restaurant or dentist.”
“Uh, no,” Moon mumbled. “It’s…the pots…”
“What’s that about pots?” Secretkeeper squinted at her daughter. “You’re not smoking pot, are you?”
“What? No, of course not!” Moon quickly shook her head. “It’s just…flowers…”
She trailed off.
“Yes, these flowers really are wonderful, aren’t they? Oh, right, you forgot one of your scrolls last time you were here. Let me go get it.”
As Secretkeeper went off to her room, Moon sighed. “Thanks. I was wondering where I’d placed it.”
Winter glanced at her. “So do we just…”
“Yeah, just forget about it.”
After Secretkeeper returned with Moon's scroll, for a solid ten minutes, no one really spoke much beyond an occasional “Could you pass the salt?” or ”Sure, here,” or ”Oh, by the way, you need to take better care of your scales. Have you been using that ointment I gave you? Why, I…” (specific to Secretkeeper speaking to Moon, whose scales Winter thought were perfectly fine).
Other than that, the only sounds were the clinking of the plates and cutlery.
Frankly, Winter was kind of relieved. Secretkeeper likely wouldn’t want to talk to him, anyway. And he could avoid saying anything that would make Secretkeeper think him unfit for her daughter.
Maybe Secretkeeper had wished her daughter had married a nice NightWing doctor or lawyer instead of an exiled IceWing, Winter thought gloomily.
Maybe because she heard that thought, Moon frowned and kicked Winter’s chair before seemingly deciding to break the ice.
“So, mom," Moon began. "How have you been lately?"
"It's been...fine, I suppose," Secretkeeper shrugged before smiling. "But look at you! My dear dragonet is all grown up now! And with a mate (though I do wish you'd chosen that neurosurgeon as your mate instead)! My, I remember when you were still a small dragonet!"
"Mom..."
"You were quite odd growing up too. While every other parent was talking about how their dragonets' first words were 'dada' or 'mama', your first words were about..." she scratched her head. "Sowing discord or something? And also...something about pings?"
"Don’t mention it," Moon mumbled as she went back to drinking tea.
Winter thought about his own first words. According to Hailstorm, it had something to do with loquats?
“What in Pyrrhia’s name is a loquat?” Moon stared at Winter.
“Oh, don’t get me started!” Secretkeeper sighed. “They’re little pastel-orange fruits that taste like pure sunshine! I have a tree in my backyard! I mean, they’re not in season at the moment, but when they are, the tree grows so many it looks like a traffic cone! Like, who says nobody eats loquats? That hurts my culinary soul.”
As Secretkeeper continued to chatter on about loquats, Moon sipped her tea and nodded, occasionally saying “mhmm” or “wow” while looking like she was on the verge of falling asleep in her chair.
After about twenty minutes of listening to Secretkeeper ranting on about loquats, Winter was ready to fall asleep too.
Do you want to leave? Winter thought to Moon.
Moon didn’t answer him, but she said to her mother, “My, it’s getting late! I think Winter and I will need to leave now.”
“Oh, all right. One last thing, did you hear about the IceWing general that Queen Snowfall appointed?”
Winter blinked.
“I say, she made a very poor choice there! Didn’t you hear about all the general’s past crimes? He’s a menace!”
Winter frowned.
“If I were Queen Snowfall, I would’ve never done that! She made a very foolish decision indeed.”
Winter couldn't hold back his scowl. “I’ll have you know that the general’s past ‘crimes’ were because of some odd laws that you couldn’t slurp soup or sing off tune,” he interjected. “They have nothing to do with his performance as a general. I’m sure the Queen made the right decision.”
“Oh, really?” Secretkeeper leaned closer. “What do you have to say about his mistress then?”
“That’s all hogwash,” Winter snapped. “There's evidence to show his supposed mistress was simply a hoax, and—”
“Winter, we’d better go now…” Moon said.
“Oh, right.”
“Very well then, we shall continue our debate next time,” Secretkeeper said while looking at the IceWing. “Winter was your name, yes? I’d be delighted to discuss politics with you some more in the future.”
Then Secretkeeper got into another twenty-minute conversation with Moon about tea.
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When the two were finally able to leave (about an hour later), Winter was absolutely exhausted.
But he supposed that the dinner hadn’t been as bad as he’d thought, and Secretkeeper didn’t seem to dislike him as much as before.
“See? I told you,” Moon laughed as she poked Winter playfully.
Winter smiled. “Maybe we should actually bring flowers next time, though.”
“Well…she’s going to talk for hours on end about them and compare them to her flowers. Let’s just let it go.”