Work Text:
Christmas had finally come around and The Dragonets of Destiny had decided that the best way to celebrate this year was to throw a grand reunion for the first group of students admitted to Jade Mountain Academy. So now, Winter found himself drifting down to the landing platform out front of the mountain. The pebbles around where he landed rolled away as he flapped his wings to slow his descent before walking towards the main entrance.
The entrance to Jade Mountain Academy seemed to have shrunk since Winter had last been there. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his growth over the years or due to the lack of crushing pressure weighing him down this time. He lingered outside the entrance, enjoying the cold air of his namesake. It had been five years since he had last been here. Five years since his life changed forever. Fine years since he met-
A sneeze from the back of his neck startled him out of his thoughts. The small harness secured around him shook as the scavenger inside it tried to keep itself warm. Winter undid the harness and brought it in front of him and looked at the shaking creature inside. Wren had told him that Tulip, a personal favorite of Winter’s due to her job as a scavenger scientist, wanted to come with him to see what dragon parties were like. Now though she seemed regretful of her decision, at least if the annoyed look she was giving him through her glasses was anything to go by. With one last look at the sun as it set behind the snow capped mountains around him and a sigh, Winter placed Tulip between his horns and began to move forward.
The Great Hall was just as large as Winter remembered. In front of him dragons were catching up, enjoying food together, and some were even beginning to dance. On the pedestal underneath the gong, it seemed a band was beginning to set up in preparation for the evening in front of a pine tree adorned with lanterns shaking slightly with the force of those beneath them, moonglobes painted a multitude of colors refracting light in patterns along the surfaces of the cave, and ornaments of all shapes and sizes glittering in the light.
He heard his scavenger companion gasp from above him as he moved closer to the edge of the cavern. Looking around he saw faces he hadn’t thought about in years.
He kept to himself as he hadn’t really stuck around long enough to get acquainted with the other winglets. He s felt Tulip lean off the side of his head, keeping herself stable by keeping a hand around one of his horns as she studied the festivities.
As Winter sat by the edges of the party, scanning the room, a particular mix of colors vaguely in the shape of a dragon that made his head hurt in a familiar way, began to barrel towards him through the crowd. Before he had time to react, Kinkajou had already made her way through the crowd and trapped Winter in a hug. As Kinkajou pulled herself away from the icewing she began to shiver.
“Hi Winter! brrrrr, I forgot how cold you are, still worth the hug though” she said as the smile on her face somehow grew even wider.
Before she could start rambling, a seawing following the path she had left of slightly disorientated dragons she had bumped along her way made his way through the crowd. “Sorry, I’m sorry, so sorry- Kinkajou why did you run off like that?” He asked, finally making it to the rainwing. “Couldn’t you see?” She asked, “it’s our sparkly friend we haven’t seen in years squid brain.”
As Turtle turned his head to look at the icewing, his eyes sparkled with recognition, “Winter?”. “Hi Turtle, it has been a while I suppose,” Winter replied somewhat awkwardly. “It’s so good to see you!” The seawing said as a grin made its way on his face. All previous awkwardness had subsided as Winter realized his friends had been just as excited to see him as he had been anxious to see he was to see them.
"How have you been?" the seawing asked. "I've been doing well," Winter answered, "Sanctuary has been coming along nicely alongside the scavenger research."
“I’ve read some of your research on scavengers actually, it’s quite impressive how much you’ve been able to discover,” Turtle said. “You’ve read my research?” Winter said in slight shock. “Well of course he read your research, even if we weren’t friends scavengers are too cute to not want to know more about them,” Kinkajou answered as she turned a shade of pink so bright it hurt to look at it directly.
“Well yes, that’s true, but you’ve also become quite the name in more academic circles around Pyrrhia, Winter,” Turtle said as he glanced at Kinkajou, "I wouldn't be surprised if they started to teach the students here about your findings soon. “Huh, is that so,” Winter responded with some disbelief as to how widespread his research had become.
He would’ve asked more questions if the scavenger on his head hadn’t been spotted by Kinkajou. “Who’s this!” She gasped as she craned her head upwards to get a better look at Tulip. “This is Tulip, she wanted to come with me to see what dragon parties are like,” he answered as the scavenger crawled to the front of his snout to get a better look at Kinkajou. “Well she came to the right place, this place is gonna be home to the best party in all of Pyrrhia!” She yelled as Tulip looked at her shifting colors in awe.
“In that case, you guys may be a better tour guide than me,” Winter said as he picked Tulip up by the fur coat she had worn on the way and plopped her on Kinkajou’s head. Kinkajou’s eyes widened as she registered the being studying her horns. “Are you sure Winter?” Turtle asked, “some of these dragons may be a little, uh, tipsy, and think Tulip would make a great snack.”
“I trust that you two will keep her safe, besides she needs to meet more people anyways.” As if she could understand what he was saying Tulip gave Winter a sideways glance that he would’ve guessed meant, “I could say the same for you.”
As Kinkajou began to reach up to extend a claw towards the scavenger, Winter noticed a golden ring, with a sapphire embedded inside, glittering on Kinkajou’s claw. He looked towards Turtle and saw a matching one adorning his claw as well, “Are those-“ Winter began to trail off as he raised a talon to point at the jewelry.
“Oh, these?” Kinkajou said, lowering her claw to examine it. “Yea, Turtle finally mustered up the courage to ask me a few months ago, isn’t it pretty?” She said, as if the ring had been there for years. “I- well-“ Winter paused for a moment, “congratulations you two,” he said, still a little shocked at the revelation.
“Thanks,” Turtle said, “we’re still planning the ceremony, but when it’s time you’ll definitely be getting an invitation.” Winter stared into the sapphires lodged inside the rings that symbolized the soon to be forever bond between the two dragons in front of him.
“What about you Winter, any special dragons we should be expecting to see you sharing a ring with soon?” Kinkajou asked with a smirk on her face. Winter chuckled nervously, “no Kinkajou, not unless you can find a way to put a ring on my research.”
As Winter continued to catch up with his friends and Tulip continued to examine them, Winter began to feel the temperature of his body rise to meet that of the cave, surely only due to the amount of dragons inside of it and not the thought of any particular dragon he had been reminded of by Kinkajou's question. “Excuse me, I’m going to go get some air,” he said. As he moved to start towards the exit, he gave a quick farewell to his friends before stepping outside.
The cold air quickly sobered Winter from the daze the news of Turtle and Kinkajou's engagement, along with the presence of such a large crowd had brought. As he moved farther out onto the entrance ledge, he saw the gap in the side of Agate Mountain that Darkstalker had left when he emerged.
“I can’t believe that happened five years ago,” he thought. It had felt like just yesterday he had been pulling another all-nighter in the lab after being unable to sleep without the sound of his father choking on his own blood, or the feeling of his mind being altered against his will, or the sound of a vase shattering haunting his dreams.
As he sat deep in thought on the edge of the platform, staring off into the moonlit distance, he failed to register the flapping of wings, or the sound of a dragon's talons hitting the ground behind him. Only after hearing his own name would Winter be brought back from his own mind.
“Winter?”
Winter tensed slightly as he heard her voice. It sounded just as smooth and sweet as he remembered.
With a sharp inhale, Winter prepared to meet the dragoness that had haunted his thoughts ever since he had met her. As he turned around, all preparations he could have possibly made to face her again flew out of his mind.
Her scales shone in the light of the moons, the silver teardrop scales behind her eyes glinted like the finest of diamonds from the icewing royal treasury, her wings were spread enough for him to see the pattern of stars usually hidden against her body. And of course, those jade eyes he had spent every moment years ago to be seen by had the reflection of the moons and the night sky all focused towards him as she studied him in a way that would’ve surely drove him crazy years ago.
The look in her eyes in that moment outshone the beauty of the most intense auroras of the northern skies. Winter figured he could stare into her eyes for as long as it would take him to catch every seal in the Ice Kingdom.
“Hi, Moon,” he barely registered the words as they left his mouth.
“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she said as she stepped closer to the icewing. Her tail sweeping behind her.
“Ah, yes, well Sanctuary has been stable enough since the scavengers realized they weren’t in any danger,” Winter answered, “so I thought that it might be nice to see everyone again after so long.”
Moon studied him for a moment. Winter began to feel his scales suddenly feel too small for his body and felt his eyes want to look anywhere but the dragoness in front of him.
“It’s nice to see you, the last time I sent you a letter must have been a year ago, when I graduated,” Moon said, her eyes moving to look at the moons above them.
“Yea,” Winter said as he turned his head towards the moons. The letter she had sent him after she had graduated had informed him that Qibli and her had mutually broken up due to conflicting interests. Moon had tried to stay with Qibli in the Sand Kingdom, but it hadn’t worked out.
The news had induced sympathy in Winter, but also ignited a spark of hope in his chest he had long thought extinguished from the years of focus on the scavenger sanctuary. But as the sanctuary stabilized that spark had grown to a familiar warmth that made itself known when he was reminded of the nightwing beside him.
And now here he was, sitting next to her under the night sky, and he still didn’t know what to say. He thought about how to respond to her letter for months, if he should bring up his feelings or not. But eventually as time passed he felt as though the moment had passed and let the warmth freeze over once more. But sitting here he felt the sparks thawing out again.
“How have you been the past year?” She asked, tilting her head towards him. “I’ve been fine, Sanctuary has been growing and more dragons are taking interest in scavengers since the war ended,” he responded. “C’mon there has to be more to say than just that,” she pressed, unimpressed. “Well I suppose we’ve made some breakthroughs recently with the scavengers,” Winter said, “Peril’s brother and a scavenger named Wren showed up almost a year ago and get this, they can talk to each other," He fought back the urge to smile stupidly at how exciting the information still was.
The news certainly caught her attention, as her eyes went as wide as the moons. “You’re telling me scavengers are smart enough to talk to dragons?” she half yelled. Winter simply nodded as he felt himself begin to lose his fight against his smile as it began to appear in effect of her enthusiasm.
“This is huge, a whole intelligent species that we’ve been eating for thousands of years,” she said as the revelation fully dawned on her. “I can’t believe it,” she said, raising a paw to her head.
Winter let the smile on his face grow as Moon wrapped her head around the idea of all the scavengers she had met being just as smart as her. “How come you haven’t published your findings yet?” Moon asked, “this wasn’t in any of the scrolls I’ve read.”
“You read my scrolls?” Winter asked. Despite the slightly dim light and Moon’s dark scales, Winter thought he could almost see a blush appear on Moon’s face. “Well- sometimes, yes” she said bashfully, “how could I not be interested in the possibility of another intelligent race on Pyrrhia”.
Winter snorted in amusement before turning back to the stars above them, “well how have you been since you left the Sand Kingdom?” he asked.
“I’ve been fine, I moved back to the rainforest with my mom,” she said, “it’s been nice but my mother seems to forget I’m not a dragonet anymore.”
Winter hummed in thought. He was struggling to find anything to say. Even after all these years, she still left him fumbling for words.
“Do you remember that night in the rainforest, when we were looking for Hailstorm?” The question caught Winter off guard as he hurried a response, “I remember, how could I not.”
“The moons were the same that night as they are tonight,” she said, pointing to the sky.
“Im surprised you can remember what the moons were then,” he said.
“Lets just say I couldn’t forget that night either.”
“Before that night you were still kind of a mystery to me, I had never met someone so closed off before,” she said. Winter shifted awkwardly on his talons, “yes I was… much different back then.” She chuckled a little beside him, “yea I remember, but that night you let me in, I’d never felt like I could understand a dragon without seeing into their mind until then.” A gust of wind blew by, only seeming to help fuel the blaze now found in Winter’s chest.
Winter sighed before speaking, “in the Ice Kingdom, none of the nobles ever try to understand each other, at least not in any way that isn’t solely for personal gain,” he traced a circle in the stone beneath him, “when I found out you could read minds I was scared that you had seen how pathetic I was back then, that you would see all my flaws and think of me the same way my mother does.” Moon looked over at him, eyes wide with curiosity, “the sky fire helped me feel safer, but then in the rainforest, you said you could see who I was without looking into my mind,”
“All those fears came back,” he said remorsefully. “But then you said that I was worth trusting, and kind,” his tail twitched nervously behind him, “I had never been called any of those things before.”
She hummed in thought for a moment, “I guess we both showed each other something new then,” Moon said with a smile.
“I guess we did,” Winter said, unable to help but return her smile.
A while passed before either of them spoke again, time simply spent enjoying the stars together. The blaze inside of Winter’s chest stayed strong, keeping him at a temperature most icewings would find uncomfortable, but he had long since grown accustomed to this warmth.
“You know after I left the Sand Kingdom, I realized I had forgotten how nice it is to not feel like I was melting constantly,” Moon said suddenly. “I think I’ve had plenty of heat in my life between the rainforest and the desert, I wouldn’t mind a little more of the cold.”
Sometimes he wished he could read her mind.
“Do you want to go for a flight?” she asked.
Winter found himself unable to do anything besides nod.
They took off into the sky. one shining in the light of the moons, while the other seemed to become one with the sky. As they flew, Winter found himself glancing to his side every so often to look at Moon. However one of the times he went to look he did not find her there. He turned his head side to side, looking for the nightwing until he heard a quiet giggle from below him. Looking down he could see the shape of Moon trying not to laugh. He rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance before diving just ahead of where Moon was flying. She brought herself to a stop with a yelp as he dove. Winter chuckled as she steadied herself in the air, now it was her turn to look annoyed.
Winter’s laughs were swiftly brought to an end however as Moon sped towards him. He dropped in order to dodge the nightwing and began to flap his wings as she chased after him. They swooped and dove through the sky. Moon not giving up on getting her revenge. Eventually Winter saw an opening in the mountain and dove towards it. As he dove into the opening, he realized the floor he intended to land on was instead the underground lake from years ago. He tried to stop himself above the surface of the water, but the sudden weight of Moon finally succeeding in her chase sent them both down into the water.
Winter couldn’t see much in the dark water, but the glint of Moon’s teardrop scales showed him just how close Moon’s tackle had left them. They were floating just inches apart from each other. They stayed that way, Moon’s jade eyes piercing through the water into his arctic blue ones, until eventually Winter realized he needed air, and the combination of Moon’s crash and being underwater had left him breathless.
He kicked his legs forcefully as he went towards the surface. He gasped as the water around him changed to air. Moon came up beside him moments after, a smile on her face.
“Got you,” she said with a smirk.
“You may as well have gotten yourself as well, we’re both soaked,” Winter said as he walked onto the shore
“Sounds like you’re just a sore loser,” she said, the grin not leaving her face.
Winter whipped his tail into the water, sending an arc of water on her head. “You’re so immature,” he said, shaking himself dry. “Maybe,” she said as she walked by him. “Come on, let’s go check out the party,” she said as she nodded towards the exit.
Winter followed her from the lake back to the Great Hall. Along the way they passed markers of their shared past, the hall that led to the sleeping caves, the history classroom, and the library. "How does the party here compare to the parties in The Ice Kingdom?" Moon asked as they walked. "Well it's much more welcoming, that's for sure," he said, "In the palace at least, Christmas is always a fight to rise in the rankings, one year my father brought Queen Glacier 20 polar bears just to be raised a single space." Moon snorted at the idea of anyone wanting 20 polar bears all to themselves in the first place.
The Great Hall was now packed full with dragons. The party was now fully in swing as most of the guests had shown up and the dance floor was filling up quickly as the band played. The warm lighting around the cave from the lanterns were a stark contrast to the harsh pale light he remembered illuminating the parties in the Ice Kingdom.
“Come on, let’s dance!” Moon yelled, touching her wingtip to his before guiding them to the dance floor. He stumbled a bit, surprised by the sudden movement. “Moon what are you doing?” He yelled over the music, “I can’t dance like this, I was never taught!” She laughed, “neither was I, now come on!”
He stepped closer to her and felt the tips of her wings grab onto his as she started to dance. Winter took a moment to get used to the beat of the song before gingerly trying to match Moon’s pace. They weren’t any good, and they stepped on each other's claws every so often, but they had fun nonetheless.
As they danced, Winter couldn’t help but let Moon’s smile infect his muzzle as well. Their feet stomped to the beat of the song with the dragons around them, reaching out to one another every so often to circle the other.
As the night went on, the music shifted from the energetic rushes of sound to smoother medleys meant for two. Dragons around them spread out to allow everyone privacy as they got on their hind legs and began to dance with one another.
Winter looked around at the pairs of dragons around them before looking back to Moon. She shot him a shy smile before motioning to the other dragons and then back at him.
He’d deny it for years but in that moment he felt he must’ve looked like a seawing with how much he was blushing.
Pushing through his stunned state, he jumped up on his hind legs as Moon did the same and locked their front paws together. The slower music was much more akin to the royal ceremonies he had attended when he was young, and he made sure to put everything he had learned to use. As they moved back and forth, he lead Moon into a spin before catching her with his wing. She smiled at him as she stood back up to meet him.
Just hours earlier, the thought of dancing at all hadn’t even crossed his mind. Now it seemed like that and the dragon across from him were the only things he could think of.
As they danced, Winter saw a glint grow in Moon’s eye with each spin, dip and step. He couldn’t focus on it however as he had to make sure not to step on her as they danced. Lynx had made sure he knew how painful it was to support half of a dragon on top of his talons when he was younger.
His concentration would be his downfall however, as he was completely oblivious to Moon’s scheming. As he stepped back, he felt Moon move further towards him than usual. He fell back slightly and shot his wings towards her to catch himself, but was left defenseless as Moon’s snout bumped into his.
His eyes widened in shock as he looked at the dragon in front of him, somehow looking just as beautiful as ever in the dim cave light. Before he could think too hard about what was happening right now, he closed his eyes and let the sensation rush over him. He felt the warmth in his chest spread all throughout the rest of his body and felt the weight of the world slip from his consciousness as he focused on the feeling of his face against Moon’s.
It felt like an eternity but eventually he felt the sensation of touch leave his snout as he pulled himself back up. He looked at Moon’s huge jade eyes, soaking in the moment and remembering the warmth of her lips. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking, I was just caught up in the dancing and the music and the lights and I was thinking about earlier and then I just-“
“Moon,” he said “it’s fine,”
“It’s better than fine actually, that was amazing,” he felt giddy like a dragonet on their hatching day, an uncontrollable smile spreading across his face.
Moon just smiled back and began to get back into the rhythm of the dance, and as Winter felt their snouts barely touch when he went to dip her, or brush his cheek against hers when they spun, he felt warmer then ever before.
“Hey Kinkajou, are you seeing this?” Turtle asked as he drank from his mug. “Seeing what?” The rainwing in question asked as she walked over. Turtle pointed towards the dance floor at a certain pair of black and white dancers. “No way,” she said, her jaw dropping in shock. Her scales turned pink so fast it nearly knocked the scavenger climbing up the back of her neck off before she could make it to the top. When Tulip did make it to Kinkajou’s head and looked out onto the dance floor, her eyes widened in shock and mimicked the reaction Kinkajou had moments earlier. “It seems like we may be seeing Winter wearing a ring sooner than expected,” Turtle said, taking a sip from his mug. And so the night went on and so did the dancing, as Winter felt any notion of cold leave his body and any worries of overheating left Moons mind and were filled by the comfortable chill of the icewing in front of her.