Archive of Our Own

Snow crunched beneath Qibli’s talons as he trudged alongside Turtle following the Icewing in silence through the frosted pine forest bordering Sanctuary. Faint moonlight spilled through the sparse canopy, reflecting off of the leading dragon’s white scales and making them sparkle in contrast to the faintly illuminated forest floor.

“Aghh, I hate this weather, no offense to your namesake”, Qibli quipped dramatically waving his forelimbs as his friends turned around to watch him, “the snow, it's awful, cold and wet, I don't get why you like this.”

“Better than sand”, Winter scoffed, “at least it doesn’t get between your scales while under the scorching sun making you feel like your scales are about to shrivel and flake off.”

“As much as I agree with you Qibli, Winter’s right. The desert’s much worse”, Turtle said diplomatically.

“Of course, you’re a Seawing,” Qilbi feigned betrayal, staring at Turtle with wide eyes and rearing his head back. He then turned to Winter before he added ,” and besides shiny scales, shouldn’t Turtle be leading the way here? He’s the one with the nightvision”

Winter, his best friend and former clawmate, had warmed up a lot compared to their initial encounters.The sandwing was determined to thaw more out of the emotionally reclusive Icewing. He was now able to make small talk with the icewing prince which was a big achievement in itself. However, Winter seemed a bit tense today, at least more than usual. His disciplined strides showed impatience and his talons shifted during the short rests they took while he navigated. Perhaps the stress of organizing the festival was making him nervous. He had to help his friend here.

“....nd snorter”, Winter trailed off staring back at Qibli not paying attention, “ I know these woods like the tip of my sno–”

“Thwaak!”, sounded out as he was abruptly interrupted by a tree to the back of his head.

“Yes, the forest’s apparently up close and personal with you”, Qibli smirked as Turtle giggled.

The Icewing shook his head a few times, huffed, looked forward and kept marching, keeping his disciplined Icewing stance. They all kept walking in awkward silence as the Icewing refused to acknowledge the occurrence of his fresh mishap. He noticed Winter started slowing down when they reached a moonlit clearing, his shifting focus to the tree branches. “He’s still worried even though we are an hour ahead of schedule”, He wondered. Qibli had to stop his friend from worrying and keep him occupied. “ This should be the area we decided on! I see the marked tree, two diagonal clawmarks. I need to give the signal and get his guard down, stop him from noticing.” Qibli thought, “that was the whole point of this.”

“Sooooooo, who did you guys get? You know, for the gifting thing” Qibli asked loudly. He saw Winter come to a full stop before turning around to face him and Turtle with a muzzle full of hesitation which quickly morphed into indignation and a scowl.

“Its supposed to be a secret, that's the whole idea of a ‘secret grifting ceremony’”, Winter hissed out.

“I don’t think it's that big of a deal Winter”, Turtle said looking at the Icewing with a hint of suspicion. After a brief pause and a more excited tone, “ I initially had Queen Glory but Deathbringer hunted me down. It was intimidating to say the least and he made me switch with him for Peril. It was hard to get something for her due to uh…., her situation.”

“At least you know her well, I got Fatespeaker of all dragons. I’ve hardly ever spoken to her”, Qibli replied waving his fore limbs before snorting out smoke and a small burst of flames in front him to catch attention. “That should be enough for them to know we are here. “It took me more than a month to get a gift for her.” Qibli followed up.

“Now I’m curious, what did you get her?”,Turtle asked. Winter also looked at him intently, his rigid posture hiding the curiosity barely visible in his eyes.

“Oh, I got her a portrait of her and Starflight in the Jade Mountain Library. Commissioned it straight from Mightyclaws. Took me a talon and tail to be made, more than my monthly salary. I think the nightwing overcharged me but I couldn't say it as it was such a great painting. Qibli replied. “I think I need to buy more time, why are we playing it with the ‘dragonets of destiny’, our teachers and their friends anyway?”,

“Our winglet has a lot of connections with them. Tsunami’s my sister, you know Sunny, Kinkajou and Glory, Peril wanted to play with Clay and Winter’s buddy-buddy with Ripti–”, Turtle started

“I’m not that close to that seaweed brain”, Winter mumbled and interrupted Turtle squinting his eyes at the Seawing.

“I talk to him a lot nowadays. He says he meets you almost everyday”, Turtle smirked, the spirals bioluminescent markings under his wings glowing briefly in excitement as he exposed the shy Icewing.

“That's for work. He’s the mayor of Sanctuary”, Winter shot back flaring his wings to emphasize the point.

“Thats not mutually exclusive snow-sniffer. Don’t worry, we won't be jealous. You can have more friends”, Qibli added with a disarming tone and a playful smile at Winter

“Hmmphh”, Winter snorted, a small tint of fading blue appearing on his muzzle. “As if I cared about that! And I do not need your permission for anything”

“I told you what I got. It's only fair if you do the same. What about you guys”, Qibli asked moving his muzzle to face Turtle

“It's a surprise”, Turtle replied immediately and immediately looked at Winter with expectation. Qibli imitated the gesture.

“None of your business sandwing. Start helping me look for the plants, I don't want to be late”, Winter retorted, refusing to entertain the question.

“Bummer”, he said. “That should be enough time, you’ve been staring at the treetops for a while now Winter, what are we looking for again?”

“I thought I already explained this to you”, Winter said in an annoyed voice but started his explanation again. “It’s a parasitic plant called mistletoe. It is used as decoration by the humans during their festival of Christmas by hanging it in places. The one we are celebrating today is inspired by theirs. The plant grows on branches of other trees, so start looking. I do not want to keep the others waiting on us or have to start with incomplete decorations”

Qibli nodded in understanding and pretended to scan through foliage. He knew there would be none here. They had already collected the plants from this area earlier in the afternoon. He watched both of his friends focusing on individual branches of different trees, looking for anything different from their leaves. He waited until Winter reached the edge of the clearing in the direction of the marked tree and moved in between the icewing and Turtle. He pointed past Winter’s direction and said loudly, “I think I saw something on the branches of those trees past you Winter”. As the Icewings head turned to the area he was signalling to, he immediately turned to Turtle staring in their direction. He winked his eye at the Seawing to follow along and motioned with his tail to get closer to them.

Winter stared at the direction for a while and blankly said, “I don’t see anything there, sand-snorter. Is the cold getting to you?”

Both him and Turtle got beside Winter.

“I think Qibli’s right. I see something there. It might be the mistletoe you are searching for”, Turtle said, donning a serious face which betrayed the slightly amused voice coming out as he moved closer in the direction. Qibli, noticing the Seawing looking at him with side-eyes, pointed his tail barb to a specific tree beside the marked one. “I see it on the third tree, the one in between and further than the two trees about 5 dragon lengths from us. You will see it if you come closer”

Qibli quietly moved to the and quickly located the vine he needed to pull to spring the trap. He watched Winter moving closer and closer to the other tree, eyes fervently searching the branches to locate the plant which weren’t there. He knew the Icewing would never admit he could not find something both him and Turtle found, at least not so soon and without trying his best. His buddy stood up on his hind talons, gripped the front ones of the tree trunk and reared his head up to get a better look. “This is perfect”, Qibli thought and he snapped the vine.

With an audible rustle, a large clump of bundled mistletoe as large as a Mudwing’s head and with several thin branches sticking out, dropped onto Winter’s head.

“GAH”, Winter exclaimed. The Icewing fell on his back, wings spread out, his fore limbs flailing about to remove whatever seemed to cover his eyes and entire top of his head.

“SPIDER!”, Qibli yelled, “THREE MOONS! IT'S A GIANT SPIDER!”

“What in Fathom's name!” Turtle cried out moving closer to Winter to help although full of agitation. However, He quickly seemed to realize the spider was fake and stood simply observing the floundering Icewing in quiet amusement, continuing the ruse.

Winter roared out, clawing at the bundle of leaves and vines obstructing his vision. His horns were buried inside the bundle and the wet leaves stuck to his head as they interacted with cold permeating from the icewings scales. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”, the Icewing shrieked, continuing to grab at the assumed spider with his talons and only managing to tear off a bunch of leaves and slamming the load onto the ground. Qibli quietly snickered wondering how long Winter would take to figure it out.

Sharp noises sounded out from the canopy, "Squeak, squeak, yibble, yibble”, revealing two scave- humans pointing at Winter and laughing. One of them shouted in their squeaky voice imitating dragon language, “WINTER! You’re fine. The spider is fake.”

“Bandit?” Winter whimpered. The Icewing stopped moving and gingerly stood up on all four. Confusion was evident on his posture as he softly moved his talons onto the clump on his head and felt it. Turtle broke the silence as he started chuckling. Soon, the chuckles evolved into open laughter as the Seawing helped Winter take out the last of the ‘spider’. Winter looked to the ground, scales of his muzzle blue in embarrassment before shifting into looks of indignation and betrayal onto two humans and two dragons. His expression quickly shifted to anger and he growled, “ GREAT ICE DRAGON SAVE ME! All this time wasted, just for a prank! What about the decorations? Were they a lie? There are dragons and humans, residents and guests waiting for us. Wh-how could you do this”

“Calm down Winter”, Bandit called out, riding a vine down from the tree followed by the other human.

“How can I be–”, Winter started but was interrupted by the other human.

“WINTER!” Daffodil shouted and walked closer to the Icewing with a soft expression on her face. “Everything is ready for the festival, you do not need to be so worried. You made sure of that, triple checking all the stalls and decorations. You kept shuffling about all over Santuary to make sure everything was right. The festival is supposed to be fun, you big lug. So, I asked for help from your self-proclaimed best friend to keep you occupied.”

“Hey, that's rude!”Qibli replied, surprised at her dig at him. He decided to ignore it and instead looked to Winter with the gentlest smile he could manage. “We gathered the mistletoe in the afternoon. They should be putting them up right now. All preparations are already done Winter, you just need to take a breather and cool down, hah, get it?”

“I was not involved in this”, Turtle added. “I just tagged along for help”.

“Was this all necessary? You guys could have done something else. Why come all this way to prank me?” Winter asked, rolling his eyes at the Sandwing.

“There are some growths over at the next clearing. It never hurts to get more”, replied Daffodil

“Of course it was!” Bandit barked out swinging his little paws. That was revenge for kidnapping and attempted taming of the two of us on different occasions. Never expected to see the day when the mighty Winter get scared of a fake spider”

“I wasn’t scared, I was merely surprised!”, Winter mumbled.

“Sure it is, Frost-face, Sure it is”, Qibli said as he gestured the group to follow him to the next clearing.

 

Turtle was having an interesting day today. He arrived at the Sanctuary with his winglet in the morning and spent the afternoon loitering around the town, listening to gossip from resident dragons and humans and the multitude of visitors arriving for the occasion. The festival was supposed to be grand. Now he was walking with two scavengers, now called humans holding on to each of his horns!

“Is your real name Bandit? Why would they name you a criminal?” Turtle asked one of the humans atop his head. The other human was named daffodil and was formerly named by Winter as Pumpkin and had rejected the name. Turtle thought the name was better than her current one.

“No, that's not my real name. Although that’s what I go by now and what everyone calls me”, the human replied. “I like the name Winter gave me. It is way cooler than my original name, which is ironic as I was named Snow.”

Turtle hummed and nodded in agreement as they entered the new clearing. He could see a few bushes of mistletoe growing on the trees. Winter was discussing with Qibli how to get the bushes out of the trees. The trees were close enough making hovering and controlled flight impossible in the forest for dragons their size. Winter started climbing the tree, digging deep in the bark with his serrated claws as Qibli looked on from below ready to catch and collect any the Icewing managed to throw down. Looking at the effort the icewing was putting in, Turtle could only wonder why these plants were important? Turtle was curious about the human tradition and what sparked the idea of such a large festival. He inquired of the humans holding his horns, “Why are we collecting these plants? Are they that important?”

“Chritmas is a festival of love, friends and family. The mistletoe is not necessary, but still could be an important part. It’s said under the mistletoe, couples get the courage to kiss and further their love. They hang it on roofs, above entrance ways, trees and other places, sometimes to catch couples off guard and prompt them to kiss. It’s mostly superstition but at least the look ni–” Daffodil lectured.

“Creeeeeee”, interrupted the breaking branch. Winter tumbled down, sharp talons useless scraping the bark and tearing through, unable to get hold. The Icewing’s fall from cushioned by the Sandwing below, both groaning from the pain.

“THREE MOONS! Are you two okay?”, Turtle shouted rushing over to them before stopping dead in his tracks. As Qibli lifted his head, the of his snout touched the Icewings. Briefly, the whole world stilled. Taking a deep breath, “Swoo”, Turtle gasped eyes wide with astonishment, “by the currents, it works…, it actually works! Did you see that? They kissed under the mistletoe!.

The accused dragons quickly reared their heads back, blue and red rushing over to the muzzles of the Icewing and Sandwing respectively. Winter swiftly jumped away from Qibli. With his face still blue from embarrassment and incredulity he faced Turtle and stammered, “ That wasn’t.. it’s not like.. take that back you-you-you fish-licker!”

Turtle was not sure if he should respond to that supposed insult, it was the first time he’d heard it. Sure he liked fish, but just licking it was, for a lack of a better word,........ weird.

“You do not have to be that shy Winter.”, Qibli, now recovered from the shock of the Icewing falling onto him, teased. “After all, we used to have a private cave for the two of us.”

“I can attest to that!” Bandit shouted, “ I was there as well”.

Winter just stared disbelievingly at the dragons and scavengers and gathered his bearings.

With continued banter, laughs and unamused scowls( from Winter), the group collected the mistletoe and headed back to Sanctuary.

 

The central plaza of the town was bustling with activity. Turtle had never seen such a large gathering of dragons, even during events at the Summer Palace, let alone dragons from all the tribes in Phyrria as well as some all the way from Pantala. Humans were also around in the corners and dedicated platforms, preventing dragon related mishaps. All torch posts were lit, illuminating the entire town visible from his vantage point near the center. Houses and trees were decorated in colorful cloth, the gathered mistletoe and metal decorations. Ample number of moon globes were interspaced around the town, floating in the air or attached to houses, trees and other miscellaneous structures. Without the moons in the sky and absence of the Sun, it was hard to say that it was nighttime. At the edge of the plaza, streets filled with venders of different tribes could be seen promoting their wares. However, the most striking feature was the large collection of wood and trees in the center of the plaza, with dragons maintaining a sizable distance. Only a single Seawing could be seen flying towards the soon to be lit pyre, his approach stilling the crowd into a silence full of anticipation. It was what Turtle was waiting for, as was everyone else.

Riptide started the commencement speech, “Greeting fellow dragons from different tribes of Phyrria and Pantala as well as humans in attendance, I Riptide, as the representative of Sanctuary, welcome you all to celebrate the first ever Winter Festival of Sanctuary. The festival is inspired by the Human’s festival of Christmas, which reveres the sacrifice of their deity, “Christ’ believed to have died for the rest of the humans, taking their sins with him and giving them a second chance free from their past mistakes. The story deeply resonates with the spirit of our own town of Sanctuary, built to give dragons and now humans alike, a means to move away from the demons of their past and start anew.” Turtle could see the expression of accomplishment and determination from the dragons, especially residents of the town. He saw Winter stand tall with pride beside him, clinging on to every word.

“The festival celebrates the bonds with friends and family, sharing gifts and spending time together. I want to thank all of you for attending the festival and celebrating a new beginning with us. Have fun going around town. We have stalls for food and wares from all parts of both continents.”,dragons cheered at the words.

“Special thanks to Queen Glory of the NIghtRain Queendom, who is in attendance today, who graciously provided moon globes to light up our town.” The Nightwings and the Rainwings, especially Kinkajou cheered.

“Another special thanks to our own residents without whom the festival would not be possible. The festival itself deserves his namesake for every part of it has his clawmarks on them. Not only that, he brought back the legendary mistletoe from the forest to give couples a chance to flourish. One of our foremost residents, here since its inception, for spreading love around Sanctuary, a big applause for Winter of Sanctuary” and Sanctuary cheered.

“Now to commence the festival, we will burn the pyre at the center of Sanctuary. Whether you believe or worship in Christ, the ocean currents, the great dragon in the Sky, The Great Ice Dragon, the forests, the dunes, the swamps, the three moons, Holy Clearsight or just the dragons beside you, lets hope and believe that the fire will take away our past mistakes and regrets and allow us to start anew for a better future. Peril, please do the honors!”

A copper and orange glow descended on the pyre from the sky and soon enough, flames roared out of the kindling, enveloping the plaza in a glow akin to the sun. Turtle stared with awe as the sound of crackling flames drowned the cheers and thumping tails and feet from the audience. Turtle swore the flames rose higher than the Jade Mountain, reaching the heavens.

 

It was time for the gifting ceremony. All dragons were mingling with their groups and sharing gifts. Those without tightly knit groups were assigned to communal ones if they wanted to participate. Turtle shuffled nervously on his talons as he approached the copper dragoness, the one who ignited the start of the Festival. His gift was very modest compared to the others. It was not as extravagant as the Qibli’s portrait nor the jewelry Deathbringer got for Queen Glory. Nor was it excessive like the 3 boxes of fruit Kinkajou dumped in front of Clay. The latter was delighted at the impending feast. His scales were invulnerable, so all he needed was to steel his nerves and just do it.

“Hey Peril”, Turtle gingerly greeted Peril. “You were amazing today with lighting the flames. One could even say you were blazing!”

Peril looked at him with a smile hiding the embarrassment, evident through the changing brightness of her firescales, “Thanks Turtle. But what did you expect? I’m always blazing.”

“I cannot deny facts. Well, I was so impressed that I got you a gift”, Turtle added smoothly. He opened his satchel and took out a stone box as Peril stared at it, blue eyes full of anticipation. He opened the lid to reveal the present inside. He carefully took out the scarf with his talons and dropped the stone box, presenting the scarf with both front talons. The clothing was mostly white with a subtle orange glow.

“You got me a scarf? Is this a joke?” Peril growled in offense, Turtle shook his head in denial. “I cannot wear that! I can’t even touch it”.

“Just try it!”, He said.

Peril carefully touched the gift and shock evident in her gaze as it remained unharmed. She reached for it and grabbed it, staring at it in awe. She slowly wrapped the scarf around her neak and squealed with happiness. It warmed Turtle’s heart to see her so happy.

“How did you do it? Did animus come back?”She asked, now very content and curious.

“It is very simple really. The scarf is made of flamesilk. I had Blue make it for you, it will not burn away but it might burn others so be careful with it”, Turtle replied now proudly standing up.

“Thank you Turtle! This is the best gift I’ve ever gotten. I am so happy I nearly burned you that one time when I first encountered you! I could give you a hug”, Peril exclaimed.

“I have invulnerable scales, nothing's stopping you”, he said and abruptly received the warmest embrace he’d ever had.

After catching up for a bit with others and receiving a new novel from Starflight, Turtle once again found himself with Peril. The dragon was with her brother Sky as he nervously paced back and forth. “ What happened to him? it’s rare to see him of all dragons flustered”, Turtle asked.

“He is a bit nervous about his gift to Winter. I get it though. That Icewing looks very hard to please”, replied Peril.

“I think it's the opposite. Winter doesn’t show it, but he actually appreciates even very minor things. You know Sky, he shared your exploits with us and how he valued your advice about interacting with humans”, Turtle said reassuring the pale Skywing. “ I’m sure whatever you have will make Winter delighted”.

“Really?”Sky asked with wide eyes at both Turtle who nodded with a soft smile. “Can you two come with me?”

 

Winter watched as Sky awkwardly walked towards him on his wings and rear limbs, clutching two gifts, one in each fore talon. He was followed by Turtle and Peril

“Umm, Winter”, Sky sounded sheepishly. The Icewing looked at the Skywing with a gentle demeanor and awaited for more. “ I-I did not know what you would like more so I got you two gifts. The first one is a hat.” The hat was red conical shaped with a big ball of cotton at the top. “The hat worn by the great gift giver of the humans called Santa.”

Winter nodded and took the offered hat and placed it between his horns. Sky visibly shook with excitement at the gesture and it warmed Winter’s heart. “Thank you, Sky, I love the hat. What is the other thing you have?”

“This is a new pet for you. It is a turtle and it is white like you. Wren called it an albibo”, He replied with more anticipation.

“I think you meant ‘albino’”, Sky”,Turtle inserted.

“Yes, what he said”, Sky added eager for Winter to accept the gift, “ It does not come out much in the cold right now but it will if it is near a fire. It eats fruits and vegetables. Wren said it also eats fish but I haven’t tried feeding it yet. I think it would find it disgusting”

Winter looked amused at how Turtle winced when his diet was called out. Regarding the gift, he had never had a pet turtle before. They never survived in the Ice Queendom and the few he had observed were just part of meals. He was not sure if he was ready for the responsibility. He once again looked at Sky, the latter's eyes shone with innocence, wonder and excitement. He could not possibly refuse.

“Turtle as a pet, it’s a big responsibility but I would love to have him as my pet. I would be honored”, Winter replied, satisfied with the bright smile plastered on the pale Skywings muzzle.

“Your honor notwithstanding Winter, I am not into that, I cannot be your pet”, Turtle said with a blank face.

“Wh-what, no–”, Winter retorted, face flushed blue with embarrassment.

“That's quite bold of you Winter or should I call you Prince Winter. I guess the only worthy pet for a prince of your level would be another prince”, Peril added fuel to the fire.

The day had been full of uncomfortable moments for Winter. Everyone looked to be out to make fun of him and embarrass him in front of others. Qibli was expected, but what was going on, Turtle, Peril, Riptide and even humans. Winter was unsure if he should feel offended at his bruised pride for validated how comfortable others were interacting with it. He quickly regained his composure and hissed, "that's not what I meant and you know it. I don’t want ‘Turtle’ as a pet”

Sky’s expression turned from confusion with the conversation to dejection and he quietly said, “ I even had a name for him, ‘Winter Junior’”.

“NO!” Winter replied immediately. “I want to have and take care of…” he added sheepishly, “Winter Junior. I love him already” before turning fierce again, “what I do not what is the disgusting fish-licking seawing”.

Sky once again looked at them with confusion on his face.

 

Winter waited calmly as Qibli finally approached him. “Took the sand-snorter long enough”, He thought

“As everyone else has given their gifts, I can finally conclude that you are the Secret Great Ice Dragon for me, isn’t that right Winter?” the sandwing inquired with a smirk.

“I don’t understand why you are being smug, it took you so long to find out. Aren’t you supposed to be smart? Even Firefly could have figured it out at the same time as you and she is not even a year old”, Winter snarked, hoping to get back at the Sandwing for pranking him.

“As you, my best friend is giving a gift to me today, nothing will dampen my mood”, Qibli replied eagerly. “So, where is it?”

“It’s back at my place”, Winter pointed out with his tail. “Call the winglet along with Sky and Peril and we’ll be on our way.”

 

Winter would be lying if he was confident his gift would be appreciated. Despite the bubbly exterior of the extroverted Sandwing, he knew Qibli was a bit judgemental and would be easily disappointed although the dragon hid it well to come off as inoffensive as possible unless on purpose. Winter led the Jade winglet plus the Skywing twins right outside his modest 1 story hut with few rooms and asked them to wait for a bit and went in with Sky following him. The winglet watched in amazement as the Icewing and Skywing brought multiple dishes prepared in large plates, pots and bowls out of the house while Peril set fire to some logs in the fire pit in the middle of the yard. All the food was placed on small stools made out of stone. Winter gestured to Peril and she carefully put her tail and one of her fore limbs under two pots, starting to heat the contents of the large pots. Winter then for one last time, went into the house to bring out a paper box, larger than his head, which he promptly handed to Qibli. “Here is your gift, sand-snorter. Open it!”

Winter watched with bated breath as Qibli opened his gift, tearing through the box with his claws, excitement brewing in the eyes and mind of everyone present. It gradually revealed a large intricately carved white structure, culminating finally into the model of the most intricate piece of Icewing History, ‘the Ice Palace’. The gift had taken Winter almost a year of wood carving lessons and several portraits of the Ice palace from different viewpoints ordered from his cousin, Queen Snowfall.

“This is amazing Winter, how did you even make it?”, Qibli asked, eyes still on the model palace filled with awe.

“You’re smart, Sandwing, you should know. I just worked hard”, Winter smirked which then turned into a rare genuine smile and with a thoughtful voice he continued, “I thought about what you would have wanted. I know you would pretend to like anything I gave so I decided to give you the one thing you’ve asked me before….. Well, to the best of my capability.” After a brief pause to build suspense he added, “I know you asked me once to invite you to the Ice palace to have dinner with my family. Well, there are several reasons including the temperature, residence, travel and most of all lack of decent company which didn’t allow me to do so. I decided to make you a model of the brilliance of the Ice Palace and have dinner with as close to family I have.”

Silence filled the yard with only the sound of fire crackling. Qibli looked at him with a blank expression, as if for the first time in the life of the devious Sandwing, his mind had stopped working. Winter once again waited, holding his breath, hoping for a positive outcome, to at least once please his ‘best-friend’ who had mostly always made an effort to help him. Qibli walked towards Winter with slow steps, stopped before the Icewing, stared into his eyes and practically leapt to embrace with a full hug, with both fore limbs and wings wrapping around his neck and back respectively. He could feel a little bit of wetness from the side of the Sandwings head as the miniscule droplets landed on his neck. He could feel his own eyes welling up from all the emotions he had bottled up inside. But he would not cry today. It was a celebration of the Winter, not himself but the season, of their bonds as friends, closer than family in all but name and embrace the spirit of Sanctuary. He gently pulled away and whispered loudly, voice crackling a little, “you are welcome, sand-snorter.”

Winter turned to the rest of his winglet and the Skywing twins, “ Thank you for coming and thank you to both Peril and Sky for helping me with everything today, including the food as well as Sanctuary as a whole. We have a lot of food today, both traditional and modified Icewing cuisine for dinner. We have 2 stews, one seal blubber and the other yam and mushrooms. We also have frostberry and seaweed salad, as well as a variety of frozen fruits courtesy of frost breath for our vegetarian friends. Similarly, we have fresh Ice water Salmon, polar bear and seal meat, both raw and smoked as well as salted. Finally we also have ice cream as dessert, made from the milk the humans make, my ice breath again with fruits as flavoring. We have frostberry and strawberry and of course mango as flavors. I know its your favorite Moon.” His voice boomed with newfound confidence, “WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LETS DIG IN!”

 

The dinner went exceptionally well. Almost everything was emptied and there was food for 10. The nesses especially liked the deserts and frozen fruits while the drakes loved the meat with the exception of Sky. Even Winter Junior eagerly ate the salad and fish under the warmth of the fire. The others would be visiting the stalls open throughout the night today. Slightly overwhelmed with everything happening today, Winter said he needed a break and flew up to a vantage point overlooking the entirety of Sanctuary. He needed to gather his thoughts. As he watched over Sanctuary, Winter for perhaps the first time in his life, felt proud of what he had become, proud of what he had accomplished. This town represented him unlike anything else, and never had Winter felt that to be so true. When he first arrived, he had been abused, misunderstood, discarded, abandoned and betrayed, just like the rest of the settlers here in a desolate patch of land with minimal company. Like the spirit of the town and rest of its residents, he had started anew and built himself up from what little hope he had left just like they built this town from nothing. He had never felt he belonged anywhere more.

 

Wingbeats altered Winter out of his thoughts as Qibli and Turtle landed next to him.

“Sky told us we would find you here”, Turtle said

“We were worried you overspent yourself with all the work,” added Qibli

“I should be open with them”, Winter thought. “You guys do not have to worry about me overworking. I love working for my home, the town of Sanctuary. It's what brought me back from my lowest point and what keeps me going. I thrive under the pressure of making everything work. Despite how tired I may look, I am happy. Thank you for worrying about me, Qibli and Turtle too, I truly am content, perhaps the happiest I’ve ever been.”

Qibli grinned at him with a genuine smile and so did Turtle. The Sandwing asked pompously, “Well then, are you ready to guide your guest around your beautiful town?”

Winter bowed mockingly, “Of course, valued guests of Sanctuary, Winter at your service.”