Chapter Text
Winter
“I still don’t understand why you care so much about that stupid little scavenger.”
Icicle flew past Winter, giving a haughty sniff as he struggled to fly faster with the cage in between his talons.
“Wait… up!”
Winter had been flying with his sister, Icicle, for about a week now. A few days earlier, Queen Glacier had received a letter from the (old) Dragonets of Destiny, detailing a school for dragonets of all tribes. Though skeptical at first, she eventually decided it would be best to send some students to this school- willing or not- and Winter and his sister were, unfortunately, chosen.
Stupid school, he thought to himself as they flew above a forest on the Easter edge of the Claws of the Clouds Mountain. He never wanted to go in the first place, but at least it might be a place where Bandit wouldn’t freeze to death.
Winter yelped as he snapped out of his thoughts, nearly running into a tree before swerving away at the last second. I shouldn’t keep flying like this. He landed on a rocky ledge on the edge of the mountains, setting the cage next to him. He was exhausted flying all the way from Queen Glacier’s palace to Jade Mountain, and heavens knew he couldn’t let the other dragons see him so undignified on the first day of school.
Icicle glanced back, turning around before snapping at him. “Are you seriously taking a break?” She flew back and landed next to Winter, glaring at the covered cage beside him as she sat up straight in the position that had been so rigorously built into them since birth. “It’s because of that cage isn’t it? Why didn’t you get one of the palace servants to carry it for you?”
She wouldn’t understand, Winter thought as he struggled to maintain his regal posture, as tired as he was. He hated having Bandit out of sight for too long; the other dragons weren’t exactly friendly to something so delicious as a scavenger.
“I’m perfectly capable of carrying a little cage by myself, thank you very much.” Winter took another second to rest before picking it back up and taking off. “You don’t want to be the only dragon late on the first day, now do you?” he said as he quickly sped towards the academy, refusing to waste this opportunity to annoy his sister.
“You’re the one who stopped in the first place!” Icicle rose into the air just after Winter and quickly overtook him. “You’d better fly fast if you don’t want to arrive alone.”
Winter ignored her and kept flying towards Jade Mountain. He knew she’d never show their separated relationship and sully the Icewings' image by arriving ahead of him, no matter how spiteful she seemed at every turn.
The next few minutes went by unfortunately quickly; Winter wanted to stay away from the academy for as much time as possible before being forced to associate with all of those other dragons. But after what felt like only seconds, he saw Icicle flying in circles near one of the smaller mountain peaks, just out of sight of the congregation of dragons he saw at the entrance of the tallest mountain he’d seen since the tall, glistening spires of the Ice Kingdom: Jade Mountain.
“Took you long enough.” Icicle swooped down to meet him as he continued towards the academy’s entrance. “I notice you haven’t entered the academy yet,” Winter said. “Don’t tell me you were too scared to go without your brother?”
“I was doing reconnaissance on how the other tribes are behaving,” Icicle hissed as she flew alongside him. “Specifically the Nightwings.”
Winter bristled at the mention of that tribe. They had been thrown out of their home, lost their powers (though Winter personally doubted that was the full story), and forced to have a Rainwing queen. Yet even with all of that, the Nightwings were mortal enemies of the Icewing tribe; he wasn’t in a hurry to meet any of them anytime soon.
“Oh, don’t tell me you’re scared of them.” Icicle teased. “Of course not!” Winter roared back, before catching his tone and quieting down. “It’s just…” He paused for a second and stopped in midair. “You know what they did.”
Icicle floated next to him, the most solemn she’d looked the whole flight.
“...Of course I know. It affected me just as much as you. But being too weak to control your anger around them isn’t the best way to get revenge against those bat-winged vermin.”
Winter thought about it for a second, then pushed down his fears as they started moving forward again. “You’re right.” She’s always right… he thought, annoyed at himself.
As they angled down to the entrance of the academy, Winter looked around at some of the dragons he could see around him. There was a group of Mudwings hugging goodbyes by a tree, some Rainwings flying in from the south, and a Skywing parent flying off with her dragonet clearly upset about being left here.
They landed at a distance from the other dragons and started walking in. The air got noticeably cooler as they walked down into the cave, much better than the heat outside from the rainforest and desert being so close.
The cave opened up into a large cavern; the ceiling was the height of dozens of dragons, with the whole place probably big enough for the whole student body to sit comfortably. In the middle of it was a small podium with a Nightwing behind it.
The Nightwing had just been talking to another, much smaller dragon. They looked so alike that for a second Winter thought they were sisters. The smaller one; definitely a student; took one look at Icicle and him before quickly ducking into one of the side caves. Winter frowned at the passageway. That’s weird.
“Oh! You must be Winter and Icicle!!” The bigger Nightwing greeted them, and handed both of them two scrolls. “These are your welcome scroll and your map; don’t want our students getting lost on the first day! What’s in the cage? Sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy… I’m Fatespeaker by the way. I’m not one of the dragonets, but I’m trying my best to help out.”
Winter looked down at the parchment in his hands and huffed. She’s too loud. “The cage isn’t your business. Now please just direct us to our rooms and we won’t have to talk anymore.”
Fatespeaker’s eye twitched- the only betrayal of her otherwise unbothered appearance. “Ok!” She turned to a long scroll next to the podium. “Winter… you are in Cave 14, second tunnel on the left, last cave on the left; you’re in the Jade Winglet. And Icicle, you are in Cave 3; that‘s the first tunnel on the left, second cave on the right. You’re in the Gold Winglet.” She smiled at them. “I hope you’re excited to meet your clawmates!”
Icicle ignored her and moved to the tunnels, before disappearing into the first one. Winter paused for a moment, before turning to Fatespeaker. “Thanks,” He said as he started walking towards his cave. At least I’ll have a moment to truly relax for the first time in days.
Winter tucked the scrolls Fatespeaker had given him into the folds of his wings, before continuing deeper into the academy.
The tunnels that connected to the sleeping caves were well lit, with bright, glowing lanterns hanging from the ceiling illuminating the halls. Even underground, there was greenery, with small plants and vines growing along the walls; still not as dignified and pristine as the shining blue walls of Queen Glacier’s palace, but still better than bare rock.
The walk was annoyingly long; especially while lugging a heavy cage around with him. Why was he given the cave all the way at the end of the tunnel? Yes it was private, which he knew was better than what most students got, but they could have made getting there less tedious.
Grumbling, Winter finally reached his cave, before turning into a short tunnel leading into it, which opened into the cave. It wasn’t particularly big, but comfortable for a single dragon to live in. Which was a problem, because Winter wasn’t the only dragon in there. To his right, on one of the two sleeping ledges, was a Sandwing reading a scroll.
The Sandwing looked up, clearly curious about who had just walked in. He smiled at Winter. “Hey! I’m guessing you’re my clawmate?”
He had to share a room!? Winter remembered Fatespeaker saying something about clawmates, but he’d assumed that had something to do with the winglets, not that he would have to live with a dragon from another tribe.
Winter narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”
The Sandwing tilted his head. “...My clawmate? Roomie? The dragon who I’ll be sharing a cave with for the next few months?”
“...I wasn’t told I’d be forced to share a room with another… student.” How could this have happened? He’d assumed (quite understandably) that the nephew of Queen Glacier would get a private room at the academy, but it appeared that was too much to ask for.
“Well, I guess you’re stuck with me!” The Sandwing shrugged and rolled up his scroll, before putting it on a rack next to his ledge. “So, what’s your name? I’m Qibli, one of Queen Thorn’s advisors.” He smiled at Winter. Again.
Winter moved over to his ledge on the other side of the room and placed Bandit’s cage next to it. “I’m Winter, second circle. The nephew of Queen Glacier.”
“Ooh, royalty. I hope you don’t find me too unrefined for your tastes, princess.” Winter whipped around and glared at Qibli. “Princess?!” What is that supposed to mean?!
Qibli laughed. He’d rolled over onto his back on the ledge, looking way too proud of himself about what he‘d said. “I think it’s a pretty appropriate nickname. After all, you are quite pretty.”
“Wha-” Winter was fuming. How could this dragon be so unashamed, talking like this? And to another male dragon?!
“Fun and games aside, I’m actually quite interested in this little cage you’ve got here.” Qibli gracefully rolled off the ledge onto the floor, and nodded at the cage. “What’s in it?”
Winter hesitated. He didn’t want a dragon he‘d just met to know about Bandit. How was he supposed to know this Qibli dragon wouldn‘t eat it? Or tell all the other students? …Or think that he’s weird?
But if he was going to be Qibli‘s roommate, it was only a matter of time before he found out. He may as well explain it under his own terms anyway.
Sighing, Winter pulled the sheet covering the cage off of it and stepped aside, revealing its contents. Inside was a floor covered in grass clippings, with a makeshift bed, running wheel, and most importantly, Bandit.
Qibli‘s eyes widened. “A scavenger! I’ve never seen one this close up….” He moved over and bent down to look at it, which was currently laying in its bed, as always.
Winter had found Bandit a few days ago on the edges of the Ice Kingdom. He didn’t fully understand why he cared so much, but he didn’t want to watch it freeze to death in the cold, so he decided to take it in as a pet.
Qibli continued staring at Bandit as he lay there. “Um…” He tilted his head a bit. Bandit still wasn’t moving. “Are you sure it’s alive?”
“Yes,“ Winter snapped. “I‘m sure. It just… doesn’t like moving very much. …Or at all.“ He threw the covering back over the cage. “Now stop staring at it, it’s not an exhibition.”
Qibli shrugged and stepped back. “Sure, it’s about time for the first class anyway.”
“Class? Already?” Winter had had no time to relax at all because of this stupid Sandwing, and now he had to go to class with him? He was starting to hate this academy already.
A gong sounded out coming from the corridor. “That’s the first bell,” Qibli said. “We still have a bit of time before class, but we should probably get going.” He walked outside of the cave, before calling back to Winter. “I’m heading now, I want to drop by the library before class. Are you coming?”
Winter grumbled to himself for a moment, before slowly starting to move toward the hall. This was going to be a very long day.
This is awkward...
Winter had only been walking with Qibli in silence for about a minute, but he was already starting to feel uncomfortable. He invited me to walk with him, the least he can do is say something.
They had gone through the tunnel that supposedly led both to the library and the history cave, but they hadn’t come across either one yet. The academy really was massive.
After they walked a few paces, Qibli glanced at Winter. “…So, why did you come to the academy?”
Winter‘s eyebrow twitched. Already digging for information on him? All Sandwings really were the same.
“…Queen Glacier got the invitations, and my parents thought it would be a good idea.” And a good way to potentially raise my ranking. Winter had been stuck in the second circle for a few months, and Tundra and Narwhal were insistent that Winter would make it to the first circle by the time he turned 7.
Qibli nodded. “Makes sense. It was basically the same for me, except I was slightly less… apathetic about it. You don’t seem rather happy to be here.”
Winter jerked back into proper posture. How could he tell that from only knowing him for a few minutes? Is Qibli more observant than he seems? Probably not…. But it could be possible.
They finally came across the library as the gong sounded again, this time twice. Qibli turned to Winter. “It’s almost time for class, I’ll just be a second.” He darted into the library.
What a weirdo. Winter looked inside, marveling at how big the library was. Massive shelves filled the room, lining the walls and creating multiple rows that continued past Qibli, who was moving towards a desk close to the entrance.
Behind the desk was a Nightwing; Starflight, if Winter remembered correctly. He was one of the Prophecy Dragonets and founders of the academy. A line of cloth carefully placed across his eyes showed that he was blind.
Starflight looked up as he heard footsteps. “Who‘s that?” he said in Qibli‘s general direction.
“I‘m Qibli, and standing creepily behind me is Winter. I came to get him his library stamp.”
Winter flinched and walked into the library, fuming. “I‘m not being creepy, I’m waiting for you because class is about to start and we should probably start heading there now.”
Starflight chuckled. “Well don’t worry, this doesn’t take very long.” He gestured Winter over to the desk. “We’re trying out a new system to check out scrolls at the library.” He dug around in a pile of small wood objects as Winter stepped up.
“Whenever a student checks out a scroll, we use the unique shape carved at the end of each scroll and stamp that student‘s name card; then, when they return it, they stamp it again with their library stamp!”
Starflight smiled at Winter and handed him a small stamp. “Here‘s your stamp. Would you like a bag to hold it in so you don’t lose it?”
“I won’t lose it. I‘m not as clumsy as the other students.” Winter took the stamp from Starflight‘s palm. “But thank you; I’ll be sure to utilize the library in the future.”
Winter turned toward Qibli. “The final bell should sound soon, we should go.” He turned around and left the library.
Don’t want to be late to the very first class… After he‘d walked a few paces, he heard Qibli come out of the library behind him, quickly catching up to Winter. “Took you long enough. Are all Sandwings as slow as you are?”
Qibli laughed. “Don‘t worry, I’m a special case. Most others wouldn’t stay behind to grab their new clawmate a bag because they know a stamp must hurt to hold while walking on hard rock.”
Winter was stunned into silence as Qibli held up the bag, knowing he was right (and with the aching claws to show it), before Qibli promptly threw the bag in Winter‘s face.
“HEY!” Winter roared. “What the hell was that for?!”
“Thought it‘d be funny. Turns out, I was right!”
Winter was fuming. He’d never been treated with this much disrespect in his life, even when he was in the sixth circle. “I hope you know I’m not going to tolerate this for much longer,” he said as he put the stamp in the bag and tied it around his wrist. “I am a prince after all.”
“Well, you’re gonna have to put that thought on hold. We’ve reached the history cave.” Qibli straightened his back into the same posture Winter was holding. “Now make sure to look regal, so we don’t decimate the Icewing‘s pristine image,” he said in a snooty tone.
“I DO NOT SOUND LIKE THAT!” Winter yelled back. He took a deep breath before regaining his composure. “I-”
Winter had barely spoken a syllable before the gong sounded three times, signaling the start of class. Qibli snorted in laughter before heading inside the cave.
This dragon is going to be the death of me. Winter followed Qibli into the cave, grumbling.
The History Cave was a medium sized room, covered in plants, with patterned rugs on the ground and scroll racks around the edges. It didn’t have windows, instead being lit by bright lanterns hanging from the ceiling.
Winter‘s first thought about it was that the room was too warm.
Not including Winter, there were seven other dragons in the cave; six students, all of different tribes (Winter assumed they were the rest of his Winglet), and an adult Seawing on a raised slab with a map of Phyrria on the wall next to him.
Qibli had found a spot on a rug on the right side of the room, next to a Seawing wearing an armband embedded with some strange, sparkly rocks. After a moment‘s hesitation, Winter moved over and sat on Qibli‘s other side.
The other dragons were looking at him, but no one managed to say anything before the older Seawing spoke up.
“Well, now that you are all here, I suppose it’s time to begin today‘s lesson.”
He sat up straighter before clearing his throat and introducing himself. “I’m Webs; I taught history to the Prophecy Dragonets in the cave where we raised them. Now that they’ve created the academy, they asked me to teach history to you now.”
Winter listened to him for a minute, before realizing that Webs was more rambling than anything else. Winter glanced sideways at Qibli, who was zoned out staring at the map.
After a moment, Qibli suddenly whispered, “He‘s going to talk for a while, I can tell.”
“Useless,” Winter whispered back. “In the Ice Kingdom, the teachers don’t give such inane blathering. They get right to the point, without relying on useless fluff such as this.”
Qibli threw an amused glance at Winter, as the Seawing next to him leaned closer to speak.
“Sounds nice. In the Kingdom of the Sea, all my teacher does is talk about stuff like this.”
The Seawing was an interesting shade of green that Winter hadn’t seen before, with bioluminescent scales running down his head, neck, body, and wings.
“You‘re Winter and Qibli, right? I read your names off of the winglet lists in the entrance cavern.”
Winter scolded himself, remembering he had forgotten to check what winglet he was in. Qibli looked over at the Seawing. “And you’re Turtle?”
“Yup. Then Umber, Moonwatcher, Kinkajou, and Carnelian.” He pointed at the other dragons in turn. Umber and Kinkajou waved at Winter, while Carnelian ignored them.
The Nightwing, Moonwatcher, kept glancing weirdly between Winter and Qibli before speaking up.
“I go by Moon,” she said quietly. Winter narrowed his eyes at her, but was interrupted by Webs before he could say anything.
“Are you all listening?! This is important information I’m giving you.” Winter took a deep breath and looked back up at him. Qibli and the others quickly followed suit.
“Anyway,” Webs continued. “Today we are going to be starting our history lessons by talking about the Scorching. All of you please grab a copy of the appropriate scroll so we can continue.”
“I’m glad that’s over. That Seawing kept blathering the whole time instead of actually teaching us anything.” Winter was complaining about the class, walking toward the prey center with Qibli and Turtle.
Webs had barely gone over a couple events of the Scorching during the period; the rest of it had been random side tangents that gave no useful information. “I already knew everything he talked about. What a school.”
Qibli shrugged. “I thought it was pretty interesting. Plus, it seemed like at least Moon, Kinkajou, and Umber were learning this for the very first time.”
Hmmph. Winter started walking faster, moving ahead of the other two. “Well, this really just shows that they should be in a special class for all the dragonets who weren’t taught this from a young age like normal dragons from normal tribes.”
Qibli caught up to Winter, matching his pace and leaving Turtle behind. „“I can tell you’re not actually as well educated as a lot of the students here.” Winter was stunned. “And what makes you say that,” he said menacingly.
Qibli calmly replied, “A lot of the students at this school were sent here specifically because they grew up in less fortunate situations than some of us. They’re here to learn this knowledge because they wanted to and were given the chance.”
They reached the entrance to the prey center, which had most of the student body already inside. Qibli stopped in the entrance, blocking Winter from going past him.
“If you’re going to treat them like they’re beneath you because you were one of the lucky few to get an education, it’s one of the least educated things you could do.”
He went inside with a snarkiness that Winter considered highly unnecessary, leaving him standing there stunned. But isn’t what Webs was teaching common knowledge? If a dragon doesn’t know this stuff it just shows that we’re superior to them…
After a moment‘s contemplation, he slowly walked into the prey center with an uneasiness he didn’t like.
The room was in complete chaos- prey running everywhere, with rather uncoordinated students loudly crashing after them. There was a pile of fish close to the center of the room, and a pile of fruit near the back. Winter wrinkled his nose at the fruit, before grabbing a big fish that looked familiar and scanning the room for Icicle.
Winter hadn’t seen her since he’d arrived at the academy, due to Qibli hijacking his plans, but they couldn’t be seen apart while eating or the others would see that they weren’t as close as they seemed.
Winter saw Qibli first, eating what looked like a goat next to the rest of the Jade Winglet (minus Carnelian), before spotting Icicle on a raised ledge near the back of the room. Getting to her was a challenge, dodging (or at the very least, trying his best to dodge) all of the flailing dragonets, but he finally managed to navigate to her and sit down with his meal.
“Elegant,” said Icicle as he settled beside her. “My favorite part was when you got hit in the snout with a cow.”
“Shut up,” Winter muttered. It took him a moment to remember to sit up straight. Icicle glanced at him with a hint of suspicion in her eyes, but it quickly faded when she saw a female Mudwing walk into the cavern.
Winter watched her stony face for a moment before speaking.
“Is that your clawmate?”
Icicle‘s face (which was already in an unpleasant expression most of the time) looked mildly disgusted.
“Unfortunately. She’s boring; never talks, barely moves. It’s like rooming with a brown rock.”
Icicle narrowed her eyes at Sora as she talked to Moonwatcher. “And of course she’s friends with the Nightwings,” she hissed. “They’re all imbeciles, everyone in that group, and anyone who'd associate with those murderers.”
Winter tensed. Icicle was including Qibli in that statement. And while he didn’t disagree, it still felt wrong calling him that. Winter didn’t say anything and instead kept eating his meal.
The prey center eventually quieted down as more students caught their prey and started eating. After a bit of time had passed and most students had finished their meals, the gong sounded, signaling that the next class was about to start. Winter got down from the ledge and followed the rest of the student body out of the room. While he was leaving, Qibli fell back to walk next to him. Icicle gave him a hostile look before turning down the other way out of the prey center.
“So, how was dinner?” Qibli looked at Winter completely normally, as if he hadn’t said anything in the hallway before. Winter chose to do the same; it would be best to stay on good terms with the dragon he would be sleeping in the same room with.
“It was fine,” he replied. “Not as good as the fish in the Ice Kingdom, but acceptable.”
“Wow, such a great endorsement from the Ice Princess. Truly wondrous indeed.”
Winter tried and failed to stay composed. “How many times are you going to call me that?!?!” he yelled. Qibli laughed yet again. It was easy to see how much he enjoyed doing this.
Qibli smirked. “As many times as it takes for you to become desensitized. So, presumably, a while.”
“Whatever. Let’s just go to class.” Winter kept walking.
The gong finally sounded one last time, ending the final period of the day. The windows had stopped streaming sunlight into the caves, and students were heading either to the prey center or to their sleeping caves. Winter and Qibli were yet again walking together through the tunnel towards their cave.
Once they stepped inside, Winter quickly moved to Bandit‘s cage and checked under the cloth. As usual, Bandit was sleeping in its bed, doing nothing.
Qibli yawned and stretched his wings, before settling down on his ledge, which Winter noticed had a couple thin, colorful sheets over it that Qibli lay down on.
Winter‘s ledge was bare rock, but it was polished perfectly smooth, similar to the ice bed he had at the palace back in the Ice Kingdom. I guess they did some research, Winter thought. He wondered what life was like at Queen Thorn‘s palace, considering the sheets on Qibli‘s ledge were probably meant to reflect a bed there.
Glancing back, he saw that Qibli had already fallen asleep, his chest slowly rising and falling. Winter looked for a second more before climbing into his own bed and settling down. He was exhausted from the amount of time he’d had to spend around so many loud dragons.
But maybe it’ll be… fine… staying here.
He looked at Qibli one last time, before shutting his eyes and drifting off.
Maybe.