Let The Chaos Continue

Starfrost

That night, Stardust brought Permafrost back to his family's hut, hoping that Moon would let her stay.

"I can find somewhere else to stay if I need to," Permafrost offered, catching the vicious glares other Nightwings were sending her way.

"Nonsense, you'll be fine with me." Stardust insisted. He grabbed ahold of Permafrost's talons, warily glancing at the other Nightwings before they darted inside.

"Mother!" Stardust called out. Moon emerged from another room, scrolls clutched in her talons. "We have a visitor."

"Permafrost, isn't it?" Moon questioned. The Icewing nodded and Moon smiled. "So nice to see you again." She glanced at her son's talons, that were still entwined with Permafrost's.

"She doesn't have anywhere to go," Stardust explained. "And I was hoping maybe she could stay here? With us?"

"Well that depends," Moon began. "Do your parents know you're here?"

"No," Permafrost admitted. "My mother is dead, and my father is probably halfway to an execution right now."

"...Um...Okay. Might I ask why you need to stay here?"

"Well I'm currently rebelling against the entire stuck-up Icewing tribe, avoiding my murderous aunt, and running from an arranged marriage." 

"I see." Moon glanced between the two of them once more. "Alright. You can stay here as long as no Icewings turn up looking for you. You're not the only one who's running from them, after all."

"Thank you,"

"Thanks Mother!" Stardust grinned.

"Hold on," Moon continued. "Permafrost, you can have Stardust's room. Stardust, you'll sleep on the reed mat."

"But-" Stardust objected.

"No buts! If you're going to keep a girl in the house, then my over-protectiveness is at full volume."

"I bet YOUR mother didn't mind when you had boys over." Stardust grumbled. Moon rolled her eyes.

"No. She didn't care. And it got me you."

"MOTHER!" Permafrost giggled behind them as Stardust shot her an exasperated look and led her to his room.

"Sorry about that." He admitted.

"Don't be. Your mom is awesome." Permafrost replied. "Oh! I've been meaning to ask. How are things going with both your fathers?" Stardust grimaced.

"Okay. Qibli wants to know everything about me, and wants to spend all this time with me, whereas Winter doesn't care that much. I don't think he really believes that I'm his son too."

"Well that sucks." He shrugged.

"Not really. I've gotten this far in life with no father figure. It doesn't really matter that one of my actual fathers doesn't want to associate with me."

"What about Qibli? How do you feel about him?"

"He's nice, I guess." Stardust sighed, flopping down on his bed. "But Qibli has always been the guy who WANTED to be my father, and I never really cared. But now that I know, and he's gotten it confirmed, he wants to, well, he wants to be my father. But I don't know what to do about that."

"I think he should give him a chance. If Winter doesn't care about you, then make Qibli your only father and see what it's like to be his son. Maybe you'll find that you want a father figure more then you think you do now."

"Maybe." He turned to look at her. "And what about you? How are you holding up?" Permafrost grimaced.

"Okay, I guess. I'm just afraid that Beluga will come after me and force me into the arranged marriage. I want to get married, yes, but not to a total stranger!"

"Well, what if we found a way out of the agreement?"

"How? I'm pretty sure I'd have to be dead to break it." Stardust thought for a moment.

"Hey," He began. "They can't force you to marry someone if you're already married, can they?" 

"...I guess. But they could come for me at any time. I'd have to be married by, like, the end of the week."

"True."

"And I doubt anyone would want to marry me that suddenly." She looked over at him and paused at his expression. "Wait...."

"Yep." Stardust declared. "If the absolute ONLY way to save you from a life of complete misery, then heck yeah, I'll marry you."

"Stardust, think about what you'd be doing. If the Icewings DO come after me, they might just kill you and take me."

"Hey, we live in the rainforest, Frost. I'm Princess Joy's godson. We're friends with all the royalty. Hell, Glory has two tribes worth of armies, and rumor has it that Joy herself is in command of an entire secret squadron of scavengers and dragons from all tribes. Nobody is going to take you away THAT easily."

"Well, when you put it THAT way..." She eyed him. "You'd actually marry me?"

"Of course." Stardust blushed slightly. "I was planning on asking you in a few years, but if I have to speed that up to save you..." He caught her eye. "...Would you marry me, Permafrost?" She gaped at him, still in disbelief.

"Yes." She whispered. He smiled. 

"I'll see if I can get Ander to do the ceremony."

"Oh, let me. I don't want her to attack you over this."

"I don't think she will."

"...Stardust, this is ANDER we're talking about. I'm sure that if we showed up somewhere in the rainforest at a random time tomorrow, Ander would already be there, ready to marry us, and complain that we're late." 

"Fair enough." They grinned at each other, and then Stardust's eyes widened. "Oh three moons, DO NOT tell my mother about ANY of this."

"...Stardust, she's a mind reader, AND she can see the future. I think she already knows." 

As if on cue, a screech echoed through the house.

"STARDUST!!"