(this is a longer chapter)
Winter groaned as he followed Qibli, who was currently being dragged rather harshly by Mink to a deserted part of the village. He couldn't BELIVE Qibli told Mink they would teach her how to fly! How do you teach a dragonet to fly, anyways?
"Cmon you big fat walrus!" Mink complained, looking back at Winter. "SandWing, tell your shiny friend to pick up the pace, or I'll learn to fly when Im 40!" Qibli laughed loudly, and Winter grinned. He loved hearing his friends goofy, catchy laugh, and it always helped him feel better, in a oddly therapeutic way. "Alright, alright!" Winter cried, picking up his pace to walk side by side with Qibli. Mink grinned and started to hum a tune, dragging Qibli along. The SandWing had a bewildered look on his face, and Winter giggled seeing his expression.
He nudged Qibli with his wing, tilting his head to point at Mink. Qibli scoffed, rolling his eyes, and Winter let out a snort. A short silence passed between them as they continued walking under Mink's lead, until suddenly a rather frustrated NightWing approached. Winter bristled, flaring his wings. A NightWing! How could Ermine let the sworn enemy of the IceWing tribe live in her town! Maybe she was less IceWing then Winter thought; after all, she didn't give two seal carcasses about her rank, and every IceWing needed a good ranking to serve any importance to the tribe.
Qibli gazed at Winter for a moment, his gaze in that distant, Im-thinking-right-now-be-quiet look. Winter stared back into his soft, warm amber eyes, and felt himself calm. He knew what Qibli might be thinking right now: get to know unknown dragons before showing hostility. Winter lowered his wings, turning to the NightWing, who was now staring down Mink. The little IceWing dragonet looked down shamefully, shuffling her talons in the sand. "Mink!" The NightWing started, her voice more irritated then angry. "What do you think your mother would say if she knew you were running off with two random dragonets!" "Sorry Nightseer," Mink murmured under her breath, glancing up nervously. Oh, Winter realized. This NightWing must be a caretaker of some sort.
"Hello, I'm Qibli, and this is Winter," Qibli cut in, looking around awkwardly. Winter waved, feeling his scales heat up with embarrassment. He hoped Qibli could make the situation less weird. "Greetings, I am Nightseer of the NightWings," Nightseer responded, before detaching Qibli from Mink's arm. Qibli let out a sigh of relief, and Mink glared at him. Qibli and Winter both snickered at the same time, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nightseer flash a grin at Winter. Who does this dragon think she is? Winter thought rudely, composing himself to look more dignified. "I am the nephew of Queen Glacier," he said randomly, feeling the blood rush to his head with humiliation. Nightseer nodded as though it was information to keep stored somewhere, and Qibli's face blanked out, like he knew something Winter didn't, which was aggravating.
"Snowflake doesn't seem to like you," Nightseer said randomly, her uncomfortably bright blue eyes staring in an assessing way at the two. He heard the sand shuffle as Qibli inched closer to Winter, and he realized that Qibli must have been uncomforted by this strange, un-NightWingish NightWing aswell. "I suppose so," Qibli replied, his voice smooth. Winter was glad that Qibli handled the situation in such a way that showed no weakness towards Nightseer, and he could see that the NightWing looked stunned, confused on what she should say next.
"Y-yes, it's because she wished not to go to the Ice Kingdom again to deliver your message," Nightseer continued, and Qibli simply shrugged. "Sucks to be her. Ermine should have let Winter go back and tell Queen Glacier one of her nephews was captured by SkyWings." Winter blinked gratefully at his friend, wondering how he made these responses so perfectly. Winter reflected on how Qibli was always assessing his surroundings, and he decided to try that too. He noticed how Nightseer was positioned in a way that if they tried to go near Mink, she could attack them. Did Nightseer care about Mink? It was an interesting thought, that would have to wait another time, because he and Qibli definitely had a problem with thinking too much instead of talking.
"Who was captured?" Nightseer asked, her voice lined with curiosity. "Winter's brother," Qibli replied simply, shrugging again. Winter wondered if he should say something, because being quiet while Qibli talked about him was not how he wanted to be introduced to a NightWing. "Yes, my brother Hailstorm." He winced, thinking about the harsh comments Hailstorm made about his uselessness. Qibli looked at him sympathetically, offering his wing for support. The warmth of the SandWing shocked him, but was it weirder to feel this comfortable with him, and his cheeky grin, and his warm amber eyes that looked nothing like a SandWings?
Another thought, to wait another day.
"Excuse me!" Mink shrieked suddenly, her nervousness forgotten. "Qibli and Winter need to teach me to fly!" Winter groaned again, and Qibli pointed at him in a teasing way, rolling his eyes at Nightseer. The NightWing let out a shrill bark of laughter, before grabbing Mink. "Let's fly another day!" She offered, but Mink screeched loudly, flinging her wings until the bewildered Nightseer let her go. "Dragonets," Winter murmured. "I hate them." "They aren't that bad. I'd like to have dragonets some day," Qibli replied in a thoughtful tone. He titled his head up to the sky as though daydreaming. Winter wondered if he saw himself alone, or with someone else as well as those dragonets. "We are way to young to think about that," Winter resolved.
Qibli shrugged again, turning to look at Mink. Winter cleared his mind before realizing that Nightseer and Qibli were walking away with Mink. Winter raced to catch up with them, holding back a yawn. When were they actually going to teach Mink? Nightseer swung her head back, rolling her eyes. "Don't worry ice prince, a few more minutes so we can get to the flight practice arena in Possibility," she sighed, picking up her pace and motioning for the 3 to follow.
When they arrived to the flight practice area, it was shockingly familiar to Queen Scarlets arena, where the wicked SkyWing Queen forced her prisoners to fight to the death. He felt his chest hollow at the thought of Hailstorm, being forced to fight for her entertainment. Qibli looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if working out why he suddenly seemed so sad. He watched, curious as to what he would do, as Qibli turned his head to face the arena. "Oh," Qibli said simply, looking back at him. "Hailstorm."
Nightseer turned around curiously. "Hailstorm?" She asked, her voice soft as though trying not to offend anyone. Well, this was very offensive! "None of your business!" Winter snapped, just as Qibli said, "His brother." They looked at each other, begging the other to speak first, before Winter sighed. "My brother Hailstorm got captured by SkyWings. Your flying school looks a lot like Queen Scarlet's arena, and it's rather foreboding," He explained, narrowing his eyes at the NightWing.
Nightseer's eyes widened sympathetically, and she looked at Winter, her gaze unbreaking. "I'm sorry about your brother. I lost a brother, too, to Queen Scarlet," She told him comfortingly, her voice cracking near the end of her words. Winter looked at her with immense curiosity and wonder. Who was her brother? What happened to him? "Is he alright?" Qibli asked, and Winter snorted. "Guess," Nightseer replied simply, beckoning Mink, who was surprisingly quiet the entire time, with her wing. Mink padded up beside her, looking at her with a smile.
Winter caught Qibli staring, and he waved his pearlescent blue wing in front of his snout, accidentally wacking him. Qibli jumped, narrowing his eyes at Winter. "Three moons! What was that for?" The SandWing cried, his eyes lit up with what looked to be amusement. "For fun," Winter said simply, speeding up and trying to ignore the unmistakable arena ahead of him.
Nightseer opened the door to lead them inside, and Winter held his breath. There were way too many similarities to the horrible arena for his comfort. Even the sand felt familiar. Except instead of a battlefield, with dragons fighting to the death, he could see play structures and dragonets with their encouraging parents as they learned to fly. His wings drooped as he thought of his family. He couldn't remember Tundra and Narwhal ever looking this happy to see him fly, that's for sure. He wondered whether Qibli's family was any friendlier then his, before he remembered that his mother sold him to Thorn for a sack of gold coins. Okay, nevermind.
"FINALLY!" Mink squealed, jumping away and racing down to the sandy arena floor. Nightseer angled her wings to point to a seating area for viewers to watch, and Winter felt a shiver down his spine as he found even more resemblance to Queen Scarlet's arena. He couldn't help but imagine hundreds of SkyWings and MudWings and SandWings, all gathered to cheer as some random dragon fought with Hailstorm, leaving his dead, mangled body on the sand, which was tainted with blue blood. Hailstorms.
Qibli rubbed his wing affectionately against Winter's, surprising him. "I know what your thinking right now," Qibli murmured to him, as though reading his mind. "Just stop." Winter nodded, sighing and sitting down on the "arena" viewing platform. From here, he could see Mink and Nightseer happily practicing on the structures. Nightseer kept raising Mink to the sky, allowing her to use her wings and glide through the hoops. It looked like a great deal of fun from both ends. Winter thought over what Qibli said earlier, about dragonets. Why, though? Dragonets seemed like a whole lot of work!
Of course, Qibli seemed very capable of a whole lot of work.
They sat in silence for a little while, watching Mink and Nightseer. "You said you wanted dragonets one day?" Winter asked, feeling the silence was getting awkward. "Yeah, and then you said I should think about that later in life," The SandWing replied, looking over his shoulder at Winter before shuffling closer. Winter, grateful for his friends warmth, sidled nearer. They sat, wingtips slightly brushing, before Qibli continued the conversation. "What about it?" He asked, smiling at Winter. "Just curious as to why you would want a little brat following you around every day," He retorted, grinning back with a hint of amusement in his eyes. Qibli snorted. "Two."
When Winter looked at him with confusion, he laughed again at said, "Two, I want two little brats following me around." "Why? That's even worse!" Winter exclaimed, his eyes wide as the moons. Qibli laughed, and a smile cracked on Winter's face. If he kept acting stupid like this, would Qibli think he was funny, or stupid? Why did he care about what Qibli felt? Stop, icicle-snorter, he demanded to himself. He felt his face grow hot, and motioned his wings for Qibli to explain himself. "Well, if I have just one, the other might get lonely, or they might hate me, or THREE MOONS STOP DOING THAT!"
Winter was covering his talons over his snout, hiding his laughter. Eventually, he exploded into furious giggles, slapping Qibli sub-conciously. "Hey!" Qibli squeaked in protest, hitting him back. Winter scowled, his eyes tearing up from laughter as he punched Qibli playfully on his shoulder, lying down and spreading his wings out wide, stretching. His mind suddenly took a detour, thinking about what his parents might think of him being such close friends with Qibli. But he couldn't help it! Qibli was his bestest, best friend in the world! Eventually, he couldn't think straight, and it seemed it showed on his face because Qibli looked down at him. "What's wrong? You were so happy all of the sudden, and now your . . ."
"Questioning my life choices," Winter finished for him. He must of said it too harshly, because Qibli stared at him, hurt. "I didn't mean it like-" Winter started, but Qibli shook his head. "It's fine, I swear," Qibli said, his voice cracking as he smiled weakly at him. "It's my fault."
Winter felt his heart break in his chest as Qibli ran off, opening the door to the arena and slipping away, obviously heading "home," just as Mink came running up to him. "I can fly!" She cried. Nightseer followed, before realizing Qibli wasn't there. "'where did your friend- Qibli go?" "Our home." And our prison, he added silently to himself. A NightWing didn't need to know his secrets. He realized that he stopped correlating Nightseer as "The NightWing," instead as "Nightseer."
"Well, you run off too," Nightseer said, his voice sounding concerned. "Tell him we said "Hi."" Winter nodded, taking off to the skies to find Qibli.
(We are at 2000+ words for this chapter, way too MANY Winter chapters, and an angy Qibli!)
(Sorry for not posting for a while, I had some writers block, OOPS!)
(dont ask me why Qibli has anger/depression/easily sad issues . . . I DONT KNOW!!)