Out of the Ice

(In this AU, it’s kind of like the War of the SandWing Succession again, but SeaWings instead. A lot of descriptions are borrowed from the original Wings of Fire series. However, there is no dragonet prophecy nor Jade Mountain Academy. HiveWings, SilkWings, and LeafWings have fled Pantala and now live on Pyrrhia, and each tribe has its own kingdom (almost). The Hive Kingdom is in the mountain range where it says Jade Mountain on the map. The SilkWings are still second-class citizens in the Hive Kingdom, which is where half of them live. The other half of the SilkWings are scattered around Pyrrhia in small towns. The Kingdom of Leaves is along the Diamond Spray River and Delta, although the Mud Kingdom argues that the Delta is theirs.
Please do not edit without permission! Contact me in the comments or my message wall. Thank you and enjoy! -Aquamarine the SeaWing-RainWing)
PROLOGUE
Deep in the rainforest, a secret was hiding. It was a secret that only a few dragons knew about, and those who did know were sworn to secrecy.
Subzero wasn’t completely sure the secret was worth it, but it was his best friend and queen’s secret, after all. So it wasn’t like he had any choice but to help her.
He silently touched down on the damp, muddy forest floor. Almost all of the three moons were full— unluckily for him. His silver and pale blue-violet scales shone just as brightly, which didn’t exactly help him sneak through the quiet jungle.
“Hello?” Subzero called quietly, his voice barely a whisper.
A dragon morphed out of the air around him. His scales were still half-transparent, so he looked like a ghost.
“You’re here on behalf of, um, her?” the RainWing whispered to him.
Subzero nodded. “Yes. I’m here to retrieve it.”
He flicked his tail frantically and thrust the fragile item into Subzero’s arms. “Take it!” he hissed. “Please, never come back!”
Subzero frowned. “You’re welcome.”
The RainWing was already camouflaging into the rainforest again. “I hope I never see you again.”
Subzero bit his tongue. The RainWing was a prince, after all. He waited for him to disappear, then lifted into the air, hoping nobody was watching.
Alright, my friend, Subzero thought to himself. I’m coming. I hope I know what you’re doing. Because if you don’t . . . if word ever gets out . . . we’ll all be doomed.
Six years later . . .
“Silver?”
Silver whirled around, instinctively lifting her tail a few inches above the ground.
The messenger was holding a small slab of ice. Silver did a quick analysis of her. Midnight-blue eyes, pale-blue scales that shaded to white near her clawtips, scar on along her neck, impassive face as if, high chin, posed as if she were a model for a portrait titled The Most Important IceWing in the Entire World. Ummmm. I’d better remember her name, or this IceWing will probably eat me alive. Oh, it’s— “Prism,” Silver said, nodding with forced politeness and trying not to burst into giggles. She thought she did a reasonably good job, but Prism’s frown deepened anyways.
Prism was Queen Alpine’s highest advisor. She and her husband, Blizzard, who was Alpine’s brother, oversaw all the dragonets’ ranking tests. It would be career suicide if Silver so much as smiled at either of them.
Silver’s mind flashed through possibilities of why Prism was here. To deliver a scolding message from one of the IceWing royals? To give her new orders to fight in the War of the SeaWing Throne? Or, most likely . . . 
“Silver of the IceWings, your rankings test will start in fifteen minutes outside the palace walls. Look for Blizzard and I,” Prism said, handing Silver the ice slab. She inclined her head, then took off.
Every IceWing dragonet took the midpoint rankings test when they were six years old. The test greatly determined their rank on the Rankings Wall.
Silver’s biggest question was WHY? Sure, it organized the IceWings into a strict hierarchy. Sure, it helped everyone know their place.
But there was literally a WAR going on just out their front door! IceWing soldiers were dying! WHY were the other IceWings sitting around in the palace, appeasing the royals?
The War of the SeaWing Succession had started ten years ago, when Queen Riverbed, the insane and now dead SeaWing queen, was mysteriously slain.
Since then, her three daughters— Princesses Canyon, Creek, and Cove— had been battling for the SeaWing throne.
It was kind of annoying and ironic, really. According to IceWing scouts, ex-Queen Riverbed was crazy enough with her random skirmishes with the other tribes.
But this three-way war between her three heirs— that was really pure madness.
Princess Canyon was the eldest daughter of Riverbed. She was known as “like the muddy riverbed but nastier.” That was quite true, if the rumors were anywhere near correct. Canyon was brutal, violent, and overkill in every way— literally. 
Silver had no idea why anyone would ally with her in the war, especially if she really was planning to keep the war going just because she liked it. But apparently, the SkyWings, HiveWings, half of the SilkWings, and a third of the SeaWings supported Canyon. Silver was pretty sure they were as out of their mind as Riverbed used to be.
Riverbed’s second heir— Creek. Yeah, her name made her sound like this happy little stream cheerfully burbling along, right? Well, nope, that’s wrong. 
Creek was a creep. No pun indeed. She was cold, cunning, smart, and overall the stereotypical ‘evil villain’ type of dragon. She had blackmailed her current allies in order to gain their support— except for the IceWings, of course, who had joined with their own free will.
Alright, yes. Silver admitted it— the IceWings were Creek’s allies. No matter how much Silver hated her, she was still a more-or-less loyal IceWing and therefore had to follow her orders.
What confused Silver was the fact that Creek’s other allies were the NightWings, RainWings, and some SeaWings.
Yes. The NightWings. Personally, Silver didn’t have a problem with the dark, cryptic tribe. Why should she? The other IceWings hated them because they stole some ancient animus IceWing a long time ago blah blah blah, but none of the modern-day NightWings did anything to any of them.
Besides, if smug-faced dragons like Prism and Blizzard disliked NightWings, Silver kind of liked being on the opposite side. It was the whole ‘my enemy’s enemy’ thing.
Lastly— the youngest SeaWing heir, Princess Cove. She was a rather dim, self-absorbed SeaWing who only wanted the throne because it came with many sparkly things.
She had promised her allies— the SandWings, MudWings, LeafWings, and some number of SeaWings— a large quantity of her land and treasure in exchange for their help.
Silver thought she was the least, ah, evil princess out of the three, although a flea-brained queen wasn’t going to do much for their tribe.
Not my problem, Silver thought, shifting her wings. I should focus on proving myself on the Rankings test first.
Silver paced over to her window that overlooked the interior courtyard. She had always worked twice as hard as all the other dragonets her age to ascend the Circles. And it had paid off— she was one of the top five dragonets on the rankings wall in the entire Ice Kingdom.
The main reason why she pushed herself so hard was due to the rumors of her identity. Dragonets whispered that Silver’s egg was cursed by an animus, or that she was secretly a dragon from another tribe disguised as an IceWing. Almost everyone knew the story of Silver’s egg: It had suddenly appeared at the palace entrance in the middle of the night, a few minutes before it hatched. Nobody knew how it got there. Nobody knew who it was from. So Queen Alpine had taken Silver in and trained her as an aristocrat.
Her odd coloring probably didn’t discourage the rumors, either. Her scales were a normal ice-blue, but her underbelly, tail spikes, and wings were a pale rainbow. Silver’s spines, horns, and tail spikes were less dense than the average IceWing’s, and she had a scattering of iridescent scales all over her body and wings as well as a few large, diamond-shaped scales on her face.
Silver gritted her teeth. I’ll prove them wrong. I am NOT cursed. I will do BETTER than ALL of those STUPID IDIOT WALRUS-HEADS.
She took a deep breath, pushing back her rage. She really had to learn to control her emotions better. Silver had a tendency to turn from mildly annoyed to furious in a matter of a few seconds. Currently, her best solution was to promise herself revenge later . . . which didn’t help her, long-term, but whatever.
She polished her scales with the snow gathering on her windowsill, then spread her wings and leapt out of her window. She soared up, up, and up in the beautiful sunrise, letting the frigid wind carry her over the palace walls. She scanned the ground with her sharp eyes. There— the flash of white scales over by the west wing.
Silver twisted into a dive, then landed lightly behind a wall. She folded her wings in a way that showed her vivid wing scales. I’m a weird IceWing and PROUD OF IT, and if you care you can SHOVE A GLACIER UP YOUR NOSE.
She squashed her scowl away, then walked out from behind the wall towards Blizzard, Prism, and the other three dragonets taking the Rankings test.
Silver scanned her catalog of dragons. On the left: white scales with just a hint of blue, dark blue eyes, slightly curved horns, an enormous quartz crown, a quartz ring, a pair of quartz earrings, and a quartz bracelet or two. Ah, that was Princess Quartz, the smug and spoiled IceWing princess, daughter of Prism and Blizzard. It was kind of hard to forget her name, despite Silver’s best efforts, due to all of the quartz jewelry the mean princess was wearing. That was probably half the point.
The dragonet in the middle had pale violet scales, gray wings, and a single glittering diamond armband. He was tense and crouched down slightly, as if he were about to attack at any moment. Silver only remembered him because he was always threatening to freeze everybody’s faces off. Reflection, Silver thought, annoyed.
And standing off to the side, twitching her wings nervously, was a dragonet with dark blue eyes, silver scales as pale as the moons scattered with midnight-blue on her wings, claws, and tail, and a pair of tiny sapphire earrings. Silver forgot who she was, which she felt bad about, but then remembered how big-headed most IceWings were, which made her feel better, and then she felt guilty about judging her before Silver even met her. You’re giving yourself a headache.
“Ah. Silver,” Blizzard said, looking at her down his nose.
“Blizzard,” Silver said, adding the tiniest sliver of mockery to her respectful monotone, just enough that Blizzard knew it was there, but not enough for him to report her.
“Excellent,” Prism said, sweeping her tail around in the fresh snow. “Now that we are all present, we shall begin the test.”
“Princess Quartz, Reflection, Moonstone, and Silver, your job is simple,” Blizzard began in an I’m-so-superior-and-important-and-you-can’t-do-anything-about-it voice that made Silver want to claw his snout off. “All you have to do is fly to the Kingdom of the Sky, capture a SkyWing, and bring him to the southern side of the Great Ice Wall, where Snowcap will be waiting. You have three days. You will be judged on the SkyWing’s importance and usefulness. Good luck.” Without another glance at the dragonets, Blizzard and Prism swept away.
Reflection was already shooting away at the end of Blizzard’s sentence. Quartz arched her head at Silver and Moonstone, the nervous dragonet, and said, “Well, I have places to be.” She beat her wings and rose in the air, flapping loudly due to the extra weight of all her jewelry. Silver snorted and looked at the dragonet named Moonstone, who had edged away slightly as if Silver was poisonous or something.
“Well. Want to go together?” she asked.
Moonstone shook her head furiously, backing away even more.
Silver wrinkled her nose. “Well, fine, then.” She flew away without a backward glance.
Several hours of nonstop flying later, Silver touched down more-or-less silently at the top of an enormous boulder on a cliff that was part of the Sky Kingdom. Looking down, she could see a town full of dragons— most of which were SkyWings, but she could see flashes of other colored scales, too.
The weight of her assignment crashed on top of Silver. Can I really do this? Am I someone who kidnaps innocent dragons?
She spent several minutes stabbing the rocks underfoot, ignoring the pain in her claws. I’ll just go in and check out the place, first, she decided.
Silver flew up and circled the town for a few moments, trying to look casual (a feat she had never yet accomplished in her life). Then, she glided down, folded her wings, and entered.
Surprisingly, there were no guards. Silver wondered how this town had survived so long in the war. Maybe they were secretly defended by exploding bananas or something. Really, she’d once read a scroll about a RainWing village with dangerous fruit weapons. She wasn’t sure if the story was true, and never got a chance to find out.
Suddenly, a multicolored blur crashed into Silver. “Aahhh! Yikes!” it yelped.
A sparkling jade, shining azure, metallic violet, and iridescent gold SilkWing skidded back, his armful of scrolls flying everywhere. “Sorry! My bad! Wasn’t paying attention! It's all my fault! Don’t punch me!”
“Three moons.” Silver blinked at him, startled. She helped him gather the fallen scrolls. “Why would I punch you?”
The SilkWing spread his wings in a confused shrug. The light caught his jewel-toned scales. “It was my . . . survival instinct to say that? Also, some of the other IceWings here do hit me, because, you know, we’re on different sides of the war, and all. Ack, I guess I wasn’t supposed to say that. I mean, I’m not in the war, so please don’t hurt me!”
Silver peered at him. “Hm. Well. Okay.”
The SilkWing picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Er . . . thanks?” He paused. “I’m Emerald, by the way. Who are you?”
Silver laughed. “You definitely are emerald-colored! Oops, I didn’t mean that as an insult.” She thought for a moment. It probably wasn’t a good idea to tell a random SilkWing her name, but she honestly didn’t care. “I’m Silver,” she said.
“Are you new to Forestside? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen you before,” Emerald said, flicking his tail.
Silver hesitated, trying to figure out how to answer. She had already decided that she wasn’t going to kidnap anybody, but how would she explain all that to Emerald?
Luckily, Silver was spared from answering his question. 
“Emerald!” a voice shrieked angrily.
A large, indigo-and-blue SilkWing hurtled towards Emerald. “How dare you—”
Suddenly, she spotted Silver. Her demeanor changed completely.
“My apologies,” she said, folding her wings and nodding to Silver politely. “I am Amethyst. Please forgive the impolite actions of my son, Emerald. I will be sure to punish him severely and creatively.”
Silver narrowed her eyes at Amethyst. Based on Silver’s very limited ability to read dragon faces, Amethyst was furious. Well, duh. Very observant, Silver, she thought to herself.
“No, it wasn’t his fault,” Silver said. “Please don’t beat him up.”
Amethyst smiled with all her teeth. “Don’t worry, I’ll do worse than that. Now, let’s go, dear Emerald.”
She marched the smaller SilkWing away.
Silver watched them go for a moment, rustling her wings. She wanted to run after them, but it was probably smarter to keep her cool and figure things sensibly. Surely, Amethyst wouldn’t hurt her own son that badly, right? Silver’s IceWing instincts said otherwise. Silver turned around and was about to walk away, but found a strong-looking, frowning SeaWing a little older than her blocking her way.
“What do you want?” Silver growled, already disliking his disdainful expression and the way he looked down his nose at her. It reminded her of the Prism, Blizzard, Quartz, and most of the other royal IceWings.
The SeaWing tilted his nose haughtily. “You’re not from Forestside, huh?” he said.
“What’s it to you?” Silver retorted.
“Meh. Just wondering why you act so stupid,” the SeaWing said.
“Well,” Silver snapped, “we can BOTH AGREE that ACTING STUPID means going around and saying DUMB things and using BONEHEADED LANGUAGE against people you THINK you can outwit, but actually get verbally BEATEN UP by them, huh? Oh, I WONDER who fits that definition PERFECTLY!”
The SeaWing gaped at her for a moment, then recovered. “Boneheaded? Everybody has bones in their heads!”
Silver nearly fell over laughing.
“See? That’s what I mean. Boneheaded.”
The SeaWing growled at her, then whirled around abruptly and stomped away.
Silver started to walk away, then looked around and realized that most of the townsfolk within twenty feet had stopped to stare at her.
She smiled at them disarmingly. “Yes?”
Most of them turned away in a hurry, except one dragon.
“Emerald!” Silver said, surprised.
“Hey,” he said, shaking out his wings to walk alongside her. “I saw that.”
Silver snorted. “He was seriously ASKING FOR IT.”
“Yeah, we all know that by now,” Emerald said thoughtfully. “You’re the first one who’s ever been able to beat Torrent in a shouting match.”
“It was fun,” Silver said to him. She paused. “Your mother didn’t punish you that badly, right? Sorry if that’s a personal question, but I have this horrible feeling that’s making me feel really guilty. You okay?”
“No, she just yelled at me, as usual, then sent me back out to do errands.” He cast a look worriedly over his shoulder.
“Oh, lucky. From where I live, shouting is the least severe form of punishment.”
“Yikes,” he said. “Where are you from, anyways?”
Silver shifted her wings, but she didn’t want to hide the truth from him any longer. “I’m from the Ice Kingdom,” she admitted.
Emerald looked confused. “Um . . . aren’t all IceWings from there?”
“Well, yeah. But I was actually sent here on a mission.”
“Huh. What was it? Oops, wait, am I being nosy? Mother says that I’ll eventually get slapped in the face if I keep it up. Oh, sorry, I’m probably yammering on a bit,” Emerald said. He made a face as if he were trying not to laugh at his own joke.
“If you were in the Ice Kingdom, you would probably lose your nose along with your head,” Silver offered. She paused, seeing the look on Emerald’s face, then hurried, “Um, I wasn’t serious. Like, sixty percent kidding.”
Emerald laughed.
“And for your first question . . . my assignment was to capture a SkyWing and bring him back to the Ice Kingdom.”
She gloomily waited for Emerald to sidle away from her or glare or look scared. Instead, he looked at her in concern. “That’s so mean,” he said. “Why would— well, okay, there’s the war, but why make you do it?”
Silver shrugged her wings. “Long story; not important right now. But, I’m just saying, I’m not doing it. So . . . yeah, don’t worry.”
They stopped at the edge of the town, where the rocky ground dropped away into a cliff with a waterfall roaring down its side.
Emerald rolled his eyes. “Silver, I’ve only known you for an hour, but I already know one thing. You are a kind dragon, and you would never hurt an innocent dragon.”
Silver twitched her wings. “Wow, so deep,” she offered.
“So, what are you going to do about your assignment?” Emerald said, changing the subject and pointedly ignoring her comment.
Silver looked across the horizon, where she imagined she could see the Ice Kingdom. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll just have to go back and say I failed.”
Emerald hesitated. “You don’t have to go back.”
“What do you mean?” Silver asked, already half-guessing what he meant.
“You could . . . come live here in Forestside,” Emerald offered hesitantly. “You could stay and never have to worry about your mission again.”
Silver didn’t know what to say. 
On one talon, living in Forestside would be nice— nobody making fun of her or staring at her disdainfully. 
But on the other, Silver couldn’t just abandon her kingdom and her tribe. 
On the third talon, if she stayed here she would be safe from the war— and never have to fight anybody, unlike if she continued her training as a First Circle IceWing warrior. 
Yet on the fourth, what if she endangered Forestside by living there? If the other IceWings found out (and sooner or later, they would), they would definitely attack the entire city. And Silver didn’t want to be responsible for any casualties.
“I— I can’t,” Silver said finally. “I can’t desert my tribe. Besides, if I stayed, I would be endangering everybody with an IceWing attack. I’m sorry.”
Emerald tried and failed to hide his disappointed expression. “No, I understand,” he said. He took a deep breath to steady himself. “All right, then. Let’s think. How do we solve the SkyWing problem?”
“You don’t have to help,” Silver said, pushing the words through her mouth.
“Silver. I want to help you,” Emerald said firmly.
“Well— thanks,” Silver said, giving Emerald a grateful smile. Wow, wouldn’t the other IceWings love the fact that I’m accepting help from an ‘inferior’ non-IceWing, a small part of her mind went. Shut up, Silver thought back.
“Maybe we can . . . bring a fake SkyWing prop?” Emerald tried.
Silver scrunched up her nose. “I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but let’s put that as Plan B. Or Plan Z, maybe.”
“No, you’re right,” Emerald said.
“Oh!” Silver said, brightening. “Are there any, like, evil SkyWings around town? Ones I can maybe heroically save innocent dragons from? Like in those cheesy hero stories?”
Emerald tapped his claws together, thinking. “Most of them here at Forestside are agreeable enough, for SkyWings, anyway. But maybe . . . one from the SkyWing palace? I heard there are plenty of cruel dragons there who force other dragons to fight each other. ”
“Good idea,” Silver agreed. “I’ll be off, then. I’ll just . . . casually fly to the SkyWing queen’s palace . . . ?”
“Well, I’m coming with you,” Emerald said, giving her that look that said, as clear as day, I’m going to help you whether you want me to or not, and you can’t stop me.
“Are you sure y—” Silver was cut off by Emerald covering her snout with his talons.
“Don’t let me hear that,” he said firmly.
Emerald and Silver spent the rest of the afternoon arguing.
“It’s going to be dangerous!” Silver insisted.
“With my fla— um, fighting skills, I think I can survive,” Emerald said awkwardly.
“Okay, I have to ask this. What’s your secret that you don’t want other dragons knowing?”
Emerald hesitated, then looked around, checking for eavesdroppers. He lowered his voice. “Silver, I understand your concerns. My— well, my not-so-secret-to-you-from-now-on is why I can protect myself and others. Come with me?”
Silver stood up and shook her wings out. “Uh— sure?”
Emerald leapt into the air and soared over to the cliff with the waterfall, Silver a few wingbeats behind him.
Tucking his wings in a sudden dive, Emerald led Silver right through the waterfall and into the hidden cave behind it.
“Wow,” Silver said, blinking around in the diluted light. “I’m impressed you found this place at all.”
Emerald smiled shyly. “I went exploring.” He led the way deeper into the cave, until he came to a bend in the tunnel where it was pitch-black.
“I’m going to show you something nobody knows about except Amethyst and Zircon, my sister, all right? I trust you, Silver.”
Silver nodded at him in the dark.
Twin lights appeared in the darkness, bright and glowing.
“What—” Silver whispered, but Emerald twined his tail around hers gently, quieting her.
The lights grew larger and brighter, until Silver could clearly see Emerald.
“Flamesilk,” Silver said. “I wasn’t even sure if it was real.”
Emerald studied her face. Oh, Silver realized. He can’t read me. I’m instinctively hiding my emotions, the way I had to do things around the other aristocratic IceWings. She wondered if it was a bad thing that she felt reassured about the fact.
Emerald willed his two flamesilk wires towards himself, winding them around his forearms. 
“Flamesilks cannot be harmed by their own fire,” Silver murmured.
The silk spun and grew, like tiny little rivulets of flame, until Emerald was entirely covered by it except for his eyes, nose, and mouth, so he looked more like a burning piece of wood than an actual dragon.
“Three moons,” Silver said, edging away slightly in the harsh heat.
Emerald looked down. Silver instantly felt guilty about his hurt expression. “Sorry, I—”
“It’s fine. Now do you know why I think I can survive?”
Silver hesitated. “Can you put a little flamesilk on the ground so I can breathe frostbreath over it? I’m curious what will happen.”
Emerald did, and Silver crouched down.
She breathed the tiniest possible cloud of ice over the fire, ignoring the intense heat. The flamesilk went out immediately.
“Interesting,” Emerald said, watching the blackened silk for a moment. “I’ve seen other IceWings try to put out flamesilk before— it’s nearly impossible. Maybe my silk is not as hot?”
Silver shrugged in bewilderment. 
Emerald held up his talons, and his silk zoomed back in, leaving no trace.
“Let’s rest for the night, then fly in the morning,” he suggested.
“Should we return to Forestside?” Silver asked him.
Emerald winced. “No, that isn’t a good idea. My parents barely tolerate me at all. They say I’m cursed and don’t deserve to live with them.”
“You definitely aren’t alone,” Silver growled, stalking down the tunnel towards the waterfall, glaring at the rocky floor so hard she was surprised it didn’t burst into flames.
Silver blew out a breath that had a hint of ice. “Let’s sleep here,” she said in a calmer tone. “I’ll take first watch.”
“Well . . . I wouldn’t mind sleeping a bit,” Emerald said, already tilting a little. He curled up in a tight spiral near the cave exit, pressing his wings to his back.
The next morning, the sky was a dull gray, which wasn’t the most promising start to Silver and Emerald’s mission. Whatever, Silver thought to it fiercely. I don’t care what you have to say! Then, she felt silly for having an argument with the sky.
Behind her, Emerald rolled over sleepily. “Morning,” he murmured.
“Hey,” Silver said, turning around to face him. She curled her tail up neatly and stretched her wings wide, the morning light shining through the waterfall and lighting up Silver’s iridescent scales. “You ready to fly?”
Emerald yawned, then got up. He rubbed his eyes, spread his wings, and flew towards the waterfall. His antennae unfurled and waved through the spray.
“Nobody’s watching,” he said softly.
Silver nodded and started breathing frostbreath all over her own scales. It was a trick she’d learned from several rough IceWing play-fights— her scales were immune to ice, even extreme cases of frostbite that other IceWings couldn’t handle.
She finished adding a fine layer of frost to her scales. “C’mon,” she said. “Let’s go.”
Silver spread her wings and leapt off the ledge, enjoying the feeling of extra iridescence and defense.
As she dove through the waterfall, she instantly felt the temperature drop around her. She turned, a bit confused, then let out a yelp of surprise. 
The waterfall was frozen. Entirely. It was now a sheet of ice hanging off of the cliff with a hole in it where Silver had flown through. Moons above, did I do that? I hope I’m not some instant ice machine. Then, she looked down and saw that all the frostbreath was gone. Oh. My frostbreath did that. Weird.
She stuck her head back in, nearly colliding with Emerald.
“So . . . um . . . what . . . ” He seemed at a loss for words.
“I swear, I didn’t know it would do that!” Silver cried.
Emerald looked distracted. “Yeah . . . let’s just go, before Ame— um, any dragons find us.”
Silver raised her eyebrows at Emerald. “Amethyst? Why would she be looking for you? I thought she barely tolerated you.”
“Uh . . . um,” Emerald trailed off. “Long story.”
After a while of flying northeast, Emerald finally said, “So, where are we going?”
Silver looped around to stare at him. “Um, the SkyWing Palace. Duh!”
Emerald smacked Silver with a wing, but she dodged and Emerald ended up nearly falling out of the sky.
“Don’t comment,” he muttered. Then, he straightened and clarified, “I mean, exactly where are we going in the SkyWing palace?”
“Ohhh.” She thought for a second. “Um . . . maybe we can . . . fly in and . . . look around?”
Emerald made a face. “Wow. Planning is truly an alien concept to you, huh?”
“Well, what’s YOUR so-great plan, then?” Silver countered, thwacking him with the spineless side of her tail.
“How should I know?” Emerald yelped, wobbling on his wings again.
“Fine, fine, whatever,” Silver said casually, doing a flip in the sky.
“You really aren’t worried?” Emerald asked incredulously.
“Sure I am,” Silver said, not sounding the least bit concerned. She felt much freer than she had in the Ice Kingdom. “But, since neither of us can come up with a better plan, we should at least GET there first without tiring and falling out of the air, and THEN we can think and worry and whatever else you want to do.”
Silver poked his worried, skeptical, scrunched-up snout with the tip of her tail. “Come on! Stop being a snail-snout! Are you EVER happy?”
Emerald hesitated for a beat too long.
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME??” Silver’s shout echoed off of the mountains.
“Shhhhh!” Emerald frantically glanced down at the empty landscape below.
“Seriously!” Silver continued in an annoyed, but quieter, voice. “ENJOY yourself for a while, at least! What’s the point of life if you’re CONSTANTLY running around like a headless scavenger? You can worry later; right now things are fine, RELAX!”
Emerald raised his eyebrows at Silver. “Was that your idea of a pep talk?” He put on a rather bad imitation of Silver’s voice: “Wow. How deep.”
“Yes,” she replied simply. “That was one-hundred percent a formal speech.” She swung around in the sky again, feeling a cooler, higher wind current brush against her scales. Silver caught a glimpse of Emerald’s bewildered expression and laughed.
“Dude, I was joking,” she said. “Lighten up!”
And it went on like this for hours— Emerald worrying and Silver laughing. Eventually, Silver came up with a better plan.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea.”
“Great,” Emerald said, somehow managing to sound sincere and sarcastic at the same time. “Let’s hear it.”
“So we go over there, right? We jump into a river to get wet, find some burnt trees— c’mon, there must be tons of them from the war— coat ourselves in the ashes, then fly up and sneak into the shadows. Then, when the guards aren’t watching, we sneak in. Boom! Plan complete.”
Emerald groaned. “Can we do that if, like, we find literally no better plan?”
“Do what?” a new voice interjected.
Silver turned, surprised, and saw a bright ruby, gleaming orange, brilliant yellow, and shining golden SkyWing hovering to their right, flying just above them. He was riding the wind on his enormous wings.
“Yikes!” Silver yelped. “WHERE did you come from?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not part of the war,” the SkyWing said matter-of-factly.
“Oh. Um, nice,” Silver said, a bit confused. “Were you spying on us?”
The SkyWing lifted and lowered his wings in a shrug, causing him to bob up and down in the sky. “Sure, I guess,” he offered.
“So you just . . . spy on random strangers, then go talk to them?” Emerald asked, looking completely shocked.
“Well,” Silver muttered. “You, Emerald, approached me, a random stranger, and talked to me.”
Emerald smacked her, although not very hard. “Not helping!”
Silver laughed and nudged his wings. She remembered that they were currently in a conversation with another dragon. She turned and saw the SkyWing gazing at them wistfully. “So, what’s the deal?” she said to him. “Why are you out here all by yourself?”
He shrugged again, looping around in the sky. “I’m a SkyWing fugitive. I’m usually alone.” He made it sound casual, but even Silver could hear the slight wobble in his voice.
She beat her wings and rose up to him, studying him from horns to tail. The SkyWing was only a dragonet, Silver realized, although his height made him look much older. His scales were extremely shiny and he had no scars, which was unusual for a SkyWing alive during the war. His eyes were blue— not like Silver’s light blue, but a shade of blue that was commonly found only at the bottom of the hottest flames.
“Hmm,” Silver said. “I’m Silver; that’s Emerald. Who are you? Why were you a fugitive? I’m sorry, but when I know a secret exists but I don’t know what it is, it drives me crazy.”
“The name’s Blazecrest,” he offered. “But Blaze is fine.” He paused, then snorted. “I’m wanted because I’m not in the queen’s service.”
“Queen Summit wants you to work for her?” Emerald said in surprise, flying up next to Silver.
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “This is why.” He suddenly dove down towards the forest. Right before he crashed into the treetops, he spread his wings and arrowed up into the sky again.
The golden tip of his tail just barely brushed a tree below him.
The entire tree seemed to vibrate for half a second, then turned to dark ash. The entire thing slowly, dramatically collapsed on the forest floor into a pile of dust.
Emerald’s mouth dropped open. “What— how—?” he stammered.
“Hey, look, we can use that ash for my excellent plan,” Silver remarked.
“Firescales,” Emerald murmured, completely ignoring Silver.
“Yeah,” Blaze said from right next to the IceWing.
She jumped— or at least, she attempted to do so. Instead, her wings lost their rhythm and nearly fell out of the sky.
Emerald hid his smile, but Blaze didn’t seem to notice. “Anyone who touches me will burn.”
There was an awkward pause.
“The thing is, I’m not just a firescales,” Blaze continued. “I also have . . . ” He flicked his tail around to show Silver and Emerald.
“What ar— oh. Oh, I get it now,” Silver said, realization dawning on her face.  She peered at the faintly glowing, golden tail barb at the end of Blaze’s tail again. “You’re a hybrid!”
Blaze winced. “Yeah, can you just forget I showed you this? I don’t know why I’m telling you guys all of this anyway.”
Silver shrugged her wings. “Maybe you’re just friendlier than most dragons in the world.” She flipped in the sky and saw Emerald looking down at his talons.
“What’s—” Silver inhaled sharply. “Get down!” she hissed at them. She pushed Emerald and Blaze down the forest floor, diving down after them. They all landed on the rocky ground with a thump, Silver colliding painfully with Blaze’s wings.
Emerald murmured, “What is it?”
“SkyWing patrol was coming this way,” Silver whispered back. She looked over at Blaze, who hadn’t spoken a word.
Silver found him intently staring down at something, an expression of shock, confusion, and relief written on his face.
She followed his gaze and saw their wings pressed together. “Oh, sorry,” Silver whispered, pulling away apologetically. She squinted up at the sky. “I think it’s safe to go up now.”
But Blaze continued to stare at her wings.
“Um, are you okay?” Silver asked him, confused.
“You— you’re not burned,” Blaze whispered.
Silver wrinkled her face, trying to figure out what he meant. “Why would I be?” Finally, it hit her.
“Three moons, I touched you and I’m still—” Silver cut off, astonished.
Emerald fluttered over and inspected Silver’s unharmed scales. They seemed to sit there and say, quit staring at me. What’s so funny?
“You’re fireproof?” Blaze cried, his voice an octave higher than normal. He sounded so heartbreakingly hopeful.
Silver shrugged. “I guess so? I’ve never really realized it. Honestly, I’ve tried to touch fire anyways. It seems weird and smoldering.” She was trying to keep calm, but on the inside she was practically screaming WHAT I’M NOW IMMUNE TO ICE AND FIRE? WHAT IS GOING ON AM I MUTANT OR SOMETHING?
“Can I—?” Blaze asked hesitantly, reaching a talon out to Silver.
Emerald looked extremely worried, but he stepped out of the way nervously.
Silver hovered her talon over Blaze’s, trying to ignore the uncomfortable heat his scales emitted. She took a deep breath and placed her talon into his, preparing to scream in pain.
Instead, all she felt was a sensation of warmth— still not her favorite feeling, but it was tolerable enough.
Blaze hesitantly inched his tail over, paused, then carefully twined it around Silver’s. Nothing happened.
“By the moons,” Blaze said faintly. He brushed his wings against Silver’s.
Silver looked into his amazed, blue eyes. This was a dragon who thought he would be a threat to everyone, experiencing what a normal dragon’s life felt like for the first time ever.
“I’m as surprised as you are,” she offered. She hesitated, hating to do what she had to do, but she felt like she was running out of time. “I’m sorry, but Emerald and I have to go to the SkyWing palace.” She stood up.
“Can— can I go with you?” Blaze asked hesitantly.
Silver looked at Emerald. He shrugged reluctantly.
“Sure, y—” Silver suddenly stopped for a moment. “Wait. Wait a second.”
She turned to Blaze. “Can I ask you a favor?”
“Of course,” he said.
“I kind of need you to fly to the Ice Kingdom’s borders with me,” Silver said awkwardly. “Um. It’s for an assignment. But I swear, I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’ll return the favor, I promise.”
Blaze looked confused. “Uh, sure.”
“Thank you,” she said. Then, she turned to address Emerald, who wasn’t smiling. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should come with us,” Silver told him. “It’s too cold, and most IceWings will kill you on sight. It’s not like our plan to go to the Sky Kingdom— this is a direct interaction with hostile dragons.”
Emerald didn’t say anything for a while. Finally, he replied, “I understand.” He paused, then said. “Will— will you come back?”
Now both Emerald and Blaze were watching her.
“I . . . I’m not sure,” Silver said. “I can only say maybe.”
“I’ll wait for you here,” Emerald said. “Right here, in this forest. I’m not going to leave for a week.”
“Thanks,” Silver said. “In case I don’t come back . . . I wanted you to know that you’re the kindest, most empathetic dragon I’ve ever met. Thank you for everything.”
Emerald nodded, not looking up at her. Silver felt immensely guilty, but she turned back to Blaze anyway. “Ready to fly?”
He nodded and leapt up into the air. Silver was about to follow, but looked back at Emerald one last time. This time, he looked up and met her eyes. “Silver, be careful,” he whispered. “Please come back.”
Silver didn’t say anything, but twined her tail around his, then stepped back. “I hope I’ll see you soon,” Emerald said to her. Silver nodded, paused, then rose into the sky.
The day wore on uneventfully as Silver and Blaze set course for the Ice Kingdom. Silver knew that she only had one more day to get there, so the pair flew as quickly as they could. They were silent, saving all their strength for flying.
As the afternoon faded into twilight, Silver and Blaze set up camp in the frozen wasteland between the Sand and Ice Kingdoms.
“So, what was your life like with the IceWings?” Blaze asked her as the stars started coming out.
Silver curled up on the icy ground near him, thinking. The first answer off the top of her head was horrible, but now that she thought about it, the IceWings that were horrible probably lived a life as bad— well, all right, perhaps not quite as bad— as Silver’s life and were just taking their anger out on those who were less powerful than they were. Still, not an excuse. If anything, that made their behavior even worse.
“Well, it wasn’t pleasant,” Silver answered slowly. “But it wasn’t any individual dragon’s fault— everybody was constantly under pressure, and the other IceWings just . . . abused their power, I guess. I knew literally zero nice IceWings.”
Blaze was quiet for a long time. Silver looked back at him, then realized he had fallen asleep, his wings flopped to either side.
Silver blinked for a moment. Then, she shifted slightly into a more comfortable position, trying not to wake Blaze. Then, she closed her eyes and drifted off.
It was midnight. Silver stood in the middle of her room in the IceWing palace. 
“Silver!” she heard a voice cry. 
She whipped around. “Who’s there?” The voice seemed familiar, but Silver couldn’t remember exactly who it was.
“Help!” the voice called.
“Where are you?” Silver cried, running through the halls of the strangely empty palace.
She ran through corridor after corridor, but no matter which direction she went, the voice seemed to get further and further away.
“Where are you?” Silver shouted again, taking off into the sky.
The voice didn’t respond. Instead, a low chuckle came from the ground. Little IceWing, it said. Unaware, like all the others. The chuckle became a laugh as Silver beat her wings higher. But she wasn’t rising in the air anymore— she was falling.
Silver desperately pumped her wings, but they didn’t react. The laugh became a roar, and Silver was suckedi nto the earth . . .
Silver awoke, drenched in cold sweat. She realized that her wings were thrown over her head and she was shivering.
“Are you okay?” Blaze asked her.
“Sorry,” Silver said shakily. “Bad dreams.”
Blaze nodded, but she saw him watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“I’m fine,” Silver said, her voice stronger. She rolled her shoulders, then leapt into the sky. “It was nothing. C’mon, let’s go.”
But Silver was more shaken than she would ever admit.
They arrived at the Great Ice Wall around noon. True to Blizzard’s word, an IceWing was waiting for them.
Ah . . . I’d better remember their name, quick, Silver thought ruefully. She scanned the dragon’s still, motionless posture and sharp, gleaming, ice-blue eyes. Oh, right. Snowcap.
Silver wasn’t in the mood to grovel, even if it sent her all the way down to the Seventh Circle, so she got straight to the point. “Snowcap, here is the SkyWing,” she announced, indicating Blaze with a wing.
Snowcap narrowed her eyes at Silver. She glared right back. Snowcap turned away, studying every inch of Blaze’s scales. “Very well,” she said. “Usually, I would immediately drop you to the Fifth Circle for your shabby work and impolite manners, but the queen has requested your presence in the throne room as soon as you are back. So I shall cut you some slack. Kill this SkyWing here, bring his corpse to Blizzard, and I will refrain from moving you down any lower than the Third Circle.”
Silver and Blaze had practiced the scenario of the former being ordered to kill the latter, just in case it ever came up.
“But I can’t,” Silver said to Snowcap. “He’s a firescales.”
On that cue, Blaze dropped down the snow underfoot. Immediately, rivulets of boiling water trickled out from that spot.
Snowcap looked at Blaze as if he were a dead spider somebody had dropped on her doorstep. “Very well,” she said again, although this time Silver could hear the hint of discomfort under her calm mask. “Just— well—” Snowcap spluttered. “Make him promise not to attack us, in exchange for his life” she said finally. “There’s no way to kill him, and he’s dangerous.”
Silver looked into Blaze’s eyes. She knew there were fifty million snarky things he could retort with, but Silver wanted him to be able to leave the Ice Kingdom safely. 
Go back to Emerald, Silver mouthed to him.
Blaze looked quizzically at her. He flicked his tail at her, a tiny signal, but Silver got what it meant.
She gave a tiny shake of her head. Not right now. She flicked her tail at Snowcap.
Blaze looked like he wanted to argue, but Silver’s fierce look made him relent. “Fine. Yes, I accept your terms, blah blah blah. I’m leaving now,” he said to Snowcap, rolling his eyes. He cast another meaningful look to Silver, then turned and flew away.
Silver exhaled, relieved. She turned to look at Snowcap. “You mentioned the queen wanted to see me?” she asked, trying to hide her annoyance.
“Yes,” Snowcap said, inclining her head. “Go straight to Her Majesty’s throne room.”
Silver refrained from rolling her eyes as she lifted off into the sky.
Alpine’s palace wasn’t that far, and it only took Silver an hour to fly there (as slowly as possible).
Silver touched down at the entrance of the palace, where a Fifth Circle guard was stationed.
“Silver, First Circle,” Silver said to the guard. He eyed her suspiciously, but stepped aside without a word.
Silver snorted, spread her wings, and glided up to the topmost floor of the palace, where Alpine saw her guests.
She knocked on the icy door. “Enter,” a voice commanded.
Silver went in, barely paying attention to the beautiful carvings around her.
“Your Majesty, Queen Alpine,” she said, bowing in front of the queen. “You wished to speak with me?”
She waited for a long moment, trying to breathe quietly.
Then, Silver’s sharp IceWing ears picked up a tiny splash, the sound liquid hitting the icy floor. She looked up, confused.
Silver regretted it immediately. Queen Alpine, whom Silver thought of as one of the toughest IceWings she knew, was crying. CRYING.
She stood there in shock for a moment, trying not to gape at the ice-blue dragon.
“Um— maybe I should leave,” Silver muttered, edging backwards to the door.
“No, stay,” Alpine said, and in that one moment Silver saw an actual dragon under her queen’s icy mask.
Alpine rose from her throne, walked over to the exit, and closed the door.
Uh-oh, Silver thought. Am I about to be eaten by some emo queen?
“Have you ever wondered why you looked . . . different from all other IceWings?” Alpine said to her.
Silver smoothed over her furious expression. This again. “ . . . Not really, Your Majesty. I am who I am.” And anyone who says otherwise will have a nasty encounter with me VERY quickly.
“No, you’re right,” Alpine said, completely ditching the whole regal queen thing. “The thing is, Silver— You’re not a normal IceWing.”
ARGH. She is SERIOUSLY ASKING TO BE STABBED RIGHT NOW. “Why, thank you,” Silver said coldly. Her tone of voice was perfected from all the times she used it on Quartz and other obnoxious jerks.
“I mean, you’re . . . ” Alpine sighed. “How do I explain this?”
Silver stood there, a faintly skeptical expression on her face, barely refraining from violently dismantling the entire room.
“All right,” Alpine said. “Silver. You’re my daughter. I knew it from the start.”
Silver couldn’t stop the Seriously? expression from leaking onto her face. “Um . . . are you feeling okay, Your Majesty?” She’s acting like a scavenger clonked over the head right now.
“I mean it, Silver. It’s true.” There was a note of truth ringing in Alpine’s voice that Silver couldn’t ignore.
“Fine,” Silver snapped, not caring that it was probably rude and against the rules. “So what? Why should I care? The only thing that tells me is that you knew I was your dragonet all along, and you let all those horrible dragons say that I’m a RainWing or something, and you didn’t care. Why would this change anything?”
Alpine winced as Silver said “I’m a RainWing or something.”
“What was that?” Silver snapped. “Why . . . oh, THREE MOONS.” She finally put the pieces together.
“Yes,” Alpine confirmed. “That’s right.”
Silver was Alpine’s daughter— that part was true. But she was also a RainWing. Alpine— the QUEEN of the ICEWINGS— apparently had an egg with a RAINWING. And Silver was the result.
“Why . . . who . . . ” Silver mumbled. She felt as if someone had set off an explosion in her brain. She meant several things— Why did you do it? Why didn’t you tell me? Why are you saying this now? Who is my father? Why did you two meet?
Finally, she said, “Where’s the proof?” In her heart, Silver was desperately hoping that there was no evidence.
Unfortunately, Alpine nodded to her wings. “Open your wings, Silver. Do you see the rainbow spray of scales inside? That’s the royal RainWing pattern.”
Silver wanted to throw up, but Alpine was already talking again.
“Before my mother, ex-Queen Snowdrift, died in a war, I was an envoy of the IceWings,” Alpine said, staring out the window. “On one mission, I went to the rainforest to negotiate with Queen Parakeet. During my one-week stay, I met your father . . . Prince Leafshine of the RainWings. I didn’t want to leave him, so I snuck out of the Ice Kingdom sometimes to go visit him. Eventually . . . well, you came along.” She sighed, then reached down to the pouch she always kept around her ankle. She pulled out a sketch of a polite, peaceful-looking RainWing. “That’s him.”
She went on: “When I became queen, you were still an egg. I couldn’t go back to visit anymore, so brought your egg here. Nobody knew about you except for me, Leafshine, and my closest friend— Subzero. He was the one who brought your egg from the rainforest to the palace. I couldn’t tell you, because if anybody knew your true identity . . . well, they would treat you even worse as a hybrid. And Quartz, your cousin, would probably kill you as an heir to the IceWing throne— and the RainWing one, for that matter.” She paused thoughtfully.
“I’m telling you now, because you’re old enough to defend yourself. You deserve to know the truth. That’s all I wanted to say.”
Silver snorted. “That’s all you wanted to say. Quite a bit of info. If you’ll excuse me, I’m leaving.” She whirled around and leapt out the window. I never should have come back. The Ice Kingdom is full of lies. I’m leaving.
Unfortunately, a few dragons had other ideas.
“Now, now,” an ice-cold voice said. “Where exactly are you going?”
Blizzard, Prism, and a few other haughty, important-looking IceWings rose up to confront Silver.
“I’m leaving,” Silver snapped. “Don’t get in my way.”
“No, you are going to stay, I think,” Prism said, her voice crawling down Silver’s spine. “We have a wonderful celebration planned for demoting you. You can’t miss it, can you?”
“Indeed,” another IceWing said. “We have your fate in your talons, little dragonet. We decide everything for you.”
That was it for Silver.
“Everyone decides their own future,” she said. “Everyone should get the chance to choose. And I'm ready to defend anybody who is deprived of that basic right. Anybody or anything that prevents that is on the opposite side of the battle from me.”
Silver realized that she had spoken loud enough for half the dragons in the courtyard below to hear her. They were all staring at her.
“AND STARING IS RUDE!” she bellowed at them. She leapt into the sky and shot off. None of the IceWings had recovered from their shock to stop her.
I’m coming, Emerald and Blaze, Silver thought, her rage speeding her forward. I’m going with you.
She shot over the icy terrain, thinking furiously.
After some time, though, Silver’s anger finally let out, snowflakes began to fall, and she began to feel tired. Her wings were sore from flying all over the continent. But she had flown quickly— she had passed the Great Ice Wall a few minutes ago.
Silver gritted her teeth and pushed forwards, determined to make it to Emerald and Blaze before resting.
As if her thoughts had summoned him, a large, red-gold shape came winging towards her.
“Blaze?” Silver said wonderingly.
Her friend’s face lit up, and he bowled into her, knocking her out of the sky and hugging her. Luckily, Blaze’s wings caught them before they fell.
“Silver!” he cried. “You’re really here! I’ve been so worried; I nearly flew to the IceWing palace myself!”
Silver laughed, then got up from the snow, brushing a few flurries off of her. “What are you still doing out here?”
“I wasn’t going to just abandon you!” Blaze said indignantly.
Silver shoved him teasingly and said, “Let’s go, Emerald will be waiting.”
As soon as Silver lifted into the sky, her wings started screaming in pain. Squeezing her eyes shut, she flew onwards, trying to ignore the agony.
A few minutes passed like this, until something warm sharply tugged down to the ground.
Silver cracked her eyelids open and saw Blaze gazing at her sternly.
“You can’t fly in this state,” Blaze said firmly.
“Sure I can,” Silver said, her voice strained. Her wings stopped throbbing now that she wasn’t flying anymore, but she could finally feel how sore they were. She hadn’t had the time to properly run through her stretches for days, and now she could feel the effect. Ugh, she grumbled. Just my luck. Now my wings are mad at me too, huh?
“No,” Blaze said. “You aren’t going to fly.”
“Actually, cool,” Silver said suddenly. “Fly ahead and go tell Emerald we’re coming.”
“No!” Blaze cried. “I—”
“It’s either that, or we’re both flying,” Silver said with finality. Honestly, she didn’t know why she was pushing so hard to make Blaze leave. She felt as if she was wasting Blaze’s time, yes— but mostly, she felt embarrassed. She should take care of her own problems and not act like a dead weight to her friends.
“Fine,” Blaze said reluctantly. “You’d BETTER not die on your way to us!” He gave Silver a meaningful, inquiring look.
“Yes, fine, shoo,” Silver said, waving him away. She felt guilty for being rude, so as Blaze was rising into the air, she called to him awkwardly, “Er . . . thanks for everything.”
Blaze shot her a worried smile, then flew away, the cloudy sky quickly swallowing him up.
Silver sighed. She would never admit it, but she kind of regretted pushing Blaze away. Well, too late for that, you idiot walrus, Silver scolded herself. She hesitated, then scooped up some snow around her and packed it around her wings. Hopefully that would make them feel better. Then, she picked up pace and kept going.
She walked on and on for the entire day, then continued on during the night. She refused to sleep. She rested only once, somewhere in the tundra near the Sand Kingdom, to drink melted snow. Why the heck am I being so harsh to Blaze . . . and to myself? Silver wondered. Searching through herself, she realized that she was still mad at Alpine and the whole ‘not telling the truth for six. Whole. YEARS!’ thing.
Silver shifted her wings, shaking off the packed snow, then hesitantly beat them. They felt quite a bit better, which surprised Silver. Maybe I should become a doctor, she thought to herself, half-joking. Hah, I’ll have to warn my patients first. Then, she realized that she was stalling, and really needed to get going.
She rose into the air, taking in her surroundings. She could barely see a glimpse of a village at the horizon— Where-the-Sand-Glows-Gold-At-Dawn, if she remembered right. Her geography teacher, Penguin, had forced her to memorize a list of towns that might be a threat to the Ice Kingdom in the SeaWing Succession War. That town (whose name Silver REFUSED to repeat) was on the list.
Silver soared southeast over the desert, letting her thoughts wander randomly. She glanced down at the desert below, thinking that she might tire and die of thirst in the next few hours. She spotted a ring of cacti and dove down, wondering if they were edible. She had just landed and approached them when she saw a flash of gold in the corner of her eye.
She paused, unsettled, then abruptly yelled: “WHOEVER YOU ARE, JUST SHOW YOUR FACE ALREADY!”
This time, there was, undoubtedly, a quickly-muffled shriek of surprise that seemed to come from nowhere.
“Um. Either I’m going mad, or somebody’s spying on m—” Silver was cut off as something small but sharp in the neck.
“Oh, great,” Silver muttered, just before she blacked out.
Silver awoke some time later. She wanted to groan, but she knew better than to make any noise in an unfamiliar environment.
Her head was spun, so she rubbed her temples and scrunched her eyes shut even tighter for a few minutes before she opened them . . .
And found herself staring straight up into a pair of sleepy eyes.
Silver yelped so loudly, she was pretty sure the entire continent could hear her. Wow, Silver, she thought to herself dryly. Very impressive stealth. Well done.
“By all the shining moons, cut that out!” Silver hissed, shoving the dragon’s snout away.
Silver sat up and blinked around. 
She appeared to be in the rainforest.
“WHY am I in the RAINFOREST?” Silver snapped at the sleepy dragon, who turned out to be a mellow-looking purple RainWing with cyan wings. “WHAT are all of these WEIRD PLANTS? THAT FLOWER ASSAULTING MY EYEBALLS. I SHALL FREEZE IT RIGHT NOW.” Silver inhaled, then realized that it was hard to use her frostbreath. 
“Three moons,” the RainWing said mildly. “Calm down. We fed you some mashed potatoes while you were sleeping, but—”
“WHY DID YOU FORCE ME TO EAT YOUR VILE FOOD? And WHY is it so SWELTERING? I SWEAR my scales will MELT RIGHT OFF. AND WHAT ARE ALL OF THESE HORRIBLE, DISGUSTING, FURRY, MANY-LEGGED CREATURES?”
Silver yanked a small, hairy, eight-legged, VERY disturbing-looking creature out of her ears and shook it in the RainWing’s face until it, mortified, shot some weird silver stuff at him and escaped Silver’s grip.
The RainWing blinked slowly at it, then reached out, plucked it up, and placed it on a nearby vine. It scuttled away immediately.
“Seriously,” Silver said, calming down slightly. “What am I doing here?”
“Er . . . Queen Tropic told us to knock out any outsiders we find and bring them to her.”
“Why?” Silver demanded. “I am an ICEWING. I’m on your side of the war!”
“Um . . . ” the RainWing said. “I don’t really know. Maybe I should ask the others.” He lifted his head and called, “Guys, you can come out now!”
There was a pause.
Then, the air exploded into color, startling Silver so much she nearly sliced them with her tail, but stopped at the last moment.
They glanced at each other, murmuring. Finally, the violet RainWing said, “Well. Yeah. That’s Vine, Banyan, Goldenrod, Papaya, and Toucan,” he said, pointing at each RainWing in the group. Just then, a small, amber-yellow RainWing flew up to him. “Oh, and this is my daughter, Princess Summer.” He smiled and patted the yellow RainWing’s back lovingly. He opened one of his wings and hugged Summer. “Who are you?”
“I’m Silver,” Silver said reluctantly, eyeing the new dragons warily.
Summer twisted around to smile smugly at Silver.
UGH, Silver thought to herself. Summer’s like a second Quartz. More royalty. Hmm. I suppose I am, too. THANKS A TON, ALPINE AND LEAFSHINE. Wait . . . 
Silver frowned. That arrogant walrus-face, Summer— she’s a princess. That means her father, the annoying purple RainWing, is royalty, too. They must know Leafshine.
“Do you know Prince Leafshine?” she asked him, resisting the temptation to claw that stuck-up expression off of Summer’s face.
A few of the RainWings hid smiles; the others looked confused.
“Er . . . ” the purple RainWing said awkwardly. He waved a wing at himself. “That’s me?”
Silver nearly smacked herself in the face. Are. You. KIDDING ME??
She eyed him warily. “Fine. Do you know who the current IceWing queen is?”
Leafshine closed his eyes and frowned. “Hmm . . . um . . . ” His eyes popped open. “Aha! It’s Queen Snowdrift, right?”
“Wrong,” Silver said. “She died five years ago. Her daughter is queen now.”
“Snowdrift’s daughter . . . um.” He scrunched up his snout. “I think I met her before.”
“That’s right,” Silver said, her heart sinking. “Alpine. It’s Queen Alpine. Remember?”
Leafshine obviously did remember. His face turned pale. “Oh— she— we—” He cut off, glancing at the other RainWings. “I think I’ve seen her, like, once,” he mumbled.
Silver gritted her teeth. Leafshine, that piece of vermin; he was asking to be stabbed in the face right now. “No,” she said. “You and Alpine had a dragonet.”
The other RainWings backed away from Leafshine, shooting him disapproving looks. Summer wriggled away from his hug and glared at him and Silver.
“I— no, we— We didn’t,” Leafshine stammered.
“You did, you stupid liar,” Silver practically shouted. “I have proof, right here. I know it’s the truth, and I’m the evidence.” She spread her multicolored wings, and all the RainWings gasped as the light hit the rainbow scales inside.
Unconsciously, Leafshine opened his own wings. Silver saw the spray of royal scales mirrored there, just a different color.
“Initially, I didn’t care that you were my father, or that I was a hybrid. But to lie about it!” Silver yelled.
“Why— why did you betray me?” came a furious, hurt voice. Silver turned and saw Summer glaring at Leafshine in a wounded way.
Silver had a stab of pity for Summer— Summer, of all dragons. She hadn’t even thought of this. “Yeah,” Silver agreed angrily. “You ditched your first dragonet— actually, both of us, because you got rid of me, too. That’s just wrong. You don’t abandon your own innocent family members. What kind of dragon are you? Don’t you care about your dragonet? She didn’t do anything to deserve that kind of treatment!”
Leafshine recoiled, shifting uncomfortably. Finally, he muttered, “The queen would like to see you.”
Silver frowned suspiciously. “Are you changing the subject?” she demanded.
“No,” another RainWing said sharply— Toucan, if she remembered right. “You don’t have a choice. The queen specified her orders— come with us or die.”
A different RainWing nodded in agreement. He unhinged his jaw and shot black liquid at a nearby vine. It melted immediately.
Oh, right, Silver thought to herself grumpily. RainWings have venom.
“Fine,” Silver snapped. “Take me to your stupid queen.”
“Follow us,” Goldenrod said. He spread his shimmering, golden wings and rose into the air. Papaya followed suit.
“Oh, and Leafshine?” Silver called.
He lifted his head to look at Silver woefully, who glared back at him with a steely look in her eyes.
“Take care of your first dragonet, will you?”
Silver didn’t wait for a response. She flapped her wings and flew off towards Goldenrod and Papaya, who were waiting for her to catch up.
After a while, Silver was starting to feel annoyed again. WHAT kind of place is this? she thought to herself irritably. WHY IS IT SO HARD TO FLY. THREE MOONS.
“Hey, watch it,” Toucan said from behind her. Silver jumped and hit her head on a tree branch overhead, causing an indignant frog to hastily leapt towards safety. She hadn’t noticed Toucan following her from behind. To make sure I won’t escape, Silver thought.
“We’re almost there,” Papaya called from ahead.
“THANK THE MOONS,” Silver growled. “I HATE this place! AND everybody who lives in it!”
None of the RainWings said anything, and Silver wasn’t inclined to apologize to them after the whole ‘capture and imprison’ thing they did to her.
Shortly after, Goldenrod and Papaya landed on a smooth, wooden platform set high in the treetops. In the center of the platform was a treehouse-thing woven with so many vibrant flowers it immediately made Silver’s eyes hurt.
Silver touched down on the solid wood, still preferring the appalling color combination of the orange and purple flowers (seriously, Silver had never seen those colors in her life, but WHO PUT ORANGE AND PURPLE TOGETHER. URGH) over flying while whacked in the face by dozens of wet, flappy things at the same time.
“Queen Tropic is in there,” Goldenrod said, nodding to the treehouse.
Silver whirled around and marched in there without another word.
Queen Tropic looked horrible.
Silver literally couldn’t find any better way to describe her.
She sat on top of an enormous carrion flower. Her scales were a shade of dusty yellow-green flecked with pale brown-yellow that reminded Silver of . . . she preferred not to think about it. Tropic wore a crown of smaller carrion flowers that Silver could smell even over all of the other flowers of the treehouse.
Oh, Silver thought dizzily. That’s why there are so many other flowers— to cover the scent.
The queen also wore a necklace of dry-blood-caked things: there were SandWing tail barbs, HiveWing stingers, NightWing teardrop scales, a weird, uneven object, and even— Silver’s stomach threatened to hurl itself out the window— a handful of IceWing tail spikes.
“Your Majesty,” Silver muttered, trying not to breathe shallowly. She didn’t bow.
Queen Tropic leaned forward with a smile that showed every single one of her red-stained teeth. Silver felt like fainting.
“Nice to finally meet you, little hybrid,” she said. “I’ve been looking for you for six years.”
“Can’t say it’s a pleasure to be your acquaintance,” Silver gagged.
Tropic waved that away. “Minor technicalities,” she said crossly. “My point is. I’ve known what my distant cousin Leafshine did for quite a long time.”
“So?”
“So, I obviously couldn’t let a hybrid like you live! Especially one that . . . ” Tropic narrowed her eyes. “Contaminates royal blood.”
There was a pause in which Silver was preparing to shout that she didn’t care two shakes of her tail about royal blood.
Tropic flicked her wings. Suddenly, RainWings materialized out of the walls, windows, roof, and floor of the tent.
In one lightning-fast movement, they all threw grass-woven ropes over Silver, binding her snout, wings, claws, legs, and tail.
Silver glared at all of the RainWings, a look of such pure fury that a few of them wavered on their way towards Silver.
But Tropic just laughed from the top of her stinky throne. “You’re mine, little IceWing. I’ll organize your public execution in a few days. Seize her!” she crowed, delighted.
Silver wanted to attack. She wanted to kill every single RainWing in the tent. She knew she could probably still hurt a few by ramming into them, even though she was tied up.
But she thought of Emerald, who believed Silver was the type of dragon who didn’t hurt the innocent, and Blaze, who was sure that she would never kill a dragon in her life.
Sure, the RainWings are capturing me. Sure, I have no problem with yelling at them. But they are just doing their job. I saw, with my own eyes, a few RainWings hesitate, but look up to find Tropic glaring at them, then scurry to finish the job.
It isn’t the RainWing captors’ fault. It’s Tropic. I can blame her, but not hate the other rainforest dragons.
So Silver stayed put and let them carry her away, glaring over at Tropic until the last minute.
She almost regretted it, though, when she saw the prison.
It was basically a pile of rocks with a dragon-shaped space in the middle. The RainWings pushed Silver into the space, tied Silver with even more grass ropes to all of the rocks, and left. One of them even gave Silver a cheeky little wave.
Silver rolled her eyes and turned over uncomfortably to lie on her back. She wasn’t in the mood to make an escape plan. Silver was mad, annoyed, and upset, but most of all, she was tired.
Closing her eyes, Silver’s last thought before slipping away was I hope Emerald and Blaze are okay.
Silver awoke in the middle of the night to something sharp poking her roughly. She sat up with difficulty and opened her eyes.
Something invisible was nudging her in the shoulder. Silver gave a muffled, surprised, “Mmmph!”
“Shush,” a voice whispered.
Slowly, the air around Silver shimmered, and she saw a faintly visible, caramel-gold RainWing sitting on the rocks of Silver’s prison. She recognized her as Summer, the spoiled RainWing princess.
Silver shot Summer an annoyed look. What is she doing here? Silver thought irritably. Rubbing into my face the fact that I’m now her tribe’s prisoner?
Summer shifted her position on the rocks. “I’m rescuing you, you nitwit!” she hissed. “So stop looking at me like that!”
Silver must have continued to look skeptical, because Summer grumbled for a moment then said, “I swear I’m trying to help you. Just— stay quiet, all right?”
Silver eyed her snout bindings then raised her eyebrows at Summer. Do I have a choice, exactly?
Summer muttered something under her breath. “Look. I’m leaving the rainforest. My father—” her voice cracked, but she regained her posture. “Leafshine betrayed me. You know, after his whole— um— confession, he pulled me over and started trying to convince me that you weren’t his daughter. Which made it worse, in a way, him lying about it.”
Summer blinked back tears. “Then, I heard that they threw you into prison. So I snuck out after Leafshine fell asleep in his hammock and came to get you. I’m not leaving you here, because . . . because you were the one who opened my eyes.”
Silver was so stunned, she lapsed into silence. 
Summer flexed her claws and started sawing at Silver’s tail binding.
Silver shook her head, then pointed to her claws. More important.
Summer narrowed her eyes at Silver, but grudgingly switched to the claw bindings.
It took painfully long. Every minute that passed, Silver imagined she could hear the approaching whoosh of the guards’ wings.
But finally, it was done. The moment Silver’s claws were free, she sliced the other grass bindings off in a heartbeat. Her wings flew open.
“Thanks,” Silver whispered to Summer.
Summer said nothing.
“Let’s get out of here,” Silver murmured. “Um. Any chance you know the way?”
Summer scoffed at Silver, but grudgingly spread her wings open and leapt into the air. Her scales turned invisible, but Summer was nice enough to leave the tip of her tail pale yellow to guide Silver.
Silver absolutely did not like following an almost-stranger in a dark jungle. Who knew where Summer might lead her?
But, as strange as it sounded, Summer was her older half-sister. Even if they hadn’t known each other for their entire life, they still shared a few similar characteristics.
For instance, their unforgiving, stubborn nature.
Silver could tell that Summer meant it when she said she was leaving, especially after she told her what had happened after Silver was escorted away.
And that was enough to make Silver trust Summer, at least enough to follow her out of the rainforest.
As dawn approached, the two dragons reached what was officially part of the mountain range between the desert and rainforest.
For the entire flight, neither of them had said a word.
Urgh. I suppose I’ll have to say it now, anyways.
“ . . . Thanks for going back for me,” Silver muttered reluctantly.
“I did what I had to do,” Summer offered, not meeting her eyes.
There was an extremely awkward pause in the conversation.
“So . . . um. Where are you planning to go, now that you’re leaving the rainforest?” Silver tried.
Summer shrugged her wings. “I wanted to go look for a . . . friend . . . I’ve seen once,” she offered.
“Oh.” Silver got the impression that Summer was really not in the mood for questions. But Silver had to say one more thing.
“I’m going to go back to my friends,” she told her. “If you ever need to contact me . . . I’ll probably be somewhere around the Great Five-Tail River.”
Summer nodded, still not looking at her.
Silver was a little worried. “Hey. Summer, are you okay?”
Summer finally turned, and Silver saw that her eyes were wet. Why is everybody crying nowadays? Has there been some emo attack on Pyrrhia? Then, she realized that she probably shouldn’t be joking about whatever Summer was sad about.
“No, I’m not okay,” Summer said fiercely. “My life has basically been uphended over my head. How could I be alright?”
Silver folded a wing around Summer’s back, wondering what was the right thing to do here. Honestly, she had never been very good at comforting people and listening to their problems and understanding their emotions and stuff. Empathy was frowned upon in the Ice Kingdom.
So Silver had no idea what to do. She was pretty sure saying suck it up wasn’t the right answer, though.
A heartbeat later, Summer drew herself up again. “I’ll get stronger,” she said. She even tried for a confident smile. “I won’t let this ruin my life.”
To Silver’s utter shock, Summer hugged her for a second, then let go. “Thanks for everything, Silver.”
“Um, yeah. Sure. Uh, thank you, too?” Silver said, scrambling for something to say.
Summer flashed Silver a grin. She was so different from the stuck-up princess Silver had first met. 
“Hope I’ll see you soon, little sister,” Summer said. A wave of golden briefly washed over her yellow-lime-cyan scales, making her shimmer and glow in the early morning light.
“I am not your— rrrrrrgh,” Silver objected. I guess this is a normal sibling relationship. Hmph.
“Bye, Silver,” Summer said, flapping her wings open. “I’ll miss you.”
“Me too,” Silver said, and found that she actually meant it. She would miss Summer.
Summer beat her wings, rising into the sky. She turned, waved at Silver, then flew away.
Silver sat there for a long while, watching the sun rise over the distant mountains. Then, she beat her wings and lifted into the sky.
I’m no longer a clueless IceWing dragonet, Silver thought as the warm sunlight washed over her scales. I know my origins, and I know I’m not going back. Maybe I’m still unclear on my destiny, but I know one thing for sure.
She lifted her head to the sky. Emerald, Blaze, I’m coming.
That would have been a great moment of maturity in Silver’s soul, or something along those lines.
Unfortunately, it was more-or-less ruined by the large, dark green dragon who smashed into Silver, his lethally-sharp claws outstretched.
EPILOGUE
The SeaWing princess sat, coiled like a snake, motionless as a statue, behind a waterfall. Nobody knew where she was. Nobody had known where she had been, not in the past ten years. Nobody, of course, except for one dragon.
“Queen Creek,” the dark green dragon said, flying in through the waterfall and throwing himself into a deep bow before her.
Creek studied the hybrid with razor-sharp eyes. “You may rise,” she said coldly.
The green dragon folded his wings and lifted his head. “It’s done. She is ours.”
Creek let a small, menacing smile escape onto her snout. “Excellent job, Spearmint. You truly have outstanding skill. Her allies . . . ?”
“They know nothing, my queen. I timed it well. Trust me.”
Creek narrowed her eyes at him. “Very well. We shall speak again soon.”
Spearmint bowed again. “Yes, my queen. Soon.”
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)