Below the Ice

-Working title-
==Friendly Note==
In this story, I will be following the set canon as closely as I can. Some major plots from books 1 - 10 are likely to be mentioned (especially ones in 8-10).
I'll be trying desperately hard to preserve canon. I'm really guessing with some of exact times and chronology of events. If anything I do seems to break the canon, please do tell me. But please note I haven't read beyond Book 10 or any winglets. I'm okay with being told of those canon breaks, but minimal detail in that area would be sooo appreciated.
I am very sorry if, when using canon characters in plot, I completely and entirely butcher their character. I'll try to stick to characters that aren't or are lightly mentioned at and beyond the time of the story.
I am totally open to constructive feedback on my writing.
I hope you enjoy this. I really enjoy writing it.
The main character of this book will be Powder. Many places are blank or minimally explained because I want to tell these details through this story first.
==Prologues==
====Part 1====
Late 5009 AS-
The adult young-adult IceWing named Figid trudged three of her claws through the snow. Her other front claw was occupied with carrying a small white egg with a thin blue spiral. An egg. My egg, Frigid thought. But no one could know about it. Not when her family had worked so hard to get so highly ranked. She didn't want to be the one to make her family lose their rankings. Even if this was her own egg... no, this whole three side war in the Sand kingdom made things far too sensitive. Mess ups like these couldn't be risked.
Frigid looked back toward the IceWing kingdom, which from here, was now only a silhouette against the sunset. Those dark clouds rolling in from the distance meant it'd be snowing soon, plenty enough to cover the tracks she made.
Frigid reached to set the egg down, but paused. What am I doing? How could I do this? How is this worth a status? The same thoughts that had been cycling in her mind all the way here. They gave her the feeling of whale meat turning rotten in her stomach. She couldn't help wondering whether the egg would first be swallowed up in the incoming storm, or be found by the wildlife. Frigid watched the egg in her claws silently for a long moment.
Snow carried by a gust showered over her face, breaking Frigid from her trance. Frigid shook the thoughts and tears (Tears? Am I crying? IceWings shouldn't cry) away from her head, setting the egg gently into the soft snow.  She squeezed her eyes closed and looked away, running away from it before she can lose her resolve.
==== Part 2 ====
Mid-late 5011 AS
Almost home, Icecap thought. Finally. He looked back to his two siblings behind him, who were too preoccupied with playing in the snow to keep up. Polar Bear, his little brother, dug his claws into the snow, and all at once he'd burrowed downward. He'd seen it many times by now, but still couldn't help being amazed. Icecap didn't know any IceWings who could dig into snow as fast as Polar Bear. Not that he'd met many others.
Powder edged to the hole Polar Bear left behind, staring down as if admiring how far down it went. Powder, their little sister. Well, adopted sister. Icecap could still clearly remember that day when he and Polar Bear first found her egg.
This was only the second time Polar Bear had joined Icecap for hunting. Icecap was still learning to hunt, too, but Mother trusted his ability enough to let him hunt on his own now. He took pride in being the elder brother, but hoped that he was at least good enough to teach Polar Bear. "You see this trail of hare tracks simply stops here and vanishes?" Icecap said in a teacher-like voice that made even himself laugh. "One of their tricks is to burrow into the snow and come up somewhere else to escape pursuers. One way to track them is-"
"Hey, brother, look! What is that?!" Polar Bear called out from far behind. Icecap sighed, figuring that Polar Bear hadn't heard anything he tried to teach.
"What is what?" Icecap asked, leap-gliding back to where Polar Bear sat.
"That, sticking out of the snow!" He pointed with his snout. And there, Icecap saw it. Some sort of stone, more white than the the snow of the mound that it protruded from.
Icecap ran over to the mound, inspecting it more closely. He gently dug at the snow around the strange stone, until the lack of snow underneath it caused it and the snow above it to start rolling down- Whoops- and dove forward to catch it, shielding his face from the bits of cascading snow with his his wings. He looked down at the stone he caught. Then realised with a gasp that this was no stone. "An egg!"
"An egg?!" Polar Bear scrambled forward to get a better look, stopping short of barreling into Icecap. "Is it an IceWing egg?"
Good question, Icecap thought. The only dragon egg he'd seen was Polar Bear's before it hatched. This one looked similar. Maybe a little smaller. Looking more closely, Icecap saw that a thin blue spiral, barely visible, wrapped around the egg. "I.. think so," was his best answer.
"Let's show it to Mother! I bet she'd love seeing it!" Polar Bear suggested. And that was exactly what they did.
It was a short flight to the outlying cave cave they lived in. "Mother!" Icecap called as he walked in.
WE found an ICEWING EGG!" Polar Bear yelled in impulsively. Whatever their mother was doing, it sounded as if someone suddenly dropped a whole pile of stones. Her tall figure appeared in front of them before they even got past the cave entrance.
"Now, where did you find that?! Did you swipe it from a nest? The mother must be incredibly worried about it! Let's put it back, I'll go with you-"
"No, no!" Icecap waved his wings out for a chance to explain himself. "It was just... buried in a hill."
"Are you sure about that?" Their mother asked critically. "That's not right, IceWings don't just abandon their eggs." She looked at the egg thoughtfully, as if already considering the idea of having a third dragonet to care for. "Fine. Let's see if someone comes looking for a missing egg. I'll do my best to explain it being here to them."
But no one ever came. Often, Icecap feels glad that no one did come for a missing egg. And then he feels bad for thinking such a thing. But Powder never seemed upset about the idea of her egg being abandoned- They never hid from her that they were technically unrelated. Polar Bear was the one who came up with the name Powder, as in powder snow. Icecap didn't think it sounded much like an IceWing name, but it fit her perfectly.
"RAAAA!" Polar Bear emerged from the snow behind powder, lunging toward her. 
"Whoa!" Startled Powder practically squeaked as she looked back and pressed herself against the snow. Polar Bear sailed right over her head, before smoothly landing into a roll and to his feet. "That was so cool!" Powder said ecstatically.
"Come on, you two!" Icecap called, though he wouldn't have minded if they kept playing. But both his siblings' ears pointed at him attentively, and neither hesitated bounding after him. It was then that Icecap realised that Powder was walking on three legs, one of her front claws carefully held up. Oh, no! What happened to her? How long has she been walking like that? Why didn't she say anything? Without second thought, he ran to meet her half way. "What's going on with your leg-? Are you hurt-? I can carry you if you need it!"
"I'm not hurt, I promise!" Powder shouted, but that didn't feel very convincing. "I'm just... holding seeds."  She sounded as if she were a bit embarrassed to admit that.
Icecap, now seeing her tightly clenched claws, released a sigh of relief- his worried expression soon replaced by a quizzing one. "Seeds. Since the rainforest? Again? You've just been holding them like that the whole time?" He asked, to which Powder nodded. "Planting them in the snow didn't work out last time, remember?"
"Yeah, well..." Powder looked at her claws longingly. "Now I have dirt from the rainforest, too! Well, I think I lost some of it while flying...  but maybe it'll help them grow!"
Yeah, that is exactly how seeds work, Icecap thought to himself. 
"Ooh, how smart!" Polar Bear interjected gleefully.
Though he didn't say these thoughts out loud. Icecap knew how much Powder loved the rainforest fruits. Especially when she'd refuse to eat sometimes because of the far lack of fruit in comparison in the Ice kingdom. Not to mention how much fun she'd had playing in the dense vegetation. It was too bad that this is only the second time he'd ever brought her there. With the conflict between IceWings and MudWings, he didn't want to risk bringing his siblings so close to the Mud kingdom. At least now, with the SandWing Succession madness over, it didn't seem nearly as dangerous. That strange screaming in the rainforest seemed to have gone away, too. He hoped it would be safe enough to bring them there again. "Alright, fine. Let's plant it a little closer to home, if that's what you'd like."
Powder seemed to practically light up with excitement. "Yay!" She bounded forward with a renewed vigour, Polar Bear rushing to keep up. Now it was Icecap who had to catch up.
The three of them stopped, still a little ways off from their home still.
"Here," Powder said. "I think this is a good place to plant it." Icecap wasn't sure how Powder considered that. It felt the same as anywhere else.
Icecap watched as Powder dug at the snow and made a decent space, where she gently placed it- or didn't-
"I CAN'T LET GO OF IT WHYYYY-" Powder screeched, shaking her foreleg, before Icecap rushed to help her.
"Don't panic!" Icecap said calmly. "This is what happens when you go two days flying across the continent without relaxing that death grip." He held Powder's foreleg still with one claw, while his second gently massaged her grip until she was finally able to let go of the dirt in her claws, as well as two little seeds.
Powder breathed out sharply in relief as if this were a life threatening issue, opening and closing her claws. As soon as she calmed down, she returned to the seeds, gathering them and the dirt into a small mound in the snow. "Help this seed grow into a big tree soon. Keep it nice and warm," Powder said. When she was done, she stepped away from the dirt mound. 
Icecap thought it looked weird having a pile of dirt in the middle of the snow like this. He wondered how long it would be before a snowstorm came and buried it all. "Well, that's done," Icecap said. "Let's go on home."
==== Part 3 ====
A hare made a mad dash through the snow. Icecap watched as Polar Bear glided across the ground, hovering barely an inch in the air. In its panic, the hare burrowed into the snow to get away. Polar Bear, as Icecap knew he would, dived directly from the air into the snow. Icecap knew that hare didn't have a chance. He felt kind of proud of Polar Bear- and maybe a tiny bit of envy, knowing that he had no such skill to chase prey under the snow like that.
Icecap looked over to his little sister at his side, who was still watching Polar Bear. She turned and met his eyes with hers. Now it was Powder's turn to learn how to hunt. 
"Tell me," Icecap started. "Something you would like to try hunting. I'll try to find one so I can show you."
"Hmmm..." Powder looked down at her claws in heavy consideration. "How about... a banana?!"
"What-?" Icecap nearly choked out in response. He had to look away to avoid accidental laughter-ice breathing. "Bananas don't- FRUITS do not-" When his eyes met hers again, Icecap saw that she was puffing her face to hold in her laugh as she looked up and watched his response. Gah, she got me! Sometimes it was hard to tell whether Powder was joking or really believed what she was saying. "Come on, take this seriously, you!" Icecap lightly batted a wing in Powder's face, after which she finally released her fit of giggles.
The sounds of wings descending nearby caught both of their attentions. Polar bear? No. This was a fully grown IceWing, taller than any of them, maybe taller than their mother. Icecap, with a start, bowed when he recognized that this was one of the IceWing patrols that watched over the outer territories. He sneaked a look over to Powder and saw that she was just looking upward, awed by the huge IceWing in front of her. Powder had never learned the standard IceWing manners. She never had any reason to use them either - until now! "Come on, Powder! Bow!" Icecap whispered critically, lightly pressing her down into a bow with his wings despite how incredibly confused she looked.
"No need for that," the tall IceWing said. "Please, relax." She sat herself down until she was closer to their level- perhaps to appear more friendly, but Icecap felt seeing how much larger her head was than his from this close was even more intimidating. As her request, Icecap looked up at the large IceWing, and Powder followed.
"WHOA!" Polar Bear's voice called, with even less manners than Powder, trotting right on toward them. Sounds like Polar Bear is done hunting. "Huge IceWing! Soo coool! Who is that?!"
The IceWing patrol seemed to mostly ignore Polar Bear's outburst. "I came down to ask," she started, wasting no time. "Would you know who decided... to plant a whole foreign tree in the plains?"
"I did! I came home with seeds yesterday from th-"
"Wait," Icecap said, interrupting his sister's impulsive outburst. "You said.. a whole tree?"
"Indeed," the IceWing said shortly.
"Wow! That tree grew over night?!" Polar Bear looked off in the distance in the direction of their planting spot. He looked ready to run off and see for himself.
"Bringing dirt from the rainforest really did work!" Powder nearly matched Polar Bear's expression of longing to see.
Icecap, however, didn't share those hatchling thoughts. "That's not right," he said. "Trees don't just pop out of their seeds over night. Maybe it's a different tree." Both of his siblings were visibly disheartened and drooped head their head, wings, and tail, which he felt kind of badly about.
The IceWing patrol looked off toward the Ice Kingdom, then critically at the three dragonets before her, and then puffed air from her nose when there was no clear answer. "Perhaps," she said. Icecap wasn't sure she sounded convinced of that, however. Without any further delay, the IceWing patrol quickly rose to her claws again, flaring her wings out and showering them with snow. "Well, I must return to my duties. Later." There was no time for response before she lifted herself to the air and flew off. The three of them stared up at the patrol in silence for a long while.
"Hey, let's go see it!" Polar Bear was the first to run off. Powder was spurred on by the excitement and followed shortly after. Icecap of course went after them. He already imagined Powder being disappointed to find that there was still only a dirt mound, thinking of what he should say to console her.
Being the taller of the three, Icecap was the first to see beyond the hill. There, his claws all gripped tightly to the snow underneath him, staring out in disbelief. From there, he could see long dark branches contrasted by light pink and white blossoms. This isn't right, it's just not possible.
Polar Bear had to scramble a bit higher over the snow hill before he could see it. "It really did grow!" He gasped and leaped over the decline.
"It did?! It did!" Powder tried to mimic Polar Bear's jump, but instead fell short and belly-slided all the way down. "This is so great! Now we can all have fruit right here!"
Icecap walked slowly toward the tree. There was no trace of frost on it. How did this happen? Do trees from the rainforest all grow this fast? In the snow? Or was it something else...? He reached out one claw and touched the trunk of the large blossoming tree. It was... warm.
"Are you okay?" Powder asked. 
Icecap's eyes met Powder's as he considered how to respond. "Yes, of course," he then said before the silence was noticeable. But he wasn't very certain. Especially when he felt the presence of eyes watching them. Looking out into the sky, Icecap saw the same IceWing patrol in the distance watching them. When their eyes met, the patrol twisted around in the sky and flew on toward the IceWing palace. Icecap had a dizzying, dreadful feeling that their lives would soon be much different.
==== Part 4 ====
Late 5011 AS
There were about four other IceWings here. Here as in some very random looking location in the middle of a cluster of coniferous trees. They were all gathered here in secret. By Queen Glacier, who was impatiently watching the sky. Frigid wasn't totally sure how she came to be trusted enough to keep what seemed like must be a big secret. She didn't really do much of anything anymore or talk to many others. She guessed in that respect, sure she was the perfect IceWing to keep a secret. 
Another IceWing descended upon their group. Isn't she a patrol? Frigid couldn't remember where she patrolled though. Behind that IceWing patrol, Frigid saw a small IceWing dragonet following. It couldn't have been much more than a year old. Frigid had never seen this dragonet before, but somehow it also seemed familiar. Hold on, Frigid thought. Is that my dragonet? Is that what we're here for? Am I about to be shamed in front of everyone? Will all my family be stricken out of the rankings today all because of me? How did they find out? Frigid did her best to maintain her composure through the unnerving thoughts circling her mind, remaining still and looking forward.
The dragonet looked like it would rather be anywhere else except right there, practically hiding behind its wings from all the adults present. Maybe it wasn't used to so much company. Probably didn't help that the attention of everyone present had turned to it. One of the other IceWings already present had apparently procured an icicle. He took the time now to plant it in the middle of them with the narrow tip facing up toward the sky. Frigid couldn't help wondering what that had to do with their secret meeting. It was very small, barely the height of the dragonet that joined them. The IceWing that brought the dragonet lightly pushed it with her claws, after which the dragonet stumbled forward before slowly approaching the icicle.
"Go on," Queen Glacier said as soon as the dragonet was next to it. "Tell the icicle.. to grow to twice its height." That got a few muffled gasps from the gathered IceWings. Frigid had an idea where this was going, but it sounded incredibly unlikely. From a sneaking glance at Queen Glacier, Frigid could tell she was waiting to see the result, too, just as they all were. So this is what they were here for.
"U-uh..." The little dragonet's voice wavered nervously as it tried to form the words, touching the icicle. "Grow to.. twice your size." As soon as the dragonet finished speaking, the icicle as instructed grew upward. The dragonet squeaked, flinching away and hiding behind her wing. The icicle grew until it now was nearly twice the height of the dragonet.
There was complete silence. The silence surely filled with IceWing thoughts. How is this possible? Came Frigid's own thoughts. An ANIMUS? Is my own dragonet an Animus? Was HE an Animus? Did he know that his hatchlings could be? Would that have changed anything? Did I make a mistake?
"Don't be afraid," Queen Glacier said to the dragonet. "This is your power." The queen then looked out to the other surrounding IceWings, quietly addressing their attention. "For now... let's not mention this. Until there is opportunity for it to be back in royal bloodline."
== Chapter 1 ==
5012 AS
There goes another day, and now there's another day to get through. Powder didn't even bother to stretch, laying on this slab of ice for a bed. It'd been almost half a year since Powder was extracted from the home she loved and stuck into this room in the palace. There was... well, there was a lot to do, but nothing seemed worth doing without Polar Bear and Icecap around. She asked multiple times if her family could come with, but told shortly that rooms couldn't just be randomly given out. It was already a super big deal for a dragonet to just enter the palace, apparently. It definitely got other IceWings wondering what was so special about her. She often heard other royals and nobles chatting somewhere outside from her window.
Powder understood now, though. She'd been given, by one of those IceWings who were at that super secret meeting she supposed, a long pile of scrolls on Animus magic. Most of which were quite old and fragile looking, due to how long ago it was since the Ice Kingdom had an Animus. At first Powder couldn't read them. That was figured out when that IceWing came back and asked her what she thought of them, to which her dubious response was "they look thin and smell old." She was tutored, and now was at least able to read a few sections of the scrolls. That was how Powder finally learned that her Animus magic was thought to be inherited and passed on.
She recalled that day, when Queen Glacier decided it should be kept secret. "Until there is opportunity for it to be back in royal bloodline," she had said. So that was why Queen Glacier hadn't given second thought about her family. Powder had admitted from the beginning that she wasn't in any way directly related. There was no chance her family was Animus related. And that was why Powder was here, because she accidentally discovered her magic in such a flashy way. Powder wondered if her having Animus magic meant she was somehow distantly related to the Royal bloodline and if that was why it was so easy for her to have ended up in the palace. Powder had hoped before that if she hadn't tried using her magic at all, the queen would give up or forget and let her go back home with her siblings. But no one seemed to care if Powder used magic. Only that she was there. To pass it on. That wasn't the kind of purpose in life Powder wanted.
She wondered if Polar Bear or Icecap, or even Mother would want to live so close to the palace. Powder always thought Icecap was the most capable of being ambitious out of all of them. None of them had been placed in any Circles. From the moment Powder came to the palace, she heard talk of putting her into the Circle rankings. Which was often accompanied by talks of how her name wasn't very IceWing, and that it'd have to be changed to something Queen-Approved before she was added to those rankings, but she didn't want a new name. It was her name, given to her by Polar Bear, and she was proud of it.
Powder stared out the window of her room, watching as the snow drifted slowly downward. Is it snowing over there too? Are they playing in the snow right now? Is Polar Bear still crying, or did he also run out of energy to cry? Icecap, big brother he always was, didn't cry and instead comforted the two of them, but Powder remembered the deeply sorrowful wing-hug that Icecap wrapped them in. She hoped they weren't still sad.
Clattering clawsteps interrupted Powder's thoughts. Powder turned away from the window, looking to where an adult IceWing was walking in. With a gasp, Powder quickly scrambled to sit up and compose herself. As soon as eye contact was made, the IceWing looked down and bowed her head. Bowing to me? What? Seeing someone bow to her, it gave Powder chills all along her spine. "Please-" Powder started. "Please stop- don't do that!"
"Sorry," the IceWing said. She raised her head, but eye contact seemed to be out of reach as she just looked off to the moon globe on Powder's desk of scrolls. "I just wanted to make sure you were, you know.. adapting I guess."
"Uhh.. I s s-uppose?" was Powder's best response. There was a long silence afterwards. Who is this? Probably another one from that day. Was she actually concerned? The IceWing's brow creased in deep thought. The weight of the silence was a bit much, and Powder added "I don't really think I belong here."
To that, the visitor heaved a short sigh. "Maybe you.. could have," she said, with a half glance into Powder's eyes.
"Uh.. what-?"
"Nevermind," the IceWing cut in. "Sorry. I should go." Without another word or gesture, the IceWing visitor sharply turned and left where she came, and suddenly Powder was alone again.
That was weird. Powder laid back down on the ice shelf and sighed.
At least that was a break from her longing thoughts. Powder looked slowly along walls of her room, wondering what she could do to distract herself from her thoughts. She let her mind wander until her eyes found their way to the pile of scrolls on her desk. Idea! Powder jumped off her bed and let herself slide across the ice floor over to the desk. Maybe that's what they want! Maybe if I become good at being an Animus, I'll be allowed to see them again!
Powder unrolled one of the Animus scrolls. But unfortunately, she still couldn't read very much of it. So instead, she rolled it back up and tried to recall the things she did understand. I just say what I want to happen, right? But what did she want to happen? Maybe something that would show her if her ability had a limit. She'd already (accidentally) made a tree grow and an icicle. What about something like traveling? It'd be fascinating if that worked. How about the rainforest? The rainforest, that's it! Powder could practically hear Icecap's laughter at her predictable thoughts.
Powder grabbed one of the provided empty parchment sheets and laid it out in the middle of the desk. She recalled that the other times, the result was a direct response to what she said. "When.." She paused to clear her throat. Was it possible for the spell to mishear her? "..When I touch this parchment, it will bring me to the rainforest." She watched the scroll after she was done. Nothing seemed physically different about it. Did it work? Was touching it the only way to know?
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Powder remembered Queen Glacier's words. "Don't be afraid. This is your power." She didn't know if she should have taken comfort in those words, but she did. Scratching away the hesitation from her thoughts, Powder reached out and touched the parchment with one claw.
Immediately it was as if the whole world had wrapped around Powder. Wind seemed to swirl in every direction around her. And then there was the sudden assault of heat and buzzing and bird calls, so jarring that she hadn't realised it was done. When she opened her eyes, there tall green trees and vines all in front of her- But why were they upside down.. and growing? Powder looked down and saw that below her were the canopies that filtered the blue sky, and the scroll she touched floating away. No, wait! That's up! I'm falling! Powder spread her wings to try to break her fall, but it was too late. With a great SHHH sound, Powder harshly skidded on her back to a stop on a soft, muddy riverbank. Powder remained still, her mind feeling as if it hadn't quite caught up to her body yet.
Powder wobbled herself to her feet, getting a better look at her position from a more upright position. All these plants, fruits, the overgrown plants all over the ground, and especially these trees... it worked! Powder really was in the rainforest! Powder really wanted to celebrate, but WOW, it got hot since her last visit. Was it always so dizzyingly hot here? What was different? Maybe it was because of how Powder got here.. maybe it wasn't the best idea to go so fast into the heat of this rainforest. But then Powder had no idea it would work that fast either.
Regardless, this was the rainforest that Powder loved so much. Sure she would have to go back to the Ice Palace soon before anyone noticed her missing, but.. why not have some fun and maybe some fruits while she was here?
Far north of the rainforest, Agate Mountain crumbles. From beneath its depths, a great, ancient dragon emerges.
== Chapter 2 ==
Below the Ice
Chapter 2
It didn't take long at all for Powder to get used to the rainforest. Though her whiteness stood out even more than the tree of moon globes along all the greens. Never in the Ice Kingdom did Powder feel so surrounded by such diversity in plant life. Even if it also meant a lot of these weird buzzy things that liked flying around her ears and landing on her snout. And then that weird furry worm creature that crawled dully over one of her foreclaws. Powder shook them away vigorously, but they seemed all too eager to come back. And then there were those frightful birds that would wait until she was close by and screech into her ear, like they enjoyed watching her leap away in surprise. Okay, so there were some things about the rainforest that Powder was definitely not used to yet.
But Powder didn't let that stop her from having fun. How about seeing the rainforest from a bit higher? She could fly up and look, she considered, but that would be boring. Powder spotted a tall, twisted tree and ran over it. Tree climbing! Though Powder recalled that last time she'd tried this didn't end very well, with her never getting far before losing her grip or her weight being too much for the soft tree bark and totally shredding it on the way down. But that was then, Powder told herself. I'll do it this time!
Powder leaned forward onto her claws against the bark of the tree and looked at the canopy. It looked so much taller up close. The first branch was so far up. If not for the way the tree leaned to the side, she might've thought it wasn't doable. Powder reached as high as she could up the tree. Which wasn't very high. She braced herself and gripped tightly against the bark as she kicked herself away from the ground. Now all her limbs cling tightly to the tree. So far, no sliding right back down. She continued, climbing carefully one leg at a time. Near half way up, the tree was tilted just barely enough that it felt more like walking up an incredibly steep hill. Powder increased her pace for a few steps, until the tree bark under her feet cracked and fell free. She gasped and had to scramble for a better grip, even clinging her wings against the tree as she slid down. Not too much down, at least. No need to rush it. She resumed her climb, cautiously stepping as she had before.
Finally, Powder was approaching the last branch. She hoisted herself onto it as soon as she could reach it. I did it! I climbed all the way up! Powder bounced excitedly- only once because that gave the tree branch a frightening wobble. Icecap would be so proud of me if he was here for this!
Her wings drooped as she remembered her family. This was the first time Powder had ever been to the rainforest without Icecap and Polar Bear around. It was no use trying to push away the sadness anymore. Not when everything she did and saw reminded her of them. She was having fun, but it would be so much better with her brothers around. Oh, maybe I can use Animus magic to bring them here! No, that would probably be too much. What if they were in the middle of something more important? And Powder would hate to give them the same entry she had. Using magic to make herself go to them also seemed to have similar issues.
Powder looked out at the rainforest from her place in the tree top. Except, even this high up, Powder barely saw anything. There were still plenty of trees and other plants around that were taller, enough that Powder couldn't see very far still. But that only made exploring more interesting. Powder leaped down from the tree, lightly gliding down to the ground with a soft landing.
Her legs wobbled beneath her, and she stumbled to keep her balance. It was so sudden, this wave of weakness that Powder felt. Oooh. Did I eat something I shouldn't have? I was careful not to eat the big seed on that mango. That was a mango, right? Or maybe the heat was affecting her more strongly than she thought.
Maybe water will help. If anything, it'll help with how hot she felt right now. Powder recalled that there was a river right where she fell. Now, where was that again? She'd gone pretty deep into the rainforest since landing, and hadn't thought about having to backtrack. It wasn't so hard back in the Ice kingdom. Her claws didn't even leave the obvious impressions into the ground the way they would in the snow. 
Powder tried to recall which direction she came from, but she couldn't find the memory through all the fuzziness that gathered in her mind. She closed her mind for the briefest of moments to focus, but the moment it did, she felt as if the ground had gone from underneath her.
A nearby bird CREE'd loudly, and Powder caught herself from falling with a gasp- which caught into her throat and came back out as a series of coughs. Deep breath. In... out. Like Mother would have me do when I'm sick... am I sick? Powder shook herself vigorously. She wasn't coughing anymore, but the weird fuzzy feeling was.
A shuffling of leaves nearby caught Powder's ears, and she immediately faced the large thicket it came from. But nothing was there. Maybe she was hearing things. Or it was just some animal passing by. Or she could've been hearing these sounds constantly and her mind just chose this moment to notice for whatever reason. But what of something was there?
"H.. hello?" Powder called out experimentally. But nothing responded back. She didn't expect a response, anyway. She watched for a good while, until she was convinced. Nothing was there. That's right. She was definitely just hearing things.
Powder relaxed, composing herself again. Maybe when she'd gotten some water, her mind would be normal again.
Something whistled by her ear and thunked into the in front of her, and Powder reeled back in fear. She could feel the coughing fit returning, but pushed it down with all her mental might. Powder frantically glanced all around the direction where the strange projectile came from. Another whistling sound came, and Powder was too slow to avoid the second projectile that stuck itself into her neck. Powder shrunk back, clawing where she’d been hit. Ow! That hurt! Why would they do that?! Seconds after, the fuzziness in her mind seemed to grow larger and her whole body was getting heavy. What is this? Who's attacking me?!  What did they do to me? Where are they? How do I fight back?
Ice breath! That's right, I have ice breath! But it seemed that whatever was intent on attacking her remembered first. Powder had barely begun breathing in when claws came over her head from behind, pushing  her snout to the ground, her breath coming out as little more than another cough. The world she could still see through her attacker's claws was quickly fading.
"Sorry," a voice called down to her. "You'll thank us for this later, I promise!"
== Chapter 3 ==
"Ugh! I've gone all the way down the list!" The same voice she heard before? "What is wrong with this dragon? Nothing's working!"
"Maybe it's an IceWing thing?" Another voice suggested.
Powder body felt so heavy. Her throat felt as though a slate of ice had shattered inside it, and now she had to try breathing through it. All she could smell was plants. She wasn't sure what kind, but it was strong, like they'd been shoved into her nose. And that was what she tasted, too. Powder opened her eyes, the only part of her currently capable of movement, finding an unfamiliar wall of vines. It went higher than she could see.  That wasn't far because she couldn't turn her head yet, of course. There was a space in the vines where Powder could see outside. A little sunlight shone through the thick outline of trees. Is the sun rising or setting? She also saw that she laid on her side on a bed of large leaves thickly woven together. Those directly in front of her face were stained blue. Is that... blood? My blood? Have I been bleeding? What is being done to me?
"I don't know," the first voice said from somewhere behind her. "She was perfectly fine when she first, uh... appeared? And- you wouldn't believe it by how small and bony she is." A claw lightly poked Powder in the side, and she had to try hard to suppress the awkward chill it gave her. "She was going around practically sampling every fruit and berry in sight. I mean, I almost blew my cover a few times watching her pick out the sour ones. She spotted me at least once, I'm sure. But it WAS pretty funny."
Someone was watching me? From the very moment I came? How did I not notice?
"I thought I'd stop her from eating anything bad. But I must have missed one. I wish I knew what it was."
"Could she have accidentally touched something? Maybe something bit her?"
"Oh, I already checked that. She's not got any bites."
"Really?" The second voice now came closer, and another pair of claws moved along her body, lifting her limbs and wings. And it felt SO WEIRD. Not that she could do much to object. "No bites at all?"
"Trust me, I looked all over her body. I even checked her tongue when I was giving her medicine. No bites or rashes or bruises or anything. Just.. coughing."
"A visitor with no bites. Now THAT is weird." The claws inspecting her reached Powder's foreleg, unfolding her digits. "What happened here? It almost looks like a climbing injury."
"Oh yeah, that." A muffled laugh. "You're right. That was from when she climbed a tree! Didn't do bad, really!"
Her foreleg was let go and it limply fell. "Climbed a tree-?! Rotten bananas! Is this secretly just a RainWing that turned white, too? At least Kinkajou isn't so cold."
"I know, it's weird- and cute how she was so happy she was for reaching the top." The clawsteps and voices both wandered further away.
RainWing? Is that what her captors were? Powder thought she'd heard of them somewhere, but she didn't remember anything about them. Or was it that not a lot was known about them? She definitely wished she knew about them now. At least, whatever they were doing, it sounded like they weren't trying to hurt her. Maybe Icecap would know more about them.
Icecap! My family, the Ice kingdom- how long have I been sleeping?
"Speaking of Kinkajou, doesn't she have a visitor?"
"I thought I did see a SeaWing going to the other healer's hut. Sounds like Kinkajou really did make some friends at that academy."
With the smallest bit of strength that she could find, Powder's whole body shuddered as she attempted to right herself in the bed. But everything swirled in front of her, and she had to keep her eyes closed to keep from feeling worse.
"It sounds so amazing! I was kind of afraid to leave, but now I kind of wish-"
"Hey, uh... looks like that IceWing's waking up."
"Huh- Already?!" Claws scampered hastily back over to her side. "Hey, hey, sloooow down. You really should NOT be moving." A bright blue claw grabbed Powder's - her own being much smaller, Powder noticed - and the other went around her back to support her.
This dragon's touch was warm. Very warm, like warmer than the rest of this rainforest warm. How are my scales not melting? Or- AM I melting?! No, no, come on, Powder, focus! I need to say something! Powder tried and failed to calm down her heavy breathing before speaking. "I-" Her lower jaw was pushed closed by a sharp claw. I need to go home!
"Or talking!" The voice strictly added. "Moving, bad; talking, bad! Here, let's.. lay you back down. I'll go get some water while you rest. Alright?" Powder didn't have the energy to resist, and let herself be guided back down in the leafy bed. Were these yellow lines in this dragon's claws before? "Good. You must have a lot of energy to shake away that tree frog poison so soon." 
Powder couldn't help the frustrated sigh that escaped from her. She was sure her absence must've been noticed right now, and hoped it wasn't causing any trouble. Where would they go looking for her? Did her family already know that she was somewhere else?
"Don't worry. I'll do everything I can to get you ready for all the tree climbing you want. I'll go get you your water." The claws retreated from around her, her caretaker wandering off.
The ground underneath her shook to the sound of a crash somewhere far off outside. Powder's whole body tensed. Avalanche-? Earthquake?! What is going on? This was a real bad time to be so helpless.
"Gaah! Every time with these visitors! Sick and wounded trying to recover here, just a little quiet please, no stomping or shouting- is that SO MUCH to ask for?!"
"YOU'RE going to wake the rest up at this rate."
That was from a dragon? Powder looked through the vines, admiring from a glance how quickly night seemed to come outside. And then she realised what she saw was a shape of a great, black dragon whose size seemed to block the sun. Powder wasn't sure whether her heart's heavy beats were from awe or fear. She'd never seen any dragons that big. Powder tried to recall any dragons half that size in the Ice kingdom.
The black dragon arched its neck toward her, and Powder yelped, breaking through her weakness to flinch back to the side of the bed - which refused to support her, and flipped from underneath her. She gripped onto it with her claws and wings, but that only tore and unwove the leaves before she fell with a THUMP onto her back. A jolt went through her body, and out came a couple of weak coughs like she'd been doing so for a long time already. She didn't remember any pain from through the lingering memory of fear from that dragon. She never actually saw the other dragon's eyes but it definitely looked like it was about to look at her. Did it really notice me? Did it see me? Should I be scared of it?
Again came the claws around Powder, helping her up and supporting her like before. She didn't even hear anyone approach that time. For the first time, Powder looked up and saw the blue-saturated face of the dragon holding her. "Hey, remember when I said no moving?!!"
So that's a RainWing, then? That's what RainWings look like? He looks kind of cool, she thought. He was a bit bigger and bulkier than she was.
"Sorry, but," the RainWing started, shades of purples swirling into his scales. "I think you'll be safer asleep."
Oh, that's what I forgot! RainWings can change colours! Huh, what did he mean by-
Her thoughts were broken by the familiar light stab feeling that penetrated the scales on her neck.
・・・
Once again, Powder found herself waking up in a woven-leaf bed. Or hammock, as she heard it called? It felt nearly exactly the same, but the wall she stared at had a much larger space between the vines. Her body was a strange mixture of great fatigue and wanting anything but to keep laying down. There was also this lingering pain in her left ear, like she'd been laying on it for too long, even though she was laying on her right side. How long have I been asleep for? I cannot let myself sleep again. The hot sun glared very clearly through, almost to the centre of the sky. It was so incredibly bright. She lightly laid a wing over her face to cover the sun's awful glare.
"Hey," a voice called in. "It's almost Sun Time! You gonna come out for it?"
"Yes, of course!" Was the response. It sounded like the RainWing taking care of her. "I just need to give her another sleep dose."
"We're going to have a little contest- see who can fall asleep the fastest!"
"How do you even keep track of that? Alright, fine, I'll be there. Sounds like fun!" Clawsteps wandered around the room before beginning to slowly approach her.
Another sleep dose? Will I be put back to sleep again? No, I absolutely cannot go back to sleep! But what do I do? I can't move-! Powder opened her eyes to look at the wing hiding her face. But I did move! Powder tested her claws, and found she could open and close them, too. I'm not immobile any more! But there's no time to cheer- I have to stay awake! To get home! Powder snapped herself upright in the bed.
"Hey, you shouldn't be-!"
Powder leaped without thinking from the bed toward the space in the vines. Unfortunately, she misjudged how wide it was. The claws on Powder's wings hooked on the vines on either side of her, stretching until they snapped. She wildly spun out through them. She tumbled and rolled onto her belly. Okay, flying through rainforest plants. Also not a thing I'm used to.
I'm free! Now I can finally go home! Powder didn't give a second glance- didn't want to give a chance to be sleep darted- before spreading her wings and taking to the air.
Something large and heavy bowled right into her, catching her out of the air and tackling her to the ground. 
"L- let me go!" Powder shouted. She wiggled and clawed at the ground under her, but it had no effect. She was completely pinned. In front of her, Powder saw quite a few brightly coloured dragons curiously approaching. 
"Sorry, can't do that," said what felt like the weight of a giant boulder to her.
"But WHY?! I have to go home!" Powder shrieked back.
"Aw, do you really? But I heard that you were having so much fun here!"
"But I-"
"WHO... is MAKING ALL THIS NOISE?!" Came a voice, so loud and startling, that Powder paused struggling. "When it is THIS close to Sun Time?"
"Ahem... you are, my dear queen," the big weight responded.
Queen? As in the RainWing queen?
"Enough, you! Get off her already!"
"As you wish, Queen Glory."
The heaviness atop her left, and Powder was relieved to be able to stand. And she was more than ready to try again, spreading her wings as soon as she could.
"STOP!" A command with even more weight than what held her down. Powder froze, turning and meeting the eyes of a green RainWing, with the smallest hits of red in her scales and an expression that clearly stated don't mess with this dragon. Queen Glory, he called her? "Don't make me take back my order- I'm ALREADY tired of dramatic, destructive IceWings right now."
The dragon who'd pinned her down now stood next to the RainWing queen. Powder's heart trembled for the slightest moment. It's that dragon- that black scaled one that blocked the sun! was her impulsive thought. But she realized that this dragon wasn't even half the size of that one. And she'd only seen the silhouette of that one. "I'd also like to keep standing next to my queen, please," he added, to which the RainWing queen only rolled her eyes.
"I- I'm not dramatic or destructive," Powder risked.
"Says the one who just ripped a giant hole in one of our lovely healing huts, trying to... escape?" The dark dragon countered.
Powder looked back where she came from, only now seeing how completely exposed the inside was. Some vines that had once been part of the wall now lay torn or unravelled themselves to the ground.
"And totally shredded one of our hammocks," added that RainWing healer, who'd apparently followed her out.
Real good impression I'm making today. Powder bowed apologetically, the way Icecap had shown her to do before she was taken to the Ice palace, hoping RainWings would understand the gesture. She'd definitely not meant to cause damage, and didn't expect she could cause so much so easily. "I- .. sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Though I guess that hammock WAS going to have to be remade anyway, since it was all bloodstained and stuff," the healer added, as if trying to ease Powder's guilt. "I mean it just would've been GREAT if you didn't fall off it and stain the floor blue, too. And then the second hammock-"
"Why were you fleeing?" The queen cut in with a critical look. "It's not like you were imprisoned."
Powder looked at the ground, unable to make eye contact. "I, uh.. didn't want to sleep."
The black dragon snorted a laughter at her reason. "So you don't go to sleep at home?" To which Queen Glory huffed at and rolled her eyes, like she was used to him doing that.
"Well some of us WOULD like to sleep right now. As for you, when I sent word to the Ice Kingdom, I promised we'd take care of you- which ideally means you returning in good health, not escaping."
Powder straightened and stiffened herself immediately. "They know I am here?!" She wasn't quite sure whether she was feeling relief or fear. What would they do to her for leaving like this? Would she be kept somewhere where she couldn't so easily escape?
"Of course they do," the dark scaled dragon said. "Our queen is very reliable. Probably sent a message like 'Hey, Glacier, your new buddy the RainWing Kingdom here. We found another one of your subjects here for you to pick up! By the way, maybe we should discuss a secondary IceWing settlement here, because they keep-'"
"Deathbringer, SHUSH!" The RainWing queen firmly thwacked him with his wing, but he seemed more amused than sorry from the gesture. 
Deathbringer, huh? Very safe sounding name, Powder thought. In that moment, Powder could again strongly feel that pain in her ear, and grabbed it try try easing the pain- but she didn't expect her claws to touch metal there. Metal that formed a loop through the middle of her ear. "I, uh... I don't think I came here with a piercing," Powder said questioningly.
A strange hint of grayness seemed to leak into Glory's scales, only to be quickly suppressed. "That... well, that's a conversation for later." There was the smallest feeling, from the fall of her voice, that the RainWing queen was really not looking forward to talking about it.
Looking around, Powder realised how many others, including Glory and Deathbringer, were also wearing earrings. Which looked exactly the same. "Wh- You're all- HAVE I BEEN KIDNAPPED INTO AN EARRING CULT?!" As soon as she'd heard herself, Powder knew that she was letting her mind run wild again.
"Argh! HOW do you make this creature STOP SHRIEKING?!" Frightening streaks of orange swept across Glory's scales as she looked to the sky, waiting for it to answer. Powder was too embarrassed to keep eye contact and looked at the very interesting neck-high grass below her.
"Sleep darts are always reliable!" Deathbringer added.
"No, no- PLEASE, no more sleep darts, I'm sorry-" Powder shrunk behind her wings. She guessed from Deathbringer's (VERY SMUG STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT) expression that he'd guessed her thoughts from the start already.
"Uggh, fiiiine! No more sleep darts! IF you do not disrupt our Sun Time. And STAY PUT. It won't look great for us if you're not here."
"Understood," Powder said quickly. To which the RainWing Queen, apparently very eager to be done with this ordeal, only gave a slight huff before she turned away before flying off and vanishing into the dense vegetation. Powder had the sneaking thought that the queen only cared for her well being for the sake of appearance to Queen Glacier. And a guess that Queen Glacier would enjoy an opportunity to keep her sleep darted to keep her from vanishing again.
"Welcome to the Rainforest," Deathbringer said amusedly, before leaving in the same direction.
With both of them gone, the Rainforest got strangely quiet, aside from the reminder to how loud the buzzing and animal calls were. Powder looked at the completely demolished wall of the healing hut once more, and cringed her eyes back away from it. After such an awful scene she'd made and angering their queen, Powder was sure that none of the RainWings here were likely to want her around. She dipped her head, and got up to go- well she wasn't sure. How far was she even allowed to go, before someone stopped her?
"Hey, wait!" Powder looked back to the shockingly purple-and-gold coloured RainWing calling to her. Did I do something else wrong?
"I heard you were really enjoying the fruits here!" She continued. "I bet there are tons you still haven't tried yet- How about I bring you some after Sun Time?"
"Oh, uh.. that would sound nice!" Powder responded, taken by surprise by the sudden friendliness.
"Great! It'd be awesome if you loved them as much as I did- everyone should have a chance to try them!" The RainWing eagerly laid one of her wings over her- a gesture that she thought felt weird coming from someone who wasn't Mother or her brothers, but also one she'd dearly missed after being separated. "Wow, you really are cold!"
"Ooh!" Another RainWing slipped over. "I heard totally climbed a tree earlier- and for fun! I am full of tree climbing tips if you want!"
"But she doesn't have a RainWing tail."
"Hey, I can make a full lap around the whole rainforest without using my tail!"
Along with the RainWings that had already been there to watch her dramatics, even more of them seemed to materialize out of nowhere and gathered around.
"Is there anything that everyone doesn't know about me?" Powder asked with an entertained sigh.
"OOH, OOH! I KNOW!" Another answered. "Your name! NONE of us know your name!"
There was a significant hush in all the voices where everyone was expectantly looking at her, where she'd entirely missed her cue. "Right! My- my name- it's- Powder."
"Powder! That name sounds funny!"
"Such a cute name, it really fits you!" Back came the dizzying torrent of voices. Some offering to paint her scales since she couldn't change her colours, others saying her colour pattern would be perfect even if she was a RainWing. Powder wasn't used to this closeness from such a large number of dragons, but it looked like she'd be getting a lot of this for the next few days.
== Events Referenced in the Story ==
-If any events mentioned are not here, please comment!-
War of the SandWing Succession
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)