❄️Chapter 5: The Little Things❄️

  To be clear: I'm not planning on alternating the POV every chapter, but I want to try and have a decent amount of chapters in Moon's POV this time around. There will almost certainly still be more in Winter's, since it's easier for me to write from his perspective. Also, I added a window to their cave, cuz why not?

  Winter woke up early the next morning, not quite sure when he'd fallen asleep the night before. All he remembered was that after the little incident involving what had sounded like - but surely wasn't - a prophecy, he had layed down on his ledge and eventually drifted off. It had to be around four in the morning, because the sky outside was still filled with stars and the cave was pitch black. His night vision had never been the best, and his moon globe wasn't in its usual spot on his ledge. He came to the realization that it must've rolled onto the floor overnight. There was a very dim glow on the floor next to his bed, and Winter knew it had to be it. His claws locked around the circular object and he brought it up to float above his left shoulder, rotating it to adjust the brightness. He was slightly alarmed when the pale light revealed Moonwatcher gazing out the window; her scales were so dark that he hadn't seen her until now.

  The NightWing noticed the soft glow penetrating the darkness. "I didn't know you were awake," she said, rather than greeting him. Then again, he wasn't exactly expecting one after the events of the previous day. "Do you always wake up so early?"

  Winter shrugged. "Back home, I just woke up whenever my parents came to tell me to get ready for training. Which was pretty much whenever they felt like it. Why are you up?"

  "It's hard for me to fall asleep at night sometimes," she replied, turning her eyes back to the view outside. "I'm not sure if it has anything to do with me being a NightWing, but most dragons in my tribe aren't nocturnal, so I don't really know."

  The thought of being nocturnal seemed like an alien subject to Winter. Although many IceWings stayed up late at night with the power of moon globes under their control, he had never been a night owl himself.

  The pale blue dragon stood up, cracking his knuckles and flexing his wrists. "Well, maybe you should try and get some rest. I don't know about you, but I would never be able to function being tired all the time like you must be if you have a hard time sleeping at night." He began to walk toward the cave opening.

  "Where are you going?" Moon abruptly asked. He turned around to see her sparkling eyes focused on him, the dark pupils dilated in the dim light.

  "I'm just going to fly around outside for a bit. To loosen up my joints and try and wake up more, you know." He explained. "Alone," he added, in case she wanted to come with him.

  "Are we allowed to leave the academy at night?" she questioned.

  "I don't know, but I don't care if we aren't," he said, before he slipped out into the hallway. 

  Most of the fire globes were still lit, providing the same amount of light as they did during the daytime hours. He was the only dragon in the tunnels aside from the occasional wanderer, at least as far as he could tell. The only ways he knew that led outside were the front entrance and the hunting cave. In case he wasn't supposed to leave at night, he decided to try and find the hunting cave; that would be the less obvious choice.

  Was it two rights, and then a left? Or two lefts and a right? Or a right, then a left, another right, then two more lefts?...

  His mind was still foggy, and that didn't help him any. These tunnels were confusing enough without being half-asleep. He was so deep in thought that he nearly collided with a dark red SkyWing while turning a corner. His immediate thought was that it was Carnelian, but instead it was a larger, more muscular male. The dragon's snout was horribly disfigured, a portion of his lips seemingly melted away to reveal a set of yellowed, jagged teeth and part of his reddish gums.

  "Watch where you're stepping, icehead," the SkyWing growled. 

  "You watch it," Winter mumbled as he continued down the hall, trying to keep his eyes off of the crimson dragon's horrid injury.

  "What did you say?"

  "Nothing," he quickly replied, not wanting to start an argument so early in the morning. He was already on unfriendly terms with Carnelian, and in a confusing position when it came to Moon. He didn't want to have to add someone else to the 'Keep your eye on them' list.

  "That didn't sound like 'nothing' to me," the SkyWing said, but thankfully, he didn't push it any further. 

  Winter noticed a MudWing up ahead, wondering what they could possibly be wanting. When he came within several feet of them, they approached him.

  "You'd better watch your tongue around Flame," they said, but it was more of an advisory than a threat. "He means business. He nearly started a brawl with a SeaWing yesterday morning."

  "I think I'll be fine," Winter said, walking around them. 

  After a few minutes, he came across the school library, a place that he was in no hurry to visit at the moment. Whoever the librarian was, they were most likely asleep anyway. As he continued to stroll through the rocky tunnels of the academy, he had no luck finding the hunting cave. However, he found a third exit he hadn't known about until now.

  It was in a large cavern with some sort of underground lake covering most of the space. At first he thought about going for a swim instead, but then he noticed a few SeaWings dozing underwater and decided against it. The way out was a hole in the roof of the cavern, appearing to be just large enough for him to fit through.

  "What are you doing?" 

  Winter startled at the sound of his sister's voice from behind him, whirling around to see a smirk plastered on her face.

  "Just going for a flight outside. To clear my head. Why?"

  She shrugged. "Just wondering. I was going to do the same thing, so I'll come with you."

  He rolled his eyes. "I'd prefer to be alone, thanks."

  "I don't particularly care about that," she replied in a sharp tone. "After you," she said, guesturing with a wing to the hole in the ceiling.

  Grumbling to himself, Winter flapped his icy wings and shot upward, clearing the gap by just an inch or two. He was on the more muscular side for a male of his age, but sometimes that could be a problem, especially when it came to fitting through small spaces. No sooner had he appeared in the cool night air outside than his sister had done the same. She quickly set off in a seemingly random direction, and, not having an idea of anywhere else to go, Winter followed her.

  "So," Icicle said when he caught up with her, "how was your first day? Mine wasn't as bad as I expected, but it was bad enough. There's this one SeaWing in my winglet that will not. Stop. Talking. One word can't pass someone's lips without him adding onto it. At least the RainWing is pretty quiet. Don't get me started on the NightWing, though. I think his name is Bigtail, but he is just so...so...ill-mannered! He doesn't pick up after himself, he chews with his mouth open, and worst of all, he called me a snide, privileged brat yesterday afternoon! If he had any idea of what we go through back home, then-"

  "Well, did you say something to provoke him?"

  Icicle's expression became one of slight guilt. "No, not really...actually, I guess. I may have said I didn't need his or anyone else's help when he tried to assist me with lifting up this immense crocodile carcass. Seriously though, that thing was bigger than some of the dragons here. Anyway, I was trying to tear a piece off of it for lunch, unsuccessfully, and he tried to help, and...yeah."

  Winter was a little angry that she had tried to eat part of the saltwater crocodile he had killed, but realized that it must've been far too big for his winglet alone to eat. Tsunami must've put it in the community pile for that reason.

  "For your information, I killed that saltwater crocodile. Not just any crocodile, a saltwater crocodile."

  "What's the difference?"

  "Hello? They're much bigger than any other crocodile species on the continent, and they live in the ocean. That's the difference. The thing nearly killed me during hunting yesterday. I would be sleeping with the fishes if it wasn't for...never mind."

  "It wasn't for what, Winter?" Icicle hissed, her tone taking a surprisingly sharp edge. She had stopped flying, and was now staring directly into his eyes, expectantly waiting for an answer.

  He quietly mumbled the answer.

  "What?"

  "The NightWing in my winglet had to help," he said, looking down. "She distracted it for me, and then she got pinned by the crocodile, and I don't know why, but I couldn't let her be killed. I was able to gouge it in the eye, and then I killed it with my frostbreath when it tried to get away."

  Icicle gazed at him with a look of disgust, shaking her head. "I can't beleive you. It was bad enough that you had to be rescued by one of those vile lizards, but then you saved them? You should've let them die, Winter! Watched as their blood seeped out into the water as any normal IceWing would. And the worst part is that it was a girl. First day of school and you've already disobeyed our parent's orders. Well done, Winter."

  She whirled around and flew away from him, and this time, he didn't bother following her.

  The sun still hadn't begun to rise yet. He guessed that it was around four thirty now. Instead of flying around like he had originally planned, he soared around the mountain until he found a secluded area littered with trees. Right now, he needed to just relax, away from everyone else. Especially his sister, but even more so from Moon. 

  Winter landed in a small clearing within the forest, a spot where he could still see the sky as he lay flat on his back. The chilly morning air reminded him of home, a place he would far rather be at the moment. In the Ice Kingdom, there was always order. Here, he'd made an enemy out of Carnelian and possibly Flame, angered his sister, and was having some very confusing feelings about a certain NightWing. One minute they hated each other, the next they were saving each other from crocodiles, and then they were back to despising one another. It always seemed like she was listening to something as well, even if nobody was speaking.

  As Winter gazed up at the millions of twinkling stars above him, the wet grass slick against his scales, all he could think of was her. And he hated himself for that.

  Classes don't start until seven. I might as well get some rest.  

  And with that final thought, he closed his eyes and let the calming darkness consume him.

—————————————————————————————————————————————————-

  Winter woke up for the second time that morning, feeling three slight but distinct vibrations in the ground underneath him. He sat up abruptly, at first thinking it was an earthquake. But then he realized that it was actually the three gongs, signaling the start of classes for the day. He looked up to the sky and saw the glowing ball of fire over the horizon beginning its ascent.

  I can't be late again! was his immediate thought. I have science first, if I remember correctly. I think it's Clay who teaches that.

  The pale blue IceWing shot up into the sky, finding the closest way into the academy, which turned out to be the front entrance, and trying to picture the map of the school in his head. 

  After darting down random hallways to no avail, he heard two gongs. He had to hurry up. 

  More confusing tunnels and empty caves. One final gong.

  He thought for sure he would be tardy again. That is, until he heard voices from a nearby cave. He looked inside, and sure enough, saw the rest of his winglet there. The good news was that he'd made it on time. The bad news was that the Gold winglet was also there. His sister's winglet.

  There were fourteen desks, two rows of seven in the middle of the cave. The rest of the space was taken up by counters, sinks, cabinets, the teacher's desk, a chalkboard on the wall behind it, and a large table in the back of the room. Winter was the last to arrive, and the only desk available was in the back row, next to the one dragon he wanted to see the lest right now. Not Moonwatcher, nor Kinkajou, the class chatterbox, or Qibli, the geek who thought he was funny but really wasn't. Instead, it was Icicle. 

  Winter quickly walked over to the empty seat and sat down. His sister gave him nothing more than a glance and a bitter glare. Which was for the best. Whatever she had to say to him, it definitely wasn't pleasant.

  "Good morning, everyone!" Clay greeted them from the front of the room. "I see you were nearly late, Winter. Tsunami told me you were tardy for hunting class yesterday as well. I suggest you try and memorize a map of the school in your near future. Anyway, how is everyone doing this morning?"

  Winter felt his face heat up at the sudden attention brought upon him. 

  Most of the class groaned "Tired" in response to the large MudWing. All except Kinkajou, who was as perky as ever.

  "I'm SUPER excited!" she beamed from a few seats over. "I can't wait to do experiments and stuff!"

  Clay smiled at her enthusiasm. "I'm glad to hear it. Especially since we'll be performing a small experiment today! Don't worry, it's not graded, it's just for fun. Now, I would do some kind of get-to-know-you activity, but I know that Tsunami is already doing that for hunting, so even if some winglets haven't done that yet, you will soon enough. For this experiment, we're simply going to be combining different chemicals and seeing how they react. None of them are dangerous, but wear safety goggles just in case. Some of them could get a little...messy, if you use an improper amount of chemical. I'm going to partner you all up for this, okay? And after that, we'll go over safety procedures and everything. Winter, why don't I start with you? You'll be paired with...hm, lets see here..."

  I really hope I don't get paired with Qibli or Kinkajou. Then again, either of them would be better than Carnelian, at least at the moment. At least they don't hate me. The only thing worse than being with that hotheaded SkyWing would be getting partnered with-

  "Moonwatcher! You two will be a pair."

  Figures.

  Winter glanced at where the NightWing was sitting, in the front row and four seats diagonal to the right. She stared back with an equally surprised gaze. For whatever reason, he felt the urge to look over at Qibli, who was sitting three seats away from Moon. Strangely, the pale yellow SandWing looked a little angry, or even jealous. Did he...want to be paired with Moon? 

  Winter contemplated this while Clay gave the rest of the students partners. After he showed everyone where the fire extinguisher was and how to properly rinse out your eye if a foreign substance or chemical got in them, he let them loose and they all set to work. Reluctantly, at least in Winter's case.

  He hadn't been paying as much attention as he should've during the instructions, but he still knew where to find the beakers that they would need to combine different substances. He and Moon met at an empty counter, both of them wearing safety goggles, and he set them down

  "Hey," she said, quieter than normal. "How'd your flying go?"

  Winter shrugged. "I ran into my sister. She wasn't too happy with me." He looked over to where she and a SeaWing were working together at a separate counter. She caught his gaze for a moment, but quickly bared her teeth and broke it.

  "Why not?" Moon asked.

  "Doesn't matter," he replied. "Let's just get this over with." He took two of the substances the NightWing had gathered; a powdery, black substance and a clear liquid that looked similar to water. It seemed too thick for that to be the case, though.

  "I don't know if we're supposed to mix those two..." the NightWing said worriedly.

  "Clay said we're looking at the reactions of chemicals," he replied. "And if we mix them, we might get one. So stop second-guessing me." He poured the black substance in first, then the clear liquid.

  "Okay, genius," she retorted. "If you're so smart, then why isn't anything happening?"

  He looked into the beaker. The substances had mixed, but like she said, no reaction had taken place.

  "We probably just need more." He noticed another test tube with the clear liquid inside sitting at a nearby counter that nobody was working at. He took it and was going to add it to the mixture, but Moon grabbed it from his grip before he could.

  "We can't do that!" she said in exasperation. "We're never supposed to use more than the amount we're given. Weren't you paying any atten- Winter!" the smaller dragon cried as he poured a second tube of the powdery material into the concoction.

  It ended with the same result as the first. Nothing.

  "See?" he said. "Nothing happened. Again. You worry too mu-"

  He wasn't able to finish the sentence before there was a soft poof! from the beaker. Before he knew what had happened, his entire upper body was coated in ash. Looking to his right, he saw that the same thing had happened to Moon.

  "Sorry," he muttered, expecting her to yell at him or something like that. However, her reaction was completely unexpected.

  She laughed.

  The NightWing was laughing so hard that he couldn't even hear it at first, but it quickly became obvious when she had to lean against the counter for support and when she lifted her safety goggles to wipe the tears from her eyes.

  Believe it or not, Winter grinned. Not a spiteful one, or a smug one, but a genuine smile. And then, he began laughing as well.

  Once all the other students saw the scene, they started to hoot with laughter too. Even Clay chuckled when he saw that they hadn't gotten hurt or anything.

  But none of them laughed as much as Winter and Moon did.