❄️Chapter 8: Thoughts🌑

  Winter knew something was wrong as soon as Moonwatcher came back to class. There was a different look in her eyes, possibly fear, if not anxiety. And if his eyes weren't deceiving him, he saw a small spot on her left arm where the light reflected off her scales differently, almost unnaturally. He had sharp eyesight, so he was sure he wasn't mistaken. Now wouldn't be a good time to talk about it though, not in the middle of class. He decided it would be better to wait until passing period, even if not knowing what had happened was killing him.

  When the three gongs finally rang and everyone flocked out of the room like geese heading south for the winter, he caught up with Moon and pulled her aside in the hallway. They continued walking to their next class, but he focused more on the talking.

  "What happened?" he asked, not wasting any time building up to the question.

  The NightWing looked bewildered, but also slightly relieved. "You know?"

  "I'm good at observation," he replied. "So spill it; what happened when you were gone?"

  She looked away for a moment. "I'll tell you, but you have to swear you won't tell anybody else. I'm not even supposed to tell you."

  He didn't reply, simply staring at her, hoping she would get on with it. He had to admit, he was concerned by how shaken she had looked before.

  "This SkyWing, Flame, I think..." she started. "I ran into him by accident when I was going to our cave. He was painting his claws black, and he said the polish he was using was made with dragonbite viper venom. It must've been illegal, because he immediately told me not to tell anyone."

  Despite the raging inferno inside him after hearing what she'd said, Winter was able to keep his voice steady. "Or what?"

  "Well, he put some of the polish on my arm, sort of as a threat, saying he would use more if he found out I told anybody. It was only a little, but it hurt so bad...it's like touching a hot pan or something, but it stings too, and lasts for at least a minute."

  Winter realized he was grinding his teeth a little. He didn't know why, but hearing Moon's story made him angrier than he'd been in a long time. He wasn't even this angry when he'd had a run-in with that notorious SkyWing. So why did he feel like this now?

  "I won't tell," he said. Moon immediately relaxed. "But I have a couple other questions."

  Two gong strikes.

  "You should probably make it quick, then," she said, but not in a hostile or threatening tone. Rather as more of an advisement. 

  "First, where were you last night?" He hadn't seen her at all throughout the evening the previous day, and he couldn't be sure, but he suspected it had something to do with the scuffle in Qibli's cave.

  Moon shrugged. "I found a vacant cave and decided to spend the night there. What's the other question?"

  Winter wanted to know why exactly she'd been absent last night, but had a more personal question he wanted answered. Personal for him, not so much her. 

  One gong. Luckily, they had arrived at history, but were standing outside the doorway.

  "Why did you tell me what happened, if you weren't supposed to tell anyone?" he questioned, his tone growing soft. Partly so nobody would overhear; he didn't know the other reason.

  Instead of looking away or pretending to be distracted by something else, the NightWing stared right into his cold blue eyes. He almost wanted to shift his gaze for once, but something made him unable to break it. And surprise, surprise, his idiot brain couldn't figure out what it was.

  "I think it's because I trust you," she replied, equally as quiet. "I know we've only known each other a few days, and we both know you're not exactly the nicest guy around...but for some reason, I don't think you're the type of dragon to break someone's trust. Now come on; we should get to our seats before Webs yells at us," she finished with a slight grin.

  Winter stood there, dumbfounded as she walked into the classroom with her leather satchel at her side, her tail ever so gently brushing against his. He had no clue if it was on purpose or accidental, but it triggered something in his mind. It was like a new area of his brain had been unlocked, one filled with strange new feelings. It seemed less...sophisticated than the rest of his brain, and he had no idea how he could tell the difference. All he knew was that this was new, it was strange...and he kind of liked it.

  How can she trust ME?! I'm like...the most untrustworthy dragon I know! Wouldn't Qibli, or Turtle, or Kinkajou, or literally anyone besides me be a better dragon to tell a secret to?

  He quickly slipped inside as well, knowing fully that whatever this new feeling, or area of his mind was, he would be thinking on it for awhile yet.

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

  The next morning...

  "Winter, it's supposed to go here," Moon told him in a slightly sharp tone. "You're doing it wrong."

  "Well how am I supposed to know that? I'm not an expert on this!"

  "We learned about it yesterday. You should at least know that the nucleus goes IN THE MIDDLE."

  Got you guys for a minute, didn't I? Hehehe. Ok I'll stop.

  Today in science class, Clay had assigned them their first project of the year: building a model of a cell. It hadn't sounded so bad at first, but it was proving to be more challenging than he'd thought. The only supplies they were allowed to use were styrofoam, clay, tape, scissors, and glue. At the moment, he and Moon were struggling to get the nucleus in the right spot. They'd already built the "cytoplasm" using the styrofoam, but they would need to add another layer later for the cell membrane.

  "Here, give it to me," the NightWing said, taking it from him before giving him a chance to reply. The nucleus was simply a medium-sized ball of purple clay, and she quickly dug a small depression in the center of the styrofoam using her claws, then sticking the nucleus in that spot.

  Moon turned back toward him with an expression that said, 'See? How hard was that?'.

  "Fine, do it your way," he snapped. "Let's just make the rest of the cell parts and then we can worry about where they go later."

  She silently agreed, grabbing a chunk of red clay and beginning to mold it into...something. It looked like she was making the Endoplasmic Reticulum with how many folds she was making, so he decided to work on the mitochondria if she would be doing the more complicated ones.

  All Winter remembered about the mitochondria was that they looked sort of like beans, so he went for that approach with a piece of orange clay. After a couple of minutes, Clay, the teacher Clay, stopped by to check on their progress.

  "You two might want to do less arguing and more working," he advised. "You only have until the end of class, and tomorrow I'm going to walk around to each model and you'll have to explain what each cell part does."

  That got Winter's attention. "You never told us that!"

  "Well, I believe I just did," the MudWing said with a cocky grin, before limping off to check on other groups.

  Moon giggled a little to his right.

  "How is that funny? We only have until the end of class to work on it; otherwise we'll have to complete it as homework!"

  "I just find it funny that Clay keeps roasting everyone without meaning to."

  He tilted his head. "How can you tell he's not doing it on purpose?"

  She suddenly stopped smiling. "Uh...lucky guess?"

  All he gave for a response was "Hmph."

  By the time class was over, all they had on the model including the nucleus was the mitochondria, Endoplasmic Reticulum, and Golgi Apparatus. They would definitely need to work on it later. Winter asked Clay if they could take some clay to their cave so they could work on it, and to his relief, he agreed.

  They walked out of class, Moon gingerly carrying the model in her talons like it would shatter into pieces at any second.

  "I can take the model and the clay to our cave," she told him. "You can get to history class; no offense, but I know my way around here better than you do."

  "Finally, something we can agree on," he said with a smile. "But I'll come with you. To make sure nothing happens to the model," he added when he saw a surprised look on her face.

  Or to her.

  For whatever reason, a pink hue appeared on her face, but it quickly subsided. "That's sweet, Winter, but I think I can handle myself."

  Now it was his turn to blush. 

  She started to walk away, but he stepped in front of her. "No, I insist! I can even carry the clay if you want," he persisted.

  Moon sighed, however there was a smile creasing her face. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you when we end up late to history class."

  She handed him the container of clay, and they both headed to their cave at a brisk pace, knowing there wasn't much time to lose.

  It wasn't until they were already there that he realized what he'd just done.

  I've got to be kidding myself. Did I just...TRY and succeed to spend more time with a NightWing? What is going ON with me lately?!

  The pair hastily dropped the model and clay off at their cave, before quickening their pace even further so now it was more of a jog than a walk.

  "I never noticed that necklace you wear until now," Moon observed as they hurried to class. "Does it mean anything to you?"

  He glanced down at the necklace thumping against his chest as they went, the two silver circles on it mocking him for even being in the presence of this dragon.

  "It means everything..." he replied, more solemnly than he'd planned.

  A brief moment of silence passed over them, interrupted by one final gong from the Great Hall.

  "Did you always have that accent?"

  "What accent?" he questioned, not sure what she meant.

  "I don't know...there's just a slight hint of some accent in your voice," she responded. "Like how you sometimes say 'a' like 'ah' and stuff."

  Winter shrugged. "I've always spoken like that. I never really adopted that manner of speaking, per say."

  "Oh. Well, I kinda like it."

  He didn't know whether to feel embarrassed or not. Instead, he simply focused on getting to history class on time. Unfortunately, they scampered into class just a bit too late, the Green SeaWing known as Webs fixing them with a harsh glare as they entered.

  "You two are late," he scolded. "I can't say I'm surprised that Winter is, but you, Moon," he said with a slight nod to her, "I expect more from you. I'll be seeing you both after class; now take your seats."

  "Yes sir," they mumbled, quickly walking to their separate desks as the gazed of nearly everyone in the room turned to them. 

  Winter was never more glad to not have his sister here at the moment. The other winglet they had this class with was the Silver Winglet, and none of them bothered him much, unlike some of the dragons in the Gold Winglet. There seemed to be tension between Moon and a SeaWing named Anemone, but he couldn't figure out why.

  He and Moon sat a little closer together in this class, her desk directly behind his. He sat in the front row in this class, but not by choice; Webs had assigned all of them to their seats on the first day.

  The teacher cleared his throat, walked over to one of the many maps in the room, and began a lecture about the geography of Pyrrhia that would span the whole period. They were all expected to take notes, but he never told them what to right down, just saying to write whatever they felt was most important about the lesson.

  At the end of class, he and Moonwatcher stayed behind while everyone else shuffled out of the class, eager to move on to something more interesting. Winter pondered if there was going to be some sort of punishment for them, hoping there wouldn't be, as they already had the science project to work on later. The pair stood at Webs's desk, each second passing by feeling like an eternity as he stared at them both for several moments.

  Finally, he took in a slow breath and then exhaled just as slowly, apparently trying to calm his nerves. 

  "Look, you two," he said, in a surprisingly kind - or maybe even understanding - tone. "I understand that school is a new place. It is for all of us. You're meeting new dragons, becoming more independent, and more self-sufficient and responsible as well. However, with that responsibility and independence comes expectations. If you can't meet those expectations, this is going to be a rough year for the both of you."

  "Excuse me," Winter said in what he hoped was a polite tone, "but what does this have to do with-"

  "I'm not done," Webs interjected a bit sharply. "What I'm trying to say here, is that I get you both are exploring more things, and forming relationships with one another, but you still have to be on time to class. I was your age too, once, you have to remember that. So keep school stuff in school, and don't let other things get in the way of your responsibilities as a student here. Got it?"

  They both nodded. Winter felt the blood rush to his face, and glanced over and noticed the same had happened to Moon.

  "Thank you, sir," she said. "But, we weren't doing...whatever you think we were. We had to take a science project to our cave so we can finish it later."

  For the first time, Winter noticed a smile on the grumpy history teacher's face as he sat down at his desk. 

  "Alright, I'll buy your story," he replied, digging something out from a drawer at his desk. "But I'm good at reading dragons; I can tell when there's more going on between them." He gave them a hall pass. "Now get on your way; and don't let me have to talk to you about this again."

  Winter was relieved to exit the classroom, and it was no secret that Moon felt the same. She quickly grabbed her satchel, he retrieved the map of the school, and they went on their way.

————————————————————————————————————————————————

  Moonwatcher sat with her friends at the prey center, but once again, Carnelian sat alone. Kinkajou repeatedly asking the easily-angered SkyWing to sit with them didn't help, and neither did Qibli trying to charm her, or bargain with her, or whatever he attempted to do to get her to join them. She wasn't sure if the red dragon actually enjoyed being on her own, or if she was just doing it to preserve whatever reputation she had going for her.

  After Qibli gave up, he went back to sitting uncomfortably close to her just as he had done for the past couple of days. She thought someone as clever as him would've gotten the hint by now when she scooted away from him, but he didn't seem to, or just did and didn't care. Either way, she didn't like it, especially not after hearing him harassing Winter two days ago.

  "Qibli, I don't think Moon wants you sitting so close to her," Kinkajou finally said in the middle of lunch. 

  Moon didn't look at him, but did overhear some disappointed thoughts emitting from the SandWing.

  "I'm sorry," he apologized, but from just glimpsing his mind, she knew he didn't mean it. "Here, I'll move away a little."

  She was relieved that Kinkajou had spoken up, because things were weird enough between her and Qibli without her telling him. She continued eating her half-eaten deer carcass, but stopped when a familiar voice snarled at her.

  "Well well, if it isn't the lying little NightWing," Flame hissed, his already unpleasant voice laced with venom. "I thought we had a deal, runt."

  Moon reluctantly looked up to see the red dragon looming over her to her left, a glare that could cut diamond fixed on her. 

  "I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, trying to avoid his gaze. 

  What if my friends find out? They'll surely tell a teacher, and then I'LL get in trouble for not reporting what happened in the first place! But how did he find out? The only dragon I told was...

  Moonwatcher suddenly scowled at Winter, who was sitting a few feet away. "You told?!" she hissed. "I trusted you!"

  He suddenly grew wide-eyed. "No I didn't! I promise you, I never told anybody!"

  She did a quick sweep of his mind to see if he was telling the truth; she tried to avoid doing that at all costs, but right now she had to, to see if she had made a mistake trusting him. Thankfully, she could tell he wasn't lying.

  Moon softened her gaze. "I'm sorry. I guess I just panicked."

  "Uh, don't mind me asking," Turtle said, speaking for the first time during lunch, "but what's going on here?"

  "I'll gladly explain," Flame snarled. "This little rat saw something she wasn't supposed to see yesterday, and then snitched on me when I told her not to. That is what happened."

  Kinkajou suddenly piped up, her scales an angry mix or red and orange. "Hey genius! You do realize you just openly admitted that you were doing something against school rules to five dragons, right?"

  The bloodred dragon snorted. "So?" he said, acting like he didn't care, although his thoughts told a different story.

  I'm such a MORON. I can't stop all five of them from telling; and I can't threaten them either. I can't take all of them in a fight, and I think that IceWing has a grudge for me...why am I so STUPID?!

  Moon felt sharp claws lock around her left arm and she was hauled to her feet by Flame, his orange eyes like twin infernos of rage directed right toward her.

  "Stop!" she said, trying to raise her voice as much as she could despite her fear. She tried to wrench herself out of his grip, but like yesterday, it did nothing to help the situation.

  "You're gonna pay, lizard. Just wait until I-"

  Flame suddenly yelped in pain, jumping slightly. He still had a firm grip on her, and didn't seem like he was going to release her anytime soon.

  "Let her go. Now."

  Moon was shocked to see Winter of all dragons with one foot planted firmly on top of the SkyWing's tail, a vicious look of ice cold hatred filling his strikingly beautiful eyes. 

  Flame's expression faltered only for a second, before being replace by his normal angry look. "You wanna go, icehead? 'Cause I'll throw down right here, right-"

  He cried out again as a blast of frostbreath nearly coated his leg, before submitting and letting her out of his grip.  Moon immediately walked several feet away from him, and although her heart was still racing, she stepped away from Qibli when he tried to put a wing around her in comfort.

  "You guys can stay if you want," Winter said, not looking any of them in the eye as he removed his foot from Flame's tail, "but I'm going to take my leave. Somebody finish the last of my lunch, will you? If not, just throw it outside; something out there is bound to eat it anyway."

  As he vacated the scene and the fuming SkyWing stormed away, Moon glanced at her winglet, who were looking on with mixed expressions of confusion and anger. Then she looked at Flame, who had gone to harass some other pour soul, and decided that it was right for Winter to leave.

  "I think I'm going to follow him," she said. "I don't really want to be here while Flame is still around, and class is starting soon anyway."

  As she turned and began to leave as well, Qibli spoke up.

  "Is that really why, or are you just looking for another excuse to be alone with him?"

  A surge of anger swept through her at his comment, but she didn't want to escalate the situation further than it already had been. Plus, the SandWing's mind was a storm of emotions and thoughts at the moment, and stirring up an argument wouldn't be good for anybody.

  She didn't go silently, however.

  "That's none of your business, Qibli," she retorted, before she speedwalked to catch up with Winter, his icy tail disappearing around the corner as he left the prey center.

  "You followed me, huh?" he asked, startling her as he had stopped just outside of the entrance. "I'm guessing you came to thank me? It's no big deal; you don't have to say a bunch of corny stuff about...well, anything, really."  

  Moon paused as they both awkwardly stood there for a moment, trying to avoid the other's eyes.

  "I guess I don't have to now," she mumbled. She looked at him only for a second, but it was long enough for her to notice a strange look on his face; guilt, most likely, for killing the mood, or for whatever else. Maybe regret, but it wasn't likely coming from him. Then again, he had just helped her out in the prey center...

  Winter coughed a little to break the silence. "Well, I..uh...just want you to know, I didn't lie to you about not telling anyone what happened to you. I swear the only dragon I told was myself, if that even makes sense."

  His pitiful attempt at reassuring her brought a smile to her face.

  "Don't worry, I believe you," she said, and they started walking to math class. 

  Although she knew it wasn't Winter or anybody else in their winglet since none of them had been present when she'd told him, one question still lingered in the back of her head: who had overheard and told Flame, and why?