Wings of Fire Legends • The Blue Comet

Chapter Three

Sorry for the late post! I had to run into work yesterday and didn't have enough time to format the chapter. But it's here now! Enjoy!! :3

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Every flap of her wings took her farther from her parents and closer to the disappointment in their eyes upon her return. Puffin did her best to block out her anxiety, but it was hard to close off her thoughts with Chinstrap yammering into her ear nonstop.

     "- and you should have seen the save I made yesterday. Lemming tried to sneak a shield hit past me, but I caught the puck without even looking at it. Puffin, you're stupid."

     "I'm not stupid -"

     "Good, so you are listening to me. I feel so much better about being ignored. As my only sister, one would think you'd be nicer to me -"

     "- I'd be nicer to you if you'd stop annoying me," Puffin retorted. She checked her course and veered right, making sure to stay over the rocky shoreline. "And I'd be even nicer if you left me alone to do this task. We're not supposed to help each other."

     "And you're not supposed to throw away your only chance to get out of Narrow-Straight."

     "Chinstrap!" cried, the flight rhythm she had slipped into broken, causing her to falter. She caught herself and hovered in place, watching him with fear. "You can't just say things like that!"

     "Like what?"

     "U-untrue things!" she stammered.

     "Puff, you've been acting strange all week," Chinstrap said. He stopped circling her and hovered close. "Avoiding eye contact, becoming quieter, restless on hunts... you're planning to fail on purpose."

     "I'm not!" But Puffin could not look him in the eye. She fixated on the distant mountains, the clouds, the ocean – anything that would distract her.

     "Puffin, you can't just -"

     "Shut up and keep looking. We're trying to find a breathing hole, not waste our day flying in the sky gossiping."

     "LISTEN TO ME!" Chinstrap swooped in front of her as Puffin tried to fly back on course. He grabbed her snout, tilting her face up to look at him. Puffin frowned and did her best to show him she did not want to. Chinstrap ignored her, his eyes unusually soft. "You really want to throw everything away?"

     "I'm not throwing everything away," Puffin said stubbornly. When Chinstrap growled, she continued: "You want to be in the next Circle; I want to take care of Mum and Dad."

     For once, her brother seemed at a loss for words. He opened and closed his mouth, a frown and a strangles expression on his face. Eventually, he choked out, "I do too, but not like this!"

     Puffin's eyes trailed away, unable to face him. She looked out across the ice sheet, which stretched far out into the water. They were far from the peninsula that housed Narrow-Straight-Beside-the-Sea, just past the visible horizon from their home. Here, the ice sheet was a little bumpier. The sun was slowly rising, reflecting off the white surface of the snow and ice. Amid the uneven terrain and the glaringly white world, Puffin spotted a dark patch out near the center of the ice.

     Chinstrap took a breath as if he was about to continue lecturing her, but Puffin decided to ignore him. She swooped away and cut through the wind, making sure to keep the sun to her face as she landed. She caught the air with a series of quick flaps, landing with a soft crunch on the ice not far from the hole.