Wings of Fire As Humans

Well, I have nowhere better to sit-Winter

It was lunchtime, and Winter didn't know where to sit. That was the whole problem with changing schools. You got uprooted from the place you knew, and got set back down somewhere new, full of plebians. He tried to keep his eye out for people he knew from JMA. He found his best friend Lynx instantly, as her waist-length blonde hair was a dead giveaway, however she was surrounded by a crowd of new friends, and Winter didn't want to go and just butt in. He didn't want to make new friends, and especially not with these...commoners. He was the nephew of Mayor Glacier. He noticed that his sister Icicle and cousin Snowfall were sitting together, apart from everyone else, and he considered joining them. But then, they almost certainly did not want him to join them, considering that they'd always been pretty open about the fact that he wasn't good enough to hang out with them.

"Hey Winter," He turned towards the sound of the voice, and saw Qibli, his deskmate from form class that morning standing there, "Do you have anyone to eat with? You can join us if you want?" Winter noticed that Qibli wasn't alone, but that Turtle Seaman was standing nervously behind him too. Winter knew Turtle from JMA, and they'd always kind of had an unspoken bond between them, because they were both twins, however he'd never really made good friends with Turtle, as Turtle was so cripplingly shy and anxious that it was really difficult to get through to him. Also, Winter had never tried to befriend him. 

"No, thank you," Winter replied. WHY DID YOU SAY THAT? Half of his brain screamed at him, Who are you planning to sit with now? However, he was sure that he made the right decision. Qibli definitely wasn't the sort of person who his parents would want him to associate with. Besides, he was annoying. He never shut up, as far as Winter could tell.

"Who are you going to eat with?" Qibli asked piercingly, "You shouldn't be all by yourself on your first day at a new school. Come and join us. You'd already know Turtle, right?"

"Correct," Winter said, "Fine. I will join you for lunch, however, this will not become a regular occurrence." It will not. Icicle and Snowfall will either realise that us Royals need to stick together, and invite me to join them, or Lynx will realise that she doesn't belong with these...peasants, and we can be friends again. Qibli led them over to a table, and sat down. Winter and Turtle followed suit.

"Hey, Qibli!" An energetic voice called across the quadrangle, and Winter saw a tiny and very energetic girl bounding over, dragging another girl behind her, "Can Moon and I join you?"

"Yeah, no worries," Qibli said, scooching down the bench to accommodate the two girls.
"Kinkajou, this is Winter Royal and Turtle Seaman! Winter and Turtle, this is Kinkajou Bright." 

"Hi Winter, hi Turtle!" The girl, who had what was, in Winter's opinion, far too many butterfly clips in her coily hair, waved to them all enthusiastically, "And this is Moon!" The other girl waved. She had long, thick, dark hair and heavy bangs which fell over the tops of her purple glasses. Her shy, and somewhat serious smile was adorable, in his opinion. And she had really, really pretty eyes. 

"Hi guys," she said in barely more than a whisper. Even her voice is beautiful, Winter's brain said, which Winter felt was SUPREMELY UNHELPFUL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, BRAIN.

"So, Winter," Kinkajou said, looking straight at him, "Your surname is Royal, right? That is such a cool surname. And really fitting, because your aunt is the mayor, right?" At least somebody recognises me for the aristocrat I am, yet another part of his brain, the part that Lynx frequently told him was ridiculous, piped up.

"Yes, in addition to my Aunt Glacier being mayor, my family is also distantly related to the Norwegian royal family." Winter informed them. Very, very, very, very, very-bordering-on-negligible, very distantly related, Lynx's voice said in Winter's head.

"Well, being related to royalty is pretty cool, right?" Qibli chimed in. It's his voice, Winter decided, he has an annoying voice. "All my biological relatives, or at least as far as you can trace (which isn't far), are criminals." Turtle started, looking shocked. His mother probably would never let him associate with someone related to criminals. Neither would my parents, Winter thought.

"Don't worry, Turtle," Qibli said, "I haven't even seen my mother in years. Thorn fostered me when I was eight, and I've never looked back. Now I'm the son of the local Chief of Police, which is both ironic and great." 

"I hope someone fosters or adopts me this year," Kinkajou said somewhat sadly, "Or maybe I don't. Last time I was taken into a foster family did not go well for me. Besides, Glory's never been adopted or fostered or anything and she turned out super awesome anyway." Despite himself, Winter found himself feeling sorry for the energetic girl. What would it be like to grow up with no real family at all? Winter didn't always appreciate his family, as his parents seemed to be constantly disappointed with him, and Icicle was pretty hostile most of the time, but he loved his older brother Hailstorm (even if Hailstorm was far too perfect, and had set the bar much too high), and he couldn't imagine not having any family at all. 

"Are you in a children's home, or something like that, Kinkajou?" Moon asked quietly. 
"Orphanage," Kinkajou said, "The Hands of Peace Orphanage. Qibli's older adoptive sister grew up there, too." 

"So did my sister," Turtle suddenly said, "Tsunami." 

"You're Tsunami's brother?" Kinkajou said in surprise and Turtle nodded, staring at his lap. Winter had no idea who this Tsunami who they spoke of was, but he could gather that she was probably not a lot like Turtle. 

"Speaking of Tsunami, here she comes!" Qibli said, as a tall, slender girl with long dark curls in a messy ponytail, green eyes and tanned skin came striding purposefully over. 

"Hey, year elevens!" Tsunami said, "I'm your sports captain this year, and I'm just swinging by to make sure that you've all signed up for a sport this year. School policy, you have to play a sport, or participate in an athletic activity." 

"Really?" Moon asked, looking frustrated, "Well...I used to play netball in primary school. Maybe I'll do that." 

"Right," Tsunami scribbled on her notebook, "What's your name? Moon Black. Nice. Qibli, I've already got you down for basketball, and a number of track and field events, and Kinkajou, I have you down for high jump, long jump and you'll be on the cheer team this year, I presume?"  Kinkajou and Qibli nodded. 

"What about you," Tsunami turned to Winter, "Have you signed up for sports?" 

"I play hockey and do discus and cross-country as well," Winter told her. 

"Yep, I've got that actually," she peered at her notebook, "Winter Royal, right? Good. Now, everyone knows that I do a bit of every sport, but my main sports are soccer in the winter, and my absolute favourite...swimming. So I was organising sign-ups for the swimming team, and I noticed something...something very disturbing. Somebody who I was very sure would be on the team hadn't signed up. And he hadn't signed up for anything else either. Do you want to tell me why that might be, Turtle?" She glared at her younger brother. 

"Ihateanykindofexercisesoiwasjustkindahopingthey'dforgetaboutme," Turtle muttered under his breath. 

"Well, you prefer swimming over anything else, right?" Tsunami said, as she scribbled his name on her notebook. Turtle nodded sadly. "Nice try, Turtle. See you guys later." she pivoted and left.

"Well, you got well and truly called out there, Turtle," Qibli chuckled. 

"I don't want to do sport," Turtle sighed, "I'm lazy." Qibli suddenly extended his hand to Turtle. 

"Hi Lazy! I'm Qibli!" Turtle, Moon and Kinkajou all groaned, while Qibli chuckled to himself at his very, very unoriginal and juvenile joke. Winter wanted to gag him. At this point, the end of lunch bell went.

"I have Maths Methods just now," Moon said, and Winter felt his heart give a leap. They had a class together! Clearly Winter's heart, as well as his brain, was stupid. 

"Hey, so do I," said Qibli, who seemed very, very, very eager. So eager that Winter wanted to murder him. Eagerness was ridiculous. "I'll show you to the class." Winter followed after them, as Qibli led Moon to the classroom. Something was definitely beginning here, and Winter wasn't sure that he liked it.