The forbidden fruit

Too young for this

The cold breeze of the outside world made Iceberg wander deep in thought everytime his mother -Queen North- gave him lectures about responsibility and obedience. He just didn't understand why it was so important, that she had to tell him every single day.
Like, yes, he got the message a while ago.
He has a powerful gift, that he has to share with the whole tribe one day and it's a big deal for everyone.
It never seemed so important to him that is.

,,Are you even listening?!" barked his mother loudly, throwing him back to reality.

,,Yes! You don't have to shout at me like that!" Iceberg groaned and shot Queen North a frown. Why did she have to be so agressive about it?

,,Tch. You're so useless." she spat, towering over him. ,,You know that nobody wants you to have the gift, but that's just how the nature made it happen so CAN YOU ATLEAST TRY ACTING A LITTLE LIKE A ROYAL THREE MOONS?!"

,,Of course I know" he thought bitterly. ,,Like it wasn't the only thing everyone ever told me." It almost seemed as if his mother wanted his powers all to herself, like she didn't trust him at all.
It was so unfair. He was certainly aware that his family never liked him. His sister Breeze has always made it clear that she hated him, just because "she was supposed to be an animus" and got so offended everytime anyone even mentioned his powers.

After his loud lesson ended, he went back to his sunset lit, glittering ice room. The cold wind that poured in through the window ledge that he slept on made him calmer. He could feel a little bit of the freedom everytime he inhaled it.

But really, why couldn't he just leave?
He was an animus. He could do basically anything, like making his sisters snout shut for the rest of her life or enchanting his annoying cousin Shard into an albino wolf and eat him. So what was the thing holding him back?

He caught a glimpse of movement on the snowy landscape below him. A large furry moose was running through the snow, causing a glittery spray of snowflake trail behind it.
Mabye a little hunt would distract him from the intrusive thoughts.

He stretched his wings before taking off, as silently as possible, so that he could catch the moose off guard. His hunting skills weren't half bad, as his dad used to tell him. His polar bear kill was an easy first try and Iceberg thought that it was the only ever moment when he caught a glimpse of pride in his mothers face.
But after finding out about his powers, his dad decided that he didn't want Iceberg to suffer from everyone's expectations and flew off to the Seawings for a certain animus dragon, so that she could get rid of his "curse". He always called it that.
One day he told Iceberg about the whole history of the Icewing gifting ceremony, how it was created to protect the souls of the animi. He said that there was a theory about the animi's souls, how if an animus caused too many spells, they would lose their soul and go insane.
The theory was probably created just to scare off little dragonets, but it worked on him pretty well back then.
But after a few weeks passed by without a single sing of his Father returning, he gave up on waiting for him. His mother had told him that he probably got himself killed by some outclaws, but as he grew older, he figured that the Queen was probably the one making him disappear.

He hovered in midair and looked around, finding out that the moose led him all the way to the very border of the Icewing territory - the Taiga forest.

,,Huh. Well that moose has some stamina." he thought and dove lower to reach for the running animal. But before even touching it, a loud roar bellowed from the trees and the moose ran away.
He flinched and braked sharply.
,,What in Pyrrhia was that?"