The Snow and the Stars

Chapter 1

a/n: straight into the story lel. i hope anybody that reads this enjoys it :) im a very inconsistent writer :( so some But uh yeah, pls leave comments on what u think and where the story should go, etc. oki i'll write now.

p.s- any names or references used in this book are entirely coincidental and in no way intended to mimic or steal other ideas, excluding canon wof references. ty for understanding :D

UGGGHHHH.

Frostbite absolutely hated "classic literature". It wasn't anything personal, really.  Snowhare was a great teacher and all, but some of the material that the students were forced to read could be absolutely B-O-R-I-N-G. None of it actually seemed to carry any meaning at all. It felt like a bunch of old dragons had gotten together to make books so long and so filled with weird words with no apparent meaning that it would drive dragonets crazy.

"Frostbite? Can you answer the question please?"

Oh crap.

Frostbite realized she must have zoned out.

"Uhhh... Penguin is secretly a mighty adventurer on quest to save his family?"

That answer earned her a face-talon from her teacher and quite a few snickers from the rest of the class.

"She's so ditzy!"

"What a weirdo."

"I think it's because she doesn't have a father."

Frostbite could feel her face growing more and more blue by the second as the jeering faces and eyes turned to her. Why did everyone always pick on her? Did they hate her just because she was different?

Well, guess what? I don't care. I know I'm different. That's what makes me uniquely me.

"Bite me!", she snapped, fury beginning to replace her embarrassment. (reference to my new fav show, guess which :> )
She stood up, grabbed her things, and stomped out of the classroom, leaving her classmates and teacher in shocked silence.
~
School wasn't any easier the rest of the day than it was after the little debacle in the morning. It's not like school being tough was a new thing anyways. She'd always been teased for her weird looks. 'No IceWing looks like that!' was a constant comment on her appearance. The rumors about her and her parentage spread like wildfire, and not just in school. Sometimes she'd be running an errand or two, minding her own business. The uncomfortable stares that darted away when they saw her looking, however, told her everything.

By this point, however, her pride had been broken beyond repair. And so she just took everything in stride, and didn't look back.

When school finally let out, she tore out the front cave like a bat out of hell, lifting off into the sky.

Frostbite flew as fast as she could all the way home. Or if it could even be called a home by "true" Icewing standards. Frostbite lived with her mother in a run-down old cabin half-buried in the snowy tundra. It was just on the outskirts of Terns. Apparently, towns used to have awfully long names like "Where-the-Whales-Leap-at-Dawn" and "Hamlet-That-Worships-the-Whales-Who-Sing-at-Night", but some old queen had the bright idea of shortening those names. That queen, whoever she was, had earned Frostbite's undying gratitude.

Her mother worked as a night guard at Queen Sapphire's palace, leaving home as the sun set and only coming home in the early hours of the morning. When Frostbite arrived back home, she saw her mother getting ready for her night at the palace.

"Frostbite, how was your day at school?" Without waiting for an answer, Fractal continued on, "Can you please fly over to [The Gift of] Sustenance and get some breakfa- dinner, please? Thank you so much, best daughter ever!"

"Yeah, sure Mom. Let me just put down my things first," she responded as she set down her bags on the wool blanket that constituted her "room".

"That's fine. Just make sure you hurry, okay? You know how long the lines can get sometimes! We wouldn't want to starve, now would we?"

"I'll go right now, Mom, " Frostbite sighed. Sometimes she wished her mother wasn't always wrapped up with work. She wished Fractal would ask her about her day, then actually wait for her response and listen to it. But such was the life of a palace guard: guard, eat, sleep, repeat.

Frostbite exited their ramshackle cabin and lifted off. Flying was something she usually loved to do. The arctic wind whipping at her scales made her feel free and unburdened from the day's troubles. She soared through the air, dipping her wings and spiraling into a dive before rocketing high into the sky before remembering that her mother had told her to hurry.

She settled down and glided along the icy coast, slipping into her own head as she gazed out at the sparkling blue sea, entranced.

"Frostbiiite! Where are you? I'm going to find you!" breathed a spiky dark blue dragon, stomping around in the snow. Frostbite squealed with excitement from her hiding place behind a big snow dune, attracting her father's attention. She could her him stomping closer and closer until - "Found you!" Cobalt exclaimed, reaching for her over the dune. Frostbite shrieked with excitement and scurried away from his outstretched talons. Cobalt gave chase, and the two ran around in the soft snow, happy as can be.

A fresh blast of frigid air snapped Frostbite out of her memories. She blinked and looked around, surprised to see an unfamiliar area around her. She stopped and hovered for a few moments.

Is that the coastline? But wait, that's the coast too... Am I at the tip of the Ice Kingdom right now?

Frostbite face-taloned. She had way overshot her destination! Her mother was going to end for being so late.

Arghh.

She angled her wings into a dive and did a corkscrew, twisting back up and flying back in the opposite direction.

How could I have even missed the holes! They just sit there!

Well, it has been a while since I've thought about Dad... Maybe that caused me to be distracted.

~

By the time she arrived at the three holes in the tundra that made up the Gift of Sustenance, the sun had set well before. On the plus side, there was no line at all. In fact, there didn't seem to be anybody around as far as she could see. Angling her wings, Frostbite glided down and landed a few paces away from the largest hole.

Using the Gift of Sustenance was looked down upon by most "true" IceWings, but some families like Frostbite's weren't as well off as others, and had the rely on the Gift for many of their meals, lest they starve. The way the Gift worked was that you could just reach in and always pull out a seal. Frostbite had done this a hundred times before. Distracted trying to recall the fragmented memories of her father, she casually reached into the hole, opened her claws, latched on, and started pulling.

Huh. This one feels thicker and heavier than any seal I've pulled out before. Eh. More dinner for us, I guess.

With one final yank, she pulled it out onto the ice.

"Why hello there," came a voice. Frostbite's head snapped straight up, and her eyes darted around frantically.

"Who said that!"

"The poor dragon under your claws, perhaps?"

Frostbite looked down and gasped in shock to see a dragonet wincing under her sharp talons.