Drama (a Qinter fanfiction)

Tense Nothingness

Winter PoV:

He was winging out into the desert as fast as he could. Already, he wasn't sure how long he would last; much to Qibli's protesting, Hurricane was leading them out into the desert as fast as he could. Even though that meant that he often had to slow down in order to let Qibli and Winter catch up. Naturally Flame didn't have much trouble keeping up with the other SkyWing's breakneck pace.

"Hurricane?" Qibli called.

The red dragon sighed. "For the eight-millionth time, Qibli; no I don't exactly know where we could be going. But somewhere this way should be Thorn's Stronghold, and its not like we have anywhere better to go."

"What about the map? Shouldn't we follow it?"

Hurricane shook his head. "No, we don't have any way to carry it - the treasure - securely. And checking it could give away that we know where it is if Vulture made himself a second map, which would presumably cause him to move it to a more secretive spot. We'd be better off taking it to Thorn." he said the last with an expression of distaste, though it only lasted a few seconds before he forcibly returned his face to its former state.

Qibli still wasn't convinced. "What if we miss B- the Stronghold?"

"We'd be able to see it from pretty far away in any direction, and we shouldn't be off by far enough to be out of sight."

"And if we are?"

"Qibli. Trust me. We won't be that far off course."

With what seemed like a great effort, Qibli swallowed back his questions and concerns and they all soon lapsed into silence again.

It didn't last, however, because a few minutes later Hurricane broke the silence again. "It's clearly no good to keep you quiet, so tell me, how did you three get to meeting each other anyways?"

"I thought you knew all this," Flame said, sounding confused.

The red dragon shrugged without missing a beat. "I got told the basics, but that's about all I know."

So Qibli then took up explaining how the Winglets got rearranged this time, so he and Winter got put into the Silver Winglet instead of Jade. It wasn't a long story, even though the SandWing sprinkled in a brief backstory of their first try at the Academy - and how it didn't quite work as planned. 

"So since we got put into the Silver Winglet, Flame ended up as our roommate," Qibli concluded.

Hurricane nodded in understanding. "I see. And how're things between you three now?"

"You know, you seem unnaturally interested in our love lives for a near stranger." Winter pointed out.

Hurricane gave him a searching look. "Am I still really a near stranger to you?"

"Well, we don't know much about you," Qibli interjected

"Especially considering how much you seem to know about us." Flame added, a tiny trace of suspicion edging his tone.

"Huh. I mean, anyone could have figured as much out as I know, to be fair." Hurricane shrugged.

"Yeah, but it would take longer than half an hour," Winter said, rolling his eyes.

Qibli flew up and nudged the red dragon's wing. "Anyway, what about yoooou? Is there anybody you like, Hurricane?"

It was only because of Winter's experience with Qibli that he detected the hint of discomfort that suddenly sprang into Hurricane's demeanor by way of his flitting eyes and the way his tail twitched. Because although the red dragon was clearly good at hiding his true emotions - as seen in the still casual, though faintly surprised, expression on his face - the subconscious motion escaped the SkyWing's notice.