Sapphire Embers

Chapter 1: Quirky IceWings & Scrolls

In my opinion, I think the workings of how my tribe works is a bit strange and strict, I always thought it made us seam like cold dragons who never took time to cool off or chill out.

IceWing circles were essential to functioning society. It kept the palace stragglers in their rightful place and the elite at the top, with positions earned with discipline, hard work, self control. The ranking list was everything. Prey hunting rights, permission to live within the palace, appropriate mate choices, all the intricacies and decisions were made based on that list. The most capable and ambitious rose to the top while the weak willed, immature, ineffectual were punished effectively. The perfect meritocracy.

Although, I don't really understand the system very well, I still think the system of the circles are important. In being truthful with you, I also have to admit that I'm a bookworm and I've caused some IceWing spikes to rattle because of my many and constant questions.

I always knew that I was different from the other IceWings, I never agreed with the system of the circles nore do I agree with the ranking list.

I had always told my parents that I felt like adventure was my calling, if it were up to them, they would let me do what I want. My younger sister, Freezecrystal was only four but she was in the 3rd circle, she had learned to hunt at a very young age. I am six, and I'm in the 3rd circle as well, I learned to hunt when I was only two years old.

My favorite place in the whole Kingdom was the library, yes, I am a bit of a bookworm. I informed my parents that I would be heading to the library and they gave me the okay to go.

The library was about three stories high, dragons come here to look for all sorts of varieties of different scrolls. There were scrolls about the Diamond Trialed, scrolls about how the system of the circles worked, scrolls about medicines and herbal treatments for all sorts of wounds and many many more. The library was my favorite place, I was a very frequent visitor. The library was one of the few places that was open to the public.

As I was browsing through the shelves of scrolls, I caught sight of an IceWing dragonet that I despised. She was one of the lower-ranked IceWings, she always picked on me for being weird and for the way I thought about certain IceWing matters.

But that is none of her business, she always gets her little group of friends and they all tease me for always reading in class instead of doing all of the pointless work and writing notes. To be honest, I could care less about that stuck up IceWing named Skylark.

As I walked around the Library looking for a good scroll to read, I caught sight of two of my friends. Icicle and Willowmint. I smiled and waved them over with a wing. They both smiled and bounded over to me.

"Hay, Ice. Whatcha lookin for?" Icicle asked, tilting her head with curious stormy blue eyes. I sighed and shrugged my wings.

"Need any help?" Willowmint asked, with a warm smile as she swept her gaze over the scrolls that were lining the shelves. I nodded with a smile and a grateful look to my friends.

"Yes, if you don't mind. I'm looking for a scroll about when the circles and rankings were first developed." I replied, and Willowmint walked over to another shelf with me and Icicle following her.

"I think I found something similar to what you were explaining to me. Here check it out it might be the one your looking for." Willowmint replied, with a smile of pride on her face.

As the three of us walked up to the librarians desk, a small IceWing with silver blue scales and wings was organizing the many scrolls that were on top of the desk.

Hello, Frozenstar. We have some scrolls that we wish to check out." I explained, and the IceWing looked up from her task to check out our scrolls.

"You three are my most frequent visitors, you all must love reading, am I correct?" Frozenstar asked, with a grin on her face. I nodded and Polaris made an hmm sound and handed us our scrolls. I bowed to her and with that, Icicle, Willowmint and I flew out of the Library and flew to where I lived.