The Silver Scales

The Silver Scales Chapter 10

Letters, Advice, and Unfamiliar Feelings

"Here you go, Avalanche," Starflight said with a smile, offering a letter to the icewing princess. "Been getting a lot of letters recently," Fatespeaker, who was also in the room, said with a teasing glint in her eyes. "Secret admirer perhaps?" Fatespeaker giggled, but soon calmed herself, not wanting to seem rude.

"No, nothing like that," Avalanche said, despite Mindreader and Spirit's best efforts Avalanche continued to have a sour, stuck-up attitude. Whether it was just because of her upbringing, her status as a princess, or just how she was was impossible to tell. Avalanche walked to a dark corner of the library, letting herself have some privacy, and opened up the letter.

Dear Avalanche,

I am grateful you reached out to me on this. Dealing with feelings isn't what an icewing is known for, but it will help you the best I can. I know you have never felt this way for someone before, and that is a perfectly normal thing, I know I felt it when I first met my wife. The most important thing is to remember not to try and be someone you are not, so don't behave differently around her and just be yourself. However, in the same light, you must also be willing to open up and talk with her, become friends, and take it from there. Do not try and be overbearing, let the relationship develop naturally, just talk with her, get to know her, and let her see you for who you are. I know her parents, they are good dragons and will support any decision she makes if she decides to be with you. You're a smart dragoness, with a big heart even if you don't show it that often, so don't take any rejection like you are not good enough for her, she may not even like females, and that is something you need to be ready for in case that is the truth of her personality.

Signed, with love, Winter.

Avalanche sighed, shaking her head as she put the letter into a torch, letting it burn so no one could read it later without her consent. She admired her uncle, no doubt, but he certainly had no idea how to give advice. What did he mean by herself? She couldn't be herself, she had to set an example for her tribe! And that required following every procedure down to the smallest detail. Avalanche paused, almost having left when she saw something in the firelight, quickly putting out the fire on the corner of her scroll. She puts the scroll up into the light of the flame, seeing a lighter, almost invisible, secondary message in between the lines.

Avalanche, if you want any chance with her you need to stop acting like the stuck-up princess you pretend to be and let your TRUE self come through, forget procedure, forget tradition. Be yourself and only yourself if you want a chance at this. Be confident, strong, and proud.

Love, Winter, and Lynx.

Avalanche felt a smile on her face, quickly burning the letter she walked back out. This was going to be difficult, as she had lived and postured herself under those guidelines for her entire life. But she could do it, she knew she could, or at least she HOPED she could. Taking a deep breath she left the library, letting those critiqued lessons and forced plannings on her behavior run through her head once more and try to leave them behind. Refusing to keep those sure to gain her some unpopularity with the other icewings at the school, but she knew her Uncle was right, if she ever wanted to do anything in her life she needed to change. Not only with her crush but her general life. Winter had left his entire life behind and was doing better than most first-circle dragons. Avalanche heard the gong ring out, changing her course to head to the classroom tsunami runs. Letting her pace become more natural, not the militaristic one she was accustomed to.

Entering the classroom she takes her seat, sitting between Spirit and Wavegiver who were reading a scroll and power napping respectively. "Oh, hey Avalanche!" Spirit said with a friendly smile, rolling up her scroll as Tsunami came in. "How are you?" Avalanche looks at her classmate, smiling at her, albeit the smile is a little stiff. "I've been decent, just trying to figure something out, been a real puzzler." Spirit had a noticeable spark of surprise, as Avalnche's normal replies were one-word statements without even looking at her. "Is it something I could help with?" Spirit offered.

Avalanche was grateful she had a skyfire, else Spirit would have seen the thought that came in next after that offer. 'Oh I wish you could, I wish I was brave enough to tell you how I feel' "No, thank you, It's something personal." Avalanche replied. "But thank you for the offer," she added, brushing wings with the hybrid for a moment. Normally she disliked warmth, preferring the cooler temperatures. But Spirit's warmer scales felt good against hers. Making her linger for a moment or two longer than she normally would. "Alright class, today we have a different item to do, this time we are going to do some projects and discussions. For the project you will be assigned to a classmate and work with them for the next 4 weeks, here are the pairings."

"Alligator and Wavegiver," Tsunami began. "Sandstorm and Eagle, Mindreader and Treefrog, and Spirit and Avalanche." Tsunami finished, "Pair up with your partner and I'll discuss the details of the project. Everyone began to sit with their partners, Avalanche was both excited and nervous about being partnered with Spirit. She was excited because it would allow her to spend some more time with her without Avalanche having to try and find a reason to start a talk with her. She was more nervous, though, because She didn't know if Spirit was even slightly feeling the same war nor if Avalanche would be able to let herself be herself around Spirit. Or worse she slips up and accidentally confesses before Avalanche is ready to.

"This project is very simple but does include a large portion of your grade," Tsunami began. "You and your partner are to share as much detail about your tribe or tribes as possible and find connections or commonalities between the tribes. Now mind you this is meant to be a detailed presentation, so any low effort on your projects will cost you points on your final grade. How you decide to present your project's final draft is up to you. I paired you this way specifically because your tribes have had issues with each other in the past, more specifically during the sandwing succession. And Eagle?" Tsunami looked directly at the grouchy Skywing. "You cause any trouble, don't do your share of the work, or purposefully try to flunk this project just to be cruel to your partner, and I'll see to you never get reinstated in the skywing army. Is that clear?" she asked him.

Eagle snarled angrily, but nodded his hed yes. "Good!, you have the rest of this class to talk and start laying out your project." Tsunami clapped her talons together before heading to her desk, starting on some paperwork.

"Sweet! We get to see where the nightwings and icewings can get along!" Spirit said with a side smile, pulling Avalanche by the talon into a small space of the room. With her back turned Spirit didn't see the blush on Avalanches face, the blush that she managed to get rid of before they sat down and began to talk, and even though Avalanche was still nervous, she was ready to let herself be shown and see where this friendship with Spirit goes.