Strawberries and Darkness

Character Facts #12

Here comes Winter:

1. In the Sanctuary, Winter works closely with Riptide as he helps Riptide run the whole place. Of course, Winter has his main passion and the work he does.

2. The friend that Winter claims to be meeting when Mink and Peacemaker are on the trip to visit him is another Icewing named Mistral. She ran away from the Ice Kingdom years back to escape the Icewing system before seeking shelter and joining the Talons of Peace.

3. Winter still has a bit of romantic feelings for Moon even through the years. It's lessened over time still but he always has a soft spot for her.

4. Winter keeps all of the gifts that Mink gives him like the Ice Sculpture, he even makes sure to blast frost breath throughout the day every day to keep the Ice Sculpture from melting.

5. Winter doesn't have any sort of negative opinion about Peacemaker as he kind of sees him as "that one nice hybrid" or "Mink's friend." Winter does enjoy chilling with Peacemaker and likes the company he brings.

6. There are two oddities about Peacemaker that Winter had noticed. One, he was still blown away that a Rainwing and Nightwing could come together enough to have a dragonet this early knowing their tribal relationship, and two, Moon's weird concern over him. Other than that, Winter is fine.

7. Winter does send and receive letters for/from his friends(Gradutinag Jade Winglet) from time to time. However, recently letters have been scarce and visitation has been scarcer.

8. Out of the Graduating Jade Winglet, Winter's least favorite is Peril. Not that he dislikes or hates Peril but because of how quickly he went away from Jade Mountain, he never got the chance to truly interact with her. Winter is more neutral.

Also, the feeling of burning to death isn't something great to remember.

9. As much as he hates to admit it, he does enjoy Qibli's company and jokes. He is quite close with him and compared to everyone, Qibli visits him the most. They hang around a lot.

10. Winter is also close with Lynx as they often talk as well. He enjoys that even if he was exiled or considered a Royal Failure, Lynx even with her high ranking didn't care much and stuck around with him. Lynx also reminds Winter of Moonwatcher sometimes.

11. As mentioned in PAIS, Winter is allowed to visit more for his brother and sometimes even his sister as well. Those times he does come back can be awkward as Icewings tend to stare at him like seeing an exiled individual walking through the kingdom.

12. Queen Snowfall and Winter are on talking terms but are not friends that much.

13. Back then he used to truly hate Darkstalker with all of his heart but now as he thought about it a little more, Winter realized that his tribe even after fighting to defend it...didn't care about him. He was still exiled from it, his parents set him up to die for the better son to gain back the number one spot, his parents were unhappy that Winter was alive, and they were taught constantly that Nightwings was to blame for most if not every problem Icewings had. As much as he hates Darkstalker, he wouldn't say he loves his tribe either.

14. Speaking of his parents, Winter still thinks about them and how they constantly made Winter feel like he was nothing but a failure. As much as he's angry about Narhwal's death, Winter thinks to himself and wonders if Narwhal would even care if Winter had died instead. It's a thought that siblings like Hailstorm and Icicle also have. Even if they grieved about their parents' death, would they come close to feeling the same if they had died instead?

15. Winter had met Sky a couple of times as Sky and Wren helped Winter speak Human. At the current point in PAIS, Winter knows it quite well and can hold up conversations with other human beings he works with.

16. The human that Peacemaker and Mink meet is a young woman named Vine. They had met when Winter was exploring an abandoned Scavenger Den and accidentally encountered her. Winter sometimes still accidentally calls humans, "Scavengers."

17. Winter is still unaware of what happened to Darkstalker as he is never told what happened by his friends. He does sometimes ask about it but Moonwatcher is adamant about "telling him later" or "when she's ready." He doesn't understand why or when is "later" but he tries to be open-minded and not force her. Lately, his patience had been getting thinner but he'll continue for now.

18. Speaking of meeting other characters, Winter does meet up with Cricket as they share their fascination with Human beings. Cricket also kept the human known as Axoltol with her.

19. Winter doesn't like being referred to as "Prince Winter," something Shard doesn't listen to at times as he tends to always refer to him that way.

20. Despite the previous fact, Winter likes Shard as well despite not knowing him much. From the few times they've interacted, Winter finds Shard someone he can relate to and also finds him quite helpful.

21. If Winter had not changed much, he would have most likely been targetted and killed by the Secret Assassin given his isolation from anyone else at Jade Mountain/other dragons.

For Winter, I think I wanted to show him more of the side he has after years of growth and reflecting on himself. He's become a lot more relaxed and cares less about tribes or status which also helps other dragons like Mink escape from such roles. This is also why he's fine with Peacemaker as Winter probably would figure out soon enough with common sense and logic that Peacemaker isn't treated well in the rainforest given how he is a NightRain hybrid.

I also think after reading Dragonslayer it would make sense for Winter out of any character to try to understand and learn human speech based on his interest. Speaking of his interest, the reason why I didn't want Winter in Jade Mountain Academy despite in Book 14 where Queen Snowfall grants permission for him to come back there was because I think it'd be better if Winter stayed a little away for him to continue focusing on himself before going back to the same group of friends who wouldn't tell him anything about Darkstalker.

Also, this move allowed fewer characters to cram into one setting(case in point, Turtle as I first struggled with including him without making him a background decoration. To me, Winter wouldn't also be on board with what Moon is currently doing or what the Jade Winglet had done and this sort of conflict in the beginning and end of the story is something I didn't want to include with the Secret Assassin. Lastly, I thought it would make more sense if, over the next five years after the time of Book 15, the Jade Winglet(Graduating) would start splitting off a little like how other students were described to move away or do something else after their first, second, or third year of Jade Mountain. The Jade Winglet to me is sort of a group forced together by Jade Mountain and the big conflict known as Darkstalker but without it, their different goals and what they would want to do would get in the way as Kinkajou would focus a little more on pleasing Queen Glory, Moonwatcher would focus on fate and trying to use her powers for "good" (ahem...PAIS Peacemaker), Qibli would try to focus on helping Queen Thorn, Peril would focus on being Clay's assistant and making herself more sociable with other dragons, and you get the point.