The Silver Scales

The Silver Scales Chapter 21

A princess's Dilemma

(Sorry for the shorter one and the wait. College has started up again, so I am going to be busy. With any luck. I'll be able to update a few more times beforethe semester ends!

Avalanche lay on the stone slab she had for a bed; the room was dark, and if Avalanche had to guess, it was around midnight. She needed to get some sleep, yet she couldn't, no matter how hard she tried to fall asleep... She kept thinking back to a few weeks ago, when Spirit was dragged into the ocean by Prince Abyss. Avalanche's gaze slowly moved to the hammock where Spirit was soundly sleeping. An image in her mind flashed to that same moment, seeing the fear in Spirit's eyes, the panicked yell as she was dragged underwater. Avalanche shook her head, looking back up at the ceiling. What's your problem? She's just a friend, and she survived. If that "Prince," as he calls himself, wanted her dead, she would have been killed instead of dragged into the ocean. Avalanche paused for a long moment, sighing as she began to realize something. These long nights have happened before. And back then, she had described Spirit as just an Acquaintance, the next night it had been a classmate. The next night, it was a clawmate. And now, it was a friend. Moons above Avalanche.... Maybe your Uncle was right, you are too soft to survive in the land of Pyrrhia.... Avalanche rubbed her eyes for a long moment before rolling onto her side, her back to the two dragons she had as clawmates. You need to harden yourself. Her uncle's, Narwhal's, words repeat in her head. Pyrrhia chews up soft dragons, breaks them, and makes them weak. Just look at Winter, running a scavenger sanctuary? Any real dragon would just kill those annoying little pieces of fifth instead of keeping them safe to kill another dragon another day.

Avalanche eventually fell into a restless sleep, waking up the next day at the crack of dawn as she always did. It had been a habit of hers ever since she began training. Silently, Avalanche got up and shook herself, her spines clattering together quietly before she left the cave. Her mind traveled back to the day of Spirit's "introduction" to the Abyssalwing tribe again, more specifically, what Avalanche had been about to tell Spirit before Abyss had grabbed her. Avalanche shook her head hard. No, you can't let anything be in your way, Narwhal's voice growled in her head. I want you to be different, to bring our tribe into a better future, one that's not the same militaristic life we have been living for generations. The war is over; we have no reason to act as if we are at war. Her mother's voice argued in her head. Avalanche sighed. Why did everything fall on her? Her mother could have implemented the changes, and yet she didn't. Well, she was rather unprepared... Queen Glacier had died while she was still at the top of the first circle. She hadn't been given a proper place in the tribe before being Queen... Avalanche thought.

Avalanche made it to the Prey Center, quickly snatching a few fish from the river and eating them, heading out of the Prey Center into a nearby crack in the Academy wall. She slid into an empty cave where she could train in peace. Her claws flexed as she ran through the different potential training options in her head: fighting styles, weapon usage, terrain, extreme weather conditioning, and mental acuity. Avalanche glanced around the room. The terrain was more or less the same, and no weather was going to get into the mountain; she didn't have any weapons, according to school policy. And I doubt anyone wants to try and test the wits of an icewing. Even if someone did, I doubt they would grant me an actual challenge in my critical thinking. Another session of fighting a solid stalagmite, it is then. Avalanche thought with a quiet internal sigh.

"So this is where you do all your training," a voice said from behind Avalanche, causing her to whirl around. "Mindreader, what are you doing here?" Avalanche asked. "I saw you slip into the crack in the wall, wanted to make sure you were ok," Mindreaer said simply, her wing still in a sling from her hunting accident a day prior. "According to Sunny, some of these tunnels and cracks have become unstable. And even collapse." Mindreader explained. "Why do you insist on training?"

Avalanche blinked. "What do you mean? To stay sharp in my skills, of course." Avalnche said with a slight sniff of disdain. "But for what purpose? There's no war, no battles are being waged, and surely you have been training most of your life, so you won't forget how to fight. What is the point if your tribe is not in a battle currently?" Mindreader asked inquisitively. Avalanched seemed almost taken aback by such a question. "I just told you why." "No, you told me why you want to keep training, not the reason behind it. I mean, just because your tribe wants to keep acting like they are at war doesn't mean you have to keep training for no purpose." Mindreader countered.

Avalanche opened and closed her mouth repeatedly, trying to find a response to Mindreader's direct opposition to her tribe's way of life. To Avalcnhe, it made perfect sense: you train and stay strong, what more was there? She shook her head, returning to her stoic demeanor. "You clearly don't understand, or you wouldn't be asking such ridiculous questions. Now, if you don't mind, I have to get to training." She huffed, turning around and starting to walk off. "And if Spirit were to be asking these same questions?" Mindreader asked, causing Avalnche to pause mid-step. "I would tell her the same thing." Avalanche hissed, lashing her tail dangerously as she tried to ignore the feeling of her cold blood rushing ot her cheeks.

"Mmm, if you say so," Mindreader said in an almost sing-song voice. "But maybe you should just consider it, you have no reason to keep training day and night, let yourself relax for a change," Mindreader said before walking out of the cave the way she came in, leaving a bewildered and blushing icewing princess to try adn compose herslef.

Avalanche shook her head fiercely, rubbing her cheeks with her talons, and she tried to stop herself from blushing. Who does she think she is? Question how my tribe lives each day. Avalanche thought angrily, her whip like a tail, hitting a nearby boulder painfully. Yet the thoughts remained, what would she say if Spirit asked her? Would Avalnche be as stubborn and persistent as she had been with Mindreader?? For the first time in a long while, Avalnche found herself doubting herself and her way of life...and what would become of her and her tribe if she abandoned that way of life.