"Night and Ice Do Not Mix" *Winterwatcher*

I Have Frostbreath, Not Fire

"Oh I don't mind if you do, but remember, pets can be a lot of work," Sunny said. "Especially a new pet you're still getting used to. You should ask Starflight if he has any scrolls on the care and feeding of scavengers."

"I'm sure I can manage," Winter told Sunny. How wet can this scavenger be! And he's so loud.

"There's a awful lot we don't know about scavengers," Sunny said, see how Winter handled Bandit. "Maybe your winglet can study him. And we'll tell everyone there's a no-eating-scavengers policy, but you still have to take care of him and keep him safe."

"No one would dare hurt my scavenger," retorted Winter. "Not if they know he belongs to me. Perhaps I should get him a collar and a label of some sort."

"Belongs to the nephew of Queen Glacier," Qibli suggested with a straight face. Hmmm. That is a good idea! Wait, is he mocking me?
Winter shot Qibli a suspicious look.

"But," Sunny went on. "is it all right with you, Qibli? It'll be in the cave you're sharing, so you have to say yes, too. Otherwise, perhaps we can switch you to a different cave, if we can find someone who won't mind the scavenger."

Winter cleared his throat for attention. "Perhaps you have forgotten that Queen Glacier is my aunt," he said to everyone. "My sister is her niece and therefore in line for the throne. Obviously we should each have a private cave."

"That would defeat the entire purpose," Sunny said cheerfully. "Living together is part of the school's mission of getting to know each other. Believe me, the SeaWing queen's daughter is here, and she's sharing a cave too. Besides, we haven't expanded far enough into the mountain for everyone to have their own cave."

"I don't mind," Qibli said. "I mean, I don't mind the scavenger. His owner is the one I might be allergic to." What! How dare he. Wait, does that mean he wants to share a cave with me?

"Don't cause trouble," Sunny said to Qibli while using one of her wings to block Winter from attacking his clawmate.

"I'm not!" Qibli protested innocently. "Someone should mention that the scavenger's not going to last very long though. It looks like it's wilting. Hey, what if it has some kind of disease or something?"

"It doesn't!" Winter growled. He held Bandit and poked him gently. The scavenger whimpered and flopped onto its side. No! You can't die! Winter panicked. He glanced around and caught Moon's eyes again. Winter leaned toward her urgently.

"What were you going to say before?" he demanded. "About feeding Bandit?"

"I — I just think I read somewhere that they prefer to cook their meat — is all," she stammered. "Have you given him anything besides raw meat?"

"If he's hungry, he should eat anything," Winter said grumpily.

"I think she's right," Sunny said. "I have a —" she paused and said, "I know someone who kept a scavenger for years, and I think he cooked all her meat for her."

"Well, how am I supposed to cook anything for him?" Winter demanded angrily. I have frostbreath, not fire! I can only freeze things!

"Someone will help you," Sunny said. "That's one of the many great things about making friends from other tribes."

Ha, like I would make friends. Winter thought bitterly.

"You could give him fruit instead," Kinkajou suggested. "Here." She walked over to a huge fruit pile and came back with a talonful of berries and a banana.

"Fruit?" Winter said, wrinkling his snout. "Disgusting." Kinkajou took a blueberry and offered it to Bandit.

"Here you go," she said. "Mmmm, blueberry. Eat that."

Bandit blinked and glanced up at Winter, then over to Kinkajou, then reached out and took the blueberry in both his paws. He stared at it for a moment, then bit into it.

"Ha," Kinkajou said, giving the scavenger another blueberry. "See? Moon was right. He was hungry."

Winter stared at Moon with suspicion in his eyes. "How did you know that?" he demanded. That's not fair! It's not my fault that Bandit was hungry. I don't even like fruit.

"Just a guess," Moon answered softly.

"Lucky guess," said Qibli.

Moon took a step back back, then another. "I — I have to go." She whirled around and hurried out of the prey center cave, everyone watching her.

I thought they said the NightWings couldn't read minds after all. So why does it seem like she read mine?

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