"Night and Ice Do Not Mix" *Winterwatcher*

Chapter 5

"And I'm Umber," said Clay's brother. "I think — I think we might have been in battle together once," he said to Carnelian. "I mean, you look familiar."

"Oh," she said, squinting at him. Her frown softened. "I didn't know realize you fought in the war too."

"Yeah, with my brothers and sisters — my brother Reed is our leader," he said. "But he said Sora and Marsh and I could come to school now that the war is over, since there's so much we wanted to learn. I miss him and Pheasant, though."

"They can visit anytime," Tsunami promised. "They can even camp out and live here if they want. The more the merrier."

"They're working for Queen Moorhen right now," Umber explained. "But maybe one day." His wings dropped a fraction of and inch, and then he pulled them back up.

"Well, I am Winter," said Winter.
"Queen Glacier's nephew," Qibli said at the same time. Winter straightened up and glittered dangerously at him. How dare he! I could kill him in one blow. I'll get him later...

"Don't you mock me," he said.
"I wouldn't dream of it," Qibli said innocently.

"If your the Head of School," Winter said to Tsunami, "does that mean you're the dragon to talk to about getting a private cave?"

"Why, yes, I am," Tsunami said. "And the answer is no."

"See, I'm your destiny," Qibli said to Winter with a cheerful shrug. You're so dead.

"Can we get on with the discussion?" Winter asked. "What exactly is the point of this?"

"The point is to talk about anything you want to talk about," Tsunami said. "To find out what dragons from other tribes think, and see things from a new point of view. I'm sure it'll be different when you have this class with Starflight or Clay or Sunny, but I, for one, think you guys should pick the topic."

"All right," Winter said. "I want to talk about NightWing powers." Winter noticed the look on Moon's face and was more suspicious and intrigued to the subject.

"Maybe we should talk about the war instead," the RainWing suggested. "I want to know what Queen Thorn's like. You've been inside the SandWing stronghold, haven't you?" she asked Qibli.

"Wait, I'm confused about the NightWings, too," Turtle said before Qibli could answer. "Is it true they don't have powers anymore? Just because they moved to the rainforest?"

"I heard a rumor that they never had powers in the first place," Carnelian chimed in, suddenly animation. "That they made all of that up and they've been lying to us for thousands of years."

"But what about the dragonet prophecy?" Umber challenged, flicking his tail. "All my brother and his friends ending the war? That was clearly real, because look, it came true."

"What is they're lying now and they secretly do have powers but don't want us to know?" Turtle asked.

Why is she shivering? Winter had noticed Moon shivering. Also, why isn't she answering our questions, or joining the discussion?

"It doesn't really matter, right?" Tsunami hedged. "The war is over. There are no more prophecies. We can do whatever we want, which includes ignoring the NightWings is we want to. No offense Moon."

"It matters if they were manipulating us," Winter hissed back. "Do they have powers or w? Or did they when they lived in their secret location? If so, were all of them psychic, or just a few? And how did they lose them?" He shook his head, his icicle-sharp spikes clattering faintly. "There are thousands I'd dragon who are still terrified of the NightWings — they deserve to know the truth."