Stepping Stones- a Winterwatcher Short Story (OLD-2016)

Chapter 2

A few days after the incident at the Prey Center, Winter received his Winglet. He, along with some others, were in the Jade Winglet. As he and Qibli walked down the halls, they noticed Tsunami along with a SkyWing, a SeaWing, a MudWing, and the NightWing. The NightWing that captured his scavenger. His heart began to race at the sight of her, but he could not even begin to understand why. She looked over at him, as if somehow knowing he was thinking about her. He raised his lip in a slight snarl and she whipped her head back around quickly. 

What is she up to?

"Okay, everyone. As you probably already know my name is Tsunami. I'm the Head Of School so I'm prettyyy much the boss," the SeaWing princess said. Winter scoffed quietly under his breath, and Qibli wrinkled his snout in an amused smile. " Today you will find out your winglets. I wanted to introduce you all to each other. This is Turtle, my brother. And this is Umber, Clay's brother, Kinkajou the RainWing, and this is Moonwatcher." 

"But please, call me Moon," the NightWing interrupted quickly, shooting the group a shy smile. Wow ...look at her scales. The ones near her eyes are remarkable. I thought NightWings only had silver scales under their wings. Winter thought. Moon caught him looking at her and she gave him a small smile. Winter immediately looked away. She frowned and turned back around. 

"Moon the NightWing, Prince Winter of the IceWings,  Qibli of the SandWings, and Carnelian of the SkyWings. I hope you guys enjoy getting to know each other this semester. We figured you'd fit together well. If you need anything, don't hesitate to come and find me or one of my friends." She nudged Turtle affectionately before taking off down the hallway. He looked after her before looking back to the others.

"Turtle and I are gonna go get some food from the prey center," Umber said, already walking away with the SeaWing.

"See you guys later," Qibli said, waving at the departing dragons before turning back around to face Winter and Moon. 

"Hey! You're the NightWing from a few days ago right?" Qibli asked, walking over to her. He nudged her playfully with his wing and she shot him a shy smile. Winter felt a twinge at his chest and flattened his ears, suddenly agitated. Ever since his ... unfortunate exchange with Moon days before, he had been thinking about her more than he cared to admit. Not that he would admit that to anyone ever, anyways. As much as he wanted to hate her, seeing her be friendly with Qibli was more than he could bare. He took in a quiet, deep breath before listening to them again. 

"Yes." Moon replied shyly. "Although I hope we can forget about that. I'm sorry again, by the way." She looked at Winter who frowned disapprovingly. Qibli shot him an unusually hostile look and Winter sighed. 

"Look, I'm sorry about the other day, too, " Winter said, reaching his wing out to touch Moon's. 

Oh, my moons. What am I doing? Use your head, Winter.

 But to his surprise, she reached her wing out and gently touched his wing, too. His cold wing made Moon flinch, but she didn't pull away. They sat there like that briefly before she pulled her wing back and sparked up a conversation with Qibli. The three chatted all the way back to their rooms, but Winter stayed silent.

What was that? he thought, shaking his head as they walked. Shoot. IceWings and NightWings have been natural enemies for centuries. Why am I struggling to hate her so much? As if I needed to give my parents any more reasons to see me as a massive disappointment. Here I am chumming it up with a NightWing.