Home is Where the Heart Is

Recovery

He had made it to Possibility a few months ago and he had to learn quickly. Large dragon towns like this had more living in it than either Jade Mountain or the Ice Palace. This was rather difficult for Winter as the lands around had been cleared for farming and livestock. In order to properly eat, Winter would have to travel a few hours away from the bustling town and deeper into the Claws of the Sky, or he would have to pay for food. As an IceWing prince, being able to hunt and supply all his food for himself was something he was taught as a point of pride, but here with so many dragons around and the thriving fertile farmland along the banks of the river lent most dragons here trading, bartering, and buying food and other supplies. 

However for Winter, coin was something that was rather valuable for him, as he had to work odd jobs and deliveries wherever he could. When he first arrived he had sat in an inn just to stay out of the storm that had almost caught him. He hadn't gotten too much food before arriving as due to prior reasons and he was still recovering from his time in that hole. If it wasn't for the kindness of a stranger he would have gone to find a cave somewhere in the storm and probably wouldn't have eaten for another day. 

He was tucked away in a corner away from the fire, lounging quietly on a cushion when another dragon had approached him. At first he thought it was another waiter asking if he'd like anything to eat or drink, but when he looked up he saw to his surprise an older dragon standing there; however, the biggest surprise was that the dragon was a hybrid. From what Winter could tell, he was a half SandWing and half IceWing, he had a dark dusty set of scales and a tan underbelly while his build was decidedly IceWing in nature. His scales even had the subtle sparkle of an IceWings, his head was crowned with a thick set of IceWing spines that started off rather pale before darkening at the tips, and finally his eyes were a pale icy blue in color. 

The hybrid ordered two bowls of the house soup and sat across from him, then proceeded to introduce himself as Django. If Winter wasn't in the position he was he would have spat at the rude dragon and demanded they leave, but he wasn't so prideful anymore to not know when he needed help. Winter begrudgingly accepted the charity from the stranger and they made small talk and Winter humored the older dragon. Eventually Winter had to ask why Django was helping him and the hybrid explained that while he didn't know the specifics he knew that something happened to Winter and he was crammed into a cage or prison for a long enough time. He pointed out how lethargic Winter was still, how his scales sagged off his body slightly, how much his limbs had slimmed down from where they used to be. He claimed it told Django that a dragonet had been partially starved for a long time and had probably been unable to exercise properly. Winter growled softly at the strange dragon and Django backed off and they quietly chatted through the night. It was mostly Django telling him some news of things that had happened. 

Django was gone the next morning, a few other dragons had stayed the night in the inn's common room like Winter and he found himself leaving quickly after waking up. He looked out on the sunrise and smiled, feeling a little better than he had in a while. He set about learning what he could from his new home. It wasn't the last time Winter saw Django as he found the dragon tended to stop by the tavern regularly every couple of weeks, he helped Winter where he could and even paid Winter to help transport some packages to a nearby town. Winter quickly found Django was the first dragon he found in his new start he could consider friendly. 

Possibility grew on the young IceWing over time and he found himself taking mostly construction jobs and working with Mudwings, Seawings, and Skywings. Even with the war long over now, things would occasionally grow tense with his coworkers; IceWings were rather unpopular amongst many dragons. He did his best, there was always a need for another pair of talons in such work and the pay was enough to live off of. Life here was like a casual apathy, most dragons just didn't care who he was or what he was doing until he did something to make them notice. It was so different from the rigorous discipline of the Ice Kingdom or the warm companionship that was at Jade Mountain. He managed to make some friends like a Skywing named Igneous and a Seawing named Waterspout. 

Igneous was the least grumpy Skywing Winter had met and worked in the post office for the town. Igneous was a dark red Skywing, so dark he was almost brown with a dark orange underbelly. Oddly enough he had coppery freckles on his face that reminded him of Qibli and Lynx. They had met when he had written his first letters to Qibli, Moon, and other dragons he knew. He had no idea what had happened to them after he was magicked away to the Ice Kingdom and wrote to tell them that he now lived in Possibility and was alright. Igneous, the belligerent Skywing he was, decided he wanted to pry, commenting about how un-Icewing those names were. Their relationship was rocky at the start but Igneous without fail always greeted him with a rather friendly manor. The Skywing was insatiably curious and was rather good at prying out small tidbits of information from Winter and then never seemingly forgetting them. 

Waterspout on the other talon was a Seawing who was a rather interesting shade of blue, in certain lights he looked like a dark purple in color. His under belly was a soft cream color and he was very soft spoken. Winter met him working one day and thanks to a near accident that involved the Seawing, Waterspout invited Winter to eat with him where he had found out that they shared an interest in scavengers. He told Winter stories of how scavengers made small vessels of wood and would float along in the Bay of a Thousand Scales. He even had a sketchbook filled with drawings of scavengers. Waterspout apparently also enjoyed art and even began to teach Winter something more than just casual lessons. 

Both were a few years older than him, so when he told them what he thought his age would be they both freaked out. Winter was always a large dragonet and usually passed himself off as a small adult as it simply made life easier. It wasn't hard. He was able to keep up with the other dragons he worked with for the most part, so it was simply something he didn't talk too much about. 

He wasn't sure why he threw himself in new connections, maybe deep down he was scared of being alone. He called these other dragons friends but they were so different in so many ways and the sheer freedom of life occasionally overwhelmed him. If he was to be honest with himself, and well he knew what lying to himself could cost him already, he was scared to be alone. Truly alone, a dragon without friends, family, friendly acquaintances, or a tribe. Without a place to call home. He was a little afraid of what would happen if he did become utterly alone. 

He got to interact with all sorts of tribes here in Possibility. Not all the tribes were here as there weren't any Rainwings or Nightwings, but there were small communities for every other tribe at least. The IceWing one was exactly as Winter expected and so he found a nice cave a ways from town to live instead. 

In his time in Possibility he also met the Talons of Peace or some representatives who told him about a new town they had started further up in Skywing territory that they were calling Haven. He reached out and ended up contacting the current leader of Haven, a Seawing named Riptide. Turns out he remembered Winter from when they came to the Talons for help in locating his brother, Winter however wasn't sure how he'd explain what happened or if he even should. There was the smallest sliver of fear about what would happen to his brother if anyone found out. 

He even ran into that Mudwing healer, Mayfly and her assistant Meerkat. He was able to thank them and told them Kinkajou had made a full recovery from her injury. Meerkat seemed happy but he couldn't read the older Mudwing much. He offered to pay them back some time if he could and ended up on friendly terms with the two. 

He eventually got letters back, but he never received any from his friends in Jade Mountain, though really, that was the bulk of dragons he knew. He only got the occasional piece of mail from Lynx and Hailstorm and oddly enough Riptide. He treasured what he got and even had a spot in his cave that was nice and dry that he could carefully stack them. 

Life was easier than it had been but it was also harder than what he was used to. He liked the hard labor, it took his mind off of things and when he had enough time he'd fly the countryside with a satchel around his neck carrying paper and ink. He had spotted a few scavenger dens and would carefully spend his time and research them. His life had settled down into a dull routine and while it could get boring and lonely, he really couldn't complain about it.