Wings of Fire - Eclipse Burning (1)

Chapter 21

Eclipse huffed. "The nephew of Queen Glacier of the IceWings is sorry?" she smiled weakly, her face stinging at the action. 

"Ha ha," Winter huffed. 

***

Eclipse sat beside Clay in the prey center, chewing quietly on a pheasant Winter had caught her. He was being weirdly kind to her after the Icicle incident. Taking her to the healing cave and sitting beside her as she was taken care of . . . again. Taking her to the prey center where they ran into Clay and presenting her with the pheasant she was eating at now. He had hurriedly trotted after Eclipse got comfortable, saying a quick goodbye before ducking out of the cave entrance. 

Moon and Eclipse had agreed to tell one of the teachers, their pick. Moon had chosen Sunny and with Starflight still being shaken from what happened, Clay was the next best thing. Of course, there was no way she was going to tell Tsunami. Eclipse had seen into her mind and didn't think the SeaWing would particularly like hearing about how Eclipse knew her every waking thought and possibly what her future could hold for her. 

"That's. . . a lot." Clay said. Eclipse had just told him what had happened in the library. She had needed to stop him from rushing out of the cave when she brought up Starflight. "If Scarlet had Sunny or Starflight or Tsunami or Glory. . . or Marsh or Sora -"

"I get it, Clay." Eclipse stopped him before he could elaborate any more. He smiled and looked up from his boar. 

"How's your eye?" he asked. 

Eclipse had been lucky. The healers had said an inch closer and she would have lost her eye. It didn't mean it hurt any less though. "Agonizing."

"Really?" Clay asked sincerely. 

"No," Eclipse chuckled. "I'm fine. I'm only joking."

There was a pause. 

"There's something else you need to know." Eclipse said, her face twisting into a hard stare. She sighed. "Moon and I. . . can read minds."

Clay stared at her a moment, his mind silenced by shock. Then the feeling of doubt flooded his bones and he frowned at her. "But. . . those powers were never real, right? And if they were, you're tribe isn't supposed to have them anymore."

"I know," Eclipse said, looking away from his accusing gaze. 

"If you can read minds, tell me what I'm thinking right now." Then he began thinking of random animals. Stopping at a cow and wishing painfully that he had that instead of the boar. 

"You're thinking about a lot of different animals. And how you want a cow instead of the boar." Eclipse met his gaze. He was staring at her intently. 

Eclipse sighed. She explained about the full moons, and about how she and her sister had hidden their powers from everyone, and how she'd used them to overhear Icicle and Scarlet and foresee the future. She also added how their powers differed slightly and how the moons had turned their eggs silver. 

When she finished, Clay's thoughts were a mix of pity and curiosity. "That's quite a big secret to hide for so long," he said, studying Eclipse's eyes. "It must have been tiring."

Eclipse nodded slowly, she had expected something like rejection and disbelieve, but all she was getting from the cuddly MudWing was empathy.