Ice at Midnight: A Winterwatcher Fanfic

🌑Chapter 16🌑

  "What exactly is going on here?" Moon's mother asked, more curiosity than anger in her voice. Moon wasn't sure whether that was good, or she was just trying not to make a scene in front of Winter, a complete stranger to her.

  Nonetheless, the small NightWing let go of him like her life depended on it, and though he seemed confused as to why, it seemed he quickly pieced together the clues.

  "Oh," Winter said, clicking his tongue. "I think I'm just going to excuse myself...don't want to get stuck in the middle of this..." he continued, clearly directed more toward Moon than her mother. Neither her, nor Secretkeeper, did anything to stop him from leaving the cave, his ears and face sporting a dark blue tone in a blush.

  Meanwhile, Moon felt her own face heat up like a hot spring as her mother entered the cave. She was anticipating some sort of questioning, maybe even a reprimand or punishment; Secretkeeper had never been fond of IceWings. Instead, she just sat down on the floor, curling her tail around her talons just like Moon did, motioning for her to sit as well.

  Moments of uncomfortable silence washed over them until Moonwatcher finally decided enough was enough, and broke it.

  "Hello, Mom," she said quietly, not looking directly at the older dragon. "What are you doing here?"

  "Visiting my daughter. Why else would I be here?" Her mother seemed awfully cheerful for someone who'd just seen her own dragonet hug someone from an enemy tribe. Moon knew what was coming and didn't get too comfortable, as this was a tactic Secretkeeper often used when Moon got in trouble. Usually she would avoid the subject for a bit before confronting her about it. "Didn't you get any of the letters I sent you?"

  Moon shook her head. "Nobody ever said anything to me about mail."

  Her mother exhaled heavily. "I knew that mail-dragon wasn't to be trusted...probably delivered them to the wrong place, or lost them...never mind that! How have things been? Have you made any friends?"

  "Things are pretty good so far," Moon said, blatantly lying to her own mother. Things had been far from good most of the time, with worries about Flame, or Winter, or the secret of her powers, or homework plaguing her the majority of the time she'd been here.

  Secretkeeper undoubtedly noticed. "I know that isn't true, honey. What's been going on? Wait - is that a scar on your face?!"

  "Well, the past couple months, there have been some issues between me and this SkyWing named Flame. I was out in the halls one day, and I saw him doing something he shouldn't have been, and he threatened me not to tell anyone or he would hurt me, but I did." Moon was rambling on now, and she knew it, but she just couldn't stop the waterfall of words from flowing. "And then somebody overheard me tell them, and they told Flame, and then he gave me these two scars with a knife," she said, pointing to the cuts on her face and shoulder. "And he cracked my jaw too, but that's mostly healed."

  "By all the moons, Moon!" her mother said, but with relief in her tone, rather than anger. She wrapped her in a fierce hug, and Moon just felt like she needed to cry. It seemed like she'd held back far too many tears here, and there had never been a shoulder to cry on until now, with Secretkeeper here. Sure, Winter could have been that dragon, but that would've just been weird, even if they had hugged already. 

  So, Moon cried, gentle sobbing breaking the blanket of silence over them.

  "It's alright," Secretkeeper soothed. "Maybe you were right, Moon. We should've just waited another year..."

  "No, it's not that!" Moon said between sobs. "I like it here, mostly. It's just that everything has been so stressful lately, and sometimes I just don't know what to do about it."