NOTE: The following is a fanfiction inspired by Tui T Sutherland's "Wings of Fire" saga. "Wings of Fire" does not belong to me, and much of the material included in this story is fanon, not canon, though several canon characters will be making appea...
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When Lemming woke up, she found herself in a dark room with a MudWing standing over her.
"She's awake, then," the MudWing said. She padded off and then back again, dabbing something soft and wet on Lemming's eyes.
"Don't try to speak yet," the MudWing said. "You won't be able to speak for a few weeks. You, IceWing dragonet, are very lucky."
Lemming blinked rapidly as she tried to examine the room. There were several shelves in the back of the room covered in bottles and boxes, and to her left and right there seemed to be light from windows. Plants curled on either side of her, and she appeared to be lying on a wooden table.
"Go back to sleep now, IceWing," the MudWing said. "My name is Mayfly, one of the healers of Possibility."
One of the healers of possibility...
Lemming couldn't fully register what the MudWing meant before she closed her eyes again and was sucked into the void of sleep.
- - - ~❄️~ - - -
"Try to speak now," Mayfly said, weeks after Lemming's arrival in the city.
"Hel... Hello?" Lemming said. Her voice cracked a couple times, and her voice seemed a little higher pitch than usual, but she could talk now.
"Good!" Mayfly said. "Try to say your name."
"L-Lem-Lemming," the small IceWing said.
"Lemming," Mayfly repeated to herself.
"Where... Where have I been for the... for the past three weeks?" Lemming asked.
"You are in a city known as Possibility," Mayfly replied. "This is a city of mainly SkyWing, SandWings, and some other MudWings that stands at the border between the Kingdom of Sand and the Sky Kingdom on the Great Five-Tail River. It was originally a SandWing and a SkyWing town until the two joined together and built a bridge across the river to unite."
"How... How is it... p-possible?" Lemming asked.
"Simple; we all wanted peace and harmony, so we worked together," Mayfly said.
Lemming slowly climbed off the table and looked around again. Mayfly curled her tail around her talons, and Lemming could see the scarring of frostbreath on its tip. As Lemming lowered her head to sniff it, Mayfly moved her tail back behind her.
"Were you a soldier?" Lemming asked.
"Yes," Mayfly replied. "I stopped fighting after I nearly lost my tail to an army of IceWings."
Lemming remembered a battle where she fought a group of MudWings. It was a bloodbath, and she had seen a MudWing clutching her tail...
Lemming gasped.
"What?" Mayfly asked.
Lemming shook her head.
"Oh." Several emotions crossed the MudWing's face; first surprise, then a flash of anger and bitterness, then remorse. "Well, you weren't the one who did it to me," Mayfly said at last. "Truth be told, I have trouble talking to IceWings. You are an interesting case. How old are you?"
"S-Seven," Lemming said. "I'm-I'm small."
"Oh, wow," Mayfly said. "So you're not a dragonet."
Lemming shook her head.
"Well, now that you're able to talk, I have a question for you, Lemming," Mayfly said.
"What's that?" Lemming asked curiously.
"Are you going home, or staying here?" Mayfly asked.
Almost immediately Lemming wanted to say "home", but she stopped.
She could go home, back at the Ice Kingdom, with her father, be drafted back into the war, and live her life similar to she had before she met Owl.
Or, she could stay here. She could live in peace, find a new purpose, and maybe make new friends who wouldn't discriminate against her for being small.
"Where would I stay if I were to stay here?" Lemming asked.
"You could make your own place, or pick an empty one," Mayfly said. "Possibility is always looking for new residents."
"Then I want to stay," Lemming said, finally.
"Welcome to Possibility, Lemming," Mayfly said, smiling warmly.
Welcome to possibility, Lemming thought to herself. A possibility of a good future and new life. A chance at peace, if I work at it.
"Thank you," Lemming said to Mayfly.
"You're welcome," Mayfly said. "I'm going to nurse you for a few more weeks and then you can start working on your own place."
Lemming nodded in accordance.
She had survived, and her survival was rewarded with peace and new life.
Lemming would miss Owl and the other dragons she had known, but here she could meet new dragons and new friends.
As Lemming nodded, she committed herself to a new life of peace. A life away from the war. A life after her trauma and pain.
For the first time in her life, she knew what it meant to be truly free.
