“Agh!!”

My head shoots up from the bedding, a cold sweat dripping from the feathers of my brow.

“Asha!” Kuro whispers in surprise. She’s standing above me, intensely worried. “Are you okay?”

Panting, I stare at her for a heartbeat, the haze of sleep clouding my awareness. “Yeah… was I being noisy again?”

“Another prey dream,” Kuro chitters softly, and her smile reforms. The light of an emberoot flame reflects cleanly from her merlot eyes.

A prey dream? That’s a funny way to describe a ‘nightmare.’ I’m surprised at how long I’ve been able to stretch that particular lie with Kuro; this is the fourth time she’s had to rouse me from sleep since we left the Grandfather Tree. At this point, she has to know my nightmares have returned.

“Sorry,” I mumble, forcing my feathers to lie flat. “I hope I didn’t wake you up.”

Kuro smiles, “Don’t worry, I was already awake.”

That’s only partially true — I’m certain Kuro doesn’t want me to worry about her.

After Sefri exiled me, we met with Tomcat and decided to return to Kuro’s Elderus den in the Great Valley. For a few days, everything felt normal. We hunted prey during the day and got to keep it between ourselves. As it turns out, Tomcat has a bit of an unfair advantage when she hunts in winter, thanks to her snow-white plumage. She becomes practically invisible against the snow drifts! But those same drifts doomed our stay as they grew in size until they completely entombed the entrance to Kuro’s den. Using our fire to melt them risked damaging the tree, so we were forced to flee to Flat Rock and hope their chevil, Bonello, would be more accommodating.

As it turns out, he was! Prey has been just as scarce at Flat Rock as it was in the Grandfather Tree, and landing in their aerie with three butchered Spikehorn was a great way to convince Bonello of our value as huntresses. I’m not entirely convinced he’s on our side, though. As I presented him the Spikehorn I preyed upon, there was a pronounced look of suspicion across his face. But the illness spreading through the Grandfather Tree has yet to reach Flat Rock, so there’s little reason to prohibit me from staying there… so long as our group keeps finding prey.

As Kuro turns away, I cast a glance past the emberoot fire to check on our den’s regular occupants: Fra, and her mate, Parth. Unlike the Grandfather Tree, spare dens at Flat Rock are much harder to come by. We were fortunate that one of the first Dragons who welcomed me into the flock was willing to again extend her kindness by allowing us to stay in her den. …For the small price of sharing our prey with her. It was an easy compromise to reach. And mercifully, my morning shenanigans did nothing to stir them from sleep.

“Mmh,” I murmur, exhaling a yawn. “It’s almost morning. Should we wake up Tomcat?”

Kuro frowns and angles her wing towards the entrance of the den. “It’s been snowing ever since sundown. If you’re still drowsy, then you should get some more rest. Maybe the snow will stop by the time you awaken,”

A frigid wind howls outside the den, causing chunks of ice to spiral into the snowdrifts. Lithans can fly in snow storms, though it isn’t particularly safe. Ice accumulates rapidly on your wings, weighing them down and making the gales harder to fight. And heavy snow can quickly conceal the moon behind a curtain of white, making it impossible to navigate by your senses. I’m anxious to hunt, but it’s not worth the risk of getting lost. We’ll just have to wait.

“You’re right,” I tell Kuro. “Let’s wait until it clears up.”

She smiles and scoots closer to the fire, splaying her wings to keep herself warm.

I turn in a circle and curl against the ground, ignoring the churning sounds of an empty stomach. Living as a Princess on the guided lap of luxury, I never experienced hunger until I flew to Felra. It fills me with overwhelming guilt to know that Ellyntide is in no small part responsible for the pain the flock feels every winter. When I become…

…

…If I become Queen, I’ll ensure nobody in the flock ever goes hungry again!

But for now, I wish to continue proving my value to the flock. Bonello may have allowed me to stay, but that doesn’t mean I have the support of everyone in Flat Rock. I’ve heard the whispers as I fly around the aerie… more and more Kin feel anxious about me. They wonder if I’m responsible for the illness spreading through the Grandfather Tree. Or the unsettling lack of prey this frostwing.

They wonder if Relmoon was right.

Death has not followed my tailfeathers to Flat Rock… yet. Just how precarious is my relationship with Bonello? If he kicks me out, then where will I go? How will I prove myself, then?

Lifting heavy eyes, I watch twirling bands of snow cascade through the entrance of the den, forming neat little piles against the stone floor. Falling snow is so peaceful and uncomplicated. I wish my life were like that.

Entranced, my thoughts numb before giving way to a gentle slumber.

“Wait a wingbeat. You’re telling me Farlanders build their dens inside trees, too?”

Tomcat gazes at me disbelievingly on the opposite side of the emberoot fire. Flanked to her sides are Fra and Kuro, equally surprised by my shocking revelation.

“That’s right,” I nod. “At least, the Farlanders in my Kingdom do. Nobody else has a tree as big as the Elder Tree.”

Kuro and Tomcat exchange skeptical glances.

Laying against her side with a visibly bulging stomach, Fra raises her dainty voice to speak. “And, this ‘laboratory’ you have. That’s where you learned so much about plants?”

“Kinda,” I say, curling my tail inwards. “I used it to start seedlings in frostwing before transporting them to the garden in greenwing.“

Fra blinks. I don’t think she understood a single word I said.

But that’s fine. It’s not like we can do anything else but tell stories this morning! The relentless snowstorm has kept us huddled by the emberoot fire inside Fra’s den. I’ve already told Kuro many stories about the Farlands, but this is the first time I’ve mentioned the buildings constructed on the branches of the Elder Tree. It’s not that interesting, but thinking about botany is a good way to distract myself from how hungry I am this morning.

Whump!

A muffled sound from outside Fra’s den interrupts the unyielding winds. It is the sound of a pair of talons landing amongst the shifting snow drifts. Parth left some time ago to search the communal prey pile. He must have returned with Fra’s prey. My gaze swivels to the entrance of the den, and I expect to see a burly, stone-colored drakon strut into view. Instead, a small drakaina appears, her copper feathers coated in wisps of wind-driven snow.

“Oh!” Fra chirps. “Frecci? Is that you?”

The healer of Flat Rock — who I met for the first time just a few days ago — steps in from the cold and shakes her wings of snow. “Blue skies, Fra. It’s good to see you and your lillet healthy.”

“Oh, well thank you,” Fra says, loosening a smile. Mentioning her brood always makes Fra a little bit flustered. “Asha’s telling us stories from the Farlands. Would you like to join us?”

Frecci shakes her head. “Actually, I’ve flown here to fetch her.”

Instantly, my feathers rise in apprehension. “M-Me?”

“That’s right,” Frecci nods. “A Kin from the Grandfather Tree arrived at my den a claw’s mark ago. Son-Of-Yzori wishes to speak with you.”

“Nakino?” I squawk. “He flew all the way from the Grandfather Tree just to see me?!”

“N-not quite,” Frecci replies quickly. “Sefri permitted him to visit Flat Rock. He wanted to speak with me about the illness spreading through the Grandfather Tree. It’s become quite severe.”

My heart rate spikes— this is the first news I’ve heard from the Grandfather Tree since I was exiled. I didn’t exactly leave on good terms with Nakino, but I’ve been nonetheless worried about his management of the illness. If he had to fly all the way to Flat Rock during a snowstorm, then that means it’s gotten bad. Really bad.

Frecci continues, “But when I mentioned you were in the aerie, he became quite intent on speaking to you.”

Erk…!

Ohhh, this isn’t good. This isn’t good at all. I feel myself slinking away from Frecci, silently pleading it hadn’t come to this. Me and Nakino never tied up our loose ends about Couple’s Night. We never talked about his feelings for me or the kiss we shared under the glow of those mysterious, iridescent plants. And now that I’ve been exiled from Flat Rock, this may be the last chance we have to talk about it.

I gaze through the flames of the emberoot to see Kuro, her face deathly serious and her wings raised slightly from her sides. Even the mere mention of Nakino’s name has her hackles raised. Since Nakino and I first met, Kuro has been particularly hostile to his existence. She never missed the opportunity to intimidate and belittle when forced to interact with him. After I learned Kuro had feelings for me, I thought she was jealous of the time Nakino and I spent working together in his den. But after he stood in silence as I was exiled, well…

I loosen my wings and jump to my talons, accepting what needs to be done. “I understand. Let’s go see Nakino.”

Blowing snow ravages my feathers as I step into the morning blizzard outside Fra’s den. Following Frecci by sight alone, I lope from the cliff and pound my wings, struggling to gain control against the howling gales blasting up the side of the mountain. Frecci’s den is at the bottom of the aerie, down in the grassy clearing where Kin often gather during the warm seasons. But today, the winds are so fierce that it’s difficult to even lower myself out of the sky.

We land in the clearing and approach a stone wall with snow piled against it. The healer rears her head back and unleashes a blowtorch of flame, melting the snow and clearing the way to a hidden den behind the snow drifts. As we step inside, the unmistakable scent of burning emberoot fills my nostrils. And it’s there against a back wall that I find Nakino resting on his haunches before a roaring emberoot fire. His frost-crusted wings are mantled before the flame, working to melt the ice that encumbered them on his long flight from the Grandfather Tree.

“Nakino!” I gasp. He more closely resembles a bowl of melted ice cream than a mighty Lithan. “By the Goddess, are you—“

“Asha.” Nakino turns to face me with a deathly serious stare. His facial feathers are frozen, and his eyes are drooped in exhaustion. The journey from the Grandfather Tree has drained him of strength, and he’s in no mood for pleasantries. “We need to talk. In private.”

Frecci gives me a sidelong glance. She knows nothing about the history between us, but it doesn’t take a genius to understand the tension in the air. I draw a deep breath and release it slowly through gritted fangs. Did Nakino really have to embarrass me in front of Frecci? For a fleeting moment, I felt regret about the conversation we’re about to have. But now?

He can suffer a little bit more.

“Okay,” I say, throwing up my wings in defeat. “Alright, fine. Let’s talk.”