Plus a heroic SandWing! So much drama already! I love school! I love it, I love it!
“Moonwatcher,” Winter muttered, deflating a little. There was something shivery about hearing him say her name, but Moon couldn’t tell if that was just because Kinkajou was having starry-eyed sparklethoughts about him all over her brain.
“Listen,” Qibli said. “This is my fault. I wanted a closer look, so I opened the cage, and that thing was halfway down the tunnel before we could even sneeze. But I promise you the scavenger does belong to Winter, so we’re asking you nicely: Please don’t eat it.”
“Get your teeth anywhere near Bandit and you will lose them,” Winter snarled.
“You are not at all clear on the concept of ‘asking nicely,’ are you?” Qibli said to him.
“Bandit?” Moon echoed. Who names their dinner? Or keeps it in a cage? She had a sinking feeling that she had terribly misread this situation. Why, why, in all the furious jumbled thoughts inside Winter’s head, hadn’t she seen anything about him not wanting to eat the scavenger?
“Indeed,” Qibli said. “The scavenger with the silly name is Winter’s pet. Nobody told me we could bring pets here, but I guess the nephew of the IceWing queen gets some special privileges. And if you didn’t know he was Queen Glacier’s nephew, don’t worry, he’d have told you sometime in the next five minutes.”
“I only mentioned it,” Winter said irately, “because it seems entirely obvious to me that the niece and nephew of the IceWing queen should each be given a private cave, so I wanted you to know we wouldn’t have to be clawmates for very long, as there has clearly been some kind of mistake.”
“Here’s hoping,” Qibli said. “So? Moon? Can we catch you a sheep or something instead?” Another million thoughts flashed through his head in the space of two heartbeats. What do NightWings like? Never trained for bargaining with a NightWing. Can’t be too different from other dragons, right? Start with food, but she doesn’t look like a dragon who thinks about prey a lot. Not treasure either. Scrolls? She has a cool, scrollish look about her. What can we offer? If she eats him, Winter will be furious. Maybe I can get him a new scavenger.
“I wasn’t going to eat him,” she blurted quickly, before she could get lost again in all the tracks of thoughts around her. “I didn’t want anyone to eat him. Nobody can eat him, not ever.”
Winter tilted his head curiously at her, and she felt his fury thaw a little. “That is exactly how I feel about it.”
“Great,” Qibli said. “Weird, but great. We’re all on the same roll of the scroll, then.” He looked expectantly at Moon.
She tried to block him out so she could listen to Winter’s thoughts for a moment. It seemed to be true: He was keeping the scavenger as a pet and would violently dismember anyone who tried to eat it. She didn’t think the scavenger understood that — he seemed as terrified of Winter as all the other dragons — but at least he’d be safer in Winter’s cage than anywhere else in the academy.
She carefully unwound her tail from Kinkajou’s and lifted the little creature into Winter’s talons. His claws brushed against hers as she did and she flinched, both at the cold and at the furious turmoil of guilt and self-loathing inside him.
“Ew,” Winter protested, peering at the scavenger. “You got him all sticky.”
Moon realized that her claws were still covered in crushed mango, and she’d gotten bits of it all over Winter’s pet. “Sorry,” she said softly. “I just …”
“She was just saving him,” Kinkajou pointed out. “You could actually say thank you.”
“Hmmm,” Winter said. Moon sensed Clay approaching along one of the tunnels, along with someone whose mind was warm and nearly as excited as Kinkajou’s. Sunny, she guessed with relief. She really needed to not be the center of attention anymore.
Winter took his pet over to the
“Moonwatcher,” Winter muttered, deflating a little. There was something shivery about hearing him say her name, but Moon couldn’t tell if that was just because Kinkajou was having starry-eyed sparklethoughts about him all over her brain.
“Listen,” Qibli said. “This is my fault. I wanted a closer look, so I opened the cage, and that thing was halfway down the tunnel before we could even sneeze. But I promise you the scavenger does belong to Winter, so we’re asking you nicely: Please don’t eat it.”
“Get your teeth anywhere near Bandit and you will lose them,” Winter snarled.
“You are not at all clear on the concept of ‘asking nicely,’ are you?” Qibli said to him.
“Bandit?” Moon echoed. Who names their dinner? Or keeps it in a cage? She had a sinking feeling that she had terribly misread this situation. Why, why, in all the furious jumbled thoughts inside Winter’s head, hadn’t she seen anything about him not wanting to eat the scavenger?
“Indeed,” Qibli said. “The scavenger with the silly name is Winter’s pet. Nobody told me we could bring pets here, but I guess the nephew of the IceWing queen gets some special privileges. And if you didn’t know he was Queen Glacier’s nephew, don’t worry, he’d have told you sometime in the next five minutes.”
“I only mentioned it,” Winter said irately, “because it seems entirely obvious to me that the niece and nephew of the IceWing queen should each be given a private cave, so I wanted you to know we wouldn’t have to be clawmates for very long, as there has clearly been some kind of mistake.”
“Here’s hoping,” Qibli said. “So? Moon? Can we catch you a sheep or something instead?” Another million thoughts flashed through his head in the space of two heartbeats. What do NightWings like? Never trained for bargaining with a NightWing. Can’t be too different from other dragons, right? Start with food, but she doesn’t look like a dragon who thinks about prey a lot. Not treasure either. Scrolls? She has a cool, scrollish look about her. What can we offer? If she eats him, Winter will be furious. Maybe I can get him a new scavenger.
“I wasn’t going to eat him,” she blurted quickly, before she could get lost again in all the tracks of thoughts around her. “I didn’t want anyone to eat him. Nobody can eat him, not ever.”
Winter tilted his head curiously at her, and she felt his fury thaw a little. “That is exactly how I feel about it.”
“Great,” Qibli said. “Weird, but great. We’re all on the same roll of the scroll, then.” He looked expectantly at Moon.
She tried to block him out so she could listen to Winter’s thoughts for a moment. It seemed to be true: He was keeping the scavenger as a pet and would violently dismember anyone who tried to eat it. She didn’t think the scavenger understood that — he seemed as terrified of Winter as all the other dragons — but at least he’d be safer in Winter’s cage than anywhere else in the academy.
She carefully unwound her tail from Kinkajou’s and lifted the little creature into Winter’s talons. His claws brushed against hers as she did and she flinched, both at the cold and at the furious turmoil of guilt and self-loathing inside him.
“Ew,” Winter protested, peering at the scavenger. “You got him all sticky.”
Moon realized that her claws were still covered in crushed mango, and she’d gotten bits of it all over Winter’s pet. “Sorry,” she said softly. “I just …”
“She was just saving him,” Kinkajou pointed out. “You could actually say thank you.”
“Hmmm,” Winter said. Moon sensed Clay approaching along one of the tunnels, along with someone whose mind was warm and nearly as excited as Kinkajou’s. Sunny, she guessed with relief. She really needed to not be the center of attention anymore.
Winter took his pet over to the
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