Wet snowflakes collide into icy wings as we pass through another cloud bank on our way to the edge of Felra. The stubborn cloud cover has made navigating the frigid skies botherso, but brief glimpses of the forest below are enough for Kuro to guide us. Flying to my right, she hasn’t said much since we left the Grandfather Tree early this morning. But then, neither have I, for I’ve been far too confined to my thoughts, recalling every incredible detail that happened to these past few weeks.
Kuro flicks her ears to follow and descends, disappearing as she slips through the bottom of the cloud deck. I follow her lead through a blanket of white, feeling cold drops of moisture pass over my facial feathers. Then the clouds part suddenly, revealing Kuro above a familiar curve of land, a small extension of brown and gold against an endless sea of swirling gray.
Archer’s Landing. The place where the adventure of a lifeti began and where it will now end.
Our final night at the Grandfather Tree was… awkward. Nakino and I agreed to keep our Redaga encounter a secret. I didn’t want Kuro to know Relmoon saved us, and Nakino didn’t want the flock to know how weak he is. Kuro arrived in the evening, ready to listen to as many stories as I could tell. But I felt quite distant, and I’m certain Kuro noticed it. As I told her the story about Professor Willow and his botany program, I watched her expression slowly flip from fascination to concern. All told, I could only recite three stories before claiming I was tired and wanted to sleep. By then, her enthusiasm had waned, and she seed equally prepared for rest.
I wish I could have talked longer, I really do. But ever since my encounter with Relmoon, his ominous warning has been playing in my head like a needle stuck against a phonograph.
‘Because she’s using you, Princess Asha Eloise Lordanou.’
It seems crazy to think she would do sothing to betray my trust just as I’m leaving Felra, but did Relmoon feel the sa way after moving into her den? Am I just the next Dragon caught in her crosshairs? Questions like these have been swirling inside my head ever since yesterday. But now that we’re over Archer’s Landing, I feel sowhat relieved. Nothing is keeping in Felra any longer. Even if she tried to do sothing now, I could simply fly ho.
As she brings to land by the continent’s edge, I can’t help but stare at her. Relieved of my fears, I can focus on saying goodbye to the friend I’ll never forget.
ROOAR!!
Kuro calls our landing, screaming against the howling gales blowing from the strait. We settle down next to a windswept rosewood fir and shake our wings of the ice that accumulated during our flight. Finding ourselves atop a ridge, I stare out across the strait. The clouds are tempestuous, churning and roiling against an endless sea of mottled gray. Can I really fly in these conditions?
“Well,” Kuro says, approaching my side. “This is it.”
I take a deep breath and slowly release it. “This is it. I’m going ho.”
I glance over to see Kuro staring across the strait, devoid of emotion. What is she thinking about? Is she bottling her feelings?
“There’s still ti to join ,” I suggest.
The guise drops, and she loosens a gentle smile. “My life is here,” she says. “And yours in Ellyntide. With your family. That is the way things are ant to be.”
I exhale, feeling my fears assuaged. She’s faithful until the very end. I should have trusted her more from the start.
Kuro scans the sky, watching clouds whip in from the strait. “I’ll fly up and check the winds,” she says, opening her wings. “You need to conserve your energy for the flight.”
That would be helpful. “Thank you, Kuro.”
She smiles like the sun, a ray of light against a world of gray. “I’ll be right back!”
Kuro calls her takeoff and leaps into the air, catching a ground-level gust that quickly draws her into a rising thermal. I observe her movents as she climbs into the sky, trying to commit every graceful detail of her flight to mory. This may be the last ti I witness a Lithan soar through the air. I don’t know what awaits when I return ho. The disputed island, attacking Nortane, making contact with my family… there are so many ways my plans could be foiled. I want to rember indelible monts like this while I still can.
Kuro soars in the air, rising and falling gracefully on the wind. Monts pass, then minutes. Still, she flies the sa paths back and forth. It occurs to just how long she’s taking to locate the calm winds. Has their presence diminished since yesterday? Relmoon warned that I must leave today, so they must be a very thin current of air… right?
Finally, Kuro begins her descent. As she approaches ground level, I strain to see her face, anxiously looking for any indication of how the flight went. Unexpectedly, she fails to call her landing and glides down before . Her face is grave like she had just discovered a corpse.
“Kuro?” I ask, holding my breath.
“Asha…” she drifts off, barely audible over the howling wind. She averts her eyes and murmurs, “ I— I can’t find them.”
“You can’t find what?”
“The calm winds. They’re not there.”
They’re… not there?
“But…” my voice dissipates like the wind sucked it from my throat. “…That’s not possible.”
Kuro shakes her head slowly. “Asha, I searched up and down the sky. I don’t understand why, but… they’re gone.”
Gone?
How could they be gone…?
If the calm winds are gone, then that ans…
“I’m stuck here.”
I’m stuck in Felra for the next sixmonths. I won’t see Mom, Dad, Sofl, or Duncan until next spring. My plan to defend the disputed island and appear as an ally to Ellyntide is ruined. If Mom has started a war as retribution for my death, as she did for my Grandmother, it could be over by the ti I return ho. Countless lives lost, and our cities attacked, all because I missed my window to return ho by a single day?
“Asha…” Kuro says, taking short and erratic breaths, monts away from breaking out into tears. She approaches and lowers her head to nuzzle it against mine. “Oh, Asha, I’m so—“
“Don’t touch .”
I whip my head away before she can get close.
“Huh?” Kuro blinks.
“You’re lying,” I seethe, all my misery channeled into hatred. “The calm winds are still here.”
Kuro stares at in disbelief. “Asha?!”
“Relmoon warned about you,” I snarl, lowering my head and stepping backward. “He said you were using and that you betray everyone you et. Well, now I see the truth, Kuro. Because without , you have to allow Enyll back into your den.”
“What?!” Kuro shrieks, rearing her head in feigned shock.She’s acting like she’s hyperventilating, but I know better. “Relmoon? You talked to Rel—”
“Don’t lie to , Kuro!” I shriek, flaring my wings wide. “Relmoon flew past here yesterday! He told he felt the calm winds!”
So, this is how it ends. This is how Kuro betrays ! I didn’t want to believe Relmoon when he said Kuro deceives everyone she ets. I didn’t think she had a reason to betray … until I rembered Enyll. I had almost forgotten about the copper drakon and the stipulation ldi made at White Mountain: When I leave Felra, Enyll returns to Kuro’s den.
Who could forget their snide remarks and constant bickering? Kuro would do anything to keep Enyll out of her den, and a convenient lie about the winds is a small price to pay for her sanity. Why would a Dragon care about my family and my Kingdom? All she cares about is herself!
For a heartbeat, Kuro is unable to respond to my accusation. But then she stiffens up, folding her wings and turning deathly serious. “Asha, I’m not lying!!”
“Admit it, Kuro!! You told how much you loathe Enyll! You’ll do anything to keep in Felra!”
Looking desperate, Kuro raises her voice and yells, “Asha, that isn’t true!!”
“This is pointless,” I growl, throwing my wings down in frustration. How gullible does she think I am? Frustrated and tired, I turn away to face the endless expanse of clouds. “I’m going ho. Goodbye, Kuro.”
I leap into the sky and pound my wings, channeling frustration to give a head start on my long journey ho.
“Asha, wait!!”
I ignore the Dragon I once considered my friend and quickly gain altitude against the winds. I can’t believe she would wait until now to betray ! Once, I thought Kuro’s kindness was too good to be true. I wondered if she would end up like every other ‘friend’ I had back ho, like every noble who tried to use and my family’s influence for their whims. Little did I know my intuition was right, and she was simply waiting until the right mont to betray . I should have listened to my instincts!
With thoughts of anger propelling forward, I face the brunt of the winds head-on. They’re just as strong as before, though I find it harder to maintain an even flight. Nakino treated the wound the Redaga left under my wing, but it hasn’t fully healed. With each flap against the gales, pain lances the side of my body. I have to persist!
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But I find them conspicuously absent as I reach the altitude where the calm wind should be. Confused, I try climbing higher, only to be blasted by more intense winds. Could the winds have migrated to a different level? Where was Relmoon flying yesterday when he—
WHOOOSH!
My world turns sideways as a great gust of wind, more potent than any I’ve felt before, blows into a tumbling ss of feathers and claws.
ROARR!!
Kuro’s cry rises over the winds as I fall from the sky. Too panicked to be upset, I recall what happened the last ti the winds of the strait blew off course. I strain to hold my wings open and allow my body to fall with the wind instead of against it. Slowly, the tumbling begins to slow, and the winds whip my body around, flipping into an upright position where I regain control of my flight. But I haven’t gone unscathed from the fall. Fresh blood flows from the wound under my wing, and I feel it tear open farther with each flap.
ROARRRRR!!
Kuro!! Argh, Why is she…?
I wince in pain, nearly losing control of my flight once more. I have to find so way to tolerate my wound, but how? As my mind searches for answers, I gaze into the roiling clouds above, watching them race off the strait at speeds that don’t seem possible. As I do, a grave realization dawns on .
…How?
How could I possibly find respite in all of this chaos?
…Was Kuro being truthful?
…
I’ve really missed my chance to return ho, haven’t I?
…
My wings nearly give out from underneath , weighed down by searing pain and the realization of just how wrong I was. I drift like a stone until I’m forced to flap and keep my flight stable. Would it really be so bad if I tumbled into the ground, though? Not only have I missed my window to return ho and see my family, but I’ve made a complete ass of myself to my dearest friend, the one who proved how loyal she was to ti and ti again. How could I say such cruel things to her? Why am I always such a fool?
“Asha!!”
Believing I deserve everything bad that cos to , I collide with the ground and tumble through the grass before coming to an undignified stop in front of the windswept rosewood. Dirt and debris cover my tattered body, but I couldn’t care less. I bury my head into the ground and sob, defeated and broken. I’m stuck in Felra, and my only friend surely hates now. Why do the worst things always happen to ? Why does everything I do fail? How can I ruin everything I touch?
I wallow in my misery until a force is applied to my back. Claws dig into my shoulders, holding in place. Instinctively I squirm, trying to dislodge whoever, or whatever, is on top of .
“Hold still,” Kuro commands in a voice brimming with frustration.
“Wha…?”
“I said, hold still!”
She sinks her claws deeper, forcing to squeak in montary pain. Unwilling to find out just how deep they can go, I stop writhing and allow her to rest on top of .
And then sothing unexpected happens. A tongue and a pair of fangs begin working the feathers on the back of my neck. The barbs are straightened, returned to their original shape, and licked clean. My feathers… they’re being preened?
“Kuro?” I croak.
“I’m grooming your neck,” she responds flatly.
“Wh… why?”
“Because I can’t stand seeing you this upset.”
She… doesn’t want to see upset? Why? I’ve done sothing truly unforgivable to her. Why would she offer kindness? Frightened and confused, I try to shake her off my back again. But this ti, she growls in response and pushes further into submission.
GRRRR…
Feeling my resolve wither, I allow the unexpected grooming session to continue. Slowly, as Kuro makes her way down my neck, my breaths beco longer and less erratic. But confusion turns to misery as the realization of my situation settles in. I’ve truly missed the window to return ho by a single day. My plan to defend the disputed island from Nortane has failed. I’ve failed Mom, I’ve failed Sofl, and I’ve failed Duncan.
But worst of all, I’ve failed Kuro.
In the depths of misery, I bury my head in the grass and sob uncontrollably.
Lying in silence next to the rosewood, Kuro and I watch the clouds in the strait drift across the sky. After my neck had been thoroughly grood, she laid beside , our bodies touching, and draped her wing across . I was still too miserable to acknowledge her gesture, but in ti I lifted my head from the grass and tried to regain so semblance of calm. Does Kuro hate now? Will she leave to fend for myself in the flock? The questions flow through my head like blood from an open wound, but I’m far too scared to speak up and ask them.
Eventually, a cold breeze from the north blows through us, and Kuro stirs. In a voice strained with emotion, she asks, "How much did he tell you?”
I draw a long breath and quickly exhale. It feels wrong to speak to her again so soon, but she deserves to know about my encounter with Relmoon. I gather my strength and say, “He told you were mated.”
Kuro remains silent and unmoving, her gaze fixated on the clouds. She’s not objecting, so it must be true.
“And after he sparred with you on couple’s night, you chased after him.”
“He what?!” Kuro gasps, staring at incredulously.
I recoil a little at her response, still emotionally fragile. I frown and nod silently when I recognize her anger isn’t directed at .
Kuro grits her fangs and soars to her talons like a voracious gust of wind. “That mud eating….”
“Kuro?”
“All Relmoon does is LIE!” she roars, smacking her tail against the ground in frustration. She whips her head around to face and growls, “Relmoon chased after . He begged to allow him into my den. All he wanted to do was spar so he could beat ! That’s all he cared about!” She steps away and flails her wings in frustration. “Did he ntion the kits?”
I tilt my head. “The kits?”
“No, of course he didn’t!” she yells, throwing her wings up in frustration. “After he lived with for a season, Relmoon was ready for kits! In a single season!! I told him ‘no,’ and he turned completely mad!”
He asked her to raise kits? Isn’t that normal? “I thought you had to raise a family to remain in the flock?”
Kuro shakes her head. “If you don’t want kits, you can appeal the rule before Keuvra. It rarely happens, but ldi told I have the right to ask him.”
So, despite all those lectures I was given by the elders, the rules of the flock aren’t set in stone. Or at least, the rule about whelping kits isn’t. If I’m spending winter in Felra, could I try to appeal that rule, too? Better yet, could I appeal having to take a mate altogether?
“Asha,” Kuro continues, moving to stand at my side. The anger on her face has been replaced by remorse. “I should have told you about Relmoon. I’m sorry you had to get involved this way.” She releases a sigh and stares at the ground. “And I’m sorry he lied to you about the winds.”
Wait, she thinks Relmoon lied about the crossing? But why would he lie to ? I’m only guilty of being Kuro’s friend! (At least, I think we’re still friends!) If Relmoon lied, does that an the crossing has been unsafe for longer than a day?
I release a sigh of my own and settle into the grass. This is all too stressful to think about. I should be flying ho to Ellyntide, not sitting in Felra worrying about drama in the flock. As I feel myself getting lost in my thoughts, Kuro returns to my side again.
Well, what should I do now?
Part of wishes I could remain at Archer’s Landing, waiting for the exact mont the calm winds return. But since that’s unreasonable, I have to return to the flock. More specifically, I have to survive with the flock. Staying in Kuro’s den during the winter is the safest option. But what about Relmoon? If I stay with Kuro, will I get drawn into their conflict? What about Relmoon’s account of their relationship? Who’s right? Who’s lying?
Those two Dragon are awfully similar, aren’t they? Both of them are fantastically strong, and both of them can claim to have saved my life. Kuro seems to be misunderstood by the flock, but I could have misunderstood Relmoon just the sa. Kuro has a fiery interpretation of what happened when she was with Relmoon, while his side of the story is much more asured and calm. Is Kuro being driven by blind hatred? Was Relmoon lying about his story, too?
Stuck in my thoughts, I barely notice Kuro drape her wing across . Her spiced scent drifts into my nostrils, reminding of our happier tis together. If Kuro is lying about Relmoon, is it wrong to remain with her? If I take sides with Kuro, will I invite more Kin to hate ?
Maybe none of this matters. It seems Kuro doesn’t hate , and I have to survive until spring. No matter what. So even if she’s lying, I have to trust her.
‘Life is full of unexpected events. You can choose to let the negatives define you, or you can choose to overco them. Embrace the positive aspects you can control!’
But I want to trust her. So, I will.
‘And rember, Cream Puff: There’s always a choice!’
Feeling contented, I scoot closer to my friend and fill my nostrils with her scent. Recalling the tis we were close, I rub my head into her chest feathers and release an unsteady sigh. My life has beco infinitely more complex since I left ho. But when I’m close to Kuro, it feels like everything will be alright.
I close my eyes. A heartbeat later, Kuro’s head curls against mine.
As nightfall approaches, the sun hangs low behind an overcast sky. Losing track of ti, Kuro and I have been watching the clouds roll past, keeping our bodies close to one another, never saying a word. At one point, I thought I should ask her about our plans for the winter. But it never felt like the right ti to interrupt the silence. Being around Kuro calms , and I desperately need tranquility today.
But it’s getting dark. As much as I wish I could wait here until spring, we need to return to the flock. I pull myself away from Kuro’s side and loosen my wings. “I guess we should fly back to your den.”
Kuro is silent for a mont before nodding in agreent. “We should inform the elders you’ll be spending frostwing with us.”
Ugh. The thought of seeing the elders again fills with an incomparable dread. The last ti we spoke, they were quite pleased with my progress in learning how to hunt. They looked forward to the ti I would leave Felra and secure their access to their old hunting grounds. But now I must stand before them as a failure, hoping they’ll believe my excuse for being stuck in Felra. They were already suspicious of , so how will they view now?
Kuro seems to have noticed my dour mood shift. She smiles and asks, “Aren’t you happy we get to spend more ti together? Because if I’m honest, I’m really happy about it.”
I give her a look. Too soon, Kuro.
Realizing her mistake, she frowns and averts her gaze. “Asha, I was ready to watch you fly ho today. If we had never t again, then... things would have been alright. I want you to reunite with your family.”
Kuro stares skyward and then turns her head away from . Her wings stir, and the feathers on her neck flatten. Is she trying to say sothing?
“But… since you’re still here, I just….”
She turns to face with an expression I’ve never seen before — a peculiar cocktail of calm contentedness, fear, and longing. She lowers her head in front of mine and passes the feathers on her neck — the most fragrant — past my nostrils. My senses are overwheld, full of the spiced scent I’ve co to know so well. She curls her head around mine and buries it against , rubbing fervently into my neck feathers.
“Hm?” she raises her head above mine and smiles softly. Looking down with eyes like sunshine, she asks, “What do you think? Don’t you feel the sa, Asha?”
I blink, trying to think of what to say. What is she asking ? She never finished her sentence. But she’s staring at so intently, ready for my answer. What should I do?
“T-the sa about what?” I stutter.
Disappointnt flashes across her face but quickly passes. She smiles and says, “…Nevermind. I’m just happy you’re here, Asha.”
Confused, I loosen a smile. Why is she trying to hide her disappointnt? If she wanted a truthful answer, why was she acting so coy? Why does Kuro act so weird sotis? Well, whatever. Maybe I’ll figure out what she was asking so other ti.
After all, we will have plenty of ti to ourselves in the coming months. I flew to the ‘Northern Continent’ with the goal of finding others like and learning how to live in this new body. But after today’s events, I find myself with a new goal: Survival. At any cost. No matter what happens this winter, I have to endure until spring. The calculus may have changed, but I can never falter in my commitnt to my family and Kingdom. Everybody at ho is counting on !
But, for what it’s worth, I’m happy Kuro is by my side. With her help, I’m confident we’ll survive the coming winter. On a sunny day in spring, we’ll return to this place and say our goodbyes in earnest.
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