Ice, Night, shifting glaciers under the moonlight. Enemies, yet love was born. Trust was never to appear in the first place.

Yet here they were. Winter, the menacing and fierce IceWing that had threatened every NightWing and vowed to kill all of them-

-had fallen in love with one.

Out of all the dragons, out of all the tribes, out of all- out of all- Nightwings, it was the one that had lied and deceived him and read his secrets like an open scroll and kept quiet while she unlocked the darkest parts of his mind.

Yet.

Yet.

He knew. He had known that something was wrong with him- something was so wrong with him- when he heard Moon laugh the first time, when talking to Kinkajou. The melodic sound of gentleness, kind of like the shifting of ice that fell like rain, jingling like the peal of bells.

It was nothing he'd ever heard before, and he remembered trying to do anything to hear that sound again.

What was wrong with him? An IceWing was never supposed to be with a NightWing. It wasn't even a rule, it was a fact, it was logic, it was something so obvious to many IceWings and aristocrats in the Ice Kingdom.

And he was royalty. He was the nephew of Queen Glacier, the brother to the potential IceWing Queen soon. He needed to be someone that dragons looked up to.

Moon.

That name- it made him feel like cold ice was slithering down his throat- like small snowflakes were settling in his stomach- and he wanted that feeling too, to be with her to feel that way.

No. What was even worse was that he had feelings for her. A NightWing. Three moons, he couldn't do anything right. He had to be one of the most stupid and ridiculous IceWings in history.

"Winter?" That voice, quiet, soft, gentle and melodious at the same time. "Are you alright?"

Winter turned to look at Moon, his blue article pools of eyes meeting hers.

Moon, the way her head tilted like she was always pondering a question, or the way she drew her wings back like she didn't want to be noticed.

"Moon," He said, the name floating in the air like a frost-kissed whisper lingering in the air.

"Moon, what if something happened-" Winter blurted out, he couldn't be- what was he doing?- Winter, you stupid, stupid dragon I told you not to tell her or mess up or-

"-what if something like Arctic and Foeslayer happened again, like a NightWing in love with an IceWing?" As soon as the question escaped his mouth, he immediately wanted to shut his mouth with iron chains.

"I thought you believed that Foeslayer abducted Arctic." Moon, puzzled, wrinkled her forehead and looked at Winter. Gosh, she was beautiful.

"Uh. I mean. What if something like that happened anyway?" Winter asked.

"Well, the war is over." Moon answered, like that sentence solved every problem in his life.

"So?" Winter pushed further.

"So? That means dragons that were on opposites sides of the war can be in love with other as much as they want to. The war is over, there's no point in fighting or holding grudges anyway." Moon shrugged, her silver scales catching light and glinted like stars across the dark sky.

"Why are you asking anyway?" Moon asked back, her wings folding. She took a step closer, and Winter could almost feel her breath mingling with his.

"Uh. Uhm." Winter managed, and felt like his chest as going to explode at any moment. "Erm."

Light suddenly twinkled in Moon's eyes, her mouth twisting into a grin. "You like someone? Who?"

"I don't know who- what-" Winter nervously pursed his lips. "No. I don't."

"You dooooooo and it's probably a NiiighttttWiiiingggg," Moon teased. "Who is it? Who?"

"You."

Silence.

Winter awkwardly shifted on his talons, scraping his claws into each other as Moon just stood there with a shocked look on her face.

A cricket was chirping in the distance, and Winter decided by then to be very interested in the ground.

"I...Wow. Winter, I don't know what to say." Moon whispered.

"Um." Winter winced, his eyes scrunching up. "Well. You don't really need to say anything."

Moon was still silent and was trying to mouth out words. Winter sighed, scratching his forehead. "Honestly I knew this would happen eventually but..." Winter trailed off. "Um. I should go."

"Yeah." Moon said dryly, her eyes still fixed on a blank space. "Yeah. I guess."

When the IceWing turned back to walk off, he heard a small whisper of words calling after him, like the feathers of snowflakes brushing across his scales.

"I like you, too."