Chapter Text
It was dawn. Shimmering golds and yellows danced across the ocean and warmed the horizon. The first of the morning sun sent beams of light dancing across Avalanche's scales, turning them to fire. She sat on the sand, Talon slotted under her wing, head on her chest, watching the break of a new day.
Further down the beach, just above the tideline, Hvitur the IceWing lay unconscious and lucky to be alive. His wings were torn and ripped to the point where flight was impossible. The SkyWing guards must've caught him, Avalanche knew that ripping a dragons wings to shreds and letting them fall was a particularly nasty punishment, reserved for the worst criminals. Hvitur was lucky to have been over the ocean when he was dropped, the tides must have carried him here. The ice dragon was yet to wake, but Talon was optimistic, so Avalanche decided she would be too.
Beyond Hvitur, in the shallows, three SeaWing sat, wings hunched and expressions grim. Nautilus, Cuttlefish and Bay had swept in long before dawn with the news that Nautilus was self-exiled, and soon to be formally exiled. They hadn't seemed inclined to offer any more explanations so Avalanche and Talon had left them to talk amongst themselves.
So Avalanche and Talon sat on the sand and watched the yellow and gold clouds give way to the stunning blue of the morning sky.
Finally, Talon asked, "What do you think?"
Avalanche's thoughts had been nothing but chaos for days. She didn't know what she thought about anything that had happened.
She answered anyway, "I think that you're good at keeping promises."
"Huh?"
“Well, you said you’d go to the sea. Here you are.”
“In that case, you’re better at it. You said you’d follow me and that's a much bigger risk to take.”
Avalanche smiled, still watching the sky, “It was worth the risk.”
"Oh good, I'd hate for you to fly all this way for nothing," Talon quipped.
Avalanche flicked her tail to send sand spraying up over his claws, "On the other claw, I can't stand the smart-mouthed SkyWing who I'm stuck with."
Talon jumped to his feet to shake the sand off his claws, glowering at her, "You know, if you keep complimenting me my head won't fit on my shoulders."
“I was just teasing.” Avalanche assured him, twining her tail around his. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Talon said, sitting down beside her once more. A serious look crept across his face, one Avalanche recognised as him being deep in thought.
"Go on, spit it out," She said.
"If you were to go back and re-live these past few days, would you change anything?" He asked.
Avalanche thought of flying with Talon, of the dance, of running away and finding him on the outskirts of the kingdom, of seeing the ocean and meeting Nautilus, of being absolutely and completely free.
"Nothing."
"Really?"
“Well. Maybe I’d’ve tried to leave everything on a better note with Kestrel. She kind of hates me now.” Avalanche admitted.
“I’d plan a much cooler escape.” Talon decided.
“What? Escaping with your scales intact wasn’t good enough?”
“Not enough explosions.”
Avalanche laughed.
“On a serious note," Talon said, clawing at the sand beneath his talons. "I was thinking that maybe if I’d worded my speech to Scarlet better, then maybe I could have convinced her.”
“I don’t think so. Scarlet isn’t the kind of dragon who listens to words.”
“Well, maybe not Queen Scarlet. But maybe if I have a good enough pitch, I could convince other dragons. Like, I don’t know . . . Queen Moorhen? Or Queen Glacier?” Talon suggested. “Or, maybe not queens, but . . . there must be dragons out there that can be convinced that this war is wrong. Maybe some don’t even need to be convinced. Maybe a lot of dragons hate the war, but don’t think they have an escape. And so maybe we can do something about that, give them that escape.”
“Like, form a movement? An organised rebellion?” Avalanche asked.
“Yeah.” Talon nodded. “We could call it, um . . . TalonWings!”
“TalonWings?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s a little egotistical.”
“The name’s a work in progress.”
“I can tell.”
“But,” Talon said seriously, “do you think it’s a good idea?”
“Yeah. I think so.” Avalanche said. “I think there's a lot of dragons out there who need us.”
“Do you think Nautilus and Hvitur need us? Do you think they'll join us?” Talon asked.
“Nautilus, yes. I mean, what other choice does he have now? Hvitur? Well, we really don't know him.”
"But maybe he'll join us."
"Maybe he will."
Talon left his head rest against Avalanche's chest once again. Above them, the sky was a pale, fragile blue, the sun low in the sky, a trail of glimmering light leading from their beach on Albatross Island out to the horizon, inviting them out, towards an endless sky of possibilities. And Avalanche was happy.