The Letters You Send Me

Chapter 6: Hope

Moon finished reading the letter to her friends and they sat there with wide eyes. "That's all he wrote?" Qibli asked, walking towards Moon and grabbing the paper from her talons. "Yes, that's it..." Qibli growled, "damn it Winter!" Kinkajou scales turned from vibrant pink and yellow, to a dull blue and grey. Her wings lowered and she looked downwards. Turtle wrapped his wing around her and brought her close.

"Maybe I can use my magic to find him?" The Seawing offered, looking around. Qibli shook his head "thanks for offering but we won't risk you losing your soul. Wouldn't want another Darkstalker..." "Or Albatross," Turtle finished, tucking his free wing against himself.

Peril snorted loudly, causing more smoke to risk from her scales "arg! This is all so... So frustrating. I swear when I find Winter I'll-" She spun around, slowly burning talon marks in the stone as she kept muttering to herself. Moon smiled and looked up at Qibli who looked at the letter attentively, then he gasped.

"I know where Winter could be!"

Everyone became silent "where?" Kinkajou asked, her scales going into bright yellow. "We exchanged letters after we defeated Darkstalker and he spoke to me about this- This lake near Claws of the Cloud Mountains. He could be near there or-or-or someone there knows where he went!" Qibli spun around and looked at the sun which was just over the horizon, then at Moon "it's not even a half a day's flight from here. We can make it there before noon if we leave now."

Moon wagged her tail and looked at Peril "got it." They all took off out of the cave following Peril who cleared the path.

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Qibli flew next to Moon who was gripping the letter and fiddling with the edges. "Uh... Moon?" Moon shook her head and looked at the Sandwing "yeah?" He took a deep breath "Moon, listen. I don't want to be negative here but what happens if we can't find Winter?" Moon knew this question would pop up. "I- I don't know. I just feel bad, like everything that's happened is my fault." Qibli sighed and grabbed Moon's talons and held them in his "don't worry. It's not your fault, you didn't do anything wrong. Alright?"

She nodded "and besides, if he does say it's your fault I'll be there to claw some sense into him." Moon chuckled and smiled "thank you Qibli," he nodded before noticing her eyes rolling back and her breath becoming ragged.

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She was at a lake. It was surrounded by mountains and there were many fish swimming around, avoiding lily pads and rocks, as well as dragons fishing. Then, she looked back and saw a tall white dragon, it was an Icewing. The dragon had icy-blue scales on their back and had big, bright blue eyes. The Icewing looked nervous and had a basket with them, it looked like they had just been shopping. The dragon began talking to her and smiled, before pointing at a rock.

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"Winter!" Moon yelled. Waking up from her vision. She panted and noticed pale yellow scales under her "Moon, are you alright? What did you see?" "I saw Winter! He's at the lake! It looks like he just finished shopping." 

The dragons looked at each other with hopeful smiles, before at each other and began talking. "Thanks for carrying me Qibli, it means a lot."

"No problem! That's what I'm here for." Moon slid off his back and flapped her wings and flew next to him with a smile. "We're almost there!" Peril yelled, looking back at the dragons who were following her.

With a few more wingbeats, they arrived in a small village with dragons of all tribes, even hybrids walking around with baskets, scrolls, and bags. Kinkajou smiled "hey! I recognize this place, this is Sanctuary! Winter told me about this when we were hunting scavengers. He was helping the Talons of Peace with this." She whirled around, getting some confused glances from other dragons around.

Moon looked around and noticed what looked like to be a Sea-Sky hybrid reading a scroll on a bench. The dragon had long twisted dark brown horns and pale red scales that fade to blue at the tail. At the top of their neck, there were red gills and some fins on their chest and on their back were spikes that were attached by a thin flap of fin which was pale blue. They had bright red eyes and big red wings with a glowing heart pattern.

"Um... Excuse me?" Moon asked, walking forward. "Oh. Hello." They responded, Moon could tell they were kind because of how warm of a smile the dragon gave her. "I'm Angelfish. It's nice to meet you, welcome to Sanctuary." "I'm Moonwatcher, but call me Moon. The Sandwing is Qibli, the Rainwing is Kinkajou, the Seawing is Turtle and the Skywing is Peril." "Hi" "hey" "hello" "Hi!"

Angelfish smiled "what can I help you with?" Qibli stepped forward "we're looking for a Icewing, um... About yay tall, grumpy... Looks like he's about to claw someone? Maybe he has a pet Scavenger?" The hybrid chuckled "wow, sounds like you guys are friends." 

Angelfish put the scroll down and stood up "I know who you're talking about... But to make sure we're on the same page.... You're talking about the Icewing Prince right?" "Yes!" Kinkajou said "yeah that's him!"

"Alright, follow me."

Angelfish began walking in a direction and everyone followed, looking around at the different houses and dragons walking in and out of them. Suddenly, they were out of the village and in the distance, they saw a shimmering lake, lined with many docs and rocks as well as trees and tall mountains surrounding the lake. "We call this Lake Moon, because at night, the moon reflects on the water perfectly and it's just so- BEAUTIFUL!" 

Just then, Angelfish smiled "the dragon you're looking for is right over there." Everyone looked over and saw the Prince there, looking at the berries on a bush. 

"Winter!"

He snapped his head up in surprise, but didn't have time to react because the dragons were rushing towards him. "What are you- Oof!" Everyone (besides Peril) slammed into the Icewing and hugged him "Winter! We were so worried about you!" "How've you been man?" "Don't you ever scare us like that again!"

Everyone got off the Icewing. "What in the Great Wall..." He murmured, standing up. But then, their ears dropped "you're not Winter..." Kinkajou noted, looking closer. 

"No, I'm his brother Hailstorm."

Moon looked down "s-sorry... But... Do you know where he is?" Hailstorm shook his head, "no, sorry." Moon walked in the lake and dipped her claws in it, feeling the nice, cool water on her scales. Hailstorm looked at the rest of the winglet and smiled "why don't you guys go pick some berries on the bushes? They're really good in soups."

Everyone nodded before going to bushes here and there to pick out berries. "Hey, I remember you... But not your name sorry." "Moonwatcher." "Well, then, I think my brother left something behind for you..." He said, pointing to a rock.

Moon looked closely and then noticed that the rock had a small glint of silver. She slowly walked towards it and picked it up. Then, little by little, the dirt came off and it revealed a five pointed star, it looked like a crystal. And Moon knew. This was it, her chance to find Winter. 

Because she had a Dream Visitor in her talons.