Peace and its Shadow

Chapter 17: Mystery here, Chaos there

"You ready, Peace?" Cliff asked.

"Yup, just making sure Awesomeness is in a good place where nobody could find it," Peacemaker assured. They were all soon about to start flying to Possibility. The wound recovered but ended up as a small scar which ended up being a constant reminder to Peacemaker about Clearblade and the incident. Keeping it out of his head so Moon wouldn't know became a little more difficult too. But he managed.

"What's with the bag?" Cliff inquired, looking at the brown bag hanging around Peacemaker's shoulder.

"Well, we'll be spending quite some time there so it's better to have some snacks along," Peacemaker explained revealing the bag.

"A bag full of strawberries? Really?" Cliff chuckled. Also a knife at the bottom in case I need it, Peacemaker thought. It was better to be prepared.

"Of course, I still love them, that might never change," Peacemaker smirked.

"Alright then, you do you but also here," Cliff called out, taking off one of the rings on his horns and tossing it to Peacemaker.

"What's this for?" Peacemaker asked.

"This is a festival so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have some style," Cliff answered as Peacemaker put on the ring on himself. "Besides, we match now." They both had the ring on their right horn. It was surprisingly light. Peacemaker smiled,

"Thanks, Cliff." Cliff grinned,

"Of course, anytime, you look great!" Peacemaker heard someone outside of the entrance to the main Winglet cave. Out popped Venuswing.

"Are you guys finished, most of us are waiting to leave," Venuswing informed. Cliff and Peacemaker nodded and followed Venuswing outside.

Venuswing was always mostly distant from the Winglet, though often picks arguments with Mink about little things. Peacemaker guessed that Venuswing was not a fan of royalty or maybe just Icewings specifically. Or perhaps anyone who is talkative though she never seemed to say any comments about Cliff. Like Peacemaker, she also had bags, though three of them. It wouldn't surprise Peacemaker if at least two of those were piles of weapons. Seeing Venuswing's height he guessed Venuswing was around one year older than Peacemaker.

They exited outside where most of the others were. Peacemaker first recognized his friends, then he recognized Sludgesnout in his corner of the group. Berrybush and Drytail were talking with one another. Finally, there were Peacemaker's older friends that he may or may not trust. Kinkajou was talking with Bumblebee, Qibli looked like he was asking Dusky questions. There was also Turtle who mostly just stood by Kinkajou. Peacemaker breathed in and out, relaxing his muscles and his mind so that he could finally concentrate on his thoughts.

"Peacemaker," Moon called out. "How are you? It's been quite a bit."

"I guess, I'm doing. Where are the teachers, or at least one of them?" Peacemaker asked.

"We're going to be the ones looking after your winglet," Moon responded. Sounds fantastic(this is going to be a struggle also who decided to trust the winglet who ran away the first few days of the academy?), Peacemaker thought. Moon smiled. Kinkajou who finished talking with Bumblebee noticed Peacemaker.

"Peacemaker! I'm glad you're alright we heard what happened last week, are you okay?" Kinkajou asked worryingly.

"Don't worry I'm fine, it was just one attack, though it did hurt," Peacemaker answered glancing at Sludgesnout.

"Well, I'm glad you're okay. But I have to say it's been quite a bit since we talked, honestly, it's like you've been avoiding us," Kinkajou said in a mix of happiness and sarcasm. Peacemaker studied her face. Like a lot of the other times, her eyes showed slight caution. Same with Moon but with Moon there was nervousness too. Three moons, it certainly was a surprising bit of time(I absolutely was), Peacemaker thought.