The mountains were alive with wind and rain, a torrential storm lighting the sky and tearing apart the storm clouds. A pale, dull blue dragon was navigating through this dangerous barrage of torrential rainfall, flying with some very delicate cargo – pottery and glasswork. As a merchant and a crafter, she had to keep this cargo intact, otherwise her customer would be rather displeased with her. While navigating the whipping windstorm, her thoughts drifted. She found heavy and chaotic weather ironically rather relaxing and nostalgic, her home being the frozen north after all. It had been around three years since she'd been doing this; making and selling merchandise as well as weapons for any dragons interested in what she had to offer. Her white cape was a symbol for her craftwork, signaling to dragons that she had valuable things to sell and trade. The IceWing was thinking about more than just her work; she was thinking about her life in the war. She was no longer directly involved with it and instead just lived on her own while providing service to patrons on her travels.

       However, she wasn't just thinking about her life in the war, she was thinking about one particular dragon. It had been years since her brother had joined the Talons of Peace – a group of dragons dedicated to ending the war and bringing peace to Pyrrhia. He hadn't even written her a letter, not for a few years, and she missed him dearly. She missed talking and mentoring her younger brother. I wonder how he's doing. I hope he's accomplishing everything he wanted to. For Frigga, this war has gone on long enough.

       She realized that she was getting distracted and veering dangerously off course, and steered herself back on track, her unstable cargo rattling and clinking against each other in the wind. Her mind once again shifted to the Talons and talk of the Dragonet Prophecy. Tomorrow is the brightest night, isn't it? That means that the dragonets will be born tomorrow and stop this war. But before she could speculate any longer, she heard voices from atop the mountain. She could make out the shapes of four dragons, one of them particularly large, and another looked like an IceWing. She was about to ignore it when she heard an all-too-familiar voice from the IceWing silhouette. "Leave it alone!" Hvitur! Recognition pierced her like a spear and shock surged through her veins.

       She hurriedly dove under a crag in the mountain, close enough to hear them clearly but not too close for them to see her. In the rain, her scales were camouflaged reasonably well. She heard the voices of her brother, a female dragon, and two male dragons she assumed were soldiers. A SandWing that large... female... in SkyWing territory... that must be Burn. Burn was one of the three SandWing Princesses fighting for the throne and ruling the warring Pyrrhia. Coming upon this realization, the IceWing's heart sank and her stomach began to churn. Her heart was pounding, panic and anxiety surging through her being as a metallic sense of dread began to take hold of her conscious mind. No no no no no no, brother you need to get out of there! You'll be killed if you stay, what are you waiting for?!? She heard Burn's voice, and her blood chilled. "No more 'wings of sky'... I guess I should be careful with this... oops!" This was followed by Hvitur's scream and desperate claws scraping stone. She heard the whoosh of something falling and quickly dove forward. She couldn't see clearly what was dropped, but it must have been worth Hvitur's life if he was willing to die for it.

       She reached for the object, flapping her wings frantically. It was so far from her grasp. Her wings were beginning to tire, the rain and winds beating down on her wings and body. She saw the ground and cliffs quickly approaching and a single lightning strike illuminated the object. It was an egg – a SkyWing egg, and it was about to shatter. One thing was clear to Frigga, and it was that she couldn't let a completely helpless and innocent egg die. She wouldn't allow it, and she'd never forgive herself if she did.

       She finally caught it, her rough claws slightly scraping the delicate shell. A sharp gust bashed her into the cliff side, causing one of her pots to fall to the ground and shatter. Once she was back on a stable cliff, she quickly looked at the egg for any signs of damage. She turned the egg around and over, checking it's changing and shifting fiery colours inside the shell. She concluded that the egg was a little scratched, but not cracked.

       She flapped in a wild frenzy back to the scene when she heard a sickening ripping sound accompanied by a high-pitched agonizing scream. She froze and her heart dropped into the very pit of her stomach when she heard a wrenching spluttery crunch sound and choked wheezing. She landed on the cliff and watched her brother's moon-silver body tumble down the mountain, the snapping sounds of bones breaking echoing around the canyon. She saw the blood and venom seeping from a stab wound from his lower jaw to the crown on his head, his shredded wings covering the stone with pools of blue IceWing blood.

       She wanted to vomit, tears were streaming down her face and despair clutching her internal organs and squeezing them like a large snake. Hvitur...I'm so sorry...if only I had known. She couldn't help but blame herself. I wasn't quick enough...I was too late. She began to weep, the helpless guilt crushing her underneath its unbearable weight. The memories of them playing together, looking up to their older siblings, listening to their grandfather's stories, waiting for their father to return from battle... She wanted to fly down and retrieve his body to bury, but when she heard Burn's voice, she knew she had to leave and grieve later. Now she had something that was of utmost importance to protect – the SkyWing dragonet of destiny.

       She soon returned to her cave down south and was greeted by her apprentices; a deep blue and white SeaWing prince and a little pale pinkish-peach MudWing. "Frigga!" They both cried in unison, happy at their mentor's return, but soon realized something was wrong with their master.

       "Are you alright Frigga? You look like you just had a NightWing vision foretelling your demise." Whitecap asked.

       "Yeah, and why are you carrying that egg? That's not yours." Willow remarked.

       Frigga was touched by their concern, but was not in the emotional or mental condition to teach them tonight. She trusted these dragonets with her life, so she only saw fit that they know what happened. Intelligent and attentive Whitecap, and sweet caring Willow...I was right to bring you home. "I was returning home when...I stumbled upon Burn trying to kill the SkyWing dragonet egg of the prophecy." She began, smiling a bit at their sudden attention.

       "SkyWing egg?" Whitecap exclaimed.

       "Prophecy?" Willow said quizzically. Frigga quickly realized that she did not teach the one-year-old dragonet about the prophecy or most of their history. I'll have Whitecap take care of that tomorrow. I need time to rest...

        "Yes, this SkyWing egg. She killed my brother...Hvitur. A Talon of Peace." Frigga told them.

       "Talon of Peace?" Willow quizzed again. Frigga winced at her own carelessness. Oh...I have not told her that either, have I? Great ice dragon, I need to take better care of my own apprentices.

        "They're a peace movement, dedicated to bringing peace of all of Pyrrhia and stopping the war." Whitecap explained to the very exuberant Willow.

       "Oooooooooh, sounds really mysterious and important stuff-like-things!" She said, wiggling the digits on her talons like she was summoning magic. Whitecap gave her a playful shove and then pulled her towards him with his wing.

       "Yes, it is the 'really important mysterious and important stuff-like-thing' Willow." He teased. Frigga smiled at her Apprentices, their cheerfulness making the emptiness she was feeling inside feel slightly fuller.

       "He died protecting this egg..." Finishing, her pupils finally realized how much this death hurt their dear master, and Whitecap stood up straight and padded to Frigga. She held up the egg to the firelight, the gold and red colours glimmering underneath. Before they could ask any more questions, Frigga interrupted them. "The brightest night is tomorrow and this egg will hatch. They will not know of their destiny until they are ready. Hvitur died protecting this egg and we will take care of it. Act as their sibling and care for them...won't you?" Frigga pleaded. Without any hesitation, they both brought their talons to their foreheads and saluted her.

       "Yes, master Frigga." They both responded.

       "Good." She responded. She handed the egg to Whitecap, Willow's bright violet eyes looking over the egg. "Take care of this, put it where I hatched Willow." She instructed. Willow was dancing joyfully in place at the prospect of her nest.

       "Thank you, we'll take really really really REALLY good care of them!" Willow bumbled excitedly.

       "Thank you, my dragonet..." Frigga's mind was becoming dulled and she was suddenly exhausted. "I must go to my chambers to grieve. You have your assignment, and I trust you with it. Dismissed." She said as she walked towards her cave, but realized she was being followed by her own pupil. She turned to him and stroked his head looking at him adoringly. All her memories were flashing before her; not of Hvitur, but of other dragons. The dragons she left behind; her mate and her son.

       Looking at Whitecap, she saw how similar he was to her son. She soon realized that now...she would never see the rest of her family again. She wrapped her wings around him, all the tears she'd been fighting to hold back, making her eyes sore, suddenly began pouring down and her blubbering sobs were now escaping from her. You're all I have...both of you. And now...them too. There were no words, no exchanges of any condolences; just each other. Whitecap was holding onto his master tightly, trying not to cry himself, stroking the back of her head comfortingly as his mother's servant, Tortoise, had once done. He knew not what his master suffered, but he could feel how real and raw her grief was as he held her. But, he knew that she was a strong dragon, and that in time, she would learn to overcome this overwhelming and suffocating hopelessness and despair.

       Frigga let go of Whitecap and held onto his small talons. "Give Willow a proper history lesson tomorrow; my scrolls are in the storage cave. They should be easy to spot." Whitecap nodded and solemnly walked into the next room to sleep. Frigga sulked into her cave to sleep on her fur cushion. Her eyelids began to feel like lead, slowly drooping until she let exhaustion take her, and she drifted off into a deep and uncomfortable sleep. This dragonet...they have a great destiny. They will put an end to this war. With those thoughts in mind, Frigga felt a little calmer, and a little more hopeful. Frigga would now have a real opportunity to do something that would actually stop this war for good.