Ferret

Ferret took out his pouch of shredded meat and poured it into his scavenger's cage. Rock beared his teeth at Ferret and stuffed the meat into his mouth.

Ferret sighed. There was no one who understood him.

What about her? A meek voice in his head asked.

Ferret smiled to himself. Hope, his SilkWing best friend, probably understood him. She'd always been comforting and kind, especially to Ferret when he was upset or scared. Actually, she seemed so sweet and innocent, even when she should have been incredibly mad at the world around them for the actions of their rambunctious other-friend, Foxglove.

Any family to care for him? No.

His sister, Aurora, had been murdered by a MudWing. The scene flashed in Ferret's mind. He had been walking into Aurora's room to ask for a scroll. Finding the MudWing crouched over her body, blue blood spilling out of it had shocked him into silence, the question in his mouth dying at his lips.

The MudWing turned, and Ferret got a better look at him. He looked just like a normal MudWing. He didn't look like he had just carried out a horrible act of violence. Actually, he looked just like the kind of dragon Ferret would see in the markets, joyfully selling this and that.

But this MudWing had an evil grin plastered on his face, which was splattered with dark blue blood. His sister's blood. Ferret had felt sick to his stomach, his jaw opening and closing as he tried to comprehend the horrible scene in front of him.

"None of the tribes ever cared about us. You will wipe us out the first chance they get. You all need to die first. Dirty IceWing." And then the MudWing had lept out the window.

Ferret couldn't shake the feeling that he was next, so had moved to Pantala the first chance he had gotten.

Ferret shook his head. Think about Hope.

Okay. He might have had the tiniest crush on her.

Alright, maybe it wasn't tiny. Maybe it was very big.

Ferret left his room and stepped out into the forest that greeted him. He missed the Ice Kingdom (of course he did; it was only natural), but Pantala was beautiful. The Hives glittered above the forests of the LeafSilk Kingdom, the webbing built by SilkWings during the reign of the HiveWings connecting them all.

"Still feeding your scavenger meat?" Ferret turned around and his face instantly brightened.

"Hope!"

Hope's white scales and pink eyes shimmered in the sunlight. Even her anklet did; it was golden with flowers embroidered on it, covering almost her entire ankle. She also wore a pouch of flowers around her neck that she liked to hand out. She was so sweet, and the first thing she said to any dragon she met was 'Would you like a flower?'

Ferret had wanted to take the flower, but he hadn't been able to because his talons were full, so he had apologized. But Hope had been insistent that they found a time to hang out to make up for the lack of flowers.

And their friendship hit off from there.

Back to the present Hope, her light pink tail switched. "So? Are you giving him meat?" She asked.

Ferret smiled. "Yup."

Hope wrinkled her nose. "IceWings. I don't get it. Meat, I mean. IceWings I get."

Ferret laughed a little at this. All SilkWings were vegetarians. That was something he didn't understand.

He strode up to her. "Want to go to the market?" He asked, hoping it didn't sound too awkward. He could never say the right thing around her. What made it worse was the fact that she always seemed to know the right thing to say to him. "I heard they're doing a sale on the ice crystals at Winter's Stones." He hesitated. "You know, the one Aurora used to get brought to Pyrrhia?"

Hope gave him a soft look. "Of course, Ferret. Oh, and maybe Foxglove will be there!"

Ferret smiled at Hope. She seemed so sweet and naive even though they were living practically in an open war zone. And that was a plus side, that Foxglove maybe would be there. She was a little obnoxious, but she was still their friend.

As Hope and Ferret started the walk, Hope said quietly, "The LeafWings have secured Yellowjacket Hive." So there was more info on the war, then.

Ferret looked at her, horrified. "What will they do?"

Hope shrugged. "I don't know. The SilkWings have only really been fighting for the land inside the Hives, which the HiveWings have surrounded..." She looked at Ferret, miserable. "What have we become? Why isn't Pyrrhia intervening? Don't they see that we will tear each other apart if we don't stop?"

Ferret sighed. "The IceWings are too proud. I'd never be able to convince them to help."

Hope sighed back at him. "Yeah, actually, I think there's some drama happening on Pyrriha. Something about the MudWings, I think."

Ferret paused. Then he shook his head.

It couldn't possibly have anything to do with his sister.

It couldn't.

⊰ ꩜ ⊱

A/N

mostly written by my friend @FlameWing_Z go follow her if you haven't