A moonlit flight (Open to all)

The snow covering the landscape shone bright in the moons glow, causing the early night to be nearly as easy to see as day. This cosmic luminescence was interrupted only by the passing shadow of a dragon flying overhead. Tezz had been flying for a good while now, and was nearing the mountains that marked the edge of IceWing territory. A good way from home indeed, and he was tired from the workout. He wasn't sure exactly what fueled his long flight, but he had some ideas. Wanderlust figured in, certainly. He was new here and getting a feel for the landscape was important. It also brought him closer to the roguelands that he was born and raised in. It partly had to do with the book he convinced himself he was sneaking off to read. But his heart knew what his mind was trying to deny, it was the crying in his family den that drove him so far.

Tezz touched down on a wide and flat rocky outcropping and wiped two streaks of ice from below his eyes.

The book was on local herbs and their healing property. UnlIke some of the other books he's read, he was able to keep his attention on this one. Normally. But the border kept prying at his attention, distracting him with the world outside. "If only sister was here..." He muttered to himself ruefully. "She would know what to say to mom, she always did. "

Tezz shook his head, as though to dislodge the invisible nagging thoughts. He needed a distraction, and by remembering the book he brought he found one. "I know! I'll find one of all these herbs and learn what they do! That way I can become a healer and heal whatever's making mom sad!" Tezz then set out on his near impossible task, reading left undone and his attention now too focused to notice any who might approach him.

Sagitarius found a herb on the cliffside he opened his books drawed it and picked it up he also took some seeds so that if it's useful he can grow them. He was going home and saw another dragon walking he came near him and said "hello!"

The mountains seemed to jealously guard its wildlife as Tezz continued his search. Despite the help of his book, all but the most common samples eluded him. Becoming frustrated with his task, Tezz allowed himself an exasperated sigh.

He was so focused on his task that when another dragon greeted him, he jumped so high that it would make most birds jealous.

He turned to assess the newcomer. The first thing he noticed was how small they were. The second observation that they seemed to be rather wolfish. "Oh, uh, hi. What are you doing around here, out this late?" He asked, ignoring the hypocrisy of his question.

Sora climbed a mountain uphill, rolling his eyes several times. Why did he agree to leave his home? A ridiculous book deal with some shady rogue. All he wanted was more for his personal library, as he'd gotten bored with all of the things he had. He needed more. His ears perked up as he heard two voices, seemingly male. He took a final step and noticed the source.

A dragon and some hybrid, talking this late at night. They both appeared to be rather young. Sora inhaled and pushed his shoulders back, strutting towards the pair in an attempt to seem important. He raised an eyeridge, noticing a book in one of the drakes' paws.

"What are you two doing out so late? Where are your parents?" The scholar growled.

Another newcomer, another impressive jump from Tezz. Was this a border guard? He didn't want to get sent home, and he certainly didn't want to cause any trouble for his mother. He still had to find his herbs! His moments of surprise faded, finally allowing him to find his voice.  "I-I'm sorry sir, i-it's just that the night is so bright that I thought to get some uh, studying done. I'd like to see the things my book says for myself y'know? And it's too bright out during the day with the full glare off the snow... as for him, we only just met. " His words were shaky and nervous and his eyes kept wandering to the ground.

'That sounds plausible enough, right?' he thought to himself, flashing a sheepish grin to the other dragon in an attempt of expressing goodwill. 'Oh! But he might get mad and report my mom for being irresponsible.' The thought troubled him, so he continued talking, his short lived grin fading to a downcast frown. "And my mom needed some space to herself. We don't have much space at home so I decided to get some fresh air while studying like she wants me to..." He attempted to conceal any signs of fatigue as he said this, having left out how far away this fresh air ended up being.

Sagitarius grinned a bit when the dragon jumped and said "Im just walking around picking herbs he opened his bag full of medical herbs and what about you?" He looked at him and a bit later another dragon came and asked what we are we doing here Sagitarius though to himself "I cant tell them im the brother of the new icewing queen..." and said "im just out here looking umm.. for new herbs.."

Sora glared at the first dragon, who was seemingly younger than the second. He nodded in understanding, still very suspicious of these two hooligans.

"I see..." He said faintly, staring at the other as he spoke as well. Though he did not keep up with politics often, something about the appearance of the older drake sparked something in his mind.

Hmm. "Are you a dog thing?" Sora asked, not caring whether he was rude or not. He'd seen the ridiculous monstrosities running around and was having none of it.

The rough and direct words of the older dragon stung Tezz in a moment of sympathy for the canine dragon. He didn't disagree with him though. There did seem to be an unusual number of smaller dragons with wolfish qualities in IceWing territory. He was curious about their number and-

Wait, did he say he was out here gathering herbs?

"You're out here looking for herbs too?" he blurted out, too curious to wait for his filter. "That's what my book is about! How do you know what they are and where to look?" His social filter was still reeling from this, so one final question that was on his mind made its escape. "And what about you mister? What are you doing out here? Patrolling?" his head tilted after this last question, finally waiting for a response.

Sagirarius smiled and said "I got my own book when I find a herb I draw it and write where they grow." Then he looked at the other drago "No im not a dog thing..."

Artemise smiled as she glided in the air, feeling the cold wind brush against her scales. The beauty of the night was breathtaking (to her, that is); the stars shone with a beautiful light, and the crescent moon cast a translucent glow on everything that was rooted the ground and not floating around in space. She half-closed her eyes, feeling the tension she'd gathered in the day flood out of her. What a peaceful night, undisturbed by any noises.

That thought vanished the moment a few voices floated over to her. So much for peace. Her eyes slowly opened again, rather reluctantly, to look ahead and find the source of the voices. Her gaze settled on three IceWings. One with wolfish looks, another with a book clutched in his paws - both looked young. Since the third one had his back facing her, she couldn't tell how he looked like, or his age. But she could tell that all were male. Oddly, the one who looked the youngest towered over the rest. What were they talking about? Curiousity aroused, she headed towards them.

Swooping down and landing with a soft thump, Artemise greeted them brightly. "Hello there." The smile still on her face, she looked nothing more than a casual, curiousity passerby. She hopefully looked nothing like a Semi-Goddess - if not, she would have to endure more bowing. She wanted normal treatment. Her tail curled around her haunch like a vine on a tree as she spoke; it was a habit she hadn't been able to get rid of. Well. At least her tail wouldn't get stomped on.

Tilting her head to her side, she asked, "What are you all doing here? Admiring the beautiful night sky, like I was?" She made a sweeping gesture with her right wing, mainly to draw their attention to the night sky. A shooting star shot across it, leaving a beautiful, shimmering trail behind. She suddenly remembere. her mother, upon seeing a shooting star, telling her to make a wish?

Her smile turned a little wistful as she shook her head a little, her eyes still on the star, following it as it made its way through the velvety black night sky. Making a wish when she saw the star which left trails across the night sky? Belief. All belief. Belief had not saved her mother and father from leaving the mortal realm. She sighed, and her breath was visible in front of her, a white wisp of air.

Artemise curled her wings inwards to fold them at her side as she turned back to Tezz and the rest.

Frost was back in IceWing territory once again, wanting to fly during the night rather than in the morning for a change. The night was calm and peaceful compared to the day, and the endless snow falling from the clouds above made it all worth it.

That, however, ended rather quickly.

The sound of voices in the night disturbed the peacefulness she was beginning to feel, making her growl rather frustratedly. Searching below her, Frost managed to make out at least four dragons. Unfortunately, with how high up she was it was very difficult to tell if these dragons were IceWing or not.

"A closer look shouldn't hurt." She spoke while lowering herself as she soared through the sky.

Tezz had set out for a solo mission, but his solitude quickly turned in to quite the social gathering.  'Note to self, the borders tend to be surprisingly well patrolled. ' he thought to himself. He didn't think he'd need to leave unnoticed anytime soon, but it was good information to have, considering that there were now 5 dragons present in the moonlight. The latest arrival hadn't yet arrived in full, but he noticed them so he would jump like at the first two.

" "Yeah, I guess the night is really pretty. I hadn't noticed. " He said, addressing the newcomer. "I think I was too focused on trying to learn things down on the ground to notice... but it is a great night to read by!" He closed his eyes on seeing the shooting star, making a wish on it. A wish for family, happy and smiling for once. His expression involuntarily lowered at the thought of the wish being necessary in the first place.
(Was a bit rushed in making this sorry if it's not much to go on)

Sagitarius looked as another dragon landed nearby and showed them the sky Sagitarius said "ive never looked at the stars..." he looked at the stars thinking how pretty they are. He then looked at the newcomer and said "May I ask you who you might be?" He opened his bag and took out a note book writing down some things. He then thought "I wanted to go out of the ice wibf teritory and explore a bit..." he sadly looked down because he couldnt do that...
(Im really sorry that theres nothing to read )

Sora's eyes widened, obviously taken aback by the amount of dragons that had shown up for a random conversation with a few teenagers. He cleared his throat and nodded, looking all three of the visible dragons in the eyes.

"Well, erm, seeing as you two are not troublemakers - and there is a fellow adult here to watch you, I shall leave you to it," the drake said, clearly fed up with such a social interaction. He had something to get to and these dragons weren't it. "You're all wasting my time."

And with one final stern look from the thin dragon, he spread his wings and glided away. He had to make it to the book deal with that dragon. And he certainly despised hatchlings - the only ones he could stand was his own son.

Tezz looked wistfully at the departing dragon. While he was harsh, the urge to get to know him was still present. Plus, they seemed upset, and that was never Tezz's intention. By the time Tezz processed all these thoughts, the other dragon was already in the air. 'I never even got his name...' he thought, before realizing. He didn't know any of these dragons names!

"Oh, well he's gone. But oh, I'm sorry! I'm Tezz! I should have introduced myself earlier, before he flew off." Tezz starting speaking a bit quickly, becoming excited about what he was saying.   "I'm a trainee! I'm trying to be a healer! Or a scholar! I haven't really decided yet because I don't have a teacher... So what do you guys do?"

Sagitarius looked as the dragon flied away he then looked at the Dragon named Tezz and said "my names Sagitarius and im a tracker byt the way picking up medical herbs is my hobby" his tail started to wiggle because he was excited to meet all of these new dragons. Then he remebered "Tezz right? Here take my notebook it has it has the places each herb likes to grow in and how to reproduce them, think of it as my present for friendship for you."

[I'll assume this happened before Trekking on the Snow.]

Artemise watched the male dragon snap at them about wasting their time. She sighed and wondered why he was so mad at them, before brushing the thought aside and smiling at Tezz and Sagitarius. "Artemise," she replied, and regretted the words the moment they were out. She'd wanted to use a different name, anything but her real name. But too bad. She'd said it already. Giving a mental shrug, she kept her smile on her face. "Tracker." Hopefully they were too young to know about her...

[That works. It could be before or after, Tezz is forgetful.]

Tezz nodded at the other dragons, attempting to make a mental note of their names. Artimise... something about that name seemed a little familiar, but he couldn't place it. Failing to recognize the her, his thoughts turned to their ranks. It made sense for trackers to be out here. Still, it was a little disappointing. He still didn't have anyone to really teach him.

Then suddenly the wolf dragon was presenting Tezz with a gift. "Oh, no, I couldn't possibly take your notebook!" He stammered out nervously. "It looks like you put a lot of work in to that! And I already have my book that's supposed to tell me about the herbs and stuff already... not that I've been having much luck... but no! You don't need to give me something in order to be my friend!"

Frost watched in silence as one dragon flew off to God's know where while three remained below. Mischievous thoughts began to run through her mind and a sinister grin formed on her face.

"Time for a little chaos." She spoke with an eerie calmness.

Opening her jaws wide, a pillar of blue fire shot out at the three dragons. Of course she was careful to direct her aim at the snow rather than at them. Why end the fun so soon?

Artemise jumped a little when she saw blue fire shoot past her and towards the snow; her immediate reaction was to whirl around, looking around for the source of the unusual blue fire. It had not shot straight past her, but rather at a certain angle which meant that the source of blue fire was somewhere in the sky.

Artemise rose into flight, flying higher and higher, scanning her surroundings for some movement. Meanwhile, she called up a blizzard, to confuse her...well, opponent, and to shield Tezz and Sagitarius, if possible. She did not want them to get hurt.

She peered through the blizzard, but couldn't see anything but snow. She flapped her wings to stay in the air, making sure that the blizzard was not directed at her, but rather forming a circular shield around her. And Tezz. And Sagi.

[Her night blindness is worse than most. She can see like a normal dragon, but it's harder for her to look for a particular thing.]

Sagitarius grinned when tezz though that he wanted tobgive his notebook to be friends with him and he said "you got it wrong I-" he jumped a beam of blue fire hit near him and so to the other dragons Sagitarius sniffed the air weakly smelling a dragon above them he looked for the dragon and saw a snake looking dragon flying in the sky Sagitarius breathed ice at him as a warning **** he didnt aim for him he aimed at his side where he wouldnt hit.

*shot wbat was that)

A pillar of blue flame erupted before Tezz's eyes, shattering the world in front of him. Objects blurred, time slowed, and his thoughts all but stopped. There was a blizzard stirring in the cloudless night, but that wasn't why Tezz froze up. It was the fear of attack that shut him down. His primal instincts taking over, he ran to the edge of the outcropping they were gathered on, and attempted to hide himself along the rocks. He cowered with his paws covering his face, his wings folded up, and whimpering to himself in terror. he didn't know where the attack was coming from, but bad memories weren't allowing him to find out.

The shot of ice caught her by surprise as she retreated into the thick, dark clouds to keep herself hidden. One of the three dragons had decided to fly towards her spot, as well as create a blizzard that seemed to hinder the dragon rather than help.

"Not very wise on your part." she spoke with a grin, beginning to lazily fly circles around Artemise to confuse her.

Tezz could finally think through his panic. 'I need help' was his first thought. His second thought went to the dragon that had just left. They had been a guard on patrol right? That was why they were out here. And guards help defend against attackers.

They could help!

Tezz sprang in to action, running from his hiding place in order to take off in the direction the other dragon had left. His plan was to catch up to them and ask for their help. He would explain the situation as soon as he caught up to them and ask them to defend Ms. Artemise and Sagitarius. The blizzard hindered his flight, but he had flown in one before. It was unpleasantly cold to him however...