The next few days passed by in a blur as his schedule changed. Solstice woke up every morning at dawn, stretched his wings and cleaned his quarters and made his rounds through the palace.

Caribou would often shoot him looks when they passed each other in the halls, sometimes stopping for a quick chat about his plans for the day or what she had for dinner the night before. Their talks were short, and mostly a formality. But the times he and his nephew Seal talked were much more enjoyable.

Then Solstice would take off to find something to eat. His meals had become smaller and smaller in the days past. From whole reindeer to half, then two penguins, then one. Now he would swoop around the palace and snatch a puffin from the nearby cliffs.

He ate while he flew, straight east once he had something in his claws. He'd arrive at Oyster's prison by an hour after sunrise, and give her the bones of his breakfast. (He won't admit it, but every day the bones had more and more meat on them.)

Solstice had been appointed by the Queen to be in charge of Oyster and the information he was to coax out of her. Although he had to do little actual coaxing. Usually Oyster would sit and tell him just about anything he asked for once she'd eaten.

In essence, his days had boiled down to one thing, Oyster.

"My old commander was a pain in the tail." She said indignantly, putting her snout in the air. She cleared her throat and spoke in a whiny, nasally voice. "Oyster, don't leave a single talonprint in that mud or your enemies will spot you. Oyyyyyster, don't eat any moving prey, bones left behind is one more thing to track you by. OYYYYYYYSTER, stop breathing so loud. You're the worst spy I've ever had the misfortune of training."

Solstice bit back a laugh. She did sound insufferable. "You poor thing. Truly a tragedy you have been through."

She ripped off the wing of the puffin and crunched the bones between her teeth. "No matter. Eel was annoying as ever, but she did teach me well."

"I've never seen a dragon eat bones like that."

She shrugged, "You should try it. The marrow is full of nutrients. Keeps scales and horns and bones strong and healthy."

Maybes that's why her scales are so beautiful.. Solstice thought, and then scolded himself. He shouldn't be complimenting the enemy, even in his mind. Still, she's the only dragon I've seen with such a deep and rich color blue. If I look close enough, I could see little silver fish swim through her scales.

Solstice was blinded by a sudden flash of light. He tumbled off his stalagmite seat (worn smooth from sitting on it all hours.). It took a moment to realize that it was Oyster who had blinded him. Looking over the stalagmites, he could see her pout.

"You were staring again." She snorted. "It's irritating."

"How? How did you? Your scales?"

Oyster rolled her eyes and slowly lit up the stripes on her snout (they were dim in the places that had been wounded) then she slowly moved the light through the rest of her stripes along the length of her body. "Not many think to use it as a defence mechanism."

"You didn't need to blind me, you know." He grumbled. He'd knocked over the stack of scrolls next to his seat. Four out of five were full of information Oyster had given him, and he wrote down every evening before heading home.. Queen Glacier however, wasn't impressed with the contents of the scrolls. Nothing useful, she said. Nothing we can use against the SeaWings.

Was she keeping the information from me on purpose?

"I did actually. I don't like the way you look at me."

Uh-oh. What way was I looking at her?

She continued, "It's like you're sizing me up, thinking of seven different ways you could kill me in under a minute. Or the seven different ways you could torture me to death in an hour."

"So you're afraid of me, good." Solstice said with a decisive nod. "I should be feared. You are a prisoner, not a guest."

Oyster mumbled something under her breath, turning her head so Solstice couldn't quite read her lips.

"Come again?"

"I said I should have known better. You IceWings are all the same, strike fear into the hearts of your enemies and blah blah blah." She turned her head again and said, a little softer, "I thought you were different, that's all."

Solstice's heart shot up and slammed into his throat. She thought of him differently. She was almost trusting, wasn't she?

But she shouldn't be.

Gaining the trust of a prisoner. What a ridiculous notion.

"Hmph. Well, we're almost done for the day. All I want to know is what IceWing prisoners do the SeaWings have?" Solstice asked. He tried to sound tough, unfeeling. But his voice splintered at the word "prisoners".

"All we have is one named Iceberg." She said glumly. "As far as I know, he was the only survivor of some platoon, but he might die any day due to injury."

The name Iceberg seemed familiar, but not enough for Solstice to go racking his brain to find out.

But they do have a prisoner. That means, there's a chance to get Oyster home. A chance to make a trade for one of his IceWings.

A net win for his tribe. One more soldier home, and more information on the other tribes than they could ask for.

But I meant Oyster would have to leave.

And somehow, the thought of that made Solstice feel uneasy.

He whipped out his last scroll and filed in everything Oyster had said with neat handwriting. His claws stained deep blue with ink. A light coating of his frost breath over the page set the ink permanently.

"Any chance I can get something for dinner?"

"I'll see what I can do." Solstice muttered. Something gave him a feeling that Caribou would slap him silly if she found out he brought meals to his prisoner. Someone had to keep up appearances.

Oyster sighed, and curled up to rest her head in the crook of her wing.

"Oyster." He began. What are you doing you idiot, keep your mouth shut!

But he couldn't take back what he said next.

"I don't stare with malicious intent you know. I stare because I think you're beautiful