Rain in a Blizzard [open]

Dogma raised his head to the brewing storm, chuffing out a cool breath through his nose. The guard blinked into the snowy gale. A blizzard had been brewing for days.
It was unfortunate that Dogma had to be on guard as it happened. Snowflakes were were sawblades when hurled at his scales at the speed of a SkyWing. He pressed his ears closer to his head-better to keep them intact-and began to walk. The westerly wind would have snatched him in her freezing claws and thrown him against the ground with amazing violence had he tried.
Dogma had seen a MudWing try once-they had needed to literally scrape what was left up afterwards.

He was careful to keep his back to the wind. It was good he knew the layout of the caves so well-or he would not have found the small entrance in the open tundra.
A pocket, yet unmarred by the mourning winds, in the ground, yawned before him, and Dogma did not hesitate to drop into the chasm, allowing a talon to find the notch in the ice wall as he used his spear to mark the spot.
Ah yes, there. He squeezed himself through the tiny opening in the cave, knowing full well that light would not greet him upon the other side. It was at least a mile that he slid through the narrow ice, using the condensation on his breath to find the notches in the wall that marked the way.
Undoubtedly, some dragon in the past had marked them with intent to steal-or worse, kill- but the royal guard had also found use of these tiny cracks beneath the Tundra.

Dogma almost always fit terribly in them, but he managed.
He emerged in the back of a wide, open stone cave, a bit south. Relatively nearby to the palace, a perfect way to sit out the storm with a good vantage.
The business that was shaking the ice off of his scales was so necessary that Dogma did not, at first, realize he was not alone.
A dragon sat in the maw of the cavern, as if they were to be devoured by the stone beast. IceWing, obviously-but Dogma couldn’t tell more without approaching.
He blew ice crystals out of his nose, wings flicked closer to his body as he sidled up to the other IceWing with little embarrassment, tapping his tail on the floor as to try not to startle them. Dogma’s eyes immediately went to their neck-a Circle necklace would help. Nobles tended to get..testy, when not properly bowed to.

[432]

Dogma inclined his head towards the noble, folding himself down in a practiced bow. They were a noble-he could see that now. There was a stark difference between the lower-class IceWings, like him, and the upper-crust ones; with their sharp, angular features and very pale scales. In comparison, the coastal, southern IceWings were large and patterned, with spines oft shaped more like porcupine quills than icicles and claws less like perfect slender moons.
This dragon, with silver scales, was part of the former category.

“Yes-it’s been brewing several days now, must be a larger one.” he mused, ears flicking towards the gale outside, “I had the misfortune of being on duty today of all of them.” Dogma said, humor teasing through the threads of his voice. The large IceWing flicked his wings back, sliding over to taste the sleet of the storm outside the cave. His visible breath was quite quickly lost to the wind. Clearly, it was no pushover storm. In all her fantastic might, though, the way the snow arced through the air had grace to it, as if some unseen force was raptured in a dance with the wind.

“Yes. And you?” Dogma asked over to the noble, retracting his head from the storm. In the brief moments it was out, snowflakes had caught in the crevices of his scales, bringing with them a brief, stinging cold.

[231, Goldenwolfmidna

Dogma flicked his ear in amusement, “An ongoing trend I’ve noticed, names.” the large IceWing’s eyes glimmered, and he was clearly entertained.
“Oh-I’ve seen your name on the Gift of Order.” he noted, briefly remembering the thought. The guard had vivid memories of being inclined to sit there and look at all the names as a way of learning how to read.
It didn’t work.


He couldn’t help but feel a bit flattered by the question. The nobles usually didn’t ask such things of guards, especially ones not even of noble birth. His ears edged forwards, “Dogma’s the name. I’m guessing the storm’s gonna stick around ‘bout a day. Worst day for you to have hunted, surely.”
“And-thank you for asking.” he tacked on, dipping his head.
Nobles like this Rain didn’t oft leave the palace for anything other than hunting or, bless their poor hearts, diplomacy. In those situations, however, Dogma had never seen one without a bodyguard or two. Especially those in the First Circle. They deserved it-the trials they put them through were rigorous, from what Dogma had seen. 
No blood on Rain’s talons meant his hunt was probably unsuccessful. Ah, well, Dogma had been hungry before.

[215; Goldenwolfmidna]

Dogma tilted his head, let out a small chuff, “Unless you live outside the palace and it’s surrounding area, of course.” he said genially. The IceWing glanced self-consciously at his Fifth Circle necklace, “I didn’t even get one of these till I became a guard -hatched in one of the southern villages, see.”

“Problem is that I still have no idea what the dragons look like. And there are at least three ‘Glacier’s  in there. Still though, the dragon who enchanted it had to have been a genius of some sort,” he said, warm light in his eyes as he glanced over at the noble. He didn’t mention the fact that his reading was still not really that great-normally when he mentioned that fun fact to nobles they came to the idea that he was some backwards barbarian. Which, honestly, was a bit insulting.

“About a day, yep. Looks like a seasonal storm to me-“ he chuckled, “That’s quite the valid concern. Fear I’d do the same. ‘sides, I’m no mysterious type.” the IceWing cocked an ear forward in good spirits. It was good this one had humor-or, at least, was willing to let the cold tone go for a second.
Rain seemed lost in thought for a second, and Dogma tilted his head, wondering exactly what nobles thought about. Probably which dragon he wanted to marry, and which ones he didn’t like, things like that. If he was a NightWing; maybe he could read his thoughts and find out-though realistically, if he could read minds Dogma would use it for better reasons, like keeping Queen Moraine safe. And Guard Captain Glass as well.

“Oh-proximity guards aren’t ordered to leave our posts unless the storm hits it. If I had gone sooner than someone could have the chance to sneak in. So I guess the idea was to get caught in it, so anyone who wanted to attack the palace would get caught too.” Dogma explained with a cheery tone.


[339 words, Goldenwolfmidna ]