Melody heard the bars of her cell creak open.

     "Hey," Frostbite said quietly into the cell.

     Melody sat up and yawned, she outsretched her wings and blinked a few times. Was it morning already?

     "Morning," Frostbite said, barely any emotion on his face. He made a gesture for Melody to silently follow, he didn't bother getting the cuffs.

     "Where are we going?" Melody yawned, catching up to him.

     "You'll see," Frostbite answered. Melody got a sinking feeling in her stomach, a bad feeling, like something was going to happen. Her heart pounded.

     It was still dark outside. Frostbite had said good morning, it was probably early. Real early. Their breathe created trails behind them, like small plumes of smoke. The snow had hardened and crusted over into a sheet of crunched ice. They were travelling through the forest, but Melody didn't know where to.

     "I'm sorry," Melody said quietly.

     "What for," Frostbite said looking straight ahead.

     "You lost someone you loved," Melody stared at the ground, then came to look up at him. "I'm tired of this war too." Melody said hushed.

     "Yeah," Frostbite sighed. "And all the younger generations have to deal with this blubber."

     "I don't even understand why this war is happening in the first place," Melody said, she looked up and gazed around. Before them was a frozen lake, the grass had frosted over like crystals. Frostbite went over to the edge of the lake and sat down, staring at the frozen water.

     "How do you not know about the Air and Ice Dragon feud. It's lasted over 200 years," Frostbite stared at her skeptically.

     "Well- erm," her eyes widened. She never actually thought about these situations. How we she supposed to explain how she's never seen the outside world? "I uh- I never actually knew."

     Melody stared at her reflection. It was the first time she got to see herself in a while, and to be honest, she had seen better days. She had dark circles under her eyes, her hair hadn't been fixed, and she just realised she hadn't cleaned herself in 4 days. Eek. She used her claws to straighten out and brush her hair, geez what a birds nest.

     "What do you mean?" Frostbite frowned. Maybe he was thinking she was stupid or something.

     "I mean," Melody hesitated. "I mean that my parents never really told me about all this. Yeah, they told me about the war, but they never got real into it." She said turning her face to the side to check her horns.

     "My parents just wanted me to be a part of the military," Melody saw Frostbite's talons tense. "Never thought about what I wanted." He frowned at the water.

     "So..why are we here again?" Melody spoke up after a brief pause.

     "I just wanted to leave," Frostbite answered. "I hate this camp." Frostbite grit his teeth.

     Melody nodded.

     "I know how you feel," Melody said aloud, she clasped her talons over her mouth. She meant to say that in her head.

     Frostbite stared at her and gave her a confused look.

     "Hey, an Air Dragon with empathy, that's new," Frostbite said sighing. "Not all Air Dragons are bad," he said staring off into the sky.

     Melody didn't speak. She couldn't exactly say 'Hey- you're not so bad yourself.' Melody had the urge to ask how long they'd be out here, wouldn't he get in trouble? Not like she cared or anything- but, yeah.

     "Y'know I wanted to study stars," Frostbite's eyes glittered as he gazed up at the sky. "If only.." he trailed off.

     "I always wished I lived in Terragon Heights," Melody flopped onto the ground, craning her neck to see the sky islands in the distance.

     "Don't you live in the sky islands?" Frostbite asked, making half a frown, half confused.

     "I- well," Melody stuttered. "No." She answered. She didn't want to make Frostbite upset. Atleast he was tolerant at the moment, it was odd he wasn't grumpy.

     "How does that make sense? You're an Air Dragon," Frostbite rubbed his head. "Well, half."

     Melody bit her lip, she felt like asking but also felt embarrassed about it. She felt like she was too naïve about a lot of subjects.

     "What's... a hybrid," Melody said out of the blue.

     Frostbite blinked at her then opened his mouth as if he was going to answer, instead he closed his mouth and rubbed his head.

     "Hybrids," He said hesitantly. "Hybrids aren't allowed here in the Western Territory, or any territory, really." He said honestly. "They're shunned and looked down upon."

     Is that why everyone hated her? Just because she was a hybrid? Hybrids were bad? Is that why her parents told her never to go out? Because they knew she and her siblings would never be accepted. Melody wasn't used to this side of Frostbite, he sounded so sad and dull compared to his commanding side. Like he was tired, tired of life.
    This opened up so many thoughts for Melody. She knew why her parents had kept her in that cave, they only wanted to protect her. Now she was here, stuck in the Ice Kingdom.

     "Why?" Frostbite asked, Melody snapped out of her thoughts.

     "I-" she started. "I'm just curious." She said turning her face away from the islands.

     "We can all see Melody," Frostbite told her.

     "Huh?" She sat up.

     "We all know. The feathers, the spikes, ehh," Frostbite shrugged. "I don't understand what's so bad about it. It's just the whole racism issue." He said motioning his talons. He glanced at Melody, then down at the ground, using his talons on the dirt next to the lake.

     "I don't know how it started, but from my history lessons it went like this," Frostbite said drawing a line. "The Air Kingdom used to be one large Kingdom," he said drawing a large lopsided circle.
"Until something happened-" he hesitated when he drew a line through the territory. "We used to share the same land, until the Air Dragons became greedy. They wanted the land for themselves." He laid his palm flat on the dirt.
"So we had to move to the mountain regions," he slid his claws across the dirt, making little paths. "Air Dragons still resented us even before this war. I don't even understand," he said solemnly, pulling his claws away. "It's almost like they didn't like us, just because we were different." He scrunched up his snout.
"But this is where it went wrong. By moving us here we were able to adapt and become resilient to the cold, as well as gain many other traits. Using these they started a rebellion, and attacked the Air Kingdom for the land back." Frostbite slashed his talons through the whole kingdom.
"And that's been going on until this day."

"How long has this war been going?" Melody stared at the dirt.

"The war? 20 years," Frostbite said. "This feud? More than 250 years." He said, his eyes half closed.

"I thought we were more civilized than that," Melody said.

"Apparently not, " Frostbite said. "My parents are so traditional it hurts." Frostbite frowned. "I wanted to become someone who changed this, not someone who fuels this war."

"But how do you fight years of racism?" Melody heard Frostbite shift his wings.

"You can't." He said closing his eyes.

But Melody knew he was wrong. There were other dragons, there had to be. Other dragons like them who didn't like this war, who didn't like the petty racism, who thought the same things they thought. There had to be other dragons tired of this 200 year fight, they were just too scared to speak out.

Something needed to happen.