Epilogue: The Letter

Dear Moon,

I hope you like Sanctuary. We have been working non-stop for the past few months, and I believe it has become something to be proud of. Riptide does tend to brag, though. Don't believe all of his boasting - his calamari recipe is disgusting.

I'm still in the Ice Kingdom. I think I will be here for another week, at least. My sister Icicle's trial dragged on for three days and ended in a mistrial after it was discovered that some of the judges were bribed. My mother must have been at the bottom of that. I don't know how long the investigation will last.

I'll return to Sanctuary once this whole mess is over. I would very much like to talk, to catch up after everything that has happened.

How is Jade Mountain Academy? Are the classes less boring? Is the cafeteria cleaner? I'd like to see everyone again. Maybe I'll visit, after that tour of Sanctuary.

I'm doing okay here. I have my own tower. It's in the middle of the palace. I wish you could see the view.

I've spoken to my family. Hailstorm and I smoothed the ice, so to speak. We're not exactly MudWing sibs, but I think we're flying in the right direction. And my tribe doesn't totally hate me. I was afraid that I would be alone. I was wrong - there are good dragons here, IceWings who care about change.

Honestly, Moon, I haven't been in the best place for a while. I haven't been myself. I avoided you and the others. There were a lot of problems that I had to work out. Problems that I shouldn't have brought you into, but I did. That was wrong.

I've been angry for so long that it felt normal. It was normal, for most of my life. Seeing the world turned upside down really made me realize that. You helped me out of that darkness. I never thanked you for that. Thank you.

And here, on my own, I've learned things. I let go of more of that anger. I learned about forgiving others, and about being forgiven. I'm not glowing with health and happiness yet, but I'm... better.

I hope you are too. I'm glad we're friends, Moon.

Well, this ended up a bit longer than expected. See you soon.

Yours,

Winter

Author's Note

Hey guys! Fatespeaker here. I'm so sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER, but, hey, at least I finally finished something! I'm gonna try to be more active from now on. No promises, though.

I know this fanfic is ridiculously short compared to most of the stories on here (and even compared to some of my other stories), but I'm kinda proud of it since it really pushed me to my limits as a fanfic author and I FINALLY FINISHED SOMETHING AAAAAH. So, a few words:

To be completely honest, Winter and I got off to a rough start. I... strongly disliked his character when I first read Moon Rising, and my reaction to Winter Turning was "eh". I never hated him, but he was definitely one of my least favorite characters.

Something must have changed in me about halfway through the second arc, because I eventually found myself on his side. I never thought I'd end up writing a fanfic about him, let alone finishing it (I never finish my fanfics!). Yet here we are at the end of my angsty Winter fanfic.

This fanfic was mostly inspired by Winter's, ahem, less than satisfying epilogue in Darkness of Dragons. I think a lot of FanWings will agree that Winter did NOT get the character arc he deserved. I don't have the patience or talent to rewrite the entire book, so Winter Returning is my attempt to give him a slightly better ending. Also, the second I saw the title "Winter Turning", and I knew I had to write a fanfic with this name.

I guess I should set the record straight on shipping now lol. I'm pretty neutral on both Lynxter and Winterwatcher (*cough* Moonturtle for life *cough*), and that's why I decided to have Winter stay single in this story. Please don't kill me, Winter shippers! My hope is that, if Winter does have a romance in the future, he'll make peace with his friends and family first. As much as I love the fandom-destroying drama of a ship war, I think Winter has to learn to love himself before falling in love with someone else. Cliché, I know.

I also apologize for the cliffhanger ending. I didn't originally intend to leave Icicle's fate ambiguous, but I feel like this was the right place to end the story. I'm already working on a sequel about Icicle's fate. Still haven't decided which perspective to write it from. I promise I'll (eventually) publish that!

Thanks again for reading, and for all the wonderful, inspiring reviews! As small as this archive is, all the feedback I've gotten has been so wonderful and inspiring. You guys are the best!