Three

   River stayed outside thinking for a few minutes before going back. He was going to leave his home, first thing tomorrow. The idea excited him, yet frightened him.

   As he landed in their ice-hole home, he made up his mind. He was going to ask Blizzard his one unanswered question that he hadn't dared to ever ask.

   "Father," River said.

   Blizzard ignored him.

   "Father," River said louder.

   Blizzard grunted but didn't move from his spot beside Icy, who was still crouched beside Frost.

   "Father!" River tried not to shout.

   Blizzard turned around, a blank, nasty expression on his face. "What is it, my useless middle son?"

   "Why do you think I'm so useless?" River asked boldly. He held his breath.

   Blizzard barked a laugh. "You're so useless you haven't even heard of how dangerous you are yet." He slapped River's back, making him stagger forward. "I don't like to talk about it, but I suppose you can't be clueless about yourself."

   "Zircons are special, different from other tribes," Blizzard began. River rolled his eyes. From the books he'd read, that was obvious. Every tribe was special. 

   "Because middle hatchlings always have a spark every few days in them for a few seconds, called blazes." Blizzard continued. "Anything he touches during that moment could be destroyed depending on his mood. I suppose you'll start tomorrow. I've learned from my sister's experience with it. She killed someone once on accident during one of her blazes. I had to murder her myself after that." For the first time, Blizzard seemed shaky. "The queen ordered for every hatching in or over the Explorer age to be killed. I wanted to do it to you as soon as Frost was hatched, but I couldn't. You're my son." He rubbed his snout. "Okay, I guess the truth is, I don't think you're useless. I think that you're going to be dangerous, and I don't want you to feel sad or confused when the time comes and we have to kill you or drive you away."

   River nodded silently, shocked. He was the middle hatchling, which meant that he was special, with a dangerous power that would start activating itself the next day. And the queen would want him dead the next day. 

   On the kind of bright side, his father didn't want him dead and only punished him because he didn't want him to feel betrayed when he had to leave. Well, he did a good job of it.

   So I'll be an explorer tomorrow, he thought. And I won't be harming anybody, and no one's going to kill me either. I'll go on leaving as planned.

~<>~

   "Frost's awake!" Icy yelled from the inside the ice-hole home.

   River saw Blizzard scramble up from his seat in the family competition that Freeze was winning and run back. Freeze glanced back, abandoned the fight, and went after his father. River didn't care for Frost that much, and his family knew it, so he decided to stay put on the defeated side of the fight circle and start planning where to go after leaving.

   He'd go north, into the other kingdoms. Or maybe he could live with the other December tribe, Tanzanites. But that would still keep him at risk, since it was still in his home kingdom. No, he would need to go to November, or further north. It would be hot, but then if he reached February or January then he would be fine, hopefully. But he spent his whole life in sub-zero temperatures, so he might not survive. But he'd try.

   After a while, River got up and followed headed back home. When he got there, he saw Icy fussing over Frost, who looked dizzy but pleased. She gave River a smug look, and River disliked his half-sister even more. Frost stood up, and challenged him directly, "Why did you mess up my pretty stands?"

   River knew that Frost could only speak so well for her age because of hours every day of talking to Icy, but was still impressed. He looked her in the eye and said firmly, "That wasn't me."

   "Ha! Like that's true," Icy laughed, and not in a good way. She stared at River and said each word slowly. "We all know how dangerous you are, and you're going to be an Explorer tomorrow. Blizzard has given me permission to kill you. I think now is the right moment. You can die right now, full of guilt and lies. And Frost can watch you. This is your real punishment." She spread her sharpened claws and gave an aimed strike at River's neck.