Winter

Tall, quiet, kind, empathetic. One wouldn't think that such a stout, soft-hearted ridgeback would make a good guard (though he towered over most dragons still). However Winter was lithe and agile, able to use his whip-like tail as a flail while simultaneously throwing his weight into his opponent to knock them off-balance. If they were bigger than him he would use this opportunity to clamber onto them, and subdue them from above. If they were smaller than him he would hook his tail under their legs and rip them out from under them, using his weight to pin them to the ground. He graduated top of his class in the academy, and took great pride in that.

When Winter was told he was to be guard to two princes, he was... less than thrilled. Especially when he was informed one of said princes was North, who had a notorious temper and classist ideals. He simply nodded and followed along as he was ordered to. After embarking on their journey however, Winter began noticing things about the princes. While he would act cold and aggressive, North would secretly usher away smaller animals from his bloodthirsty brother South before they could be seen. In the same breath that North would claim any familiar was a liability and for the weak willed, he would spend and downtime on their journey brushing the ice crystals from his slink's fur with his claws, taking great care not to hurt or cause discomfort. Even as he would hurl insults and sharp words towards the ridgeback, Winter could tell his heart wasn't in it. Growing up as the second-eldest, North must have known he would likely never be "important" to his family, and Winter's theory was that North put on this rude, uncaring personality as a way to get attention and thus "be important" to them. At least, that was just a theory of course. Winter could be dead wrong, but he was pretty sure about it. Like, 80%.

As they drew closer to the Glade, he could see that the warm sun was beginning to get to the ice prince, and Winter began to angle his wings to try and shade as much sun as he could for the wildclaw. To his surprise, instead of a sharp-witted retort about "how that isn't necessary, lowborn!" that he had been expecting, North uttered (very quietly) "Thank you, Winter." He was also pretty sure that was one of the first times he'd ever been called by his name by the icy prince. After that, Winter noticed North casting more and more frequent glances his way when he thought he couldn't see, only to be met with Winter's own steady gaze. When he realized he'd been caught, North's crest would flare in embarrassment and he'd whip his head away, suddenly finding something else to be much more interesting.

Winter couldn't really say he knew much about royalty, or their confusing, convoluted ways of behaving and showing affection. Or any emotion for that matter. In the "lowborn" classes as North called them, feelings were encouraged and affection was proudly displayed as a badge of honor. He'd seen yearlings dance around one another before finally getting around to the inevitable confession, just as he could see North dancing around him now. However, he knew it took two to dance. Winter would be lying if he didn't find the wildclaw bewitching; North was stunning, honestly. North's feathers and scaled seemed to dance light off of them, glittering like freshly fallen snow and his eyes were so sharp and intelligent.

While Winter, too, could feel the draw towards the shorter dragon, he was also starkly aware of the social gap between them. While he'd never been embarrassed, or even that mindful of his lower status, Winter couldn't help but be conscious of it now that a prince was dancing around him. He was afraid, which wasn't something he was used to by any means. He was afraid of rejection, but equally afraid that North wasn't even aware of what he was doing and by courting him he would make their uneasy friendship (?) strained and awkward. Or worse, Winter was misjudging everything and North really did see him as a lowborn scum that was worthless.