Cinderpelt and Dustpelt [TB AU] (Patreon)

Another couple from the TB AU! I like the idea of Dustpelt being this brash, hot-headed warrior but somehow Cinderpelt is even more foul-mouthed than he could ever be. Cinderpelt cursing out the hawk that tried to take Snowstep was probably the funniest thing I wrote into the first arc.

Initially, I was planning to keep the Tiny/Cinder/Sand love triangle in the first arc, but... as I got further and further into writing the series I decided against it. It was going to "end" with Cinder telling Tinyclaw how much Sandstorm loves him, and how she had felt the same, but she'd been spending more time with Dustpelt and found that she loves him instead - it just kinda felt weak, lol, like most love triangles do.

This was supposed to happen somewhere around Rising Storm but... yeah, Rising Storm ended up being written during a bad period of time so that idea was unintentionally scrapped (along with my plans for Runningwind to have a crush on Tinyclaw as well, which Tinyclaw actually would have reciprocated in a small way - but that required setup I did not put forth previously).

Cinder/Dust was always in the cards, but the way they got there was a lot gentler and more in the background than I had originally imagined :P There's still a small age gap between them but, like, it's nowhere near Dust/Fern levels. At least they were both apprentices at the same time.