Qinter

"See, I’m your destiny."

- Qibli to Winter, Moon Rising

Qinter is the slash ship between Qibli and Winter from the Wings of Fire fandom.

Canon
Qibli and Winter are clawmates at Jade Mountain Academy in the Jade Winglet. Their relationship was rocky at first, but Winter eventually warms up to Qibli and his determination in being friends throughout the book.

Moon Rising
Moon is introduced to both Qibli and Winter at the same time when the two Qibli accidentally lets go of Winter’s scavenger pet, letting it run amok. He steps in between Moon and Winter in an attempt to defuse the tension between them. Qibli tries to end the dispute by explaining to Moon that the scavenger was Winter’s pet, wondering at the same time, whether he could get Winter a new scavenger if Moon ate it.

When given an opportunity to leave Winter as a clawmate, he rejects it—all the while making jokes at Winter’s expense.

"Sunny had given him an easy way to get out of sharing Winter’s cave, but he wasn’t taking it. He actually wanted to be Winter’s clawmate, although she couldn’t see why. It wasn’t quite that Wibli liked him, but it was a bit that Qibli wanted Winter to like him. […] In addition, he seemed to be teasing Winter on purpose, as a kind of maneuver to make friends with him."

- Qibli’s thoughts about Winter from Moon’s perspective, Moon Rising

When Winter begins his introduction, Qibli chimes in at the same time Winter introduces himself as “Queen Glacier’s nephew”. Fed up, the IceWing asks Tsunami if he was allowed a private cave, getting a firm ‘no’.

Winter Turning
The rest of the Jade Winglet finds Winter in the forest by the light of Qibli’s fire. When Moon determinedly announces that they are going to help Winter, Qibli only watches him intently, unsettling the IceWing. Qibli suggests that he follow Icicle, guessing correctly that she had probably traveled to the rainforest in an attempt to kill Glory. After Winter tells everyone his plan to return to the Ice Kingdom, Qibli sensibly reminds him that Hailstorm may be dead by the time he arrives, which annoys Winter even more. The dragonets debate shortly on whether they should pay attention to the prophecy or Winter’s problem first; while Qibli is the first to suggest that they help the IceWing before anything else. Qibli also makes a clever observation about the efficiency of the animus-touched rainforest tunnel, aggravating Winter with the amount of ideas he comes up with.

Winter gets attacked by a RainWing in the rainforest, after attempting to eat her pet sloth. He automatically starts fighting back to the chagrin of the group. Qibli shouts in his ear to stop, but Winter lashes at him in a fury. When confronted by the offending RainWing, Qibli grabs ahold of Winter’s shoulder to calm him down. Winter shakes him off, uncomfortable with the heat that emanates off the SandWing. Qibli is the one that nudges Winter to have some empathy for the pets, which only serves to irk Winter when Qibli is correct again.

As they’re being escorted, Qibli loudly converses with Winter on the topic of NightWing superiority, running his mouth and wondering why they still looked so smug when they didn’t even have a real home anymore. Though his tirade gets angry hisses from both Moon and Kinkajou, Qibli winks at Winter, who is aware of exactly why the SandWing was trying to provoke the NightWings. By riling up the NightWings, he had in turn, made Winter feel better about himself.

Not long after Winter and Moon begin following Queen Glory to the banyan tree, she stops and calls Qibli out for tailing them, extremely noisily. But with his mind made up, Qibli stubbornly persuades her to let him come along, teasing Winter’s repressed friendliness to make a point. After finding the body, Winter doesn’t react well to Queen Glory’s command for them to reside in the dragonet wingery and begins arguing in indignation. Qibli steps on his foot and quickly orders Winter to stop fighting against the Queen. Winter shoves him away but Qibli only shoves him back, tells him to hush for the moment, and then they can sneak away later in the wingery. With strained reluctance, Winter agrees to the plan.

When trying to hide from a search party, Winter crouches in next to Qibli, with some prompting. When Qibli emerges from the hole, Winter snappily warns him to keep an eye on the SandWing barb, to which Qibli haughtily responds, “If you ever get stabbed by my tail, I promise it won’t be by accident.”

As the quartet of dragons bargain to leave and search for former-Queen Scarlet, Winter empathetically tries to make the point that ‘’he’’ is the one who should do alone, but Qibli continuously makes cracks at being Winter’s best friend and should therefore be allowed to follow along. Winter unsuccessfully protests their reasons for coming. Qibli suggests it may be for the entertainment value, getting himself a glare from the queen.

Winter begins signaling the Talons when he suddenly notices a scavenger den nearby, aiming a sort of weapon at his friends. It shoots straight towards Qibli’s heart. When Winter’s yelled warning doesn’t reach them fast enough, he blasts his frostbreath at the spear, weighting it down and sniffing out the flames. Qibli safely leaps aside as the weapon clatters beneath him, everyone shocked. Winter prodded them to leave and they soar off, Qibli starting to ask multiple questions about the weapon behind him. They land at a near riverbank where Winter obligingly draws a picture of the weapon for Qibli’s curiosity. The SandWing continues to inquire until finally Winter snaps and reminds him that he was too busy saving him to take a closer look. Qibli sits back, smiling, and remembers to thank him delightedly.

Awkwardly, Winter sees that Qibli is being completely serious, and point out that he would’ve never been able to survive in the Ice Kingdom. Qibli neither agrees nor denies it, but suggests he had survived the Scorpion Den ‘’and’’ his family, who would’ve likely just stabbed him themselves. Winter adds in that his family would’ve waited to see how he did, then note everything he had done wrong. Qibli laughs at this, but Winter quickly says that they were great IceWing parents.

Meeting the Talons of Peace, Qibli purposefully messes up the name Cirrus and Winter notices this, able to already tell when Qibli was deliberately trying to annoy him. When Winter notices the way Avalanche glares at Qibli, he amuses himself by making a joke about how annoying the SandWing is, but also hopes that she wouldn’t be the one that helped them.

At night, Winter tells Qibli his theory about Pyrite being an animus. Qibli doesn’t completely believe it, pointing out that the SkyWings hadn’t had an animus in centuries, but he agreed there was definitely something off about her. The next day, Qibli is the first to spot their destination. Although Winter is bone-tired, he speeds over to where Qibli is pointing. Moon and Kinkajou race to the peak, which gives Qibli a chance to mock Winter by imitating the IceWing’s behavior.

Despite being able to find traces of Scarlet, none of them were able to locate her. Without any hope, Winter’s will begins to cave in. Immediately, Qibli is there. The SandWing forcefully drags Winter away from the hopeless state he’s in and takes charge of the mission, pairing up Winter and Moon because he knows that the NightWing would help him keep on going.

"“Stop, stop it,” Qibli said, suddenly in front of Winter, talking his shoulders and shaking him. “I see you going to the giving-up place in your head. Get yourself out of there right now. We do not know he’s dead any more than we did an hour ago. What we have to do is keep searching, because he’s only definitely dead if we give up and sit here like moping camels. You are not allowed to mourn until you see a dead body, do you understand me?”"

- Qibli’s wake-up speech to Winter, Winter Turning

Winter gets suddenly flung away from Pyrite the moment he suggests taking off her necklace. He lands in the campfire, But when he gets up, he sees Qibli fighting Pyrite in place of him, with the venomous SandWing barb angled towards her.

When Winter points out the unorderliness of how Possibility was structured, Qibli asks if everyone in the Ice Kingdom lived in igloos. Purposely poking fun at Winter and his aristocrat status, he pretends to not remember who Winter was related to. Hailstorm, on the other hand, answers completely seriously, which nearly makes Qibli laugh. Winter is glad that Hailstorm didn’t notice the humor in Qibli’s eyes. Qibli returns down to the ground when he spots Winter and Hailstorm returning. He expresses sympathy for the confused IceWing, but which Winter takes the wrong way and responds passive-aggressively.

Together, they inspect the enchanted note that changed Hailstorm into Pyrite. Winter finally decides to test out the enchantment in order to understand how his brother was feeling, reasoning that if Qibli was there, he would be fine. In a moment of inspiration, Qibli rips off the fourth condition of keeping the necklace off so that Winter may be able to escape the spell by himself. After a short minute of being Pyrite, Winter returns to himself with extreme distress. Qibli grabs ahold of his hands in an effort to ground him and calm him down.

With Moon, Qibli futility tries to convince Winter that he should return after his trip to the Ice Kingdom in order to figure out the prophecy. He suggests that they stay in Possibility for another week to wait for Winter. His parting words to Winter are “Don’t be a stranger.”

Escaping Peril
Though Moon believes that there is no way Winter would still return within a week, Qibli continues to believe in him and carefully tells the mind reader that they still have a chance.

Right after Peril accidentally burns Winter, Qibli, Moon, and Turtle, arrive. Qibli frantically comes up with ideas to help Winter and begs him to stay awake. When Turtle’s animus stone heals Winter, Qibli half-jokingly asks if anyone else in their group was hiding secret powers. Winter responds grumpily, making him and Qibli the two normal dragons.

Qibli, Winter, and Turtle finally catch up to Moon and Peril after traveling all the way back to Jade Mountain. They realize all the possibilities the scroll holds, and what Darkstalker had done in his life. Winter and Qibli get into an argument about who should rightfully have the scroll, Winter citing that he was a prince, Qibli saying that they should trust him to make the right decision. They’re all only stopped when Darkstalker emerges from his resting place, after centuries of being trapped.

Talons of Power
Qibli notices that something is up when Winter suddenly begins acting cooperative towards Darkstalker. When Winter claims he is extremely open-minded, both Peril and Qibli snort. Thought Qibli believes that Darkstalker may truly just be here to catch up and not commit any evil schemes, hearing Winter of all dragons say that makes him second think it.

Turtle joins Winter and Qibli’s cave for somewhere to sleep, filling in them both on the activities of Darkstalker as well. Winter defends the legendary NightWing from criticism but Qibli, convinced that Winter may be enchanted, points out that if he was greeted by someone as “important” as Winter, he would likely have done something to him. Winter is unsure whether he should be flattered or offended, but flounces out of the cave anyways, probably to tell Darkstalker, according to Qibli.

Darkness of Dragons
Qibli watches Moon leave Jade Academy with downcast feelings. He spots Winter with a "soulfully tragic face" while he watches them go as well, and wonders if he looked like that as well. He concludes that no, Winter had better expressions that he always failed to imitate.

Qibli lands next to the IceWing whom he has decided to tentatively label a "friend". Winter is startled for a moment, before covering his embarrassment by pretending to talk about the sunset. Though when Winter doesn't react with as much disapproval of Darkstalker as he originally had, Qibli is unable to keep the worry off his face because he sounded different from the "haughty, sharp-minded IceWing prince" that the SandWing knew. He wonders how he could ever be worthy of Moon when compared to Winter, who had gone through trials of death and betrayal to come back to her.

Shortly after midday, Winter finds Qibli moping in the prey center, reminding him of their upcoming class. Qibli vigorously denies that he was moping, instead calling Winter the moper—then changing it to brooding, a word that would fit the IceWing prince more. Winter eventually gets him to follow him to History with a bit of poking and reminding that all the history was happening in the rainforest with Darkstalker, not at Jade Academy. When Winter answers Pike's question about Anemone's whereabouts, he calls Darkstalker their "glorious leader". The mildly-sincere intonation disturbs Qibli even though Winter reassures him he was being sarcastic.

In class, Winter is accused of having bad judgment due to trusting his sister and Darkstalker, and he immediately flares up, ready to fight. Qibli also jumps out of his seat, ready to hold Winter back or help him fight, depending on the situation.

As Qibli is trying to think of someone who needed his enchanted earring, Winter pops into his mind. He rushes to their shared room, catching Winter drawing something. In exchange for not asking about the drawing, he tells Winter to wear his earring. Winter rejects his proposal with a look of alarm and tries to push Qibli away. Not giving up, the SandWing jumps on him and attempts to wrestle him down while taking his own earring out. Realizing that he was slightly bigger and far too cold for him, he gets whacked on the head with Winter’s wings before the IceWing finally pushes him off. Winter bolts out of the cave, shouting in indignation all the while.

As Qibli stresses over what he should bring to the Scorpion Den, Winter appears in the doorway with a handsome slouch, announcing that he would go along with him. Qibli is genuinely surprised but surmises Winter’s commitment to be adoration for the SandWing.

Qibli tries to sway Winter into abandoning the pursuit, telling stories of the cruelty and ruthlessness that was his family, but the IceWing is not persuaded. Instead, Winter uses this as proof that Qibli really does need him on the journey. Thinking quick, Qibli attempts at a halfhearted bargain—Winter wears the earring in exchange for coming along with him. Winter refuses profusely. Again, Qibli tries at scaring Winter by telling him how his grandfather tattooed the dragons he’d killed; he was covered in tattoos, shouldn’t that mean something? Winter only yawns and makes a jab at Qibli’s grandfather, letting the SandWing suddenly laugh. It eases his tension a bit, grateful for the sarcastic but enchanted ally.

Qibli goes on a short tangent about how it was all Winter’s fault that Peril ended up burning the scroll, but while he was enchanted, he couldn’t truly be mad at him. He just had to wait until Winter was unenchanted, and then he could be furious at him.

The two dragons lift off towards the Scorpion Den finally, after Winter grumbles about all the good-byes everyone was saying.

On the flight towards the Scorpion Den, Winter humorously guesses that their encounter would progress with Qibli getting throttled by his grandfather while Winter sneaks off to save Ostrich, but Qibli says, with complete solemnness, that it might just be how it plays out. As they discuss the wounded soldiers left on the streets, Winter makes a shocking remark; it leaves Qibli wondering if Winter really did become a more open-minded dragon after leaving the Ice Kingdom.

Winter gasps when he sees the scavengers being used as entertainment. The SandWing blocks him, but it's too late and they are spotted by Vulture.

As they wait for Vulture to bring Ostrich and Cobra, Winter comments on how exhausting it is to be around the constantly pacing dragon. Winter also makes a shot as discussing who might be setting off the bombs, which Qibli instantly answers; it was obviously Vulture, despite what he claimed. When Qibli wonders if he should use Anemone's weather bracelets as a distraction, Winter cautions him not to, in case they drown. Finally, his mother, Cobra arrives. Qibli introduces her to Winter, making up a scenario in which Winter was totally head-over-heels for him. Winter protests all of the claims, snorting at Qibli's declaration, but Cobra seemingly takes it seriously, thoughfully pointing out the advantages of that descision. Qibli is taken aback, wondering if his family was truly open to that idea.

Winter later declares that he'll go to sleep while he waits for Qibli to come up with something so the SandWIng pushes a pillow towards him. Soon, Winter is asleep in the far corner of the room. When Cobra and Qibli finally think up something, Qibli realizes there is no way to disguise Winter as a Talon of Power, as he is too sparkly and IceWing-y. In the short moment that Qibli looks away from the group, he finds that Winter has disappeared. Frantically, he spots a white-blue figure darting away to the storehouse and realizes that Winter is after the scavengers. Exasperated, he appears next to him, startling Winter for a moment before and tries to pry him away. Qibli ends up giving in and picks the lock for Winter. Their movements attract Bog, the lying MudWing, and Qibli immediately has him pinned down. With Winter, they interrogate him and realize that he’s the shapeshifting RainWing—Chameleon. He escapes after threatening one of the scavengers just as Cobra reappears. They’re nearly found out by Qibli’s siblings, but just as Rattlesnake is about to yell out, Winter slams her snout closed.

Thorn uses the Obsidian Mirror to check up on Queen Glacier, but the results are anything but positive. Qibli sees the horrorstruck expression on Winter’s face when the shapes on the Mirror mention the sickness that plagues the IceWings. Winter immediately starts for Darkstalker but Qibli barrels into him in order to stop him from leaving. The SandWing calls for his Outclaws to help pin him down even though Winter demands to be let go. Even though Qibli tries to reason with the indignant dragon with logic, Winter’s spell-addled brain refuses to understand. One of his claws inflict a long gash on Qibli’s side, who jumps away. With no chance of reasoning, Qibli takes out an earring and brandishes towards the struggling prince even as he shouts in outrage. In his anger, Winter lashes out at Qibli, calling him completely ordinary and unable to save anyone. This infuriates him, and he finally pounces on Winter, struggling to put the earring on him. Winter twists away, aiming his frostbreath at Qibli.

In the haze of pain, Qibli sees the fight drain out of Winter the moment Thorn stabs the earring in. Wonderously, the IceWing looks at him even as he looses consciousness.

When Qibli wakes up, he finds Winter sitting next to him, keeping watch, while he slept. He is pleased to find the earring dangling on his ear and the glum expression that resided on Winter’s face. Winter tries to defend himself at first, but roughly manages out an apology. Qibli takes it all in stride, pointing out that it was all because of the spell and that Winter shouldn’t be blamed. Delightedly, Qibli realizes that Winter had called him a friend.

Winter then hesitantly confesses that although it was partially the spell’s fault for his outburst, he was also to be blamed; he was worried any spell would change him like one did to Hailstorm.

Moments

 * With a perfectly straight face, Qibli suggests to Winter that he could collar the scavenger with the label of “Queen Glacier’s nephew”. Winter seriously contemplates the advice before suspiciously wondering if he was being sarcastic.
 * Qibli is able to correctly guess Winter’s thought about his own lackluster importance to his family and use it as an jibe.
 * On the day of the explosion, Winter and Qibli spent most of the day together or near each other.
 * Winter notices the expression on Qibli’s face after Moon’s prophecy, likening it to the fear that he saw on the SandWing’s face, on the day of the explosion.
 * Qibli snorts at Moon’s proclamation that Winter’s mind was confusing.
 * Winter wonders what thoughts Qibli has when he notices the odd tone when they talk about “dark thoughts”.
 * Qibli apologizes for worrying Jade Academy’s staff, but defends his decision by saying that Winter needed company to go searching for his sister.
 * On the abandoned NightWing island, Winter and Qibli get into a minor argument about whether or not it was right for a dragon to be given just one choice for their life.
 * Qibli asks Winter for permission if it’s alright for them to ask Deathbringer for advice, knowing that the IceWing was not particularly fond of the NightWing.
 * Qibli compliments Winter on his creativity in insulting Squid when he threatens the SeaWing’s tail instead of face.
 * When Hailstorm gets into a misunderstanding with a SkyWing, Qibli joins Winter in advocating for his brother.
 * Winter practically “hears” Qibli laugh in reaction to his mother’s disappointed words. In fact, he supplies Qibli’s voice in his head multiple times when finding a situation the SandWing might laugh about.
 * Turtle leaves to follow Darkstalker and his dragons, leaving Winter and Qibli the only remaining residents of the Jade Winglet at Jade Academy.
 * Qibli uses Winter’s goal as his excuse when Tsunami accuses his Winglet of going off on dangerous expeditions.
 * Winter is the only other person Qibli thinks of, when he is hoping that Turtle had made another earring for someone.
 * When Peril asks if the multiplying earrings are for Qibli’s fan club, he immediately dismisses the idea but jokingly wonders if there may be a fan club for the dashing and heroic Winter.
 * Qibli realizes that if given the chance, he would’ve done a spell that made everyone like him, even Winter.
 * Qibli hopes that he wasn't leading Winter into a trap in his grandfather's house.
 * Both Winter and Qibli realize the significance of Vulture's "Talons of Power".
 * When Qibli figures out the truth behind Onyx and her inheritance at breakneck speed, Winter remarks that "your brain makes my brain hurt".
 * Qibli hesitates when Vulture beckons him to follow him, waiting for Winter. Winter reassures him that he'll be fine on his own and won't get set on fire.
 * Cobra compares the Winter next to Qibli, making him feel inferior to the shiny IceWing.
 * Qibli uses Winter as a tether to bring him back in the present, trying not to get sucked away into old memories.
 * Qibli looks at Winter when he is thinking about how his friends made him stronger.
 * Winter winces upon seeing the scar he made on Qibli’s arm.
 * Winter jokes that they’ll be granting Qibli’s “terrible fashion sense” to the whole continent in exchange for protection against Darkstalker.

Quotes
"You’re not getting rid of the rest of us that easily."

- Qibli to Winter as a warning, Winter Turning

"What is it with you and faces? You should try threatening someone’s elbows or ankles once in a while, just for a change of pace."

- Qibli to Winter, Winter Turning

"It’s true. [Winter] is honorable. He’s no sneak-in-the-night assassin."

- Qibli defending Winter to Deathbringer, Winter Turning

"Unless they kill you first. Which I realize I should be more enthusiastic about, but for some reason I’m not. Come on."

- Qibli to Winter, Winter Turning

"“All right, grouchy,” Qibli said, giving Winter an affectionately exasperated glare. “I’m just expressing sympathy over here. I realize that’s an unfamiliar concept for IceWings.”"

- Qibli to Winter, Winter Turning

"“Winter, it’s over,” Qibli called, catching his talons. “You’re you again. She’s not real.”"

- Qibli comforting Winter, Winter Turning

"”Handsome, tortured, and heroic?” Qibli supplied. “Everyone loves dragons like that.”"

- Qibli about Winter, Darkness of Dragons

"It would feel better to have an ally, even an enchanted, sarcastic one who pretends to hate me."

- Qibli’s thoughts about Winter, Darkness of Dragons

Fanon
Along with MoonBli and Winterwatcher, Qinter is one of the most popular ships in the second arc of the Wings of Fire series.

Fandom
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Trivia

 * Sutherland purposefully wrote the relationship between Moonwatcher, Winter, and Qibli to be a love triangle that could be seen as endgame for either pairing.
 * Moon defines Qibli as “kinder than others”, while Winter is described as “braver than others”.
 * Qibli practices making Winter's heroic, dashing faces in the mirror, but they usually don't turn out as impressive as his.