"Coconut, please don't follow my commands."
Orca took a glance around the stone walls of her room to make sure no one was watching. While she might have been alone in her room at the Summer Palace, she didn't want to take any chances of being caught using her magic. The two doors leading out of her room were both closed, fortunately.
A small coconut rested by her front claws, beneath a large bed which looked far too big for even four dragons, much less one little dragonet. On top of the bed was a satchel with a few waterproof scrolls hanging out: all of the belongings that Orca had bothered to bring with her from her normal undersea bedroom in the Deep Palace. If she really had to get something from the Deep Palace, she could just ask her mother to take her back (Coral would comply to almost any of Orca's demands), and they would be back before sunfall.
On two of the other walls of the room were doors. One of these led to a so-called "natural" balcony overlooking the palace's pavilion and connecting to the rest of the palace, while the second led directly to Gill and Coral's room. While the one leading to the outside was locked, the latter was not, and Coral could barge in at any time, which would be unfortunately inconvenient if Orca was using her magic at the moment.
Although Orca didn't know what would happen if her mother, Queen Coral, found out about her animus powers, it couldn't be good. The SeaWings had just sent out their first batch of troops for war, and Orca might be forced to go along with the second as some sort of magical weapon. Or worse, Coral might have her killed.
Orca felt the cold, damp stone beneath her claws, part of the magnificent palace created by the ancient animus Albatross. Yet, all SeaWings of the royal family knew all too well what he had done with his powers. Two-thousand years might have been a long time, but dragons had long memories. If Coral thought that Orca would do similar, they'd have her throat cut out before the end of the night. It was somewhat ironic. If Orca's destiny was to eventually kill Coral herself and take her place on the SeaWing throne, killing Coral a little early couldn't hurt, right? Not that she planned to do it anytime soon, she wasn't crazy.
Orca listened for any clawsteps in the neighboring room, and detecting none, she turned back to the coconut on the ground.
"Coconut, please lift up into the air."
A phantasmal force slowly wrapped itself around the coconut, steadily moving the coconut upwards until it reached a height of around Orca's wings. She sighed. The coconut still followed her commands, even though she had told it not to earlier. She had to think of another plan.
Suddenly, Orca heard clawsteps in the room nextdoor, and the wooden doorknob started to turn. The young princess glanced at the coconut, still levitating in midair. If Coral saw it, there would be no chance at hiding her secret.
"Coconut, be invisible to Coral," Orca whispered. A wave of exhaustion passed over Orca, and she suddenly felt slightly light-headed. She steadied herself with her tail. Most of the enchantments Orca had done so far involved moving small objects back and forth, but this was more complicated than her usual. She crossed her claws and hoped it would work.
The door opened, and Coral stepped into the room. The queen's scales were a deep ultramarine, like an unnaturally vivid burst of water. Pearl necklaces of all colors and sizes adorned her neck, and a sharpened narwhal horn was strapped to her tail, gentle candlelight glistening off its indents. Coral's own horns had silver rings around them, complimenting her scales beautifully.
"It's almost time for the ceremony, sweetie!" Coral said, barging through the door. "Let's get these pearls on!"
The spell seemed to work. Coral didn't look once at the unnervingly levitating coconut in the middle of the room. Orca breathed a sigh of relief.
Holding a few strands of pearl necklaces in her claws, Coral walked towards Orca. Orca's eyes suddenly opened in alarm; Coral was going to walk right into the floating coconut.
Orca rushed towards Coral, narrowly avoiding the levitating coconut on the way. She wrapped her wings lovingly around her mother, and feigned a delighted expression on her snout.
"Thank you so much, mother!" Orca said, slightly pushing into Coral in order to move her away from the coconut. "I was soooooo excited for the ceremony, and had almost forgotten about these!"
"Oh, er, great!" replied Coral, slightly confused as to why her daughter was ramming into her. She draped a pearl necklace around Orca, then another, and another. Orca stood between Coral and the floating coconut.
"Thank you, mother!" Orca said, attempting to get Coral out of the room as fast as she could. She nudged her mother towards the door. "I'll be right out, I just have to fix up a few things first."
"Mhm," Coral replied. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot, Gill and I are going to have more dragonets! Maybe another sister for you, or even two!"
"I'm very glad you're having more potential queens, but I really need to finish up so we can get to the ceremony," Orca replied. Oops, Orca thought, that came out a little weird. She pondered for a moment what more siblings meant for the throne, but Orca decided she was too busy making sure Coral didn't run into an invisible coconut to worry about future heiresses right now. "It's almost time, right?"
Coral nodded, ignoring Orca's faux pas. "Well, I'll let you be, but just make it quick!" She trotted out of the room, while Orca shut the door as soon as Coral's tail flicked past the doorway. Orca breathed a sigh of relief.
"Coconut, float back to the ground," she muttered, "and no longer be invisible to Coral." The coconut obeyed, and it gently returned to its mundane state.
New siblings? Orca thought. Ugh, maybe instead of having new children, Coral could pay more attention to the ones she already has. Orca was thinking of her two older brothers, Rift and Anglerfish (Angler for short). At least since Orca was born, Coral had completely ignored their existence. It didn't help that they were identical twins, and their milky-green scales made them look almost exactly alike. Coral seemed to always confuse one for the other.
Yet, if Coral did have another daughter, maybe she would be less engulfing of Orca. Coral was constantly around Orca, always trying get into her business, and it annoyed the young princess to no end. She might be able to get a little freedom in her life for once if Orca had someone else to parent.
Orca glanced back at the coconut. Although it seemed a little unreliable just to tell the coconut not to move, maybe she could prevent her powers from being caught in another way. When Coral came in, she couldn't see the coconut levitating, there's no reason why Orca couldn't do the same at the Talons of Power ceremony. All she had to do was make it so that other dragons couldn't sense the coconut being affected by her powers, and she would be fine. The plan was foolproof!
"Orca!" Coral's voice called from the attached room. "We need to go!"
"Sorry mother!" Orca quickly replied. She straightened out her pearl beads and opened the door, ready to face her challenge.
The ruins of the Island Palace were not very far from the Summer Palace, only a short swim. As Orca neared closer to the ruins, right behind Coral and Gill, more and more dragons converged, swarming around the royal family. Over to her right, she saw the royal twins, Rift and Angler, join the rest of their family.
Hey, Orca flashed in Aquatic to Rift. She could easily tell which one was him, even if Coral couldn't. His body was just a little bit stockier than Angler's, and he was much more talkative than his quiet twin.
Hey! Rift flashed back. Did Coral tell you that we're getting more siblings?
Orca visibly rolled her eyes, and lit up two glowing bands on her tail which, when combined, created a similar meaning. Ugh. How much larger a family do we need? I thought three dragonets was enough, and combined with Aunt Tempest, Uncle Shark, and his dragonet, that's even more . . . like twenty-four.
Rift silently laughed, and three of his stripes flashed up to communicate his chuckles. Eight, he replied. You used the wrong wing-band modifier.
Orca blushed in embarrassment. She still hadn't gotten her numbers in Aquatic fully down yet, strangely enough. She had gotten a few mixed up when learning them, and had never completely broken the habit.
The ruins soon came up ahead, above the water surface. Orca smiled to Rift, and climbed out of the water, onto the golden sand. A fresh breath of salty air entered her lungs. She wasn't the only dragonet to do so. Maybe a hundred other dragonets around her age were doing the same, getting ready for their ceremonies. Orca wondered if any of them were also animuses. If they were, hopefully they had a plan in mind too, or else the entire kingdom would know about their powers.
"C'mon, Orca!" Coral called cheerfully. "Look at you, you're getting so big!"
Orca rolled her eyes again. She really was starting to get tired of her mother. A few new dragonets for her to wrangle with might not be such a bad idea.
Orca shook off the leftover droplets of water and stepped onto the golden beach, her claws making imprints in the wet sand. A number of SeaWings were already waiting there, with a pile of coconuts ready to be passed out. Two year old dragonets fidgeted in a straight line along the beach, impatiently waiting for the ceremony to begin. Whirlpool, Orca's tutor and the leader of the ceremony, sat among a few older dragons, ready for it to begin.
Orca took her place among the line. Next to her were two dragonets she had never seen before: a small purple one who smelt slightly of rotting fish, and another with a golden chain wrapped around her neck, maybe a minor noble of some sort. Both of them avoided looking directly at Orca, not wanting to disrespect the princess with their stares. The one with the chain scrunched her wings in tightly, attempting not to accidentally nudge Orca with them. Orca didn't mind if one of them accidentally bumped her, although she wished the purple one would've cleaned himself a little more.
Behind Orca stood a large jungle, with ancient ruins occasionally breaking the peaks. The Island Palace. Where one of Orca's ancestors, Albatross, had lost his soul and killed the royal family in his insanity. Orca shivered. Hopefully the enchantment she was about to perform wouldn't harm her soul. She didn't feel violent against any of her family members yet, right?
"Hello, dragonets," Whirlpools slimy voice called out, like a bunch of live eels slithering over one another. "We're going to start the ceremony now. Let's pass out the coconuts."
Slowly but surely, a few of the older dragons passed out coconuts into each of the dragonets grabbing claws. Now was the time for Orca to try her enchantment. She brought her snout close to the coconut, to make it seem like she was muttering a good-luck charm or something.
"Coconut, I enchant you so that no dragon in Pyrrhia other than myself can see, hear, or feel any effects caused by magic used upon you." Would that do it? If all else failed, Orca could try and enchant something to remove everyone's memories of the ceremony, but she didn't think she was powerful enough to do something like that. Additionally, just the idea of an animus being able to do something like that unnerved her. If changing dragons' minds like that was possible, how could she know anything was real? She squeamishly thought about the enchantment she had just made. Maybe it was a little too late for that.
Suddenly, a wave of lightheadedness passed over her, as if she had gotten up too quickly from bed. She attempted to move her tail to keep herself balanced. Yet this time, a cold shiver followed it, unnaturally chilling her scales. But Orca kept herself steady.
Glancing around, the other two dragonets were still attempting to avoid looking at her. If they had somehow seen something, hopefully they wouldn't think anything of it.
Whirlpool walked slowly along the line of dragonets; wherever he passed, looks of disappointment appeared as the dragonets were unable to move their coconuts. After what seemed like an eternity, he got to Orca.
"Hello, dear," Whirlpool said to Orca, his forked tongue flickering in and out of his teeth. "You know, it would be absolutely wonderfulif we had an animus princess. The war would be over hardly before it started, and the SeaWings could reap all the benefits. Your mother would be so proud."
Orca gulped. Did he somehow suspect her magic? Well, if he did, this would hopefully put his suspicions to rest.
"Coconut, float in the air, and then return to my claws," Orca said. Suddenly, the coconut rose into the air from her claws, and resting for just a moment, came back as softly as it had risen. Orca was momentarily startled by it, but Whirlpool just kept staring at her claws with a glazed over expression of boredom on his face. Orca's enchantment had worked; Whirlpool didn't notice a thing.
"Disappointing," Whirlpool slimily hissed, a sour expression forming on his snout. "Maybe Coral's next daughter will have the gift."
He moved on to the dragonet with the golden chain, and Orca breathed a sigh of relief. Her secret was safe.