Tsunami was back in the arena.
She felt the stone beneath her claws, the heavy metal clips dragging down her wings. The stinking breath of a stranger, advancing toward her.
His skin was shriveled from dehydration, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep. Blood flecked the corners of his mouth. Was it his own, or another dragon's? Tsunami didn't want to know.
Tsunami thought about what Scarlet had done – turned a dragon so full of breath and life, of dignity and rank within his tribe, into this living corpse. And then made him suffer more for her entertainment.
The thought sickened her.
Tsunami longed to avenge him, longed to tether Queen Scarlet in a prison, flightless and trapped, just to show her how cruel the SkyWing queen was. She wanted to deny her water for months until Scarlet was reduced to drinking her own blood. She wanted to drag her down into the surging sea, holding her underwater until her body went limp and expelled breath no more. The blood rage roared in Tsunami's ears, and brought a red haze in front of her eyes.
And when Gill charged, Tsunami was ready.
She was not Tsunami. She was not the SeaWing princess. She was the blood rage, and the blood rage was her.
That was how she was able to gain the upper hand. Had Tsunami been herself during that fight, she would be another pile of bones in a charred heap.
That was why when the inevitable end came, and Tsunami had Gill pinned on the ground beneath her, she felt no remorse in snapping his neck. Her message had rung true and clear, and that was her only goal.
I'm imagining this is you.
"No!"
Tsunami gasped in shock as the body spoke. In horror, she released the body and backed away. For Gill was no longer the starved, shriveled stranger half-crazed with thirst that Tsunami had seen in the blood rage. Instead he was as he had been before, a king with scales of deepest sea-green, bedecked in all his crown and finery. He spasmed on the ground, dying but not dead.
"Tsunami." A gray-green eye locked with hers. Tsunami tried to look away, but couldn't. Her gaze was transfixed on the sight in front of her.
And as often happens in dreams, the scene around Tsunami suddenly changed entirely. The arena melted away, replaced with Queen Coral's council room. The neat little plates of fish and seaweed shimmered and winked in the light reflected off the pearly floor.
And in the middle of the table, Gill still lay dying. Tsunami's father still lay dying.
"Mother!" Tsunami jumped up from her seat and shook Coral's shoulders. "Mother, we have to take him to the hospital!" Coral gave no indication she had heard, continuing to stare straight ahead as if she could not see her husband dying on her council table. "Mother!"
And then the blood rage took over again, and Tsunami suddenly found claws around a severed neck without knowing how they got there. Gill really was dead now.
And, as is often the way in dreams, Queen Coral now had seen everything all along. "Tsunami," she said slowly and calmly, "Gill was your father."
The quietness of her mother's voice was more destroying than if Coral had raged. Yell at me, bite me, hate me! Tsunami's tortured mind screamed. Don't just stand there looking at me!
But Queen Coral still stood there, shaking her head and flashing her scales in the language Tsunami could never fully understand.
"Tsunami, you are such a disappointment," she said at last.
And then the council turned on her.
They grabbed narwhal spears and converged on her, like how piranhas attack their prey. Tsunami backed up against the corner, trapped. In the crowd of nameless SeaWings, she spotted her sister Anemone, leering with the most viciousness of everyone, thrusting a spear into little Auklet's arms and urging her on.
"No." Tsunami felt her wings brush the stone wall of the cave. She was going to die here, turned on by her own people. "No, no, no, NO!" She thrashed around, whirling her talons at whatever scales and flesh she could reach. "Get AWAY from me!"
"Tsunami!" Moray shouted into her ear. Yet she sounded different, very un-Moray-like. In fact, she sounded like someone Tsunami knew, but couldn't quite place . . .
"Tsunami, wake up!" Tsunami's eyes popped open, and stared straight into Clay's amber eyes. She was back in Jade Mountain, in a dim-lit cave under hundreds of pounds of stone. Still in the clutches of her dream, she thrashed and kicked, jabbing a talon into Clay's eye. And then the memory of it all left her, though the feeling of the dream still remained.
"Oh. Clay." She saw the MudWing wince as he blinked hard twice. "Sorry about that. Nightmare."
And then it all came rushing back. Gill, the council room, Anemone . . . and Tsunami felt the emotion take over. Burying her face in Clay's shoulder, she sobbed in frustration and relief, and embarrassed that Clay had to see her like this.
"It's okay," Clay said, stroking a talon across her back. "I get them too."
"I killed him, Clay," Tsunami whispered. "I killed him. I killed him. I killed him . . ."
Finally, Tsunami untangled herself from Clay. She wiped away the last of her tears. "Why does it rattle me so much?" she said, not really asking Clay so much as herself. "Dragons kill each other every day. It's part of our nature. Peril's killed hundreds of dragons, and she enjoys it. But I kill one, and I'm plagued with nightmares for the rest of my life."
Clay shook his head in the same way Coral did in the dream, and Tsunami collapsed into sobs again. "You don't know anything, do you?" he said soothingly. "Peril has nightmares about the dragons she's killed. Glory does, too. There's nothing wrong with you, Tsunami. It just means you have a heart."
The next night, Tsunami was back in the arena again. She felt the rush of battle again, and relaxed into the familiar lunges and swipes. She was not afraid. She knew what she would do.
In no time Gill was pinned. The raucous crowd cheered wildly, chanting for blood and death. But the chants were drowned out by Tsunami's silence.
She didn't know if her plan would work. She was reliving her history, after all. Maybe she would find her claws glued to her father's scales, or lose control and feel her talons snap his neck. Again.
But Tsunami had to try.
She took a deep breath, and tried to lift her claws from Gill's throat. She felt them move, slide over his scales easily. Inside, Tsunami rejoiced.
Yet something was holding them back. Something deep inside of her, some primeval rage that kept her talons uselessly scratching Gill's diamond-hard scales. Some ancient magnet, pulling them back toward his neck.
Tsunami closed her eyes. She would not despair. She would not give up. She thought about Queen Coral, and Anemone and little Auklet, who would have to grow up without the guidance of a father. She remembered Coral's face when she learned her husband was dead, wrought with a sadness that threatened to break Tsunami's heart in two. She imagined the queen, staying by her unborn daughter's side for a whole year, refusing to leave the hatchery for five minutes for fear of an assassin. She remembered the love that washed over her when Queen Coral saw her for the first time. She felt her tormented memories of Gill, and the anguish of every night, slowly lift away and disappear. For love will always conquer hate.
Tsunami stepped back from Gill's body, trembling.
"Booooo!" Queen Scarlet shouted from the stands. "Kill him! Death! Blood!"
"Booooo!" The rest of the SkyWings chanted.
Yet none of that mattered.
Because Gill had risen. He was now that glorious shade of blue-green, scales shimmering and sparkling like jewels, lined with age yet still muscular and dignified, and fit with his crown and gold and all the trappings of a king.
"Tsunami," he spoke. Yet his voice was no longer cracked with dehydration, and her name was spoken only with love.
Then he laughed. His warm, rich bellows carried into the sky, now sprinkled with stars. "Finally! Tsunami, do you know how many times you've killed me?"
Tsunami just shook her head numbly, too stunned to speak.
"Two hundred and seventy-eight times, Tsunami. I was sure today would be the two-hundred and seventy-ninth."
Tsunami finally found her voice. "You're a dream."
"I'm not a dream, Tsunami. I'm simply visiting your dream," Gill answered. "I know this is all very confusing for you, but trust me, I am the real King Gill. There is life after death."
A million questions all flashed through Tsunami's mind. She had no idea which to ask first. "So – how did you get in my dream?"
"It's quite easy, once you learn. All the StarWings can do it."
"StarWings?"
Gill gestured at the night sky. "See that band of stars? That's SilverTail. Every star in SilverTail is a StarWing warrior."
"Wow," Tsunami whispered. The stars were so unusually bright that night, they seemed so close she could almost touch them. She reached out a talon, but it closed on nothing but empty air.
"I have to go now, Tsunami. Send Coral my best wishes."
"Of course."
"I love you, Tsunami." Gill's outline began to blur and fade away.
The words "I love you too" were on her lips, yet Tsunami couldn't bring herself to say them. How could she, when she hardly knew him, was the dragon who killed him? Instead, she just nodded as Gill finally vanished.
"I wish you the best of dreams," Gill's disembodied voice farewelled from all around her.
Tsunami woke up, rubbed her eyes, and stretched out her wings. It had been the best sleep she had had in ages. She blinked hard, trying to remember her dream.
It hadn't been her usual nightmare; Tsunami was sure of that. There had been the arena, yes, but it was nighttime, and stars, and – Gill!
She rushed out of the sleeping cave, through the tunnels, and up to the highest peak of Jade Mountain. The first ray of sun carried with it a gust of warm air, which blew gently against Tsunami's face. Squinting her eyes against the morning glare, she spotted the now-familiar band of stars, fading away as the sun rose.
One star shone more than the others, and seemed to have no intention of disappearing. Somehow, deep inside, Tsunami knew this star was Gill.
"I love you, Dad," she said to the star.
The star winked and shone a little brighter, and it seemed to say, I love you too.