Queen Arete despised politics.
However, she must acknowledge that it was political maneuvering that allowed her the distinct pleasure of foisting the bureaucratic nonsense onto her husband, Matsya, and the Parliament while she took a much-deserved vacation to see her sister. Really, the country wouldn't fall apart in her absence, and young Azura would benefit from the quiet as opposed to the bustle of Gyges.
Arete's departure wasted no time, mounting her pegasus destrier after giving the Brionac Spear to Matsya, and setting out with only four Falcoknight guards, Azura nestled to her breast. At the very least Arete could get some silence for once, even with the repetitive sound of thrumming wingbeats.
The queen did feel some trepidation leaving with the legendary spear behind, particularly in the hands of one who could not actually wield it. However, it was the a symbol of Anankos's blessing and the divine right to rule, a lynchpin of Gyges. How could Valla trust in the judgement of a ruler, though he cannot manipulate the Dragon Veins, if he could not at least hold the physical promise given to the First King Ryurei? Thus, to stabilize the court in her absence, Arete left the spear behind with her husband.
She much preferred magecraft anyways.
Glaucon was fairly small as far as private royal retreats go, keeping only four bedrooms, a kitchen, a few sitting rooms, and a center courtyard garden. One of her ancestors, Makaidos she believed his name was, built it with privacy, and if need be, secrecy, in mind. Thus, it was similarly staffed: only a minimal amount of servants and a few guards were present. An excellent place for visiting family if Arete thought so herself.
After landing with a soft jolt, Arete dismounted, keeping careful grip on her daughter, and turned around to see Mikoto already waiting for her. The sisters each gave a short bow to the others, before Arete waved at the Falcoknights to return home, as she had no luggage: there were supplies enough here, and really aside from her tomes she had little she cared to bring. Formalities now aside, Mikoto strode forward and hugged her sister fiercely, but not before snagging Azura, who was already reaching for her aunt.
"Ah, betrayed by my own child. I never thought the day would come." Arete said ruefully, watching as Mikoto wiggled her fingers for baby Azura to grab.
"Well, perhaps she tires of the same arms for hours" Mikoto looks up from playing with her niece. "How was your journey anyways? Boring as expected?"
Arete snorted in a rather unqueenly manner "Please. The silence was gratifying: at least the Falcoknights know better than to hem and haw and pester when there's a job to be done."
"Now if we may, I'm a bit peckish and I daresay your niece is as well. Shall we?"
"Oh, I already had the kitchens prepare something for you!"
"Perhaps I could sleep too. Ancients know I've not been getting enough of it lately."
Arete's leave of absence was just as calm and blissfully predictable as she could have hoped. She would dine with her blood-family, walk or ride with her sister, read, and receive messenger hawks from Gyges, proving that her work would never be far behind her (Arete was sure she would be dreaming of triplicate soon). The queen even had time to devote to researching and altering Hoshidan spell-tablets: she couldn't exactly experiment with native Vallite song-weaving, not with her bloodline.
Arete opens her second week at Glaucon with a face-full of feathers as she opens her window, birds flapping past her face to settle on the perch next to her work desk. Grimacing, she retrieves and opens the paper from the messenger hawk closest to her, unfolding it to reveal-
Oh dear.
Taxes.
The door to the queen's study opens softly, and Mikoto enters, one dark brow questing to reach beyond her black fringe as she takes note of her sister: Valla's queen, pouring over a paper-obscured desk, with a messenger hawk perched on the back of her seat and preening her hair.
Not precisely the position Arete expected to be in during her vacation, but the First Dragons work in mysterious ways.
Before her sister could remark upon the (in retrospect) rather odd scene, Arete cleared her throat and broke the bad news. "I'm afraid I will be unable to join you on our jaunt with the pegasi. As you can see, I leave for a few weeks and the castle starts to trip over itself."
"Oh well then. Enjoy your workday, sister dear" Mikoto replies, one eyebrow still damnably raised. It finally lowered when the princess probed "I hope nothing went too wrong. You will be able to stay, right?"
"No, nothing they can't handle themselves it seems. Besides, it would do them good to be weaned off of my support, at least for a while." Arete complained, briefly taking her eyes off of the workload to glance at her sister, calling "Enjoy your ride!" as Mikoto gently shut the door behind her, leaving her beleaguered sister to fight the devils that called themselves 'paperwork'.
Arete did worry a bit for her sister: even though the retreat was fairly isolated, and thus safe from intruders, by that very same isolation should an accident happen there will be little chance of help. She briefly pondered having a single guard follow her, but knowing her sister's prowess in the air the chances of the guard being able to follow her were slim. Mikoto would be fine.
She'd be less bored than Arete was anyways.
Arete woke up to the door to her study slamming open and then shut in quick succession, hastily wiping aways the drooling evidence of her nap. Blinking away the grit from her tired eyes, the blurs in her office resolved into her sister, still in riding gear, and a man in a white cloak, the hood pulled so far down she could hardly see his nose.
While keeping a wary eye on the stranger, the queen pinned her sister with a look demanding answers, grinding out "Mikoto. Why did you bring someone we presumably don't know to the private royal retreat?"
"I can explain-" Mikoto rushed.
"Wait." Arete commanded, before wheeling to point at the man whose (clawed? how odd.) hand snatched back from the spine of a book. "What is your name, and what is you business this close to private property?"
"Well, I. Um. Don't remember be name? My apologies if I was trespassing, I just woke up in the lake."
A flimsy reason certainly, and Arete was on the verge of saying so when her vision caught up with her mind. The cloaked stranger had raised his hand to sheepishly scrub at his head, the sleeves rolling up to reveal faint grey scales spotting his arm. This and the flash of fangs Arete spotted while he was apologizing sealed it.
Manakete.
Upon realizing this, Arete turned her attention back to Mikoto to hiss out a pertinent question.
"Where did you find him?'
Her sister hurriedly babbled her tale: "Well, I was flying our usual route when i spotted him facedown in the lake; I thought him dead before I approached and he started flailing to shore. I saw what you likely just did, among other things, and made the executive decision to take him home. Besides, I couldn't just leave someone sopping wet in the wilderness with no memories, dragon or no."
Arete was almost too afraid to ask. "Among other things?"
Mikoto turned to the glacier-still manakete in the corner, muttering to him "Friend, if you would lower your cowl? there is no one else here."
The dragon simply nodded his acknowledgement, raising hands to remove the hood.
Five interconnecting red eyes blinked back at Valla's High Queen, who suddenly felt a bit faint.
"Well that certainly is… interesting." Arete finally exhaled after a few awkward moments of watching the eyes blink at her unsettlingly. Despite the naked curiosity and haze of gentle confusion in them, something about looking at the manakete's full face made her feel small.
Like prey.
"Right. Ahem. Now then." she stalled, calling upon the unflappable demeanor she had cultivated as queen. "If you don't remember your name, we need to call you by something. Would Hydra be agreeable? It is an old Vallite name, from when your era likely was."
The newly-christened Hydra pondered at the bookshelf before nodding absentmindedly and saying "Yes, yes, that sounds about right." and said nothing else, his multitude of eyes raking through the tome titles, some going in nauseatingly opposite directions.
Mikoto spoke up in the empty pause. "Why don't we all sleep? I'll take Hydra to a guest room, instruct the servants not to enter. Sister, you look like you are carrying lakes beneath your eyes. Rest, your work can wait."
"Hm. Well, that does sound appealing. But next time, sister dear, alert me when you bring dragons into the house."
"Oh, but where's the fun in that?" Mikoto flung behind her shoulder, attempting to lighten the heavy atmosphere before humming "Good night, sister. Sleep well"; a farewell that Arete returned.
She did not.
She slept with visions of frigid and sunless ocean depths, something huge and flickering in and out of perception that pierced her skull with pain to follow. Unintelligible glacier-words emerging from behind teeth that grinned like mountains.
͎̠ͣ̎͑̃ͣ̂[̙̹̰̥̳̈́ͮ͌s̤̞ͩ̌͊͗͘ι̛̻͕͔̼ℓ̭̌̉̌ͣ̆͗ε͒͑η͋̔c͌ͭε̼̫͌ͯ̓͜]͍̜͚̪̺̠̌ͫ͌̎̏̚͜ ̥̲̽̏̌ͦͭͦ̿͡
͔̦̣̗ͯͅ[̧̪̦͚̣͖̰͉͒̓α͓̃̏ηͤ͂̉ͥ∂̫̞̜̤̌]̠̼̥͍̦̠̫ ̗̦͕̒̒̏͒̍ͭ
[ͪ̈́̿҉͖͚в͍̮͙͔̩̠͂ͯ̏ͤ̿͑̀ℓͧ́̒͋ͭ̊͘σ̨̼͕̤̰͎̬̆͐̆σ̗͕̺̝̗ͬ̐͒̾̍̽̉́∂̟̌̌ͧͭͨ̀͟]̠̭̲̺ͭͯ
She woke with the sensation of frigid deep-water running through her veins, darkness and light-motes in the corner of her eye.
Arete moved to wipe her nose, and her hand came back red with blood.