Apollo: We're back! About a week later than we hoped, but still! I both love and hate this chapter. It's interesting, but it seems subtly wrong to me... Artemis and Hermes say it's fine, though. Turtle seems to have become my avatar in-universe.
Hermes: I don't wanna talk, I'm tired! I just want a nap!
Artemis: Awwwww, the poor baby! I swear, we're 90% sure he's actually a two-year-old.
Hermes: I am not!
Artemis: Yes you are!
Apollo: ENOUGH!
Hermes: Oh my gawds, calm down!
Artemis: Maybe we should talk about our new fics? Just to explain to the readers?
Apollo: Sure! We're writing a PJO fic called White Pine, centering on Dryad!Thalia and how a smarter Poseidon impacts the story. Beyond that, a pair of Star Wars fics intended as direct counterparts to each other. In the White Light and Embrace the Dark, both identical starting at the Season 2 finale of Star Wars Rebels and diverging from there. The names are intended to be Fire Emblem references, as we view canon as the Revelations path. How about we answer the 3 reviews we got this chapter?
Artemis: Ok, in order of who reviewed first, to the first Guest... MWAHAHAHAHA! Yes we did! I'm so glad someone caught it. To SwaggyPirateDragon, you've received our reply, to Blackberry Avar... well. Thanks for the review, probably the largest we've got. We're glad you like it so far, and if you feel like your friend would like it, we welcome more readers. To the final Guest, thanks! We hope you continue to enjoy it.
Apollo: I'd just like to note that we've hit the top 20 in the category of followers! Thanks guys!
Hermes: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSS!
Apollo: To conclude this AN, we don't own Wings of Fire and have posted a blanket disclaimer on our profile.
Turtle swam down the corridor in the Deep Palace. He was on his way to find his mother, the queen, to ask for advice on his dream - to be an author. As he poked his head inside the room, he could see Queen Coral speaking to Anemone.
"How about this? The army causes a distraction, while a small team equipped with Animus-touched gear sneaks in and frees Gill."
"Does the plan HAVE to involve magic? I don't want to go mad…"
"It won't work any other way. Scarlet's guards are too numerous, and she can recall the army within hours. If we get caught, the palace guards can delay us long enough for the army to arrive and defeat us. Maybe we need another opinion… ah! Tortoise… no, Turtle. Come in! We're discussing how to get your father back."
"Mother. Wouldn't Uncle be better at devising a plan to free father?" Turtle asked.
"No, he's too conventional. He wanted to attack during Scarlet's hatching day celebration, but we knew that Burn would be there. She and her guards would have been far too dangerous."
"Do we even know where father is kept?"
"The most secure dungeons Scarlet has. He hasn't been seen for a while, but my spies tell me he's still alive."
"I don't think it can be done, mother. Queen Scarlet has that champion, Peril, I think. No matter how many of us attack, we physically can't harm her."
"Hence the need for Animus magic. Do you think it can be done that way?"
At this, Anemone broke in.
"Oh, not more Animus magic! Do you know how much sleep I lose worrying that I'm going mad and whether I'd even know? Three moons, I'm only two years old!"
"Watch your language, Anemone, that's wholly unbefitting of a princess of the realm. And you're not going mad."
"How would you know? How would any of us know? The first you'd know of it is when I snapped and started killing everyone! The first story involving magic I heard was Albatross' massacre!"
Turtle winced, causing his mother and sister to look at him strangely.
"What's wrong?" asked Anemone.
"Nothing…"
"We're not getting anywhere. It's late, we'll get back to this tomorrow. Turtle, I assume you were looking for me?"
"Yes, mother. I need advice on writing."
Queen Coral perked up.
"Oh, good, at least one of my children want to follow my path. What do you need help with?"
"Well, mother, Fin DOES want to be a cartographer, that isn't far off… but anyway, I need advice on writing a compelling villain."
"Why would you need that? If you have good enough heroes, anything else is irrelevant."
"But if the heroes have no competition, it's no fun to read."
"Good, you understand that. You need to make the villains intelligent. They must be capable of outwitting the heroes in some way. A good method is to make them a twisted mirror of the protagonist…"
As the queen waxed lyrical about proper villains, Turtle couldn't help but think that everyone is the hero of their own story. But should he write a sympathetic villain who can make a convincing case for the heroes being the real villains? Or an unrepentantly evil character who must be stopped, and was equal to the heroes? Whatever. He could just write both.
Kinkajou was distressed. In the last ten minutes, she had been knocked unconscious, kidnapped by two bulky NightWings, waking up halfway through being bundled down a strange tunnel on the forest floor, and now she stood, breathing smoky air, on a volcano that was most definitely NOT the rainforest.
"W-where am I? Why did you take me here?"
"Oh, shut up," growled the NightWing to her left.
"Don't worry, Strongwings, we don't have to deal with her much longer," placated the NightWing on her right.
The NightWings brought her into a fortress built at the side of the volcano, to a door.
"What is this? Why am I here? What are you gonna do to me?" Kinkajou wailed, her scales turning pale green and white.
Strongwings cuffed her harshly. "Didn't I tell ya to shut up?"
The right-talon NightWing cuffed the other guard. "Don't harm the prisoner! Mastermind still needs her!"
"Then let's bring her in already."
The guards pushed open the door, revealing a surprisingly clean and well-lit room. They were standing on a balcony. There was a level above them and a level below, and a criss-crossing network of strange pipes stretching in front of them. A whip-thin NightWing was waiting for them on the balcony, wearing a rather odd helmet.
"My latest test subject, I assume?"
"Yes, Mastermind," Strongwings said.
"Excellent. Strongwings, Preyhunter, you may both leave."
The guards left, leaving Kinkajou alone with Mastermind.
"So, young one. Welcome to the labs! Will you be cooperative for the testing?"
"What are you going to do to me?" Kinkajou whimpered.
"Nothing invasive. I'm just going to need some of your venom. Let's start with wood. If you could spray some on this log?"
"I guess…" Kinkajou whispered. She sprayed a little venom on the log. It started to dissolve, but very slowly. Mastermind's face was unreadable behind his mask.
"I wonder…" Mastermind said. Then, before Kinkajou could stop him, he jabbed a talon at one of the spots of venom. Withdrawing the talon after a few seconds, he looked. There was very little damage.
"Too weak for conclusive results. I suppose I'll just have to put you with the others and await my next test subject."
He removed his mask, revealing a pockmarked snout and bloodshot eyes, and led her down more tunnels to a lava river, where he shoved her in a cell. He left, and Kinkajou could hear him say something to another NightWings.
"No need to gag her, her venom's extremely weak. I held a talon in it for several seconds - it barely tingled."
She looked around. The cave was nondescript, but at the back, she could see a steep drop, a pitch-black abyss. She carefully walked towards it… started down the drop… and slipped, falling to the bottom, letting out a cry of pain. She looked around. Dimly lit by the lava above, she could see a corridor. She had fallen from a steep slope, and she could see more such slopes along the corridor. She decided to climb up a slope. She did so, and she found a fellow RainWing.
"OHMYGOSH! Gibbon, is that you?"
Gibbon's scales shifted colour from a muted blue-grey to a neutral blue.
"You're… curious? But why aren't you talking?"
Gibbon gestured to his mouth, where Kinkajou could see a gag.
"Oh… let me just get that off."
But no matter how Kinkajou tried, nothing worked. The gag stayed on as if taunting her.
"I'm sorry, I can't undo it."
Gibbon's scales turned orange, and in some places brown.
"You're frustrated? And stressed?"
Gibbon nodded.
"So do you know any way out of here?"
His scales became dark grey.
"No? No way out?"
Gibbon nodded again.
"That's no good. Still, we gotta stay positive, right? Someone's gotta notice we're gone sooner or later."
Gibbon's scales shifted to indigo, shot through with black.
Winter was bored. Icicle had been allowed to fight in the battle that Princess Blaze had ordered at the Diamond Spray Delta, but he had been forced to remain behind. He was in his chambers when Icicle walked in.
"Winter."
"Icicle. Any reason you are here?"
Icicle was as sparkling as always. Winter found it rather tiresome. How had she had time to dive into the ocean if she just returned from the battle? It must have ended unusually quickly.
"I simply wished to speak about the battle. It was… inconclusive."
"How so?"
"The mud-crawlers were ready for us. Heavy casualties on both sides. I did make a kill, though."
"Hm?"
"As we were retreating, an enemy troop started harassing us. I was able to catch and kill one of them. You have NO idea how good it feels, having the power of life and death over another…"
Winter had impeccable self-control at the worst of times, but even he nearly shuddered. Why did Icicle have to be so bloodthirsty?
"Did you just come here to gloat, sister?"
"No," Icicle admitted, seeming to deflate a little. "I've spoken to father. Next time we invade somewhere, you can come along. You may not be as skilled as I am, but you ARE my brother, and Hailstorm's the only one I'd prefer over you to watch my back."
Even Winter couldn't hide a grimace. It was, after all, his fault that Hailstorm had been captured by the SkyWings while out looking for scavenger dens.
"That's… unusual for you. Usually you're much more boastful and confident."
"I got a sense of how dangerous battles can be. I made it out unharmed, but one of my soldiers wasn't so lucky. Blood everywhere." Icicle seemed to cheer up. "But you look more dangerous than me!"
"So, in short, you just want me as a shield. Glad to know you care."
"Winter, you know we can't afford to care. Attachment is weakness, and weakness is punished."
"Indeed it is… don't you ever wonder what life would be like if we didn't have the rankings to worry about?"
"Chaos," Icicle answered bluntly. "The rankings give us order. We'd be no better than savages if not for that order."
"We would be free. Free to choose who to love, what to do… never worrying that any little mistake could ruin our whole future… there is a certain beauty in chaos," Winter rebutted.
"But is that beauty worth the problems? The rankings are our way of life, and they've worked for over two thousand years. The occasional hiccup in the system does not invalidate its successes."
"I suppose we must agree to disagree, then. I'll watch your back if you watch mine. Let's just try to get through this war alive…"
Peril flew in to land at Jade Mountain, arriving at a convenient cave. Suddenly, a voice growled from within the cave.
"Who goes there?"
Peril's head whipped around, and she saw a scarred SandWing, missing a foot and with a tattered wing, tail arched above his head.
"I am Peril, of the SkyWings."
"And why would Scarlet's champion be all the way out here?" asked the SandWing, not backing down from his pose.
"I'm no longer her champion, and I don't think she's still alive. You know any attack you try will just kill you, right?" Peril asked, completely relaxed.
"My agonized screaming will alert the dragon of Jade Mountain… I'm living on stolen time as is. Why are you here?" asked the dragon, finally relaxing slightly.
"The dragon of Jade Mountain?"
"An Animus dragon. He'll turn you inside out if you threaten him, and let's just leave it at that. Now, why are you here?"
"Because I was given options and I chose to wait here."
The SandWing's gaze sharpened. "Who gave you the options?"
"A NightWing by the name of Starflight."
The SandWing finally relaxed completely. "Then you'd best come in. I'm Dune, and Starflight told me to wait here as well."
The unlikely pair walked into the cave, and Dune called out.
"Stonemover, we've got company!"
"Who…" came the rumbling reply. Peril looked and recoiled in shock. On the floor lay a NightWing, with scales that seemed to be sinking into his body. Those scales seemed an awful lot like rock…
"Peril. Former champion of Queen Scarlet, sent here by Starflight."
"Oh, him? Again?"
"Don't look at me, I don't know what he's planning! Peril?"
"I don't know, either. He and the other dragonets are going to the Mud Kingdom, then to the sea and the rainforest. I had the option to go with my mother to Possibility, to tag along with the dragonets, or to wait here for them to arrive."
"Your mother?" asked Dune.
"Kestrel. Do you know her?"
"Know her? I was stuck under a mountain for six years with her!"
"Well, anyway, I'm just waiting here. Stonemover, is it? Why do you look like your scales are made of rock?"
"This explanation… again. I'm an Animus dragon… cursed myself. Magic turns my scales to stone… instead of corrupting my soul. Been here a bit over six years."
"Why?"
"Want me to answer?" Dune asked. Stonemover slowly nodded. "Well, he used to hang around the Scorpion Den all the time, but one day he vanished. Says he came here and cursed himself for fear of snapping and killing everyone he held dear. Does that cover it?"
Stonemover nodded again.
"So, what happened? All I know is that they were captured."
"They were brought to the palace and split up. Sunny - rather rude, her first words upon being freed from her cage were a criticism of my technique - was placed over the feast hall in a birdcage, Glory was chained to a marble tree, and the others were imprisoned over the arena. I met Clay, one thing led to another, and suddenly Glory melts Queen Scarlet's face and we're escaping. We got out quickly enough that they couldn't follow us, and we split. Kestrel went to Possibility, I went here, and the others, plus another former prisoner, SeaWing named Gill, no idea what's up with his rescue, went on to the Mud and Sea kingdoms."
"Wait, the dragonets freed an extra prisoner?"
"Yeah. Raving mad, fought Tsunami and lost horribly, but was spared for some reason by the queen. Apparently, Starflight ordered his freedom."
"He's planning something. He set up the capture so that I escaped with Webs, you got Kestrel out, and Queen Scarlet is likely dead. He has managed, in the space of a week, to presumably throw the Sky Kingdom into chaos and weaken Burn's alliance, which I can't really complain about given that she ruined my wing."
"Why? Were you her enemy?"
"I was a soldier fighting FOR her. One of my friends displeased her, and she punished him by ensuring that my injuries were permanent. I'd been hit with frostbreath, but the doctors said my wing and foot would recover."
"No wonder you defected…"
Secretkeeper felt apprehensive. Since Morrowseer had nearly emptied the volcano for his stunt at the SkyWing arena, she had known that the plan was in motion. However, years before, when she learned about the plan, she at least had the sense to realize that the planned invasion could go either way. Certainly, the RainWings were weak and quite stupid, as evidenced by the lack of searching for the RainWings kidnapped from the rainforest, but they were well fed and knew the forest better than any other tribe, in addition to being able to conceal themselves anywhere. The NightWings were half-starved, or in some cases just starved, and Mastermind's prototypes were just that - prototypes. Only a few existed, and they were not yet perfected. When she learned that she was with egg, she knew she could not allow her dragonet to be used as a pawn in Morrowseer's game, or to grow up on the volcano amid the fire, the smoke, and the misery. And so she hatched a plan - she would sneak away from the island with her egg, an egg that not even Morrowseer knew existed, and she would hide it in the rainforest, out of the way of the invasion and possible counter-invasion. That was three years ago. Now, she left the island when she could, visiting Moonwatcher in the rainforest. Her perfect little moon bud, who could read minds and see the future when no dragon in the tribe had been able to in almost two thousand years. Finally, she arrived at the mouth of the tunnel.
"Another hunting trip, Secretkeeper?" asked Preyhunter. She had been using that excuse for three years now, and always brought back prey to keep her cover.
"Yeah."
She hurried down the tunnel. Moonwatcher was her greatest secret, and not even Farsight knew about her, back before she got herself killed trying to help that SeaWing. Really, what was she thinking? The SeaWing was injured, the SkyWings were not, and she was not trained for combat!
"Mom?"
Moonwatcher had found her, as usual. It helped that she could sense her mind the moment she came out of the tunnel.
"You remained hidden?"
"Yes, mom. Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe."
"Good. How have you been, my little moon bud?"
My weird little diamond…
"I'm not a weird little diamond… I've been fine. Caught some sloths, found fruit that wasn't poisonous… basically as usual."
"Good, good… I don't know how long I can keep this up. This sneaking back and forth, this secret-keeping…"
"Don't worry, mom, you won't have to do it much longer."
"A vision?"
"A feeling. Can you tell me a story?"
"What kind of story?"
"A scary one."
"I know just the one. Do you want to hear the story of the Darkstalker?"
"Yes, mom."
"Once upon a time, a couple thousand years ago, there lived a great and terrible dragon. He could read minds and see the future, and he was an Animus dragon. He was known as the Darkstalker."
"Why as 'the' Darkstalker? Could Darkstalker have been his name?"
"Probably not. The general agreement is that Darkstalker is too creepy a name to give to a dragonet. Only a few dragons think that Darkstalker is a name of justice rather than evil."
"Justice?"
"They think that Darkstalker is meant as the dragonet stalking the darkness, rather than being a dark stalker."
"Oh. Can you keep going?"
"He grew up, and when he was around your age, he befriended a great seer named Clearsight. It is said that she could map out all futures decades in advance and that the full extent of her Sight spanned centuries, and possibly millennia. It is entirely possible that she Saw me telling you this story, though unlikely."
"Wow…"
"The SeaWings heard about an Animus dragon within the NightWing tribe, and so they sent half of the royal family to guide him, to ensure that he did not fall to madness as the SeaWing Animus Albatross did. Albatross had recently gone mad and slaughtered the royal family, the only survivors being his grandson and granddaughter, Queen Pearl and the Animus Fathom. So Fathom went to befriend the Darkstalker, having sworn an oath to his sister that he would never cast another spell. The three, Clearsight, Fathom, and the Darkstalker, were said to have been great friends, and the Darkstalker crafted many objects of power. The most important of these objects were his soul-reader, meant as a security measure to assure Fathom that he wasn't evil, and the dreamvisitors, which allowed the holder to stalk another's dreams. We still have one, the one said to belong to the Darkstalker himself, and the other two are lost to time. Legend has it that he cursed an entire mountain range to kill any dragon who wasn't a NightWing and tried to cross it and that he forced a hundred IceWings to fly into the sea. His madness grew until one day, Clearsight determined that he must be stopped, no matter how much she loved him."
"Is this a love story?"
"Of a sort. Though Clearsight loved the Darkstalker, she saw that he must be stopped before he led Pyrrhia to ruin. It is said that when his father displeased him, the Darkstalker forced him to rip out his tongue, pull out his teeth one by one, rip off one of his legs, and finally, disembowel himself, all on a stage in public for all the NightWings to see. The Darkstalker had a single weakness - he was blinded by his love for Clearsight and did not believe that she would turn against him. No one is quite sure what happened - the Darkstalker claimed that he had found a way to become immortal, and it is said that Fathom broke his oath, just once, to enchant an item of terrible power to defeat his friend. The only thing we know for sure by now is that Clearsight flew west the day the Darkstalker vanished, never to be seen again."
Moonwatcher didn't move.
"Moonwatcher? Moon bud, are you alright?"
Moonwatcher blinked.
"I had a vision, mom."
"What was it?"
"I think - it must have been of the past. Two NightWings and a SeaWing, with the names Clearsight, Fathom, and Darkstalker. That must have been his actual name… they were talking with two other NightWings, Thoughtful and Listener, and an IceWing-looking dragon called Whiteout. They seemed friendly until some other dragon bolted in and stabbed Darkstalker… the vision ended there."
"That must have been from before he went mad… and you can apparently see the past. Good to know! I need to go now if I don't want to be followed, so good luck, my little moon bud. I'll see you in a few days. You know what to do?"
"Stay secret, stay hidden, stay safe."
Qibli was anxious. Thorn had been in a foul mood ever since she heard of what happened in the Sky Kingdom, what with Morrowseer being spotted, and while she was quite good about not taking her rage out on her subordinates, accidents happen. He had the task of bringing Thorn reports about the condition of the Scorpion Den this week, and Thorn had been screaming, ranting, and cursing Morrowseer's ancestors and general existence for nearly a day. The Scorpion Den may be somewhat remote, but information travels fast, and it had taken less than a day for one of Burn's soldiers to gossip to his comrades. From there, it was only a few hours before Thorn got the information from a dragon in Burn's stronghold who sympathized with Thorn's efforts to bring law to the Scorpion Den. Six-Claws met him going in the other direction.
"Good luck, kid… it'll be fine."
"Thanks, Six-Claws."
He came to Thorn's tent, hesitating at the entrance. Thorn would never hurt him, or any Outclaw under her command… right? She saved him from his mother, she enforced order on a wretched hive of scum and villainy. No matter how angry she was, she would never hurt them…
"Who is it?" called a voice from inside the tent. It was Thorn. She must have seen his shadow on the tent wall.
"It's me, Qibli! I have the reports. May I enter?"
"Go ahead!"
No time to second-guess himself. Qibli lifted the tent flap and ducked inside. The tent was empty, save for Thorn, sitting on her dais. Her odd moonstone pendant glimmered in the light.
"Here are the reports. Is there anything else?"
"Come with me, Qibli." Thorn's voice was hard, brittle, and tolerated no protest. Qibli meekly followed her into the back room of the tent. He took a look around. Few Outclaws had cause to come here, and it was an interesting sight. After all, you could learn a surprising amount about a dragon by how they decorated their space, and how they adorned themselves. Thorn wore no more jewelry than the average Outclaw, restricting herself to a single ornate bracelet and her pendant, and the back room was, as always, austere. It showed her humility despite her lofty position, and it was just one of the many reasons Qibli would follow her anywhere. However…
"There weren't that many holes in Morrowseer's picture last time… should I be worried?" Qibli asked, only partly joking.
"No, I've gotten over it. Mostly. Do you know what happened?"
"All I know is that the Sky Kingdom is in chaos. Rumor has it that the queen is dead and that the NightWings made an appearance that day."
"The queen is not dead, from what I hear, but the NightWings were there. Morrowseer spoke to the queen personally, and… and the dragonets of destiny had been captured a few days prior. They had something to do with the queen's incapacitation." Thorn sounded clinical, detached. This wasn't good, it usually signified that she very much wanted to burn something.
"Hidden alone from the rival queens, the SandWing egg awaits unseen." quoted Qibli. He was one of the few dragons who knew the whole story about Dune's betrayal, though the posters were all over the place.
Thorn ducked her head, and Qibli could see her weeping. "Exactly! My daughter, my little Beetle, captured by SCARLET of all dragons! What was Dune thinking!" Thorn shouted.
"It might not have been Dune. I don't think anyone related to you would be content to sit back and hide forever."
"Just like anyone related to me wouldn't be so frog-brained as to get captured by the cruelest dragon in Pyrrhia!"
"On the contrary, that's the perfect thing to do. She wouldn't execute the dragonets privately. She's smart enough to know that no one would believe it was the real dragonets. She would do it in public, and that's the perfect time to demonstrate their power. You said it yourself, the dragonets had something to do with the fall of Queen Scarlet. What if it was all planned?"
"That's even worse! That would mean that my daughter placed herself in harm's way, willingly, on some ploy involving the personality of a dragon she's never met!"
"Except that one of the other dragonets is a NightWing. Don't they have those weird powers? The NightWing would be able to see how it would go long before it happened."
"And that would mean that she was put in danger by a dragon she's meant to be working with to end a twenty-year war," Thorn remarked dryly.
"And if the plan worked as it was supposed to, that would mean that Pyrrhia is in safe talons."
"We need to go find her."
"Whoa whoa whoa. No. We absolutely CANNOT do that. At the very least, you can't go."
"And why can't we? I have things under control here, why can't we take a few days and find her."
"A few reasons. First, we don't know where to look. For all we know, they could be in the Bay of a Thousand Scales, and that would take months to search. In fact, they're probably there. They wouldn't stay in the Sky Kingdom if they had any brains, and the Ice Kingdom is too hostile to anyone who isn't an IceWing. The Mud Kingdom is under Burn's control, so that leaves the Sand Kingdom, the rainforest, or the bay. Here's too risky, the rainforest is too mysterious, and one of the dragonets is a SeaWing. Second, you can't go because in essence, you ARE the Scorpion Den. Your presence keeps things running smoothly, and if you leave, even for a few days, we risk things… things like… Vulture taking over."
"No way. He can't do it in a few days. Weeks, at least."
"Thorn. He could do it in two days. You don't know him like I do… especially with… her."
"She probably wouldn't."
"If she thought she could profit from it, she would. And as we both know, she's very good at what she does."
"I still think Armadillo could handle the Scorpion Den for a week."
"Not worth the risk. If I were the dragonets, I'd be hiding out from EVERYONE. But we know that they're fated to end the war. If we keep an eye out, we'll probably find them as they enter the Sand Kingdom. After all, Burn's stronghold is central to the war. If they want to declare their choice, they'll do it where all the world can hear. The SeaWings are too reclusive, as are the IceWings, the RainWings and NightWings are uninvolved, the SkyWings are too much of a risk, so that leaves the MudWings and the SandWings. Either they convince Queen Moorhen to spread the word, or they call a meeting, convince anyone relevant to show up, and have the meeting be at Burn's stronghold."
"I guess you're right. Still, this upsets the balance of the war… we need to be ready for more refugees. Blister and Blaze may try to capitalize on Burn's new weakness."
"Balance?"
"For most of the last twelve years, the war has been finding a strange sort of balance. Burn was stronger than the other two, so Blister and Blaze allied with the understanding that they may hate each other, but if they fight each other Burn will just pick up the pieces. A series of massive errors on Blaze's part have been countered by brilliant tactical moves by Blister. I think Blister may have been keeping the continent in balance in the hope of convincing the dragonets to choose her… moons know Blaze isn't intelligent enough to make and execute such a plan."
Blaze was fuming. Her delicate balance, held in place for twelve long years, shattered in a day! The best thing about this utter catastrophe was that she had chosen not to attack on Queen Scarlet's hatching day. Such an attack would devastate Burn's army, leaving Blister feeling secure enough to double-cross her. If she was extremely lucky, that attack would have killed Burn, allowing her to convince the MudWings to join her, though the SkyWings would never do so. Irrelevant. The SkyWings would have been taken out of the war for a while anyway. However, it WAS the dragonets of destiny who destroyed the balance… a good sign for declaring against Burn. Now all she had to do was meet them and convince them that she would be the best queen for the SandWings in the long term. Contrary to her carefully cultivated image, she wasn't a complete idiot - she wasn't as smart as Blister, and they both knew it, but then again, who was? She knew that she couldn't move against either of her sisters in earnest for fear of the other destroying her, Blister was smart enough to do the same, and Burn was strong enough to attack them both. Her desperate alliance with Blister had to be carefully managed - it must never be allowed to fall, or Burn would certainly be queen, but it must never be too powerful. To that end, whenever Blister scored a great victory, Blaze would find a way to quietly undo it. When the alliance started pushing Burn back too much, she would commit a massive tactical blunder in just such a way that Blister could not correct it in time. She wasn't as smart as Blister… but she was cunning enough. Moving around pieces on her map, she frowned.
"With Scarlet out of the picture, the alliance is in danger… I can't attack the MudWings again, Blister will destroy us both, and I can't attack Blister because Burn will destroy me. The only reason the plan worked so far is because I've been so ineffective that if Burn defeats my army, she'll still have enough power to go after Blister, and we all know it. Well, they'll probably have headed east. The Mud Kingdom dares not go against Burn, since her last act before losing the war would be to annihilate them, so I can keep some semblance of order there. The SeaWings… yes. That's probably it. They want to end the war, so they won't go to the rainforest, they're completely neutral there. If they convince the SeaWings to defect, or otherwise sow chaos there as they did in the Sky Kingdom…" Blaze mused. Suddenly, she heard the tapping of claws approaching. Quickly, she shoved the pieces she was shuffling about behind her, folded up the map, and hid it under her pillow, not a moment too soon. Queen Glacier walked in.
"Blaze."
"Glacier, darling! How goes the war?"
"Badly. If we'd attacked during the party like I wanted to, we'd have dealt with Burn there and then."
"But if we'd attacked then, with the palace guards there and Burn's soldiers visiting, we might have lost, and then where would we be?"
"There is no victory without risk, princess! Maybe I should make the decisions."
"No. I am the one with a stake in this, I lead. We've survived twenty years… we can last longer. Your tribe especially, with that wall of yours. I and my SandWings are the ones most at risk… it's fitting that I lead."
"But you're terrible at it. If I had been leading, we'd have won the war years ago!"
Blaze did not bother to correct the queen. The only way to win the war through brute force is to destroy both competing sides. Glacier's army would have been caught by Blister's before they got back from destroying Burn's army.
"I have a plan! Everything's going according to plan!" Blaze made sure to include a note of panic in her voice. She'd been deceiving everyone for years… but it got so annoying sometimes.
"Some plan," the queen grumbled. "Blaze. You are aware of basic military strategy? Surprise attacks, attacking where the enemy is weak?"
"Of course!" Blaze retorted.
"Evidently not. We'd have had both of those if we'd attacked the Sky Kingdom instead of the Mud Kingdom."
"Maybe, maybe not. How do you get your scales so sparkly?" Blaze cringed inwardly. This was not one of her better changes of subject. Glacier looked momentarily taken aback, but at least she dropped the subject of the war.
"I don't think you'd be able to copy it, as I dive into near-frozen water routinely to get my scales like this." Glacier said, somewhat bemused by the change of subject. "So, about my leadership -"
"Perhaps we should focus on our defenses."
"WHY? This is the perfect time to press forward, to eliminate Burn and then Blister!"
"Let me rephrase that," Blaze said, steel entering her voice. "We will focus on our defenses, because I said so, and I'm in charge. This is our best path forward! Don't you see? If we overextend ourselves attacking Burn, Blister will help Burn, then destroy us all, and you won't get your land. This matter is CLOSED!"
Glacier looked shaken. Perhaps she had overdone it a little with the logical argument at the end, but she was stressed and it was a legitimate reason. Still, she needed to get Glacier's mind off what she had actually said…
"So, about jewelry…"
"That's it. I'm going. Bye." Glacier snapped impatiently, leaving. Blaze smirked. As long as she remained in charge, she could keep her sisters in check while not destroying either. The war would draw to a close soon, and when the dust settled?
"Two shall die and one shall learn…"
Apollo: The reason I didn't put this part of the note at the top is that it pertains to Blaze. We have decided to characterize her according to Obfuscating Stupidity. We figured that nobody could possibly be THAT stupid and wrote her as just an intellectual notch below BLISTER, and an actor good enough to fool Queen Glacier into thinking that she's practically brain-dead.
Artemis: YAAAAAAAAAAY no haiku this time! Let's end this before he finds a way to put one in.
Hermes: Boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!