Aconite rose, immediately remembering the events of yesterday. She pulled open the curtains to see the sun's first rays peek over the horizon. She still had time.

She rushed to the door before Tarsier's spell made her go back and rub snow on her scales to polish before meeting with the Queen.

She reached the throne room quickly, somehow finding it out of the thousands of rooms in the castle.

Tibits of her week or two of serving as the Queen's unpaid intern! This means a separation: Later...

"What is the schedule, Aconite?" Curium muttered as she paced the room.

"You have to meet at the Achademy, the princess wanted to meet with you, and the captain overseeing the wall would like to talk about the recent breach made by the SkyWings." Aconite teetered with too many scrolls to count in her arms.

"Ugh. Well, we also are planning the gala, so let's get started." the Queen sighed and made her way out the only port on the throne room, which was heavily guarded.

Aconite followed, grunting in irritation.

Later...

Aconite went to bed late, as usual. The three moons seemed to stare at her, mocking and sneering with their waning crescents.

Her scales haven't been straight for a long time, and her mind was buzzing with the Queen's business.

The Winter Gala was stupid, overworking Aconite and making Azalea want to throw off the necklace and tackle the Queen.

Soon, she would be free. She could almost taste the moment she would be alone with the Queen and slit her throat.

It would be in the coming weeks, she could feel it. The Gala was making Curium more and more exhausted, each dragon from ice sculpters and flower arrangers wanted the Queen's approval.

To make matters worse, there was a breach of security at the wall, sending the outer two circles into a state of panic.

The spies reported that Princess Flurry, the SkyWing princess was leading, and was a natural. She had been working with the battalion for almost a month, and were a force to be reckoned with.

She hated this. She hated everything. If it was her choice, she would end her suffering by killing the Queen now.

She could feel the time coming closer, but for now, only dreams of being back at the compound and Curium dead were all that kept her going.

She heard a knock at the door, and tried to ruffly straighten her scales as she answered.

A quivering messenger with big eyes held a message in his talons, "From her highness." he bowed, gave the scroll to her, and hurried away.

Closing the door before groaning, she unrolled the message. It read:

Tomorrow there is a hearing for the turnscale Fragmentize. Be early tomorrow to take minutes.

Aconite lost it and threw the scroll across the room. She rubbed her eyes, too exhausted to care.

She got up and laid in the soft bed, falling quickly into a deep sleep.

The next morning.

Aconite woke to the sun, quickly rubbing snow on her scales and hurrying to the throne room.

She entered, holding three or four blank scrolls under her wing, "I'm here, your highness."

"Good. Now, come here as the prisoner enters. We'll get this over fast." Curium flicked her tail to the right hand side of her throne.

Aconite hurried over to her spot and pulled out the first scroll as the prisoner entered.

It was him. The IceWing from Sanctuary. Aconite almost dropped her scroll. He was covered in chains, his face drawn up in a snarl as he hissed at the guards holding his tethers.

"My Queen, question?" Aconite asked, fearing Fragmentize's searching gaze would see right through her.

"Yes, Aconite?" Curium looked down at her.

"Why are you at the court proceedings, don't the First and Second Circles deal with it?" Aconite asked, using the information implanted in her disguise.

"Yes, however, Fragmentize was the highest general and led many away into the foolish ways of the directus scales." Curium waved her hand to end the conversation as she stood and nodded to the herald.

"Announcing Fragmentize, accused of treachery and running from his post. Queen Curium is prime judge." he announced as the defendant and the prosecutor stood. She didn't recognize the defendant, but Captain Gelid was the latter.

"Let's get this over with." Curium set her head in her talons and motioned to the prosecutor.

Just as Gelid stood, Fragmentize looked straight at her, his steely blue eyes boring into her. They looked bloodshot, possibly from the chains.

Aconite tried to look down and away, but kept glancing at him nervously.

The court went as expected. Boring. Aconite found the only things that kept her awake were the Queen sometimes peeking to make sure she wrote it just so and Fragmentize staring.

"Aconite, read back Gelid's notes please." Curium's voice brought her back to reality.

"Oh, of course my Queen." she began to read.

As though if on cue, Fragmentize tried to make his escape. Whipping the chains that weighed down his talons like whips, he disabled his captors. Some lay grasping their wounds, but one laid motionless, his wing and arm broken at a strange angle.

He roared and ran towards the Queen. Captain Gelid jumped into action as Fragmentize leapt toward her.

Aconite made a move to stop him, but he landed on top of her, not the Queen.

"YOU!!! I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! YOU!!!" he roared, spraying her in spit, "YOU GOT ME HERE!!"

Suddenly his weight was lifted off of her, Gelid pulling on his chains and yelling for the guards to get back in formation.

Fragmentize still struggled, his eyes bulging as he tried to get to her. Curium sat in interest, not moving an inch.

Gelid was losing grip. Aconite knew what she needed to do. Looking at the Queen, who seemed to know exactly what was going down, nodded.

Aconite leaped forward, but instead of going for her, turned onto Gelid. Aconite threw herself into the fray, Azalea's mind took over the deal as she threw him to the floor. Her muscles were a bit thinner in Aconite's form, but still were effective.

She pinned him down and looked to the Queen, "Shall I?"

Curium glided over to her, "Fragmentize, I sentence you to death because of your actions proving you guilty in this court today. Too bad," she gave him a malicious smile, "I thought you were innocent. Snap his neck."

"Yes, your majesty." Aconite bowed and killed him.

WHOOOO! That's what I needed. Aconite thought. The action made this mission much better.

So sorry I didn't finish the marathon... Life picked up and didn't give me time. Hope for it finished by Christmas!