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CLEARSIGHT

Two glorious years passed.

With each passing day, she found herself focusing less and less on the future, and more and more on this incredible and delightful present. And this shift in focus wasn't because Darkstalker had finally convinced her to stop stressing over the outcomes she saw. It was because the outcomes she saw stopped being stressful. They grew brighter and more exciting. Darkstalker was good, and he was staying good. He was never angry, never resentful, and never demanding. He still had that ambitious twinkle in his eye, but his ambition always seemed fueled by wholesome desires. He was exactly the type of dragon that Clearsight had fallen in love with.

At the same time, however, there was something ominous growing in the cauldron of her clairvoyance. It wasn't a dark future or a violent outcome or anything concrete. It was an abstract, obscure warning: an alarm bell that told her that soon, she was going to have to make a difficult choice.

At first she thought that this difficult choice would be her marriage. She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she'd either marry Darkstalker or marry nobody. The harder question was when she would tie the knot with him.

But it wasn't that much harder of a question. Darkstalker's first suggestion was that they get married on Clearsight's seventh hatching day — in other words, as early as was legally possible in the Night Kingdom.

Clearsight's parents gave Darkstalker their blessing, even though they felt that the two of them ought to wait a little bit longer. But Clearsight already felt impatient enough waiting for her seventh hatching day. She didn't want to wait any longer than that! She wanted to get married now!

She actually looked quite extensively through all of the futures to find a possible avenue she could take that led to an earlier marriage. However, there weren't any that didn't involve an unnecessary eloping or an awkward betrayal of the Night Kingdom, so Darkstalker's first suggestion ended up being the only suggestion.

Clearsight chose Listener as her dragoness of honor, and Darkstalker chose Fathom as his best drake. The wedding took place in the palace garden, and was attended by the entire royal court — including Queen Vigilance herself, although she appeared to be incredibly bored the entire time.

It was a night of no regrets and unbounded happiness. She woke up the next afternoon in her new bedroom with her new husband, and she felt like she was the luckiest dragon that the world would ever know.

But that alarm bell was still there in her visions. She heard it growing louder. Her decision to wed Darkstalker — that wasn't the choice her powers seemed to be dreading.

Perhaps, she then figured, the decision she'd have to make had to do with Fathom's marriage rather than hers. He and Indigo wanted to get married — now more than ever, after being a part of her own wedding with Darkstalker. But Queen Pearl was even more paranoid than Fathom was about animus magic. To her, marriage led to dragonets, and dragonets led to the possibility of more animus dragons in the royal bloodline. Hence, she would never let Fathom marry, even though he'd already promised never to father any hatchlings.

"Why don't you just get married here?" Darkstalker asked Fathom the night they had this discussion. They were walking down the streets of the market town south of the palace, looking for new decorations to add to Darkstalker and Clearsight's new suite when the topic had been brought up.

Fathom tilted his head. "Here? You mean, here in the Night Kingdom?"

Darkstalker nodded. "You pretty much live here already. You might as well have a marriage ceremony here too. You don't have any plans on going back to the Sea Kingdom any time soon, do you?"

"I'm going to have to eventually," Fathom said. "One of these days, Queen Pearl is going to send me back."

"If she let you stay here for this long, then she's probably not in any hurry to pull you back into the Sea Kingdom."

"I don't think you know how hard it's been to keep it that way," Fathom told him. "She never expected me to stay here for this long. I don't think anyone has. I know for sure that Wharf and Lionfish have been ready to go back home for years now. They kinda hate this job."

Clearsight looked behind her at Lionfish, who was tailing them from a couple of flanks away. He looked bored out of his wits, and was staring glossily at them.

"Indigo and I would love to send them back, but my sister wants them to stay with us," Fathom went on. "At any rate, if I get married here, then my sister will still find out. Once she finds out, she has her excuse to take us back to the Sea Kingdom and split us up."

Fathom was right about that. According to every future Clearsight saw, Queen Pearl would demand Fathom to return home the moment she found out that his affair with Indigo was as serious as it was. She hadn't yet found a way to make sure their happy futures were secured.

"If you do get married, it should be in secret," Clearsight suggested. "We can make the ceremony somewhere private, and you'll only invite the dragons who know about your relationship."

"What would be the point of that?" Fathom asked. "If it's not recognized by a royal crown, then it's not really a marriage."

"It'd still be a marriage to us," Clearsight said. "There won't be any legal bindings, but you could still exchange vows and celebrate your commitment to each other. That's the part of marriage that matters to you, right?"

Fathom stopped for a second, smiling at the thought. "Yeah, I guess it is. That'd be nice."

"I like the thought of it as well," Darkstalker said, brushing his wing against Fathom's and smiling at him. "We could wed you two at that spot on the beach that the both of you love so much. You know, where you carved that wooden NightWing for Clearsight?"

Fathom's face lit up. "Yes! That would be perfect. Indigo would love that."

Darkstalker beamed. "The tides should be calmer next week. Should we schedule the ceremony then?"

"Next week it is, then!" Fathom said. "I'll go talk to Indigo about it. See you guys back at the palace!"

Fathom flapped his wings and took to the sky. His bioluminescent scales were brightened up with infatuated emotion, making him look like a little green star as he flew higher and higher. Further behind him, the vanishing silhouette of another dragon — which Clearsight assumed was Lionfish — tailed him back.

"I think I'm going to go back to the palace as well," Clearsight said to Darkstalker. "Vigilance is going to want another report from me by morning, and I haven't gotten anything started yet."

"I'll go find something to eat and meet you back in our suite," Darkstalker said. He tapped Clearsight on the nose with his own and added, "See you soon, my sweetheart."

She leaped into the air and flew off, feeling the gentle tug of the nightly breeze against her wings.

When she returned to her office in the palace, she lazily spent about half an hour scanning her brain for military updates to present to the queen. By the time Clearsight filled out a length of scroll, she figured that Darkstalker had probably just returned to the palace. She'd be pleased to let him know that she finished all of her work before he got the opportunity to distract her.

Her mind drifted back to Fathom and Indigo as she made her way to the throne room to deliver her report. She still wanted to hold onto the promise she'd made to them before she turned back time. After taking away their happy future, she owed them a happier one.

Plus, their futures were just so much fun to explore — particularly the bright ones. There were so many ways their lives could be fulfilled. She saw futures where Fathom decided to break his vow to Pearl and have several beautiful dragonets with Indigo. She saw futures where Fathom was welcomed back to the Sea Kingdom where he happily settled down with Indigo, forgiven by the new queen that ruled. She saw futures where he opened up his own wood carving shop in the Night Kingdom and spent the rest of his life here.

She let her mind dig into those futures again and let them fill her with wholesome joy. She always loved being reminded of the paths that were in store for her SeaWing friends.

But when she looked ahead, she couldn't find those paths anymore.

Clearsight stopped in the middle of the corridor, confused. That's weird, she thought. She closed her eyes and looked harder, further into the future, concentrating all of her attention on Fathom's future. For some weird reason, they were gone. Fathom and Indigo were completely gone.

Okay, that was worrisome. Those futures were there before: Clearsight saw them on her wedding night, which was only a few days ago. Did something happen?

She tried looking ahead to earlier times. Instead of looking at the layout of Fathom's futures five years down the line, she tried looking ahead just one year. Still nothing. So she tried one month. Again, nothing.

Panicking now, she stood in the shadow of a marble column and went through the most likely futures for Fathom after each day. The first few days were fine, but after about a week, something important happened. Fathom got a letter from Queen Pearl demanding his immediate return. A few days after that, he'd be gone from her and Darkstalker's life forever.

That was the likeliest future now. In fact, it wasn't just the likeliest: it was practically guaranteed. She couldn't see anything in the entropy of the timelines that pushed their lives back on-course. If she didn't do something soon, then the two of them would be doomed.

What happened?! she screamed internally. What did I do wrong?

Clearsight hurried into the throne room. She took two steps forward before Vigilance gave her an impatient snarl, and Clearsight promptly stopped and bowed low. "I have your war report, Your Majesty," she said, rising slowly.

Her eyes scanned the queen's court. The usual dragons were there, but so too was Lionfish, standing at Vigilance's shoulder. He was situated in such a way that suggested he was whispering something in her ear.

"I'll send out a messenger to the Sea Kingdom at sunset," Vigilance said quietly to Lionfish. "Head back to your chamber, now."

As Lionfish stepped down from Vigilance's side and made his way out of the throne room, a chill ran down Clearsight's spine. He gave Clearsight a nervous look as he passed her, then hurried to the door.

It was him.

Her mind was absent from the reality in front of her those next couple of minutes. She vaguely remembered handing the scroll containing her report to Queen Vigilance, followed by her requesting that she join in on a war meeting tomorrow to discuss the report in greater detail, followed then by Vigilance casually dismissing her. She stepped out of the throne room feeling dizzy, doing everything she could to confirm her suspicions by looking at the futures that lay ahead of them.

Indeed, they were confirmed. When Clearsight studied the outlandish future where Darkstalker killed Queen Vigilance today, Fathom and Indigo were safe. Their futures remained intact, and Queen Pearl never demanded their return. The only reason their future had changed so suddenly was because now Queen Vigilance knew about the two of them.

And the only reason Queen Vigilance knew about the two of them was because Lionfish just told her.

This was bad. This was so very bad. She had to figure out what to do right now: there wasn't a second she could waste.

The first thing she decided was that all her friends needed to know. Darkstalker and Listener knew about and supported Fathom and Indigo's relationship: she had to let them know what was happening. Maybe if she got them all together to talk with Fathom and Indigo about this, they could find a way to stop it from happening.

Darkstalker, as expected, was waiting in their room in the castle, boredly watching the fountain in the center as it stirred up the water. He turned his head and raised his ears when he heard her approaching. "Clearsight!" he said, rising up to his feet. "You're back early. How was — oh no, what happened?"

"Queen Vigilance just discovered Fathom's secret," she said. "Lionfish was listening in on the conversation we had in the market and told her everything. If she delivers the message to Queen Pearl — "

Darkstalker's eyes widened. "No," he whispered. "All those years we spent trying to make him happy…"

"We still have some time to figure out how to stop this," she said, pacing impatiently. "Vigilance won't send any messengers out until sunset."

Darkstalker nodded. "I didn't want to sleep tonight anyway," he said, making his way to the door. "Let's go talk to Fathom and Indigo."

"I'm going to go fetch Listener," Clearsight told him. "She's one of the only other dragons we can trust."

"Meet me at my parents' house, then," he said. "These walls have ears. We don't want anyone else listening."

Clearsight cantered to the balcony and threw herself into the air. She caught a light current and used it to turn around, making her way towards Listener's neighborhood. The first grays of early dawn were just beginning to lift the stars from the sky.

As Listener's house came into view, Clearsight ran through the immediate future in her head. She confirmed that Listener was at home and awake, which was a relief. She wouldn't have had time to go looking for her if she wasn't around.

She landed on Listener's porch and prepared to open the door, before changing her mind and knocking instead. "Listener, are you here?" she asked, despite knowing the answer already. "This is really important."

Listener opened up a few seconds later. She tilted her head and eyed Clearsight suspiciously. "Are you overreacting over a new future or something?"

"This one is really serious," Clearsight insisted. "Fathom's in trouble."

When Clearsight explained the entire situation, Listener appeared much more concerned. "How can I help?" she asked.

"We need to come up with ideas on how to stop this," Clearsight said. "Everyone else is at Darkstalker's parents' house right now."

"I'm on it," Listener said as she darted past Clearsight and began flying.

Clearsight quickly followed after her. "You know that we're probably going to be staying up all day to figure this out, right?"

"That's fine," she answered, tilting her head slightly to let Clearsight hear her better. "Sleep is for the weak."

The morning sun was just creeping over the mountains when Clearsight landed at the front of the house. When she walked inside, everyone was already seated in the living room — including Darkstalker's family. Fathom, Indigo, Whiteout, Arctic, Foeslayer, Darkstalker — and now Clearsight and Listener — were all there.

Something fluttered in her head. That difficult decision that her mind had been warning her about — it was coming.

"Are we sure there's no way to talk Queen Vigilance out of sending Queen Pearl that letter?" Indigo asked.

"I'm afraid so," Darkstalker said. "Vigilance doesn't want Fathom in her palace anymore. She's been looking for an excuse to kick him out for months."

"Why?" Listener asked. She found a pair of open cushions beside Whiteout and sat down next to her. Clearsight took the remaining free seat beside her and listened thoughtfully.

"As far as she's concerned, Fathom is no longer useful and she's tired of providing for him," Darkstalker said pointedly. "Unfortunately, she agreed to keep Fathom in her palace until Queen Pearl requested his retrieval."

"I've definitely been getting that impression," Fathom agreed. "I don't think Vigilance can be persuaded."

"Just kill the messenger," Arctic said coldly. "What matters is that Queen Pearl doesn't know about your little romance. If you can't stop the message from being sent, then stop the message from being received."

"Remind me again who invited you to join in on this discussion," Darkstalker said, shooting a scowl at his father.

Arctic grit his teeth at his son. "You did," he said. "When you decided to storm our house with all your friends."

"I think Arctic and I have an important perspective here," Foeslayer said, looking between her son and her husband. "He violated the will of his tribe by falling in love with me, and Fathom is violating the will of his queen by falling in love with Indigo."

"Do you think we should try killing the messenger too, Foeslayer?" Fathom asked.

"Certainly not!" she answered. "You can't catch a NightWing messenger. They're fast, they're strong, and they're invisible in the night sky."

"Not to mention it's completely immoral to kill the messenger for just doing their job," Clearsight added, a little surprised to hear Foeslayer not say something similar.

"How about this?" Listener started. "When Queen Pearl arrives to pick Fathom up, we hide him using my goblet. They'll never find them as long as they stay tiny and far away. And they can come back when Queen Pearl stops looking for them."

Fathom and Indigo looked tentatively at each other, then back at Listener. "I don't think I could survive being tiny for that long," he said to her. "But it's a good back-up plan."

"That future doesn't look like it'll play out very well if we go that route," Clearsight said, scanning those possibilities as fast as she could. "Fathom would most likely become a fugitive in both the Night and Sea Kingdoms. He won't just be able to return here with Indigo."

"Maybe you should follow the queen's orders when they arrive," Foeslayer said. "If you beg her to let you revoke your vows, she might be forgiving."

Clearsight sighed. "That's probably too optimistic," she said morosely. "I can't be entirely sure about what will happen between Fathom and Indigo, but I can at the very least guarantee that if that if Pearl brings Fathom home, Darkstalker and I are never going to see him again."

"No," Fathom said firmly. "That can't happen."

"It definitely can't," Whiteout agreed, looking and sounding more thoughtful than Clearsight had ever seen her. "The magicians have become a cyclone of energy. Any attempt to untangle them now will result in a terrible thunderstorm."

There was a worrying period of silence — one where everyone wanted to come up with the next idea but where nobody had any left. This can't be it, Clearsight whispered to herself. This can't be the way it ends. Not with everyone just sitting and waiting for Fathom's life to get destroyed.

She could feel it coming. The tension, the phantom anxiety, the sense of dread — it was converging, it was building. This couldn't be the end of the conversation, if only for that reason. Her clairvoyance was screaming at her, insisting that she was going to have to make a critical decision soon. But she couldn't figure out what it was.

Why can't I figure it out? What are you trying to tell me?!

"So," Fathom started, "we can't talk Vigilance out of delivering the letter, we can't intercept the message, we can't let Queen Pearl see the message, and we can't run away and hide from her forever." He shook his head and sighed. "Why did you have to betray us, Lionfish?"

"I'm going to slaughter that conniving eel once I see him again, believe me," Indigo growled.

There was another three heartbeats of silence.

Then, Darkstalker spoke.

"Is there a reason we're not considering the obvious solution to this problem?"

Every pair of eyes was now on him. Clearsight held her breath, her clairvoyance shaking her like a leaf.

"What do you mean?" Indigo asked. "There doesn't seem to be any obvious solution here."

"Sure there is," he said. There was an ambitious twinkle in his eye. "Look, there's a deeper problem here. Fathom, Indigo — you two have managed to stay together for this long, but you were never able to walk on thin ice like this forever."

"I know," Fathom said, folding his ears. "This was bound to happen eventually, wasn't it?"

"No," Darkstalker said firmly. "This only happened because you two live in a Kingdom that rejects your love. You need to live in a Kingdom where the queen will accept you two, or else you'll never be together the way you deserve to be."

Clearsight's heart froze. Not this. Please not this.

"So, we should leave the Night Kingdom?" Fathom guessed.

"No!" Darkstalker snapped, rising to his feet.

"Wait, that doesn't sound so bad," Fathom argued. "We could find an island in the Rainforest Kingdom — one that'll be close enough for you guys to visit."

"How can you not see what needs to be done?" Darkstalker's tail flicked once, then he stood straighter. "It's not the Kingdom that needs to change. It's the queen."

Clearsight could see the scales on everyone's backs stand a little straighter. She could feel hers snapping down, as if she were trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Queen Vigilance doesn't deserve the NightWing throne anymore," he continued. "It's time for a new queen to take over."

Then he looked at his wife — his soulmate — the dragon who was supposed to love him and trust him every step of the way — and the dragon who feared him again for the first time in years. And he said:

"I nominate Clearsight."

A/N: Sit tight! The next chapter will be up very soon!