Lily knew she was in danger, that she had been attacked and rendered briefly unconscious by the pain. That was at the forefront of her mind, but her mind was worthless when her body could not respond, too agonized to do anything but twitch. Blood was likely running down her back, as that would explain the pool slowly spreading by her paws, and she could feel the sharp little edges of the bark of the tree she had been rammed against digging into the delicate skin between her wings.

She also knew that every moment she spent awake but not acting was possibly a vital moment wasted, so she quickly forced her eyes open, blinking to clear the blur that obscured all but the most basic shapes.

When she did see what was directly in front of her, it was not comforting. She lay on her side, in utter agony, not ten steps away from Claw's dead body, his bloody, mangled remains directly in her line of sight. That brought a little clarity. Claw was dead, so it could not have been him, and she thought everyone had gone back to the valley. Who would strike at her now? Who would want to, aside from Cressa, who was under watch?

A dragon walked between her and Claw's body, answering her unspoken question. Ivy had his back to her, busy examining Claw, tentatively nosing at the body as if unsure he was really dead. Lily wanted to laugh at his lack of certainty given how obviously mangled the remains were, but it was probably better to focus on regaining control of herself. She really wished there had been enough time before all of this came to a head for her back to heal completely. She didn't like having an agonizing weak point within easy reach of any who meant her harm.

Ivy abruptly growled, spun away from Claw's body, and stalked towards her. He gave her a cold look before placing a paw on her chest and pushing lightly. At this point, the increase in pressure and therefore pain was almost ignorable, it was so bad already that Ivy would have to try a lot harder to make a difference. She groaned anyway, unable to hold it in.

"Awake?" he growled. He sounded as he had when he first approached her, sure he had the upper paw, superior and condescending. There was no subordinance, no cringing and obeying. Not in his tone, and not in the way he stared at her, intent and more than a little cold.

"You didn't strike me," Lily gasped, ignoring how ironic that statement was if taken alone, "as the kind of dragon to hit a female." She didn't know what he wanted here, but the way he was acting did not bode well. She suspected this wasn't going to end well if he got what he wanted, whatever that was.

He snorted, flexing his paw against her heaving chest and leaning in. "Why not? You are lesser than me now. I can do what I want."

"Lesser?" she grunted. He wasn't putting any weight behind the paw on her chest, but if he did it would push her tender, agonized back into the sharp bark of the tree behind her.

"Weak, injured, no mate, no status," he listed confidently. "You have no power now."

No power? "Claw is dead," she retorted, wishing she sounded more confident. The pain was making it hard to speak, let alone speak casually. It came out tense and surprised. "I led the pack against him."

"No power here," he clarified with a growl. "I could kill you."

"But why would you?" she asked, trying to figure out what she was missing. "I protect you. From Pearl."

"You extorted me, you belittled me, you made me get on Claw's bad side," he snarled, pushing her against the tree. "On Diora's bad side. And I am on yours, too."

"Hard…" she panted, "to blame me for that, when you are doing this."

He maintained the weight on her, which surprised her. She tried again, holding down a whine of pain and wishing she could roll to her paws. "Stop this… It's over."

"I had two masters," he gritted, glaring at her, not letting up in the slightest. "My mate, and Claw. Then you, too. Now I have two again."

"I can… Give you freedom." She didn't really want to do him a favor, given the pain he was inflicting, but doing so was the obvious way to defuse him. "I will be alpha. Can keep Diora from hurting you, won't order you around any more than anyone else." He would have no masters in that scenario.

"No," he growled. "I want no masters, but you will not give that to me."

"I promise."

"I do not care," he replied. "I break promises and oaths whenever I please. You could too. No, there is only one way to get out from under your paw, and then Diora's. You started it by killing Claw."

His other front paw came up, landing against the side of her neck and pushing down. She began struggling in earnest, and made absolutely no headway. He had her awkwardly on her side, weak and in agony, in a place where half of her limbs dangled uselessly in the air and the other half were pinned beneath her. A fraction of his weight was enough to pin her, and all she could do was batter his side with her tail.

That, and talk. She could still reason with him. "Stop it," she pleaded. He wasn't choking her so much as threatening to bend her head too far to one side and break something, which was viscerally more frightening, at least to her. "You'll be hunted down… If I die."

"None will know it was me," he countered, easing up on her neck enough that she didn't feel in immediate danger of death. "The smell will be overpowered by Claw's blood. I will rub it all over you. They will think he came back to life and killed you."

Would they really? She doubted that; death was permanent, and even if it was not, dragons surely could not come back from being torn to shreds as thoroughly as Claw had been. She doubted his corpse could move whether it was living or not. "Please," she scoffed, forcing scorn into her voice to drive the point home and hopefully undermine the confidence that led him to think he could get away with murdering her. "Half the pack would guess it was somebody else. You are missing, and nobody else is."

"I will kill you, sneak back to Diora, and convince her to go to the ledges," Ivy countered, sounding just the slightest bit worried. "She will lose track of time, she always does, and anyone who asks will be told we went there directly from the fight. She will believe it, even."

"That only gets you free of one master," Lily objected. Something in her had grown cold sometime in the last few moments, hearing Ivy outline how he was going to get away with killing her. He had planned it, was going to try and get away with it, and worse, she had never suspected he was capable of such a thing. She had seen how he acted with those he feared and assumed that was all there was to him.

It was almost humiliating to be so close to death at the paws of the traitor, the subservient sneak who had realized it was within his grasp to be free of all his masters in one fell swoop, somebody taking advantage of pure chance to destroy everything she was trying to build for their own selfish benefit. If she were less worried about surviving the next few moments, she would be angry with herself for letting things come to this.

"But first, I need something from you," Ivy continued, answering her latest objection with a sneer. "I want the secret to not having eggs before I kill you."

Of course he did. Lily did not bother muffling her mocking laugh. "Willing to kill the next alpha, but not willing to defy your own mate. I thought you would be free of all your masters?"

"I do not need it just for that," Ivy hissed angrily. "It is power, a power that would otherwise die with you."

She was not about to correct that misconception. Crystal knew the secret, but if Ivy thought he could get it from anyone else, he would kill her immediately. The false vulnerability she had held with Claw was now real vulnerability, a secret the only thing keeping her alive.

He pressed in, jamming her more firmly against the tree. "Tell me."

"And hasten the moment of my own demise?" Lily spat defiantly. "Not happening."

"I disagree." He pushed in a slightly different direction, eliciting excruciating pain as the tree was rubbed along her back a bit. "I think you will say sooner or later."

She was in trouble. She knew this. There was nobody close enough to hear her call out for help, and doing so would just end with him slitting her throat before anyone could come anyway. But...

Something had just come to mind. Something terrible, sneaky, and cruel, made possible by something she had spotted. So cruel, so callous.

But she would do whatever was necessary to live another day. The pack needed her, now as much as ever, and Ivy was not going to destroy everything she planned to do before it ever happened.

"Any time now," he growled, one paw now pinning her head to the ground at an angle, and the other pushing back and forth across her side, rubbing her tortured back against the tree.

She held out for a while, howling and crying as Ivy patiently tormented her. At one point she was sure she could lunge at him, but it was a risk while her plan was sure, so she played the incapacitated, suffering role Ivy would expect to see. He would not believe what was to come next if she gave in too soon.

Agony, to an end. After a time she deemed long enough, she gasped. "Fine! Just stop!"

He obliged, purring malevolently. "Finally. Took longer than I expected."

In that moment, he sounded and looked much like Claw, and it brought back memories better left buried. She found that what she was about to do was much easier to accept, seeing him like that.

"When... you live with the pain... long enough... it changes what you can stand," Lily panted, whining for extra effect. "The trick is a plant, one with a strange property."

Ivy purred. "I had heard you know plants. It makes sense that one would be the answer. Which one?"

"Only which?" Lily laughed, her voice hoarse from the howling. "Let me live and I will tell you how much and what part is most effective."

In response, he pushed lightly, hurting her once more. "We can continue this until you tell all," he muttered threateningly.

"No!" She did not have to fake the fear in her voice at that suggestion. "There is a bush..."

And here it came. Her words were murder. But it needed to be done. For the good of the pack.

"One leaf on each plant can do the job, but it's really hard to find which. You need one specific leaf from each bush, and you need two at a time." Lily inhaled deeply. "Or you can just eat both bushes entirely. That gets what you need for sure."

"You put the single leaves in fish," Ivy said.

"Took a really long time to find them, but I needed... I needed you to not understand how. Two bushes, no more and no less. The leaves are very hard to find."

"What kind of bush?" Ivy had fallen for it, if she judged by the smug satisfaction in his voice. He was even looking around...

"That one." Lily indicated with her tail, pointing to the trio of bushes that had caught her eye earlier, just beyond Claw's corpse.

Ivy laughed scornfully. "And should I kill you now? Or is there more you can tell me?"

"Sometimes it does other things," Lily continued, hoping she wasn't coming across as anything other than hurt, afraid, and cooperative. "I must know how you will react to say what. It varies."

"Just tell me all possible side-effects and their cures," Ivy commanded.

"It took me... season-cycles to learn all of that," Lily wheezed, laughing at the very idea. "You do not have that time. But it is always the same reaction."

"If I have no side-effect and it turns out you were just stalling, I will kill you slowly." Ivy turned angrily, scanning the forest.

Claw had promised that too. For people like him and Ivy, pain and death were the only motivators they saw in others. It made them manipulatable in turn.

Ivy left her for all of a few heartbeats, returning with two of the three bushes dangling from his mouth. He dropped them and nosed at the leaves. "How do I tell which of the leaves is the strong one?"

"You have to hold each one up to the sun," Lily replied calmly, thankful that he didn't suspect her true motives. But how could he? He had no idea what was possible, what she knew and could do with that knowledge. "Some of them will have a slightly darker glow. Of those, you need to lick each one, separately, without swallowing it."

That was pretty much impossible, actually, but as Lily was making it up on the spot, almost impossible was perfect.

"And then I will know?" Ivy looked disappointed.

"No, of those some will taste strange. Of that selection, you want the one that is neither too large nor too small-"

"Forget it!" he snarled. "I will just eat both of these stupid bushes."

"It is... an option," Lily said, inhaling shakily. She was a bit worried about the still-growing pool of blood, but this could not be rushed. "Let me finish."

"No. You just want more time." Ivy picked up, chewed on, and then swallowed one of the small bushes, gagging as he did. And then the other.

Lily felt a coldness in her heart. One of those same bushes had almost killed her. She had just tricked Ivy into eating two. Now her focus was on keeping him ignorant until it was too late. How long would it take?

"Side effects," Ivy repeated, sitting down within reaching distance, clearly ready to strike in an instant. "What could they be?"

"Everyone feels a little tired at first," Lily lied, hoping to ensure Ivy did not catch it too early. "That passes after a while. Then, after that is gone, it depends."

"Wait..." Ivy glared at her. "I did not feel anything when I ate your fish. What makes this different?" His voice was dangerous, and it was clear he was beginning to suspect she was not cooperating as fully as he had thought.

"That was one leaf, a temporary effect," Lily improvised, talking slowly. "Once a moon-cycle. Two is three moon-cycles, but with the side-effects. More reliable, less annoying."

"I... I suppose." Ivy yawned. "What is the worst side-effect?"

Lily could see that his body was beginning to seize up, something she herself hadn't noticed until far too late, the many tiny movements of frills and tailfins stopping entirely acting as a visual sign. It had begun, and she doubted Ivy could kill her now if he tried.

So, she spoke truthfully. "It almost killed me. Paralysis, for almost a whole day. And I had only taken half of what you just did."

Ivy's eyes widened, but he didn't move, and still looked sleepy.

"You trusted me..." Lily laughed hoarsely. "You let me tell you what to eat. Smart, to get me like this..."

She struggled to her feet, finally getting that terrible tree away from her brutalized back, and put her head near Ivy's, whispering in his ears.

"But not smart enough to wonder what else I knew about plants. Not smart enough to suspect someone who just had Claw killed might not be weak."

A strangled groan, one that sounded peculiarly weak, emanated from the rigid dragon.

Lily sat down in front of him, looking into his eyes. She didn't know how far this would go. It might kill him, or it might just paralyze him, like it had her.

It was possible, likely even, that he was dying. If he was, there was no stopping it. Even making him throw up wouldn't work; it hadn't in her case.

His breathing became quick and short, laboring more and more with every passing moment.

She didn't turn away as that same breathing died out entirely, and his eyes by degrees turned cold and lifeless. His body, though it remained eerily sat on its hindlegs, was still. Dead.

Her doing. His, for threatening her life and then believing her words, but hers because she had told the lie that led to his death. There was no difference between this and her somehow springing up to rip his throat out when he had her pinned. It was just slower and less direct.

Claw had deserved to die, beyond any doubt, but she couldn't say the same of Ivy. She had doubts, it was possible he could have been better, out from under Claw and Diora, given time and guidance-

Or maybe he would have done this sooner or later no matter what she tried. He had already decided that killing his masters was the way out from under them; it was only fair that he be willing to risk death if he was willing to deal it out.

Lily rose, moving gingerly, and turned her back on the two bodies. Ivy's death was going to cause problems, and questions would be asked, but she was done thinking about it for tonight. Tomorrow, she could decide how to handle it.

With that decision, if she could call postponing a choice a decision at all, she began the long trek back to the mountain, moving slowly through the forest. Her body hurt and her mind was done for tonight. Answers as to tomorrow's challenges would have to wait until morning.

As she walked, she spotted a particular vine creeping around the trunk of a nearby tree, but dismissed it. She didn't need it, pain was nothing new to her, and…

She stopped walking. Claw was dead, and wouldn't be hurting her any more. She almost wanted to keep walking anyway, to put up with the pain just to spite him and Ivy, but with that thought she just felt childish. Dulling the pain was practical, as she would be able to move more quickly without suppressing a hiss at every step.

It was far too easy to slice off a short length of the plant and choke it down, given it was right there, and she had barely walked five steps before the difference was noticeable. She was still aware of the pain, it just no longer bothered her.

Although, now that she wasn't so focused on the pain, or at least focused on ignoring it, she was increasingly aware of a sticky feeling running along where her wing met her back and down her neck to her side. She probably looked a mess, so she quickly rubbed the worst of it off onto the soft bark of a tree; it would not do for the new alpha to return from the forest covered in blood.

She continued walking in a haze, focusing on putting one paw in front of the other for a while, gradually heading up and out, up along Pyre's path. As she walked, she looked out over the forest, watching as she climbed higher and higher.

She could feel she was now only bleeding a trickle, so her back was not too badly cut open... but maybe it should be. She could rip it and hope it healed correctly...

No. She had people counting on her and was not about to risk death of sickness from a totally reopened wound after surviving Claw and Ivy. That meant this was the highest into the sky she was ever going to get from now on. This path, ending at that ledge she knew so well.

Pyre's cave. That had to be a reason he had lived here. Height, to feel the sky and wind always, though he could never be totally free in either.

She stopped by his cave, looking in. It was small, unassuming... home. Her home, now.

Despite her pain and fatigue, she lingered there. Tomorrow or some day soon after, she could claim it. She would not feel right in crowding Crystal's family rock on a regular basis anyway. She would rather sleep here, alone except for the memories. There were practical considerations too, such as the soothing feeling of the sky she was probably going to need in the future, permanently grounded as she was, but that was secondary.

But for tonight, she was not going to sleep here. She needed her new minor injuries tended to, anyway. More pain to look forward to in the near future.

Leaving the cave, she began the walk down to the valley below on the other side of the mountain. The path had several nice overlooking edges...

The valley was dark and quiet, no movement visible. Her fledglings were down there, all of them. Hopefully healing divides and physical wounds alike. Root was down there somewhere, though he was always in the dark now, with both his Sire and Dam, probably peacefully asleep. That Dam with the scar across her face was there too, somewhere, with her daughter. Pina, Grass, Dew, and others Lily knew were all down there.

And so were people like Diora, who hurt their own hatchlings out of misplaced ambition and bad thinking, people who needed a lot of watching and careful sounding out. How would they adapt to the way things had turned out. Would they adapt? And if they didn't, if they opposed her, how would she rid the pack of them?

She wouldn't kill them. That felt like a path that should only be taken in the most serious circumstances. But she might have to wait until they did something bad enough to get them exiled.

At some point, she had resumed her long and painful journey and was now walking amidst the rocks of the valley, on the final leg of the path to rest.

Down here, she could hear murmuring, tired dragons not yet quite ready to sleep, talking. Probably worrying, some of them, or just confused. What would happen next, who was really going to lead? Questions aplenty.

And she was going to have to be the one to answer them, each and every one. Tomorrow. Tonight, that burden was too large to be contemplated, though it was one she had taken on willingly.

And on the subject of burdens too large to be dealt with, postponed for later… Lily stopped at the base of Crystal's rock, looking up at the slumbering light wings there. Two on one side, and another just out of reach, physically separated in a fairly accurate representation of the gap between Crystal and her parents. She, too, was putting off something that needed to be done.

Jumping up onto the rock was out of the question. Lily whined as she reached up to climb it, stretching forward and straining her back out of necessity. She hauled herself up and collapsed next to Crystal, worn out.

Despite her weariness, she didn't fall asleep all that quickly. She lay on the rock, next to Crystal, and thought of nothing. Half-formed ideas for how to pull the pack together flitted in the back of her head, never fully coming together, and her back ached fiercely.

Added to all of that was a simple fact. She hadn't slept outside in moon-cycles, and she wasn't used to it. After all that had happened, she felt too exposed, out in the open. It was better than the confines of the side-cavern Claw had forced her to reside in, but not perfect.

Pyre's cave would be perfect; a private place open to the air but also sheltered. Soon…

O-O-O-O-O

"Wake up," a voice crowed in her ear. "Today is a great day!"

Lily groaned, only just remembering in time that rolling over was a bad idea. "The sun's not up," she complained. She had expected that to wake her, not Crystal.

"It is way past dawn, you have a wing over your face," was the chirpy reply. "Come on, the struggle is over! Why would you want to miss a moment of this Claw-free world?!"

Feeling entirely disgruntled, Lily backed up and nearly slipped off the rock, shaking her head, trying to clear the fog of sleep. "This is not a good way to start the day."

"Waking up bright and early?" Crystal warbled.

"Waking up and realizing I didn't have time to figure out anything last night," Lily clarified. "Getting up early doesn't help though."

"Well, then what were you doing?" Crystal huffed, jumping off of the rock. She looked up at Lily. "You took forever to come back from the forest. I was getting worried."

"You were asleep," Lily noted as she carefully eased her way down.

"Because I saw you walking through the valley," Crystal explained. "Once I knew I did not have to go looking for you, I went to sleep."

How might things have gone if Crystal had thought to come looking for her? Lily couldn't even speculate on that. It was in the past anyway. But did she want to tell her friend what had happened?

The last time she kept something from Crystal, it was a mistake she regretted. The last time she kept secrets from Pyre was also a mistake.

"I had... issues," Lily admitted. "If you go back to Claw's body, you will find Ivy's too."

Crystal walked right into the side of another rock, shocked at just the right moment. She leaped back, paws to her snout as she groaned.

"Lily, do not joke like that..." Then she looked up, her face falling. "But you do not joke, not usually, and that would not be funny."

"It's not a joke. He attacked me."

"And you won that fight?" Crystal asked incredulously. "I mean, that is great, much better than the alternative, but how?"

"You don't care?" She had just admitted to killing Ivy.

"He attacked you," Crystal said simply. "And he betrayed you, twice. It is not as if you killed an innocent, and I know you would not have killed unless that was the only option."

"It was." She shook her head. "But Diora is going to throw a fit." Hiding what she had done was never really an option; Ivy's body would be discovered, people would ask questions, and Diora would push for answers. It was known that she had been out in the forest, alone. No amount of lying would be enough to guarantee the blame didn't fall on her.

"I think I am going to spend today guarding you," Crystal said seriously. "So, what are we doing? You have plans, I assume."

"Gather the pack," Lily requested. "I need to get some things done, and as you have so graciously made sure I'm up early, you get to be sure everyone else is too."

"This feels like a punishment," Crystal grumbled. "Fine. I will remember not to disturb your precious sleep. We did not have this problem in the cave."

"We did not have the sun in there either." Lily headed off towards the plateau, climbing on top and sitting down in the center, looking out across the valley. Light wings began to gather, waking their neighbors in the wake of Crystal's passing, walking and flying down to the area around the plateau. Some stared at her angrily, others speculatively, and many didn't look at her at all.

Once everyone was there, Crystal dropping down just in front of the plateau, Lily roared, her throat protesting as she did.

"Things need to be sorted out," she began in a calm, authoritative tone. "But I will start by saying that no one is going to be punished, tortured, or killed. That alone should make this less tense than most of the recent assemblies here."

A scatter of laughter, though it was not intended to be funny.

"It's not that funny," she said sternly. "We, as a people, allowed that to happen." She shook her head sadly. "But no more. First, a simple question. Who will lead us?"

"I thought you had already taken that position," someone called out.

"We did kind of choose her yesterday," another voice countered. "Some of us, anyway."

"Exactly," Lily agreed loudly. "Some of you chose me. Others did not. So now I want to give the entire pack a choice. Will you have me as your leader?" She shrugged her wings, wincing. "I try, though I am not perfect. And I do not want power... I just want to help people, and to keep everyone happy and safe. No more."

"We only have male alphas," a male objected.

"Give me one good reason for that," Lily countered, "and then several more, because one reason alone will not be enough."

The male's mate smacked him with her tail, and he backed down. "Never mind," he said weakly.

"Okay," Lily granted. "Does anyone else have any fundamental objections to me being alpha?"

"You killed Claw!"

"No, I did not. I would have if the opportunity presented itself, and was responsible for his death, but I did not do it myself. And why is that a problem?" She suspected one of Claw's more fervent former supporters had raised that objection. She didn't see Cressa in the crowd, or Diora, but both were definitely present. Everybody was, down to the hatchlings held carefully in their Dams' mouths.

Silence. If anyone objected, and she was sure at least a few still did, they didn't want to speak out. It was ironic that the same mentality that kept Claw in charge for so long was now helping her. Luckily for them, she planned on breaking them out of that habit.

"Anyone else?" She turned in a slow circle, looking at as many people as possible. Dew and Pina were there, and Liona and Cedar, and everyone else she knew. "It seems like there are not."

She caught a hateful glare from Cressa, finally spotting her lurking near the back of the crowd.

"But," she announced, realizing that she needed to address a few things prior to the pack officially accepting her as alpha, to forestall certain arguments being used against her in the future, "there are some things I need to say first."

She turned again, dismissing Cressa to look out at her people. "There will be no more challenges. Some other way of changing alphas will be decided upon later, and it will not involve attacking the current alpha in any way, shape, or form."

There was a low murmur of understanding from the pack, but no loudly voiced complaints, though she had expected at least a few. Maybe she had underestimated how sick her people were of violence from their alpha or anyone at all, not having been present for Claw's last moon-cycle of control.

"I bring this up partly because I am not even alpha yet, and already I have been attacked," she announced coldly. "Someone was told of the amnesty I had proposed, a way to start anew, and decided that killing me was a better idea."

"Who?" a dozen different people cried out at once. Some sounded intrigued, others horrified. Lily understood the latter all too well; Claw was one thing, but having other, seemingly random light wings descending into attempting to kill for their own ends was unheard of.

"Ivy." She shook her head sadly. "I was forced to stop him before he did it. I tried to talk him out of it first. But in the end, if someone threatens my life for nothing more than their own twisted ends, I won't let them win. He died trying to emulate Claw."

"You killed my mate!" Diora lunged from the crowd, practically frothing at the mouth, only to be restrained by Crystal, who had moved over to stand by her in anticipation of her reaction.

"Your mate left me no choice. If I had any other option, I would have taken it." She growled at Diora. "He planned to kill you too, after me." He had not said as much, but it was implied in how he spoke of killing those who controlled him and having no masters.

Diora did not take that news as a reason to stop struggling, but it gave her pause, and others leaped in to assist Crystal in holding her down. She was soon subdued, sitting sullenly with her tail held down to stop her from leaping forward again.

"I am not perfect," Lily said loudly, addressing the crowd. "But I try to be better. I don't want this position, but I do want to fix things in this pack and make it so that we never have another Claw as alpha. So, will you have me as alpha? To serve, not take power for my own satisfaction? To be the first to go hungry, the last to get what I personally want, if that is for the good of the pack?"

She lifted her wings, displaying their weak, half-spread, crippled mockery. "I think," she concluded less loudly, confident that her words were heard in the dead silence of the crowd, "that I have proven I am willing to sacrifice my own happiness for the good of all. Else, I would have left long ago."

No response. She worried for a moment that her speech had not been enough, that nobody really wanted her as alpha-

And then realized the true reason none had spoken up. "Roar if you accept me as alpha," she explained. It was an imprecise, imperfect method, but the most meaningful she could think of.

The response was not half-hearted. Light wings, one after another, began to roar, a roar of triumph. Not for themselves, but for her. It was a strange sound to use to elect a leader, but it felt right. The valley was soon practically vibrating with sound, echoes magnifying the storm of noise.

Oh, there were a few who dissented, who growled or snarled, she was sure, but that did not overrule the voices of the majority. The pack had decided.

Were they just settling for anyone better than Claw? Were they desperate for someone who knew what to do to take charge? Did some of them wonder whether she would be alpha for long, or whether they could take her place someday, maybe soon?

Yes, yes, and almost certainly yes. But their decision was still a good one. She would make it a good one.

"Okay." She bowed her head. "This feels like a weight, not a privilege. That is how it should be." But she had already carried that weight. Now, it was official. That was a good feeling.

"And the first thing I am going to do," Lily announced, "is officially forget the last day. I no longer remember who stood with Claw, and who did not. I cannot allow myself to hold any grudges as leader of the whole pack. I hope the rest of you will do the same."

Murmurs, mostly approving. Lily knew it was a symbolic gesture, not a literal lack of memory, and she also knew that no one would really forget, but it needed to be officially dismissed. Otherwise, people might feel vindicated in holding grudges.

"On that same line, those who killed Claw, whoever you were," and there she held in a purr, "are not guilty of murder. I would say I myself am not either. Killing in defense of one's own life is not desirable, but it sometimes needs to be done. But from here on out, we are not going to turn to violence to solve anything."

What next? She was momentarily at a loss; she had almost gotten used to some anonymous voice in the crowd prodding her forward, making her speech less long-winded and more like a conversation. But nobody was speaking now.

A fledgling caught her eye, Dew's son bouncing up and down on her back, and she knew something else that needed to be said.

"Things are going to change," she declared. "But not today. Not right now. I could throw out a dozen new ideas and corrections, ways to fix the rot Claw left in our very way of life, but it wouldn't stick. So for now, life goes on as it did before. I am going to come speak to every single one of you over the next few days," and that was a good idea even if it did promise to be exhausting, "and I will not be deciding anything until I do. So rest easy. Your voices will all be heard."

She preempted the clamor she could see beginning with a loud bark, straining her throat, which was still weak. "I will come to you. One at a time. For now, go about your lives. Be kind to others, think about what feels wrong to you about how we live. Look at your lives and think about what could be better, what should not be."

This time, she did nothing to stop the talking, the speculation and conversation that sprang up as soon as it became apparent that she was done. Light wings began to drift away, walking or flying out into the rest of the valley, the group dispersing.

Crystal hopped up onto the plateau. "You know," she said quietly, barely audible over the noise of the dispersing crowd, "Cressa is going to do something terrible soon."

"I know." She knew her Dam. The same female who had taunted Pyre once a season-cycle for so long would not so easily give up a grudge.

"Diora might too," Crystal added.

"She might, but I think I can preempt that." Lily intended to speak to her as soon as possible, to confront that lingering issue and hopefully resolve it. She had a few ideas as to how, but much of it would depend on Diora, regardless of how she approached the problem.

"And some of the males-"

"Want to take my place, or maybe just take me and by extension my place," Lily concluded, cutting her off. "Yes, I know. Thank you for making sure."

"There is a lot to do," Crystal summarized. "And you are going to talk to everyone? That will take days."

"Will I have your help and protection?" Lily asked hopefully.

"My help? Definitely. But I think you will need to get more competent guards," Crystal admitted. "What are we doing now?"

"Honoring someone who deserves it." She was not willing to make that particular issue wait any longer.

O-O-O-O-O

The body had not finished decomposing; Lily had to look away. Whenever her gaze landed upon it, she felt torn inside, like something was ripping in her chest. The pain mirrored that in her back, but was somehow even more integral, a part of her that would never really fade.

Instead of looking at Pyre's body, she looked up, at those who had come here with her. Crystal stood opposite her, but it was not only her. Pina had come, and Dew with her. Crystal's parents were also there, though Crystal had balked at inviting them. Lily hoped them being present would help mend that divide; Pyre would have approved of his long-postponed sendoff being used to manipulate parents and child into making up and reconnecting.

Six light wings. Only three present had ever met Pyre, and two only briefly. The only other person in the pack who knew him in any way was not present because she had watched her mate murder him and approved.

Still, six were enough, and to increase their numbers would mean inviting people Pyre had not even the most tenuous of connections to. That was not how this sort of thing was meant to work. It was a family affair, and she was already stretching the definition to fit her own twisted life. Not a single person present was related to her by blood. By casual shared parenthood, friendship just as close as blood, shared pain and shared oppression, but not truly blood.

"Some…" Lily bowed her head, blew a bit of smoke from her nostrils, and gathered herself. "Some of us don't get what we deserve. Sometimes, life plays favorites, leaves others out in the cold for no real reason."

She didn't know where to go from there, so she left that statement hanging in the air, unfinished. It was truth, in a way, but there was nothing more she could say on the matter.

"For those of you who don't know," she began anew, not looking up, her eyes fixed on the stone between her paws, "he…"

Another false start. She took a deep breath and abandoned all attempts at oration. "He called himself Pyre, and taught me everything he knew. Played with me when I was bored, told me stories, taught me right from wrong, acted like more of a Sire than Claw ever could have. Claw murdered him for no reason at all and left his body here to rot."

She glanced up at Crystal, and then looked down again. Seeing the pity in her friend's eyes would shatter her composure, and she wasn't done yet.

"I never learned his real name," she admitted. "His life was so terrible he didn't want to use it anymore. He was not happy when I met him. I think I made his life better just by being there. I hope so, because he died for me in the end. I wish it did not take me so long to be able to come here and do right by him."

"I wish he was still here," she choked out. "To see that I'm all right. To be happy."

A low whine from someone else, multiple other dragons, broke her resolve completely, and she keened loudly, choking on her grief. She stepped forward blindly and heaved, opening her mouth and letting her fire pour out, somehow unrestricted and even aided by the painful constriction in her chest.

She could feel the heat of the others doing the same, but refused to open her eyes and see. This was necessary, good, honorable, but she doubted the sight of Pyre's decomposing body burning to ash would ever leave her mind if she made the mistake of witnessing it. She flamed blindly, wishing with all her heart that things had gone differently.

And when her flame was gone, she stepped back and forced herself to stop wishing for the impossible. She was not one to dwell on lost chances and impossible scenarios, and there was no way to go back and change this. The only way to move forward was to look forward.

When she opened her eyes, her friends and family, unconventional and in some cases distant as they were, had come between her and the remains, blocking her view. She was thankful for that.

In a moment, she would gather herself, leave this place, and begin reshaping the pack, speaking to everyone and solidifying the many plans she had already come up with. She would have to deal with Cressa, and Diora, and everyone else who wanted her dead or just wanted something from her that she could not or would not give. She would deal with being grounded permanently, with the pain that came with every movement.

Soon. For just a moment more, she let herself grieve, and recalled that the one responsible for her pain would receive no such honor. She would be sure of that, both in having his body removed in the most dishonorable ways possible, and in removing every trace of his influence from the pack she had sacrificed so much to free.