"Hello, I'm Fjord and welcome to the Rabota Labor Camp," says a bulky, scarred Icewing adorned with a simple silver chain with a single ring hanging from it. "While here, you will have the honor of being a part of our mighty war machine. Now you are most likely wondering what your responsibilities will be… It's quite simple: you will spend a week mining ore from our mines. Then, you transport the ore you've mined to one of our many refineries where, after another week, you will take your refined iron to our forges located in the same building. There you will hand forge the iron into war material. After a week of forging, you will be sent back to the mines to start anew," he looks over the crowd. "Don't even think about sabotage, what you forge will be stamped with your number. If your work is found to be sub-par, then you will be issued a warning. Get too many warnings and you will be executed," he motions to the nearby door. "You will receive your designation through there. Only one at a time please."

After a wait, Cinis is led through the door where he finds a rather beautiful Icewing with an iron bracelet held in her claws.

"Claw," she orders. Once Cinis gives her his claw, she places the bracelet on his wrist. As soon as the bracelet is placed on his wrist, a searing pain courses up his arm. When Cinis looks at the inside of his wrist, he finds SK-99845 seared into his scales.

"That will be your only form of identification for the duration of your stay," drones the Icewing before handing him a pickaxe. "Please proceed to the mines. You can grab a cart from the depot."

While going about his forcibly assigned duties, Cinis hears a distressed voice, "Help! Someone please!"

"No ones gonna help you little lady," slithers another voice. "You are our toy. Now how about you put that mouth to use."

Peaking around the corner, Cinis sees a blue scaled SeaWing with strange swirls on his wings. He is about double Cinis' age and is flanked by two similarly aged SeaWings. With a monstrous roar Cinis never thought he could utter, he tackles the SeaWing before placing himself between him and their SkyWing victim with his wings flared out as wide as he can.

"Big mistake…You and I will settle this tomorrow morning in the mess hall. No one crosses me and gets away with it," growls the SeaWing before departing down the tunnel.

Once the danger is passed, Cinis turns to the SkyWing, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes," stutters the SkyWing.

"The name is Cinis by the way," chirps Cinis as he helps her up.

"Garnet," she answers. "What do you want? Food? Sex? Something else?"

"What do you mean?" asks Cinis.

"No one does anything without an ulterior motive," she argues.

"You were in trouble, I helped," he says, simply.

Garnet drops her intimidating façade at his sincerity. "If it weren't for you, things would be really bad by now," she replies shakily.

"You sound like you're talking from experience," he whispers, gently.

"Lamprey has forced himself on me dozens of times," she answers quietly before turning to him with a serious expression. "Do you realize the danger you just put yourself in?"

He shrugs, "No, not really."

Her expression becomes even more serious, "You just made an enemy of the most cruel and sadistic Prince in the entire Sea Kingdom."

"That guy is a prince?" asks Cinis, rather surprised. "What else can you tell me?"

"Like what?" asks Garnet, more than a little confused at the unexpected reply.

"What is his personality? Is he quick to anger? Disciplined? How well does he fight? Anything," lists Cinis.

"He is very quick to anger. I once heard a Seawing Grunt insult the royal family around him. The soldier was unrecognizable after."

"What else can you tell me?" he asks. "Any information could help."

"He is cruel and uncaring," she starts to tear up as she remembers the terrible things she experienced at his claws. "He said he loved me! He said that we would be together forever—t-that our love was beyond the war! A-And I believed him! But when he brought me to his fortress, he told his gang to…h-have their way with me."

Cinis drapes a wing over Garnet and pulls her into a comforting embrace as she breaks down into sobs. "It's alright. You won't have to see him ever again."

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Garnet speaks up seeming much more at ease. "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" asks Cinis, genuinely confused.

"This," she gestures between the two of them for emphasis. "You don't know the first thing about me and here you are comforting me like a lifelong friend."

"I just can't stand seeing a dragon in despair," Cinis replies before looking garnet in the eye. "I know you're probably skeptical, but I don't know how to explain it. I just get this…almost overwhelming desire to help everyone I can, regardless of tribe, background or even past actions."

After a long night of planning, and keeping Garnet company, it is the next morning. A large crowd has gathered in the giant cavern that serves as the mess hall to witness the fight.

"Silence!" calls Lamprey. "This Skywing here came between me and my toy. I am here to make sure everybody knows not to cross me."

"Confident much?" snarks Cinis. "What makes you think that you will win?"

Lamprey lets out a deep laugh. "I am twice your age. Not to mention I am a prince. I was trained to fight from birth."

Cinis just smirks. "Let me guess: trying to get mommy to love you? News flash: she doesn't give a puffins tailfeathers about her sons."

"You dare speak ill of her majesty!" Lamprey lunges at Cinis, claws extended.

Cinis deftly avoids the clumsy lunge, "It's not speaking ill if it's true,"

"How!" roars Lamprey as he attempts to claw at Cinis face, but he simply ducks under the blow.

"I do believe that half-way through Chapter 37 of The Lost Princess, Queen Polyp says—and I quote: 'Princes are Soooo useless! They can't even rule a kingdom, much less find my daughter'," he continues.

"When I'm done with you, they'll have to scrape you off the floor!" roars Lamprey as he lunges at Cinis—blindly swinging and hoping to score a hit.

"Good, you're suitably pissed off," comments Cinis as he launches himself into the air over Lamprey and on to a sturdy Stalactite. While he is swiping at the dust cloud, Cinis drops down digging his claws into Lamprey's gill slits before using his momentum to launch Lamprey towards the Icewing Guards that had gathered to watch the show. Lamprey hits the stone wall with a sickening crack before falling to the ground where he starts to choke on his own blood.

After he finishes the fight, Cinis looks out over the crowd. "Garnet is under my protection for the rest of my stay here. If any harm comes to her, the perpetrators will wind up just like Lamprey: rotting in some lost tunnel never to see the light of day ever again!"