Queen Diamond's Secret, Chapter 1: Paradise
It was warm, the air was so wet that she could feel the droplets condensing on her scales, and everything was green, a thousand shades of green, interspersed with every color extent- what did they call that shade like the sunshine? An ordinary Icewing would have felt it oppressive- even she had, years ago, when she had first gone to the rain forest on a diplomatic mission to speak to Queen Anaconda. She did not find it so now.
"Diamond? Is that you?"
Of course it was her; what other Icewing would come this far into the rainforest, and what other Icewing knew it so well that she could find her way to their meeting place in secret, despite her glittering scales? She took another step forward, and then suddenly a large shape melted out of the leafy green, snout crinkled in a laugh. "I missed you, Di!"
Had any of her subjects been this informal towards her she would have arranged for him or her to be demoted, but Paradise wasn't exactly her subject, was she?
"Hello Paradise." The name was a mere whisper, as though speaking it any louder would spoil it, or summon one of Queen Anaconda's border patrols.
Paradise wrapped her wings around the Icewing queen, and it was only by dint of long experience (and the charmed diamond imbedded between her scales) that she managed not to flinch. Paradise was so gorgeously, impossibly warm, and her scales were the color of a liquid rainbow. Not to mention that Icewings rarely touched one another unless it was for practical purposes or on their mating flight, not like this.
Although perhaps it could be said that Diamond and Paradise would have been on their mating flight had interpyrric law permitted it.
"So what is it like in the Ice kingdom? I was worried when you didn't come. All the ice storms this time of year..."
"It's the advisors and lobbyists you have to worry about, not the storms. I'm an icewing; storms are nothing. It's the dragons that pop up every time you try to get away that bother me. 'Queen Diamond, what do you think about the new hatchling policy?' Queen Diamond, the roof of the left wing of the secondary palace has a leak!' 'Queen Diamond, the Mudwings sent an embassy without telling us first and the Great Ice Cliff shot them out of the sky and what do we do?'"
Paradise snorted, then abruptly sobered as the rest of what the Queen said came together. "Wait, did that actually happen? Were they ok?"
"Luckily someone found them before they died, so I was able to cure them." Diamond lowered her head. "I...was it wrong to use my powers again?"
"You saved dragons' lives, that's not wrong."
"But it's not just that. I...I shouldn't be using my magic at all, and I've used it for much more frivolous things than healing." She gave a half-smile, soured with worry, as Paradise waved the enchanted ring she had given her (so that the heat-loving Rainwing would never feel the ice of her scales when they embraced).
"But they weren't frivolous at the time, I assume. The orchid you spelled for me still lights my home at night, and I've given cuttings to everyone. It might seem silly but Rainwings had to get up when the sun came up and go to sleep when it set or risk predators and things before you gave me that. I know that maybe it's not worth the risk, but it is not useless either, and it's already done. And weren't you telling me about some Icewing that charmed a pair of amulets so he could talk to his girlfriend and they ended up helping him to win-"
"The Crystal Mutiny, yes. That was Prince Seal, and his dragoness was Frost. But Seal..." she shivered and looked away. What happened next was a state secret, after all, and...would Paradise still stay with her if she knew what she could become? Paradise knew that the animus power was dangerous to use too often, of course, but Diamond had not shared much about the actual effects of overuse.
"Seal what?"
"Seal was the first to go mad. That was back before the Law of Animagic Gifts was in place, and it was his death that prompted the other Icewings to begin doing studies on animus dragons. They found...they found that your magic is directly connected to your soul energy. You truly put your soul into the magic, and that is why it can do things independant of you and exist after you die."
Paradise shuddered. As far as Diamond knew, Rainwings didn't believe in a deity like the Icewings did, but that didn't mean that they didn't regard the soul as inviolate. "You...oh sweet sunshine, you risked your soul to spell a warmth amulet? For me?"
Queen Diamond was not ordinarily inclined to say sappy, romantic things, but the only response that came to her in that moment was "For you? I would risk my kingdom and my soul if you needed a fresh banana."
Blushes of hot pink and worried pale blue flickered along the color changing scales around Paradise's eyes and snout, slowly spreading all over her body. "Di, I'm...are you sure I'm worth it?"
"Always." Diamond hesitated. There was something she wanted to ask her mate, but she was not sure if she should, especially after their earlier conversation. It was only tentative at the moment, just a feeler, but considering that carrying it out (should they both want it) would require the magic she had sworn to use as little as possible...no. She would not say it, especially as it would likely not even work in the first place. "So what's the latest discovery you made?" she asked instead, forcing herself to concentrate on lighter subjects. Paradise was known for going farther than anyone into the rainforest in search of new fruits and flowers; that was why she was the best fruit trader in Pyrrha.
"I found this thing that's in sort of a star shape- I named it 'starfruit'- inspired, huh?" said Paradise, grinning.
Diamond laughed.
"It tastes fabulous- do you want some?"
Diamond glanced up into the slightly-larger dragon's eyes. "Sure. Teach me, oh great master of fruit lore!"
Paradise scrambled up into the branches and returned with a large yellow...thing, which was probably only pretending to be fruit. "You cut it like this," she said, slicing it with her claws, "And then you eat it fresh; it doesn't dry well and it rots really fast in this heat once it's sliced open." She dangled a dripping strip of fruit in front of Diamond's nose, getting fruit juice all over her snout. "Well, try it!"
Despite Icewings being generally carnivorous, Diamond snagged the strip out of her claws and bit into it, eyes widening at the taste. "Ok, that's actually very good!"
"Are you doubting my taste?"
"Paradise, I eat raw meat most of the time; I don't know how to eat fruit or what new varieties are supposed to taste like, since traders haven't come to the Ice Kingdom proper since the...incident."
"We better fix that right now- do you want to try some of these other...um...things? I've already made sure they're not poisonous but some of them aren't named yet; you can help name them, if you want."
"Absolutely. Since you'd probably name them things like 'thorny apple' or 'dragonfruit' if I wasn't there to stop you."
The purply-pink color of embarrassment began to spread on Paradise's face.
"Wait, did you actually name some that?"
"I find about two new species a day! You run out of names after a while. You can't just keep making up names like limbylim berries, however funny it is to see if you can make other dragons say really stupid things..."
"Sure you can!"
And with that, all tension seemed to have disappeared from the exchange, and the rest of Queen Diamond's few precious hours in the rainforest (while her marvelous secretary and sister, Princess Glitter, covered for her) were spent tasting and discussing Paradise's new fruits until it devolved into a fruit fight and then a very satisfying making-out session to clean off all the fruit juice. But however untroubled she was outwardly, Queen Diamond worried. What if someone found out about their relationship? What if someone told her husband, King Trespass? Granted he had his own little relationship on the side (Queen Diamond wasn't an idiot; she knew the marriage was arranged and that he had always cast a few too many glances at that snotty Glister) but if it got out it could be devastating. Why couldn't she just be an ordinary dragon for once? Oh right, her duty. They could take their stupid duty and shove it-
"Why are you frowning? You're not allowed to frown in the rainforest, you'll summon the Gladness Police!" Paradise said it with such a stern, serious look on her face that Diamond burst into ragged laughter. Trust Paradise to try to cheer her up.
"I wish I could move into the rainforest," she said softly, "Or that you could move into the Ice Kingdom with me. We could live in the palace, or in one of your tree-top villas, and eat fruit all day, and not have to worry about guards and dignitaries and rules. And you could teach me to hang by my tail from a tree, and I could meet all the dragons you always tell me about when I visit, and I wouldn't have to worry about being caught by Anaconda's border patrol for invading sovereign territory, and we could snuggle all night on a branch..." her eyes slitted, lost in the dream. "And we would have dragonettes, one of them like ice when the sun is just coming up, and one of them like an armored flower, and we could watch them play and trail our claws in the water. Or maybe we'd go to the Ice Kingdom, and your bracelet would keep you safe and warm so that we could fly at night when you can see every single falling star, and wrestle in the snow, and wander the halls of the palace when everyone else is off hunting, and I can show you all the gifts that the other animi enchanted before me."
Paradise's eyes glowed. "That...that would be amazing. And...did you say dragonettes?"
Diamond flushed blue. "It was only a thought."
"I know. It's impossible, but it would be beautiful. They'd have your dazzle and my venom, or maybe they'd be lime green and pink and breathe ice. Who knows?"
"Whatever they looked like, they'd be wonderful."
There was a momentary silence as they both thought about that sadly. Then Paradise, that wonderful dragoness, broke up the tension with "I want to see the Tree of Light. Does it really grow light apples?"
"Yes, and I've heard it acts like a real tree, too. Frostbite carved it herself, you know. She came before the time when the regulations were very strict, but she knew that her gift was precious and dangerous. She spent years in the rainforest, from what I've heard. Wanted to see how real trees worked."
"Wow, you mean she actually came here? I thought most Icewings hated it here!"
"I don't. You're here. And it's nice to be warm, as long as it isn't too hot."
"And if it gets to be too hot, we can just go swimming," Paradise said. "How long do you have? Can you spare another hour to swim?"
Diamond decided that she could, even if she was actually a few hours behind schedule. She could just say that she had to stop to hunt, couldn't she?
It ended up taking much more than an hour. It was already fading into dusk when Diamond hurriedly pecked Paradise's snout and launched herself heavily into the sky, startling a night bird that flew up with a whirr and a shrill cry. Paradise followed her to the very edge of the rain kingdom and over the mountains aways, only turning back when they reached the line of sand, cactus, and wispy grass that denoted the beginning of the Sand Kingdom. And Diamond flew on alone, magically enhancing her flight to reach the Ice Kingdom as the first rosy blush of dawn tinted the ice, rendering the kingdom the most beautiful it had ever seemed, even though she hated the frozen prison it represented. And then at last she flew in by one of the less-traveled doorways, following a secret passageway to reach her rooms. She was met at the door, however, by her sister. And Princess Glitter was not happy.
"You're late. I almost sent out a search party and to hell with the consequences to your little relationship. I don't want to hurt either of you, but you know who'll catch the flack if you're not there..."
Diamond bowed her head. "I...I'm sorry. We-"
"Lost track of time snogging? For Frostbite's sake, the Nightwing embassy is coming tomorrow, and no preparations were made because King Trespass was off doing whatever he does all day yesterday and Snowflake had the flu. You've got to get everything ready; they'll expect accommodations for their retinue, however many there are since Vigilance didn't bother to mention numbers, and they'll all be cold and they'll all be hungry and the cooks are fretting because they don't have orders. And the fires went out, so unless you enchant something the Nightwings will have to cook their own food or eat raw seal."
Glitter was in an unusually snappish mood, and Diamond reluctantly admitted to herself that she had been in the wrong. She shifted her wings sheepishly. "Fine, I'll get to it. Please tell Master of Ceremonies Fang to get the Summer Fortress cleaned up and ready for an indeterminate number of Nightwings, and I'll go talk to the cook. Maybe we can figure out something. Do Nightwings like sushi? It's not like I can go run over and get a sack of coals from the Sandwings, and I-"
"Just enchant something! You break the rules for everything else..."
"I'd rather not destroy my soul so that the precious Nightwings have hot food. If they don't like fruit or sushi they can cook their own food." It was the first time that Queen Diamond had just straight-out objected to one of Glitter's suggestions for using her magic, as she always figured that it wouldn't be too bad if it was a small thing, and Glitter seemed quite taken aback.
"You believe in those old stories?"
"It doesn't matter what I believe; it's against the law and that's all there is to it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go prepare and get cleaned up."
"Yes, you should get cleaned up." Glitter wrinkled her nose, and Queen Diamond realized for the first time that her feet were still muddy from the rainforest and that she had a dead and rotting flower stuck to her underside, as well as being crusted with fine white sand.
"Right. I'll just...do that then; can you have someone clean that up?" And without waiting for what Princess Glitter might have said back, Diamond retreated into her chambers to clean herself up in preparation for whatever stuffy embassy meetings she would have to suffer through, her thoughts, after a brief pause, winging their way faster than a dragon could fly back to the rainforest and an elegant polychromatic dragoness with mango juice on her nose.
Not my usual fare, y'all, but I thought that it would be interesting to write. Please R&R. I would also like to make a shout out to SereneBird and her unfinished fanfiction "Artificial", which gave me my seed idea for this.