I awoke to a loud knock outside my room, followed by the ringing of the palace bell.
You're finally awake. You better have a good excuse for missing the first guard inspections.
Oh no. Three moons I slept past the first bell, and given my low ranking, there was a good chance I could be thrown out of the palace guard for missing such an important routine.
Panicking, I tried shuffling my ice spikes into a presentable manner, but no matter how hard I shook my neck, they would not settle in place. The second bell was going to ring soon, and missing the second round of inspections carried an even harsher punishment, so I gave my spikes one more shake, grabbed my spear and ran outside, hastily assuming guard posture.
I heard a pair of footsteps outside the corridor. I assumed Bering was back to visit, but the dragon that stepped in was a massive, muscular soldier who wore six rings, same as me. When he saw my disheveled experience, he twisted his snout into an ugly sneer.
I tried not to show how nervous I was but judging my disheveled appearence and tail spikes, I failed miserably at it. And the IceWing standing in front of me looked less then pleased.
'Great, that's Leopard, the IceWing that I reported about to Queen Snowdrift.' I thought, with a bit of annoyance and destain forming on my face. It quickly disappeared before Leopard could even so much as blink.
"Look who's not following rules now," Leopard mocked. "I read your little 'report' and it was full of flattering statements. Maybe I should write a response about how your spikes aren't in proper position, or how you missed the first bell, or-"
Everest cleared her throat quietly. "That is outside your jurisdiction, I brought you along to observe guard inspections, so I suggest you silence yourself before I revoke your promotion."
Leopard looked like he wanted to say some flavorful words, but he shut up and decided to focus on glaring. Through gritted teeth, he muttered, "Stupid."
"You shall address me as Madame. Now move aside." Everest replied courtly. She flashed her four rings.
"Yes Madame." The insolent worm did as he was told.
"Mistral, the council will not wait forever. If you really want that assistant position, hurry to the courtyard. You are dismissed." Everest spoke in the same calm and impassive tone she always used.
I nodded and quickly darted behind her and into the cool morning air outside, escaping the curious stares from Leopard and other guards as I flew over to the courtyard.
I blew a plume of Frost as I landed right outside of the palace. I couldn't afford to be nervous. After all, showing your emotions is what the week ones do, they need to learn that you can't get higher in the ranks by being soft.
I huffed and flicked my tail in irritation, I then raised my gaze and the palace doors opened and one of the Queen's guards, an IceWing named Permafrost led me inside.
"I see that you have arrived on time Mistral." Permafrost said, nodding her head in approval. I nodded and followed her into the palace.
"I also heard about that report that Everest sent to Queen Snowdrift, you might be placed in the 3rd circle at the rate your heading. Keep it up." I nodded, and Permafrost stopped at the entrance to the meeting hall.
As we entered the room, I saw the gazes of the higher ranked IceWings land on me, I payed them no mind, but I did nod my head in greeting towards them.
Indeed, the head of palace operations and second in command behind Queen Glacier herself stood under the Tree of Light, inspecting the ranking list. I secretly hoped he was considering moving my name up, but I ducked under an archway before I could see anything he did.
The council had arranged a series of long tables connected at the ends to make a column on which important dragons sat on both sides, stoic and still, awaiting the arrival of the leader, which I assumed would be Sealion.
I could feel the hostile stares from some of the nobles as I treaded carefully towards the end of the tables, far away from the highest ranked elites. I spotted not one dragon with more than four rings, which only made my six more conspicuous and distasteful.
There was one dragon that was noticeably different though. Near the high ranking end, a familiar dragon wriggled and squirmed around, his neighboring dragons giving him plenty of space to not sit still and act nobly. Again, he had that big dumb grin all over his snout. I could tell that in his no doubt many studies, subtlety was never a priority.
I was seated beside two IceWing dragonet's who were two more of my friends. I nodded to Blizzard and Snowstorm. They nodded in return.
Crystal dishes lined the tables, filled with red currant juice and cured polar bear meat. Compared to the crudely prepared seal meat and moss, this was an incredible feast, but I could not touch it yet. It was a silent rule that no one touched the food until the leader of the conference did so.
My gaze then swept around the room. There was of corse the long white table that we were all sitting at, a chandler made of sapphires hung from the ceiling, the crystals were giving off of bright blue glow that lit up the whole room.
After a few more moments of staring at the rankings list, Sealion finally approached the tables, but he did not take the lead position as expected. Instead, the commander sat beside Silverstream and assumed his usual stoic expression.
If Sealion wasn't the leader, then that meant there was only one dragon that ranked higher. And that was Queen Snowdrift herself, I wacthed as the giant icy blue doors opened, and we all bowed as the IceWing Queen entered the room.
A few moments later we all bowed as Queen Snowdrift entered the room following close behind her were her two daughters, Aurora and Borealis. I twitched my tail slightly, how ironic.
Queen Snowdrift was a very pretty and elegant IceWing with shimmering silvery scales and a necklace of sapphires hung from her neck while a string of gold and amethyst pearls were woven around her dark blue horns. She was the best Queen in the world, she was kind, strict and gentle.
As the Queen took her place at the head of the long table, we all waited patiently for her to begin speaking.
"Hello everyone, as you all may have heard, one of our IceWing Dragonets brought me a report of something very important. I will not disclose any information about what the report contained. But I will tell you that Mistral has climbed up into the 3rd circle of the rankings." The Queen announced, as she finished her speech, I could feel all of the gazes on me.
Some of the IceWings nodded their heads in approval while others just frowned and shook their heads. I met the Queen's proud and approving gaze.
I watched with wide eyes as one of the IceWing nobles, an IceWing named Wolf, swiftly took my name plate and moved it to near the top of the list, just under Everest's name, safely in the 3rd circle, the upper echelon of IceWing society. With that one motion, I now ranked higher than many of the dragons in the council, above even my old commander Everest, and had the rights to live within the palace itself.
I just smiled politely and looked down at my talons. I didn't know that Queen Snowdrift would be announcing that to everyone.
After a few moments of awkward silence, one of the IceWings near the head of the table spoke up. His name was Walrus if I remembered correctly. I wasn't very fond of him very much to be honest.
"I also want to say that I think the lower ranked dragons need more training and they also need to learn IceWing traditions." Walrus explained to the listing dragons in the room.
"I will see to it that Crystal teaches her students better. They do need to learn the IceWing traditions and history," the Queen replied, with a slight nod of her head.
Once Walrus was finished with his peace, he took his seat and the Queen began to speak again. "Alright this meeting is finished. Oh, and Mistral, be sure to head to the jeweler's shop to get your 3rd circle accessories." The Queen said, glancing in my direction, then with that the Queen bowed and left the room, with her daughters and some other dragons following her.
I then bowed to the dragons that were still there as Permafrost led me to where I would pick out my third circle Jewelry of my choice. "Well here we are, Mistral. I can't wait to see what you decide on." Permafrost admitted with a bright smile on her face. I nodded and headed inside of the jeweler's building.
As I approached the frunt desk, I looked around at all of the rings, necklaces and bracelets that were lining the racks and shelves.
When I finally stood at the counter, an IceWing with pure white scales and pale blue tail spikes and horns greeted me with a small smile. Her name's Bluebird I think. "Hello, I'm here to pick out my 3rd circle jewelry." I said, and Bluebird nodded and puled some rings, necklaces and bracelets off of the rack behind her.
After a while of thinking a chose a headband that was embedded with dark blue and silver pearls, a ruby bracelet and a necklace that was strung with sapphires and rubies.
"I love the items you chose, it brings out your crimson tail spikes and horns." Bluebird commented with an approving nod of her head. I smiled and gave a curt bow to Bluebird who did the same, then I left the shop and outside to where Permafrost was waiting.
"Three Moons! I absolutely love the rubies and sapphires that you chose, it brings out your tail spikes and horns." Permafrost said, with a smile and a nod of her head. I smiled slightly and flicked my tail.
"Let's go back to the library, I need to check out some more scrolls." I said, with a sheepish smile. Permafrost laughed quietly at me.
"You sure are a bookworm aren't you, Mistral?" Permafrost teased with a playful grin on her face. I pouted and playfully batted her with a wing and she returned the favor.
"How are you liking being in the 3rd circle?" Permafrost asked, and I smiled happily in response.
"It's amazing! I still can't Believe it!" I exclaimed, with a bright smile on my face and a flap of my ice blue wings.
As we were flying in the Direction of the Library, I made some small talk with Permafrost. She seamed a lot like me when it came to talking about the circles and the rankings.
"So... Mistral, what's your opinion about the circle system?" She asked, and I thought for a moment before I gave my answer.
"A chain of command is certainly needed. I'm not saying that the system is bad or anything... but in practice, the system of the circles are flawed and dated. It doesn't have to go away, but it does need to change." I explained, with a thoughtful expression.
"Wow! You certainly are very open about your opinions, aren't you? Do you think that you'd ever become a guard to the Queen?" Permafrost asked, and I frowned and answered truthfully.
"Honestly... I'm not sure what I would want to do. Maybe be a healer or something... but I don't know about that either. I guess it all depends on where I end next in the rankings." I replied, with a shrug of my wings. Permafrost slowly nodded and I had been so focused on my conversation with Permafrost that I didn't notice that we had entered the Library.
"Hello again, Mistral. Back for some more scrolls to check out?" Polaris asked, with a knowing smile. I laughed quietly and nodded my head. "Ohh... I see that you have jewelry, does that mean your higher in the rankings?" She asked, and I nodded with a wide grin on my face.
"Yup! You bet! I still can't believe it myself, this is a dream come true for me!" I exclaimed, with an excited flap of my wings.
"So, what are you looking for to read this time, Mistral?" Polaris asked me, with soft smile. I thought for a moment before I answered.
"I am looking for a scroll about the IceWing aristocracy," I replied with a respectful bow and Polaris nodded and went to grab the scrolls I had requested.
"Three Moons! With all of the reading that you do, I bet you the smartest dragonet in your class!" Polaris remarked with a look of both amusement and amazement.
I blushed and lowered my head in embarrassment. I had never been praised so much before in my whole life.
I flew in through my bedroom window and just as I landed on the carpeted floor, a knock was heard on my door. I ran to open the door.
I swung the door open and standing on the other side was my mother, Seal. She smiled warmly when she saw me standing there, I smiled at her and walked over to my shelf of scrolls and put the newest one on the shelf.
"So, how did that meeting go?" My mother asked me with a curious expression. I grinned and told my mother everything that had happened during the meeting.
"That's amazing, Mistral! I'm very proud of you, and your father will be thrilled when here's about it. I'm going to ge deliver the news to him. Have a good evening Mistral." My mother said, smiling at me brightly before she turned and left the room.
I stood staring at where my mother had just left for a few minutes before I walked over to my bed and curled up to sleep.
Lying on my sleeping shelf, my mind wandered over my meeting with this bizarre dragon. He acted like no other noble ever. Even the dragons in the 5th circle, technically no better than 6th, felt it necessary to rub their ranks in my snout all the time with frivolous commands.