DISCLAIMER: All lines in bold and the environmental detailing in the first paragraph as well as under all 'AVALOR' sections, are obtained from the episode "First Day of Rule" of the Elena of Avalor series, as are the characters appearing on that show, and are owned by the Walt Disney Company.
Skylar's to be formally introduced to the royal family of Avalor as jaquin representative. However, things work out differently from expected. Llemopaz, second of the two new jaquin cubs, is introduced to the story.
Migs flies over the ocean at a low altitude. He barely needs flapping his wings to maintain lift. On the way to the city, he flies past some ships at sea either bound for or departing from Avalor. While flying past them, a huge smile appears on his face when a thought strikes him: *Ah, what a lovely day this is. The sun is strong, the sky brightly blue, the winds favourable… Truly splendid! It makes me feel so at ease. Yes, nothing will stir me now-*
However, this is about to change… "On your left!" Skylar shouts energetically while swooping past Migs.
Being severely disturbed in his "moment of zen", Migs exclaims a shriek of surprise before shouting Skylar's name of frustration. "Look out!" Luna shouts joyously and swoops past his right.
"Luna, come on.' Migs says now growing tired of them both already, 'It is too early for these shenanigans."
Skylar stops in his tracks in between two ships. While Migs approaches him, Skylar starts hovering and replies happily: "Oh, what are you so cranky about, Migs? The evil queen is gone, the majesty of Avalor has returned, and we are back on the flag!"
Migs looks at Skylar unmoved as he watches the yellow-and-blue jaquin fly up to the flag of Avalor fluttering on one of both ships. "Strike a pose!" Skylar exclaims with joy and pride while he mimics one of the rampant Jaquins on the flag.
By now, Luna starts hovering next to Skylar and nods at him while bearing a huge smile on her face. Migs audibly sighs and thinks: *If only you would grow out of those juvenile habits of yours…*
"Hey, let us see if princess Elena is up." Luna voices her idea joyously.
"Great idea!" Skylar exclaims in the same manner.
Both start flying toward the palace. Migs follows in close pursuit as he tries to convince them not to: "Uh-uh. No way, you two. It is bad enough you woke me up!"
Skylar and Luna land on Elena's balcony. "Should we knock?" Skylar asks looking at Luna.
"Hey, princess, you up?" Luna shouts at the closed balcony doors joyously.
Migs lands in between them and responds unmoved: "She is now."
The doors to the bed-chamber open up and Elena steps through. With a smile on her face, she happily greets the jaquins: "Well, good morning!"
Migs bows his head out of respect while apologising for the behaviour of both Skylar and Luna: "Sorry if they woke you up, princess."
"Woke me up?' Elena asks and continues energetically after a brief yet gleeful chuckle, 'I barely slept last night. I mean, how are you supposed to sleep the night before you become queen?"
Luna immediately steps in and curiously asks: "So when do you get your crown?"
"Tonight at the Royal Ball." Elena replies happily.
"We will be there." Skylar adds confidently.
Migs turns his head looking at Skylar and magisterially says: "Uh, we were not invited, Skylar."
"Oh, you are always invited.' Elena says and puts a hand on Migs' cheek, 'I'll see you tonight."
Elena steps back into her bed-chamber. "Well, now that is settled, let us rejoice over Avalor having regained its freedom!' Migs says delighted and continues slightly agitated after giving both Skylar and Luna a look, 'Before you two interrupted me in doing so earlier."
All three simultaneously look up in surprise hearing Elena speak. With the balcony doors wide open, all of them have a clear view inside the bed-chamber, yet no one other than her is inside. "Who is she talking to?" Skylar whispers being filled with confusion.
"Yeah, who is this… Zuzo? No one but her is inside… Know what? Let us ask her." Luna adds and steps forward ready to speak up again.
At that point, she gets face-winged by Migs, who in turn says: "No. You disturbed her once. You will not get to do this again."
As they hear Elena being well into her conversation with Zuzo, a jaquin approaches the three from behind and starts hovering above the balcony. "Skylar! Good to see you again! Especially under much finer circumstances now.' the jaquin says and changes to a submissive tone of voice, 'Chief Zephyr has requested your presence at Mooncliff. Migs and Luna, you are welcome to join us."
After having flown back to Mooncliff, they spot Zephyr in front of his cave home. He sits there gracefully, in front of a group of five jaquin cubs. Among them is Kamil. *Something must be going on! Back in Vallestrella he always sat like that waiting for the jaquin cubs he was training, including me.* Skylar thinks while gazing at Zephyr from afar.
All four, including the serf jaquin that came to get them, land in front of Zephyr. "Welcome, new ones. I am always glad to see new faces joining our clan! My name is Zephyr and I am the chief. To you, I am known as chief Zephyr."
Cubs always find new things or aberrant features intriguing. Therefore, Zephyr will always hear the statement 'You have big eyebrows!' made by cubs who are new to his teachings. Since Zephyr hears this every time at the start of a new semester, he has grown accustomed and, above all, bored to this feature of his being pointed out repeatedly. Skylar knows this by now. He has overheard mothers speak of their cubs acting the same way, meaning he knows Zephyr always replies to the cubs with 'Yes, yes. I know…' before commencing class. At this point, as it happens to be, Skylar's standing a little behind the chief and is awaiting this very moment: *Zephyr responds much like Migs would; predictable… Ooh, and boring. Especially the latter!*
Both he and Zephyr look at the cubs as they, in turn, observe them. Skylar hears the new cubs point out his huge eyebrows. While Zephyr hears the cubs point out his aberrant feature, he sighs once and indeed responds with 'Yes, yes. I know…'. However, Zephyr has no idea what's happening behind him. Skylar has mimicked those words, and bears a grin due to this "accomplishment" while thinking: *How fun this is!*
All the cubs start looking somewhat astonished. Never before have they witnessed two Jaquins speak simultaneously, and hear but a single voice! They have no idea how Zephyr and Skylar performed this trick. Kamil points at Skylar and shouts: "Wow! Skylar sounds like chief Zephyr!"
Zephyr immediately turns his head and gives Skylar a grumpy look. In turn, Skylar tries to hide his grin but cannot prevent it entirely while saying: "Ooh, those cubs really have a great imagination! Right, chief?"
"Skylar…,' Zephyr starts off using a deep but irritated voice that he changes to a grumpy one, 'can you act any different from these cubs, or would you like to help me teach them?"
"Eh, I suggest – we head into town, sooo you can – see for yourself what Avalor city has come to look like – nowadays, Skylar.' Migs stammers hesitantly trying to find the right words in preventing what he deems an escalation but realises it won't be enough to persuade both him and Luna, 'Who knows what fun and games they have there. I bet you want to find out!"
Hearing Zephyr's proposal makes Skylar pout, but this changes rapidly into an amiable smile upon hearing Migs' suggestion, which he likes much more. "Alright! What are we waiting for?" Skylar replies euphorically and quickly spreads his wings.
Skylar, Luna, and Migs take to the skies and head toward Avalor city. *Finally I get to do what I planned on doing earlier this morning: heading into Avalor city. I love to see all the people in Avalor city being busy again after that dreadful period they went through during the reign of that evil sorceress Shuriki.* Migs thinks excitedly.
VALLESTRELLA
Shaniqua had been talking to some other female Jaquins before returning to discuss with Tudor how to achieve their quota for today. Upon approaching the nest she decides she wants to make a grand entrance. Seemingly calculating her angle of attack from up high, she thinks: *I will fly in there at great speed, and land exactly in the middle of my nest without overshooting it. Ha! That will have him be in awe of me!*
She dives down to gain momentum. She focuses heavily on the centre of her nest. She aims for the entrance just right and Shaniqua swiftly flares to bleed off speed so she can land right onto the spot she pinpointed. While changing her angle of attack she crashes into something. She tumbles over the ground uncontrollably. When she comes to a stop she stands up immediately. "Ow, what was…' she says out loud and then sees Tudor lying next to her, 'Oh, Tudor! You here? I had not expe–"
"Ow, oof.' Tudor moans interrupting her as he tries to stand up, 'Shaniqua, what did you do that for?!"
"Eh, I – I performed a fast landing. Or it is supposed to be one… I wanted to surprise you…" she answers hesitatingly quick for his reply.
"Well, you certainly did… Oof, my wings…" Tudor says slowly and radiates utter displeasure.
he inspects his wings one by one. They crack faintly of stiffness and he shakes little every time a crack is heard. *Ouch, my wings… so delicate… Hurt.* he thinks with every crack he hears and feels.
AVALOR
Skylar, Luna, and Migs are circling Avalor city trying to find any game Migs was talking about. So far, no games are found, except for loads of people strolling about below them. Skylar pouts as he looks around. He was promised joy but instead finds nothing in the slightest. "Ugh… Migs, you promised fun but I should have known that your "fun" is all but fun. We have been circling for so long now and found nothing… There is absolutely no fun here!" Skylar says indignantly and snorts of bitter annoyance.
Just as Skylar decides to circle once more before flying off, he hears a familiar voice calling out 'Oh, Skylar. Skylar!' to him from below. He looks down and spots Elena waving at him. He immediately swoops towards her with Luna and Migs both following suit. He lands in front of her and carefully asks: "Is everything okay, princess?"
"No. My sister was taken." Elena says worriedly.
"No." Skylar comments of disbelieve.
"Isabel?" Luna asks startled.
"Just when I thought the kingdom was getting safer." Migs says despondently.
Skylar doesn't want to think about such a thing: *This is not helping anyone now. I need to act, now that I am trained to become a Guardian of Avalor!*
He turns his side to Elena and says: "Climb on. We will search from the air."
Esteban approaches Elena and states firmly: "Elena, it is far too dangerous for you to go after boat thieves."
"If I'm gonna rule this kingdom, I can't be afraid of taking on a few thieves." Elena replies confidently.
*Well said, princessa!* Skylar thinks proudly.
"Exactly!" Naomi adds in Elena's defence.
Elena feels glad to have support from her and adds: "Come on, Naomi."
Naomi startles briefly, not having expected to hear this. "Wait, what?' she replies a little confused, 'You want me to go with you? On one of those things?"
Migs feels insulted by Naomi in, to how he would call it, the way she describes his kind, thinking: *Preposterous! She has lived here for a long time now, so she must know about us. How dare she…*
*Excuse me! What did you just call us?* Luna thinks of being offended by Naomi's way of addressing her.
Their thoughts make them both want to respond but they're beaten to it. "Hello, we are Jaquins! National symbols. You may have seen us on the flag." Skylar says sulky but proudly beckons to a flag nearby.
"You're the only one who knows what the ship looks like.' Elena adds worried but changes her tone of voice to a comforting one, 'You'll be fine."
Once they're up in the air Naomi exclaims: "This is so not fine!"
Luna feels Naomi's body pressing more against her back, as well as her grip around her throat tighten to a degree that displeases Luna, yet there's one thing she finds unsatisfactory even more. "Hey, watch the feathers, would ya?" Luna asks slightly agitated as she feels her fur and feathers becoming ruffed.
Naomi starts explaining about the creatures she saw on the last ship that got stolen. Luna shakes her head hearing about it. She already knows what Naomi's talking about. She looks at Skylar, who looks back at her, and notices he thinks the same thing: *Noblins! The poor creatures we helped rescue from Shuriki. Why does Naomi not know them? Anyway, I wonder what they want with those ships?*
VALLESTRELLA
Veje wakes up the day after the incident. Lucky for him king Verago allowed him to sleep in. Veje goes to turn from his side to his back which he always finds a comfortable position to lie in. While doing so he suddenly feels a sting in his lower back. Pain surges through his body that makes him moan of agony a little. Quickly he returns to his side. He twitches a bit doing so with a thought crossing his mind: *Ouch! My back still feels sore… Did that Veloz Ciervos hit me that hard? Oof… Ouch again… How am I to get rid of this pain? Maybe I should get up and stretch limbs and wings as I was instructed to…*
Veje tries getting up. Pain radiates from his lower back to his abdomen and left upper back, which makes Veje almost collapse. Barely he makes it on all four. Now that he's gotten up he immediately feels much better already. Lucky for him some time has passed since the incident now half a day ago, so his body was able to recover somewhat. He decides to take to the skies and see how this works out for his still sore body…
AVALOR
Meanwhile, the rescue party flies up high. They want to know where the stolen ship is. Suddenly they spot something else that they're looking for. Skylar dives down and is followed in quick succession by Luna and Migs. They start flying at a low altitude above a river and follow it shortly until Matteo shouts: "Elena, there's a fork in the river. Which way do we go?"
"We could split up." Naomi immediately pitches an idea of hers.
"No, wait.' Elena says with something catching her attention, 'There's something in the water."
"How dare they litter our beautiful kingdom?" Skylar exclaims discontentedly at the sight of what appears to be paper floating on the water.
*Well, well, Skylar. I never thought those words to come from your mouth.* Migs thinks both proud and relieved.
Elena identifies one of the pieces quickly. "No, it's a piece from Isabel's journal.' she exclaims worried and looks at Naomi and Matteo, 'She must be leaving us a trail."
The rescue party pushes forward, following the pages from Isabel's diary to see where it'll lead them…
VALLESTRELLA
Tudor and Shaniqua just had breakfast and start fooling around in their nest. They chase each other's tails and displace one another doing so. Shaniqua spots an opening in Tudor's defences and rolls onto him. They chuckle while he tries to roll her over to get on top. While struggling to get the upper hand she suddenly says in a serious tone of voice: "Huh, I – heard someth-ing crack."
"I heard – nothing." Tudor replies and continues playing.
"Well, some-thing… cracked ben-eath you." Shaniqua continues while fending him off.
"I guess… you ar-e heavy, hehe."
Shaniqua gasps outrageously from disbelieve of how Tudor, whom she's been so close with for all those years, can say such a thing of her knowing him and his rude behaviour pretty well. Shaniqua lifts herself up a little and then drops her full weight onto Tudor's belly while saying: "No in-sult…"
Tudor: "Ouch! Ah, y-you really… are hea-vy!"
Shaniqua slams one of her paws against his face to which he yells: "Not the face! Unf-fair!"
"Your fau-ult."
A crackling sound comes from beneath them once more and this time they both hear it. They immediately seize playing and wait for something to happen. *Okay… Nothing is happening so far.* Shaniqua thinks a little anxious.
"Is… Is our nest falling apart?" Tudor cautiously asks using a high-pitched voice.
Shaniqua immediately replies with: "I hope n…"
However, she cannot finish what she's intending to say as loud and continuous cracks take over. They immediately stop moving entirely and start listening carefully. Then, without any further warning, the branches making up the nest beneath them break. Before Tudor realises what's happening he feels the floor underneath him sink away. Unable to respond to it in time both Tudor and Shaniqua fall through the failing nest floor. Shaniqua tries pushing herself off Tudor's chest to counteract this freefall. Yet, she loses grip. They keep falling through the nest floor with loud sounds of snapping twigs and branches breaking closely around them. It disorients both. A brief moment later, which seems like a minute to him, Tudor feels something solid hitting his back that stops him from falling any farther, immediately followed by Shaniqua landing with her belly onto his. He sees leaves and tiny, broken twigs falling around them still. He glances around and notices he's lying on a thick branch supporting the nest. This event leaves both Jaquins with a frightful look on their faces. They gaze at each other. Both their eyes are filled with utter surprise at what just happened. Suddenly, both burst out in cackling laughter as they slowly recover from this frightful moment. Shaniqua looks at how she's lying, which appears to be diagonally on Tudor, her face close to his. "It seems I landed on something soft." she says when able to giggle after cackling.
"Lucky you." Tudor says soothingly and groans of having caught all of Shaniqua's weight.
AVALOR
By now, Skylar reached the stolen ship. He smoothly lands on the ship's upper deck in such a fashion so that Elena can easily pick up Gabe's sword lying there. A brief moment later he receives instructions from Elena to bring Isabel to safety. "You got it." he replies in a controlled manner.
The moment Elena turns away from him he decides to take to the skies with Isabel on his back. *This is the best thing to do right now. Staying on that ship will only lead to more problems.* he convinces himself that breaking away from the team is the best option now.
While he starts flying in circles above the ship he can hear indistinct commotion rising from down below. "Great, now everyone wants a ride." Migs says as he gets hounded by a few noblins.
"Uh-uh. None of you getting on my back." Luna says dismissively at the same time with anxiety radiating from her eyes.
*Wow, looks like I took off at the right time.* Skylar thinks as he witnesses the situation from up high.
While circling the ship he alternates his attention to both Isabel and the situation on deck, where Migs gets surprised by a Noblin who found a way to climb onto his head. *Argh. I cannot see!* he thinks as the Noblin uses its hands to cover Migs' eyes.
Luna still tries to fend off the two noblins cornering her. At some point, she can hear a voice yell 'Throw her overboard!'. Her attention is immediately directed at Elena. *Oh no! I gotta help her! But… I cannot go anywhere right now. Naomi cannot do anything, either!* she thinks in the agony of being unable to provide help being a Guardian of Avalor.
At the same time, the Noblin on Migs' head is distracted by the situation. Migs deftly shakes his head, causing the Noblin to fall off. *Hah, just what you deserved!* Migs thinks proudly of having beaten his tiny foe.
Just as he succeeded in shaking off the Noblin he startles from a loud thud followed by cracking sounds of wooden planks breaking. He shuts his eyes and looks away reflexively for a brief moment. Elena managed to raise herself onto a mast at the expense of wooden crates having crashed on the deck. Luna watches it unfold in front of her. She also notices the two noblins in front of her jumping away to avoid being hit by the falling crates. This only lasts for a second or two, as the noblins regroup and start assailing the remainder of the Jaquins and humans on the deck of what they believe to be "their" ship.
Both Luna and Migs strike at the noblins to keep them at bay. *These guys really show some perseverance!* Migs thinks as he starts feeling exhausted from the intense battling.
VALLESTRELLA
Back in Vallestrella, Sienté just finished her quota and visits the Palace to deliver the gathered fruit in one of the storage rooms. There, she collects some medicinal herbs. Avira shows up a little later. This morning, Sienté is going to teach Avira about herbal mixtures and how to make them. While laying out some herbs she says: "Mix those two herbs together. Take both in your mouth and chew on them briefly until they get soft.
Then put them on this big leaf."
"You mean this one… and this here?"
"Correct. Do not chew too long on them, though, or swallow them."
"Why?"
"Together they cause numbness. You know, to mask pain. But it also paralyses movement."
"How do you know when it works?"
"Well, whoever is experiencing pain, or has difficulty flying or walking, can have this applied on the spot causing it. After some time that jaquin will again move around as if not experiencing pain at all. Best is if you see for yourself how it works... Speaking of which, we should test this out – on someone…"
"That is not okay… to do, right?"
"Nah.' Sienté waivers away Avira's concern, 'It will not hurt anyone… Hmm, this just gave me an idea. Do you know what happened yesterday? Between Skylar and Tudor?"
"Ow, they had a fight I heard. Nothing serious, right?" Avira says reluctantly.
"They did. If that ever happens again we should feed a little of this mixture to both of them. It will make them shut up for once." Sienté says with little yet audible annoyance to her voice.
"So they no longer brag for a while, hihi." Avira says and both females start giggling.
AVALOR
Back in the air, Skylar saw Elena reach the mast. He closes in on her. Just when he wants to shout how she's doing he can hear her talking again, talking to seemingly no one, just like in her bed-chamber. *Why is she doing that? Is she… alright? I definitely should ask her about this soon.* Skylar thinks out of deep concern.
Shortly after, Elena makes her way down again and starts talking to the noblins. *I guess she convinced them of something. Way to go, princessa!* Skylar thinks proudly.
He slowly descends to fly around the tip of the masts of the ship. When he hears cheering arise below him he decides to land behind Elena, watching everyone closely as they speak.
VALLESTRELLA
A jaquin cub sees his mother return from a hunt. He gives her a rub with his head against the underside of her chin. She returns the gesture by rubbing her face against his turquoise-furred head covered with basil green feathers on the sides, also found on his small wings and heels. His body is decorated with a basil green pattern of tiny snowflakes. She greets him: "Hola, Llemopaz. | Hello, Llemopaz."
He looks at her with shining eyes that only a youngster can show. He is in awe of his mother who, despite it being the males who take care of the cubs, is highly committed to caring care for him. Llemopaz says to her: "Mamita, ¡usted es mamá más bella del mundo! | Mamita, you are beauti-most mom in world!"
She starts smiling happily at him and gives him another pat on the head. Then he starts singing her a song he learnt from Zephyr:
"Tú-y yo miramos diferente, …. …, …. …, …. Somos toda los Jaquins, eso por qué canto es. | Yoū and I look differēnt, in cōlour and in sīze. Yēt we are the sāme, no mātter if-I disguīse. Wē are-āll Jaquins, flying wing by wīng. But yoū and-I are similār, that is why I sīng."
AVALOR
By now, the rescue party arrives back at the palace. *Grateful for feeling the solid ground underneath my paws again. I was about to get seasick back on that ship with all those angry noblins…* Luna thinks after touching down.
Isabel starts telling the entire story to her grandparents in one go. Migs nods in compliance with all the correct details she says. After hearing the last part of her story, he thinks: *Exactly. End well, all well. Luckily everyone is back home safely.*
VALLESTRELLA
Sienté's done teaching Avira for now. She decides to pay Veje a visit to observe the progress of his recovery. Arriving at his and Dióntan's nest she only finds Veje there. "Hi, Veje. I see you are doing much better now! I am glad.' she says motherly yet something makes her look hotted and excitedly continues, 'By the way! Have you heard about Skylar? He is to become a Guardian of Avalor. That is wicked!"
"So did I! I am rooting for him." Veje agrees happily.
She teasingly adds: "I would be happy for you, as well, if you would become one yourself."
Veje: "Haha, that is sweet! You do know I cannot become a Guardian, right? I am one of the King's Guard. I cannot serve anyone else but king Verago. Unless, of course, he strips me from that rank…"
"Ow, I had forgotten… You look totally different from a King's Guard, hihi. But now that you mention it… Tell me, how have you actually joined those ranks? I, and others with me, am curious to know!" Sienté says filled with curiosity.
Veje chuckles and says calmly: "Come on. You must have heard that story going around more than once. Unless you were hearing a different version from Tudor, that is…"
"Of course I heard that story. I just want to hear it from you. You know, since it revolves around you."
Veje slowly says confidently: "Okay, I will tell you what happened…"
AVALOR
The attendees to the coronation of Elena as the crown princess are listening to Armando introducing Elena. Right after this moment, Migs comes flying into the throne room with Skylar and Luna on his tail: "Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived!"
"We are still invited, right?" Skylar adds joyously.
While the attendees are applauding, Skylar, Luna, and Migs fly above them all in random circles…