Orca nervously looked for dragons outside the Deep Palace, and checking that the waters were clear, she motioned Griffin forward, making sure not to use Aquatic and attract attention.
It was nighttime, and while darkness was no problem for a SeaWing's eyes, they couldn't register color as well. From a distance, Griffin might look like a small dragonet, at least that was what Orca hoped.
Fortunately, there were no dragons out on this night. The two swam as quickly as they could towards the Summer Palace. There were a few points along the trip that Orca thought she had seen another SeaWing, but they turned out to instead be a whale or dolphin.
Eventually, Orca and Griffin reached the palace. Orca had left her enchanted amethyst bracelet in her room; if she hadn't, it would be burning off her scales. The two swam beneath the tunnels that led to the center of the island for what felt like an eternity, but they finally surfaced at a pool in a tunnel off of the lake in the center of the palace. Orca looked around. There would be a few servants preparing the palace for the queens along with permanent inhabitants, but none were in the tunnel at that moment. Orca motioned Griffin to surface.
Griffin surfaced, and his eyes went wide in shock. He took a deep breath in through his nose, this time taking in actual air instead of water. "Wow," he whispered, "this is amazing."
The Summer Palace was just as Orca had seen it last: beautiful and jarring. It was somewhere in between the perplexing randomness of nature and the simple geometry of dragon-made architecture, combining the two into a statue of stone.
Griffin looked out the exit of the tunnel, to the lake in the center of the Summer Palace. Moonlight faintly shone through the green canopy overhead onto the twelve stacked pavilions in the center. He had only seen the Deep Palace, and not much of it. While the Deep Palace was beautiful, it was nothing compared to the architecture sculpted by Albatross's magic. Orca wondered how hard it would be for her to create something like this with her own magic. Yet, this was also Albatross's final feat—it was only after the creation of the Summer Palace that he killed the royal family. It was imbued with his soul, as tarnished as it became.
Orca silently nodded. "Yeah," she whispered, "we need to go. Follow me."
Orca led Griffin down the tunnel, away from the lake. There was bound to be at least one dragon sleeping there, if not more. Suddenly, she saw something in the movement in the distance. There was a SeaWing coming down the tunnel.
Orca quickly pushed Griffin into a small cave off the side of the tunnel, hoping that there was no one in there, and patiently waited for the dragon to pass. He slowly walked down the tunnel, wading in the shallow water, bowing to Orca as he passed. If he noticed something wrong, he ignored it. Orca sighed in relief when he was out of sight.
Orca pulled Griffin back out, and they continued down the tunnel, before long, Orca found a cave which she thought would be suitable. There was a lock on the door, and Orca would be able to get a key from a guard in the morning. She opened the door, and she and Griffin entered. Griffin would have a home for the next two weeks in the Summer Palace. Now, she needed a plan to get him out again.
Orca watched from one of the pavilions as the three queens swam out of the tunnel into the lake, their scales bathed in emerald sunlight.
Blister wasn't properly a queen, of course, but she was treated like one in the Sea Kingdom. It was considered rudeness, even criminal, to call her Princess Blister instead of Queen Blister, as she preferred. She might have been more intelligent, but Blister was just as narcissistic as her sister Blaze, she just showed it less. At the moment, Blister was swimming just ahead of Queen Coral, extending her finned neck with pride. Her pale gold scales turned a light green under the canopy light, making her diamond pattern less contrasting with the rest of her.
Behind Blister and Queen Coral swam Queen Moorhen. She was the largest of the three, as large as Orca's father, King Gill. She had a number of gemstones embedded into her scales, yet they did not appear excessively glamorous. Moorhen was one of the oldest queens in Pyrrhia, and her size proved it. Maybe Torrent was right, and she would know more about animus dragons than the SeaWings.
Not far behind Moorhen swam four more MudWings and two SeaWings: Moorhen's siblings, Gill, and Shark. They appeared to be engaged in casual conversation with each other. After them proceeded the rest of the SeaWing Royal Family: Rift, Angler, Torrent, River, and Moray. Orca jumped off the pavilion she was on and glided down into the lake.
Orca bowed as she approached the queens, paying the respect that was expected of a dragonet her age. "Your Majesties," she said.
Queen Blister stood there quietly smiling, swishing her barbed tail back and forth, but Queen Moorhen approached Orca. "Princess Orca," she replied, in her calm, kind voice. "It's been quite a while. You have grown fast."
"Thank you," Orca replied, acknowledging the MudWing queen's compliment.
Queen Coral smiled to the other queens. "Most of my council is already waiting on the usual pavilion. Orca, I expect you to attend the meeting. You are to be queen one day, you know," Coral clucked.
Blister frowned at this and flicked out her forked tongue, as if she didn't like the idea of Orca being queen so much. Well, it wasn't as if you've got any say in the matter, Orca thought.
The three queens and Orca flew up to the pavilion second from top, where the queens usually met. Coral motioned back to the dragons exiting the tunnel, and Gill, Rift, and Shark flew after them.
The pavilion already had a number of SeaWings on it, Queen Coral's council members. Whirlpool was there, along with Gill's sister and Orca's aunt, Commander Tempest. The various dragons took their places, with Blister, Coral, and Moorhen in the center.
"Queen Moorhen, Queen Blister, welcome back to the Summer Palace," Whirlpool greeted, in his usual slimy voice. Queen Moorhen thanked him, while Blister just smiled and waved her barb back and forth.
"Let's get down to business," Moorhen started. "We are all reaffirming our alliance in the war?"
Blister immediately nodded, of course. She was the one who had the most to gain from an alliance, the SandWing throne.
Coral waited a moment longer, thinking. Blister turned to her and let out a slight hiss, frowning. "What is it, Coral?" she asked.
"It's just that this war has gone on longer than expected," Coral replied. "I'm not going to be pulling out my troops, but it just feels like we're no closer to winning than at the start."
Blister smiled silkily. "Do not worry, we're closer than ever to winning. With two kingdoms behind me and my legion of SandWings, we far outnumber the other kingdoms in troops. I want this war to be over as soon as you do. Yet, we may be able to finish sooner if we only had more troops. Commander Tempest and Commander Shark's legions have been very useful, but another would benefit the war effort very much."
Rift suddenly raised his voice, interrupting whatever Queen Coral was about to say. "Your Majesty, I could command a legion."
Blister seemed somewhat surprised for a moment, but then a pleased expression passed over her face. Orca didn't like this at all.
Queen Coral looked at her son and frowned. "Angler? Have you talked to your father about this? The war is no place for a dragonet."
"Rift," he hissed. "My name is Rift, and I'm not a dragonet anymore. And yes, I have talked to father about it. He said it was my choice."
Gill sighed. He had hoped Rift would've given this up by now.
Coral didn't seem convinced. Blister saw Coral's expression, and decided to comment. "I think it's a good idea. As I mentioned, we're in need of another legion, and having a SeaWing prince at the forefront would really boost troop morale, and give Rift military experience."
Coral thought for a moment, weighing options. "It would be dangerous, though. What if he gets injured?"
"He won't," Blister replied. "I'll make sure to keep his legion with my own, and I can keep an eye on him."
Coral nodded her head. She seemed convinced. Orca rolled her eyes. Her mother was so easily persuaded. What was she even getting out of this war anyways?
"Alright," Coral replied, "Rift, as of now, you are now a commander. Over the next few weeks, we'll give you training and pulling together your troops. You'll be under the command of Queen Blister, and need to listen to her."
Rift grinned. He had finally gotten what he wanted. "Thank you, Mother," he replied. "Your Majesty, Queen Blister, I promise I will serve you well."
Blister smiled slyly and nodded, flicking her forked tongue in and out of her teeth.
The rest of the meeting was the queens and the council discussing various other war plans and the details of the alliance; it didn't seem very interesting to Orca, so after the first few minutes she tuned it out. After the end of the meeting, and the queens went their separate ways, she went up to Rift as they were swimming to the area of the Summer Palace reserved for the Royal Family's rooms.
"Rift," Orca said, trying to get his attention.
Rift turned around, and saw Orca, "Oh, Orca! Isn't it great? I get to be a commander!" He was clearly in a joyful mood.
Orca nodded politely. "Congratulations," she replied, "just . . . stay safe, alright?"
"Heh, don't worry. I'll be fine, I can take care of anything that comes for me." He raised a claw and swiped at an invisible enemy, as if he was showing Orca that his words were true.
Orca smiled, even though she knew that Rift hadn't had any real fighting experience. "Here," she said, "I got you a gift." Orca unlatched the small dolphin necklace from her neck, and put it against her mouth, whispering something into it. She had received it from her mother years before, just one of the many pieces of jewelry Coral had given her daugher, but it was Orca's personal favorite, and the only one she wore consistently.
"Wow," Rift said, taking it into his claws and putting around his own neck. "It's really beautiful! Thank you so much!"
Orca smiled. "Just make sure not to lose it, so don't take it off. You promise?"
"Oh, sure!" Rift replied. "Don't worry, I'll see you soon!"
Orca nodded, and the two headed their separate ways. She knew that Torrent wouldn't like that she had enchanted something else, but war was dangerous, and something small just to protect her brother couldn't do that much harm on her soul, could it?