Just as we were starting to get the hang for these weekly council meetings, the format was changed once again. Before, we were just a neutral party, trying to get by undetected in a war consuming the continent. Now, we were low-key leading the Nightshade faction, propping up the Nightwings as they fought to keep my homeland free from the occupying Coalition. And since the Nightwings were essentially under our command, I thought it would be fair and respectful to our new allies to include them in our meetings. Plus, Greatness, Mastermind and Stonemover were big parts of my plans moving forward, and I wanted them to be included. As such, it was almost noon by the time we were able to get started.

Even before we began, things were uncomfortably tense. In the Sand Kingdom (and in most of the Kingdoms of Phyrria), it was tradition that the King-Consort would sit at the right-paw seat next to the Queen, and her most trusted advisor to her left. Because I'd been engaged to Greatness, I thought it would be an additional slight against the Nightwings to not have her sitting right next to me. On the other talon, Fruit Bat had always sat at my immediate left, and I didn't think of any reason to move her.

Majestic arrived with me, taking her spot at my shadow. Grandeur and Greatness came next, taking their spots on the second-left and first-right, respectively. My fiancée wore a chain of teardrop diamonds dangling from her horns, and a silver necklace with a large, eight-sided diamond in its center - one of the few luxuries allowed to her from Mastermind and the commanders. The young Nightwing looked nervous, of course, eyeing everything warily. I offered her a reassuring smile, nodding approvingly at the notes she brought with her. She prepared, good. As a Princess and future Queen of the Night Kingdom, I would expect nothing less.

Then Batty arrived. As she started making her way to her seat, only then did I realize the faux pas I inadvertently caused. The two Queens - my Queens - made eye contact for the first time, and all the air got sucked out of the room. Batty's eyebrows furrowed with confusion, then recognition, her pink scales heating up to an angry red matching her flower crown and necklace. Greatness, despite her size advantage, shrank back in her seat like a scolded dragonet.

"Batty," Maggy chided, calmly yet sternly, "Remember what we talked about. Greatness is our guest." Batty shot her a look, one which she returned. The smaller Rainwing then switched her glare to me, but took her seat. She gathered all her paperwork and notes, making a point not to look up at any of us. I sighed through my nose, knowing I had no one to blame but myself.

Then the Nightwings came - Slaughter, Morrowseer, Stonemover, Marshal Preymind of the Nightwing Army, and of course King Mastermind. All eyes were on him as they entered, a lot of them angry. For a moment, Majestic, Fruit Bat and Greatness were on the same page as they glared daggers at the new Royal, who visibly wilted under their gaze. I masked my own annoyance with him behind a polite smile, motioning for him to take a seat. He might've been the source of my personal pain and confusion, but he was in this position at my request, and we both needed to focus on our political affairs first and foremost. Stonemover sat next to Greatness, followed by Mastermind.

Now, finally, with a line of black and a line of color, the meeting could begin.

"I now hereby call this War Council to order." I announced, tapping my tail on the table. "I'd like to begin by welcoming our guests and allies, King Mastermind and the commanders of the Kingdom of Night. I recognize the situation between our two peoples has been tense these past few weeks, but I hope that this will mark the beginning of a new chapter of friendship and prosperity between us. I would also like to take a moment to welcome our two newest members to the Council, Princess Greatness and Animus Stonemover. I hope that all members of this Council will make them feel welcomed and accepted, and that both of them will provide us with their unique guidance and insight."

Everyone, even Batty, nodded in agreement. The Nightwings in question smiled nervously and nodded. With the elephant in the room now addressed, we could now begin.

"First things first," I said, "The status of our two kingdoms. Fruit Bat, Grandeur, do either of you have anything to report?"

"Food and weapons production has continued on schedule," Grandeur said, sliding several reports my way, "With shipments reaching the Jade Mountain encampments in record time. We've also begun sending shipments through the portals to both the Sandwing Palace and the Volcano Island."

"I take it that this shouldn't cut into our current stockpiles?"

"No, it shouldn't." Batty replied, her tone distinctly flat and reserved. "We have enough for every Sandwing and Nightwing from the Claw to the Tail." Orange lines formed along her spine, though the way she sat no one but Majestic and I would see it.

"I would like to thank you all again for your generosity." Mastermind added quickly. "You should've seen the look on our people's faces when the first crates came in. It's been so long since any of us had fresh meat. Some of us were so hungry we even ate some of the fruit!"

"It wasn't terrible." Preymind admitted. "Fruit on their own are gross, but pair pretty well with jungle meat. More importantly, thanks to you, our Tribe isn't going to starve to death."

"Thanks to you," Mastermind continued, "We also now have a homeland to move to, before the volcano erupts. We've sent a few dozen to the Jade Mountains so far - mainly young families and the elderly, with a couple of guards for protection from bandits. In time, once the war's over, we intend to move the entirety of our Tribe over the next several months."

"And how are the refugees taking this?" I asked, turning to Splendor, referring to the Sandwings currently building their own camps in the Mountains.

"They're... tolerating the situation, so far." My spymaster explained. "They were quite surprised to see our new friends come in and set up camps right next to theirs. Our agents and soldiers have been making sure everyone's getting along and behaving themselves. Some of the Sandwings are asking if they're going to be kicked out, but we've assured them that they can stay until the war's over. It should be done in a few months, anyway."

"Well, of course." I said. "What, do they think the Sand Kingdom's still going to be looking for a Queen twenty years from now?" Everyone chuckled at that. In the old days, wars were common, but they hardly ever lasted more than a few months, a year tops. Technically, the war between the Icewings and Nightwings had been going on for nearly two thousand years, but that was really 7 years of actual war, and everything afterwards was intermittent skirmishes and raids over ancient grudges. Things would have to be really bad (and the commanders extremely stupid) to drag this fight over an entire generation.

"Anyways," I said, "Let's move on to our next subject, the Coalition. Splendor, what do our spies have to report?"

"Our agents experienced no trouble infiltrating our targets." Splendor said, turning a prideful gold. "Word may have spread about our victories in the Rainforest and the Night Kingdom, but the rest of the continent still looks and treats us like the bumbling fools we've always been. We're now able to gather information from all five kingdoms, including the Kingdom of the Sea. As such, we have a lot of information to go through." She reached into her bag, pulling out several parchments and placing them on the table in front of us.

"First and foremost," She began, "Queen Coral, your old nemesis, won't be joining the Coalition anytime soon. She has her hands full managing her own kingdom, after the failure of her intervention. By all accounts, her subjects were so furious over the loss of their entire army and making peace with Nightshade, she actually faced multiple challenges for the throne when she returned. Odds are she won't pursue war any time soon. On the positive side of things, they're very eager to trade with us. Already, their merchants are offering huge amounts of seashells, corals, fish and other oceanic goods for our fruit and our new weapons. We've had submissions from our Agricultural Department, asking for shipments of salt so we can preserve fruits and meats for transport and resale."

"Queen Glacier's gathered quite a large force of five-hundred decently trained soldiers. We know she wants to annex the northern borderlands of the Kingdom of Sand, and she was allied with Hallowglide when the Lord Protector recognized her claim. She might be persuaded to back off, but she's also a traditionalist. So long as we back a former outclaw for the throne, she has no intention of retreating or backing down.

"Then, there's Queen Moorhen. She's brought along a detachment of three-hundred fighters, arguably the best trained out of all of them. However, her commitment is also the weakest. She only joined out of concern of Seawing expansionism and aggression, hence why so many of her troops remain in the Mud Kingdom guarding the borders. However, Scarlet's been very vocal about what she does to flakes and traitors, and no one in their right minds would want Scarlet as an enemy. The Mudwings aren't likely to bail until the Skywings are dealt with.

"And speaking of which, let's talk about her. Every agent we have out there says the same things about Queen Scarlet: She's only interested in the blood and the money - and I think you can figure out which one she prefers. As you yourself have said before, Your Majesty, Scarlet and Burn are very similar, both in temperament and bloodlust. Rumor has it that she's looking to collect a great number of prisoners to throw into her coliseum. Officially, of course, she's demanding several hundred miles of mountainous, desert borderlands between your two lands, some of which has fertile grasslands full of prey. As crazy as it might sound, I think she'd be happy to see us on the battlefield if we joined the fight. Ultimately, it's our belief that nothing short of her death will pull the Skywings out of the Coalition."

"And how bad would that be, honestly?" Flying Fox asked. "I mean, it's not the Rainwing Way and all, but we can all agree that sometimes a bitch needs to get got."

"Language." Grandeur murmured, glancing over at Stonemover. The dragonet was only half-paying attention, drawing little doodles on his notepaper.

"Worse yet," Splendor finished, "We've received reports that she's even pulled her gladiatorial champion out of the arena to help her in battle. Some absolute monster of a dragoness named-"

"Hypaethral?" I prompted.

"Er, yes," She replied, "Hypaethral. That's the one."

Shit, I thought, Just what we need: TWO bloodthirsty Skywings flying about the desert, out for some fun at my Tribe's expense.

"Excellent work, Splendor." I said, stacking the documents and filing them away for later. "I'll be submitting further orders for our spies and merchants tomorrow. Now, let us move on to the elephant in the room, the Sand Kingdom. How are things going on over there?"

My spymaster started handing out more papers, containing articles written from the newspaper in the Sandwing Palace. "As I'm sure you noticed, Queen Nightshade has left us, and has successfully returned to the Sandwing Palace. We snuck them in last week, and they're now back in control of their own militia again."

"So, that's it, then?" Flying Fox asked. "We have our chosen Queen back in the Palace, and the Coalition doesn't have one anymore. Doesn't that mean we won?"

"Not quite." Splendor pointed out, "There's more. As we were getting them back, Hawkstone was attacked by the Coven of the Night King. The reports we've obtained indicate that their leader, Mayor Desperado, disguised some of his operatives as merchants, and they set fire to a wagon full of dragonflame cacti by a warehouse in the town. As part of the town caught fire, the entire Coven Militia descended upon the town. Within hours, the town was taken, and Hallowglide and most of his followers were captured. Our last report had Hallowglide's head on a pike, and the Coven of the Night King is the most powerful militia in the entire Sand Kingdom."

"So that's it then, right?" Mastermind asked. "Nightshade's alive, Hallowglide's dead, Blaze and Tanwen are our prisoners. If they have no one left to run things, we've won by default. The Queens can't be planning to divide the Sand Kingdom between them, after all... right?" The Nightwing King was putting to words what I was thinking. If we had the Coalition on the ropes like this, why hadn't they issued terms for peace?

"Your Majesty," Grandeur announced gravely, "They found a new queen. Her name is Jerboa the Third, and she's an Animus."

The Council room erupted at this. Rainwing and Nightwing commanders protested loudly, talking over one another rapidly. Stonemover's eyes went wide, no doubt at the revelation that he wasn't the only magical dragon around. Mastermind looked like he was about to pass out. Greatness and Fruit Bat glanced nervously between the rapidly arguing Grandeur, and me, the stunned king. Flying Fox had pulled out a flask from... somewhere, and was drinking deeply from it.

I froze up. Staring down into nothingness, my mind went back to that night with the Eye of Onyx. The dragon of shadow. Having to choose between Burn and the strangers, and being found wanting. Did Jerboa make that necklace? If that piece of jewelry had the power to change a dragon's sex and tribe - or reduce another to ashes - what could its maker do? Someone with the power to bend reality to their whim, and the experience to do so...

A paw rested on my shoulder. Looking back, Majestic offered a reassuring smile, her scales a proud gold. You've pulled off a miracle before, The look said, You can do it again. Believe in yourself, My King.

That brought me back. I remembered how I defeated the Nightwings but a month before. Analyze the situation from an outsider's perspective, gather all the facts and figures you need on the enemy, and solve this problem as you would any other equation. Just as I had done with the Nightwings, I would do with the Coalition, and if I had to, all of Phyrria.

"SILENCE!" I roared, slamming my tail on the table. The arguing immediately stopped, and all eyes turned and focused on me. More calmly, I continued, "Splendor, Grandeur, what do we know about this Jerboa? What is she like, what does she want?"

"We know she was a hermit," Grandeur explained, "Living along the coast. There are rumors that she's lived there for thousands of years, which isn't impossible for an Animus, if the legends are true. From what we gathered, Queen Glacier and Hallowglide went to her hut, and explained the current situation with the Sand Kingdom. They convinced her that the Tribe needed a good and righteous Queen to stand up against Nightshade and his criminal followers, and she accepted. After that, Hallowglide led her back to Hawkstone, where they held the coronation and big feast a few weeks before the Coven attacked. Supposedly, Jerboa used her power to generate massive amounts of food for the attendants, and had whatever wasn't eaten given to the poor."

"That puts her above every other Queen they've had so far this year." Fox quipped, and I had to nod in agreement. Oasis and Blaze might've done something like that, but neither Blister nor Burn cared about what the common Sandwing thought of them.

"During the speech at the feast," Splendor added, "She said she'd leave all war efforts up to Hallowglide and the Coalition, and that she was just there to bring peace and stability to the kingdom. We don't think she's a pacifist, but she's not really enamored with being a Queen. She's just taking the position to help the people, and would probably rather be back at her hut being a hermit."

"Well, that's good." Mastermind said, "If the Coalition has an Animus Queen, I'd rather they be more like a loner than like Scarlet."

"That still leaves the entirety of the Coalition Army to consider," Morrowseer interjected, "Two thousand dragons from all over Phyrria, laying siege to the Palace. Easily the largest army ever assembled in our history."

Nearly two thousand soldiers and an Animus Queen? I thought ruefully, considering the news. Really pulling out all the stops, aren't they?

"Our forces stand ready to fly to the Kingdom of Sand," Grandeur had said, bringing me back to now, "All we need is your word."

"No, we can't do that," I sighed, "We're still neutral. The last thing we want is to put our people or the refugees in harm's way. We must act more discreetly."

"Maybe we can break up the Coalition?" Batty suggested, tail twitching in thought. "Force them to negotiate? There must be something we haven't tried yet."

"Glacier and Moorhen are turning lukewarm on the whole business," Splendor explained, "The problem is that Scarlet is fixated on combat. She'll drag the other two into the fight as long as she feels like killing." There was a muttering of grumbling agreement amongst the Nightwings, no doubt having just as much experience with her as I did.

"So then we have to kill her." Morrowseer decreed, leaning in against the table. "We should send our best assassins to get this Mad Queen."

"But who would we send?" Majestic countered from behind me. "Scarlet's no doubt keeping an eye out for Nightwings, and Sparkling's still looking for an apprentice."

Between Mastermind and Greatness, Stonemover sat up. He cleared his throat, trying to sound confident and brave, but everyone could see how nervous and scared he was. "Y-your Majesty," He said, speaking for the first time, "I could, um, take care of Queen Scarlet, i-if you want. I could even make it look like an accident, or like a cold, i-if you wish." Things grew uncomfortably quiet as the implications set in. Many in the Council shifted nervously away from the young Animus, who in turn shrank back into his seat.

"Stonemover, my young friend," I said, "While I appreciate your bravery and willingness to serve, I wouldn't want to put something as grievous as taking a life - even one as foul as hers - upon your soul. Plus, Jerboa is an Animus, and if she were to discover we were using your power to tilt the balance, what's to stop her from using her own? She's shown restraint thus far, and we don't want to give her a reason not to."

"What if- no…" Greatness murmured, almost too quiet for him to hear.

"Yes, Greatness?" I asked, looking at her.

"Nothing," She answered quickly, "It's nothing, really. Just a silly thought, that's all."

"How can we know it's silly if we haven't heard it?" I countered. I turned to look at everyone at the table, locking eyes with each in turn. "All ideas have merit here. Anyone's thoughts and opinions are just as valid as anyone else's. We're all on the same team, all working for a common goal. A Smart Queen or King knows a lot of things, but a Wise One listens to their friends and advisors, who might see something they missed." I turned back to Greatness. "Tell me what you're thinking."

"...Well," She began, "Who says we have to kill her? Yes, she's a monster and all, but does she have any dragonets? Anyone who could take the throne if she dies? Removing her would just leave the Sky Kingdom in the same mess as the Kingdom of Sand. I'm just thinking… we don't have to kill her. We just need her to go back home."

"And how do you propose we do that?" Morrowseer challenged.

"A dragon will always come back to their cave if their treasure is threatened, especially a vain and greedy one like her. We just need to find what her treasure is, and mess with it so she comes back."

"But what is Scarlet's treasure?" Batty asked. "What could someone so bloodthirsty and mean care for?"

Just like that, the idea popped into my head. "Gladiators!" I declared, snapping my talons. "She loves bloodsports! Burn took me with her once to the Sky Kingdom to show off some of my inventions, and they just talked endlessly about the recent gladiator tournament she held. The greatest fighters, the bloodiest deaths, all of it. She even built a new arena just to watch more battles."

"She just finished that arena within the last couple months." Mastermind added. "Rumor has it she intends to throw a tournament upon her victorious return, and pit war prisoners against her own."

"So if we were to send a team to the Skywing Palace to release her gladiators-" Batty said.

"-Then Scarlet would come rushing back to collect them-" Maggie added.

"-And Glacier and Moorhen would be free to back out-" Greatness continued.

"-And we could bring about a separate peace with the Coalition!" I finished. The Nightwings murmured positively amongst themselves. Maggie and Batty nodded approvingly at Greatness, impressed by her insight (though Batty quickly went back to her notes). Grandeur and Mastermind scribbled down notes and orders for later, and I couldn't help but smile. Sometimes these meetings could also be good teambuilding exercises…


A/N: Following the death of Hallowglide after the Battle of Hawkstone, his player created a new OC to continue participating - Hypaethral, Scarlet's gladiator. I wrote up her scene back in chapter three to explain/justify her existence now. As much as Hallowglide was supposed to be a calm, clever leader and warlord, Hypaethral is just a bloodthirsty monster who kills and seeks power for themselves.