The Conclave of Wyrms took place on one of the middle floors of Wyrmrest Temple. The room was ringed with seats, where most wyrms were to sit in their humanoid forms. There were a few spots where a handful of dragons, those who had never learned to shapeshift, were able to sit in the true forms. Five balconies, one for each flight, were located along the walls. Alexstrasza and Korialstrasz shared the Red Dragonflight's platform, while Ysera and Anachronos were flanked by their closest advisors on theirs. Virigosa, as the only blue dragon in attendance, had been permitted to sit alone in her drake form where Malygos and Sindragosa would've once been. The last platform, the one that once belonged to the Black Dragonflight, was completely empty.
By the time Virigosa was escorted to the platform, most of the wyrms had already taken their seats. She was flanked on one side by Ysera's platform, and by the Black Dragonflight's empty balcony on the other. A few stragglers were still making their way in, but there already had to be hundreds of dragons there. Was this what it looked like at Coldarra? Virigosa wondered bitterly, catching sight of Nethandris in one of the front rows. For as long as she could remember, the Blue Dragonflight had been dwarfed by the others, but now she understood that their population was likely in the double-digits.
It seemed like it took forever for everyone to find a seat. Finally, when things had settled down, the drakonid guards shut the doors. There were no other exits or windows. A strange feeling fell over the crowd. The Conclave of Wyrms had only met once since the Black Dragonflight left the fold, and most of those in attendance today had been too young to go then. For most of these dragons, ancient as they might've been, a meeting like this was uncharted territory.
Alexstrasza walked to the front of her balcony, next to Ysera's, and curled her hands around the railing. There wasn't much murmuring to begin with, but the room fell completely silent as the Dragonqueen prepared to address the council. She took a deep breath.
"Brothers and sisters," Alexstrasza began. "It is with great sorrow that I've had to call this meeting. We mourn for our blue brothers and sisters, and at the same time, are forced to contend with greater challenges than we ever have. The Black Dragonflight, those we once considered among our own, and the Twilight Dragonflight, our own children twisted and turned against us, threaten to destroy this world we have long been sworn to defend."
Her voice suddenly became softer. "I regret that we have only four flights represented here today. It's an old wound, one I've been long been forced to accept. But it is a blessing that we do, indeed, have four flights here today," She gestured to the Blue Dragonflight's platform and Virigosa met her eyes. Was that why they had wanted her to sit in such a visible location? "A reminder that hope yet remains. I believe that the Black Dragonflight is not forever lost to us. It has come to-"
"My queen," a dragon clad in red robes stood up. Most of the assembled dragons seemed to be shocked that she would dare interrupt the Dragonqueen. "I... My humblest apologies for the interruption, my queen. If you speak of Rheastrasza's research, it is... It is gone. The single egg that resulted from her experiments was destroyed during the twilight attack on the Vermillion Redoubt. Nothing else of hers remained. I beg your forgiveness, Life-Binder, my queen."
"It is granted," Alexstrasza's voice, once it came, sounded empty, a stark contrast to the hope in it moments ago. "In that case... Lady Gaelara of the Green Dragonflight, if you could... give your summary of the events the night of the Embrace?"
"It would be my honor, Life-Binder," Gaelara said, stepping forward to the front of Ysera's platform. "After Deathwing began his attack on Coldarra, approximately one hundred green dragons under my command were ordered to the Nexus. We arrived shortly after Deathwing's forces departed, and our efforts were spent helping survivors. Most of the blue dragons were already dead by the time we arrived, and the majority of those remaining were already on the verge of death. We managed to recover more than a dozen survivors and return them to Wyrmrest Temple. The majority of them have very serious injuries, and I am told a number of them are in very poor condition. The assaults on Coldarra and the Vermillion Redoubt, which took place the same day, have forced us to re-evaluate our estimates of the Twilight Dragonflight's numbers. Previously, we believed that they were made up of only twilight drakes and whelps, and that the bulk of them were contained in the Twilight Highlands. Now, we're led to believe that there are twilight dragons stationed across every region of Azeroth, including adults and wyrms, and in much, much higher numbers than we initially predicted."
"Thank you, Lady Gaelara," Alexstrasza said. "The floor is now open to any questions, comments, suggestions, or anything of that nature. Today's session is meant to be informative and address questions, while more specific issues and how to address them will be dealt with in the days to come."
"If I may," One of the wyrms without a humanoid form took the opportunity to speak first. "How many blue dragons remain?"
"We can't come up with an exact number," said a red advisor. "We believe that it's somewhere between thirty and ninety. We have approximately twenty living blue drakes who've remained on the front lines, and then the injured here at the temple, as well as the representative here. We don't know how many blue dragons are living in isolation from draconic society, perhaps unaware of what has happened. They make up the rest of the blue dragon population, but we can't tell how many there are, exactly."
"Those numbers are mostly drakes, but include a handful of whelps and perhaps two to three adults, in the higher estimate," Ysera added. "We do know of blue eggs that aren't counted in that number."
"The eggs don't matter," Virigosa said. "The Blue Dragonflight was already struggling to maintain a diverse breeding pool before the Embrace. My flight is no longer viable."
The other dragons seemed surprised to hear Virigosa speak at all, even moreso that she was so resigned to her fate. She saw several eyes turn towards her from across the room. With pity, she suspected. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to want to address what Virigosa had brought up. She caught Korialstrasz staring at her even after the next dragon had begun to speak. He and Virigosa met eyes unexpectedly, and the Life-Binder's consort looked away, looking embarrassed that she had seen him. Virigosa had a feeling from his expression that he knew something he wasn't saying.
Some time passed. "How safe are we here at Wyrmrest Temple?" someone else asked.
"Even though the Twilight Dragonflight is larger than we initially believed, it's still smaller than the Green, Bronze, and Red Dragonflights individually," Korialstrasz explained. "A significant amount of the Red Dragonflight's forces are posted in Northrend, many of them right here at Wyrmrest Temple. Additionally, Ysera's dreamgates allow the quick movement of troops, especially green dragons, throughout Azeroth. We believe that at this point, the Twilight Dragonflight would not be able to take Wyrmrest Temple. It took all their strength to inflict the losses we saw in Coldarra and the Vermillion Redoubt."
"I'm also trying my hardest to secure more bronze dragon support," Anachronos said. "But my flight has run into a few unexpected difficulties. My sincere apologies."
Indeed, while some bronze dragons were present at the conclave, there were far fewer than one would've expected. The Red Dragonflight had the most representatives present at the meeting, followed by the Green Dragonflight. The Bronze Dragonflight was a very distant third. There had been much speculation as to why they had been so scarce as of late, but the Bronze Dragonflight had always been notoriously tight-lipped. The meeting went on.
"In the beginning of this meeting, something was said about a 'Rheastrasza', and an egg," The speaker was a female red wyrm who was clearly impatient that it had taken so long to ask her question. "I'd like details on what exactly was going on there."
There was a moment of hesitation. Korialstrasz looked at his queen, who began to speak.
"Rheastrasza was an agent who was tasked with redeeming the Black Dragonflight," Alexstrasza explained. "The details of her research are still mostly unclear, but we do know that she discovered an artifact that she used to purify a single black dragon egg. That egg was... destroyed, during the recent attack on the Vermillion Redoubt."
"And who authorized her actions?" the same wyrm said, somehow even more upset now that she had received an answer.
"Rheastrasza's actions were performed on my orders," Alexstrasza said. "I was the one who authorized them."
"With all due respect, Lady Aspect, such a project seems to me like it was madness to begin with," the red wyrm said. "We have no way to guarantee the loyalty of any dragon that has once turned against us like they did. The Black Dragonflight, if redeemed, would've had no Aspect and a bloody history that none of us could ever forget. Such a flight has no place in the Wyrmrest Accord."
The red wyrm was receiving looks of disapproval from across the room, both for speaking to the Dragonqueen with such disrespect and for what she was saying. Virigosa scraped her talons against the bottom of the platform, giving the wyrm her own icy glare. What she was saying could've just as easily been an argument against the Blue Dragonflight's inclusion in the Wyrmrest Accord.
"The Black Dragonflight were friends once," Alexstrasza said. "This is a time I remember very, very clearly. However, I certainly do appreciate your perspective, Teirvistrasza, as one who was born after that time."
The discussion shifted away from Rheastrasza's work. The meeting had already been going on for a few hours, and it wouldn't be too long before it was dismissed for the day. Some of the wyrms already looked bored, while others were scribbling down notes or whispering to their neighbors. Virigosa found the meeting quite dull until the topic found its way back to the Blue Dragonflight.
"What's to become of the Blue Dragonflight's leadership?" someone asked. "With no Aspect and most of the survivors being juveniles, someone has to lead them."
"The blue dragons are free to do as they wish," Alexstrasza said. "The Blue Dragonflight as a whole never officially joined the Wyrmrest Accord, and even if they did, we would not take over as the flight's leadership. They've been put in a very difficult situation, and it would be inappropriate to tell them what they should do in response to it."
"If I may speak," Virigosa added. "I have formally joined the Wyrmrest Accord of my own free will, as have the other blue dragons on the front lines. I will continue to listen to the Wyrmrest Accord's orders, despite the fact that their actions are part of what led us to this point. Some of my brethren, I expect, will do the same."
It was not exactly wise to blame the Wyrmrest Accord for what had happened, and a part of Virigosa immediately regretted that she had said it. She'd spent the time since the Nexus War insisting that Malygos had to die, that the Blue Dragonflight was wrong to start the war, and now she suddenly disagreed with all of it. There were a few murmurs in the crowd, as there were whenever Virigosa spoke. They didn't seem quite sure what to make of her.
"The Wyrmrest Accord is not to blame for this," Korialstrasz said. "We were put in a difficult position, and we did what we had to do. Malygos's death was the only option, and we deeply regret it."
"It doesn't matter how deeply you regret it," Virigosa shot back, sweeping her tail across the platform. "If he was still alive, none of this would've ever happened."
Normally, a drake arguing with an Aspect's consort would've been seen as foolish, a child who thought that they knew everything. Most of the wyrms in the crowd, however, seemed to pity Virigosa more than anything. It was only natural, after all, to look for someone to blame for what had happened.
"I'm very sorry about what happened to your flight," Korialstrasz said. "But the Red Dragonflight and the Wyrmrest Accord are not to blame for this."
"Of course you don't want to admit it," Virigosa accused. "If you were one of the last survivors among the ashes of your dragonflight, you'd be the first to say what I'm saying. But nobody wants to admit that it was them that caused the death of a dragonflight."
"There's no need to start turning on each other," Korialstrasz said. "This is what Deathwing-"
"Enough, the both of you," Alexstrasza said, holding up a hand. "I believe the conclave has accomplished enough for today. I'd like to thank all those gathered for attending. This meeting is adjourned. We will resume tomorrow."