I do not own Wings of Fire.

Chapter 3

After spending a majority of the day swimming sluggishly around the palace after the queen and learning about the seventeen most important duties of being the ruler of the tribe - of which, Cerulean only remembered three duties - she and Orca were once again down in the entrance cave and climbing onto the carriage. It had been a long day, and Cerulean's eyes were growing heavy with the need for sleep. The enchanted necklace rested innocently on her chest, glimmering in the light of scales flashing in Aquatic as Orca told the driver of the carriage to start moving.

The sea was dark, as in the sky above, the sun had set and only the moons lit the night. Every now and then, as Cerulean stared out the large windows of the carriage, a glimmer of silver scales caught her eye, reflected in the few bright rays of moonlight that had penetrated the dark waters.

It worked, Orca flashed after some amount of time had gone by with no interaction between the two. Cerulean turned to face her queen, who was looking intently at the necklace around her neck.

Yes, Cerulean replied. I was fine. And you were fine?

Like she did every time Cerulean asked about her should after casting animus magic, Orca waved her off. Of course I'm fine. I'm always fine. She paused a moment, then added, I really haven't done that much magic. Not nearly enough to warrant concern about my soul. I'll worry about that. You worry about yourself.

Nothing more was exchanged between the two for the rest of the journey to the Summer Palace. Orca's expression became one of thought, and her eyes seemed to slip away into the realm of her mind. Cerulean returned to gazing out the window into the dark and foreboding sea, trying to make out her first glimpse of the Summer Palace.

She did not see it, but at last the carriage was tilting upwards as they arrived at the castle. Cerulean had never been so relieved to see the sky and the moons and the faint pinpricks of sky, and she welcomed the cool air that hit her wet scales as the carriage broke the surface. It was freezing after being in the water so long, and she couldn't suppress that trembling that wracked her body.

Fire once again stabbed at her neck as the necklace's magic took hold, and the gills she'd been given temporarily melted back into smooth scales on her neck. Orca watched this transition calmly, and then, from her arm, home to an array of bracelets, she removed a delicate silver chain and slipped it onto Cerulean.

"I enchant this necklace to keep it's wearer warm when cold, or cold when warm. I enchant this necklace to keep it's wearer at a comfortable temperature," she said, and Cerulean had only a moment of horrified realization to realize that her queen was casting a new spell before warmth rolled over her scales, lulling her into a sleepy state. Even the spark of power that seemed to light up from deep within her couldn't wake her up enough to protest the magic Orca had just done.

"There," Orca smiled serenely down at her heir. "Better now? Warm?"

Cerulean managed to nod, and yawned. "I still have to swim back to the island," she managed, thinking disappointedly of the long swim back to the land that held the prison cell that she'd stayed while she'd been here.

Orca shook her head gently. "No," she decided. "I don't think you ever have to return there."

The purple dragonet couldn't repress a sigh of relief as she allowed those words to sink in, and realized that she might actually get to stay in the palace now, sleep on a real bed and not on the hard rocky floor and sleep in a real room and not a cell.

The queen spread her wings wide, allowing the faint breeze rustling over the ocean to dry off her wet scales. Cerulean mimicked her, her new bracelet keeping her warm even as the chilly wind blue over her, drying her slowly.

"Two full moons tonight," Orca commented, her blue sapphire eyes fixed on the glowing orbs in the sky.

In her stay, Cerulean hadn't been out late enough to see the moons appear in the night sky, glowing like eyes. The queen had always made sure she was back in her cell - pardon, guest room - before the night fell, so this was the first time the young dragonet had seen the beauty of these celestial bodies.

They were so far away, and yet they seemed so near. Two were full and round, milky white and glowing like large stars, and the other was about a quarter way full, just a sliver in the night, but still bright enough to be seen clearly. The sea, undisturbed for miles, with only the Summer Palace in the way, shimmered with the silver light of the moons, reflecting off of calm waters. Cerulean could imagine that the silver reflection was a path, and that she could walk on it, and it would take her somewhere new, somewhere where other dragons didn't look at her weirdly, where her parents actually had time for her, and where she knew who she was and what she was doing.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Orca asked. "The moons."

Beautiful didn't cover it. There was no word that could describe how Cerulean felt about those three moons. She felt like she could soar higher than she'd ever gone before, fly for miles until she cleared Pyrrhia and was flapping over the ocean and to a place no dragon had ever heard of or gone to before. She felt like she could do anything. The sleepy feeling was gone under those moons. Power and energy seemed to thrum through her body as she replied, almost breathless, "Beautiful."

Orca flapped her wings, sending the last few droplets of water off of them, and then folded them close around her body. Even though she was still dripping with water, Cerulean copied her movement and turned to face the queen. The moment she stopped looking at the moons, tiredness seemed to wash over her once again.

The queen smiled. "Interesting. Well, before you pop off to bed, why don't we have a quick dinner? How silly of me, I didn't realize you haven't eaten in so long. Perhaps it's better that I don't have any daughters yet, because I wouldn't know how to take care of them. I've got quite a few sons, yes, but they just seem to take care of themselves...I don't have much experience with younger dragonets. Before I really got to know them, Anemone and Auklet - well, they - " She broke off, clearly grief-stricken, not wanting to say the end of the sentence. But Cerulean knew what she meant.

Orca had appeared at the Summer Palace only a few months after the War of SandWing Succession ended, seven years ago. She looked thin and worn, but delighted nonetheless to see her mother and discover she had sisters. But only a year after staying in the palace, the year in which she challenged Queen Coral a second time and won, both Anemone and Auklet were mysteriously murdered. Orca had been a prime suspect; everyone, even dragonets, knew about the statue she had enchanted to kill of SeaWing heirs, and additionally, her being alive made no sense. Nineteen years ago, despite almost winning, Queen Coral had killed her in battle after Orca challenged her mother for the throne the first time, at only age seven. There was no way she could've still been alive; there'd been a funeral for her and everything, in which they placed Orca's body on a boat, wrapped in a royal SeaWing shroud as tradition instructed, and sent her out on the ocean to find her final resting place.

Orca should've been dead, but inexplicably, she was alive. And she was the queen.

In the banquet hall of the Summer Palace, the two royals were treated to a feast. Endless arrays of colorful fish filled the table, along with squid, octopus, and whale. There were bowls of seaweed salads and shrimp kebabs, and a coconut cake for dessert.

A maid, who's name, Cerulean discovered, was Chrysocolla, attended to the two of them, pouring them drink whenever their cups went empty and responding to their every request. She was a pretty bluish-green color, and rather reserved, speaking only when spoken to, but smiling encouragingly at Cerulean whenever they made eye contact.

This kind of interaction with a SeaWing other than Orca, Eddy, her family, or Reef (who was no longer alive so maybe really didn't count anymore) was rare to Cerulean, and she took an immediate liking to the maid.

Maybe I'll have more than one friend here, she hardly dared to hope.

A little while into the meal, the banquet hall doors were thrust wide open and a green snout poked it's way in.

"Oh, hello," it said. "Um, I didn't realize you were back already."

Orca looked up from her fish, surprised at the disturbance. She squinted at the snout. "I thought you'd all gone off to bed."

"Er, yes, um, we all did," the snout replied. "But, well, I was hungry, so I thought maybe I could ask Chrysocolla to, you know, get me a quick snack? Sorry to bother you, um, I'll just be going."

The snout disappeared. The maid looked apologetically at the queen, but Orca ignored her. "No, no, come back," the queen called after the snout. "Come, sit with us. Meet Cerulean. Have something to eat."

The snout reappeared. "Really? I mean, of course, I'd love to. Thanks."

The snout entered, and Cerulean realized that it belonged to another SeaWing dragonet with a rather wiry frame. His eyes seemed a bit too large in his thin face, and his scales were a light green, dotted with blue, almost like freckles. He looked a bit terrified, his body hunched in on itself to appear as small as possible, which Cerulean was familiar with. She found herself in the same position most of the time.

"Um, hello," he said once he'd taken a seat, which Orca had indicated for him to sit in, one next to Cerulean. He looked at her curiously, like he'd never seen her before, which he hadn't.

"Hello," she responded. "I'm Cerulean."

"I know," he said. "We've all heard about you."

"'We've?'" echoed Cerulean.

"Um, all of us male dragonets," he clarified. "There's eleven of us, your, um, brothers, I suppose." He shot a glance at his mother, who was looking at him thoughtfully. "I'm one of them. My name's Archipelago."

"Nice to meet you," Cerulean attempted to smile. She held out her talon for him to shake, and then dropped it when he just stared at her like she was crazy.

"Yes," Orca said. "I remember you now, Archipelago. You were the male dragonet from a couple years ago, right? The only one who hatched from that hatching."

The prince attempted a smile. "Yes, that's me."

"Why were you the only one to hatch?" Cerulean asked. Then she backtracked, "Well, I know that your sisters obviously didn't hatch because, well, obviously I wouldn't be here if they had, and just well, it's obvious they didn't. But were there just no other SeaWings in that hatching?"

Archipelago winced. "Actually, there were supposed to be. One other. I was a twin, but, well, I, er, killed my brother before we, uh, hatched," he explained, shooting a terrified glance a the queen.

"Hmm, yes," Orca mused, not looking the slightest bit sad about the loss of her son. "I suppose that was a good thing. Otherwise we'd have another little prince running about the palace."

Cerulean and Archipelago exchanged looks.

Chrysocolla appeared at that moment with a pitcher of water, and she poured a gobletful for Archipelago and refilled Cerulean's as well. "Your Majesties," she said, dipping her head at both dragonets, before retreating.

Archipelago got a strange look on his face. "Whoa. That was weird."

"What was?" asked Cerulean, taking a bite of tuna.

"Well, it's not very often that anyone calls me Your Majesty," he replied. "Because, you know, being a prince means we can't inherit the throne, so it's kind of like, sometimes, even though we're princes, we're not really royalty after all."

"That's too bad," Cerulean said, trying to sympathize, but secretly she wished she was a prince so that she wouldn't ever have to be queen.

There were a few heartbeats of silence as the three royals ate their dinners and Chrysocolla cleared away empty plates and brought back more, refilled cups and cleaned away small messes.

"How old are you?" Archipelago asked, his snout filled with chewed fish. Cerulean didn't mind, though.

"Chew with your mouth closed," Orca barked. "And don't talk with your mouth full."

"I'm four," Cerulean replied with a smile as Archipelago hastily swallowed his mouthful of food. Then the smile disappeared as he began to choke.

"Three moons," Orca said exasperatedly as Chrysocolla patted the prince on the back and retreated once more as he stopped choking. The queen adjusted one of the bracelets on her arm.

Through muted conversation, Cerulean discovered that Archipelago was five and the middle brother; the sixth eldest and the sixth youngest, with five older brothers and five younger ones.

"Time for bed I think," Orca cut across in a clipped voice. She fixed Archipelago with a cold look. "You've stayed up long enough, and I'm sure your brothers must be looking for you. I think it's time you left."

"Okay," he said without protest, getting up from his seat. "Thank you. Er, good night, Mother, Cerulean."

With an awkward little wave to her, Cerulean watched him disappear out the door.

Another friend? Her heart sang this phrase eagerly. Maybe I'll have three! That's the most I've ever had!

"Go with him, maid," Orca said dismissively.

"Yes, Your Highness," Chrysocolla said with a bow. She turned from the queen and gave Cerulean a funny look. Either she was making fun of Cerulean, or she was making fun of the queen. Then the maid had vanished after Archipelago, and Orca and Cerulean were alone.

"Dinner was good?" the queen asked by way of conversation.

"Yes, excellent," Cerulean assured her.

"Good." Orca rose from her seat at the head table, a chair much like her throne in the throne room. "Let's find you a place to stay."

The two exited the banquet hall and began to walk in the direction of the north wing of the Summer Palace, in the direction of the royal bedrooms.

At last, Orca spoke. "Sorry about Archipelago," she said.

"I don't mind him," Cerulean said.

The queen continued as though uninterrupted. "Those princes, my sons, can get rather annoying, I find," she added. "One of the reasons I dislike having eggs in hope of a female egg is because it seems, while the princesses all die, all the males survive, and pretty soon there are millions of princes running around all over the place. My mother would've known what I'm talking about. We're still working on relocating all thirty-two of my brothers."

It's too bad that the queen has such little love for her sons, Cerulean thought sadly.

"Anyway, I don't think you should hang around your brothers, Archipelago most of all," Orca was saying. "I hate to say it, but he, among all your brothers, is the most...I suppose the word I'm looking for is troublesome, but that doesn't quite sum him up. You see, his twin brother...well, I'm not sure I should tell you this, as it does concern him, and it kind of his secret...but I'll just say this. He did strangle his brother before hatching, but it wasn't an accident. At least, it doesn't seem to be that way."

"What happened?" asked Cerulean, curious. "Why wasn't it an accident?"

Orca looked at her sadly. "It was four years ago," she said as if this explained everything. "But I don't want you around Archipelago ever again. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Cerulean said immediately.

"Good," Orca smiled again, her blue eyes brightening up again and eradicating the sadness they'd held earlier. "Here's your room. Go on and get comfortable. I'll send you a maid tomorrow morning. I'm afraid most of the staff has already gone to bed, and you should follow that example. Goodnight, my dear. I'll see you tomorrow."

With these words, the queen left Cerulean to open up the beautifully polished double doors and enter the vast chamber. It was infinitely better than the prison cell, with a plush bed covered in fine fabrics, a gleaming mahogany desk with a matching chair and a large and ornate quill resting inside of a bottle of ink, a vanity with a large silver mirror filled with assortments of expensive and rare jewelry that reflect the light of lamps, among other things. But even though she was very appreciative of the space, she wished it were smaller. There was something unsettling about the largeness of the space, and being the slightly paranoid dragonet she was, she couldn't help but think of all the places a dragon could hide in. And the sound of her steps as she walked from the door to the inviting bed echoed loudly and ominously in the large stillness, like the knell of a bell or like oncoming thunder.

Leaving the light on, Cerulean climbed onto the bed, which sunk a bit under her weight, soft and yielding. She buried herself among blankets and rested her head on a pillow, fully expecting to be dragged down into sleep immediately and desperately wanting to be curled up with her sisters back at home - her original home, with her family.

But the yawning space and the loud silence seemed to chase away sleep, and she instead stared up at the canopy of the bed she was laying in, her heart beating wildly and jumping at every sound it heard, and she thought she could see movement flickering in the corner of her eyes. There were footsteps echoing somewhere in the distance, in a far off part of the palace, and every now and then she would hear a dragon pass her room, sometimes silently, sometimes muttering bits of gibberish that she couldn't understand. But eeriest of all were the sounds of the castle shifting around, settling on its foundation, because the noises sounded like far off screams and cries or maybe a feral growl from a terrifying beast.

It seemed like only the blink of an eye, but Cerulean bolted upright all of a sudden. She realized that she must've dosed off, and tried to recall what had woken her. The sounds of the Summer Palace had morphed into screams as she dropped off into sleep, and a particularly loud screech had woken her up.

She inhaled deeply. There was nothing to be afraid of. The sounds were only part of her dream.

Dolphins. Sea foam. Sun. The sky. Flying. Clouds, she thought, using happy things to have away the bad ones.

And then the loudest scream of all echoed in her mind.

Author's Note: Wow, what is this? Did I really post two chapters in two days? YES I DID! I'M SO PROUD OF MYSELF. Well, I guess yesterday's update technically wasn't a chapter, but I will still celebrate this victory. Anyway, this chapter was a bit different from the others! I've finally introduced all my characters, and jadewolf334's character Chrysocolla, who will appear in this story in the future, but I have yet to introduce Pancake Unicorn's character Tetra. But if anyone would like an OC to appear at some point in the story, please let me know, and I will try to include them! No promises on how often they will appear, but I will try to incorporate them at some point in the story. Please tell me their name, age, appearance, personality, and, if you'd like, who they are in terms of position at the palace; are they a guard, or maybe a member of the royal family? I'm looking for names of the ten other brothers, too, so there's that option. And I would really appreciate some OC's for characters because I am TERRIBLE at coming up with names. So please and thank you!

Any guesses to what's up with Archipelago and his dead twin brother? And I can't answer because I obviously know. I know it's a bit early to say this, but depending on where exactly this story ends, I might write sequel, told from either the point of view of Eddy or Archipelago. But I'm only on chapter three of hopefully twenty-three so, you know, kind of hard to tell at this point.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next, as I am facing a full five days of school this upcoming week, but hopefully I'll be able to post at least once during the weekdays, and definitely next weekend!

Sofie-Sandwich: THANK YOU! I'm glad you like this story! I hope you also liked reading the chapter. Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Pancake Unicorn: I do indeed have an explanation for Orca's existence. Just a side note that I probably should've mentioned earlier: while I am trying to keep this story as close to the canon books as possible, this is slightly AU and obviously hasn't actually happened in the canon series, so it's only a possible future. I'm glad you think both my stories are good, and it's nice to see someone who's in two of the fandoms I'm a fan of myself!

As for Orca...you'll have to read to find out what's up about her. And yes, those poor guards. I'm glad you're enjoying this story, and I will include Tetra in future chapters! Thank you for reading!

jadewolf334: MWAHAHA! YOU SHALL NEVER FIND OUT WHAT SHE WAS GOING TO DO WITH THAT DRAGONET OR THE EGG OR ANYTHING. Well, that actually might be a lie. But for now, that is for me to know and you to find out. :)

Although I do agree that would be creepy.

I'm glad you enjoyed the prologue! I was aiming for something that stood out from the previous chapters but still had the same tone and quality, if you know what I mean. It's good to know that I managed to achieve that. And it means so much to know that you love this story! Thank you for your continued support!