I do not own Wings of Fire.
Chapter 6
Cerulean sat rather stiffly down in a chair, opposite the mysterious new dragonet who sat at the table too. Gallantly, Orca drew up a seat for herself and gracefully sat down, her talons beginning to almost unconsciously sort scrolls into different piles. There was a moment os silence in which only the soft rustling of scrolls sounded, and in which Cerulean and the mysterious new dragonet simply stared at each other, neither hostile nor friendly, merely curious.
"Well, I suppose you two might introduce yourselves," Orca said after neither had spoken.
"Of course," the other dragonet said. She looked down at the table, away from Cerulean, in an almost shy manner. "I'm Storm."
"Nice to meet you," Cerulean said, determined to not only impress the queen with her manners, but also dazzle this new dragonet - Storm - as well. She was't sure who Storm was, but she seemed like some sort of competition.
"Right," Orca said. "Storm, Cerulean, as you likely know, is going to be the next queen of the SeaWings, whenever I happen to die." The queen smiled warmly at Cerulean, but something seemed off in her eyes.
"I'm a princess," Storm told Cerulean, sounding nervous. "But only distantly related. I'll never get to be queen."
Something relaxed inside of Cerulean. So this dragonet was a princess, but she wasn't competition. Not in the sense that they'd both be competing for the throne.
Of course not, seaweed brain, she thought to herself. Given the fact that you're here in the castle learning how to become the queen, obviously there are no candidates for the throne!
Another part of her added, And besides, since when did you want to be queen? You should be dismayed that this princess Storm can't be queen!
"Yes, yes, but you'll be an advisor someday," Orca assured the blue dragonet, waving away Storm's comment with her talons. "And that means you two will need to get to know each other well. I, unfortunately, have never been lucky enough to have a dragon I'd trust with my life by my side, and I know a strong queen should have one. So, as a favor to you, Cerulean, I'd like to introduce you to your future advisor."
Storm and Cerulean just stared at each other.
"Okay then," Cerulean said at last, just to break the awkward silence.
Orca frowned a bit. "Hmm. I thought you'd be more excited, but that's okay. I get you weren't expecting it or anything. Anyway, why don't we spend some time bonding together?" The queen attempted to sound excited, but failed. She was much better at being diplomatic than acting caring, although she had managed several concerned glances at Cerulean every now and then.
"Um, okay," Storm hesitated. "Well, you know I'm Storm. I'm the queen's niece, so I mean, I could challenge but the laws have changed in recent years - and I really like to read."
"Me too," Cerulean offered.
"My favorite food is shrimp," Storm added, looking at a loss for words. "Um, that's about it. I mean, there's more to me, but not all that much that you need to know."
"Cool," Cerulean replied.
"Wow, I feel so bonded to you all now," Orca commented drily. She examined the scroll in her talons. "Now, Cerulean, I've assigned Gail, the guard you met on your way into the library, as your escort around the palace - just to make sure you never get lost again going from one place to another."
Oh no, Cerulean thought worriedly. I won't be able to go and look for Archipelago - and I also kind of doubt the queen would approve of my friendship with Spindrift or any of her sons...
Something seemed to be burning into her scales, and looking up, she realized that Storm was giving her a sharp look.
"Really?" the sapphire blue dragonet asked the queen, who looked up in surprise. Storm continued, "Is an escort really necessary? I mean, I do understand that the Summer Palace is large, but it's laid out logically and easy to get around. I fail to see the need for an escort, and I also don't understand why Princess Cerulean was so late to our lessons when the feasting hall is less than a few doors away from the library."
Orca's gaze fixed on the both of them, and seemingly in unison both princesses shrunk away from her.
Cerulean's momentary ease around Storm, which hadn't lasted long at all, evaporated. Storm may not have been a threat to the throne, but she was smart and clever. She could still land Cerulean in trouble.
She knows I lied about where I was, Cerulean thought, cringing.
"Now, now, you two," Orca said, as if she sensed tension between the two. "You're very well matched, especially intellectually. I don't want you to go pulling each other apart. With a team like you overlooking the main proceedings in the Sea Kingdom, our tribe will be in good talons. Storm, I will decide what's best for Cerulean. Cerulean, do try to not get as lost as often as you seem to."
"Of course, Your Majesty," the two said simultaneously, and then refused to acknowledge that they'd spoken at the same time.
"Good," Orca smiled widely, showing her ivory colored teeth. She handed each of them a pile of scrolls. "Now, lately I've been having to do a lot of research regarding our history as a tribe and all that excitement. Yawn, it's pretty boring actually, but it must be done. Reading important documents is a very important job as queen. But I've finished most of this, and I'd like you to sort all these scrolls by category, author, and date, and then alphabetize them."
The queen separated a pile of scrolls for each princess, and then Storm and Cerulean set to work.
"Good, you're very efficient," Orca said once they'd been sorting for a while. She rose from her chair, which was nearly as ornate as the throne she sat in, and swept away from them, towards the doors of the library. "I'll be heading down for my daily round at the Deep Palace. You'll not be going with me today, Cerulean, but perhaps tomorrow. Once you two are finished with that, you've got the afternoon to yourselves."
The princesses mumbled to show they had heard and continued to sort.
So many titles sifted by Cerulean's slowly tiring eyes. Albatross's Biography, The SeaWing Massacre, Queen Pearl the Wise, The Perils of Animus Magic, SkyWing Egg Incubation, Animus Dragonets, a Fiction Story Based on the Works of Queen Octopus, How Bad is Too Bad?, Why Did the SeaWings Choose Blister?, Tsunami, Dragonet of Destiny: A Work in Progress.
"So, you are Delta and Finn's daughter," Storm spoke up at last. She didn't falter as she sorted another scroll, this one titled Genetics and picked up another.
"Yes," Cerulean mumbled, feeling a bit shy now that Orca's imposing presence was absent.
"You told the truth," Storm murmured.
"Of course I did," Cerulean replied. "Why wouldn't I?"
Storm now looked up, her dark eyes catching Cerulean's. "Because you've got nothing to hide. But really, why were you late to class today? I know, it shouldn't be any of my business, but when dragons lie, it really bothers me. So to let me have a peace of mind, won't you please tell me where you were? Because I know you were somewhere."
Cerulean shrugged. "As long as you don't tell me I can't see him, then I was looking for Archipelago - you know, the queen's son?"
The other princess's snout twisted with amusement. "Well, she's got several of those. But yes, I do know Archipelago."
Setting down her current scroll, Cerulean leaned across the table. Storm so far had not said anything negative against the prince; perhaps this was her chance to get some more information on Archipelago, to find out more about him. But Storm might also be unable to talk about whatever the SeaWing prince had done to his brother in the nursery, and why everyone was so scared of him.
So instead she asked, "Why is nobody able to speak about what he did to his brother, when he hatched?"
Storm looked thoughtful. She too stopped sorting, her talons instead falling idly around the necklace on her neck - a beautiful necklace, carved with a shining ebony orca with mother-of-pearl and sapphire.
"Well, I too seem to be whatever curse prevents anyone from speaking of the incident," the dragonet said at last. "And yes," she added, at Cerulean's surprised look - a curse was preventing dragons from speaking? "I know it's a curse. It must be. Nothing else could stop something so important from falling from my mouth."
"But who would cast a curse?" asked Cerulean. Her uneasiness around Storm was forgotten; she was too curious. "And it seems it's on the whole tribe, too. What kind of animus dragon would curse an entire tribe, waste their soul, just to hush up some incident several years ago?"
"It wasn't just some incident," Storm replied. "It was big. At least, that's what everyone heard. But really, there were not that many witnesses to when - " At this her voice broke off into a harsh noise. Her eyes widened and she clutched at her throat, and then her snout relaxed again. "Sorry. That's what happens when you try to mention what happened. It is a curse, I tell you."
"But it has to do with Archipelago?" Cerulean asked to confirm.
Storm nodded. "Yes. Him and his brother."
"And how many animus dragons do we have in this tribe?" Cerulean questioned.
"Three," Storm replied. "Azure is one, but rather weak. He's put all his magic into a vessel so as not to waste his soul. And there's the princes' main mentor, Waterfall - she's one too. She's mostly in charge of teaching Azure and testing all of the dragonets yearly, on the look out for new ones. And then there's the queen. She's by far the most powerful."
"So one of the three of them enchanted the whole tribe?" Cerulean wondered aloud.
"Must be," Storm agreed. "Unless there are other unidentified animus that I don't know about. But why would they do that?"
Before Cerulean could reply, a snout poked into the library. She recognized Gail.
"Hey all," he said. "Just checking in on your progress. Have any of you seen Archipelago? Waterfall's looking for him."
The two shook their heads. "No, we haven't seen him."
Gail nodded. "All right. I'll be off then. If the prince wanders by, tell him we're looking for him."
"Okay."
The moment the guard disappeared back into the hallway, Storm and Cerulean returned to their conversation.
"Hmm, I suppose I can see why the queen thought we'd make a good team," Storm said with a smile.
"Why is Waterfall looking for him, though?" Cerulean brought up a new question.
"Well," Storm said, "there's been a bit of a conspiracy lately - someone's convinced a lot of dragons that Archipelago might be an animus, and that's why everyone's so scared of him. But the queen's been adamant - 'No testing him, I don't care if you think he's an animus, we've got three in the tribe already' - always refusing to have him tested for animus dragons."
She flicked the last scroll in her pile off to the side, and with a special spell that had been enchanted into the library, the scrolls, now sorted suitably, flew from the table and began to shelve themselves in a rhythmic fashion. Storm smiled a bit show-offishly at Cerulean before continuing, "I feel a bit bad about it, knowing what's going on. But when the queen's away, a massive hunt starts up, looking for Archipelago so that the theory can be tested before the queen can get back."
"But is Archipelago an animus dragon?" asked Cerulean.
Storm had started to finish Cerulean's sorting, seeing as the heir was too distracted by all the information she was gleaning.
"Well, that's a debatable topic," Storm said. "Hmm, what genre does Flying Penguins: A Hope For the Future belong in? Nature, or science?"
"Nature," Cerulean said automatically without thinking.
"Anyway," Storm continued, sorting the scroll into science instead, "I'm not really sure if he's an animus. I've been studying him - he's my latest project - and he does have that air about him, if you know what I mean. He's got this buzz around him, kind of like energy, that most animus dragons have. So do you, but I assume that it's because you've got animus jewelry on. But if Archipelago were an animus, then surely he would've manifested by now?"
Cerulean shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't know anything about animus dragons."
Storm shrugged. "There are plenty of scrolls about them. I know most of the basics, but all of the more detailed scrolls about animus magic have got spells on them; only certain dragons are actually allowed to read them."
The sapphire dragonet had finished sorting the second piles of scrolls by now, and with a similar flick of her tail, she sent them off for shelving.
"Well, we're done now," she beamed. "We could go talk to Azure. He's an animus. I'm sure he'd be able to help us. You've met him, based on the expression you've got on your snout."
"Yes," Cerulean admitted.
"Three moons!" Storm yelped. "I'm getting good at guessing! I really didn't know, by the way. Your snout looks exactly the same as always - really boring. But now I do know. So you met Archipelago's roommates?"
"Spindrift, Azure, Freakwave," Cerulean listed.
Storm laughed. "Ah, the legendary Freakwave. And the equally legendary Spindrift. Come on, let's go."
And thanks to everything that happened in the library, Cerulean ended up twenty feet above the ground tangled in a massive net and thrashing about.
Well, it really wasn't the library's fault, but she was super angry at how everything had turned out, so Cerulean decided to blame everything that she could - the net, the ceiling, the air, the sea, Storm, Azure and his stupid SkyWing trap, Azure and his stupid animus magic, Spindrift, Freakwave, that weird blue-gray dragonet next to Spindrift, and yes, the library.
Storm and Cerulean had been headed towards Spindrift and his brothers' room, making more speculations on what made Archipelago so terrifying when - BAM. Cerulean was swept off her feet, completely disoriented by the sudden lack of space around her and also by Storm's loud scream.
"IT'S A SKYWING!" Azure's frantic and terrified voice came floating up from the ground twenty feet below. Cerulean stopped thrashing in the net, desperate to catch sight of the evil dragon who had masterminded this terrible trap and who would certainly pay for it later.
"You fool!" shouted Freakwave from a distance. "What would a SkyWing be doing down here? And even if there was a SkyWing, not only is it trapped in the vice-like confines of your contraption - which, I admit, might not work, but you know what, I'm going to say it will - but you also HAPPEN TO BE AN ANIMUS DRAGON."
"BUT IT'S A SKYWING!" Azure retorted, sounding close to hyperventilating. "They're dangerous creatures. And if it's not a SkyWing, Freakwave, what else could it be? I specifically spelled it to - "
"Oh, hey, look, it's Cerulean!" Spindrift pointed out in an all to cheerful manner.
"GET ME DOWN FROM HERE," Cerulean commanded in the loudest voice she'd ever used. Hmm, I sounded queenly. That is a shock. I need to remember this voice and use it more often.
"Three moons, she sounds like Tsunami when she's angry," a new voice commented.
"Be quiet, Puddle," Spindrift ordered. "Um, Azure? Can you please unenchant the net?"
"But I don't understand," Azure mumbled.
"You no speak my language?" asked Spindrift in an extremely terrible accent.
"No, smart one," Freakwave snapped. "He speaks your language, although sometimes it's difficult to understand. He doesn't understand something else, duh."
"This net was enchanted to only capture SkyWings," Azure said, looking up at Cerulean.
Still maintaining her magnificent queenly voice, Cerulean roared, "I DON'T CARE WHAT IT WAS MEANT TO DO. JUST GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!"
Storm nodded. "I agree. We can discuss all your fascinating powers later, after Cerulean can talk without yelling."
A few moments later, Cerulean was on the ground, still tangled in the net.
"Ow," she groaned, having been practically slammed onto the palace floor. "Azure, I know we just met, but I'm going to have to kill you in the near future."
Azure shuddered. "Maybe she actually is a SkyWing. She's pretty mad."
The blue-gray dragon named Puddle snorted. "I'd be angry too if I'd been swept up by a net too. She's a dragon, Azure, not a fish."
"Or a SkyWing," Spindrift added.
Free of the net, Cerulean stood up on all fours. "I thought you were out hunting with Tetra."
Spindrift shrugged. "Yeah. I was, but then Tetra mysteriously got trapped in seaweed and the whole thing got cancelled."
"Totally not suspicious," Puddle added.
Storm rolled her eyes. "I hope you'll apologize to her later, Spindrift, you naughty dragonet."
"You're not my mom," the prince pouted. "But it's good you all came here. It's gonna be a party with so many dragons!"
"We're not here to party," Cerulean spoke up, dismayed to see that her queenly voice had been crushed now that she was out of the net.
"That's right," Storm added. She gave the purple dragonet a reassuring smile. "We need to talk. With Azure. About his animus powers. It's important."
"And has anyone seen Archipelago?" Cerulean added.
Spindrift groaned. "Come on, are we all not amazing enough for you?"
"He's probably hiding from Waterfall and Gail and all the dragons who want to force him to be an animus," Puddle answered. "Not that you can force someone to be an animus. Let's just go party."
She and Spindrift, followed by a very exasperated Freakwave ("You can't cast any good spells, Azure, that's why the net failed!") into the princes' room.
Cerulean was about to follow, but she noticed Azure, who was examining the net with a very perplexed expression on his face, and Storm, who was watching Azure with a critical expression on her face.
"What's wrong?" asked the heir.
"Nothing," Storm replied. "Well, something, but I'm sure it's not important. Come on, Azure."
"I still don't get it," Azure said, looking heartbrokenly dejected as he followed Storm into the room, leaving the net that had once held Cerulean in it behind in the hallway for some unfortunate dragon to get tangled in sometime in the near future.
Cerulean was left alone in the hallway with it.
It's meant to only catch SkyWings, she thought, and realized what Storm had been thinking about only moments ago as she stared at Azure. Perhaps Azure's magic is faulty, like Freakwave was saying. That's the only explanation as to why it caught me.
Author's Note: Okay, that chapter was hopefully a bit enlightening! More stuff has been discovered! Mysteries unsolved...dramatic music plays in the background...
Anyway, I've got so many OC's! Thank you to all who sent one in! I will try to use them in upcoming chapters. Just a notice, the next few chapters, I have a definite place that I'm going with them, so there will be less OC's being introduced and more plot happening.
Thank you for all the reviews! You guys are amazing, and I appreciate you all so much! Virtual kisses and hugs!
Remained unnamed: *Quickly revives* Thank you! I'm so glad you like this story! And thank you so much for your continued support - your drawing of Cerulean is utter perfection and I wish I could draw as well as you can! Thank you for reading and reviewing!
jadewolf334: Haha, I will continue to tease you with information regarding Archipelago. But hopefully, you learned a bit more about him in this chapter? I'm super happy you still continue to enjoy this story, and knowing you're enjoying these new characters is a relief. I'm hoping to write more with Chrysocolla soon. Thank you! I am beyond delighted to know you love this! I really appreciate all your support. Hope you enjoyed this update! Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Queenyisthebestmedecin: Okay, got it. I'm not positive as to exactly when Dolphin will appear but she definitely will, along with Gail and Typhoon. Also, that story sounds super interesting! Thank you for reading and reviewing!
My OC Storm: YES! So glad you liked the brief part with Storm. There's obviously a lot more in this chapter with her so I hoped you enjoy her character. Also tried to comply with your wishes regarding her and lies. I will try to include Gar in future chapters. Thank you for reading and reviewing!
Jaysong: I'm glad you're enjoying this story, and I apologize that Spindrift appeared only briefly in this chapter. It's likely Tsunami MIGHT appear, but don't hold me to that. I've got most of the plot figured out, and there are just a few things I'm still working with. I will definitely try to include all the FABULOUS OC's you've given me. May take a bit of time. But I promise they'll all appear at some point. I really appreciate them! Thank you for reading and reviewing!