A/N: Another long one, so I won't spend long here. All I say is that I think you all will like it.
As always, though, feel free to favorite/follow if you like the story, and leave a review if you feel so led. And, as always, enjoy...
Ch. 21: Wager
Indigo lounged on a cushion in Darkstalker's room, half-resting, half-watching Darkstalker as he worked at his desk. Recently, she'd begun coming here whenever she was on break, ever since Darkstalker had invited her after a flight. Then, after the first time, she pretty much invited herself over whenever she could, and Darkstalker didn't seem to mind—in fact, he seemed to encourage it. Now it was quickly becoming a second home for her in the Night Kingdom; after only a few days she'd probably already spent more time awake in it than anywhere else in the kingdom save Fathom's room.
Of course, normally she would be talking and doing things with Darkstalker, but today the Nightwing animus had something he had to finish up first before he could focus his attention on her. In fact, he'd more or less been doing it the last several days, but today in particular he wanted to make sure it was finished.
Giving a yawn, Indigo stood up and stretched herself out, then made her way over to his desk and sat beside him. Gently, almost experimentally, she deliberately rested her tail against his. It shifted just a little bit, as though wanting to wrap itself around hers, but in the end it wound up just pressing itself up against hers firmly. She'd take it.
"Are you almost done?" Indigo asked him, looking at the scroll he'd been writing. "Do you think this is the one?"
"Yes on both counts," Darkstalker answered, giving her a bit of grin while still keeping his mind on the writing, "I don't think that I can add anything, and I think I've made my argument more than clear. If I'm Diamond, I don't think I could say no."
Indigo gave a chuckle. "At least you didn't go with your first draft. I doubt she could have said yes if she wanted to. Thank the moons you ran it past Fathom first."
"Hey," Darkstalker defended himself, "I was always told Icewings appreciate being blunt and direct. I thought that making it more of an order than an offer would have spurred action."
"But that was borderline threatening," Indigo told him, "Queens don't go for that sort of thing. They don't like being ordered around."
Darkstalker sighed. "I guess you're right. But that's exactly why I ran it past Fathom and Clearsight first, to make sure it would work. Give me a little credit for that, at least."
"Fine," she said, bumping him with a wing, "You get a little credit for not being a complete squid-brain."
"And I suppose you could do better," the Nightwing half-challenged, half-joked, "How many letters have you written that could end a war."
"Let's see…if this one works, you could say that I helped write one," she answered, "After all, Fathom wasn't the only one who looked it over when you gave it to him. As part of the Queen's honor guard, I have seen a lot of that diplomacy stuff, you know."
Darkstalker tilted his head back and forth, as though visibly weighing her words. "I guess that's true, but have you actually had to do it yourself?"
She gave an overexaggerated look of innocence. "Well…no."
"Exactly," Darkstalker said, flashing his teeth in a similarly overexaggerated look of triumph, "But if you're such the diplomat, go ahead and see what you think…" he scooted the scroll he'd been writing over to her.
Her eyes roamed over the letter, scanning the beginning at first before focusing more on what had changed. For the most part, it looked like his second draft, the introduction at least being almost the same. There were only a few fixes and minor additions to it, and that seemed to be the same throughout the message. He'd definitely made more of an effort to sound more polite, and he'd amended the number of dragons that could be present at the negation talks. Everything seemed to be more or less in order, and she was a little surprised to see that all he really had left to do was sign it.
She gave a small hum. "I think it looks good," she told him, "Although do you think Queen Diamond will be surprised when the 'Seawing delegation' turns out to be a single prince and three guards?"
He shrugged his wings. "I wouldn't worry about it," he told her, "In the end, that's just to get the Icewings to the meeting. Once they're there, I doubt Fathom will have to do anything save watch a negotiation or peace talks."
Indigo nodded, still looking at the letter. "You really think this will work, don't you?"
"I really hope it does," Darkstalker looked down, "I know that it can work, at least. I feel like I have to try, if nothing else."
"That's—" Indigo began to say, but he continued before she could speak more.
"I don't think I told you," he said, "But in order to get Vigilance to allow me to do this, I had to agree to begin using my magic for the war effort if things fall through. That said, I can't afford for this not to work."
"Oh," Indigo faltered for a moment. That's…good and bad, she thoughts, Good that he doesn't want to, bad that he might have to. "And if things don't work out…?"
"Then I don't know what I'll do." He sighed. "I don't want to have to use my magic for something like that."
"I don't blame you," Indigo spoke softly, "But, if you do it to win the war…if in the end you do good…do you really think it will hurt you?"
"I don't know," Darkstalker shook his head, "But right now I don't want to take that risk. I'd rather not kill with my magic unless I absolutely have to, just in case my father was right about things."
"…However," he went on, "I am reasonably confident that I can use it for something like this without any problems."
He pulled out two more blank scrolls and set the nearly finished letter on top of them. Then he grabbed his enchanted scroll and set it down in front of him. Indigo watched curiously as he began to write.
Enchant the words of my letter to Queen Diamond to be copied to the scrolls beneath it.
Darkstalker set his magic scroll aside, then picked up the letter. There below, on the previously blank scroll, was an identical copy of what he'd just written. And there, below that one, was a second.
"Huh," Indigo said as she looked at them, "Convenient, I guess. But why do you need three letters?"
Darkstalker gave an amused snort. "Because, to be blunt, I have very little confidence that Queen Vigilance will get my letter to the Ice Kingdom."
Indigo narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Why?"
"You weren't in the meeting, so you didn't see," he explained, "But it almost felt to me like she didn't want to have this peace meeting. For some reason, it seemed like she hated the idea that we could end this war right now. And I would not put it past Vigilance to conveniently have the letter lost or otherwise failed to be delivered if it suits her purpose."
"But why?" Indigo asked again, "I mean, why wouldn't she want to end the war?"
"I honestly don't know," Darkstalker said, "Maybe she thinks that it justifies using my or my father's magic, and so she wants it to go on until we do something for her. Or maybe she just enjoys being queen at war time. Maybe she legitimately thinks that we can and should win the war without making peace before we completely defeat them."
"At any rate," he continued after a pause, "I made two copies so I can send it through two other routes to ensure the letter reaches Diamond. One goes through Vigilance, of course, but I plan to send another through General Stargazer, who's returning to the front tomorrow. He agreed with me on wanting to achieve peace now, and I'm sure he can see the letter makes it to the Ice Kingdom. The third one I plan to dispatch to the Sand Kingdom and have the Sandwing post deliver it. I hear they do letter delivery for both sides if the pay is high enough, and they should at least get it into Icewing claws for it to make it to the palace."
"I'm surprised that you don't enchant it to magically appear on the Queen's throne," Indigo observed.
"Yes, well, as I said, I don't want to use any of my magic to do this, if not just to prove to Fathom and anyone else who doubts me that it can be done," he spoke those words confidently until he glanced down at his scroll, which he'd just used to make copies of the letter, and his face fell a little. Indigo raised an eye ridge as he realized what he'd just done.
"Well…not for anything important, at least," he said, trying to recover, "I didn't do anything there that I couldn't do without my scroll. I just saved some time, that's all." He gave a sort of grimace as if mentally chastising himself for forgetting that writing the letter was part of his grand plan.
Indigo couldn't help but laugh. "Fine, fine," she told him, "I know how awful it is to copy what you've just written. I don't blame you, and I won't say anything if you don't."
"Then I won't," Darkstalker sounded almost relieved, "If you catch me trying to do anything like that again, feel free to stop me."
"Oh, I will," she told him, "Of course, I like to think that I could stop you anytime I want to. After all, it's what I'm trained to do." She flashed her teeth as she teased him, pulling herself up to her full sitting height. She may not be the largest Seawing in the honor guard, but she was no weak dragon, nor inexperienced in fighting.
"Is that so?" Darkstalker asked, teasing her back with a look of skepticism, "Funny, I don't feel very threatened by you."
"Ah, but that's because you've not given me any reason to bare my claws."
"Would you like me to?" he asked mischievously, "I've always wanted a kind of rematch from our first meeting. It wasn't fair, you getting the drop on me like that. Here I am excited to finally meet Fathom, and suddenly you're threatening to slit my throat."
"Well, if I remember what you said correctly, I wasn't exactly as safe as I thought I was," she looked pointedly at his scroll, then to his jewelry box where the tailband he'd worn rested inside, "But I must admit that I'm glad Fathom stopped me."
"As am I," Darkstalker said, "And I'm glad I didn't use that spell, either."
"And I, too," Indigo agreed. Not being killed by him was always preferable, even if it may have been warranted at the time, looking back on it.
"But you know," Darkstalker went on, "I think I could easily win against you. After all, I can immobilize you in a matter of seconds without using my magic."
Indigo gave him a skeptical look. "Really?" she asked, curious as to what he meant while sure he couldn't. She was stronger than him, of that she was sure. She couldn't imagine him beating her so quickly.
"Yes, I do think so," Darkstalker confirmed, "I think it would be quite simple, actually."
"Prove it," Indigo told him.
Darkstalker tapped his tail against the ground. "I think not," he said, "Not this minute, at any rate. You'd be too much on your guard for it to work right now."
"So you require the element of surprise for it to work, then. How noble." Indigo joked.
"You had it when you got the upper claw on me," Darkstalker argued back, "But I will prove it. Sometime tonight, no less. I guarantee it."
Indigo swished her tail behind her, thoroughly amused, "Then you achieve nothing. I'll be on my guard against you all through the night."
"You can't be fully on guard all the time," Darkstalker countered, "Sooner or later you'll drop it, and that's when I'll strike."
"Good luck, then," Indigo told him with a roll of her eyes. He'll need it if he wants to outdo a member of the Seawing Queen's honor guard.
"Is that so," came his response as he no doubt read her mind (in truth, she had hoped he would), "Then why don't we make things a little more interesting?"
"Oh?" Indigo was very curious now.
"If I'm able to get the drop on you and immobilize you, like I said I could, you have to convince Fathom to let you go for…let's see…three days, in which case you will become my bodyguard instead of his, following my orders and protecting me," Darkstalker proposed with a grin, although in truth it didn't sound too bad a consequence.
"And if I succeed in warding you off?"
"Then…hmm…" he paused to think, "If you do, then I'll let you write a spell."
"You already offered me that before, and not as part of any wager," Indigo said, "Or have you forgotten?"
"Yes, I supposed I did, didn't I?" he asked rhetorically, "How about…if you somehow manage to succeed, I—"
"Then you have to spend three days hunting fresh fish for Fathom and I," Indigo proposed, "Straight from the ocean, upon request. It's been a while now since the palace has served fresh caught fish; nowadays I only get it when we go flying to the sea. Fathom in particular misses it more than he lets on."
"I wasn't aware," Darkstalker looked a little surprised at that, or maybe her request in general, "But agreed. If I can't immobilize you by the break of dawn, I'll do three days' worth of fishing for you."
Indigo thought his choice of word, "immobilize", was a bit odd, but it seemed fair. "Agreed, then." She swished her tail, "I suppose it would be cheating for me to go back to the palace and lock myself in Fathom's room, then?" She poked him with her tail, and he rolled his eyes.
"Yes, yes it would be," Darkstalker chuckled, "Besides, the whole reason I used the spell on those scrolls in the first place was so we could fly down to the sea before it got too late in the night. I was thinking a swim might be nice, and I figured that you wouldn't be averse to it."
"Of course not," came her immediate response. A Seawing is always ready to swim. "But if you think that you can beat me in the water, you're very mistaken."
"I would never dream of being so bold," Darkstalker gave her such a look that definitely said he would be if the situation called for it.
"Then maybe you shouldn't ask for a swim," was her reply, "If I were you, I wouldn't waste time."
"Oh, I think I'll be fine," his eyes gleamed, and in the moment Indigo wished she was the mind reader.
She leaned her head in towards him towards him, expecting him to pull away, but instead he held firm, his muzzle only an inch or two from hers. She could feel his breath on her scales. "I look forward to proving you wrong," she said with a smirk.
"As do I," the gleam didn't leave his eye until she slowly backed her head away and his eyes drifted down to the letters before back to her. "I'll only need a moment to drop these off to Vigilance and General Stargazer, then I'll have the rest of the night to strike."
The flight to the palace was short and familiar, and Indigo only waited in the palace library for about a half-hour for him to deliver his letters to the appropriate people. She could have gone back to Fathom's room, but part of her wanted to avoid getting caught in any conversation so she could just leave when Darkstalker was ready. So instead, she found a rather interesting volume on her own tribe as she passed the time.
It seemed like an older scroll just from the wear and tear on it, although she couldn't tell just how old it was. Probably several decades, at the very least, especially concerning what was in it. It claimed to sum up the expanse of knowledge of the Nightwings on Seawings, but most of it was so utterly erroneous that it was more hilarious than insulting. In fact, just the way that her tribe was labeled "SeaWings" on the title, using the antiquated style of naming, should have tipped her off before she even started that the contents wouldn't exactly be reliable or up to date.
The inside drawing of a Seawing with a whale-like fluke and gills running down the entire length of its body didn't help the author's case either. Indigo had to wonder if the writer had ever even seen a Seawing before writing this scroll.
She shook her head as she went through the text, reading what caught her eye. Here was a passage that was about their dietary habits (really, it was just a list of popular fish in the Bay of a Thousand Scales), and there another that attempted to describe their "unusual and irritating" style of music. Included in the latter were lyrics to several songs she'd never even heard before, making her question again just how old the thing was. It had to be back before the Sea Kingdom even unified, if not even older.
Indigo couldn't help but laugh as she stumbled across yet another passage, this one speculating that their eggs were more akin to the soft, squishy fish ones than the other hard shelled dragon eggs—a complete falsehood. She would have questioned just how ridiculous the thing could get if it wasn't for the fact that she was sure the Sea Kingdom contained an ancient volume on Nightwings that wasn't just as erroneous. She could almost picture the look of indignation on Darkstalker's face if he saw his own tribe slandered like that.
"Something funny?" the voice she'd been waiting for asked, and she looked up to see Darkstalker making his way into the scroll-filled room.
Speak of a sea-snake, she thought with a grin as she swished her tail. He approached the table where she sat reading and glanced at the scroll she was reading.
"What's that?" he asked, nodding to it.
"Oh, it's just you Nightwing's official guide on us Seawings," she began to tease him, wondering how long it would take him to get the joke once she got started, "You have a lot of interesting thoughts about us in here."
"Really?" Darkstalker asked, "I honestly can't say I studied Seawings too closely while I was still taking regular classes at school. What's it say?"
"Oh, nothing too much," Indigo tried to kind of wave it off, "Just your tribe's innermost thoughts and feelings about my own. Nothing major."
Darkstalker blinked and cocked his head at her. "Somehow, I get the feeling that you're not telling me something."
She rolled her eyes and rolled the scroll out to its introduction. "As far as dragons are concerned, SeaWings, being more fish than pure-blooded dragon, are almost certainly of a lesser breed and stature," she began, overenunciating the 'wing' in Seawing in the older style, "They have not the fire or even ice of the other tribes. Indeed, when out of the water they pose little more threat to an adult NightWing than a large adder. In it, they are only as threatening as sharks, if not a little more so due to their ability to drag their prey farther down than most smaller predatory fish."
Darkstalker raised an eye ridge as she finished and gave him a pointed look. "Yes…well…" he began, mounting a kind of defense, "I think it's possible that we may have made a few errors, there."
"A few?" she asked, still trying desperately to keep her mind, face, and voice serious.
He wilted a little, although she couldn't be completely sure whether or he just playing along. "Okay…maybe a bit more than a few."
She couldn't keep her laugh in at that, and she unrolled the scroll so he could see just how old the thing was. Darkstalker gave an interested hum as his eyes went over it, and he gave a snort as he caught sight of a few of the passages she had.
"What can I say," he finally told her, shrugging his wings, "I certainly didn't write it."
"I know, I know," she said with an eye roll, "But I'd almost like to meet the dragon that did. 'More fish than dragon', ha!"
"Well, I certainly would have changed a few things if I were to right an updated edition," he told her, giving her a kind of sly looking look that he sometimes did that told her he was up to something.
"Oh, really?" she asked, "And what changes would you make?"
"Hmm…perhaps a note on personality," was his response as he gave her an amused look.
"Personality?"
"Yes," his voice was more of a purr, "How they can be witty and charming. Captivating, almost. How unlike fish their scales can shine as bright as their hearts, as beautiful as a sunset over a rising tide."
Indigo felt a sudden heat in her cheeks as he learned in closer as he spoke, his voice quiet and inviting, and she found herself leaning in too before she suddenly pulled herself back. This was…a bit unlike him. He was…was he really flirting with her right there. It certainly felt like it. And it certainly felt good as well. But while Indigo thought that he might have those kinds of thoughts from how he acted sometimes, seldom did he actually act on them like that. Seldom did he actually get that close.
And, as she watched him settle back with a grin on his face, she suddenly wished she hadn't pulled away.
Or maybe it's a trick, came another thought, To get the jump on me and beat me in a fight. She wouldn't put it past him to try something like that, although this really didn't feel like it.
She looked Darkstalker up and down, several emotions suddenly inside of her. She had feelings for him, that she knew for sure. To what degree she still wasn't positive, but she knew that she enjoyed every moment she spent with him and always looked forward to the next. And it seemed that he did, too. Indigo was no expert on Nightwings—especially when it came to issues of courtship, but Darkstalker definitely seemed to be show the same interest in her that she did him.
It was a bit hilarious, actually, considering where they started, but here they were.
All the same, though, Indigo felt a bit conflicted. For while she knew that part of her would be more than receptive to Darkstalker if she let it be, a piece of her heart was still with another dragon. Fathom, her truest friend, the one she'd risk life and limb for…she loved him. She'd loved him for a long time. She'd thought once that she'd wait as long as it took for him to realize that animus magic or not, love would overcome any obstacles. Coming here, she had thought that maybe it would be a chance to start over, to build a relationship like it had been before the massacre.
But it hadn't worked that way. Fathom was still insistent that his magic was uncontrollable, and that he himself was a danger. So long as he was that way, things between him and her could never be like she'd once thought they could be. And Indigo was tired of waiting.
Ironic how in trying to protect the heart and life of the dragon that held her own heart, her same heart had been stolen by the dragon she'd been protecting his from. For when she tried to picture herself with Fathom now, she couldn't. Moons help her, she couldn't see herself with him anymore at all.
"Well…to the ocean, then?" Darkstalker's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, and she realized that in the silence of the library he had probably heard every thought and feeling running through her mind. But in spite of that, he stayed. If he didn't care about her in return, then why else would he?
"Yeah," she gave a breath that came out a little shaky as he gave her a knowing look, "I think I'm ready to go."
Indigo landed in the shallows with a large splash, feeling the salty tang of the ocean on her gills. Fish scattered away from her in the dim moonlight, frightened by the mighty predator suddenly appear among them. She thought about chasing a few, but instead looked up to where Darkstalker had been circling overhead. Ever since starting the flight over, her thoughts had been more than a little muddled from how he'd been acting before, which made it difficult to stay on her guard. She'd had to worry every other second that Darkstalker might strike and try to win their little game, but now that she was in the water, her true element, she could finally relax a little. He wouldn't dare try to challenge her here.
She stuck her wings out and let herself just float there, allowing her body to be pushed back and forth by the waves. "Well," she called out to Darkstalker, who kept circling above, "Are you coming? The water's lovely today."
Darkstalker did a kind of spiral down to her, then tilted himself sidewise, putting just the tip of a wing in the sea, and spun in a circle around her kicking up water before flying back up.
"Fancy," she yelled at him, just a little sarcastically, "But all you succeeded in doing was getting me wet."
"I've been trying to practice my aerials over water," he told her as he did a loop and flew back down low, "First time I tried that I went too low, caught my wing, and went straight into the water. I'm glad no one was watching."
"I wish I had been," was the only reply she could get out before he flew back up again, this time making his way a bit farther out to sea. As she watched, he slowed down a little in his flight, then plunged down towards the water in one swift motion. She heard a small splash, but it must have only been his forearms and legs that touched since she saw the Nightwing pulling back up. He turned and flew closer, and she could make out a fish in his claws.
"I've also been practicing my fishing skills," he told her, gliding in and finally making a graceful landing in the water just close enough to her that she got splashed, "So in the unlikely event I lose, which I won't, you may rest assured that I will actually be able to uphold my end."
He gave the fish to her—a large mackerel of some kind—and she thanked him before taking a bite. "So, how long have you been practicing," she asked as she ate.
"I started not long after you and Fathom arrived, but I didn't put any real effort into it until a couple weeks ago," he informed her as he swam a circle around her, "It really hasn't been too difficult, although the sea breeze can get me sometimes if I don't pay close enough attention."
She let out an amused huff. "Yeah, I know that. The closer to shore, the more difficult it is, too."
"I've noticed that," he said, "Especially dusk and dawn. Not that I'm out here often enough to really tell, but it did seem more so."
"It is. Sometimes I…oop, shark," she nodded down as she caught a glance of a fin breaking the surface, "He probably wants the rest of my fish," she told him, "I'll let him have the scraps and we can move."
"I thought you Seawings weren't afraid of sharks," Darkstalker questioned as she dropped the remains and they swam a short distance away.
"We aren't, for the most part," came her explanation, "They're usually harmless, but every now and then fresh-killed fish gets them riled up. I've seen dragons that have lost a few claws and wingtips because they weren't careful enough."
"Huh," Darkstalker looked back at where they'd been, "I wouldn't have thought it."
"Well, as easy as we Seawings make it look to tame it, the ocean is no easy place," she said, "Up on land you're only real danger is dragonbite vipers. We have to deal with electric eels, hungry sharks, certain species of jellyfish, and several other poisonous fish and things. And that's all in the shallow waters; move out deeper and things get harder."
"What's out deeper?"
Indigo gave a shake of her head. "From what I've heard, nothing good. The deep holds many terrors, even for dragons. Creatures of immense size and strength. Leviathans that can swallow a Seawing whole and destroy an entire village. It's why we can't really expand our kingdom out past the bay of a thousand scales. Every settlement that's tried has either met a horrible fate or gone missing altogether."
Darkstalker took a deep breath and looked almost nervously at the water around him. "I always wondered that," he said, "Why you Seawings regulated yourself there, I mean. I would have thought you'd try to cover the ocean, but I guess that makes sense."
"Yeah…" she trailed off for a little bit, he actually looks a bit scared at the thought of dragon-eating monsters, she thought, then she grinned, "Don't worry, though, we're plenty safe here. There's only a slight chance that a leviathan would lurk in such shallow waters, waiting for the right time to strike!" she lunged forward and splashed him as she finished, causing him to give an uncharacteristically high yelp as he was caught off guard as she showered him with thousands of tiny water droplets. He tried to splash her back, but with a swish of her tail she effortlessly sawm out of reach.
"Hey!" he cried without any anger, "That's not fair!"
"Of course it is," she laughed, "You're the one who decided to go swimming with a Seawing. Don't blame me that you're not a master of the sea."
"I could enchant myself to be," he countered.
"But then we would both know that you still wouldn't really be," she teased, swimming back up to him, "You'd only be cheating."
"Sometimes it's worth cheating to win," his voice lowered into the same sort of purr from before, at the library, "But I won't have to cheat to win out little bet."
"So long as I stay in the water, I have nothing to fear from you," she boasted.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Prove it."
And like a shot he was after her, tail propelling him through the water in powerful strokes as she dove down to avoid him. Her webbed feet and tail, not to mention experience, put her far ahead in a matter of seconds, but Darkstalker continued to chase her. She noticed that he seemed to have gotten faster since the last time she could remember him really swimming. He'd probably been practicing that, too.
To give him a sporting chance, she kept herself fairly close to the surface, not that she was in any real danger of being caught. He almost got close enough to grab her tail once or twice when she paused to taunt him a little or intentionally made her way closer, but never did he come close to immobilizing her and winning their little wager. Not that she expected him too, but she couldn't be too careful.
Several minutes passed before Darkstalker was forced to give up, and soon his chase turned into a lazier kind of swim. Content that she had won that little exchange—if it could be called that—she made her way back over to him and let herself ride along the surface, once more letting the waves move her wherever they wished. The calming woosh, woosh of the sea was familiar and comfortable, and with Darkstalker there beside her everything felt peaceful and right. Completely serene.
They swam for a long time, a couple hours at least, speaking little but enjoying each other's company. A couple of times Darkstalker made his way back to shore and took a break from swimming to do some flying instead. Unlike her, he couldn't really do a takeoff from the sea. She could hardly blame him; it was a difficult maneuver that even some adult Seawings struggled with.
Of course, when he was in the air she made herself be more on her guard, and she made sure to try to keep an eye on his black silhouette against the dark night sky. Perhaps his plan hinged on diving down on her from above like an eagle striking its prey, and while that seemed unoriginal, she decided to humor him by remaining on the surface and not swimming down to where he couldn't reach her. But no attack came. Each time he simply made a few wide circles around their area, then came back in for a landing beside her.
Swimming with him was fun, but the one thing she wished for was that he could have gills like her. He'd spent hours on some of their flights showing her his world, and she wished that she could return the favor to him. To show him all the different fish and coral and underwater caves and cliffs that had a majesty all their own.
Maybe he should write that spell to make himself a master of the sea after all, she thought to herself, grinning at the notion, then paused. Had she really just wanted him to do something like that? She realized that she did. And she didn't really feel any trepidation about it, either. No worry or dread over what it could cause. Because, in the end, why would it cause any harm?
She looked over at Darkstalker, wondering if he was listening to her thoughts—he didn't seem to be. Maybe later… she thought. If he wanted to do that some other time, it would certainly be fun.
Dawn was just readying itself to break, the sky lightening without the sun quite making its appearance, when Indigo finally left the water herself. Darkstalker had gotten out a few minutes earlier and was sitting there on the sand, watching the tide come in, and she sat by this side as she shook the excess water off her wings.
"Pretty, isn't it?" she asked, looking out over the horizon. The breaking waves of the ocean with a red and yellowing sky painted a picture few artists in Pyrrhia could match.
"Yeah," was his response, although Indigo couldn't help but notice that his gaze was not on the water when he said that. Rather, it was on her. She glanced away as she felt heat rise to her cheeks like the fire of a Sandwing.
She idly drew in the sand with a claw and glanced back up just to see Darkstalker still watching her, a charming yet goofy grin on his face. She quickly looked away and kept drawing.
What's the matter with you, Indigo, her mind yelled at her, Why are you acting like a moonsstruck dragonet? Of course, she knew the answer, but right now she felt too…weird to really voice it to herself.
She glanced back up to the sea, and she could almost see the sun. Dawn was still moments away from breaking, and she remembered again her bet with Darkstalker. It seemed that he'd failed to do what he seemed so certain he could. Turning to him, Indigo gave him a triumphant smile, which he returned with an amused look.
"Well?" he asked her, not looking concerned at all.
Indigo gestured out towards the still-not-risen-but-almost-there sun. "You failed to restrain me," she told him, "I'm looking forward to fresh fish."
"I wouldn't be so sure," he told her, still just…smug. "After all, I never said restrain, just immobilize."
"Really? And what do you think you can do in the few seconds left to 'immobilize' me?" she asked, returning his look of smugness as she moved her head closer to his in challenge.
"This," he said simply, and then he leaned in and kissed her.
Indigo froze. Her eyes widened. Everything around her just…stopped. Suddenly the only thing on her mind, the only thing that could be on her mind, was the feeling of his mouth on her own. It felt amazing in a way that she couldn't begin to describe, and she barely had the presence of mind to even start to try to return it before it was gone all too soon, leaving her feeling suddenly unsatisfied, even if her brain was still too shocked to really understand that feeling.
A moment later she felt Darkstalker touch her again, although (and unfortunately, her suddenly muddled brain was able to somehow think) not for another kiss. Instead, it was the brushing of his cheek against hers as he leaned in close to her, tantalizingly close, and whispered in her ear.
"I win."
He pulled away, then, and although she missed the warmth of his scales, she couldn't bring herself to turn and watch him go. Even though she wanted to reach out with her tail to stop him, she found she couldn't move it. It was if her claws were sunk several feet down into the sand instead of resting on top. She was as Darkstalker said she would be: completely immobilized.
Was that real? She found herself asking herself, Did that really happen? It clearly did, but it felt almost unbelievable. Yet it also felt so right.
Already, she couldn't wait to do it again, and do it properly.
It was the sun rising and getting in her eyes that finally snapped her somewhat out of her thoughts and into action. And the first thing she did once she found control of her movements again was smile.