Several days before the visit...
Glory sat at the roof of her Royal Treehouse, her wings neatly folded and her head held…relatively lower than normal. After spending the whole day looking confident and proud where ever she went, the quiet ambiance of the rainforest was one of the few short moments where she could relax. The RainWing Queen looked up at the moonlit sky illuminating the dense trees with a bluish glow. The chaotic squawking racket of the day was now replaced with the quiet, peaceful sounds of crickets chirping, frogs croaking, and the occasional owl's hoot. As she looked on at the scenery, thoughts flew around in her head, particularly those of her fellow dragonets. While they each had their quirks in their personalities, she had admittingly missed and ever felt a tad worried about them, especially since they hadn't reconnected in almost 2 months.
"...I wonder how they're doing over at Jade Mountain." Glory thought to herself, while she continued looking at the moons. "I hope this whole academy thing is going well for them. And I hope Starflight's doing ok."
Glory's quiet pondering under the stars was interrupted when her ear perked up, catching the sound of wings flapping from the right side of her. She looked to the right of her and grew a bored expression on her snout. The flapping came from Deathbringer descending downward. Glory was annoyed by her bodyguard because of the fact that he spent the majority of the day flirting with her, trying every tactic to get at her heart. As she had expected, Deathbringer landed on the roof and proudly displayed his wings and his most handsome smile, ready to try his luck again at charming his way into her heart. However, Deathbringer paused and quickly folded his wings inward, and his handsome face grew a look of genuine worry upon seeing his queen.
Glory, on the other hand, was quick to brush him off. "Don't start with your antics, Deathbringer. I'm not in the mood" Glory dismissingly ordered in a bored, yet still firm voice, as she looked back at the moons.
"I wasn't gonna start my antics, my queen," Deathbringer answered in a slightly defensive voice. "Especially not when you're as blue as the night sky"
Glory looked back at Deathbringer, with a raised brow, before she look down upon her folded wing. That made her realize that in her thoughts, her scales, which are normally kept an emerald green and blue with orange wings, were now deep blue, showing off her sorrow and uncertainty for all to see. She quickly willed her scales back to the normal colors. "I'm fine Deathbringer" Glory quickly assured. Suddenly she grew a look that had confusion and annoyance mixed together. "Shouldn't you be doing what I assigned you?" She then asked.
"Already done," Deathbringer answered rather quickly.
Glory's look of confusion grew even more confused. "Then why are you here up in my business, then?" Glory asked defensively, her tone becoming more firm.
"You're dismissed for the night"
Deathbringer grew a concerned look in his eyes as he approached closer to the RainWing and carefully sat on his hind legs. "I was here to get on your good side with my charming looks and personality," Deathbringer answered honestly. "But now I'm here because I want to know what's on your mind,"
"Nothing! Now Go Away!" Glory snapped and sternly ordered, pointing her talon in the direction she wanted him to leave.
But Deathbringer's confidence and will to know the truth shined through "This is a personal thing isn't it?" Deathbringer continued, slightly leaning his lead near her.
"No, this is a 'shut up and leave me alone' thing!" Glory answered back with agitation growing in her voice. She then tried to turn around, only for DB's head to get in her face, which startled her and made her scales turn pale for a millisecond. "Glory, you're clearly blocking" Deathbringer claimed, in a slightly serious tone.
"Im not Blocking!" Glory protested as she turned away, only for DB's head to appear from the other side she turned to.
"Then tell me what's wrong" Deathbringer insisted.
Glory's agitation grew into impending anger, and her wings vibrated with agitation as the tips of her wings began to shift into a furious crimson red, despite her protests not to do so. "Deathbringer, Im warning you. Leave! That's an order!" Glory ordered angrily, pushing him away and standing in an authoritative stance.
Deathbringer only leaned his head closer to her. "Not until I find out what or who got under your scales" Deathbringer insisted more.
It was then that Glory's patience finally dried out. "LEAVE MY FRIENDS OUT OF THIS!" Glory shouted, her scales exploding into a furious crimson red, her teeth and frills flaring and an angry hiss being heard when she shouted.
Deathbringer instead stood triumphantly and pointed at his queen. "Gotcha! I knew there was something in your mind." Deathbringer shouted triumphantly.
His response left Glory flabbergasted. "Oh for the love of Pyrrhia," Glory replied, exacerbated and exhausted, as she walked back to her original spot, but this time her wings slowly started to droop.
Deathbringer's victorious expression melted into one of compassion over his Queen's current state. "Come on Your Majesty. You can tell me what's on that thick mind of yours. I'm your bodyguard for a reason you know" Deathbringer told the fuming RainWing Queen.
Glory's scales slowly returned to their normal green state but remained agitated by Deathbringer's presence. She didn't want him near her at the moment, as she was not in the mood for whatever crap he wanted to say to win her love, so Glory sighed and gave him what he wanted out of her.
"You want to know so bad? Fine, I'll tell you. I'm worried about everything, OK? When I went on this adventure to fulfill the prophecy, I just wanted to do it to bring peace to Pyrrhia. But along with that, I wanted to find my real parents, cause I lived with "parents" that only raised us for that goal and didn't care about us other than that. I wasn't expecting to become the Queen of my tribe." Glory reluctantly admitted Deathbringer.
"Don't get me wrong I like this new role but…sometimes it really digs into my scales with the workload. I mean today I had a line stretching all the way to the edge of the rainforest of subjects who wanted to see me for whatever praise or complaints they had to tell me."
"They do love talking to you, don't they" Deathbringer joked with a sly smile.
"Not a good time!" Glory sharply replied, which made Deathbringer recoil slightly. "What I'm saying is that when everything I did that was good, with your help mind you, I still feel that… I'm not doing enough." Glory quietly admitted, actually showing vulnerability, something a queen is not supposed to show unless she allows herself to do so.
Deathbringer's look grew more understanding and even more compassionate as the queen poured her doubts into her bodyguard. "Especially for my friends over at Jade Mountain. I mean I have rescued the NightWings and the captive RainWings, but in the process, Starflight, the one who actually helped us, lost his sight because of it. My mind is just all over the place, Deathbringer." Glory finished, her wings fully dropping to the floor.
Glory prepared herself for Deathbringer's next flirting bout, believing he wouldn't really understand. But instead of cracking another flirt or joke…Deathbringer approached Glory and sat next to her. Glory maintained an authoritative sneer from Deathbringer being too close to her. Deathbringer, on the other hand, maintained an understanding, empathetic look on his snout. "...Tell me, Your Majesty. Who stopped me from killing Blaze? Who convinced me to help you out after everything that's happened, and who saved me and the NightWings from living a brutal life with that ice statue of a queen? And who rescued all the RainWings from the torture they were going to or were enduring? Tell me, who did all that?" Deathbringer asked.
Glory maintained her sneer before she grew a saddened look and inhales slowly. "...I did." Glory somberly answered.
Deathbringer grew a warm smile at her answer. "You did, exactly. Yes, there have been some sacrifices made in the things that happened, but what mattered is that you did more than become a queen of your tribes." Deathbringer explained to the Queen, who grew a confused look on her snout over Deathbringer's words. "You saved them. You changed them to be better dragons. You gave them…us…a reason to admire you. That's what makes you a great queen. Otherwise, I wouldn't be around flirting with you all the time. ".
Glory was actually quite surprised by what the NightWing was saying. She saw Deathbringer as an annoying bodyguard that always found ways to ruin her day while doing his duties. Glory wondered how it was possible that he had a softer side to him, comforting her when he should be fearing her power.
Deathringer continued to give his queen comforting words. "I don't know much about the Rainwings or about queens since the one I was loyal to never saw her subjects, but I know a great leader when I see one. And you are a great leader from what I've seen you do. As for your friends, especially Starflight, They've done great deeds in ending this war, even if things happened to them during it. But they couldn't have done it all without your help." Deathbringer continued to explain to Glory, whose eyes began to shimmer from unshed tears, though she tried her very best not to cry.
"I know you probably want me to get to the point so I can leave you alone, so I'll just say it. Don't lose hope in yourself or your abilities. You've already done great things, and I know you'll continue doing them for us. The only direction from here is up" Deathbringer finished with a small smile.
Glory looked at Deathbringer with an odd vulnerability in her eyes. She once thought Deathbringer just became her bodyguard because of his apparent love for her and whatnot. Glory didn't suspect that he would actually be this way when the moment is right.
"And with that...I think I'll leave you alone before I wind up in quicksand." Deathbringer said as he started to stand up to leave.
But at that moment, Glory did something she never thought she would be doing. Glory slowly curled her long tail around him, making him sit back down. He looked at Glory with a confused look in his eye as she rested her head on his chest, even letting her scales flash a warm pink. She even allowed herself to release one tear from her eye as she gently nuzzled into Deathbringer's warm scales. "Thank you Deathbringer. I didn't think I would need to hear that. I would probably hear it from Clay or Tsunami…but from you of all dragons? In either case, I needed to hear that" Glory told him quietly.
It was then that Deathbringer slowly wrapped a wing around the RainWing Queen and gently nuzzled her head to offer tender comfort to her. Unknowingly to them, this exchange caused both of them to emit slow, quiet purrs of affection to each other, with their eyes closed as they went. Normally if he did this kind of affection, Glory would be smacking him off and driving him away for that, asserting her queenly dominance. However, given that he comforted her like this, which isn't the norm for him, Glory felt that her showing him this kind of affection was something he earned that night. Still, she did want him to know she was still a queen. She opened her eyes and looked at her bodyguard with a sly glance, pretending to be authoritative.
"Heh, don't get too comfortable with this." Glory told him in a low voice laced with sarcasm. "You're still a nuisance of a bodyguard in my eyes"
All Deathbringer did was look back at his queen and grow a sly, but surprisingly warm smile."There's the Queen Glory I'm loyal to," Deathbringer jokingly responded as his wing gently tightened its grip around the RainWing.
That got Glory to quietly giggle at his playful response. "You are unbelievable sometimes…" Glory replied, as she gently nuzzled her head into Deathbringer's chest…