Glorious Politics

AN: I know I've been putting a lot of these chapters out lately, but this is what I have the motivation to do right now, so this is what I'm doing. I am working on the next chapter of Dragons Change and will probably have it out this weekend, however, so I'm not just putting it off. I'd like to think that any progress on any story is good progress.

And for the two reviewers that left long rants about why Sobek shouldn't be the only one punished, I have two things to say. First, those rants were hilarious, and I cracked up reading them (probably wasn't your intention, but it happened). And two, the word 'Politics' is in the story title for a reason. A lot of plot points in this story are going to revolve around tribal politics, and as such will take time to resolve. Just please be patient. Everyone that deserves to be punished will be punished eventually.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. All of my OCs belong to me.

Chapter Six:

The next time she excused herself from the office was at the start of suntime. It was a normal thing for Rainwings to do, and some Nightwings had even adopted the practice. Who wouldn't like an hour-long power nap in the middle of the day, after all? It seemed, however, that after all these years, she finally found someone who didn't approve of the idea. Mistral had sneered in open contempt when she declared what she was going to do. 'It's a waste of time', he said, 'While you laze about, the rest of us will be working,'

She hadn't been this self-conscious about her own biology in a long time—not since Scarlet's Arena. It was a normal thing for her, yet she sometimes forgot that some of the other tribes looked down upon the idea. More than a few Rainwings sent to Jade Mountain got teased or even bullied over something they couldn't help. It was a harsh wakeup call for them, just as it was for her in this situation. No one had said anything against it to her in a long time, so she had just been caught off-guard.

It didn't stop her from taking her usual nap, but she was in a fouler mood than usual when she woke up. "Thought you might be up here," a friendly voice commented. Glory turned to see Moon alighting on her platform. "I hope I didn't disturb you."

"No, you didn't," she shook her head, her mood improving a bit now that Moon was here. "I just woke up, so you're fine. What did Thorn say?" She didn't bother with pleasantries and instead got right down to business.

Moon winced slightly, and Glory knew right then that whatever happened hadn't been good. "Well...she wasn't happy, to say the least. I haven't seen her that angry in a long time." This time, Glory winced. She had been expecting the Sandwing Queen to be understandably angry, but that just meant Sobek's punishment would be bad. "I know you said you preferred not to involve Queen Snowfall, but she's already sent a letter to the Ice Kingdom." Glory frowned at that. She had said in her message that she preferred not to involve the Icewings, but she understood that Thorn had that obligation. It didn't stop the Rainwing Queen from hoping Thorn would ignore that just this once, though. "She said you would understand." And she did. But she didn't have to like it. Queen Snowfall and Queen Thorn were very close allies due to geography alone. Thorn couldn't afford risking Snowfall's wrath by keeping something like this from her. "She also said that she would send Qibli with orders on what to do."

Glory sighed, but it was out of her claws now. Snowfall would learn the truth, and Sobek would pay the price. What that price was, she wasn't sure, but she knew Thorn wouldn't have him executed. The fact he used to be one of her best Outclaws counted quite a bit as far as the Sandwing Queen was concerned, she knew. She had an idea on what the punishment for Sobek's actions would be, but she wasn't entirely certain. She hoped for his sake she was wrong, though.

And it would all be because she had to cover her own tail.

"Don't think like that, Glory," Moon pleaded her. "Sobek is a good dragon, but he made a really bad mistake. That was his decision, so you can't blame yourself for that." She knew her Nightwing friend was right, but that didn't stop her from feeling just a little guilty.

In an effort to change the subject—and because she actually did have something else to tell Moon—Glory shook her head and brought up what Mistral said earlier. "I spoke to Mistral about Winter," she began, and Moon was suddenly alert and listening intently. "Apparently, he was attacked a few years ago in his home outside Sanctuary, but there was no sign of him or his attacker when dragons went looking for him. Mistral thinks his disappearance might have something to do with the Icewing killings that have been happening. My theory is that Winter somehow fought his assailant off but got spooked and went into hiding."

Moon thought about that for a moment before shaking her head, and Glory raised an eye ridge at that. "It's a good theory except for one little detail. Winter doesn't get 'spooked'."

"You have a better theory?" Glory challenged.

"I do," Moon nodded. "And it's that Winter isn't hiding. If he hasn't been found, it's because he doesn't want to be found. Not because he's scared, but because he's trying to figure out who tried to have him killed."

"You think he's doing his own investigation." It wasn't a question, but Moon nodded. The more Glory thought about it, the more convinced she was that it was possible. Winter might not have been a very good Icewing, but he was no slouch in combat. She'd seen him fight before, and he was one of a very small number of dragons that could beat Jackass in a one-on-one fight.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Moon sighed. "I wish I knew he was alright, and that he wasn't actually captured or hurt or something."

Glory studied her for a moment, "Actually...there is," she told the Nightwing, who looked at her in confusion and growing hope. "We could try dreamvisiting him." Of the three dreamvisitors that Darkstalker had enchanted, two of them were locked up in secure locations. One was in the Skywing vaults, another was in the Sandwing treasury, but the third was still in Jade Mountain under Sunny's care. It would be a simple matter to send a letter asking to borrow it.

"Oh, could you? Please?" the Nightwing all but begged her, and Glory nodded. It was a bit annoying that Moon read her mind without her permission, but there wasn't necessarily anything wrong with it. It's not like Glory had any kind of tribal secrets or special operations going on. The Rainforest was a quiet place with little worries, and that's just the way she liked it. "Sorry..." Moon muttered sheepishly, and Glory waved off her apology.

"Yeah, that's no big deal. I'll get to work on a letter as soon as I get back to my office, and I know just the dragon to deliver it for me. Would you mind telling Turtle I have a job for him?" Moon nodded and gave her an appreciative smile before heading off to fulfill Glory's request.

It was almost strange for her to return to her office after suntime by herself. This was the first time in years that Jackass hadn't been here to escort her back. She made it back without incident, though, and there were more important things to focus on than something like that. Upon entering her office, the only one who greeted her cordially was Diamondback. Sobek was still sulking, and Mistral was still affronted by her very existence.

Not letting the hostile work environment get to her, she pulled out yet another new scroll and started a letter bound for Jade Mountain. She didn't go into much detail, so the letter didn't take very long to write. It was basically only a few sentences long, but that's all she needed to request use of the dreamvisitor. She didn't mention who she wanted to contact or why, but then again, she didn't have to. They knew she wouldn't have asked for it unless it was important, and they all trusted each other enough to not grow suspicious over vague requests.

By the time Turtle and Kinkajou arrived about ten minutes later with a surprising lack of a Nightwing following them, she had already long been finished with it. "Moon said you had a job for us?" Turtle asked, ever the calm dragon, though he was glancing at the three much larger dragons a bit nervously.

Kinkajou, being Kinajou, wasn't nervous. Instead, she was the bubbly, friendly dragon she usually was. Even if Turtle hadn't recognized him right away, Kinkajou recognized Sobek and greeted him enthusiastically. "Hey, Sobek! What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in forever!" Despite the fact Sobek had been in a foul mood for the last few hours, Kinkajou's energy had a way of turning the Sandwing's frown into an affectionate smile. The two shared a quick hug before the energetic Rainwing all but bounced to the other Sandwing, shaking his claw and introducing herself, asking all kinds of random rapid-fire questions like, "What's your name? Why are you here? How are you doing? Do you know Sobek? Do the two of you work together? Who's the better fighter?" She could tell the older Sandwing was a bit overwhelmed by the small Rainwing, and Sobek actually laughed at her antics.

Turtle kept trying to get her to calm down despite knowing it was futile. Glory had long since learned to just let Kinkajou get it all out of her system. However, the surprised gasp made her realize that one of her guests probably wouldn't appreciate Kinkajou's Kinkajou-ness. "An Icewing!? I haven't seen one of those in ages! Hi! Who are—"

Thankfully, Mistral didn't actually do anything and merely glared at the bubbly dragoness, curling his lip in warning not to enter his personal space. However, she wasn't going to risk another incident by not doing anything. "Kinkajou! Sit!" Her voice was strong and commanding, and hopefully it was enough to make the bundle of energy listen for once.

Her younger friend looked surprised by the sudden order, but she complied, plopping down on her rump with an, "Aw..."

Giving a soft sigh in relief, she calmly introduced her Icewing guest to satisfy Kinkajou—and Turtle, who seemed a bit more curious now. "This is Lord Mistral. He's here by Queen Snowfall's request and will be staying in the rainforest for the foreseeable future."

"What for?" Kinkajou blurted out her question.

"It's classified," was Mistral's immediate answer as he returned back to work, not even sparing the two of them a glance.

"What's that—" Turtle began but stopped upon noticing Glory glaring at him. He closed his mouth and sat quietly after that.

Now that she had their attention and had satisfied their curiosity for the moment, she got down to the actual reason she had called them here. "I have a letter that needs to be delivered to Jade Mountain and thought this would be a good chance for you to see your sister," Glory explained to Turtle, who perked up at the idea.

He nodded immediately. "Yeah, I can do that. We haven't been there for a while, have we?" he addressed the Rainwing sitting next to him, who shook her head, a large smile nearly splitting her face in half. Glory held up the scroll she needed wordlessly, though she refused to let it go when Turtle came up to grab it.

"I know you'll probably want to mingle, but you can't waste any time in returning, alright? It's important for you to return as soon as possible." She pinned him with a serious expression until he nodded a bit more nervously than before. Satisfied, she surrendered the scroll to him. "Alright, then get going."

"We'll be back before you say 'what'!" was Kinkajou's parting words, and she zipped out of the office, leaving several confused dragons in her wake. Turtle followed behind her much more slowly.

"Uh...what?" Diamondback asked, though no one answered him.

"Is she always like that?" Mistral asked, clearly annoyed at her spontaneous and 'uncouth' behavior. A single look from Glory was all the answer he apparently needed, so he just scoffed and went back to work.

Thankfully, the rest of the day was quiet and without interruptions. Because of that, she was able to read all of the reports from the other Kingdoms to catch up on current events. Her favorite one to read was always the one from Jade Mountain. It was just nice to know what her friends—though they were the closest thing she had to a family—were up to and how they were doing. Jambu may have been her brother—and a lovable idiot—but he was too free-spirited to acknowledge the fact he was technically royalty. He was fun and wild and adventurous, and he just didn't have to capacity to sit still, and he had absolutely no interest in the 'boring' things she did as Queen. His words, not hers.

He still stopped by now and then to see how she was doing, though. He and Kinkajou were close friends, and she had to wonder if maybe they might've gotten together if not for Turtle. Though, she had to admit that the idea of her brother and her best friend in a relationship was just...weird to think about.

A lot of the other reports just said a lot of the same things. The Sand Kingdom was prospering under Thorn's rule, the Ice Kingdom was just as chilly as ever—both physically and politically—there was quite a bit of tension between Anemone and her mother, making many dragons wonder if perhaps the Princess was going to challenge her mother for the throne soon. The Mud Kingdom was full of mud and not much ever happened there. The only alarming report was from the Sky Kingdom. Apparently, another Icewing had been found dead with no sign of the killer. With no leads and the lack of results in these continued killings, the general populace was getting restless, demanding action on the part of their Queen. Glory highly doubted it was because the Skywings were concerned about the dead Icewings. She found it more likely that they were concerned about if the killers started turning their attention to them.

Deciding that Mistral probably needed to see that particular letter, she passed it to him. He took it, albeit suspiciously, before reading it silently. When he was done, he set it down with a growl and immediately went back to work. Glory was mildly surprised at his reaction as she had expected him to rant and rave or get angry in a more typical fashion. While he was clearly angry, it was more of an intense suppressed rage than anything, and Glory made the wise decision to not mess with him for the next few days after that.

He had been rather aggressive and in a foul mood ever since he arrived, yet he seemed downright dangerous after reading that report. He was short-tempered yet quiet at the same time. And he wasn't the only one.

Sobek had stopped sulking, at least, but he had instead become rather brooding while on the job. She had initially asked for the Sandwings' presence because Mistral intimidated her, yet the younger Sandwing was beginning to make her nervous, as well. She actively made sure she was never alone with either of them just in case, and Diamondback seemed to recognize her anxiety because he never left her side that whole week. He was completely professional and courteous if a bit gruff, and Moon's introduction of him being a good dragon despite being quiet and grumpy seemed to be spot on.

Speaking of Moon, she popped in every now and again during the week just to check up on how they were all doing. It was during her visits that Sobek seemed to relax and smile more, and while she was grateful for the Sandwing being in a better mood, Mistral always became downright hostile when the Nightwing came to visit. Because of that, Moon didn't stay too long, and she was really growing tired of the Icewing's poor attitude to her friends. Since there wasn't much she could do about it, however, she just had to deal with it.

By the end of the first week of Mistral's stay in her rainforest, however, her temper was equally short because of all the stress and tension her workplace was causing her. Mistral's insults about her lazing about during suntime hadn't ceased, either. In other words, pretty much all of the dragons in her office were a bit foul-tempered by this point, so she was grateful that something else finally broke up the monotony of the previous days.

She woke up early as she usually did. Sobek was in his guard position outside like he usually was, and Diamondback was in his usual position inside closer to her room like usual. He gave her a nod of acknowledgement when she entered the office like usual. That would make her feel good to have a friendly guard that she was coming to like before her gaze found Mistral, who was already there in her office and glaring at her for taking too long when she was already up earlier than she was used to.

And that just made the rest of the day terrible.

What made this particular morning different than normal was Greatness' arrival a couple of hours after Glory began her day. The Queen was well aware of Mistral's hatred for Nightwings at this point due to his reactions when Moon entered, yet his reaction to seeing Greatness was so much worse. Instead of merely angry growls and warning glares, his muscles tensed, and it looked as if he was forcefully holding himself back from attacking her. That, in turn, made Diamondback prepare for the worst and step between the two, which made Glory concerned that a diplomatic incident—another one, at that—was about to happen.

Seeming to understand the situation yet not appearing too concerned about the hostile Icewing, she said what she came to say without so much as a glance in Mistral's direction. "The first group is assembled in the Arboretum and are ready to begin the census interviews at your discretion, My Queen."

"Thank you, Greatness, we'll be there shortly," came Glory's professional response. Normally, things weren't quite so formal between them, but the snarling Icewing was enough to warrant some formality. She really didn't need another reason for Mistral to get on her case. He was infuriating enough to deal with already.

Greatness bowed and then left, again not even glancing in Mistral's direction. Acting as if he wasn't there was probably the best thing for her to do in that situation because Glory didn't even want to think what would happen if the former Nightwing Princess had made eye contact with him. Greatness was a valuable assistant and friend that she would definitely have Diamondback defend over the pompous, arrogant, hostile Icewing that she hated dealing with, no matter the political shitstorm that would follow.

The Icewings were far enough removed from the Rainforest that she wasn't too worried about retribution in that case. Not only would it be justified if Mistral ended up trying to kill one of her subjects, but Thorn would be a buffer against the Icewings. The Sandwing Queen would understand that Glory's reaction in such an extreme case would be justified, so she would do what she could to take the heat off.

Fortunately, that scenario remained purely hypothetical since none of that unpleasantness happened. Even so, if his reaction to Greatness was any indication, she questioned the wisdom of bringing Mistral into a crowded stadium full of Nightwings. Personal, trusted friend of Snowfall's or not, she really didn't think he was the right dragon for this job, but she couldn't really do anything about that now. It is what it is, after all.

To make sure he would be on his best behavior, she turned to Mistral with a serious glare. "Based on your reaction to Greatness, I truly question Queen Snowfall's decision to send you here." He narrowed his eyes at her dangerously at that, as if daring her to continue questioning him or his Queen. "But since you are here, I expect you to act more professional during these interviews." Throwing his favorite word back in his face seemed to be the best way to get his attention, and he scoffed at her word choice. "You snapping and attacking one of my subjects is the absolute last thing I need, but I won't hesitate to have you punished by Sand Kingdom laws if you do." Seeing as that the Rainforest was a generally peaceful place and not meant to lock up high-profile criminals, dragons who commit serious offenses in the Rainforest were sent to the Sand Kingdom for Thorn to deal with. She had the laws and infrastructure to deal with offenders such as that. And she always took care of those cases for Glory no matter what simply because she cared for her.

Mistral didn't seem too concerned with the threat of being locked up in the desert, but he nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Very well. As I said before, I can put my personal feelings aside."

"Just don't expect you to be cordial. I remember," she said, paraphrasing his words from when he first met Moon. He grunted in acknowledgement, getting together all of the scrolls and supplies he would need for the census interviews. Once he was done, he gave her a crisp nod. Since he didn't know the way to the Arboretum, he graciously allowed her to lead the way, and all she could think during the long, quiet walk there was: This is going to be a long day...

AN: There was a bit of a time skip in this one in case you missed it. That means that Mistral has been in the rainforest for a week, and his attitude has not improved at all. It also means that the census interviews are going to start in the next chapter, Qibli is finally going to arrive, and Turtle should return from Jade Mountain with the dreamvisitor, so there's going to be a lot of things going on in the next few chapters.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22