Glorious Politics
AN: Man! Once I started writing this, it just wouldn't stop! There's two characters introduced in this chapter, but an idea for one of them came to me last night, and I just couldn't stop writing this chapter until it was done once I woke up. Seriously, this whole thing (5.5k words) was done in one day!
Before I get into the chapter, I just wanted to mention this real quick. One of the OCs submitted to me will end up appearing much later in this story, permission already given for this. And he decided to make a Glorious Politics canon-compliant backstory/tie-in of his character. If you're interested, the story is called 'Wings of Fire: Paths of Blood' by SpyroAndSisuFan. There might just be a teaser for a future plot point in this story within his...
Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. My OCs Mistral and Diamondback belong to me.
Chapter Thirteen:
Over the next week, she and Mistral continued with the Nightwing census. When she brought Greatness' suggestion to make a second copy so she could review it while they worked, he admitted to it being a good idea, even if he hated giving the former Nightwing princess credit. Continuing with his trend of surprising her, however, she actually found Mistral's presence...tolerable. Even if he wasn't going out of his way to be overly friendly, he was still polite and, dare she say, good company.
Normally, she'd spend most of her days alone in her office, but with Mistral, Diamondback, Moon, and Qibli keeping her company, she was beginning to realize how much she missed simply talking to other dragons. That's not to say she was a complete chatterbox, but if a conversation came up, she would contribute to it. Of course, since Moon and Qibli weren't here on assignment, they usually went off to do their own things, too, so they weren't always around. And Diamondback was on assignment, so he tried to remain professional while on duty. In other words, it was Mistral she usually ended up talking with.
She was still trying to wrap her head around that.
Their conversations were just about simple things, neither of them willing to delve too deeply into their respective pasts. They spoke mostly about the current geopolitical state of Pyrrhia, such as the unrest in the Sea Kingdom or the latest gossip from the Sky Kingdom. They sometimes spoke about the weather, it having rained more this week than Mistral's first week here. Other times they discussed the reason he was here: the census and his investigation. They spoke of what their next step should be once this census was finally done.
True to her word, she told him about her conversation with Winter, too. He was relieved at hearing the Prince was alive, of course, but he also understood why Winter had decided to remain in hiding. They attempted to puzzle out what he meant by another lead, but, in the end, realized they would never know anything for certain. When he asked to use the dreamvisitor, Glory allowed him to borrow it, hoping that he might get Winter to reveal some more about his location and intentions. But the next day revealed no such luck.
Right now, they had just finished another day of interviews, meaning they had a little over a week left before they were finished with this part of the investigation. It was still a few hours before sunset, so the five of them—her, Mistral, Diamondback, Moon, and Qibli—were simply spending the rest of the day together. Even if Mistral was more focused on his papers and Diamondback was still on duty, the two occasionally shared a comment on something or other. Both of them were definitely listening, however, because the topic of discussion was too interesting not to.
"That bad, huh?" Glory asked. Qibli had just received word from the Sand Kingdom. Hailstorm had finished his investigation into Qibli's old Wing members, and based on his expression, it wasn't hard to figure out that it wasn't good news.
"Yeah..." he admitted, Moon draping a wing around him in support. "Hailstorm was thorough, I'll give him that. He not only went through the reports from two weeks ago but from the past year. And apparently, he wasn't impressed." He sighed. "They may have been caught this time, but Hailstorm uncovered reports mentioning their bad behavior. Apparently, when another officer filed a complaint against them, they simply used their status to intercept it before they reached the Queen. There were just too many reports this time for them to nab."
"But why were they acting like this in the first place?" Moon asked. "I thought they loved having you as a Wing leader."
"They did," Diamondback confirmed. According to Thorn's letter, Diamondback had been the first dragon investigated, though the old veteran had no knowledge of it. Thankfully, Hailstorm had found no evidence that suggested Diamondback was a part of this ne'er-do-welling.
"But I'm starting to think it was only because I wasn't strict enough," Qibli muttered. "I didn't pay enough attention to their off-duty behavior because I trusted them, and they took advantage of me."
"So what was the verdict?" Glory asked after a moment of silence.
Qibli unrolled the scroll again and looked over the contents. "Four have been given sizable fines, but they were only involved with minor things. Three have been dishonorably discharged with orders to leave the capital, and the last one, the leader, I'd wager, was court-martialed and imprisoned. I knew she was one of Blister's soldiers, but I didn't think she'd take after her old leader so well. Apparently, she was extorting a lot of the businesses in the city, threatening them with whatever if they didn't pay a protection fee."
"Dishonorable scum," Mistral commented as he continued reviewing his scrolls.
Qibli just sighed at that. "And I never even knew of the corruption within my own ranks."
"How long had this been going on?" Glory wondered. "Surely an extortion racket like that would have been noticed sooner or later."
"About three months by Hailstorm's reckoning." Qibli shook his head as he closed the scroll. "And mother isn't happy with me. She says I should've figured it out sooner, and she's right. I should have. I guess years of complacence has made my mind dull or something."
Diamondback shook his head. "You're still sharp, sir. Neither of us wanted to see the worst in the ones we've served for years with. You trusted them, and they betrayed you. That's their problem. Not yours." Qibli didn't look too convinced, but he nodded in thanks, regardless.
Before anyone else had the chance to speak, however, one of the guards posted at the entrance peeked inside. "Um...Your Highness? Queen Anemone is here to see you."
All five heads snapped over to the guard in utter shock. "Queen!?" Qibli asked, just as shocked as the rest of them. "When did that happen!?"
"Just under two weeks ago," came the matter-of-fact response as the new Seawing Queen entered with a smirk. "It isn't public knowledge yet."
"Wow..." Glory heard Moon whisper, though it wasn't from the words Anemone spoke. It was the sheer amount of jewelry she was wearing. The Rainwing Queen wasn't ashamed to admit that she was just as awestruck as everyone else because Anemone probably had more piercings than Rainwings had colors...and that was saying something.
Starting at her tail, Glory could spy a golden tailpiece covering the tip of the Seawing's tail like armor. Moving forward, she wore golden, bejeweled talons over her own, natural talons. And then there were golden anklets and bracelets with pearls inlayed in their centers and flanked by a pair of amethysts. Golden chains were pierced through her wing membranes in a 'U' shape. The top two piercings were close to her wing arms themselves, and the bottoms were centered in the middle of each section of membrane. The chains were loose enough to seem to sag to make them actually look like a 'U' instead of a 'V'. And they were both on the outside and inside of her wings.
Three pearl necklaces, each one bigger than the last were situation around her neck. The largest sat comfortably around the center of her chest while the smallest only sat around the base of her neck. The middle necklace was perfectly spaced between the two. Golden bands adorned her horns, as well, with the tips capped in a gold covering. Thin chains dangled from the bottom of both the band and the cap, connecting to each other, and then the band connected to the middle of three earrings on each side. All three earrings were simply circles, yet the middle had another chain that dangled down almost to the bottom of her jaw. Connected to that chain was a circular pendant with a large pearl inlay, surrounded by eight small diamonds.
Three amethyst studs were pierced below each eye to match the bioluminescent scales while another small, gold ring was pierced through the outside corner of her eyes. Four bands about talon-wide were pierced through her lower lip, two near the back where her jaws met and two near the front right before her chin. Another small golden chain connected the two, the slack left dangling just enough to let the bottom-most point just peak beneath the bottom of her muzzle. Twin amethysts flanked the chains on each of the bands. Another, similar band was pierced through the center of her top lip. On that one, there was a pearl inlayed in the middle while two chains, one on each side, extended upwards with a small amount of slack to connect to small golden rings pierced through the bottom of each nostril.
But then came the two most striking pieces. Moderately-sized golden hoops were pierced through the bottom of each of her gills and connect by golden chains that dangled quite a ways down and almost appeared like a golden veil on each side of her neck. Completing that appearance, three bands—one directly in the middle of her bottom jaw, one near the base of her neck, and the third in the exact middle of the two—were also connected by golden chains that dangled down like a veil.
Anemone's smirk widened at seeing all of their near-identical expressions of shock and awe. "I know I'm fabulous, don't worry," she stated, highly amused.
On any other dragon, Glory would say the amount of jewelry would be completely excessive. But the precise placement of each piercing and length of each chain didn't appear chaotic at all. It was more like Anemone was using her own body as her canvas for artistic expression. All of them could see that the new Seawing Queen was immensely proud of the way she looked. And she had every right to be. Because she truly did look beautiful, like a regal Queen of old. "That's...wow..." Glory began and then stopped, not knowing what to say.
Realizing none of them had actually said anything yet, Anemone's expression fell. "You don't like it, do you?"
"Well...it is a lot," Moon admitted, making Anemone look over herself. "I definitely wouldn't wear that much...but I suppose it looks nice on you." Glory could tell that Moon wasn't as sold as the rest of them. Diamondback and Qibli couldn't stop staring to Glory's great amusement and Anemone's great satisfaction. Mistral seemed neutral about the whole thing on the outside, though the fact he was actually studying Anemone's body art showed he was obviously intrigued.
"Don't patronize me, Moon. I can tell you're not a fan," Moon shrugged, making Anemone huff in amusement. While the two's relationship had started out rough back when Darkstalker was first released, Anemone had eventually apologized for her actions and behavior and the two were relatively close friends now.
Speaking of which, Anemone had changed dramatically in the past decade. No longer was she a spoiled, selfish, and arrogant dragonet. Over the years, she had become a mature dragoness who cared for her tribe. Although...Glory knew, as did a vast majority of Pyrrhia, that Anemone still used her magic quite a bit. For what, the Rainwing didn't know, but if Anemone was still the kind and caring dragoness with an air of utter confidence about her like she was currently, it shouldn't be too bad.
"On anyone else, it'd look excessive, but I think it fits your rather outgoing and flamboyant personality," Glory observed, standing from her desk to properly greet the new Queen. Anemone had also become a good friend to her over the past decade, and while she didn't visit as often as Moon or Kinkajou, she made sure to stop by at least once or twice a year.
And she noticed, after not seeing her for nearly eight months at this point, that Anemone had grown a bit more since last time they saw each other. Glory was a bit smaller than average for an adult Rainwing—she could only assume it was because she never received the proper amount of sunlight when she was stuck in that cave—so she was used to dragons being larger than her. Still, she remembered when Anemone was still young and not even half her size. Now, the new Seawing Queen stood almost three heads taller than her, and Glory knew that meant she was also larger than her older sister, Tsunami, at this point.
"I'll consider that a compliment, seeing as how that's exactly what I was hoping for," the Seawing joked, holding out bejeweled talons for Glory to shake. The gold felt surprisingly warm when she did, and Anemone pulled her in for a quick hug, the many chains bouncing off of Glory's scales with the movement.
Once they pulled away, Qibli spoke. "It looks nice, but it seems like a bit of a hassle, even if it is for royal business."
Anemone snorted and then actually laughed at Qibli's statement, making the Sandwing look utterly confused. "Silly, Qibli! This is what I wear every day. Or something similar, at least."
"You always did love fancy things," Mistral rumbled, making Anemone look at him curiously.
"You're Snowfall's friend. Mistral, right?" The Icewing nodded, and Glory huffed in annoyance. Here was yet someone else who knew Mistral when she hadn't even heard of him. Although...he seemed just as surprised as Glory that Anemone knew him. Then, Anemone shrugged. "I shared a pleasant dinner and conversation with her four days ago." Then, she turned to Glory. "Since we're already friends, I figured you should be my last stop, so I came here after meeting with her."
Diamondback looked a bit dubious. "Hang on. It only took you three days to fly from the Ice Palace to here? Even using the tunnel, that'd take a normal Seawing almost a week."
The Seawing didn't appear too impressed by Diamondback's statement. "Animus, remember?" Then, she rolled her eyes at his realization. "Every single one of these pieces I'm wearing has an enchantment on it."
Moon and Qibli blanched at that, and even Mistral seemed a bit nervous to hear that. "What about your soul?" Moon asked, and Glory sighed, knowing exactly what was coming. She'd heard Anemone's rather passionate opinions on her magic before, and she knew nothing and no one would ever change her mind about it.
"My soul is perfectly fine, thank you!" the Seawing snapped her gaze around to glare at the Nightwing, all the chains swinging harshly with such a quick motion before eventually settling back to their original, immaculate positionings. "That whole concept of animus magic hurting a dragon's soul is nothing but conjecture made over two thousand years ago! Albatross went insane because his sister was blackmailing him, and Darkstalker was obsessed with ruling Pyrrhia. I have no such ambitions, and I am perfectly fine! I've cast hundreds if not thousands of little spells during my life, so if each spell supposedly took away a piece of my morality, you'd think I'd be screaming for the end of the world by now. But no, I'm fine, so the only logical conclusion is that the theory from thousands of years ago is false. My theory is that dragons only go mad with power because they're too arrogant and self-assured in themselves or if they snap after a lifetime of stress.
"To prevent that happening to me, I have a rather gruesome painting of the Royal Massacre hanging on the wall in front of my bed with the names of every dragon that was killed that day. Since that painting is the first and last thing I see every day, I'm always reminded of what my powers can do if they control me. Am I tempted to make myself immortal or invincible? Yes. Do I sometimes think about what would happen if I used my powers to take control over Pyrrhia? Also yes. I have those temptations every day. But then I see that painting and remember why I shouldn't. Why I shouldn't," she stressed. "Because I absolutely could if I wanted to. I have the power to do anything I want, but I know I shouldn't. I control my powers. Not the other way around.
"I'm not going to become the next Albatross, alright? But that doesn't mean I won't use my powers at all because I absolutely will. To never use them is to deny a piece of myself. And that's as good as thinking that my magic is wrong, which it isn't. It is a part of me—one I have both accepted and embraced. Even still, I only ever use it on my own belongings to make my life a bit easier. I have never enchanted something for anyone else unless it's a life or death situation, and I have and will never enchant something that could be used as a weapon." By the end of her tirade, Anemone was breathing a bit hard, such was her passion. But then, she closed her eyes and exhaled to calm herself.
Anemone looked around at the others to await their response, and it was Mistral who spoke after a length of silence. "Well said."
Anemone huffed in amusement. "I've had a lot of practice."
"I don't approve of your choice to use your magic so frivolously, but I am aware there is nothing I could say to change your mind. I only hope you know your limit once you reach them." Anemone just scoffed and rolled her eyes once again.
"If I reach them, I'll make sure you're the first to know. But I never will, so there's no point in this pointless prattle." Glory surveyed the room, reading a tenseness that had only increased after Anemone's monologue. It had been there the entire time, yet the novelty of Anemone's appearance was a good distraction. Now, however...
"I hate to be the one to ask this," Glory began, making the new Queen look to her curiously. "If you're Queen now, does that mean..." she trailed off when the Seawing began shaking her head.
"Mother is alive." And like that, everyone in the room, save Mistral, breathed a collective sigh of relief. The Icewing, though he never asked, was doubtless curious how Anemone could be Queen while Coral was still alive. And the only reason Glory knew he was curious about that was because she herself was, too. Once she figured out the unasked question, Anemone shrugged. "I didn't use magic if that's what you think. I fought her fairly and won easily. She didn't want to lose anymore daughters, and since I didn't want to kill my own mother, we reached a compromise. She's still allowed to live in the palace, but she holds no authority anymore."
Moon was the next to ask a question. "Does Tsunami know?"
"She does," Anemone nodded. "She's happy that mother is alive, of course, but she's also glad that I decided to take the throne." There were quite a few skeptical looks at that, making the Seawing explain what she meant. "Tsunami is happy at Jade Mountain, and I genuinely think she doesn't want to be Queen. Secondly, mother hasn't been a very active Queen in a long time. I think her guilt over ignoring her sons and the grief at losing both father and her daughters have finally caught up to her. Admittedly, I didn't stick around the palace for very long after the fight since I wanted to go around and inform the other Queens of the new change before the public found out, but she seemed happier at not having to worry about the stress of ruling a Kingom."
"So what's your plan then?" Glory asked, making Anemone grin.
"I'm so glad you asked. Tortoise!" A few moments of confused silence went by before Anemone called the same name. "Tortoise!" Another moment of no one answering, and then Anemone rolled her eyes with an exasperated groan. She walked outside for a moment, but her voice could still be heard from inside. "Tortoise! Stop talking with Turtle for two seconds and get up here!"
A flurry of wingbeats sounded from outside as Anemone walked back in. Turtle came in behind her, and then... "Wait a minute..." A second Turtle came in with Kinkajou right after. "Two Turtles?" she asked quietly, looking to Moon and Qibli to see if they had any explanation. They didn't.
"Sorry, sis, I was just—" one of the Turtles, though it didn't sound at all like him.
"I know. You were talking with Turtle. I swear you act like you never see him, but you do every time he comes to visit." The Turtle lookalike, who Glory assumed was actually Tortoise, grinned sheepishly as Anemone turned back to Glory. "This is my brother, Tortoise. And if you couldn't tell, him and Turtle hatched in the same clutch and ended up looking nearly identical."
"No kidding..." Qibli muttered, looking between the two. The only thing Glory could pick out were the eye colors. Their scales and general builds were pretty much the same. "I think the Kinkajou is really the only way to tell them apart," he finished with a grin, making the mentioned Kinkajou stick her tongue out at him.
Turtle and Tortoise just looked at each other in confusion. "We don't look that similar," Turtle argued, his lookalike nodding in agreement.
Anemone just pushed Turtle away. "You know you do, numbskull. Now quiet. Your Queen still has business to attend to," she commented before realizing that Turtle hadn't actually known about it as soon as her brother recoiled from her in shock.
"When did—" he tried.
Only to have Anemone interrupt him. "I'll tell you about it later," she responded apologetically. Though Tortoise leaned over to whisper something in his brother's ear, and Turtle seemed to sag in relief. "Now...With my, shall we say, surplus of brothers, I've decided to leave one in each Kingdom to negotiate in my stead. Doing it myself would take too long as I have to get back to the Sea Kingdom to address my new subjects, and then establish my council, and then manage the unrest that will surely follow. Not looking forward to it...But! That's future me's problem."
As Anemone trailed off on her slight tangent, Glory looked to the new Seawing Queen with slight worry. "What do you mean 'negotiate'?"
Instead of answering, Anemone gave a pointed look to Tortoise, who stepped forward. "With the former Queen Coral now deposed, all former treaties between the Rain Kingdom and Sea Kingdom have become null. Therefore, I have been given the task of helping draft new treaties, based on Queen Anemone's wishes and demands, to secure the friendship and prosperity of the two Kingdoms." With his obvious recital over, he stepped back, making Anemone nod in satisfaction of his performance.
Glory bit back a groan. This was the absolute last thing she needed right now. True, she wasn't doing much to help Mistral with the census, but it was better than negotiating new treaties, especially ones with Anemone. Because, as her impeccably placed piercings and jewelry could attest, she was very obsessed with the minute details. "But you two can get better acquainted tomorrow. We haven't seen each other in ages, and since Moon and Kinkajou are here, what better way to hang out than a dragoness' night?"
Moon and Kinkajou looked excited by the prospect, and they looked over to Glory to await her decision, much to the amusement of the two's respective husbands. With all three of them begging her to agree with their gazes alone, she finally caved. "Alright, fine...but what are we going to do? It sounds like it's about to start raining again," she spoke, the thunder rumbling ominously above them.
She had hoped the current foul weather would deter any hijinks, but Anemone shrugged. "I'm not afraid of getting wet, but what I have planned doesn't require leaving."
"Should we leave?" Qibli asked, Turtle nodding. Right when Turtle stood, Anemone pushed him back down, Moon doing the same to Qibli with a small giggle.
"Not yet, my dear dragons. I'll need your help for this first part." She made a show of pushing everyone to the walls to clear space in the center of the room. "Alright...Bring me my chest!" And then, like magic—because it probably was—a massive, ornate wooden chest appeared directly in front of Anemone. Curious, everyone gathered around when she opened it.
Of course, everyone also got even more confused when they saw what was inside. "It's empty," Kinkajou observed. And it was. Except for the mirror embedded in the lid, at least.
"For now," Anemone grinned. "This...is my single most treasured possession," she began, getting skeptical looks from everyone. The Seawing Queen just chuckled. "I know it doesn't look like much now, but trust me. This chest is enchanted with the longest, most complex spell I have ever made. Like, seriously, it was probably at least a few thousand words long."
"What does it do?" Qibli wondered. Ever since Darkstalker's defeat, he'd become a lot more interested in animus magic. Glory was sure part of it was because of Turtle's magic, whether he was jealous or just curious, she couldn't say for certain, but she was leaning towards the former. Even still, according to Moon, it was one of his favorite topics to learn about and debate over.
"All of my jewelry is contained in this chest," she began, making a few glance back at the empty chest with clear skepticism. "And when I say all of it, I mean all of it. Simply put, if I had to store all of it like normal, I'd probably have like thirty chests of this size full of stuff." Everyone just stared at her, and she looked at all of them in turn. "Okay...it's more like twenty," she huffed.
"You must love jewelry," Kinkajou pointed out as if that wasn't obvious with how much the Seawing was currently wearing.
In response, Anemone grinned and shook herself, the chains along her body going wild, though none made as much as a sound except for the impacts they made along her body. Another enchantment, Glory supposed "Oh, I love it! I'd wear it all if I could!" Another shake, and Glory had to admit that Anemone seemed positively radiant with joy at feeling all of her jewelry swish about and pull against her scales. "It's how I express myself. Sometimes I prefer gold, others copper or bronze. Sometimes I like my wing chains, other times I don't. Sometimes I like sapphires, yet amethysts are my favorite right now. And pearls? Don't even get me started." She laughed to herself, a sound of utter glee as she looked at her bodily adornments.
"Well, you've found what makes you happy," Qibli teased, and Anemone tossed her head dramatically before giggling again. "So what's up with this box?"
Now that they were back on topic, the Seawing turned back to her box for the big reveal. "Watch." She closed the box and spoke. "Show me silver earrings." When she opened the chest, it was about a quarter full of silver earrings of all shapes, sizes, and origins. Anemone studied Moon for a moment before closing the lid again. "Filter: emeralds." When it was opened, only a few dozen were left scattered on the bottom. Anemone studied the choices for a moment before grabbing a pair and holding them up to Moon's ears. "What do you think?"
"Well, I can't really see the mirror," Moon said.
"Not you. Qibli?" The Sandwing perked up and studied them for a minute. "Do you have a matching necklace?"
A massive grin was his answer. "Do Sandwings like Sand?" She let Moon hold the earrings for the time being as she shut the chest. "Reset," she commanded. "Show me silver necklaces. Filter: emeralds." She opened it again to reveal the chest to be quarter full of silver necklaces with embedded emeralds. "Take your pick."
Qibli spent the next few minutes going through all the different necklaces before he settled on one. "This one." He held it up against her chest, and Anemone nodded appreciatively.
"Anything else?" Anemone asked him.
"What?" Moon blinked.
"Pick anything you want to see her in," she told Qibli, ignoring Moon's horrified look. "Anything at all. Then it's your turn, Turtle." Kinkajou was all but bouncing in joy at the prospect of being covered in jewelry, but Glory hoped she wouldn't go all out like Anemone had. She wasn't sure anyone else could pull off that much jewelry.
"Then what about Glory?" Moon suddenly asked, desperately trying to get out of this, though it was too late at this point. She had agreed to this when Anemone suggested dragoness' night.
Anemone thought for a moment, her gaze landing on Diamondback. "I'm just a guard, Your Highness."
She huffed before looking at Mistral. "What about you, Icewing? What do you think Glory would look good in?"
Glory about died in embarrassment at the question, and she suddenly couldn't even look in his direction. Yes, they were getting along better, but this was a rather personal thing Anemone was asking. He'd already said they weren't friends, so—
"I think some earrings and ruff piercings might look nice," he commented, and Glory snapped a surprised, and mildly horrified, gaze over to him. He stood from his desk, where he had watched the entire spectacle, and walked up to her. Then, he studied her for a moment, his claws coming up to brush her ruff which flared light red to show her embarrassment. "Perhaps a chain like yours from here to here." He touched the lowest part of her ruff to the one right above it.
Anemone studied her ruff as more of Glory's scales were beginning to turn light red, the others snickering at her embarrassment. "Hmm...I suppose I could see that. I'm thinking either gold or copper. What do you think?"
"Gold would fit her normal colors better, I think," he answered.
"Excuse me? Don't I get a say in this? This is my body we're talking about right now," she finally argued, stepping away from the two of them.
"Would you rather DB did it?" Anemone asked before looking around as she realized she hadn't seen him. "Where is he, anyway?" Glory's glare was enough of an answer for her, so she wisely dropped the question after a moment. Besides, loathe she was to admit it, she'd rather Mistral do it than him—even if it wasn't by a very wide margin.
"I just have one question before we start this," Kinkajou began. "Do we get to keep the stuff our males pick?" Anemone snorted in amusement but nodded. Kinkajou went pure pink at that before turning to Turtle. "Go crazy," she ordered him, much to Anemone's amusement.
"So after we finish picking out everything, we just leave?" Qibli wondered, and Anemone nodded. "Which means we won't be able to see them until tomorrow...ooh the suspense is already killing me!"
"Qibli!" Moon shrieked in utter embarrassment, her cheeks burning with a fierce blush. "You know I don't like stuff like that." His grin fell a bit before he looked over at Anemone for help.
Anemone grabbed Moon's attention. "What about something only Qibli could enjoy?" The Seawing stuck out her tongue, and to everyone's surprise, she had three small pearls studded into it.
Glory couldn't help but wince at the thought of something being stuck in her tongue, and Kinkajou didn't seem too thrilled about the prospect, either. Moon, however... "Are you actually considering it?" Qibli wondered, baffled at the look of intrigue on Moon's face.
"M-Maybe," the Nightwing admitted.
Anemone's face came up right next to Moon's, and she didn't let Moon pull away. "Just think about it, Qibli," she whispered almost seductively. "She'll have a secret piece of her body that only you will ever get to know about."
"She already has one of those," he muttered, to which everyone gasped and then snickered. Moon blushed deep scarlet before she smacked him, hard, over the head. "OW!" Moon hid behind her wings, too embarrassed to show herself.
"Then why say no to a second?" Anemone asked, rubbing Moon's back with a teasing grin. "Oh come on, Moon," she pressed gently when Moon shrugged her away. "We're just teasing, you know that. Besides, this is all about making yourself irresistible to these big, handsome males...and Turtle."
"Hey!" Turtle shouted, indignant. Kinkajou just giggled at his expense.
Moon peaked her head out and looked around, still blushing, and leaned over to whisper in Anemone's ear. The Seawing Queen grinned and nodded. "We can do that." Then she clapped her claws together with an excited grin. "Shall we get started?"
AN: I bet I know what you're thinking: 'That was an interesting take on Anemone'. Yes, I agree. But we've seen from the books that she likes fancy stuff, especially jewelry, so I don't think it's too far of a stretch to think she might end up with more gold chain links than actual scales. Interested to hear thoughts about her. And that includes her becoming Queen and her rather philosophical outlook on life regarding her magic.
Secondly, yes. I know there was a dragon named Tortoise in the second book that got killed. But I liked the idea of Turtle having an identical twin, and the name just fit so well since the average person doesn't really know the difference between a turtle and a tortoise (myself included, and I take no shame admitting that).
I know there wasn't much that happened in this one, but Tortoise is going to be around for the next little bit, and I plan on doing some more stuff with Anemone in the future. So this chapter was mostly just to introduce them and establish their characters a bit. Plus, Anemone's little ploy might have some unforeseen consequences in the future for two characters in particular.
But that'll be for later...
I'm on Wings of Fire Roblox every Saturday from 6-7 pm Central US time. Come join us in the dining hall if you want to chat. My username is the same as my name on here if you want to send a friend request.
Until Next Time
AdmiralCole22