Glorious Politics

AN: I was supposed to be off today at 4. So I figured today would be the perfect day to get a lot of writing down. But life can never be so simple. Both of the people who were supposed to come in and relieve me called in, so I had to stay until 6:15. I got home at 7, two and a half hours later than I had originally planned. So that's why this is shorter than I had originally intended. I wanted it to be about 3.5k, about the same length as the chapters were when I first started. But no, this one is 2.9k because I simply lost a lot of extra time.

And I already promised to have it out today, so...

Speaking of, if you want updates about my screwy schedule and if I'll be able to post on time, find me on Twitter (X) jccole0822.

Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Wings of Fire. Nimbus, Sobek, Mistral, and Veneno are my OCs. Bloodwalker belongs to SpyroAndSisuFan. Certus, Solstice, and Swiftback belong to Epsilon33. Bear belongs to Schwanze. The concept for the character Soulseer partially belongs to SpyroAndSisuFan. Mystic belongs to Flerovium.

Chapter Forty-Six:

The one problem with her idea was their previous decision to no longer use spells once Jerboa came into the picture. The possibility of their enemies being able to monitor their use of animus magic, and the potential retaliation that would come from it, was a massive concern. However, she kept telling herself that the cult wouldn't care about a telepathic link between her and Mistral even if they were monitoring their spells. Of course, that theory in and of itself was pure speculation. There was no proof that Jerboa or Vulture actually were able to monitor their spells.

It was a high possibility, though, which they had all agreed on prior. Darkstalker had done something similar eleven years ago, though in a bit more vague fashion. His version of the monitoring spell only told him when and where a spell was cast, not who did it or what it was.

Greatness still hadn't sent over the dreamvisitor, and Glory was seriously considering sending someone over there to make sure she hadn't forgotten. She still wanted to try dreamvisiting Winter again. And it would probably be a good idea to check up on Anemone and her friends at Jade Mountain to make sure they were okay. Plus, maybe Anemone already had a set of enchanted jewelry with a spell similar to what they wanted. It was a rather niche spell, but with the amount of enchanted jewelry that Seawing had, it was definitely a possibility.

"And if not, we'll just have to ask Turtle to do the spell and hope the cult doesn't care," Glory finished. Mistral thought over her idea and nodded. "It's a risk, I know."

"Even if they do know when we cast the spell and what it is, I highly doubt they'll care enough to do anything drastic. They may have one animus, but we have two. Our retaliation to their hostile spells would be just as bad, if not worse, than their retaliation to ours." Glory nodded along to Mistral's reasoning. "The biggest risk about them learning of what spell we cast would be if they somehow got the information to Deathbringer and Soulseer."

"They'd instantly know they were being played," she finished, humming in thought.

"I do believe the benefits outweigh the risks, though. And I'm not just saying that because of my own insecurities." He looked away when he said that, ashamed to admit his own weakness. "What you said about being able to keep in touch and send early warning to me if you believe you're in danger is a good point. Plus, moons forbid it happens again, but if you get captured again, I'll be able to find you a lot easier, and we'll know you're missing earlier."

"And since we'll be split up, we'll be able to give each other status reports. That way, neither one of us will be left out of the loop," she added. He nodded. Both of them remained silent for a while, each stuck in their own thoughts. Now that they were actually discussing it as a possibility, Glory had to admit to some nervousness. What was it like, always having someone in your head? She had a small taste with that mind reading band that Anemone gave her, and Mistral wore it for a few minutes, too, so both of them had an idea of what a telepathic connection would be like. But a temporary, short distance connection was drastically different compared to a permanent tether with the theoretical capability to stretch across the known world.

"Are you suddenly just as uncertain about this as I am?" he asked, his voice quiet.

Since there was no point lying, she nodded. "Yeah..."

He nodded, having expected as much. "This is a big leap for us. I mean...we've only been together for a few weeks. If we do this, we're basically saying we want to be together forever."

She tilted her head, curious. "But I thought you said that's what you want?"

"I do!" he quickly rectified. "It's just...I didn't expect our relationship to become so...intimate in such a short time."

She blushed. "That's an...interesting choice of word."

"But apt," he countered. "We'll both be in each other's mind, at least in some capacity, permanently after we do this. That seems pretty intimate to me."

The more they talked about this, the less certain she was becoming. "Maybe we need an expert opinion."

"Who?" he asked, curious. She gave him a pointed look, and he sighed. "Right...her." He sighed again but nodded. "Very well. I believe her experience will actually be useful for this...conundrum."

She nodded, glad that he wasn't going to argue simply because he didn't like Nightwings, which Moon was. As the only mind reader they had ready access to, Moon was the only one who could even attempt to explain to them what it would be like. Maybe getting Qibli's thoughts on always having her in his mind would be useful, too, as he was someone on the other side of the equation.

"She and Qibli are on night patrol, so I guess we'll wait until later." She frowned almost as soon as she said that. "Um...maybe we should go to them at separate times. You know...keep up appearances that we aren't getting along very well right now." He gave her a hard look, and she clarified. "I swear I won't make an attempt to get closer to DB without the spell being in place." She raised her right claws with a small, playful grin. "Queen's honor."

He sighed again but nodded. "I suppose that'll have to do. I'll stick around the palace, check in with Thorn to see what her plan regarding the actual mole is...and maybe give her a piece of my mind while I'm at it."

"Don't say anything you'll regret," she warned him. "You may not like Thorn's idea, but I highly doubt she would've suggested it if I was in any serious danger. She's a lot of things, but she isn't going to put me in danger if she didn't, one, think that it was worth it, and two, have plans in place to make sure someone was always keeping an eye on me."

He looked away with a slight frown. "You're probably right, but...I still don't like it." After a moment, his gaze returned to her. "What are you going to do?"

"I think I'll take Peril with me back to the Rainforest, see what's taking them so long to send the Dreamvisitor through." He nodded in approval. "Hopefully someone didn't steal it or something."

He groaned. "Don't jinx it, Glory. The absolute last thing we need right now is the cult taking away another of our animus touched objects. With every one they manage to snag, the advantage swings more and more in their favor."

"And they probably know that, too..." she muttered.

"No, they absolutely know that," he corrected, giving her a serious look. "Vulture's not an idiot. Whatever his end game is, he's going to make sure he's the one holding all the cards."

She nodded, looking out the window and noticing that it was approaching late afternoon already. "I best get going before it gets too late. I'd rather be back before dark."

"If you aren't, just stay in the Rainforest. Don't try traveling in the dark." She nodded at his recommendation, and the two split ways after a quick kiss. Mistral headed towards the throne room, but Glory headed to Peril's room, hoping to find the Skywing inside.

She wasn't.

After asking a guard if they'd seen her, Glory was pointed in the direction of the library, of all places. Upon entering the palace library, however, she began to understand why the athletic dragoness, who purportedly rarely visited the Jade Mountain library, was doing here. Turtle was reading a scroll at one of the tables, and Peril was sitting next to him, simply keeping him company. The Seawing had a wing draped across her back as the Skywing rested her head upon the tabletop, her eyes closed and breathing steady.

Seeing a chance for a spot of mischief, Glory camouflaged herself and snuck up next to the dozing Skywing, being careful not to brush her wings or tail, and poked her atop the head. Peril's eyes instantly opened, and she raised her head to look at Turtle. "What?"

Turtle looked at her in utter confusion. "What do you mean 'what'?"

"What do you mean 'what do you mean'? You poked me." Turtle just studied her with a distinctly skeptical expression. "Don't give me that look. I know what I felt."

"But I didn't..." he began, only to trail off. Glory couldn't hold back her laughter anymore and uncloaked. Both Seawing and Skywing blinked at her sudden appearance, the latter beginning to laugh along with her. The former, however, just cocked his head, totally confused. "Did Glory just pull a prank?"

"Pretty good, am I right?" Glory grinned.

Turtle just blinked. "Since when do you pull pranks?"

Glory just stared at him for a moment before shrugging. "Since right now, I guess. I just saw an opportunity, and I took it."

"Uh huh..." he nodded slowly, still clearly not believing that the usually serious Rainwing had just pulled something that his wife was more likely to do.

"Oh, lighten up, Turtle," Peril chuckled. "It was funny! Kinkajou isn't the only Rainwing able to pull pranks, you know."

"Yeah, I know...but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that Glory pulled one," he replied.

The Rainwing glared at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

He opened his mouth to answer before shutting it, wisely. "Nothing," he instead responded. "Did you need something or were you just...goofing around?" The expression on his face indicated that he still couldn't believe that he was asking Glory that question.

"I need to take a quick trip to the Rainforest, and I'd like Peril to come with me." Said Skywing nodded, not arguing with the request. "You can come, too, if you'd like. I've got something to discuss with you, anyway. A potential spell I might need you to cast."

The mere mention of him using his magic clearly made him borderline nauseous if the color draining from his face was any indication, but she didn't expound on her statement just yet. Too many potential ears nearby.

"U-Uh...s-sure..." he stammered. "Can't wait to hear what this is about..."

"It's nothing bad, I assure you. And you're 'Plan B' if Anemone doesn't have what I need." She could basically see in his eyes that he hoped beyond hope that his sister would have what she needed.

The two followed her out of the dusty, musty library, Turtle having left his scroll on the table to return to later. Once outside, the three went ahead and took flight, heading to the Sandwing outpost with the portal to her Kingdom. Landing outside the gates, the Sandwing guards did look at their trio oddly, but they didn't argue against Queen Glory's desire to return home. "I'll be coming back through in a few hours. Maybe tomorrow morning depending on how long my business takes," she told them.

The guards nodded, but the older one said, "Tell the guards inside, then."

So she did. She told the guards inside the keep that she would return either later that day or early tomorrow morning, and they nodded, thanking her for letting them know. And then, as she and her two companions went through the tunnel, the dusty, dry air of the desert soon gave way to the hot, humid air of the rainforest.

"Alright..." she began, talking mostly to herself. "Hopefully there's a good explanation as to why I haven't gotten the dreamvisitor yet, we can grab it, and head back to the Sand Kingdom without any fuss. In, out, thirty minutes tops."

"Well, now we know that's not going to happen," Peril remarked. "Not now that you've jinxed us."

She just stared at the Skywing, shaking her head after a moment. "What is it with everyone and jinxes today?" she muttered.

The three remained quiet as they continued on their way, heading towards the Nightwing village. Specifically, Greatness' house, which was now nothing more than a pile of charred timber and scorched rubble. The sight of the once homely house in such a condition made Glory feel terrible, actually. One, it was her friend's house that was burned down because Sobek tried to kill her. Two...she actually did like that house. It was arguably more luxurious than her own pavilion, though that wasn't exactly saying much. Three, Greatness had saved a lot of relics recovered from the Nightwing Island as a way to protect what little remained of her tribe's history, and now they had all ended up burned, anyway.

Nightwings and Rainwings alike were combing over the ruins, and to her surprise, Greatness herself was supervising the situation personally. Even from across the clearing, she could see the Nightwing's worry, which she took to be a bad sign. "What's going on?"

She saw how Greatness froze momentarily before turning to her, not meeting her gaze. "We...can't find it."

"The dreamvisitor?" Turtle asked. Greatness just nodded.

Glory gave her a hard look, dreading the explanation she was about to be given. "What do you mean you can't find it?"

"I mean we've scoured every inch of my house—what's left of it," she added that last part bitterly. "Looked under every rock, dug into the ground in case it was buried. This is our third pass through the rubble, but I'm almost positive it's not there."

Glory closed her eyes, mentally counting to ten as she let out a breath. "Are you trying to tell me that someone stole it from the rubble under your noses?"

To her credit, she didn't stutter. "That's exactly what I'm telling you. I can't figure out any other explanation."

"So it's like, gone gone?" Turtle asked, and Greatness merely nodded. "I have something that can help with that."

Glory just looked at him. "Just a few minutes ago, you were almost throwing up at the prospect of using your magic."

"Well, this is a spell I've already cast. I've had it for, like, fifteen years now." He dug into his bag and pulled out a curious little object. It looked like a piece of regular coral within a small container, a piece of glass preventing it from falling out. "Watch. Find Queen Glory." The coral spun around a few times before pointing directly at Glory. "Find Clay." The coral spun around again and pointed in a specific direction. "That's about the direction Jade Mountain's in, right?"

"Neat," Glory complimented. "But we're not looking for a dragon."

"It can find objects, too," he defended.

"But how are we supposed to differentiate which dreamvisitor we're looking for. There's three." Greatness made a good point, and all eyes turned to Turtle, who didn't look the least bit concerned. "Easy. Find the dreamvisitor that Glory recently had in her possession." The coral spun around and pointed in a direction that was decidedly not at the ruins of Greatness' house.

All eyes looked at that coral, and Glory sighed, turning to Peril. "Go back to the Sand Kingdom and fetch Bloodwalker. I'll have him use Turtle's nifty gadget here to track down the dreamvisitor." Peril nodded, zipping off to do just that, but that's when Glory realized something. "Hold on one damn second!" She snatched the item from Turtle's claws, making him recoil in surprise at her sudden hostility. "Find Winter," she told the object. The coral spun several times before pointing in a general northwest direction. She glared at the coral and then at Turtle. "You had something that could've helped us find Winter this whole time, and you didn't think to mention it?"

"It slipped my mind!" he defended himself. Weakly, at that. The guilty expression on his face told her everything she needed to know. He'd known. Or maybe, he was telling the truth and he really hadn't thought of it until now, and now that he had, realized just how badly he'd screwed up this time.

"That happens a lot with you, I've noticed," she responded, her voice like venom. "Either you're too scatterbrained to mention something as important as this, or you simply don't care."

He glared at her, though it was weak. "That's not fair..."

Her glare hardened. "Neither is the torture Winter, your friend, is probably undergoing right now." He shut up instantly at hearing that, looking away with the first hints of moisture in his eyes.

Glory had never held much respect for Turtle. Sure, she liked him alright, but that was mostly because a lot of her friends, namely Kinkajou, Tsunami, and Moon, liked him. Personally, she didn't think much of him. And this little oversight on his part made her think even less of him.

Deciding to let that go for the moment, however, she returned to business. "You still have that bowl that can make copies of things, right?" He looked up at her with a small nod, and she held the object back out to him. "Make a few spares. We're going to need the extras to rescue Winter."

AN: Yes, Turtle, in effect, just created Captain Jack Sparrow's compass. Except instead of pointing to what you want most, it points to whatever you tell it to point to. I bet no one expected that little trinket to reappear, huh?

So we've got a stolen dreamvisitor and a potential rescue mission to plan. Things are heating up.

Until Next Time

AdmiralCole22