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CLEARSIGHT

What made Clearsight's future sight special was that she could look. If she wanted to know what would happen if she did this or that, she could see the outcome without having to actually do it. Other seers didn't have that power. They relied on the fates to show them what the future had in store for them. Those prophetic flashes that invaded every seer's mind, Clearsight didn't have them any more often than anyone else. In fact, she was pretty sure other seers got them much more often.

But those prophetic flashes had an advantage that Clearsight's usual powers lacked. They were uniquely good at warning her about things that she otherwise wouldn't think about. They were the only way she could discover the changes that came from the things she never checked.

She never checked to make sure Darkstalker wouldn't get caught. It would have been nice to get a prophetic flash for that one.

It was too late to do anything reasonable by the time she realized it. Darkstalker was already on his way to the palace. He was going to screw up like the idiot that he was and there was nothing she could do about it.

The details about his capture were difficult to wean out from the context offered by her visions. All she really knew was that Darkstalker wouldn't be coming back, and that for some reason, he wasn't going to die. She was relieved to know that, obviously, but it was a little confusing. She'd seen him getting executed in the future where she and Darkstalker agreed to turn themselves in, but she didn't see him getting executed any of the likeliest futures now.

Still, Darksalker would be inside of the palace when she planned on taking it. And that meant she had another reason to actually take it: to save her stupid boyfriend.

That was the second most pressing matter at the moment. The first was that her watch was gone. Her watch was gone, and she couldn't find it. Her watch was gone, she couldn't find it, and she wouldn't find it.

Someone might've had it right now. Someone who didn't know that pressing the button on it meant turning her into a confused four-year-old dragonet staring at that exact same watch. And because of that stupid extra spell that Darkstalker had put on it, she had no way of knowing if that was going to happen.

That was the worst part. She usually knew everything. She usually knew the stakes. She usually was able to sieve out the risks and maneuver around them to safely reach the reward. But with this, she was blind.

She knew rationally that Darkstalker had to include that spell to keep the watch from completely breaking her powers. But it was hard not to be angry at him anyway. She felt like it was an attempt to manipulate her in a roundabout way, trying to control her future sight, just like how he did in the first timeline with that enchanted earring.

Being angry was more comfortable than being terrified. At least, being angry at someone else was. Because the only dragon besides Darkstalker she could get angry at was herself. She was the one who had dropped the watch, after all. She was the one who had decided to pull it out in the middle of a battle.

Her watch was gone. She couldn't find it. And she wouldn't find it.

She was going to keep looking for the sake of looking. But once she inevitably failed, that was going to be yet another reason for her to take the palace. The sooner she became queen, the sooner she'd be able to get Darkstalker his scroll back. And the sooner Darksalker got his scroll back, the sooner he could give her back her watch.

She had to actually look. If she didn't, there would be the lingering possibility that it was actually there, and she just didn't want to look hard enough for it in any of the future timelines. Because she didn't want to look for it. She didn't like flying over the battlefield and seeing the dead bodies. She didn't like having to get close to them, having to see the way the corpses got mangled from their impact with the ground. She didn't like the smell. Dragon blood already carried a strong enough odor when it came from scrapes and little cuts. When it came from a stab through the heart, it was strong enough to trigger her fight-or-flight instincts.

Most of all, however, she didn't like the way that every time she saw a dead NightWing, it reminded her that if she was going to invade the palace, more were going to have to die.

So, as the other soldiers buried the bodies and gathered what was on them, Clearsight scanned every inch of the field for anything that stood out. It was nearly midnight when they had finished up, by which point Clearsight was scanning through the fields for the third time over. She was on the ground, as even with their night vision, it would have been impossible to see something as small as her watch in the darkness. Lieutenant Morningstar came to her, though Clearsight only noticed her when she spoke.

"How important is this watch?" she asked. "If we need to find it at all costs, we can keep searching."

If it falls into the wrong talons, it will do irreversible damage to the world. Your existence as you know it depends on it being safe. That was one possible answer. She could also lie. It's not that important. I only wasted everyone's time over a pointless trinket. Somehow she got the impression that that wouldn't be a very good answer either.

The answer she decided to go with was, "I suppose we'll just have to risk letting it go for now. One way or another, I'll get it back." Technically the truth.

Morningstar nodded. "Well, Marten Lake is just east of here. Let's wash off and return to the camp."

By then, the stench of the battlefield had morphed from the sour of blood to something more acrid. Clearsight nodded her agreement, and together they flew to the nearby lake. After washing off as much of the odor as they could, they returned to the camp. Morningstar went off to gather the other Lieutenants, Antinomy and Wishgranter. Meanwhile, Clearsight searched for Foeslayer, and found her napping beside the fire pit.

The five of them convened in Clearsight's tent, surrounding the war table. Foeslayer took a piece of charcoal whiddled to a point, and began drawing a rough outline of the NightWing palace on a blank piece of parchment.

"Assuming I counted right, there should be a total of ninety-five dragons employed with some sort of guard duty in the palace," she explained. "However, only twenty-four are part of the garrison. The others are interior guards, prison guards, or the queen's personal high guards. If we manage to launch a surprise attack before they're ready for us, then we could be in the palace in a matter of minutes. Under normal operations, only twelve of the lookout dragons will be on active duty during the night, and only six are active during the day. Either way, we'd have enough soldiers to blitz the second floor balconies before they can set up any siege barricades."

"A surprise attack may be impossible if they discover our plans before we're ready to fly," Morningstar said. "What happens if they're ready for us?"

"In that case, they'll probably fill in the garrison with interior guards. It'll basically be a normal siege, but with slightly less competent defenders. We can launch an assault with stonefall tactics until we break a hole in the roof."

"What are 'stonefall tactics'?" Clearsight asked.

"That's where we take a bunch of heavy rocks, fly up really high, and drop them on the thing we want to break," Wishgranter explained. "It's primitive, but ridiculously effective."

"Once we break through, our sheer numbers will be enough to secure control of the palace," Foeslayer continued. "We can force Acuity to surrender, exile her and the rest of Queen Vigilance's family, and then install Clearsight as the new queen."

Clearsight folded the idea over in her head. "And, that's it?" she asked.

"That's the basic plan," Foeslayer said, shrugging like she was a little ashamed of it. "Obviously, there's more we'll need to figure out. But that's what you're here for, Your Majesty."

'Your Majesty.' She'd been called that before, but it had been such a long time. It caught her off-guard. It seemed to catch the other lieutenants off-guard too: they straightened their backs, each perhaps independently remembering that they were in the presence of their new queen.

"Your Majesty," Morningstar said. "If I may ask — which case will it be when we approach the palace? Will they be ready for us, or will we catch them by surprise?"

Clearsight looked into the future and immediately found a thread where they attacked tomorrow night. She saw a battle unfolding outside of the palace, NightWings grappling NightWings, heavy stones falling from the sky.

She pulled herself out of that future and followed another thread, one that began with her rallying the troops now and setting out for the palace before sunrise. To her surprise, it was more of the same, with the most apparent difference being that the siege would go well into daylight hours.

"They'll be ready for us," she said, opening her eyes. "They're already ready for us."

" Already?" Morningstar said.

"So there was a spy," Foeslayer said, her voice going lower. "I suspect Keen Eye had someone watching us. Don't trust that dragon. If anyone has the ability to put a stop to our plot, it's her."

That sounded sensible enough. But when Clearsight checked the future, she saw no signs of Keen Eye interfering. When they took the palace, they were going to be successful. When Clearsight took her place as queen, Keen Eye was probably going to remain an adviser.

That wasn't to say Foeslayer was wrong. But Keen Eye wasn't her enemy yet.

"Stonefall tactics it is, then," Antinomy said. "Let's get a measure for how many rocks we'll probably need, and see if we can't gather them by sundown tomorrow."

They spent the rest of the meeting sorting out the details. Clearsight mostly kept quiet, letting the experts around her figure out the best course of action. She only spoke when she had naive questions that needed answering, or when they had inquiries on how certain formations or parameters would affect the outcome of the siege.

They made an effort to wrap things up quickly, so that they'd have more time to prepare for the battle before morning came. After the soldiers had their supper, they were instructed to gather stones, sharpen their spears, and report to their lieutenants for further instructions. They would fly to the palace at dusk.

At dawn, Clearsight lay in her bed, in her tent, trying to let the birdsongs lull her to sleep. But it was hard. Too many things were bothering her. Too many thoughts were chaining together and demanding her attention. She tried counting backwards from one thousand, a trick her father had once taught her for when she was feeling restless. Her 'goal' was to make it to zero, but she always lost track before getting there.

Eight hundred and eighty-three. Eight hundred and eighty-two. Eight hundred and eighty-one.

She was going to be attacking the palace tomorrow. The NightWing palace, where NightWings lived. She would be attacking the place she called home, destroying walls that had once protected her. She would be complicit in the deaths of more NightWings. NightWings who would risk their lives trying to make her queen, and NightWings who would risk their lives trying to stop her. She thought about all of the guards she'd met, all of the ones who had been friendly or helpful to her. She thought about their smiles, and wondered whether they would be among the dragons who died because she decided to turn against them.

It bothered her. Of course it bothered her.

Eight hundred and thirty-nine. Eight hundred and thirty-eight. Eight hundred and thirty-seven.

But it also bothered her that it bothered her. She could call off the attack. The lieutenants and soldiers would listen to her. They could march to the palace unarmed, peacefully accept Acuity as queen, and allow Clearsight to be taken into custody. It would save the lives of a lot of NightWings, and technically speaking, completely foil her plans.

In that respect, Foeslayer was wrong about Keen Eye after all. If anyone had the ability to put a stop to their plot, it wouldn't be Keen Eye. It would be Clearsight.

Eight hundred and four. Eight hundred and three.

And if she called off the attack, she didn't know what she'd do. She didn't know how she'd find her watch again, or whether she'd be able to save Fathom and Indigo, or when she'd see Darkstalker again.

The bed wasn't comfortable without him sleeping next to her. She'd be asleep by now if she was tucked into that perfect space right under his wing, with his warm breath running down her back.

Seven hundred and seventy-seven. Seven hundred and seventy-six.

So she had to do it. She had no choice. Darkstalker and Fathom were depending on her. Some dragons were going to die, but it was a necessary sacrifice.

But whenever she said that to herself, it felt … bad. Not evil, but still bad. She wondered if she would have had that thought back when the soul reader told her she was almost perfect.

Seven hundred and forty-nine.

And then her thoughts cycled back to the NightWings that would die tomorrow because of her. Then she thought about what Foeslayer and Morningstar and the other soldiers would think of her if she canceled the attack. Then she thought about Darkstalker's scroll, and what might've happened to it. Then she thought about how if she didn't get that scroll back, an ignorant dragon might press the button on her watch before she could find it again, and maybe that justified some dragons dying.

And then her thoughts cycled back to the NightWings that would die tomorrow because of her. She thought about whether any innocent dragons would get killed from collateral damage. She thought about how long it would take for the Night Kingdom to actually agree that she was a good queen, and not just a violent insurrectionist. She thought about Indigo, and how there were too many threads she saw where she was killed. She thought about whether she would reset the timeline if that happened, and concluded that she probably would — assuming she ever got her watch back.

Eventually, she counted down to zero.