CAUTION: Spoils aspects of Innocent Hopes, Twisted Realities, as well as aspects of When Nothing Remains and aspects of Usurpation of the Darkness through chapter 36.
Seriously, major spoilers here.
Assuming you wish to continue, read on…
Background: The ninth and penultimate entry to All That Remains, the AU where the big question has the other answer…
Lily trailed an oblivious dragon from the shadows, as she so often did. The only difference this time was that she was trailing the new alpha, not the old one. Pearl and Crystal were there too, but she cared more about the male who had fought his way into the pack.
"This is the pond," Pearl said, presenting the large pool of water as if it was something worth seeing. "I don't know why, but it is always full except in the peak of the hot season."
"Underground water keeps it like that," Ember, the new alpha, said casually. "No-scaled-not-prey dig deep holes to get the water wherever they want it using the same idea."
"Really?" Crystal asked, looking at Ember in surprise. "So we could dig another hole on the other side of the valley, to make water available in another place?"
"Possibly, it's something to look into," Ember mused. "Does this pond often freeze over in the cold season?"
"Yes, but it is easy to melt enough to drink from," Crystal explained.
"There is always plenty of snow during the cold season," Pearl added. "Water is not a huge problem, but warmth and space definitely is."
"Show me the caves," Ember requested casually, throwing his new authority around without a second thought. "I understand that they are occupied all season-cycle by some, but everyone crams in during the cold-season?"
As Ember and Pearl wandered off, Crystal lagged behind to take a drink, and Lily spotted a chance. She needed to appraise her friend of the new situation, and how it didn't differ from the old despite their new alpha's now benevolent appearance.
"Oh!" Crystal pulled back in surprise as Lily sidled up right next to her, seemingly casual, and took a small drink. "Lily, there you are!"
"Here I am," Lily agreed. "So, the new alpha."
"Yes, he is great," Crystal said, not catching the real question at all. "He found Pearl out there, broke her out of captivity, and Storm too, apparently-"
"No, I don't need his life story right now," Lily interrupted. "You know we should not just let him fly in here and take over."
"But… He already has." Crystal stared at Lily as if she was talking nonsense. "And he is a good person, Pearl vouches for him and she would know."
"He flew in, brutally broke Claw, and then claimed leadership," Lily countered. "I do not know about you, but I trust my eyes more than Pearl, and I see a violent male who may be just as bad in his own ways. We need to continue working against-"
"Claw." Crystal backed away and pawed at the ground in agitation. "Lily, that was all against Claw. Claw did terrible things. Ember has already said he is not going to do anything like Claw. I am not going to just keep working against the alpha like he is still the same horrible person, I like Ember, and he has not done anything you or I were not planning to do as soon as we could manage it."
"So you're not with me," Lily said coldly. She was immensely disappointed by that, and it didn't speak well of her less enthusiastic supporters' response to her continued urging.
"Show me when he does something worth fighting against," Crystal said, looking away. "I hope you cannot, but if he acts like Claw despite his promises and despite Pearl, then I will join you in undermining him. But not before."
"Fine, then," Lily growled. She would do it herself, without Crystal… Though it hurt to even think about losing the last person who had stuck by her through the worst time of her life. Crystal would come around eventually, once she found some sort of proof…
Though the only things she had heard Ember speaking of so far were either neutral, getting to know the valley, or speculatively positive, acknowledging the problems of overcrowding and only having one pond to drink from. He had not put a paw wrong yet aside from his mauling of Claw, which was deserved…
"Lily?" Crystal prompted.
Lily shook her head and didn't meet Crystal's gaze. "I'll find you the proof you want," she said quietly.
"So long as you bring me his faults, not Claw's," Crystal agreed.
O-O-O-O-O
"Pearl, introduce me to our new alpha."
Pearl did not flinch, not at that painfully familiar voice and even more painful tone, commanding her obedience without a second thought for her opinion on the matter. She had been dreading this for moon-cycles, and anticipating it at the same time. That Diora had snuck up behind her made almost no difference. She had been expecting to be ambushed at the worst possible time.
This wasn't even the worst possible time, either. She ignored Diora's grating voice in favor of laying her tailfins atop Ember's back paw. "Let's go look at the dark side of the valley next," she suggested.
"Alpha!" Diora barked loudly. "You do not mind if I call you that, right? You are our new alpha, and it is a very important title."
"I don't really care for titles… Who are you?" Ember rumbled as he turned around, but he tapped his tail on Pearl's. She hoped he was signalling that he remembered his promise, though she had taken it back upon discussing how he would be alpha, and realizing that he couldn't just totally ignore even the worst of his subjects. He had instead promised to be coldly neutral to her, no matter what.
"Diora," her Dam said sweetly, or at least in a tone she thought passed for sweet. Already, her 'obedient' daughter totally ignoring her was getting on her nerves. Pearl, for her part, felt no need to turn around, instead making a show of looking around casually.
"Did you need something?" Ember asked.
"Only to find out what has happened with my daughter!" Diora exclaimed happily. "She has returned, but she has yet to even look at me! I understand, returning in the company of such a handsome male, but I would like to see her."
"You can see her from here," Ember observed dryly. "Her tail, the back of her wings, the back of her legs…"
"Yes, that may be, but I meant I want to talk to her and find out where she went, why she left, what she did while she was gone…" Diora trailed off, as if running out of things to say that didn't involve her screeching with anger.
"Well, we can ask. Pearl, do you want to talk to Diora?"
"Not at all, no," she said calmly. "So I'm not going to."
"Sounds good to me," Ember purred.
"Good?" Diora demanded, her facade of politeness falling further and further with every heartbeat. "She is my daughter, I demand to talk to her, she has come home and that means she is under my authority-"
"And you are under mine?" Ember asked deceptively calmly. Pearl imagined he was glaring, though she knew him well enough to know that he could have said it with a perfectly straight face and still intimidated Diora into shutting up.
"Yes, but…" Diora trailed off.
"I consider adults to be independent," Ember said mildly. "So no, she is not under any authority of yours. She doesn't want to talk to you, so you won't bother her."
"I-"
"Let me be clear," Ember growled, lowering his voice so that those around them couldn't hear. "I know who you are and what you do, and if I find you are bothering Pearl, or any other person in this pack, I will make you regret it."
"You… She… Yes, alpha," Diora eventually stuttered. "But if she-"
"If she wishes to talk to you," Pearl said, still not looking back, "She will do so. Until then, she's going to do her best to forget you exist." She felt the need to say something for herself, rather than let Ember do all the work. Not much, a huge part of this was her completely ignoring Diora, but something, just to ensure Diora knew it was her choice, she could hear but just didn't care.
"At least I have one obedient daughter," Diora spat.
Pearl froze. She knew Diora was aiming that at her, and thus not referring to her. Her Dam had another daughter? An egg in the relatively short time she had been gone? It would be just like Diora to mourn for all of two days and then start over, but that destroyed all of her plans now, she couldn't let someone else suffer as she had-
"And I'd hope that daughter has no reason to decide as Pearl has," Ember said with a hint of warning, a low growl in his voice. His tail lashed violently, visible out of the corner of her eye. "I have an interest in ensuring all young ones live happy, safe lives, and I will intervene if there is reason to believe they are being raised in a way that will not provide them that."
"Pearl lies, you know," Diora said, completely ignoring Ember's veiled threat in favor of her own vileness. "If she has told you things, be sure to look at them skeptically."
"The problem is, even looking at them skeptically paints you in a bad light," Ember retorted. "Now, if you'll excuse us, we are going somewhere else."
"Paints?" Diora muttered as Ember turned. She seemed too confused to follow up, which Pearl assumed was Ember's intent in throwing in a word that meant nothing, as far as she knew. It didn't even sound right.
"That was you sticking to your plan to ignore her, not freezing up, right?" Ember murmured as they walked away.
"Yes, it was," Pearl said proudly. She held no illusions, this was the start of a long test of resolve, not the end. Diora would push her until she got a reaction or gave up, and she was stubborn enough to make that a long, drawn-out process. But she was sure she could do it, even if Ember wouldn't be around next time.
"I was not taking over your vengeance?" Ember asked.
"No more than I wanted," she assured him. He had laid down the law, and she heavily suspected he would need to enforce it if she really did have a sister, but hearing Ember say he would do as much had silenced her fears on the subject. This was his pack now, and Diora was only a particularly annoying subject. "Also, you said nonsense to confuse her, right?"
"What?"
"You said something that means nothing," she reminded him. "Paints, or something like that." It was a word, or close enough to one, but she had no meaning for it.
"Oh, that is something No-scaled-not-prey can do, it's an expression. Depicts would be another word that means the same thing in this context." Ember nodded politely to a trio of gawking light wings standing on a boulder. "So, I assume the pack has no rules about confiscating mistreated fledglings?"
"None, but you make the rules now," Pearl purred. "You'll make sure she does not keep her hatchling?"
"I'll have someone watch her, get a list of bad behaviors, confront her with them, and then if she does not fix them all immediately, I'll make a big show out of taking the hatchling away," Ember rumbled. "I can't do it immediately, there has to be a process or I will look like a tyrant, but it will definitely happen. Do you want to raise her, or should I figure something else out?"
"Maybe place her with another family?" Pearl offered after thinking about it. "She would be my sister," and saying that didn't feel real, she didn't know what having a little sister was supposed to feel like, "so I should not be the one raising her, I should just be a friend."
"Diora might not be the only entirely unfit parent in this valley," Ember mused, "I will probably have to set up a whole system. The way Claw did things must have forced a lot of pairs together that wouldn't otherwise happen."
"You might have to break some pairs up, too." She wasn't looking forward to any of this happening, but at least it was another set of large, long-term problems for Ember to solve. He was so involved already, and she loved the engaged light in his eyes as he spoke about setting up systems and fixing things.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily maneuvered her way into the depths of a small, tightly-packed crowd. She didn't know what was going on, all she knew was that they were a crowd of females being addressed by Ember, and that was enough for her to be interested.
"That is what I think of ceremonies and adulthood," Ember was saying, addressing the females directly. "I am not sure that five season-cycles of age is enough to be truly an adult, especially when one is hatched right at the end of a season-cycle, because in that case one would really only be four and a few days. It might be better to move the adulthood barrier to age six, and have one ceremony for each season."
"But what about picking mates and the season-cycle deadline?" a female near the front of the crowd asked timidly.
"Deadline?" Ember responded, tilting his head. "What deadline?"
"At the ceremony females pick the male they want to court, and the males have a season-cycle from then to accept," the female responded, gaining confidence as she spoke.
"That seems backwards," Ember rumbled. "Out in the rest of the world, there are no time limits, and certainly none on only picking those from your season-cycle. It is a mutual decision by both, whenever they feel ready to commit. We will probably do away with these deadlines and restrictions and just have ceremonies to celebrate the new adults."
Lily understood what this was now, even as the females around her burst into excited chatter. He was taking questions and explaining what he would change. This could serve as a good way to get some flaws out into the open, reasons for Crystal to come back to her way of thinking. She wanted Crystal back as soon as possible.
So, when the noise died down, she spoke into the opening, pitching her voice far higher than normal both to be heard and to obfuscate her identity. "What of the alpha's mates?"
"The alpha's mates?" Ember sighed and shook his head. "That's complicated."
Lily held in a growl, her worst fears confirmed. How could Crystal be okay with this male taking over? He was just going to take Claw's place violating them without even knowing who they were-
"Obviously," Ember continued, oblivious to her fuming in the crowd, "I could not possibly just take over where Claw left off, so all of those he left behind won't automatically be 'mine', or however you would refer to them. If there are other benefits to being one of his mates, I won't necessarily stop providing those, but they will not be my mates, they are free females who may find another mate or none as they choose."
Lily's tail fell limp in surprise.
"What if we want Claw back?" someone else asked. "Can we follow him?"
"Would you?" Ember replied. "Really? You can leave, I am not holding anyone to this pack, but why chase him?"
"What if we want you to be our new mate?" another, far more upbeat female asked.
"That, I definitely am not allowing," Ember said firmly. "This is not an optional thing, I have no mate as of now, and I certainly will not take someone I don't know as a mate."
Lily noticed that he hadn't outright forbid any of Claw's mates from pursuing him, but she didn't have the desire to push him on that. The subject of mates just wasn't his weak spot, that was all. She would find some other flaw to present to Crystal.
"How are you going to handle challenges for the position of alpha?" she asked loudly.
"In a way that doesn't make me look like a hypocrite," Ember responded jovially, eliciting a chorus of laughter. "I want to do away with fighting for the position eventually, but for now I suppose people will say it is not fair if I take that away immediately after using it to take control myself."
"Will they still be to the death?"
Lily flinched and turned to the side to see the one who had roared close by; she recognized Cressa's voice. She caught Cressa's eye.
Her Dam grimaced, shook her head, and glared in Ember's general direction.
"No, certainly not to the death," Ember said, but Lily was no longer listening. Cressa had seemed to accept that they were… What? On the same side?
Of course, it made sense that Cressa was against Ember, she was a spiteful creature who had just lost her mate to him. Of course, she wouldn't like or support him. She might even be open to being approached about an organized group working to usurp him…
Cressa would be open to it, but Crystal would not. Lily felt sick. She backed out of the crowd, wanting some space to breathe-
And was immediately accosted by a dark wing. "Hey," a blue and grey female called out from the top of a rock. "You."
"Me," Lily growled back. She had no idea who this was, or why she was here, or why she wanted her attention.
"Why are you leaving?" the female growled. "This stuff is important, and I am sure he will have to answer the same questions ten times over as it is."
"I'm not allowed to leave?" Lily demanded.
"You are, but you are not allowed to act like you were never told what the alpha thinks later on," the dark wing retorted. "Plus, you look like you want to kill something."
"I don't want to kill anything," Lily snorted. "I'm happy. This is a great day." She even managed to make that sound convincing, at least to herself. It was what some random stranger observing would think, and it was the opinion most likely to get this abrasive female off her back.
"No love for Claw?" the female huffed. "Well, good. He deserved all he got."
"He didn't get nearly enough," Lily said vehemently.
The female opened her mouth, paused, and stared at Lily as if considering something. "You are the first I have talked to who says so," she said. "Everyone is either too scared of retribution for saying the new alpha was too lenient, or too wishy-washy, or too blindly in love with him."
"Well, not everyone was his daughter and taken against their will," Lily spat. She had no idea where this dark wing stood, but her position was clearly anti-Claw and pro-Ember, so revealing her position could only garner her sympathy.
"Pearl mentioned you… Lily, right?" Storm nodded. "There is something you should see. Go check out the forest close to wherever Claw would have come down from the mountains."
"He won't be there." It had been most of a day, more than enough time for Claw to get over the mountains and deep into the forest. She had forgotten about him in the rush to learn about the new alpha.
A wave of regret washed over her, fueled with renewed, righteous anger at Claw. Why hadn't she flown along and mocked him every step of the way? Why had she missed her chances to make his defeat hurt, to take vengeance in every possible way? Just because a new threat had thoroughly displaced him and made him irrelevant?
"He won't be there," she repeated. "Will he?"
"No, but there is still something you should see," the dark wing said firmly. "Something to lighten your mood. Keep it quiet, though." She nodded toward the crowd Lily had exited. "Most of them would not like it so much. Only people like you and me can appreciate some things."
Now Lily was intrigued. Not only something a stranger thought she should see, but something to keep secret? "I'll go now," she agreed. It was not like the new alpha wouldn't be there to watch tomorrow, or the day after, or every day after that.
O-O-O-O-O
"I would think," Ember continued, "that a fight to submission would be enough. Winning does not necessarily mean killing." He wished he had Pearl by his side to chime in; she knew his audience far better than he did. But Pearl had gone to the waste pit and not come back, so he assumed she was sidetracked with something else. He was alone for the time being.
He was their alpha, it shouldn't be crippling to not have Pearl with him. And it wasn't, he was doing fine. Only a few people had left the crowd in front of him, and Storm was confronting them, though he could have done without that. He hoped she wasn't making them even more angry with his policies, or even just with her. She attracted trouble, and he didn't want to have to mediate too many disputes.
"Are you going to let the other males challenge you again, or let those who have lost challenge again?" one particularly sour-faced female called out, a biting challenge in her tone. "Or will you just ignore them afterward?"
"Once is enough for any one person," he said firmly. "I might allow those who have served Claw one more try, but certainly not all at once, so it would be staggered across moon-cycles." Fighting every male in the pack, one after another, was a recipe for disaster, and the one who finally beat him might have no issue with slitting his throat. He didn't want that to happen-
Ember blinked, caught up in his thoughts, and marvelled at the simple idea that he didn't want to die. Where had the idea of finishing one last task and then wasting away gone? It didn't sound appealing now, even if he assumed that nobody really needed him as alpha, which was obviously untrue.
"What about vows of loyalty?" the same bitter female asked. "Will you make them all swear anew?"
"I…" An idea came to mind, and he hesitated before deciding to go with it. "Would a male please come over here? Anyone, this won't take long."
In moments, two different males crept out from between the boulders. Neither looked at all happy to be there, and one cringed even as he bowed low.
Ember spared a moment to be glad he had already beaten Claw to within an inch of his life, then got down to business. "Right here," he requested, pawing at the open space in front of him.
Two light wing males knelt, their chins to the ground, directly in front of him. He could reach out and step on their heads if he wanted-
Which had to be what Claw had done; this position was too coincidental, otherwise. He growled quietly. "No," he said. "Look up. Meet my eyes."
Once he had two fearful gazes on himself, he purred. "Names?"
"Copper," the one on the left said.
"Ivy," the one on the right added.
He knew Ivy, and was thankful his promise to Pearl had been redone to allow him to interact with her parents; this would have gotten very, very awkward if he had to pretend Ivy didn't exist. As it was, he chose to forget who Ivy was and who he was related to for the moment.
"I don't know what your positions are," Ember said. "Do you do something special for the pack? Either of you? Guarding, or fishing for more than your families, or something else the people around you don't have to do?"
"No," Ivy murmured.
"We sometimes do what the alpha says, but that is the same for all males," Copper countered. "And some of us are assigned to help his mates with their eggs or hatchlings, as he chooses."
"Good to know," Ember huffed. That sort of service was exactly what he had intended to continue, in promising that Claw's mates would still receive whatever services they were used to. "I will be asking you, and all males, to continue doing something similar to that, helping the females who have no mate to ease their burdens. Fishing, maybe watching their child, nothing more. Are you okay with that?"
Ivy looked confused, and Copper no better.
"I'm going to be redoing everything," Ember said more loudly. "In my pack, there is no bowing so low your face hits the ground. Everyone will respect each other, regardless of position." He bumped his forehead on Copper's, and then Ivy in turn. "Nice to meet you. If you want to challenge me, you can later on, but for now all I ask is that you be ready to help out as needed. The males of this pack are just as important as everyone else." He knew from Pearl that Claw had subjugated all the other males, so in that at least he came prepared. There would be nothing of the sort from now on.
"Yes, alpha," Ivy said loudly, obviously amazed. He began backing away, and Ember let him go.
"Equal to the females?" Copper asked. "Really?"
"Yes, really, no better and no lesser," Ember confirmed. A small part of him was continually amazed and saddened that he had to say such simple things, though that same part also knew that this particular equality didn't quite exist elsewhere, either. It would here from now on.
"Even mates?" Copper asked, speaking over a snarl from the same bitter female from before.
"Even then." He supposed Pearl's comment about maybe breaking up mated pairs was accurate; it looked like he'd be doing some of that sooner or later if this sort of incredulity was indicating a problem between this male and his mate.
"Thank you, alpha," Copper said vehemently. "I will never challenge you. You have my loyalty."
"I'm glad to hear that," Ember said kindly. Those two things were acceptable; he was going to do away with challenges, and loyalty was fine.
"Now," he called out as Copper left, "let me see a mated female, and one of Claw's former mates."
Two females from the front of the crowd came forward.
"Moss," one introduced herself. "I have a wonderful mate."
"Grass," the other said sultrily, flicking her tail suggestively. "Alpha, or Ember if I might call you that?"
"What do you do, Moss?" Ember asked. "Any responsibilities? Duties you were given to perform?"
"Oh, I do lots of little things for fun," Moss said breezily. "Watching my daughter's hatchlings for her, watching other fledglings when my friends need it, bringing fish on occasion… Lots of things."
"Would you be amiable to flying patrols, or fishing for many, or doing things as part of a group?" Ember asked. "I am going to ask the mated females to do things from time to time. There is a lot that could be done to make life better."
"So long as I can handle it, count me in," Moss purred.
"Good." Ember turned to Grass, who was still swaying from side to side as if she stood in a tall wind. "Do you do anything?" he asked a little less politely. He had to treat her fairly, but attempted seduction would get no attention from him.
"I helped raise a bratty little fledgling, kept the alpha warm at night, and generally made his life more interesting," Grass purred. "I would love to keep doing those last two things."
"It's good that you helped others with their children," Ember praised, totally ignoring the innuendo. "There are a lot of Sireless fledglings, hatchlings, and maybe eggs, and everyone will need to pitch in."
"Well, I would love to pitch in with you," Grass purred.
"So," Ember said, ignoring the continued innuendo and raising a wing over Moss. "Mated."
He put his other over Grass. "Unmated, for whatever reason."
"Some of you are going to need help, others are going to give it," he declared. "Again, everyone is equal in stature, but not everyone is equal in circumstance. We're all going to work together and help each other. Right?"
"Right!" Moss roared loudly. Grass chimed in with a more half-hearted exclamation, adding her voice to Moss'-
And then the entire group of onlookers in front of him roared, everyone voicing their approval in a way that made his ears ring.
He found himself purring, glad to see such approval. He had no practice making speeches or laying down the law, and it almost certainly was not all going to go this smoothly, but this was a great start.
O-O-O-O-O
The sunset was a familiar but troubling sight. Pearl sat near the pond, her tail neatly wrapped around her hind paws, and wondered where she was going to sleep.
When they were travelling, that question had had an easy answer. Wherever she wanted, preferably close to Ember. Everyone around knew what was between them, where she wanted it to go.
Here, in the valley, she couldn't count on that understanding, and she couldn't count on sleeping with Ember to be an easy thing. She didn't even know where he meant to sleep. If it was in the caverns, she wouldn't be able to be with him at all. She was never sleeping in there again, at least not outside of the cold season, and maybe not even then.
Even the thought of the caverns made her shiver and glance over in their general direction. She hadn't expected such a strong reaction, but now that she was here, she had it nonetheless. Those caves held literally nothing but bad memories. Not even the cold seasons as a fledgling held redeeming memories; Diora had pushed her toward Claw all the harder when everyone was close together, and she had been forced to watch from afar as the fledglings all played, male and female alike.
Sleeping in the caves wasn't an option, but the alpha always slept in the caves because that was where his mates slept. Ember might not, he wasn't going to sleep with any of Claw's mates, but he might just claim an empty cave.
And even if he did sleep outside, on some unclaimed rock, sleeping with him would raise questions from everyone. She had been asked about whether he had a mate ten times today alone, and many of Claw's mates seemed intent on staking a claim.
But not sleeping with him felt wrong, like she was giving up, and she had promised herself that she wouldn't let the pack pressure her into doing anything she didn't want to. Failing to pursue Ember counted as something she didn't want to do.
She stood and took to the sky, just as the sun sank beneath the tip of the mountains. Ember might sleep in the caves, but he might not, and she could certainly express her opinion on the subject. Even putting her own feelings aside, it would send a good message to have him sleep outside, one that said he was nothing like Claw and would take a place among the common pack members, claiming a rock no better or worse than theirs.
Ember was easily spotted, an orange blur amidst the white bodies and grey rocks of the valley. Pearl's heart sank as she noticed that he was headed directly toward the caves, but she forced herself to keep going. She wasn't setting paw inside, but he wasn't inside yet and she could still make her opinion known.
"Pearl," he said warmly as she set down on a rock directly in his path. "Where were you?"
"Getting some air," she said truthfully. She had left with the excuse of the waste pit, then gone out for a flight to clear her head. He didn't need her with him every moment of the day, that would just make her look and feel clingy. "Where are you headed?"
"The caves, to examine a few places and then politely say that I prefer the open sky," he said, shaking his head. "I would even if I did not know how many of those chambers were probably used to trap females."
Pearl felt a rush of relief and gratitude; of course he would understand and feel the same way. He was empathetic and caring, he wouldn't just brush it all off and not care. "I don't ever want to step paw in there again," she said.
"Even when it gets cold?"
"There are other places, I could find a cave up in the mountains." She didn't know of any, but there had to be some. Searching for one might make a nice project for Storm when she got restless, as was almost inevitable.
"That sounds nice," Ember agreed. "Or you could dig a hole in a hill. Maybe that would work, though I don't know how bad the cold season gets around here."
"Bad," Pearl said confidently. A hole in a hill would either flood, be filled with snow driven in by the wind, or collapse under the weight of said snow. She would stick to natural caves… Though the issue of driving snow might still affect those. Maybe she would have to shelter here no matter how she felt.
"For now, though, where should I go?" he asked as they walked. "I made a big deal about everyone being equal, and if there is some process to choosing rocks, and which are higher quality, I want to stick solely to the high middle of the range. Not absolutely amazing, but not terrible either, and a little above mediocre so I don't look pretentious."
"That's a lot of requirements I have no idea how to ask around for," Pearl complained. She knew very, very little about choosing a rock. Diora certainly hadn't discussed it with her, accepting no plan for the future that put her outside Claw's caves. But she had ranted about how their family rock was terrible. Some of her complaints had been legitimate…
"A good rock is mostly flat, but just slanted enough that water does not pool," Pearl recalled. "You want one in the sun, for the warmth. All-day shade is only for the worst rocks, and those that are only in the sun in the middle of the day are mediocre." Their family had one of the latter.
"I do want those things," Ember admitted. "What else makes the best rocks the best?"
"Size, obviously," Pearl continued. "You want one big enough for yourself, your family, and one visitor. That's the best, knock off the visitor space for a good rock, and any crowding makes it mediocre or worse depending on the other stuff."
It took a few steps for what she had just said to catch up with her, but she cringed when she realized. Ember would hear, and reminding him how small his family was now was a way to smack him in the face with his grief…
But Ember wasn't sighing, or whining, or anything else. "No visitor space," he declared happily. "That's one thing I can do without. In fact, I'd rather not have that. Some privacy would be great."
"You won't get much privacy," Pearl admitted. "Not even with the best rock." That was one of the few advantages of dwelling in the caves, or in her case one of the disadvantages. "You'll also want to consider location."
"We were not done with size," Ember objected. "A rock big enough for one dragon?"
"I was hoping two," Pearl said quietly. "At least."
Ember hesitated for a long moment, long enough to let the forwardness of what she had said fully sink in.
"A rock for two," he conceded. "And one with every nearby rock already taken, so Storm cannot be a close neighbor."
Pearl let out a small warble of joy. He could not have been more clear without saying it outright-
"Just as friends for now," he continued. "I'm not entirely… there yet."
"But you will be." It was not a question, not anymore.
"I think I will," he agreed.
O-O-O-O-O
Lily stalked through the forest, outwardly angry and frustrated. Her internal attitude wasn't much better, but she was at least aware that, were she to be stopped and questioned by someone, looking angry would give her an excuse to work with. An angry light wing stomping around was less suspicious than a neutral, secretive light wing sneaking in the same place. One implied she was just walking, and the other searching.
Storm had hinted at there being something near the path down from the mountain. Hopefully it was something useful; she wasn't entirely sure what the abrasive female dark wing meant for this vague thing to convince her of.
Lily stalked forward, puzzling over her entire predicament. Her allies had all fallen away with kind words and inaction, and her new opponent wasn't nearly as obviously evil as Claw. Even getting the pack to notice Claw's depravity was difficult; someone more subtle would be downright impossible.
A faint, coppery smell assaulted her nostrils all of a sudden, just a hint at the edge of her awareness. She hesitated, looked around, and saw nothing. The scent was still there, lingering.
She knew the smell of blood, and she knew the smell of Claw. Her back itched, a creeping sensation she couldn't shake, and she unsheathed her claws. If he was still around, she would…
What would she do? She considered that as she turned in a slow circle and got the direction the scent was coming from. He was badly injured, she knew that, and probably all but defenseless. Out here, in the woods, away from prying eyes.
She had so easily put aside the desire to destroy him in favor of understanding the new male that took his place, but now it all came rushing back as she contemplated something previously unthinkable. She could find him and kill him, make it hurt, put an end to his depravity with her own claws, avenge Granite and Pyre-
She found herself walking, and then as the scent thickened, running, galloping through the forest, out toward the beach, and to-
She skidded to a halt as a strange dark wing came into view, laying peacefully on the shore. He was a rusty brown color all about his head and paws, which abruptly transitioned to blue at certain points.
But Claw's scent still pointed to him, a thick odor wafting from his general direction.
The dark wing stared at her. "What are you running to?" he asked in a gravelly voice.
Lily realized that the brown coloration was blood, not a natural tone of scale and skin. Claw's blood. This dark wing looked a lot like Storm had… Was this what she had been sent to discover?
"Vengeance," she said, approaching him with trepidation. She might have fled, if she didn't somehow know that this dark wing could catch her. Where Ember tempered his appearance with his words and demeanor, this dark wing put up no pretenses. His gaze was that of a killer, and a hunter at that.
"Against me, or against your Sire?" the dark wing asked, revealing knowledge he should not have had.
"Against him," Lily growled. She did not feel so confident and angry, not now, but showing weakness or fear to a predator would get her killed. She knew that.
"Did you want him to suffer?"
"Yes."
"Does it matter to you if you did it personally?" the dark wing asked, sounding as if he cared immensely. Lily wasn't sure what the right answer was.
So she went with the truth. "No. Just that he suffers. I don't want to be like him, even while seeking revenge. He would strike personally, but I am happy so long as it has been done."
"Wish granted," the dark wing rumbled. "I suppose that is what you were sent to learn."
"Who are you?" Lily asked. This might be a way to strike at Ember, the dark wings were all connected as far as she knew, and this one could easily substitute for Claw in helping her gather support.
"A pity project," he replied calmly. "Do you want to see what is left of him?"
"That's not what I asked," Lily huffed, regaining some of her confidence as it sunk in that whatever his motivations, this dark wing didn't intend to harm her… at the moment. She felt she could push a little. "I wanted a name."
"Second." He stared steadily at her. "I've been told I should consider taking a new one, but I don't care to."
"Why are you here?" she asked. "And what happened to the people sent to follow Claw out?"
"They considered their task done the moment he went into the trees," Second replied in a level tone. "I am here because my alpha is here. He is here because someone he cares for asked him to be. I follow him because I do not trust myself to make good choices if I am independent. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
"Not at all, you're only making it worse," she huffed. "Why was I sent out here?"
"If you were sent to me for a reason, it is to see what I have done," Second rumbled neutrally. "Do you know why I did it?"
"Because Ember told you to, so that Claw would never return," she theorized. It was a clever scheme, granting Ember the appearance of being merciful, and still ensuring Claw was no longer a threat.
"Because I have done so many terrible things, but there was one limit I never let myself pass, though I was told to, pressured to, punished for refusing," Second corrected. His tone was still level, as if he was relating something of very little importance. He hadn't moved from his position relaxing on the warm sand. "I was and am a monster, of sorts, but Claw surpassed me. Storm asked if I was comfortable letting him live, and I decided I was not. So I hunted him down and did everything Ember has been trying to ensure I never do again."
"What did you do?" Lily asked, her voice shaking. She didn't know how much of that she believed, but the flaking old blood coating his paws and muzzle lent plenty of weight to certain claims.
"Everything he deserved for laying a paw on you," Second said coldly. "Trust that you would regret asking me for details."
"And are you going to do that to anyone else?" she asked nervously.
"No," he said simply. "My alpha has forbidden it, and I have disobeyed his orders in doing it this one time, but I do not intend to disobey again. His way is calmer. Better."
"Would you strike against someone trying to take the position of alpha back from him?" Lily pressed. She had to know the answer to that, because if it was a yes of any sort, fighting Ember would be suicide, and that would determine how she went about things.
"To do so might result in his death, and he is my alpha, so yes," Second replied. "For now. Once I am sure he has something else to live for, you may try."
"Something else to live for?"
"He wished to die, and Pearl pulled him from his grief by proposing revenge," Second elaborated. "Then, after I was collected and his personal enemies were extinguished, she saw that he still wished to die, so she sent him against her worst nightmare, and all the while tried to make him understand that she wanted him for herself. She is close but not yet there, and this position, helping reform your pack into something worth existing, is keeping him from going off one day and wasting away in some forgotten hole in the ground."
"So you think taking power would be killing him," Lily summarized. She wasn't sure she believed him, not about Ember. He seemed fine.
Of course, the same could probably be said for her, even on her worst days. Just because she didn't see it didn't mean it was a lie, it just meant she hadn't been looking for it.
"For now. Let Pearl heal him." Second blinked slowly at her, still entirely unconcerned with her presence. "Do you want to see what I did?"
"Is this some sort of intimidation tactic?" Lily asked. She did sort of want to see what had become of Claw.
"Yes, but that is a side benefit," Second said.
Lily stared at him for a long moment, wondering whether it would be stupid to say yes, and more importantly, whether it would be worth it.
"I want to see," she admitted. In the end, it was not like she could turn tail and fly away from the end. She had to know as much as she could about how her tormentor had met his well-deserved end, for her own satisfaction.
Second nodded, rose to his paws, and turned his back on the tideline, heading into the forest. Lily followed, her eyes on his extremely scarred tail. The only part of him that wasn't scarred were his tailfins, oddly enough. It didn't seem to make sense; she could even see a few grey lines that terminated right at the fins, though they should have continued. The membrane of his wings had plenty of grey scars throughout.
The smell of Claw's blood grew stronger the deeper they went into the forest, and she began to feel the urge to gag in the back of her throat. She had never smelled that much blood, and the coppery scent was laced with other, more vile scents.
"You will regret looking," Second said, stopping and flaring a wing to block her view of whatever he had come across. There was a small hollow in a copse of trees, a place large enough to fit a light wing or two, but not much larger. "It will scar your mind." Despite his neutral tone, she could hear the warning, and with it the implication that he cared, just a little, for her well-being. Enough to prefer that she be warned beforepaw.
"He already scarred my mind. I will be trading one scar for another." Lily steeled herself and walked around Second's outstretched wing. He made no move to stop her-
But she stopped on her own the moment her eyes focused on the dark, bloody mess inside the hollow. There wasn't a hint of white to be seen, all coated in dark brown or sticky red blood.
This was all that remained of Claw. She tried to harden herself, to feel glad about the immense amount of suffering this had to have caused him, but all she felt was sick. She couldn't quite piece together what had happened, there was so much strewn about, none of it in quite the right place or looking right at all-
She turned away, her breathing light and fast, and began walking in the opposite direction, though it felt as if the world was spinning around her.
"I told you," Second said coldly.
"I don't regret looking," Lily said shakily, once again certain that she shouldn't show weakness. "I just have never seen anything like that."
"Count yourself lucky," Second said softly.
She inhaled, held the air in until she could be sure she wasn't about to spew the contents of her stomach all over the nearest tree, and released it with a sigh. "Thank you," she said. "For dealing with him." She wouldn't thank him for the torture, thanking him for it just wasn't right, even if Claw had deserved it.
"It was done because of his crimes, not for you," was the reply.
That made her feel, if not better, then at least not as personally guilty.
"I will never do such a thing again," Second added, as if it was an afterthought. "I think I know how I want to spend the rest of my days, if my alpha will let me."
"How?" She had to know. He was a monster, if one that had only acted because Claw deserved it. Somehow, she didn't think he was lying in anything he said. A predator that deadly had no need to lie, not when he could probably snuff her life out in an instant if he didn't like what she thought of him.
"Here, in this forest," he said. "Roaming. All day, I have seen no guards, nobody venturing out. It is empty, massive, silent. Peaceful."
"You want peace?" she asked incredulously.
"I want… I want nature, and nobody around, and a task to keep my attention." He spoke as if he was not used to voicing his desires at all, heaving the words out like they were worth nothing, not even the air used to express them. "I can keep two eyes on these forests and watch for encroaching danger, for a long, long time to come. That is all."
"You wouldn't go into the valley?" She could scarcely imagine such a dangerous, feral person roaming the valley itself. He barely fit in here, in the otherwise peaceful forests.
"Not unless there was a great need." He walked beside her and caught her eye. "Overthrow Ember, if you must. Just give him time to find something else first. Or, cut out the difficult, violent part and just influence him toward whatever you want out of an alpha. He listens, even to those who don't deserve to have a voice or an opinion."
"I want…" She trailed off, realizing that she couldn't think of anything Ember had not already demonstrated. Freedom? He had given it without a second thought. A good leader? He was making a strong start in that direction.
"Claw gone," Second said coldly. "You want the domineering alpha who controlled and ruined your life gone, dead and done with."
"Yes."
"You have that." He lifted a bloodstained paw, as if to remind her what lay behind them. "What now?"
"I don't know." The only thing she could think of that was both achievable and not related to the alpha was regaining Crystal's support, and that would happen the moment she dropped her desire to uproot Ember, who had yet to do anything worth opposing. Just as Crystal was trying to tell her.
"Not working against the alpha?" Second asked.
"I guess not." She knew she was being manipulated, or at least questioned with a purpose in mind, but he was right. There was no point in continuing her crusade against Claw's successor, not when he was making things better. It was just that she had no clue what to do, other than that.
"Good." Second turned his tail on her and began to leave, winding his way between the trees. She watched as he disappeared from sight, leaving her alone with her thoughts and her lack of direction.