She's Alright, I Guess
(Edit) word correction
Starflight was, frankly, terrified. This was quite justified, you see, as currently he was being held prisoner by the Skywings and was bound by metal rods to a pillar in the sky. It might also be worth mentioning that his wings were cuffed and that the metal used was, somehow, fireproof or just extremely heat resistant. The only good part about that was that the metal didn't heat up quickly, meaning that he wouldn't be burnt anytime soon. But still, quite terrified.
His terror increased when he saw a bright, copper coloured dragon fly up to the pillar Clay was placed on, sleek and radiant. A firescales. The Skywings had a firescales. Why wasn't Burn winning the war? A good strategy around deploying a firescales with a specialised squadron into certain encampments and frontiers would make it hard for the other kingdoms to plan, putting pressure on two different areas at once, accounting for the Skywing's other military forces. Sure, it was a short term plan, but it would allow Burn to gain a swift advantage in the war, potentially closing it out in about a year after.
…Oh. Clay wasn't dead. Not that he wanted Clay to be dead, that is, but why else would Queen Scarlet send up a firescales to a prisoner if it wasn't for… extermination. Hold on, were they talking? Starflight sat watching the firescales talk with Clay for a while - not like he had anything else better to do - before she turned and flew away towards-
Oh. Oh no.
She was flying directly at him.
Peril slowed to a glide as she approached the nightwing's - Starflight, his name was - pillar. She'd never met a nightwing before - neither had most dragons - so she was excited, to say the least. Well, this wasn't her first attempt, but he had just fainted the first time. What made her think this time was any different? Well, this time she had an in! The nice mudwing - Clay - turned out to be a friend of his and gave her a few tips on how to talk to him.
She was glad that he, Clay that is, was willing to have a conversation with her. No-one really did that. Maybe Starflight would want to be friends with her when she talks about history.
Peril swooped down and crossed her claws.
There was a firescales here. A pretty large firescales. A firescales that was currently staring into his soul and grinning.
"Hey there!" she said, in the least fitting voice imaginable. It was light and young and joyful, "You're Starflight, right?"
It knew his name.
Starflight yelped and flinched back, cowering and covering his head. Why was she here why was she here why was she here-
"Um, you okay?"
He was going to die. Alone, leaving his friends behind, never telling Sunny how he felt and in a blazing inferno of-.
"Ah- what do you think about the Delta Dispute of 4980?"
All mental processes halted.
"Excuse me?" he squeaked out, peeking through the cracks of his claws. The skywing just landed on the very edge of the pillar and continued, half talking to herself as she was to him.
"Well, personally I think the Kingdom of the Sea's demands were perfectly reasonable, considering that they're the smallest kingdom in area and the fact that ground underwater tends to be unstable, especially in shallower areas like the Bay of a Thousand Scales."
And everything was out the window. His fear was overridden by habit and the offer of an actual historical debate, compared to the one-sided lectures he gave his friends.
"...Whilst that is true, the Seawings have the ability to live in a much larger sample size of environments, being able to breathe in water and on land. They could easily just expand further out into the ocean."
The other dragon tilted her head.
"Whilst that is true, that would cause problems with distribution of goods, cutting off the farther settlements from the mainland and cause issues with communication. Deep ocean waters are also harsher, with stronger currents and less light, decreasing the quality of life." Starflight cleared his throat, sitting up.
"The underwater conditions only get that harsh in the deepest of water, much farther away from the continent. And I didn't say that they'd have to expand outward, either. A large percentage of the water between the Bay of a Thousand Scales and the shore of the Sky Kingdom is unused, and it would be much easier to negotiate with the Sky Kingdom to give up or lend some of their waterspace, negating the communication and availability problems you mentioned." After Starflight finished his point there was a moment of silence before the other dragon broke into a large grin. "What?" he asked, not understanding her reaction.
"You're not shaking anymore." she replied simply.
"How did you break that?" Tsunami asked. That was a surprisingly good question, coming from her. Starflight turned to face his mudwing friend to hear the answer. Clay's expression was sheepish, as if the answer was something like 'I was trying to see how much rocks I could carry and accidentally figured out the meaning of life'.
"I had help," he admitted, "That dragon who was just here - Peril. Her touch can burn through it. She did that by accident."
Starflight reached up and clawed at the bands restraining his wings. If he can find any weaknesses or moving parts he might be able to break them off. Though, he chuckled, Peril accidentally being the cause of an impromptu concert did sound like something she'd do.
"That dragon is psychotic." Tsunami said, "Didn't you see her decimate that sandwing? And she's Kestrel's daughter, which kind of makes sense."
Starflight snorted. Peril was hardly like Kestrel; the thought of a booksmart Kestrel was hilarious. His grin faded. Though…
"No wonder Kestrel hated us." he said, "I bet the Talons of Peace thought she'd want to be on dragonet-minding duty after what she'd lost. Instead, we just reminded her of what she'd lost every day."
Clay's expression fell further, realising the implications.
"Peril's not completely crazy," he said, "She's kind of nice when she's not killing someone. And she brought mud for my back. And she found Sunny."
Starflight was going to say something but then was caught off guard by the last statement.
"She found Sunny?" he exclaimed.
"Can she get to her?" Tsunami demanded, hitting the floor with a talon, "Can she set her free?"
Clay glanced away, rolling his shoulders and feeling the water.
"I'm not sure Peril will help us." he admitted, "She hasn't spoken to me since the trial. I'm afraid she's mad at me"
At that moment the aforementioned dragon poked her head through the fire.
"I'm not mad at you." she said whilst Tsunami jumped back and hissed in alarm. Starflight was startled, too, but he recovered quickly and waved at her, to which Tsunami whipped her head around to give him an incredulous look.
"Oh, good." Clay said to Peril, who nodded with acknowledgement before returning Starflight's wave with a casual talon movement. "Where have you been?"
Peril averted her gaze, flapping her wings.
"I didn't want to put you guys in danger" she said as the flames whoosed higher.
"Come in," Clay told her, "it's weird talking to someone who's on fire."
As they were treading quietly through the halls, Tsunami took the opportunity to fall behind to talk to Clay, so Starflight decided to have his own private conversation with Peril in the front. He strided to walk side-by-side to her as casually as he could.
"So, Clay, hmm?" he mused aloud, not looking in her direction to provide the allusion of aloofness. Peril made a small sound of surprise, which probably garnered the attention of Clay and Tsunami as he saw her look back out of the corner of her eye and she hushed her voice.
"What do you mean?" she asked, voice slightly nervous. He smirked, still not looking directly at her.
"Well, you certainly have good taste," she visibly flinched, "although," he continued, "you might have to put in some work if you're planning on pursuing this. He's a bit oblivious." Peril shook her wings, clearly uncomfortable with the situation.
"No- I'm not- It's- can you do this later?" Starflight shrugged.
"Sure. I'm not mad at you for it, you know." He saw her release a breath.
"Um, thanks. I guess. Uh," she continued, raising her voice to get the attention of the whole group, "the tower where your sandwing friend is being held is up those stairs," she gestured to the right path, " and then you take the first left. And, um, I'm pretty sure the rainwing's sleeping quarters are this way?" she flicked her tail down the middle path, "But it might be safer for me to try to talk her into escaping herself tomorrow. If we get the wrong room things could get real bad. Uh. Obviously. And I kind of don't want to get in trouble." Tsunami narrowed her eyes.
"What about guards?" she asked. Peril shook her head.
"Party." she said simply, "Thought you wouldn't be able to get past the firewall."
The arena was nice and windy today.
"How did you get caught?" Peril hissed, circling Clay.
"Ah," he said, "Went right."
Peril almost face-taloned.
Starflight tilted his head in the vague direction of Peril's voice. She was keeping Clay company as some rainwing medics were treating his recent leg burn
"Oh?" Fatespeaker questioned, probably tilting her head, "I didn't think you'd get along with someone like her."
Starflight hummed.
"What do you mean by 'someone like her'?" he asked. There were some swooshing sounds as if she were making some gestures.
"You know," she said, "Loud-ish. A bit brash. Big personality? Firey." Starflight laughed.
"You're loud-ish and have a big personality. Besides, I get along with Tsunami just fine. Don't tell her that I compared her to Peril, though."
"So," Fatespeaker probed, a lilt in her voice, "What do you think of her?"
Starflight grinned, trying to point his face exactly in her direction.
"Well," he said, "she's alright, I guess."