One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

6.

Clearsight

"Honey? You awake?" I murmur, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I turn to face my husband, who slowly blinks his eyes open.

"Whatimeisit..."

"I don't know," I laugh. "Early?" Normally, Heartfire wakes us up a few hours before sunset.

Darkstalker yawns, adjusting our blanket.

I sigh. "Had this really weird dream where Shadowhunter joined a cult."

Darkstalker laughs. "Uh, yeah, I know, you were talking in your sleep again, honey."

"Oh. Sorry, did I wake you up?" I ask sheepishly.

"A bit," Darkstalker admits. "But it's all right."

"I don't want them to leave," Darkstalker blurts, after a moment's silence. "Not now; not so soon after we've finally all gotten back together. I missed so much, I know it, and I don't want to miss any more. I mean, Shadowhunter basically has a girlfriend now, and she's almost done with school, when did that happen?"

"I don't know," I laugh. "Kinda feels like it was just yesterday she was learning to talk." I hesitate. "Honey, it's not your fault. All the things you missed.... I don't blame you for it. You know that, right?"

"You don't," he mutters. "But they do."

I don't know what to say to that.

"Remember when we found out, about Shadowhunter?" I smile a little. "You were so excited."

"I was," he laughs. "And you were so nervous we couldn't handle it. We hadn't even gotten married, yet--what were we, nine? Ten?"

"You were adorable. You'd bring me breakfast in bed, and take me shopping for, like, picture scrolls and stuffed animals and stuff after work. And then we announced it at the wedding..."

"Right," Darkstalker sighs. "I remember that."

"She hatched in a storm, didn't she?" In retrospect, it seems pretty fitting. "Oh, three moons, we were so naïve. I thought we could keep her safe from everything."

I miss feeling like that.

"She was, like, a really violent kid," he chuckles. "She started breathing fire when she was, like, a few days old, and we had to leave the windows open so she wouldn't smoke up the house, I think she almost burned it down a few times. Remember that?"

"I do." I smile despite myself. "Oh my gosh, poor Listener. Didn't we make her babysit, a few times, while we were working?"

"Oh, yeah, that didn't last long. She was kind of a holy terror, wasn't she? Remember the temper tantrums?"

"How could I forget," I mutter.

"I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to the dragonets," he admits.

"I know."

"What if we're making the wrong decision?"

"We aren't," Darkstalker promises. "It's gonna be fine."