One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

18.

Clearsight

I'm getting very good at giving speeches.

Sunrise is technically supposed to write all these, but I hate reading out someone else's words, and this one only took me half an hour to throw together, with some editing from Darkstalker. Informational and brief, that's all we have to do here. (And she has her talons full with trying to distribute anti-propaganda pamphlets debunking popular lies spread by Allknowing about the past fifty years of history, which I know has been causing her trouble.)

"Thank you, everyone, for coming here today. In light of the recent IceWing attacks, King Darkstalker and I, after consulting our council, have deemed it necessary to issue an evacuation order for all families with dragonets under one year old, dragons over one hundred-and-thirty-five, or anyone with a chronic health issue. Although it's your prerogative to remain in the kingdom, a full list of everyone prioritized in the evacuation is posted in the front foyer. After the weeklong period for anyone included in it to leave the kingdom, the general population will be allowed to apply, should any space be left.

"If you and your family wish to leave the kingdom to a secure island off the coast of RainWing territory, please file this intention with Lord Rogue, who will also be in the front lobby. The first group of dragons leaving will depart tonight, via portal. King Darkstalker will be working on putting up a protective bubble around the island, for your security." At Sunrise's suggestion, we decided it's best to gloss over the whole Fathom thing—we're not going to lie about it, but we're not gonna draw any more attention to it when we have to. He was never too high profile when he lived here, and if we're lucky, we might be able to avoid a scandal.

"Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, find Lord Rogue, King Darkstalker, me, or another government official. That will be all." I retreat from the dramatic balcony I like to use for speeches, into the little hidden room beside it, where my husband and councillors are waiting, leaving the throne room below abuzz with whispers and rushing footsteps.

"You did great," Darkstalker reassures, squeezing my talon. "This is the right thing, trust me."

I smile halfheartedly. "Well, we'll see well enough in a few hours how dragons take the news. And in the meantime--we had better hope Fathom and Indigo are actually okay with this. If not--I don't know, maybe we could use Shadowhunter's island, she let me go there once, it seemed nice." I sigh. "We're gonna need to go--no guards required, we'll just take the portal, we should probably test it out anyway."

Rogue sighs. "Are you sure? This isn't exactly the best time to go traipsing around without any guards."

"The only dragons there are Fathom and Indigo," Darkstalker reassures him. "Look, I'm just gonna do this—" he waves his claw in a circular motion, opening a large, black hole in the air, glowing bright white around the edges. "And step right in. You can watch us go, see? Come on, darling." He grabs onto my talon, giving me a little smile. "Do you trust me?"

I sigh. "This really doesn't need to be this dramatic--yes, of course I do."

"Then let's go see Fathom." He pulls me in behind him. A twisty feeling warps through my gut like I'm tumbling down a hill, compressed and remade and spat back out in a split-second on the hot sand. I gasp for breath, picking up my crown off the ground.

"Honey?"

"Yeah?" Darkstalker says, wincing as he gingerly pushes himself up, then holds out a talon to me.

"Would it have killed you to add in something in the spell about an easy landing? Or, I don't know, dumping us on Fathom's side of the island?"