One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

20.

Shadowhunter

Permafrost wakes me up early. I hate it when she does that—she's one of those dragons who wakes up at ridiculously early hours and then expects everyone else to do the same.

But she's smiling as she shakes me awake, telling me what a beautiful night it is, and how she's already written Gaze a note, and we can hunt for breakfast as we fly, and even I don't have the heart to get mad at her about it.

"Okay okay okay," I laugh, pushing myself up off the ground and stretching out sore wings. "Somebody's excited."

"We're not that far from the palace. I... figured we should take advantage of this while it lasts, right?" She gives me a little smile.

"Yeah. Probably." I say through a yawn, stuffing my blanket, sleeping mat, and the handful of possessions I bothered unpacking into my bag. Permafrost helps me dismantle my tent. I eat one of the persimmons Gaze picked up in Ocotillo, drink as much water as I can bear, and by the time we're ready to leave, I can hear Gaze waking up.

We soar above the thin layer of clouds, slamming into each other and tumbling through the sky. We run down sand dunes, and fall flat on our faces, and for a while, I can forget about the way the palace grows closer with every wingbeat, each footstep. Because the sunset is gorgeous, and it stains our scales a soft orange, and oh three moons I can't believe this wonderful dragon is actually my girlfriend.

"I've been going over those scrolls we stole from Jerboa," Permafrost says hesitantly--like she's a little scared of how I might react.

I tilt my head at her. "Oh?" She always does that, and her dumb little mannerisms are rubbing off on me.

"She really thinks she's a god. It's... I mean, it's horrifying, but from a psychological perspective, kind of fascinating too? Basically, if you believe Jerboa, which I absolutely do not, this is a load of unscientific rubbish—there was this alien planet near ours, that was populated entirely of magic, godlike beings, with insane amounts of power—not even animus level stuff. They could change the past and present, they could shape the world they lived in with a snap of their claws, and they were all immortal, because of course they were. She sort of implies that's where NightWings get their power? It's not totally clear, though. But they were dying, their power was too strong for the planet to hold, and it was going to explode, so with the last of their energy, they, like... became the moons? Kind of? But one of them became the sun, and that's supposedly where animus magic comes from, and then apparently animus dragons are sent down from the sun, and she's supposedly an incarnation... of the sun god? It's pretty out there--oh, and then there's the part where she implies no animus dragons have parents, one day their eggs just appear at the right dragons' doorstep, and being selected to raise an animus is the greatest honour, and yeah, that's as far as I've got." She hesitates. "You didn't appear on your parents' door, right?"

I shrug. "Beats me. I guess you could ask them?"

"Oh, because that wouldn't raise any eyebrows. Hi Clearsight, how are you? I was just writing to ask if your child is indeed biologically yours."

"Permafrost, I was joking. I really, really don't think I was summoned out of the void by a sun god," I say wryly.

"Well, your childhood was weird, I didn't want to make assumptions."

"Uh, yeah, as in a couple of times I was a political prisoner, and my parents both had magic powers, not as in I appeared at my parents' door one day." I roll my eyes.

Permafrost just sighs in response to that.

"We're pretty close to one of their encampments," I say, mostly just to fill the silence. "I think. I looked at the map before Gaze gave it away."