One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

26.

Content warning: discussion of abuse, the aftermath of trauma, a very creepy and manipulative dynamic, and secondhand descriptions of death and corpses

Nebula

"Okay," Darkstalker says sternly. "This is no-powers chess—so if either one of us tries to use our powers, we forfeit, and then Mom's gonna be very smug , so we can't have that."

I glance at the magic chessboard Darkstalker just created. After waiting a few hours on the roof, everyone started to realize the flood wasn't going away, and the king and queen ordered an evacuation to Borderland mountain, which hadn't totally been submerged yet—although it is very damp from the rain. We've been here for a day now, and I can tell Darkstalker is trying to make light of it—conjuring tents for everyone, and making us a magic chessboard, as though this is some kind of fun camping trip. (Just one where there are guards standing outside our tent to make sure no one kills us, and my parents keep having to rush outside to exchange whispered words with colleagues.) Clearsight and Eclipse murmur about their strategy on the other side of the table, and Eclipse shoots me a conspiratorial grin.

"But I can't control my power," I say quietly--only realizing after the fact, that's the first time I've admitted it to anyone other than Eclipse.

Darkstalker frowns. "What, you can't, like, tune out mental noise? How was that not taught to you?"

I shrug. "I mean, I never went to school. So. I read about it in a scroll--the thing where you imagine the thoughts are waves or rain or something, but I never got the hang of it."

Darkstalker hesitates, then takes off his battered wrist cuff, and gently puts it on me. "Is it okay if I enchant this? I want to try something."

I hesitate. He cares about you. He's just trying to help you. Why can't you trust these dragons?

"Okay," I say after an agonizing silence. Darkstalker touches the bracelet, closing his eyes. It glows golden, then settles back down to its normal coppery colour. A slow, gentle breeze, and the sound of rain on a window takes over in the background, seeming to blend in with the mental chatter around me--the loud, spiking thoughts of the crowd of dragons around us fading a little. My shoulders relax, and I let out a breath. I didn't realize I had a headache until it started to fade away.

"After a while, I think your brain should learn to recognize all that mental chatter as white noise, and you'll only have to hear it if you really focus," Darkstalker says with a shrug. "It was always really easy for me to do, but I knew one dragonet in my mind-reader training class who had to train himself to tune it out around ambient noises at first--so we'd all go on trips to the ocean, or the forest, it was a whole thing. Anyway, it's enchanted to shift to whatever sound you find most relaxing, and if you tap this stone to the right, it'll make it go louder, and this one will make it quieter, and tap the middle one if you want to turn it on or off."

"It's perfect." I beam, throwing my wings around him. "Thank you!" I haven't been able to think this clearly in... maybe ever.

Darkstalker laughs, scuffing me with his wing. "Don't mention it, bud. I'm glad it helps."

"Are you sure you don't want your bracelet back?" I worry.

He laughs. "I will survive without it. I think you need it more than I do. Anyway--the hourglass is gonna glow purple if I use my powers, blue if Clearsight does, green if you do, but don't you dare 'cause we are going to absolutely destroy you guys without magic." Darkstalker shoots Clearsight a challenging look.