Wings of Fire: A Mage from Another World (PAUSED)

Ch. 31: Overnight Conversation

"These are the my chambers." Coral gestured down as she and her daughters flew above said chamber. "Wait for me while I take care of this." the queen then flew off, leaving Tsunami alone. She wanted to tell her friends about Kestrel, but... "They will decide it's not safe, and Starflight will talk to them into leaving... but I don't want to leave yet..". She thought about asking her mother to have a feast tomorrow, thinking it might cheer her friends up. With that, she swam up to a bed and laid in it, resting on the soft sea kelp that lined it and closed her eyes to sleep.

She was awoken hours later by some light tapping to her shoulder, and as she opened her eyes she saw it was just Anemone. The younger Seawing held a finger up to her snout in a shushing manner and glanced back at their mother, who was still deeply asleep. She then turned back to Tsunami and began dimly flashing her scales, which Tsunami of course could not understand. "I can't understand you!" she thought with a gesture of her talon, showing confusion. Anemone remembered and facepalmed, swimming upwards and pointing to a part of the roof. Tsunami followed closely until they reached the roof, the leash thankfully being long enough for there to not be any tugging.

"Smart.." the blue Seawing whispered as she emerged, only her head resurfacing onto the air pocket. "Really hope she doesn't wake up soon.." Anemone muttered and then threw herself onto Tsunami, hugging her tightly. "I'm so glad you're here!" she exclaimed, catching her sister off guard. "Don't I... threaten your chances for he throne?" a part of her wanted to ask, but kept it to herself as she hesitantly returned the hug. The light blue Seawing then pulled away and looked into Tsunami's eyes, her talons firmly grasping her shoulders. "Maybe mother will be less crazy now that you're here. I need to get out of this harness, Tsunami! You have no idea how awful my life has been!" the little Seawing ranted. "Well, try being raised with no ocean by dragons who hate you and treat you like a tadpole."

"I AM being treated like a tadpole!" Anemone huffed while Tsunami chuckled lightly. "You're only, what? One year old?" she asked, then crossed her arms under the water. "I'm sure it'll change." "Mostly sure... halfway sure..." "Well at least you have friends!" Anemone grumbled with a light pout. "Well... truth is I was stuck with those six, and five out of them are always arguing, mostly with me or if they get mad about something." Tsunami explained, rubbing her head between her horns. Anemone sighed, looking down. "They seem great. I always wanted brothers and sisters." Tsunami tilted her head at the mention, curious if she also has brothers. "Don't you... have brothers?" "Lots," she replied, "but mother says they play too rough."

The young Seawing then crossed her arms and pouted. "I'm not allowed to play with anyone!" she complained, looking down at where Coral was sleeping. "She's obsessed with finding out who's killing her daughters, and she suspects almost everyone!" Anemone then looked to be thinking for a moment before holding her talon up against her head in a dramatic way. "Well, everyone except little perfect, boring Moray.." Tsunami then hummed. "I guess my friends are alright when they're not complaining.." she muttered then heard Anemone shudder. "I complained once, and mother nearly got me a muzzle to match my harness.." "Oof.." Tsunami mumbled. "At least you have somebody who loves you." Anemone looked up at her with a reassuring look, smiling gently at her. "She loves you too, you know."

Tsunami knew she was right. Just as another minute of silence passed, Anemone then let out a relieved squeak. "Oh I hope you take Whirlpool!" she began, making Tsunami flinch and back away slightly. "I was so sure I would have to marry him, but now you can!" "Woah, hey! No way!" Tsunami quickly said, shaking her head. There was no way she would marry Whirlpool. "First things first! I don't have time to get married! I need to stop the war and save the world!" she then shuddered as she went on to the next part. "Secondly, I would rather have my tail nibbled off by snapping turtles!" Anemone giggled, knowing how unlikeable the mentioned Seawing was. "He's dreadful, isn't he?"

"Yerr smaller majesties." Tsunami mocked Whirlpool almost perfectly, in which Anemone plunged her head into the water to muffle her laughter. Once she resurfaced her head, Tsunami continued. "Mother can't decide who we marry!" Anemone blinked and looked at her with confusion and surprise. Tsunami scoffed. "We're royalty! We can do whatever we want!" "That's not what I've seen!" Anemone replied, her ears drooping slightly. "It's more like "We're royalty so we must always follow these traditions of yawn, claw me to death already." "Sounds dumb.." Tsunami grumbled, in which Anemone agreed. "It is..."

"Oh! I'm curious about something!" Tsunami quickly added, in which Anemone nodded at her to go on. "About Gill... who is he? And why did mother seem so relieved to see him? He is just a top general right?" The younger Seawing took a deep breath, swimming up to Tsunami. "He's... more than a general to mother, Tsunami." she began, glancing down as she explained Gill. "Mother showed me these scrolls she wrote about him, and she would always talk about him whenever that happened." "Really?" Anemone nodded as she looked back at Tsunami. "Mother said she would tell you later, but with the whole war thing and you being the Seawing of the prophecy I just... could not let you leave without knowing who he is, especially since we do not know when you'll be leaving." "Just tell me... please.."

Anemone sighed, then told her. "I wasn't so sure at first, but mother's description of him seemed to fit perfectly, so here goes... Gill is our father."

Needless to say that shock ran through Tsunami's scales as the words echoed in her head, feeling both shock and dread. "Three moons... back in the arena I was... going to kill my own father." she thought with a silent hiss, setting a self reminder to thank Starflight for helping her to not kill him. He most likely saw that Gill was her father, but why did he lie about it and say he was just a general?

Before more questions could form in Tsunami's head, Anemone's "uh oh" pulled her from her head. "I think she's waking up." "Wait! Quick! One more question! What happened to Orca?" Tsunami quickly got the question out. "She challenged mother for the throne when she was only seven. Everyone says it was horrible. She nearly won, but in the end mother killed her.."

"It's weird, though." Anemone continued. "Mother worships and still misses Orca, but many dragons still hate her. Don't ever mention her name around Moray." "Ah, Moray..." Tsunami mumbled, remembering the not-so-pleasant first meeting with the grey-green Seawing. "She seems-" "Drippy? Fatuous? As interesting as sea slime?" Tsunami paused and blinked twice. "...I was going to say odd... 'cause before she even met me, Moray gave me this glare like she wanted to kill me." "She does that to me too!" Anemone replied whilst gesturing to herself. "I think it's because of Orca. She thinks I'll grow up and challenge mother as soon as I can like Orca did. And you're older than me, so..."

A tug pulled Anemone slightly, signalling they had to head back underwater with their mother. They did just that, with Tsunami greeting her with a smile.