One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

1.

Clearsight

I don't think I've ever been this busy in my life. I mean, sure I was expecting it to be a lot at first—but I basically ran the kingdom, back when I was Vigilance's advisor. How different could this be?

It's worse. It's so much worse. There really is nothing left in the treasury—about a talon full of gold, in a big, empty room. The remains of an empire. Heartfire tries to help out as best he can, even proposes we dig into our personal savings to pay for service staff and split the cost—which isn't a half-bad plan, except for that it's totally unsustainable.

So Darkstalker still does the cooking—just in the palace kitchens now. He enchants some brooms to do the cleaning, for now. (Of course, we have to keep that quiet—dragons want jobs, desperately, and if they found out we're replacing a decent position with an enchanted broom, the support we won from magically fixing up the Great Diamond would be withdrawn in an instant.)

And oh three moons, the meetings. So many meetings—long, and drawn out, and frustrating, usually ending in some kind of shouting match.

By the end of each night, I'm so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open.

So it takes us a week before we get a chance to go back to our old house.

The dragonets have been sent back here a few times, of course, to grab Darkstalker's old scroll on NightWing law, or make sure my plants are watered—since they don't have anything else to do. But we haven't actually had time to properly move our stuff.

I crack open the door. The worn floorboards creak under my talons, just like always. Eclipse's art sits proudly on the mantle. Darkstalker's notes are scattered all over the table. There's a mess on the living room floor, and dirty pots and pans in the kitchen... and just being back here makes me want to cry a little bit.

Come on, Clearsight. Hold it together.

It's not like you're selling the place or something. It'll still be there if you want to go back.

But I know it'll never be the same.

"Mom?" Way prods at my wing, just like he did when he was little. Normally, I'd scold him, since it is pretty irritating, but I don't have it in me right now. "What do we do?"

"Pack up your rooms." I yawn, wishing I had brought some coffee. "If you wanna get rid of anything, just leave it here for now. The most important thing is getting settled in at the palace."

"We only have few hours," Darkstalker adds sternly. "So don't dawdle."

"Do you want me to pack up Shadowhunter's stuff?" Eclipse asks. I wince.

"Yeah. That'd be nice."

Shadowhunter didn't want to come. After the challenge, she begged Darkstalker to take away her magic. (Right after asking him to kill her.) We ended up deciding to enchant a simple rope bracelet to take away her powers, and stay on her wrist until we decide it's safe to take it off--which seemed like the most reasonable compromise. Ever since, she's barely come out of her room.

"Clearsight?" Permafrost peeks out from Way's bedroom, where she's been staying, for some reason. "You're back." I can't tell if she's happy or disappointed.

"Yep," I laugh. "I'm back. It's nice to see you."

"Is Shadowhunter...?" She frowns.