"WHERE ARE THEY !?"
Ashley was suddenly awakened by a strong female voice from outside. He immediately shot up on his feet and slipped through the dragons' scales and membranes, waking up from a more agitated sleep than he would have wished for.
Sunny's head peered outside of the pile, looking confused. She had been awoken by the voice as well.
Ashley poked the side of Tsunami to wake her up, after a few hits, the Seawing's head lifted up. She blinked multiple times at him with a questioning look.
“WHERE ARE THE DRAGONETS ? WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER ? WHERE IS MY EGG ?” The voice seemed to come from a point lower than the cave they were in.
“Up here,” called an unfamiliar voice with a weird hiss. At the same time, a shadow obstructed the entrance to the cave.
Tsunami left the pile and quickly jumped on her feet to face the newcomer.
After adapting to the light, Ashley's eyes finally made out who was watching them. Glittering black eyes. A poisonous tail barb flickering up and down. White-gold scales marked with black diamond patterns caught the glint of sunlight now trickling through the canopy.
The waves' noises had faded away, the storm had passed. Now, there was a Sandwing watching the Dragonets and Ashley.
Well, here comes Blister at last.
Tsunami waited no longer, she poked her friends with her claws to wake them up.
“Wake up, you lazy snoring manatees,” she hissed.
“You’re a lazy snoring manatee,” Glory mumbled with her wings over her head. “And you smell like one, too.”
“You’re going to feel very silly in a minute,” Tsunami whispered crossly.
“Oh, if you insist,” Clay muttered, mostly asleep. “I suppose I could eat one more hippo.”
“Clay !” Tsunami yanked on his ears, and he sat up with a bewildered look, shaking his head.
“Aww,” he said, his wings drooping. “What happened to the hippos ?”
“Look,” Tsunami whispered, pointing toward the cave entrance.
Her friends all went silent as they saw the SandWing in the shadows.
Well, hello,” said the Sandwing with a sly smile. “So nice to meet you. I’m Queen Blister."
Ashley wasn't surprised, but he was already unsettled about the dragon, her aura was flowing with malicious intent. He didn't need more to understand that he would dislike her, he already did before that.
"They’re up here,” she called again, looking down to a level beneath the cave. “Staying dry out of the storm, I presume,” she went on conversationally. “Very wise. I would have done the same thing.”
A flurry of wingbeats announced Queen Coral’s arrival on the ledge behind her, followed by Anemone and three SeaWing guards. The queen poked her head into the cave and saw Tsunami.
“Where is my egg ?” she demanded, eyeing the other four dragonets, her intense glare halted on Ashley for a few seconds when it fell on him.
“Safe. And warm, like I promised.” Tsunami said. She took a step aside to let her mother see Sunny coiled around the egg.
Coral hissed and lashed her tail. “You never said anything about a SandWing touching my egg.”
“Oh, but think about it, Coral,” Blister interjected. “These are not ordinary dragons. These are the dragonets of destiny. If they can’t be trusted with our future, who can ?” She smiled again, and Ashley hated it. Every word she spoke gave him a weird feeling of uneasiness.
Queen Coral took a deep breath, then turned to Blister with outstretched arms and wings. “Queen Blister, my friend,” she said. “You got my message ! I’m so glad you came. I knew you’d want to hear right away that we found the dragonets.” She waved her tail at Tsunami and her friends.
Ashley looked from one side to the other, as expected, Tsunami was already showing signs of irritation, a feeling that he shared. And the others, well, they were all reacting their own way. Glory looked disinterested and was staring at her claws, Starflight was frozen in fear, Sunny was craning her neck for a better view, and Clay had just that curious and usual confused face he had whenever they met someone important.
Blister clasped Coral’s front talons in hers and quickly let go as if she was uncomfortable doing it. “I was thrilled to hear it,” she said. “And one of them was your beautiful missing daughter, as we always suspected.”
“I knew the Talons of Peace must have sent Webs to steal her,” Queen Coral said all so confidently. “Tsunami, say hello to my ally, Queen Blister.”
“We’ve met,” said Tsunami.
“Then introduce your friends,” Coral ordered, smiling at Blister again.
What a fake relationship, you can already see that they don't really care.
“Well, this is Clay, Sunny, Starflight, Glory,” Tsunami said, flicking a claw at each of them as she said their names. Queen Coral frowned at her, she pointed at Ashley. "And that is Ashley."
"A scavenger, strange choice to bring a pet with you. Wouldn't that be quite a bother to have with you while trying to end the war ?"
"He really is more of a friend than a pet, and no, he doesn't bother us," Tsunami said bluntly.
“Marvelous then,” said Blister smoothly. “All so brave and clever-looking. I heard you weren’t a Skywing, Glory, but that doesn’t bother me. Skywings are overrated, don’t you agree ?”
Glory’s wings twitched, and a ripple of dark pink shifted across her stone-grey scales.
“You ‘heard’ ?” Tsunami demanded. “How ? Nobody knew that except our three guardians. They didn’t even tell the other Talons of Peace.”
Ashley saw Anemone gaze at her sister from behind Coral's wing with her blue eyes wide. The three guards behind them also seem to shift from one talon to the other nervously.
“Hmmm,” said Blister. Her eyes flicked to Tsunami and away. “Let’s just say I have friends. NightWing friends.” She slithered up to Starflight and brushed one claw slowly down his neck. “So I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Starflight was stiff as stone, it was evident that he had gone into panic and didn't know how to react, so he relied on his default panic program : statue mode. Ashley noticed the murderous intent to kick Starflight in Tsunami's eyes.
Why must her energy always be driven toward violence ? Ashley sighed.
Blister glanced down at Sunny, who was frowning. “Sweet,” she said, chucking Sunny under the chin. “And you must be the burly one,” she said to Clay. She reached out and squeezed one of the muscles in his forearm.
And why are you so intrusive ?? It was a disturbing sight, to say the least, a complete stranger being so invasing of their personal space.
“I guess,” Clay stammered.
Blister turned to Ashley in a sudden movement. He took a surprised step backwards, then frowned. He could see Tsunami ready to jump on the side.
"Hum... Not scared. Fierce, even." Blister observed. "unusual, but I guess that's what being with the Prophecy Dragonets do, doesn't it ?"
She looked more interested in what he could be than what he was. The glint in her gaze was none of hate or joy, but a profound mockery of reality and ambitions too big to fill any other ego than hers. Ashley had the irresistible desire to smack her face and tear her jaw apart to end this painful conversation, the heirs' hissing was of the kind Ashley could not support, it was flowing with flat lies and surface-level manipulations.
“I’m sure you’ve heard things about me, too,” Blister eventually said, returning to Queen Coral’s side. Her tail slid across the cave floor like a snake, the poisonous tip rattling near Ashley's feet, such that he took yet another step back to avoid it. “But you can’t always trust rumours and propaganda, especially when it comes to a big responsibility like the prophecy. So ask me anything you like. I’d be delighted to help you make your decision- although of course, I hope you’ll choose me.” Her glittering eyes swept over all of them again and back to Coral. “So, Coral, what’s for breakfast ?”
“Let me guess,” Glory muttered. “Fish.”
Clay blinked at the queen hopefully. His stomach growled as if it was answering for him.
“Yes, what a good idea. Let’s go eat,” said Queen Coral. “And then you can tell me the latest updates from the war. We hear something odd is going on with the SkyWings. Anemone, Tsunami, come.”
Tsunami's gills flared, Ashley could see her frustration, she was being treated like a mindless kid. Sadly, that must have been a recurring pattern with Coral.
But before she could say anything, Blister stepped in. "Let the others come, too,” she said. “I’d love to get to know them better.”
Coral wrinkled her snout at the dragonets. “All right,” she said doubtfully.
“You can leave that here,” Blister said, nodding both at the egg and Ashley.
“No !” Coral and Sunny said at the same time. The SeaWing queen gave the little dragonet a surprised look.
Ashley responded to Blister with a deadly glance. You can get your hopes up all the way you want, but that's not happening.
“No way,” Sunny said as she hugged the egg closer. “It stays with me.”
"And Ashley is not leaving us either," Tsunami said in a matter-of-fact tone. Her mother stared at her for a few seconds.
"It doesn't come anywhere near my egg, am I understood ?" She said with an imperious voice.
Tsunami rolled her eyes at the ceiling. "Yeah, yeah, he won't."
The feasting hall was two levels above the kitchens, so Tsunami had to grab Ashley with her front talons to fly him up to the right platform. The smells of pickled fish and roasting seagulls surrounded them. “In honour of our SandWing guests,” Queen Coral had said. They arranged themselves around the long, low oval table that was settled in the middle of the room.
The table itself was made of one long carved rock, surrounded by seats made of wide stripped logs. Ashley had managed to find a seat for his size in a stockpile of logs in case there were more dragons at the table, probably one originally meant to be used by a dragonet.
Starflight was seated to Blister’s right, with Tsunami next to Anemone on her mother’s left. On Tsunami’s other side was Whirlpool, who played with
his hoop earring, slurped loudly as he ate, and droned on about Coral’s latest book even when nobody was listening to him. His voice quickly became an annoying background noise inside Ashley's mind, who was sitting on the opposite side of Sunny, beside Clay.
Seawing guards were arranged around the perimeter of the floor, interspersed with Sandwing soldiers who had arrived with Blister. The Seawings were swishing their tails and casting dark looks at the Sandwings, looking agitated.
“MOTHER !” Tsunami eventually declared dramatically, making Ashley jump in surprise and nearly drop a bowl of soup he had just grabbed on the table. “I have something DREADFULLY SHOCKING to tell you !” She continued, making sure she was as loud as she could be.
“Oh ?” said Coral. “Could we discuss it after breakfast ? In a civilized fashion ?”
“NO,” Tsunami said even louder than before. “This is TOO SHOCKING.”
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Embarrassed, Ashley looked around to see the dragons' reactions, he could see even the uninvited dragons were peering out of their caves to see who was causing the mess.
“Well, perhaps-” Coral started.
“WOULD YOU BELIEVE,” Tsunami said, “that my friends, the DRAGONETS OF DESTINY, remember- were CHAINED UP ? And STARVED ? In YOUR CAVES? By YOUR DRAGONS ?”
“What ?” Coral said, flapping her wings. She looked thoroughly alarmed, but it wasn't clear if that was due to genuine surprise or if that was because she was confronted with what she had done.
“I KNOW !” Tsunami practically bellowed. “It’s UNBELIEVABLE. I’m sure you didn’t know anything about it, of course.”
“Of course,” Coral said in a hurry. “I would never treat any dragonets that way !" Ashley nearly choked at that. "Especially my dearest daughter’s dearest friends. Who are part of the prophecy and everything.”
“And I’m sure you’ll want to punish the dragons who disobeyed you by treating my friends so terribly,” Tsunami said. “Right ? Like, for instance, the one who lied to you about keeping them well-fed?” Ashley noticed her shooting a glare at one female green Seawing at the table, who froze with a sea snail halfway into her mouth, looking like she was just realizing what situation she was in.
“Absolutely,” said the queen. “Guards! Throw Lagoon in one of the underwater dungeons !”
“But-” The dragon said. “But I was only-”
Following orders ? Ashley guessed. From who ?
“Next time you’ll obey my orders,” said the queen. A stripe quickly flashed under her wings, but Ashley noticed it. He couldn't understand what it meant, but seeing Lagoon close her mouth at that, he could easily guess that she was being silenced.
“Can’t I even-” Lagoon said, reaching wistfully for her cauldron of soup as the guards pulled her away.
“No breakfast for you,” the queen ordered. “Think about how that feels as you sit in my dungeon.”
Ashley looked at the scene doubtfully, Lagoon didn't seem particularly afraid of her fate, she looked mostly disappointed if anything else. Knowing that she was part of the council, and how Queen Coral was, she probably wouldn't suffer very long.
“And GUESS WHO ordered your guards to chain up Clay ?” Tsunami demanded, continuing her show. She flung an accusing talon toward Shark. “COMMANDER SHARK ! Of all the dragons who should obey you in everything ! Is that not UTTERLY SHOCKING ?”
“It is,” Coral said. “I find it quite hard to believe.”
“Imagine the distress the poor guards felt,” Tsunami said, “when I explained to them that you would never have ordered those chains on Clay. To have to choose between their commander and their queen ! Naturally, they chose you, of course. That’s why they gave me the key to Clay’s chains. Because they understood that’s what you would have wanted them to do. Right ?”
Ashley held out a laugh, Tsunami sure understood how to use her mother's ego for herself. Speaking of her, she gave Tsunami an appraising glance, while Blister was eating her soup with an amused expression.
“Very good,” Coral said slowly. “It sounds like those guards are practically heroes.”
“And Shark-” Tsunami prodded her.
“To the dungeon with him as well,” Coral said with a wave.
The guards approached the dragon, but unlike Lagoon, he did not protest. He snarled at them, shot Tsunami a look full of hatred and headed off to the dungeon by himself without a word.
Tsunami got herself back onto her seat, a satisfied expression on her face.
“Such excitement,” Blister said. “If we’re quite finished with our morning theatrics, I would love to ask you brilliant little dragonets about the prophecy.”
“Starflight can recite it for you,” Tsunami said. “He’s really good at memorizing things. And then repeating those things over and over, especially when no one cares to hear them.” She grinned at her friend, but he looked too petrified even to eat.
“How splendid ! How impressive !” Whirlpool said from beside her, in a voice of sincere admiration. Ashley scowled at the green dragon, while it was true that both dragons showed a sick interest in scrolls, one wasn't merely as irritating as the other, but also much less ill-intentioned and disrespectful.
“I assume you have a plan about how to fulfil this prophecy,” Blister said. “I mean, you must, right ?”
A tense hush fell over the feasting table. Ears were pricked all over the palace. Every dragon in Pyrrhia wanted to hear the answer to this. Ashley could see the five dragonets looking at each other uncomfortably, looking as if ants were crawling on their legs. They hadn't found the time to sit down and make a plan properly, but he was sure that they could make something up with what he gave them for an answer. They knew what was to be done, they just didn't know how yet.
“We’re working on it,” Tsunami said. “Obviously we can’t say too much.”
“This is the information-gathering phase,” Glory offered.
Blister gave Starflight a significant look.
“Um,” he blurted. “But. We think you, of course- I mean, obviously you- er- you’d make a great, uh, queen. Of the SandWings. That is. The other two- hardly any competition- really, it’s, um, a clear, so to speak, sort of, um, choice.”
“Starflight,” Tsunami said sharply. “What are you doing ? You don’t speak for all of us.”
They exchanged glances, and Starflight turned to Ashley, giving him a "help me, I don't know what to say." look.
“Oh ?” said Blister. She narrowed her eyes at Starflight. “Then who does ?”
“We each speak for ourselves,” Glory said before anyone could answer.
“Yeah,” Sunny piped up.
“And we haven’t decided anything,” Tsunami said firmly.
Ashley leaned forward and grabbed a cooked seagull lying on the table, carefully scrutinising Blister.
“I’mjustsayingshe’dbeallright,” he mumbled, subsiding. Blister looked mildly disgusted, probably disappointed by the course of events.
“You’re quite right, Nightwing,” Coral said, patting Blister’s talon. “She’s an excellent queen.”
Blister smiled, but quickly moved her talon away as soon as she could. The irony of the scene was screaming hypocrisy, there was nothing genuine, and Blister was barely returning the favours. Coral kept calling her ally "Queen Blister", while the Sandwing never addressed Coral with her full title, despite her actually being a monarch, unlike Blister.
Ashley wanted to do nothing but jump on the table and expose what he knew about the Sandwing heir, but he could see no way where this could end well.
“Oh,” Queen Coral said. “Queen Blister, I meant to tell you, the strangest thing happened. We found a dead Mudwing in our territory the other day, accompanied by one particular Seawing.”
Oh ? Ashley suddenly turned his head to Coral, giving her his full attention. Two dragons ? Isn't it supposed to be the moment they learn about Kestrel ? He gulped, a feeling of uneasiness growing in his mind. Did someone replace her in her fate ?
He heard Tsunami sigh, she turned her head away, looking guilty. Something did happen. He realized
“Really,” Blister said. “That sounds like good news to me, an enemy and a traitor.”
Ashley squinted at her. She can only know the "traitor" part if she's involved, it absolutely is what I think it is. But who ?
Coral laughed. “You’re right, that’s true. But what’s really strange is one of them had been poison-stabbed by a SandWing. Why would a SandWing, or multiple of them, a Mudwing, and a Seawing be fighting all the way out here ?”
Blister shrugged, resettling her wings. “That is very peculiar,” she said.
"I wonder who that Mudwing was, considering she was with that coward of an egg-robber." Coral almost spat those last words, filled with bitterness.
"You're talking about that Seawing who stole your egg." Blister added.
“Oh, no!” Sunny cried. “That sounds like Webs ! Tsunami, what if it was Webs ?” She pressed her claws to her snout, her eyes welling with tears.
A silence fell over the table. Every Seawing seemed to have a confused look on their faces, wondering why someone would even care about the traitor.
Across the table, Glory and Starflight both had their mouths open in shock.
WEBS ? WEBS DIED ? Ashley stared at Tsunami with shock. This is utterly concerning. I wanted to protect Kestrel, not replace her with other people ! Another thought dawned on him. Wait, so the Mudwing must be the spy then ! Does that cancel the attack ? He looked around, all he could see was dragons raising their doubtful eyebrows. What's going to happen ?
“Tsunami ?” Glory said slowly. “Is there something you forgot to tell us ?”
“All right,” Tsunami said, squirming. “Yes. I’m sorry. I saw them. It was Webs.”
“Your Sandwing seems surprisingly distressed about this traitor,” Blister observed.
“Webs was one of the guardians who raised us,” Tsunami said. "None of them were great, but he was the nicest of them."
"Hmmm." Coral tilted her head pensively. "You wouldn't happen to know why they were out there and who killed them do you ?"
"No," said Tsunami. "We don't know what happened to them after we left, not that we cared much."
"Don't say that !" Sunny shot out.
"I understand perfectly," Blister purred with a grin. "You’ve probably wanted to slash their throat yourself once or twice in your lifetime- right, Tsunami ? I know I felt that way about my mother most of the time. I would probably want the same about anyone holding me in a cave.”
Ashely saw Tsunami raise her head to stare at Blister. Ah, she caught her mistake as well. He observed. Why is she so specific about Webs' wound, unless she did it herself ? He paused. Well, I'm not surprised, and it's not like I didn't already know that after all.
"Oh, and while we're speaking of family, my spies gave me an... interesting insight into what was happening at my sister's fortress." Blister continued.
"Is that so ?" Coral wondered. "Did she find yet another abnormality of this world ?"
Blister chuckled at the hypothesis. "You could put it that way if finally being hurt counts as an abnormality."
"Finally being hurt you say ?" Coral inquired.
"I've heard she lost an arm." Blister said with a jubilatory grin. Gasps of shock and surprise filled the room as the dragons heard the news. "She was apparently wounded during her stay at the Skywing Palace, it infected, and no dragon was able to understand what caused it. So they had no choice but to cut her limb before it killed her."
"That's an unexpected turn of events." Said Coral. "She must have quite lost her mood then."
"Oh, you have no idea, Coral. I know her well, I doubt her loyalist followers must feel safe in that moment."
Yeah, I'm sure they don't too. Ashley let out a vocal laugh. Rememorizing the events, he saw the images of himself shooting in Burn's direction, and then her holding her arm moments later. Dragons don't know how to deal with bullet wounds, who would have thought ?
"What is the point of that scavenger ?" Blister asked, irritated. "It looks suspiciously interested in what has been happening on this table so far." She turned her head to Starflight. "Tell me, this scavenger wouldn't happen to be related to your plan wouldn't it ?"
"Wh- what ? I don't see- I don't see what you're talking about- I mean- no of course not." Starflight stammered. Tsunami sighed.
Blister shifted her focus back to Ashley, and both stared at each other for what appeared to be a long minute. At some point, Ashley reached for his knife and took it out of his bag. A Seawing guard took a step forward and pointed his spear to the human, telling the dragons around to be careful.
Blister raised a talon to signal the guard to stop, to which the dragon frowned, but he stood still as he saw his queen look at Ashley expectantly.
Ashley raised his knife, and shot down the blade onto the seagull's neck, cutting it at once. The bird's head rolled toward Blister and ended in front of her bowl, meanwhile, Ashley kept giving her a fierce look.
"You." He raised a finger in her direction. "You talk too much."
A dead silence fell over the whole room, every single pair of eyes drawn onto Ashley, wide open.
Coral blinked three times before turning to face Blister. "I think my mind is playing tricks, I just heard a scavenger speak."
"It's not your mind, Coral." Blister said, still staring at Ashley. "Everyone here heard it."
"Hey. Can you tell your Seawing to back up ?" Ashley said to Coral. "I'd rather not have to blow another dragon's throat up." The guard beside him made a backward movement, reaching for his throat with one talon.
Blister frowned. "You're the scavenger that killed Coyote," she said.
"And the one who took one limb from Burn as well from what I just heard." He completed.
"Who is that 'Coyote' ?" Coral asked Blister.
"One of my mother's personal guards before she died, so a different breed than your usual soldier it means." She narrowed her eyes. "No one discards easily of her close guard, each dragon was carefully picked among the best fighters."
"Well, seems like the best of the best couldn't resist some scavenger tomfoolery," Ashley stated, leaning backwards and lying his feet on the table. He took a bit out of the seagull and immediately spat. "Jesus ! feather." He gave an insulted look at the meal.
"Hold on for a minute," Coral said. "Why are we casually talking with this thing as if that was normal ?"
"It makes sense dear Coral," Blister said. "They are the Dragonets of Destiny, it's only natural that strange things happen when they are around."
"I guess you are right," Coral answered.
Ashley squinted at the fake queen. "You already knew," he realised. "Your 'Nightwing friends' told you about me. That's why you are not surprised. And if someone else knows about me, it would be them."
But that's not the real question, is it ? He thought. That was obvious. The real question is what did they tell you, and why ? He pondered for a few moments before reaching a conclusion. They want you to get rid of me ?
"You wouldn't happen to know where..." Blister cut mid-sentence, weighing her words. "The stolen Sandwing treasury happens to be ?"
"You're speaking about the Eye of Onix," Ashley said.
This time, the look of shock on Blister's face was a clear indication that she did not expect the response. Of course, no one really knew what the Eye of Onix was, and why it was so important. But she knew, and she did not foresee that a scavenger above all else would know.
Now, he had to wonder what to say. Should he preserve the lie and let the plot go on, or should he tell the truth, proving that he was a non-ignorable asset, better to be kept alive, but drawing more attention to him ?
He chose the latter option, knowing full well it would enrage Blister.
"I know where it is," he said. "And I'm not going to tell you where it lays."
He saw the heir make a face, but she retained it and made it back to a straight face. "And why is that so ?" She asked with a dried tone.
"You are not the one to choose who shall end on the Sandwing throne, they are." Ashley pointed at the Dragonets. "And as far as I know, choice has not been taken yet."
Blister's black glance was filled with bitterness now, she was disgusted. "And I should take it just like that ?"
"If you think you're the right one to be queen, why so worried ?" Ashley said with a grin. "Don't you trust the Dragonets ?"
Blister wrinkled her snout and snorted with contempt. "You think I will wait arms crossed for that to happen ?" She twisted her neck to the Dragonets. "Don't worry, I will make your choice easy, when both of my sisters are gone, it will make your choice significantly easier. They both will not stop for your pretty words, so don't expect me to kneel like that. You want to end the war, I intend to win it."
Ashley looked at Tsunami and gave her "I told you" glance, reminded of one of their older conversations.
"Speaking of winning." Blister's dark tongue flickered in and out of her mouth. She leaned toward Coral and smiled at Anemone. "How is our secret weapon coming along ?”
Anemone suddenly dropped her head and stared at the table.
“Wonderfully !” Coral said. She patted Anemone’s head, beaming with pride. “Why don’t we show you ? Whirlpool, come along.”
Whirlpool puffed out his chest and stood up. Tsunami got to her feet at the same time, looking curious, but Queen Coral shook her head. “You can skip this, dear. I’m sure it won’t interest you.”
“I’d like her to come,” Anemone piped up. “Please ?”
Coral and Blister exchanged a significant look. They don't trust her. Ashley thought, Tsunami looked like she understood that as well. But she's going to follow anyway, her sister needs it. And she's able to see it.
“I’m sure it’ll be very interesting,” Tsunami said with earnest enthusiasm. “Everything you do is interesting, Mother.” She blinked her large green eyes at Queen Coral. Across the table, Glory snorted and then tried to hide it with a bout of coughing. Ashley nearly choked himself as well.
“Please ?” Anemone said again.
“All right,” Coral said with a sigh. “But not the others.” Her gaze flicked suspiciously to Clay, then even more suspiciously to Ashley.
"Oh don't worry." He said, raising an appeasing hand. "I already know."
Coral and Blister both puffed at this statement, almost amused. They think I'm bluffing, good.
Tsunami followed Coral, Blister, Anemone, and Whirlpool outside of the room, then, they took off and flew toward a high level of the pavilion.
Poor Anemone, still as old as a newborn, yet already dragged into their schemes. Ashley shot a dark glance in Blister's direction. Especially hers. Hopefully, that little chat with Turtle will help. He then turned his gaze to Whirlpool, the green dragon was flying behind slowly, in an undignified manner. And I must try to preserve her from this creep, at least, not let her be the one to end him. He squinted. I'd rather do that myself.