The path was laden with meticulously paved pebbles. Vibrant grass lined the ground in a carpet of green. Scenic boulders and rocks were scattered around the area, along with several over-arching trees. Flowers were aplenty in strategically placed clumps. Honey bees and butterflies flitted all around. Quite the beautiful day in the Vireo Gardens, where the two sisters walked down the path, talking of inconsequential things.
“Well that was a hormone filled breakfast.” Whitney said, as if that wasn’t obvious already. In case you have forgotten what she is referring to, almost ten minutes ago the new Mage was whacked around on the roller coaster ride that is breakfast with the three beacons of uncomfortable social interactions. Cassandra rolled her eyes as if they weren't attached to her head.
“Yeah, I know. It is not as if you are ever subtle with hitting on Roscoe.” Of course, Cassandra was oblivious to anything regarding her own folly. She believed the Queen was talking about her increasingly continuous attempts to get Roscoe to sleep with her.
“Please, as if subtly would help. Though, I was mostly talking about you and William.” Cassandra raised an eyebrow. Funny, eyebrows are. Like fuzzy little caterpillars attached to your face. How wonderfully chaotic it would be if they could crawl away.
“Me and the Magician? Yes, I could see you and Sarah attempting to ‘ship it’ again. I thought it best to nip that at the bud before you started.” Whitney blinked in bafflement for a few seconds before fixing her oblivious sister with the same kind of look you would give a slow person. One could tell that Queen Whitney was quite practiced in these kinds of looks. After all, she had to give them to certain Royals almost daily.
“You call that nipping it at the bud?” Cassandra tilted her head at Whitney's tone. She thought her actions were obvious in her intention. Sadly, not everyone had the brain which was the equivalent of two spiderwebs playing pong. Disappointing, really. It took some practice for others to understand how Princess Cassandra could jump from thinking about the geo-political situation of Dragonkin to how scary her family’s ambassador was.
“Yes of course. Being so mean to him while he was confused seemed particularly effective to me, seeing as he ran away and all.” ‘Mean’ was certainly one way to put what she did. Cruel would be another, more accurate description. The poor dear was, at this moment, crying in his room. Maybe. No one has looked.
“You were trying to be mean.” Whitney spoke slowly, as if her mind was trying to work through the stupidity that was her sister’s thought process. Another thing she had practice in, but this time it seemed it is too early in the morning for her to bother.
“I was using my sarcastic voice, could you not tell?” Whitney stopped in the path and put a hand on her hip. Her sister’s comment pushed another tick up on her ‘sass meter’ and caused her to find her conscious brain again. It had been heading to the brewery.
“Oh, yes. I could tell perfectly. So could William, I am sure. That was why he flew away, and most definitely not because he was flustered by your flirting.” Whitney was an expert on the matter of flirting, or at least detecting it. It can not quite be said she is a master at flirting, seeing as she is still a single virgin.
“My what?” Cassandra asked, looking as if she ate a bug, which she had not done in at least two days. “I was not flirting!” Obviously, she failed her perception check.
“I was using my sarcastic voice, could you not tell?” Cassandra scoffed and began walking again as her sister continued. “Please do explain though how you thought you were being mean.” It is indeed needed for Cassandra to explain herself, as it is unlikely that any but her understand.
“I was being mean. I insinuated that he was incapable of learning our customs himself and that he would need a lot of help to ever get it right. Generally, calling attention to a male’s ineptitude causes them to be offended.” If he had heard her words without hormones or confusion clouding his judgment, he might have picked up on the subtle insult. However, Cassandra was once again unable to read the room well enough to deliver her insult properly. A shame, really, it would be much more interesting if she had managed it.
“And you also suggested that you would be the one to help him.” It is as she said. In fact, it is almost certain that she is going to be the one to help him now. Sarah and Whitney will make sure of that.
“I did not mean it like that…” Cassandra said this with equal parts anger and dread. It is now dawning on the Princess that she is up romance creek without a baseball bat.
“Perhaps William just has a thing for mean, scary women who offer to show the ropes of their customs.” Neither Whitney, Sarah nor Cassandra know of William’s preferences, but showing him ‘the ropes’ would definitely be intriguing.
“First of all, no. Second of all, if he did, I would not want to date him anyway.” Whitney waved a hand and slowed, Cassandra took the hint and stopped in the path. The Queen continued for a few more steps and stopped, staring out across the fields for a moment. One could call her a… Drama Queen.
“You just do not know what to like, Cassandra. You can not say you do or do not like something until you try it, after all.” Her tone was wistful, and hinted to having an underlying meaning. Of course, having lived with her for six thousand two hundred twenty one days, Cassandra picked up on this rather easily.
“Say what you mean, Whitney.” Right to the point, is the Vireo princess. Useful for when you wish to move on with the plot. Whitney half turned, looking at her sister over her shoulder.
“Well, I have tried being Queen, and decided that I would rather spend all day fighting muscular werewolves. So, when you turn 18, I am going to make you Queen.” Oh snap.
Cassandra’s mind came to a screeching halt. The bunnies with the maracas stopped dancing, the murderous stuffed bear stopped eating trout, the military battalion wearing tutus froze mid-synchronized flight. All processing power was directed toward giving a coherent response to the soon to be ex-Queen.
“I- Uh… Okay…” Siiigghh.
“Okay?” Queen Whitney raised an eyebrow. She had been hoping for something a bit more than that. Foolish of her to have expectations
“Yeah. Um, okay.” Princess Cassandra, still more flustered than she could ever remember being, dug her heels in on her response. She held onto “okay” being her verbal savior, at least until she managed to restart her brain.
“That is all you have to say?” A little offended, the Queen frowned. It was not often that one of the sisters frowned at the other in any serious way.
“Well what in the Goddesses names am I supposed to say to that?!” Cassandra yelled, finally bursting past the mental roadblock that was thrown at her.
“Oh, well, I do not know, you could have asked why!” Queen Whitney was beginning to get riled up. Her plan of a grandois conversation was ruined, and now she must inflict her disappointed anger on her poor sister.
“You already told me why! You want to be in the military with Roscoe!” Of course, Cassandra was always one for an argument, so she did nothing to calm the matter. Usually, one of the three sisters would calm the other two, depending on who started it, but seeing as Princess Sarah is presumably painting ships, no help is coming. Weird hobbies, that one.
“I did not say that!” She said, planting her hands on her hips incredulously.
“You might as well have!” Cassandra retorted, equally as incredulous.
“I am not saying you are wrong, I am saying that is not what I said!” Cassandra took a step back and crossed her arms, a half-pout half-frown on her face. The Queen and the Princess had a stare off in an aggressive silence.
“So, why exactly are you retiring as Queen so soon?” the Princess asked. Her tone rather clipped in a way that said she was at the end of her patience and attempting to end the argument despite her pride saying otherwise. It seems that she has no trouble being a Drama Queen as well, seeing as this whole argument sprung up for no reason. Whitney sighed, attempting to let go of her annoyance and grasp on to the dignity that she never had.
“I believe that you would make a better Queen than I am.” Whitney said, attempting to steer their conversation to the script she had been planning out mentally for the past week. As a master of strategy, she should have known a plan never survives contact with the enemy. Perhaps Cassandra would make a better Queen…
“Okay…” Seriously… “Why?” Well at least she is learning. Such a promising Princess. Luckily for Queen Whitney, Master Strategist and Leader of Avian Military, she included “why” being a question in one of her many scripts, though she expected it to be a bit more verbose.
“Take breakfast today, for example.” Cassandra raised an eyebrow. “No, not that. I mean specifically when you explained the royal affairs between the Torio kingdom and ours. You have always made an effort to know our relationship with other Royalty.” Notedly, that is something she did well. Unintentionally.
“Yes, because I find it important to know who exactly we will go to war with when I go out in public.” Unlike her sisters, Cassandra told Cinder, their political ambassador, who she pissed off, which she appreciated. The Queen glared at her sister for but a moment, signifying that she is not done talking.
“As I was about to say, you know when it is important to control yourself, unlike Sarah.”
“Just because I know when to does not mean I am going to.” That was something Cinder didn’t appreciate quite as much. This time, Whitney continued to glare as she kept complimenting her. A very Werewolf thing to do.
“And lastly, despite them being lacking when you wake up, you have exceptional people skills.” This time, Cassandra lacked a snarky response. Good, she was taking our job. Her silence gave Whitney the opportunity to overcome her prideful instincts and say her feelings coherently.
“Even though I am resigning as Queen, I still care about our kingdom. I trust you to lead us, and so do Grandmother and Cinder.” Cassandra blinked dumbly as Whitney held a strangely affectionate glare.
“So will you accept?” The Queen asked.
“It is not like I have much of a choice, so I suppose so.” She spoke, resigned to her fate. Whitney clapped her hands together and smiled. The five thin scars on her face stretched in a way that would strike fear into the hearts of innocents.
“Great! Just so you know, I will now be requiring you to attend all of the same royal meetings I do.” A look of horror slowly dawned on Princess Cassandra’s face. A large amount of those meetings she spoke of were in the mornings, some even before the sun came up. Asher and Genesis are sure to have a fun time in the coming months.
“Is… Is it too late to take that back?” Whitney had already started walking back with a large smile on her face, though a bit less vicious now. Her midnight wings flared outward and she began walking a bit faster.
“Like you said, you have no choice. I am still the Queen and I can order you around as much as I wish! Cinder will be in touch with your new schedule.” And with those cheerfully-delivered menacing words, the Queen of the Avians took off into the beautiful greenhouse sky, kicking up a cloud of leaves and petals in her wake.
“A SCHEDULE?!” Princess Cassandra screeched with indignant rage. “YOU ARE INSANE IF YOU THINK I AM GOING TO FOLLOW A SCHEDULE!” Cassandra yelled as she ran after her sister, spreading her blue wings and leaping into the sky. And this is why Avian shoes are designed to be tied down. The rustle of her summer feathers made a harmonic chorus with the rushing wind of Whitney’s wake. Cassandra’s wings flapped furiously, catching the air in an attempt to catch up to her sister. Whitney looked over her shoulder and saw her sister’s “chasing face”. Her eyes lit up with the challenge. She flipped around in the air, momentum slowing and long hair whipping around her face. She held her wings out vertically, and called out to her sister as she fell.
“Challenge accepted!” And so began their game of chase.
From the ground, Guard Captain Roscoe had been standing at the entrance of the path they went down. A good little guard dog, he is. His ears twitched, and he looked up just in time to see his Queen falling from the sky and her sister do a sharp turn to follow her.
“Ah, shi- NOT AGAIN!” With practiced movements he unhinged the wing armor that tradition required him to wear. With much more difficulty than the agility based Vireo sisters, he also launched into the sky, flying after them before they broke something. Again. The few remaining servants saw this. One of them signed.
“Someone should warn Persephone.” The others merely nodded agreeably, but made no move to do so.
“I think she will find out soon enough.” It was almost a certainty that everyone would know soon enough.
Queen Whitney and Princess Cassandra were having an aerial battle of speed and agility. After Whitney dropped to just ten feet above the ground, she angled her wings forward and zoomed off behind Cassandra, leaving her beloved sister to perform a U-turn. The Princess was well practiced in these maneuvers, so she managed to do so with minimal trouble and began to gain speed. Whitney didn’t look back, but instead pulled her flight goggles out of her dress pockets. This is going to be a very fast flight, and she did not need a gnat in her eye through the whole thing. Behind her, Cassandra did the same. It gave them a few moments of calm gliding as they fastened them in place. A small truce, if you will. But that did not last, for as soon as their visions were filtered through the thin crystal, all bets were off.
The Queen plastered her arms to her side and shot forward, swerving and dodging between the trees along the winding path. Her longer wings hindering her slightly, causing her to have to hold them in just a bit. Not only did this use more muscle, it slowed her down. Cassandra, on the other hand, did much better in the tight spaces with her shorter wings and longer flight feathers. Both of them knew this path well. This was not the first time they have flown along it, and they walked the trail even more. Though not designed for flight, the paths were wide with enough space to swoop underneath the floral branches.
The Princess thrived in tight spaces, her flight style relying on sharp turns and frankly back breaking maneuvers. The Queen on the other hand preferred large open spaces where she could dance around her opponent with ease and gain altitude for her signature dive bombs. Each of the sisters knew the others strengths and weaknesses and, despite how they looked, were well trained in the matters of strategy. Because of this, their races often resembled a high speed game of chess more than anything. The current play was determining where the course would be taken. The Queen, being in the lead, had the advantage. Her goal is to get out of the greenhouses and above the castle proper so she may change their battle to melee rather than a full on chase. Princess Cassandra on the other hand wished to corral her sister into the castle so that she may force her to focus on not crashing instead of Cassandra’s trip to the infirmary.
That being said, both were headed to the entrance. Queen Whitney quickly folded her wings around her body to fit between two branches then shot them back out to steer herself to the left along a fork in the path. Behind her, Princess Cassandra ducked her head and angled her wings down, dodging below the branch. She immediately shot back up, dirt and plants along the path blowing along in her wake. Her momentum sped her along faster than Whitney, so when she gained height she was right underneath her sister. To avoid collision, Whitney folded in her left wing and toppled sideways into a barrel roll between trees. Of course, this took them off of the path and into the fields. Whitney shot her wings out to their full length and angled them to catch the air. This moved her upward enough to only graze her feet across the meticulously tilled dirt. Aurora will be pissed.
Above her, Cassandra also made it out of the path and was moving to cut her off at the entrance of the Greenhouse while Whitney worked to build up more speed. They were getting closer to the edge of the dome, so they could not fly too high without risk of hitting the glass. Being over the fields now though, they could see the clearing where the door was. They both knew that the next determining factor of advantage was who got to it first. Cassandra now had the lead. She has successfully thrown her sister off balance long enough to disrupt her flow of flight. However, in the process she has forfeited her high agility environment and given Whitney the favor to win this battle. She could only hope that she had enough of a head start. With only about a hundred feet to go, Cassandra was confident in her win. If she had looked at her sister however, she may have thought otherwise.
Queen Whitney was attempting a new strategy that was rather risky, but if anyone was to succeed at it, it would be her. Whitney flew at a steep angle upwards, heading straight for the glass. Below her, she kept an eye on Princess Cassandra, who was quite a few wingbeats ahead. To an unfamiliar eye, it would look as if Whitney was too far behind. That person would of course not understand the ways of trigonometry, or have not heard of the Vireo Queen. When Cassandra had closed over half the distance between her and the door, Whitney reached the right point and started her downward dive. She folded her wings so that she resembled the shape of an arrowhead, making adjustments to the angle of her feathers so that she could manage a sharper swoop to the door.
Cassandra was nearly to the exit. The closer she got the more her heart raced. The anticipation of her sister’s next play was increasing with each passing row of plants, yet she did not look back. She didn’t have to, for just when she passed into the clearing, about ten feet away from victory, Whitney dropped out of the sky. She was moving incredibly fast and only just made it in front of the Princess. Despite their many peculiarities, the Vireo sisters could not disobey physics. Queen Whitney was forced to flare her wings out suddenly to try and slow her descent, causing a painful strain on her back muscles. Still this was not enough. The majority of her momentum was forward, but too much of it was going down for her wings alone to handle. Therefore, she was forced to swing her legs in front of her and run several steps through the exit of the Vireo Gardens.
Cassandra had swallowed a bug. When her beloved sister quite literally dropped in on her, she was forced to also flare her wings in order to slow herself. What she was not forced to do, yet did anyway, was open her mouth and gape in momentary shock. This gave opportunity for an insect to make its way to an aggravating demise. Of course, any decent Avian has no issue powering through an unexpected snack while flying and Cassandra adapted quickly. The Princess continued her forward flight, an exhilarated smile on her face despite her loss of this portion. The race was not over yet, and she had an exciting battle ahead. Her pause gave the Queen a few moments to recover from her taxing turn. When she ran along the ground she had landed heavily on her right foot and jammed her ankle. Luckily for her, this isn’t a foot race, so she is still on an even playing field.
After emerging into the unfiltered morning sunlight, Whitney flew gradually upward and circled above the entrance, waiting for her sister’s exit. Cassandra expected an attack from her sister as soon as she came out in the form of another nosedive. Whitney would attempt to steer her up into the sky back above the Gardens. Therefore she needed to dodge and weave toward the castle. Having decided on her plan, the Princess flew out of the greenhouse, flapping her wings steadily in order to gain a safe amount of altitude. As expected, Queen Whitney immediately dove down behind her sister, twisting in the air as she did so. Whitney stopped her fall in a much less steep manner this time, coming up underneath Cassandra in a move all too similar to the one she was subject to just a minute ago. Normally, this low to the ground a barrel roll would be rather stupid. Back in the greenhouse Whitney was forced to attempt it since all other exits were blocked by branches. Here, however, there was nothing blocking them and they were a bit lower to the ground. Faced with this situation, any other Avian would be forced to go straight up and turn around. Princess Cassandra is not any other Avian, however. With a powerful flap of her sky blue wings that brushed across her sister’s back, she fell into an extremely tight roll to the right.
Adrenaline sang in Cassandra's heart as the world spun around her. She came ever closer to crashing with every passing moment, but just before impact her chest leveled with the earth and her wings shot outward. She was just barely a foot above the ground and had no room to flap her wings. In order to gain distance from the sandy grass, she reached her arms out in front of her and did an impression of a galloping pegasus. With that powerful push of her arms and small pulses of her wings, Princess Cassandra evaded her sister without a severe rug burn. Queen Whitney leveled out her flying above her sister. They both wore huge smiles.
“Impressive!” The Queen called from Cassandra’s side, already beginning another swoop, this time planning to go in front of her and force her to turn.
“Right back at you!” The Princess replied, veering straight upward and to the left in order to avoid her sister’s black wings. Right afterward, Cassandra fell back down, not wanting to allow her sister to go underneath her. Whitney continued her sideways swoop, banking sharply back so that she was flying behind her sister again. Cassandra’s evasion skills were honed to a masterful level despite her young age, so Queen Whitney would need to work hard to block her from the entrances to the castle, yet most likely still fail. Princess Cassandra noticed when Whitney began climbing in height again, and realised that she was going to get ahead of her. Both pairs of eyes turned to searching out a way into their castle, and both fell upon the tall window that led into the ballroom. The servants, having seen them flying around, opted to open the windows for them, as has been established as protocol.
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Whitney, with her greater speed, dove to the open window, hoping to block it from Cassandra’s path. However, it was a large window, so the Princess was not worried about her sister blocking it completely. The Queen did not have many options at this point. Cassandra’s small frame and talent for tight movements made it just about certain that they were going to end up in the castle. Luckily, they were in the section that was purposefully made huge and grand, so Whitney would not have as terrible of a time as if it had been the residential area. Having made it to the opening, Queen Whitney gracefully flipped upright and stood lightly on the edge of the windowsill, having to favor her left foot quite a bit. Since it was the upper section of the glass wall of the ballroom, Whitney had no fear of falling from her perch. She simply stood and waited for her sister to come barreling through and continue their chase. It was a calculated risk. The Queen allowed her sister a victory in the form of taking the chase into the castle, but in return she would be the one chasing Cassandra as well as take a small breather. Both of which are very important. The Princess knew what her sister was doing, so she also took this moment to just glide toward the window, allowing herself to calm her heart rate and catch her breath.
Meanwhile, Roscoe had been left in the dust to be forgotten. He had just now managed to make it to the large gates that made up the entrance to the Vireo Gardens. Of course, being a giant, muscular, and heavy Avian, he could not simply fly through the gates of Aurora’s Gardens. So, he had to do a running landing and speed to the outside world. The few servants that were there promptly dove out of the way of the 6’ 4” armed guard. Intimidating he may be, agile he is not. With a bit of difficulty, Roscoe managed to get himself up in the air just in time to see Princess Cassandra plow straight into Queen Whitney, sending them both falling straight into the castle. He could already hear everything breaking.
“Oh son of a-”
Cassandra made a bad decision. She, in fact, made a fantastically bad decision. Whitney was standing in the windowsill that marked her entrance to the castle. Cassandra had taken a breather and had been gliding downward ever so slowly toward her sister. In a lapse of conscious judgment, she had missed the point where she had been supposed to fly above her sister’s head. Instead of spending the energy to quickly fly upwards though, she had decided a mid-flight tackle would be more appropriate. Whitney only realised that Cassandra wasn’t trying to fake her out when it was too late. And so, the highly honoured and feared Vireo Queen was headbutted through a window into the court ballroom by the esteemed Princess, thus continuing their game of chase.
The Queen’s backwards fall was a bit longer than it should have been due to the surprise of the Princess hitting her, but with the quickly approaching floor she managed to come to her senses in time. Cassandra also had a moment of bewilderment before she promptly shook her head and resolved to deny she ever made a mistake. If anyone were to ask about why she flew through her sister, she would say it was to gain the advantage in the race, no matter how untrue that answer is. Focusing her attention back on the flight, Princess Cassandra began a wide, circling arc around the ballroom. Her eyes were trained on Queen Whitney as she flipped herself around in the air and began flying towards her.
“Well that hurt.” Whitney called up to her sister as she fell into wingman position.
“Are you giving up?” Cassandra shot back playfully, knowing full well that her sister’s Werewolf pride would not let her forfeit so soon.
“Never!” The Queen snarled, moving upward with a powerful beat of her wings. Princess Cassandra flipped her legs above her head and began a downward dive in order to avoid her sister. She twisted in the air and sped along the tiled floor, heading towards the largest of the doors.
“Then see if you can keep up!” Cassandra taunted over her shoulder. Whitney soon followed behind her, being only somewhat careful to not clip her wings on any of the ceremonial armor stands. Cassandra led them along the hallway, flying high in the air while dodging many banisters and chandeliers. Whitney flew slowly below her, not wanting to go in front of her nor try her luck against all of the obstacles up higher.
Princess Cassandra was leading them to the grand staircase near the entrance of the castle. From there, she could continue their chase down the halls of the servants quarters or to the throne room. Of course, both would not be the best for a high speed flight, but since this is the Queen and Princess of the castle, they can’t get in too much trouble for breaking their own things. When Princess Cassandra reached the end of the hallway and made it out to the top of the stairs, she banked sharply right and flew down along the railing. Luckily there was no one on the steps at this time or they would have met a nasty faceful of blue feathers. Queen Whitney, who followed closely, did not want her sister to take their chase into the small hallways of the servants quarters for entirely selfish reasons. So when Cassandra reached the entrance hall, Whitney was already swooping down in front of her, forcing the Princess to fly swiftly upwards.
The Queen did not allow her sister any time to attempt to get back on course. She followed Cassandra beat for beat throughout the entirety of the immense room, showing off her great skill in open areas. Of course, Cassandra’s inability to make her way into the servants quarters was also due to a very disapproving Persephone standing in the way.
“I am unsure about you, but I believe it would be best if we left before she decides to do more than stare at us.” The powerful Vireo Princess called to her sister while looking warily at the pink haired Head of the Servants.
“Agreed.” The Queen replied. With that, both Avians changed course abruptly and flew back up to the throne room.
Roscoe just managed to run to the top of the staircase when his Queen and the Princess flew right above him, nearly kicking him in the head. That was not their fault of course, at least not entirely. Those prone to ignorance should be allowed leeway in the matter of blame. And the fact that Roscoe is tall, a trait that the Queen, and most others for that matter, enjoy. The Guard Captain, for his part, found that his bulk allowed him to intimidate others easily. Unfortunately, the Queen and Princess did not find him at all intimidating at the moment, so he was unable to stop them as they rushed about like crows fighting over territory. He could do little more than watch as the two zipped down the large hallway to the throne room. Roscoe took just a moment to sigh and let his shoulders slump in a show of suffering. But, after just a few breaths, he straightened back up and squared his shoulders. With a final inhale, he took off running to catch up to his Queen and the Princess, quite a few curses streaming through his mind as he heard the distant crashing.
Whitney’s wings felt hot with exertion and her lungs burned with each quick inhale of air. Her throat was dry and her heart pumped wildly. She loved it. The Queen darted between the many ceremonial armor stands, flight feathers clipping a few in her haste. Her sister once again weaved in between the enchanted lighting and curved supports of the long corridor. In a move that would be declared foul play in any normal race, Princess Cassandra grabbed and yanked on one of the many banners lining the walls. With a mid-air flip and a flared toss, she sent the silver and blue piece of fabric flapping down towards her sister. Queen Whitney angled her wings, sending her shooting upwards into the obstacle course of tapestries, light fixtures, and architectural designs. The Queen scowled in concentration as she was forced to weave her long wings in through the many decorations, her legs hitting several quite loudly along the way. She was also cursing the need for such lavish adornments along the hallways, despite the fact that this was the entrance to her throne room and there is a need for one of the most powerful kingdoms to have an impressive entryway. Royals these days…
Cassandra dropped down into the middle of the hall and fell in line directly under her sister. This way, she made sure that the Queen had no clear escape from the upper section. That is until they burst into the throne room.
Roscoe was running after his Queen yet again, though not in the way everyone hoped. The loud clanging of his armor alerting anyone who had not already seen the Royal Family flying ahead. He was about halfway to them when he found the newly rearranged decor and two enchanted candles on the floor. His scowl deepened and many colorful curses flowed out of his mouth.
The Vireo throne room was long and elegant in its entirety. Beams of stone were carved into the walls, trailing upwards and splitting into many geometric branches. In between these pillars were stained glass windows that reached as tall as the ceiling, casting colorful light across the floor in the morning and evening. A large woven rug led up to the dais where three thrones sat. The middle one was for the Queen, the left was for the second in line, and the right was for the third. Of course, there was little difference between these thrones, but royal customs dictated that it be this way. The sisters, however, would sometimes disregard this and sit wherever they please, causing rather funny misunderstandings. Another main feature of the room would be the frankly gigantic chandeliers, on which the Queen and the Princess perched.
Cassandra had her hands and feet wrapped around the thick chain holding up the large light fixture, flaring her wings out at her sister in a display of aggression.
“YOU KICKED ME!” She screamed at the Queen. When they had burst into the throne room, Whitney had to fold in her wings quickly and drop out of the sky to avoid crashing into the glass-filled enchanted light emitter, thus her foot made contact with the back of Cassandra’s head. Afterwards, they had both landed on the top of opposing candelabrums to devolve into a childish screaming match.
“WELL YOU HEADBUTTED ME IN THE BOOB, SO WE ARE EVEN!” To the Queens soon-to-be dismay, Roscoe has finally caught up with the pair, though he had to take several seconds to catch his breath before he could intervene.
“WELL YOU WERE IN THE WAY!” Princess Cassandra was slightly red in the face. She was feigning it as anger, but really she was embarrassed about the whole thing.
“SO WERE YOU!” Queen Whitney retorted, shifting the blame to her sister. She was also covering up her embarrassment with anger since she just realised Roscoe was right behind her.
“YOU COULD HAVE MOVED!” Cassandra continued to argue childishly with her sister while Roscoe finally got back up in the air.
“SO COULD YOU!” Whitney’s sister was cut off from whatever nonsense she was about to spew next by the Guard Captain flying up to them. He was much too heavy to fly in place, so he had to settle for circling around them like a vulture.
“My Queen! Princess Cassandra! What in the Goddesses Worlds has caused-” Roscoe was cut off right as he came in between them.
“ROSCOE, BOOST ME!” Without waiting for a response, Cassandra lept from her chandelier at the flying guard, wishing to use him as a bounce board to tackle her sister. Roscoe had a split second to decide between dodging and dealing with a furious Princess, doing nothing and crashing to the floor, and complying and dealing with a furious Queen. However, he did not have the ability to pause time and consider his options properly. So, mostly by instinct, he immediately flipped onto his back just in time for Princess Cassandra to jump off of him. He was thankful for his metal breastplate, as well as the high ceiling. He barely had the time to flip back over and fly long enough to avoid a complete crash landing.
The sisters, however, didn’t avoid a crash landing. Princess Cassandra had grabbed Queen Whitney by the shoulder and sent them both tumbling down to the ground in a mass of flailing wings. They landed with a light thud as they began rolling over one another in a bout of wrestling. Roscoe sighed in exasperation and started forward in effort to break them up, but a light hand on his shoulder stopped him.
“No need, Captain. They will tire themselves out soon enough.” Roscoe jumped, but calmed when he realised who it was.
“Ah, Cinder. I hadn’t realised you were back.” The political ambassador for the Vireo family is in fact, not an Avian. Cinder is actually a half-Dragonkin, half-Fire Elemental, a rather fitting combination. Since elementals were just families of Human Mages that ran strong enough to become different races, so-called ‘half-breeds’ were more accepted. It also helped that Elementals were somewhat rare and very powerful. Cinder for her part was not only exceedingly powerful, but also just as competent. That is why she retired from her position as Army General to become the political ambassador everyone loves and fears.
“I arrived when the sun rose this morning.” She said smoothly, gazing at the two royals that scrapped about the throne room like Werewolf pups fighting over some prime beef with a stoic expression.
“Was the party that bad?” Roscoe asked, still breathing deeply.
“Like you would not believe.” Cinder rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. “I would say that I do not blame Queen Whitney and the Princesses for sending me in their stead, but having come back home to this makes me wish that there were more responsible adults around for when I am gone.” before Roscoe could thoroughly process her reply, she glanced at him through the corner of her eyes. “No offense.” He chuckled breathily.
“I don’t think that anyone in this castle can be considered responsible by association.” Roscoe was quite right. The Vireo Queen currently had the Princess pinned to the floor by her wings and was snarling aggressively. The Princess, however, quickly twisted and elbowed her sister in the knee, causing her to yelp and let go.
“Sadly, I have to agree.” The Ambassador and the Guard Captain continued to watch the pair of sisters tussle around in their fancy dresses, waiting for them to tucker themselves out. Perhaps they could be put down for a little nap afterwards. They were not attempting to actually hurt each other, so there was no need to break them up sooner. So, after many long minutes and several pulled feathers, the sisters finally burst apart. They were both crouched down staring at each other with snarling faces and flared wings.
“Captain Roscoe, do please stand back.” Political Ambassador Cinderella walked toward her employers and friends with a small concerned smile on her face. Both Queen Whitney and Princess Cassandra realised her presence at the same time, freezing instantly. It seems that they think she is like an actual Dragon, where if you don’t move they will not take notice of you. Sadly for them, Cinder is not going to be avoided that easily.
“What a wonderful welcome back you have shown me, your Highnesses. Are you both alright?” Whitney and Cassandra looked at each other for a split second and then nodded, still not moving from their places.
“Good.” Cinder’s smile became more sinister and her head tilted to the side slightly as she spoke in a cheerful tone. “Then you would not have any issue with describing to me the exact thought process that led to you two blundering your way through the castle again!” In the same instant, Whitney and Cassandra stood upwards and pointed at one another.
“She did it!” Cinder sighed in exasperation and rubbed her temples.
“Goddesses above, you are both such children! Would it curse you to behave for just one week?” The Queen and Princess once again locked eyes, this time uniting against a common enemy. They both nodded to each other, then turned on their heels in complete unison and began to run away at top speed. This was a mistake.
Queen Whitney, in her instinctual attempt to synchronise with her sister, turned on her left foot. Because of this, when she took a heavy step forward onto her still jammed ankle, her leg gave out beneath her. Thus, Whitney glamorously fell to the floor with the grace of a ‘dignified’ Queen. While her sister utterly failed at the whole running away concept, Cassandra actually made a flawless takeoff. Of course, she should have never even thought of trying to escape, for Cinder is a fucking Elemental.
“I did not give you permission to leave.” Whitney was, surprisingly, the better off of the two from where she was groaning on the floor in exaggerated pain. Cassandra, however, had almost managed to launch herself into the air when a WALL OF GODDESS DAMNED FIRE sprung to life just in front of her. It is a miracle she stopped in time to refrain from becoming an Avian shaped cinder as well, but to be honest this is not the first time she has almost been roasted.
“Every time you two are left unsupervised for more than your goldfish brains allow, you tear through the entire castle like mad banshees! Have you no sense? Or is it just locked away somewhere in those empty skulls of yours?” Cinder looked down upon them with a disapproving frown. Her leathery wings and the swooping marks upon her skin glowed red with the use of her magic, creating an aura of shimmering heat around her. Queen Whitney played dead on the floor, an arm splayed over her eyes and a pained frown on her face. It seemed that she was going for the ‘I can’t see you, you can’t see me’ approach. Cassandra moved far away from the floor to ceiling wall of fire, but still did her best to also not go near Cinder. A losing battle. Roscoe, as per Cinder’s advice, backed up far away from the raging Ambassador, almost to the point of exiting the room.
“You are supposed to be the honored Vireo family, leaders of the strongest military and cultural center, yet here you are blundering about your own castle like descaled lizards!” At this point, the sisters were beginning to realise that the Ambassador had a bad weekend.
“I swear to Capri, the day I ever take a vacation is the day this kingdom goes to war with the entire continent. If I ever live to see the day when just one of you can manage to behave yourselves, I might just die from the shock!” Cinder, despite her tirade of insults directed at the royal family and excessive amount of fire, remained composed. The Princess was looking anywhere but in the direction of the Ambassador, rocking back and forth on her heels. She expertly ignored the fact that Cinder could, at any time, roast her like an Avian marshmallow. Instead, she took much interest in the beautiful stained glass windows that were totally not in danger of melting. Queen Whitney still played dead. At this point one would wonder if she was actually part possum.
“You do realise that while you sit on respect born out of fear and expectations, you do nothing to reinforce it with your actions. You are not the only one ones who are affected by your little spats of immature, asinine, plain sheepheaded behavior, you know. One of these days, other Royals will at last see how utterly silly you are and this kingdom will suffer because of it.” Aside from the roaring fire, Cinder let silence reign for a few moments. She took a deep breath to calm herself some, then let her magic dissipate, leaving only the hot and stuffy air in its place. At last she spoke again, though less harshly this time.
“I know that you hold your people in higher esteem than this, so please act in a way that does not endanger them.” While Cinder was blowing things a bit out of proportion to get her point across to the bullheaded Queen and Princess, she still managed to successfully make them feel guilty. Such a feat was not all that common, so the moment should be savored. That is the reason Cinder stepped back and allowed Roscoe to go and help his Queen off the floor.
“My Queen, do you need help getting up?” Queen Whitney still laid upon the floor with an arm draped across her eyes and Roscoe towered above her, looking down with a concerned expression she could not see.
“No. I am fine.” The Queen said in a calm voice. A bit too calm of a voice, if you asked her Guard Captain.
“... Are you sure?” Of course he is too loyal to outright call her out on it. Roscoe did however see her get punted through a window, so he suspected that might be part of the reason she was being so dramatic.
“Yes. I am.” His suspicion was correct. Whitney was now feeling rather sore now that the excitement of the fight wore off, so she was loath to get up when she did not have to.
“Then why aren’t you moving?” Of course, normal people do not just lay down in the middle of a throne room like it is a luxurious, if expensive, couch. The Queen understood that Roscoe would just continue to stand there and be an obnoxious and handsome burden, so she begrudgingly got up. But not without complaining.
“Because I did not want to… stupid hot Werewolves being pushy… I am a Queen, Goddesses damn it, leave me alone...” All of which Roscoe could hear but stoically chose to ignore. Cassandra, meanwhile, was waiting for a chance to escape, which would likely be when Whitney left as well.
“Before you go running off again, I do still want to know what caused this little scuffle of yours.” Cinder interjected before The Queen could make an excuse to leave. The Queen and the Princess once again glanced at each other.
“She said that she is going to put me on a schedule.” Cassandra said with renewed sulk. She had in fact forgotten the reason that they started racing in the first place. While she had worked most of the physical aggression out of her system, that did not mean she was in any way okay with this new arrangement. Cinder raised an eyebrow in lieu of voicing a question.
“No, I said Cinder was going to be giving you a schedule, as she is the one who makes mine.” This still did not quite answer the Ambassador’s unspoken question, so Whitney continued with a nonchalant hand wave. “The schedule for preparing Cassandra to take over as Queen.” Cinder nodded in understanding while Cassandra pouted. Roscoe, however, did a double take. Many thoughts ran through his mind in the span of just a few moments. One of which being ‘What about my job?!’. He need not have worried though, for should he have voiced this question, the Queen would have offered him a job as her husband. Of course he would have to think about it quite a bit, it is a full time deal and has very little pay.
“Anyway, I will withdraw to my office to take care of some very important business.” Quite the unimaginative excuse, but she had no need to actually try and make it convincing. Everyone here already knew that any words that came out of her mouth would be either flirtatious or fictional. On the off chance that they were neither, they would be met with much scepticism. Queen Whitney turned to begin walking to said destination with the dignity of someone who was not tackled off a chandelier just a few minutes before, but she stumbled. She had again underestimated the effect that a jammed ankle would have on her mobility. Naturally, she refused to call attention to this injury and continued to simply hobble away. Quite slowly. Princess Cassandra suppressed a bout of sadistic laughter, knowing it would only cause Cinder to cast scrutiny her way. The Princess often avoided authority figures for several hours after she had done something punishment worthy, a habit left over from when she would hide from her mother’s rather vengeful fury. Cinder had less of a temper, but was just as intimidating seeing as she had more reach than the late Avian Queen. Said Ambassador just shook her head in exasperation at the Queen’s stubbornness showing through. If Cinder had not lived in the castle for much of Whitney’s childhood, she would have had a hard time believing her ornery nature was actually worse as an eight year old.
Instead of having one of the other girls' reactions, Roscoe was concerned for his Queen. She was obviously injured, and it was his job to prevent that from happening. Logicly, it is her own fault that she is hurt, but who in the vicinity of this castle cares about logic? So, Roscoe just walked up to his Queen and swept her off her feet. (To the disappointment of literally everyone, this was not in the romantic sense.)
“Dalania’s abominations, Roscoe! The hell?!” The Queen was startled enough to not immediately start flirting. Though she was undeniably happy to be held in a princess carry, she was also quite embarrassed.
“You are hurt, my Queen.” Roscoe, being the adorably obtuse half-Avian he is, said this like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“That does not mean you need to pick me up!” Whitney was correct, though only said as such to make sure she had plausible deniability. One could almost see how Roscoe got mixed signals. Almost. As in almost to the tiniest degree.
“Would you rather I put you down?” Roscoe, the ever loyal guard dog, asked despite knowing the answer.
“I did not say that.” Whitney pouted. Guard Captain Roscoe smiled fondly and shook his head. Although, when he noticed that Queen Whitney could very much see this, he stopped.
“You need to be more careful, my Queen. You should not allow yourself to be hit so easily.” Roscoe began scolding her as he walked. Of course, he was rather vague, so it could be interpreted as an insult to her fighting abilities.
“And just what do you mean by that, exactly?” The Queen knew that Roscoe hardly ever was that subtle, so she chose to ask for clarification before getting offended and challenging him to a duel.
“When you were standing in the windowsill.” Roscoe glanced down at her when she strangled off an exclamation of ‘You saw that?!’. The Queen cleared her throat and looked away for a second to compose herself, glaring in Cassandra’s general direction. After just a few seconds, she looked back to the Guard Captain with large eyes.
“That was all Cassy’s fault, she really hurt my chest.” She said in a really childish voice, using her sister’s nickname and placing a hand on her slightly bruised breast. “Will you kiss it better?” Roscoe stopped in his walking and just stared into his Queen’s eyes. Then, very slowly, he shifted her knees higher up on his elbow so he could grab her hand. Without breaking eye contact, he kissed Queen Whitney’s hand, then placed it back on her boob. Whitney gaped as if she was waiting for a bug to eat.
While she was left speechless, Roscoe took the opportunity to leave without having to talk. A rather sly move on his part. He should do things like that more often when he wants for the Queen to shut up. It would be a win-win, really. Cassandra and Cinder could see the frankly ridiculous smile on Whitney’s face. Cassandra was tempted to squee about how adorable that was, but decided not to since she was still mad about the whole ‘schedule’ thing and didn’t want anyone to think otherwise. With how outwardly uncaring about other’s thoughts she is, her actions here show the opposite. Perhaps she is just fickle. With a small dusting off of her rumpled clothing, the Princess turned to Cinder.
“I am going to go to my room to clean up, then I will be heading to the Temple.” Princess Cassandra curtsied and made a swift exit, making a point of walking instead of flying.
“Be sure to take Genesis or Asher with you.” Cinder called after her. It is usually a smart decision for a Princess to take one of the Royal Guard with her when she leaves the castle, but in this situation it is hardly necessary. First off, this is the Vireo kingdom where the people actually like the Royal Family. Secondly, this is the Vireo kingdom where all members of the Royal Family know how to fight better than common members in the military. And lastly, Cassandra is headed to the Temple of Stories, and no one would start a fight in there. But still, when the Political Ambassador tells you to do something, you do it.
“Noted.” The Princess called back curtly. Cassandra asked one of the servants to send Genesis to her room on her way and resigned herself to wait a couple minutes before leaving.
Entering her room, she left her door ajar. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to her bed like iron to a magnet.
“Perhaps just laying down for a few minutes would not hurt anyone…” Cassandra muttered, as if trying to justify her decisions to the Goddesses. Poor Genesis, Cassandra was practically comatose before she even hit the pillow.