"I still think we should just kill her, here and now." The large Icewing growled before the large Sandwing nuzzled her.

"I know, and I won't lie, it wasn't like I wasn't tempted either, but I just need to talk with her one last time." She said, much to the other dragon's disapproval.

"Very well, just remember to call out if you need anything, alright?" The larger dragon asked as she grabbed the Sandwing's shoulder.

"Yes, I know but I can take care of myself, especially with your training." The Sandwing assured her.

"My training can only go so far Blaze, you are still a Sandwing after all and although I've done my best-" The dragon started before Blaze put one of her talons on the Icewing's lips, calming and silencing the large dragon.

"I beat her in battle once, I can do it again. Hopefully it doesn't come to it, Glacier, but I'm ready if it does." Blaze assured her as they reached the large set of doors.

Glacier let out a long and exasperated sigh. "Very well, Blaze, I may not understand but... I hope you find what you're looking for." She said before suddenly leaning in and giving the sand dragon a short kiss.

"Glacier!" Blaze exclaimed quietly with a massive blush on her face, barely hidden by her decorated helmet. "You do know that this hallway is public, don't you?"

"I don't care." Glacier chuckled quietly as she leaned closer into Blaze.

"Very well, I guess I'll have another party planned for later." Blaze laughed quietly as she leaned into Glacier agin.

Glacier let out a snicker before her face fell and softened. "Promise me you'll be alright?" She demanded as she held Blaze's talons with her own, intertwining them.

Blaze grabbed one side of Glacier's face before bringing her close to her face. "I promise my love." With that they shared another, more lengthy kiss, before Glacier opened the door and nodded.

Blaze took a deep breath before holding her head high and walking in, her tail already sweeping side to side, ready to trip or strike if necessary. And the next thing she knew, the door behind her was closed and locked, but even then she could feel how nervous Glacier was from the outside.

The room wasn't large by any means, but it wasn't exactly small either, big enough to fit around three fully grown dragons. In the corner to the right, there was a small pit where waste would be carried off by a water system built in her stronghold. On the other corner, there was a small pool of drinkable water. The water may have been green and not the most pure, but prisoners didn't exactly deserve the highest standards. In the dungeon cells, there was barely any light, except the small torch on the ceiling of each cell that the guards would make sure is snuffed out during the night.

"So my dear sister finally decides to visit me? You kept waiting for so long, how long has it been, a few months?" The dragon laying down on her stomach in the center of the room asked. Her pale and yellow scales were barely visible in the dim light, nor was the black diamond pattern that went along the sides of her spine.

Blaze was silent as she looked down at the chained dragon, chains on her wings, her tail, and a collar on her neck connected to a long chain at the center of the room.

"Yes, you look terrible." Blaze said with a wave of her hand as she looked at her sister's new scars, her sister who was once spotless like her.

Blaze's sister let out a hiss. "Charming, truly, thank you for your kind commentary."

"You're welcome, but my commentary wasn't meant to be kind."

"That was sarcasm, but of course you can't tell with that single collective brain cell, controlling your body."

"The single brain cell that managed to put you on your knees, that lost you the war?" Blaze asked in a sing-song voice.

Her sister hissed and tried to lunge at her, but Blaze quickly slapped her with her own tail, knocking the dragon to the ground while adding a new scar on the side of her face.

"There's a lot of things you aren't, pretty, a fighter, or a queen."

"And you are?" Blister snickered.

"I will be." Blaze said as she held herself high as Blister's tail oozed venom from her barb, showing her sister's frustration.

"What are you talking-" Blister started to snarl but took a deep breath and composed herself as she noticed the new ring of two crystal dragons on blaze's index talon. "Your ring, she accepted your proposal and she said yes? Hmmm... maybe I don't give you enough credit after all, seducing the Icewing Queen is impressive, but expected for someone like you."

"She proposed to me." Blaze said with a smirk as she watched Blister's eyes widened.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"But what gain could she get from-"

"She got me, and I got her, I know you don't believe in love but we do." Blaze said to a flabbergasted Sandwing.

"I... why... Love is such a stupid concept. And I suppose I'm not invited to the wedding party?" She asked sarcastically.

Blaze shook her head. "Very smart, as always sister, except when it came to the war. You were always too power hungry, just like our other sister-"

"I wasn't anything like Burn-" Blister snapped.

"You were exactly like Burn! The reason you lost and Burn died to the Eye of Onyx is because you both fought for the wrong thing."

"Fighting to be queen is the wrong thing?"

"You fought for power, just like Burn."

"It's all about power, that's what being a queen is all about, it's about you having power-"

"No. It isn't. The one conclusion that you should've come up with a long time ago, is that being a queen isn't all about you."

Blister scoffed at that and turned her head away.

"Well, you may not believe me but one of us is going to be a queen, and it isn't you." Blaze said before taking a deep breath. "It was... surprisingly nice to have this talk with you, your execution will take some time so you have a week to... settle your affairs? I don't... really know what you'd do with this time but... if you request my presence, I will come, we are sisters after all."

Blister stayed silent for a moment as she looked to the floor. "It doesn't make sense, how could I have lost? And why would you keep me alive?" She asked as she leaned forward to look at Blaze's eyes up-close.

Blaze let out a deep sigh, "I already lost one sister, and even if you deserve it, I can't lose another one so easily."

Blister let out a small growl. "I see. Farewell sister, I'll keep what you said in mind."

Blaze took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat. "Goodbye... sister." And she walked out.

Blister continued to hiss as she let herself fall back to the ground and looked at the chains attached to her, before her eyes wandered to the keys she snatched. She let out a quiet chuckle to herself, "My sister, so naive yet without her I would be dead, but I always have been the smartest dragon in the room."

***

The room was quiet, and the light had been snuffed, turning the whole room pitch black till the two Icewing guards opened the door, dimly lighting around the entrance of the cell.

"Why's it so dark, have any other guards entered here?" one of them asked another dragon waiting outside the door, a Sandwing.

"No, no one other than Commander Blaze and Queen Glacier."

"Strange, I wonder how she managed to blow the torch out." The female Icewing said as she walked in, soon followed by the other who went to close the door while holding his torch.

"Blister, you awake?" He asked.

There was silence.

"Why don't you light it?" She asked him.

The male Icewing nodded and went to light it, his eyes grew wide as he saw the chains laying on the ground, open and empty.

"Scream out for help, and she dies."

The Icewing turned to see the guard's neck currently curled in the Sandwing's tail, with the barb pointed right at her throat, with Blister's face smiling beside her.

"What will it be?" The Sandwing hissed, her black-forked tongue flicking out.

***

"Shade, really, that's what we're calling me now?"

"I think it's better than Lumin." The golden-haired girl said, trying to cheer her up, but the white-haired girl still frowned.

"Maybe."

"So what's River like?" Lumin asked.

"Oh! Well, the last me and River spoke was... about a year ago, during the... well y'know?"

Lumin nodded as Shade continued.

"He was really kind to me, he looked out for me despite being so much smaller, it was kind of cute to be honest."

"He sounds nice!" Lumin said cheerily.

"Yes, but did you see his eyes? He looks... so much more tired compared to when I last saw him, I know something happened but I never learned what. He and Starflight have had meetings but it's so secretive, even I'm not allowed to go or even know about them, the only reason I found out is cause he slipped up once when he got home.

Lumin lowered her head to the floor as she heard that.

"Hey... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring back any bad memories S-" Shade tried to tell her but was quickly cut off.

"How are you, and him? Are you two happy?" Lumin asked.

Shade paused before frowning and shaking her head. "We broke up a few weeks ago, he just isn't the same after ruling the kingdom. I can't blame him though, my visions made it obvious too, I just thought that maybe..."

"I'm sorry, Fatespeaker."

Fatespeaker sniffled before wiping her tears. "Are you sure we shouldn't tell River that we're actually-"

"Yes I'm sure-"

"But Sunny-"

"How about this, we give it a week, just to learn about this place and everything and then we can tell River if you still want to."

"That... I'm fine with that." Fatespeaker said but there was still a frown on her face.

"I'm sorry Fatespeaker, I know you want to tell him, but I'm just not sure if it's safe."

"Or if I'm safe?"

"What? No, Fatespeaker, I never meant to-"

"I know, but I'm still a Nightwing, and I know how you all see us at Jade Mountain. I know we can't be trusted, especially since we still keep so many secrets from you."

"Fatespeaker, you're my friend, Nightwing or not."

Fatespeaker smiled but her face fell. "I really hope no one else finds out about the masks."

"Why?"

"Well look at us, we've been stuck as scavengers ever since we fell into the river, at least until we figure out how to turn into dragons again. What if someone gets turned into a scavenger and is found by other dragons?"

Sunny's face widened but she took a deep breath. "It's okay, Anemone only made two copies of the original, which should be locked away. The other headmasters should be able to keep it safe."

Fatespeaker sighed in relief.

"But Fatespeaker," Sunny continued. "Why didn't you tell anyone that scavengers were sentient?"

Fatespeaker took a few moments to respond. "I did, Queen Glory actually. It was during my last meeting when I was together with Starflight actually. We talked to Glory about it, we mentioned River but she thought Starflight had imagined him to talk, that he was a simple delusion formed by the isolation of being away from them for so long."

"What about you? Didn't you support him?"

"Of course, but Queen Glory thought I was feeding into his delusions and since everyone else thinks I was crazy, no one batted an eye."

"So that's why she's been removing all the scavengers away from her kingdom? Because she wants to get rid of his delusions."

"But they aren't delusions-"

"Try telling that to the queens."

***

Blister flapped her wings as she left Jade Mountain, finding the place littered with dragons of all kinds made her realize that it wasn't safe for her to stay. "This has been a waste of time." She muttered to herself as she started to fly away. "Well. almost." She said while changing her mind as she looked down at the object in her hand. "What secrets do you hold?" She asked the mask in her hands, her talons trailing down where the tear had been drawn.