Chapter Text
Glory tapped her claws on the ground, scales shifting rapidly. It was unusual for her scales to move this much, let alone this quickly. One second, they were green in apprehension, the next yellow and cream in curiosity.
Well, this was a strange opportunity. Get to talk to one dragon, alive or dead. A choice of the one who had hurt her the most, or the one Glory had hurt the most. Fun.
She had chosen the first option fairly quickly. Glory had a solid idea of who it could be, but she was less sure about the latter options outcome. Only bad things could come of choosing the one she had hurt.
Glory sat in what appeared to be a rainforest clearing, but with no fruits or animals that could be recognized. She shifted her talons once again.
A waiting room. How fun. Even dream-magic had limits, and annoying things about it. She glanced up. Somewhere in between night and dawn. No clouds graced the pale gray skies.
“You picked option one?” A tired voice spoke. A voice Glory had heard almost every day of her dragonet-hood, usually yelling at her during battle training.
Her gaze returned the ground “Of course, Kestrel.”
“Great that you still have your snark, Rainwing”
She spoke it like an insult. Glory knew she shouldn`t be surprised at this, Kestrel had never said the word Rainwing and other way. But she had hoped – that just maybe – Kestrel might think differently now that she was dead.
A dragonet`s hopeful dream. Glory shook it off quickly.
“You know, while I was out of your claws, I learned that Rainwings are a lot more than what you might think” she spat, her scales settling on dusky orange and deep blue for the moment.
Kestrel sighed “Well then, explain to me the amazing powers of your tribe”
Glory wanted to claw the tall Skywing`s snout off so much right now. Kestrel had just been shown that Glory was the ‘Dragon that she had hurt the most’ and she was still cold and dismissive. Like always.
Like she had expected otherwise.
“We can camouflage, and you would see how useful that can be if you thought for half a second. Rainwings have acidic venom as well” Glory barred her overlong front fangs.
“And the only reason I didn`t use it on you before is because it`s only an option if I have enough sun. Trapping me and the other underground for the first six years of our life doesn`t seem like such a smart decision, now does it?”
Kestrel`s eyes flitted across Glory, with new suspiciousness. Glory might`ve grinned had she not been filled with her usual murderous intent at seeing the older red dragon.
“Venom. Of course, give something useful to the only tribe who wouldn`t do anything with it. Wasted potential, on such soft”-
“Soft? Were you not dead anyways, I would spray acid all over your stupid face” She hissed. That was it. Glory was done. She would walk out of this stupid dream… thing, whatever and find something useful to do with her time.
Kestrel met her eyes, yellow orange peering into green. “You`ve changed." she said simply "You were never like this, not even in my worst trainings. Spitting mad, yes, but not brave enough to say something to my face”
“Well, being queen of two tribes doesn`t exactly allow for being quiet about my opinions. Especially with the Nightwings hating my queenship as much as they do.”
Silence followed the last statement. Kestrel seemed… thoughtful, for the moment. The world seemed electrified, near-neon blue had taken over the sky. Like it was encouraging her anger.
“You… remind me of Peril” Kestrel settled on eventually.
‘Well that`s unexpected’ Glory pondered.
The Skywing kept talking. “I only got to meet Peril – my daughter, for a short time but… you were always a bit like what I got to see of her. I`ve – I`ve been hurting the dragonet who was most like my daughter… for years.”
Was Kestrel attempting to apologize? Glory hated the thought. ‘Of course, she decides to change now when she can hurt me more’
She basked in the anger, the resentment. Even if Kestrel was dead, Glory could still hate her.
Sucking in a breath, Kestrel tried to keep going, voice hesitating a bit “I`m probably the reason you`re so resentful - so spiteful. I gave you someone to resent. Me. In a way, I was always comparing you to Peril. Or what I thought Peril would be like. In my mind, you weren`t… perfect enough. You didn`t act like my dream daughter.”
Glory just stared at the red dragon. A quick movement of her head, a “keep going” gesture.
“You couldn`t have made me like you, no matter how much you tried. You can`t be my daughter, and I despised that about you. I – I…”
Oh moons no. Was Kestrel going to breakdown? Was she going to cry? What would Glory do then, comfort her, enjoy Kestrel`s pain? Glory just couldn`t think of a solution if her ex-tormenter broke down.
“I`m sorry. Fourth moons and fireballs, I`m so sorry”
The Rainwing tried to think of something sarcastic, rude, or sassy to say. Surely there was a correct answer, something to say that would fix everything.
“I don`t forgive you... not now. But I – thanks, I guess. For at least saying sorry.”
Kestrel sighed with relief. “Guess that`s all I can ask for. More than I deserve, I guess.”
“Definitely more than you deserve” There was that old snark of Glory`s. She felt better slipping back into quiet dislike of Kestrel.
“Yeah. You… keep ruling your tribes. I`ll see you again when you die.”
“That`ll take a while, so you better get ready for the wait. Even if the Nightwings mostly hate me, I have plenty of loyal dragons to defend me. Rainwings and Nightwings. One particularly irritating guard, especially.”
Kestrel barked a laugh. A rare sound, more like a squawk than laughing. But Glory chuckled as well.
“Well... bye”
“Yeah, bye.” Glory murmured, watching as the red scales faded back into the air, leaving her alone in the clearing.
The Rainwing queen waited, scales once again moving through dozens of shades. Indigo, yellow, pink, lilac, green. And beneath all the shifting shades, sky blue, a certainty that things were going to be okay. Things might not change much, but they wouldn`t be stuck in the past.
Not anymore.