Chapter Text
Snowfox couldn’t help but stare, chin rested on an open palmed talon as she sat along a series of blankets and pillows, curled up slightly with her wings eased by her sides.
The new icewing queen found her eyes drifting. Tracing across glistening scales outlined with hanging chains of harsh sapphires, running along sharp horns intertwined with dark bands, and observing deadly claws equipped in graceful silks and shimmering rings.
To most, she would looked as though displeased or deep in thought, but truth of the matter was she was awestruck.
For while many dragons had the opinion that Snowflake was a blank slate of a dragon, dull and glassy in the fumbled mess of a cheap mirror, the other was infact, as Fox would put it, like an iced over lake.
At first glance, it seems simple enough, sleek, cold. But then you notice the thin spots, edging along the slippery slyness of its nature, observing the hidden dark waters below through a pretty little shell.
It was fascainting. Delightful.
Deadly.
“You enjoying the view or you got something stuck in between your teeth?”
Snowfox blinked, looking up at Snowflake’s face, “Huh?”
The other rolled her eyes, striding over to flop down next to her, “Fox, you’re staring again.”
A scoff, “Well, of course. You’re gorgeous.”
“Aw, you admiring my pretty little face?” Snowflake draped herself against the other, careful to not actually press too much of her weight against the other, keeping in mind the new queen’s still healing injuries.
“You look like you could slay armies,” Fox mused, smiling jewel-embedded teeth. “I’m simply basking in your presence.”
Snowflake couldn’t help a harsh snort, playfully slapping at her partner’s shoulder as she moved to slide away, “Okay, shut up.”
“Aw what?” Fox dragged her back, cuddling Snowflake in an embrace. “My wittle, wuvely kiwwing daggwer?”
“Shut up!” Snowflake laughed, a flush coloring her gray-white scales in faint blues, “You make me sick!”
Fox snuggled against the playfully struggling Snowflake, the icewing queen soon enough pressing sloppy kisses to the other’s forehead. “Awwwwww, look at my pretty, pretty queen!”
The noble was snorting hard now, hiccuping sounds as she squealed and tried to push the other away, “You’re abusing the fact that I can’t hit you!”
“Ha! Softie!”
“I’m going to smother you with a pillow when you sleep!!!” Snowflake had stopped her half-attempted struggling, trying to hide her face in her claws as her face flushed deeper. “Drown you in—oh! You— you nightmare of a dragon!”
Fox was giggling harshly, faint wispy hisses, “I love you, too!”
Snowflake shook her head, “I AM GOING TO STAB YOU!”
“Promise!?”
The two burst into hissing giggles and snorting sputters.
~
“I… haven’t really danced before. Never interested me, I suppose. No one really asks to dance with the heir afterall, Diamond threatened the ones that got too close…”
“Well,” Snowflake adjusted the fur-scarf around the other’s shoulders, pausing to briefly check on the cuts hidden under it, “She’s not here anymore, now is she?”
Fox chuckled, a shy thing, “It… it feels like she might be.”
“What do you mean?” Snowflake moved to adjust Fox’s crown so it sat more comfortably on her head. Her claws lingered with a gentle touch, carefully stroking along the developing scars on the other’s snout, “Because I’m quite certain I saw you tear out her heart for me, snow cat.”
Fox leaned in, sighing heavily, eyes drifting closed. “I do not know… her image haunts me, lingers like a hungry beast. Sometimes I get these stupid dreams… and…”
“And…?”
The queen opened her dark eyes and stared into her partner’s. “And I… I feel like I’m walking on thin ice. The adrenaline carried me, I think, and, and now what? What if I fall or, or something happens? And, what do I do?”
“Well. I will be walking with you. And I will pull you back up. Simple as that.” Snowflake’s voice grew lighter, “I mean, someone’s got to call out your dumb tail when you get over zealous.”
Fox relaxed, “You better…”
“Now.” A claw raised that dipping crowned head. “How about a dance?”
“You better not let me slip or I will have your head.”
Snowflake snorted, eyes bright.
~
“Are you certain, my queen?” The healer ducked their head as Fox tried to shoo them away before Snowflake arrived.
“Yes, yes! I am perfectly fine, wounds are healing wonderfully, so on and so forth! Now—“
“But your majesty, you haven’t allowed any of us to check u—“
“I shall be fine, just g—“
“Fox?” Said dragon froze, spines raising with the startle of being caught.
“Oh, Great Wall of Ice—“ The icewing queen quickly glanced from the healer to her partner, “Snowflake, wonderous of you to arrive, I was just attending to matt—“
“She has not allowed us to tend to her wounds in several days,” the healer spoke up, snout dipping towards the noble. Their gaze was smug, the icewings around the palace having adjusted quite well to their new queen and her ‘advisor.’
Snowflake’s gaze narrowed and turned slowly to Snowfox, “Fox.”
The queen swallowed, wincing. “Oh, orca spit.”
~
Fox was bored. Insanely bored. A claw moving to pick at her newly bandaged injuries, the healer finally having left her to her lonesome (Snowflake was taking care of speaking with some of the outer ring icewings, helping to bring the news of Fox’s rise to the throne.)
Apparently, with all the things she’d wanted to get done, Fox had either reopened a wound or had mis-treated it when trying to deal with it herself or something else she couldn’t care less about. What it meant in the long run was that she was to not move about, lay in bed, and recover.
The queen rolled her eyes, drooping against a polar bear plush, the absurdly massive thing (as large as her head) having been an old thing her mother had gifted her in her youth. Fox had hidden the thing away until recently, not wanting Diamond to get rid of the keepsake or to think she weak for keeping such a sentimental item.
But it was comforting, and Fox, despite her busy mind, found herself relaxing. Snowflake had even helped to stitch up some old tears on it, refilling the worn stuffing with fresh new feathers and furs.
The queen sighed, closing her eyes. She never really got close to many through her life, but those she had had, she wanted to keep them close. Even if they weren’t alive to be there with her.
“Wish you could have seen me out there,” she muttered into the old toy, “Would have made you proud, I’d say.”
For a moment, as her mind slipped into unconsciousness, she could have sworn she felt a gentle wing wrap around her.
~
Snowflake couldn’t wait to go back home, her wings sore from all the traveling she’d been doing as of late. With Fox’s desire to be present in the kingdom affairs, she’d incidentally prolonged her healing. Which was infuriating when Snowflake had warned her as the days passed about being careful NOT to do that exact thing.
But well. With Fox on strict orders to rest by the Royal healers, Snowflake had taken a step up to make sure this moment of weakness didn’t give anyone any bright ideas.
It was espically easy to do when Snowflake wore a most shocking crown. Twisting white horns long and stark rising above her own, a clear sight to all, a message to those that knew who said horns had belonged to.
It was a subtle pride, something she’d catch others staring at in either realization, wonder, disgust, or unease. But it served well.
It had been her own idea, and she was going to surprise Fox with it when she returned. But for now, the noble finally got a moment of peace.
She settled in the guest chamber she’d be staying in for the couple of nights she was there and then the noble would be back to visiting lower circle icewing villages and communities. There certainly was a lot to be done, making notes of things to work on, ideas for changes and betterment, etc.
With a tired yawn, Snowflake settled on her bed, a simple yet curiously comfortable thing. She began to carve a message into a stone tablet, the noble figured it would be best to send news to their lost prince as well.