Strings of Sin

Chapter 7

"You want to take two lefts and go that way because I don't like this way so far?" Stardom turned to look at December's confused expression.

"Let's just stick to going left," December concluded.

"You want to find some honey first?" Stardom asked as December's eyes filled up with laughter.

"Hahaha, that's ridiculous! You're funny!" the icewing snickered and weakly laid herself on Stardom's back for support as her bones grew softer.

"Miscommunication is one of the greatest ways to generate irony," Stardom observed from the stories he had read.

"Yes, of course, whatever, now let's go!" she picked herself up and dragged Stardom quickly through the hallway with her.

The architecture of their surroundings blended together into a fast sandy-yellow blur as they ran like the unsupervised dragonets they were through the royal palace. Every now and then, Stardom would see a purple blur or blue blur appear in the repetitive soup that was their speed. It wasn't long before the two had finally learned if they had chosen the right path.

Silverware and silver plates, silver domes with foods in their wakes, lined the tables like lustrous lights, pleased the dragonets' eyes and their appetites.

"We found it! Doesn't this feel so epic? Do you feel like a better version of your previous self? Have you gone through the metamorphosis yet?" the icewing turned and looked towards Stardom with shining, playful eyes.

"No, I feel the same," Stardom answered as he took December over to the tables.

"Lamest first adventure dilemma ever! If I could have an author write my life scroll, it would not be whoever's doing it right now!" the icewing shouted at the ceiling.

Thorn nudged over to Stardom and tapped his wing. "Is she okay? Do we need to put her out with some blow darts? Oh no, did she try eating one of the plants in my garden? The secret's finally-"

"No, she's just having a talk with fate," Stardom told Thorn before she revealed too much.

"Okay, well, lunch is served..." Thorn moved back to where she was sitting previously and gazed at Stardom suspiciously as if he had just learned classified government information and was about to be put out with some blow darts himself.

"December, let's eat," Stardom grasped her and brought her over to the table posthaste with an awkward smile.

"Okay," the icewing said as she paced her eyes across the table and took her time examining every fancy food. "But what should I eat?"

"Whatever you want," Thorn answered generously from her seat and pointed to her favorites. "I don't know what the Ice Kingdom serves nowadays, but most palace food comes from the global business place that we have housed here, McWings. They have some really great food, like chicken with this weird coating, chicken with bone, chicken without bone, these new kinds of chicken called chicken nuggets, Qibli loves those, mostly chicken I guess, do you like chicken?"

"Why so much chicken?" December peered queerly at the shifty queen and then back at the dubious food. "Are chickens slowly dominating the world beneath our talons under a secret operation deemed McWings where dragons are being controlled by chickens through neurological manipulation?" The icewing leaned across the table, catching the attention of every sandwing in the room, including Stardom.

"Haha, what?" Queen Thorn laughed as she inspected the questionable chicken on her plate. "That sounds very unlikely, but I'm not really sure what the deal with the chicken is. Sometimes it's better to investigate something you find unusual, first, before you go trying to explain all of it with an argument based only on assumption." She observed cunningly and redirected all the dragons' eyes on her.