Queen Coral landed on the pavilion and ran toward Tsunami.
"My baby!" Coral cried, pulling Tsunami into a tight hug. The smaller dragon scrambled after her. As Orca landed, Hare was grateful for the crowd that blocked her from sight.
The smaller dragon was a blue that was so pale she was almost white like an IceWing. She had hints of pink along her wings, ears, and horns. Some pink spots were scattered along the tip of her tail and her glowing scales were a lighter pink color. Her eyes were large and bright blue. Tiny strands of pearls were woven around her neck and tail.
"Oh, I've searched everywhere for you," Coral said. "I can't believe I have three living daughters."
Hare and Sunny looked at each other in confusion. What did she mean by that?
Queen Coral stepped away from Tsunami and waved her wing toward her other two daughters. "These are your sisters, Princess Anemone and Princess Orca."
Orca dipped her head in respect and Anemone gave a small wave.
Tsunami waved awkwardly. "Hi, I'm Tsunami."
"Tsunami," Coral said, smiling. "That's not a bad name. I see Webs did one thing right." Her smile quickly faded and was replaced with an angry snarl. "Where is he anyway? His punishment won't exactly be a lovely one."
"Please don't hurt him," Suny squeaked. "All of our guardians were really nice to us, especially Webs."
Hvitur wasn't.
Queen Coral looked at Sunny. "And what exactly are you?" Her gaze went up to Kestrel and Clay, and her tail lashed dangerously. "Why are a MudWing and a SkyWing in my Summer Palace?"
She didn't give anyone a chance to answer. She flicked her tail. "These other dragons have no business being here. Kill them."
"Don't touch them," Hare snapped. "That's an order from Queen Blister's niece."
Hare pushed past the crowd and stepped forward to face the queen. She did her best to ignore the look Orca gave her as she came into view. Queen Coral eyed her.
"So you're the dragonet Burn put into hiding?" she said. "Queen Blister will be so happy to finally meet you. She's been talking about meeting you ever since word has spread about your existence. Welcome to my kingdom."
"I'm honored to be here," Hare said with a small bow. "I expect you'll treat me and my friends with the respect we deserve. The dragonets of destiny are not to be treated cruelly."
"Right, the famous dragonets of destiny," Queen Coral said, putting a talon to her head. She then used the same talon to make the circling motion Shark had made earlier. "Alright, they'll live. Put them in Queen Blister's cave and set a guard so they stay there."
"They're not here to be prisoners," Hare snapped. "They're here to be protected."
"And they will be," Queen Coral said. "This is for their own safety. Most of my subjects will attack MudWings, SkyWings, and unknown SandWings on sight. It's much safer for them to not wander the palace unsupervised." She turned to a plump turquoise dragon and pointed at her. "Lagoon, make sure they are fed."
The dragon bowed and dove off the ledge. Guards surrounded the dragonets and Kestrel.
"Don't tie them up," Tsunami said. "They'll go with you."
Kestrel shot her a look but didn't say anything.
"Very well," Queen Coral said, waving her talon dismissively. "Off you all go then."
The guards flew off with the dragonets. A few guards took up the rear, nudging Hare's friends when they felt they were going too slow. The pavilion began to clear as the SeaWings flew away, chattering excitedly among each other. Hare watched them go. She felt like her scales were burning under Orca's gaze as Queen Coral led her daughters away, but she continued trying to ignore it.
"Queen Blister's niece, huh?"
Hare turned around. A single dragon remained on the pavilion. His scales were a blue-ish purple color and his underbelly was pale. He had three odd tendrils on each side of his snout that looked like whiskers. He didn't look much older than Hare, and he was horribly handsome in her opinion.
"That's me," Hare said. "Who are you?"
The new dragon held out one of his talons. "My name is Catfish."
Hare held out her talon and put it on top of his. "Hare."
Catfish smiled. "Well, it's an honor to meet you Princess Hare."
Princess Hare.
She'd never been called that before.
"Catfish, stop bothering the princess," Queen Coral said, stepping toward them again. "I need to get one of my guards to show her where she'll be staying. You can talk to her later."
"She won't be staying with you?" Catfish said.
Coral scoffed. "She can't sleep underwater you fool."
Hare felt a flicker of irritation. "He was just asking."
Queen Coral ignored her. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go find your sister?" she said to Catfish.
Catfish shifted uncertainly. "Axolotl hasn't been home, remember?"
Queen Coral groaned. "Of course." She waved her talon. "Then go find your cousin."
"Trench is busy."
Coral let out an angry huff. "Must your whole family be so useless?" Catfish looked down in shame. Hare stepped in front of him defensively. "It's not his fault. Someone else can just do it. Why don't you get Shark to do it or something?"
The SeaWing was horribly insufferable, but at least it'd mean Coral wouldn't keep leaping down poor Catfish's throat.
"Shark has other duties to attend to," Queen Coral said, yawning.
So that makes your family no more useful.
Hare glanced sympathetically at Tsunami as the thought flashed through her mind.
"Well," Coral said, wrapping her wing over Hare's back. "I suppose in the meantime you'll have to stay with us. I trust that Catfish will send Trench when she returns."
Catfish bowed. "Right, of course."
"Great," Coral said with a small nod. "Now, you're dismissed."
Catfish nodded to Hare, then flew away from the pavilion. Hare couldn't help but feel a little sad as she watched him go.
Coral turned to Tsunami. "I can't believe you're finally home! Come, I have something to show you and someone for you to meet."
Queen Coral flew off the pavilion. Orca stuck by her side. Tsunami and Anemone followed. Hare watched, then she followed them down four levels to a floor with low walls and several shapes like large cauldrons molded into the stone. Black and blue webbed talon prints trailed all around the floor, and a raised podium stood at one end with space for an audience of thirty dragons in front.
At the other end was a long gray stone table with a scroll spread out on it, held down at either end by a small seahorse carved of dark brown wood. There was a cauldron close by that was packed with neatly rolled scrolls.
Tsunami picked up one of the carved seahorses. "This is beautiful," she said.
"Orca made those," Queen Coral said proudly. "She's extremely talented."
"Do you sculpt a lot?" Tsunami asked, looking up at Orca. The green SeaWing shrugged. "When I have free time."
Or when you're not in the Place of Lost Souls.
Hare couldn't help but shoot Orca a look. How could such an important dragon betray her kingdom by going somewhere so awful?
A dark green dragon was sitting at another cauldron, reorganizing the scrolls inside. He looked over at the new arrivals and bowed. His eyes were pale green and he had a large gold hoop earring in one ear. Light green scales in wave patterns were dappled along his back. He had the same dark stains on his talons as Queen Coral.
"Your Majesty," he said. "Your Smaller Majesties." He gazed at Hare suspiciously. "And who are you?"
"Princess Hare," Hare said, puffing out her chest. "The daughter of Queen Burn and niece of Queen Blister."
The face Queen Coral made after she said that made Hare wince.
I probably shouldn't refer to my mother as a queen here. She's their enemy.
Whirlpool, however, didn't say anything. He just bowed. "Well, it's an honor to meet you. Welcome to the kingdom."
Whirlpool walked over to them and looked at the scroll on the stone table. Hare followed his gaze. The scroll was half blank, Hare assumed it was a work in progress. The pool of black ink at the top of the table made Hare realize what the stains were.
It's ink.
"Whirlpool is a horribly clever dragon," Queen Coral said. "He invented this ink. It's a special formula made of squid ink and a touch of whale's blood. It never fades, which means it'll leave a few stains." She held up her talon and stretched her claws. "I think it's worth it. It's such a small price to pay in order to create my work."
"So you write?" Tsunami said.
"Oh, yes!" Queen Coral said, clapping her front talons together. "Some of my best works are The Missing Princess and A Tail of Blood."
Tsunami's eyes widened. "You wrote The Missing Princess?"
"Of course," Queen Coral said. "I wrote it about you, actually."
"That's one of my favorite stories," Tsunami exclaimed.
"Oh, if you like that, I've got similar stories you can read." Coral began digging through the nearest cauldron. She pulled out two scrolls and dropped them in Tsunami's talons. "There, read those when you get the chance."
Queen Coral suddenly gasped and turned to Whirlpool. "Oh, Whirlpool, fetch me a fresh scroll! I've got a letter to write."
Whirlpool reached under the stone table and pulled out a rolled up scroll. He rolled up the half-written scroll and placed it aside, then laid out the fresh scroll and had it held down by the seahorse carvings. Coral wound her way over to the table. Whirlpool stepped aside to let her take her place. Anemone followed Queen Coral but kept her distance. Queen Coral looked up at Orca and Tsunami.
"Orca, why don't you show Tsunami around? A princess needs to know her way around her kingdom."
"Of course," Orca said with a small bow. As Orca led Tsunami away from the pavilion, she shot a look at Hare. Hare shot the same look back.
"Whirlpool," Coral went on. "Can you show, uh- Great moons, where are my manners? What is your name, dear?"
"My name is Hare," Hare replied.
"Well, at least the Talons are good with names." She turned back to Whirlpool. "Can you show Hare here where she'll be staying?"
Whirlpool bowed dramatically. "Yes, of course Your Majesty."
Whirlpool signaled for Hare to follow him to the edge of the pavilion. Hare hesitantly followed. Queen Coral dipped her claw in the ink and began writing. Hare looked at her one last time before following Whirlpool off the pavilion and into the sky.