The halls here were narrow and nothing was open to the sky. A fireplace held a roaring fire in every room they passed, so the heat was almost stifling, and yet cold winds still rattled through the small windows. There was no treasure adorning the walls, no gold or pearls embedded in the floor.
Instead, the stone walls were hung with thick woven tapestries. Each tapestry had a bright yellow sun blazing at the center of it, surrounded by patterns of images from the desert - sinuous lizards, prickly cacti, palm trees, camels. White and green and blue covered the dull gray walls almost from comer to comer.
"You better be bringing good news," the SandWing said as he led them through the halls. "Blaze doesn't like hearing bad news, and neither do we."
"Well not all news can be good," Jambu said coldly. Glory shot him a look, which he responded to by simply rolling his eyes.
They reached the center of the fortress and stopped in a small antechamber outside a pair of giant wooden doors. The SandWing knocked twice, then stepped back and waited.
"Come iiiin!" a cheery singsong voice called. The SandWing jerked his head toward the doors, then pushed them open.
The room on the other side was larger than any they'd seen so far. The smooth stone floor was covered in sand, and the tapestries on the walls here were more intricate, with images of dragons and crowns and jewels surrounding the yellow suns.
Giant wine-red pillows and camel-hair carpets were piled in a loose nest in the middle of the room, and sprawled across this was a strikingly beautiful SandWing. She had her chin propped on one talon and was gazing listlessly into a mirror on the sand in front of her. Her tail coiled gracefully across the pillows, with the poisonous barb touching the floor. Her wings were folded, and her scales shimmered like white gold against the red backdrop.
She lifted her eyes and smiled, holding out her front talons in a welcoming gesture.
"New guests! Come in, come in. I'm assuming Queen Glacier sent you."
"She did," Glory said, dropping into a bow. The others followed, including Hare. Blaze tilted her head and pointed at Hare as the dragons rose. "You look quite odd. Why have I never seen you before?"
Hare hesitated. She started running her claw over the smooth floor. "My mother put me into hiding," she told Blaze.
Blaze tilted her head. "My sister did the same thing with her dragonet. Truly tragic. She's lucky mother isn't alive anymore, she would've killed her and the dragonet."
Liar.
Hare felt a jolt of surprise at Mystery's sudden intervention. Did you know her mother?
Better than you may guess.
"So what was your mother's reasoning?" Blaze pressed.
Hare blinked. "Oh, uh, her mother forbade her from having dragonets. She didn't want to risk my life because of dragons who may still be loyal to her."
"That was Burn's reason, too," Blaze said with a small sigh. "What a small world."
"There's actually a reason for that," Hare admitted. "I'm Burn's daughter, and your niece."
Blaze gasped and backed away. "No..." She looked at the SandWing with wide eyes. "Ocotillo, how could you? Get away! Don't touch me!"
Hare took a small step back. "What?"
Blaze suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Hare. "Did my sister send you?" she demanded. "Well I'm no idiot! You won't hurt me!"
"I didn't want to," Hare protested. "I just wanted to meet you! I swear, I mean no harm. My mother hasn't seen me in months, not since we escaped the Sky Kingdom."
"She's telling the truth," Glory blurted. "I saw them escaping. I was on a patrol around that area."
"Hmmm." Blaze inspected Hare. "Well... You don't look harmful. Alright, I'll trust you. What's your name?"
"Hare," she replied.
"Hmph." Blaze stepped back. She looked at the RainWings. "So what's the news?"
"The dragonets of destiny want to meet you," Glory replied.
Blaze lit up with excitement, her previous suspicions of Hare seemingly forgotten. "The dragonets? Oh, how exciting! Bring them here, bring them here! We can have a party! Queen Glacier never lets me have those, she says they're too informal. Well, she can't say that now! This is the perfect party event! Oh, how far are they? Shall I send a patrol to fetch them? Are you all bringing them? Maybe Queen Glacier is bringing them."
"Wait," Glory said. "There's a catch. It's too risky for them to come here. They want you to go meet them."
Blaze groaned and flopped down on the carpets dramatically. "But what about my party? And I don't like going outside." She rolled onto her belly and pet her tail like it was a fluffy animal. "The cold wind cracks my scales and makes them all dry and ugly."
"Won't it be worth it if the dragons choose you to be the next SandWing queen, though?" Glory said. "And you won't have to go far."
"Queen Glacier doesn't like me traveling alone," Blaze said. "I should wait for her permission."
"You can make your own decisions," Liana argued. "Queen Glacier doesn't dictate your whole life."
"But she's been such a great help in the war," Blaze pointed out. "I wouldn't want to go against anything she says."
"You're a possible future queen," Liana said. "Do you really think a queen follows others' orders?"
"Well..."
"The answer is no," Liana snapped. "So do you want to become a candidate for queen, or do you want to stay here and be off the list?"
Blaze hesitated, then sighed. "Alright, I'll go."
"Great" Liana clapped her talons together. "Let's go."
"Now?" Blaze said.
"Yup!" Liana turned and walked toward the door, Kookaburra close behind.
"Wait," Glory said. "I'd like to speak with one or two of your soldiers, if that's alright. I have a few questions to ask. Preferably ones that have been near the border with Burn recently?"
Liana groaned and turned back around as Blaze tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I don't see a problem with that. Okay. Antelope! Cactus!"
Two SandWings who were walking by poked their heads into the room. One was a pale sand-color with freckles and the other was light yellow with darker spots. Blaze pointed to the pale one. "That's Cactus, the other is Antelope. Feel free to ask all the questions you'd like. I'll be over here. I need to find my finest but warmest outfit to wear. Oh, and maybe some jewelry! After all, who wants an ugly queen?"
Blaze moved to a corner of the room that contained a few chests and began digging through them. Glory turned to Antelope and Cactus.
"I have a few questions for you," she said, waving her talon. "Come in."
The two SandWings walked into the room. "What do you want to know?" Cactus asked.
"Have you noticed any strange behaviors or maybe even odd dragons on Burn's territory?" Glory asked.
Cactus scratched the side of his face while Antelope shook his head. "No, we haven't seen anything," Cactus said after a moment. "Nothing that'll help you, that is.
"Unless you count SkyWings as odd dragons, I guess," Antelope put in.
"Nothing at all?" Glory pressed.
Cactus shook his head. "No, I'm sorry."
"You've seen no super colorful dragons on Burn's territory?" Liana asked.
"I just said," Cactus said irritably. "Why's it so important anyway? What's going on in Burn's territory?"
"Is it something worth knowing?" Antelope demanded.
"No, no, not at all," Glory said innocently. "It's.. just a question. We've heard some, uh... rumors about dragons going missing. We thought maybe Burn would have something to do with this."
"Missing?" Cactus and Antelope exchanged a look. "What kind of dragons?"
"RainWings," Dainty replied with a yawn. "I personally don't think it's too important, but everyone else is soooo worried. I don't see why, they'll come back eventually. The rainforest is great, why wouldn't they want to return?"
Liana narrowed her eyes and snarled at Dainty. Cactus burst out laughing while Antelope stifled his own.
"Why would you care about RainWings?" Cactus laughed. "It doesn't affect anyone if a few of them go missing, especially us."
"It's just something we thought to look into," Glory said quickly. "You know, it never does any harm to try and protect dragons."
"Well I got some advice for ya," Cactus said, wiping his eyes. "Look out for your own dragons. We're in the middle of a war, we don't have time to worry about dragons not involved in it."
Hare forced herself not to bristle. She is worrying about her own dragons!
"I'm readyyyy!" Blaze cried, bounding up to them. She was dressed in a warm cape and had beautiful earrings in. A golden necklace dangled around her neck, and her wrist was adorned in a glittery bracelet.
"Great," Glory said. "Let's get going."
Blaze nodded. "Antelope, Cactus, you're free to go."
The two SandWings nodded and walked out the door. Blaze flashed a toothy smile at the group. "Well, let's get going, shall we?"
She led them down the halls. Hare looked at the tapestries as she passed, but one specifically caught her eye. It was a portrait of a dragon who looked extremely familiar. The golden scales and obsidian-black eyes matched Mystery perfectly.
"Who is this?" Hare asked, pointing to the tapestry.
Blaze looked back. "Oh, that? I'm surprised you don't know." She pressed her talon to her chest proudly. "It's my mother. Oh, and your grandmother," she added less enthusiastically.
Hare blinked. "It's Queen Oasis?"
Blaze nodded. "Of course it is! It's only right for me to honor the dragon who gave me this wondrous life and beauty in some way."
Hare felt as though a little weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She finally knew who the mystery dragon in her head was.
Guess you can't keep your secret anymore.
Yes, congratulations Hare. I'm Queen Oasis, your grandmother.