Clearsight
Allknowing has written a new article.
Great.
I know because we get the paper she writes for delivered to our door every week--not because I even read it most of the time; why would I when I can see the news before it actually happens, and when either Darkstalker or I was there for most of the major political decisions in the Night Kingdom? (Also, most of it is kind of terrible writing). But no matter how painful it is, I need to keep a distant eye on Allknowing's influence.
And so it's staring up at me on the doorstep, just like I predicted it would be, with its stupid front page headline. Lady Clearsight: Who is she really?
My stomach churns. I don't want to read this.
I chuck it at the table, rubbing my eyes sleepily. I need coffee to deal with this.
***
I do make myself a coffee. It mostly just makes me more anxious. Shadowhunter wanders sleepily out of our bedroom and stumbles over to me. (She's almost fully mastered walking now, and is currently becoming fascinated with jumping, knocking things over, climbing, chewing on my talons--but never Darkstalker's--and loads of other fun stuff.)
I spread the paper out on the table. Whatever she says, it won't be the end of the world. It's not like there aren't other dragons out there who don't like everything we do, and it's not like they're threatening our ability to even live in the Night Kingdom.
But those dragons are speaking up about it because they don't like what we do. They don't have a personal vendetta against us as dragons.
Allknowing... does.
Shadowhunter gurgles a little, looking up at me needily. I sigh. "I'll make you breakfast in a sec, squiggle. Or Dad will. You know how I feel about cooking."
I pick her up and give her a quick nuzzle. Set her down, and race down the hall into Darkstalker and I's room.
"Darkstalker?" I always feel guilty about waking him up. (It's not like I ever have to that often.)
He rubs his eyes. He looks even more exhausted than I am, and not just in the way you can fix with sleep.
"Allknowing published another article."
He flinches a little. His eyes jerk open. "What?"
I pass him the newspaper. He scans over it with a kind of urgency I hadn't expected of him, mouthing along to the words. His talons clench around the paper, crumpling it around the edges.
Lady Clearsight: Who is she, and is she really as trustworthy as she seems?
By Allknowing of the NightWings.
It's not common knowledge, but Lady Clearsight, now-head-seer and close adviser to the queen, used to be my student, back when she was a three-year-old dragonet in Diamond Academy.
From the moment I saw her, I knew something was off. There was an arrogant air to her, something snide and all-important.
I never trusted her--not entirely sure why, but nevertheless, I followed my instinct.
"She was crazy powerful for her age," Old classmate Jewel-eyes says. "And it was like, where's the proof, you know? There's talent, and then there's just... something completely unbelievable."
She went out of her way to correct me in class, pointing out even the slightest error, trying to make me the laughingstock of my students. If she had her way, I'm pretty sure she would have just trained the next generation of NightWing seers herself, at only three years old. (Now with her position teaching our dragonets, this is a task she has in fact, with little qualifications, taken on.)
Classmate Vision agrees: "I don't know, Clearsight always just seemed like she was on a completely different level than the rest of us--and to be honest, we were either laughing at her or terrified of her."
As she rose to power, I became more and more concerned for the welfare of our kingdom. Why should a dragon whose powers were so suspicious be given so much influence in the Night Palace? Why was our magnificent queen so easily fooled by this act? How did such a wise, opulent kingdom fall so easily in love with the young scam of a seer, not even pausing to think critically?
So if you know Clearsight--if you're friends with her, if you work with her, if you support her, I want you to ask yourself a question: What could she be hiding?
I think you'll be surprised.
"I'm gonna kill her," Darkstalker whispers. "I'm going to kill her! You're gonna have to deal with this at school--this is literally the worst day she could have published that stupid—"
"I know." I rub my eyes. "Beleive me, I know. If the queen gets her eyes on it, with the mood she's been in..."
"You're my wife," Darkstalker growls. "She has no right to talk about you this way!"
I sigh. "You know, you don't have to be so protective over me?"
He looks away. Pauses for a long time. And then, without any further explanation, he says, "Yeah, I do. You're family."
He gets out of bed and starts to put on jewelry.
***
We've been sitting in the claustrophobic stone council chamber for maybe ten minutes before Queen Vigilance storms in, clearly in a foul mood.
My heart is pounding, pounding, pounding in my chest. Lives are on the line today--and all of it depends on the whims of a single dragon.
"Your Majesty." I'm the first to stand up and bow. As though just remembering the procedure, the rest of the room echoes me just a moment after.
Barely acknowledging the show of respect, Queen Vigilance sits down at the head of the table. "I have made a decision. No one is permitted to speak until I have finished giving my order. Is this understood?"
The advisers nod, almost in perfect unison. Darkstalker and I exchange a glance right as the queen starts to talk.
"We will be launching a full inquiry into why these aggressive, repetitive attacks on our trade routes for animus goods have happened, and who is funding them. Regardless of the outcomes of these inquiries, we will be sending spies into the Ice, Sea, and Sky Kingdoms. These meetings will take place every two weeks from now on to discuss these findings. I will not be accepting criticisms or suggestions. This decision is final."
She isn't even looking at us. Just staring at the wall.
Darkstalker raises his talon. The queen nods to him, although she's clearly not happy about having to answer questions.
"Your Majesty, the SeaWings have completely closed their borders to the Night Kingdom--they've had them closed for years with a punishment of death if any NightWing is to cross over. We can't get through the Great Ice Cliff in the Ice Kingdom without being stabbed in the heart. The SkyWings... well, I don't think they'd be too likely to just let some random NightWing hang around at their political meetings."
"And that's where you come in." A slow, sickening smile spreads across her snout. My stomach drops. I knew this was possible, one of the best outcomes of today even, but-- "You will enchant our team of spies in the palace to look exactly like the tribe they'll be being sent to. I'm sure we could rig up some kind of communication device to make sending reports back to me as easy as possible, we'll discuss that tomorrow. Ideally, we'll give them all a place in the nobility of the tribe they'll be living in, either through assassination or creation of a false identity."
Assassination or creation of a false identity. I want to throw up. How can anyone throw around those words so casually? This is lives we're talking about. Whole dragons, blinked out of existence, just like that--for no other reason than our tribe's convenience.
Darkstalker pauses, thinking carefully. "I would need some time to consider."
"Darkstalker." The queen looks him straight in the eye. "This isn't optional. I hope you all are aware of that."
Darkstalker's expression wrinkles in distaste for a moment--but he quickly buries it under the false, professional smile I know all too well.
She points at Rogue. "I want you to start immediately increasing security along all of our trade routes, with a focus on animus goods. Personally see to interrogating all security staff to ensure their loyalty and the kingdom's safety. A memo will be sent to your office with more details."
Complex is making notes so fast I'm amazed his claws aren't falling off. HIs brows are knitted in worry. He runs the hospitals and clinics in the Night Kingdom--I guess he must be worried about how he'll handle it if war breaks out? I wish I could give him a hug. (I like him. He reminds me a lot of myself, and sometimes, in the hallways, we exchange passing conversations.)
"Euphoria, I want you to change the curriculums immediately. We can't have the next generation of leaders being taught to sympathize with this rubbish."
She continues, circling the room and rattling off commands. My stomach sinks as she tells Darkstalker to work on the spells this afternoon and hand in his final product by tomorrow, ready for mass-production.
Duskflight. Sunrise. And then she's standing right behind me, her breath uncomfortably warm against my ear.
"Clearsight, I need new predictions for this month with this taken into account along with an action plan in your mind. We'll meet again to discuss these together tomorrow morning. I expect it final by then."
The queen doesn't even look back. She just storms out of the room.
And I think everyone at the meeting knows that after today, our world will never be the same again.
***
The palace garden is a great place to go if you're looking for a private conversation. It's beautiful, no matter the time of year--yellow roses like a fairy tale, glistening with dew. The first shoots of crocuses and daffodils. Ornate lavender bushes that make you smell good if you rub the flowers against your talons. When we were younger, before we got so busy, Darkstalker and I used to go on dates here after work, looking at the world spread out before us and wondering what we'd make it into someday. It was... nice. Happy. Safe.
I really miss feeling that way.
We walk for a long time in silence. I try not to think about how late I'm going to be up tonight, analyzing those predictions and preparing my presentation.
"You're going to do it, aren't you? You're going to say yes?"
My husband shrugs. "We have a child. The first thing that matters is keeping her safe. I'll do whatever the queen wants if that's what it takes."
"It's not... the worst outcome. Out of all the ones we could have possibly gotten," I offer slowly. "There were futures where we went to war today. But I still don't like it. I don't like any of this." I lower my voice a little, just in case someone's listening. "I wish one of the queen's daughters would just challenge her already."
"I know." Darkstalker raises his eyebrows at me. "I look at the futures too, Clearsight. I'm fully aware of what could have happened today."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
I look up from the cobblestone pathways toward his eyes. "I'm really worried for you, sweetheart. I wish you would talk to someone."
"Clearsight." Darkstalker sighs. "It's fine. Don't worry about me."
"Yeah, I do," I sigh, trying not to laugh at the irony."You're family."
He sighs back at me. "Well, I'm fine. We'll work through this somehow, okay?"
I open my mouth.
There was something I wanted to say. Something that I thought could make it better--some way I could pull the broken glass into something logical and coherent, just like always.
I know there was something I wanted to say. But whatever it was, I've forgotten it already.