Mistle hovered in the air, peering down from within the clouds. “This seems like a good place to settle, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” a water elemental beside her said. “But the residents sure love the color pink, huh?”

“Mm. Must be a cultural thing.” Mistle merged into the cloud and fell to the ground as rain.

***

“Oh, so you’re also from the same land as Vur and Tafel,” Minerva said, leaning against Grimmy’s massive body. A floating keg filled with foamy liquid was floating in front of her face. She craned her neck forward and swallowed a few beakfuls before leaning back and sighing. “I can’t remember the last time I had something appropriate to drink. Elves don’t have a brewery, you know? And I made a deal with Kondra to stay in the forest.” She leaned forward again but pulled her head back while furrowing her brow. “Tsk, empty already? Emile! Get me another.”

Emile frowned. “Mom…”

“Are you going or not?” Minerva asked, glowering at her son. She snorted before arching her neck towards the sky and shouted, “Who wants the favor of a phoenix? The one who brings me the best barrel of ale will receive a feather!”

Emile’s expression darkened as Grimmy burst out into laughter. “You’re an interesting phoenix,” Grimmy said as he folded his front paws underneath his head. “Very interesting.” He turned his gaze away from Minerva and scanned the party grounds. The four holy dragon siblings were sitting next to each other in a row, their expressions blank. In front of them, hundreds of people dressed in white robes with painted scale patterns were bowing at them while a person at the front was performing a ritual. An almost imperceptible sigh escaped from Leila’s mouth, and her eyes happened to meet Grimmy’s. She gave him a wry smile before turning her attention back towards the worshippers.

“M-m-m-miss matriarch phoenix ma’am!”

Grimmy looked down. A woman dressed in black was hunched over, six barrels stacked atop her back like a pyramid. After some struggle, she managed to place them onto the ground without incident and raised her head, then lowered it again after making eye contact with Minerva. “I, Shadow Nelly, the greatest scout in the world, present to you these barrels of ale! I stole them from the nobles’ area; they’re the best drinks available here.”

“You’ve done well,” Minerva said and reached forward, her wing hanging above the scout’s head. Nelly swallowed and looked up. “Receive my blessing!” With a whoosh, Minerva slammed her wing down onto Nelly’s face, causing an explosion of sparks and feathers to fly out. Minerva hiccoughed and pulled her wing back, the six barrels flying into the air in front of her. Faint red marks were left on Nelly’s face along with two feathers by her side.

Nelly blinked four times and spat a piece of downy fluff out of her mouth. “T-thank you!” Her forehead touched the ground as she dropped to her knees. She pocketed the feathers around her and laughed as she ran away. “I, Shadow Nelly, am the greatest scout to ever exist!”

“That woman’s luck is pretty good,” Lindyss said, appearing on Grimmy’s forehead.

Grimmy rolled his eyes upwards. “When did you get here?” he asked. He plucked her off and placed her in the crook of his elbow.

“I took care of some administrative stuff,” Lindyss said before shaking her head. “Parties don’t run themselves. I managed to sort out the cake and coronation situations a few minutes ago, and the initial chaos between Kondra’s and the phoenix’s fight has finally been settled.”

“I have a name, you know?” Minerva asked and smacked Lindyss’ head with her wing. “It’s Minerva. Mi-ner-va.” She giggled before dunking her beak into a barrel, gulping with gusto.

“She’s a drunkard?” Lindyss asked with a scowl.

“Interesting, right?” Grimmy asked with a chuckle.

“Excuse me, drunkard has a negative connotation,” Minerva said, lifting her face out of the barrel. “I prefer to be called a connoisseur of fine wine, crude beer, and anything alcoholic.”

“A drunkard’s a drunkard no matter how you spin it,” Lindyss said, rolling her eyes. She ignored the phoenix and surveyed her surroundings. Elves, dwarves, humans, and fishmen were talking amongst each other. Skeletons were parading around drinks on metal trays will singing. Fairies were playing harmless—someone screamed as the lower half his body turned into a horse’s—pranks on the partygoers. The aristocracy was forced to interact with the peasants with the persuasion of the skeletons. These scenes were repeated outside of the city, revelry filling the surroundings. Even the land where Kondra and Minerva had battled was filled with people. The only ones who weren’t drinking, dancing, eating, or chatting were the followers of the holy dragons’ church. They were performing their own ceremony with the holy dragons sitting bored out of their minds. “Vur did pretty well in uniting the continent, huh? He’s all grown up now.”

“Eh, he could’ve done better. I would’ve fully removed the church, burned down a few towns, and made sure people respected and feared me,” Grimmy said and shrugged. “How’s he doing?”

“He should be waking up soon,” Lindyss said. “It’s not like I made him contest against those souls. I already tenderized the meal for him; he just has to digest it.”

“Like feeding your babies! Eat the food and regurgitate it into their waiting mouths,” Minerva said, raising a barrel of ale into the air with her leg. “C’mere, Emile!”

“I didn’t think about it that way, but yes,” Lindyss said. “That’s essentially what I did.” She raised an eyebrow as Emile squawked and struggled, his face avoiding his mother’s open beak.

“Let me feed you!” Minerva screeched.

“I’m not hungry!” Emile flapped his wings uselessly as he was held down by his mother’s talon. “Big sis, save me!”

Before Minerva could reenact a mother-child feeding scene, Emile’s body disappeared with a flash of silver light. He reappeared a few feet away on top of Tafel’s shoulder. “What did I just save you from?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. Vur yawned and rubbed his eyes as he stumbled behind Tafel.

“Tafel!” Minerva said. “Perfect timing. Come here for a second. Even though you’re my child, I’ve never fed you before. Let’s fix that.”

“Err, I think I’ll pass,” Tafel said and took a step back. She whispered to Emile. “Is she drunk?”

“Uh-huh.”