~Mirandiona💎

The effects of trade cutoff hit harder than expected. The nations economy was already going down Darqira was in crises if the letter received this morning about businesses and traders going into an uproar and fights breaking out amongst the city streets was to be believed.

People were already panicking, Ocenalos cutoff all trade the same day they sent there plea for help. The king was trying to force my hand, but the idiot didn't think to realize he was forcing it in the opposite direction.

I had been sat with the council for hours trying to salvage the situation before it became a full on disaster.

Thankfully we didn't need much from the Deamons. They traded metals and precious stones for woods and cloth. We couldn't mine too much up here in case we tampered with any of the trygmerzite, a dark blueish black rock that was only found in Skyris it's what made the land float, tampering with it had catastrophic consequences our ancestors learned to avoid pretty early on.

There was one thing they traded that the lower cities and villages depended on, they brought fish from the oceans that we couldn't find in great abundance here.

We had large bodies of water yes but we couldn't fish them like deamons can the ocean. The lower levels of Skyris depended on that fish as a reliable source of food, and now they could no longer rely on it because we now had no way to trade with Ocenalos. And they were all going to be angry with me for not doing something about it and that will only fuel the rebels more.

"Your majesty, General Katal request your presence in the courtyard of the royal barracks." A guard calls from the door.

Looking up I turn my gaze to the man in question. What's so important Katal needs to call me out of session with the council?

Turning to the other council members that have all paused in their duties upon the guards entry. "Carry on, try to find a way to fix this. I'll be back to see what you've got later." I inform them. Turning I briskly walk out of the room past the guards.

The clicking of talons on tile let me know of Ovah's presence shadowing me.

Exiting the building I opt to walk to the courtyard rather than fly. It isn't until I'm almost to the building that I hear the commotion from the buildings inner yard.

Rounding the edge of the hoof shaped building I'm met with sight of guards scattered around the yard trying to catch a prel bucking and stomping its way around the partially inclosed yard. The reason for the animals agitation seemed to be stemming from the woman violently jerking on her restraints that were still chained to the prel's chest plate and belly guard.

The woman was disheveled, covered in mud from head to toe, and angrier than the beast she was chained to.

"For once in your life could at least try to be grateful and understand the things I have done for you!" A woman's shouting rises above the rest.

The chained woman jerks on the prel turning toward the voice. Looking in that direction as well I see Evyo, the woman who came here about her daughter, standing to the side of the yard.

"What exactly should I be grateful for?!" The woman shouts with the same accent present in her voice. "Having guards sent after me and chaining me to this thing?" She shouts at the woman as the prel still jerks around trying to dislodge her from its back. "Or maybe I should be grateful for you trying to force me into an arranged marriage with a self absorbed idiot. Is that what I should be grateful for?!" Arranged marriage? The words stick in my mind standing out above the rest. "Oh even better, for you treating me like I wasn't even your daughter, for being a complete bitch my entire fucking life!" The woman shouts.

Well she certainly fits the attitude description Evyo gave us. "Enough." I raise my voice as I step into the yard making my way toward Katal who stood in the middle.

One of the guards finally manages to grab ahold of the prel's lead reining it back in. The woman still chained to the prel has gone deathly silent, unmoving other than dark eyes that trace my every movement.

Stopping within a few feet of Katal I ignore her greeting and turn my eyes on the woman, Serana was her name if I wasn't mistaken.

I met her dark eyes with my own scrutinizing gaze. I studied the dark irises from the black outer ring to the orange that was so deep it was almost red.

They were closed off, guarded in the way a fire is untouchable.

"Your majesty." She address me after several moments of silence. She didn't quite sneer but that didn't hide the contempt in her voice. "I would bow, but seeing as I'm still chained to this things back I'm not exactly in a proper position to do so." The disdain in her flat tone had the muscles in my jaw twitching.

She was already starting to grate on my nerves. That wasn't something one wanted to do on a good day. And today was anything but a good day.

I turned my attention to Katal before I did something rash to the other woman that would mean she won, she was challenging me, seeing what would push me. I wouldn't give into it, many have tried over the years to best me at this game, they all learned as will she that no one beats me at my own game.

"How did you find her?" I ask Katal. She had been going out every day under the gauze to look for the woman, but she couldn't fool me I knew she was searching for the rebels gleaning whatever information she could. I never really expected her to actually come back with the woman.

"Actually, it was more like she found us." Katal says glancing at the woman. "We were searching by creek that looked to be frequented when she came barreling through the trees right into me. Before I could really grab her she picked up my spear and threw it. I tackled her without thinking about it." Katal pauses in her retelling of the day's events glancing around at the gathered group of guards. "I think it's safe to say we were all scared to our bones when a nine foot vyx came bursting through the trees after her."

I couldn't stop my eyes from doubling in size barely keeping my jaw from hitting the ground. Turning my gaze up to the woman still perched atop the prel, she looked away seeming self-conscious about the incident.

"She out ran vyx?" It sounded more like a statement than a question, the answer was written all across her face. As far as first impressions go she didn't give a good one, but the second stuck a bit better.

"Can someone please get me off this thing, if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die standing on my feet." The restrained woman says shifting trying in vain to flick her wings about to keep her steady.

"I'm afraid you won't be dying." I inform her. "You have seen part of the rebellion and I gave my word that you would not be harmed unless necessary." I say meeting her gaze evenly. "Try not to make it necessary." I tell her in thinly veiled threat.

Turning away I spread my wings and take a couple steps away before leaping into the air with massive wing beats.

~Serana⚜

My breath caught as she rose above the building roof and disappeared out of sight. Never in my life have I seen wings so massive. Her wingspan was a good three foot longer than mine if not more, and they reached all the way down her back where mine along with most everyone's reached a few inches short.

When she had risen into the sunlight her wings turned a blinding white except for the four inky black stripes running the length of her wings like giant black claw marks on polished white marble.

My breath seemed still caught in my throat but must be breathing or I would have fainted by now. I was being unchained from my mount but I didn't really notice, I didn't even try to fight.

Her words stuck in my head try not to make it necessary. She wouldn't kill me, but I'm certain she could find a fate much worse than death.

~💠~

It had taken hours but they were finally done questioning me for the day. I was escorted by four armed guards through the castle until we reached a room on one of the upper floors.

"You will be staying here, you are not permitted to leave your room without a guard." One of the male guards spoke as he opened the door. He and the only woman of the four guards stepped into the room before me taking station on either side of the door. The other two guards did the same in the hallway starring me down until I stepped into the room. They weren't going to take there eyes off me for a single second.

A woman with lavender and white wings was standing in the middle of the room patiently waiting. When I stepped through the door she sprang into motion without a word. Taking me by the arm she dragged me to a door in the wall off to the right. Pulling me into the next room she lets me go next to a large tub of steaming water before busying herself with gathering up bottles and rags bringing them over to the tub of hot water.

After several moments of just standing there in awkward silence I work up the nerve to speak.

"What are you doing." I ask in a voice that may have been a little too high for my liking. Swallowing I try to get rid of the nerves lump in my throat.

"Her majesty instructed that you be thoroughly washed before being brought to dinner." The woman answers not looking up from her task.

"Brought to dinner?" I inquiry furrowing my brow in confusion.

"Yes." The woman says looking up at me now. "I was not informed why just that I was to get you cleaned and ready for dinner with her majesty." Without another word she makes a move to takeoff my clothing.

Taking a step back I hold up my hands to keep her at a distance. "I got this, thanks." I say removing my clothes myself.

I left the lavaliere on, I wasn't about to take it off and risk losing it. If her majesty really wanted it, she would have to take it herself.

Stepping into the warm water I fight back a sigh from how good it felt on my battered feet. Without farther hesitation the maid went to scrubbing at the dirt caked onto my legs.

It took a good hour before she managed to get all the mud and grime from my feathers and hair.

My skin was glowing a slight bronze color once more now that the filth was gone. I hadn't realized how badly I wanted a bath until I could see the color of my wings once more and I felt a hundred times better in that moment than I had all week.

This time I don't fight the sigh that escapes, letting my shoulders sag as the water runs down my body.

Stepping out of the now murky water the maid takes a towel to my wings before I can protest. "Clothes have already been set out for you on the bed. After you are dressed I will be escorting you to the dinning hall where you will be eating dinner with her majesty and anyone else the queen has chosen to dine with." The maid explains, never pausing in her task.

"It's such an honer to be given such a privilege." I say with a forced smile.

The other woman glances up at me, stopping for the moment as she addresses me directly. "The Queen is a very practical woman. She does not like insubordination and she despises uselessness even more. Do not think for one moment that the queen is doing this for something trivial or out of whatever kindness that woman may have. She is efficient to the point of brutal in nearly every aspect of the phrase. She has her reasons and they are her own to know the meaning behind. Do not ask why, do not question anything, don't even speak if you can help it. The moment you lose your value she will have no reason to keep you." I didn't know how to respond to that, and the woman didn't seem to expect me to. She had gone right back to drying me off.

When she finished she shooed me out of the bathroom and took me over to the bed. Picking up a piece of dark red clothing bordering on black she lifted my arms up and proceeded to dress me, shushing my protest before it could leave my mouth.

After straining and fighting with the fabric we manage to get it on properly the guards standing by silently watching.

When the maid finally steps back I take a moment to take stock of my body and the new cloths. The top wrapped around my neck with two other straps running under my wings and around my waist buckling in the front with a moderate sized gold ring. The bottoms were just shorts with a decorative gold chain running through loops along the top of the low cut garment. The fabric itself was like nothing I've ever felt before. Softer even than feathers.

On that note I noticed how silky my wings were brushing against my back, along my arms, and grazing the back of my calves.

Spreading one wing I notice how much darker and shinier the black in my wings has become, the red brighter and more vibrant. That's when I noticed how easy it was to see the gold in my wings now, before you could only see the gold if the light hit me a certain way but now it could be seen without the bright light of direct sun. Streaks glinting through the red and up into the black. There was more gold in my wings than I knew.

Before I could stop myself I reached up to stroke one of the new threads of gold. When I touched the feather it ran across the thin thread of gold seemed to shift flowing with the movement of the feathers like water.

"You really are a beauty." The voice of the maid snaps me back to reality. Snatching my hand back away from my own wing I face her and try to keep a neutral expression on my face

Smiling softly she ushers me out of the room. As we walk by the guards I risk a glance at them their faces are still and void of emotion but the man that had spoke earlier glances back and gives me a wink of encouragement.

Taking a shaky breath I follow the maid with the four guards falling into formation around me. Sentinels to keep an eye on me.

I follow them through several twist and turns, I try to keep track of where we are but I end up lost and completely turned around anyway.

After another few twist and turns I find myself standing in front of a dark wooden door. I still outside the door anxious about what lay beyond it. I don't want to step through into the other room but the guards don't give me a choice. Walking up behind me like a living barricade they force me forward through the door.

I step out into a large room with one big table dominating it. The table wasn't as large as I thought it would be, it was large enough to hold about eight people but no more. This was the royal family's personal dinning room I realized.

The table was already filled with food and a figure sat at one end of the table. My eyes zeroed in on the woman with porcelain white wings with glossy black stripes the same shade as her hair. She sat poised looking every bit like a regal sculpture carved from pure unblemished marble.

As I entered the room her eyes snapped up, dark sapphire blues piercing into me. I couldn't breath, I didn't like the way her eyes searched, like she could see everything I was hiding even if I didn't know myself.

Forcing myself not to falter I take what I can only hope look like confidant strides into the room. Following the maid to the table the queen goes so far as to stand while I approach. She's wearing a floor length black skirt with two slits trailing all the way up to a small silver chain hanging low on her hips allowing for long flawless legs to be seen. There was an intricate silver design along the bottom of the skirt and farther up the piece of fabric shifting between long toned legs. The design matched the one on her top wrapping around her neck and around her arms.

Fixing my gaze on hers I stop only a couple steps away, just out of arms reach. The moment you lose your value she will have no reason to keep you. Time to prove my worth.