~Mirandiona💎

There were far too many people sitting at the same table and crammed into the same room. With far too many opinions between the neighbors next to each other.

Restraining a sigh that desperately wanted to escape; I couldn't have been happier that neither Serana or I could actually speak to anyone directly about political matters, as Avar had informed them.

Fyko had also started referring to me as Blue Queen and Serana as Red Queen to call on us individually. Despite both mine and Serana's vocal distaste for the nicknames, they seem to have stuck and were quickly catching on with the delegates and even castle personnel.

A sudden thump against my leg has me looking down into big green eyes. "Blue!" The girl squealed with a strong accent, looking terrified that she had run into my leg.

Chuckling softly I reached down and lifted her back onto her feet. "Hello." I greeted the young girl. She looked to be around seven or eight, still too young to start growing her adult feathers. I noticed how dark and dull her preflight feathers were, I barely noticed the subtle patterns that were just starting to spot their surface.

When the young girl pulled in her wings to hide them as much as she could I looked back to her face. She was looking down at the ground with a light frown.

Lowering myself to the ground I sit back on my feet, letting my wings rest horizontally on the floor, and wait for her to look back up at me. "You'll have fine wings." I complement strongly.

The girl's wings went slack and her eye were wide in surprise that I had complemented her rather dreary feathers, even for a child.

Reaching a hand forward I stop a few inches from her slackened wing. "May I?" I ask waiting for her permission.

Nodding her head numbly she stretched her wing forward around her shoulder. I gingerly gripped the flesh of her wing and fanned it so the small premature flight feathers would spread out. Using my other hand I use my finger to ghost over the patterns starting to show.

"See these?" I question. Her gaze followed the invisible lines my fingers were drawing across her wings, following the outline of faint stripes. "Those are the beginnings of stripes." I inform her.

The way her eyes followed my hand with rapt attention and how she seemed to be hanging onto my every word, had a smile pulling at the corners of my lips. "Do you know what color your parents' wings are?" I ask her.

She looks up before looking to the side in thought. It was adorable the way her eyes lit up and flew back to meet mine when she finally got the answer. "Nani's wings are da'k ed whiv li'ule gol spo's, and Zazi's ar black whiv la'ge blue stripes and li'ule gol ones." She answered. Now that I had heard her really talk I could place the strong accent within the Lowland Sheets region. Their specific accent was very strong and was certainly the easiest to identify. "I think 'er wings ar a li'ule pret'er than Nani's." She whispered.

Chuckling at her failed whisper I continue with my little lesson. "Alright then, well this is much darker than the oncoming stripes." I say motioning to the largest segment of her wings. "So they will likely be black, and since both blue and red are dominant traits the stripes could go either way but I'd lean towards red it tends to win more often." I point out. She nods looking at her wings with such an intensity it was almost comical. "And these spots up here." I continue moving my hand up to where lighter spots were starting to speckle the back of her first joint and color the tops of her shoulders. "They look like they'll be gold, like both your parents. All in all these will likely turn out to be a gorgeous pair of wing." I conclude.

"Vyeda." A woman's voice calls causing the girl's attention to snap to her.

Looking up I see a woman that looked strikingly similar to the girl with black wings and wide blue stripes on the edge of her primaries with gold tracing their inside edge. "This must be your Zazi." I say climbing to my feet.

"Your majesty." The woman greets swiftly dipping into a quick bow. She doesn't start speaking until I flick my wings down in acknowledgement. "I'm te'bly sorry if she's been bothe'in' you. We lost track of hu a couple min'ues ago." She tries to excuse, smiling with the faintest hint of embarrassment. She definitely spoke with the Lowland Sheets accent, though she spoke quite a bit clearer than was common for that region. That was likely a result of spending years around other accents and learning to pronunciate things so others could better understand what she was saying.

"It's quite alright. She was a pleasant distraction." I appease lightly tapping the back of the girl's wing with my own.

She smiles widely and looks back at her zazi with unbridled excitement. "Hu majesdy was telling me how my wings was gonna be black like yo's. And see dese?" She exclaims pointing to the faint stripes. "Dey could be blue o 'ed, bu she said dey'd probably be 'ed. And look, I'm ge'in' gol spods!" She happily bounces pointing to the spots appearing along the top of her shoulder and around the side of her neck.

The woman smiled warmly at her daughter and sent me an appreciative look before trying to rein in the young girl's excitement.

"You gotta help me." Serana's voice sounds suddenly by my ear.

Both the woman and I jerk in her direction. "What?" I question, looking at her like she was crazy for sneaking up on me.

Serana was looking around almost wildly standing as close to me as I would allow. "The woman, from yesterday. She won't stop following me!" She whispers loudly.

"What woman?" I question letting my confusion show plainly on my face.

"The one you growled at." She provides.

"I growled at several people." I remind her, prompting the woman to be a little more specific.

"The first one you growled at." She tries.

Thinking back an image of the woman comes to mind. She had been the one trying to flirt with Serana while holding up the other delegates.

"Oh." I almost growled again at the thought of her.

"Yeah. You scared her off last time, so I'm hoping you'll scare her this time." She says finally turning to look at me. "Oh, hello." She greets slightly surprised at our audience.

The girl smiles widely in greeting and the woman bows again. Serana flicked her wings in acknowledgement like I'd taught her.

"Red Queen?" A slightly too feminine voice called from somewhere behind us.

Serana simultaneously tensed and scowled at the nickname. "I'm gonna kill Fyko for that." She mutters with a foul glare.

"Not before I do." I mutter back looking behind us. My eyes caught on a head of pale blond hair scanning the crowed.

Taking in the bright yellow and white of her clothing I placed her region to be the Vallyplates. "Ma'am." I address the Lowlands woman. "Do you know where the delegates are to the Riftfracture?" I ask already scanning the crowed of people for the dark purple and bright red color scheme of that region.

"Dis way." She motions moving in the opposite direction of the Vally woman.

Serana and I follow closely behind. A slight nudge in my side forces me to glance at Serana who was giving me a questioning look.

Leaning in so I can whisper without anyone hearing. "The Vally and Rift have hatted each other for several lifetimes. Some old dispute when the land was still new that no one even remembers." I explain.

The Vally and the Rift regions were side by side and caused for a lot of tension and political pain. At the moment though their stupidly annoying dispute was being somewhat useful in avoiding the opposite side so I wasn't complaining, at the moment.

"Dyemvar." A man dressed in purple and red greets the Lowlands woman. "Your majesties." The man greets with a bow. I tense at his use of the plural but Serana doesn't even seem to notice his slip. Forcing the tension out of my body I quickly flick my wings in acknowledgement a beat latter than Serana.

"Vyeda!" A woman with deep red wings calls out slipping between members of the group as they quickly stepped aside for the woman.

I had to agree with the little girl, her zazi's wings were prettier. Not that this woman's weren't, but the only thing to break up the monotone of the varying shades of red was the gold speckles littering her wings. Pin point small on the base of her wings and up her neck and shoulders, but they grew to roughly the size of my thumbprint on her flight feathers growing fewer and farther between as they went.

"I was talkin' whif Blue Queen." She tells her nani excitedly.

I couldn't quite stop the slight drop in my wings or the sigh that left my lungs. A murmured chuckle rippled through the group, letting me know my reaction was noticed.

Snapping my wings back into place I lift my chin and pretend that they hadn't seen me do that.

"Your majesty." The same man greets holding an arm out. Accepting the offered arm he quickly turns to do the same for Serana. "And your majesty." He greets smiling a little sharply all the while.

"Enough with the petting Nermik." A rough male voice sounds from behind the man.

Looking over him I see a well built man in the same red and purple as his companion. What was odd was the sash he wore across his torso. It was very uncommon for men to wear clothing on their upper bodies and tended to draw attention.

"It is rather curious to see how the two of you look so vastly different and yet have still managed to stump us on which one of you is actually the queen." The man comments, it wasn't exactly considered rude to make such a comment, but it wasn't particularly polite either.

I wasn't sure how Serana reacted, but I gave him my most vicious smile and glared so hard I hoped to set him aflame. The way his shoulders bunched up and his wings pulled in ever so slightly gave away his little shock of fear, and turned my smile into a satisfied smirk.

"Not to be rude yo'r majesties, but may I admit he does make a fine point." A woman in light blue and white speaks up. The colors along with the light accent faintly similar to the Lowland's put her region to be the Great Fall, meaning she was likely from Darqira.

When neither Serana or I respond badly she continues. "Well, hu majesty Ari'asta," Arialsta. I corrected her in my head. "had largely black wings with a fe'r amount of white stripin'. Was ve'y fe'r skinned, like Blue Queen, my apologies." She quickly adds. "She also had ar'ange eyes like Re' Queen, again my apologies." She concludes her description of my zazi before continuing to Nani's. "Lykanio had largely white wings with broad re stripes on hu prima'ies and had a bit lighta' gol'ish bronze complexion wif deep blue eyes." She concludes.

Now the entire group was looking between Serana and I to note all the similarities we both had to my parents. Most people only remembered someone by their wings, a fact I knew and exploited in this matter.

Because both of my parents possessed very recessive traits such as white in their wings, and both blue and orange were very recessive eye colors, it would be hard for people to discern which of us was actually their child. If they really bothered to look they would notice how much taller I was than Serana, like both my parents I was a couple inches short of six foot in hight. The sheer size of my wings should have been a huge give away, larger wings tended to be passed down to any offspring and Serana's were of a normal size unlike mine and Zazi's. My jaw was a little stronger than Serana's like Nani's had been, and Serana's cheekbones were a touch higher than my own. Her hair was a little too brown where both my parents had had dark black hair like mine. But these weren't features people remembered in passing, and certainly not after a century.

"Red! There you are." The same overly feminine voice from earlier practically squeals in our ears.

Looking over I see the Vally woman from before trying to squeeze in next to Serana which forced her to press as far into my side as she could. Grunting in annoyance I reach behind Serana and push her over to my other side and step into the spot next to the Vally woman.

"Oh." She gasp looking up to meet my glaring blue eyes.

I let a sharp smile pull at my lips. "Can I help you?" My voice was even and perfectly calm, but the icy edge to it clearly displayed my distaste for the woman.

"N-no. No your majesty." She stuttered with a mildly frightened smile in return.

"Then may I ask that you leave to go find your parents." The now predatory smile I had given with my 'request' had the woman scurrying away.

"I knew I kept you around for something." Serana quips looking over my wing to watch the woman's retreat.

"You keep me around?" I question with a quirked brow. "I wasn't aware you had a choice in the matter when it came to my company." I teased lightly.

At that she leveled a blank glare at me. "Shut up." She muttered turning her glare in the opposite direction.

I let a small chuckle voice my amusement at her before turning my full attention back to the group of delegates. They were all silently staring at us with different expressions on each of their faces. Lifting a brow in question they all quickly morph back into a neutral expression and reignite their earlier conversation before Serana and I interrupted.

"Have you heard of that merchants band going missing?" A woman from the Basin ask.

"What?!" The Rift man with the sash exclaims.

"Yes, it wasn't too far outside Kenysiz." One of the delegates for the Shattered Mountains speaks up. "Daisaipia before last not counting yesterday, so that would put it about two weeks ago." The woman says.

"Does the guard know who did it?" The Falls woman asks.

It was a man from the Mountains that answered this time. "Rebels." He snarled.

"They don't know for sure." The same Mountain woman speaks up.

"Vhat else could it be?" Another woman says. The dark orange and blue color scheme placing her in the Eastern Cliffbreak region.

I couldn't help feeling a twing of distaste and sympathy for the way the colors clashed with her lavender and violet wings.

"Must all of you were your colors?" Serana ask. Glancing to the side I see her looking at the same woman I had been.

Looking back to the woman I could see that her face had turned a deep shade of red. Smacking Serana's shoulder for being rude I turn back to the woman. "You have lovely wings." I reassure the woman. "It really is just the colors." I add with a softer tone.

She gives a small smile in gratitude, but she still seemed to have become self-conscious about her wings.

Glaring at Serana out of the corner of my eye I turn my attention back to the resumed conversation.

~💠~

As the day progressed, Serana and I continued to make our way around different groups of delegates as they mingled and talked. Some were just catching up or gossiping, while others were whispering about the problems in the kingdom and what points they planed to make in tomorrow's meeting.

Thankfully tomorrow was Daisol so any and all work would be cut a little shorter with the end of the week and start a little later on Dailuna the first day of the new week. It was a common practice, meant to allow those with no other time to visit the Great Sky's temple or simply to have time at a shrine.

I had almost forgotten what the temple even looked like from the inside. On the outside the main structure of the building was designed to look like an immense black dragon with its wings stretched out to frame a blindingly bright sapian carved from white stone. It was to represent the way the Drace in his vast enormity surrounded us, even Sapio as she burned white, in his cold black river, to give life to the world we lived upon. I could see the temple from the garden platform outside my room, which was likely the only reason I still remembered what it looked like, even if it was on the far side of the city.

Shaking the thoughts from my mind, I glance around at the masses of people. Reaching out I grab Serana's hand and start pulling her away from the political gossip and into the hall.

"Where are we going?" She questions half trotting to keep up with my long strides as I hurry away from the room before we can be caught.

"Away from all that ear nipping." I say as way of explanation.

She huffs but doesn't say anything else and follows me in my zigzag through the castle corridors. After we've made it down the fifteenth or so hall without being interrupted by staff, or the guards posted on patrol she speaks up. "You know Katal or Avar are just gonna make us go back when they find us." She points out.

"If, Serana. If." I fire back in a teasing voice. "They've never been able to find me here, and I doubt they ever will. The only reason I know of it is because Zazi had shown it to me when I was little." I inform her.

We make it down another hall before Serana breaks the silence again. "Which one was she?" She ask in a bare whisper.

Sighing I slow our pase down so Serana is now comfortably walking beside me. "Arialsta was my zazi, Lykanio was my nani. Zazi was the one born a royal." I went ahead and answered her next question before she could voice it.

It seemed like she wanted to ask another but thought better of it.

Pulling her with me down the final hall, I let go of her hand and walk up to the old statue of a prel rearing up and flaring its wings. Ducking under a stone wing I jump up onto the statues back and stand up on its shoulders.

"What are you doing?" Serana ask ducking under the wing to join me behind the statue and see for herself.

There was a square cutout in the lip in front of me, just large enough to slip through without much trouble. "There used to be a stone slab right here but Zazi had accidentally broken it one day and found that there were spaces between the ceilings and floors where the pipes run and water can move through the castle." I tell her hopping up to slip through the small opening.

"Okay, I am officially impressed." She comments hopping up on the prel and following me through the hole.

Once she's on the other side with me I give her a bemused look. "Really? This is what impresses you?" I question.

"Could you even imagine how hard it had to have been to build this place with all of this in here?" She breaths, whispering in the darkness.

Chuckling I get up into a crouch and start walking farther into the hole. "You do know most of the castle along with a great majority of Algrie was constructed from materials left behind by the sapians. The pipes and even much of the marble was from their own constructs. We just took it and reapplied it." I tell her.

"Yeah, but still. You have to admit it's pretty amazing." She breaths following me through the dark space.

"Aye, that it is." I agree in a low voice.

When I finally decide that we're far enough away from the hole so as not to be easily heard I stop and lower myself to my knees. I turn to tell Serana to stop as well but I'm cut off by a body running smack into me.

"Oof!" I gasp falling back with a heavy weight landing on my stomach.

"Ow." Serana mutters pulling herself up before I can push her off. "You could have said something." She grumbles.