Wings of Fire ~ A Special Snowflake

11 ~Another Day

The morning sun shone through the various windows in the palace. Snowflake stood diligently at the bedroom door, listening carefully for anything suspicious. His palms tingled more than usual that day, almost hurting.

It had been a long year since Skua's cornation. Her first year as queen was quite productive. The outer villages now suddenly supported the Queen more than ever and their fish and lumber production skyrocketed.

Snowflake never had a chance to meet with her since she had been soo busy. He missed his friend dearly, but their responsibilities kept them from spending time alone together as friends. He saw her nearly every day, but nethier could really speak to one another.

Skua had already met with other Queens and learned about war tactics, diplomacy, and bartering. The lavender dragon was easy to spot amongst the sea of white icewings that always surrounded her. Nobody commented on her appearance, however, for she now had the power to move their rank.

That was likely the most tedious part of her job. The rankings were listed in a book and the poor Queen had to go through it every month to rewrite the entire thing in a new book, then the new book would be on display for icewings to read it one at a time. It was very inconvenient for the entire kingdom.

Once again, Snowflake's palms crackled with energy. Could he do something to help? He hadn't thought about the Nightwing's prophecy at all in the past year. His mind was solely focused on protecting Skua.

The doors to the bedroom finally opened. There she stood, a regal young icewing wearing a glimmering crown and adorned with jewls. The skua feather still hung from the oxen braid her mother made, despite many of her advisors telling her not to.

She was a shy dragon, but always had an authoritive, straightforward mindset. She refused to take her feather off and always will.

The young Queen silently motioned the various guards outside the door to follow her. Snowflake always stood to her right, keeping a lookout. Every morning she would pass a brief smile to him that always made his heart flutter. Oh, how he missed her.

That morning, she had a meeting with her father and Permafrost. They were still together despite Storm's little announcement, and Permafrost was still the highest ranking female under Skua. The older dragon had never once disobeyed Skua despite her obvious hatred.

Storm was surrounded by many other first circle icewings all quietly conversating amongst themselves. They all bowed as they realized who was approaching.

"You requested for my attention, Prince Storm?" She motioned for her father to speak. He smiled and held his talons together.

"Yes, I have. I have a request that you have every right to deny, but it's very important."

"In listening," Skua nodded.

"It's about the royal family's lack of heirs. Perhaps it's time for you to consiter the possibility of marriage. Of course, there's no pressure, but-"

"I've heard enough. Thank you for your concern, father, but I'm still too busy learning about politics to think of that now, but on the future, I will." Skua sighed and shook her head, her brow furrowing. The poor Queen must've been stressed out the past year, her life quite literally turned around.

"That is all I would like to say. Have a good day, your majesty." Storm dipped his head and Skua nodded. With a flick of her tail, her personal guard parted and formed a path for her to leave.

The day went by just like any other. Skua visited her advisors, talked briefly, then it was off to the next destination. Snowflake was concerned for her mental health, every time she talked to someone it seemed as if some of her energy got zapped away.

They skipped lunch since today Skua would have to start rewriting the ranking in a new book. To say she was grumpy was an understatement.

Before he knew it, Snowflake was returning to his chambers for the night. He had been guarding the queen since midnight yesterday. He yawned and dragged his tail in the corridors. His two talon-picked guards had just arrived to watch his door at night. Another icewing was there with them, laughing.

"Good evening, Ox, Shiver, Hare." Snowflake yawned, not bothering with formalities.

"You mentioned me last, how dare you!" Hare faked a cry, leaning into Ox. He rolled his eyes and adjusted his pink pearl band.

"You're such a drama queen." Shiver snorted  and stuck her tounge at the pinkish icewing.  Hare returned the gesture.

"Don't you have somewhere to be? Go on, shoo!" Snowflake gently whacked Hare with his tail and she scampered off, giggling down the hall. He looked at Ox. "By the moons, how ever do you deal with her?"

"Just do," The gigantic icewing shrugged.

"Goodnight, get some sleep before I steal your bed." Shiver huffed and opened the door for him. Ever since she had been appointed to be his personal guard with Ox, she had been more expressive. The two goofball must've been influencing her with their shenanigans.

Shiver now looked at Snowflake in a different way than before. Turns out, the whole time, she just really wanted to be his friend and nothing more. It ment everything to her.

She had been talking to Snowflake's cousin, Moraine, lately. Shiver isn't the romantic type, but at least she has more than one close friends.

"Thank you, goodnight." Snowflake waved as the door gently shut.

~*~

His talons hummed with energy. He twitched his eyes before opening them. It was dark and the pale moonlight seeped into the room from behind the curtains.

The serene atmosphere did not help with the unbearable pain in his palms. He snarled, tossing and turning, doing anything he could to go back to sleep, but it never came.

"Come oooooon!" He roared into a pillow. His claws scraped the fur pelt, tearing holes in the fabric.

Then a realization. He had magic. He had forgotten! Snowflake lifted his talons until they were eyelevel. His bright blue eyes sparkled with thought.

Can I help Skua with this power? No, I haven't experimented enough with it. But... she's stressed out beyond belief, if I could help her, I should!

He slammed his talons onto his ground and grabbed a nearby scroll. The words were already forming in his head.

"I enchant this scroll to give me an idea on how to help Queen Skua with her duties!" He felt silly commanding a peice of paper to show him something, but all his doubts evaporated the moment black words started to appear on the parchment.

What he neded to do next was clear.