Master of None: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

2.

Content warning: War, violence, someone is trapped in a burning room at one point, depictions of anxiety, turmoil, generally stressful situations

Clearsight

For as long as I can remember, I've always been busy with something.

When I was younger, there was always schoolwork to be done, always timelines to examine. Then, I got older; working day and night as I painstakingly copied out visions of the future for the queen. When the dragonets came along, it added one more thing to my plate, my mind constantly spinning, analyzing, examining.

But this is how it is now: we try to fly during the night when it's cool and sleep during the day through the worst of the heat. Moth and Sandstone gave us a good map of the nearest oases, and we've been travelling between them, falling into an odd sort of routine.

I have no tasks to attend to, no visions to analyze, no dragonets to look after. I miss my old life; its comfort and rhythm and monotony–all the things that drove me crazy at the time.

What I do at least have, is reading material. Moth had all of the Lost Continent scrolls, and he said Tortoise had never taken a liking to them, so they were ours if we wanted them.

Darkstalker rests his head on me, closing his eyes. "Tales of the Lost Continent, Scroll 2" I read. "Landhunter's Strife." I giggle. I haven't tried to read this scroll since I was a dragonet, and I never finished it back then. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Darkstalker affirms, grinning.

"Chapter One." I pause. "Oh, they changed the formatting. I hate this already." I clear my throat. "When Landhunter awoke, it was to the sound of Jewel screaming downstairs at the cook. He sighed, getting up and trying to look presentable. 'It is my wedding anniversary!" Jewel declared. "I don't want a single thing out of place!'" I scoff. "No way, Jewel would never do stuff like that. She was a rebel, she hated her mom's palace. Oh, this is even worse than I remembered." It feels good to get angry about something so insignificant for a change.

Darkstalker looks up to meet my eyes. "Clearsight? Do you want me to read it?"

"What, am I doing something wrong?" I scoff.

"It's just... kind of hard to listen with the commentary..."

"Oh, fine," I mutter, passing the scroll over and shooting him a look.

Darkstalker clears his throat. "Okay, so... um... Jewel is freaking out, right? Okay. Landhunter went downstairs, already dreading another argument with his wife of many years. As soon as she saw him, she seemed to get even angrier. 'My husband has planned a gala for this evening, and he's put in a lot of work into it, meanwhile, you're out here—giving me a dish I never ordered!'" Darkstalker says in a falsetto.

"That's your Jewel voice?" I tease.

"Shut up. Landhunter soothed her, 'Darling, they're doing their best. Calm down.' Jewel scoffed. 'So you're taking their side? Over mine? On our anniversary?'"

"They did it. They ruined my favourite character."

Darkstalker swats at me. "Okay, enough."

The first part is all about our protagonist's failing marriage—his three daughters, all of whom take their mother's side in such specific ways, the author has to be projecting some personal experience. The kingdom they sought to reform has become just as dystopian as it was under the rule of the Evil Queen. Landhunter, naturally, is feeling a bit burnt out by all this. So he starts having an affair with one of his advisors, while Jewel runs their kingdom into the ground--our once-noble heroes having become absolutely horrible with age.