Nobody bickers quite like those in positions of authority.
Sitting in Umbra's lap and leaning back against her, I hide my yawn behind a hand as her generals debate over the cluttered table in her war room. I was listening at first, but things have devolved into jargon and technicalities, maneuvers and defensive measures, military strategy and references to historic battles… It would be interesting if it wasn't taking up so much time, and I don't know the first thing about any of this, so I have nothing to contribute.
Not that it's important. Afterwards, Umbra will tell me plainly what it all means and what decisions were made, and more importantly what I'm supposed to do. If anything. She hasn't sent me out there in a while. The generals' armies have been handling things well enough on their own, it seems.
Or maybe she's keeping me close in case Hilde comes back.
It's been a week or two since that debacle. I cried and cried and cried, Umbra soothed and soothed and soothed, and eventually I came around to more of a cohesive mindset. With that, I saw things more clearly. I know exactly what I want out of this situation I'm in.
I will not abandon my warpath. Not for anyone. Not even her.
But I don't want to lose my beloved friend either.
In hindsight, the solution is obvious.
I'm going to make her see reason.
I'm going to break Aurora's illusion.
I'm going to convert Hilde to our side.
But… That's as far as I've gotten. I have no idea how I'm going to go about doing that. Simply talking with her might be for the best. Hilde's anything but dense, and if I explain myself well enough I'm sure she'll listen. It's getting her to sit down with me that's the problem. She's in the Heavens. I've been smited. The only way I can do this is if she comes back to me.
However, when she does, I suspect it will be in force.
Which means I have to come up with something. Fast.
The generals are still talking, so I tug on Umbra's dark red robe lapel and whisper, "Do we have any means of contacting dracs in the Heavens?"
She brushes my white hair behind my ear with a claw, expression soft. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Because… Um. You already know why…"
"I understand. It will be done. As for communications with the draconids of the Heavens, that's what's being discussed at the moment."
"Oh." I jolt back to attention. "Sorry. I spaced out."
"I did too. This is quite the riveting dialogue they're having. How ironic that men like to claim we women are overly talkative." Umbra loudly yawns, which makes the table fall quiet. She says that, but roughly half of her generals are women. Were they the ones talking? Hells if I know. Sliding her arms around me, Umbra hums a low groaning tone. "What is the consensus? We've other matters to address."
Seventh Thorn Moray, a green-black diamondback wyvern dressed dark green, reports, "There's one hitch. A handful of smugglers could get them up there, but it would take a much larger network of sympathizers to distribute them. They've tightened security in light of our ambushes, and many of our spies have been apprehended. We just don't have the numbers to pull this off, and garnering new supporters could take months, if not years."
"Money always works," Plutoryl shrugs.
Vander counters, "Greed isn't loyalty, uncle. The same goes for mercenaries. Highest bidder, so on…"
"Aye, but it'll do in a pinch, eh? And who could bid higher than our lovely old crone? The gold veins are longer than Nyth's tail down here."
"Call me a crone again and I'll rip out your eyes."
"Hm. That'd be quite the eyesore…"
I laugh a little.
"Your Rose approves!"
"Yes, please, Umbsy, spare our court jester the enucleation. Perhaps a degloving might be more appropriate." I snicker some more, hugging her arms around me and kissing her big hands. "What's all this about, anyway? You old sods were rambling and I lost interest."
All the way on the far side of the long room, slumped into a chair in the corner, Haunt answers, "Delivering a message. Preferably to as many draconids as possible, without this act of sedition being noticed until it's too late to stop it."
Maybe I should've been listening. That has my intrigue. "What kind of message? Through what medium?"
"'They are lying to you'," Vander coldly recites, staring at the charts on the table with a dark look in his eyes. "The written word. Ten thousand parchment pages. Scraps, really. So many they can't catch them all. Enough to inspire whispers in the Heavens' shadows."
"It's, um…" Plutoryl clicks his claws a few times. "Preemptive. That's the word. You said it yourself, Crimson, you'd prefer they be given ample opportunity to surrender. This is a small first step toward doing that."
"First, inspire doubt," Umbra hisses. "Second, leave it at that. If they reject it and remain complacent, they will not change their minds. If they seek more information of their own volition…"
She pokes my cheek with a claw.
I kiss it, then lick its tip. "So, we need distributors to get these papers out there once they're smuggled up to the Heavens. Ideally, dracs who won't get caught with them. Or maybe dracs who have experience working outside of the law, and could easily avoid patrollers and enforcers both."
The generals trade looks and nods.
"Sounds perfect," Plutoryl grins. "But all our usual operatives are dead or currently dying. Unless… Perhaps… You… have something in mind?"
"I do indeed. I know just the person we need."
...
Umbra and I are waiting at the beachside in the dark of night.
It's been some time since I took a moment to admire the night sky. Four of Avi's moons are in various phases overhead, and the planet's rings are as breathtaking as ever. And those stars… Stars enough to drink.
After a few minutes, I roll onto my side to face her. "Are you truly older than the stars, Umbsy?"
"I am." She faces me just the same, but Umbra is not herself at the moment. Her face and body look the same, yes, but her scales are now black-red instead of red-black, and she's changed her size to be a mere head and shoulders taller than me. With a soft kiss to my forehead, she pulls me in and whispers, "And far older still."
"I must be… A day old, to your eye."
"Nonsense. You look much older than that."
"Yes, very funny. Another blind joke."
She chuckles, hand brushing across my face to hold my cheek. "No, Crimsy. Perhaps if you were under a century old, that might be so. But you are an adult to me. I wouldn't be doing any of this with you otherwise."
"Mm. Okay…" I nuzzle close, face to her chest. Our legs are tangled together, as are our tails. It's a beautiful night, and a lovely date we're on. "You'll let me do the talking, right?"
"Of course. I'm Raven now. Not Umbra. No Fallen Queen. Just a fellow Wretch of the Queen's army, here to ensure your safety. Do you suppose this will work?"
"I… don't know. It's hard to guess. She and the others are very jaded, but I don't know if it's to the point of revolt. Rebellion, absolutely. Revolution? I guess we'll have to see. Oh, hear that? There she is."
I leap to my feet as an amphithere's silhouette darts out of the clouds and levels out over the water, speeding toward us on the shore. Laughing a little, I stand in the surf with my arms out wide, ready to re–
"Gahh! Fuck! Cramp! Cramp!"
She barrels right into me, shifting forms on the fly. The two of us tumble head over heels through the sand until we run out of momentum, and she winds up on top. Zip has arrived in all her usual rambunctious style.
With that devilish half smirk of hers showing fangs, she winks down at me. "Damn, drac. Aren't you a cute little thing? How about we take a soar together? I'll show you the ride of your life–"
"Get. Off. Her." Umbra growls through clenched teeth. A pair of nearly opaque smoky quartz glasses obscure the blindness in her eyes. "She's the Queen's Rose. You cannot have her."
Zip lifts her hands. "I apologize for my frivolous facetious flirtations."
"It's just what she does," I assure Umbra. "Give it ten seconds and she'll hit on you too."
"Ten sec–That's just rude. I always give you my attention for much longer than that." She helps me back up to my feet, standing just half a head shorter than Umbra. With a short descending whistle, Zip pats the sand off her and gives her the Zip once over. "Hot damn. When's the last time you saw the sun? Ah, don't worry about it. All the things I want to do with you are best done in the dark."
"An adequate attempt at charm." Umbra flicks her tail and pulls me to her side, keeping an arm around me and a hand on my waist. "Crimsy–Ah. Crimson. If you please. Time is of the essence."
"Yeah, it kind of is." Zip looks skyward with a wince. "Been a minute since I snuck out. Think I tripped a few magical sensors or something. Sorry, Crim, great to see you alive, those rose tattoos look wicked, I love you forever, but let's sprint this track."
"Right. Listen. I'm on the Fallen Queen's side now."
"Huh. Okay. Because of that book thing earlier?"
"Yes, because of that book thing. I was right. She was right. Those fucking snakes up top really are lying to us all, drac. About damn near everything."
"Yeah, guess that tracks. I'm slipstream."
"Watch low, 'cause I'm diving. I need your wings."
"Huh? What for? Nah, clew up, speedster. We're in sprints right now, sure, but we need to share some distance before I corkscrew. We'll go for the Koi on the morrow, drac. Golden hours. Just drag it for me here."
"Wings up. Here it is. Ten thousand pages. 'They are lying to you'. Distributed top to bottom. But you have to curve it without a blue, drac. Not one damn whistle. No cuts either. Think you and the others can thread it?"
"Thread it? Drac, we could stitch that shit up. But like I said. I'm not twisting for nothing. Not without the brew and the barrel, you bite? So, let's go the distance. Can I drop down that dark ditch or what? Much cleaner course that way."
"Should be wings, I think. Right, Um–Um… Raven?"
She scowls in silence for a moment. "You young draconids and your fucking slang. Are you two speaking Draco or not?"
Zip snorts a laugh, tilting a thumb at her. "Bit of a fink, huh?"
"She's just old fashioned," I giggle, hugging Umbra's arm. "Zip is asking if she can come to the Hells tomorrow during the day for a longer discussion."
"Is it so difficult to just fucking say that?" Umbra huffs, shaking her head. "Yes. Broken Barrow. Noon. Come alone. Someone will fetch you. Unless you already know the way."
Zip sneers. "Total blackout, sweetheart."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"
"That she doesn't have a clue," I snicker.
"That's wings. Speaking of wings… I'd better snub it." She pulls me off Umbra to hug me and kiss my head a few times. "Hells, you're adorable. So buzzed that you're alive. I love you. Tomorrow. Noon. Broken Barrow. I'll be there. All by my lonesome. See you then."
"See you then." I get one more good squeeze in before letting her go. "I love you too, Z. I'm buzzed you came to see me. We'll link tomorrow. Wings up."
"Wings up!" She claps her wing against mine then walks backwards with a wink and a two fingered salute. "Try not to miss me too much while I'm gone. That goes double for you, Miss Raven. Deuces, girls. I'm out."
Zip is gone the next second, disappearing into the clouds.
Umbra wraps her tail around my waist and grabs my hips from behind. "Mine."
"Oh! Oh, no! Are you jealous?"
"Not in the slightest," she lies through her teeth, licking and sucking on my ear. "Explain to me. I… I am in total blackout. As to… Just what the fuck she said to you."
I giggle again, tilting my head so Umbra can kiss and bite my neck. "She's not against it, and she can make it happen. Easily. But she hasn't agreed to. Not yet, anyway. We'll explain things. She'll listen to us. And then she'll do it. I think so, anyway. Can we pay her somehow too? Some of them might need extra… coaxing."
"Oh, now you think you can spend my money," she growls, sinking her claws into my stomach. "How presumptuous."
I lay a hand on her cheek and turn my face to hers, smirking while I purr, "As if you could ever say no to me…"
"Hells. How could I ever? They will be paid. Generously."
"Thank youuu," I sing with a smile. "So, that's sorted. What now?"
"Now? We continue our lovely evening together on this beachside. Just us."
"Hmm. Can we skip to the part where we have sex?"
"I'll lay out more blankets. Mind the sand."
"Yes, please, as many blankets as possible."
Umbra lays me out and pours wine down my throat.
The rest of our romantic night is… uneventful.
After all, I could never kiss and tell…