Muir hit the ground outside the City of Beasts so hard his talons scraped sparks.
His wings trembled. His heartbeat staggered. His feathers still felt scorched by Qilin radiance.
He stood still trembling, an anger simmering deep in his bones as he stomped toward the inner courtyard, ignoring gawking guards.
"I need the kings," he barked, voice cracking.
A serpent sentry flinched. "K-King Sszaran is in session—"
"NOW," Muir snapped.
They scrambled.
Within minutes, he was dragged into the heart of the palace—an open circle of stone beneath high carved pillars where the throne platforms sat. Only three were occupied; the fourth, the highest platform, was draped in royal leopard banners but empty.
A regent stood in the Leopard King's place—a tall, hawk-eyed gazelle beastman named Regent Vasha, his posture perfect, his expression perpetually unimpressed.
To the right, sprawled in his throne of petrified wood and iron, sat Bard, the Ape King. The floor beneath him was cracked from several prior "meetings."
Next, coiled elegantly on a throne carved like a fang, was King Sszaran, the Serpent King, cold-eyed and unreadable.
The last throne was occupied by King Tareth, the Tiger King—massive, broad-shouldered, golden-striped, and currently giving Muir the look one might give a rabid rodent.
Bard leaned forward, eyes glinting. "Your report better explain why you returned without the target."
Muir swallowed. "It wasn't that I returned without her. It's that I was allowed to return at all."
A ripple of unease moved through the chamber.
Regent Vasha folded his hands neatly. "Explain."
Muir inhaled shakily.
"The Qilin—"
Tareth slammed an open palm on his armrest. The sound BOOMED. "Do not utter that myth in this hall."
"It's not a myth!" Muir snapped, voice cracking in high-pitched terror. "She's real! She's alive! And she—she destroyed my aura with a look! She pinned me to the ground without a single claw! She—"
Bard's brows rose. "A little girl pinned you?"
"She is not little," Muir hissed. "Her aura—her divine pressure—she nearly crushed my spine."
He shuddered violently.
"She sent a message for the city."
Sszaran's slit pupils narrowed. "Well? Speak it."
Muir's feathers puffed in fear.
"'I will not be controlled. I will not be chained. If anyone comes after my chosen family— I will decimate them. No second chances.'"
Silence.
Not empty—heavy.
Tareth leaned back slowly, eyes darkening. "…She threatened the City of Beasts?"
"No," Muir corrected hoarsely. "She promised."
Bard stood up so abruptly the stone throne groaned. "This is good."
Everyone stared.
"…Good?" Regent Vasha repeated, incredulous.
Bard grinned, all teeth. "Do you fools not understand? A living Qilin. A myth walking. A power the old stories said could purify the land, reshape destiny, resurrect—"
Sszaran cut him off with a low, vibrating hiss. "Or burn kingdoms to ash. You forget the other half of those myths, ape."
Regent Vasha adjusted a cuff calmly. "And she already made her stance clear: she will not be ruled. No chains. No summons."
Tareth growled under his breath. "No beast in this world refuses a king."
Muir let out a hysterical laugh. "She did."
Tareth rose, towering. "Then she will learn what it means to defy us."
"OR—" Bard clapped his massive hands, startling them all. "We treat her as a foreign dignitary."
Sszaran blinked slowly. "You want to negotiate with a wild Qilin?"
"Better than going to war with one," Bard countered.
Regent Vasha sighed. "The Leopard King will not approve."
Tareth snarled, "The Leopard King isn't here."
"And until his return," Vasha reminded with a razor smile, "I speak in his place."
A long pause.
Finally, Vasha looked down at Muir. "You said she protects a 'chosen family'?"
Muir nodded rapidly. "Two serpents. Territorial twins. Deadly."
Sszaran's tail flicked once. "Serpents?" he repeated, interest visibly spiking. "…Of what lineage?"
"I—I don't know," Muir admitted. "But they moved like war-beasts. And they were ready to die for her."
"Noted," Sszaran murmured.
Vasha exhaled and made a decision.
"Very well. We cannot ignore a Qilin sighting. And we will not provoke one." His voice carried through the pillars. "We will send a formal royal summons—one recognized by the entire City of Beasts. A diplomatic request, not a command."
Tareth lifted his lip. "And if she refuses?"
Regent Vasha's eyes flashed like steel.
"Then we will determine whether she intends to be an ally… or an enemy."
Bard grinned again. "Either way… this era just changed."
Muir gulped.
Changed was one word for it.
He had the sinking feeling "changed" was going to involve fire, screams, and possibly the end of several kingdoms—but at least, for now, he was alive.
For now.