“That seems like something worth mentioning!” Tsunami yelled.
“I was going to tell you all,” Glory said huffily, “but then Starflight disappeared and I became queen and I got a little … busy.”
“Anyway,” Sunny interrupted before the two of them could start one of their interminable arguments. “So she was in Burn’s stronghold, but she’s not anymore.”
“Could you start at the beginning?” Starflight asked. “I’m a little confused.”
“Me too,” Fatespeaker chimed in. As if anyone asked you, Sunny thought, then felt incredibly guilty for thinking it.
“All right,” Sunny said. “It started with these three NightWings grabbing me….”
“And so,” Sunny finished, “I decided we shouldn’t wait any longer. Maybe we’ll never find the Eye of Onyx, but we can still choose a queen and end the war. Someone has to, and I think it should be us.”
She paused and looked around at her friends, whose faces ranged from disbelieving to astonished to terribly worried.
“I can’t believe all of that happened to you,” Starflight said in a low, shaken voice.
“And we weren’t there to protect you,” Tsunami said, exchanging a glance with Clay.
“She did all right,” Glory said unexpectedly. “Stealing the Obsidian Mirror, that was crazy-brave. Crazy and brave, I mean. And talking Peril into saving Thorn — well, that would have made me nervous.”
“Also, confronting scavengers,” Deathbringer chimed in. He gave a little shudder out to his wingtips. “No, no, no, thanks. Not for me.”
“You’re scared of scavengers?” Glory asked, amused.
“NO,” he said. “They just … give me the heebie-jeebies, that’s all. With their … eyes and paws and … faces.”
“That’s pretty cute,” Glory said. “The big bad assassin terrified of itty-bitty scavengers.”
“One day I’ll throw a sword-waving scavenger at you and see how tough you are,” he bridled.
“But, Sunny,” Clay interjected, “we can’t stop the war. The prophecy isn’t true, remember?”
“So?” she said. “If there had never been a prophecy, would the war have to go on forever? No. It has to end sometime. I vote right now.”
“But it doesn’t have to be us,” Starflight said, then immediately added in almost a mumble, “Maybe it has to be us.” He reached up to the leaves on his eyes, remembered they were there, and lowered his claws again.
“No!” Fatespeaker said, grabbing Starflight’s talons. “It doesn’t have to be you! It especially doesn’t have to be you! You’ve done enough.”
“Sunny’s right, though,” he said. “Why shouldn’t it be us? Maybe everyone else is waiting for the prophecy and so they don’t realize they could end the war themselves. And think about all the dragons who need this war to be over.”
“My brothers and sisters,” said Clay. “If they’re still alive.”
“Anemone,” Tsunami said. “So she doesn’t have to use her animus powers and lose her soul.”
“All the SandWings,” Glory added. “They need a queen and a unified kingdom.”
“So will you help me?” Sunny said, picking nervously at a vine of small, star-shaped red flowers that snaked through the window.
“Well, even if we did, what’s the plan?” Tsunami said practically. “Pick a queen and then send Deathbringer to kill the other two?”
“Yikes,” Deathbringer said, flaring his wings. “Give me the easy job, why don’t you.”
“Oh, if only we knew Pyrrhia’s best assassin,” Glory mused teasingly.
“No, no,” Sunny said, flapping between them before they could go too far down that road. “No killing.”
“It would be almost impossible,” Tsunami mused. “I assume dragons have tried before.”
“What if we got an animus to enchant something?” Starflight suggested. “That was Blister’s plan to use Anemone, and it was a smart one. Enchant a spear to go kill Burn, or perhaps we could put her life essence in a tree and set it on fire, or something like that?”
“We’re not making Anemone do that!” Tsunami snarled.
“Are you serious? Can an animus dragon really do those things?” Fatespeaker asked. “That’s absolutely terrifying.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that, but basically,” Deathbringer answered her. “And yes, it’s terrifying.”
“No,” Sunny said again. “We’re not going to kill them!”
“I agree with Tsunami,” Clay said. “We can’t ask Anemone to use her powers. That would be awful for her.”
“I wasn’t thinking of Anemone,” Starflight protested. “I was thinking of Sunny’s father, Stonemover. He’s sort of beyond hope anyway, isn’t he?”