Is he? Sunny closed her mouth to think about that. She had a feeling that if he used his magic again, that would be it for Stonemover. Especially if he used it for something as massive as killing two dragons. But would it be worth it? To save the rest of Pyrrhia? Would he do it?
Could she bring herself to ask him to do it? He was disappointing, but he was still her father. Didn’t she want to get to know him better?
“With either of those options, we’d have to pick which sister we want to be queen,” Glory said. “And they’re all terrible.”
“Blaze seems nice,” Clay said optimistically.
“Blaze is a dizzy idiot who’d be dead by day two,” Glory said. “I say Blister. She’s evil, but she’s smart, so she’d probably rule the kingdom fine, and if we’re her allies she’ll leave us alone. I think. Well, maybe not. OK, probably not. But at least we’d know where she was.”
“Wait,” Sunny said. “I don’t want to kill any of them.”
“Burn is the least awful,” Tsunami argued. “She’s mean, but she’s not scheming. We’d see her coming if she tried anything on us.”
“Mean and brutal,” Starflight reminded her. “Remember the murdered dragons in her collection. And the SkyWing egg she smashed — just an egg, not even a dragonet yet. As long as she’s alive, I don’t think we’re safe.” He paused, then added, “I don’t think Sunny will be safe.”
Sunny leaned over to brush his wing with hers.
“So how do we decide?” Clay said. “Who do we choose and who — and how — I mean, are we really going to —”
“No!” Sunny said. “Listen, for once, please —” But Tsunami, Glory, Fatespeaker, and Deathbringer all started talking over her at once, arguing about the sisters and how to get rid of them.
Sunny clapped her talons over her ears and shouted:
“Stop! I SAID STOP!”
Everyone blinked at her in the sudden silence.
“No,” she said again, more firmly. “We are not killing any of them. We’re not using magic to do something underhanded. We are going to get all three of them in one place, and then we will either have a competition, like the RainWings have, or we’ll let all the SandWings decide.”
“Let the SandWings decide?” Tsunami said skeptically. “What?”
“Like when we decide things together,” Starflight said, understanding immediately. “By voting. Or talking it out. Like the NightWings, or Queen Coral’s council.”
“All the SandWings?” Glory said. “I don’t see how that could work.”
“They’ll never agree to it,” Deathbringer said, shaking his head. “The sisters. They haven’t been in one place together in over eighteen years. They certainly won’t put the decision about the throne in the claws of their future subjects.”
“Well, that’s what we’re going to try,” Sunny said stubbornly. “I think we can get them all together, especially if you guys help me. But if you don’t, it doesn’t matter. I’m doing it anyway.” She settled her wings back and looked at her friends defiantly.
There was a long pause. Sunny could imagine what they were thinking, what they were about to say. “Oh, Sunny. It’s a sweet idea, but it’ll never work. You have too much faith in the goodness of dragons. You’re so na?ve and ridiculous. Why don’t you work on a project here in the rainforest instead, like counting bananas or something? Your crazy ideas and obsession with the prophecy is just —”
“All right,” said Clay. “I’m in.”
Sunny’s heart leaped. She beamed at him.
“Me too,” said Starflight, struggling to his feet. “It’s worth a try. I want it to work.”
“But you need to rest!” Fatespeaker protested.
“We need to be safe,” Starflight said, “and we won’t be safe, and neither will our friends and all the dragons who count on us, until the war is over.”
“I agree,” said Glory. “I’ll help, too. Although I can’t leave my dragons here for long, not with the NightWings so close by and not settled yet.”
“The NightWings are your dragons, too, now,” Deathbringer pointed out. Sunny caught the way he looked at Glory and thought, What he really means is: I am yours, now and forever.
Is that how Starflight feels about me? She glanced at him, with his sad bandaged eyes and determined expression. I don’t … I don’t think that’s how I feel about him. I mean, I love him … but not like that.
“Fine!” Tsunami said. “Fine, yes, of course I’m in. It’s never going to work, but I’ll do it. Whatever it is. So. Then. What are we doing?”
Suddenly they were all looking at Sunny; even Starflight’s face was tilted in her direction.
You wanted their attention. You wanted them to listen to you. You’d better earn this.
“We start by sending a message to Burn, Blister, and Blaze,” she said firmly. “We start with Blister — and we get to her through the Talons of Peace.”
“This is awesome,” Tsunami said. “I’m so excited. Going to see my very favorite dragons in all of Pyrrhia.”