Wings of Evolution (WoF AU)

Chapter 26

Deepest blue

Tsunami didn't care much about what Foeslayer did, as long as she wasn't on Soulseer's side. She was more worried about actually getting the alliance solidified with Aurora. She knew she'd made a tactical mistake in getting the icewing queen the cavewings before the details of their alliance were spread, but everyone had just been so excited to go forward...

Besides, she did have one thing over Aurora. Knowledge.

The icewings hated the nightwings. This was a fact that grew more obvious with every passing day. If Aurora wanted to pull something on Tsunami, it would more than likely be the type of thing that would hurt the nightwings the most.

Tsunami also knew things about the world that Aurora, as a secluded queen, would never know. Tsunami knew how to heal a sandwing tail wound, she knew how large the enemy's numbers were. And she knew just how determined that Soulseer was to take over the world.

With that knowledge, Tsunami wouldn't give up on an alliance easily.

Foeslayer was almost in the way of that. So Tsunami did something very queenly, she made a decision that was moderately difficult. "Echo, Frost, Foeslayer, Cactus, aaannnnndddd... Glory. I need you guys to head back home when we get back to the surface so Frost can observe our numbers or whatever for his queen, and because I want Glory home sooner rather than later to make sure no one destroyed our entire plan of battle while I was gone. Anyone got a problem with that idea?"

Frost glared at her, "how do you know my queen would want that?"

Tsunami shrugged, "I don't, and I don't really care if you agree, I just need Glory home and I figured Foeslayer wouldn't want to come to the icewing palace. Besides, I assumed that you guys wouldn't want more random nightwings knowing where it is." she raised her eyebrows. "Do what you want."

Echo gave Tsunami a curious glance, "and what about me and Cactus?"

Tsunami sighed, always the questions... "It's just a suggestion. Do what you want."

Glory shrugged, "probably a good idea. Just please, Tsunami don't die, that would be very awkward to explain to your generals. Let alone Riptide."

Tsunami felt her face heating up at the mention of the young general. Glory... She knew exactly what she was doing. Mentioning Riptide to give Tsunami extra incentive to actually survive...

---

Morning Glory

Glory wasn't opposed to leaving the ice kingdom behind forever, it was cold and miserable and the constant travel was cutting down on her sleep a substantial amount. She may not sleep as much as the average rainwing, bit it was becoming increasingly obvious that she still needed more.

She also suspected that Tsunami wanted this group to be stealthy. Keep the icewing and cavewing from running into any patrols, friendly or otherwise. One never should seek out the destruction of their element of surprise. That was probably why Clay was staying with Tsunami, Starflight and Sunny too because Tsunami wouldn't want to be completely alone in the middle of nowhere.

Glory glanced at the icewing again, absolutely sure that no matter how hard they tried, this wouldn't be a stealth mission.

Eventually, Tsunami did get everyone moving again, and thankfully it didn't take long to find the actual path. Glory could almost feel the blessed sunlight getting closer. Rainwings weren't meant to live underground. She could do it, but she had felt her grumpiness rise over the past few days.

The entrance appeared, blessedly, daylight streaming in with a force that could not be ignored. Glory was the first one out, sighing and looking up at the sun, even though it was obscured by clouds. She almost wished she didn't have blankets covering her so she could be fully exposed to its beautiful rays.

It was cold enough as it was already though, and Glory liked to think of herself as a sensible dragon, even if it was just a delusion.

Tsunami seemed to think that now was a good time to split up, because she pointed each group in their respective directions and bade them farewell as she began flying toward the palace. Awesome. Hopefully, Tsunami would keep in mind the not dying bit and she would be back home before they knew it, commanding her armies with her signature tsunami like force.

Glory wasn't a fool, she knew that this entire alliance would fall appart without Tsunami, but Tsunami tended to think that everyone could work together perfectly fine, even though if Tsunami died, Scarlet would take charge of the entire resistance and most of their dragons would just give up at that point, because Scarlet was almost as bad as Soulseer and Orca. Almost. At least Scarlet had the decency to be open about how much she hated other tribes.

Glory sighed and went with her group, waving goodbye one last time to Clay, Starflight, Sunny, and Tsunami. Glory was secretly glad she'd taken Starflight with her, the nightwing gave her the creeps, and to Glory, he only reminded her of past failure. Besides, a dragon who could see the future was probably best to keep near the dragon who needed to stay alive no matter what. Starflight had a good heart.

Glory went with Echo, Cactus, Frost, and Foeslayer, watching the nightwing from the corner of her eye, trying to gouge her reaction to the separation. Ever since they'd left the cave, the nightwing was simply looking around with sorrow, watching the sky, and then the snow, and then the peaks, all with the same sad eyes. She didn't seem to care about anything.

As they took to the sky once more, blessedly, heading south at last, Glory tried not to worry. Things would be alright. Probably.