FSE

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Chapter 9

There she was, the mysterious guest and proclaimed murderer by some, judging from Cyril's and Volteer's expressions they weren't much lucky finding if she is actually innocent or guilty of the crime. Only Terrador seemed to be in good mood, most likely he is a fresh arrival, just like the four of them are.

Both the foreign dragoness and the four group of companions locked gazes. Every member of the little group was carefully looking the female over, she was doing the same with them. If the eyes of the young four companions could talk they would all agree on one thing.

That girl is unique.

She is a satin blue dragoness, the light blue colored scales cover most of her body, the rest are taken by pure white scales. However it was hard to tell where the scales changed colors exactly thanks to the brown bandage wrapped on her body which covered the middle of her draconic figure. There was a red stain on the lower part of the bandage where it covered her underbelly. Most likely it was there where the spear pierced her leathery armor, and judging from the blood it seemed that the wound didn't heal properly yet.

Even with the bandage they could try to guess where the whitish hue adorned her body. Three white streaks were clearly visible, two began on her shoulders and ended almost in the middle of her body, the third one ran along her back, right through the middle. The streak became thinner and thinner the farther it went, eventually turning itself to a barely visible dash when it reached the tip of her tail.

The tip itself resembled a sharp ice spike, it had the exactly same color as Cyril's scales, making it look like it was made of ice.

The lower side of her tail was also white, just like her underbelly and chest. The white color also adorned the toes on her paws, from which sharp silver claws protruded.

A delicate line of white ran along her nose, it got thicker in between her eyes just to split right above her eyebrows and encircle her eyelids. Giving her a white eye illusion so to speak.

She had two diamond piercing eyes with a brilliant shine, there was something very intimidating about them, which made you crave and fear them at the same time. It was like her eyes had two layers. The scary one was the first.

Her eyes were cold, not even a tiny bit of emotion could be seen in them. They were dominating, and the shimmer within them was hypnotizing, it was like one look was enough and those eyes could read every pattern of your very soul. And something told them that no matter how pure your souls is, her diamond eyes will always find a scar.

Only after such examination you were able to tell that the magnificent shimmer was emanating from the layer below. Only then you realized that the first layer was once a pure crystal prison for that glimmer, which perfectly reflected the shine underneath. If the diamond prism wouldn't be tainted by invisible stains, it was certain that when those eyes blinked they broke and charmed many male hearts.

Two blue horns protruded from her head slightly forward, they were bent in the middle, almost at the right angle. The form of her horns resembled that of a bull.

What really caught everybody's attention was her wings, as the most characteristic feature of every dragon. However it wasn't their size that stood out, her wings were rather small compared to any other dragoness her age, what really mattered was their build. The outer edges of the wings which connected with her shoulders were solid bone for support, like every other member of the draconic specie had. Everything else was different. Instead of membranes the dragonesses wings were filled with actual feathers, they were mostly light blue, they adopted a white hue only at the end of the wings, where membranes should connect with the other bone.

She also wore three gold bracelets, two small ones were on her horns, the third, bigger, was locked around her right foreleg. She also had a tarnished gold chain wrapped around her neck which held a round medallion with a tiny faded sapphire in the middle. There was also some sort of an engraving definitely running around the medallion. However that peculiar embellishment was so small that it was impossible to tell if that were letters or some kind of images.

Just like Flare she had a gem inserted in her chest, it was a beautiful crystal, glowing with a blue and white illumination. The lights swirled inside the crystal like tiny colorful fishes in the water, giving the gem a delicate bright shimmer.

The dragoness made a step towards them, and then another one and another. Her tail began to sway tauntingly, her eyes were constantly locked on them. As she swaggered across the room she spread her wings, as if trying to show with who are they dealing with and at the same time demand admiration.

Cynder rolled her eyes with a mocking sigh.

Spyro however fell for her trick, even despite the palpable aura of arrogance radiating from her, there was something very enthralling and intimidating about her. It was because of her cold eyes, together with her almost diabolic horns that made shivers run through your body, but at the same time there was something breathtakingly charming about her, as she spread those angelic wings of hers you just couldn't get your eyes off of her.

Such combination of hell and haven in one body piqued your curiosity, fuelled your interest and ignited your imagination, daring you to make a move but at the same time preventing you from even leaning.

She had that specific evil charm about her, Spyro didn't know why but he always found ominous somewhat appealing.

" Everybody, meet Iris" Terrador's baritone tone announced

" This is the purple dragon of legend?" she asked with a cold tone, Cynder realized that her accent was exactly like Amela described. Mix of Common and Manweersmall's natural dialect.

" Precisely!' Sounded Volteer's typical excited voice " This is the one who conveyed our salvation"

Iris stopped in front of the purple dragon, Spyro felt the weight of her scrutinizing gaze on him. Then the dragoness began to encircle him. He smiled and gave Cynder a cocky look, pretending to be proud that a female found him interesting. His friend just rolled her eyes.

The blue dragonesses claws were clicking softly on the floor as she carefully examined every inch of his body, not betraying her thoughts in the slightest.

" I'm not impressed" Iris finally stated with her emotionless voice the moment she finished her examination and returned to the starting point in front of Spyro's snout

Cynder let out a muffled derisive chuckle at seeing her friend's beaten expression.

Cyril rubbed the ice spike protruding from his chin with a delicate smug smile on his snout " You should be, Spyro managed to prevent our world from breaking"

" Don't tell me what to do Old Man" the ice dragoness retorted and moved to the other member of the group

Terrador frowned after hearing the blunt display of disrespect, he even managed to open his mouth but no words came out since the paw of the Ice Guardian landed on his chest. The earth dragon looked at his old friend and saw the meaningful shimmer within Cyril's eyes, demanding in the most polite way the ice dragon could muster, that he stays out of it.

Terrador knew that look even from the time when they were hatchlings, from the very beginning of their acquaintance they, didn't see eye to eye regarding many different things, which always resulted in an argument between them.

This hasn't changed to this day, however there were moments when Cyril put all of his stubbornness on his point of view and never backed off. This situation here was one of this moments, even if there are in constant rivalry about many things, shared leadership demands debates after all, there are some lines that you shouldn't cross, and as a friend it's your sacred duty to honor those unwritten laws.

For that sole reason the Earth Guardian remained silent.

Iris continued her evaluation process, she moved to the other dragon in the group, it turned out to be a black female. The girls looked straight inside each other's eyes, the contact was brief, the male part of the group believed that the ice dragoness ignored Cynder, but as guys they weren't capable of understanding the feminine intuition. They weren't aware that in that case looks spoke louder than words.

As if not acknowledging the black dragoness the young blue female continued and stopped in front of the peculiar looking burning dragon. Just as previously she locked her piercing diamond gaze on the fiery dragon's eyes. Flare feeling the weight of her glance on him became extremely nervous and lowered his head momentarily.

" I'm F-F-F-Flare" he stammered bashfully

" I don't care" and with that she spun around towards the Guardians " I still think that you are nothing more than cowards"

" Hey!" Sparx protested and darted in front of the dragoness and folded his arms indignantly " Didn't you forget about something?"

She aimed her cold gaze at the dragonfly.

Terrador growled, his soldier's pride took a serious blow, there are words that offend more than the most brutal and straightforward insult. Coward is such a word.

" Remember where you are, insol-"

He was once again held back by Cyril's paw.

" Perchance you'd like to execute with great minuteness a statement in justification of your belief before you toss impetuous imputation of blame" Volteer interjected with his typical fast and still counseling speech

Iris moved past Sparx as if he didn't exist.

The dragonfly's arrogant and angry expression vanished completely " Now that's just rude" he muttered casually

" I think that you hid in a land that everybody believed to be inhospitable, there are places in the Glacier Mountains that even I cannot overcome. I believe that you somehow managed to avoid the blizzard and ran away from the fighting to save your worthless hides, using the prophecy as your great excuse" the blue dragonesses accusing accent echoed in the vast room

" You're thoroughly conversant with the prophecy?" the Electric Guardian blurt out, his lips twitching with agitation

" Everyone heard about the great and mighty purple dragons, bringers of peace, justice, bla, bla, bla"

" This is simply stupendous revelation!" Volteer yelled in uncontrollable excitation " Based on state of being assertive supremely on the basis of cited evidence we may convey that the tuition of lore about purple dragons was communicated from one group of individuals born and living contemporaneously to the other for perhaps many eons!"

" By the current sensation aroused by stimulation of the visual receptors we are unable to factually fathom if our friends of dissimilar origin are from the past or the future. Further oral exchange of sentiments, opinions and observations will unquestionably be abundantly teeming. This is-"

" Bullshit" Iris finished for the dragon

All three Guardians furrowed their brows in surprise.

" How can you not believe in the prophecy when you have the living proof standing right behind you" Cyril's voice could be heard

" Goldie over there looks like a street cleaner, ordinary, no different than any other dragon. In his paws we're supposed to put our fates? He wouldn't have a clue what to do with them, he would check if the thing he's holding is eatable. He would fart and wonder from where the stench is coming from. There is no spark in him, nothing special, he's suitable only for dumb labor"

" Goldie?" the purple dragon muttered with a surprised frown " My name is Spyro" he corrected the dragoness

" From all her rambling THAT'S what bothered you?" Cynder asked amused

" You couldn't have been more wrong child" Terrador commented

" Don't call me a child, filth" Iris snapped back

Everyone was taken aback by the blue dragonesses insulting reply. Terrador was shaken and disgusted by the blunt display of disrespect, his militaristic temper could not bear such insults. Her words even managed to shake off Volteer's typical cheerful smile, but not because the dragoness obviously didn't care about their position as Guardians but because someone treated his old friend so harshly and openly.

Only Cyril was amused, and it wasn't long before his wavering lips parted and a merry laugh escaped his throat.

" Such pride! Such arrogance! This is the true draconic heritage! Only the ice dragons know what kind of beings we truly are. Only we give the rightful credit to our royal and majestic blood. We are dragons! Powerful and mighty creatures! Meekness is for the weak!" the Ice Guardian burst with another dose of triumphant laughter

Terrador growled, his furious gaze never left the blue dragoness " I believe you got what you wanted Cyril?"

" Oh yes!" the ice dragon roared cheerfully and turned his victorious eyes towards his amber friend " Did you hear that Volteer? I didn't make up my royal blood, she is the proof of that. She is a highborn also! I know that such volatile temper can't be a coincidence. There are things you won't find in your books my old friend!"

" It may be the corollary of the condition of not being able to perceive beyond the end of one's nose" Volteer replied waspishly

" And you CHILD" Terrador growled with his stern commanding voice " You will behave, you are a murder suspect and you will remember your place or face the consequences"

" You have no hold over me!" Iris growled irritated " Do you know who I am?"

" A fool trapped in her now deluded world"

" How dare you!"

" Perhaps you were someone of important stature in your time but here you are reduced to equality. Yes, you heard me, HERE, we weren't trying to trick you by saying that you are a victim of most likely accidental time travel"

" Don't sell me this crap, I clearly remember colliding with a mountain where there shouldn't be one in the first place. So either mountains started to grow from the ground when I wasn't looking or I've passed through some sort of an illusion. You need to have an escape route correct? It seems I've knocked on your backdoor"

" I'll repeat myself again CHILD, you're a fool"

Iris growled again, more ferocious this time " Stop provoking me! For all your wise speech you still constantly mock me. I'm warning you"

Terrador narrowed his gaze on the dragoness, he couldn't deny the fact that his old warrior's bones were itching for a fight, yet the wisdom of a Guardian still directed his motives.

" I'm not mocking you, your arrogance and pride make you blind, you just don't want to accept the fact that you might be wrong. This is why you are a child. You also don't want to change your mind in the light of obvious evidence. This is why you are a fool"

A puff of white smoke wafted through the dragonesses nostrils, the Earth Guardian noticed the shell her overgrown ego constructed waver. The girl is obviously not stupid, the reason why she didn't want to accept the truth was not for his mind to understand, but now after his all in all harsh and well deserved chastisement she seemed to finally think clearly.

The blue dragoness snorted " Fine" she hissed coldly " Let's say I believe you, let's say that the cat I've seen earlier wasn't a lucky survivor of the Purge, let's say that you didn't ran with your tails between your legs, let's say that you didn't put this..." she pointed at the gem embedded in her chest "...into my body.

" We aren't well-acquainted with the designation Purge or Glacier Mountains, neither we conceive the nature of your charge of wrongdoing. This jewel I postulate is some sort of non-organic power source, perhaps the quiddity of this mystery lies in you, Flare and any other dragon we will assuredly meet in the future. Dolefully I don't know what produces the effect of bringing together the gem and draconic embodiment in this particular relation but I'm free from scruple that the crystal filters the energy from you"

" I order you to get it out!" Iris snarled " I don't want some parasite feeding on me!"

Volteer shook his head " We cannot do that"

She pressed her claws to her chest around the gem " Then I'm going to do it myself"

" If you want to throw away your life, by all means do it" Cyril said in his typical dry voice

She leered at the Guardian.

" Careful, accurate and exact postoperative inquiry established the validity of intrinsic conjunction between the crystal and your main vessels that carry blood high in oxygen. Extraction of the gem would mean your untimely expiration" the Electric Guardian explained the situation as clearly as he could

The dragoness narrowed her eyes on the amber dragon " Lucky me" she muttered coldly

Cyril recognized the ambiguous tone in her statement " Sarcasm is futile here, we have nothing to do with your condition. I'm sure you noticed that Flare over there has a similar gem and he isn't blaming us for that"

Iris turned her head to look boldly at the dragon.

Noticing her gaze on him Flare smiled bashfully and limply waved in her direction.

The dragoness confidently spun towards the Guardians, wiping the friendly smile from the fire dragon's snout. " Where am I? she asked, her voice was ringing with that commanding and arrogant tone of hers

Terrador watched her closely, the insolent girl was getting on his nerves, she had a way of breaking even the thickest armor of calmness. Even if her inflated ego didn't even waver he could see that at least now she is truly considering the option that everything she heard might be true. That's a start, a poor one after everything that occurred, but still a start.

" This are the Dragon Realms, currently you are in the city of Warfang, the capitol of the Realms. I wish I could welcome you here in a far pleasant mood however" the Earth Guardian gave her a meaningful look

She repaid him with a glance of her own, in this circumstances he thought he will see something else in her eyes, but he was wrong. Her glare was stern and challenging, the green dragon realized then that no apology is coming.

An awkward silence has befallen on the room.

" Have you heard of the Crystal Wyrm?" Iris finally asked, observing the three old dragons closely

All three Guardians shook their heads " No" Cyril commented " We aren't familiar with the name, or the title more likely"

" I believe you now"

" Excuse me?"

" I believe you, you didn't flinch when I mentioned the name. I'm buying, with difficulty I might add, your story about time travel. For now"

" You seem awfully calm for someone who just switched worlds"

She aimed her diamonds on the Ice Guardian, for a moment he noticed what he believed was a weak spark of indescribable pain " I've lived through worse horrors" she commented proudly

" I've lived through worse horrors" Cynder poorly mimicked the dragonesses accent and dropped her right paw on the ground with freshly polished claws with a scoff. " Look at the heroine, about time you pulled your head out of your ass!" she muttered to herself

Then as she observed at the four draconic figures ahead she felt that irritating scratching at the back of her mind, as if someone was staring at her, and not in the discreet way. She turned her head around and spotted the two foster brothers observing her with wide eyes, their looks spoke volumes.

Cynder bit her lower lip " Did I say that aloud?"

Both brothers just nodded in dumfounded silence.

" Are you the Crystal Wyrm?" Volteer asked the blue dragoness astutely

" No" she replied

" Had that creature so much substantial influence and the power to determine, adjudicate or otherwise settle issues or disputes that the lack of discernment was like a verdict?"

" If I time jumped..." Iris acted as she didn't hear the question "...then where am I? is this the past or the future?"

Both Cyril and Terrador looked at Volteer, since they didn't have any answers for that question.

The Electric Guardian rubbed his chin thoughtfully " I can undertake with unwarrantable boldness only one elucidation. You're in the present. I have a thesis that when Spyro refitted our world the parts of our land that fractured prior to that specified time were enticed back together creating those caesuras we call Veils. Why the clash caused the portals to have no enclosing or confining barriers drifts I don't know. I speculate that the puissance Spyro unleashed somehow fueled our reduced in intensity or effectiveness world, and perchance the essence got stranded in between one of the elements or factors, which give our world its entity"

" Whoa" Cynder muttered " From where he get his ideas"

" I know right" Spyro replied amazed " It's like Volteer's theory just rules out any other possibilities. It's like a...a-"

" Totalwipeout" Sparx finished for his brother

Terrador rubbed his forehead, he had enough of keeping pace with Volteer's fast speech for a lifetime " Perhaps it would be best if you would tell us how your world looked like"

" Splendid!" the amber dragon exclaimed excited

The Earth Guardian winced " But!" he pointed his finger at his electric friend " We will listen in silence, and speak only when it will be our turn"

Cyril grinned seeing the Electric Guardian's sad look " You heard the boss"

" Maybe you'll start why you've been surprised to see Spyro, after all you are familiar with the prophecy" Terrador pulled the young dragonesses tongue

" This is the last time you told me what to do" Iris snapped back

The green dragon growled furiously " Listen girl, I won't tolerate yo-"

" There are no purple dragons in my time" the dragoness continued as if nothing ever happened, silencing the angry Guardian " The prophecy is nothing more than a fairytale for kids, no purple dragon came to our rescue when they were needed. One of those suckers is standing behind me, so that's a proof they existed, yet none of those guys pulled their head out of their hiding hole when things got rough. They are nothing more than weaklings and cowards"

" She's getting on my nerves" Cynder hissed angrily

Sparx patted her head " Tell me when you want to kick her ass, I'm with you"

" Shhh" Spyro urged his friends to be quiet

" Spyro saved our world from total destruction" Cyril commented, swallowing his pride with difficulty " He's a hero, there is none who can match his power"

Iris snorted in disgust " And what this so called hero had to do to save the world?"

" Spyro defeated Malefor, the one who was just mere second from annihilating our world"

" And Malefor was?"

" An evil purple dragon"

" Figures. Weakling fighting weaklings"

" This doesn't bother you at all? She's openly insulting you" Cynder muttered to her purple friend

Spyro offered her a broad smile " I've learnt from the best" he winked

" You don't know what you're saying" Terrador admonished the blue dragoness

" it turns out it is you who live in a deluded world brick, not I" Iris commented coldly

" Do not lecture me, I'm far older than you, I've seen more blood than you can possibly imagine. Terrible scenes of horror"

She gestured at the surrounding area " You mean this?" she scoffed " You all are sitting inside your safe four walls, I can hear people walking outside, many, many people living peacefully. This is your scene of horror? And don't tell me about all those past wars and battles, because you know what, they are in the PAST, they are as worthless as the last year's snow"

The Earth Guardian shook his head in disbelief " You are too young and arrogant to understand, such moments scar you for life"

" So what? Whatever happened here in the past perhaps was terrible but you know what's the most important lesson here? IT'S OVER NOW. You can continue on with your lives, build another city, have some kids and eventually die in FUCKING PEACE"

She noticed the green dragon opening his mouth but she stopped the incoming words with her risen paw " Before you give me another shitty wise speech and idiotic arguments imagine that someone didn't have a break. Someone out there in another time or world had to fight for her life the moment she hatched. Imagine that she didn't have a place she called home and had to move constantly to avoid her pursuers. Imagine that sometimes she begged the gods for help but nobody listened. Imagine that she tasted happiness only for a brief moment that in the end turned out to be a ruse. Imagine that as time passed everyone close to her died. Imagine that many of her kin were slain, almost driving the draconic race to extinction. Imagine all those things and tell me if you still know what horror means. Imagine that and tell me if you know what true EVIL MEANS!" she roared furiously

She narrowed her gaze on the Guardians " Idiots"

Cyril's mouth twitched into a mocking and wrathful smile " Seems like this barking dog seldom bites"

" Cyril!" Volteer admonished his friend

A screeching sound resounded in the City Hall when the dragoness ran her claws across the ground " Another word and you will be busy finding your tongue"

An icy mist wafted from the old dragon's nostrils " Come and get it CHILD"

" ENOUGH!" Terrador roared " All of us have rough history, every one of us deals with the burden differently. Let's leave it at that and try to work with each other for the better good" he looked at the blue dragoness " I apologize for jumping to conclusions and misjudging your situation. I wonder what was so dangerous that it drove our kind almost to extinction, enlighten us if you will"

"A plague which not only destroyed my kind but also the world around" she gritted her teeth " Humans" the dragoness hissed with obvious hate and abhorrence

Terrador and Cyrill furrowed their brows " Humans?" the earth dragon asked surprised.

" Does the locution humans classify within a general category or group as Mankind?" Volteer asked curiously

Iris furrowed her brows " You know about them?"

" You were not able to think and speak clearly especially because of your post-operative malady"

" We found the remains of those humans and couple bodies of dragons near the place where we found you" Cyril interjected " Have you killed them?"

" They're dead?" the ice dragoness asked with a hint of arrogant triumph in her voice " How many of them were there?" a delicate note of worry could be heard in her voice

" It is impossible to tell, scavengers got to the bodies before our people did. You were lucky that our scout found you and called a healer, otherwise you'd be dead"

" Think!" Iris growled with a commanding tone " How many corpses were there?"

Cyril frowned " I've already told you, we don't know"

" Where is the scout who found me?"

" You aren't going anywhere until we prove your innocence" Terrador added

She narrowed her gaze on the Earth Guardians " Aren't you a smart one, didn't my questions about the corpses prove my innocence already?"

The Earth Guardian growled " I rather hear you admitting it openly than rely on guesses. You didn't have problems speaking your mind earlier, you won't have them now"

Iris snorted " Fine. I didn't kill any of them, wish I had though, they deserve much worse anyway. Happy now?"

" Even dragons?" he looked at her closely, judging if the words coming from her ill-mannered mouth have any truth to them

" Those things are made from the same clay like mankind"

" I don't understand, we all are dragons, you are a dragoness, why you compare those humans with us? Are we that much alike?"

" No"

" You need to elaborate on that"

" I'm tired of this questions" the dragoness blurt out annoyed " I believe I've satisfied your curiosity. I'm innocent, we're done here"

" But have we placated yours?" Volteer suddenly asked

Iris looked at him with interest shimmering in her eyes.

The look was enough for the Electric Guardian " The past or the future?"

For a brief moment the dragoness averted her gaze, she touched the medallion on her neck, for a teeny tiny second her diamond orbs shimmered with a held back light as she quickly looked around the room.

" Past" she muttered without the usual arrogant confidence in her voice, almost hopefully. She dropped her risen leg and narrowed her gaze on the amber dragon, once more everything was back to normal " How are we going to decide that?"

Volteer smiled kindly " You are the crux"

The blue dragonesses eyes glowed with raw curiosity.

" Your wings, they are startling in a way that endear attention, I haven't seen such wings for many years. Who are your begetters?"

" My mother was an ice dragoness, my father I think was a wind dragon"

Both Terrador and Cyril gasped in shock, it was so obvious and they just didn't connect the dots.

" You aren't assured?"

" It was the females who chose their mate, the males didn't have a say in this matter. To be chosen by a female was a great honor, and when the child was sired it was solely risen by the mother. Why is this important anyway?"

" Wind dragons are no longer in existence"

" What?" Iris blurt out " Then that means..."

Volteer nodded " You're from the past by reasonable assumption"

" Whoa" she exhaled amazed " I'm dead and everyone else is dead too" she paused, suddenly her eyes burned with an evil triumph " Good"

The Electric Guardian's eyes looked at the fiery drake in the back of the room " There were no purple dragons in your epoch, correct?"

" None that I know of. Why?"

" Is there a contingency that they might exist in your world, in a not readily indubitable settlement perchance?

" No, my suspicions about some fertile land in the mountains are gone, knowing how the situation looks like now. There is no other place where those cowards could be holed up, I still don't see h-"

" This are prodigious facts and minutia regarding the Veils! This is something that furnishes proof that the portals agglutinate more than one era. Flare comes from a time where purple dragons were manifesting recurrently. Do you regard as plausible without utter staunchness what this preordains?"

" Both of you hearkened about purple dragons and in more commendable precedence I'm certain that both of would take heed about the prophecy. Flare has been endowed with great cognition about purple dragons, you, withal, were not. This insight presents extemporaneously an idea to me, the Veils steer us in a course of a sole world but in diverse stages of our draconic generation"

" With this entity actually coeval to consciousness I believe that Flare is from an era dating from the remote past, feasibly even the first one conveyed into subsistence. Determining from the populace of the purple dragons from yours and Flare's epoch I envisage that there were more draconic generations than two. After all they couldn't just cease existing in a span of a single era"

" Fascinating" Iris commented with her typical emotionless voice, when the amber dragon finally ended his irritating, worthless monolog. She has already learned what she wanted to, history from the past is unimportant right now.

She aimed her cold gaze at the Guardians " This meeting is over. You bore me" and with that she turned around, and made s step towards the front door, not caring that four guys were in her way

" We bore you," Cyril muttered indolently " yet you spent so much time with us. Something doesn't add up"

" I was determining your usage. Only Waggler got a point"

Terrador leaned towards his ice friend " You're still proud of your royal blood?"

" Shut up" the ice Guardian snapped

" I'm sure you know you can't leave the city" the ice dragoness stopped at the sound of the commanding voice coming from a familiar feminine throat.

" Is that so?" Iris hissed coldly and spun around to face the agitating creature

Amela folded her arms and leaned against the wall leading to the corridor from which she arrived " Or you are going to open that wound again, you don't want to rely on my help again do you?"

The blue dragoness growled " I don't need anyone's help"

" If that would be the case, we wouldn't been having this conversation right now"

" What the hell do you want Puss? A thank you? You're not getting any for doing your job"

Amela smiled " Puss?" she laughed " I'm not trying to get appreciation for saving your life" she smirked, one thing she already realized is that the girl hates impuissance, but nothing stops her from rubbing the girl's nose in it. An eye for an eye after all.

" I'm trying to show you that people are still good, and they still mean well, if you just let them get close"

Iris snorted and spun around " People will get out of my way if they know what's good for them" with that she renewed her walk, focusing her gaze on the group of four ahead

" You can't shove your way through life"

" Don't tell me what to do Puss" she continued her advance towards the group ahead, when she got close she saw the two draconic males wavering. Good, they already learn, what she didn't expect was a black feminine paw landing on her chest and holding her back.

She aimed her gaze on the insolent creature, her diamond eyes clashed with a pair of fierce green ones.

" Ohohoh" Sparx mumbled in fear while grabbing his brother's horns and pushing him away " This gave me the chills"

" What are you doing?" Spyro blurt out surprised

" Man you don't want to be close, we are better off if we pretend that we don't exist"

" What? Look at them! They're going to kill each other soon"

Sparx nodded with a hard swallow " Yep, and bro trust me, you don't want to get involved if you want your head intact. You just don't get in between angry chicks, it's the true test of strength and ironically real masculine guys like me, you and, if I get drunk even Flare, get reduced to the role of a punching bag"

Spyro shook his head " I'm not going to let them fight!" he protested and made a very confident step towards the females " Girls! This is enough, let's j-" four furious feminine eyes immediately focused on him. His paws wavered underneath him, his blood froze and for a moment perhaps his heart stopped.

The purple dragon coughed nervously " C-c-carry on" he mumbled and instantly jumped back the way he came and hid behind his brother

Both females once more focused on each other, Iris' snout was wrinkled by an agitated snarl " Get out of my way"

" Not until you apologize" Cynder hissed back

" I won't repeat myself"

" Me neither"

" Sweetheart" Amela's voice echoed in the room " You won't win with stubbornness, just let Iris go, there's no need to start trouble over such a trivial matter"

The cheetah had a specific effect on her, Cynder just couldn't say no. Eventually she dropped her paw, even if reluctantly.

" Good girl" the blue dragoness hissed triumphantly and shoved her way through the black dragoness forcefully, making the black female moan slightly. With her tail swinging proudly the young ice dragoness left the City Hall

Cynder observed the door until they closed " Bitch" she hissed furiously

Terrador sighed tiredly " Now that was an interesting meeting"

Amela rubbed her forehead " She's a piece of something isn't she?"

The black dragoness snarled " I won't say a piece of what"

" What are your thoughts on her Amela?" Cyril asked

The old cheetah played with her earring " Well, she wasn't really interested in sharing her thoughts as you already know I'm sure. What I know is that she is keeping everyone at a distance, she just doesn't trust people, why I don't know. Oh and I believe she is looking for something, or someone, she is really interested in finding the spot where she almost bled to death" she raised her hand defensively " And yes, I've listened to your conversation, sorry for that"

" If she's hiding something we better not allow her to leave the city"

" I don't think she's going anywhere, not in her condition. She may have a big ego, but she's not stupid, she won't risk her health, especially when she knows how it ended last time"

" We still better have an eye on her" Terrador commented and smiled " Any volunteers?"

" I think we have a perfect person for the job" Cyril replied " She's looking for the scout who found her, who's better to keep someone in check if not our best tracker? Not only he will sharpen his skills but also feed his fascination. Everybody wins"

" I propose a minute of silence and deep prayer for Hunter" Amela added with a smile

And with that everyone present in the City Hall burst out laughing, for a moment an arrogant girl was their whole problem. During this explosion of joy they weren't aware that somewhere out there, in the Dragon Realms, at this very time, were people who'll never laugh again.