Hushed voices echo through the aerie as the flock processes Kevura’s edict. Glancing around, it seems everyone’s eyes have settled on me again. ‘Once the matter has been settled?’ What could that possibly mean? The first part of his edict makes more sense, ‘The fate of the Lordanou rests on your wings.’ The elders, or more broadly the Flock, must decide what will happen to me. I’m unsure if that’s better or worse than having a deity decide.

Perhaps it’s for the better — the deities have been treating my family like a rotten boiler as of late. First, it was the Goddess refusing to talk to my mom for the past three months. Then she seemingly forced her to collapse in the chapel. Now the Dragon deity has outright rejected an audience with me, an event that has apparently never happened before. What makes the Lordanou family so toxic that nobody wants to talk to us?

Meldi sits and allows her wings to droop. “It seems Kevura has deferred judgment to us. For what reason is not ours to know.” The elders exchange worried glances. Even stoic Ashene, the fourth elder who may as well not have existed to this point, looks unnerved.

“Keuvra is our flock’s leader,” Khosa says. “During normal times of absence, he defers decisions to us, the four eldest members of this flock. Although his decision makes little sense, it is his decision to make and ours to respect.”

Meldi nods solemnly. “Then we alone must decide whether Asha will join the flock… as uncomfortable as that is.”

Why is it so hard for them to make the decision themselves? Don’t they always do stuff like this when it’s not a darkmoon?

Uma raises a wing to get my attention. “If it us who will vet her, then I would like to begin by asking the Farlander… mmh, remind me what your full name was again.”

I mantle my wings and dip my head once more. “Princess Asha Eloise Lordanou, heir apparent of—”

“No, no, no,” he interrupts. “That name will not do. Your Farlander complexities have no meaning here.”

Meldi looks at me expectantly. “Asha, Daughter-Of…?”

“Kelani. Daughter-of-Queen Kelani.”

“Daughter-Of-Kelani,” Uma corrects. “That is your name.”

And just like that, my new name was decided. Asha, Daughter-Of-Kelani. Who knew getting a new name could be that simple?

Uma continues, “You wish to return to the prey species you once were. What is your plan for doing so?”

My plan to turn back to normal? Well, I don’t have one of those yet. It’s only been a few days. I’ve been rather busy just trying to stay alive. I pull my wings tight against myself and reply, “The truth is… I’m uncertain what my plan is.”

Collectively, the elders seem disappointed by my response. Attempting to save myself, I quickly follow up with what I’ve already done. “Before I flew to Felra, I tried to talk to my family and those I used to know. I wanted to…” I trail off, remembering they’d have no idea what the royal ‘library’ is. “…To hear the stories from ancient times. To see if an answer might lay in their wisdom. I also wanted to contact the goddess for her guidance. It was my hope I could speak to Keuvra and ask him as well.”

“Hmph,” Khosa grunts. “Suppose you join our flock and learn to hunt and ‘survive’ as you say. How will you contact your family when you have failed to do so once before?”

“That’s a good question,” I reply. “I have some ideas. I realized earlier today that… well, I need to test some things first. But there’s another way I could talk to my family that doesn’t involve speech.”

Meldi lifts her neck high and studies me, flexing her talons against the ground. “To communicate, but not through talking. You’re awfully determined, Daughter-Of-Kelani.”

“Awfully delusional,” Khosa adds with a hiss. “You come to White Mountain seeking the flock’s help with no plan, no direction. And yet you insist you can find a way to reverse something that has never happened before.”

I stay silent for a moment, staring past the elders and across the aerie, trying to think of a suitable response. She has a point. “I’ll admit, I’m kind of an idiot for thinking I could just…” I stare at the ground and shake my head. “I don’t know, fly around long enough and hope to discover a way to return to normal purely by chance. But as soon as I give up and resign myself to remaining a Dragon, I’ll be giving up on my mother, my family, and the Kingdom I swore to protect. If there’s a possibility I could turn back to normal, no matter how small, then I have to keep trying.”

Uma’s cobalt eyes fixate on mine. “And should you fail and find yourself stuck as a Lithan?”

“Then…” I trail off, contemplating the grim possibility of being truly dead in the minds of everyone I used to know. “…I don’t know. I will ride those winds when they blow beneath me.”

The elders contemplate the metaphor I invented on the spot, and their faces turn softer as understanding washes over them. I exhale a small breath of relief and relax on my haunches.

Uma inclines his long neck outwards to gaze around Meldi. “You’ve been awfully quiet, Brother Ashene.”

The oldest Kin in the flock stirs. He loosens tattered feathers, grey and old, longer and more numerous than any other Kin, and speaks slowly in a gravely voice that echos across the aerie. “To welcome someone into our flock, one responsible for the loss of our summer hunting grounds… I would offer it is blasphemous even to consider.”

Just as Bonello predicted, an Elder is objecting because they believe I’m the girl who invited all the airship-prey into the Farlands. “It’s heartbreaking to hear what happened to your flock because of airship-prey,” I say quietly. “But please understand, I was not alive all those seasons ago.”

“Perhaps,” says Khosa. “But your kin rules your Kingdom, and your descendants were responsible for their propagation. To welcome with open wings someone so related—“

”We are not here to judge the actions of Asha’s ancestors,” Meldi rebukes sharply.

Khosa ripostes, “Nor should we allow someone who has the authority to send the airshi—“

Rrrgh.

Uma growls over the two ladies to hold their attention. At once, they silence and swivel their long necks around to face him. He folds his slate wings and says, “I do not wish to debate the consequences of things long past. But If we turn away this Farlander and impart a bitter taste in her heart, what is preventing her from taking her forbidden knowledge elsewhere? Would she corrupt some pitiful exile? Or return to the airship-prey’s den and tell them where Flat Rock, The Grandfather Tree, or White Mountain is located?”

Well, that’s an interesting point. However, I couldn’t imagine doing any of those terrible things, not after meeting so many kind-hearted Kin who have no say on if I’m allowed into their flock or not.

“Any enemies of the flock, prey or exile, will be crushed,” Khosa growls, baring fangs at Uma. “Are you suggesting the flock is weak?”

“I’m suggesting we avoid senseless violence and death.”

“The affairs of a Farlander, a prey-deity, or the weak Farlander kingdoms are no concern to us.” Khosa rises and ambles to the edge of the gathering stone to examine me more closely. Instinctively I bunch my muscles at her provocative approach but keep myself perfectly still, allowing this on-the-spot examination to continue. She scans my head from afar, and I follow her eyes as they move down my neck and over the rest of my body. “I believe if Keuvra had planned something significant for this fress, he would have appeared before us and made it known. But to defer the to us the matter of assessing this... prey creature...” she trails off, and her eyes narrow. “No. I will not risk upsetting our leader by honoring him a hapless prey animal responsible for so much pain.” She stares at me a moment longer before turning her head sharply and walking away.

“Then the matter is settled,” Meldi announces. “Without unanimous consent of the elders, a Loner can not be welcomed into the flock. Asha,” her face settles into a glum expression. “I know this is not the outcome you were expecting. I’m sorry.”

Huh…?

So, that’s it?! I can’t join them because one Dragon disagreed?

The faces of the Elders turn sullen and conflicting emotions rake my heart. Sorrow at watching my chance to see Keuvra dissolve. Horror at the realization that I’ll now have to teach myself how to hunt and survive on this inhospitable continent. Outrage at the fact they would hold against me something that happened so long ago I wasn’t even alive to witness it.

I slam my eyes shut and grit my teeth in anger. All they talked about was how they felt about me. My fitness to join their flock is not their decision to make, damn it! It’s supposed to be Keuvras! He’s the only one who could possibly understand how vital my ascension to the throne is! Talons scrape against the ground from somewhere around me, heading in my direction. Kuro, Meldi… I can’t tell whom they belong to. Are they coming to comfort me? Or are they stepping forward to escort me from the aerie?

I can’t allow this opportunity to slip away from me!

“Wait!”

I open my eyes to see the elders craning their necks with curious expressions. Forcing my head up, I attempt to hold my voice steady. “If you allow me into your flock, I will reopen your summer hunting grounds!”

Behind me, the crowd stirs with emotion, and Khosa stares at me with wide eyes. “What?!”

“When I return to normal,” I speak slowly, attempting to summon my inner Queen Kelani with her clear, even-keeled diplomatic tone. “I will command our airship-prey to leave Kin alone. You will be welcomed onto my Kingdom’s land and allowed to hunt as you once did, free from interference.”

Thanks to Bonello’s warning, I was able to formulate a plan ahead of time in case the elders blamed me for the loss of their hunting grounds. While there’s nothing I can do to atone for the actions of my family in the past, I can at least make amends now. The least I can do is welcome them back to the hunting grounds they once thrived in.

The elders look at me curiously. Uma quirks his head and asks, “And you could make due on this promise, Daughter-Of-Kelani?”

“Yes,” I say. “As Princess, this is within my authority. Once I return to normal, I will command them as soon as I return to my home den.”

I lied.

As Princess, I have no authority to issue orders to military or civilian vessels. I wouldn’t have needed mom’s approval to charter an airship to the Eastern Weald if I did. If the elders take me up on my offer, I’ll be forcing mom to make a tremendously consequential and dangerous order when I return home. Obviously, there would have to be some caveats. There’s no way our farmers would allow their livestock to be plucked by Lithans like they were centuries ago. And what happens if Kin ignore our rules and starts taking livestock anyways? How could we possibly punish them? How would we even communicate with each other?

But none of that will matter if I never return home, ousted from the flock’s lands and left to die on this damn continent. Whatever the repercussions of this offer may be, we’ll have to live with it.

Meldi steps forward. “And you would not offer this to us otherwise?”

I keep my head held high but say nothing in response. Offering excuses or reasons to justify my actions would show weakness.

From Enyll calling me inferior, Khosa thinking I’m weak, and everyone in between who thinks I’m some lowly prey animal, it’s clear to me that Lithans are a proud species that value strength above all else. That’s why the flock is so fascinated with how I scared away an airship-prey and why Uma is concerned I’ll summon more. To have the power to command the biggest threat to their dominance is a strength they can’t equal.

Khosa’s tail lashes behind her. She lowers her head and growls, “This is treachery! A Farlander, of all creatures, making demands of—“

“Khosa!” Meldi hisses, ambling on her bad leg to confront her. “Don’t be a stubborn kit! This may be my granddaughters’ only chance to experience the summer grounds!”

Khosa grits her teeth and veers around to face Uma, who signals a nod of agreement. She moves onto Ashene, who’s watching the scene unfold, stoic as a statue. After an awkward moment of silence, he says, “Yes.”

Khosa grumbles in response and flares her wings in frustration. “Fine. Allow her into our flock. Claim prey can become Kevura’s Kin. We’ll see what happens when she disgraces him with how weak she truly is.”