Radiant light

Radiance was sad to hear the summons from Aurora, which surprised her, she didn't think she could get attached to the Kiaen so easily, but here she was less than a month after her arrival, bidding farewell with tears forming in her eyes.

Which was dumb, Icewings did not cry in front of others. Icewings were supposed to keep any feelings locked securely behind the vault of their minds, never to be seen by anyone, least of all themselves.

And yet, Radiance had grown soft surrounded by these oddly curious dragons, she'd grown soft enough that during this farewell, she spoke in their own language, over the weeks having learned enough from Esin to no longer need any type of translator.

Sometimes in the caves, Radiance felt like a child, the Kiaen knew so much about the deep that Radiance never would have guessed, it was amazing really, to watch them fish with the glowing fungus, or to see the way they navigated using the patterns of strata that lined almost every wall. Somehow they didn't seem to care that she didn't understand their ways even as their go through leader, they welcomed her with open wings and did everything they could to make her as happy as possible.

So with all that experience and love, Radiance bade them farewell one morning, unsure of what the Queen wanted, but prepared to beg to stay at Lenas, even though Radiance was very sure that Icewings did not beg.

No pleading, groveling, or blackmail either, it was below her station to resort to such methods. But Radiance was much more open to the idea of using clever wordplay to explain why it was the best idea to let Radiance stay at Lenas.

Besides, Drift hadn't been included in the summons, which either meant that Aurora had forgotten about him, or she only needed Radiance for whatever was happening. That was the only thing that made Radiance wonder if this was unrelated to reassignment.

So she said her farewells and migrated through the cave systems, taking three Kiaen with her by order of the queen. They used the detailed map based mostly on Uhar's original, it had one key difference though, this map was far more in depth, taking into account the ability to backtrack in some locations, somehow making the route itself more direct in the process. It was a pretty great map.

Using that, it was only a few hours before Radiance met the sky again.

After that, Radiance was finally able to remember all the things she'd missed about home, the sun foremost about them. Snow was another matter entirely, and after exiting the cave, her three companions watched awkwardly as Radiance flopped straight onto the powder covered ground and spread out all her limbs, trying to bask in both the sunlight and the snow at the same time.

It wasn't for another few moments that she remembered that she was supposed to be acting dignified. How would any dragon respect her if she never showed she deserved it.

Despite that memory, Radiance smiled up at the three Kiaen who were watching the world around them as if they'd just had a great revelation. They watched the world with opened eyed curiosity and excitement that reminded Radiance of newly hatched dragonets. Perhaps the Kiaen had never grown out of that curiosity, just like they had never finished growing.

Though that was a dumb thought, the Kiaen were done growing, and they were perfectly proportional, their claws weren't too big like most dragonets, and their minds and bodies were completely mature. It was only by the standards of the surface that they were anything less.

It almost worried Radiance when she realized that. If even she, an icewing who had lived among them long enough to learn their language, could think like that, what in pyrriah's scales would other dragons think of the Kiaen? Would they treat them as lesser just because they lived in caves and didn't grow as large?

I will protect them from that. Radiance decided, that's a better reason than any other to stay in my position. Now she just had to make sure the queen knew Radiance's stance on this, Radiance had more than her own happiness on the line.

After a few minutes when the Kiaen were done adjusting their worldview, and Radiance was no longer worrying about what exactly the queen wanted, she led them slowly into the air, remembering that none of them knew how flying in open air worked.

To her utter shock, Gianor, the bulkiest of the Kiaen that Radiance had brought, immediately fell out of the sky, crashing face-first into the snow. Wiesa watched him plummet, erupting into ferocious giggles as the snow gathered with his momentum in front of his snout. She was too busy laughing to pay attention to the wind, and the slight breeze sent her into a crazy loop that she barely pulled out of. The last Kiaen, Lier, hadn't even taken off, she was too busy watching the snow with a dubious expression to notice that everyone had begun to move on.

Radiance sighed and landed next to Gianor, prodding his tail until he groaned and rolled over. "Can we just walk? Walking sounds so much funner."

Wiesa landed gracefully beside them, somewhat proud of her accidental loop de loop, "we're dragons, not snails. We can fly for a reason."

Radiance shook her head, "sorry Gianor, flying is fast."

He sighed and glanced over at Lier, who had finally joined them, her voice was soft enough that Radiance barely heard it over the breeze. "Don't you want to meet this 'queen' that Radiance keeps talking about? She's probably expecting us soon and we don't want to be late."

Radiance nodded and nudged Gianor with her tail until he let out a long sigh and stood up, spreading his wings and glaring at the sky. Immediately, Radiance got what was wrong. Bah, caves were too simple. "You're not flying right."

Gianor blinked and examined his wings, glancing at Radiance with confusion, "isn't this how flying works?"

Radiance frowned, not knowing the Kiaen word for gliding but pretty sure she could show him what he was doing wrong, "watch what I do."

Gianor grumbled a bit but folded his wings and sat while the other two watched curiously. Radiance leaped into the air in a standard takeoff, spiraling upward as she found a decent draft. A minute later she was landing, folding her wings and glancing at her three onlookers, "the air is alive up here, it will make it harder for you unless you learn how to use it."

Gianor tried again, this time actually making it into the air, and it took much longer for him to lose control this time. Lier finally tried and was far more successful than the other two combined, which immediately earned Wiesa's ire, but overall they weren't doing too bad.

Radiance finally got everyone moving in the right direction, and during their trip, Gianor only fell out of the sky twice. Things were looking up, it almost seemed as if there was nothing to worry about when they got there.

---

The island was as wonderful as always, far enough away that it couldn't be seen by attackers, yet close enough to the mainland that there was no risk of dying on the way. At least, as long as the dragon in question wasn't too young, or a Kiaen completely unused to flight.

As they crossed that field of ice and frigid waves, Radiance understood clearly why dragonets not yet grown into their wings would have problems, because the Kiaen were practically dragonets in this aspect.

It was really really frustrating to get them across.

She had to physically carry Gianor over that stretch, and Wiesa barely made it. Lier was winded but she got across with no problems. When they landed, Radiance shoved Gianor off of her and led the three Kiaen into the palace.

They were very happy at that point to be walking, and Radiance was mostly just relieved that no one had fallen out of the sky. They entered the palace, receiving some odd looks from her fellow icewings, it was strange to be back home, strange to have the snow and ice back beneath her instead of far above.

Radiance nodded her head at the guards they passed, steps falling silently as Radiance's anxiety returned. What if the queen really was going to reassign her? What if Radiance had misinterpreted her instructions and now she had to pay the consequences?

She led the Kiaen through the halls of the snow castle, making their way at last to the queen's throne room, thankfully the Kiaen were smart, and she'd coached them on what to do when they met the queen, bow for twelve heartbeats and then stay silent unless Radiance asked them something.

The three bowed like she'd taught them, a bit sloppy but that was to be expected from dragons who hadn't had a queen for generations.

Aurora acknowledged their respect and nodded to Radiance, "report on the progress of the CaveWings."

Radiance stepped forward, "when we arrived it was surprisingly easy to take control, they had no queen and seem to be a very peaceful group. The most intriguing thing was how easily they turned to our side, which could be a bad sign because it speaks of weak loyalty, or perhaps they just haven't had something to be loyal to. They have easy access to many gemstones and jewels that we are hard pressed to find, which could lead to a very profitable trade."

She nodded to signal the end of her report.

Aurora's face was contemplative, but she didn't pursue that topic further, "and whaten of the language barrier, have you taught them our tongue?"

Radiance shook her head, "I decided that might not be wise, their language is part of them and I fear that if we forcefully teach them ours, they may forget other things as well, I wanted to leave things as similar to how they were before until I had further instructions." Radiance paused to let that sink in before continuing, "I have taken it upon myself to learn their tongue though, and Drift is almost fluent as well."

Aurora blinked, "Interesting, do you know if it's easier for us to learn theirs or for them to learn ours?"

Radiance pondered, "I would need more reliable timelines and research, Uhar already knew a decent amount of our tongue before he surfaced, and Esin did as well. I can do some more studies on it and see what we can find out."

The queen nodded thoughtfully and glanced at the three Kiaen beside Radiance, "yes, I would like you to do that."

Radiance smiled, if that was the case then she would most certainly be sending her back to Lenas. Perfect. Although something about this whole summons was very off... "forgive me for asking, my queen, but I find it hard to believe you summoned me from across the empire just for a report, is there anything else?"

"Ah!" Aurora said, sitting up straighter, "yes, it slipped my mind, I summoned you because I need to designate you as the official city lady of the CaveWing settlements. We'll adjust the title. But I needed someone who could be in charge there. I gather that the CaveWings are different enough from us that they may need different laws and such. Anyone who wishes to trade with them would also have to go through you, and any of my tribe-wide commands can be tweaked in their case because of how different they are."

Radiance gaped at her, glancing back at her three companions, "me? Are you sure my queen? Perhaps there's someone more qualified?"

"Your decision to keep the language barrier in effect to make this transition easier for them is qualification enough in my eyes, you seem to care about them, and we need someone who both has the time and the will to help. Besides, in a year or two, you would have gotten some land anyway after becoming a full noble."

Radiance blinked, watching the queen for a long moment as she tried to digest this idea. She would be able to make sure that no one treated the Kiaen poorly, she would be able to learn from them and she would be able to help make them great. "I... will take this title."

Aurora smiled, "thank you, Radiance, city lady of the CaveWings."

Radiance nodded, still in shock, "is there anything else you need, your majesty?"

Aurora sighed and looked off into the distance, "the time is close in coming that we will need to heed our alliance with princess Tsunami. Everyone will need to help in some way, I'm not sure what we will use the CaveWings for, but the front lines are out of the question. I'm going to need that translator you mentioned in your last report as well as two hundred willing CaveWings, so we can figure out how best they can help."

Radiance felt even more relief, this war she'd heard of didn't seem like a good place for the Kiaen, who at most would look at someone menacingly if they stepped on their tail. "It will be done." 

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Radiance gets less anxiety for every vote :D