HAYVALA

"Thank you for agreeing to discuss recent matters of state, Lord Vlazis. I hope I am not keeping you from other duties."

Lord Vlazis turned from his staredown of the mosaic along the wall, telling the age-old story of the Snow Prince's interactions with Evyriaz. Two became one being. One soul. The Snow Prince, whose name was long lost to Naveeran antiquity, fell into the visage of Evyriaz, who carried their hopes and dreams over the tundra before the blizzard swallowed him whole. Hayvala stood beside the young lord, quickly silenced among their elders.

"How could I ever deny you, Your Grace?" Lord Vlazis questioned. "We've noticed your absence at the council meetings. Is aught amiss?"

How fast do the mills of gossip turn? Hayvala held her shoulders straight, and listened for an added whisper, a spiderweb to catch her own words and twist them to move a piece on the icy floor. "I would know if you know anything about the disappearance of supplies into Lord Lazron's lands," she explained. His aura remained unmoved, but it meant nothing in the reality of a lie. Others took to it more than others, and with the Auric Law tied around her wrist in the form of a white band, she relied on the language of his feathers and body. "He recently made an accusation towards you, Lord Vlazis. He claims that the route was attacked — and that you have thrown your lot with what remains of the Traye Loyalists."

Lord Vlazis faced his back to the mosaic of their history, of their culture. "There is nothing left of the Traye Loyalists, or the Traye's. Lord Lazron sees enemies in shadows. It's a pity he's such a stickler for an age long past," he said, tone smooth and unbroken against her skated words, but Hayvala grabbed onto the reference of the 'extinction' of the Trayes. "Pity still that you are not around to silence such notions of conspiracy. In short, no, I did not. If anything, Lord Lazron would have more to gain in creating such a situation." He tucked his hands into the sleeves of his coat. "Lady Hayvala, I have already made my intentions and beliefs quite clear, at an inherent risk to myself and my county." He tipped his head, and Hayvala watched him move his own piece forward on their little board. "I am of the belief that you would do better in a position of power, and your reluctance to share the reasoning as to your absences at the council meetings means they were not of your choice. Am I wrong to assume, Your Grace?"

Hayvala gazed at the young lord. "You are not."

A flicker of irritation spread throughout Vlazis' unbreakable grey aura. "Pity that His Grace, and all the other senior Lords, cannot see what I do," he said. "My offer still stands."

Yes, the real reason why I have come to you of all people, trapped on all sides. One side, Yuven Traye, thrown into the Ice Gaol with dwindling hope. Another, Anima Adara, with the capability to rend this entire city asunder if she is pushed too hard, like I am sensing the crack in her... wondrous silver aurora of an aura. Then, my brother, my child of a brother who cannot see the damage he is doing, too blinded is he by his own faltering hope that Naveera can be spared this endless fate. Hayvala raised her gaze to Lord Vlazis' gray eyes. Had she held any interest for such matters, she would've considered him a physical beauty in his own right, but what tickled others hearts never prodded her own. It didn't stop Father from trying to push every betrothal which crossed his path, and she fought against them at every turn. Upending every 'presentation' in front of any son who hoped to curry power into the royal family. Nothing more than a pawn, while Yokonei stood at her side, she hungered to be a wyvern queen.

"Before I say anything else, I would have a determination from you, an oath on your song." Hayvala stood on her side of the dance floor and kept all her pieces in her mind. "Swear unto me that oath and I will give you any blessings required in return for a few things. Conditions that I want met before I act in your favour further."

Lord Vlazis narrowed his eyes. "I would like nothing more than to accept, but if I were to swear a song oath, I would know everything."

You're not the only one who wants to know everything, Vlazis. Hayvala dropped her hands to her side. "My conditions are thus; first, and most important to me, come what may, Laucan will not come to any harm. If you are to argue, I shall posit you this," she said when Vlazis' aura shivered. "He is sixteen, and though he has made reckless, foolish choices, he is still my baby brother, and I still see him as the rightful Wyvern King, but he needs more time than I originally estimated. I will not dare to push my own power at the cost of his health, or his life, that condition is immutable." Hayvala sighed. "Second... I want you to hold a melody of secrecy. What I am about to tell you can irreparably ruin your cause if heard by the wrong ears, let alone destroy Naveera's hope. Such as which, Kazmira has made quite sure this meeting place will be empty of any rosebuds hoping for information."

Lord Vlazis twisted around and drew his gaze over the banisters, chandeliers, and then the storied mosaic. "For you to say that it could destroy the cause I follow, then I will swear that secret melody. On my song, what we speak here shall stay between us until you decide it is time." His long feathers bloomed out, and he bowed with a hand on his heart.

You can say the words, but I would have you perform the song all the same once I'm done. Hayvala spread out her senses through the flow, but all the air left was Lord Vlazis' aura, and Kazmira's nearby. "My final condition; I want the Traye Prince freed."

His aura scattered into snow. "What?"

"You heard me," Hayvala said. "One Traye still lives, and he is here, in this palace. We have a viper in the midst, and it's not him, and neither is it my brother. If you meet these two conditions and swear the song, I will make sure that your ideals are pushed to the council, but I cannot do that on my own, as His Grace has taken me off it. Henceforth, you will need to be my eyes and my mouthpiece. Only then, will I accept your terms."

Lord Vlasiz frowned, the icy mask tightening. "You ask much, Your Grace. It is one thing to ask of me to keep your brother out of harm's way. Another to tell me not only are the Traye's not extinct, but their heir still lives and is here." He came closer to her. "You know if the others found out... there would be a civil war."

"Just as you asked me to usurp the throne from my little brother without promising his safety," Hayvala said, chewing on her anger, her irritation and powerlessness. "I warned you, Lord Vlazis. I am not so different from the ones you claim stifle me for the simple basis that I am a woman. And you might not be either. I cannot measure your intentions, not without breaking a law. You are using my status as Princess of Naveera. You're using me, even though you claim Naveera needs a shift in their thought, that you won't treat me thus. You know that is no easy feat. We are creatures of habit. Stuck in our ways, we would sooner die than change. So, Lord Vlazis, you will realize I'm not giving you an option. You will accept, because I know this dance." Hayvala tasted bittersweet satisfaction across her fangs. "One forced option among an entire lifetime of choices you could make more than I."

It went silent in the mosaic hall.

Lord Vlazis bared his teeth into a shaken smile and laugh. "You are truly a force of nature, Your Grace. Had I known you could be so vicious, I need not have worried about Lord Lazron's idle musings. You knew I didn't attack the supply route. You've backed me into a corner." His laugh died. "Very well. I shall swear the song of my soul." He brought both hands upwards. Keys from a piano played in her ears as a glyph of spiraled whites grew at his feet and danced in his song. "On the grace of the wyvern inside of me, thus do I knowingly accept your terms, a solemn vow to make it true. And shall I ever break this melody with a cruel note, let the price curse me for the twice lifetimes I may never live."

Yokonei knelt at her feet, and broke the song he swore to Father all the same.

But, Lord Vlazis won't break this. Too much is at stake, and he knows that I'm his only hope at this rate. Hayvala drew her fingers through the rising song and tickled the passage of the flow. "Take your ease, Lord Vlazis," Hayvala said. "We have work to do. You are to go to the next council meeting. The senior lords will moan and crow about the arrival of the Hanekan diplomats as I'm sure they have been. If you wish for me to regain power, I want you to try and convince my brother to reinstate me. Tell him..." Hayvala tested her own words. "Tell him you are starting to struggle with the blizzard on the outer bands. Tell him you need a supply carriage. Lord Lazron will surely speak up, on account of his own conspiracy, but I know my brother's heart, and I would have you see it for yourself."

"Are you sure His Grace will not refuse?" Lord Vlazis asked under his breath. "Does he think I attacked the route?"

"He does not know what to think, but I cautioned him to not act until we know more, even with Lord Lazron whispering in his ear in hopes he could instill Father's ideals into him, even though he is doomed to fail," Hayvala said, and Lord Vlazis relaxed. "You are now under my protection, as I am now relying on your reach and your power. Who I need you to be careful of is the Keeper Blackwall."

"The Keeper? The same one His Grace invited into the council meeting."

"Very same, but I shall not discuss that further here."

Lord Vlazis slid his fangs over his lips, before hiding them once more. "I shall only ask one thing of you, then."

"Yes?"

He straightened himself out. "Come the Festival of Ice, I would share the first dance," he said. "And I would have you stand on the stage and declare it. Let every lord hear it."

Hayvala raised an eyebrow. "Is this a marriage proposal?"

Lord Vlazis considered her. "I wish for you to have the throne, unburdened. If I was to make such a proposal, you have my word, on my honor as an Avaerilian, it would not come out of a desire to be king instead. That was never my goal. I enjoy my own home too much, and I was not one for the city for long. You say there are vipers instead of wyverns lately, Your Grace, I'd have to point out there's a lot of them, and one Keeper does not change that."

She believed him. "I shall declare that the first dance belongs to you, but nothing else unless I feel it is necessary." Hayvala grinned at him. "Our business is concluded for now, Lord Vlazis. I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here. Hold to the song, and I shall carry my own, as we promised." Hesitation trapped her on the edge of a fall, and she pointed at the mosaic, causing Vlazis to consider it. "We are born of deeds. Raised on legends. Evyriaz will not swoop in and make us relearn how to fly. The Snow Prince will not arrive to tear the silver blade out of the icestone. All that is left of those stories is us. Do you not agree?"

Lord Vlazis frowned at her. "It's strange, Your Grace."

"How so?"

"The part of Naveera where I was raised told the tale differently," Vlazis said, the ice in his aura returning to a solid, unbreaking state. "That the Snow Prince, the once and future king of Naveera, did not pull the silver blade out of the stone, urged on by Evyriaz. He was the one who put it in in the first place."

Hayvala listened to the subtlety behind his words. "I shall tell you a stranger tale yet, Lord Vlazis. A noble knight who used to be my shield before a man murdered him told me this of his version of the story that he was told." Hope glowed in her heart when Yokonei spread his unseen wings to the unseen and told her of a beautiful blue horizon. "That the Snow Prince and Evyriaz? They were one in the same. A wyvern," she said, following the story from the start. "Who turned into a man." At the place where Lord Vlazis stood by, she smiled. "And then, a man into a wyvern."

"Do you believe that?"

Hayvala considered the ancient Naveeran hope. "Our ancestors were wyverns, were they not?" she whispered. "And once they danced with the ice fae, it gave rise to the Avaerilians. I do not see it as impossible. In fact... it might be closer to the truth. We laud ourselves for our connection to our inner wyverns, but we have silenced ourselves to that song even the dance is stilted when we attempt it. It is my fervent hope that we shall relearn how to fly, even if we may never be wyverns again. Even if it it may not come from Evyriaz. It will come, and we must embrace it when it does, no matter how difficult."

Lord Vlazis' lips tightened into a thin line of hidden anxiety. "All I've ever heard is rumors of those able to call upon that soul."

Hayvala nodded. "Those who can hear the song, comprehend its meaning, and bring their souls forth."

"I've always wondered what that was like," Lord Vlazis remarked, then bowed. "I am sorry for taking up so much time. I shall leave you to your other duties, Your Grace, and I will keep my song and the truth of the Traye's to myself." He turned his back on her and left through the other corridor.

Hayvala waited until he disappeared, and Kazmira took his place.

"Are you sure about this, my lady?" Kazmira whispered.

A peaceful note played through the jaws of the moon-scaled wyvern in her long dreams. "I have never been more sure of anything since I lost Ser Yokonei."