Eridanus Réalta

After Aquarii’s loud statement accusing Eridanus of her ethnicity, all she could hear were furious shouts. An enormous male wyrm called, “It’s a ShadowWing! Intruder! Get out of the palace!”, seemingly having missed Sundancer’s tirade.

“Quiet!” Sundancer’s voice rang through the ballroom. “I was going to let everyone intermingle with each other before I started my announcement, but you have forced my claw. So, kindly snap your snouts shut while I make this disclosure that you have all been wondering about.”

“The ShadowWing before you is the child of my two late friends, Esmeray and Khoeli Réalta, who both entrusted me to take care of their three dragonets. Less than a week later, they were killed protecting me. Later that night Eridanus’ nest was raided by Shadowwalker, and her clutch mates were taken. The Réaltas had trusted me with their dragonets, and I had failed to keep them safe,” Queen Sundancer said, wrapping her wings around herself.

 “So I promised myself that I wouldn’t let harm come to Eridanus.” she continued.  Eridanus hadn't known most of the story that Sundancer was talking about. All that Eridanus had known was that her biological parents had died saving Sundancer.  After this revelation, she immediately paid more attention to the story. 

“Princess Vesper is still my daughter. All you have to do now is call her by a different name. Eridanus’ egg, instead of taking two months to hatch in the right conditions, took five thousand years.” Sundancer said decisively. Eridanus marched down off her balcony, trying not to shrink away from the hostile stares as she crossed the room.

 “I attempted to hatch her egg the traditional way for ShadowWings, but it didn’t work. So, I decided to try all the other ways to hatch dragon eggs, for I didn’t know how to hatch an egg.”

“Eridanus didn’t hatch anywhere. Each time I tried to hatch Eridanus’ egg, it just wouldn’t hatch, and what’s more, it changed colors. Looking at my daughter, you can see the consequences.” Sundancer paused and motioned for Eridanus to come to the center podium. Eridanus slowly tiptoed forward. 

As the dragons stared at Eridanus and her differences, she thought about them too.

Eridanus had never looked like a typical dragon. Well as normal as you can get when you are a dragon. She had a pale blue eye of an IceWing, and the other was ShadowWing silver. Along with her mismatched eyes, Eridanus had a wingspan longer than her body snout to tail, an homage to her SkyWing stage in the hatching. Also, there was the fact that there were dark violets, blues, and silvers mixed in with her black scales, a trait that the SunWing stage had attributed to her strange form, except they had lighter colors mixed into their scales. And lastly, the tip of her tail was shaped slightly like a wave, resembling a SeaWing or RiverWing’s tail.

“Eridanus’ personality is proof that not all ShadowWings are the same. She is sweet, shy, revised, and extremely intelligent. Eridanus is living proof that stereotypes will not be accepted during my reign. Eridanus is my daughter. And anyone who doesn’t accept that fact can leave the country right now. I don’t care who you are, I don’t care where you live, or how much money you have. If you aren’t willing to get over the fact that my daughter and heir is a ShadowWing, then leave. That is the end of my speech.” Sundancer said decisively. Then, on second thought, she added, “I would like to speak to the dragon who started all of this commotion. You aren’t going to be punished, I would just like you to apologize to my daughter.” 

The crowd parted like an augalas plant – unwilling to give up its inhabitants. Except an augalas housed bats. Eventually, though, a RiverWing dragon came forward. Eridanus recognized him from her meeting with the WaterWings whom she had escaped from.

“I’m so sorry, my queen. I couldn’t see that the ShadowWing in question was your lovely daughter Eridanus.” A look of contempt washed over Maris’ face as he looked up at the two dragonells. Maris continued to talk, but Eridanus couldn’t hear a word he said. Fear pounded through her head as he droned on about obedience. 

 Eridanus watched as he slowly came forward. The dragon's gaze was like a predator’s – vicious, calculating, and unafraid. He’s the predator, and I'm the prey, flashed through her head.

That was all she could think before he lashed out with a glowing blue blade, aimed right at her heart.