“That one must be from Skyhop,” Calmatious Blossom said as she followed my gaze and spotted the airship flying through the mountain range in the distance. “We’re getting closer.”

“Was that the Kangaroo town or the Parrot town?”

“The Kangaroo one, it’s more of a marketplace though. We should start seeing more airships soon.”

In my defense, I was still new to this part of the world. In an effort to remedy this, my merriment and I were trying to learn what we could from my newest followers. We just hadn’t accounted for how much there was to learn. Due to their isolation, the information they could provide was limited, mostly regarding details, but the broad strokes they did know were much appreciated.

Calmatious Blossom grabbed the reins tighter and stopped her volandilum next to my carriage, causing the feathers on her head to wave back and forth as she watched the sky above. “You know, most of my ki…” She stopped mid sentence when our gazes met before starting again. “Half of your kirins aren't used to trotting around in the open, especially outside the swamp. Things like airships and other flying objects or creatures could scare them.”

“I will keep that in mind,” I replied after stopping my carriage as well with an order to the kirins pulling it. It was important that she quickly adjusted to being a part of my merriment, thereby thinking of her former villagers as my kirins. Still, I wasn’t sure how much I could expect to be fair.

“The upper world is nothing to be afraid of,” Illu sharply threw in, sounding almost cold. “They will get used to it.”

Illu’s sudden joining of the conversation momentarily jostled my train of thought, and when I regained my thoughts and turned to look in his direction, I couldn't help myself from allowing the corners of my lips to raise. His posture was tight, like a spring that had just started to be compressed, and while his gaze was pointed ahead, I could make out twitches at the corners of his mouth threatening to become a frown or snarl.

While it might not be a desirable behavior in the long term, the fact that the last few days in the swamp hadn’t dulled his feelings about what he thought about my and Calamitous’ first meeting warmed my heart.

I rubbed my cheek against Illu’s throat, pushing him back a bit before adding a kiss when he looked at me.

“My great and strong protector,” I teased approvingly.

The mildly sour expression still plastered over his face was too cute to handle so I kissed him again.

“It is true,” he insisted. “It’s only a matter of time before all of them acclimate.”

“Grumpy, loveable, best batfriend in the world.” I snuggled him. “She is part of my merriment now, so no need to hold a grudge. Alright?”

“As if you would be any different,” he replied, but far less grumpily than before. “What if someone had tried to slay me with an axe?”

“I would have used that very axe to chop them into tiny little bits, set those bits on fire, then stomped the resulting ash until the wind had blown it all away.” Just the thought got me to lay my cheek against his shoulder and start purring loudly. “But you already knew that. After all, I am my mother’s daughter. Bloodlust, a thirst for vengeance, and need to claim and protect what is mine runs in my blood.” I flitted my eyelids. “I’m also half-dragon‌.” I finished with a kiss on his neck.

As I had hoped, I could feel a smile crawling all the way up from his belly to his lips.

“Okay, one point for you,” he confessed. “Still, that doesn’t mean I have to like her.”

“Once I am empress, you will be emperor, you better start liking your new subordinates.” I emphasized my point by stroking his back with my wing.

“Once you’re empress, she will be the one who tried to kill the empress,” he retorted.

“Till the end of my days, I’ll be paying the price for failing in that,” Calmatious grumbled. “Me and all my… all of your newest subjects.”

“Don’t you…” Illu rose from his spot, seemingly wanting nothing more than to start a heated argument, but I held him back.

“Don’t burst out in flames!” I requested in feigned fear, quickly patting his back to put out the ‘flames’ there. “What did we talk about, count to ten!”

“Fiery, that is not funny!” He tried to stop me by grabbing my claws. “She,” he turned his head towards Calmatious, but I didn’t let him finish.

“And I have no reason when I am angry, hmm?”

“That isn’t the same!”

I raised an eyebrow and he mumbled something under his breath.

“Ok, fine!” He closed his eyes and counted to ten. At least that's what I thought he was doing. When he reopened his eyes , I gave him a kiss.

“Better?”

“A tiny bit,” he mumbled.

“Good, let me handle my merriment and you just stay as awesome as you are.” Another kiss landed on his cute mouth. My gaze wandered to his fluffy ears. “And as cute.”

He gave me a flat look. Pony Feathers! I definitely need to take another class from Mom about calming the other sex.

“Anyhow,” I laid a claw on Illu’s hoof and returned my attention to Calmatious. “How long till we get there? Skyhop, I mean.

“At this speed,” her gaze wandered over the trail of carriages, the small unit of volandilum-riders from the underground village, and the throng of kirins on hoof that made up the gold of a dragon’s hoard. “I would say four days. Maybe five if the river has high water again. Sometimes that happens this time of the year.”

“Four to five days,” I repeated. There had been no sign of Autumn’s people since we left the swamp, and as soon as we reached Skyhop, the plan was to get onto an airship, or two given the new size of my merriment. Finding them would become a lot harder once we were airborne. “Say, how fast are these volandilums outside the swamp?”

“As fast as a kirin for a few miles, just don’t expect for them to maintain that speed for too long. Short distances are no problem for them, but they’re not exactly built for endurance. Their real advantages are in rivers or swamps, obviously. They’re several times faster in the water and aren’t too bothered with diving particularly deep or long.”

“Before we entered your swamps, we were looking for some kirins. Kirins that hopefully haven’t been claimed yet but would be on their way to Shakirin-La too. I want you to send out your… my riders to look out for them. I need kirins who won’t be sensed from miles away if there is another azure-kirin nearby, and your former villagers are the only ones that fit that description.”

“Luftrins would be far more efficient,” she retorted. “They can see much farther than a few miles.”

“I will send out a few of them too, it’s just a bit risky. Other azures may be able to detect kirins from further away than I can. The best way for them to stay safe while looking for them is to soar fairly high up, but that wouldn’t work out too well. By flying that high, they probably wouldn’t be able to see them too clearly, and even if they did find them, they wouldn’t be able to tell if they were the kirins they were looking for without flying low enough to be spotted themselves, or worse, get detected and revealed as being from my merriment. Your former kirins are protected by Hades and therefore can’t be sensed by azures. They can get closer without being detected. And if they ride on these strange volandilums, another azure-kirin may not be sure how to react to them. At the very least, they wouldn’t think that they were a part of my merriment.”

“I disagree. But I will do as you suggested.” She kicked her volandilum lightly in the side, prompting it to start moving again.

“I thought you could detect other kirins from miles away,” Illu wondered after Calmatious was far enough away that she wouldn’t be able to hear.

“I can. I’m able to feel the presence of most of my merriment around us, except for Calamitous’ former kirins, I can’t feel them at all. Unfortunately, I don’t know how far I can sense non-claimed kirins from, or any kirins not in my merriment now that I think about it. When Bliz’s merriment approached us, they were already quite close. I doubt my senses extend farther than a few miles. But, maybe someone out there can sense kirins for miles upon miles. Take Nimble for example. He’s able to talk to other kirins via his mind despite being halfway across the continent. There’s no way to tell what special talents my competitors have been gifted with, or if they have a special talent at all. Maybe everyone except for me and Bliz can already do it.”

“If there’s anykirin who’s going to discover more unusual talents, it will definitely be you.” Illu poked my cutiemark as he said this. “Your godmother will make sure of that.”

“She already gave me the best stallion in the world with her meddling, anything else would be a… mhh… bonus? Stretch? I don*t know, but from what I’ve heard, there are limits to what a goddess is allowed to do.”

“Sweettalker,” he accused me with a smile.

“Is it working?”

“A little bit.”

We both smiled.

“And there is my little housecat again,” Illu teased.

“Still no whiskers!”

***

“Their size is equal to or greater than ours, Chieftain. I wasn’t able to count them all without being spotted. Even if they are new to living in the wilds, their sheer number made the likelihood of somekirin taking a closer look at the riverbed I was hiding in too great to risk staying.” Reed Strider put his feathers back on his head and tried unsuccessfully to clear his face of the mud while not further smearing his face paint.

I tried to reach out with my senses in the direction my scout had pointed in, but there was nothing I could feel. According to my scout, they were six hours ahead of us, give or take a few minutes.

“Their leader is a male azure-kirin, but he had several other azure-kirins by his side,” Reed Strider went on. He was wise enough to keep the contempt he felt for my kind out of his voice, if he had any, which I was sure of.

“Did you see a huge kirin?” Autumn Blaze asked nervously. “A mare, huge, tan coat and lighter tan scales with a blue mane with some brighter streaks in it. Maybe she was even wearing a little golden crown on her head.

“No, if there is such a kirin among them, I did not see them.”

“That could mean my former village is not among them.” A slight sense of hope crept into Autumn's voice.

“Or that he simply did not see her in all those kirins,” Calmatious Blossom clarified. “You tend to have a limited view when you're hiding in a riverbed. More so if you’re also trying to avoid being seen by several hundred kirins.”

“Maybe,” Autumn didn’t seem to be convinced. Hope had gotten the better of her.

“Be that it as it may, what is your battleplan?” Now Calamitous Blossom turned to me. “Chieftain.”

“Battleplan?” I hadn’t even thought that far yet.

“Yes, your battleplan, Chieftain. I don't believe that you azures simply approach each other to settle things over a cup of tea, or, as Hades encourages, fight each other to the death. If I had to guess, we normal kirins have to fight your battles for you. And since you azures seem to feel each other's presences based on what I’ve heard and seen, the only way to be less stealthy than for you to approach them is to just send someone over to announce our presence.”

“Bliz,” I remarked sharply while laying my claw on Illu’s hoof. She had her fangs presented and was growling warningly. Meanwhile, Illu had his muzzle clenched tightly, with his lips slightly parted in a scowl, as he stared daggers at Calamitous from a posture not too dissimilar from the one I had seen Calamitous in before our fight. “Calmatious Blossom, show me more respect.”

“I am just pointing out matters of importance, Chieftain,” she replied.

“If I have to get one of my followers to fully shave you, tail to mane, to get a matter of importance across to you, I won’t hesitate to do so.”

I watched as Calmatious just barely choked back a quick, hateful hiss before it left her throat. Calmatious tried to hide this by turning her head to the side and licking over her lips. However, to all the kirin’s who saw this, it was clear that her first instinct had been to challenge me. Now she was looking to the side, her front hooves pressed into the earth.

“Do I have to give that order?” I spitefully asked, determined to have the absolute last word.

“No,” she grumbled.

“Are you sure you understand the importance of my point?”

She dug a furrow in the earth. “Yes,” she pressed out. “You are my leader, I have to show you the respect you des… the respect I owe you.”

I was going to reply to that when Allerian mumbled,”Has a tyrannical way of ruling her merriment,” along with writing that note down in his book.

“Good,” I said, instead of the answer I’d been intending, and turned to Allerian. “I am not a tyrant! I am a leader! Huge difference!”

“I am sure most of them said that about themselves too,” he retorted without looking up from his book.

I mumbled something under my breath about bards and returned my attention to my scouts report. “Alright, Calmatious is right about one thing at least, as soon as I am close enough to them, they will know I am there. The same goes for Bliz. And with several azure-kirins around, it’s very unlikely that they’ll all be asleep at the same time, so a nightly ambush is not an option.” I sighed. “Simply talking probably won’t work as well, given how hostile even Bliz and I became to each other and my reaction to Nimble.”

“We may be able to get close enough to ambush them,” one of my new followers, Highest Cave said. “You aren’t able to feel our presence, right? And the same goes for your right hoof?”

“Yes.”

“Then we can lay an ambush. A few dozen of us should be able to sneak close enough to hit them.”

“I don’t want them dead!” I shouted. “Your hate for my kind is…”

“With our magic, Chieftain,” Highest Cave interrupted me. “One good hit and their merriment connection should be gone.”

“Oh… isn’t that dangerous to azure-kirins too? I saw the engravings in Hades temple, and the depictions they had looked a little more painful than a mild shock!”

“As far as I know, it doesn’t disintegrate you.” He replied. “Sierra Bonsai wasn’t even able to break your connection completely with it.”

“They will not die,” Caustic Mercy piped up. He stood slightly aside, as far from Calmatious as was possible.

“Mhh, okay then, it may work,” I agreed.

“Spear-throwing is just the backup plan…”

“No spear-throwing! I don’t want anykirin, azure or not, to die!”

“And how do you think your subordinates and theirs should settle this conflict in your name then?” Schimmernde Morgenröte asked. “Are you planning for your merriment to crash into them, have them hit each other barehooved, and whoever’s subordinates are the last kirins standing is the winner meant to rule all kirin-kind?”

“No, I…”

“Breaking up their merriment seems to be the best option,” Mom threw in. “That way no one gets hurt, and you,” she looked at me directly, “should be able to claim all their former subjects before they’re able to recover and reclaim them. When you surround them with all your merriment after stealing most of theirs, I doubt they will be eager to fight, given the newfound advantage you would have over them.”

“I would also very much prefer that,” Autumn threw in quietly. “I do not know any other azure, but if my former village is on its way, it's possible that they are in that merriment.”

“I could ask Fortuna for her blessing,” Rythil piped up as he scurried along the ground and through the legs of several kirins on his way over to me from his place behind the front of the crowd. “You know, for the ambush party. That way they are more likely to hit the azures with their magic without any kirin needing to be hurt.”

“Or for the spear-throwing if we miss, or they have protection of some kind,” Highest Cave added.

“I said no spear-throwing!” I insisted, with a growl this time to get the message across, only causing Highest Cave to step back in confusion and a bit of uncertainty when several other kirins growled at him as well.

“Fiery!” Mom yelled.

My growling, and that of my merriment a second later, stopped.

“While I oppose the idea of ambushing living creatures to kill them, you need to let your advisors speak freely or there’s no point in having them,” Mom went on. “You won’t make all the right decision every time by yourself. Listen to them without punishing them for their opinions or suggestions, otherwise you will not get the best advice.”

“Yes, Mom.” I exhaled. “I know.”

“I don’t think Fortuna would look favorably on blessing creatures with the luck to kill others in the first place,” Rythil said after a bit of a delay. “And even if that was the case, I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that.”

“Yeah, me neither,” I agreed, ruffling through his mane when he came to a halt next to me and stood on his hind claws in order to not look so small. “I think we should use our luck more for staying alive and healthy than for killing other creatures.” The look he was throwing at me now was priceless. “Hey, I’m doing you a favor here,” I whispered. “When I’m petting you, nokirin will make an attempt to cuddle you.”

He sighed.

“What about just shooting them as they come?” Wind Root asked. “From what we know, everykirin hit will be confused or drop unconscious for a moment, not only azures.” He made a wide gesture over my merriment, but mostly towards the kirins from the swamp village. “With around two hundred of you, we should be able to avoid any hoof to hoof fights. More so with a little extra luck.”

That was actually a great point!

“That would require that all of us be able to perform that spell, and also be able to shoot it again and again and again without much delay.” Calmatious Blossom shook her head. “Only a few dozen have been taught how to use that spell, and even then, several of them still have a way to go before they can use it properly.” Her eyes switched to her daughter for a second. “I think I would only be able to shoot three, maybe four times before I need a rest, and I’m one of the more proficient users of the spell. That’s enough to fend off any azure.” She coughed. “Any azure who isn’t protected by Lord Hades that is. However, we never planned for the possibility of a horde of azures attacking us all at once.”

“So you have to choose, Chieftain. We can ambush those azures for you, or, we join your ranks in a direct assault and randomly free kirins from the other azures influence from there. They wouldn’t be free for long given your kind, but at least they would serve you and not someazure else,” Highest Cave concluded.

“Mhh. Let's say thirty Kirins are able to cast this spell, two times on average.” I shook my head side to side in thought. “Given a few misses, that would mean around fifty of their kirins would be taken out of the fight, or…”

“Only if they weren’t loyal to them before the claiming,” Schimmernde Morgenröte threw in. “If they were already on the azure’s side before the call, all that will happen is them getting knocked out for a moment before rejoining the fight.”

“Or,” I went on, “the chance to ambush their leaders directly.”

“If we shoot at their leader and kirins throw themselves in the way to protect him, we’re still freeing them from his influence,” Highest Cave pointed out.

“It also reduces the chance of you being hit by friendly fire if you are not on the frontlines,” Mom added.

“I wonder if the chance of them not being friendly with each other is higher than between normal kirins,” Autumn Blaze wondered. “I mean,” she looked at me, “you are forced to fight each other for dominance, so if they weren’t family or friends to begin with, like you and Bliz, things get complicated real quickly. And even if they are friends, it may still get out of hoof.” She flicked her tail and thought for a second. “However, non-azure kirins may not be willing to fight each other randomly, more so if they are from different villages and don’t even know each other. And…” her thoughts drifted away for another moment before she slammed her hoof on the ground. “Wait! If my former village is among them, freeing them most likely enables me to convince them to fight on your side once they are free of the influence.”

“That only works if we go with the plan to do a head on assault, and,” Calmatious Blossom pointed at herself and her former villagers, “we happen to shoot your villagers. You would also need to be in the frontlines too for that to work.”

“No!” Nightflame roared as he rushed to his godmother. “You are not going to risk your well-being in my sister's battle!” He turned to me and hissed challengingly. “Mine!”

I rolled my eyes, but before I could tell him my thoughts about it, Autumn Blaze grabbed his ear herself.

“I am not going to let my friends put themselves in harm's way if I can prevent it, young dragon! If they are in this other azure-kirins merriment, I will try whatever I can to free them!”

“But you can’t go into the middle of a battlefield!” Night freed his ear and rubbed his head against her shoulder. “What if something happens to you? No way!”

“As much as I prefer not to, I agree with Nightflame here,” Mom told Autumn. “You can’t risk getting hurt in Fiery’s fights. With you not being claimed by Fiery, nor protected by Hades magic, you would be a prime target for any azure out there.” Autumn opened her mouth to rebuke her, but mom continued. “You see it already with Bliz, if it wasn't for Fiery, she would have already claimed you.”

Autumn closed her mouth, unable to refute mom’s point.

“I wouldn’t have allowed it anyway, Autumn,” I added. “You do belong to my brother after all. I may not like it, but I am not going to steal one of my brother's core belongings.”

Don't get me wrong, it still stung! My brother stealing one of my followers was still urking me to no end! But, as I said, neither of us would steal a core item from each other. That it had to be Autumn though…

Happy with the outcome, Night snorted in satisfaction and curled around his godmother.

“Alright, it seems that it makes more sense to go for the ambush. We will go with that plan!” I then pointed at Highest Cave. “No spear throwing though!”

***

“I think Highest Cave underestimated their numbers!” I took a deep breath and shook slightly to get the sparkling feeling off of my tongue and the tingling itch under control. “They definitely have more kirins than us, maybe one or two hundred more!”

“And here I thought there were only a few kirins here and there,” Bliz replied. “But looking around, there are nearly a thousand of us just here.” She clapped her hooves together in excitement. “By the time we reach Shakirin-La, you may be ruling over thousands, if not tens of thousands, Fiery!”

“It would be more comforting if we were the ones who had most of the thousand kirins around here,” I retorted.

“You will lead them all at the end of the day!”

“I sure hope so.” I frowned. “And I hope they are not as skilled in mind talking as Nimble is.” I could feel at least four or five other azures out there, but there could still be one or two more. If they were all as skilled and chatty as Nimble…

“Feels like seven or eight azures out there, wouldn’t you say?” Bliz tasted the feeling more carefully. “Yep, I would say seven. Which is good!” She gave me a reassuring smile. “Your luck is on our side again. With so many new kirins in your merriment, it would have been hard to reasonably manage all of them yourself. But with more azures, you’ll have more leader figures at your disposal.”

“I only sense four or five out there. Still, they will be hard to claim if Calamitous and her ambush party fail to hit them.”

“They have your godmother's blessing on them, they will surely succeed. And if not,” she stomped a hoof, “they will at least spread chaos and confusion in their ranks. You should have an easy time claiming their leader.”

“Fiery!” A loud shout interrupted our conversation and my gaze turned around to Raising Ebb atop our guard tower . “Fiery! One of our scouts is heading back from the east! Seems they found something important!”

“The east?” I turned back to Bliz. “The other merriment is to the north, what could be that important to the east right now?”

“You better go and check. I will prepare our merriment in the meantime.”

“Stick to the plan Bliz!” I said as I spread my wings, “Remember, we need the azures to be near that half sunken, sparsely grown forest Calmatious is hiding in.”

“Don’t worry! I know the plan!” She replied as I flew off.

*

It wasn’t far. At least for me, just a minute or two. But for Summer Moon, carried by Windswept Granite I was positive it felt way longer. Despite that I told her she was not at fault for what had happened in the swamp, she was, like her sister, eager to prove herself in my eyes. Even if that meant hanging dozens of meters in the air, and going at a speed no runehorn would normally achieve. I had gotten used to having personal guards by now, especially with how my new followers saw me at the moment, but that didn’t mean they had gotten used to guarding me all the time.

Anyhow, the moment I arrived at the little hill to the right of my merriment, my scout landed. It was Agitated Harmony. She bowed. “Fiery! There is another group of creatures, heading our way!”

“What?”

“A mix of several species! Mostly deer, but also some Ornithian parrots and abyssinias! Along with some species I’ve never seen before! They’re all heading our way, and they’re armed! Hundreds of them!”

“Are you sure they are heading straight for us, and not just in our general direction?”

“I think that’s unlikely. They’re going to cross our path if we continue, and they don’t look like they’re outfitted for a longer trip. No carriages, no heavy saddlebags. When you also consider the light armor and weapons they’ve got on them, I think they’re looking for a fight. Means they’re either after us, or the other kirin merriment!”

“Ponyfeathers! Where did this strange army come from?” I turned to my guards and pointed at one of them. “You, go and warn Bliz, we need to fall back, no way we’ll be able to prevail fighting two armies! Tell her she needs to send a message to Calmatious and her group to leave their hide and come back here! And you,” I turned and pointed to the second guard, “go and warn my family that there’s another army on its way over here that isn’t a kirin one!” Both of them nodded and flew or ran off to do as I ordered.

“Maybe we can arrange for them to run into our enemy first and then overwhelm whoever’s victorious? Maybe even rush into their back at the peak of the battle. You know, like eating two ventalases with one bite.”

“We do not eat ventalases, Roary. Ventalases are our friends. Just look at Grünchen, he overcame his heritage and is an enrichment to our life,” Calmly corrected. “Asides from that though, I must advise against Roary’s suggestion. If we do that, we’re risking the lives of our kirins without a good reason! We don’t know the intentions of these other creatures. And besides, It seems like these other creatures are better equipped for combat than our merriment. If their merriment is like ours, it's kirins from everyday life traveling to Shakirin-La, not some army. They might need our help!”

“Help them?! You must have lost your mind! We want to subdue them, make them part of our merriment! They outnumber us by one or two hundred, we can use any advantage we can get!”

“Every dead kirin is a tragedy! And a new follower lost! We should stand side by side in the face of a common enemy!”

Roary snorted. “The choice is yours,” his tone changed to a more noble one, “chieftain. Either we use our knowledge to our advantage and increase our chance of success, or, we do the crazy thing and try to ally with an enemy against a force we know nothing about only for our ‘ally’ to fall into our backs the first chance they get. That is if they don’t both attack us out the gate.”

“Naysayser! We are supposed to lead every kirin one day! That means each and every one of them is our beloved subject! We need to protect them, even if they are not following us right now!” Calmly paused for a moment. “But in one thing I agree, the choice is Fiery’s.”

I just closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. I was pushed out of my thoughts though when Summer Moon poked me with her nose and rubbed her cheek against my shoulder to check on my well being.

“I am fine,” I said as I pushed her back, only for her to whimper unhappily. Darn mental connection forcing them to act this way all the time! “Come here,” I pressed out and took a second or two to ruffle through her mane and get the message across that she hadn’t done anything wrong. After what happened to her and Heat Wave in the swamp, you’d think I’d be a fair bit more careful with my subjects, wouldn’t you? That went double for her and Heat Wave nowadays! They would jump between me and an incoming spear without a second thought, but how dare I not show them my approval for once! Well, to be fair, Heat Wave had to prove himself… but I digress.

“Alright, first of all, we need to find out if they’re coming for us or the other merriment. Then we can decide what to do. If they’re coming for us, well, maybe we can fall back to the swamp, if not, we might be able come to an agreement with the other merriment.”

Summer Moon looked at me in confusion.

“Oh, yeah, right, my advisors provided me with a plan, actually two plans, but there’s no time to waste. Agitated Harmony, grab two other scouts and stay close to this new army, keep me informed about any change in direction they take.” She nodded and flew off. “I have to redeploy my merriment,” I mumbled to myself and flew off myself.

*

“There’s no way to reach them without revealing their position, Fiery!” The courier Bliz had sent had come back, out of breath and with bad news. “The other merriment has already passed their position without us attacking and distracting them, there’s no way for them to successfully retreat without getting spotted!”

“We can’t even send them a message to not attack. If a fight breaks out, they’ll rush into their backs and try to neutralize the azures,” Sierra Bonsai said. “I have no doubt my mother will be successful in ambushing their leaders, so if what your scouts said is true, and this other army attacks, a complete loss of their hierarchy would throw them into complete disorder.”

“And if we just tell them?” Wind Root asked. “I mean if they accept your suggestion of working together for the time being. We could send a courier through and stop Calmatious and the others from springing their ambush.”

Schimmernde Morgenröte snorted loudly. “Giving away such a useful advantage sounds like a disastrous idea. Being so careless with your assets is an invitation to ruin and failure.”

“I think she is right,” Mom agreed. “If anything goes south, Calmatious Blossom and her Kirins are the best card under our wing. We just need to prevent them from ambushing the other azure-kirins if it doesn’t become necessary.”

“The problem is,” I started, “if a fight breaks out, they will ambush them. And if that fight isn’t with us, but the other army, or worse, if we’re both fighting against this other army together, it’s a recipe for disaster!”

“This is very exciting,” Allerian mumbled scribbling in his little notebook. “Your decisions and how they affect history, the tension, the uncertainty. Very thrilling!”

“I’m glad our problems are boosting the quality of your book,” I grumbled sarcastically.

“They sure are,” he replied without pulling his beak out of his book. From what I could recall, his father never dared to speak this way with Dad, or Mom for that matter.

I shook my head. “Okay, we need to prevent a fight from happening before we can sneak a message out to Calmatious Blossom. Either she needs to wait for it to actually be us fighting them,” I pointed in the direction of the other merriment, “or, she doesn’t attack them at all. Or, as a third option, attack them,” again, my claw wandered in the direction of the other merriment, “at the peak of the battle if they refuse to collaborate with us and seem to be winning against the other army without much issue.”

“I can go and try to reach them as soon as they’re behind the other merriment,” Flittering Echo offered. “I can fly around them and stop the ambush if needed.”

“No, they’d sense you for sure,” I denied. “Any kirin except for our swamp…” I paused. “Any kirin who isn’t protected by Hades would be detected by them immediately. They have between five and eight azure-kirins over there. One of them would surely notice your approach. More so with how quick they changed direction after Bliz and I came close enough. These kirins are looking for us. I don’t know if they’re aware of the other army, but one thing is sure, if it was only us and them, we would either bargain or straight up fight. It’s too late for our Merriments to avoid each other.”

“And if we send them a message, the other azures I mean?” Wind Root made a gesture towards the east. “If we warn them about the other army, and offer to work together under the terms of a leader duel afterwards, they may accept.”

“That still doesn’t solve the problem of our ambush,” Bliz berated Wind Root,” pay better attention!” This caused him to sink to his belly and lower his gaze.

“And if you challenge them before the other army arrives?” Winter Sun asked. “Under a common leader, with a united front, nearly two thousand kirins should be enough to make them hesitant to fight.”

“Don’t forget some dragons as well,” Bliz added. “Having your Dad and Aunt be visible and at the front should intimidate them for sure.”

“Depending on what they want,” Mom threw in. “What is it that they want exactly?” She looked at me.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? Haven't you send anycreature to ask them?”

“Uhm, no. I didn’t.”

Mom facehoofed. “Maybe they’re just passing through or just want us to leave their land. They’re probably just afraid of our presence, well, ours and the other merriments, and sent out creatures to make sure we won’t cause any trouble.”

“If I send them someone, and they’re not aware of us, then they will be. If they’re heading for us, I can still negotiate with them, and if they’re not, no need to let them know we’re here.”

“Fiery, that is just stupid! Either they can be reasoned with, and we all go our separate ways, or they can not be reasoned with and then we’ll need the support of the other merriment!” Mom raised a hoof for a lecture. “If they are after the other merriment, they will not come for us even if you make them aware of our presence. If they are here because of us in the first place it is better to reason with them before you’re standing face to face with them and an army on both sides watching. And if they want to attack us anyway, it will at least be good to know beforehoof!”

“No, Mom.” She raised an eyebrow at my rejection of her idea. “If they are not aware of us, and if they are looking for a fight with the other merriment, we would be able to ambush them instead. Falling into their back at the peak of the fight and catching them completely off guard. If I sent them a messenger, they would not be so careless as to turn their back on us.” I pointed at my head. “Roary told me that much. I may not like the idea, but if I have to attack them, I would prefer to have the upper claw right from the start. The other merriment takes the brunt of the damage, leaving them and the other army weakened so my kirins are at the lowest risk.”

“Uhm, Fiery…” Autumn Blaze timidly raised her voice, and when my gaze landed on her she continued. “If my friends from the Peaks of Peril are among them, they’ll be facing the brunt of the fighting too.”

Ponyfeathers! I hadn’t even thought of that! If I let the other merriment crash into that army, and some of Autumn's friends get hurt, or worse, killed, I wouldn’t be able to look her in the eyes anymore. My azure heritage be damned.

“Personal issues shall not interfere with the plan of your leader,” Schimmernde Morgenröte said disapprovingly. “The stakes are far higher than your personal interests.”

“No they are not!” I rejected my Aunt's opinion. “We took the swamp pass with the idea in mind to waylay her former village. I will not sacrifice her friends for the hope of an easier battle.”

“If you do not, you increase the risk everykirin in your merriment will need to face,” my Aunt retorted. “Doing that would reflect poorly on you as a leader.”

I let my gaze wander over my merriment. What my Aunt had said was true. I was responsible for their safety. But, I also had a responsibility towards everykirin in the future.

“Bliz,” I said sharply, “prepare a message for the other merriment, let them know about that other army and offer to work with them to fend them off, or, if they’re not convinced, to at least leave us alone for the time being. “Wind Root, you know who we are looking for. You deliver the message and see if you can confirm either the presence of your former village or their absence. Everykirin else, arm yourself, and help fortify our position as best as we can. Either we defend our position or we rush into a fight, depending on what the circumstances force us to do.”

“You forgot about my mom’s unit, Chieftain,” Sierra Bonsai said while Bliz and Wind Root galloped away. “If they are not aware of the situation, they will attack.”

“I know. But I can’t do anything about it. If Wind Root tells us Autumn's former village is among this merriment, I will send somekirin to stop the ambush, even if it means losing my trump card. If they are not among them, well, I’ll risk it and maybe have to take over a whole new merriment mid battle.”

While Mom and a few others looked at me in shock and bewilderment, my Aunt, as well as Roary, let me know they agreed with my plan.

“Fiery,” Mom shouted angrily, “You’re planning to betray them!” You can’t do that!”

“It is not betrayal, Mom! If her,” I pointed at Autumn, “friends are not among the other merriment, and this new army is looking for a fight with the other merriment, I’m letting them know that we will not be fighting alongside them! Therefore, I can rush into the other armies back, saving these kirins from the other army, and still ambush the other azures without breaking my word! The same goes for if they attack us and the other merriment refuses to work with us. In that case, it is possible that the only way for us to win is if I can claim them from the other leader and order them to help us! I’m not betraying anycreature, but I will keep all options in my claw!” I snorted forcefully. “And if this new army leaves us both in peace, and we can figure something out between their merriment and mine, maybe a duel, maybe a bargain, there will be no fighting at all and Calmatious Blossom will not have to attack!” I looked straight at my mother. I wanted to shout ‘thanks for having my back, Mom’, but given what I’d just done a few days ago, I went with, “You should have more trust in me, Mom, I’m no traitor!”

That silenced every doubter.

Author's Note

As always, hope you had fun reading this