TW: contains threats, mentions fictional deities and mentions of starvation. Redu liked to consider herself a remarkably quick thinker. However, quick thinking was not the same as smart thinking. She grabbed Glim by the wings to stop him from flying away. He yelped and bit Redu in the arm, and she flinched away. “What is WRONG with-” Glim started, but was cut off as Jelu grabbed his snout to stop him from continuing. “What’s wrong with YOU?!” she said in a loud whisper. “What part of ‘be quiet’ do you not understand? We’re in a bit of a situation here!” Glim looked at her out of the corner of his silver eye, guiltily. His glasses were still foggy, but he pushed them up on his snout. He pulled Jelu’s talon away with his pale golden one. “Sorry, sorry! But… what’s going on? How come you guys are out here? You’re not in the army.” The three of them exchanged glances, and Redu shot a guilty glance at Quince, who stood, confused, in the middle of all of the chaos. It was Tulun who finally spoke, slowly and softly. “Veneen… Veneen has been up to something lately,” she explained. “I… I think he’s trying to hvrt Mango’s colony for some reason. Mango’s the bat that was brought to the palace recently,” she added, seeing the confused expression on Glim’s face. Glim looked uneasy. “I know. But that still doesn’t explain- oh. Ohhhhhhh.” He said, a look of realization crossing his face. Betrayal sparkled in his eyes. “You’re breaking so many laws! What in Miasma-” he shook his head. “You ran away from the palace to find him? Well, it’s good that he didn’t come with any of these troops. He went after Morpho.” He reached up and wiped the fog off his glasses. He looked around and saw Quince. His eyes widened. Quince shrank back towards Tulun. “Why is he looking at me like that?” she whispered. Before Tulun could answer, Glim took a step forward. “You- you’re the one he told us to find! The one we’re not allowed to kill!” The bat’s eyes shone with horrified tears. “Wh-what do you mean? I- I don’t know what you’re talking about-” Without warning, he charged towards Quince, breaking free from Jelu’s grasp. Redu leapt out, tackling him down onto the ground and landing on top of him. “Dude. Glim. What in the name of Miasma are you talking about?” Redu demanded. “You can’t just… charge a starving bat! Can’t you see how scared she is?!” “Veneen said… capture her… at all costs…” he gasped from underneath her, reaching out a talon to try to wrench himself free. “She’s the… most valuable… of them all… need to… bring her back… prove I’m not… useless…” He struggled for breath, his little yellow scales shining in the rainy light. His face was darkening with the effort. Redu stepped off him, and he scrambled away, clutching his throat. He bumped into Jelu again, who promptly grabbed his arms. “Spill it, nerd,” she threatened, looming over him. An icy cloud of breath rose from her nostrils. “Or you know what happens. If you’re so smart, you can tell us what’s going on.” *Oh, right. Jelu is an Ice Dragon!* Redu thought excitedly. She grinned. Maybe Jelu was cooler than she gave her credit for. No pun intended. Glim swallowed hard. He looked about ready to wet himself. “W-well… V-Veneen said th-that he needs the c-colony for food, but…” He trailed off, clearly rethinking his life’s decisions. “But what?” Jelu demanded, leaning closer. Glim winced away from her. “B-but we all know he keeps a stash of food somewhere in the palace,” he stammered. “There’s enough food there to last the whole species at least a year. So w-we don’t know why he’s really doing this. That’s all I know, I promise! That’s all he told us!” Jelu released him. He stumbled away from her and bumped into Redu again. Redu grabbed him and pulled a vine from a nearby tree. She tied him up so he couldn’t get away, and tied his snout closed as well, so he couldn’t call for help. He seemed to accept his fate exasperatedly. Redu’s mind was spinning. The dragon species was small, but they were far from st|ng, and Veneen had so much food… so why was he doing this? And why on earth was Quince so important to his plan? Collab with ! I bet you can't follow him in the next five seconds using only your pinkie finger!
