Leia

Guard

As they waited for their eggs to hatch, Leia looked at Stark worriedly. "Do you think Contralto will accept this? Like, will this stop him in his tracks the way Karli hopes?"

Stark shook his head. "I don't know. He wants power. I think he wants it so badly because he can't have Sansa."

"Was it really that bad?"

Stark snorted. "For Contralto. Cerimi was accepting, I think she's more married to her job than anything else. She let Dad go pretty easily and her and Sansa work really well together. Contralto just didn't want to let go."

"And since he couldn't have her he wants to take over the clan? How is that going to make him happy?"

Stark shrugged. "He thinks that ultimate power will make her take him back, I think."

As the eggs hatched, Leia held her breath. The first baby was a beautiful pearlcatcher daughter, then a pearlcatcher son, and a ridgeback son. Karli stopped by to look at her potential mates and smiled. "You make beautiful babies, Leia."

Leia bowed her head. "Thank you, Karli. I hope you are pleased with your new mate." She watched as Karli spoke to each baby, including the girl even though she wasn't a potential. Karli chose the pearlcatcher male, smiling to herself as she left.

Leia told Stark that evening. "She chose. She picked Shark."

Stark nodded. "I'll tell Dad. This is going to really help. Contralto is trying to turn everyone against Arwen and Gambatte."

Leia looked confused. "Why? Who does he think Karli is going to pick as a mate if he discredits her daughter?"

"His own children. Him and Cerimi are on another nest. Well, Cerimi is on another nest. Contralto is running the hunters."

"What makes him think she will pick one of his kids?"

"He knows she wants to appease him. She's already convinced Vulpecula to mate with one of his followers. So he assumes that to further make him happy she will choose one of his children. He has no idea that she would never do that."

Leia looked at her children, snuggled down in the nest together. "He has so much ahead of him. So much strife and fighting. Is that fair to him?"

"Life isn't fair. He is a young dragon. He will be fine and Karli will be good to him."

"I just hope he's everything she was looking for." Leia watched her children sleep, knowing that this was the last night they would have of normalcy. She prayed to the Tidelord that this would calm the masses.