Pitaya

PITAYA / THE ASSASSIN DIPLOMAT / SHE/HER

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Pitaya thundered through the icy plain. The wettest snow clumped around her legs, and every dozen paces she had to stop and shake it off. Even though her body was built to withstand the shrieking cold, her mind had spent too much time in the Labyrinth, and she found herself yearning to see a flower or a fern; anything to break up the monotony of the tundra.

The Skelheim archway, in all its woodcarved glory, was no flower, but Pitaya found relief seeping through her bones anyway. Yet the stone slab nearby almost evaded her vision, as did the Gaoler lying atop it, head raising with her approach.

"How goes your journey?" The Gaoler shook out her mane, spotted pink against the white-grey of the sky and the snow.

Pitaya paused. "Good." She plodded forward, approaching the arch and the altar. "It'll be better once I actually meet with the Queen." She quirked her head. "Are you an envoy from the Glacial Assembly?"

"Hm?" The blue and pink Gaoler had nearly managed to doze off, resting her hand on a shaggy paw. "No, no, I watch over the perimeter. I was born there shortly after the whole deal with the Seekers, but..." She yawned. "I didn't care much for containing. Protecting, now, that I can do." She lifted her head slightly. "I am Skybloom. And you are...?"

"Pitaya!" She said, a touch too excitedly. "It's been a while since I've seen another Gaoler that isn't so stuffy-- besides my parents, anyway."

"Likewise, though I'm afraid most dragons around here are what you'd call 'stuffy'." Skybloom smiled, and Pitaya felt her stomach do a funny swirl. "It's hard work, surviving out here, especially since a lot of these settlers aren't used to the cold. Nice place, though, if you don't mind being put to the grindstone." Skybloom yawned, laying her head back down. "They don't bother much with making me work, though, besides watching the arch. I see you've got a bit of Light in your eyes, hm?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! After my egg was laid, my parents carted me as far away from the Icefield as we could get. We ended up in the Labyrinth, but we stopped in the Ruins on the way, and that was where I was actually hatched." Pitaya's exhaustion was catching up with her, and she almost laid down in the snow, though stopped when she thought about how it'd cling to her belly.

Skybloom laughed, a low chuckle rumbling within her throat. "I imagine you're pretty cold here, hm? Go stop by the inn. If there's anything this town is good at, it's keeping their buildings warm." Skybloom closed her eyes, then opened them a moment later. "Actually, that reminds me. Why do you want to see the Queen? I'm supposed to ask you, y'know, though you don't seem like much of an assassin-- or, worse, a solicitor."

Pitaya's blood ran colder than the howling wind. "Ehehe, yep! Definitely not either of those." She gritted her jaw, suppressing the anxious magic crackling at her claws. "I'll, uh... I'll see you later, then!" A hot flash of nervousness cut down Pitaya's spine as she passed under the wooden archway, Skybloom ponderously gazing after her.

"You as well." Skybloom shifted on her altar and let her shaggy wings drape over its sides. Pitaya, unease pooling in her gut, made for the firelight.

The venom soon to paint her claws would burn holes in the snow.