//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Discussions and Reprimands // Story: Our Little Brother, Spike // by Hope Caster //------------------------------// Ember had made her mother furious, and there was no greater mistake that she could have made. Upon returning home, the princess had been put before her father to await a punishment. Normally it was her mother who decided, as she was firm but fair. If pushed enough, Blaze would defer to Torch, who was anything but fair. So, it frightened Ember to her core when she heard her mother say, ‘Whatever you decide Torch, I’ll support it.’ To her father, that meant, ‘Don’t let her leave the cave until she’s about a hundred.’ However, she felt a glimmer of hope when her father asked her mother a very odd question. “Are you sure she was in a fight?” Torch meticulously looked over Ember but failed to see even a single scale out of place. There were no new bruises, no lacerations, nor was anything broken. She didn’t even scrape her knee. Ember looked mad, which wasn’t out of the ordinary as she had a fragile temperament, but she was otherwise unharmed. “I assure you that she was,” Blaze said, wondering why he was taking so long to ground her. She saw her mate start to bare his fangs, and realized that her depiction of events could prove hazardous to certain whelps involved. “I would be remiss if I said that he wasn’t gentle with her.” “He?” The word he meant a drake, and a drake fighting his daughter rose an alarm. “Yes, he. Before you ask, no I will not tell you his name. He is not the problem. Ember attacked him at a gathering, which is not supposed to happen, Ember.” Blaze gave her daughter a look as she put extra emphasis on her name. “Other dragons fought; It’s not like I was the only one,” Ember argued. “Why do you care if I fought Scales’ boyfriend? He’s nothing special.” Just like that, the alarm in Torch’s head went silent, and the Dragon Lord went back to calmly looking over his whelp. “As misguided as their actions were, that’s at least some level of normal. What you did is almost unheard of. You’re the Princess Ember, you shouldn’t be goading drakes into fighting you, especially when you’re at a gathering.” “It shouldn’t matter if I’m the princess or if we’re at a gathering; he’s my rival! That means we have to fight!” Ember declared. “He’s your rival, now?” Torch asked, visibly confused. “The drake that didn’t hurt you is your rival?” “He wanted to embarrass me,” Ember huffed, crossing her arms. Why else would he refuse to hit her? There was no other feasible reason to not hit a dragon, but still fight them. She didn’t mention the worst part about the exchange: Scales. She was still furious with how the girl mocked her. Torch let out a snort, stifling a laugh at the very last moment. This dragon must have been some rival. His rivals had a penchant to smash his face against a wall before trying to break one of his arms. Her rival fought her so gently, he didn’t leave a mark on her. “He must either be confident or powerful,” Torch joked, setting Ember down. “He acts like he’s both.” Her face hardened at the memory of Scales’ smug face and she could only imagine how Garble talked about her to his friends. She was going to get back at both, and that meant defeating Garble. She saw her Father’s grin and she huffed a thick cloud of smoke. “I’m going to beat him, no matter how long it takes! Just you watch!” Normally, the mere thought of Ember fighting anyone terrified him, but here he was almost okay with it. He always assumed the little monsters that his peers brought into the world would grind his daughter, is very small, skinny, frail daughter, into a fine paste. It was only a few days ago that he’d been proven right. Yet here she was after fighting one of those monsters, unscathed. Blaze readied herself for the screaming match that was about to unfurl. She knew that Torch would go a bit overboard, which was understandable given the circumstance, but she wasn’t planning on being too cruel to their daughter. What ever he said, she’d be sure to do damage control later. For now, she waited for her mate’s decree. “If you think you can beat him, then you may try,” Torch said. “What?” He heard his family say. “Care to repeat that Torch? I must have misheard you.” “If our daughter thinks she can beat this little mystery dragon, then she can try!” “You-you mean it?” Ember asked feeling a slight heaviness in her chest. Her anger seemed to vanish and she could only stare at her father wide-eyed. “You think I could beat him?” “I said you could try. From what I’m hearing he’s a mighty warrior. To even have a chance, you’d need to focus on fighting him and him alone, train every day, and eat right.” He glanced towards Blaze, saw the strange look on her face and recalled why this conversation had even started. “Oh, and if you fight him or any other drake at a gathering, there will be consequences. Understood?” He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the wide smile Ember wore, the tears of joy welling in her eyes that she quickly wiped away. She lovingly gave his snout a tight hug. “I do, I do. Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I’m going to go to bed so that I can get up early and fight him right away!” And Ember did just that, giggling all the way to her sleeping spot. Once their daughter was gone, Blaze glared at Torch. “I scolded her, what’s the matter?” Her tail shot forth and wrapped around his throat. The Dragon Lord was then forced to the ground before having his head hit repeatedly. He caught glimpses of Blaze’s face between hits. First, she looked homicidal, then confused, and then horrified, with her putting her claws over her mouth. “You’re not a changeling!” She cried, releasing her mate. “Torch, I’m so sorry! It’s just-” “Why would you think I’m one of those insects?” Torch asked, rubbing the top of his head. The attack had been non-lethal, so there was not much point in getting mad. Even if it had been, Blaze was not as strong as most dragons. She was beautiful, kind, caring, intelligent, but she was not blessed with strength. “You’ve never said that to Ember, ever! You usually just yell that she might get hurt-” Her eyes widened the moment she recalled a very important detail about today’s fiasco. Garble hadn’t hurt Ember. “I see what you’re doing, Torch,” she huffed. “You want her fighting her friend because you think she won’t get hurt!” “Yes. Your point?” Torch asked. “She’s happy, I’m happy, and I think that even you’re happy considering that I’m willing to let her play with one of those little monsters. If I'm wrong, then we go back to the way things were, so what’s the issue?” “The issue? Torch the issue is-! It’s-You see-When you say-.” She was unable to think of a problem, other than it might be temporary. For the first time in their lives, Torch was right. At least for now, all three of them got what they wanted. Ember got to fight, Torch had made sure that she was safe, and despite the reason for it, Blaze was happy that Ember was interacting with a whelp her age. “Shut up.” She finally said, puffing her cheeks. Torch chuckled as he put his arms around the pouting Blaze, giving her a loving peck on her cheek. Later that night, Ember couldn’t help but dream about her future as Dragon Lord, and what it would mean for her rivalry with Garble. Naturally, it would lead to nothing good. Their hatred for one another would be so raw and palpable, that a new type of gem would sprout from the ground, a deep red color that tasted as bitter as their loathing. Their conflict would be passed down to their children and to their children’s children, encoded into their very being. Ember didn’t worry too much about it, as she knew that her side would win their feud in the end. Things would only grow worse once she became Dragon Lord. Garble would be unable to accept defeat, leave the Dragon Lands, and inevitably become an evil dragon tyrant. Then again, was there any other role for him? Garble was made to be the bad guy. He was super strong, kind of dim, had a maw that could easily rip out a roc’s throat, but he seemed smart enough to have an evil plan. His gang would be his evil generals, Scales was obviously the slimy and treacherous shrew he’d have to settle for after becoming evil, while she would be the amazing, benevolent, intelligent, wise, strong, powerful, and humble Dragon Lord she was meant to be, just like the ones in the stories her father often told her at night. She and Garble would clash over and over, with more and more of Garble’s forces being captured, until they had their final battle atop the tallest mountain in the world. Once she had defeated Garble, she would be named the greatest Dragon Lord in the history of the universe and have a holiday named after her. Playing out their war in her dreams put a joyful smile on her face.