Flowers and Feathers

This is a fanfiction by CricketSundew and BuzzieOfTheSkyWings Please DO NOT steal any of the characters or story or edit it without our permission. Thank you!
==Synopsis==
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This is not the ordinary Rainwing Kingdom. There are no such things as lazy Rainwings, endless hours of sleep, or an unlimited supply of land filled with fruit. In the long-ago Rain Kingdom at the time of Darkstalker, every fruit may be poisoned, every dragon has a secret, and even the queen can't be trusted.
Princess Quetzal has a secret of her own. She knows something's wrong, and knew it ever since her mother, Queen Anaconda, promoted the cunning and scheming Python to her top advisor. The problem is, none of the other Rainwings care or notice that Python is manipulating the queen into doing her bidding without a second thought. But all Quetzal longs for is for her mother's approval, and she's too scared to ever mention her observations for fear of her mother or Python's wrath.
All Lotus longs for is a simple life, to continue their work as a healer in the Rainwing village, and stay out of the way of all the snooty high and mighty royals. But it seems like that's not the case for Lotus, no matter how hard they try.
Evil is brewing right under the queen's eye, unseen by everyone but Quetzal, the heir to the throne herself. Under the cover of the wild jungle, Lotus and Quetzal's path's will intertwine in a way neither of them had ever expected.
==Prologue==
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The camouflaged dragon flying out of the royal hatchery was keeping close watch of her surroundings, every small sound, movement, or noise alerting her senses. The queen will never have to know my secret. Whatever happens now is not my problem anymore, Python thought, exhaling the breath she had been holding in.
She landed on a balcony above the young queen's swinging vine-woven home.
"Your Majesty. Queen Anaconda," Python said smoothly, with no emotion as she addressed the new queen.
"Yes?" Anaconda tilted her head to look at Python. "Do you have my hatchery report?"
"Of course, I just checked. 5 healthy eggs, and one with a small crack, ready to hatch. The guards are watching it, and I can assure you everything is perfectly under control." With that, Python smirked slightly. If only she knew what REALLY happened. But of course, she never will...
==Part One==
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Eight years later
===Chapter one===
Quetzal
Queen Anaconda was mad. AGAIN. Which meant that her and Python, Quetzal's mother's closest advisor spent hours a day in the throne room discussing uninteresting queenly things and not paying any attention to Quetzal. When is she ever NOT mad? Quetzal thought bitterly. Recently, there's always been some sort of problem with her. And of course, Python comes with all the answers to help her succeed at being a queen.
"Quetzal." A voice said sternly and unemotionally from behind her. Quetzal turned around and found Python staring back at her with hypnotising gold eyes. Python's scales hardly ever changed colours, which was sort of unsettling. They were permanently kept a shade of deep green, but getting darker around her head where a creepy little black and gold snake sat twisted between her horns.
Python flicked her forked tongue in and out, making a low hissing sound. "Quetzal darling, for the last time, please stop pacing! Go make yourself useful and leave your mother and I to our important business. You have no reason to be in the throne room right now, little one. Out. Now," Python ordered condescendingly, with a smug smirk on her face. Her scales rippled, and she vanished into the air.
Quetzal sighed and begrudgingly dragged herself out of the room. Why does mother let her get to tell me what to do? After all, I'm a princess, the heir to the throne herself! It's MY throne room too! Since when is Python in charge?
Since forever, said a little voice in her head. You know it. Python's had almost full control over the kingdom ever since you were born and she's only gaining more.
Yeah, that's true...Quetzal thought back at herself. Python is just using my mother as a toy, trying to make her a pawn in her great game to control the throne. Wait. How DARE she treat my mother like that?! Someone needs to tell her who the real queen is.
You, the other part of her whispered. You know you're the only one who sees right through Python's façade.
I know that, but I can't! Quetzal thought angrily back. It's not affecting me THAT much, as long as I do what I'm told and...and…
Quetzal! Wake up! It's only going to get worse once Python realizes that she has power over your too! Think about how her actions are affecting the kingdom!
Quetzal sighed. This is useless, arguing in circles with myself. Conversations like this happened every day in her head, an eternal battle between the braver part of Quetzal that she knew was right, and the quieter, more cautious part of her, which always seemed to win. But today, I'm trying something different. I'm going to spy on them and see what these 'top-secret unfit for young princesses' meetings are all about.
Quetzal crept up to the swinging door, and camouflaged her scales to match the background. She strained her ears to listen, but only caught a few pieces.
"And of course...what a problem she is...getting in the way...we must...continue? Go to war… Seawings?...Must we?...Well, we could always…sounds better…possibly…What do you think?"
What in the three moons does that mean? Go to war with the Seawings? I know they keep trying to push their borders more into our kingdom, but mother DID suggest something? Did Python agree?
Suddenly, she heard talonsteps coming quickly over to the door. She held her breath.
"Quetzal! I can tell you're there! Please, can you leave me alone for a bit. I'm getting a bad headache," Queen Anaconda spread her wings, stretching out to her full height. Liar, Quetzal thought. She was just having a conversation! Mother does not have a bad headache!
"Quetttzzalll." A sinister voice came from around Anaconda's back, stretching out her name. Python stepped out, causally pushing the queen out of the way. "Follow me. I believe we need to have a little chit-chat."
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===Chapter Two===
Lotus
It was raining. Again. Lotus grabbed a bunch of sleeping darts and started trekking back to the healer's hut.
They'd been taking this route for their whole life, but they still had trouble through the rain. It was so unpredictable- the way the branches jutted out at strange angles, weighed down by the buckets of rain, and the way the leaves flopped across the path, obscuring their vision and making everything much harder, and the way the gushing water dislodged large chunks of rock carefully balanced on either side of the narrow road, changing the simple route into a series of complex calculations about which way would be safest to travel.
Lotus really didn't like change, of any sort. Unfortunately, their life seemed to have missed the memo and decided to turn itself upside-down on a frequent basis.
Lotus had been three years old when their mother, the village healer, had died. They still remembered her, with her millions of herbal brews and gazillions of kind words. Their father had been away fighting for most of their life, so their childhood had been full of her. She had had unlimited energy and a perpetual smile on her face. She was still Lotus' hero, even years after her death. But even Lotus had to admit that not everyone saw his mother in the same light as they did. Pacifist vegetarians weren't a true part of the tribe in most RainWing's eyes. Even Lotus' father sighed every time her name was mentioned and refused to meet anyone's eye.
Their life continued to get weirder as their father was appointed the head healer of the tribe. Lotus had been shocked. They loved their father, in a distant, more external than internal way, but Toucan was a soldier not a healer. Lotus wasn't sure he even knew how to treat a minor cut, let alone cure a snakebite. As four-year-old Lotus watched, more and more of the tribe healers disappeared under mysterious circumstances. It wasn't long before Lotus noticed the link between them. Pacifist vegetarians have no place in our tribe.
Lotus stayed out of trouble for the most part. They weren't a terribly outgoing dragon and never shared their political beliefs with anyone, including their father. Whenever the high-and-mighty Queen Anaconda came to visit the healers, Lotus always found an excuse to be somewhere else. All they wanted was to be left alone- left out of the politics, left out of the RainWing wars, left out of everything except the hut which they were headed to.
"Father! I have the sleeping darts!"
Toucan poked his head out of a window. "Lotus- where have you been?"
"To the main village. To get the new supply of darts. Like you told me to." Lotus' voice was devoid of all emotion.
"Don't try to be funny with me! You've been gone for far to long. If the patient had died of would have been your fault!"
Like you haven't watched hundreds of dragons die because of your incompetence, Lotus wanted to say.
"But sir, if I'd gone to get the darts yesterday when I asked for your permission to go-"
"Lotus."
Toucan's voice was low and threatening, It was very clear there was to be no arguing.
"Yes sir. Sorry, sir."
Lotus made their way up the slippery ladder and placed the healing darts on their father's table. They wanted to ask what to do next, but they knew what the answer would be. Go make yourself useful. Somewhere else.
"Toucan's bullying you again?"
A voice, as bright as the dragonet that belonged to it, startled Lotus out of their gloomy thoughts.
"Glam!" they cried, grinning. "You got away!"
"'Course!" she said.
Glam, or Glamour, really, not that anyone called her that, was Lotus' best (and only) friend. She had been for their whole life. The pair were total opposites- Glam's scales were constantly shifting from an eyeball-scorching yellow to a blinding pink to neon green to a vibrant purple. Lotus preferred to permanently camouflage their scales, and when they weren't camouflaging they were a whiteish-pink colour. Glam was the literal definition of an extrovert. Lotus kept themselves to themselves. This never got in the way of their friendship. They loved each other like siblings, and always would.
"It won't always be like this, Lotus," Glam said gently. "Us pacifists are going to-"
"NOT SO LOUD!" Lotus half screamed. Glam was the one exception to their "no telling anyone I'm a pacifist rule", but they were kind of regretting telling her. It was as if she didn't know the meaning of "secrecy".
"Why are you so scared, Lotus? Are you thinking about all the disappearing dragons?"
"Did I mention them? Did I mention them?"
"Look, I'm not about to be murdered like they were. I'm smarter than that. And anyone who tries it will find a sleeping dart in their neck before they can say many marvellous mangoes!"
"We're healers, Glam. We don't use our sleeping darts for- wait, what?!?!? MURDERS?!?!??!?!"
Glam sighed. "Lotus. Isn't it obvious what's happening?"
Lotus put their talons over their ears. "Not listening! Not. Listening!"
Glam sighed in exasperation. "All I'm saying is that things are going to improve. It won't always be like this. We'll be real healers again. Soon. Someday soon."
Lotus sighed as well, but for different reasons. I only wish I believed you.
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===Chapter Three===
Quetzal
Quetzal sighed internally, wishing she could just disappear right then and there, but begrudgingly followed Python. She knew all too well it was best not to disagree with Python. At least, not to her face.
Python stopped at the end of the swinging woven tunnel that served as a hallway. She pushed open the hanging leaf curtain and stepped into Quetzal's room, beckoning for Quetzal to follow.
She just invited herself into my room without even asking if it was OK with ME.
"Quetzal. You need to leave us alone when we’re discussing important business,” Python said sternly, her eyes slanted into eerie golden slits.
“Why can’t I come listen and discuss it with you? I am a princess after all,” Quetzal argued. This is pointless. No one argues with Python. Stop being an idiotic snail and just go with the flow like you have your whole life.
More of chapter 3 flying in soon!!
Category:Content (CricketSundew)
Category:Content (BuzzieOfTheSkyWings)
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
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Category:Fanfictions (Fanon)
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