Mako sat at the long, rectangular table, next to her mother, Queen Mother-of-Pearl. Today was special. It was Queen Mother-of-Pearl's hatchday, and she was holding a banquet to celebrate. The SeaWing princesses were automatically invited, respectively, and so were the high-ranking SeaWings friendly with the queen. Quite a few commoners were present as well, to Mako's surprise, and her mother had even gone to lengths as far as inviting dragons of different tribes. Which was why Mako was now forced to eat with one of the SandWing princesses sitting to her right. Mako didn't know why she didn't just enchant a spear to kill them all- she was an animus after all, but a such spear shouldn't be wasted on mere SandWings. Mako leaned across the table to talk to her younger sister, Petrel, but Queen Mother-of-Pearl, sitting in a splendid throne carved out of marble and embedded with sapphires to match her beautiful blue scales hit her arm. "Mother!" Mako groaned. "What do you expect me to do?" "Show your guests proper manners," Queen Mother-of-Pearl replied, studying her talons. "But I need to talk to someone, I mean I can't sit here waiting for another hour to get food!" "Manners, Mako! Shut your fat snout and act like a princess should!" The queen snapped, looking up from her polished black talons to glare fiercely at her daughter with emerald-green eyes. Mako glared back, muttering under her breath. Shut your fat snout and act like a queen should, Mako thought angrily. She rapped on the marble table impatiently with her talons, her mind wandering to the present she had prepared for her mother. "Mother will find it very useful," She thought aloud. The SandWing princess next to her turned her head. "Find what useful?" The pale golden dragonet asked, tilting her head gracefully to one side. "Oh, the hatchday gift I made her!" Mako replied without giving anything away. "Oh, you made her a gift? Talon-made gifts are nice but are kind of cheesy. Plus they almost never look good..." The SandWing princess said, glancing hungrily at the silver plate and utensils laid out in front of her. "Well, this gift is special. Let's see you get Queen Cobra an animus-enchanted item!" Mako said in a voice close to a roar, interrupting the quiet chatter of dragons nearby. They looked at her in alarm but soon got back to their talks. "Whoa, you're an animus?" The SandWing asked. "Yeah, wanna see? I'll demonstrate the gift on you," Mako hissed, malice glittering in her eyes, the exact same shade of green as her mother's. "Nah. Do it on the plate." "Fine!" Mako said confidently. The next second the SandWing princess shrieked as her silver plate rose into the air and started hitting her on the head. "MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT-" She was silenced as SeaWings wearing little white aprons carried food out from what seemed to be the royal kitchens. The plate slowly drifted down again and resumed its previous, innocent position. Mako watched intently as the waiters set down large plates of food. "Free pickings," Mako heard a SeaWing prince nearby mutter. His brothers nodded enthusiastically. "Slim pickings," The SandWing princess hissed under her breath, looking at the variety of seafood with an expression of pure disgust. "Open your eyes, Your Highness, and maybe you'll eventually see the camel and roasted scorpion we got you," Mako sneered. The SandWing didn't notice the sneer and leaped for the desert food as soon as she saw it. Mako snorted and piled blue tuna rolls onto her plate. "Mother," Mako said in between bites. "Yes, Mako?" Queen Mother-of-Pearl asked, slicing octopus carefully with a silver knife. "When will we be able to present you your gifts?" "After the feast, dear," The queen said, starting on the octopus. Mako sighed. She was impatient. Very impatient. And when she got impatient she exploded. Last time there had been... how many victims? Mako counted on her talons, a faint trace of a grin appearing on her talons as she counted five. They had all been unimportant dragons, though. Shame. Mako worked on her tuna rolls, suddenly not hungry anymore. This tended to happen when she was bored. All appetite was lost. "Hey, Mako, can I have those?" Petrel asked, pointing to the leftover tuna rolls on Mako's plate. "Sure," Mako said, pushing her plate across the table. Queen Mother-of-Pearl watched disapprovingly but didn't interject. Finally, after what seemed like an hour of dying of boredom, Mako noticed everyone was done with their food. The big plates of food had been wiped clean by the dragons and now the SeaWing waiters were collecting all the empty plates. After every trace of a feast taking place had gone, Queen Mother-of-Pearl cleared her throat and stood up. "The gift-giving ceremony will now commence," She boomed. "All dragons will line up in front of my throne and will present my gift. Mako, do the honors of moving our table." Mako sighed. She moved her talons upwards and the table followed. When she lowered her...
...talons the table remained in the air, touching the tall ceiling of the Summer Palace banquet Hall. "Guests first, royal family members last!" Queen Mother-of-Pearl trilled. Mako gripped her present, grinning. She knew that it drew a lot of attention. Why would the queen want such a common object? Mako said nothing but waited for her turn. Finally, there were only two dragons left before it was Mako's turn to present her gift. A sky-blue SeaWing with pearls strung around her neck stepped up to the queen. "Oh, my dear Princess Hurricane, what do you have for me?" Queen Mother-of-Pearl asked. Hurricane shakily held up a beautiful necklace made of black pearls. "It requires enchantment," Hurricane muttered. "MAKO!" Queen Mother-of-Pearl snapped. Mako set her present down- it vanished. She walked up to her mother and looked at the necklace. "What would you like me to do?" She asked in a bored tone of voice. "I need you to enchant it so that all kinds of colors ripple across the pearls!" Hurricane exclaimed. Mako snatched the necklace, held it for a second, and then handed it back to her younger sister. Immediately colors erupted onto the black pearls. "It's lovely, Hurricane!" Queen Mother-of-Pearl exclaimed, immediately putting it on. Mako glared at her. She had enchanted it, not Hurricane! Mako stood next to her mother as Petrel walked up, bowed, and held out a tiny emerald SeaWing. Queen Mother-of-Pearl looked at it with disappointment. "Really? Is that all? It's scavenger-sized." The queen said, sighing. "No, I need Mako to enchant it to move when held only by the reigning SeaWing queen," Petrel said simply. Mako nearly roared out loud. She was furious with her sisters for making her enchant the gifts now. And such complex enchantments were not to be done at the last minute. Mako had to concentrate hard on this one, but after a minute she nodded, and Petrel set the emerald SeaWing onto her mother's palm. The little emerald sculpture looked up at the queen and flapped its wings. "Simply stunning, Petrel!" Queen Mother-of-Pearl said happily. Petrel grinned at Mako smugly, who glared back. "Alright, Mako, let's see your excuse." Mako opened her mouth to protest but closed it again. Stupid mother, she thought as she walked up to the invisible gift, which appeared out of thin air. She picked it up and walked back to her mother. All the dragons were watching now, some chuckling quietly at the seemingly boring gift Mako had presented. "A spear?" Queen Mother-of-Pearl chortled. Mako shook her head. "I could get this from anyone! Anyone! I could make one myself if I wanted!" The queen howled. "You couldn't get this from anyone, mother, because it is animus-touched," Mako said softly, gripping the spear in her talons tightly. "YOu make me do all of these enchantments for you and then you forget that I am an animus when I present you your gift. This is no ordinary spear, mother." "What does it do? Slice you food?" Queen Mother-of-Pearl hissed. "Ask it to find the heart of your enemy and it won't rest until it does," Mako responded calmly. "I will demonstrate for you now, Mother, in case you don't believe me." Queen Mother-of-Pearl looked unconvinced. Still, she ordered for one of the prisoners to be released and brought into the Banquet Hall. Before any SeaWing guard could obey her orders, however, Mako held up a hand. "No prisoners necessary. I have my victim in this room already," Mako's eyes swept the hall, not glancing twice at Petrel and Hurricane, who looked horrified, as if they had just been chosen as the victims. The other dragons looked frightened as well. Mako looked down at the spear, and said quietly, but loud enough for everyone present to hear, "Spear, find the heart of Queen Mother-of-Pearl of the SeaWings." Queen Mother-of-Pearl shrieked as the spear shot out of Mako's talons and, in a second, embedded itself in her chest. Queen Mother-of-Pearl fell off the throne and onto the cold floor, looking up at Mako, who stood above her. "You- you- how could you!" The queen hissed, coughing up blood. Mother and daughter faced each other, each glaring at the other, and then Queen Mother-of-Pearl fell limp, the fire dying in her gaze, eyes left lifeless and staring. The blood kept flowing. Mako grinned and pulled the spear out of her mother's chest. "I am Queen Mako of the SeaWings, animus, and next time you try to train your tribe's animus as much as I was, think again." Queen Mako ran her talon over the spear's head, drenched in red, and held it up. "Unless you want to suffer the same fate as my dear mother." ______ also you can read this masterpiece (not) on deviantart http://ravenclawraptor.deviantart.com/art/The-Hatchday-Banquet-Little-WoF-Oneshot-615501998
