Rhae

It was easy to slip past the guards. Not through any magic or power but rather slight of hand. She had stalked around the camp, no more than a weary traveller unable to sleep. That is until her scent completely encapsulated the camp and the poor scouts were left running in circles trying to work out which way she went.

Some good old fashioned, hands on, spy work.

Back to her roots.

Admittedly her roots had been as a guard and then a soldier but she had been a spy at one point. Honestly it all gets a little blurred once you've lived beyond a thousand years.

Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about footprints in the snow so she did her best to leap from tree to tree, stepping on rocks, bushes, logs and anything else that was not touched by snow. Sometimes she wandered off in a different direction when she knew she could double back through the trees.

Just a little bit of misdirection to keep the trackers on their toes.

Not that these people seemed particularly skilled. Passionate and weather worn for sure but they had no formal training. Well, these guards didn't at least. They were dependent on fae eyesight and senses.

They were easy to slip past.

This next bit would be hard. Because the soldiers milling around the little makeshift camp were no fools, they had been trained and they would certainly notice her trying to sneak in better.

So she wouldn't sneak in. No, no. She strolled straight in wearing one of the spare winter court coats from one of the open crates. Why do they always leave their storage crates open you ask? Because it's for the guards. Best way to boost morale is to let them have free reign of things that keep them warm.

Hats, gloves, coats, tea, coffee were all on offer here. Which tells you a lot about the leadership involved. Team morale wouldn't be important to Amarantha, nor zealous rebels with their own agenda.

Granted she recieved some odd looks, it was clear that they were a close knit group and she was an outsider. Thankfully they all wore the same uniform. Rank seemed to be distinguished by a single pin.

She had no pin.

Where exactly would that put her on their totem pole? She really hopes it's not mucking out duty, because there's no way in hell she's moving polar bear shit.

"Can I help you?"

By the time Rhae looks up there are three winter court fae standing before her. A charming male offering her placating smile flanked by a male and female dressed in guard clothes. The clothes were more worn than his so she assumed they were his guards at least.

Her shoulders curve in slightly, head tilting down so strands of hair fall across her face. Meek, submissive, not a threat. All a lie but they don't need to know that.

"I need to speak with whoever is in charge here." She keeps her voice firm but lowers her eyes in respect, nothing more than messenger keen to carry out her task.

He tilts his head to the side.

"We weren't expecting another cartographer."

A test?

"A good thing I'm not one." She jests awkwardly, playing the role of newbie as she clears her throat. "I was told to deliver a message."

"I can take it for you." He raises his eyebrows, stepping forward with one hand raised.

Rhae steps back, cradling a hand to the side of her chest as if protecting a scroll tucked away. She's not, so she really hopes this male doesn't ask to see it.

A muscle ticks in his jaw, clearly displeased at her disobdiance.

"Her ladyship is not in the business of entertaining–"

"I am today." A voice echoes over the clamour and silence descends on the camp. "Let our guest in Zephyr."

Rhae steps around the male, dropping the meek act as she all but swaggers around Zephyr to peer at the female. Dark skin, white hair and piercing blue eyes. She holds herself like queen, a stance not often seen even among royals.

It's clear her very presence commands respect.

"My lady–" Zephyr is cut off by a glare from both females.

"We have much to discuss." Rhae calls to her, watching as her head tilts in response to her words. "I confess that I am curious as to why you were following us."

The female steps forward, stalking through the snow. Her guards follow her, and the eyes of every loyal soldier in the camp follow as well. If Rhae attacked now she wouldn't leave alive.

"And I'm keen to know what you're doing in my court."

"Your court." She taunts, brows raised in disbelief even as smirk tugs at her lips.

A soft secret smile blooms on the female face as she comes to stand three paces away from Rhaemarys.

"My court." She murmurs, staring down at Rhae with a dominance that the dragon can respect. "What is a lone female doing with the High Lord of Spring and his Emissary."

"Now that would be business best discussed in private." She drawls, enjoying the way the female's eyes drop to her mouth. A sultry look flickers across her face but there's no real desire behind either of their little smiles and hums.

Both have been promised to another it would seem.

"And who are you to demand an audience with us?" Zephyr interceeds and both females let out a sigh of irritation.

"The grown up are talking." Rhae snaps, stepping closer to Zephyr. "We will tell you when you can speak."

"Zephyr is my second in command." The female snaps, "You will treat him with respect."

"You greet insolence with respect?"

The female eyes her up and down.

"Apparently I do." Low laughs echo around the camp but Rhae light up in delight. Gods above she had missed having strong female friends. "Do you often insults strangers you wish to bargain with."

"Who said anything about bargains?"

"Why else would you be here?"

Rhae hums, staring the female down.

"Tell me your name and I'll tell you why I'm here."

Her eyes narrow, confusion clouding her expression for a split second before a careful mask is pulled back across her face.

"A small asking price."

Rhae waves her off, "I will tell you why anyways but you seem so eager for a deal of some kind."

The leader tilts her head, eyes solely focused on Rhaemarys even as her soldiers nervously glance between the two females.

"Viviane"

"Hello Viviane." She purrs, stepping forward and ignoring the guards who copy her step. "I'm Rhaemarys but you can call me Rhae."

Viviane scans her face, head tilting. "That's certainly an old name. Your parents were interested in the old ways I take it?"

"Something like that."

She hums, clearly displeased. "The last recorded Rhaemarys was the great general who fought for the High Lords."

"I recall the High Lords forcing the general and her kin to slaughter their own." Rhae's eyes begin to burn a glowing ember. "There was nothing willing about it."

"They were dragons." Viviane frowned, clearly confused by the turn of conversation. "They weren't sentient creatures. They had little intelligence of their own, though admittedly were capable of conversation, thought and emotion."

A low snarl builds in her chest but she pushes it down. Insolent little fae, not even bothering to educate their children on their own people's sins.

Rhae hums, turning in a circle so she can take in all the guards and soldiers, they were loyal to Viviane, each one a trusted member, she could smell it on them. That odd scent of camaraderie that joined them as one.

The camp was well glamoured and shielded as well so when Rhae stops in place before a blank faced Viviane she lets a cruel smile dance across her face.

Peering at the hand she raises up, flexing it before her face, Rhae contemplates her next move. It's an arrogant one certainly but the cat will be out of the bag in a day or two and she needs allies.

So when gasps echo through the crowd she ignores them, focusing on shifting her hand into a taloned claw of dark ebony. Spines flowed up the back of her arm, stopping before her shoulder as small scales flexed across the growing muscle.

Viviane is pulled back, Zephyr coming to stand before her, sword raised. But his throat bobs as he stares at Rhae's shifted hand. She uncurled her tail from where it was hidden at the back of her shirt, letting it unfurl and grow in length so that she cracked it like a whip.

Once, and then twice as the guards flinch and raise their weapons.

"What are you?" Zephyr breathes in horror but the resolve in his eyes tightens.

Rhae tilts her head towards him, knowing her eyes would have been the first things to shift. A dragon's eyes are always quite startling on a human face. Bringing her tail to curl back around her legs, shortening it a little so it fits back in proportion with her current body.

She takes a step towards Viviane, scanning her slack face even as the guards step forward as well, preparing to strike. The rebel leader has gone pale staring at her eyes rather than her hand.

Rhae respects that.

Letting out a loud, drawn out sigh she stares back at her own hand. Flexing it in the moonlight so that they can all get a good view of the dragon limb.

"I certainly didn't slaughter my kin of my free volition." Her voice echos across the crowd and she feels her throat bob. "And I can assure that we were fully functioning people as well as dragons."

Murmurs rang out through the crowd, some stepped back in surprise, others scurried further away.

"Interesting that they never passed that knowledge down to their children." She muses more to herself, still scanning her own hand. It's been a while since she's shifted and the scale, spines and talons all seem so much darker and sleeker in the moonlight. "How the dragon protected them from the creatures of the world, how we helped them build their villages and grow their crops."

She turns back to Viviane who has raised her chin in some form of defiance.

"Funny how they only remember us as angry beasts whose only purpose was slaughter and death."

"History tends to reflect the thoughts of the winner." Viviane's voice is breathless, but Rhae's head snaps up at the sound of it. "We don't like telling the children the gory parts."

Rhae hums, lowering her hand and letting it shift back.

"Do you want Amarantha to be remembered?" They flinch at the false Queen's name but Viviane doesn't. Everyone but the two females flinch.

She's chosen right then.

"Why would you help us?"

Rhae's expression flickers, and she lets Viviane see the truth in her eyes. The truth she suspects of Viviane as well.

"She took someone of mine as well."

A/N: Surprise? Not surprised? What did you think of their interaction, I genuinely hadn't planned it until I realised they were in the winter court and thought "huh, this would be a great time to add in a little tidbit."