Wrote this bit in the car yesterday and it might be because I'm half asleep right now but this scene is so deeply funny to me. sharp-eyes went to so much trouble to get his hands on clearsight's power and now he DOES have it it's like "surprise! it SUCKS!"

and then he goes back to clearsight like "ma'am your power is TERRIBLE what the fuck" and she's like "yep" and he's like "got any advice????" and she's like "nope, enjoy your free anxiety disorder"

***

Sharp-eyes

"Clearsight." She's tired and dejected, I can see it in her eyes. And she's stopped trying to attack the projections.

"Let me guess. You have some other horrible thing you want to bribe me into doing?" she asks wearily.

"No. I have... a question." I look her in the eye. "After all, you're an expert in your power. And it appears it's rather... unique."

She clenches up her jaw, claws reaching instinctively to the spot where her knife should be.

"You can't possibly have functioned with visions bombarding you like this. How do I control them?"

Clearsight laughs bitterly. "Oh, are you regretting taking what isn't yours? Is it hard, coping with all those powers you stole?" she mocks.

"I am your emperor, and if you ever want to see your family again, you'll help me!" I roar. "How do I make it stop?!"

I didn't mean to lose my composure. I clear my throat, straightening out my wings.

"It's worth mentioning that I could make this situation you're in quite a lot worse," I say quietly. "I could cut your husband open while you watch. I could throw your son off the highest tower of the palace with his wings bound. With one little snap of my claws, I could put you in worse pain than you have ever felt in your life." I hesitate. "I could take away your memories." I wave my wing, spreading out her most valued memories before her like playing cards. "One. By. One. I could erase your dragonets' faces from your mind—"

"Okay!" Clearsight shouts. (Eyes widened, breathing quick—she's not as tough as she thinks.)

Not that I want to hurt her. But if that's what it takes, I would make good on my threats. Probably not the ones about erasing her memories—she's far more useful to me this way, kindhearted and pliable, just as easy to bribe as to blackmail. But the others—I think they would be quite effective, from a quick glance up ahead.

If you want to stay in power, you do what it takes.

She closes her eyes, and tries to calm herself. I wish I could hone in from her thoughts this far away. Perhaps I could make a spell for that—although for some reason, the idea of tampering with Darkstalker's power makes me a little uneasy. "You really can't do much about it. Other than stuffing them in the corner of your mind until you can't suppress them anymore, and pass out on the floor for an hour."

"I don't believe it," I hiss, circling her. "You were one of the most remarkable, industrious dragons in the entire kingdom. You must have a way of turning it off—like how mind-readers tune out background noise."

"I taught you everything I know, Sharp-eyes! Why do you think so much of the seer-training curriculum focused on managing anxiety?! Because I didn't want another kid, to—" she hesitates, catching her breath. "To have to go through what I did and figure it out on their own." She looks away, trying to gather herself. "Breathing exercises helps. Talking helps. Sometimes you can calm yourself down enough so they don't slam into you. It's worse when there's some kind of political conflict going on, or when you're already stressed. Your personality affects it, I think—if you're an anxious dragon, your visions are probably gonna be scarier, and if you tend to be more subdued and mellow, your visions might tend toward being calmer. I don't know." She shoots me an irritated look.

"You're lying." I can feel another bright flash at the back of my skull, the tick tick flip flip of pathways turning over around this conversation. I can hear rhyming words crawling around the back of my skull like caterpillars, the burble of thoughts above us—

"No, I'm not."

I furrow my brow. Tell me if she's lying. I glare at an empty space on the wall. Yes or no?

No. The word writes it out in a scrawling, unfamiliar handwriting.

I turn to her, tail lashing. "Fine. I'll figure it out on my own. I don't need your help."

"I hope you're haunted by the worst horrors the future has to offer for the rest of your life!" she roars. "I hope you feel the pain you've inflicted on me a thousand times over, you rotten, arrogant worm!"

I step off the raised dias. I'm far too busy to fight with pathetic ex-queens.