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Cynder laid up on her throne, she had replaced the more straight forwards thrown to one that was more of a nest. It allowed her swollen belly to rest more gently and ease the discomfort that her pregnancy had caused her. Over the months following Malefor's defeat, she oversaw the rebuild of Warfang and preparing the city to once again house dragons. They had converted the halls around her throne room to houses for future generations.

Today, she cancelled her plans and stayed in her throne room to avoid carrying the weight caused by her clutch. Spyro was trying to organise the ex-soldiers of the ape army who had given up on returning to Malefor and the cult that had formed after his death.

Rooting out the cult was hard as they had gone underground and were striking from the shadows, trough they had limited power within the city. However, in the rural areas, they were a nuisance for the warmers and traders who tried to make an honest living. She did not envy the ask that she had given Spyro to maintain the peace. Among the options available, Spyro was the most capable dragon, and even in his corrupted form, people still revered him.

The door to the throne room opened, Ignitus entered her throne room. Cynder automatically repositioned herself slightly to appear more regal to the guardian of the fire.

"Ignitus, this must be the first time to visit me in my throne room. To what extent do I owe you the pleasure?" Cynder spoke with a booming voice, projecting her power in front of her and giving no one a second guess to why she was the Queen of these lands. Trough Ignitus had caught her off guard, even though he was no prisoner. He never swore his loyalty to her and lived in voluntary solidarity. He aided some of her quests only because they both had a common goal; to discover and preserve the dragon empire that Malefor destroyed with the war of dragons.

"Queen Cynder," Ignitus spoke, "I have discovered something. I think you would find most interesting. Something I wish to deliver in person to oversee the wellbeing of all parties involved."

Cynder straightened up a bit, well this was going to be interesting. She could hear the mistrust still in his voice, even when he formally addressed her, how he saw her power, but would not want to be a subject of it. It kept her on her toes, a useful reminder of how dragons could respond to the terror of the skies.

"I can't say I am not intrigued, Ignitus. Please share your discovery."

Ignitus stood to the side and turned his head to speak a few words to someone standing behind the doors. Cynder could not hear what he said, but he did not leave her waiting for long. Soon, two dragons appeared into her view. A bright red one and a pink dragon. They stopped dead in their tracks when they looked at Cynder's shape. Looking at her with slight horror in their eyes. The red dragon looked back at Ignitus with a look of betrayal.

'They recognise me, interesting,'

"Come forward, I will not hurt you. Come, tell me your names. I am interested," she said, beckoning them over to come closer to her throne, mostly so she did not have to shout so much.

"And then get caught by Malefor!?" The red dragon spoke up defying her. Cynder took a deep breath to show patience. She slowly stood up, making sure that she did not move her swollen belly too much.

"Malefor is no more." She said simply and approached the two dragons.

"That is not what those apes said who attacked us!" The red dragon spoke up again, puffing up slightly at Cynder.

"And they are wrong. I robbed Malefor of his powered and burned him under my fire." She said with a smile. "Trough, I would like to hear about these apes, where you encountered them. Then I will make sure that these don't bother you no longer." She powered her head down at the two dragons, inhaling their scents.

"You are not the only ones out there, are you?"

While the red dragon did not answer her, the pink one did. "No, we are not"

"Ember!" the red dragon shouted in anguish. "Do not tell the terror of the skies about our tribe."

"but Flame, we have no food to last more than a mere week. We barely survived our trip before Ignitus met us. If it's true what they say, then we can at least try to ask." The pink dragon countered.

Cynder hummed deeply. "Flame and Ember, those are nice names. Allow me to introduce myself formally to you, though I suspect that you already know my name. Queen Cynder, queen of the dragons at your service."

"Ha! I see no dragons here to be queen of," Flame said in provocation, under protest of Ember, who wanted to keep the peace with the larger dragoness.

Flame, the first clutch is coming soon, it's just a matter of time. Ember became interested when Cynder mentioned it and looked at her pregnant belly.

"Wow, that must become a big clutch. Who is the father?" she asked.

"Ember, why do you ask...her about that?" Flame huffed

"Because I want to know," was Ember's defence.

"The father of my clutch?" Cynder repeated the question with a snort. "Spyro is, he will return shortly from his patrols."

Both dragon's yaws dropped at the revelation. Flame just gazed at the large black dragoness in front of him, unable to believe his ear-holes. His sister was the first to really speak again, breaking the silence.

"So Spyro joined your side?" she softly whispered.

Cynder gave a soft hum. "What precisely you mean by my side?" Cynder said with a soft hiss, closing in her head to Ember to look at her closely.

Ember shrunk in her place when the queen got close to her. "I mean, you know...you are the terror of the skies after all and you know," she swallowed and added in a little voice, "evil. "

Cynder gave a soft laugh. "Evil is just a relative term pink one. Sure to some I am evil, after all I conquered this city and defeated the guardians," Cynder gave a single gaze to Ignitus who shamefully looked away and did not dare to return her gaze. "Yet, thanks to my claws, Malefor is no longer and his plans to unleash the world eater are put to a stop. But in the end that matters none. What only matters is a choice you have to make."

"What choice could we possibly have to make?" Flame finally spoke up.

"a simple one, yet oh so difficult. You can live your life as you currently do. I will give you aid not to starve, but you need to survive on your own. Or, accept me as your queen, life in the city, help to rebuild the Draconic empire. Me, Warfang, and General Spyro will protect you." Cynder spoke before returning to her nest-throne to look down at the two dragons. "Of course this offer extents to every dragon." She added with a grin. She could see the look in Ember's eyes, a look that told her that one dragon was already sold to the idea. The other might need some more convincing to accept, though she had time.

Spyro walked in through the door and looked surprised to see Ignitus and the two strange dragons. He then walked over and bowed before Cynder. "My queen, all is quiet on the borders. I have had to chase a small ape group from your lands and help a farmer get their cattle back."

Cynder hummed softly. "Well excellent" She unfurled her tail to pet on the throne next to her. "You know where you belong."

Spyro smiled softly and sat on the throne next to Cynder, getting comfortable with his paws folded and leaning over the edge. Spyro pulled his normal little movement to carry himself with more grace while making sure that he did not appear larger than his queen.

Flame was the first to actually approach both dragons, turning to Spyro to look at him with wonder and distrust in his eyes at the same time. "Why did you join her?" He asked, his voiced did not mock. It carried a genuine curiosity in it.

"Why you ask, uhm..." Spyro paused, realising that he did not know his name.

"Flame." Cynder helped her mate, "And the pink one is Ember."

"Thanks, my queen, anyway. Why you ask flame?"

"I just want to know, you know why, the purple dragon of legend chosen to submit." Flame's words made Spyro's eye ridge rise slightly.

"I guess you are right that I submitted" He looked at Cynder with an all-knowing grin. She turned to that one with a soft air kiss. "But ultimately it was the best choice I had. I never was prepared for what the world demanded from me. My choice might have been unorthodox, but I believe that this was the best choice I could have made. And before you ask Flame, no, I have no regret for my decision." Spyro spoke with an authority that almost made him seem as old and wise as Ignitus. His voice was gentle yet had an urgency in it. Spyro seemed to almost glow when he spoke, his words at easy. His claws softly kneading the pillow below him.

Flame ticked with his claw on the ground while he listened to Spyro speak. He seemed tense and even forgotten to breathe once or twice. He did not dare to look Spyro in the eyes while he nipped at his own scaled lip. Flame gazed back at Ember, who was standing slightly behind him. She just gazed at Spyro, unblinking, with her lips slightly parted.

"What you think, Ember?" Flame cleared his throat before asking Ember.

Ember did not respond to Flame's questions. She had dug her claws into the Ground below her, not wanting to seem unsteady. It was not until Flame asked again that she responded.

"I think?" She answered while sneaking a peek or two at Spyro. "If they can keep ups save and fed, what would there be to complain about?"

Flame huffed and shuffled about. At the answer from Ember. "We should ask it to all the tribe. They should have a vote in this, then maybe we can decide about it."

However, Cynder interjected Flame and his thought processes. "Flame. You want to know a little secret of mine. There is not a single dragon here in this room that you have to agree with, but yourself." Cynder gave a small smirk while speaking and folded her arms, looking down at the red dragon.

Flame did not answer Cynder. Instead, he pulled himself back slightly, trying to evade the attention that was placed up on him. His forehead was wrinkling as he frowned deeply. Cynder gave an annoyed huff before turning to Ember.

"seems your brother is not decisive enough to decide. What about you pink one? Do you have the strength to decide?" Cynder spoke directly, looking straight at Ember with a piercing glance.

"I, uhm," Ember said softly, stealing yet another glance at Spyro. "I think I accept?"

"You think?" Cynder asked directly. "Is that a yes or no?"

"A yes, defiantly a yes!" Ember puffed up.

"Ember!" Flame said indignantly. "Why?"

"Why not?" Ember answered. "Do you have any better ideas?"

Flame finally lifted his head to look at both Cynder's and Spyro's gaze. He still had an unfocused gaze in his eyes but he gave a small laughter. "I am going to regret this later. I am sure of this. But if my sister is in, I am in."

It made Cynder rub her clawed paws together. "excellent." She grinned from cheek to cheek. "Ignitus!" she called out. "Show our new residence our vacancies. Let them choice which one they like." She turned to the two dragons. "Follow Ignitus, but if you need any help with moving, just ask so, and I will make sure some of the mole people will aid you."

She watched Flame and Ember walking away, following Ignitus before speaking with a whisper to Spyro. "someone has a crush on you. "

"Pfff, never,"

Cynder pushed his belly with her tail tip again. "Oh, did you not see the way the pink one looked at you? If I was a jealous dragoness, I would think she would make a move up on you."

"Uhm you jealous? Perhaps if you were not heavy with my eggs," Spyro joked, but reached over to give Cynder a kiss on her neck. She gave a soft rumble back.

"Uhm perhaps, but I'll think I test this devotion tonight,"

"for you anything, my queen,"