#hlfx

so. ezran is still kidnapped, and raydia is pretty much spending 12+ hours on the road a day trying to catch up to the earthblood elves that took him

not to mention they Still Have The Egg. AND they had a fight ab viren and also morality earlier. things r tense and quiet theyre not talking much

raylas like. dealing w her trauma yk? (thanks viren). she hasnt had the best few days/weeks/months/how long has it been since marcos died again?

anyways. bad times but shes healing!! shes gettin better!!! this is first and foremost a story ab healing and moving on and becoming better!!!!!

claudia is Also thinking but not about trauma (maybe about trauma). shes like. rethinking some of the things her dad told her u know? and is also developing an outsiders pov on dark magic with raylas sidelong comments earlier in their journey. except now shes actually Thinking about it and hmm. hmmmmmmm.

idk if i SAID they have the air primal stone but they do now. maybe the fire primal stone bc i do nothing if not project on claudia and boy am i a pyromaniac

anyways.

jesus that was just the setup

anyways they come across an elf village and rayla wants to avoid it this time but claudia sneaks in bc she wants to see it for herself

i change my mind she goes to see how magic is used in their societies and steals a primal stone

so she gets away with it (barely) and rayla wakes up to (another? cannot remember if they had the air primal stone lmao) primal stone in her bag with the egg

"claudia what the fuck im not carrying this your turn"

she doesnt explain WHY she stole the primal stone but rayla notices the filmy magic coating their clearings in the morning. and its not heavy, dark magic. its the magic of her childhood and her people, and gives her a little hope for her traveling companion

(are they friends? can she call claudia a friend when they were at each other's throats only a few weeks before?)

she doesnt mention it, though

they get more little moments on the road, peppered between sharp words on the bad days and dead silence on the worst ones. but they grow closer, bit by bit.

then they intercept the caravan with ezran and everything goes to shit

raylas impulsive and angry and so, so tired and so she runs at them, only for claudia to pull her back last minute.

theyre both scared but. claudia has a plan. she hopes.

so they linger outside the queen's palace, and wait. because if xadia politics are anything like human politics, the dragon queen will want to see her royal prisoner

she does. and when ezran steps in front of the massive dragon, sweating and exhausted in his torn cloak and tunic, rayla grabs claudias hand to stop herself from running out to him then and there.

it doesnt take long for the queen to demand retribution for her child, since clearly the crown prince- now king- ezran is alive

and this is where the plan comes in

rayla steps out onto the open air royal draconic chamber, holding the egg, and all goes silent. there are tears in her eyes when she sees ezran start to cry, but her voice remains steady when she speaks

"I have something better than retribution. But the one who brought it deserves to be the one to give it to you" or something like that

she hands the egg to ezran, he explains, claudia rushes out and theres a teary group hug while zym is born

the dragon queen doesnt trust them entirely, especially since the new one reeks of black magic, but she agrees to send an emissary to katolis

with rayla as their guard, of course