A message to be delivered [Private/Solar, Blue Streak, Whisper.]

At the sound of knocking, Skonis stirred sleepily, casting a glance at the large clock hanging on the opposite wall. Its hands read eight-thirty, and blearily he wondered who, exactly, was outside the door, to wake him up so early.

Well, he would find out soon enough.

"Come in," he called, getting off the bed he had been curled up, comfortably, on; as the door opened he drew the curtains aside, allowing warm rays of sunlight to permeate the room, before turning to face the dragon.

His face was a familiar one that was known to all who resided in the Twilight Palace: like Skonis he was a Messenger of sorts, but his duties took place only within the Palace, and nowhere else. That meant the Rulers were calling for him, then.

"Skonis," the Messenger greeted. "The Rulers want you. They're waiting for you in the main hall."

As I'd thought.

"Alright. I'll be there as soon as I can," he responded, and with a nod the Messenger left the room. Skonis, too, departed his room not too long after, but not before grabbing his worn satchel and making sure he didn't look disheveled; he doubted the twins would truly care, given their dispositions, but appearing composed would put him at ease.

Oh, he knew why he was being summoned. There would only be one reason for the Stormcaller Rulers to call on someone as unimportant as he was: so that he could carry out his duties, though to whom he would undoubtedly deliver a message still remained unknown.

At last he arrived at his destination, and pushed the grand double-doors open; stepping into the main hall, he dipped his head and greeted, "Your Majesties."

Blue Streak was already there walking about in absolute boredom, looking back to see who it was with an uninterested face. He already had his satchels strapped and ready to receive, a large avian silently watching the events about to unfold perched atop the blue dragon's back. "Oh great, this'll be fun..." He muttered quietly to himself. He retraced his steps, walking back towards the rulers to wait for further orders.

The twins were laying down when the other dragons came in. They both nodded and smiled at the messengers, looking at something. Solar then spoke up.

"Good to see you both. As you know, we had spoken with the Kamaal recently, and said that we could help them with storing more... delicate information if they wanted us to, but we also found some information that could help them."

"We want you to take these papers to them, and to tell them that, if needed, there's space in the restricted library."

Movement at the edges of his vision caught his attention, and a quick glance revealed the source to be another male dragon slightly taller than he was, with a vibrant bird on his back. Either he was here for other business, or he was a Messenger as well, judging from his wings and his satchel.

He then returned his gaze to the rulers, who had begun speaking now that the two had finally arrived, and listened to the two with mingled interest and curiosity. It appeared that his - their - task was no ordinary one this time; to think that it involved the restricted section of the Stormcaller library... How unusual.

Still he asked no questions and merely nodded in response, though inwardly he was memorising the twins' words as well as planning the shortest flight route to the Kaamil, which was literally another continent away; it would take them four days there at least, and while he could fly for long periods of time he was bound to tire eventually. There would be bare spaces to land on and rest.

If the twins had nothing else to say, he would exit the room and head to the nearest platform, checking behind him to see if the other Messenger was there before taking off, straight towards the Tempest Ring, where a deep purple storm awaited him.

"Yeah, we can do it..." He replied, almost too carelessly in an annoyed tone. In either case, he accepted the papers, handing them off to Striker, who transferred them into a secure satchel. The disdain towards his red eyed 'partner' was loud and clear on Blue Streak's face as he left the chambers of their ruler.

He could get there in little time hanging on a jet stream but he wasn't sure how well equipped his friend would be travelling that high. Alas, he had to stick with the smaller male. Wasting no time in taking off, he bolted past the dragon, before letting him catch up as they neared the Tempest Ring.

As Skonis left the room, tucking his share of the papers into his satchel as he went, he pondered over the attitude of the Messenger he was to travel with; while he hadn't noticed the other male's expression, not having paid him much attention besides the once-over, he had heard the note of annoyance in the Messenger's voice. Was it at the prospect of not getting to do it solo, or was he naturally that way?

Either way, Sko soon dismissed the thought from his mind, having far more pressing matters to worry aboht. It would be easy to lose the other male in the Tempest Ring; however, he had barely glanced behind when a blur of blue passed him, speeding towards the mass of clouds, as if he were attempting to outrace Sko.

Rolling his eyes in sheer disdain, Skonis opted instead to conserve his energy and and glided, unhurried, into the storm. The winds were particularly turbulent today, but he navigated with ease and without fear of the lightning that flashed all around him; soon he was out, and paused briefly to set his route before setting off at a brisk but sutainable speed, soon disappearing among the clouds, where it was cooler and more comfortable for him.

The Tempest Ring was one of Blue Streak's favorite challenging places, the sudden gust changes, the lightning flaring around him as he barreled through the clouds in a shield of wind that kept most of the sideways downpour from soaking him severely.

He spotted the other dragon diving into the clouds, and reluctantly banked to a position that allowed him to at least spot him from time to time.

"Striker, I want you to act as a sight anchor for us." Blue said above the wind's choir. "And here I thought sleeping was going to in order." He quipped, before breaking from Blue's formation, flying between the clouds to eventually catching a glimpse of both in a decent position between them. The avian simply began maintaining a rough pace with a sigh.

Although he was fairly confident that he was flying the right way, he dived down through the clouds from time to time to check, and occasionally consulted the map that was folded, neatly, in his satchel; sometimes he glanced back to look for the other male as well. Unfriendly as his companion was, Skonis didn't plan on losing him, especially since he carried some papers as well.

Only during evening did he spot the blue stretch of water that he intended to cross; between the two continents this patch of sea was the shortest, but nonetheless it would take them another few hours to cross, costing energy that he didn't have left to spare. Night was falling as well, and he doubted it would be wise to continue flying in the dark.

So he spiraled back to the ground, not landing yet, and began looking for shelter, not waiting for his companion, who could go ahead first if he wanted.

Blue Streak braked to a stop as he watched Skonis glide down to the ground, realizing that ocean travel was exceptionally dangerous at night, especially at a low altitude, at least to more reasonable dragons.

But he sighed, lazily descending as he followed the other dragon at a distance; he'd rather at least make sure his compatriot survived with the papers. Striker stayed between the two yet, watching tiredly.

Skonis didn't land immediately, instead opting to fly wide circles over the area on which he was planning to land, searching for some shelter to seek refuge in should it rain; spotting none, however, he had no choice but to descend, swiping a stray moose in the process. He had some snacks in his satchel, that was true, but he'd rather keep them for more urgent situations.

The ground was sandy, barren, and after finishing his moose he glanced up at the sky, looking for Blue, and found him and his bird nearby. Strange, but he didn't question it; he curled up and went straight to sleep.

--

Despite his usual preference to rise in the later stages of morning, or even afternoon, he did no such thing now, and was already lifting off into the sky even though the sun had barely risen from thw horizon. He scanned his surroundings for Blue, and regardless of whether the Messenger and his bird were there, he checked his papers and soared towards the sea.

Blue would land a distance away, and though having preferred a shelter to stay dry, he was content with sleeping before long alongside his avian friend beneath a dying tree.

--

About a solid twenty minutes after Skonis had taken flight, Blue would fly past him heading out into the strait that connected Layrian to Verula, though staying at a looser distance from the other male.

Always wanting to stay ahead, huh?

With a small shrug, Skonis once more left Blue be. It wasn't of his concern if the other Messenger got lost, though even then it was an insult to think so; the other male was a Messenger for a reason.

He soared at a comfortable speed, and crossed the small strait in no time, keeping Blue within his field of vision. As they turned and headed north, the air gradually became more and more frigid, lowering to a comfortable temperature. Skonis took short breaks every now and then, flying through the night, and after another day he finally spotted Kaamil territory, and increased his speed to catch up with Blue.

Using the map in his head, he took the shortest route to the Kaamil palace, where he landed on the snowy pavement and said, in Universal, to the two guards on either side of the door, "I'm Skonis, a Messenger from the Stormcallers. I'm here to deliver a message and some papers from the Rulers Solarlight and Darksky to the Kainura Erisdar." He bowed his head briefly.

While they had been traveling the final stretch, Blue fell behind when a powerful gust managed to thread its way past Skonis barreling into Blue Streak's path, catching him off guard. "...Great..." He muttered under the freezing wind, before correcting his altitude to catch up.

However by the time he managed to reach the entrance, another powerful gust blew him just harsh enough to stay his speed, before suddenly letting up.

The sudden relief caused the striped dragon to suddenly boost into the floor, sending Striker flying as well, catching himself before impacting the opposing wall, before fluttering back to his friend.

Rising from his landing with an all too displeased face, he realized Skonis had already introduced himself. He rushed beside the other dragon, nudging him out of the way. "Blue Streak, Messenger of the Stormcallers as well! We're... a pair." He said, clenching his fangs on the last sentence, before whispering to Skonis. "When we get to their leader, let me do the talking, eh?"

At his introduction, the guard frowned briefly, inspecting Skonis in silence before at last nodding to his companion, who made to push the door open. However, just as he was about to step into the palace, eager to escape the biting chill, he heard a thud and spotted Blue crashing into a nearby wall, before righting himself and pushing past Skonis; he frowned, annoyed, but bit back his irritated remark.

But not when he heard what Blue said to him.

Turning to the guard, he said stiffly, "I apologise, but please give me a moment," before dropping his voice and hissing at Blue, his voice as cold as the frigid winter wind blowing around them, "No, I don't think I will. I don't know what's your deal, but whatever you're unhappy about, suck it up. From how you've been behaving towards me, I'd say it's my presence that's bugging you, so tell me, Blue Streak, what have I ever done to offend you? We've never met up until the day the rulers summoned us, so I can't imagine why you'd be holding a grudge against me."

Blue Streak rolled his eyes at Skonis, smiling innocently. "Oh it's not a grudge, just, I believe we'll have a better chance if I talked to their leader." He quickly made to step into the palace, Striker shrugged to Skonis as Blue passed, unsure of the situation.