Without effort, I shaped the dream around us to resemble a room with stained glass windows, filtering sunlight through red, yellow, and blue panes of glass.

       Elyrie tilted her head at me, before nodding.

       "I know who you are. You're that girl who hid her destructive powers and murdered several guards in cold blood. I knew that wingless were dangerous, but, I didn't realize someone who looked so proper could be so horrible." Elyrie said.

       For a moment, I regretted doing this. Maybe I could just drop out here. If she was actually intending for a genocide to happen, I did not have the patience to talk with her.

       What was I saying? I had the patience to hold back my power as long as I did. I had the patience to talk to my parents. I had the patience to hardly complain when I had to use the horrifically impractical pathways of the City Proper. I could do this.

       I just needed to know a few things, and that was all.

       "I know who you are as well, Queen Elyrie of Glitterfield." I said. A table with two chairs appeared, and I sat down in one of them. Elyrie sat down in the other.

       "So, a list, where'd you get that idea from. I know there was a meeting about it, but you didn't entirely explain the full reasoning there." I said.

       "I thought I was being very clear, although I suppose I couldn't know, considering you weren't supposed to say anything. It makes it easier in the case that some destructive wingless fairy goes on a rampage, we can clearly know who it is." Elyrie explained.

       "Then why make a list of fairies without destructive powers as well?" I asked.

       "You know the answer to that." Elyrie said. Alright, that was fair, I supposed.

       "I'm aware that you've taken all wingless fairies into custody. I imagine there's a lot of issues being presented there." I said.

       "It has been difficult. Thankfully there are many good samaritans there to help us. There are a lot more wingless fairies than I realized. I guess I never bothered to look down at the poor excuses for houses you all tend to have." Elyrie said. I nodded along, trying to put on a slight smile.

       "I have to admit, for someone who unleashed horrifying powers in a fit of rage, you do act rather civilized. It makes me scared of what the others could be hiding." Elyrie said.

       "You must understand that not all of us have these kinds of powers, right? So arresting all of us is rather unfair. I for one, didn't go on a destructive rampage until I was confronted by armed guards." I disagreed.

       "If I put three clay pots upside down in front of you and told you one of them contained a deadly viper, you wouldn't want to lift any of them, would you?" Elyrie asked.

       "Yes, that's just common sense. But, unlike you, I wouldn't lift all of them at the same time. If I hadn't lifted the pot, it wouldn't have bothered me. If I had to lift one of the pots, I would just use my power to reinforce myself as a precaution." I explained.

       "There it is, the discussion of your powers. Goodness, that's all any of you groundkissers have to say. My magic this my magic that. You try to use whatever little gifts you've been born with to scrape your way upwards, but to no avail." Elyrie said.

       "What would you have me do, just accept the fact I will always be under a winged fairy's thumb?" I asked.

       "Actually, that would be much preferable." Elyrie said.

       "So, what leads you to believe that wingless fairies deserve to be under the thumbs of winged fairies? I've never had anyone say it outright, so this is a great opportunity for me." I lied, putting on my fake smile.

       "Most of you live in shacks, it takes you ages just to get around the City Proper of Faea Convergence. This society rewards the strong, and you are the weak. It's just the natural order of things." Elyrie said.

     What would a queen who had never been in the jungles know of natural order? Besides, now that I was out in nature, I knew that no one here cared for such things. It was merely survival, if you couldn't survive, you couldn't survive. It was as simple as that.

      "So, you're a firm believer in survival of the fittest?" I asked.

       "Yes, I am. My ancestors didn't get here by playing nice. They were willing to do things the rough way for the greater good and for their own good. I thank them, because now I am here." She answered.

       "So, hypothetically, if a wingless managed to make it to the top, they deserve to be there." I said.

       "Yes! But that's the thing, none of you have. You just expect me to hand you the things you need. No one gets that kind of treatment. The countless prisoners beg me and the guards for more food and water, but there's none to provide. Nobody is going to give you everything in this world. You've got to grow a pair of wings and just fly. Either that or you have to just be born with them, like I was." Elyrie answered.

       "Very well, it's been... great talking with you, and thank you for explaining your reasoning, I'll be sure to remember it." I threatened, letting my guise of politeness fall away.

       "Sorry that the truth hurts, dear." Elyrie said with a smirk. Then, I let the dream fall away. I was sitting in the cave, with Iegis sitting in front of me.

       "Alright, get to sleep, it's getting late." Iegis said. I nodded.

       "Good night." I said before retrieving the fur I slept on and pushing it closer to Rey.

       The prisoners weren't getting enough food and water, I had to act fast. I couldn't train for long here. I sighed. I don't know how long I lay there, but I struggled to sleep. Then, I blinked, and when I opened my eyes, it was early morning, and my whole body felt even more sore.

       For the next few days, I trained as long as I could. I practiced constantly using my minor magic during light exercise. I did ten push ups every time I used powerful magic. I practiced generating powerful bolts of lightning.

       Thanks to private sessions with Iegis, I discovered a multitude of powers I hadn't seen. The ability to blind people, the ability to frighten people with mind control, the ability to subjugate a single target to my power's wrath. And finally, the ability to wrap the influence of my power around objects and lift them. It was similar to what I had used to hold the massive beast in place. I discovered I could also use it on people.

       I helped Rey with her own training. Within days, both of us could feel the difference. When I called upon my most powerful magical capabilities, the physical recoil was less severe. It was almost relaxing to call upon my power now. While it did still drain from my reserve of magic heavily, it no longer made me feel exhausted.

       Jade practiced turning into different, powerful animals each day. Similarly, he had exercise routines in place for every time he called upon his magic.

       After the end of the third day, me and Rey sat at the top of the massive hill, looking down at the river below in the fading sunlight.

       "I don't know how much this'll help. I... I don't feel that much stronger than before." Rey said.

       "You are, Rey. Trust me. If you've been doing the exercises, then it feels easier to use your power." I said.

       "I know, but... I can only use powerful magic three or four times. It feels kinda sad being the only person that can." Rey complained.

       "But... you are the only person here that can fly effortlessly. Jade can only fly for an hour. I'm not sure if Iegis and I can even fly at all." I said.

       "Well, I guess that's true. And... some of my powers are easier to use from the air." Rey said.

       "Let me tell you something that Iegis told me. He told me to not think of our power as static, but to try and extend its capabilities beyond what you think they are. I didn't even think that my crackling power could be turned into lightning. Try bending the limits of what your magic is capable of." I suggested, recalling the lesson I'd had with Iegis the day prior.

       "Alright, I'll think about that." Rey said.

      The next day was training as well. It was exhausting, but I was getting better at using magic.

       Jade was getting better at using his own power as well. He could bend the nature around him to his will as well as emulate it in several ways. He could turn his skin hard as tree bark, command animals, and call upon the nature around him to help him with things.

       Rey was also getting better. The scope of her power wasn't as high, but she was getting better at what she could do. She could also command animals, but she could also mind control people, create dynamic illusions that could move, and heal people.

       The illusions she created were far more vivid than mine, and she had much better control over them than I could hope to have. Jade had incredible power over the flora and fauna that surrounded him. Iegis' minor magic was extremely powerful, and he had a wide variety of capability with more powerful magic.

       My powers were the most rawly destructive, and I possessed the largest wellspring of sheer power. Despite being so powerful, Iegis could only use his powerful magic a few times before he had to take a break. I was able to call upon my power over a dozen times. Even the most powerful capabilities I carried could be used several times.

       Yet, I was struggling to fight back the insecurity of what I couldn't do. Did I have what it took to save all the other wingless fairies back home? Was this happening in other cities? No, I couldn't worry about that right now. All I could do was get stronger, and hope that it was enough.

       One of the things that Iegis told me was that training your magic could only do so much. Once one had mastered the capabilities of their magic and using it without physical strain, there wasn't much left to do.

       Almost all the physical recoil of my magic was gone. Using minor magic felt easy as breathing, and only my more powerful capabilities had a noticeable effect.

       That night, I decided to tell them about when I had spoken with Elyrie.

       "Iegis, do you remember when I asked to speak to Elyrie in her dreams?" I asked. Iegis nodded.

       "Wait, what?!" Rey asked.

       "What did you two speak about?" Jade wondered.

       "I tried to get a grasp of what was happening. I didn't want to talk about it earlier, because I wanted you two to focus on training, but all the wingless prisoners aren't getting enough to eat." I said. Rey's eyes widened. Jade took a deep breath.

       "Zyara, I know you had good intentions, but what the hell! That's important! We better get to it as soon as possible!" Rey shouted.

       "I waited until now because I knew you'd want to do it as soon as possible, but none of us were ready to do anything. We had to run the moment we encountered some guards." I argued.

       "Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry." Rey said.

       "Don't be. I'm glad you're worried about it. It's barbaric what's happening." I said. Iegis and Jade nodded in response.

       "So, I feel that it would be good to have a plan." Jade said.

       "Also, Iegis, are you going to help us?" I wondered. There was a pause where Iegis was silent.

       "Yes. I usually don't care what happens in cities, but, I can't ignore this." He said.

       "Good, then tomorrow, once we're more rested, we should make a plan for what to do." I said.

       "Yes, even with all of our capabilities, it's not going to be easy taking on the guards and every other person who would be against us." Iegis said.

       "Yeah, I know, but I think we can do it." I declared confidently.

       "So do I!" Rey said.

       "I do as well." Jade said.

       "I'm on board." Iegis said.

       I went to sleep that night, more confident, yet still uncertain. There were so, so many guards. We didn't know where they were keeping so many people. But, we were as ready as we were going to be, and for the moment, that was all I could ask for.