When Ice Breaks, When Gold Cracks

Unda hesitantly raised his head. "Goddess, please do not take your anger out on my siblings. It was all in jest. They didn't mean to upset you." His voice quivered, a weak and feeble thing that had no right to argue with the immortal dragon standing before him. When her green head swiveled to face him, he pressed his forehead to the floor. "Accept my apology on their behalf—I'll speak with the generals as well."

"Apology?" Foliis snapped. She shoved upright in a flurry of green satin and gold tinsel. Her gaze cut to Aurum. "There won't be an apology. I've been pushed around by these three fools for long enough, and I won't stand for it anymore! I'm a Head Dragonborn, servant to the goddess's green head, and they will learn to respect me."

"Please. You're just some rich girl from the city," Ignis spat, lifting her head in turn. Her straight locks of crimson hair were still damp, clinging to her face and neck. Red eyes flashed and she bared a toothy grin. "If you want to be treated like a Head Dragonborn, prove your worth.

Foliis ignored the younger girl and stood, her attention latched onto Aurum. As she marched toward him, he lifted his head to meet her glare with a lazy smirk. "Don't you have any shame? This is your fault."

He rolled his eyes, rising to his full height. His gold cloak was caked in mud at the hem. "If anyone's to blame, it's you," he said. With a harsh gesture, he pointed to the broken necklace, its pieces scattered across the floor. "It was your foolishness that led to this result. Besides, I don't see what the problem is. It's not as if you don't have countless other jewelry pieces to replace that one."

Unda hastily glanced at Selini again. Her silence seethed, but her five heads had yet to call any magic, much less speak a fitting punishment. He stood, shivering as the vicious cold of his magic tangled around his heart. "Let's not fight," he pleaded. "Have you forgotten who stands before you?"

His words fell on deaf ears. Foliis butted her horns against Aurum's, green against gold, her face twisted in rage. She grabbed the front of his tunic. "Just because you're the Golden Head Dragonborn doesn't mean you get to do whatever strikes your fancy. I warned you to stay out of my room. You destroy everything you get your hands on!"

"Being the Golden Head Dragonborn does give me that right, actually," Aurum said smoothly, pulling out of her grip with ease. He brushed back his unruly black hair to expose more of his shiny gold scales. "You've never liked it, but it's true—I'm in charge, so it's my duty to test the rest of you. And you failed, sorry to say."

"Your title does not give you the ability to do as you please," the goddess snapped, her voices slicing through the tension in the air between the two. Smoke trailed from the nostrils of the red head, and frost collected around the neck of the blue head. A telltale sign that she had lost her patience. Her tail swept over the ground, flicking away any remaining bits of Foliis's jewel. She sank into her throne again, her talons gripping the edge.

Hurriedly, Unda bowed to the goddess with his forehead pressed to the floor to keep from looking at her. The rustle of fabric told him the other four had done the same. His stomach twisted into tight knots of unease as the stare of the blue head bored into his skull. He could feel the disappointment rolling off her in waves, piercing the back of his mind like a thorn.

"I am disappointed in the actions of the four of you. Not only have you displayed an utter lack of regard for your position, but you have done so before the generals of Khaliahstikae. You have brought shame upon me before my subjects," Selini said. Each of her words was a knife, and Unda felt it pierce his chest despite knowing it was pointed at his siblings. Whatever embarrassment one Head Dragonborn brought was shared among all of them. Their actions reflected the goddess—a burden they all had been called to bear together.