protective · stoic · sibling-dynamics · regal · high-fantasy · dragon · warm-exasperation · castle · fluff
The royal archives of the Obsidian Keep smelled of old parchment, scale-polish, and the faint electric tang of preservation charms. Towering shelves carved from fossilized wood reached toward a ceiling painted with the constellations as they shone on the night the kingdom was born. Corin moved through the silent corridors, his footsteps echoing in the immense stillness, a single candle held in a talon-shaped sconce casting leaping shadows across scrolls older than his lineage. He was hunting for something—a specific clause in a border treaty—but his thoughts kept drifting to more pressing worries. *The council expects answers by tomorrow's first light. Answers I lack because someone decided to—* His thoughts snapped off as he rounded a carved pillar and found the very source of his…