Pyrite..was an enchantment.

This hadn't quite settled with her yet.

It was the tawny SandWing - Qibli, that's what his name was - who had told her, 
just a few moments ago. They were alone in the rainforest; the other one, 
Winter, the dazzling-pale IceWing, had been there, but left to.. get someone, 
she thought. She couldn't remember who. Could anyone, if they'd just been told 
they.. didn't really exist?

She was so confused. She certainly *felt* like she was a real SkyWing. And she 
really did have memories! Playing with the other SkyWings, soaring over the 
mountains, hunting down boars (although she wasn't exceptionally skilled at 
that)... and most of all, she remembered Queen Scarlet, her queen; bowing down 
to her, doing everything she did for her sake... and all of that was fake?

Urrgh, it couldn't be. Qibli had asked her what she could remember. She 
understood what he was getting at.. why did he have to ask about her parents? 
Why them? She'd faltered - the truth was, she *couldn't* remember their names. 
She didn't know what they looked like, or how they talked to her...oh, but 
something clicked then - Queen Scarlet raised her! Of course! She remembered 
*her* - how loyal she was to her, especially. That really was it.. when she 
thought about it, wouldn't it have been kind of.. dis-loyal, to have been 
raised by someone else, anyway?

She'd said that to the thoughtful SandWing, but he just paused. He didn't say 
anything for a moment. That puzzled Pyrite - why was his expression so blank? 
Why wasn't he confident about that?

Why wasn't *she* absolutely confident about it?

Pyrite clutched her necklace, looped securely around her neck. This object.. 
was who she was, Qibli had said. Her mind reeled. Everything about her.. a few 
words that formed a spell, cast upon a terribly nondescript, heartless and 
soulless *thing*? Every aspect of her existence - just an utterance of magic on 
a clump of metal, beat into shape by the talons of some MudWing smith who would 
never know of its meaning...

She took a breath. She had to calm herself down. This wasn't.. this wasn't 
helping.. oh. Suddenly, Pyrite's world collapsed all over again. Panicking like 
this.. wasn't helping Queen Scarlet. She wasn't helping Queen Scarlet. What she 
was doing.. wasn't helping her. *Why?* She had never felt this before. Not once 
in her.. made-up?.. life, had she felt.. doubt. Pyrite was completely loyal to 
Queen Scarlet. If there could be nothing else in her, *this* was her identity. 
She'd never even thought to consider that she might.. not succeed at that.

Pyrite fell to her knees. Qibli had left her alone - she'd asked for that. 
Maybe she shouldn't have. Why was she so defeated? Why did this change 
anything? Couldn't she still.. be loyal.. even if she wasn't a real dragon? 
Pyrite crushed her eyes tight, hardly recognizing the crinkling leaves rushing 
towards her. Why was it all a lie? Did.. did anything she did matter? Could she 
ever truly do anything for her queen? Without that, would *she* matter? Why 
wasn't.. she.. a real dragon..?

Suddenly, cold talons pressed down onto her shoulders. Gently, but *rgh*, they 
were *cold*, and sort of spiky, she felt. But they were someone's. Pyrite let 
out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, then opened her eyes.