Caldera and Jackal slowly came out to stand beside Mallow while Calcite smartly stayed hidden.
Flora looked hurt. "See? That doesn't change anything. You're still with the only ones you care about anymore. There's no point in rubbing it in." She said quietly.
"We don't need her," Vervain told Flora. His sister nodded but still watched Mallow sadly.
It made sense that her sibs—Flora especially, since she was always a bit more emotional—would think that she left them and ignores them. But if she sought them out too much, then they'd think she was trying to become a part of the troop again.
It was complicated.
"Look, I know it seems like I don't care," Mallow tried, "But you guys don't want me. I don't want to be a part of the troop if it means annoying you guys." She held out her wings to half-hug her friends. "But I've found dragons who I can consider friends—and right now, we need to get to the other side of the kingdom. Let us through, Vervain."
"No," Vervain replied. "Because I know you still care, and I know you've found 'friends,' but you're a liar. For all we know, you're heading to the queen and handing us over to Burn. In a close-up inspection, you're probably the only one who'd pass as a full MudWing."
"When have I lied to you?" Mallow asked, desperation leaking into her voice. They couldn't sit here and do this all day. There were much better times to be arguing with Vervain.
"How about every single time you said 'It'll be alright'?" Vervain hissed. "When we were told that we needed to go into battle early, you lied. When you lost your position, you lied to Frute. When we fought that first battle, and couldn't find him…you lied. Over and over again." He was getting riled up, which was making Mallow frustrated, which made both Flora and Caldera whimper.
"I'm sorry I wasn't the bigwings you wish you had," Mallow said. She couldn't stop it from sounding a bit venomous. "But we really need to get through. We can do this another day. Just not now. Alright?"
Vervain looked too busy trying not to bite her to notice she said anything. Instead, Flora looked at Mallow.
"He's been like this a lot," she explained. "He…well, I guess all I can say is that he doesn't think highly of himself when he acts like a bigwings. And he cares, just not very noticeably. A-and I do too, but…suffice to say, we all want this war to be over." She gently nudged Vervain, who moved out of their way.
"Thank you," Mallow murmured.
Flora beamed a little. Then she looked down at Jackal and Caldera—although she wasn't that much bigger than Jackal. "But next time you come through here, don't bring little dragonets. He won't attack them, but he probably will attack you. They look a bit too young to be traumatized just yet."
Mallow might have imagined it, but she thought she heard Caldera mutter something like, "It might be too late for one of them…" accompanied by the quiet sound of her fiddling with her bracelet.
Mallow ushered her friends past her sibs, saying thanks to Flora again.
"They didn't seem to hate you too much," Caldera pointed out.
"I doubt I was high on their 'things to worry about list' if they had a rough time in battle." Mallow replied, looking down at the wingless SkyWing. "Queen Burn doesn't take well to hybrids; she tends to kill all of the hybrids she can get her claws on. I'm the only one out of the four—no, three—of us that have ever told anyone that I'm a hybrid. Vervain doesn't care as much, but he doesn't tell anyone. Flora has always been the most cautious around strangers. I trust easily—around MudWings, SkyWings, and SandWings, at least—but I don't tell anyone that I don't know or dragons I don't think can keep it."
"It's nice to know I seem trustworthy," Caldera said.
Jackal nodded in agreement, although he winced a little.
"So the MudWing's a hybrid?" Calcite asked. She was still hidden behind the other side of the trees, but Mallow could hear her perfectly. "Interesting. I've actually met a few hybrids. All of them are still alive, last time I checked."
"Where are these hybrids if they're still alive?" Mallow said despite her distrust of Calcite. The IceWing was going to figure it out sooner or later; might as well be in an argument with sibs than anything else.
"My old home," Calcite replied. She fell silent, and so did the other three.
(A/N: Wow, uh...Vervain has some problems... I think he needs a hug. Too bad that doesn't happen in this story.)