The dragons spent the rest of the night enjoying the honey drops and laughing away at the other's jokes and conversations to try and hide the pain of earlier. Locust went off to bed and Radiant followed soon after. The dragons spent the next few days uneventfully. Talking and eating took up much of the time and they were keeping up with the news. Reports of LeafWings around the Hives were brushed off by the both as unfunny pranks, though one day Radiant could almost see a bunch of weird figures flying across from the Poison Jungle into the ocean. One day, Radiant woke up and walked downstairs to see that Locust wasn't awake yet. Radiant noted that it would've been too early in the morning for him and just wanted to get the day over with. She walked down and walked over to her basket of vegetables and grabbed a piece of yam and gnawed on it sleepily. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. Radiant stretched her ruby red and white wings and walked over to the door.
"Delivery for Duke Locust." the delivery HiveWing said boredly.
"He's asleep."
"Not my problem, get him down and sign the paper."
"I'll just sign it and tell it's for him."
"Alright, do what you want. I don't care." Radiant pulled the board out of the HiveWing's talons and signed it with a quill.
"There, take it." Radiant tossed it back to the HiveWing and he nearly dropped it.
"Gee, here you go." The HiveWing said sarcastically after dropping a letter and package onto the porch. The HiveWing took off and Radiant was left by herself with a package and letter.
"Annoying little... Ugh! They don't even treat us with respect." Radiant whined to herself as she picked up the package. She quickly blew a raspberry at nothing, annoyed, and walked inside slamming the door shut. She tossed the package onto the table, but then saw a small letter fall. She went to pick it up to then see a small green locust symbol. She inspected it more to see it was from Tsetse Hive. Curiosity took over Radiant as she remembered Locust being panicked about the other letter and wanted to know what that was all about. She held the letter in one claw and tore it open from the top. Her stomach felt as though it was full of butterflies with each tear at it until finally the silk paper came out.
Addressed to Duke Locust
I expect this letter finds you well. You haven't been sending back your signed forms as of recently and I wish to know why you aren't. No, that's quite idiotic... I know why you're not sending your work back. That SilkWing you picked up is the reason, isn't it? Me and father know about that dragon. If you are upset learning about what you actually do, we regret to inform you that it would be a problem. If we do not earn income from you legalizing the trade papers then all of Wasp and Hornet Hive would go into poverty. If this problem stems from you trying to "protect" your little pet from the truth we will be forced to remove them ourselves. Disappointing your parents wouldn't be what you want, no? Their kind isn't of worth anyways, that's why they're better off as being low-class workers. Was none of your learning in Mantis Hive even useful? SilkWings are better off as being below HiveWings, you even said so yourself in our last letter before getting them. I hope this pause in your work is only momentarily and you resume once this letter gets in your thick skull.
Duchess Paralyze
"I'm sorry, what?" She looked at the letter over and over again. She wasn't incredibly surprised that Locust said he didn't like SilkWings, but them calling her a pet just enraged her. However, this made her more curious about what it was like in the family business. It said something about 'trade papers' so they could trade something, but what?
"Hey, Radiant." a voice called out.
"What is your family's business?" Radiant said coldly. For the first time in a while she was mad at Locust.
"W-- what exactly?"
"What is it? The letter your mommy sent you said something about trading."
"You opened a letter from her?"
"I-- ignore that. What is it?"
"It's just usually trading stuff, like fruits and meat."
"You're lying. It said Wasp Hive goes down if you stopped as well. Why would it go down into poverty? Bloodworm and Yellow Jacket would be the only ones suffering since they make the food. Wasp Hive is known for being the home of Wasp and--"
"It's nothing, okay?" Locust snapped. Radiant was taken back by him being upset.
"It IS something and I know it. You're trying to keep it a secret from me so that I wouldn't be hurt, aren't you?"
Locust didn't answer for a long time.
"I just want you to be happy..." he choked out.
"I'd sure be happy if you told me--"
"WE TRADE SILKWINGS!" Locust yelled out. "WE TRADE SILKWINGS AND SELL THEM INTO SLAVERY FOR PROFIT! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!" he screamed.
"You--"
"YES, WE DO. WE'RE THE REASON WHY SILKWINGS ARE LIKE THIS. WE'RE-- we're..." Locust stopped and looked at the floor.
"YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS AND DIDN'T TELL ME?" screamed Radiant. She got up and for once her pure hatred of HiveWings came back.
"I knew just a few days ago! I didn't want to tell you this!"
"How could you even LIVE like this?!" Radiant's face was burning up and her claws were digging into the flooring.
"I TOLD YOU, I didn't KNOW!"
"I don't care if you didn't 'know', you're responsible for this. You're responsible for EVERYTHING that happened to me! I HATE you and your family!"
"Well, I hate you TOO! I never should've picked you!" and with that, Locust stormed off. Radiant threw down the letter and stormed out of the door in a fit of rage. She traveled through the Hive until she got to the edge.
"Stupid HiveWings!" she yelled as she flew off the edge of Hornet Hive. She was full of anger, sadness, betrayal, and confusion. She flew out into the savanna, determined to fly away. Maybe she could go to where Clearsight came from, far away from danger and the Hives. She flew until mid-day when the sun was at it's brightest. Radiant's stomach groaned more and more with each wingbeat until it was too much to bear. She ended up flying closer to the ground to rest and by the time she hit the ground she was right before a massive hole in the ground.
"That.. doesn't look good..." Radiant thought to herself. She gazed around the hole. It's entrance was nearly half the size of a normal Hive and Radiant walked along to see how deep it was. It looked endless at first glance, no, at every glace. Radiant couldn't see a bottom to it at all. Radiant got a weird feeling from looking at it and after a few minutes of resting she got back up and started to fly away. She was nearing Yellow Jacket Hive at this point and wanted to try and go to the shore. Perhaps she could actually fly off to the home of gods and goddesses and find other dragons like Clearsight. She was flying over to Yellow Jacket Hive when she saw something come out of the Poison Jungle. She saw a large group of SilkWings and, no, it couldn't be... LeafWings, of all shades of green came flying out on their two wings (Radiant was always weirdly disturbed by them).
"LeafWings!" she cried out. She dove down onto the ground and laid down flat. She could hear the sounds of wing flapping above her and held her breath, hoping that they'd just pass over her without a word. It seemed like ages before the sounds eventually left her ears alone and Radiant poked her head up once more. She slowly poked her head up and saw the group of dragons heading towards Wasp Hive.
That was... Odd... she thought to herself when picking herself up. She dusted some dirt off of her when she heard incredibly loud buzzing from Yellow Jacket and even Wasp Hive. The sounds of blaring wing flapping and was ear-piercing and Radiant covered her ears to block it out. She then saw massive groups of HiveWings leave Yellow Jacket Hive, most of which caring a SilkWing in their claws. Radiant could almost see a HiveWing without a SilkWing look at her, dead into her soul. It began to fly towards her at a increasingly fast pace. Radiant began to ran away before lifting herself off the group. She looked back a few times to see the HiveWing gaining on her. It's jet black scales with streaks of red seemed to mirror Radian't own scales. She noticed the large sinkhole near her and dove into it, hoping to hide from the HiveWing. She looked around before finding a small tunnel in the wall near the surface. She ran into it and prayed to Clearsight the HiveWing wouldn't notice her. The smell of the tunnel reeked of fecel matter and barely any light was visible from how deep in Radiant was in the tunnel. She felt as though the walls around her were getting smaller and smaller with each second. Eventually the sounds of a HiveWing's wing beats filled her ears and remained for a few moments before exiting.
Radiant still didn't feel safe and stayed in that tunnel for Clearsight knows how long. Seconds, minutes, hours, who knows? She then walked out of the tunnel to see that night has fallen. By this point, Radiant regretted ever leaving Locust. She was scared, alone, and trapped in the darkness of night. Radiant made her way out of the hole as fast as possible and looked around to see that all the Hives were all mostly dark except for Wasp Hive. Radiant just wanted to go home. She flew a bit in the direction of Hornet Hive before laying down to rest. Her legs and wings were exhausted and were desperate for a break. She laid down in the dirty and pressed against the dry grass. The cold breeze brushed against Radiant's scales, sending a chill down her spine. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep.
Radiant awoke to find herself still in the field of grass. She looked to her side to see a small elephant and it's baby sleeping against Radiant. She stood up, waking both of the elephants up and walked away.
"Shoo, get out of here." she said, looking back to the mother elephant helping the little elephant up to it's feet. Radiant shook some dirt off herself and kept on her way to Hornet Hive. She could feel the hot sun coming up over the horizon, burning her scales in the process. The purple-ish wasteland of the savanna slowly faded away in the light and Radiant could see Vinegaroon Hive in the distance. Radiant didn't know how to react when she would get back to Hornet Hive, back to Locust. Was she still mad at him? A bit, but more so that his family just let this happen. All Radiant wanted was just to see Locust again, despite all that had happened, she still cared a bit for him.
A few hours later Radiant was nearing Hornet Hive. She spread her wings out and few up towards Locust's balcony on the side of the Hive. She raised her talons to open up before hesitating.
What if he kicks me out? When I left does that mean I'm no longer his SilkWing and I'm technically breaking into his-- no, he won't. Radiant assured herself. She opened the door and looked to her right to see Locust's door slightly ajar. She walked over to it and took a deep breath before talking.
"Hey, stupid HiveWing..." she began with a hollow laugh. "I'm back, yay!.. I just wanted to say that I'm-- I'm sorry for yelling at you. You were, and still are, not like those other HiveWings. You just want to see me genuinely happy, and I'm glad for that."
Radiant got no response.
"It's okay if you're still mad at me, in fact I'd expect you to still be mad at me. I've been acting like a LeafWing's droppings ever since I got here and-- oh yeah! I got to tell you this weird thing that happened while I was out of the Hive. Oh, and I also left the Hive when I was mad at you." Radiant dryly chuckled. She waited for a response, but nothing happened.
"Are you still alive in there?" she joked as she knocked on the door. The door creaked open to reveal that Locust wasn't inside.
"He must be downstairs then." she said to herself. Radiant rushed downstairs to see that Locust still wasn't there and the letter that began this whole mess was ripped to shreds. "Where are you?" she called out. She looked around the kitchen, the living room, everywhere. Locust wasn't there.
"Maybe he's out getting something in the bazaar..." Radiant convinced herself. She ran out and walked into the bazaar. It was silent. None of the stalls were lit and no dragon was in the entire area (except for Radiant). She ran into the post office to see that no dragon was in there either.
"Okay, if this is a joke it's not funny!" Radiant called out. Radiant ran back to the house and looked around.
"Locust? Please tell me you're okay!" she called out. Radiant flew upstairs back to Locust's room and quickly ran inside. She looked around frantically before remembering what happened yesterday with Yellow Jacket Hive.
"But she couldn't have taken all of them..." she whispered to herself. Radiant was about to walk out before something caught her eye. A small piece of silk paper on the ground with some writing on it. Radiant picked it up to see it was a note from Locust.
I don't know if you're reading this now, Radiant, but I'm sorry. I don't know if I'll even still be in the house if you ever come back. Wasp is rounding them all up. HiveWings, SilkWings, everybody. If I'm not here if you're reading this, don't look for me. Run as fast as you can from the Hives and hide, then you'll have some time before she finds you. I don't know where I'll go when she takes control of me, but just please don't look
Then the note stops right there. Radiant felt a pang in her heart as the realization struck her. "He's gone."