Chapter 22: Day 29

Rainbow spent the whole morning wandered around the palace. A rug in her left and a bucket in her right, both of them dangling by her side, clueless to why she was carried them around the palace without using them, just like herself. Her purpose in this deep isolated palace was now gone and hollowed.

Her grandfather was gone. And it was all her fault.

That thought haunted her for the entire night. Worse than the night she saw Snapper's dead body. But what could she do. Search the whole kingdom for her grandfather? If she did that, wouldn't Whirlpool just use her parents as his targets instead? They lived near the Deep Palace because of her. And now, she was going to abandon them?entire

Stop. Stop. Those were the same exact thoughts that keep swirling in her mind. She wanted them to stop, but everything here keep reminded her of her grandfather. The mop, the rag, those algae on the statue, her job, this palace… All of them linked back to her grandfather.

And her grandfather…

Flashes of light shone through the doorway in the hallway caught her attention. It was from the gathering hall. Judging by the intensity of the flashes, It seemed to her that there was a big fight going on. She swam towards the doorway and peeked through it.

She saw there were dragons gathered themselves in groups in the hall. Most of them were flashing towards each other; those must be the servants in this palace. One group stood out, not only because they consisted of only male dragon, but they were quiet. Too quiet to be the source of the flashing light. She realized they are the SeaWing princes, as she could pick out Prince Fin was among them. The second she looked towards the other side, she instantly recognized the dragonet across the room.

It was Turtle. But what happened to him? His eyes were red with veins, his tail and wings were drooping. At first, she thought he was ill, but then she remembered that he was discharged from the healers not long ago. Perhaps he had not able to sleep well for these past few days. He stood at one side of the room, flashing incomprehensible scale patterns at no particular dragon. Short bursts of bright light mixed with long interval of dull light. He looked utterly confused.

What happened to him? Those light she saw at the hallway, could those all came from him?

Something flew across the hall caught her attention. It was a rock, gradually slowing down its speed as it flew toward the group of SeaWing princes. When the rock finally landed, it had become a harmless pebble stood on one of the princes' head. Even though the water had taken away much of the danger of flying rock, but the message was there. One hateful message sent by Turtle.

"Is this what you want?" Turtle's talon busy searching for another rock on the seafloor. "For me to learn my lesson? And here's my lesson to you!"

Another rock sent flying into the air, and again the rock landed harmless on another prince. Still, they didn't show any sign of emotion. No pity. No remorse. Not even anger.

"Answer me. Answer ME!" Turtle swam toward a nearby statue and began tugging on its horn.

Rainbow wanted to stop him, but the other servants were one step quicker than her. The servant tried to pry Turtle off the statue, but he frantically flashed brightly and clawing the surrounding water. She quickly hid herself behind one of the pillars before the servants finally were able to pull him off the status and proceed to carried him away from the gathering hall.

This was her fault again. Her grandfather. Her family. And now Prince Turtle…

"Rainbow, what happened to him?" A dragonet came to her side and flashed. It was Prince Cerulean

"I'm sorry. It's all my fault." She said. "I shouldn't have had abandoned him."

"You abandoned him? I thought you said you were his caretaker. How could you abandon him?" This time it was Prince Octopus who up to his brother side.

"I…" She was not sure how to explain the situation to them. They were just little dragonets. Surely they do not need to hear the treacherous deeds that had been done in this palace.

Prince Cerulean stepped forward and said. "I thought you promised that he's going to be alright. But now he looked like-"

"Like his brain went jellyfish and started screaming curses." Prince Octopus continued. "Come on, brother. You know you can't trust the grown-ups. They always break their promises."

Together, they swam back to the hallway they came. Prince Cerulean stopped at the doorway and gave her a look as if he was saying, 'I trusted you.' before he swam away with his brother.

The servants who were not carrying Turtle began to return to their work. The princes went back to their own discussion. As if everything had gone back to normal.

Except for her, she was still trying to take in the scene. The two rocks that were on the floor. Those tiny cracks shown on the horn of the SeaWing statue. A lot of dragons carried away a dragonet. And not just any dragonet, an animus dragonet. Perhaps it was precisely because no one knew he was an animus dragon that everyone felt no urgency. If Turtle shows sign of trying to take his revenge against his family. There was no telling how far he would go. And what if he were ever turned into the monster from the past, would his brothers had a chance to bring him back. If not them, maybe his brothers from the same clutch?

But she just ruined their trust with what just happened. Would they still listen to what she had to say?

"Rainbow" Tidal turned the corner at the doorway and flashed. "I saw Prince Turtle carried away by the servants, still screaming. What happened?"

"I messed it up. I was supposed to take care of him, but now I can't. Now Turtle is all alone, and I can only watch him suffer."

"Wait. What do you mean you can't?"

"The princes. Other servants." And Whirlpool. "They were not happy for what I did for Tur- Prince Turtle."

"I see. Is that why Prince Turtle look so depressing ever since he recovered from his sickness. I was worried that it was his sickness that drove him mad."

"It was me. I'm sorry. Tidal. I am. I really shouldn't have taken the job. I only took it because I thought I was worried about my job. And my job was tied to my grandfather and-"

Tidal put his wing over hers to interrupt her flashes. "You wouldn't have lost your job. And even if you lost your job. I wouldn't have kick your grandfather out of the Garden of Wounded. That would be a terrible thing to do. But Rainbow." One of his claw pointed to her heart. "It's not that you're afraid. There is something else. You didn't take the role just because you were scared of losing your job. Even after Prince Hammerhead's announcement, you didn't abandon him. If I recalled correctly, didn't he still have a few happy days in between these lonely moments? It was not you that cause this madness. It was them. For the record, I don't very much agree that social deprivation is a good way to teach a young dragonet, but that's between you and me."

"Sir, King Gill would like to see you." A SeaWing servant stood beside them flashed.

Tidal nodded and patted Rainbow on the shoulder. "I trust you would know the right thing to do. Rainbow." And he swam away with the servant by his side.

The right thing to do…

Rainbow placed a talon on her heart. After a moment of thought, she decided to do the next best thing she could. She followed him in secret. Making sure his bare necessity was still being taken care of while prayed hard that Turtle wouldn't do try anything regrettable.

Like a massacre.