Torrent followed Crystal, walking through the damp forest floor away from the rainforest village. His webbed feet scrunched on moist leaves, causing mud and dirt to get stuck between his talons. "Where are we going?" he asked Crystal.
"Shhh!" she hissed, pulling him closer. "Outside the village, where RainWings won't hear us."
The two walked a little longer, frogs and birds flying above the two, squawking and ribbiting to each other in the all but silent rainforest. Eventually, Crystal reached a distance she felt was satisfactory. She whipped her head around, the Darkstone swinging right in front of Torrent's snout.
"Get back," she whispered. Torrent did so, and Crystal opened her mouth wide. A hissing sound emanated from the back of her throat, and frostbreath sprayed onto the ground. Cold white mist spread from the point Crystal had hit, billowing across the rainforest ground. Crystal moved her head to the right, almost hitting Torrent with her horns as she turned. She continued spraying frostbreath in a circle, causing Torrent to move so that he'd avoid being hit. The mist spread across the forest floor, billowing up into the undergrowth.
When the frostbreath mist had cleared, a circle of frozen plants and leaves surrounded Torrent and Crystal. "What was that for?" Torrent asked.
Crystal glanced around at the trees in concern, her head twisting up and down, before answering Torrent. "RainWings can turn invisible, remember?" she explained. "That's how they were able to tranquilize us. I wanted to make sure we weren't being spied on."
"Oh," Torrent replied, in understanding. Any RainWings that followed them would have been made temporarily visible by the billows of mist.
"The animus," Crystal started off. "Are you sure they're here?"
Torrent breathed through his clenched teeth, sharp triangles against his scales. He pulled out his dagger, and moved it around a little, pointing it towards the village. "Yes," he replied in exasperation, "almost certain."
"The dragonet, back on the pavilion?" Crystal pressed.
"He's the one," Torrent grumbled. "The gem on my dagger warmed when I pointed it at him."
Crystal sighed. She paced back and forth a little within the circle of ice before looking back at Torrent. "You know what we need to do," she muttered unsuredly.
"You want me to kill a fucking dragonet?" Torrent roared, his claws clenching the dirt beneath him.
"Quiet!" Crystal hissed. She quickly looked around the forest again. "And yes, I do." Torrent bristled a little. "Sure, he's just a dragonet now," Crystal continued, "but give it seven years. He already knows about his powers, so he's had to have used his magic already; he could have lot a ton of his soul by now. These are also RainWings we're talking about, not SeaWings, IceWings, or another tribe which knows the warning signs of soul-loss. They're letting him run around, telling outsiders about his powers. What if one of the princesses got word of him, and decided to invade the rainforest to take him?" Crystal looked desperate now, her own fears making her more sure of the importance of this. As annoying as he was, she believed Calamity.
"He's a dragonet," Torrent muttered.
"So what?" Crystal asked. "Darkstalker was a dragonet, once. Same with Albatross and Fen. Do their names mean nothing to you? By the time he's as old as we are, he could be under the control of a queen, or have slaughtered the entire RainWing tribe. Or both!"
Torrent grumbled, and closed his eyes. Crystal was right; this dragonet was no different than any other animus. If it came down to killing an innocent dragonet in order to save an entire tribe, or the entire species, from destruction, then getting rid of the dragonet was the right thing to do. "Fine," Torrent hesitantly agreed.
Crystal noticed Torrent's hesitation, and narrowed her eyes. "Don't pretend you're just doing this 'cause I told you to," she hissed. "If we're doing this, we're doing it together."
Torrent looked away uncomfortably. "I said I'd do it, alright?" he replied in exasperation. "Even if I don't want to."
"I don't want to either," Crystal explained, "believe me, I'd much rather leave this up to someone nastier, like Glacier or Burn. But unfortunately, they're not here." Torrent didn't reply. "C'mon, let's go," Crystal muttered.
The IceWing stepped out of the circle of ice, and Torrent followed. She took off flying, and carefully returned to the pavilion where Griffin and Schist were, Torrent a safe distance behind her. As they walked across the bridge, Torrent shivered. It felt like all the RainWings were watching him, as if they knew what he planned to do. He told himself they didn't, it was just that he was clearly an outsider here.
As the two approached, Griffin and Schist were engaged in whispered discussion. Schist turned to Crystal and Torrent with a start, as if he wasn't expecting them. Griffin suddenly spread out his feathered wings, and leapt of the bridge, flying upwards, towards an empty pavilion.
"Follow me," Schist ordered Crystal and Torrent with a slight stammer, lifting up, trying to make his way through the branches and leaves. Crystal and Torrent went after him. They reached the pavilion, which Griffin was already standing on, his sharp talons poking into the woven floor.
"We discussed," Schist said to Torrent and Crystal, giving Griffin a quick glance back. Torrent and Crystal hadn't been the only ones to notice what the dragonet had said. "We're not killing a dragonet."
"We're leaving the rainforest, now," Griffin added.
Torrent opened his mouth, ready to protest, when Crystal gave him a sharp poke with a spike on the end off her tail. "Agreed," Crystal lied, "but we can't leave now." She pointed a claw up to the sunset sky. "It's going to get dark soon, we need to wait until daylight."
Griffin and Schist exchanged glances. "Alright," Schist decided quietly, "but we leave tomorrow, at first light."
"That's fine," Crystal replied with a smile. She turned over to Torrent, expecting an answer from him. Schist and Griffin couldn't understand. Maybe one day. They needed to do this, with or without them.
"Fine," he grumbled cautiously, not sure what Crystal was intending.
"Good," Griffin muttered, giving Crystal a stare. He flapped his wings up and down. "The hammocks Liana suggested are down there, and I'm getting tired."