The next few days were filled with on-and-off flying. Frute could hear Russet muttering about something, but he barely paid attention.
Mye was thinking up escape plans. There wasn't much options. Frute was honestly considering starving to death being the best one.
It was probably around midnight when Frute was woken up by the wagon landing. He wasn't very surprised when Russet opened up the single door. He was surprised, though, at her face, which seemed to hold every emotion imaginable.
Russet sighed deeply. She stepped into the wagon, and lit a hanging candle for light. She closed the door behind her. "I can't do this." She muttered.
Mye perked up a little. She must've never went to sleep. "So you're letting us go?"
"No." Russet's reply was firm and quick. "I'm not letting either of you go. At least, not you." She cast a look at Mye, who gave a mock face back. Russet didn't seem to be affected by it.
"What can you not do, then?" Frute asked.
"I can't lie to you." Russet replied. Mye muttered something under her breath, but was silenced when Frute gently whacked her with his tail. "I can't take it anymore. I decided I'd tell you the truth—all of it. Or at least most of it."
"Go ahead, then." Frute said. He sat up into a more comfortable position, and looked at his aunt. Mye moved so then she was closer to him, to calm him down if need be. He took a deep breath, but he wasn't sure why. I've only been told what Mallow knew, he thought. And Mallow knew what we were taught. And we were taught the wrong things at the wrong time.
Russet began faster than he expected. Her size left the two dragonets somewhat squished, but Frute didn't particularly mind. "I'll start from the beginning. The very beginning." She said. "If you fall asleep, I'll nudge you when it gets important." There was a short pause. "Me and my troop were just normal MudWings. It was all fine. I noticed Slate sneaking out, so I followed her. I caught her talking to a RainWing. She introduced me to him. His name was Bonsai.
"A little bit after that, I wanted to tell Slate to stay with me. With us. Her sibs. I guess her and Bonsai had known each other for at least a few months before then, because he came to make his own suggestion. He wanted Slate to come with him, in the rainforest. I might be skipping a little. I'm not the best dragon to go to for details."
"What did she chose?" Frute asked quietly. He knew he probably knew the answer, but he found himself asking anyway.
"Neither." Russet snapped. "She purposely avoided answering my question. Years later—and yes I know this is a huge time skip—when you and your sibs were two, she decided she couldn't decide." The pause and her hesitance gave Frute time to piece together the information. He couldn't say he liked the picture. Russet continued with her face away from the dragonets. "Of course, Slate was never good at decisions. She told me she was leaving forever. I didn't think much of it at first, but then I got worried. Apparently, so did your moon-forsaken father. We searched together for a bit, and then we found her. Slate was fighting a SeaWing, and she wasn't even trying. She died, just like that. I didn't see Bonsai until…it had to be a few weeks after that. I couldn't help it. I—when Slate died, she told me to watch over you and your sibs.
"Before you say anything, I was told to watch, not protect. Sib problems must be inherited. Anyway, when I saw Bonsai…I couldn't help myself. I was mad, and mourning, and he was the root of the problem. I killed him, and I don't regret it." Russet stood up—or at least as much as she could—and opened up the door again. "I'll let you rest and think about it. In the morning I'll come back to check on you." She didn't give Frute to respond, leaving him and Mye alone again.