Chapter 15:
Bonding over Puzzle
The Dry Swamp, true to half of its name, is a large desert wasteland that is home to many kinds of dangerous creatures, such as bandits, vagabonds, and giant frog-eating sandworms. Travellers who dare to cross the desert not only need to constantly hydrate themselves due to the intense heat during the day, they also need to be on the lookout for any danger that they might stumble across.
When the Plantar family reached the Dry Swamp, not even a minute had passed before they were attacked by a sandworm. They managed to survive due to the timely intervention by a woman named Renee Frodgers, director and manager of a relatively-known acting troupe currently on tour around the area.
Hop Pop, being an aspiring actor himself, was more than thrilled to have the whole family accompany Renee's troupe on their tour while they're there, even more so when he got the leading role for her play after proving his worth during an audition.
While the elderly frog was busy with the play, the Plantar kids were left doing their own things in the meanwhile. Polly was hanging out with a boy named Francois and the theatre kids at their wagon, and Anne stayed in the fwagon to work on a complicated jigsaw puzzle called 'Koalas of Passion', her reason for not wanting to join the theatre kids was because of an incident at a stage play that she performed back when she was little.
As for Sprig, despite initially wanting to join Francois and the others because he found Francois to be cool, he ended up staying at the fwagon with Anne as well, where he slept in until recently. When he saw that Anne had trouble completing the puzzle, due to outside factors causing her to lose most of her progress, he decided to give her a hand in doing the puzzle.
With two people working together, they believed that they would be finished with the jigsaw puzzle before the day is done.
Of course, it was easier say than done. Their progress kept getting interrupted because the group was constantly on a move due to a combination of getting to the scheduled locations on time and being chased by all manner of hostile creatures on the way there.
A day had passed since Anne and Sprig started working together on the puzzle…
"Dang it…! The missing pieces aren't here either…" Anne silently cursed as she looked underneath the kitchen table. "Any luck on your end, Sprig?"
"Still looking." Sprig replied as he checked the bookshelf on the other side of the room. "Oh wait! I found some! Inside of Polly's bucket!"
The orange-haired boy scooped out two puzzle pieces from inside of a bucket stationed on the outer corner of the bookshelf. After swinging them around to dry them off, he tossed the pieces back on the table. "There are only two of them, though, but it's better than nothing, right?"
"I guess…" Anne sighed, moving from the kitchen table to the top bed. "I'm still gonna keep looking for the others, wherever they might be. Mind putting in the pieces that you found, in the meanwhile?"
"Sure. I can do that." Sprig nodded, sitting back down at the table while his best friend was still searching around the fwagon. He picked up one of the two pieces, looked over the assembled puzzle so far, and inserted the piece in once he found the right spot for it. "Okay. Next one." he said, as he picked up the second piece.
Then he blinked his eyes a few times after looking over once more the assembled puzzle.
"Hey, Anne?"
"Yeah, dude?" Anne replied while lifting the covers and pillows of the top bed.
"Call me crazy, but… It kinda looks like we're one piece away from completing the puzzle."
"FOR REAL?!" The human girl exclaimed, as she immediately dropped herself from the top bed and quickly rejoined her friend at the table. She scanned her eyes over the puzzle multiple times, and indeed, they only needed to add one last piece in before they reached their goal.
"Holy cow! Is this really happening?!" she shouted, grinning ear to ear as she barely contained her excitement. Then she dropped her grin when she considered the possibility of them not having the piece that they needed in the first place. "But wait a sec! Do we even have the last piece? Argh, we might still need to find it somewhere in this mess!"
"Actually, there's no need." Sprig showed her a puzzle piece in his hand, causing her to gasp with a gleam in her eyes. "It's one of the two pieces that I found a second ago."
"YES! Finally!" The grinning girl fist-pumped in the air. At long last, the task of finishing the complicated jigsaw puzzle that she started over a day ago was at its end.
The boy smiled widely at how happy his friend looked. After all the times that he saw her with a tired and frustrated expression on her face since working on the puzzle, it felt cathartic to see her filled with joy for once. "Here. You should have the honour of putting the final piece."
He handed her the puzzle piece, which she gladly took. "Thanks, Sprig. Okay! Let's finish this thing already!"
With the last piece in her fingers, hovering over the nearly completed image of the two koalas on the boat, she slowly lowered the piece towards the last hole with a toothy grin.
Sprig watched with bated breath. Once the final piece was put in, their long and arduous quest of assembling the 'Koalas of Passion' puzzle that lasted for over a day, mainly because outside factors kept messing things up for them, would finally be finished.
Anne was just a couple of inches away from putting it in, when…
SLAM!
"ANNE!" Hop Pop suddenly made his appearance by slamming the backdoors open, startling the two humans. "The play's a distraction for a bank robbery!" he shouted as he walked over to the table and slammed his fists down upon it.
The vibration that he created on the table caused some of the pieces of the nearly assembled puzzle to pop off, which had not gone unnoticed by the peeved Thai-American girl.
"Come again, Hop Pop?" Sprig asked.
"The entire tour is a sham! A front for a heinous crime against the poor townsfolk of the Dry Swamp!" Hop Pop elaborated, slamming his fists on the table again and unknowingly sending more puzzle pieces flying.
"Is that true?"
"Yes! Renee herself told me all about it, in fact!" The distraught frog replied. "Moments ago, I accidentally stumbled across her planning her next move on the next town where we'll be performing, and that's when she revealed to me the real purpose of the tour! She's been robbing every single town that we've gone to while everyone was taken in by our show! It's all a setup!"
"So Renee is really a bad frog? That's awful, Hop Pop!" exclaimed the shocked boy.
"I know, right?!" Hop Pop shouted, as he slammed his fists on the table twice, as more pieces bounced off.
"Hop Pop," Anne finally spoke, fed up with watching their work being undone right before her eyes. "Can you please stop doing that?"
"Oh, sorry, Anne." Hop Pop apologized, removing his hands from the table. It did not look like he even noticed the puzzle on the table. "But seriously! What are we supposed to do about it?!"
"Obviously, we're stopping Renee and her crimes." Anne said.
"Well, yes, normally I'd agree with you." Hop Pop said hesitatingly. "But Renee also told me why she did all of this in the first place."
"Wait, you're sympathizing with her, Hop Pop?" Sprig asked incredulously.
"It's complicated, see! She said that nowadays, theatre art is on a verge of dying out, and straight plays like the one that we're doing barely recuperate the costs of making it. So while robbing the bank is terrible, it also helps with preserving the arts, and to an extent, saving our dreams."
Hop Pop lowered his head and placed his hands on it, as he struggled to find the correct path to take for his ordeal. "I don't know, Anne! I feel like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place! What do I do?!"
"Hop Pop, it's obvious that she's taking advantage of you!" Anne told him. "She's using your love for theatre acting to get you to turn a blind eye to her crimes, while helping her get away with it scot-free! You can't just pretend that you don't know that!"
The elderly frog stroked his chin, as he pondered what the girl had told him, until he came to a decision. "Hmm… So what you're saying is that I should pretend that I don't know anything about her true crimes, as if all I did so far is really for the sake of the arts. And at the same time, I won't feel bad about helping with her schemes, if I hadn't got a clue about it in the first place. That's brilliant, Anne! That's really something a very good actor like me can pull off!"
"Uh, that's not what I'm going for-."
"Thanks, Anne! You really got me out of a jam!" Hop Pop expressed his appreciation for her, while he was already in the process of leaving the fwagon. "Now if you'll excuse, I have a play that I must lead! For the arts!"
He exited the fwagon and closed the backdoors behind him, leaving Anne and Sprig alone once again.
"… We should probably deal with Renee ourselves, before things get really hairy for us." Sprig suggested.
Anne let out a frustrated sigh, placing her palm over her forehead. "Actually, let's leave it to Hop Pop. Hopefully, he snaps out of it and realizes what's really at stake here."
Sprig was about to voice his objection, until he looked down at the puzzle and noticed that about half of the pieces came off since Hop Pop's sudden arrival. Then he looked up to the human girl and noted the furious expression on her face. "… You're mad at Hop Pop, aren't you?"
"Maybe." Anne said while exhaling through her nose, barely hiding how she felt towards the elderly frog. "Look, if things start to get really bad, we'll go and deal with it. But right now, I just want to get this dang puzzle over and done with already."
"Okay, if you say so…" Sprig said, still having doubts in his mind.
Once she was certain that they will not get interrupted from that point forward, Anne was about to reach for one of the loose puzzle pieces, when…
SLAM!
"HEY, ANNE! WHAT UP, GIRL!" Polly suddenly announced her appearance by slamming the window next to the table open and hopped onto the table.
Landing directly on the puzzle and further disassembled it. Anne's irritation continued to grow.
The purple tadpole turned around and noticed that her brother was also sitting at the table with the human girl. "Oh hey, Sprig! Whatcha been doing lately?"
Sprig had a look of horror upon witnessing the puzzle basically being completely undone, then looking at the further-frustrated Anne. "Uh… Polly…" he slowly said while pointing down at the puzzle that Polly was standing on.
Polly followed where his finger was pointing and realized what she did. "Oh! You two are still working on it?" she asked while hopping off the puzzle. "Kinda funny that you're still not done after more than a day. What's taking you so long?"
"Um… We did mention that the whole moving from town to town messed up our progress a bit." The boy said. "And we were almost done with it, when…"
"… Oh." Polly connected the dots and realized one of the reasons why Anne and Sprig's work remained unfinished. Even more so when she looked at Anne who had her vexed face turned away from the small tadpole. "Sorry, Anne… I didn't mean to mess things up for you guys." she apologized sheepishly.
"It's fine, Polly…" Anne said as she looked back at Polly, barely managing to form a smile to convince her. "I'm not mad at you. I'm just mad at the universe for throwing things our way and keep us from doing this stupid puzzle. Like we haven't had enough problems as is…"
"Still, I'm trying to be responsible for myself." Polly said, as she picked up two pieces in her hand and attempted to connect them without much success. "Especially after I made a huge mess at that truck stop, a while ago. Not to mention the whole switching myself with an egg of a killer bird without you knowing…"
"Hey, you didn't know about the egg either. And that whole thing wasn't entirely your fault, remember?" Anne reminded her. "I know that you're trying your best, and each of us are doing our part in making up for not giving you enough love."
"She's right, Polly." Sprig nodded. "Hey, let's agree to put what happened at the truck stop behind us, as long as we keep taking care of each other the way we are now. Okay?"
"Okay. Thanks, guys." Polly smiled at the two humans. "Hey, why don't I stay here for a bit and help you guys with the puzzle? Sounds like a good idea, right?"
"Yeah, it sure does. Appreciate the help, dude." Anne said before the Plantar siblings began to tackle the arduous task at hand, determined to finish the puzzle before any more series of unfortunate events stop them from doing so.
For the next few minutes of so, there was silence between them, as they each performed their duty to assemble one part of the puzzle. Then, the boy's curiosity got the better of him, as he asked his little sister about what she did lately.
"So, Polly… How's it going with the theatre kids?"
"Oh, it was pretty great!" Polly replied. "It's not every day that I get to act as a completely different character than my usual self!"
"Oh yeah?" Anne said, her own curiosity demanding her to learn more about the bow-wearing tadpole's experience. "Which character are you playing as?"
"I'm glad you ask!"
Polly stopped working on the puzzle for the moment. She quickly switched out her yellow, polka-dotted bow for a black one with spiderweb patterns, roughened up her face so that it was dirty and carried a scar on the cheek, and wore an eyepatch over her left eye, as well as a beard on her chin.
"Top in the morning, governor! It is I, Lydia Davenport, the black widow!" Polly introduced her character with an English accent.
"Neat. Any background with this character?" Anne asked.
"I certainly have! As I have told you, I am a widow of a very rich noble with a dark secret, and anyone who comes to learn of such secret, I personally lure them into a trap and imprison them in my personal torture room, where I slowly torment them for days on end until they wish for death, which I deliver upon them as excruciatingly slow as I please."
Anne let out an impressed whistle. "Nice one, Polly. Even though your outfit right now doesn't really match your character in the slightest."
Polly shrugged, dropping her pretend character to reassume her usual self. "I'm still workshopping this one. But anyway, hanging out with the theatre kids has been pretty fun so far!"
"Yeah… It must've been, huh?" Sprig spoke under his breath, as he turned away from Polly, which had not gone unnoticed by her.
"Hey, you're not upset that I botched your chance with Francois, are you?"
"I mean, kinda?" he replied with uncertainty. "But it doesn't matter anyway. After what he said to me, I lost all interest in hanging out with the others."
"Ohh… Right, I forgot." Polly said, remembering the whole reason why Sprig didn't join in the first place. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, Francois is a great actor, but he's a bit of a jerk and treats everyone like they're dirt. I'm surprised that he treats me with any kind of respect."
"Like it wasn't obvious already…"
Anne looked back and forth between Sprig and Polly as they discussed what occurred between them and the Francois kid when they first joined up Renee's acting troupe earlier. Despite wanting to respect the boy's decision, seeing him looking downright depressed because of Francois fuelled her desire to know what was going on so that she could help her best friend.
"Okay, now I need to know what's up with you and that kid." Anne said. "Sorry, Sprig, but do you mind telling me what Francois said to you?"
Both Sprig and Polly glanced at each other, unsure if they should tell their adopted sister any details about their first interaction with the young actor.
"Um… Well…" Sprig trailed off.
"He, uh… He said that Sprig doesn't have enough character." Polly explained. "Right, big brother?"
"Uh, yeah. That's right." he nodded. It was technically true, so that should be enough explanation.
"… That's all?" Anne asked.
"Yep. Let's leave it at that." Polly formed a strained smile on her lips, as she said nothing else afterwards.
Anne looked at the purple tadpole and narrowed her eyes. She was skeptically that that was all there was to the reason why Sprig did not join the theatre kids. And neither Sprig nor Polly were convincing enough to satisfy her curiosity. She needed to pull more information out of them, and she might have found a way to do just that.
"Polly, if you tell me everything, I'll give you all of the candy that I got in my bag." she negotiated.
Polly gasped at the mention of Anne's human candy, her mind bombarded by the thoughts of eating such strange, but delectable treat. "All of them?!"
"Polly, no!" Sprig shouted.
The purple tadpole snapped out of her food-induced trance and quickly turned her eyes away while crossing her arms. "I-I'm not saying anything more to you!"
"Are you sure~?" Anne asked in a taunting manner, pulling out her bag from underneath the table and shoved her hand inside.
Polly closed her eyes shut so she did not have to see what the human girl was pulling from her bag. However, images of Anne's candy invaded her thoughts, tempting her just enough to slightly open one eye.
She gasped at the sight of a smiling Anne waving three pieces of candy in her hand.
A lollipop.
A bubblegum.
And a chocolate bar.
Polly found herself drooling at the three candy pieces before stopping herself and closing her eyes tighter than before. "Y-you're not getting to me t-that easily!"
"I dunno, Polly. 'Cause you look like you're dying to get your hands on them." Anne teased her. "Are you sure you don't want any candy?"
"Y-yeah, I'm sure!" Polly said unconvincingly.
"Oh well." Anne shrugged, as she proceeded to remove the wrapping of the chocolate bar. "Guess I'll have to eat all of this candy myself. And I'm not gonna share it with anyone else, since nobody wants it."
Polly slightly opened an eye once more, and she was presented with the view of the human girl removing half of the wrapping before she slowly moved the chocolate bar towards herself in an agonizing way. The sweating tadpole watched as the candy was approaching Anne's open mouth where she would savour its tasty goodness by herself.
And just as the chocolate was about to make contact with her tongue…
"OFFER ACCEPTED!" Polly screamed, giving in to temptation.
"POLLY!" Her big brother shouted in horror.
"Francois called Sprig an oversized, strange-colored, horrible-looking, sad excuse of a frog whose only good at playing trees meant to be chopped into lumber like the rest of his kind!"
Anne dropped the candies in her hand and stood up from her seat with a blank expression on her face. The purple tadpole realized that she said too much and could only look anxiously at her adopted sister, alongside Sprig.
"Uh… Anne? Are you okay?" Sprig asked nervously.
"Yeah. I am." Anne simply replied, her tone suspiciously calm. "Mind if I step out for a bit?" she asked while slowly making her way towards the side entrance of the fwagon.
"W-wait, where are you going?"
"I'm going to go meet Francois in person, that's all." she replied, stopping right in front of the door, as she looked at Sprig and Polly with an eerie smile on her face. "After hearing so much about him, I want to let him know that there's a new, incredible role that's perfect for him in the really near future."
As she explained, she slowly lifted up her tennis racket in her hand, revealing her true intentions for the young actor with her smile never leaving her face.
"He'll be great playing the role of the ground that's meant to be trampled on. Right after I smash some senses into him."
That was enough red flags for Sprig and Polly.
"Polly, get some rope!" Sprig quickly tackled Anne to the floor and pinned her down.
"On it!" Polly nodded as she hopped across the room to get the item needed.
"Let me go, Sprig!" Anne yelled as she struggled to get her best friend off of her. "I'm gonna give that pompous, spoiled kid a piece of my mind!"
"It's not worth it, Anne! It's just not worth it!" Sprig shouted as he pressed Anne further against the floor with all of his might. Thank goodness that he was in human form, otherwise she would easily kick him across the fwagon in his frog form.
"Good at playing chopped trees, huh?! I'll show you what happens when you mess with my folks! Give him a taste of his own medicine! RRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"
Anne panted heavily in her seat at the table, as she tried her best to calm herself down. Especially since her body was tied up in a rope, courtesy of Sprig and Polly.
The orange-haired boy and the purple tadpole carefully observed the brown-haired girl on the opposite end of the table for any remaining sign of her hostile intention from a moment ago.
"Anne? Are you really okay?" Sprig asked cautiously.
"Yeah… Yeah, I'm okay…" Anne panted, no longer struggling in her binds. "I think… I'm tapped out from wanting to destroy that kid…"
"We're gonna undo the rope." The boy told her. "Promise that you won't go after Francois after this?"
"Yeah, don't worry... Seriously…" Anne nodded in affirmation.
Both Sprig and Polly nodded to each other, as the latter hopped her way towards the human girl to undo the restraints on her.
The rope fell off, and Anne regained control of her limbs, massaging her hands and flexing her joints. She let out a relieved sigh. "Thanks, Polly…"
"You can thank me by giving me all of your candy." Polly said. "Uh… I can still have your candy, right?"
"Yeah, of course. It's, uh… somewhere under the table. Pretty sure."
"On it!" Polly shouted as she dove underneath the table in search for the candies that Anne dropped a while ago.
"Okay, now that's out of the way…" Anne took a deep breath as a way to collect herself. Then she slammed both fists down on the table. "Screw that Francois jerk and whatever posse that he might have! Why do people put up with that guy anyway?!"
"Your guess is as good as mine." Sprig said, lowering his gaze as he recalled how their conversation went. "It… It really stings, what he said to me. If he just said that I don't have any character, then I'd probably try and convince that I do have what it takes to be on the same level as him. But then he called me… You know."
"Oh Sprig…" Anne understood his disappointment.
She was painfully aware how much hostility he received during his first days as a human being back home, due to being the third human after Sasha. And even though he was free of that hostility once they left the valley, the stigma of being a strange creature from another world still remained. If he was still a frog, then it would be a different story altogether.
"It's not your fault, you know?" Anne tried to reassure him. "I mean, if I came along with you guys from the start, he would also call me an ugly all-that too. So don't beat yourself up just because you've been turned into a human by accident."
"That's the thing." He looked at his best friend straight in the eye. "He insulted you, Anne."
She raised an eyebrow at what he said. "Wait, you mean… You didn't hang out with him because…"
"I mean, sure. I still think that being turned into a human sucks, because everyone sees me like I'm some sort of monster." he elaborated. "But that's nothing compared to how he insulted humans overall. I don't want to have anything to do with a guy who indirectly treats my best friend like complete garbage."
"Sprig…" The Thai-American girl could not resist smiling at her best friend's reasons. She was touched upon hearing how he stood up for her when she was being mistreated behind her back, even though in that case, the mistreatment was towards humans in general.
"That's not all he did." Polly said, hopping back on the table while she chewed on a piece of the chocolate bar before swallowing. "I mentioned how he treated me with any kind of respect, right? Well, he was so impressed with me that he started asking me questions that… Well, I have no idea how to answer."
"Like what?"
Polly took a quick glance at her brother before fully looking at the human girl. "I… I don't know if I should say it."
"Come on, Polly." Anne implored her. "If he's just asking about stuff that you don't know about, then it couldn't have been that bad, right?"
"The thing is…"
Polly then turned to look at Sprig, who stared at her with slight confusion. The bow-wearing tadpole was debating internally whether or not she should reveal what Francois asked her. Especially since…
Well, perhaps it was better to tell them. After all, it was just her, Sprig and Anne inside of the fwagon, and no one else. And Anne should know a little bit about what made her hesitant to reveal what the question was.
"He… He asked me if he could meet our parental guardians."
"What, like Hop Pop?" Anne chuckled at how seemingly simple the question was. "What's the problem with that? He's already involving in Renee's play, for better or worse."
"Not Hop Pop, Anne." Polly shook her head, her eyes not leaving her brother.
"He was talking about… Our mom and dad."
…
…
…
Silence fell upon the atmosphere inside of the fwagon.
A quiet realization appeared on Sprig and Anne's faces, as they learned the exact reason why Polly had difficulty answering that question.
Even though a minute had passed, it felt like hours since there was silence between the siblings.
"Lady Lydia!" A female voice from the outside suddenly called out to Polly using her character's name, breaking the silent atmosphere. "Where might thou be? The appointed time of our reunion is almost upon us!"
"Oh, uh… Fret not! I will be there shortly!" Polly shouted through the opened window. She looked back at the two humans who were still quiet from the revelation. "I really hate to leave it at that, but there's a tiny bit of something that I need to do first. I'll come back after I'm done, okay?"
"Sure, Polly." Anne said. "But, uh… Don't worry about it. Take your time."
"If you say so. I'll still come back anyway. So, uh… See you guys in a bit!"
The purple tadpole left the fwagon through the window, leaving Anne and Sprig alone inside with the silent air between them returning.
Neither of them had any idea how much time had passed since it was just the two of them left. None of them found any opportunity or desire to start a conversation out of fear that they might be disrespectful. Even resuming their work on the puzzle seemed inappropriate. What other option do they have for the time being?
Anne shifted her eyes towards the corner of her room, fidgeting her thumbs underneath the table. What could she do to follow up on that was revealed to them? Should she stay quiet? Should she ask Sprig about it? Should she step out of the fwagon to get some fresh air and come back once she feels that enough time had passed to start another conversation? What should she do?
"Anne," Sprig suddenly spoke, bringing his best friend's attention back towards him. "You must've been wondering about it all this time, right?"
"Uh, about what?" she asked, feigning ignorance.
"You know… About our parents."
"I…" Anne gazed down on the ground, unsure how she should proceed with it. "I… didn't wanna pry. It seems really heavy, you know? I didn't want to make you feel awful talking about it…"
"It's okay." Sprig reassured her by giving her a small smile. "To be fair, you did find it kinda weird, right? You've been with us for a few months, and we didn't talk about our mom and dad even once."
"Well… I was kinda curious about it, honestly. Even more so when Hop Pop told us why he went overboard with the rules back at the Ruins of Despair." Anne explained herself. "But like I said, I don't wanna pry if you don't want to talk about it. I'll understand, no problem."
"Anne…"
Sprig felt immense gratitude towards Anne. Even if she was dying to know what the whole deal was, she respected his privacy just enough to not follow through with her curiosity. She was an honorary member of Plantar family for long enough, but she knew where to draw a line in terms of the kind of history that they had to deal with. He was thankful for her.
But even so, he felt that she must know that piece of tragic history.
"Mom and dad… They both died when Polly and I were really young." he started to speak.
Anne looked at her best friend attentively.
"I don't remember much about it. Only what Hop Pop told us about how they died."
Sprig closed his eyes, as he tried to recall the exact story that Hop Pop told them a long time ago. When he opened his eyes again, his first sight was on a lone puzzle piece that was placed far from the others.
"He was on a long journey away from Wartwood. One night, when he came back home, the town was under attack by monsters. Two giant herons with blood-red eyes and razor-sharp teeth."
He shifted his gaze from the single piece to a bunch of pieces, some of them were connected together, while others were not and they were scattered around the connected pieces.
"They've been attacking the valley for years. Wartwood became one of their targets that night. According to Hop Pop, it was a terrifying sight to witness. The first thing that he did when he came back was to check on the Plantar house. But when he got there… It was covered in flames. And… Mom and dad… His children were in there…"
Anne silently gasped in horror and covered her mouth with her hands.
"After he and the rest of the surviving townsfolk fend off the herons, and the flames died down, Hop Pop went back to the house to get a closer look. He… confirmed that mom and dad were really there, and they died that night."
Sprig lowered his sight towards the two connected pieces found below.
"But then he found Polly and me, all scared and hidden in the basement, away from danger. Mom and dad must have put us in there right before the fire got to them. So we're both alive, thanks to them…"
He closed his eyes.
"… And now you know. About why Hop Pop was so overprotective of us in the first place. What happened to our parents. And why it's hard for us to talk about it in the first place…"
"… I'm so sorry…" Anne sincerely apologized, nearly on the verge of tears.
"Don't be." he said as he opened his eyes and lifted his gaze up towards the human girl. "Like I said, I don't remember much about it. Not even about my parents. So… It's really hard to be sad about it, honestly."
"You sure about it?" Anne asked with some doubts in her mind.
The boy took a few seconds to think of a reply to her question.
"Yeah. I'm sure." he nodded while smiling at her. "Sure, not having a mom or a dad sucks. But Hop Pop has been a great parent figure to us, so it doesn't sting as much as it should. And you know what? I'm completely okay with this."
He looked at the scenery through the window next to them, noting how happy and lively the people in the caravan looked, barring the fact that they were participating in a terrible scheme.
"I'm happy with the people that I call family. I have Hop Pop, Polly… And now you, Anne. And I wouldn't give you guys up for anything in the world."
"Sprig…"
If she was not an observant type of person, then she would take Sprig's words at face value and leave it at that. But she knew him just enough to see past the smile that he wanted to show her, to see that there was some sort of lingering regret underneath.
Should she confront him about it? Should she try to have him admit that he was truly sad about the circumstances behind the lost of his parents?
Maybe not today. Maybe not ever.
For the time being, she should be content that Sprig confined that piece of tragic history to her because he trusted her that much. And that said a lot about how much they valued her as a member of the Plantar family.
"Thank you, Sprig." She smiled warmly at him. "For telling me all of this."
He smiled back. "Anytime, Anne."
When he looked at her smile, he was not sure why, but something about it stirred some kind of emotion within him. He could not figure out what, though. Not only that, but his face felt a bit warmer than usual. Though for that one, he assumed that it was because of the heat from the Dry Swamp.
But if he thought hard about it, he might find it somewhat familiar. In fact, the last time that he felt something like that was back when he and Ivy…
"Welp! I think we've talked long enough, right?" Anne said as she stretched her arms up and arched her back. "What do you say that we finally finish this stupid puzzle already?"
"Sounds like a plan!" Sprig nodded, more than ready to get back to the task at hand. "Let's get this done before we start moving again! Uh, although, our chances are kinda low, in this case."
"Whatever! Let the universe keep throwing stuff at us! 'Cause you and I, we're definitely going to finish this, no matter what!" she exclaimed while throwing her fist into her open palm.
"I've always got your back, Anne!"
"Right back at ya, Sprig!"
"Spranne against the world!" They both shouted while throwing their fists in the air, before they resumed their work on the complicated jigsaw puzzle.
Come what may, there was nothing stopping the Spranne duo from completing what they were set out to do. Not a giant sandworm that keeps chasing after them each time they were on the move, nor a bank robbery under the guise of a stage play. With Sprig and Anne together, nothing is impossible.
End of Chapter