I stared at her for a while as I tried to catch up to what she was asking. Both of us had stopped walking a while ago and were now just standing in the middle of the forest, no doubt attracting every Grimm in the area.
"Qrow, what letter?" Summer asked after a particularly long silence. "I never got a letter."
"I wrote you a letter, telling you about the mission. The general was supposed to have delivered it," I said slowly. "I guess he didn't."
"Why didn't you just stop by to tell me? Or pick up your scroll and give me a call?" She demanded angrily.
"They wouldn't let me!" I waved a hand in emphasis. "Some bullshit about not giving away the damn mission."
"Then why did you give it to him? Out of all of them you gave the letter to someone you didn't even trust!"
"The bastard gave me his word, which apparently doesn't mean as much as I thought it did," I said just as angry as she was, if not more so. "Shame on me for trusting him. Guess coming back to find my girlfriend having had my best friend's child was just what I deserved."
"Wait, is that why you left the second time? You saw Tai with Ruby and jumped to conclusions?"
"What was I supposed to jump to?" I demanded my anger rising. "She's your daughter!"
"Yes but-" she tried to interrupt but, I wasn't done yet.
"No buts, Summer! Babies don't get dropped on doorsteps by long necked birds. They're made, by a pair of adults." My fist tightened at my side as I spoke. "From her age at the time I'm going to guess you two didn't wait very long to 'make' her."
"Qrow, it wasn't like-"
"How long did you wait? A month? Maybe two? Or where you both cheating even before that. I wouldn't be surprised if you two were-"
"She's not even Tai's!" Summer yelled, stopping me in my tracks. Soon after she spoke, her eyes went wide and she covered her mouth as if surprised at what came out.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked after a moment. She sighed, her hands dropping from her face to search through her weapon pouch.
"Do you remember why my eyes are silver?" She asked out of the blue.
"What does that have to do-"
"Just answer me."
"They turned silver when you became the Winter Maiden. Apparently it comes with the territory." I watched her suspiciously as she focused on hear search.
"Do you remember me telling you what color my eyes used to be?"
"Blue, an almost grey blue."
"Therefore if Ruby inherited my eyes, they would have been blue," she said as she finally pulled out a small piece of paper. "In fact, if she were Tai's, that little girl would have had blue eyes regardless. Tell me, Qrow, what color are her eyes?"
I gave her a confused look as she nodded towards the paper in her hand. I took it from her and took a look. It was actually a photo, one of a four-year-old girl with dark hair that somehow faded to a bright red. She was a mess, covered in flour as she attempted to help Summer bake cookies or something. It was an adorable picture, but what caught my attention was the child's eyes. They weren't blue, they were red.
"There's only two people I know that have red eyes," Summer continued, having taken my shock expression as a sort of answer. "And only one of them can possibly father a child."
I stared at the picture for a long time, no hearing anything else she had to say. Everything I knew over the last five years was just turned upside down. I felt like a rug was just pulled out from under my feet. I was confused and disoriented and couldn't figure out which way was up. I was only brought back to reality when Summer placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Are you alright?" She asked once I looked back at her. "I know this is a lot to take in but-"
Before she could continue I dropped the picture and switched forms and flew back towards the town. I could hear her calling my name but I just couldn't deal with this anymore. I needed time to think, I needed to get away.
