Persimmon's Tree

Chapter 4

Poinsettia looked angry and conflicted at the same time as Persimmon blinked at her. She stalked over to the poster and furiously ripped it off of the wall.

"Your mother was a horrible dragon." Poinsettia spat.

Persimmon looked down as guilt flooded through her veins. She had never met her mother, but there was a deep emptiness within her that seemed to eat through her when she would think about it.

"Why didn't you kill me when you found me if you hated my mother so much?" Persimmon asked.

Poinsettia hissed deep in her throat. "It wasn't your fault your mother killed my eggs. I couldn't kill you anyway. It would have made me no better than her." She said, turning her head away and frowning.

Persimmon was surprised this dragon had such a huge role in her story. She never even knew about Poinsettia until today. Was there more for her to know? Who else was hiding their miraculous secrets from her?

"I wish it was easy for me to get over it. It has been seven years, but it feels like it was yesterday." Poinsettia said as she sadly looked Persimmon in the eyes.

Persimmon had no idea how to respond to the RainWing. It really wasn't her fault she was related to her horrible mother.

"I'm sorry." Persimmon said with a genuine tone.

"Don't be. I can't blame you for something you didn't do." Poinsettia said, then hesitated a bit before talking again. "Where is your mother? You said was so that makes me think..."

"She's dead." Persimmon admitted.

Poinsettia gave her a blank stare. Her expression seemed as if she saw countless futures crumble before her and had no idea how to fix them.

"Dead?" Was all she said as she sat down.

Persimmon tilted her head at her. She couldn't tell if that was relief or hopelessness.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" Persimmon questioned.

"I don't know. All my life I felt like I had to be the one to kill her." She stopped herself, looking at Persimmon.

"She died when I was hatched. My father told me the story of how she tried to murder my sister and I. She was knocked over the edge of our home by our father." Persimmon said, sort of feeling strange for telling this random dragon so much about herself.

"Interesting. Not everything happens the way you want it to, I suppose." Poinsettia said, her thoughts trailing off.

"Anyways, you wanted food, correct?" She said, looking at the IceWing.

"Yes, I definitely do." Persimmon said quickly.

Poinsettia looked through a carved tree shelf that seemed to hold all sorts of unique foods Persimmon had never seen before. She grabbed a dead animal that had way too much shaggy fur on its body.

"Try a sloth." Poinsettia said, edging the creature toward Persimmon.

"I uhI... okay." Persimmon said, giving up as she grabbed the hairy sloth.

She looked at its sad little sloth face and felt sick eating something so cute.

"On second thought, do you have any rabbits?" She asked, setting the sloth down.

Poinsettia blinked and turned to look through the shelf once more. She pulled out a grey rabbit with white spotting on its pelt.

"How's this, picky eater?" Poinsettia asked.