Coral stared down at the mangled dragonet in her talons. Bits of the shattered eggshell floated around in the warm, clear water of the nursery, and the tangy, bitter taste of blood was still as pungent as ever. The guards that had accompanied her shook their heads sympathetically and left the queen to cope with the loss in her own company; just as they'd done so many times before. The eyes of the pale green dragonet were still closed, and the infant remained curled up into a tragic, fetal position.
She was going to be so beautiful, Coral thought regretfully. And the assassin, they just... She recounted the name she had proudly assigned to the princess only a few months prior to today; her mind had then been racing with fleeting, now fruitless hopes that she would finally have another daughter.
Seal. Oh, I'm so sorry... she subconciously flashed her with scales. I should've been there for you, I could've stopped this; all of this. If only I was just a better mother. Real queens don't lose their dragonets; not like this.
Coral choked out the strained sob she'd been holding in ever since her talon first touched the door. Her tears mixed with the salty water, and her stifled, nervous breaths dissipated into bubbles that drifted lifelessly out of her grasp. Her chest heaved with each stifled cry, and Anemone gently brushed against her mother's side to try and comfort her. Coral looked at her daughter, and pulled the dragonet in closer.
I wish I could protect with them all the way I did you, she barely managed to communicate inbetween long, disruptive sighs. But it seems that no matter what I do, I'll always lose somebody. She couldn't even manage to keep her composition as she curled over Anemone, sheilding her from the awful sight that lay just metres away. She articulated her greivences in slow, dim patterns that danced across her body as each individual scale lit up. Hardly anything Coral uttered was coherent, and her sentences broke more and more with each passing second.
Eventually, she quit trying to relay her thoughts alltogether. She fell silent, letting her body rock and sway with the currents that swirled around the nursery.
After a while, she was finally able to bring herself to rise once more. She stroked Anemone's head with gentle, slow movements of her claws as she collected herself and reformed her posture. The princess was all but asleep at this point, and the lights around the palace had dimmed and faded as night slowly clawed its way into the present. She lifted her head to make sure guards were still positioned on the outsides of the hatchery, and she flashed for them to continue their regular lines of work. She exited the warm, bubbly atmosphere of the hatchery and progressed to the sprawling underwater gardens that lay just outside. A few of her sons paddled and looped around the provided playgrounds, and she nodded with a weak smile as the little green princes looked her way.
Cowfish, Puffer, Seahorse.
After a brief moment, she continued her predetermined route.
Coral carefully held Anemone, making sure to avoid tugging the pearl-laiden harness adorning both of their bodies. She slowly made her way to her quarters, making nothing but soft, unconcerning movements as she swam through the arched hallways. After countless twists and turns, she at last came to her own bedroom. Gently, she set her daughter down on the cushioned, seaweed bed, and detached the strenuous harness that wrapped around her sleeping form.
She knew what she had to go through with. And it wasn't something this dragonet needed to see.