The air was awash with the scent of hibiscus, choking the sadness with it's flowery tendrils.
Everything about the island was dimmer. The sun, sparkling on a clear ocean. The sand, coarser and hotter. The palm trees, leaves turning brown, with rotten coconuts littering the ground at their roots. A single trail of talon prints were etched into the sand, before the tide washed them away, following up to a lone dragon on a log. Multiple others gathered in the tree line, faces masks of pain and regret.
A small grave sat serenely in the sand. Some dragon had placed a bouquet of pink flowers at the base, small blooms, heartfelt messages and a ring sat at the base. The dragons began to disperse, most of them sobbing and clad in all black.
"Funerals." The lone dragon said, wrapped in black pearls.
"Tell me about it." Turtle sat down next to her. A sniff broke through their comfortable silence as Kinkajou slid down next to them, leaning into Turtles chest.
"Hi." Moons wings slumped into the sand as Qibli and Stardust followed her.
"Hey." The others echoed softly.
"Anemone, I'm really, really sorry." Moon heaved Stardust onto her back, where she snuggled into the crook between her wings. "I realise that Qibli and I ruined your last moments with Tamarin." The dragon wearing black pearls sighed.
"No, I'm sorry. It was my mistake to deal with, not yours. I should never have enchanted Tamarin to love me, even if she ended up doing so. I'm the one who needed to step up and save your daughter, but I couldn't even do that. Even when she ended up being the one who saved us."
"It's not your fault..." Qibli started, but Anemone held up a talon.
"No, it was. It was my mistakes that killed her, and I'm going to need to keep reconciling with that for the rest of my life."
"We'll do that together, then." Turtle told her. "It was all of our faults." They all nodded apart from Stardust, who was happily snoring on Moons back.
"At least one of us is happy." Anemone mused.
"We'll all be happy one day." Kinkajou said, watching he dragonets tussle on the sand. "Just not today."
"I just wish...I got to tell her that I loved her, one last time." Anemone folded herself into her wings.
"She knows." Moon whispered. "She knows."
But just one last time...
I love you.