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Toby’s face literally glowed with a bright smile as he watched, practically dancing on his tippy-toes from excitement.
It had been so long! He’d really started to get worried! Had Aunt Thess been wrong and no new letter man came to find his letter? Had something bad happened to Ambur so she couldn’t write anymore? Or worse- did she just decide she didn’t want to answer him?
But no, it was none of those things after all! Because she had sent him another letter! And it was right in front of him! …Somewhere. Buried in the pile of dirt his aunt was currently sifting through with her claw.
Bouncing with anticipation, it was all the little boy could manage not to jump in and search for it himself. He’d done it before! He was sure he could find it super fast! Sure, Aunt Thess had told him this time that ‘there was no reason for him to get so dirty’, but finding the letter faster was a reason, right? Maybe he should-
“Ah, here we are.”
Toby flared brighter. With an impressively nimble hook of her digit, his aunt scooped up a ‘small’ bit of dirt with the tip of her claw, and sticking out from the clod, was a corner of tarnished white. Grinning ear to ear, the boy reached out excitedly and snatched it up. He quickly wiped it off as best he could, knowing he wasn’t supposed to get the inside messy (and completely ignoring his aunt’s wish not to get himself messy). Then he hurriedly undid the flap and pulled out the long-awaited message inside.
He took a long moment to stare down at the note. He couldn’t understand what the little drawings meant, but he followed the lines and the curves and wiggled happily, knowing that his friend Ambur had made them for him.
Aunt Thess looked down over the small boy, her smile growing more genuine and less forced as his enthusiasm infected her. She loved seeing her little adoptive nephew so happy. Maybe she’d done the right thing after all, by finally telling him about this new message? Perhaps she had been worrying more than necessary?
“Okay okay, what’s it say!?” Toby finally asked, turning the sheet around to face his aunt’s great face.
“Be polite, now,” the large dragoness reminded through her endeared smile.
“I- I mean, can you please read it to me, Aunt Thess?”
She watched him try his very hardest to contain himself, only wiggling a little bit with pent up anticipation. Chuckling lightly- a deep, rumbling sound- she accepted his request.
Toby watched her lean in very close, with the tip of her snout almost touching him, massive eyes trained on the little piece of paper. Her big, deep breaths ruffled both the thin sheet as he held it for her and his matted hair as it rushed by.
A few seconds passed. He waited for those first words.
But instead, he saw his aunt getting… less happy. Very less happy. She started to look worried. She started to look upset. And she still hadn’t said any words. He started getting worried too.
“…What is it, Aunt Thess?” he asked in a meek, innocent tone. He saw her shift her big dragoness eyes up to his face instead of the paper, and she stared at him for a long moment before answering.
“I’m sorry, Toby, I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
“Wha… what do you mean? …What does it say?”
“I… I can’t tell you.”
“Why? I-Is Ambur okay!? Did something happen to her!?”
“No, she-” The dragoness paused to consider her words. “Ambur is fine, but… I cannot continue with these letters. I think… I think it would be best if you move on from this now. Forget about Ambur.”
“For… get… But- but Aunt Thess, why? W-why? W-what did she say? What does it say, Aunt Thess!?” Feeling himself sob a few times, he shook the paper in front of her. But rather than read it again, she reached for it with a claw, frowning regretfully.
“Let me keep this,” she instructed.
“Wh- n- no!”
Without thinking, he gripped the page tighter. The tip of her claw hooked it as she tried to take it and a quiet tearing sound followed their words.
Toby gasped.
And then Toby cried.
Light dimming, the boy dropped to his knees and wailed, letting the ruined scraps fall from his fingers.
Thess looked like she might cry herself. She stood there in awkward shame for a moment before making a clunky attempt at scooping up what remained of the note. And then she simply stared, taking in the results of what she’d done, steeped in silent remorse.
They weren’t alone for very long. Within a minute or so, the sound of wingbeats came to them; their nearest kin summoned by the sound of Toby’s tears. A much younger dragoness alighted on the ground nearby, running over with a look of clear concern.
The sobbing boy heard the words, though he did not listen.
“Toby!? What is it!? What’s wrong!? Did something happen, Aunt Thess?”
“I’m afraid I’ve said something to upset him.”
“Upset him? …I-It’s okay, Toby. Whatever Aunt Thess said, I’m sure she didn’t mean it.”
The boy felt an encouraging nudge at his side, but gave no response. He only kept on crying.
“Perhaps it’s best if you take him. See if you can give him some comfort.”
“Y… Yes, Aunt Thess.”
“I’m very sorry, Toby.”
Those were the last words he heard before the sounds of wet, crackling saliva filled his ears. He felt a maw engulf him; a squishy tongue, stiff but yielding flesh. It drew him in, squeezing and flexing around him in a familiar way. He felt his feet leave the ground, taken in by the warmth until it hugged him on all sides, and then packed him tightly into a narrow passage with a series of quick, deliberate squelches.
*gulp*
*gulp*
*glrk*
His sister could feel his little sobs twitching in her throat as he descended. And when he arrived at her belly, he did so with a dull *plop* and a *slursh*. Feeling himself released into her stomach, he let his body fall limply into the thick stew of chyme which already filled her, the remnants of her most recent meal. He could hear her trying to talk to him, but he let himself settle deep into the churning goop, buried in her sounds and her bulk, and curled himself into a tight little ball.
Eventually, he felt her take off again, carrying him with her into the sky. Sometime later he felt her land, felt her walking. He heard the muffled sounds of other voices, scared and worried, but he couldn’t make himself talk back, so he just pressed himself deeper into the folds of his sister’s stomach and frowned, listening to it gurgle and slosh around him.
…
“…Toby?”
The boy opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure if he’d been sleeping, or how long he’d had them closed, but he noticed there was much less stuff around him now, and what was left felt lighter and thinner. The familiar squiggles of his sister Lorn’s stomach glistened at him faintly in his own, dim light.
“…Are you okay in there?” came the voice again. It wasn’t the voice of the dragon he was inside of, though. It was male, and much more heavy and concerned than it usually sounded.
“…Yeah,” Toby mumbled softly. He felt his sister breathe a rather large sigh of relief around him.
“You ready to come out?” she asked.
“No!” It was emphatic yet still hardly audible with his quiet tone. He leaned harder into the squishy folds as if worried they might be torn away from him.
“…Lorn’s belly is nice when you’re sad, huh?” came his brother’s voice again, having paused to consider his words.
“…Uh-huh.”
“Like that time you tried to sleep with Aunt Thess for the night, but you had nightmares? Did her belly help cheer you up then, too?”
Toby thought back to the day they were talking about. It was actually when he’d gone out with his aunt to deliver that last letter, but he’d almost gotten caught by another human. It hadn’t really been a nightmare, that had been a fib, but he didn’t worry about that part now. Instead, he thought back only on the memory of his sister’s stomach afterwards, and how nice it had felt to wake up inside it. It still felt nice…
“…Yeah. …It’s soft,” he murmured. A moment later he felt the walls squeeze in affectionately, happy to be his shelter and comfort.
“You can stay as long as you want, okay?” Lorn told him.
“Okay.”
The words stopped, and Toby started listening to the little gurgles and glorps of his sibling’s guts, feeling the warm walls cradling him.
“…Can you… tell us what happened?” his brother finally asked.
Toby’s light dimmed again as his frown grew, remembering the recent events. He was sad and confused and angry, but… still he remembered what he’d said. He’d promised… He’d promised to keep the secret.
“Nuh-uh.”
“But… but what did Aunt Thess say to make you so sad?” Lorn asked, sympathetic and very much wishing she could do more than just hold him close.
He didn’t answer her, though. Just laid there silently in the remains of her food, hiding from their prying eyes. Another long pause came and went.
“You don’t have to tell us,” said his brother, softly. “But we love you, and we really want to help.”
He felt his sibling’s snout nudge him through the bulge of the belly around him, not proddingly, but supportively; a long, gentle pressure against the side of his head. Toby leaned into it, light growing just a touch brighter.
He was still sad, but… he was happy that they were there.