You told your guards — I know, for I was one of them — to kill the other dragonet and take Kestrel back for trial. She tried to grab her daughter and fly away, but the heat of the dragonet's scales burned her talons before she was a wingbeat into the sky, and she had to drop her. She fled, leaving her only living dragonet at your mercy.

When you caught her, the dragonets had hatched. I know. Because I was one of the guards who was with you. You told her you'd forgive her and let her live — if she killed one of her dragonets. So she killed that dragonet with too little fire, right there at the river, with her own claws. But even though she did what you said, you told us to kill her other dragonet anyway! She grabbed her daughter. She tried to fly away — But she was too badly burned and was forced to drop her. So she fled, leaving her only dragonet at your mercy.