"Where have you been?" The question wasn't unexpected. It wasn't rare, yet the small earth elemental sounded more worried than usual. "Away." Far away where the others can't go. "Away?" He nodded. Yes, essentially it was away. The other halted what he was doing and turned to look at him. Rubicante almost felt caught, exposed in a lie though it wasn't truly a lie. It just wasn't the truth. "Every time you go you stay away longer and longer." He nodded a second time.
Scarmiglione didn't have to spell out that he was worried. Despite the inconvenience of just one eye and a covered face rubicante could tell. How? He supposed he had just known him for too long or maybe not long enough. "If you truly wish to know I was in the desert." Scarmiglione thought for a second. "Good. But don't stay out so long. I don't want you to get hurt." "Scarmiglione I can defend myself. I'm not the one you should be worried about." His friend sighed. "Still... I don't want you to be torn away from me a second time." Oh. He closed his eyes for just a moment. He recalled it all too well. The isolation, the cold and how he came back to an entirely new planet. Two moons who would've thought.
As he felt Scarmigliones gaze piercing him he opened his eyes. "Don't worry. I will be fine." Suddenly he sounded so tired. Scarmiglione seemed to have noticed too and so the small fiend turned to a pot of tea brewing on the stove. Quickly he pulled out a handdecorated mug and placed it before Rubicante. Crude lines over the mug seemed to imitate fire and lightning. He wondered who might've drawn onto it to delight him. Then Scarmiglione slowly started to fill the mug with a nice smelling, steaming beverage. "I know you have a hard time sleeping." In between words the earth fiend grabbed some honey and poured it into the tea. "It'll be much easier with some tea in your stomach."
A slight smile snuck across the fire autarches face. "Will you stay with me and talk a little?" The other nodded. "Sure." He blew softly onto the steaming tea, though it wasn't necessary and drunk some.
"Okay I think its time to tell you what I've actually been doing in the time I was away." With these words Rubicante pulled a small, intricate flower out of one of his pockets. "Remember when we first met? After I stopped fuming and you asked me what my favorite flower was?" Scarmiglione nodded hesitatingly. The other carefully reached for the small, shadow covered hands of the earth fiend and placed the aramanth in his hands. "This isn't much, but I hope you still understand how much I appreciate you being here with me. I don't think I could ever bear to loose you, so will you spend another thousand years with me ?" Scarmiglione stared down at the glass flower. Then he carefully placed it onto the table, next to the forgotten tea, opened his arms and wrapped them around his old friend.
Everything would be fine.