Chapter 6 - Chores

Sleep didn't provide me any relief from reality, as my consciousness was unwilling to let me have any peace. Now that I wasn't struggling to survive, I had time to pause and reflect, leaving me facing an emotional tide that I was in no way prepared for. I lay in bed, struggling to find rest, but eventually gave up on the endeavor and sat up. I ran a hand through my hair, and sighed heavily, sitting in silence while thoughts whirled around in my mind. Luna was at the forefront, and I found it impossible to think about anything else. Every time I closed my eyes I saw her face again, with a frozen expression of shock and betrayal. I couldn't stand it, because it felt like someone was striking me in the chest with a sledgehammer, knocking away the will I had to continue.

I spent the entire night in this position, suffering quietly without any sort of reprieve, wishing for something to change. That reprieve finally came when the sun rose for the new day, giving me an excuse to do something other than wallow in my guilt. As the sun's rays crept up the far wall and gradually warmed the room, I found myself wanting to do nothing, but I knew that inaction would leave me suffering. With a grunt, I hoisted my legs over the edge of the bed and let my feet hit the wooden floor. The wood was cold to the touch, and it was still a bit cool inside the room, but not so much so that it was uncomfortable. I silently thanked Leah for the clothes and stood up slowly, noticing with a relieved smile that my legs were somewhat steady now.

I guess I'm recovering faster than I thought... Those crystals must have been a big part of that.

I shuffled over to the door that led to the rest of the house and knocked a few times and then waited. After a few moments, Leah opened the door and gave me a critical glance before she spoke.

"Having trouble sleeping?"

She handed me a cup of tea before I could answer. I nodded, then gave her a small thanks as I drank it, grateful for the soothing feeling it gave my throat. She walked back into her house and motioned for me to follow, and I rubbed my eyes gently while doing so. Once through the door, I found myself in a small house that had a living room, adjoined kitchen, and what I assumed to be a bedroom, all squished together within a small, cozy house.

Leah walked over to a small set of shelves by the front door and then returned to hand me a pair of socks along with my boots. As I tasked myself with putting them on, she sat down in a rocking chair and sipped her tea quietly. Once she was settled, she pointed towards her kitchen.

"I have some fruit and bread if you'd like some. It would be a good idea to eat something before you go along with Shimmer today."

I was once again surprised by her generosity but thanked her nonetheless.

"You're right and I will, thank you."

Once my boots were on, I hurried over and grabbed an apple and a small piece of bread that had small pieces of nuts in it. I was delighted when I found out that it was banana bread and scarfed it down quickly, as it had been a while since I had eaten something so sweet and I savored every bite. War had caused my village to ration out food, so luxuries like sugar had become rare, and having anything sweet was considered a privilege.

I was disappointed when I finished the bread and moved to sit on a couch that she had in her living room. I let my mind wander while I waited for Shimmer to show up, and we sat in silence together, aside from the occasional sound of Leah sipping on her tea. Eventually, the quiet led to my thoughts drifting toward a direction I didn't want them to, so I focused my attention on Leah's house instead. She had a lot of various plants and herbs in her kitchen, and her living room was adorned with a handful of artifacts that lined her walls. More so than plants though, were shelves of books that were stacked neatly along the walls, and as I looked closer, I found that books were stuffed into every imaginable space, and then some.

I leaned back on the soft cushion, daydreaming about her being an herbalist or doctor, and the soft creaking of her rocking chair almost lulled me to sleep. A loud knock on the door pulled me back to wakefulness, and as I got up and opened the door, I rubbed my eyes again to help them re-focus. When I opened the door, Shimmer greeted me enthusiastically, and I watched as the satchel around her neck bounced with her movements.

"Goooood morning Kiran! Ready for some boring chores?"

I was too tired to do anything but groan quietly.

"Mm."

Her head tilted to the side.

"Everything ok?"

"Peachy. Ready to get your stuff done?"

"Nope! But I don't have much of a choice, so let's hurry up and get this over with so we can do something that's actually fun. C'mon!"

I had to wonder what her definition of fun meant, but there wasn't time for me to ask because she turned and started running back into the village. I wasn't prepared for her to run off so quickly, so I sighed, gave Leah a quick wave, shut the door, and walked briskly after her. It felt good to move around again, and I took a few deep breaths of the fresh forest air. Shimmer kept her fast pace until she realized I wasn't with her, and looked around until she spotted me. She waited for me to catch up, and without missing a beat, she started asking me questions.

"What's the holdup? We've got things to do!"

"I'm not really interested in rushing around. I'm still on the mend, remember?"

"Yeah yeah, I know. Speaking of that, what'd you talk about after I left yesterday? I gotta know! Dad doesn't send me away unless it's something important."

I wasn't surprised that she was already digging for info. She was energetic and seemed like the type of person that was eager to know the personal details of those around her, but I felt that she didn't need to be privy to the details of the conversations last night, so I gave her a vague response.

"It's nothing you need to worry about. All you need to know is that I'll be going to Warfang with you and the caravan when it leaves."

"Really? We'll be going together? That's great! You're going to love the city, there's a whole lot to do there!"

Her upbeat nature was already grating my nerves.

I'm too tired for this.

"Yeah? What's so special about Warfang?"

She was all too eager to inform me.

"Well, to start, Warfang is where I go for my schooling, and my drakefriend Phyl lives there! You should meet him, I'm sure you two would get along great! Aside from that, there's always the Arena, the library, the gardens, the monument…"

Shimmer began to rattle off an ever-growing list of places that I should go visit and I couldn't help but be repelled by her bubbly and optimistic personality. This was partially because I was tired and not in the best mood to talk, while another part of me had trouble believing that she was being sincere. I wasn't used to someone being excited to spend time with a stranger, and it left me feeling suspicious. Despite my feelings, however, I got the sense that she was genuine, so I did my best to listen and be friendly.

"...and the wall surrounding the city is pretty cool. Maybe we could even go to some of the spots where the siege took place! I love visiting those areas because they just ooze history! What do you think, Kiran? Where would you like to go?"

She looked over at me expectantly and I panicked for a split second.

Guess I should have been paying attention...

"Ah, well, the thing is, I need to talk to the council before I do anything else. They might be able to help me and I need to know as soon as I can. I'm not even sure I'll be sticking around long enough to go visit these places with you."

She seemed a tad disappointed but didn't let it show for long.

"Oh… ok. Well, if you have any extra time you're hanging out with us! It looks like you could use some time with friends."

"Yeah, that's probably the last thing I need right now."

I gave her an unsure shrug in response, which earned me a disappointed frown, but we didn't have any more time to talk about it as we found ourselves coming up to the town hall. A lot of people were milling about, going in and out of the building in a quick manner as they went about their day. There were a few apes, but they seemed to be more reserved as they congregated around the east section of the building. Additionally, there were some dragons, and they had a large opening on the west side of the building that they were able to enter from. I noticed that I was getting a lot of confused and curious looks as we walked around the fountain and toward the entrance, and it was making me uncomfortable. I motioned towards the east side and asked Shimmer a question.

"Hey Shimmer, why do the apes only go in on that side?"

She made a quick glance to where I was pointing and frowned. Her voice was tinged with irritation as she replied.

"Oh, that's just where they go, they're not supposed to enter anywhere else. They have to wait for everyone else to pass through before they get their pick of jobs."

Now that was strange.

"Why is that?"

"Well, the apes aren't liked very much. Their people have a long history that keeps others from accepting them into society, and the occasional problems caused by the apes that were banished only ruin the image of the ones that live in the Dragon Realms."

"That sucks. So they're just treated worse?"

"Basically. I've tried to complain or argue that it isn't fair, but things are kinda set the way they are. I'm not old enough to be in a position to change anything so there isn't much I can do about it."

Her answer didn't leave me with the best feeling as we neared the entrance and I couldn't help but notice that some of the strange looks I was getting turned sour. I followed Shimmer as she walked inside two very large wooden doors at the front and made her way to a counter that was to the left of the entrance. I didn't get a chance to look around the interior as Shimmer rang a bell and called out a name. Eventually, a small, aged mole looked up from the paperwork he was filling out and blinked once, then twice before adjusting his glasses and replying.

"Yes, Shimmer?"

"Good morning Pimvon! I'm here with Kiran to pick up his stuff. Dad said you had it stashed somewhere in here."

The mole pushed his glasses up and adjusted them while directing his gaze toward me. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he took my appearance in and then cleared his throat.

"Y-Yes… yes, of course. But I need to remind you that apes are not supposed to access this side of the building. It's against procedure."

Shimmer rolled her eyes in response.

"Kiran isn't an ape! He's a human! That means he doesn't have to follow those stupid rules."

The mole looked skeptical at her answer but didn't argue the point.

"...I see. I'll have his items out in a few moments."

He hopped out of his chair and I lost sight of him. I could hear him ruffling around under the counter as he dug through what I assumed were either boxes or cabinets of items. After about a minute, he tossed my sword, a few pouches, a belt, my headband, and arm guards up onto the counter before he got back into his chair. The sight of my headband made my heart clench sadly.

"I believe these are what you are looking for?"

I nodded politely.

"Yeah, those are mine."

"I took the liberty of removing the berries that you had in that pouch. I'm not sure if you're aware, but they are a source of Farleigh Fever, which I heard you had. You should be more careful with the berries in this area from now on."

I blushed lightly in embarrassment and nodded before I reached out to grab my stuff. I stopped as he cleared his throat again and meekly pushed a piece of paper toward me.

"Please, sign this first. It's a standard form that lets us know that you were a visitor and retrieved your items."

Shimmer sighed in exasperation but I grabbed a pen from him and looked over the sheet. I had no idea what anything said on the paper because it was written in strange… letters, so I found an empty space and signed my name quickly.

"There you go, sir."

"Thank you. You can take your items now."

I smiled as I grabbed everything and placed my sword around my waist. I followed this by placing everything else into its proper place, and I couldn't help but be comforted by the familiar weight of the belt and items on my hips. It was no small relief to have my weapon back, considering I was in unknown territory, and let my hand rest on the hilt. I silently promised myself not to get myself in a position where I would lose it again, then picked up my headband. I gave it a good look over to make sure it wasn't damaged, wrapped it around my arm then gave Shimmer a thumbs up to signal that I was ready. She looked at the symbol on the headband curiously and then smiled.

"Alright, let's go! We've wasted enough time already!"

"So, what's first?"

Shimmer pulled out a small list from her satchel and read it while walking towards the door.

"Well, I have a few things to do in town as well as a few things at home. First, we need to go to the market and pay for our monthly allotment of supplies. That's easy. Next, we have to go out into the forest and find some gems to bring back and send to Warfang. It's for a job that I personally accepted because I want a bit of extra spending money next time I'm there. After that, we need to pick up some materials that my dad is using for his forge, and then all we have to do are some chores around my house. Not too bad, right?"

I gave her a flat stare and groaned internally.

"So, do you normally have this much to do in one day or are you a habitual procrastinator?"

Shimmer gave me a fake offended look and scoffed.

"I would never procrastinate on my chores! It just so happened that all of these things needed to be done today! It's nothing more than a coincidence."

"Yeah, sure, and it just so happened to be on a day that you have help. Makes sense."

Shimmer gave me a sparkling grin.

"I'm glad you get it! Now follow me, if we get these done fast enough, we'll have some time this evening to hang out. Maybe we could go explore some of the caves out in the woods!"

I sighed to myself but followed after her as she sprung forwards through town and barely managed to avoid running into other people. I apologized for her as we ran by, only to get angry responses and some nasty glares from the people we disturbed. I groaned to myself and realized very quickly that the day was going to be a lot longer than I originally thought.

Shimmer was quiet as we walked through the woods, following the marks that I had made just a few days ago. After we had dropped off the payment for their supplies, which I learned was just a lot of meat that was delivered to her Father's house, I remembered that I had chanced upon a large red crystal in the woods just a few days ago. It was near the area that I had stopped to take a rest before I found the village, and with this in mind, we decided to retrace my previous steps to find it.

I was actually excited to find it again, now that I knew that the crystal had healing properties. I was hoping that there was enough for me to take a few pieces for myself to keep for emergencies and bounced around the idea of bringing some back home for study as well.

I'm sure the Hokage would love to get her hands on them...

As we passed by another mark, Shimmer began fidgeting from what I assumed was boredom, before she started talking to me again. Her voice was as enthusiastic as it was this morning.

"I'm really glad I decided to follow you out here when I did. My dad wasn't happy that I had snuck out in the middle of the night, but he was proud of me for finding and helping you. I knew something was up when you ran, and I couldn't resist the urge to investigate. What made you so scared of me in the first place anyway? Am I really that intimidating?"

I gave her a pointed glare and reminded her of our agreement.

"I thought we agreed to be quiet for a few minutes and enjoy the time to ourselves?"

She flicked her tail in an irritated manner and frowned at me.

"It's been long enough! C'mon, talk to me! We don't know each other that well and we don't have that much time before Warfang!"

She looked at me with big, sad eyes and I couldn't help but relent, although I let out a heavy sigh to let her know I wasn't happy about it.

"Fine, fine, we can talk. You win."

Shimmer flipped from sad to happy and reiterated her last question.

"So, like I was saying, were you actually scared of me? Because I don't think I'm that intimidating. I even smiled at you!"

"No, not really. I think it was just the shock of seeing other races that talked and walked around like I did. Where I'm from there isn't anything like that. Well... I guess there are summons, but that's different."

Shimmer's head cocked to the side.

"Summons? What are those?"

"Hmmm… well, think of it kind of like being able to request help from someone at a moment's notice. Humans made contracts with specific animals and they would help them if they were friends. I never had one of my own, but I know of a few people that do."

"That sounds pretty cool, but I haven't heard of anything like that before. We wouldn't need help anyway, because dragons can do some awesome stuff. Check this out!"

Shimmer jumped forward and then took a deep breath before she shot out a large ball of ice from her maw. It shot forwards and hit a tree and then exploded into a large jagged piece of ice that turned the tree into a giant popsicle. She stood with her chest puffed up, looking at her accomplishment, and smiled.

"Pretty cool huh?"

I had to admit, that was cool. Shimmer was as old as me, but it looked like she had much stronger control of her element than I did. I placed my hands on my hips and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm honestly really impressed."

She puffed up even more when I said that. Maybe complimenting her and inflating her ego wasn't the best idea.

"You use ice, so I'm guessing other dragons can use other elements?"

"Yep! There are a few elements that are pretty common, and some that are used by only a few. There are some dragons that can use multiple elements, although that's extremely rare."

"So they're similar to humans in that regard. They gravitate towards a singular element."

"Do you know what all of the elements are?"

"I know of some of them. There's ice, fire, lightning, earth, air, y'know, stuff like that. Ooh, there's also some special elements, but I think only Cynder and her daughter are able to use them."

"Who's Cynder?"

Shimmer gave me a side glance and then sighed while shaking her head.

"Jeez, you don't know anything do you?"

"I'm not from around here, remember?"

"Yeah, but she's Cynder! Former terror of the skies? Co-Savior of the Dragon Realms? Spyro's mate?"

At this point, we had stopped walking and she was looking at me as if she expected me to know them. I shrugged my shoulders and she shook her head in amazement.

"Wow, you really need a history lesson. How do you expect to talk to the council if you don't know who some of the founding members are?"

"I guess I'll have to figure it out as I go along. If I can't, you can just fill me in on the way, right?"

"Maybe, but don't expect me to be your fountain of knowledge. I can't babysit you all the time just because you have questions."

We started to walk again and I recognized the area we were in. The crystals should be close.

"Mhm. Guess I'm missing out then, because I'm sure you'd be the best teacher. A paragon of educators that no other could match."

I waved my arm in front of me dramatically for effect.

"Hey! Compliments aren't supposed to be sarcastic!"

"That's kind of the poin- Oh hey! There's the crystal I was talking about."

Shimmer forgot all about my comment and squealed in delight when she saw the crystal. She ran up to it and did a quick walk around, smiling to herself as she eyed it up and down like a hungry predator. The crystal itself was about five to six feet tall and roughly five feet wide at the base. It was crackling with energy just like before.

"This is a huuuuuuge one! I can keep coming back to it for future orders! Thanks, Kiran!"

I gave her a small thumbs-up.

"No problem. Just don't forget about this when I'm bugging you with questions."

She waved a claw dismissively.

"Right, right. Help me break off some chunks, will yah?"

I nodded and walked up to the crystal as she started to swipe at it with her claws. Small chunks of crystal flew off of it with each swipe, and Shimmer stopped for a moment to pick up the shards. I took this as my opportunity to help and settled into a low stance. I took a step forward and then launched myself at the crystal with a sweeping kick. The entire top quarter of the crystal exploded, causing the small clearing to be showered in sparking pieces. I was proud of myself and expected some type of compliment until Shimmer yelled at me.

"Kiran you idiot! Hurry up and grab those before we lose them!"

My pride was quickly dashed when I remembered that we were in a forest with a decent amount of shrubbery. A lot of the shards had landed in the underbrush and it was now going to be a pain to find all of them. I smacked myself in the forehead and then got to work hunting down all of the pieces that had been blown off by my kick, with Shimmer grumbling the whole time.

It took us the better part of an hour to hunt down all of them, and Shimmer's bag was full to bursting at that point. I pocketed a few of them for myself and we made our way back to the village.

"...and that's why you don't hit it hard like that. Ugh, I swear, you're going to make us lose out on any free time if you do something like that again."

"Sorry. I wasn't really thinking about the second step when I kicked it. At least we have a good haul."

Shimmer reluctantly agreed.

"Yeah, we do have that going for us. I should be able to get a decent bonus for everything we have here."

She took a quick glance at her bag and then at me.

"Tell you what Kiran, any bonus that I get I'll give to you. You'll need some money once we get to Warfang."

I was both thankful for her generosity and hesitant to accept any money. This was technically a favor for Leah and Feldspar because they had taken care of me while I was sick and answered my questions, leaving me feeling unsure about accepting anything. Shimmer seemed to pick up on my internal struggle and rolled her eyes.

"Just accept it. Jeez, don't make this hard for everyone involved."

"Fine, fine. Thank you Shimmer, I appreciate it."

"It's no problem. You were the one that knew where the crystal was. It only makes sense that you get some of the reward."

I couldn't argue with that and nodded as the village gate appeared in the distance. Shimmer started to move a bit quicker and I matched her pace. She gave me a sly grin and once again increased her pace and I matched that too. Soon enough we were racing towards the gate at breakneck speed. I broke away and she realized that I was too fast for her on the ground, so she took to the air to try and catch up. That didn't help though and I was able to easily outpace her as we raced to the gate. I ran by a few people that were on the path, and they yelled out in surprise and irritation as I passed.

It wasn't long before I made it through the gate and I tried to stop, but I ended up sliding several feet on the loose dirt and almost ran into a cheetah. She shot me a dirty look and I mumbled a quick apology as I stood off to the side as I waited for Shimmer. I turned back and was satisfied to see that I had beaten her to the gate by several seconds and she had a very surprised look plastered on her face. It was only a few more moments before she dove down next to me and stopped with a powerful push of her wings. She panted from the exertion and stared at me in amazement.

"How… do… you… move… so… fast…?"

"It's just what I'm good at. Part of being a ninja and all that."

"Ninja?"

"It's my job, but I can give you the details later. We've got chores to finish, remember?"

Shimmer gave me a steely-eyed glare but relented.

"Fine, but don't forget you've got a few other things to explain as well. I might make a list if you keep adding to it."

"Please don't. That's the last thing I need to worry about."

She responded with a mischievous grin and took off towards the town hall.

"Last one there is a rotten stink weed andhastodoallofmychores!"

"Did she really just-"

I took off running again, a small smile tugging at my lips, and for a few moments, I was happy. I didn't have to worry about getting home or dealing with the pain of losing my friends, and for a brief moment that my life seemed alright, even if I knew that it wouldn't remain this way for long.

Authors Note: Hey guys! I hope you're enjoying the story so far. I'm currently in need of a Beta Reader, so if anyone is interested, let me know!

Edit 9/27/2021 - Minor Grammar and Spelling fixes. Updated the name of Shimmer's boyfriend, I left it as the placeholder name by accident.
Edit 10/26/2022 - Many sentences and sections have been reworked. Grammar and spelling fixes.