Just get to Jet and she'll know what to do.
Flame all but ploughed his way over to the Main Building where he knew Jet's desk was located. Dragons jumped out of his way as if he had covered himself in oil and was about to light a torch.
She'll definitely be a pain in my ass but she'll sort this out. Probably. Hopefully. Maybe.
He reached the entrance and was surprised to see a larger than normal amount of dragons milling about the place, with a large amount loosely circling the small desk where a small, orange-toned dragon sat like a glowing beacon.
Flame made a bee-line for the desk, pushing through a group of dragons that had made the unfortunate decision of being in his way. By the absurd amount of papers and folders that had gone flying he guessed he had just demolished some Healers' journal club.
"Please be more careful!" one of them called after him and Flame was pretty sure it was that IceWing Healer that worked across the hall from Starfish. Flame couldn't be bothered to remember his name right now.
"Excuse us, Eskar. Sorry, Blossom."
Flame heard Umber mumbled apologies behind them. Panting, Umber caught up to him and trotted faithfully at his side and Flame felt a little bad for barging ahead. At the same time, though, his talons were shaking with each heavy step and his mind was wrapped in a buzzing gauze of panic.
Why did they take my brother? Is Chromis in trouble? Am I in trouble? Am I ever going to see him again?
He reached Jet's desk and slammed his talons down. The neat stacks of papers on the surface jumped several inches off the desk. Jet snapped to attention in her chair while simultaneously spitting out the coffee she had just taken a big sip of. It sprayed all over the now jumbled mess of paper work. It was at that point that Flame realized that maybe he had come on too strong.
Jet's glinting yellow eyes slowly look up at him. She looked truly and honestly torn between killing him with her bare claws or killing him with the box of freshly sharpened pencils that rested in dangerously close reach of her talons. This moment of hesitation was enough for Umber to step in.
"Hey, Jet! Yikes, what a mess – anyway, we need your help."
Her rage deflated, replaced by an unimpressed scowl. "Get in line." She began re-piling the papers and removing those that were drenched in coffee. "I have six Healers breathing down my neck to get their new schedules printed out, five new orientation packages that need packaging, and an hour ago I was supposed to be sitting in on a meeting with my mother and some dragons from Jade Mountain Academy but they're late and I've skipped two of my breaks already." She took a deep, meditative breath and then downed the rest of her coffee. It was a large cup so it took her a good while.
"OK whatever," Flame hurried on, "listen, my brother …he was taken by the Palace guards. It happened about a minute ago, wait, I mean ten minutes ago." Flame wrestled with every word that tumbled from his mouth. His tongue felt like an undercooked cannoli and his thoughts kept jumping ahead of each other. He took a breath to steady his rattling mind and remembered the trick Starfish had taught him. While Umber filled Jet in, Flame counted all the red coloured items in the room. He counted several other SkyWings as items, a flower pot, a bracelet on some SandWing's wrist, and Jet's coffee cup. He did the same for all the blue and green items until his pulse reached a safe rhythm – just in time for Jet to release a hiss of frustration so loud it made his ears pop. Great, and now his blood pressure was up again.
"So you mean to tell me," Jet grumbled, rubbing circles onto her temples, "that Flame's brother got arrested?"
"Um," Umber looked to Flame and then back to Jet and shrugged, "that's what we're hoping you could tell us."
"Well did you speak to any of the guards?" Jet asked, her talons running over the new coffee stains on the desk. "What did they say?"
Flame coughed and Umber looked at his talons. "Erm, well, we found some guards on watch outside of the palace…"
"We tried to tell them what happened," Flame blurted. He felt the familiar flush of anger sizzle under his scales. "But they wouldn't listen. Lazy, good for nothing – "
"Actually," Umber blunted Flame's anger with soft but stern look, "I wouldn't say that yelling at them to give you your brother back and then trying to wrestle your way past them would be considered talking."
The heat of anger turned to an embarrassed rash. Flame coughed out some smoke. "Yeah, well, they shouldn't have taken my brother in the first place."
Jet glanced at him, exhaustion weighing on her face. In that moment she bore a striking resemblance to her mother Zephyr. "So I'm guessing you didn't get very far with that line of questioning."
"No," Umber mumbled at the floor. He glanced hopefully at Jet. "Maybe you could help?"
Jet looked like she wanted to say something else, but she met Flame's eyes and stopped short. She studied him for a moment and Flame resisted the urge to blow smoke in her face. Finally she released a much longer, sympathetic sigh. "Alright, I'll help." She seemed to be forcing the words out. Her expression was resigned with a splash of worry, but that wasn't what bothered Flame. He was rather disturbed at her sudden softness towards him, suspicious even, and with a jolt he realized how he was holding his body. He was curled into himself; his wings partially folded around him, his head sinking to the floor, his tail wrapped around his body like a creeper vibe. He probably looking like a sulking hatchling left out in the rain, shivering and pathetic.
He straightened his spine and fixed his face into a scowl, making sure to glower at anyone who met his eye. Just because he was falling apart didn't mean it was anyone's damn business.
Jet paid no mind to his shifting behavior; in fact she didn't seem to notice. She rested her elbows on the desk and held her head in her talons for a moment. Smoke curled out from her snout and snaked out between her teeth like ink clouding through water. Flame wondered if these were smoke streams of frustration or if her brain was working so hard it was catching on fire.
Her frantic mumbling didn't make the distinction easier.
"Mother needs to stay put so she can have her meeting… it's more important that she is available than me…should I ask her? Ugh, she has enough to worry about. I could always… would she get mad at me? Not if I don't get caught."
Flame took a precautious step back just in case Jet's head popped like a dragonflame cactus. A jolt of movement from Jet made him flinch, but he forced himself to relax when he saw she had just stood up and not exploded.
"Alright," she said, "I've decided."
"Great!" Umber beamed, and then, more cautiously, "What did you decide on?"
Jet didn't answer right away. She reached into a side drawer and pulled out a folded piece of parchment that read "On Break" and set it on the desk.
"Come with me," she said in a low voice before pushing past them. She walked with her chin jutted forward and eyes set, like an executioner leading her victims to the gallows. Flame and Umber followed behind, and Flame was starting to wonder just what kind of help Jet was going to give them. She led them to the stairway. The murmuring of dragons quieted in the dark and cool alcove, but before taking even a single step Jet whipped around, a talon pressed to her mouth in silence. The movement was so fast Flame nearly got whipped across the snout by her tail. He barred his teeth.
"What the hell?"
"Shush." She gave him an irritated look. "What do you not understand about a talon to the mouth?"
"What do you not understand about not hitting me on the face?" he shot back.
To his right he heard Umber sigh; the shadows dimmed the MudWing's features but Flame could sense the general displeasure emanating from his boyfriend. "You know, it would be nice to have you two in the same room together for five minutes with an argument starting."
"Technically this is a stairwell," Jet helpfully pointed out, to which Umber's shadowy shape turned more displeased. She tucked her wings in close and observed the two other dragons. "Right, so, I suppose I should give you a bit of a warning."
"A warning?" Umber echoed but Jet shushed him again at the sound of distance talon-steps coming from above. Moments later a small, purple SeaWing descended the stairs. She froze when she came upon the trio. Flame did his best to look as un-criminal as possible. Jet even whistled nonchalantly which Flame thought was stupid. Only dragons up to something whistled for no reason, it was a dead giveaway.
The SeaWing strained out a smile and Flame hoped she would hurry up and leave but instead she turned to Jet. "Hey Jet, uh, has Starfish finished with the meeting yet?"
Jet grumbled in her throat and it sounded more like a growl. "No. They haven't even started as far as I know." She cocked her head to the side with a spark in her eyes. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason." The SeaWing ducked her head. She carefully moved pasted Flame and Umber. "I'll stop by later to pick up my schedule." And with that she was gone.
Normally Flame wouldn't care, but since Starfish was involved it was his right to be nosey. You could say it was his duty, even. "What was that all about? Who was that?"
A barely contained grin pushed its way onto Jet's face. The spark from before erupted into a wildfire that danced in her eyes. "Oh, I don't know if I should say," she said in a poor attempt at a coquettish tone, "I'm sure you two aren't interested in the gossip among the Healers."
"I am!" Umber blurted. "Come on, spill."
Jet pretended to look reluctant for all of half a second before the words burst out like a bird song. "Alright so…"
As they ascended the stairs Flame was forced to listen to Jet chatter on about how a SeaWing named Mica (the one who passed them on the stairs) had a crush on Starfish (Starfish of all dragons!) but Starfish, at least according to Jet's professional opinion, had eyes for that IceWing Healer across the hall from him named Eskar (at least the guy's name wasn't as dumb as Bergshrund's). At this point in the investigation (yes, that was what Jet had called it) she didn't know what Eskar's feelings were on the matter, but she was going to get to the bottom of it.
It wasn't until they reached their desired floor and Jet's voice mercifully quieted did Flame remember something important.
"Wait… weren't you about to give us a warning?"
"I… Oops," Jet hissed out. Whatever she was going to say was drowned by a throng of growing voices somewhere in the hallway. The sound of a door sliding opened – then the boom of voices went from rumble to an avalanche. "Stay in the stairwell," Jet instructed and flattened herself against the shadowed wall. Umber and Flame did the same as a troupe of very familiar, arguing dragons approached.
Sunny's feverishly optimistic voice floated above the others. "So I was thinking that maybe our teachers could do a month long course to learn the basics of Soul Healing! Starfish and I have already drafted a possible course plan – "
"A month!" Tsunami's baritone growl overpowered Sunny. "When are we going to have the time to go through a month's worth of training?"
"We could make it flexible," Starfish said in an anxious rush. "Perhaps a Healer could stay at the school. Besides don't the students go home for the summer?"
All three voices started again, tumbling and jumping over each other like a pack of wolf pups.
They walked past the stairwell and Flame counted four dragons as the backs of their heads went by. Zephyr was at the front, and while he couldn't see her face, the way she held her wings – tightly closed and flat against her flank – implied a waning patience.
"You all really don't need to come with me," Zephyr said, her voice a wall of politeness. "I insist you wait in my office."
Beside him Jet sucked in a breath and mouthed a silent curse word. The group of Healers and Teachers stopped somewhere out of sight but still within earshot, much to Flame's dismay. He could barely hear his own internal voice over the several conversations happening in the hallway.
Jet worked her jaw, her eyes staring unfocused ahead of her. She inhaled sharply and pulled Umber and Flame in towards her. "Change of plans," she said.
"There was a plan?" Umber asked.
Jet puffed out her chest indignantly. "For your information, my very well thought-out plan was for you two to lure my mother out of her office and distract her while I ran inside, stole a document, forged her signature, and then gave it to you. But now we have to improvise." She thought for a moment. "Or, well, improvise more than before."
Flame repeated each of the steps in his head. Stealing? Forging signatures? Uh oh.
"Is this plan legal? I'm game either way but I'd hate for Umber to get put on a criminal watch list for this."
"Do I look like a lawyer to you?" she snapped. "Besides, there's no need to worry." Jet curled her tail around her claws and gave him an ominously smug smile. "I'll make sure your little mud-muffin won't get caught."
Umber and Flame sat straight, both of them turning a glowing shade of red.
Flame could barely get his mouth in order. "What – how – who told – how did you – " he looked at Umber. "Did you tell her?"
Umber vehemently shook his head and Jet stifled her laugh. "Oh, no no, Umber didn't let that slip." She winked at Umber. "Sora did; she tells me everything."
The MudWing sunk into himself as if hoping to vanish into the walls. Flame would need to have a very stern talk with Umber about why keeping secrets can be a good thing, especially from sisters.
The conversation in the hallway went up an octave as Zephyr tried to corral the group away from her. "If you would all just wait in my office I'll only be a moment. I just need to get some paper work and get my daughter from downstairs. Really I can do that alone," Zephyr insisted but Starfish, Tsunami, and Sunny trailed behind her as she moved further down the hallway, moving like ducklings after their parent.
Jet peeked her head around the corner, her features tightened in alarm. "They've gone into the filing room for now, but we don't have much time. Listen up because I won't have time to repeat this…"
The plan went as follows:
First, Jet would distract the group. Perhaps get them out of the hallway if possible. She refused to elaborate when asked.
Secondly, when all the dragons have their heads turned away from the door, Flame and Umber would sneak into Zephyr's office.
Next came the hard part. Once inside, Flame and Umber (without leaving a trace of evidence) would need to find a form titled "Application of Legal Authority". Apparently Zephyr had some power over the royal guard, especially when it came to matters of the Healing Center (Jet unnecessarily brought up that time he and Bergschrund had fought as an example). It wasn't uncommon for patients to have problems with the law, and in such cases Zephy had the authority to intervene.
Flame tried his best to pay attention as Jet instructed them on how to find it, but it was all a jumbled of bureaucratic mumbo jumbo. He hoped Umber was paying attention better than he was.
Once they found the form, they would have to it out properly, sign it (meaning forge the signature), stamp it with the special stamp or something, and then seal it in a letter.
"Then you sneak back out," Jet said in what Flame hoped was the last steps of this atrocious plan, "return to the guards, give them the letter, and they should let you see your bother."
"And if they don't?" Flame hated to ask but he couldn't imagine the guards taking him seriously, even with a fancy shmancy signed letter from Zephyr.
Jet shrugged. "If not then I guess we'll have to go to Plan B." Flame shuddered to think what Plan B could possible entail.
Umber shifted at Flame's side, looking as confident as a field mouse. "So… why aren't we just asking Zephyr to do this for us? These all seems," he waved his talons around vaguely, "a bit much."
"True, we could wait." Jet flicked her tail idly. "But my mother probably won't get around to sorting that out until after the meeting, and who knows how long that will last. Besides," she cast a knowing glance at Flame, "do you really want my mother to know about yet another problem you're involved in?"
Whatever reservations Flame had for this plan shriveled away. He knew Zephyr to be one of the kindest and most understanding dragons to ever hatch, yet that made him all the more self-conscious about her opinion of him. Not to mention he did feel a little guilty about all the trouble he gave her back when he first arrived to the Healing Center… and all the trouble he gave Starfish too… and also Umber and Jet and Sora and… basically any dragon he had interacted with. He'd been doing his best to stay out of trouble since then, but if Zephyr heard about this latest misadventure (assuming Starfish hadn't told her) would she think he's back to his old ways?
"Yes. OK. Fine, we'll stick with the plan," Flame grumbled. "So when does it start?"
The rustling of papers and clicking of talons from the hallway returned and the trio fell silent. Jet's eyes flashed. "Right now! Wait until they're looking away and then go. Good luck." She took a breath and Flame watched in amazement as she forcibly relaxed her shoulders and put on a grin. She turned away from him and stepped out of the stairwell in the path of the approaching dragons. Umber and Flame crouched low and peeked their eyes out as far as they dared.
"Mother," she said pleasantly, "were you looking for me?"
"Jet," Zephyr breathed in obviously relief. "Good, now we can get the meeting started – Jet where are you going?"
Flame watched Jet oh-so-slowly sauntered down the hall in the opposite direction.
"Oh, I just thought our visitors would like to see the – uh – the new art exhibit! Yes, the very cool very interesting exhibit the patients are putting on! We're keeping all their works in the room down the hall until the event but maybe you'd like to see them."
"No thanks," Tsunami said but Sunny smacked her with a wing.
"We'd love to!" The SandWing insisted and merrily followed Jet away from the stairwell. Starfish shrugged at Zephyr and followed. Jet led them around a corner with Sunny being the only one excited about the adventure.
Zephyr grimaced. "Jet, now isn't really the best time," she said before the group entered a room and closed the door.
"Now's our chance," Umber mumbled.
Flame tried not to let his worry show, even if it was a pointless act. Umber always seemed to know how the SkyWing was feeling before Flame himself was aware. Still, maybe if he looked brave it would make him feel brave. He dug his claws into the stone stairs and threw his best mischievous and confident smile at Umber. "Let's do this."
A.N.
A love triangle for Starfish? Finally there is justice in the world
Mica and Eskar are some Healer OCs a friend and I made up a long time ago when I was still in the middle of writing Healed. I never did anything with them but you can't let good OCs go to waste in this economy so I am name dropping them in this chapter.
Also I am anticipating maybe two more chapters for Dragonet Drabbles? This might change as necessary but I am close enough to the end to start thinking of what I want to write next.