Edit: I changed the ending a bit, felt pretty bad.
As the different aromas of sweet flowers, earthy moss, and leaves prickled at his nose, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when looking at Umber. His talons grazed against the paper as if he were underlining the print with invisible ink as he softly and slowly read the words.
He looked around at the garden surrounding them, Umber's second reward for finishing his first healing session. He thought that maybe if he rewarded Umber for each healing session that went well, he would be more willing to talk about Crane. But he knew Umber like the scales on his tail, and if he didn't want to talk about her, there wasn't a thing in Pyrrhia that would convince him otherwise — not even a day at his favorite spot in the garden, where all the tea he could ever ask for was within reach.
He felt a slight tug on his wing as it firmly fit around Umber's whole body once he finished reading the final chapter Flame had told him they'd stop at. He pulled it back in and Umber slowly stood up. "Done?" Flame asked.
"Were you not watching me?" Umber questioned as he wrapped up the scroll, tucking it tightly into his one working wing.
"I was, but then I got…distracted," he explained, purposefully leaving out the fact that the distraction had been Umber's handsome face. Each word that left his mouth made his face look even more soft and innocent than it already was, undeserving of such a past.
"And what was that distraction?" he questioned, smirking. It was as if he had read his mind — like Moon — and was laying out all the clues. The only difference between him and Moon was that she yelled it in his face instead of trying to make him guess. Though, if Umber could read minds, he probably would've asked him out far before Flame had. "Are you checking out other dragons?" he joked.
"Uhm…maybe?" He tried to keep his smile at bay, putting on an I-wasn't-cheating-on-you-but-I'm-going-to-act-like-it-because-it's-funny look. but when Umber looked at him with his best disappointed impression, they both broke out into laughter immediately.
"Alright, what next, MudWing?" Flame asked, still chuckling under his breath. He stood up beside Umber, giving him a bit of support — at least, that was what he called it whenever he wrapped his wing around Umber now, and it seemed he had given up hope for him to ever stop. So instead of fighting it, he let it happen and even sunk into him a bit like he had earlier.
"Next, I'm going to have you make some tea again." Under his bandages, he swore he could feel tiny little points just barely beginning to poke out from beneath his skin. When he was changing his bandages earlier, he either hadn't noticed them, or they had just started coming in. Does his spell heal his scales too?
"Again?" Flame complained. "I don't even know anything about tea. Why don't we go into the kitchen and I can teach you to cook a little?" When he said that, he could see the hesitation on his face. He was definitely considering it.
After a few moments, though, Umber shook his head. "Nope, we're picking tea leaves. I can learn to cook after I get some tea. I'll make you pick tea leaves until you learn what tastes good and what doesn't."
"Can't you just tell me? Why do I need to guess?" He let out a grumble. Maybe if he just made bad tea enough, Umber would give up and they could start doing other things, and it wouldn't turn out like last time; getting the smell of spit-out tea from blankets was surprisingly harder than it seemed.
Besides, making tea was Umber's thing, not his.
"You guessed with cooking until it worked. Now you're going to guess with tea." He started walking forward, forcing Flame to walk alongside him. "I have the perfect tea spot for you — these plants are hit or miss when combined."
They walked around the garden for the next few minutes, passing different parts and sections covered by moss, trees, and, of course, flowers. Lots of flowers. That was until Umber stopped by one of his favorite spots to pick tea leaves and stopped.
"This is the place," Umber informed, eyeing down a bunch of tea bushes. To any other — normal — dragon, they would all seem like normal bushes. But from experience with Umber, he could spot a tea bush without even glancing at it.
"Which ones do I pick?" Flame asked. Even the bushes snickered and sneered at him as they waved side-to-side in the slight breeze. The leaves rubbed against each other and made a sound that screamed "Pick me! Pick me!" It was almost as if they were patronizing him, trying to give him subtle hints while also making fun of him at the same time.
"Well, step number one of finding the perfect combination is to get your wing off of me!" Umber complained, though lighthearted. With his working wing, he pushed Flame's wing off from atop him, leaving him to pull it back into his side, where Umber thought it belonged. Though he thought quite the opposite — keeping Umber close, safe, protected, was just in his nature, and there was nothing he could do about it.
"And step number two?" He looked at him, waiting for his oh-so-insightful response.
"Experiment; like you did with your cooking," he explained. Though making tea was probably hundreds of times easier than cooking, none of his skills translated over, and he was back at square one.
"You sound like a teacher right now." He turned his gaze back to the tea leaves. He couldn't name them all by looking at them. Actually, he hardly even remembered the names of them. Even after Umber said their names hundreds of times, it still slipped from his mind, as if the words had been slathered in a bar of scale polisher.
"Just pick the leaves," Umber dismissed.
With that, he began looking at the different fresh leaves out in the garden. One leaf here, one leaf there, until his talons were full of all different — what he assumed were — tea leaves. There were some chamomile flowers nearby, so he grabbed a few of those and added them to the pile in his talons. However, he was hesitant that possibly some of them might've been actual leaves instead of tea leaves.
By the time he was done, he had a talonful of leaves and flowers in his palm. He walked over and showed it to Umber, and a little bit of excitement flashed across his face. Did that mean what he picked would be good? Or was it just a diabolical plan of his to trick him? Or maybe he was smiling at what his reaction might be the moment he took a sip.
But how would he know what the tea tasted like before he had even made it? Was he just that good at it? "Does that mean they're good?" Flame asked. "I don't like the way you're smiling."
"You'll see," was all Umber said before turning around and starting back to their room, a big grin on his face all the while.
Once again, his mind went back to Crane. How could he be happy with something like that constantly weighing on his mind? Or at least seem happy. How could he drown out something like that, when he had a panic attack whenever someone even mentioned her name? He did it for nearly three years, he remembered. All it took was one bad dream to bring everything back.
A part of him wished Umber would've kept that feeling deep down. Then he wouldn't have gotten trapped under the beam. Then Flame wouldn't have pushed everyone away from him. Then he wouldn't have started drinking alcohol to wash away every memory of Umber.
But the other, smarter, more dominant part wished he would have had the dream sooner, back when they were at the Healing Center before. Then both of their problems would have been solved, and they could go on and live their lives together happily ever after.
Once they got back to their room, Flame could already feel some of the leaves slipping from his talons. He set them down on their table, remembering what the next step of making tea was: rolling. It always entertained him how fast and well Umber was able to roll each leaf. Rubbing the leaf against his two talons perfectly every time, in the exact same way, and at the exact same speed. It was as if he had been doing it his whole life, and it was just another daily routine for him.
As soon as he set them down, Umber immediately got to work, rolling the leaves between his talons and setting the few chamomile flowers off to the side. He usually let Umber do that part; he was faster and probably better at it anyway.
And once he was done, there was a pile of freshly rolled tea leaves with chamomile flowers scattered around, like a bouquet you would give someone at their wedding. "Alright, I'm gonna go get a pot and a jar now," Flame explained, remembering what they had done last time.
He took a step toward the door when he heard Umber call him back. "No, we're not doing that yet. First, we'll let them dry, then we can put them in the jar."
"Why didn't you do that last time we made leaf juice?" Flame questioned, turning around and taking a step toward him.
"This time I want to see if we can get it to taste better if we just leave them out to dry for a little." He was already taking each leaf and carefully placing them on the windowsill, where the sun shone brightly, casting its warm heat for each leaf to absorb.
"You mean you, not we," he corrected. "How long will they take?" he sighed. He flicked his tail from side to side as he sat down on their bed.
"Few hours, just to be safe." Umber took a step toward him, sitting down next to him, casting an affectionate gaze into his eyes. From his — well — umber smile, to his soft comforting gaze as he looked over at him, he felt as if he was the one being cared for injuries instead.
"So what in the meantime? We could go read, or go to the cafeteria, or go outside, or…" he trailed off as he took a closer look into his amber eyes like they took hold of his breath and forcefully ripped it from his lungs. There was a smile on Umber's face — as usual. It was as if he was made of stone, and that smile was carved there, permanently in place.
Flame let his maw drop, while his hot breath smeared against Umber's handsome face. He felt a jump in his heart as it pushed blood through his veins hard enough that he swore Umber could hear each thump his chest made.
Blood rushed to his cheeks as he laid a talon on Umber's. That was enough to give him the same feeling he was experiencing, no words needing to be said, only thoughts. Two dragons who couldn't read minds, reading each other's minds.
His body moved for him without him even realizing, and the distance between their snouts closed before long, resulting in an affectionate, tender kiss. The sunlight beamed against their scales, acting as a spotlight, the center of attention. It felt like everything around them had vanished, and they were the only thing in the universe — the most important thing in the universe: the only thing that ever mattered.
This was the dragon he wanted to stay with forever. This was the dragon he wanted to die happy with.
But he knew he couldn't, not with the way things were — not while Crane was still stepped between them, frozen in place, a wall of ice firmly in place right in the center of them.
He could still touch Umber, run his talons along his scales through holes big enough for his talons, but the ice clouded his face, adding a filter to what he already was — adding something more to him.
It didn't matter how hard he tried to melt that wall, even with his fire breath. In fact, all that did was make it colder as Umber stepped away. The only way that ice wall would ever melt was with both their fire. But he couldn't bring himself to act, and that was the problem.
The only one who could ever truly help Umber was himself.
Umber was the spark, and Flame was the fuel.
But Umber was out of flint.
Umber opened his eyes, feeling the warmth of red scales against his, resting his head on a certain SkyWing's shoulder. Flame laid there, his eyes closed, sleep quickly racing behind him and catching up each second. As much as he loved Flame's face as he slept — and the feeling he got whenever they cuddled —, the tea leaves and chamomile flowers had finished drying.
He didn't want to pull away, though. That's why for the last twenty minutes, he had been telling himself "Five more minutes." But he couldn't stay like that forever — as much as he wished he could. Reluctantly, he pushed Flame's relaxed wing from atop him, letting it flop off of the side of the bed and onto the floor.
Of course, the beds were only made for one dragon, so fitting two on there was a challenge. With just a little roll to the side, he felt himself fall from the bed, narrowly catching himself before he smacked against the floor.
His talons slightly stabbed into Flame's wing, immediately waking him up from his half-asleep state. He reflexively pulled his wing back in and looked over at Umber. He imagined the sight probably looked bad from his point of view, as all he saw was Umber laying on the floor as if he had just fallen — which he had.
Almost as fast as he pulled his wing back, he jolted over, putting his talons on his shoulders as if he were trying to pull him up. "Are you alright?" came out of his mouth almost as a reflex, worry flooding his voice like a river whose dam had just broken.
"I'm fine." He pushed himself back up to his feet, Flame only letting him go once he was sure he had a firm balance and wouldn't fall back down. "The tea leaves are done drying, we should hurry up and use them before the flavors go away too much."
Flame looked at him, a light giggle escaping from him. "Are you sure that's a good idea then? I think we might have to let them sit there for the next few days if that's the case."
"Oh, stop it, Flame," Umber joked, smiling. "I'll try it first, then you can try it if you think it'll be that bad." Flame stood up from the bed and walked over to him, lighting the candle he had put out right before they started cuddling.
"Sounds good, MudWing. I wasn't the one who came up with the idea anyway." Flame stared out through the window for a moment, and Umber watched as he admired the sun for all of its glory. Although Umber knew he wanted to stare directly at it, appreciating the light it brought down, staring too long would make him blind — little rays of light trickling along his scales, forcing their way through every impurity and crevasse in his skin, all the way until it reached his heart.
Flame needed to find a way to create his own light, without Umber's help — a way to create his own fire without Umber needing to be the fuel.
Those thoughts sunk away, deep into the back of his mind once Flame turned away and glanced at him. His eyes caught on the leaves on the window sill, reminding him what he was about to say. "We need to go get a jar and a pot," he explained. "before they lose all of their flavor."
"Once again, might not be the worst thing in Pyrrhia," Flame added. "But if you insist. After all, you're the one trying it first." With that, he grabbed the dried tea leaves and flowers, turned around, and walked through the door, turning down the path they usually took to the cafeteria.
As they walked down, Umber noticed the twitching in Flame's wing as he contemplated wrapping his wing around him, creating a façade that would do more harm than good. Progress… Though he still hadn't gone to a single — full — session with Starfish yet, just the thought of having to learn to allow Umber to walk without hiding his injuries seemed to be doing something.
Once again, as they passed through the lobby, no Manticore. It was strange because they were always playing their guitar for everyone to see, especially after their first encounter. All day, they had been missing from the lobby. Something must be going on with them; they always seem so happy. The smile on their face was still vivid in his memory; a clear picture, like his reflection in the water.
They must be here for a reason though. There's a reason everyone's here, whether that be to heal themselves or someone else. All he could do was wish that whatever was going on with them would heal eventually, as all wounds do.
That thought made him wince. Everyone else got better, and solved their issues, while he was trapped inside his own mind, unable to control even his dreams. So just like he had learned just mere weeks after her death, he pushed the thought back, deep into his mind, and ignored any attempts it made at resurfacing. Ran from them.
He didn't like calling it that. After all, he wasn't running, right? He was just ignoring them whenever he thought about them, and instead of having to face those issues, he pushed them away, not ran.
By the time they got to the cafeteria, he had pushed those thoughts from his head, back into the deep, black blood pit that was his mind, surrounded by nothing except darkness to accompany it.
They pushed through the line and into the kitchen, where a few workers were busy cooking up different lunch items — including a certain blue SeaWing whom Flame had been talking about nonstop before he took his break.
It was mostly things about how much he needed to learn, and a bunch of skills Umber couldn't even comprehend how to do. But there were a few parts in the midst of his complaining where he seemed even proud of the progress he had been making.
From someone who could hardly even make himself a bag of popcorn properly, to someone who was starting to make some of even his most complicated dishes — though, not very well, as most of it was made wrong. But there were a few rare times where the food was up to Flame's quality of cooking. He was inconsistent.
The entire area smelled like food — of course, it did, but it was far stronger in there than it was outside, and he could pick apart each scent like Flame did whenever he slightly burned his scrambled eggs. Meat, pizza, bread, meat, pastries, and, of course, more meat.
As if he was in a hurry, he swiftly grabbed a mason jar from the cupboard and set it down on the counter, taking quick glances around him. First the front door, then the back door, and then the entire cafeteria — twice.
Quickly, he filled a pot with water and heated the bottom up with nothing except his fire breath. Obviously, this was far from standard kitchen practice, something Flame always complained about. Yet there he was, breaking one of his top three rules.
"Woah, woah, Flame, slow down!" Umber warned. "Why are you in such a rush? The tea isn't going to dry out that quickly." By the time he finished his sentence, the water was already boiling in the pot.
"I'm in a rush because Fennec's here today! I don't want him to see us here!" he explained. "If he sees me, then he's going to force me to come back, and we both know why that can't happen. So let's just get this tea made and-"
"Umber?!" a faintly familiar voice exclaimed in surprise as they turned the corner, holding a pan of yet-to-be cut-up steak. "Flame said your burns were bad, but by all moons!" His glaring, shocked eyes darted around his body, landing on his casted wing.
Now that he got a good look at him, from his blue scales, faintly familiar voice, and dull horns mixed with his lean body, he recognized him as Aquatic. Though he hadn't seen him more than a few times, let alone talked to him. "Oh…yeah," was all he managed to mutter out at a loss for words.
"Aquatic!" Flame scolded. "You scared me! I thought you were Fennec!" His face was still a mix of terror and scalding anger, two emotions that shouldn't go together.
There was a pause between them, where Aquatic awkwardly held his pan with shaky talons. "So what are you two making anyways?" he asked, staring at the jar and boiling water.
"Leaf juice," Flame said matter-of-factly. "Umber wanted me to make my own tea — again, because last time it came out so good," he said sarcastically. " — and now we need to mix it with water or whatever."
"You better hurry up, then; Fennec is going to be back soon, and he's in a particularly bad mood today. Like earlier, right after you left, he made us redo all of the stuff we had JUST made-"
"FLAME!"
The terror on Flame's face only grew bigger as he spun around so fast he nearly smacked Umber in the face with his tail. Luckily, though, the boiling water in the pot he was holding stood firm, unmoving from any spilling that might burn him.
As Umber looked around through the kitchen, trying to find who had said it and from where his eyes caught on dull-yellow glistening scales, seemingly reflecting all of the light that came in contact with them and shooting it back at Flame. He was big, nearly as big as Clay. He could probably step on Flame and kill him instantly.
By the way he stood firm, unmoving, and with an angry expression on his face, this dragon was definitely angry at Flame for some reason. But it didn't take Umber more than a few short moments to put the pieces together and realize exactly who the dragon eyeing Flame down as if his stare alone could jumpstart him into working.
Fennec.
"Where have you been?!" he demanded. "You said you were taking your vacation for two weeks! It's been almost two months!" Every rumble in his yell sent another shiver of fear through Umber, enough to even submit him to work if he asked — anything to get away from him.
The expression of fear on Flame's face was quickly replaced by anger as he took a step towards him. Smoke was already rising from his nostrils just after a few moments. "Well, if you haven't already seen" — he pointed to Umber — "Umber is hurt, and I wasn't going to leave him alone so I can work in your stupid fucking kitchen! If you wanted to know where I was so bad then you should've asked Zephyr so she could tell you to fuck off as well!"
Fennec's face only seemed to get angrier, beyond what Umber thought possible. Aquatic took a preemptive step back, before scouring away in the corner of the kitchen — something Umber was contemplating doing himself.
"Watch how you talk to me, Flame," Fennec warned in a low, grumbly, threatening voice. "I could fire you in a heartbeat if I wanted."
"You could sure as fuck try!" Flame shot back, dropping his voice just as low and threatening as Fennec's. "You may manage the kitchen, but Zephyr manages you. And guess who just so happens to be closer to her than you could ever wish to be? Me. And if you go complaining to her about what I said now after she was looking at Umber unconscious in a hospital bed just a few weeks ago, I wouldn't doubt she would fire you on the spot and have me take your place. In fact, I could probably go and do that myself if I wanted your shitty job."
Fennec took a step closer, and so did Flame as he set the pot of now-warm water down on the counter until the two of them were so close it looked as if they were about to kiss. Though the scene unfolding looked like quite the opposite of love.
"Flame-" Fennec started.
"I don't want to hear your bullshit," Flame spat. "I'm the Healing Center's best cook, and if I want to take a break to look after Umber after he almost fucking died, I'm going to take a break to look after Umber after he almost fucking died, and there's not a goddamn thing in Pyrrhia you'll ever get your talons on that will change that."
They both looked as if they were about to kill each other and if they did, Umber wouldn't have been too surprised about it. But in any case, that wasn't something he wanted to happen, so instead of standing there and watching the scene in his head unfold, he stepped between the two. Surely Fennec would never hurt an injured MudWing, especially one that Flame loved, right?
That was the only thought keeping him going when he pushed Flame away, breaking the two up. The light smoke rising from his nostrils only became more. "Flame, calm down, alright?" Umber said in a low voice, hoping his words alone would be enough to soothe him. "Just go into work tomorrow so we can get a headstart with our money. Imagine all the nice things we'll do when we get back."
He thought back to Prince Egret Island, and though a trip there was free, the food, in fact, was not. They were running down to the last hundred suns of their money, and without Flame working, that would run out quicker than they could imagine if they kept going out like they did the other day.
After a long few moments, Flame scoffed. "Fine, but you better check in with me every couple hours so I know you're doing okay!"
He wanted to bring up the healing sessions, but he couldn't; not when all of those dragons were around. So instead, he quietly agreed, hoping to talk about that with him later.
Fennec was still staring him down, his eyes a thousand needles threatening to penetrate his scales — at least, what was still left of them. "I better see you in tomorrow." He knew Fennec was trying to salvage the little authority he had left over Flame, but it hardly worked when Flame gave him nothing but a disregarding glance.
With that, he turned around and walked away, flicking his tail around angrily as if there weren't a dozen other dragons in the kitchen around him. Aquatic especially was staying weary of him, almost as if he had been stuck with his tail barb before.
Completely forgetting about the water and jar, they left and headed back up to their room. He couldn't help but sense the lingering anger coming from Flame, so he stood close to him, almost wrapping himself up in Flame's wing.
Instead of throwing the perfectly good tea out, they put it in a bag and set it on their windowsill for the next few hours, just to make sure all of the flavor was preserved if they ever wanted to try the — probably — disgusting mixture anytime soon.
Black tea, chamomile, and white tea definitely weren't a good mix. But who knows? Maybe if he did take Flame's advice and let them dry for the next day, he would taste nothing except water, and Flame wouldn't have to clean out tea from the sheets again.
They didn't come out of their room for the rest of the day and instead read the rest of the lengthy graphicoll they had been reading the day before. Umber thought it was crazy how much just one scroll could possibly hold — it seemed like it would never end because of how thick it was when it was fully rolled up.
Thankfully, Flame had bought them both a scrollmark the day before so they didn't have to constantly try and figure out where they were and roll out the entire scroll looking for it. Most of the time, though, they both kept a mental note of where they had left off.
By the time dusk fell, they had pushed their beds close together, acting as if it was their old bed — nearly the same size, the only downside being that lying directly in the middle was quite uncomfortable.
Like almost every night at that point, Flame had his wing tucked comfortably under the covers, wrapping Umber up with a second blanket. The warmth in his wing spread through his bandages and directly into his heart, causing him to pull him in even closer.
Flame's head rested closely in front of Umber's, almost as if they were about to kiss, but none pursued. Their heads were closely nuzzled together as their tails intertwined, their arms pulling each other in for a hug.
The darkness enclosed them both, and through the shadows, almost as if he was reading Flame's mind, he could tell he was smiling just as much as he was. Each throb of his heart brought him another warm feeling scattering throughout his chest.
As much as he wanted to pull Flame closer, there was no more room between the two, and their scales may as well have been one being.
"Flame?" Umber started, his voice echoing through the darkness. "Are you still awake?"
"Yeah. Is something wrong, MudWing?" He pulled his head away, staring him directly into his eyes.
"N-No, it's just." His heart pulsed again, sending a shot of adrenaline pumping through him. It was now or never. Just say it, Umber! he yelled at himself. You've known him for so long, just ask! Before even letting his mind sort through the possibilities of what could happen, his mouth moved for him. "D-Do you want to get married?"
There was a moment of silence, though he could tell Flame was smiling.
"Flame?"
There was a pause. "I-" Flame tried, at a loss for words. It was like a sneak attack on his mind, catching it by surprise with a question nobody could answer and expecting a response. "I think…" he went on. "I think we should get through this first before thinking about that."
"So…?"
"So first, you need to get over…" he started, but wouldn't dare continue. The implication was enough though "And then we'll have to plan it out and everything and hope it doesn't turn into a disaster like last time." There was a moment of silence, and by his guess, Flame could sense his unease. "I want to, Umber, really. But first we have to sort through the more important stuff, alright?" He placed his head back where it was before, bringing back the warmth he had been missing. He dropped his voice to a whisper. "I love you, and I want to get married, but that can only happen if we both put in effort to better ourselves, alright?"
"Alright." Those words felt bittersweet. It felt like Flame was trying to reward him for facing her; for getting over her. But he didn't want to, even if his reward was marriage to the dragon he's devoted his life to.
His thoughts clouded as Flame pulled him back into a hug, sleep slowly creeping up from the back of his mind. And then they were gone, replaced by darkness, and soon a dream where he and Flame read graphicolls by a fire on a cold winter day.
Author's notes: THAT LAST PART MAKES ME SO HAPPY! I'VE BEEN WAITING SO LONG TO WRITE IT!
Anyway, I liked the argument between Fennec and Flame in this chapter, along with the part right before Flame's POV switch. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do writing it because there will be some more, bigger chapters after this. I want to add as much as I can to this story because I can't bear ending it, but I also have to let it go at some point. At most, there will be 45 chapters, and that's at the absolute maximum.
