Flame looked around the place they had landed. He saw a few markets in the surrounding area, but he didn't think that they would be the place that they were eating at. Actually, he didn't think that they would be eating anywhere right now since it was only nearing the afternoon at this point. That's when he remembered that he completely forgot to make them both breakfast this morning.
Looks like we're gonna have to find something here, Flame thought.
He wanted to wait though. He was going to wait until Umber brought him to the first thing he wanted to do because there was definitely a reason he landed in this specific spot instead of somewhere near the center of the town where all of the more popular markets were. Those markets had far better food than anything near the edge of town; the difference was extremely noticeable, and he was definitely not excited to have to find something around here.
The food around here sat out all day, only being warmed by the sun. The taste of the food was bland, stale, bad, or flat-out tasteless, and sometimes it was a mix of the four. But Flame was definitely excited to see why he had landed here, so he started looking at more places than just the markets.
A few things he noted was a store that seemed to have different types of flowers — Umber was never the type of dragon to give flowers though; he thought it was too generic. There was also a shop that seemed to sell some mid-priced jewelry, but it also seemed unlikely since he had never bought any sort of jewelry before either. Besides, they already had the two necklaces which were more than enough for him. There was one thing he grazed over though, and that was the massive hill they landed near. He didn't think much of it since if Umber really wanted to go up there, they would've landed on it.
"So, what are we doing now?" Flame asked as he flicked his tail back and forth.
"You'll see," Umber said with a smile. "Follow me." He gestured for Flame to follow.
As they were walking through the busy path, Umber started steering away from it and began walking toward the hill that Flame had looked at before, which confused him. He thought that maybe there was something they had to get along the way, but there really wasn't anywhere to put anything since it was really just a large grassy hill.
"What are we doing?" Flame asked. "Why don't we just fly to the top?" He began to flap his wings and only got a few feet in the air before he felt Umber's talons on his ankle, pulling him out of the air and making him crash into the ground.
"We aren't flying Flame," Umber said with a laugh. "We're going to walk for the rest of today."
"Why would we walk when we can fly though?" Flame asked as he wiped the dirt off of his chest. "Walking is so exhausting! I don't know how scavengers can deal with having to walk everywhere."
"Well, I thought that it'd be nice to actually slow down for once," Umber said. "Besides, I want to move around as much as possible today so that we aren't doing nothing."
Flame was about to say something along the lines of "Flying would be more fun though", but he restrained himself because this is what Umber spent weeks planning, and he sure as hell didn't want to ruin it; he wanted today to go exactly as he planned it to, so he just started silently walking up the hill instead.
After a couple more minutes of walking and in silence they finally reached the top and needless to say, Flame was sweating — Umber didn't seem too tired though. He had never had to really walk anywhere since he was a dragonet so his legs were definitely out of practice.
"This…this hill is so much…bigger than it looks," Flame panted.
"You're that tired from walking up a hill?" Umber said, confused. "We really need to go on more walks,"
Flame definitely didn't like the sound of having to walk even more than he already did; he hated walking. But if it was something Umber wanted him to do, he would do it as long as he was doing it with him — though, it would probably sound more appealing to walk if he wasn't so hungry right now and the extra workout from walking up the mountain was starting to make him thirsty.
Umber then laid down in front of him, seemingly admiring the view and he signaled Flame to come sit down next to him and Flame happily obliged.
As he kneeled, he could feel that the grass was a lot cooler than the air that felt extremely hot from all of the walking, and immediately began cooling him down. The fresh smell of the summer air was surrounding him, making him feel relaxed as the sweat on his scales slowly began evaporating. After a couple of minutes of closing his eyes and worshiping the break he was getting, he finally cooled down enough and opened his eyes.
He could see the town in all of its glory, stretching all the way to near the middle. All of the houses and all of the dragons could be seen and if he squinted, he could even see their house. He couldn't see any dragonets outside though, but he assumed that it was because they were far too small. Their house already looked like an ant from the hill so the dragonets were even smaller.
"This view is insane!" Flame gasped. "I can see our house from here!"
"Well, I picked it out for a reason," Umber said. "I saw it while I was looking for r-...I mean things to do."
This only confirmed that Umber was going to take them to a restaurant to Flame, but he acted like he didn't hear anything so that he wasn't disappointed that he ruined the surprise. He knew how it felt to plan something and have it spoiled before you could reveal it, and he didn't want to make Umber go through that.
"What did you say?" Flame said in the most confused voice he could muster up.
"Nothing! Nothing…" Umber said. He definitely looked pretty panicked from where Flame was sitting.
Flame leaned his weight against Umber, snuggling him close as he felt the warmth of his scales.
"I love you," Flame said softly.
"I love you too," Umber said as he rested his head under Flame's neck, to which he rested his head on top of his just like he had earlier. Except this time, he was doing it out of love instead of comfort and all he wanted to do right now was be as close to him as he possibly could be.
They laid like that for at least twenty minutes and Flame could feel sleep pulling him in like a magnet before he felt his stomach rumble, immediately waking him up as he felt his hunger start to rage. He poked his head up and could feel Umber poke his up soon after and shoot him a confused look.
"What's wrong?" Umber asked. Flame could hear concern in his voice, so he quickly spoke up.
"Oh, it's nothing," he said. "I just forgot to make breakfast this morning and I'm starting to get hungry."
"I noticed," Umber said with a laugh. "I didn't say anything though because I didn't know if you wanted to get anything here."
"Well, apparently there's a "no flying" rule today, so I guess we have no choice," Flame joked.
"You know I'd let you fly home to get something to eat!" Umber defended. "So, do you want to get something here, or do you want to go make something at home?"
Flame thought about this for a minute because on one talon, flying home would mean that they would have good food, but it would also come at the cost of breaking his no lying rule, and cost them more time. On the other talon though, they could find something at one of the stalls here. It wouldn't be nearly as good as something Flame could make, but it wouldn't cost them as much time and they would be able to walk. Flame would have to walk all the way back up this hill either way though so he wasn't exactly excited about that.
After a couple of seconds of thinking, he eventually decided on eating there. Sure, the food was worse, but he didn't think that Umber would mind because he would eat practically anything in sight and enjoy it, and they would be saving time so that Umber could do more of the things he wanted to do today.
"We can just get something here," Flame finally said. "Wouldn't want to waste time cooking at home, would we?"
"Are you sure?" Umber asked. "These markets aren't exactly known for quality."
"Nah, It's fine. I've had worse," Flame said. "Besides, I don't think it matters to you anyways."
"I'll eat anything that's edible," Umber joked.
This is exactly what Flame wanted. Hearing Umber laugh and have a good time was a nice change from how things have been recently, especially with the mysterious dreams that he had been having; he agreed to tell Flame about them tonight though, which made him happy because he would finally have the opportunity to help Umber through some of his problems instead of it being the other way around.
Flame began walking down the hill and could hear the tramples of Umber following close behind him. The breeze was picking up at this point, probably because of how high up they had been. Everything in him was telling him that he should be leaping in the air and spreading his wings right now, but he wasn't; he couldn't. Umber already said that today they wouldn't be flying and he was going to try and honor that the best he could.
At last, he finally made it down the hill. The walk down had been much easier than the walk up and he could already smell the fresh aromas of food and he guessed that the scent was far better than it tasted. The last time he ate something from here, there were flies on the food but he was so hungry and his talons and wings were so shaky that he didn't care. He felt like hurling every time he thought about it and this time was no exception.
"Do you think we'll find anything half decent?" Flame asked jokingly. "I think we'll be lucky to find some leftovers."
"The food around here isn't all bad," Umber said. "There are a few good markets around."
"Name one," Flame said.
"Uh- there was that one that-…or maybe that other place that had the…" Umber took a minute to think.
"Mhmm," Flame hummed. "Like I said, nothing good."
"I'm sure there's at least one good place around here," Umber said.
"Probably," Flame said. "The only problem is that we have to find it."
For the next ten minutes, they walked around the paths near the hill, hoping to find something at least somewhat appetizing looking. Little by little, they stopped by every market looking at some of the food they had. Most of them had their food sitting out, while others had their food covered up. The ones that were covered up didn't look like they were anything edible either though, so they skipped those as well.
Eventually, though, they stumbled upon a place that sold loaded baked potatoes. The SkyWing vendor had been baking them fresh, taking them out of a portable oven that was powered by a propane tank, and then setting them under a metal lid where they would sit until someone bought one — which didn't take long.
There were also many different things put out that Flame assumed the SkyWing put in the potato that was also being covered by a clear plastic lid. The toppings consisted of a couple of different cheeses, sour cream, pieces of crushed bacon, guacamole, cream cheese, chives, a couple of different types of beans, and cilantro.
To Flame, this food looked delicious — and it was fresh! The guacamole seemed like it had been made recently, the sour cream and cream cheese was still cold, and the cilantro and chives were freshly cut: all of the things you would normally expect to find in a market near the center of town
He watched as a NightWing came over and ordered a loaded potato with cream cheese, sour cream, chives, and pinto beans.
The SkyWing then took a tray of potatoes out of the oven; their skin was crispy and golden brown. As the SkyWing cut into the potato with a nearby knife, he took a butter knife and began stirring it around until the insides were a paste, then added all of the toppings they asked for and began mixing those around.
At first, he didn't think that there was any possible way he would be able to mix everything around evenly, but after a couple of minutes of mixing, the toppings were evenly coated and distributed throughout the delicious looking potato, and he set it on a paper plate and handed it over to the NightWing who dropped a couple of suns on the counter for him.
"I told you there were good places around here," Umber said.
"Don't flatter yourself, MudWing," Flame said. "There's bound to be an oddball when there's this many bad markets."
He walked up to the stand and began looking at everything one more time so that he could decide what to get. Now that he was closer, he could see that there were pieces of scotch tape on the tops of each cover for the toppings and potatoes that had a price tag on them. The potato itself was one sun, while each topping was a quarter sun.
He looked over at Umber and could see that he was staring intently at the potatoes and topping, practically drooling at just the sight of them. Needless to say, he was definitely hungry…or he was just being a MudWing.
"Umber." Flame grabbed his attention. "You gonna keep staring or are you gonna tell me what you want?"
"Oh- I'll just have…uhm…one of everything…twice?" Umber replied hesitantly.
"Alright. I'll just have one potato with…" he paused, skimming over all of the options. "sour cream, cheddar, mozzarella, black beans, and chives."
Without a word, the SkyWing took three potatoes out from under the metal cover, and a butter knife then cut it open, and began giving it the same treatment as the last potato for the NightWing, stirring the insides until they were a paste, then adding the toppings and mixing.
After he finished the first potato, he moved on to the second, then the third. In what felt like seconds, all three potatoes had been mixed and were put on two different paper plates and handed to both of them a few seconds later.
"Nine seventy-five," the SkyWing said.
Quickly, Flame pulled out the change with his other talon and dropped the coins on the counter. The vendor counted each of them and then scooped them up, and dropped them in something behind the counter before putting another batch of potatoes in the small oven, probably expecting for someone else to come soon.
He looked down at his plate and could already feel his mouth starting to water. The cheeses had been melted perfectly and the sour cream was mixed in. The beans were also spread evenly throughout the mixture, bringing everything together.
To him, this is something he'd expect to be making, not a random SkyWing with a market on the edge of town. In fact, it looked better than something he could make presentation wise, and he got a little jealous at this.
He looked over and could see that Umber was already digging into his potato and had already eaten half of it, shoving it down his maw and chomping down on it like he hadn't eaten in weeks, or even months. There were little bits of the potato falling onto the path but he didn't seem to notice.
"Uhm- do you…want a fork or something?" the SkyWing asked awkwardly.
"I think he's probably fine," Flame answered for him. "He does this a lot."
He began walking away, taking a bite of the potato as he walked. He was expecting it to be good, and he wasn't disappointed when he tasted the perfect blend of the cheese, sour cream, beans, and chives all coming together to create the perfect flavor. He could only imagine how much Umber was enjoying his potato right now.
He looked behind him and could see that Umber was still standing there, shoving the rest of the first potato in his mouth and spilling even more crumbs everywhere.
"Umber!" he called out, stopping in place. "I thought you were worried we wouldn't do everything on time! C'mon!"
Umber quickly turned around and stared at Flame with his mouth full of potato.
"Omfkay!" Umber said, spitting potato out of his mouth as the word left his mouth.
Flame went back to walking and Umber quickly caught up with him. They had been out for at least an hour at this point and he could see that the sun was getting low, shooting jolts of excitement through his body like a shockwave hitting him over and over.
He was taking little bites of the potato as he walked, making sure that he wasn't eating it whole like Umber had been just a few seconds ago. He was kind of wishing that he had taken one of the forks when the vendor offered one because eating a potato by grabbing it and just eating it was awkward for him, but he wasn't about to walk all the way back and waste even more time than they already had.
After a few minutes though, Flame discarded the paper plate by throwing it in a nearby garbage because he was getting tired of holding it when he was already holding the potato the whole time anyways.
Eventually, they got to the base of the hill they had just been at, and just looking up at the hill was already intimidating enough for him as he remembered how he had felt walking up. He was fed this time though so he hoped that it made a difference. Keyword hoped.
"Is it just me, or does this hill look bigger than before?" Flame asked jokingly.
"You need to start walking more," Umber said. "We're definitely doing more walking from now on, you lazy SkyWing."
"Hey! I'm not lazy for using my wings!" Flame protested. "Just because they get me everywhere quicker and easier doesn't make me lazy!" He gave a subtle laugh.
"Of course, of course," Umber teased.
Flame knew that he was trying to get a reaction out of him, and it was working. Flame was about to tackle him to the ground and cover him with his wings until he apologized — except he was already walking up the hill before he could follow through. He realized that Umber knew he was about to do something, so he used Flame's only weakness against him: walking.
He reluctantly began walking up the hill, each step being more exhausting than the last. After a couple of minutes, Umber was far ahead of him and he was getting to the point where he felt like his legs would fall off, but he kept going anyway because Umber would have nowhere to run once he got to the top. He thought about flying a few times, just to catch up to him a little bit, but decided against it.
Almost up the hill, he was panting and was getting far too tired to take any more bites of hit potato, which was mostly gone already. He felt like he would pass out if he even took a second to hold his breath for anything; even food.
Exhausted and sweaty, he reached the top of the hill and could see that Umber was already laying down waiting for him. He had a smug look on his face. Right now, he wanted to tackle him more than ever but his legs gave out before he could and he fell into the grass, gasping for air.
"I…I am not walking up this hill again," Flame panted. "You can walk all you want, MudWing. But I am never doing something like this again."
"Suit yourself," Umber said. "If you thought that was hard, just wait for what I have planned next." Umber joked. Flame didn't know he was joking though, so this immediately made him fall over in defeat. "I'm just joking! Wouldn't want you dying on me now would we?" Umber laughed.
"Thank the moons!" Flame huffed.
After a few minutes of laying down, he finally built up the strength to take the last few bites of his potato, and those last bites were some of the best in his life as they instantly gave him a little more energy than before.
Then, he got up and laid down next to Umber, resting his head against him as he closed his eyes and waited for the rest of his energy to come back. He was feeling like he could fall asleep right now, but he knew his body wouldn't let him, no matter how hard he tried so he just laid there. The only times he could fall asleep without being tired were when he and Umber were cuddled up close next to each other.
The wind began picking up once again, cooling him down and giving him a sense of relief. He finally stood up with this and spread his wings so that they could feel the cool breeze as well, trying to make it look like he wasn't trying to take off in case Umber got mad; it's not like he'd actually get mad, he'd just act as he did.
He went and laid back down next to Umber but wasn't nearly as tired as he was before, so he just stared off of the hill and enjoyed the beautiful view it gave and he felt the soft grass against his paws and scales. All of the houses in the distance are lit by the sun, the dragons gliding through the air, and most importantly, the palace peaking through the sky and piercing the clouds. The tips of each circular building around it were a bright red, similar to the color of the SkyWings, while the rest was dark gray and made of stone bricks. He hadn't noticed just how big the palace was until now, which was amazing to him that dragons were capable of building something so big and beautiful
It was moments like these that he was grateful that he went to the Healing Center; grateful that he opened up to the idea of a friend; grateful that he had someone to love.
Umber was staring at the familiar view, giddy excitement running all through his scales as he thought of the next thing they were going to do. He was going to bring Flame to a new tea place that had just opened up, hoping he would like it more. He never ordered anything too complex though; he just assumed it was because he just didn't have a complex palette when it came to tea, but he did.
"Alright mud muffin," Flame stifled a laugh. "l-lets play a game."
"What game?" he asked, too lost in thought to recognize what he had called him. After Flame went silent for a couple of seconds, he snapped back to reality and replayed the sentence in his head. "Wait, what did you just call me?!"
He stood up at the same time that Flame had and took a couple of steps back, signaling that he was about to do something, but he didn't want Flame to know exactly what. He positioned his stance in a way that made it seem like he was getting ready to grab him when he was actually just planning on tackling him instead.
"The game's called "Mud Muffin's Meltdown" of course," Flame smirked.
"That's a horrible name," Umber confessed.
"Well, it's a work in progress but-" Flame was cut off.
Umber had lunged toward him, his talons opened and ready to pin him to the ground just like he had done a couple of weeks ago, except this time Flame dodged out of the way and left him to hit the ground face first with a thump.
As he skidded to a stop in the grass, he could hear footsteps coming toward him quickly, and his war reflexes quickly kicked in after being buried deep down for so many years. Right as he heard Flame's talons leave the ground, he rolled out of the way and heard him pounce on the grass next to him.
As quick as he could, he stood up and lunged at Flame — who was caught by surprise at Umber's speed — and pinned him to the ground, quickly restraining his talons with each of his and staring down into his eyes.
Flame struggled for a couple of seconds before quickly realizing that there was no getting up under Umber's weight. It wouldn't have happened regardless though because Umber had him in a position that's nearly impossible to escape from under any dragons weight
"When did you learn to move like that?!" Flame asked, shocked.
I didn't even know I could move like that! Umber thought. It's been so long since I've had to…
"Well, you learn a thing or two when you're fighting for your life," Umber said nonchalantly. He sounded as if he'd been doing this every day for the last year.
"You've really gotta teach me to do that sometime," Flame said.
"I can teach you right now if you want," Umber offered.
"Wait, really?" Flame questioned?"
Of course! Step one is walking halfway up a hill without being winded," Umber said sarcastically.
By the look on Flame's face, he could tell that he definitely didn't like that comment. It also didn't help that Umber still had Flame pinned beneath his talons; his grip wasn't exactly the lightest either — something he always did when it came to fighting, regardless if it was playful or not.
"Oh, whatever MudWing," Flame said.
Umber released his grip on Flame's wrists and rolled off of him into laying down once again, gazing off into the town.
A few seconds later, Flame got up and laid down next to Umber and wrapped his wing around him, and once again, rested his head against him. Even though it was a nice, sunny day outside, the warmth of Flame's wing around him still felt so relieving; it was almost like a blanket being wrapped around you on a cold winter day, except it wasn't cold and it wasn't snowy outside.
Like a broken record, his mind began wandering through his plans. He couldn't stop thinking about how he wanted today to go, constantly changing everything to his liking. But now, everything he was going to do today was final now that they were on the hill.
Okay, tea then restaurant. Umber thought. What if we get out of the tea place early though? We could just fly around or something like I planned, or we could come back up here and lay down for a while. Flame wouldn't want to walk all the way back up here though.
Maybe I could let him fly once to get up here? But then I'd completely turn the "no flying" rule backward and let Flame fly anyways. It would only be once though, but what if he doesn't want to fly? What if he figures out that I'm letting him fly because I don't want to see him exhausted? This is all too confusing!
All of these worries were running through his mind at the speed of light yet he still couldn't find an answer, even though his brain was working at super speed. He eventually got tired of all of the thinking and just laid his head down next to Flame's and closed his eyes. Part of him was hoping that everything would fix itself as it went along, but another part of him was worried that everything would fall into chaos last minute.
The comfort of Flame's warmth around him helped ease his anxiety though. Even at his worst — which wasn't often — Flame wrapping his wing around him always helped, no matter how hot it was outside, he'd always let him do it.
At least thirty minutes had passed at this point and Flame was still laying his head against him with his eyes closed, probably enjoying the rhythmic sounds of Umber's breathing. Flame's wing was beginning to make him sweat, which made him realize that it was getting time to leave.
How long could I lay here without Flame realizing we have other things to do? He wondered. Minutes, hours, days?
As unlikely as that last one seemed, he wouldn't be surprised, especially being on such a peaceful hill like the one they were on now, overlooking the whole town and even having a view of the palace would probably make Flame fall asleep the whole time — that is if he wasn't sleeping already. He hadn't moved a muscle in some time so it was definitely a possibility.
"Flame," Umber whispered, nudging him a few times. "Are you awake?"
Flame opened his eyes and looked over up at Umber, shooting him a light smile. He furdled his wing back in and Umber could immediately feel the wind blowing against his scales for the first time in a while.
"Now I am," Flame said tiredly. "What is it?"
"It's time for my next surprise," Umber said, standing up. "It's a little far but all of that sleeping has probably energized you anyways," he joked.
"I was only sleeping for a little while," Flame said, starting to follow Umber down the hill.
Umber was getting excited now just by thinking of the surprise. They hadn't really had much tea recently since they had been so caught up with everything else, but today was their day and they could do whatever they want. Whether that be to relax, go out and eat, or go to Jade Mountain and visit Umber's winglet; it didn't matter.
It's been a while since I've seen them, Umber thought. Maybe we can go visit them in a couple of days. I'll worry about that later though. Right now, I want to spend the rest of today with Flame.
Author's note: Sorry for the late upload, I just got caught up with a few things haha. The writing style is beginning to change once again, which is something you might've noticed near the end of this chapter. I've really been taking a lot more pride in my writing recently though, so expect some improvement. Once again, my discord is Amisgal#8679 if you want to talk, give me suggestions, or send an OC request. Alternatively, you can PM me, which I check up on every couple of days.
