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Flame swiftly jolted his eyes awake to the unfamiliar ceiling of the Healing Center for the second time. Two days, he thought, glancing over at Umber. And it only took one to nearly break him.
That night, he dreamed that he was by Umber's bedside back in the hospital. He could feel the memories of it already beginning to slip away, but one thing he still vividly remembered was the pain in his chest as he gripped Umber's arm. It felt like his heart was rotting from the inside out.
Tears clouded his vision, heavy sobs echoed through the room. Those sobs quickly turned into wails as the connection he felt with Umber faded and his heart stopped pumping, all the memories they made slowly became a remnant of the past. And in that moment, he was gripping a corpse. Umber's dead corpse.
He had to remind himself that Umber was still with him to stop himself from breaking into a sob right then and there. But the feeling of sadness still lingered. It felt so real… he remembered, still imagining the look on Umber's face as he passed; peaceful, even in death. He imagined the look he had on his face in his dream would've been similar to real life if it had actually happened.
He took another look at Umber, who was still fast asleep on his side of the room, his snores audibly echoing through the darkness only being lit by muffled sunlight. The curtains they were given matched the color of the walls — pale and boring, just like Starf's office.
That's when he remembered their sessions; his internal clock was telling him that they were starting soon. His mind zipped back to the fresh memories of Umber's sobs, muffled on the other side of the door.
They weren't cries of sadness or anger — no. They were cries of pure, unfiltered mental agony, like his mind was shutting down right before his eyes. And the only thing he could do about it was watch it happen, all while being haunted by the thoughts of his dead sister.
He wished that Umber would be taken from Nighthunter's sessions and moved to someone else, but Zephyr insisted that Nighthunter was one of their best healers and that it was only a mistake. "Everyone makes mistakes, Flame," her voice echoed in his head. "We're all dragons, and we all make mistakes. It happens. The only thing you can do is hope it doesn't happen again. And in Nighthunter's case, it certainly won't — she made sure of that well."
Even though Umber had said he didn't want his healer changed, he still didn't feel comfortable sending him away to Nighthunter after yesterday.
But as angry as it made him, he had to admit that she had a point: everyone makes mistakes. He made a mistake when lashing out at everyone; he made a mistake when hitting Turtle; he made a mistake by drinking all of his worries away; and most of all, he made a mistake by leaving Umber alone with his dreams because he was too worried about himself.
He sighed, pushing the blankets from off of him. They rolled onto the floor lazily, and he stood up, staring at Umber. He needs a break…already, Flame thought. He wasn't a healer, but sending him to Nighthunter's office again might not be the best thing he could do, especially so soon; he was surprised Zephyr hadn't given him the day off.
He walked over to the closed curtain right above the table between their beds and slid it open in one fluid motion.
As if it was a reflex, Umber immediately woke up and shielded his eyes. "Flame! What is that?" He changed a glance at the curtain, before retreating his eyes back behind his talons. "Close it!"
"It's time to get up, MudWing," Flame said. "We've got a lot to do today, so hurry up!" He closed the curtain so he could see clearly, as he would need to for this next part.
Just from seeing the look on Flame's face, he knew he was about to say something, but he didn't know what. His face turned to fear and sadness, and he looked up at Flame with disappointment. "Do I have to go?" he said with a quiet, shaky voice. "Can I just skip today? Please?"
Even the desperation in his voice made him hurt, and the flashback of his sobs popped into his head again. It made him wince. "I wasn't planning on making you go today," he admitted, taking a seat next to him as he lay. "I woke you up so early so we can get out of this place before our classes start, and they realize something's up when we aren't there."
"Really?" Umber asked, waiting for reassurance. A smile spread from one cheek to the other as he realized he wouldn't have to talk to the dragon that made him lock himself behind a door and pass out. "Thank you." His voice was quiet and grateful at the same time. He sat up, pulling Flame in for a great big hug.
After a few moments, Flame pulled away. "I tried to get your healer changed with Zephyr, but she insisted that she would be good for you."
"Oh…" There was an awkward silence for a few moments — well, a silence that should've been awkward, but strangely wasn't.
"Anyways, why don't we get out of here, MudWing? Our sessions start in thirty-ish minutes, so we should get going soon." He sat up and started heading for the door.
"Where are we going?" Umber asked excitedly, jumping from the bed. His bandages held firm — he was getting a lot better at wrapping his bandages.
"To the town. Where else would we go? It's not like we can stay here. I mean, we can stay here, but you'll have to be the one to convince Nighthunter that you need a day off."
Though walking wasn't exactly Umber's thing at the moment, it was either walking all day (with occasional breaks, of course) or talking to someone that made him outright uncomfortable for an hour. And he knew Umber would choose to walk any day. That was unless he wanted to run the risk of having to go anyway.
Besides, he loved walking, so surely it wouldn't be the worst thing for him, right? He was the one who forced them to walk all day on their anniversary, so he'd probably like it?
What if he doesn't want to go? Flame worried. What other places could we go? Maybe we could find a nearby lake? Or maybe we could go to the ruins and explore those? No, he wouldn't want to do that all day. Maybe I can convince Zephyr to let us both off for today?
"Uh- we don't have to go if you don't want to. There's probably a forest we can spend today in nearby-"
"I'll be fine," Umber reassured. "The further away from here the better. I can take a little walk." He felt a little guilty. He sent Umber somewhere he would rather walk miles with third-degree burns to get away from. That has to be breaking some sort of rule in relationships, right?
But on the other talon, he needed the help; he knew he wouldn't get it himself, and he certainly wouldn't like it either. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made, he thought to himself.
"Alright, if you're sure." He pushed open the door and walked through, glancing back at Umber as he slowly followed. Each step made him wobble slightly as he pushed forward.
A quick stop by the cafeteria — where they still hadn't seen Fennec anywhere, thankfully — and then through the lobby they went, toward the town. He grabbed a bag and put some food in there for the walk as Umber would most definitely get hungry on the way there.
Even over the last couple of days, Umber's walk had improved drastically. It went from him having to sit down once every fifteen minutes, to once every twenty-five minutes.
The time it took them to get there had been cut down to a mere forty-five minutes, minuscule compared to what it was before.
The fresh smell of cooked food in the air — though probably bad — and the dragons flying overhead in pairs is what signified their arrival. Flying, he thought, something he hadn't done in a while. His wings longed to be spread out and allowed to flow freely through the wind, but he couldn't. Leaving Umber alone, even if it was for a few minutes, wasn't something he was willing to do.
The last time he'd flown was when he was carrying their box of graphicolls to the Healing Center. If he'd known it'd be his last for over a day, he would've spent more time in the air.
When he was in the hospital, he didn't mind the feeling too much as his mind was much more focused on Umber than taking a stroll through the air. Though if he had to, he'd manually cut his wings off with his own talons just for the chance of Umber not having to go through that again.
He let his mind sink away from those thoughts though, realizing that he was just walking blindly along the path.
"So, what now?" Umber asked, keeping a steady pace beside Flame. They were walking inwards, near the middle of the town.
"Uhm…" He realized he'd forgotten to make a plan. All he did was wake up and decide they weren't going to their classes, but not what they'd be doing instead of going to their classes. Starf and Nightunter are probably in our room right now, wondering where we went. "I'm not exactly sure?" It was more of a question than an answer.
"You didn't make a plan?" Umber looked up at him, mild annoyance spread across his face. His legs were slightly shaking, likely from exhaustion.
"Well, I didn't exactly have time to plan everything out. I kinda just woke up and decided we weren't going, then I woke you up and we walked all the way here and now…" he trailed off. "and now we're here."
"Without a plan," Umber added. He made his way to a nearby bench, slouching into it as Umber sat beside him. "Do we at least have money?"
"None on me. All of it's at home, and home's all the way across town. I don't assume you want to walk there though." He sighed, looking out at the passing dragons. Each one of them knew exactly what they were doing, while they were here, running away from a place that was supposed to help them — though for the right reasons — and without money.
Though, at least they still had food; Flame still had the bag full of different pastries and burritos stuffed in it, slung comfortably around his arm.
"Soooo…fly there?" Umber said as if it was obvious; as if he could just leave him alone in the middle of the town in his beaten-up state.
"I'm not leaving you here alone, Umber. What if something happens? Like a dragon tries to dragonnap you or something? Or maybe even hurts you? I won't be here to prevent that from happening!" Images of him returning right to the spot Umber was, and him not being there flashed in his mind, sending a shiver down his spine.
"I take it Starfish's lessons haven't done much yet then?"
"Well, I haven't sat down with him for more than five minutes yet, so not exactly." The expression on the brown dragon's face was…unimpressed…to say the least. Maybe even a little angry? But anger wasn't really something Umber ever felt, more like mimicked.
Umber sighed. "I'd rather wait here for five minutes and take the one percent chance that I might get dragonnapped in that time than aimlessly walk around the town all day."
He was right about that, aimlessly walking around town didn't seem very fun, even if they were skipping their classes. "...Fine," he reluctantly agreed. "I'll be back in five minutes, don't go anywhere."
"Alright Mom," Umber spat jokingly, a smile firmly planted on his face, refusing to leave until sundown. Or until sessions are completely over for the day, at least. Then they won't have an excuse to drag us back into classes.
As he walked off, a million worries filled his head. Ones like, "What will happen when — if Umber gets dragonnapped? Will he still be there when I get back? What if he runs off and he gets lost? What if something happens with his burns and I'm not there to help?
No, he told himself. Umber's an adult, he fought wars, he can deal with himself. That didn't stop him from worrying though. Those words were empty to him, like a lie he was telling himself to stay calm; to trick himself into not worrying. But it wasn't a lie…right? Surely he could deal with himself if given the chance.
Slowly, he took a running start and launched himself in the air, spreading his wings and flapping slowly away from Umber, looking back all the while, just up to the point where he disappeared behind the mountains that he called houses.
The trip there and back wasn't long — like he said — and he was able to find his money relatively quickly — stuffed in a drawer in their nightstand. He had to admit, as scary as it was to leave Umber, feeling the wind under his wings for the first time in over a day felt amazing.
As he looked around the home, he remembered all the happy memories they shared, visualizing them as if they were real, placing their ghosts where they were when it all happened.
Like the time he and Umber laughed especially hard at one part of a graphicoll, to the point where they were rolling on the couch. Or the other time where Umber was washing the dishes, and forgot he put the plug in the sink. A few minutes later, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of water splashing against the floor.
And he was so happy then, Flame remembered. Now, we're running away from the Healing Center because of how unhappy he is — and it only took a little over twenty-four hours for him to be scared to his wits about seeing Nighthunter.
It hurt to think about that. What had he done to deserve such a thing? He was the most pure dragon in Pyrrhia, and in return, he got to watch his sister get her throat slit and be burned to an inch of his life?
While he tried to murder a dragon — and nearly did, too — and got to be with the most pure dragon in Pyrrhia, got a loving stepfather and mother, along with a little brother who meant the world to him. Not only that but he was given a little burn on the wrist in the same fire. The world is so fucking backward!
After just a few moments of loathing in his anger, a tiny jolt of fear trickled through his mind, remembering the dragon he'd left behind. All of that thinking about him, yet he still managed to forget him at the same time.
With that, he tightened the bag of money around his wrist and bolted through the door, locking it behind him. He jumped into the air and flew back toward Umber's direction. He wasn't overly worried — he hadn't been gone too long, just a few moments — but he still wanted to hurry back just in case anything did happen.
After a couple of minutes, he saw the bench they were sitting at up ahead. Lo and behold, Umber was still sitting on it, not dragonnapped, and no signs of any new injuries. Umber caught his eye as he flew toward him, leaving them with an awkward stare as he closed the distance between them.
Finally, he stomped down the path in front of him. He landed so fast he accidentally kicked gravel in Umber's direction, the pebbles bouncing off his scales as if they were nothing — well, they were nothing, actually.
"Surprised to see I haven't been dragonnapped yet?" Umber joked, eyeing the pouch of money.
"Oh, haha, very funny, MudWing," Flame retorted. "Would you rather me stay at the house all day and make you walk all the way back to the Healing Center alone?" In reality, Umber knew he would never do such a thing; if leaving him alone for five minutes was enough to get him worried, Flame could only imagine leaving him for longer. But even the thought of that sent a shiver of fear through him.
"I'd probably just go and ask to get dragonnapped at that point. Not like anyone would want to anyways."
Flame took a seat beside Umber, setting the bag of food down beside himself. The sun hit his scales, reflecting off and providing him with nice summer heat. Too bad it's ending soon, Flame thought. Another few months and I'll have to start wearing a jacket.
Umber was probably enjoying the sun far more than him, as he nearly fell asleep a few times if it wasn't for the hard wooden back.
That's when he heard Umber's stomach rumble. Even though he'd had breakfast just a little over an hour ago, he was already hungry — probably from all of the healing from his necklace.
Sometimes he wondered if Umber would be less tired if he took it off, but that would delay his healing even longer and neither of them wanted that.
Umber took a quick glance over at him, and Flame swiftly took one of the pastries out from the bag and passed it over. This specific one was covered in a sort of bread, with glazing on the outside and chocolate on the inside. It was best served slightly toasty, but not even his control over his own fire could get it that perfect.
"Flame, get rid of that silly bag," he said. "Let's go get something real to eat instead of carrying around a paper bag full of snacks." However, he took the pastry out of his talons regardless and began munching on it.
"And where would we get some 'real food' for cheap? I only have forty suns on me." He took a quick glance around. The markets nearby looked like they were selling slop — the kind of thing you'd be served in a dungeon as punishment.
The only other places he saw were obscure restaurants nobody ever heard of, and ones they certainly never thought of eating at.
"Well, when I was looking around I recognized this part," he said, taking a quick glance around, pointing to his right down the path. "That way, I think there's that potato stand from before — I could be wrong though."
He took another glance around; this time closer. Instead of just looking at the stands and buildings nearby, he looked at the different hills and grass — which was beautiful, as usual. Everything in the Sky Kingdom is beautiful.
That's when he recognized the area. It was as if he'd been here before, but the exact memory of when was buried deep in his mind. All had to go off of was the feeling that something was familiar
But when he observed a nearby hill, his eye caught on a few certain bumps he remembered struggling on just a mere two weeks earlier. And then it clicked. This is the hill Umber took me to on our anniversary! How did I forget? Was it because of Umber that he forgot? That was a reasonable excuse to forget something like that, right?
And if the hill was east of them, then that meant that the potato stand from before was just a mere few minutes away, northwest.
"Nope, the potato stand is actually that way," Flame corrected, pointing his talons to the left of him, down a few curves of paths where many different dragons were pushing through the crowd, most wearing different gemstones and necklaces.
Would it still be open? Especially after all the time that had passed, and how well made the potatoes were, surely he'd gotten a spot near the middle of the town, right? Only one way to find out.
He stood up and threw the bag of pastries into a nearby garbage. As much as he hated throwing perfectly good food out, Umber said he wanted real food, and he certainly wasn't going to carry it around all day for nothing.
And as they pushed through the crowd more and more, he noticed the increasing amount of eyes catching on Umber — more specifically, Umber's bandages. Whenever he saw them, he shot them his most threatening scowl and wrapped his wing around Umber.
"Flame!" Umber whispered angrily. "Stop doing that!"
"I'm not letting everyone stare at you like that!" he whispered back. "It makes me angry." Every eye that locked onto Umber only made him angrier, to the point where he even felt light smoke beginning to seep from his nose and into the open air for every dragon to see.
"Well those dragons aren't doing any harm, they're probably just curious. What would you do if you saw a SkyWing and MudWing walking down a path together, and the MudWing just so happened to be covered in bandages like they were a mummy? Would you be curious or just walk off like that's normal?"
Which was — yet again — something he hadn't thought about. He tried to put himself in that exact scenario, where he was walking down the street, saw a MudWing that looked similar to Umber and kept walking as if nothing was wrong.
But deep down, he knew that he'd at least try to get a glance of him, trying to guess what might have happened. And if even someone like him, who was completely against it would stare himself, then how would he expect anyone else not to?
He took a second to think about it, before pulling his wing away grumpily. "Fine," he grumbled, staring down at the path so he didn't have to look up at all of the eyes staring at Umber.
It took a few minutes of walking, but they eventually made their way to the area where they last bought the stuffed potatoes. And sure enough, the stand was still there, clear as day along the side of the path. The same dragon was working it, still hastily throwing the ingredients together like it was second nature.
They made their way up to it, getting in the short line that only consisted of the dragons in front of them waiting for their food. They both stood patiently, the aroma of potatoes plaguing their noses as they waited to get their bite. It smelled as if they were back at the restaurant — before the fire, of course —, where a new amazing smell would breach into the room each time a new dish was brought out.
Flame himself was considerably hungry, as he didn't eat much that morning. He was too focused on getting him and Umber out of there before Nighthunter and Starf realized they weren't going to show up to their sessions.
The two dragons in front of them walked away unexpectedly, leaving him and the dragon at the stand to make eye contact. Before his gaze shifted from him to Umber, inspecting every single one of his bandages as if they were made of gold, and he was about to be paid. It took every ounce of control he had to stop himself from bursting over the stand and choking him.
Calm down, he told himself. Just put yourself in his talons, what would you do? He closed his eyes, imagining himself as the owner. Making a few potatoes for some dragons, and then some other familiar ones coming up, except the MudWing has bandages all over him. I would probably stare too, so just calm down.
He breathed in through his nose, and out through his mouth slowly. Until all of his angry thoughts disappeared, and he opened his eyes, putting on a fake smile.
"What do you two want?" he asked kindly as he cut a few potatoes in half, setting them off to the side presumably for when they order. His movements were precise, as if he'd done it a gazillion times before — which he probably had, if he'd been working every day since they had last visited him.
"I'll just have a potato with sour cream, cheddar, mozzarella, black beans, and chives," he said, remembering his exact order from last time. How he remembered that but not the massive hill they climbed up? He didn't know.
"And you?" the SkyWing asked, pointing to Umber. So far, he didn't look too shocked about Umber, but when a mild uncomfortability flashed across his face. And in that moment, Flame realized that he was uncomfortable, but was also just being polite.
Maybe he was just imagining the stares all along?
Umber didn't notice them, so why did he?
Umber was the one with the injury, and he didn't even notice them. So why did he? Is it that I'm too overprotective? he wondered. I really should talk to Starf about that… He sighed.
"I'll just have…uhm…" He looked over at Flame, a questioning glare reaching his eyes.
"Spend as much money as you want, MudWing. That bastard will probably force me to work soon anyway." He could still vividly remember all the anger Fennec had put him through, and now he lived in the same building that he worked in — the perfect opportunity for Fennec to drag him back.
"Okay then, I'll just have…" he hesitated. "one of everything, again, twice." The exact same order — again, he remembered. Just like a broken record on a gramophone, we're going right in circles. Just hopefully not all the way around, like last time.
It didn't take long before he had made both of their potatoes. Just one clean slice, popping it in the oven, and topping it, and they were on their way. And if he remembered correctly, he had gotten even faster at it than the last time he was there.
"So, where to next?" Flame asked, taking a bite of his loaded potato. The flavors in it mixed beautifully, taking him back to that day — even to the worst parts. He liked staying in the present because at least it currently didn't provide pain, fear, and sadness at every turn.
"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could go to that one tea place again," he said, "Remember? The one where I got that application? I wonder if they're still hiring…"
"C'mon, Umber. You can't work right now! I mean, look at you!" Flame protested, looking Umber up and down. One day in that tea place, and he would come back more exhausted and in more pain than ever before if he went in the state he was.
"I wasn't planning on going now. I mean when my wing heals if they're still hiring!" He stumbled a little as he walked. One small mistake and he could've gotten seriously hurt, just like how he could in the tea place.
Working with boiling water all day had to be dangerous somehow, right? Oh, come on Flame! he yelled at himself. You're scared of fucking boiling water? He fought in a war, and you're scared that he might get a little burn? Who are you to tell him where he can and can't work? He loves tea, you selfish fuck!
Umber could see the hesitation plastered across his face, not only for him to see, but he was making it so obvious that some of the other dragons probably felt like they were reading his mind. "Flame, I'm going to be okay there," Umber said softly. "All of the other dragons there will probably make sure that the burn victim doesn't get burned."
"Yeah but, I'm just worried is all. Especially after what happened at the restaurant — I'm just…scared of losing you again, so I want to protect you the best I can. And if I can't even protect you from other dragons' staring, how will I protect you from anything else?"
All Umber did was smile and look over at him, letting out a little chuckle. "Flame, go take Starfish's classes for the next few weeks, and then we'll have this conversation again."
He didn't say anything and continued walking, down toward the direction where Umber remembered the tea shop to be. If he remembered correctly, it was called Dragon's Breath Tea.
The rest of their journey there was mostly silent. Umber was looking around at all of the scenery for the most part — as he usually did whenever they walked — with a big smile on his face the whole time. Right now, Umber was happy. If only it wasn't temporary though…
After just ten more minutes of walking in silence, they finally reached the tea shop in which Umber wanted to work. By then, both of their potatoes had been long finished, and had the delicious flavors were beginning to disappear from his mouth.
The surrounding area smelled only like tea — similar to the garden whenever they were around the herbs in the Healing Center.
Umber took the first step in, pushing the door to the side and letting the cool inside air blow against their scales. It was almost chilly, but it was also strangely accompanied by the warmth of all of the steam whenever they got closer to the front desk.
He looked beside the door, and sure enough, there were still applications right beside the door. They looked nearly untouched from the last time they were there, and a thick layer of dust coated the holder they were in, along with some of the papers.
Umber swiped one of the papers from the holder, and dust flew in the air as if the aftermath of him being sprayed with water was still flourishing in the air like pollen after trampling over a few flowers. As the dust got in his nose, he let out a sneeze.
"How long has it been since someone's taken an application? Jeez," Flame complained. "I guess nobody wants this job. There might be a reason behind that, you know." He wasn't saying it to try and get him to back out of the job, but if it's really been that long since an application's been taken, there had to be some sort of reasoning behind it.
"A little over a month," a female voice said from behind him before Umber could fly a complaint in his face. He turned around to see another face. "I don't know, this job's great, I love it here!" she said enthusiastically. "It might just be because not many dragons like tea that much." She inspected Flame's face a bit closer when a wave of recognition flew across her face. "Hey, haven't I seen you before? Didn't you grab an application a little over a month ago?" She pointed at Umber, noticing his bandages. "What happened? Did you get in a fight or something? Are you okay-"
"He's fine," Flame interrupted, anger dancing around in his body, flooding his veins like a dam that had just broken. He felt like exploding at her in that moment, but he couldn't — not in such a public place, and especially not at a possible future coworker of his. He eyed her down, his gaze threatening enough to scare even Clay away.
That's when Umber stepped forward, putting his arm around him and pushing him back, stopping him from doing anything else. "Mostly fine," he corrected. "I was just in a little fire is all. My other application burned up in it, so I came back to get another one."
"That was you?" she asked surprisingly, though it was more of her just saying it than anything. "The smoke spread through the whole town, and we even had to close for a few days after." She looked at Flame. "They said someone went crazy outside of it, too, and assaulted one of the medics when they tried to hold him back before he ran back inside. That must've been you then?"
With every thump of his heart, he only got closer to giving her the same treatment as the medic. Every word that came out of her mouth, every little sound, made him even angrier. He could — yet again — feel smoke billowing out through his nose, clouding his vision slightly.
"We should get going," Umber interrupted, noticing Flame's anger. He grabbed his talons and began forcing him to the door. "I-It was nice meeting you though!" He looked back at her with his death glare the whole time, threatening her without words.
"I'm Aztech by the way!" she yelled as they walked through the door "I hope you get the job!" And then she was silenced by the door shutting behind him, the little bell ringing above with the jingle he'd heard so many times before, announcing that they were officially gone.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. They sat down for most of it, listening to the bustling of dragons as they looked at the scenery before them. The spot they chose was right at a lake that seemed mostly untouched for the most part, even though it was right on the edge of one of the most populated towns in the Sky Kingdom.
And once he was sure classes were officially over, they both made their way back to the Healing Center, which was perfect timing, because Umber seemed about ready to pass out, and not wake up until morning. Until his next healing session.
He expected to see Starfish and Nighthunter standing right outside their door, so when they got back he wasn't too surprised at the sight — if he's learned anything about the healers at the Healing Center, it's that they're committed to their job, and they'll go above and beyond what anyone else would do.
"Flame," Starf grumbled. "Where were you both today?" He sounded like a mom who knew she had you caught and was just testing to see if you would tell the truth.
"We left," he said plain and simply. "We went out to the town and explored because I sure as fuck wasn't sending him back to her," he pointed to Nighthunter. "so he could lock himself behind a door again and pass out." Both Nighthunter and Starf looked at them disappointingly, and he sighed. "Just give us our stupid fucking punishment and this can be over and done with, I don't have time for this," he said, already tired of the conversation.
"We aren't giving you a punishment…this time," Nighthunter said. "You were right that Umber needed a break, and I'm sorry I didn't realize it earlier. But there are better ways than leaving unannounced. Next time, if you feel Umber needs a break, come to me about it instead of just leaving."
"Alright, whatever. Umber's tired, so can we get through now?" Flame beckoned for them to move out of their way. Umber was standing beside him watching it all happen, likely at least a little scared he might be in trouble. But Flame? He didn't care. It's not like they can punish Umber with anything physical, like garden work.
They both stepped aside, letting them through. "Flame, you got lucky this time, but do that again and-" Starf started.
"Yeah, yeah, punishment, whatever. I get it." He turned the handle open and began walking in, letting Umber push in front of him.
"Well, it's good to see you haven't changed yet," Starf said. "Take care, you two." Flame walked inside and closed the door behind him. Umber was already lying down on his bed, covering himself with the blankets while he stared at Flame.
It was mostly dark in the room, perfect for Umber to sleep. "Goodnight, MudWing," Flame said. "Well, I should probably say good afternoon." Umber chuckled.
"Goodnight Flame." He closed his eyes, letting his head sink into the pillow. Flame went through their box and grabbed the graphicoll they were currently reading and waited for Umber to fall asleep before he dared to light a candle to properly read.
Nighthunter better take care of him tomorrow, Flame thought with a sigh.
Author's note: A bit of a longer chapter than usual, but that's mostly on me for deciding to make the beginning so long haha. Anyways, still no beta readers, unfortunately. I don't know how many I want, but somewhere around 3-5 would be amazing. I put the advertisement at the beginning this time because I know a lot of people skip over the author's notes, so I just wanted to make sure. I'll be taking a break this week from writing though, so stay tuned for next week!
