(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Two

To Avaro's surprise, both kittens still boomed with energy. Even with the stillness and silence, they remained active. The opposite could be said of their parents. They were noticably heartbroken at the loss of their friend, but managed to hide it when their kits came. It didn't take long for Patch and Rose to start crawling all over Blaze, knocking her down to her side. The elemental laughed as she tried to get away, the kits clinging like burrs.
Avaro hoped they could distract Blaze, cheer her up and make her act more normal.
"How are you two doing?" Lucerne called out to Fuchsia and Stripe, moving over to the two. Avaro followed, listening.
"Been better," Fuchsia answered with  small huff, flicking her tail. "I still don't understand what happened."
Avaro felt anger sparking inside him, remembering OStar was the last one with Mystic when she was alive. 
How can they be so sure she didn't kill Mystic herself? Or that she was conspiring with Mila? Avaro wanted to believe it, but a part of him felt as though he was wrong. It was his anger speaking and twisting what he knows, making him believe the wrong things. Lucerne nudged Avaro, grabbing his attention. "Hm? Yes?" He looked down at his sparkly friend. "You alright?" Lucerne asked. Avaro blinked before nodding, not realizing he had drifted off into his own thoughts. "Did he hear anything at all?" Fuchsia meowed, looking at the dragon.
Avaro just slowly shrugged, having no idea what was just said.
"We were talking about my dad, Zeru, he wanted to meet you two," the pink cat explained again.
"Oh, wait why?" Avaro questioned, looking around for the large pale pink leader. Empty, as usual. Except for a few stranglers, but none of them were Zeru.
"I have no idea, he told me you guys were here and wanted to talk to you," she answered, fluffing out her short fur.
"He didn't want to bother you guys either, not until you were settled and calmed," Stripe pitched in, glancing at the kitten and Blaze, making sure they didn't get too far away.
Lucerne looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing. "You think we should see him now? Leave Blaze with these guys?" He suggested. Avaro pondered on that for a moment, honestly not in the mood to meet Zeru. He always gave off some weird vibe when he was around and will most likely question Mystic's death.
"I guess we can," the albino sighed.
Lucerne frowned, but nodded.
"He should be in his den," Stripe meowed. "Remember where that is?"
"Yeah yeah I remember," Avaro huffed in response, turning to tell Blaze where he and Lucerne were off to.
The orange cat was on her side, letting one kit crawl on her while the other wrestles her tail. "You good?" He asked with a small chuckle.
Blaze nodded, earning a bat on the cheek from Rose. "Dead prey don't move!" She yowled with a laugh, crawling up to nom an ear.
"Wow that must be a large mouse you two caught," Avaro pointed out, grinning. "It's not a mouse!" Patch protested, entangled in Blaze's tail. "It's a deer!"
"Oh a deer eh? It's pretty small to be a deer then," he snickered. "Honestly even I wasn't this dumb as a dragonet,"
"Oh well, Blaze, Lucerne and I are going to pay Zeru a visit. We'll be back don't worry," Avaro explained, Blaze nodding again and being batted at once more.
He walked off, heading back to his friend who was finishing up his conversation. "Alright, let's go," Avaro said, patting Lucerne's shoulder. The celestial beast nodded, waving goodbye to the cats and walking off.
"You sure you remember where Zeru's den is at?" Lucerne then asked once they were a good distance away.
Avaro was silent for a few seconds.
"...No," he admitted.
His friend sighed. "It's alright, I know where it's at, just follow me."
Avaro nodded, letting the celestial lead the way.
The den was a lot farther than expected. He would expect a leader to be close by, easy to bring news or address issues. But Zeru's home was outside of the village entirely. Carved under the roots of a massive old tree, created in such a way that water would collect in a corner and drain. Preventing the place from flooding when it would rain.
"How do we get down there? Looks like I might break my ankles if I try and jump down," Avaro pointed out, looking down the deep hole, seeing nothing but darkness. "I don't think you're supposed to jump in, that's equivalent to walking into someone's house without walking," Lucerne replied, pulling the dragon back before he slipped.
"If you haven't noticed already, there is no door. How can we knock?" Avaro said with a frown.
"Who said anything about knocking?"
Lucerne laughed, getting on his hands and knees to look down the hole. "Hello?! Zeru?!" He called out, his voice echoing slightly on the hardened dirt walls.
Silence.
"That worked phenomenally," Avaro praised, making a small clap.
Lucerne rolled his eyes, holding back a small chuckle. "It's the best idea I got," he said as he sat up. "I don't want to throw dirt or rocks down there, that's disrespectful."
"So is yelling for attention,"
"You got a better idea?"
"No."
"Exactly," Lucerne responded, pushing himself up onto his feet. "Maybe Zeru isn't even here."
"Well I didn't see any giant pink cats pass by on our trip here. If that's what you're asking," his friend put in, looking around. "Nor any pink cats near us now," he added.
Lucerne tilted his head up, staring at the braches of the tree. Birds chirping and flying around, other tree critters crawling around, leaves rustling. But no sign of a potential cat sleeping high up.
Avaro did the same, staring up and squinting. "Nothing, just birds and big eared squirrels."
"Those aren't squirrels, those are gantianits," Lucerne corrected.
"Ganti what now?"
"Gantianits. This world's version of squirrels. But not actual squirrels," he explained, watching as a gantianit quickly scurried up the tree and vanished in a small hole.
Avaro squinted at the creatures. They did have some similarities to squirrels, but there was also noticable differences. While they still retained the bushy tail and greyish brown colors, they also had a mane of thick fur around their necks, slightly longer limbs, larger eyes, and large ears that seem to split at the end. If it wasn't for the bushy tail, it wouldn't look like a squirrel at all.
"Are they edible?"
"I mean, most likely, they look like prey," the celestial observed.
"Of course they are prey, but moreso a snack than a meal," a voice pushed in, making both guys yelp.
Zeru stood tall, having came out of no where. He was almost twice the size of every other cat Avaro has met, making him wonder how no one heard of his arrival.
"Oh! There you are, we were looking for you," Lucerne said, quickly brushing the dirt off his knees and arms.
"I'm glad you came, the last visit wasn't exactly the... greatest," Zeru meowed, a bit of sorrow edged his voice.
Avaro stayed quiet, knowing what the large cat was referencing.
Lucerne nodded slowly. "I'm sorry, it came all of a sudden, none of us wanted Mystic to be buried anywhere besides her home," he explained.
Zeru nodded slowly, sitting down and curling his tail around his paws. "That does beg me to question, how did she die? It was clearly a murder but, none of you told us of who, or where," he asked. Avaro opened his mouth to respond but Lucerne was quick to stop him. "We don't really know what happened, it was another cat yes, or something with claws. But whatever happened, it wasn't on this world, or from anyone here," he explained, not wanting Avaro to spread possibly wrong information. He doesn't believe OStar killed Mystic, there is no reason for her to do so, but he also doesn't want to invalidate Avaro's feelings and make him feel alone. Lucerne knows to work with him, leaving him alone would only make things worse.
Zeru frowned, not truly believing the story. "But why would she be out of this world? Usually she heads to OCTown when leaving," he said, flicking an ear. "And from what I know, OCTown is supposed to be peaceful."
"Well, she didn't die in OCTown..." Lucerne admitted while his friend stayed silent. Zeru stared them both down, wanting to know the answers.
"We don't really know where she was, or how she got there. It was just, some void," the celestial beast tried to explain, frowning.
The large cat blinked, confused. He definitely had no idea what Lucerne was talking about.
"Just trust me, we don't really know much, we weren't there when she died," he finally finished, glancing at Avaro. His albino friend was quiet, wings folded closely.
Zeru puffed out his fur, getting up to his paws. "I see, sorry for the questions. I just don't understand how she would've died so suddenly," he mewed.
"I know..." Lucerne said with a small nod, anxious on when Avaro was going to speak up.
"Enough about that, I don't want this entire meeting to be sad and grief stricken," Zeru declared, towering over the other two. Lucerne forced a smile and looked at Avaro, trying to get his friend out of the pit he seems to be slipping into.
His friend blinked, shaking his head quickly to get out of the clouds. Focusing once more on the massive cat.
"We can do nothing more then look ahead, so lets focus on that for now," Zeru continued, slightly nodding at his own idea before climbing a nearby tree. Laying on a branch and tucking his paws in. "I'll be looking into the fire elementals, one is sure to take care of Blaze. I know living here wont be the easiest," he explained.
"But why can't we simply take Blaze to OCTown and have her live there?" Avaro piped up, frowning.
"Because she belongs here, she's an elemental just like everyone else. Taking her out of her habitat might harm her," Zeru responded.
"Not everyone is an elemental."
"But there is a lot."
Avaro rolled his eyes.
"Are you sure that would work?" Lucerne added in, looking up at the tree.
"I am sure, its been seven years, there's a few more fire elementals who might take her in now," the cat meowed.
"And if there is none?"
"I'll look at other elementals."
"That makes no sense!" Avaro nearly exploded. "We are literally the next closest people to Blaze! Fuchsia has kids! Spike is a grown cat! Why look for a random elemental? Mystic wasn't even an elemental!"
Zeru kept his silence, patiently waiting for Avaro to shut up. Lucerne spotted this and gave his friend a glace, the dragon going quiet with a huff.
"I've seen Blaze grow up. It's not the same as all the others. I believe growing up now around cats similar to her would help her. Not around creatures she's not even closely related to," Zeru finally spoke.
"We have cats! Estella and Roxxan are cats!"
"They are not elementals."
"Fuchsia is an elemental!"
"She has kittens to take care of. She doesn't need an older cat to also take care of."
Avaro growled and gave up, crossing his arms. Lucerne patting his shoulder.
"I'll be making sure whoever takes care of Blaze, would be the best that she deserves. Make sure that the last few years of her childhood can brighten up after all her loss," Zeru finished up, nodding at the two.
Avaro was still huffy, but Lucerne looked hopeful, turning to his friend with a small smile. His friend only huffed.
"You can still visit Blaze anytime, none of that would change. She will simply have someone else taking care of her when you guys aren't here," the leader finished up with a nod.
"Hear that? It's not too bad," Lucerne said to his friend, nudging him. Avaro frowned, but uncrossed his arms. Trying to calm down and not continue his childish pout. Zeru gave them both a reissuring smile, resting his head down. "Is there anything I should know? Maybe a funny event or casual greeting? We can have a normal conversation, it doesn't always have to be about Blaze," he offered, his tail swinging slightly as it hung over the edge of the thick branch.
Avaro gave Lucerne a shrug, not really caring and would rather in fact, talk about something else.
His celestial friend was pleased to have a topic switch, turning to the cat.
Avaro hardly listened to them, but eventually became part of the conversation, sitting down on the ground with his friend as they spoke.
Despite the harsh events that have occurred recently, it was nice for Avaro to have a break. Talk to other adults and simply relax. Maybe it was a best for Blaze to stay here, Avaro had no idea how to care for a pet let alone an actual kid. In addition, why would Blaze want to be around OStar? The cause of her second mother's death?
The calmer he was, the more he thought reasonably. The more he realized that OStar killing Mystic, may not have been the most logical event compared to the one told. But this isn't about OStar, Avaro is taking a break and wont focus on any of that anymore.