(ROUGH DRAFT) Endless Sky ~Elemental Chaos~

Chapter Fifteen

Every noise alerted him, despite trying to be brief. Avaro constantly stopped to make sure no one was evesdropping or spying. Ever since the trial, he couldn't help but be aware that someone could be listening at anytime. Someone who could very easy run to Zeru and ruin everything.
He was quick with his words, keeping his voice low. The cat who'd he learned was named Komet, with a K instead of a C, was silent the entire time. His ears perked up as he listened carefully.
Avaro left out the parts with Sunset, deciding to only mention Renny. He wasn't sure if that was a good idea, but he feared just the mentioning of Sunset could send the cat scurrying away to Zeru.
"We'll figure out that later," he thought briefly as he finished his explanation.
"So I am just spreading the information now, quietly of course. We don't know how Zeru would react with having to go back," Avaro said, ruffling his wings.
Komet was silent, making his unease grow.
"Uh..." Avaro shifted uncomfortably, looking around some more.
"...Sorry," Komet finally said quietly, his ears flattening.
"Sorry? Sorry for what?" The dragon asked, confused. The blue feline replicated Avaro's movements and looked around. Checking for anyone who might overhear.
"...Cinder should've been with me," he sighed after a long moment of scanning. "Eh? You?" Avaro frowned, not understanding. "Were you supposed to be his teacher or something?"
Komet shook his head and scowled. "No, I was supposed to be the volunteered father for when he looked like a prophet," he huffed, curling his tail tightly around his paws.
"Oooh," Avaro blinked, recognizing the plan Cinder's parents had to cover up thier actions.
"I could've taught him how to control the visions, used them to warn Zeru long before..."
"Assuming he would listen,"
Komet hissed, making Avaro shut up.
"He listens to his prophets, we just don't have as good visions as everyone makes it seem to be," he admitted.
"Hardly any of us have visions at all, even if we do, it's always some random pointless event that happens tomorrow..."
"So... You guys are not all-seeing wise magicians?" Avaro questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"No, of course not. If we were, we would've been able to see this doom a long time ago," Komet replied with a sigh. "The last big deal was when a cat was predicted to be attacked by a kolperatic,"
"A what?"
"Kolperatic, big nasty things. Rare, but vicious and always hungry. Though they make good prey if you manage to take one out," Komet answered, not really helping Avaro paint a picture in his head. He'll have to ask Lucerne later on what they are.
"Well, was there an attack?" He decided  to ask, putting them back on track.
"Well yes but actually no. We let the cat go and set up and ambush. The creature came and we had a feast that night," Komet mewed, a small smile flickering across his face as he reimagined the feast.
"How long ago was that?"
"I was still with my first mate before she had her kit, that was decades ago,"
"Oh..." Avaro inhaled sharply. The prophets were a lot more useless than he first thought. He'd expected them to be more like Mystic, able to see every future they are a part of.
Speaking of Mystic...
"Hey wait a minute, Mystic had future seeing abilities. But she said she could only see futures that she was a part of!" Avaro exclaimed, confusion fogging up his mind.
"Right you are, she was a strange one. Had to be cut out of her mother when she died giving birth. We all expected a stillborn, but were mistaken," Komet shivered, guilt briefly flashing on his face. "We never understood why she was able to see so well, but also be limited to only her futures. Zeru was the one to raise her after I-" the prophet quickly snapped his jaw closed.
Avaro's face darked suddenly. "After you... What?" He asked quietly, trying not to assume the worse and lash out.
"After I... Declined to care for her myself, I was just so busy with my own mate to take her in. None of the other prophets wanted her either," Komet quickly responded, his tail puffing out in fear. Avaro stared at him for a long moment, having a sneaking suspicion the cat was lying.
"We didn't know what to expect, we trusted Zeru to know what to do," he continued, shuffling his paws is discomfort.
"It's not worth it, it's not worth it," Avaro repeated over and over again in his head. He wasn't here to start arguments. He was here to help.
"But she's dead now, so none of it really matters anymore," Avaro said darkly, making Komet's ears flatten again.
"I should really be going," he added as he got up. "If you want to help, you can tell you trusted friends what I told you. But only your trusted friends,"
Komet nodded, understanding.
"Good, i'll be going," Avaro waved before walking off, taking deep breaths to cool his nerves. He knew Komet was lying. He knew he was the one who abandoned Mystic at birth and practically handed her over to Zeru. Avaro was certain plenty of cats would've been willing to raise her, but never got the chance.
Rage was started to spill over. Maybe a short flight wont hurt.
Avaro didn't hesitate, he stretched his wings and flapped. Lifting into the air as he pushed through the leaves and branches to freedom. The sun had started to go down, before long it would be dinner time.
Avaro wasn't hungry. Nor expected to be hungry later. He'll just have to sleep without dinner.
He flew around in circles above the village, keeping his human form. Every now and then, Avaro would catch a glimpse of a cat through the leaves when he passed by. But no Lucerne. Avaro couldn't find any glowing white hair. "He's probably got a whole group of cats behind him now..." He thought gloomily, his thoughts trailing back to Komet. The blue cat seemed on board with everything Avaro had said, but he wasn't sure if he scared the old cat a bit too much near the end of it.
"Not my fault he's a deadbeat," he tried reasoning with himself, feeling a bit better as a warm breeze lifted him up.
Would Lucerne be disappointed in him for getting so angry after just one cat? Or proud that he didn't lash out and left quickly. No other cat would be like Komet, Mystic didn't have multiple biological fathers abandoning her.
Surly the next cat wouldn't leave him so furious.
Carefully, Avaro descended through the trees and made it back to the ground. Right back to where he started. Near the center of the village, close by to where the trial was held.
Renny promised Sunset was going to save Cinder and hopefully the other two, yet Avaro had no idea where the three were taken to. How would she know?
"She just would," Avaro huffed, not wanting to worry himself with Cinder right now. He carried on, putting his hands in his pockets as he walked. A part of him wanted to "accidently" run into Lucerne and tag along, but he knew that wouldn't work. He'll just have to keep trying by himself.
Avaro stopped. He'd unintentionally found himself back at his den, Mystic's den. Hope sparked in him as he walked over and peered inside, hoping for a familiar orange pelt.
An empty den stared back.
Disappointment flooded over Avaro as he backed off. Blaze wasn't here.
She was no where. No one can find her.
What if she got lost? Or Zeru took her away? What if shes out there hurt, or worse, dead?
Avaro shook his head, trying to shake out the horrible worries that were creeping in. He didn't need imagine Blaze's corpse. He'd already seen enough with Mystic.
"Avaro?" A small voice suddenly spoke up. With a yelp Avaro spun around, wondering who was speaking.
Looking up at him, eyes like little embers. Was Blaze. The real Blaze. Her orange pelt glowing as if truly on fire, the heat adding onto that image.
"Blaze!" Avaro exclaimed as he hurried over to hug her, dropping to his knees in order to do so. The elemental didn't resist, just looked confused.
"I was looking everywhere for you!" The dragon said, letting go and sitting back. "You were?"
He nodded.
"Oh, sorry. I was just down by the lake with Cinder and Torch," she explained with a shrug. "Zeru let us go since Torch was as good as a strong Wild cat, Sunset wouldn't hurt us,"
"Yeah, about that," Avaro got back to his feet and motioned to the den. "Come, there's some things I need to tell you," he said before entering the hole.
Blaze looked confused once more but obliged. Padding after him.
Avaro sat down and laid against the wall, Blaze laying down next to him with the front half of her body on his lap. He smiled and patted her head, getting a purr in return.
"It's going to be a long story, but i'll try and make it brief," he promised before once again diving into the story. This time, he left nothing out. Avaro trusted Blaze. He knew if it sounded important, the little cat would listen to him. She would never betray him and spill the beans to Zeru.
Unlike Komet, who was quiet most of the time, Blaze was riddled with questions. Every few sentences she was asking a new question. They were mostly harmless such as, "How big was Sunset? As big as Zeru?" and "Do you think Renny would let me wear her glasses?" So he'd answer them thr best he could. Avaro didn't mind the questions though, it made telling the story more enjoyable, knowing that Blaze wasn't arguing and trying to deny his claims. It seemed like she too believed him, trusted what he said was true. Just as he hoped.
It's almost as if things were going a little too smoothly.
By the time Avaro finished with the story and the bombard of questions, he recommended getting a quick meal. Adding in possibly meeting back up with Lucerne.
"He'd be relieved you're okay," he'd said, the fire elemental nodding quickly.
It was nearing sunset with its magnificent shades of colors filling the sky. The clouds adding cooler details as they turned pink and purple with some yellow and red.
Sadly, Avaro knew he wouldn't be able to fly in it tonight.
Snagging some prey, the duo found a calm spot to sit and eat. Blaze whispering so quietly about Sunset and Renny that even Avaro had trouble hearing her.
"You should stay quiet for now," he advised. "Wait until we're in our den,"
Blaze pouted a little, but nodded and continued to eat.
Avaro kept his head up and looked around, with everything getting darker, Lucerne should be easier to spot. He literally glowed in the dark, how can anyone miss that?
Avaro obviously, Lucerne found him first.
"There you are!" The celestial called out from behind, Blaze looking up from her meal.
"Ooh! And there you are!" Avaro responded as he looked back, spotting the blue glowstick hurrying over to them.
"You found Blaze!" He exclaimed once close enough.
"Mmhm, I sure did,"
"I more of found him," Blaze commented with a full mouth.
"Shhhh," Avaro shook his head at his friend.
Lucerne made a small laugh as he sat down and joined the two, not having any prey though.
"Aren't you going to eat?" Avaro asked with a frown, still having hardly ate his.
"I'm fine, I already ate," the Celestial Beast answered with a shrug.
"Alright, also do bother with Blaze, I already told her," Avaro added before finally digging into his own food.
Lucerne raised his eyebrows and looked at Blaze, who again nodded and continued to eat.
"Anyways," the dragon quickly said, not interested in talking about Sunset right now out in the open. "I think we should head to bed early," he winked at Lucerne, trying to give him a hint.
Luckily, he understood.
"I agree, it's been tiring today," he sighed.
Blaze was noticably starting to pout, clearly having not gotten the hint.
"She'll figure it out soon enough, we arent actually going to bed, yet," Avaro thought as he ate, making quick work of the prey and finishing before Blaze, even though she's started eating long before he did.
"Fat," she quietly mewed as he disposed of the leftover bones and fur. He ignored her.
Making a small normal conversation to Lucerne, Avaro stalled long enough for Blaze to finish. Allowing the trio to retreat to their den.
Once inside Blaze was quick to quietly whine. "We are actually going to bed, are we?" She pouted, looking up at Avaro with a "you promised!" look in her eyes.
"Of course not, I just wanted to make sure if anyone overheard us, they would assume we are going to sleep," Avaro chuckled, patting her head.
"Oh..." Blaze frowned, now realizing she looked like an idiot for not taking the obvious hint.
"Don't worry about it, there's lots for us to discuss," he reassured, looking at Lucerne. "Where's Spike?"
"She said she'll meet us tomorrow sometime," the celestial answered. "Alright, fine by me," Avaro sat down. "Gather 'round guys, this is going to get interesting."