Embers || Ikemen Revolution || Sirius

Chapter 20 ~ Dates!

"Ray," I asked as I walked over to where the King of Spades stood. He asked me to come meet him here earlier, but I wonder why. "Did something bad happen?"

"Ah, Emberlynn," Ray smiled when he saw me. "No, it's not that. Oh, there he is!"

I looked to where Ray was looking to see Sirius coming over. He was dressed casually with a simple white long sleeved shirt and a vest with his military badge on the collar.

"Hello," I smiled, waving at Sirius. "Did Ray ask you to come here as well?"

Sirius nodded his head, smiling at me gently, as usual. "What's the matter, boss?"

"I need to talk to Emberlynn for a moment," Ray explained. "Then I'll get back to you."

I followed Ray as he led me out of earshot of Sirius' hearing. "What's going on?"

Ray smiled at me reassuringly. "It's nothing, really. Sirius has just been super busy lately, so me and the others wanted him to take a break. Do you think you can take him to town and distract him? Get him to relax a little?"

I blinked a bit before nodding my head, a smile making its way onto my face. "Sure, okay," I whispered. "Mission: make Sirius relax, is a go!"

Ray chuckled, following after me as I bounded over to where Sirius was standing.

"You guys are going to scout the Central Quarter," Ray said, explaining the cover up to me and Sirius. "I asked you to dress casually since we don't want anyone to realize that you guys are watching."

Sirius blinked for a few moments before nodding his head. "Right, of course, boss." He turned to me, taking my hand in his, my tiny hands almost completely engulfed by the giant ones that Sirius had. "Come on, little lady. Let's head out."

I nodded my head, beaming up at Sirius. "Right!"

When we got to the Central Quarter, I walked around, my eyes filled with curiosity. I had come here with Seth before, but not in this area yet!

"This whole scouting thing was just an excuse, wasn't it," Sirius suddenly asked out of the blue.

"What," I asked, playing dumb. "What are you talking about, Sirius! Of course not! Haha." I hid my face in my hair as I bit my cheek.

Sirius sighed, patting my head as I looked up at him shyly. "I know Ray well enough to say that he just wanted you to take me out at town to relax for a bit."

I glanced at Sirius with wide eyes. Once upon a time, me and Amon had that kind of connection. I can tell when he was lying, and he could tell when I was too. We always knew what the other was doing, or what the other wanted. Even now, it's still there, so faint that I was able to ignore it for so long, but here in Cradle, it's growing bigger.

"You're not wrong," I hummed, releasing my hair as I skipped along. "But it'll be fun! And great for your health! How long did you stay up last night?"

As I walked past the stalls and stores that should've been jolly with happy merchants, I only saw grim faces as a few people closed up early. Probably the war. We're meeting at the Garden tomorrow, and then the war starts the next day.

I shook my head, forcing these bad thoughts out of my head. Today is a fun day, not a worrying day! I have a job, and it's to make sure that Sirius relaxes as much as possible!

Sirius gently held a hand out to steady me as I almost tripped over my own feet.

"Careful," he murmured, pulling me back up before I fell.

"Oops," I said, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going!"

Sirius gave me a faint smile. He really seemed to be a bit more relaxed now. "Don't worry about it, little lady. I'm here to catch you if you fall."

I nodded my head, until I realized that he completely dodged my question. I'm calling it out this time! "Hey, you didn't answer my question," I said, looking up at Sirius with a pout. "How long did you stay up last night?"

"Not long," Sirius simply said, but that could mean minutes or hours depending on his opinion.

I sighed, crossing my arms with a huff. "If you don't get at least ten hours of sleep tonight, I'm coming for you," I jokingly threatened. "I know a good tickle spell I've been waiting to try!"

"I'll sleep for ten hours if you'll sleep for ten," Sirius said, placing a big hand on my head.

I bit my cheek as I thought about it. "I can't sleep for ten, since I need to make sure you sleep for ten," I protested. "You're the one who really needs it, not me! I bet I can sleep in late if I really wanted to!"

Sirius let out a long sigh. "How can you be so childish and mature at the same time," I heard him mutter underneath his breath.

"I'm not childish," I muttered to myself, even though I knew it wasn't true. I'm a literal nineteen year old with the mental age of three. Though I have to admit, my learning skills are top notch. But other than that, I'm as young as it gets.

"Yes, yes, you're very mature," Sirius chuckled, patting my head lightly.

I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at him playfully before my eyes lit on some flowers. "Look," I smiled, grabbing Sirius' hand and dragging him over.

There were three types of flowers, one was a bundle of smaller purple flowers, another was a white flower with plenty of petals and a hint of green in the center, and the last flower was more of a leafy plant with a tiny lilac blossom.

"That's a hyacinth, chrysanthemum, and a marantas right," I asked eagerly, crouching down to take a closer look at the flowers. "I never knew they grew here!"

I felt Sirius smile as he got down beside me, examining the flowers with the eye of a florist. "Whoever grew these must've taken great care, they're as healthy as it gets."

Smiling at Sirius, I placed a cheek on my knees. "Purple hyacinth means I'm sorry, right? Forgive me, I'm sorry. And white chrysanthemums are sometimes used in funerals in my world. It's given to people you really miss. And marantas symbolize gratitude."

Sirius nodded beside me, eyes trained on me now. "That's correct. Any other flower meanings that you secretly know of?"

I shrugged my shoulders, scrunching my nose as I thought to myself. "A general rule of thumb is that white probably means pure and innocent. Purple might be wisdom, or creativity, or something. And pink is for femininity and adoration, red is for love, I guess. I could be wrong."

Sirius chuckled, ruffling my hair. "No, you're about right. Do you like flowers that much, you learn their symbolisms?"

I smiled up at Sirius. "I think it's cool to be fluent in different languages, don't you agree?"

Sirius smiled down at me. "I can't agree with you any more." 

*~*~*~*~*~*~* 

A/N: 

Hai! Sorry I forgot to update on Wednesday. I'm still trying to find a way to remind myself without setting a gazzillion reminders since I'll just turn them off and forget about it till the next day. But at least I remembered that Saturday was an update day! 

Who knows, maybe I'll just change all the updates to Saturday. 

Word Count (not including A/N): 1216 

2021/09/18