Q&A Sessions for Orders and Conscience

Epilogue: Part Two

Eight years later...

Sunrises

Tal'nera woke up to the sound of the birds chirping and the occasional gust of wind. He looked over to his side and saw that Umbitr was still fast asleep, curled up in his sleeping bag. With a smile, he carefully reached over Umbitr to grab his jacket, then got out of the tent.

Their campground was atop a hill, which allowed them to watch the sunrise. Zipping up his jacket, Tal'nera walked over to the picnic table and turned on the portable stove that they had brought. He poured some water into a pot and put it on to boil.

This camp was one of Tal'nera's favorite places. The sheer feeling of freedom that he felt every time they came was enough to make him shout with joy. The great thing was that if there wasn't a lot of people, and sometimes they could ditch their human forms and fly around without boundaries. Not today, though.

Although, it was a bit of a pain to get the permission to come here. Umbitr and Tal'nera had to fight tooth and nail to convince MIRA to let them come. Even then, their time that was allowed off-base was less than a week, and they had to check in every day via video call.

Still, it was worth it.

The water started to bubble and Tal'nera turned the stove off and took out a thermos, put in some hot chocolate mix, and poured the water in. He stirred it and replaced the lid, then sat down on one of the chairs to watch the sunrise, sipping occasionally from the thermos.

Behind him, Tal'nera heard a sharp zipping sound and Umbitr emerged, yawning and groggy. His hair was still sleek, although a crease was on his cheek where he had pressed it into his mat.

"Good morning," Tal'nera said. He held out the thermos to Umbitr. "Hot chocolate?"

Umbitr grunted and pulled out the supplements instead. "Best to get this over with."

Tal'nera sighed and let Umbitr pour a couple of pills into his outstretched hand. He downed them with a lot of coughing and suppression of his gag reflex. The bile that rose up in his throat was only sightly edged off with the hot chocolate.

And then, of course, the hot chocolate burned his throat.

What did he expect? It was hot chocolate, after all...

Umbitr patted Tal'nera's back. "Are you okay, Babe?"

"No, not really." Tal'nera watched as Umbitr swallowed his pills, then handed him the thermos. "No one gets used to those."

A shudder went through Umbitr and he sat down next to Tal'nera. "No chakk. This sucks. Well, I shouldn't say that. What sucks would be being dead."

"So, it doesn't suck having to be called Umber?"

"Tyler," Umbitr said, swiping playfully at Tal'nera, who then let out a small laugh.

"Sorry. At least K'dela won her fight."

"What did they expect, trying to call her Kaitlyn?"

"Wolf suits her much better."

"Literally or figuratively?"

Tal'nera shrugged and turned his attention back to the sunrise. "Both, I suppose."

They spent the next couple of minutes in silence, watching the sunrise. Umbitr's hand grasped Tal'nera's and Tal'nera tried to imagine himself without Umbitr. Well, he'd be dead, for one. For two, he'd be lost.

The sunrise made the edges of the clouds appear in all shades of pink to purple, then became bathed in a mixture of yellow and orange. Whichever Maker created sunsets really deserved a hats-off.