Double Rainbow

Torch-9

I hit the door with my unlit tail, maintaining a steady thump until Gash opens it. "Torch? Hey, what's up?" He smiles, his purple eyes glimmering with delight.

He gestures for me to come inside and gives me a nice bowl of hot chocolate, which I lap up greedily, spilling a little on the floor.

"I know it's not much, I'd use the glasses but Ms. Lazura really doesn't like it when I use her nice stuff so..."

"It's fine. I can't pick up those stupid glasses anyways. Why would anyone spend forever learning how to hold up their paw like that when you can just eat out of a bowl?"

"It doesn't make a mess." Gash murmurs, wiping up the hot chocolate with his fur. I see him lick a bit of it but when he sees me he brushes it off his tongue.

"Do you know where someone could test their determination?"

"That's awfully specific. I guess you could undergo a series of vigorous tests, or to earn it you could try hard and take hypnotism. Why?"

I give him a brief run through of everything since the last time I saw him.

He looks at me, mouth wide open. "You got someone to kiss you?!"

"So the prophecy is totally irrelevant?" I say unamused.

"No, that's cool and all, but I thought you were completely oblivious when I saw you friendzone Avery and Shine. How could you not notice how hot they were? I spent the entire time trying to be strong but silent, but I guess they never noticed."

"Can you please tell me if there's a way to see if I truly symbolize determination?"

"The mountain." Gash tells me.

"What mountain?"

"How could you possibly have lived here for the first ten years of your life and not know about the mountain?"

"We lived on the streets, Gash."

"Oh. Right. Well, there's this mountain to the north of here called Icicle Mountain. Its said to have something to do with the first Interdimensional War, but no one knows quite what. Its so tall that it pierces the stars. There's a tiny village up there called Lama era Atles Laera, or the City at the Top of the World. It's in a language from a long time ago, before there was an official language we all learned. Up there, it is said that time passes differently. The only Canira who live there are these tiny little guys called Wish Canira. They only live up there, and there's only about 30 of them.

They can grant one wish in their life, but only to a Canira of another species. If you climb the whole mountain, they grant you a wish. I know, it sounds stupid, but it's been done three times in the past century. You could go wish for determination, couldn't you? I'd come with you. I want a wish, too."

"Isn't just wishing for it cheating?"

"Psssh. If you get up there, you earn it. If you end up not needing determination, you can go wish that Dark Rainbow didn't dump you."

I roll my eyes and flick my tail, pretending the playful jeer just slided off my shoulder. Gash goes to another room and talks to someone, probably Lily Lazura. With a thoughtful smile I remember the sweet Canis who cared for us when we were young. He runs up a ramp and gets something from upstairs. He comes back with a huge bag packed with who knows what. "Okay, almost ready."

He goes to the kitchen, and picks out bags with all his favorite foods. "We're good. Lily was totally okay with it. She went with her friends when she was twelve. Sure, she only made it up halfway, but she tried, right? She found some fancy alpine Canira up there while she was at it. They just weren't meant for each other, otherwise they would've dated. Thirteen is the 'decent' age for marrying. Any earlier is pup marriage and that's just wrong."