Of Parties and Potions

Of Parties and Potions - Part 1

Dray nudged the door of their wagon shut with their hip and placed the small brown sack on the table. The contents of the bag, while difficult to acquire, were well worth the effort for the devious plan they had in mind. "Solei, what did you do? Open every window?"

Sol glanced up from where he knelt on the floor. His usual orbs of light hovering a foot above his head did nothing to heat the wagon. The stove served that purpose. The stove, Dray now noticed, was cold and dark. Sol sheepishly grinned at Dray. "I kinda blew the door off again. But I'm fixing it!"

Dray's exasperated response went unsaid when a shiver shook their body. Sol had improved the stove enough that it could keep even a Salamander warm, but every upgrade meant he broke the blasted thing for most of a day, usually by blasting the thing. "Is this going to take long?"

"Nope! I'm almost done." Sol snapped his fingers and then pointed at the hinge. A narrow jet of flame streamed from his fingertips to turn the metal a dimly glowing orange. After a few minutes of mixing fire weaving with metalworking, the door was back on and Sol had relit the coal.

Sol climbed to his feet and pushed his goggles back up onto his forehead where they stopped just short of the carefully-styled blond spikes. "There. Told ya!"

"Good. If you've finished blowing things up for the evening, I made plans for us."

Dray reached into the bag and was relieved that Sol's curiosity brought him over to investigate. This was much better than an unreliable stove since Sol emitted a steadily warm body heat. Sol's inability to understand personal space was never a problem.

Once the glass jar was in their hands, Dray pivoted around to show this to Sol. Before Dray could explain further, however, Sol reached for it. "Thanks! I was thirsty!"

Dray snatched it back, grateful the lid was stoppered with a cork. Who knew what would happen if it hit their skin instead of being ingested? "I didn't get this for you, goofus. It's not for drinking. Yet."

Sol's lips twitched into a pout. "Aww, why not? It looks like fruit juice."

"And I'm hoping that's all it tastes like. Remember the party tonight?"

Sol shook his head.

"You know, the one our sibs were invited to, but the one to which no one saw fit to invite us?"

Sol continued to look blank.

"For the Creators' sakes. They're at a costume party right now thrown by one of Adair's Artisan friends. We're going to crash it."

Now Sol got it. His face broke into a wide grin. "Oh! Sounds like fun! What are you going to wear?"

Dray rolled their eyes and gestured down. "Was it ever in question?"

"You always dress like a dragon. Can't you wear something else?"

Dray had no desire to change out of the costume they wore to their performance earlier. It took long enough to get the makeup right as it was. "Don't be ridiculous. Now find something you can wear- one of your silly hats or something- and meet me outside. There's one more thing I have to do."

"I guess that would work..." Sol paused for a moment, then his eyes widened. "No! I have the most perfect idea ever!"

Oh no. A Sol idea couldn't end well. "What-"

Sol interrupted Dray with a laugh and gave them a gentle shove towards the door. "It's a secret, like your not-juice. You'll see!" 

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