Healed

Chapter 9

Flame and Umber collapsed onto a heap on the floor. They had done it. They had fed all the patients by working non-stop and making a complete mess of the kitchen. Usually Flame liked to clean up as he went along, but there had been no time. Fish scales coated everything, grains of rice were stuck all over his body and the counters were dirtier than the floor.

But perhaps the most surprising thing was that, despite not having time to eat, Umber hadn't even complained.

"Uhhh," Umber groaned on the floor. "I am so hungry."

Never mind.

"There might be some food left...somewhere," Flame offered unhelpfully. He really had no idea what was going on anymore.

"Well actually..." Umber spoke sheepishly. "You were kinda flying around the kitchen like a crazy guy so while you were busy I tucked away some food for us." Umber lumbered to his feet and basically crawled over to the dimming stove and pulled out two salmon. They were not cut up or anything, but they had been cooked all the way through and smelled great.

What the hell? How did I not notice two extra salmon in the stove? Flame questions but when he tried to recall the last hour it was just one giant blur. Instead he just weakly accepted the food Umber offered him and the two ate in silence until the kitchen door was slid open.

In came Sora and Jet.

"Holy blazes, it looks like murder scene in here!" Jet exclaimed.

"Umber? Are you in here?" Sora's quieter voice asked. Both Umber and Flame groaned to alert the others that they were lying behind the set out counters in the center of the kitchen. Soon enough they were found.

"Oh my gosh! Umber! Are you alright?" Sora ran up to her brother and helped him to his feet.

Umber gave a weak laugh. "We're fine. Just exhausted."

"Hey. Get up," Jet said to Flame while poking him in the foot with her tail. Flame didn't even have the energy to growl. Luckily Umber helped Flame onto his wobbly talons so he could properly see the chaos around them.

"Fuck. This is going to take forever to clean up." Flame rubbed his face in exhaustion but immediately regretted it as the fish scales that were once all over his talons were now all over his face. Fuck my life.

"Maybe not," Jet spoke and nudged Sora. "I'm sure if all four of us worked together it would be clean in no time!"

Even though it made his scales twitch to be in the presence of the loud female SkyWing and the brittle and possibly crazy sister of Umber, Flame knew better than to refuse their help.

"OK. Fine. Let's just get this cleaned up so I can go to bed," Flame growled.

Umber gave him a strange look. "But it's only a little after noontime. We just served lunch!"

"Do I look like I fucking care, Umber?"

"Wow, this is such a super fun friendship group. I can't wait to spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning with you all," Jet said with mock enthusiasm and Flame snorted at her.

What a cheeky piece of shit. He thought and with the diplomatic abilities of Umber they were able to split the tasks up. Flame grabbed the broom and began sweeping while Umber clean out the ashes in the stove and the two girls washed the pots, pans and grills.

While Flame and Umber worked in silence, Sora and Jet would NOT shut up. To make things INFINETILY worse, they were talking about the most stupid stuff.