Chapter 19

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Flame spent most of the day moping around, hiding in his room. He didn't want to risk running into Umber so he hid himself away.

He was hoping some alone time would help him figure out his thoughts, but the day was almost spent and he was just as confused as before. This was probably because he had wasted a lot of time reading graphicolls and napping; anything to avoid thinking about his feelings.

It was late afternoon now and the sun was low in the sky, not yet touching the horizon but threatening to. By the angle that the sunlight filtered in through his window Flame estimated that it was around dinner time. This meant he would have to go to that stupid gardening thing soon.

He groaned and flopped on his bed, burying his face into the pillow. I could just skip it; maybe no one will notice if I didn't go...

But Flame knew that wasn't true. Starf would be asking about it tomorrow, not to mention that Tyto guy would be expecting him.

"UUUGH!" Flame grumbled loudly into his pillow but reluctantly he got up and made his way towards the door. Let's just get this shit over with.

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With most of the residents at dinner the garden was fairly empty. Only a few lonely souls wandered the grounds but none of them took notice of Flame.

Starfish's instructions came to mind as Flame navigated through the buildings to reach the main entrance outside of the cafeteria, where the gardeners would be meeting. As Flame passed by the cafeteria he wondered if Umber was in there. Is he still upset? Does he miss me? Is he mad at me for avoiding him?

Flame felt the guilt sit in his throat like a lump that refused to be swallowed. I'll talk to Umber later, he promised. But just not right now.

He hurried on towards the other side of the Center Building to the meeting place but stopped when he saw a mob of twenty or so dragons gathered several meters away from the entrance. Flame gawked at the sight in utter confusion.

Was there some sort of event going on that he didn't know about? Was there a last minute cancellation or change in the meeting place?

Flame carefully approached the crowd and saw that this was the gardening crew. It mostly consisted of SkyWings with the occasional Mud or SandWing. He could tell they were the gardeners because each dragon had a harness strapped around their chest that had shears, little shovels, and other various horticultural tools.

He also noticed that there were a dozen wagons pushed up against the side of the building. Some were filled with dirt and mulch, others with wicker baskets and a few were filled with large jugs of water that had little nozzles at the ends for watering.

Flame lingered at the edge of the crowd for a while to watch what they did. They seemed to be dividing themselves into group and Flame guessed that someone from within the throng of dragons was coordinating all of this.

No point just sitting here. I guess I'll have to go in.

Forcing his way into the wall of scaled bodies Flame finally reached the center of the fray and saw a small SkyWing male giving out orders. He had a slight frame and his scales were the same shade of red as a rose. When he spoke his voice was soft but Flame could tell he was in charge of this whole operation.

Flame approached him and cleared his throat loudly to get his attention. It didn't work. The dragon was busy looking at a piece of parchment and checking off items on a list.

Flame tried again. "Ahem. Are you Tyto?"

"Yes, yes. That's me," he acknowledged without looking up.

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