Healed

Chapter 35

"So...how have you been?" Sunny asked with her usual perky tone. Flame tried not to flinch at the jolly sound.

"Fine?" he offered cautiously. She was leading him further into the mountain, past the main atrium and down towards the prey center. The air continued to cool the further in they went.

"And are you enjoying your time at the Healing Center? Is it nice there?"

"Uh, yeah. It's fine."

Sunny shifted her eyes to the side to observe Flame while keeping her head forward. She huffed out a laugh. "You don't have to be so anxious. I don't bite!"

A blush spread over Flame's face. "I- I'm not anxious!" The statement would have been much more convincing had he not flinched as a pebble touched his foot.

"Yeesh! You're acting like the place is going to crumble on top of you at any second!"

As if I would be so lucky, Flame lamented. But alas, he was doomed to continue this painfully awkward conversation with Sunny while they seemingly meandered through the hallways of the mountain.

"Is there a reason we're going towards the prey-center?" He tactfully dodged her questions to ask his own. "I ate before I left so I'm not really in the mood for anything."

Sunny shook her head. "Oh, we're not going to eat. I just think walking around and talking is a lot more fun than sitting in a cramped office with me asking questions like an interrogation. It makes it more informal I guess."

"Sure," Flame attempted to agree. At least it gave them something to do during the long silences the perforated the conversation.

Abruptly the scent of prey wafted through the tunnel, so pungent it made Flame cough. Yep, they were definitely getting close to the prey-center. A few more steps and they emerged from the tunnel into the open cave of the eating area. Luckily it was void of any students. Only a few roaming cows and chickens were left in the feeding pit looking dazed and confused.

Jeez, I forgot how lame this place was. At least at the Healing Center you can eat cooked food if you want. Looks like they haven't improved too much here.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Flame could see they had added some stuff to make the place more organized. Large, circular tables had been carved from the walls to create more social areas and it even looked like they had added some drains on the floor for easier clean up.

So essentially nothing cool. Flame would have personally added a giant fire pit in the center to make it a grill-it-yourself style thing but he wasn't a teacher here so what did he know?

The gold dragon entered the vast chamber and sat down at a round table near the front. She eagerly patted the floor beside her as an invitation for him to join. Flame slinked over, his guard up. What was she doing now?

"So," she began.

"So what?" He slouched down at the table, eyes narrowed.

There was a pause.

"You and Umber, huh?"

Flame groaned. I KNEW she was going to ask about that!

"What about it?" he snapped. If Tsunami's reaction was anything to go by, it was obvious that his and Umber's relationship had not been well received by their hosts. The last thing he needed right now was for someone to go criticizing something they had NO BUSINESS TALKING ABOUT.

Luckily Sunny seemed to get the hint as she immediately went on the defensive. "Oh, I didn't mean anything by it! I was just surprised to hear Umber say you're his boyfriend. I mean, you guys never really interacted while you were here so it just seems kind of...sudden I guess."