FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 18

"Just give us our food and we won't bother you anymore" Flare said, with his hind legs placed firmly on the ground while his upper body was rested on the counter he stuck his head inside the kitchen, looking around and inhaling the many delicious smells like a hungry reptile that shoved his snout into a hole too small for his head eyeing a meal that is so close and yet beyond his reach

The angry sound of clicking dishes would tell Flare exactly what the moles attending to the kitchen think about his proposition if he would be smart enough and his senses wouldn't be clouded by the beautifully, smelly cloud of cooking.

A feminine giggle burst next to him.

Cynder was also standing on her hind legs, her upper body was being supported by two front paws placed on the counter. The black tail of her stretched upwards body was wagging slowly in amusement, making sways so wide and curled at the end that for everyone looking at her from behind it seemed like her tail was a very specific swing with invisible limit to prevent it from making a full circle in the air.

"I said practically the same thing when I first came here and here I am" she laughed, gently smacking the counter with her right paw "Remember that Nancy?"

He looked at his companion "Who's Nancy?"

Cynder nodded at the female mole who was currently closest to them. The rodent was pulling out a recently cooked piece of venison from a pot lying on a stove. Trying to look as busy as it possible in the whole world, her shaking hands however betrayed that she's not doing a good job at ignoring them as she wanted to.

"Her?" Flare leaned closer, letting out an awkward whisper that only his companion could hear

"Oh yeah, me and Nancy go a way back, we're like sisters"

His eyes sparkled excitedly, his head once more slid behind the counter.

"Hey Nancy, since your friends with Cynder just give us our plates when your master isn't looking and nobody will say a thing"

"My name isn't Nancy!" the female mole exclaimed furiously while spinning around, slapping the red snout with a towel she was holding like she would swinging a whip

Flare withdrew his nose sharply with a startled yelp.

"You won't be getting anything from us!" she yelled, pointing her claw threateningly forward, the sharp tip slid between Cynder and Flare back and forth "Get your snouts out of here!"

"You heard the lady" someone growled next to Cynder and shoved her making her bump into Flare, but otherwise she remained unharmed

The tail that was wagging happily stopped moving, both young dragons looked in the direction from which the growl came from, meeting the eyes of a very annoyed, old drake.

"A lady wouldn't shout straight into the snouts of citizens of Warfang she has the honor to assist" Cynder answered confidently

The old dragon's eyes widened, he simply couldn't believe that the dragoness in front of him dared to remark him so impudently.

"And a gentlemen would never push a girl. So SIR you should stop using honorifics in circles of people without any regard for propriety"

"Are...you...giving...me...lessons about...ethics?" the old dragon pronounced each word slowly, every next one more loudly than the previous one

"YOU?!" the dragon snarled, wrinkles on the old snout seemed to crack from the sudden, aggressive stretch

If not for the furious jerk forward with the intention to bite her head off Cynder would say that the dragon was about to fall apart right in front of her eyes.

"Leave her alone!" Flare roared, the temperature around the counter increased drastically

A combined yelp of two voices filled the Mess Hall, one belonged to an old male who cried out painfully, while the other one belonged to the dragoness most likely everyone hated. That one however had no shade of pain behind it, only shock.

The trio around the counter was too busy to notice all other surprised or angry gasps coming out from the throats of all the people that waited in line to the counter, neither they were bothered by chokes of those that already were sitting by the tables.

"That freak burned me!" the old dragon exclaimed, clenching one of his paws tightly

Cynder raised her head from the counter, together with the upper half of her body that she pressed to the wooden surface when she felt the sudden heat. Her eyes widened when she looked in the direction of the yelling drake and the nervous people behind him. It was not the painful growling that shocked her, he was swinging that paw at her, if it wouldn't be stopped it might meet a far worse fate.

It was the thing between her and the shouting dragon that drawn her attention.

The air in front of her seemed to be boiling, every atom seemed to twirl with heat, creating a false sight of a distorting mirror that never reflected images. A mirror through which you could push your paw through.

Which would be a very bad idea.

Cynder felt the immense heat radiating from at the brink of combustion air, fiery, small rays of light swirled around, bouncing off the shaking atoms like from unsteady magnifying glasses. Her eyes impulsively moved, instinctively following the sounds of shouts perfectly as if her sight would be led by a mythological ball of thread.

Flare's tail sprouted from behind her back, wrapping her into a touchless embrace of a shy lover, the fiery tip at the end of his tail was burning brightly. If she looked closely she could see invisible shapes of flames shooting from the side of his tail, connecting with the distortion in the air she noticed earlier, constructing a transparent fire wall.

For a brief moment, due to some unexplained instinct of mind for a gory masochism she wondered how it would feel like if somebody would lit a match and throw it into the wall which seemed to beg for something or someone to give it a spark so it can turn this whole place into scorched rubble.

"Look at his leg!" an unknown female screamed, the shout only intensifying the overall turmoil already going on

"She's starting to send her pets after us!" someone else shouted, through the ongoing bedlam it was impossible to pinpoint whether it was a female or male

"Listen Nancy" Cynder stuck her head into the kitchen, directing her pleading voice at the same female mole "Sorry for calling you Nancy by the way, but could you give us our share of food please? With our mouths busy nobody is going to hear us talking anymore, we'll just sit by the table and munch our share. We'll just sit in a corner, mind our own business and hence stop all this chaos from escalating. Everybody's a winner right?"

"You have the audacity to ask for food after you injured a honorable citizen of Warfang?!" the mole nicknamed Nancy shouted, extending her hand swiftly forwards, with tips of a fork she was holding aimed directly at the pair of emerald eyes

The fork was a considerable distance away from her eyes, yet Cynder driven by an overprotective impulse for her own safety still decided to withdrew her head a little, just in case the mole decided to do something utterly stupid.

"That honorable citizen of Warfang acted like a total jerk, trying to bully me as if we were a couple of kids"

"Stay back" Flare's voice sounded next to her, the notes his throat emitted were lower and more distant than usually

So very similar to the one back in Munitions Forge.

"It's so hot here!" someone shouted

"Easy with the temperature kid or you're going to torch this place down!" some male shouted

"Tell your friend over there to stop trying to jump at us and I'll consider it" Flare responded, his voice switching between his normal way of speaking and the ominous, low one

"Now your spitting insults!" the mole named Nancy shouted, the fork moved closer, the female showed no signs of discomfort caused by the growing heat

"Get out of here!" she shouted vigorously

Seems like spending most of your time around heated ovens and hot pots has its perks.

Cynder's body however wasn't so well adjusted to heat, with Flare and whatever fiery protective barrier he constructed being so close she felt like she was melting. The distance the mole shrunk between her and the fork forced no reaction from here, all she could think of right now was concentrate on the job before everything goes to hell.

If it didn't already. She could swear that the floor that her hind legs were pressed against turned into lava.

She didn't want to look down, or even behind, there was a high risk that she won't like what she's going to see, which would make all this melting experience so much more unpleasant.

They had a job to do, Flare had the unfortunate task of protecting them, while she had to convince the stubborn cooks to give them what they came here for. No matter from which side you looked, it was obvious that they were running out of time.

But first she needs to cool herself.

Cynder's mouth opened, her tongue rolled out from her mouth, just to hang from her lower lip. It kept pulsing up and down with each heavy breath she took.

"Times..." she mumbled finally, wiping her sweaty forehead into an even sweatier front paw, as she raised her head back up she licked her lips, wincing painfully at the sensation of cracking lips as her rough like sand paper tongue ran over them

"...when I lowered my head and ran away crying after accepting your every taunt and curse are over. We came here for what is rightfully ours and I'm not leaving until we get it"

"You heard what she said!" another cook joined the fray, demonstrating her unshaken support for her co-worker by hurling the handle of a broken frying pan at the nosy dragoness

Even in her weakened by heat state her fighter's instinct was still working on its top gear. Her upper body was sprawled on the counter, maw was opened and panting heavily, eyelids struggling to remain open, basically she looked like dehydrated poor wretch counting her last breaths lying flat on a hot desert heated by the merciless rays of a sun.

However when the twirling image of the hurled handle came into her view, her emerald eyes, previously sleepy flared up with an intense green light as if someone would toss a dose of some special powder into the fire making it burst with colorful flames.

With a growl Cynder jerked her body up, swinging one of her paws swiftly, there was a smack and the wooden handle of a frying paw was sent flying to the side where it crashed with a jingling, vibrating sound into a pile of dishes.

The startled mole cooks gasped loudly in shock. The fork that one of them was wielding dropped on the floor, nearly impaling itself into Nancy's foot.

"I'm done with being everyone's pushover" Cynder said calmly, in the same manner resting her head back on the counter, nobody would ever believe that just a moment ago she defended herself

"Five minutes, this is all. It will take you five minutes to get rid of us. Give us our portion of the meal or let me in and I'll take it myself. You won't even see me"

"We don't want you here!" the mole cook, who wasn't nicknamed Nancy, screamed, voice wavering with fear, desperation and fury "It will take you five minutes to get out of our sight!"

"True" Cynder sighed, licking her lips once more this time not bothered by the fact that they kept cracking and bleeding, actually she wanted them to bleed so she could at least swallow something that would somehow sate the overwhelming thirst.

"But even if by some chance I might have get past my moment of confidence, there is my friend you see. His life was a total misery, eating typical food is perhaps one of the first things of normality in his life and I'll be damned if he won't taste it because of me. One heart poisoned by my fate is enough"

She put one paw on top of the other in a crosswise fashion.

"My paws are tied unfortunately"

"You won't touch her!"

Cynder closed her eyes at the sound of the familiar, almost otherworldly rumble of a voice breaking through the commotion behind her.

"We won't-"

"This once!" Cynder growled fiercely, making both present cooks cover their mouths in display of scared gasps "I'm doing my best to make up for all the things I've done, even despite all of you wanting to see me fall. I don't blame you for hating me, I really don't, believe me when I say your hate is nothing compared to the disgust I feel for myself"

She pressed her forehead to the counter.

"If it was possible I would reverse time to prevent all those horrible things from happening. I'm really tired of seeing my soul bleed every time I'm reminded or think about the things I've done. No matter how many bandages I put on those wounds the pool just keeps on growing. That blood isn't only mine, it's so big and thick now that it threatens to drown all of us"

She sighed.

"I need your help in plugging that hole, the initiative to heal needs to come from both sides. So please..." she raised her head, looking pleadingly at the cooks "...please...JUST this once do something for me. I don't ask you to forgive me, I only ask for a simple meal, life would be easier for all of us if we would just tolerate ourselves on the basic level of social meetings"

"Give the girl and her companion meat"

Cynder and both moles looked in the direction from which the unexpected, raspy sound came from. Even if their eyes would be clouded by an extreme cataract they wouldn't be able to miss the bulky ball of fur that appeared in the kitchen.

The popular cheetah cook, massive like a miniature version of a golem made her way towards the counter. She was wearing a white, bloodied apron. The blood was fresh, combined with bits and pieces of all sorts of intestines, the gory mess was also hanging from the disheveled strands of fur on the cheetah's face.

A dirty towel was flung across the feline's bulky right shoulder, in her left hand she was holding a massive cleaver. The blade was bloodied just like her apron, a piece of what seemed to be a recently severed bone was stuck to the bottom side of the sharp edge.

The eyes of the three females widened, as by a magic touch forgetting about the surrounding heat. The cheetah looked like a figure from some kind of a horror show that was about to continue her carnage after slaughtering her recent victim.

"NOW!" the lumpish cheetah roared, droplets of blood and bits of pieces of flesh shot in the direction of the two small moles from the strands of fur on her mouth, a mouth that she aimed at the two rodents, without interrupting her walk

Nancy and her co-worker immediately got back to work, preparing dishes and cooking food with the speed of an running ostrich.

The female turned her head and when she did that Cynder gasped faintly. The chocolate eyes of the cheetah seemed to be aimed directly at her, the bloody cleaver seemed to raise in her hand.

She gulped and tried to push herself away from the counter, but she was unable to do so. Her paws were slippery, she started to wriggle them chaotically, but instead of going up she seemed to lower herself down.

The bulky cheetah was just in front of her. Cleaver threateningly hanging high in the air.

Cynder channeled her elemental powers, mouth opening to scream a warning.

There was a loud slam.

She winced and when she opened her eyes she noticed the cheetah leaning from the counter, sticking her head into the Mess Hall, the cleaver was resting close to her left hand while with the other one she was reaching for the towel on her shoulder.

Cynder stared at the cheetah in utter shock, she couldn't decide what surprised her more, whether it was the cleaver not impaled in her head or the lack of interest the cheetah was giving her.

The commotion in the room seemed to die a little.

"SHUT UP!" the female chef roared, breaking through the loud noise like a shooting cannon through screams

A sharp, sudden slapping sound was like a perfect touch of a talented musician for the still rumbling roar.

"OUCH!" Flare yelped, jumping forward

The heat seemed to die down a little as he looked at his rump and the slowly growing red splotch on his rump where something made contact with his scales. Head jerked back up, yellow eyes narrowed themselves at the huge cheetah who had her big arm risen in the air, a towel was dangling in her hand.

The noise rumbling inside the Mess Hall intensified.

Tiny flames sparkled inside the red dragon's eyes. The temperature started to grow again.

"Try anything and I'll stuff so many mushrooms in your bowels that you won't be able to shit for a year!" the chef growled, pointing her greasy claw directly at the red snout

"Flare"

His yellow eyes shifted towards the mouth from which the pleasant, soft voice came from. Cynder was slowly shaking her head.

The fiery glow his burning body was emanating began to dim, the temperature started to become more tolerable again.

"NOW! THIS IS OUR CHANCE!" a roar filled the room, belonging to no one else but the old dragon.

The rumbling noises intensified sharply when many people began to throw themselves at the counter and two young dragons there.

"STOP WHERE YOU ARE!" the chef roared loudly, grabbing the cleaver next to her with the agility of an thief and thrusting it forward

Everyone skidded to a halt, the Mess Hall went silent like a cemetery at night, every eye was following the tip of the slowly moving cleaver which turned from left to right.

"Nobody is going to fight in my Mess Hall" the chef growled "I will be doing here the only ass kicking, if that's a problem for you get out and don't come back. One less lousy mouth to feed"

"She attacked me! Her pet burnt my paw!" the old dragon blurt out, pushing his wounded leg forward to make his point

Nobody seemed to be bothered by his injuries.

The chocolate eyes of the cheetah narrowed themselves on the old drake. She waved the cleaver at him.

"I'll solve your problem" she nodded at the counter "Put your paw here and I chop it off at least it'll be of some use when I make a soup from it since a whiny, limp dick like you doesn't seem to have any control over it"

Everyone stared at the cheetah in total astonishment.

"What are you waiting for? SIT YOUR ASSESS DOWN NOW!" she roared

People scattered immediately, sitting by the tables, exactly in the same spots. If there was anybody looking through the window right now he or she would say that there is some kind of a theatric play going on inside, people moved so quickly and seemingly in complete chaos and yet none of the collided with each other, like dancers knowing their rite to the last second.

The roar made even the people waiting in the line move, they also wanted to sit, only when their tails or butts touched the floor they reminded themselves that the order wasn't directed at them.

Flare however didn't understand such things, he simply clapped his butt down on the floor.

The chef straightened up, wiping the cleaver slowly in the dirty towel.

"Now if I hear shouting again I want to remind you that there are plenty of sharp tools in my kitchen. Start yelling and I'll start throwing, those I hit will land in my pot. If you don't want your children eating your eyeballs I suggest you all calm down and do what you came here to do"

She flung the towel across her shoulder and turned around.

"Where is the food girls?!" the bulky cheetah shouted "People are hungry!"

Momentarily Nancy shot from behind the corner, carrying a plate filled with a piece of still steamy venison and a little salad in each of her hands. The dishes were rattling in her opened palms, considering how short the mole's legs were and how much distance she has to beat to reach the counter Cynder didn't believe the plates will survive the journey.

Surprisingly they did, and when they landed on the counter the dragoness stared at them in wonder. Part of her astonished by the fact that the cook actually managed to deliver the food on intact dishes, while the other one couldn't comprehend the idea that the food was for them.

She didn't even notice Nancy scattering away, she only looked up, aiming her grateful green eyes at the huge cheetah.

"Thank you"

The feline didn't rune her head, her nose was directed at the kitchen. Only the chocolate eyes shifted to the corner of her eyeballs.

"Don't thank me girl, I didn't do it for you, even if you were making sense. This place was turned into a Mess Hall after the war, a place where people could eat and sort out their problems, or not if they wished so. This is not a ring, but a social place and I intend to keep it like that"

"You are young and someone as young as you shouldn't carry such a burden, the world is cruel however and doesn't see the difference between experienced and innocent shoulders. I hope you one day you find the initiative you spoke of"

"Th-"

"BUT!" the chef suddenly growled, pointing the cleaver at her.

The move caught Cynder by surprise, with a gasp she instinctively jerked her head back only to slam it into the wooden frame behind her that held the glassless window to the kitchen.

"If I ever again hear you taunting and playing some idiotic teasing games with anyone around here I'm going to cut your tongue out and make shashliks out of it!"

She waved the cleaver threateningly.

"Are we clear?"

Cynder gulped, not even truly aware when her head nodded in acknowledgment.

"Get the plates and get out of here. You're blocking the line" the hand holding the cleaver dropped next to the hip

"Move girls! Let's feed these people!" and with that shout the big cheetah disappeared into her own, smelly castle

The clicking sounds coming from the kitchen intensified, another mole cook appeared, most likely drawn out from her brake by the shouts.

"Grab the plate Flare" Cynder dropped on the ground and listening to her own advice she picked the plate in her mouth

The piece of meat was undeniably very well cooked, but somehow the smell didn't move her at all. She moved away from the counter, accompanied by insulting grunts and growls that she completely ignored. She stopped in the middle of the hall, looking for a place to sit.

"There are two free spots here" Flare muttered through his teeth clenched on the plate, his fiery mane was like an arrow when he nodded at the table he spoke about

She looked in that direction, he was right, there were free spots there, yet they were in the close embrace of people sitting by both sides. Sitting there was like signing willingly your own death sentence.

"Over there" she muttered and moved forward, not even realizing that she was moving to the same big table at the corner that they occupied with Spyro the first time they came here

People were sitting there also, but luckily for them the seats at one end of the table were free, not to mention that two free chairs separated them from the first breathing citizen. It was not perfect, but there was nothing better to choose from, they'll just sit in the corner and won't bother anyone. Hopefully the chefs roars reached even this far away table.

Her gaze was entirely focused on the end of the table and the free spots there, however no matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes steady they occasionally shifted from side to side. Briefly registering what was happening around her, but it was enough to form a perfect image of utter disgust wrinkling the faces and snouts of all the people surrounding them.

This are probably the looks that a poor servant girl receives when entering a salon full of pride and noble people, thinking that they are masters of the universe. Perfect by nature, icons of self-indulgence, unable to see the lies about a world that never was and never will be.

Flare was the first one that placed the plate on the table, every head of a person that was sitting at the table jumped up to look at him with an intensity of a meerkat observing the surroundings while standings on its hind legs.

Cynder set her plate on the table soon after her fiery companion. People momentarily sprang from their seats and took their plates, passing behind the black dragoness as sat by the table, throwing glances at her that wished that she chokes on the meat.

She smiled at Flare, even despite that she perfectly sensed the eyes drilling a hole in the back of her head.

"At least as of today we no longer have to worry about finding a place to sit. My ass marked this territory as if I would piss all over the table"

"Ewww" Flare winced "That's disturbing"

"That's how animals mark their territories Flare"

"Aren't we animals too? We walk on four legs, eat raw food when we want to and basically can sleep everywhere"

Cynder giggled "True enough"

His eyes sparkled in sudden enlightenment, his mind coming with an idea that can only be defined as brilliant.

"Maybe this is what it takes? Show them in the most obvious what they shouldn't touch?"

The way he was examining her from top to bottom made her cackle nervously. For a moment she wondered if he was still seeing her as a dragoness or a tree.

"Peeing won't change anything. Besides territory has the unfortunate reputation of being related with power, the more you have the scarier you become, making people want to fight you. If adrenaline is what you seek then you can forget about the primal solutions"

She grinned, straightened up and puffed her chest out in fake pride.

"You have me for that! With me around you will never whine about the lack of attention. And if you stick around you will be thrown into more fights you can possibly count. Isn't that great?"

Flare's head rose up, his glances interchanging with the ones people constantly threw their way.

"I don't get it. Why do they treat you like that. That's so unfair"

She played with her food, slicing the meat lazily into smaller pieces.

"I've made some very serious mistakes"

"So? I make mistakes on a daily basis and you still talk to me. All they would have to do is to get to know you better"

"It's not that simple Flare"

"Why?" his eyes widened "Don't they know their names too?" he gasped

Cynder looked at him, her expression completely dazed by the peculiar question. The longer she stared at him the more certain she became that this was a serious question.

It was impossible to tell just how dumbfounded she felt right now.

She giggled bashfully.

"Excuse me?"

"This is the only explanation why they don't want to talk to you! They don't know how to introduce themselves!"

Cynder smiled kindly "That would be too easy Flare"

"Who said it can't be? Does everything need to be hard and complicated?"

Her eyes sparkled with sincere awe, there was something so enchanting about Flare's beaming snout. He came up with an crazy idea, but he believed in it nevertheless. It was like looking into the eyes of a child, who looks at the world through rose-tinted spectacles, every trouble able to be solved with a dose of innocence dipped in the sauce of naivety.

And in this magical moment you start asking yourself the same naïve question. Unconsciously putting up the same rosy spectacles and immediately feeling that life can be beautiful.

Who said things can't be easy?

Cynder didn't even realize when she lowered her gaze, lovingly intimidated by the childish radiance emanating from Flare.

Only when she noticed the glimmer of her reflection in the plate she noticed that her smile didn't disappear.

"No, it doesn't" she mumbled and believed in every word she said. Silently begging every divine being to not allow Flare to loose his glasses.

"Exactly!" the fire drake blurt out, his wings spat out happy flames "I mean, look at me. Now when I know my name I talk with everybody. You, Iris, Volteer. All my life I've been following orders and now I get to talk to people and learn so much about them. I don't know how to explain this, but some have something really special in them"

"Special how?" she asked, surprising herself by the sincere, almost craving curiosity. Leaving a world where everything is easy ironically wasn't that simple

Not because you couldn't, you simply didn't want to find the exit.

Flare scratched his fiery mane, confused.

"I don't know" he locked his eyes on his female companion "You for example" he gestured at her with his opened palm

Cynder straightened up, listening with bewildered interest.

"Yes, you" Flare answered the unspoken question "I feel so sorry for all these people, they don't know what they miss. You are pretty, funny, friendly, intelligent..."

"Flare stop" she giggled bashfully, unable to hide the faint blush creeping on her cheeks under his watchful gaze

"...you have the most shiny and beautiful eyes I have ever seen, they spark so cutely when you smile, like a moon from an ocean in the night. Also I have never seen eyes having a hue like my favorite color..."

She couldn't utter a word due to her embarrassment, her paw kept on waving dismissively, but the moves were so uncertain that it would make a sheep wonder about who is really at the top of the food chain.

Listening to another boy complimenting her like that, even if he most likely doesn't know what he is doing, felt weird when being committed to another partner. She felt guilty, offended but also quite honored at the same time.

"...there is also your body" Flare continued without hesitation "it's shaped in such a tempting and mysterious way, not revealing too much, but showing that it hides something you never dreamed of. Your legs are especially pretty, they seem to be the ones talking. You walk so gracefully, not in the way Iris does, confident and certain that keeps screaming I know you like it. You're more like a shy but alluring Do you like what you see type"

"Flare" she whined, rubbing the back of her neck nervously "You shouldn't be saying things like that" she mumbled softly "It makes me uncomfortable" she blushed, eyes aimed at the floor "It will make things really awkward between us"

He cocked his head "Why? Truth confuses people so much?"

"No, the words you used are..."

"I'm just saying what I see, besides the things I said you have also that...special thing...I don't know. It's like a power of sorts, just by looking at you I believe I would be able to do...something...like write a book maybe. Not many people have something like this, I don't feel it. You do however, Spyro and Iris too. It's the stuff of legends"

Cynder's head jerked up, one of her brows raised in surprise.

"I'm your inspiration?"

Flare shrugged innocently.

"I dunno. Is that a good thing? I don't want to make you more nervous"

She giggled "It's a good thing don't worry. In fact now instead of feeling troubled I feel humbled. Those are very sweet words. Thank you"

Flare grinned, a soft smack could be heard when his lips stretched his mouth suddenly.

"Inspiration it is then! Or whatever it is called, all I know is that you're awesome!"

And with the same grin he dived at his place, grabbing onto the edge of the meat with his sharp teeth. He jerked his head up fiercely, the venison unglued itself from the plate forcefully, making the plate rattle. He tilted his head backwards, meat rose in the a wide arc, looking like an overgrown slapping tongue.

With his eyes aimed at the ceiling he opened his mouth farther, made three bites, pumping his head upwards with every clamp of his teeth. Three claps, it was everything that was needed to get rid of the meat. Cynder could see bulges running down his throat, every other bigger than the next.

He looked like a snake devouring its prey.

When the final piece went down his throat he started to rub his belly blissfully.

"This was so good" a heavenly whisper wafted from his happy mouth

She smiled "You know Flare? You're awesome too"

He shook his head confidently, fiery mane sparkling brightly with each swing.

"Nope"

"You are, you are one of the reasons why I have this power you speak of"

He looked at her hopefully.

"Really? I helped you?"

"You are still helping me, even if you don't realize it" her eyes rolled around, giving signals like turning arms embracing the world "Look around, all these people hate me, more or even more"

He took her words literally, he turned around, meeting the stares of many people looking their way. Cynder didn't want to turn around, it could make the already boiling like water situation even more difficult.

Judging by Flare's constantly shifting intensity of the burning wings she was certain that this was a good idea.

"And you managed to give me hope and perhaps even assurance that all of this will change one day"

Her words were successful, they've drawn his attention, the flames calmed down.

"Spyro was like your worst enemy and now you're talking with him like you are no longer bothered by the color of his scales. You're not friends maybe, but you talk to him like to a guy that you meet at work. Spyro is very important to me and seeing you overcome your biggest bias gives me hope that all these people will eventually forgive me. Redemption no longer seems so impossible to me"

She kissed the air, sending all the loving gratefulness with it.

"Thank you for that"

"I will become friends with Spyro if that is what it would take to help you a little more. I will always try to help you!"

"That's very nice to hear, but you don't have to do something you don't want to do"

"But I want to do that!" Flare protested, the excitement radiating from his voice was nearly palpable "Especially when it will give you more strength! And besides I owe him for protecting Iris"

Cynder's heart skipped a beat, she simply couldn't find words to describe the boiling joy within her. She wanted to know everything, how is he going to buy Spyro's friendship and when he was going to that.

Yet she remained silent, mind woke up just in time when she opened her mouth and was about to start spitting questions. It would be unfair, all this time they kept talking about her and there is still so much that she doesn't know about her. Who knows maybe she will manage to make him happy too.

Friendship is about sharing.

"Speaking of which..." Cynder stated softly "May I ask you something?"

"Sure!" Flare blurt out "You don't have to ask for my permission!"

"What do you see in Iris?"

He cocked his head, completely dumbfounded.

"I don't understand"

"I mean why do you like Iris"

"You have seen her, you know how she looks. She's absolutely beautiful"

Cynder frowned, eyeing her friend suspiciously.

"Don't tell me you have a crush on her"

Flare blinked, eyes widening in confusion again.

How can I have a crush on her? How can anyone have a crush?"

"I mean attraction, infatuation"

"Oh that sort of thing" he replied casually, with the emotion accompanying when describing the weather and then he made a sudden pause.

His fiery body shot tiny sparks of realization when his eyes widened.

"Oooooh that sort of thing. I never thought about it...I don't know...I really like her though"

"But why? I would really like to get to know you better Flare, you know so much about me while I know nearly nothing about you. It has to be more than just looks and that special power that draws you to her, especially when she showed you nothing but hostility"

There was a pause, his yellow eyes went down.

People kept on talking.

"She's trapped" Flare replied confidently, thoughtfully started making small circles on his now empty plate with his claw.

She said nothing even if she didn't understand what he meant by that. The concentrated look on his snout made her shut up. To see Flare so focused was a rare sight indeed, in fact she couldn't remember when was the last time he looked like that, probably when they first met and possibly it wasn't as intense as it is now.

It made her wonder what past is trailing her friend. She wondered if it's going to catch up with him and if it does what will be the consequences of the unearthing hand of left behind life finally grabbing onto the twirling thread of ongoing life.

She couldn't really help herself but think of fire.

"I know how it is" his claw created that annoying screeching sound like sliding a fork against the plate as it was drawing an transparent picture

His claw trailed a square and then slowly, but steadily began filing it with straight, vertical lines.

Creating an image of a cage.

"Being locked up makes you different. You would never recognize me Cynder if you would see me in my prison. Iris is trapped in a cage, the difference is that she created her own prison. I can't really tell why I care, but I just have to help her get out of there. It's my duty as a former cellmate, especially now when I have a clean slate, I don't want to spoil it"

"That is very commendable Flare" Cynder commented softly "It truly is, I know a thing or two about trying to make things right. Please remember that you can't save everybody, Iris is unstable and dangerous, I don't want to see you getting hurt"

Flare shook his head.

"Iris isn't dangerous, the beast is"

Cynder cocked her head "Beast?"

He swallowed, claw stopped moving, paw pressed itself against the plate, it creaked slightly under the pressure. His reddish leg plastered itself directly on the transparent drawing, covering it like a wound.

"It wakes up one day, you don't even know when and why. I only found about it when I wanted to be free, it's like an alarm of sorts, it warns you that you are loosing yourself. The beast goes hungry when imprisoned, it will make you to do things you would never have done and the only way to kill it is to break free"

He patted the artificial cage.

"To say that I fought out my survival doesn't even scratch the truth about the very bad things I've done"

"I'm sorry Flare" Cynder said softly, offering as much strength of a touchless hug as it was possible to bestow with words

"Don't be, I'm not. We would have possibly never met if I wouldn't do what I did. It's sad, but nothing can be done about it. I will make sure that I never let my friends go through the same horror I did"

"Not everyone is like you Flare, some people are just nasty"

He shrugged obliviously "Maybe. This doesn't change anything"

"It changes a lot. Iris might be such a person. She is definitely not your friend Flare, she already used you, puked on you, who knows what she is capable of. I wouldn't be telling you this, but you see, we have a thing in common. I too care for my friends"

He raised his gaze, she expected him to look devastated, yet he radiated nothing but extreme calm. He even smiled weakly at her, there was a glint of arrogance in that smile.

"You don't really like her do you?"

She met his gaze, making sure he understand that she's serious.

"No I don't. That's because I don't trust her. She's spoiled and unstable, chaotic. Chaos is dangerous. I'm sorry, but this is how I feel"

He waved his paw dismissively, letting out a comforting chuckle as he did so.

"That's ok! You don't like her because you never seen her for real!"

She frowned and cocked her head to the side.

"Huh?"

"Have you seen her when she plucks her feathers? Like this!"

To her surprise he opened his fiery wing and swung it nearly in front of him, the warm wave it created dried her lips and judging by the furious grunts coming from behind her someone was against some tan.

He then pressed his claw to his burning membrane, her eyes widened when he pulled out a fiery string, sparkling and twirling like fireworks. He repeated the move again and again, her eyes hurt from staring at the flying, burning strands.

"Damn!" he growled, throwing his wing back in place "I'm not good at it"

She nearly snorted directly in his nose.

"Maybe you've seen her eyes flickering? Or, or how she changes when she touches her medallion? And talks? She's adorable when she does that! I know all this stuff because we're friends!"

His naivety was so cute, but at the same time so very painful to see. She cared for her friends and to prevent Flare from roughly landing on earth from his dreamy cloud she has to prepare him somehow for the downfall.

And her feminine instinct warned her that the ice dragoness will bring downfall, probably for more than one person.

"Friendship is a mutual feeling Flare, the other person has to be aware of it"

"But she is!"

Her head jerked back in surprise.

"Oh?"

Flare nodded quickly, assured of his right.

"I told her!"

"That's..." she giggled "...oh my..." she scratched her choker , chuckling occasionally "...that's not quite how it works"

"No?"

"For you to be friends Iris needs to confirm that she feels the same bond as you do. It doesn't have to be exactly the words we're friends. You'll know when the moment comes"

He looked literally terrified.

"T-his s-sounds so c-complicated" he whined, the little, nervous stammer sounding like a soft hiccup "How will I make friends? I'm going to end up alone again"

"No, no, no, no" Cynder shook her head, out of caring impulse she reached across the table, trying to comfortingly reach a red paw that wasn't there

"You won't be alone Flare" the eyes of her stretched body looked straight into the yellow ones, they were glimmering with such pleading determination that even the sturdiest mountains would crack under the compassionate drilling

"You will always be my friend. You can't put a difficulty level when it comes to friendship, people are complicated, in the good and bad way. Keep doing what you're doing, if it makes you happy"

She slid back into her place.

"Just promise me you will be careful"

Flare smiled pleasantly, like someone who possessed an extraordinary talent in area of expertise but hides it behind a modest smile.

"Don't worry about me Cynder. I know how to take care of myself"

She tried to smile, but somehow couldn't, a familiar otherworldly voice awakened in the back of her mind.

"Stand back!" it rumbled

She had no doubt he could.

"Flare?" she mumbled bashfully.

"Yep?" he replied happily

"May I ask about something else?" she nearly whispered, some strange power seemed to push her head down

He chuckled "Why you are talking so funny?

"Were you going to hurt these people if they wouldn't back away?"

The bluntness of the question seemed to catch him off guard, it was either that or the fact that you could actually manage to scrape the sadness from her voice if you only wanted to. It was so thick.

The smile faded from his lips instantly.

"N-n-noooo" he mumbled uncertainly, even the deaf would be aware of the ringing lie

Cynder frowned, she wasn't angry at him, that unfortunate fate had befallen on Spyro when they were talking about Corruption. Here she was simply disappointed, even if she was expecting such answer

"Hurting innocent people is wrong"

"Innocent people?" he jerked his body forward, putting his front paws on the wooden surface of the table as he leaned towards his companion.

"They wanted to attack you!" he said in a muffled tone, making sure she is the one that hears him and no-one else

"Maybe they did, hitting them in self-defense is a bad thing, but sadly a necessary one"

"That's what I did!'

Cynder shook her head gently.

"No, you grabbed a punching hand, but instead of twisting it you decided to push further and break it, in more places then one"

"I didn't do that!" he protested, a glimmer of oblivious triumph flared up from his eyes "I burned his paw! I didn't catch any hand!" he nearly laughed like a notorious villain

"What I mean is" she continued in the same tone, as if Flare's literal understanding of her words was like a question of a trainee asking his superior for advice

"that you behaved like the surrounding screams and the melting heat meant nothing to you. I understand the fire, what I don't understand why you were making the situation worse while you could simply keep the magic under control"

"I shouldn't protect you?" he looked at the table devastated "You want to say I'm a bad friend?"

"No Flare" she said softly "You're a good friend and even if I'm not a big fan of someone's else putting their neck out for me I'm glad that you stood by my side"

He looked back at her, eyes glimmering with affection a child gives his loving mother after a praising. In a perverse way it made her feel proud and in an even more selfish way thrilled. Flare is like a kid, seeing him affected by her words made the future Danox told about so much more believable.

"What I'm worried about is that you seem to not know when to stop. Not to say that when you're getting angry, letting the adrenaline in, you're acting really strange"

"Y-y-you n-n-noticed?" he stammered, eyes widened in horror

She straightened up in surprise.

"You made no intention to hide it. We all noticed it Flare. Back in the caves with the bugs, or now" she leaned forward, eying him kindly "Is there something you want to say? Do you have a problem Flare?"

He leaned away from her, his wings flickered nervously, fire burning brighter, tendrils of which seemed to want to envelop him and make him disappear. He never met her gaze.

"Y-y-you w-w-won't l-l-like me a-a-a-anymor-r-r-r-re"

"That's not true. I will always like you. I'll help you, you just need to tell me how"

"M-m-maybe y-y-you c-could" he swallowed, his strained muscles relaxed as he met her gaze "But that is not what would make you stop liking me"

"What is it then?" she basically whined, the worry for her friend feeling her with overwhelming dread

"Hey guys. What you are taking about?"

They both jerked their heads up, meeting snout to snout with Spyro.

"I have no regrets" Flare said, small sparkles of flames glimmered in his eyes

Like a still twinkling head of a match in a dark forest.