Ray sat on the corner of the dining table. He tried to take deep breaths.
The last thing he could think about was Kai being forced out of the house by the two guards. His debacle with the Water Dragon had been nothing short of impulsive and straight-up stupid. Just thinking about it made Ray hold back a sob. The whole ordeal had scared the life out of him.
It was enough losing Maya all those years ago, and now, with Kai just reaching adulthood, he could have been killed so easily. Ray hadn't even been around to save him if it happened.
It was sheer luck Kai hadn't died. Ray was still confused how the forging staff hadn't scorched through his skin. He kept thinking, thinking of ways Kai could have possibly survived that burn. It just didn't make sense.
Humans weren't meant to live through something like that.
Unless...
Ray's eyes flew open.
No.
Ray had his suspicions. He couldn't be blamed for burying his memories all those years ago. He hadn't used his abilities in so long.
Despite refusing to remember his fire after so many years, he couldn't just forget about it. It was simply a part of him, and he still had it within him.
It was so easy to let it loose, just at the tip of his fingers.
Ray felt the heat slowly building behind his fingers...
He shook them off as quickly as possible and sighed.
His fire had been fully present when he bonded with Flame during adulthood, but... Ember was still very young, and so was Kai. They wouldn't have been able to forge that connection yet, and Kai couldn't have possibly developed his resistance to fire. Unless...
Ray shook his head violently. There was no way. No way he would let the memories come back. He vowed to keep it away from awakening once again.
But if Kai's time came, then...
It was too early.
What if Ray had been a late bloomer when he first developed?
No, normally they would begin to use their abilities during adulthood, too.
If that were the case, Ray's mind felt like it would implode from all the stress. The house was a wreck, the door was slightly ajar, he was still replaying Kai's departure with the guards, and through all that he just had to remember this.
He just couldn't bring himself to care anymore and let out a small breath. All the sweat covering his skin felt icky, and his unshaved scruff felt like pinpricks against his grimy skin.
Ray bent his head down and sighed weakly, his breath quivering.
A soft caw came from his left.
With a jolt, he turned to the noise.
Ember had been here the whole time. He'd been so wrapped in his own thoughts, he completely forgot about her up until that point. She gazed up at him, ears drooping. She didn't need to say anything for Ray to understand.
"Yes, yes... I know," he mumbled. "You can stop your worrying. He'll be... fine."
Whether he said it to Ember or to himself, he wasn't quite sure. And did he believe what he said anyway? With all his life he wanted to, but it wasn't likely.
Ray's eyes traced the chaos scattered across his house. His body ached, but he knew he couldn't think properly with this mess everywhere. A mess he caused in the first place.
Ember seemed to catch up with him. She cawed encouragingly, pleased with the idea of cleaning. She continued to caw, and Ray let out a tiny laugh. "Yes, I suppose you're right on that. We can't still have this disaster lying around when Kai returns."
He began to think about how much he must have scared his son before he was taken to the medical ward, when he was caught up in one of the worst sectors of his rage. His chest thrummed uneasily, but the thought couldn't bother him now. He had some repairing to do.
First, he grabbed the pile of dishes that were still intact and brought them to the bins. He needed to get rid of any supplies sitting around in random places. Once he got rid of those, he moved to pick up the tablecloth. He spread it to full length and smoothed it over the surface, wiping off crumbs. After that, he picked up the toppled furniture and carefully dusted them off.
Ember chirped at him to look after the shards of glass and wood planks littered on the ground; she flew around the room—or perched on the bedpost when her ribs hurt—since she refused to walk with tiny pieces stabbing into her paws. Ray had to remember to bring her to the Dragon's Den after. She seemed alright moving around, but he cared for her just as much as he had done with Flame. He needed to get her ribs and wings inspected.
As Ray continued to sweep the floors, his mind began to roam. Every now and then, the thought that Kai could be resistant to fire nagged at him. He tried to stop thinking about it, but a bad feeling ebbed at him. If Kai really had the fire in him now, then it would only be a matter of time before the Lord Protectors found out about it. And it would only be a matter of time until Krux and Acronix found out about Ray, too.
About an hour had gone by, and nearly everything had been cleaned up. The house was small, so repairing some things didn't take very long.
Ember slept soundly on Kai's bunk, puffs of smoking leaving her nostrils.
Once Ray left the broom in the corner of the room, he realized just how tired he really felt.
Sitting down for a bit wouldn't hurt, he thought.
Before he could lay down, though, someone rapped at the front door. Ray stiffened. He thought it was his company of soldiers, or maybe even the Lord Protectors, but Ember chirped happily, even if she was half-awake.
Ray opened the door and found Nya standing at the doorway. Her expression showed worry, and she was doused in the rain. Ray peered outside and noticed a storm brewing in the sky.
"Nya! There you are, lass," Ray said, smiling weakly at her. "You'll catch your death out there. Come inside!" he said, ushering her inside. She walked in wordlessly.
Ray shut the door and found a warm blanket to wrap around her. She slinked towards the lower bunk and curled into the sheets. Ray sat down next to her. He suddenly felt his fatherly instincts kick in.
"Nya? What's the problem?" he asked calmly. "You look a bit shaken up."
"P-problem?" she stammered. "No problem, Dad. J-just a bit cold." She closed her eyes when Ray offered her a welcoming embrace, basking in the warmth of his arms. After a few minutes, she quietly asked him, "Have you seen Kai?"
"Kai? Oh, yes, he came by earlier," Ray answered. "He... he's at the medical ward now, having his wounds checked on. That fight near the gates damaged him badly." Ember crawled down the bunk and perched on Nya's shoulders, licking the side of her face. Nya, however, froze like a rock.
"The gates?" she yelped. "That was him? He was the one everyone was talking about?"
"Unfortunately..." her father muttered. "Scared the living hell out of me. He was still walking when he came here, if you can believe it, but two guards took him away. I need to make sure he's safe, that his injuries are under inspection at the medical ward." He looked at her. "I thought you might've heard about this already. Though, it would make sense if not. You were at the scullery all day, after all."
"Oh, yep," Nya said quickly. "Definitely. Wouldn't want to cause any problems for the Lord Protectors." She laughed nervously to make her point. But secretly, she sagged in her bed, relief washing over her. Kai was back! He hadn't been devoured by the wolves after all!
But still, at what cost? If what people said were true, he must've broken at least five different bones... but her father said he walked just fine when he came here, so....
There were so many questions Nya wanted to ask. She just wanted to rip the blanket off her and run to the medical ward, but her day had been so tiring, she didn't think standing up would be possible.
"It's alright, Nya," Ray said. "Maybe some food would do you better, especially after that wolf attack earlier today. You hungry for anything?"
Nya shook her head. "I think I'm good with a few extra hours of sleep," she mumbled.
Ray sighed. "Good enough, then. I'll head off as well," he said with a yawn. At least he knew that Nya hadn't been hurt in any way—knowing that much made him feel a lot safer. Still, he'd have to check on Kai later.
Ember chirruped a good night to them and climbed onto Kai's bedpost, where she spent the next while licking at her wounds. Soon, she dozed off just like the rest, closing her eyes in the cool darkness.
. . .
Nothing like having a random guard you hate press a washcloth against your burn to make it 'heal', right?
Kai grimaced at the feeling. He'd never been to the medical ward before, but he could make his judgements now that he was in tow.
The room stretched across, maybe twenty meters. It was filled with bed posts set up in order, about ten on each side. Some had curtains around them while others were exposed. Kai admitted that being in here smelled better than the outdoors, but some less fortunate patients were struggling with hygienic issues.
His train of thought was rudely interrupted by the same guard, who pressed the cloth further into his mark.
"Hey, watch it! Are you trying to get me to pass out?" Kai seethed. The guard grumbled behind his back, taking some pressure off his back after his outburst.
"Doctors said I had to watch yeh until they can look 'atcha," he said. "Asked me te mend yeh with this cloth—"
"Well, you sure are doing a terrible job at it," Kai snapped.
The guard was about to counterattack before a few doctors burst into the room. They told the guard that he could leave to attend to his duties, to which he nodded and muttered something offensive before he left.
There were three doctors who stood by his bedside; two of them were looking at papers and other equipment Kai hadn't seen before.
His skin shivered with goosebumps when he saw the needles. The feeling of the bite still lingered on his arm, and he wouldn't exactly be happy with another sharp object piercing his skin.
The third one, however, kindly smiled at him. He looked a lot older, with sagging white hair and crinkles at the ends of his eyes. His face was covered in wrinkles, but his eyes were bright behind his round, wire-rimmed glasses. Kai couldn't really remember the last time someone looked this happy to see him (aside from Cole? He didn't think that counted, though).
The man introduced himself as Dr. Julien and was doing a far better job of helping Kai than the rest of the doctors, but that didn't completely erase his nerves. He was still thinking about Cole healing his wound and whether anyone would find out about it.
Most of the attention was on his back, and a few layers of bandages were tied near his wound.
"I'm fine, really," Kai mumbled, pulling his arm away whenever Dr. Julien got too close.
"I'm just going to do a small check in case something's wrong, son," Julien said patiently. "Nothing to be concerned about—"
"I said, I'm fine!" Kai pressed. "And don't call me your son."
"If you say so, then!" Dr. Julien told him, shrugging his shoulders. Kai backed off slightly.
"Wait, really?" he asked. "I can go-?"
"No, of course not," Dr. Julien intervened, "I meant if you say so to not being called 'son'. I still need to check your injury, that can't be overlooked!" He adjusted his lopsided glasses and showed him another patient smile.
Kai wasn't sure what to make of him at first. He was more lenient with him compared to the others in the medical ward, but he wasn't going to lower his defenses just yet.
This time, though, he let him inspect his burn mark. It still stung when he applied pressure, but it didn't bother him as much as before. In fact, he felt less and less pain every passing second.
Dr. Julien gave a quiet gasp behind him. "My word..." he trailed off.
Very slowly, Kai turned his head around and tried to look at his back. "What? What's going on?"
There was a moment of silence before Dr. Julien answered him.
"The burn mark... it's gone."
Hello! New chapter is finally here!
I'm really sorry that it took this long to get the chapter out - I had writer's block for this story for a long while, but I had most of this chapter finished and left it in the archives. I revised/rewrote the entire thing and finished the ending. That's why it might feel shorter than the other chapters, but I'm glad that's it out! (More development in the next part, promise.)
I hope you enjoy!