Chapter Text
Qibli thinks he understands Umber. Umber's the awkward MudWing of the Jade Winglet, who's warm and kind and a little socially awkward. And cute. But that's irrelevant.
The point being, Qibli understands Umber, so he doesn't spend too much time pondering over him.
Until the night he leaves.
Qibli's a bit surprised by Sora's breakdown, but he knows about her PTSD. Umber taking her back to the Mud Kingdom, though? Umber protecting her, despite what she did? That blindsides Qibli. And anyone who blindsides Qibli is a dragon worth knowing.
Except now, Umber's halfway across the continent, and Qibli's helping with this prophecy, and they're far enough apart that Qibli's convinced that he won't see Umber for a long, long time.
But at least he understands Umber now, for real this time. Umber is a fiercely loyal dragon who'll do anything for his loved ones, even if that means stretching a few rules and abandoning his own school and friends. Umber all but ruined his own life to help Sora. Jade Mountain is an opportunity that so many dragons would fight to get, and Umber threw it away to help his morally ambiguous sister.
Qibli wonders if Umber understands what he gave away. He wonders if Umber would do the same thing if he could do it all again. He wonders if he'll ever see Umber again, and get to figure out the answers to the countless questions he has for the MudWing.
Umber blindsides Qibli a second time by coming back.
--
Umber sets down at the doorway of Jade Mountain Academy and looks around. He told Clay he's coming, but Clay isn't… here….
"Umber!"
Umber relaxes a little and laughs as Clay swings the door open and crashes into him, taking them both to the ground.
"I haven't seen you in forever! I'm so glad you came! Everyone's going to be so excited!" Clay gets off of him and his smile fades a little. Umber sucks in his breath as Clay asks the question that Umber's been dreading: "Where's Sora?"
"She… didn't feel ready to come back. I know you pardoned her to visit, even though she obviously can't be a student anymore, but she felt like she needed a little more time." He sighs and glances back in the direction of the Mud Kingdom. He feels terrible for leaving her, even though she still has the rest of their siblings to help her out. She insisted that he go, though, so he's trying to tamper down the worry and just enjoy seeing all his old friends.
"Oh." Disappointment flashes across Clay's face for just a moment, then he smiles again. "That's ok. It's great to see you! Come on in, it's almost lunchtime."
Umber laughs. "Alway thinking about food, aren't you."
Clay shrugs unapologetically and leads the way inside.
Jade Mountain Academy looks different from when he was last here. He knows that the whole Darkstalker thing happened while he was away helping Sora, so changes and repairs have been made to atone for that. And of course, the school's grown. It's still a new school, so the teachers (including Umber's brother) have been working hard to make sure everything's working properly and there can be as many students as possible.
The unfamiliar decor, hallways, and rooms make Umber feel a little disoriented. He's grateful for Clay, who moves with such confidence. He wishes he could be that sure of himself. Maybe then it would be easier to do something about that annoying crush on Qibli.
"Where's Turtle?" Umber asks. He told Turtle he's coming, too- Turtle and Clay were the only two he told. Though he's sure that word spreads fast here, with so few students. He barely gets any weird looks in the halls, so he figures that they've all been expecting him.
"In the prey center," Clay says, then mumbles, "I hope." Umber snorts.
Thankfully, Turtle is in the prey center. In fact, he's right at the entrance of it, shifting his weight nervously and watching the door. His face lights up (literally, because of his glow in the dark scales) when he sees Clay and Umber.
"Umber!" Turtle bounds towards him and rubs their wings together. "You're here!"
"I'm here!" Umber agrees. He takes a moment to look Turtle over, to make sure he isn't too roughed up from the previously mentioned Darkstalker battle that Umber missed. Turtle doesn't look too worse for wear, except for a few scrapes and scratches. In fact, he looks more confident- not quite confident, per se, but closer to it.
"Did you know you're rooming with me tonight?"
"Oh thank the moons, I was a little worried that I'd have to dorm with a stranger."
Turtle laughs. "Yeah, like it would matter to you. You're so good at making friends. Me and Qibli, though, we're better than any strangers." Turtle winks (or tries to), but doesn't elaborate on the most important part of that sentence.
"W-wait, what?" Umber says, following Turtle as he skirts around the edge of the room, looking for a good prey. "What do you mean, you and Qibli?"
"Qibli's my roommate now."
"What? But I thought Winter was Qibli's roommate."
"Yeah, he used to be. Winter's not a student anymore, though, because of politics or whatever- he lives in Sanctuary now. Qibli won't shut up about how much better a roommate I am than Winter. He'll like you as a roommate even more than he likes me, though.
“Here, you’ll need this later and I can’t explain to you why.” Turtle hands Umber a small rock. “It’s skyfire. You’ll understand once… someone explains it to you.”
“What?” Umber turns the rock over in his claws. “What do you mean he's like me? Why can’t you explain the skyfire thing to me?”
“I just can’t. I swear you’ll understand soon." Turtle does not answer the why will he like me question, which is a bit disappointing, but Umber cares significantly more about that one than about the rock. "Oh, do you see that pheasant? I'm gonna try to get it."
Turtle gives Umber one more smile before leaping after the pheasant with an almost carefree attitude. When Umber saw Turtle every day, he never would've used "carefree" to describe him.
Three moons. Umber's going to sleep in a room with Qibli in it.
No problem. Umber sleeps next to friends all the time. When he shared a room with Turtle, they slept back to back. Umber won't have to make a big deal out of being in a confined space with Qibli for… hours and hours.
Even so, the thought of sharing a room with the SandWing distracts him all day.
--
Qibli goes to his room at the end of the day as per usual, his thoughts on his classes and the paper he spent the afternoon writing in the library, and almost runs into a smallish brown dragon that he knows and never thought he'd see again.
"Umber?"
Umber blinks and looks over his shoulder, and smiles when he sees Qibli. "Hi."
Qibli looks over Umber at Turtle and raises his eyebrows.
"Oh," Turtle says, trying to sound sympathetic even though he's obviously about to giggle. "Sorry, forgot to tell you. Umber's visiting."
"Since when?"
"You didn't know?" Umber says. "I thought everyone knew."
"No, because I've been in the Sand Kingdom rebuilding Thorn's castle, I just came back here a few days ago- I haven't seen you in forever!"
"You're the fifth dragon to tell me that today. It's only been a month, really."
"It feels like longer," Turtle says, bumping his shoulder against Umber's.
Qibli feels much the same. He hasn't thought of Umber in a while- maybe, like, a whole two days. Well, no, because when he was eating breakfast he thought of that joke Umber made about Clay, the very first time Qibli met him. Hmm. Still, he's astonished that it's only been a month.
"So how long are you visiting?" he asks, trying to sound casual as he settles down a few feet away from Umber.
"A day or two. I want to get back to Sora soon."
Sora. There's a catch in his voice when he says her name, and Turtle gives him a little nudge of encouragement. Ok, so he's still deathly loyal to his sister, and he's worried about her. That fact fits in with what Qibli knows about Umber. The fact that Umber returned does not fit in very easily with all of Qibli's assumptions.
"And you're… sleeping here?"
"Yup!" This fact does not seem to worry Umber, which, ok. Qibli can kinda see the idea that Umber's not socially anxious, maybe just socially awkward. Or maybe he's changed in the month where he took care of his sister.
The only thing Qibli knows for sure is that he himself is worried about this. "Oh. Ok."
Turtle winks from behind Umber, and Qibli has to make an effort to not scowl at him- he doesn't want Umber to think he's scowling at him.
“And,” Turtle says, “before you ask, I’ve already given him skyfire.”
Qibli nods. “Did you explain it?”
“No, it’s not really my place, is it?”
Umber looks from Qibli to Turtle, Turtle to Qibli, and sighs. But he doesn’t ask for an explanation. Probably too nice. Qibli tries to help him out by focusing on him instead of Turtle.
"It’s um, it’s cool that you’re staying over." Qibli smiles. That's a normal thing to do, right? He hates this. He wasn't ready for this. He wishes Turtle would've warned him, so he wouldn't look like a fool in front of Umber. "We'll get to know each other better! We never talked too much when you were a student."
Umber nods and says gravely, "We're going to have to make up for it in these two days. You won't be able to get rid of me for a second."
Qibli snorts. Oh three moons, don't make me blush. I'm supposed to be the one making you blush.
"Well, we better get started if we want to know all of each other's deepest darkest secrets by the end of the two days," Qibli says. He thinks for a moment, then asks, "What's your favorite color?"
"Yellow," Umber says promptly. "Like sand." He exchanges a glance with Turtle, but Qibli's too caught off guard to even think about what that glance might mean.
Is Umber flirting with me?! Umber? Flirting? Qibli tries to fit that in with everything he knows about the awkward, smiley MudWing, and fails. Is it not flirting? Is sandy yellow really just his favorite color? Maybe Qibli's reading too much into this. He doesn't even know if Umber's single, or interested in guys, or interested in SandWings.
"Mine's red," he says, then pauses. "But I like brown, too."
He monitors Umber's reaction: the smile, the way he ducks his head and looks away from Qibli. Flirty? Coy? Or just shy? Qibli can't tell, and that infuriates him. He never would've guessed that the unassuming MudWing would defy his mental analysis.
Turtle yawns.
"Oh, sorry," Umber says. "We can set up to sleep if you want."
"You can keep talking." Turtle stretches. "I'm going to lay down, though."
Qibli watches as Turtle rearranges the sleeping area so there are two mats side by side, then he curls up on top of one of them. Umber sends Qibli a hard to read smile, then lays down on the other, so he's back to back with Turtle and facing Qibli.
Great. More questions. Did Umber purposely face Qibli? Did Turtle arrange it so that he would? What did that smile mean? Why can't Qibli stop thinking about Umber?
"I'll be back in a second," Qibli says, then leaves. He's not sure where he's going yet, but he knows he needs to clear his head if he'll ever be able to spend a full night in a room with Umber in it.
--
Umber has to make an effort to not fidget. He doesn't want to annoy Turtle. Still, he can't stop himself from asking, "What do you think he's doing?"
Turtle hums tiredly. "I dunno. Nighttime snack?"
"Does he always get nighttime snacks?" Umber wouldn't mind a boyfriend who gets him snacks every night. Even though obviously Qibli wouldn't be his boyfriend, because that's ridiculous and Umber needs to stop thinking about him….
"No, never."
"Oh." He wonders if Qibli would get him a nighttime snack if he asked for it. Then he pushes that thought aside. He's. Not. Single. Stop thinking about him.
"Do you actually not mind if we keep talking?" Umber wants Turtle to say that they can talk. He wants to talk to Qibli. Sure, he can't date him, but at least he can enjoy his company.
"I do mind if you keep talking to me. But go ahead with him. Your banter is adorable."
"B-banter? I don't feel like that's- I mean, we're not- it's just banter, not flirting. And it's not adorable, it's just friendly."
"Sure, sure. I'm just saying, you're the only one who said 'flirting.'"
"To say it's not!"
"Whatever you say."
Umber groans and covers his eyes with his talons. Stop it. Stop it. Just act like a friend. Don't make it awkward.
Qibli comes back a few minutes later, and gives Umber a little smile before laying down on his ledge and curling his wings around himself.
"What were you doing?" Turtle asks. Umber's grateful- he didn't want to ask himself, but he's curious, too.
"Just talking to Moon for a second." Qibli looks at Umber as he says this, and Umber has a small mental crisis. Is Moon his girlfriend? Is he trying to subtly tell Umber to stop flirting and acting weird? Does he know Umber likes him? But Qibli continues, "She wanted me to visit so she could talk about Kinkajou." He rolls his eyes. "I swear, if those two don't get together soon…."
Umber inhales. Moon and Kinkajou. That means… Qibli isn't dating Moon. But Umber chases away the hope in his mind. Maybe Qibli isn't dating Moon, but he has to be dating Winter. There's no way a dragon as amazing as Qibli is still single.
Umber realizes that Qibli is still watching him, perhaps waiting for a reply. "I didn't even know Moon likes Kinkajou," he says.
"Oh, her crush on Kinkajou is adorable. They're obviously perfect for each other." He gasps and his eyes light up in a way that makes Umber feel all tingly. "Umber! That's what we should do tomorrow- we should get those two together! Perfect opportunity for bonding." He smiles at Umber, and Umber takes a second to remember how to speak.
"Um, y-yeah! That sounds fun. I haven't really talked to either of them since I got back, either, so… it'll be nice. To see them. And to talk to you."
"Same. We've missed you." Qibli's voice drops a little. "I missed you."
Three moons. Umber can't quite see Qibli's expression in the dark, but that was definitely flirting, right? No, no, friends tell each other that they missed them. Stop overthinking, Umber. Not single, remember?
"It's too bad I can't see Winter," he says.
Qibli snorts. "Please. I'd hardly call not seeing Winter a bad thing." A pause. "Don't tell him I said that."
Umber laughs, even though his heart is dropping. So Qibli is dating Winter? Or are they just close friends? Why is it so hard to tell? Maybe Umber's not being impartial about this.
"Alright," Qibli says. "You should probably rest. Hasn't it been a long flight here?"
"Well, yeah." Umber smiles a little. "It'd probably be best for me to sleep."
"I only want what's best for you."
Umber closes his eyes and tries to ignore the tingling feeling that he got from Qibli's words. Just friends. Just friends. Stop thinking about him. We're just friends.
Just before he drifts off to sleep, he hears Turtle murmur in his ear, "Adorable banter."