Fire N Gold {Whitaker x Othala} FINISHED

“For now, we need to get you out of here and away,” they said, dragging themself back to the present. “We’ll escort you out of the city.”
Baram's final words put an end to infinite hours of powerlessly waiting, trapped inside the magnificent hall of the Emperor's palace. At the same time, they were terrible final. The battle sounds still raged on, but it would soon be over. Together with the Seroran armies, the Talorian's had reclaimed their homeland, and without the slightest tone of accusation in there voice, the Sultan had make clear that there was no place for the Flock members among the children of Cascade.

Once more she insisted that the medics should be allowed to go to the battlefield, but her proposal fell on deaf ears one more. She understood the Primaries and the Sultan's wish to get them to safety quickly, no one could tell how the Talorian's would react to Flock members right now. Their blood was boiling with rage and Othala couldn't blame them for that. Still she disagreed with their decision.

Before the whole group left, warriors of both sides arrived, and spread the news about what was going on outside. Even though the Furies and Sentinels had laid there arms down, many got injured and the battle inside the palace walls had been even worse...

Eventually the Flock was in the air, on their way back to the Aerie, and escorted by the Serorans. Many Sentinels had joined them on their way, many, but not all of them. Brown wings on a golden coat were nowhere in sight and the unrest that had kept a tight hold on her for hours just got worse and worse.
Once more she turned her head and gazed over the gleaming city that became smaller and smaller in the distance. Within the matter of a second the mare made her decision. The emerging darkness and the pouring rain became her allies and subtly she started to fall back, as if she was just tired and couldn't keep the pace anymore. At the right moment she held her wings still, allowing herself to loose some height and to disappear silently into the dark.
In the firm believe, that the rain and her dark grey coat would hide her from the eyes of friends and enemies alike, she flew a bow and took Inaria into focus again.

The whole day she had been forced to stand by and watch. No more. If he was out there, she would find him. Somehow.
He was not dead, or at least that was what the one Sentinel she had spoken to had told her. But no one seemed to know where he was right now. "I'll find you, I'll find you" she kept repeating to herself while wind and rain whipped her face and teared on her feathers.
Whitaker had been her anchor during the last few weeks and Othala had no idea how she should interpret the strange feelings she had in his presence, but one thing was certain - she don't wanted to loose him.

For some time she circled high above the city, unable to be seen from the ground, and with no idea how she should find him and where to even start with the search. Whitaker wasn't native to Aquore, but during the Flocks reign over the country he should have been able to get a decent overview over the city. If he was smart, he would stay far away from the palace and Guardian Headquarters. He would probably also avoid the heart of the city and other overly crowded places...
"Think Othala, what would you do in a foreign city, probably injured and surrounded by strangers..?"

Normally the citizens preferred to stay inside during a rain shower, especially late evening, but today many of them were out on the streets, celebrating the reclamation of their homeland, but also mourning...
Maybe...the town walls? The narrow streets along the wall were usually empty. It was worth a try, and she had to start her search somewhere. 

Othala flew closely above the streets, silently praying that no citizen or guardian would randomly shoot a pegasus out of the sky.
The outer ring of the city was just illuminated by a few dull lights, mostly the reflections of the vibrant center of the city.  

She had no idea how long she was already in the air, her from the rain heavy wings slowly starting to tire, when she suddenly spotted a strange, forlornly light along the road. It was insane to hope that it was him, but still her heart started to race faster as she hastened to get to that light.
Despite all excitement, she admonished herself to remain cautious. The whole city was vibrating with with negative energy and what she by no way wanted was to end in prison, or even worse.

Once more she forced her exhausted wings to beat a little faster and spiraled higher into the sky, to investigate the strange light from a safer position.
What she saw however, made her forget all tiredness and tension for a moment. The sound of the rain absorbed her relieved sobbing when she folded her wings close to her sides to get down as fast as possible. Only shortly before she reached the ground, she spread her wings again to catch up her fall. Still she stumbled for a moment when her hooves hit the wet plaster. 
"Whitaker!" she called out, both in relieve and worry. "What happend?" There was no need to ask if he was hurt, over the years she had earned enough experience to tell alone from his posture. The real question was how badly he was injured.

Minor scuffle. She had no idea if she should laugh or cry. Well, that at least he felt good enough to still make a joke. That was a good sign, right?

Othala made a step forward, wings slightly spread, to embrace him, but hold herself back at the last moment. A broken shoulder was incredibly painful, and any carelessly movements or contact could make it unnecessarily worse.
"I...I can't believe that I found you...more and more Sentinels and Furries came back...and no one could tell me where you are, or what happened to you. I can't believe that they have left you alone! And that you walked all the way with a presumably broken shoulder and....and I talk to much. I'm sorry."
Why was she sometimes so goddamn nervous around him?

She was talking nonsense why he was in pain. Watching him trying to get up, all covered in mud and with shaky legs made her furious. Not angry at him, but at Perseus and everyone else that had decided not to let her and the other medics go to the battlefield sooner. So much suffering could have been avoided...Yet this was not the time to think about what might have been. It was only a waste of time.

After one quick glance over his shoulder and his droopy wing, she nodded slightly. "You're probably right with your shoulder. I'd love to offer you a more comfortable place for the treatment but I'd like to avoid that you have to move more than necessary. Moreover, I'm not sure if you know yet, but we have lost the battle. Talori is no longer in our hands and the citizens are literally capable of anything right now when seeing a pegasus."
She took a quick look around, followed by a deep breath. "Broken shoulder or not, I can fix it. Give me...maybe three-quarters of an hour. Maybe a little more or less. If you don't mind, we can stay right here. Not many horses come to the outskirts of the city, especially not late evening. I will try to shield you as good as I can from the rain with my wings. And again I'm talking too much, your shoulder must hurt like hell. Better start right? It might feel a little weird and unpleasant at first, but that shouldn't last long."
She was now fully in her role as a healer, confident and resolute.

If she would concentrate enough, she would be able to look into his memories, and witness the battle with her own eyes. Or through his eyes, to be more precise. To be quiet honest however, she had no energy to waste, the healing process would be strenuous enough and she wouldn't do this without his permission. Quite frankly, the reports of other Sentinels and Furies had been enough already. She had no interest in seeing him fall.
"Thank the gods that nothing worse happened" she responded and slightly shook her head to dispel the grim thoughts. He must have had a guardian angle this day, thankfully.

"You say it, shit" she snorted and followed his glance. So often had she played in the narrow alleys of Inaria, and despite the scornful looks she earned whenever someone was looking at her feathers, she had always felt safe, and home.
Today was different. Today the citizens wouldn't leave it at that. This knowledge actually scared her.

And then, with his next words, he made her whole world trembling. No. NO?
Othala's ears laid back flat against her neck and so did the feathers around her face. "What? You can't be serious Whitaker", her voice was heavy with disbelief and frustration. "I can understand that you...don't have faith into Cascade or any of her blessings, but don't you trust me?" The young mare was hurt, and she didn't even bothered to hide this fact. As always, she was searching the mistake in herself, not in the others. She took it personally.
Healing was the one thing that she was good at, probably the only. And after a whole day of feeling useless he refused her to let her help him?
"This...isn't true. It would heal better, because I can control the healing process to the tiniest detail, and it's such a long way home. It's dangerous! Neither Inaria nor the Wilds are safe...I" she paused her justifications for a moment to look at him, but he was avoiding to look her into the eyes.
"I...just make recommendations. It's of course your decision." You stubborn fool. 
It wouldn't make things better if she would made a fuss about his decision now, even if she really wanted to, because they still had the problem to be in enemie territory.  This discussion was only postponed, not done yet.

"Many of them are still empty, not everyone has reclaimed their old home yet. However we need to be carefully, the owners could come back any time while I...try to patch you together as good as I can. I have some basic with me, but it's better than nothing. Before we go over to this building, let me least provisionally fixate your wing- don't object. It will ease some of the pain"

Her frustration was still clearly noticeable when she took out some long bandages to tether up the weak wing against his body.
He brought both of them in serious danger. Healing him would take up to an hour, but after that he would be able to fly, to escape in the event of an attack. 
Two Pegasi, one hobbling, attempting to leave the city would draw attention to them. And this could end nastily.
Still she wouldn't leave him here alone. 
"Whit...they killed Hawkeye. The Emperor...he is gone"

Her words showed an impact on him and Othala immediately regretted them. Yelling at him in this situation wouldn’t make things better, yelling never did.
She was way too agitated to concentrate on the hints of several emotions that were reflected on his face and body language and that made her even more frustrated. Usually she was good at reading people, but never at reading him.
“I wish I’d know what’s going on in your head” she mumbled and turned her eyes to his injured shoulder.
The anger in his voice hurt, just like the fact that he refused to look at her.

Why did it always had to be like this? Every time she thought that she finally began to understand him, she realized that she didn’t.
Tears burned in her eyes, but she angrily blinked them away. To distract herself from the contradictory feelings by stretching feelers out for the Wave Mother’s magic. Her blessing responded instantly. It hadn’t always been this way, but during the war she had lots and lots of opportunities to practice. Meanwhile the blessing had become something completely natural, as easy as breathing.

With a silent order the medic guided her blessing into Whitaker. She knew from own experiences that it was a warm and slightly tickling sensation at first, the regeneration of cells however usually caused the patient to feel minor pain or pressure at the affected part of the body.
“I’ll heal just as much as needed in order for you to be able to use the wing...flying can and probably will still hurt. I have a herb against that...if you want. And flying will make the injury in the shoulder worse again. It will need more treatment back in the Aerie.” she stated with a cool undertone in her voice.

Through the pouring rain, mud and blood his usually golden coat seemed dull and almost grey. It broke her heart to see him like this. Exhausted, angry and defeated at the same time.
All of the sudden her anger vanished into thin air. She was exhausted as well, and all that she wanted right now was to get them both back home safely.
Over the last months, Whitaker had become a dear friend. Maybe even more, tho she wouldn’t admit that to herself.
Would she be here now, for just a friend?
“When the other Sentinels returned without you...I was afraid that you could be gone” she trembled and carefully nudged his shoulder with her muzzle.

As she mentioned the Emperor, Whit’s head snapped up and she could see shock and disbelief in his eyes.
“We, the FLock...The Serorans sided with Talori”, her voice was filled with bitterness. Their Emperor. Hawkeye had been her leader as well.
“Yes...they won’t forget nor forgive this act in the near future. That’s why I’m so nervous. We have to get out of here. Before we become the targets”

A small, amused snorting escaped her nostrils when Whitaker flinched back, away from her and the energy of her blessing.
“Keep cool, I’m just repairing, you won’t grow another pair of wings”
The situation was still serious, but at least her anger was already fading. She never liked being mad at somebody, for it was a useless and tiring feeling. Poison for any kinds of relationships and the own well-being.

After a last scrutiny, she made a step back. “Done. Try to move the wing. It will feel a little stiff but that should go by after some while. However you should prepare yourself for the pain that the flight will cause.”
It would have been so easy to fix the shoulder completely and save him the pain…stubborn man.

Her traitorously heart skipped a beat, when Whit answered her gentle touch with a short contact as well. In less than the blink of an eye he stepped back, and took with him all the warmth.The short, peaceful moment was over, and had left nothing but the cold and ruthless reality.
Othala quickly lowered her gaze, to hide the strange feelings that mirrored in her eyes.

Silently she watched, as Whitaker struggled to get to his feet again and it cost her all of her willpower not to ask him again if she shouldn’t just keep on healing his shoulder, when she saw his face contorted with pain. But they already had wasted too much time with debating - and he wouldn’t let her anyways.

“Okay let’s deal with your wing later. We have get out of the city, now.” Her steel-blue teke flipped through the air, wrapped around his saddle bags and pulled them from his back onto her own.
“No objections” she warned him resolutely.” You have already enough pain without those bags flapping against your sides and wings. We have to walk quickly, but not like we are fleeing from something. We are just a young, ordinary couple that enjoys a walk in the streets of their hometown after the great liberation of Talori from the Flock, okay?”

They could as well extinguish his lantern and try their best to hide. The night would help to conceal their silhouette from watchful eyes, but it was just to risky. If someone saw them in the dim light of the street lamps they would immediately see them as what they are - fleeing Flock Members. They would still ask a young pegasus couple questions, but questions were better than an attack.