Submission (#5102) Approved

A loud shattering sound and colorful cursing caused Cinder to jolt awake and he looked around in a frantic manner until he discovered Greywind in the room. His heartbeat slowed down a little, while Greywind cursed again - the white Elnin had broken the big mirror that was next to the wardrobe and the morning sun of Ahza reflected from all the shattered pieces on the floor, illuminating the room with sparkling patterns.

“Are you alright?” Cinders’ voice was gentle and took Greywind by surprise. The older one looked up from the broken mirror and his gaze softened as he met Cinders' amber eyes.

“Oh, I’m sorry… did I wake you?”

“Well… me and probably everyone around us.” Cinder let out a small chuckle and finally got up and joined Greywind, who wasn’t amused at all by how the morning turned out. “What happened?” Cinder gently nuzzled his nose against the taller one and Greywind could feel himself slightly relaxing and becoming calm again, while staring at the broken mirror pieces.

“...nothing.” Greywinds voice was heavy, and Cinder knew that it was the exact opposite of ‘nothing’. “I was just being an idiot and bumped into the mirror and realized it too late.” - which Cinder translated to: the other one had a nightmare and woke up in a daze, stumbling into the mirror on accident while he tried to outrun his demons. Cinder didn’t say anything, and just pressed his body against Greywind, reassuring the older one that he was here with him and everything was okay again. And Greywind was thankful for Cinders' silence.

“... We should clean this up before someone gets hurt.” Greywind shifted around a little and looked for a broom, when Cinder suddenly held him back.

“No! Wait, wait, wait-” The smaller elnin stepped in front of Greywind, who raised one eyebrow in amused confusion.

“On what, darling? I’m not planning to demolish any more furnishings, sorry to disappoint you there.”

“That’s not what I mean”, Cinder grimaced and stuck out his tongue. “But you can’t touch the broken mirror yet- It’s bad luck! You have to leave the pieces undisturbed for 7 hours, after that we can safely clean them up and throw them away. … or, I don’t know, maybe do some arts and crafts with the kittoms.. I bet they would love that, especially here in Ahza, with all the sun…maybe we can find some colorful glass too at the markets-”

“Cinder… focus. Please." The older one patiently nudged his partner back to the topic on hand. “What on earth are you talking about? You know I don’t believe in luck or superstitions.” Yes, breaking a mirror was supposed to be bad luck, Greywind knew that much, but obviously that was nonsense. Cinder couldn’t possibly believe in something like that. That was just absurd. …right?

Well, as it turned out - Cinder absolutely could.
And he wasn’t taking any chances either, as he pushed Greywind away from the broken mirror shards. “Hey-!?” The taller one protested, but it didn’t have any effect on his partner.
“If you don’t believe in it - that’s fine by me. But there is no harm done if we just simply leave it here and play it safe, wouldn’t you agree? It’s 7 hours vs. 7 years of bad luck… We will just lock the door and keep an eye on the kittoms, so they don’t accidentally run into this room. And in a few hours, we will both laugh about it.” Cinders’ voice was charming and soft as he smiled at Greywind, but something about his smile made Greywind a tad uncomfortable. Cinder was clearly unwilling to discuss this topic any further, and no amount of reason or logic would change his mind. Greywind growled quietly in defeat; branding Cinder as a little irresponsible for leaving out glass shards on the floor.
Noticing Greywinds mood, but also that he won the other one over, Cinder gently placed a kiss on Greywinds nose. “Please.. for me. For my peace of mind. I know I’m being silly.. just… humor me?”

And with a heavy sigh, Greywind wrinkled his nose as Cinder placed another kiss.

“Fine.”

-

At first, Greywind wasn’t too suspicious and he chalked it up to coincidence.
When his plate for breakfast broke, he just got a new one, not noticing Cinders’ wary glance that followed him across the room.
When he tripped over Driftwood on his way back and his now second plate shattered on the floor, all while exposing that the cactus flower salad he had chosen from the buffet already had eager caterpillars munching on it, he definitely raised an eyebrow and decided to just skip anything that required a plate and stick to black tea.

“Jeez, what the hell happened to you, did you rub your paws in oil this morning? Since when do you have such butterfingers?” Mary appeared next to him with a smug grin, which just earned him a low growl from Greywind, who was in the middle of trying to decide how much of a risk it would be to pour hot water over his tea leaves.
“He broke a mirror-” Cinder suddenly chirped in and stopped Greywind from reaching for the hot water. “Don’t. Let me, love.” The last thing Cinder wanted was for Greywind to hurt himself just to prove a point. The older one glared at him, but ultimately remained quiet.
“You what?” Mary couldn’t believe what he was hearing and laughed out loud. “Please tell me you don’t actually believe in that nonsense!”
Greywind growled again, but bit his tongue and just looked at the remains of the broken plates on the floor.
Clearly he was still a little dazed from the nightmare and the breaking of the mirror.
Just a little clumsy, that was all.
Nothing more.

-

The hot sun of Ahza was merciless and Greywind was wondering why the hell they needed to visit the spice market during the hottest hours of the day. That seemed to be a very poor choice. Over the last few days he had learned though that it didn’t make much of a difference where they were - it was hot in the cities and out in the desert dunes, with the sandstorms and giant skeletons. At least in Devara they had the refreshing waterfalls, which Cinder and the kittoms were gonna visit today … again - just like every day since they arrived in this region. Thankfully the market area was shaded; colorful breezy cloths were draped all over, hanging between the mudbrick houses and covering the streets and stalls below in bright shadows and keeping the air somewhat endurable.

Except - none of this day was endurable anymore for Greywind.

“Ouch- !  Seven hells!!” The white elnin winced when his head was suddenly yanked back and he realized that his hair got stuck on something. Normally he had his hair short and up in a braid, but for some reason it kept getting tangled today and the braid constantly became undone. So it was just a matter of time until Greywinds hair would become a problem in the dense market area of Devara.
“Greywind! Oh no-” Cinder, who had just purchased a special spice blend a few feet ahead of him, instantly returned when he heard Greywinds distress. “Don’t worry, love, I’ll get you free. Here, hold this for me please.” Without thinking twice Cinder gave Greywind the spices he just bought, before following the long hair strands and trying to figure out where they got stuck. The younger elnin became worried; Greywinds bad luck was really messing with him and Cinder hoped Greywind wouldn’t end up injuring himself by the end of the day.

“Oh come on….!”

Cinder raised his head, just as he freed Greywinds hair from some suspicious looking wooden boards on one of the market stands, when he could hear the older one grump again.

It wasn’t very often that Greywind felt defeated, but this day came pretty close. He stared at the spilled spices on the floor in disbelief - the vivid colors all mixing together, while the wind was already carrying them halfway across the market.
The earthy aroma of the spices lingered in the air, while Greywind battled with anger, shame and sadness and his ears dropped.
When Cinder saw what happened and how much it grieved Greywind, he couldn’t help but softly smile - how could he ever be mad when Greywind was already doing all the work for him?

“You’re too hard on yourself, dear. It’s alright… as long as you are unharmed, I don’t care.”

“I’ll buy you new ones!” Greywind completely ignored Cinders’ forgiveness and instantly tried to make up for it, and Cinder answered with a quiet chuckle.

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“...tell me - when was the last time you saw your wallet?”

“... …!!”

“Mhmhmm~... Thought so.”

“... just take me out back and shoot me.”

“Sorry love, no can do. Lets just head back to the tavern and hope you’ll make it there in one piece.”

-

“Careful now, I don’t want you to cut yourself.”
Cinder was next to him, while Greywind was finally allowed to clean the broken mirror pieces. At this rate he wanted to smash the mirror all over again, but he had to settle on sweeping the floor and then throwing out the pieces for good. He never wanted to see any of the bits and pieces ever again.
“Believe me, that would be my least concern after all of this. I just want this day to end…”
Greywind was annoyed, his voice a growly rumble, while the mirror pieces in the trash bag softly clinked as Cinder was holding it open. When the last piece disappeared into the pouch, Cinder cautiously zipped it shut and set it down on the table.
“Well, you should  be in the clear now.” Cinder smiled, as he watched Greywind slump down on the pile of pillows next to the open balcony door, with the curtains softly blowing in the warm afternoon breeze.
The only thing left to do was to bury the pieces during the night, but Cinder would take care of that by himself. The bad luck had been so strong, he wasn’t comfortable reusing the mirror pieces for any art projects. No; whatever was going on here, it was best to be buried in the ground and never to be seen again. And while he was out, he should probably try and find a good luck charm for Greywind, just to balance things out a little bit and to cheer the other one up after today.

Greywind let out a defeated sigh and closed his eyes. He could feel exhaustion creeping up on him; and just now realized how tense and stressed he had been all day. It seemed like a lifetime ago that he was teasing Cinder for being so superstitious about a few broken pieces of glass.

“...I’m sorry I doubted you earlier.”

Cinder looked up when he heard Greywinds tired voice, before silently walking over to him. Of course Greywind was still hung up on that.
“Don’t be silly, love.” Cinder knew that Greywind hated not being in control; and having something like bad luck looming over him was absolutely nothing he could accept easily. “You didn’t know. But it’s done now… don’t worry about it anymore.”
Greywind could feel Cinder snuggling up against his side and he instinctively curled himself around the younger one, wrapping his body and tail around Cinder, who let out a surprised, but delighted sound.
“...so possessive…” Cinder smiled, and even more so when he felt Greywind grumbling, while he reached around and placed a gentle kiss on Greywinds cheek.
They both needed each other to recharge, especially after today.

“Remind me to remove all the remaining mirrors when we get up again…”

“No. You’re not allowed to touch any more mirrors. Ever.”

“...rude.”