The sun hasn’t risen yet when he steps outside the hotel and into the cool morning, but there are already people hard at work hauling away burned woods and scrubbing the soot off windows. Ocher stops near a group of people organizing the efforts and asks what he can do to help.
They take one look at him and suggest he help haul debris. He jumps into the task wholeheartedly, pleased to do something other than follow Azure around. He’s missed the feeling of hardwork and pushing his body to the limit.
Even as they continue recovery efforts, the air is still heavy with the collective emotions of mourning people and he wonders how many lives were lost in the fires.
All the conversations he overhears as he fills crate after crate with scorched wood are about whether they should give in and they all seem to be leaning towards taking the easy way out and surrendering.
Part of him hates them for that.
They chose to disobey the law from the start and do what they wanted. Those third children had no choice in whether to be born to a world that almost guaranteed they would spend their entire lives as soldiers.
The parents chose it for them, and now when things get too difficult, they're choosing to surrender and give up their children. It's selfish, families are supposed to protect their children, not force the children to suffer for their own bad decisions. The better act of resistance would have been for every person to stop at two children.
It's why he'll never be able to love his own parents again. Fifteen years has erased any affection he ever held for them.
Ocher wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his forearm, leaving streaks of ash on his skin, and gazes down at his full crate, debating on whether to quit and leave the residents to clean up the rest by themselves.
He's not fond of the idea of working himself to exhaustion for people who give up so easily rather than accept the consequences of their actions.
Ocher flinches when his crate is abruptly overturned, scattering all his hard work across the sidewalk. “If you don’t want to help, then don’t.” He looks up to see Azure watching him with annoyance and he sighs, deciding to leave the mess there and follow in the other male’s footsteps.
He’s not sure where they’re going, he just focuses on the sway of Azure’s braid with every one of his confident steps. Ocher wipes away another bead of sweat and really hopes that wherever they’re going includes breakfast, but when Azure heads into a clothing store, he assumes it won’t.
“Azure, I’m hungry.”
The other male glances at him, “That’s what happens when you skip breakfast to help clean.”
“They needed it.”
“You stopped pretty fast though.”
“I’d been out there for hours while you were still sleeping.”
Azure hands over his card with a roll of his eyes, “I assume you can understand prices, don’t get anything too expensive.”
Ocher accepts it eagerly and darts out the door to a small cafe a few doors down. He looks up at the menu and freezes, the entire display is text and the employee is looking at him expectantly. “Um…”
“What would you like?” She questions.
He glances around the cafe to see what someone else has, but the small seating area is empty and he’s unwilling to make himself stand out by announcing that he can’t read. “Nevermind,” he mutters before exiting the cafe.
Ocher looks up and down the street, but in this area, there are only stores. He’ll have to wait until Azure is finished and they head back towards the center of town. There were more food stalls in that direction and he can just point out what he wants. He’d rather do that than risk getting lost here. With his luck, Azure would decide that he'd broken his word and abandon him here.
When he arrives back at the store, Azure takes in his empty hands and quick return as he enters, “I thought you were hungry?” He questions with a raised eyebrow.
“I’ll wait.”
His gaze narrows slightly, but he doesn’t press the issue. Instead he takes his card back and turns back to the counter to finish his purchases. Ocher feels his stomach cramp and wonders how much longer he’ll have to wait for a meal.
After he’s finally done picking out what he wants, they leave and Ocher walks quickly behind Azure, subtly urging him to hurry up. Although, all he gets for his efforts is an irritated look and a shove backwards.
“It’s him! He did it!” Azure stops abruptly at the shout and Ocher reels back to keep from bumping into him. “He dropped the water onto the city!”
Ocher curses quietly, this is going to be an issue and right when he was so close to a hot shower and a change of clothes. Not to mention food.
There’s a man standing in the road, pointing directly at Azure. “He walked here, but I saw him yesterday. He somehow moved all that water from the lake on his own. It’s unnatural and it’ll bring even more trouble down on us if it looks like we’re harboring him!”
Azure meets the man's gaze calmly, “So, what would you have me do?”
“Get out! We already have our own problems here!”
Agreements echo from the people around him and Ocher feels his own irritation building up. These people could have lost everything yesterday and Azure saved them and they want to punish him for it. He hates these people more and more with every minute he stays here.
Azure told him not to hold everything inside anymore and he doesn’t want this to be one more thing burning him up because he never spoke up about it.
“He saved your town! Be grateful!” Ocher shouts before he can hold himself back.
“But at what cost?” The crowd starter yells back. “We didn’t ask him to!”
“He still did or else you could all be dead right now!”
“We would’ve escaped!” He gestures to the gathered people. “They might have known he was coming this way, assumed he was here, and punished us for it! It’s no coincidence he showed up right after!”
Murmurs of unease begin and just like that Ocher’s irritation flickers over into rage at the weakness of these people who can’t decide what they stand for. Azure is not the enemy and they still pin him as the source of their problems. They just want the easy way out, and now he wonders if their opposition to the government has anything to do with their morals or if they just don’t want to be inconvenienced. Either way, he hopes they suffer for turning on the one person who helped them. “You and this whole town -”
“Ocher.” He turns at the touch of a hand on his forearm and Azure is wearing a small smile. “Nice time to learn how to speak up.” Azure faces the crowd, “If you want me to leave, I’ll leave. It’s that simple.”
The growing crowd parts for them and Azure walks through their glares and back to the hotel like it’s nothing. Ocher silently fumes as they gather the few belongings they have and leave the town.
They regroup at the lake to decide what to do and Ocher can’t hold it in anymore, “You let them run you out of town after you saved them!”
Azure shrugs and stretches out on his back in the soft grass, “Why would I want to stay there with a bunch of ungrateful people who didn’t want me there? I’d rather leave, but congratulations on finally voicing your thoughts. I love your anger on my behalf.”