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// Chapter 24: A life skill 
// Story: What a wonderful world 
// by a touch of sparkles 
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It had been about a month since Hope and Sombra were adopted. There were many changes in their lives. One being they could no longer be joined at the hip every hour of the day, as Hope was sent to school but Sombra was kept home. Cloud being someone who works at home was able to teach Sombra the simplicity of primary school, although Sombra was aware that he would be sent to high school. 

Currently Sombra was sitting in his window, it was three o’clock and he was waiting for Hope to return from school. He was always eager for her to return, even though he often didn’t have any news or things to give to her, they just weren’t quite used to being separated yet. He watched the path leading up to the house.

(“You know, you seem to miss being around her more than your own family”) Opal told him. Sombra’s eyebrows lowered along with his ears.

(“Or do you block that out because you know it would hurt more?”) Sombra shrugged his shoulders, he did certainly miss his family. Although Opal did hit the nail on the head, Sombra found that if he ignored the stuff that happened then he didn’t cry as much. 

(“Did your parents ever get a chance to teach you how to hunt the animals down here?”) Opal asked him.

(“I only know about wyverns”)

(“In that case, when Hope returns you can play with her and I’ll take you hunting close to sunset”)

(“You know how to hunt?”)

(“You’re not my first”) Sombra left it at that, he continued to watch the pathway. In the distance at the end he saw a blue figure and a little magenta one. Sombra sprung of the windowsill and scampered down the rickety staircase then the more stable one. He waited on the sofa for them to come through the door. It clicked and Hope leaped into the house.

“Hello!” she greeted him as she bounced onto the sofa next to him. She squeezed him tightly in a hug which he returned. Hope delved into her bookbag and pulled out three wool bracelets. They were red, white and pink braids, one significantly shorter than the others. 

“They’re friendship bracelets!” she said as she wrapped one around her ankle with her magic, she wrapped another around Sombra’s ankle which had already developed quite a bit of fluff. In order to get it tight she had to squish a bunch of fur. Hope turned to Opal and raised the smaller braid.

“And one for you” she tied the braid into a little necklace, but she left it much looser. Opal ruffled his feathers to get the braid in a comfortable position, it settled with a few feathers laying on top. 

“You wanna go in the sand?” Hope asked Sombra.

“Ok” the pair trotted off leaving Opal behind, who wasn’t a fan of sand. In the kitchen, Cloud was busy chopping vegetables. The pair assumed by the large pot and fresh baguettes they were having stew. Hope lifted the keys of the hook and flipped through the odd amount of keys.

“You pair going outside?” Cloud asked them, he turned to help her with the keys easily pointing out the correct one. They unlocked the door and scampered out to the sand pit, where they collected their buckets and shovels out of the box. 

The back garden was much bigger than the front, this was partly due to the giant amount of grassy space between houses. There were three things in the garden: the sand pit, a patio with a table and chairs and an apple tree. The tree was currently covered in white blooms which would soon turn into…not very nice apples. At least if you’re a foal who tries to eat them raw and learn the bitter taste of uncooked cooking apples the hard way. The pair played in their sand, building castles and other makeshift shapes until they were called in for tea. 

“Make sure you scrape your hooves off” Cloud told them, blocking their entrance to the kitchen with his wings. The pair dragged their hooves across the coarse brush that was bolted to the stone, scrapping the sand out of their hooves. They sat back down in the kitchen and their bowls of hot soup were placed in front of them. Opal sat on the edge of the table and pecked at breadcrumbs. He was given scraps of vegetables by Cloud and Opal only half minded.

(“Don’t eat too much, you have to eat your hunts after all”) Opal told him.

(“What are we hunting?”)

(“Well, from what I have seen around here there is mostly hares, foxes and weasels for small prey, then there is moose and bears but you aren’t big enough yet for them, you can’t fly…well you can you just leave a giant trail which isn’t exactly stealth, however I will peck you tongue out if I catch you eating a bird”)

(“ok”) Sombra ate the rest of his vegetables but left his bread. 

“You finished bud?” Cloud asked him.

“Opal said he’s going to take me hunting”

“O-oh…right…yeah sure…”

(“Hunting won’t sit right with them, just give them some time to…remember what your proper diet is”)

-{+}-

They waited a couple hours for it to get past five so there was time for adults to get home from work. After they were convinced the rush our had finished they prepared to leave, which didn’t consist of much preparing. Sombra just removed the little bracelet, he didn’t want it too get dirty.

“Are you leaving now Sombra?” Cloud asked him. Him and Hope were flopped on the sofa for the afternoon. Sombra nodded as he left for the door with Opal on his back. They made their way down the street, which was now mostly quiet, it was just the odd sound of a few birds and a light breeze. 

(“I remember seeing a river near by”) Opal commented.

(“By the willow”)

(“Do you know how to fish?”)

(“Not really”)

(“Let’s start their then…we are going the wrong way”)

(“Are we?”)

(“It runs down at the West of the empire, we are going East”) they turned around and took a different path. Heading the right direction they soon left the crystal path into the grassland, they could see the dent in the land where the river ran. Sombra began to trot merrily through the grass, Opal shifted places on Sombra to avoid as much bouncing as possible. 

They arrived at the river which was as clear as it was a few months ago. Sombra could see the silhouettes of fish swimming through the water. It was just Sombra and Opal alone in the entire grassland. 

(“My sire did a bit of fishing”)

(“were you a fishing tribe?)

(“No, our territory was just by the sea”)

(“Did he ever teach you?”)

(“not…really…I was normally kept at home while the others went hunting”)

(“So it’s my job to do something your parents should have done around abouts now? yeah I can do that”)

(“You don’t sound so confident”)

(“Well my last umbrum was a full grown adult and not a foal with only half a brain- no offence, so I never had to teach basic life skills before”)

(“okay, so how do I fish?”)

(“…look at…the water”)

(“k”) sombra looked at the water. He could feel the mental chord still active as Opal racked his mind.

(“Right, so this is usually more useful when your fully grown and more proportional, but if you see where your head naturally reaches the floor you put your hoof to that distance, but in the water, and any fish that get near are within range”) Sombra stared blankly taking a moment to understand, before stepping away from the water and doing what he said. Attempting to memorise the distance between his hooves, Sombra placed one in the cool water. 

(“When one gets near…er…bite it. You have teeth, use them”) Sombra waited for a fish to get near his hoof. He waited. He spotted one, he dove, he missed. The fish swerved and Sombra glared at the water as if it had insulted him. 

(“Try again, you won’t get it perfect the first time”) and so Sombra stood and waited, watching the fish for the one that got close. He lunged and he fought with a fish to get it to stay in the clasp of his jaw. Its tail end stuck in its mouth it flopped around eventually wriggling its way out. The fish flopped on the dirt and Sombra pinned it with his hoof. 

(“What now?”) Sombra asked.

(“It will suffocate soon, leave it to one side and catch another”) Sombra put the fish to the side and slowly it stopped flopping about. He returned to the water where it took him a few more attempts to get another fish. He put it next to the other fish.

(“You mentioned you had a family member who did the cooking, do you remember if they did anything with fish?”) Opal asked.

(“Well, Grandam used to cut the fish into like slabs, then she put some like veg or fruit on them while she cooked them on some sticks over the fire…but the fishes were giant with big mouths”)

(“Pike? These definitely aren’t them, but you can still grill these, do you remember how to make a campfire?”)

“um…” Sombra said aloud as he wandered off to a nearby tree. He scooped up some dead leaves and twigs and placed them in a pile in front of Opal.

(“When it comes to a place with plants you need to find a spot that won’t catch on fire in all directions”) Opal said. Sombra looked around, but there was grass and trees everywhere.

(“Everywhere has grass”)

(“So you must find somewhere suitable”) Sombra looked further around and saw a large rock in the distance.

(“Would that work?”)

(“Does it look flammable?”)  they gave each other a judgmental glare before Sombra trotted off to the rock, Opal following. They walked for a few minutes before they reached the large rock, it was mostly flat on top which should allow a fire to be made. Climbing atop it  Sombra dumped his sticks and leaves and arranged them into a pile. 

(“No like this”) Opal said, he used his talons to arranged the sticks into a square and placed the leaves in the middle. 

(“Get some larger sticks, it terms of width”) he told Sombra. Sombra leapt down from the rock and back to the odd trees. There wasn’t many thick twigs on the ground, so Sombra reached up to the branches.

(“They need to be dry, so not straight from the tree”) Sombra landed on his hooves heavily, gave a quick glare from the distance and trotted off to get some thicker sticks. Managing to find a few he returned to the rocks. Although Opal struggled with the larger pieces he arranged them into a large square stack.

(“Do you know how to light a fire?”)

(“No”)

(“You can use flint, or any smooth rock that sparks, and a knife…or just whack it on with your magic”) with that Opal’s feathers shimmered and a blaze ignited on the leaves between the sticks. He places the small twigs on top in a smaller grid pattern. Continuing with his magic that Sombra didn’t know he had, Opal (rather un elegantly) gutted the fish by ripping their bellies open and dumping it off the edge of the rock. Then splitting them in half he laid them on the fire. The flickers of fire grazed the fish. Sombra noticed a tiredness to Opals eyes and his feather drooped when they stopped glowing.

(“We are not we adapted to magic, although we are more competent then umbrum”)

(“What do you mean?”)

(“Despite being unicorns you are more built to hunt and kill compared to doing magic, hence why your horns are curved and serrated”) Opal said, Sombra glanced up at his horn, which was straight and smooth.

(“It grows in, for your dams sake. Some umbrum can use magic, but very simply”)

(“I think my two uncles did magic”)

(“Did your parents?”)

(“No”)

(“Then you probably won’t either, sorry bud”) the pair went quiet as the fish was grilled, occasionally turned over. The sky slowly turned gold as the sun set, casting cosy hues over the land. A gentle night breeze made its way across the grass making it wave. The shimmer of the sun reflected off the running water of the river. 

(“They are ready”) Opal said, using a talon to drag a fish of the grill, which was thoroughly charred, and placed it in front of Sombra. Taking a chunk, it had some flavour, but it was mostly just fishy.

(“it’s not the best”) Sombra commented.

(“Definitely better when properly cooked with other things, if you are able to make this a comfortable subject, you could get Missy or Peggy to get you a bag so you can carry stuff home…normally we use leather but they won’t have that here but-“)

(“What about the old camp? We had food bags”)

(“those are long lost to mold and rot, I don’t think they are salvageable, meat doesn’t last long let alone two hundred years”) they went silent again as they ate the rest of the fish, the sun lowered in the distance.

(“We should go back, they probably want me back before dark”) Sombra said as the sky slowly shifted to black. 

(“I will have to stay here to watch the fire for a bit, you know the way back?”)

(“Yep…why do you have to watch the fire?”)

(“Just to make sure it actually goes out”)

(“Okay”) Sombra left Opal on the rock, seeing him pull apart the twigs and using the last bits of his magic to lift dirt onto the embers. Trotting off through the grass Sombra made his way back to the crystal homes. Within the gras he found a single flower. Like a daisy, but with far more petals making a thick band around the yellow centre. He picked it, he knew who would like it. He held it gently in his mouth. His hooved landed on the crystal path as he trotted past the sparse houses, a couple half built. Finding the roses he made his way to the back door of the house.

“Hello! Did you like your trip?” Hope asked meeting him in the kitchen. He pushed his head forward offering her the flower.

“Oh, thank you” Hope took the flower in her magic, making Sombra’s tongue tingle. He noticed a little bit of red flush into her face. 

“Where’s Opal?”

“He’ll be back in a bit-“

(“OI”) Sombra jumped at the shout from his mind, turning to the door he saw an unimpressed Opal, staring through the glass. Opening the door Opal strided in, he looked over the pair. Hope was examining the flower, turning it around in her magic.  

(“You got her a flower?”)

(“mhm”)

(“She seems to like it”) Hope gave a wide yawn which Sombra repeated. 

“Come on you two, bedtime” Miss Chestnut said around the door, having returned a few hours ago. 

“But he just got home! I wanna play” Hope whined. 

“No, No, it’s half eight” Miss Chestnut insisted. Giving Sombra a sympathetic look she trundled off up to her room. 

“You two Sombra” Miss Chestnut told him, he climbed up to his room where he curled onto his bed.

(“You wont sleep for a bit, you’ve just ate”) Opal said as he perched on the bedframe. Sombra pulled blankets over him and rested his head into the pillow, he realised it was fresh. Miss Chestnut must have done it before he came back, he tried to, but he wasn’t strong enough to lift the blankets let alone not tie himself in knots. He did fall asleep eventually as his eyelids grew heavy.