Mating season (NaLu)

Getting to the cave

Throughout the whole night 'the Fire King' had roared at random times. Gajeel and Levy weren't much bothered by it. Gray woke up a few times, but Lucy couldn't sleep a wink. The rumbling woke her up several times and then she just sat there, trying to keep away images of Natsu twisting in pain. Every time Gray woke up, he saw Lucy sitting against the wall, deep in thought. Gray decided to leave her alone and just turned to the other side every time. When the sun finally rose Lucy couldn't wait for sleep anymore and woke up thoroughly.

She walked around the village as it was way too early to wake the others. The lonely cliff between the two mountains of Tiquaraqua was visible now, towering over the village. It was an extraordinary sight. Sun gleaming through the gory clouds, bright orange rays nipping the mountain tops. Some villagers were already up feeding animals, carrying packages and doing weird chores that must be required to live the harsh life in mountains. A bar was open and Lucy went inside.

The bar was mostly empty, a group of men sitting around in one corner and eating porridge and a child who took a huge hamper off the counter and walked past Lucy. She saw that the hamper was full of chicken eggs. Weird, she thought.

"Welcom to Booze and Hags!" called a festive, friendly looking middle-aged guy from behind the counter.

"Umm, good morning!" greeted Lucy politely, walked to the counter and sat down. The man looked at her with a sly grin before asking: "You're not from here, are you?"

Lucy was surprised to hear the question so she just shaked her head no and the man replied: "We only have porridge in the mornings. Take it or leave it."She figured the man knew everyone in the village as it was usually the case with barmans and shopkeepers.

"But would you please make an exception and boil me an egg?" she asked as she wasn't keen on porridges in general, but today she really didn't feel like eating it.

The man burst out laughing, the other men joining him. "There aren't any eggs to boil."

"But I just saw a girl walk away with a full basket of eggs," argued Lucy, spreading her hands in surprise.

"I know, these were our reserve eggs that she will secure in a hiding place until the Fire King Festival. Besides, I'm not feeling like boiling eggs right now, what do ya say boys?" he asked the porridge eaters and they all bellowed in laughter.

"Fine, I'll have the porridge then," huffed Lucy, but asked after a short pause when the man was already emptying a scoop of flavourless goo onto her plate, "what's a Fire King Festival?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You didn't do your homework well, did you?" he shaked his head in disapproval. Lucy arched her brow at the man and tasted the porridge. Yeap, completely disgusting, she thought.

The men at the corner rose up and turned to leave without paying, "Aight, thanks for the food, chef. We're off."

The counter guy raised his pipe from his mouth. "See you later, boys." And the men left.

"What do you mean?" asked Lucy as she forced the 'food' into her mouth trying to imagine Natsu beside her stealing her food if she idled too much.

"It's the time of the year when the Fire King pays us a little visit," he said, laugh bubbling inside him. He's laughing too much for such a clock, thought Lucy. "He comes and destroys our food supplies and spreads wild fire if he's really angry at us. But some years he rewards us for having so little trespasses, then the village stays intact." Lucy already knew this stuff but she wasn't going to ruin the man's fun by telling him.

A slight tremblor combined with the distant sound of growling shook the coffee in their mugs. The man looked at the liquor and took a sip of it.

"That's him. He's making himself known that he is looking over us."