"Mama! Mama! Look at this pumpkin I found! Maybe we could carve this one and put it outside the cave?" Amber asked, struggling slightly as she held up a rather large pumpkin for her mother to see.

Edith stared at the pumpkin with slight surprise. "Where did you even find a pumpkin that big?" she asked her adoptive daughter.

"It was just growing right beside the cave! I don't know how it got there, but can we please carve it? Please please pleeeeaaaassse?" Amber responded, a pleading look in her eyes as she said the last part.

Edith let out a soft sigh in response. "Well, I suppose you already did pick it... no sense in just leaving it and letting it go to waste... alright, I'll go get some things to carve it with. Why don't you find somewhere to work?"

Grinning brightly, Amber excitedly nodded and rushed off to find an area of the cave to work in, eventually setting down an old blanket she had, setting the pumpkin on top of it. After doing that, she called out to her mother. "Uh, mama? What are we gonna do with the pumpkin guts?"

Edith thought for a few moments, grabbing the carving tools and making her way over to Amber before answering. "Well, we could use them to make a pumpkin pie. I just bought some fresh ingredients, so I think we might have the stuff to make one. If not, I could easily run back down to the market to see if they have what we need."

Nodding, Amber turned to her pumpkin, a focused look on her face as she tried to figure out what she wanted to carve on it. After a few moments, she grabbed a marker Edith had set beside her and began to draw. It was a rather crude drawing of a castle and a dragon flying nearby, but in her eyes, it was a masterpiece.

Once she was done, she showed it to her mother. "How does it look, mama? Think we could carve it?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"I think it looks great, honey. It'll be a little tricky to carve, but I think we can manage." the half dragon responded with a slight smile.

Amber's tail gave a slight wag, a bright grin overtaking her face in response to what Edith had said. "Yay! It's gonna look so good!"

Edith couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, playfully rustling Amber's hair. "It will, but in order to start carving, we have to get the guts out, remember? You can just set them aside in this bowl for now and I'll get to making the pie with them later, alright?" she responded, setting a large bowl on the blanket beside Amber.

Amber nodded in response. "Okay!" And with that, Edith cut around the top of the pumpkin before lifting it off for Amber to be able to scoop out the insides. Eagerly, Amber began the process of cleaning the inside of the pumpkin, getting herself and her immediate surroundings quite messy in the process. Luckily, she did get the majority of the pumpkin's insides into the bowl.

Edith let out a soft sigh with a small laugh following. "Well, looks like it'll be bath night for you tonight." she spoke, rustling Amber's hair yet again.

Amber pouted a bit. "I had a bath last night, though!" she whined.

"Yeah, but cleaning out the pumpkin got you all dirty, so now you need a bath tonight as well. We can't have you going around covered in pumpkin guts, can we?" Edith responded teasingly.

Continuing to pout, Amber retorted "Fine. I'll take another bath tonight. But can I get some extra dessert tonight for taking one?"

Letting out another soft laugh, Edith responded "Fine, you'll get extra dessert if you take a bath tonight, but only because you also took one last night."

This caused that bright grin to return to Amber's face as she finished scooping out the insides of the pumpkin. "Yay!"

Edith smiled softly at her daughter. "Alright, do you want to try and carve the pumpkin, or do you want me to do it for you?"

"I wanna do it! I wanna do it!"

"Alright, here." Edith responded in an amused tone, handing Amber the carving knife. "Now be careful, alright? This knife is really sharp."

"I will!" Amber responded, excitedly taking the knife and beginning to cut into the pumpkin. She happily hummed as she did so, following the guidelines that she had drawn out. Though, soon, she had flinched, letting out a small yelp as the knife sliced her finger. "Owiiie!" she spoke, tears forming in her eyes.

Edith gently took a hold of Amber's injured hand, gingerly checking it over before letting out a soft sigh. "This is why I told you to be careful, honey. Come on, let's go wash it off and put some bandages on it, alright?" she spoke with a warm smile, guiding Amber over to the sink in their little kitchen area. Sure, they lived in a cave, but they did modify it the best they could to be able to comfortably live in it.

Back to the moment at hand, once the two were over at the sink, Edith gently washed Amber's cut with soap and water, making sure to put some pressure on it to stop the bleeding as much as she could as she bandaged it. Once that was done, she placed a gentle kiss on the bandaged area. "There we go, all better."

Amber sniffled slightly, drying her tears. "Thanks, mama..."

"No problem, honey. Now, let's get back to carving that pumpkin, yeah?" Edith suggested with a soft smile.

Amber practically lit up at the suggestion, that bright grin returning to her face. "Yeah!"

With that, the two returned to the work area, though Amber frowned a bit, looking towards her mother. "Mama? Can you carve the rest of the pumpkin? I don't wanna hurt myself again..." she asked, offering the carving knife to her mother.

"Of course honey. I'll make sure to do my best on it." Edith responded with a soft smile, taking the knife and continuing to carve the pumpkin where Amber had left off at. As she carved, she softly hummed a random tune. Amber watched her mother carve the shapes with wonder in her eyes.

After a little while, Edith had finished off carving the pumpkin and turned the result towards her daughter. "Alright, what do you think, honey? Is it good?"

Amber excitedly nodded. "Yeah! It looks just like I wanted it to! Thanks for helping me finish carving it, mama!" she responded, a bright smile on her face.

Edith smiled softly at Amber in response. "No problem, honey. I'm always happy to help you. Now, let's get this pumpkin lit up and then we can see if we have the ingredients for that pumpkin pie, alright?" she suggested, receiving yet another excited nod from Amber.

With that, the two scoured the cave for a few moments before Amber was able to locate the candles that they kept around for light sources and for times like these. Carefully, she placed the candle in the pumpkin, moving it outside and placing it on the ground. In order to light the candle, Edith used some of her fire magic to help. Sure it was weaker than a full-blooded dragon's, but she could at least light a candle with it.

Once the candle was lit and the pumpkin was glowing, Amber grinned as she watched it. "Yay! It looks even better all lit up! The dragon looks so cool!" she exclaimed, her tail wagging furiously at this point.

Letting out a soft laugh at her excited daughter, Edith playfully rustled Amber's hair. "You did good, honey. That drawing really made it easy to get this to look great."

Amber giggled as Edith rustled her hair before grinning with pride at what Edith had said. "It wouldn't look this great if you didn't help! Thanks again, mama!"

Edith smiled softly in an affectionate manner at her daughter. "No problem, honey. Now let's go make that pumpkin pie. Once it's done, we can have it for dessert, alright?"

Amber immediately perked at that, an excited look on her face. "Okay!"

With that, the two went back to the cave, rummaging around in the kitchen area to see if they had all the right ingredients, which they fortunately did. Once they found the ingredients, using the guts from the pumpkin for the pumpkin part of the filling, they got to work on making the pie. Soon enough, it was ready to be baked and was put into the oven with it being taken out about an hour later to cool.

"Okay, while this is cooling, why don't we have dinner? It should be plenty cooled once we're done eating." Edith suggested, receiving a grin and a nod from Amber. With that, Edith quickly heated up the dinner she had prepared beforehand, just some simple chicken and rice. It wasn't much, but it was at least filling and something Edith could afford. Amber didn't seem to mind it, either, which was a huge plus.

As the two ate, Amber chatted excitedly about the pumpkin they had just carved. "I wonder if people will come by and see it. I hope they like it if they do!"

"I'm sure they'll love it, honey. Now, hurry up and eat before your food gets cold. And so you can have the pie sooner, too." Edith responded. Amber gleefully and dutifully did as she was told, making sure her plate was spotless.

Letting out a soft laugh, Edith took their plates, placing a slice of pumpkin pie on each. Sure, she wasn't the biggest fan of sweets, but she didn't mind indulging her sweet tooth every so often, especially when it was something her and Amber had made.

Once she got her plate, Amber let out an excited "Thanks, mama!" before practically inhaling her slice. Edith took her time, but finished a few minutes after Amber.

Once both of them were done, Amber grinned. "Okay, I'm gonna go to bed, now!"

"Oh no you don't, young lady. We made a deal. It's bath time, now."

"...dang it."