Once returned to the pitiful camp, he finds the prince crouching by his bizarre blue fire as he continues to poke about it like a mischievous child. As soon as he notices his companion's returned, Yuan jumps up to proudly present what he's done. “Got it all ready, just like I said!”

     Kansi snaps, not falling for it even a second. “I told you not to use your powers!”

     Yuan looks at it cluelessly, not too bothered. “Aw, how could you tell?”

     Kansi points at the obvious, “Normal fire isn't blue, dumbass!!”

     The prince looks at his handiwork for a moment, then looks aside, unable to cover that he's been so obviously caught, and only managing a pathetic embarrassed chuckle. “Ahah, oops. I forget what the differences in fire colors mean.”

     Kansi douses the fire with one of the water buckets. “Do it again!”

     The prince bemoans in astonishment, “Heeey—!!” He picks apart the drenched bark, pouting. “I could have just snapped the fire out, you didn't have to drown it! Now I have get more wood...”

     His companion unpacks some tools for butchering, looping the fowl over a low-hanging branch by the string tying it up. “Good! I don't want your celestial-fire-tainted-wood screwing up our breakfast.”

     The regally dressed prince cradles himself in his own arms to act up his hurt, throwing back a glance like a wealthy man's spoiled, pouty mistress. “I'm doing so much to help out, and you're still so mean! You could at least show me a little more respect, as your liege!”

     Kansi plucks feathers out of sight, unprovoked. “You're not a prince in the mortal realm.”

     “Then why are you still with me, Kansi?”

     “I ask myself that question every day.”

     “Ah! The gall!” Whipping around, Yuan loudly proclaims his shock and dramatizes his pain. “Do all those years of friendship mean nothing to you??”

     “Nope.”

     The prince's spirit is shattered.

     “Ah...”

     “Just go get the wood, it'll be ready to roast by the time you get the new fire started.”

     Whining, the finely dressed youth slumps away. “Alright, fine.”

     His companion continues about in silence for a moment. ‘I hate to tell you, but it really doesn't mean anything to me. Those memories you have... are all fake.’ His focus turns somewhat forlorn, lifting his brows. ‘I do kind of pity him for that, though. Poor kid, he doesn't even know... his best friend is made up.’

     The prince returns with a new bundle of measly sticks, clumping them together on the rocky pile with some other such bark shavings and dry leaves as kindling, and maintains a look of grave concentration as he begins furiously scraping two sticks together. Kansi, having butchered up and skewered the fowl already as he wipes his hands clean, looks over and notices his needless struggle. He sighs, coming over to help.

     ‘Still... the two years I've been here with him are real.’

     He kneels, resting an arm on his knee as he takes up a couple of sizable flint stones.

     “Forgot what I showed you already?”

     The prince side-eyes him in a muted pout as he watches the stones strike together a few times until the sparks catch the kindling. His companion carefully layers on leaves and bark shavings plucked from the pile until a modest flame lights, slowly spreading. Yuan hunches in to watch with wide eyes, fascinated by something so simple. He pokes at it again before swiftly resuming his pout.

     “I still think it would've been easier to snap the fire...” the little royal grumbles.

     Kansi goes to retrieve the game. “You can't cook with magic, it ruins the taste.”

     The prince props his jaw on his palm lazily, creasing his brow. “Then how do they cook in the celestial realm? I never had to fetch firewood back home.”

     The skewered fowl is planted at an angle to roast over the fire, Kansi casually sitting across on his own shoddy mat.

     “Weren't you the one who said you could live in the mortal realm, no problem?”

     “Of course I can! It doesn't mean it's fun.” Yuan pokes at the fire more frequently the more agitated he gets.

     “We're not here to have fun in the first place.”

     “Well who says exile has to be boring?”

     Kansi gawks at him, honestly speechless. ‘Spoiled child. An utterly spoiled child!’

     “All I'm saying is, there's no reason my time here has to be full of struggles and misery. There's lots of fun in the mortal realm.”

     His companion leans back with a casual fold of his arms, easing up just a little. “Mm... I guess you have a point.”

     “Why can't we do more fun stuff, huh?” Yuan waves around his fire-poking stick as he watches the blaze crackle. “I want to go to a big festival! Humans are great at those.”

     “There's no festivals being thrown in the middle of the wilderness.”

     He pokes the kindling again, pouting, “So let's go to a big city, then.”

     “Like this? Do you think I forgot what happened?”

     ———

     “You'll never see fireworks this marvelous for all the riches in the world! Right here, only for today!”

     Yuan is the center of an awed crowd in the middle of an enormous stoned-paved road lined with businesses, while he carelessly throws out dazzling celestial sparks and flames like it's a street show. Though he grins from ear to ear, his partner stands aside, petrified in horror, unable to get close with all the pyrotechnics. “It's a pure divine gift! Come, come, something this remarkable is surely worth some coin, right??”

     The rest is a blur, only clear again when Kansi barrels down the road like a madman with the prince hauled under his arm, who's sobbing “WHAT DID I DO WRONG?!?” in bewilderment as they're pursued away from the city by a mob of soldiers aggressively trying to apprehend them.

     ———

     Yuan waves it off with a lax half-smile, like he'd recalled a good joke.

     “Oh Kansi, will you hold a grudge forever? That was ages ago!”

     “And you're just as reckless now as you were then,” he adds flatly. “We couldn't stop moving for three months.”

     The prince looks at him with feigned innocent sweetness. “I know better now!”

     “I just caught you using celestial fire an hour ago!!”

     “That's different.”

     Kansi groans in annoyance, turning over the skewer roasts to cook more evenly as a handy distraction. “I have no reason to believe you've learned anything since then. No cities.”

     The royal youth lays on the ground, slouching his chin over his palms with a melodramatic whine. “Who are you, my dad? I thought we were friends, Kansi! But I guess that doesn't mean anything to you, right??”

     “Whine all you want, I'm not changing my mind.”

     The pouty glare shot from the prince goes without acknowledgement. Instead, Yuan decides to crawl closer, trying to look his companion in the eyes.

     “What do I have to do to make you believe it, then?”

     “You can start with what we're supposed to be doing here, for one.”

     The prince props his jaw on his palm again, raising a brow at him. “’Demonstrating charity’ or whatever? I tried, but then we were ran out of the city!”

     “Putting on an unprompted fireworks show in the middle of a busy road does not count as ‘charitable.’”

     “But people love fireworks!”

     “Yeah, when they plan for it.”

     “Alright, alright, fine,” he waves off. “So what kind of things am I supposed to be doing, then?”

     “Actually helping people. Acting with goodwill.” The prince opens his mouth, so Kansi hastily adds another point. “Without expecting something in return.”

     Yuan promptly shuts his mouth with a frown as if holding back a groan. He sits up, crossing his arms and legs with an indignant turn up of his chin. “I do plenty of nice things for no reason!”

     “Okay, name one from this week.”

     “I brought the firewood,” the boy attentively indicates.

     “That was dividing the necessary work for us to live, that doesn't count.”

     Yuan retorts, pointing, “Well I offered to hunt.”

     Finally turning to him again, Kansi looks ready to give up. “Do you even know what ‘charity’ is??”

     “I do!!”

     “Well, I'm waiting,” utters his companion, exhausted.

     Yuan goes silent with a miffed huff, the embarrassment finally starting to set in as he's arguing a losing battle with his own friend. He turns away as his cheeks are reddening, backing down at last. “Alright, alright! So I haven't done anything. Are you happy?”

     Kansi shoots back, incredulous, “Why would I be??”

     Still flustered by irritated mortification, Yuan keeps his gaze aside and arms stiffly tucked like a temperamental child. “I'll start doing stuff, okay??”

     “Mmm.”

     “I mean it! You really don't trust me?”

     His companion's bronze eyes flicker toward him in silence, the young royal's azure doing the same as they cross for only a moment before retreating back into his pout. He might actually be a little insulted. Sighing, Kansi extends one of the fully roasted skewers out to him, softening from annoyance to simple boredom as he actually looks at Yuan.

     “If you really mean it, I'll take your word this time. But I'm holding you to it.”

     Glancing between Kansi, the food, and back to his companion with uncertain hesitation, a faint grumble from Yuan's stomach ushers him to accept the food before turning elsewhere to keep up his cold shoulder. He starts to eat with only mild reluctance dampened by his hunger.

     “Alright.”

     Seeing that he's taken the food, Kansi proceeds with his own, sitting back leisurely. “We'll use today to prepare then, and we'll head off tomorrow morning.”

     Yuan tries to reinvigorate himself. “Alright, finally! A journey of two close friends, just you and me going out into the world, making things happen!”

     ‘If you're so pumped about it now, why didn't we start doing that two years ago??’

     “This is it! This is the beginning of my godly legacy, the tale that will be passed down for generations when every corner of the world knows the name of the majestic and lovely divine dragon prince, Tianse Yuan!” The prince is already getting wrapped up in his own romanticized fantasy of the events that will follow. “A moving story for the ages of a down-and-out pair destined for greatness who must overcome the grueling years of unjust exile through the power of the unbreakable bond between cherished lifelong companions, a dedicated kinship deeper than blood, soulmates even, a partnership so unshakeable it could only be forged by the hands of fate itself—”

     As he rambles on incessantly in the background, Kansi watches in utter bewilderment, having tuned him out about two sentences in. “The fuck are you on about...?”

     “The legend of our friendship, Kansi!” Yuan clasps his hands together with a twinkle in his glistening, wide eyes, having forgotten all about being insulted just a minute ago. “It'll be thrilling and heartfelt, tragic but hopeful—all good legends are! It's powerful stuff.”

     Kansi resumes his meal, brushing him off with incredulity, “All we've done down here is set a street on fire and scavenge around the woods for two years, and you're already penning some grand masterpiece fiction about shit we haven't done?”

     Struck with inspiration, the prince points at him with piqued intrigue. “Ooh, great idea! I should write it down.” He scrambles over to rummage through their supplies.

     “That's not what I...” his companion groans, exhaustedly dragging his palm over his face. “Ah, forget it. We don't have ink or parchment anyway.”

     “Damn... I guess we'll just have to get some, then.”

     ‘Heaven above, help me out here...’ Kansi's hand has to keep his head from dropping to the ground as he casts a thousand-yard empty stare to the depths of the forest. ‘Actually, screw that, Heaven is what dropped him in my lap to begin with!’

     He sneaks a weary, uneasy glance over to the unsuspecting young royal who's finishing his own portion of the food. ‘The only divine being watching over me is this idiot. I might be better off being ignored entirely...’ When Yuan's eyes cross Kansi's, he flashes a sweet smile of naïve optimism. Still thinking on his grand legacy, probably. The prince's companion sighs, relenting. ‘Yet despite all that... I really can't see this dumb kid as any kind of monster.’