Ember knocked on the slightly opened door, waiting for Kami’s response. She was not going to barge in into the room without permission. No, she would never do that, unless some sort of monster that she couldn’t handle was coming after her and she had to find refuge inside a random room.
Kami sighed, knowing that Ember was the one knocking. The fire arm that had grown to play the guitar disappeared. She stood up and opened the door, smiling thinly. "I see you got it all off."
“Yeah, I did.” She said as she smiled slightly. She paused for a bit, as she didn’t know what to say next. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the room, a bit surprised on how big the room was. “This is a nice room you got, and I never knew you played guitar and that you sing.”
"Oh, you heard me. Yeah, I don't do it often. It is kinda hard to play when you have one arm, but I make do with my fire arm. And the room? It's a getaway room, really. Dad let me have the bigger room so that I had a place to go if I got too stressed or anxious: sometimes my room at home isn't good enough."
“Yeah, it’s hard to play an instrument with only one hand, but people find a way to play the instruments. It’s what I admire so much about people disabilities, that they never give up and find a way to do something they want to do. Ah, a getaway room. Yeah, it’s always good to have a getaway room.”
"Especially as a kid with PTSD and social anxiety, it's a necessity. The public aren't allowed to access this part of the lodge, and both my parents understand that if I'm here I need space. It's really helpful."
Ember nodded and smiled. She sighed, rubbed her temples, and looked at Kami. “Uh, I just want to thank you for giving me this necklace, even though you really didn’t have to give me anything. Your friendship is the best gift in the universe.”
"You don't have to thank me," Kami replied as she layed down on her bed. "I did it because you're my friend. I don't need gratitude bestowed upon me."
She sighed and sat on the ground, fidgeting with her fingers as she did so. “Now I feel like I should give you something in return.” She took her somewhat wet hair and separated it into two parts. Then she braided one part and then braided the other part.
"Now that you don't need to do. I don't need anything in exchange." Kami stared at the sun diagram on the top of her ceiling. "You know, I've always hated that thing. Never fit the room or the environment."
Ember looked up at the sun diagram and narrowed her eyes at. She sweared that’s she had seen that same diagram somewhere, but she didn’t know where. “Maybe it means something?”
"It does, in a way. But the story is a millennium old, and no one remembers it. It's just a dumb remnant of an old forgotten Underworld folk tale."
“Could you possibly tell me it? Well, that is if you do know it. I would love to hear this old and forgotten underworld folk tale.” She said as she made a figure with her finger on the ground.
Kami sighed, making space on the bed for Ember. "Well, it's really boring. It's the tale of my many greats great-grandparents. It's also a little long…are you sure you want to here?"
Ember stood up and made her way to the bed, and then sat down. She looked at Kami and straight into her eyes and nodded. Ember was giving vibes of a young child getting excited over nothing in particularly.
"OK, well. Like 200000 years ago, my many greats great-grandparents fell in love. Princess Kami of Ruelle - yes, I was named after her - and Prince Lucitor. We don't know his name, yet we remember hers. It was a bit of a forbidden love. Neither parents wanted the marriage or even the pairing."
“Do go on, Kami. Do not leave me waiting, because lords be it, If I don’t find out how this story ends, I’ll burn multiple buildings down to ash, and no one wants to see that happen again.”
"Well, fire doesn't like sun. At least, not in our kingdom. And Ruelle was the Kingdom of the Sun, obviously before it became ruins. Kami of Ruelle could harness the sun's light. Prince Lucitor's parents didn't like that. Lucitor could harness the earth's fire. Kami of Ruelle's parents didn't like that."
Ah, yes. Both kingdoms were opposites, and it does kinda make sense that Kami of Ruelle’s parents didn’t like that Prince Lucitor could harness the earth’s fire and vice versa. And at times, opposites do attract. It’s merely a fact proven by many people of the multi-universe and on earth, but do continue.”
"Anyway, Kami of Ruelle and Prince Lucitor were deeply in love. They were planning on eloping and ditching their royal heritage, but Prince Lucior's parents died. Prince Lucitor became King, and the couple was then able to marry freely. Kami of Ruelle was cast out of her family but she was accepted by the Underworld. So this sun is a reminder of her. It's dumb."
Ember looked up at the sun diagram and then looked back at Kami. The moment she looked back down at Kami, a slight frown appeared on her face. “You may think It’s dumb, but to other people, it isn’t. I guess it’s just the way one sees it.”
"I get that. But to me, yeah, it's really dumb. Just a dumb reminder of a dumb story. You might see it differently, but we come from different ends of the spectrum."
She nodded and looked at her watch that rested on her right wrist. “Remember how you said you wanted to visit the town once it wasn’t busy?”
Kami looked up, slightly confused. "Yeah…" She figured that Ember was trying to say that the town would by now be more quiet, but there was no way she could know that.
“Now is a good time to go. Quite a while ago, I sat in the middle of the town, took out a stopwatch, and then started it. It took approximately about two hours and a half for the town to be completely. . what’s the word? Ah, yes. Empty. I then did that again the next day, and the day after that. For over a month and a half, I continued doing that, jotting down the notes on a notebook. Each day, it was the same time. Two hours and a half. Expect for Monday’s and Friday’s. Those were the busiest days. One would have to wait about five hours for the town to be empty. I had a lot of spare time back then. Today’s a Wednesday, and we’ve been away from Mewni for exactly two hours and a half.”