By now, Timber was snuggling up with the dazed creature as if the creature were a warm fireplace fire comforting the body during a harsh winter night. He slowly began wrapping his forearms around it, feeling its soft and scaly skin against his dense undercoat, and he drifted even further into his slumber, beginning to hear the faintest sound of a gentle, motherly voice, an angelic voice of a mother singing the song she must to lull her baby to sleep:
You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take
My sunshine away…
Please don't take
My sunshine away…
A warmth spreads around the inside of Timber's central chest, and his smile becomes bigger…and then it slowly fades. The angelic voice went away. He hugs the creature even tighter, like it were his favorite teddy bear, as tears well up in his eyes. He snuggles up closer to its scaly yet soft body, trying to absorb every last bit of its cold-blooded warmth.
———
Maria's iris care follows the sharp edge of the carving blade as it moves against the green pigment until it stops. Maria lifts her head and removes her monocle. Around this time, she should be hearing cute little barks coming from Timber's snout because that pesky bird is outside again, but the room was filled to the brim with silence. She lifts her body from the rigid, wooden chair. "Timber?" Maria calls out. "Oh, we're playing hide and seek again, aren't we?" She looks under her desk. "Timber?" She continues, peaking into the kitchen. She paces back and forth like a detective trying to solve a mystery until she remembers the eyes she saw looming over the bedside while she gave the creature the medicine. She peeks into the room with a goofy-looking smirk, saying playfully, "Oh Timber—" Her heart twisted like a pretzel at the sight of Timber snuggling the creature with so much warmth that heat visibly emitted from them, and the room was almost as hot as an oven. Her smirking face fell apart. She began fidgeting, her gaze fixed on the floor. Maria finds her hand fumbling on the doorknob and her feet walking out the door. Timber's ears twitch over the sounds of the clamping footsteps as he snuggles closer to the creature.
———
Knock knock. Timber jolts awake. "Yessiree, Maria?" He groans as he rubs his eye with his tired paw. Smoke fills the air when the door opens. Maria walks in and drops a brown leather sack on the mattress Timber's lap. "What in tarnation is all this fuss 'bout?" He asks as he dips his snout into the sack, sniffing her complex notes, iron pickaxe, shovel, and sword. "We're going on a trip to find emeralds, real emeralds." She dictates. "Must I be a-comin' along?" Timber wonders. "Yes," Maria replies, tossing him a pouch for drinking water. "But what 'bout—" He looks up and down the creature, "this here big ol' furry fish critter? She frowns, "We live near a lake." Maria hangs the drinking pouch around Timber's neck, lifting his chin gently so that he can see her reassuring face, "The fish will be fine." Timber pouts and crosses his arms, "I'se a-wantin' that fish critter to come along with us!" She sighs, "Tim, w-we don't have enough room on the horse." His sharp, untrimmed nails sink into the mattress as he hisses, "We can make room."
Maria gently plants her hand onto Timber's head as her face contorts into a stern yet concerned look, saying, "Tim honey, I'm tired of seeing your malnourished self lie on the wooden floor sighing at the ceiling, so…" She hands Timber the biggest, most empty leather bag, "We need to get emerald tokens, real emerald tokens." He looks into the bag, his eyes attempting to comprehend its vast emptiness. He bubbles up with anger and hits the mattress with his paws crumbled up into fists, screeching like a child, "I'se a-wantin' that fish critter to come along with us!" Maria stumbles back a bit, letting the door catch her. My mind searches through files on what to say until it pulls out, "You won't come with me if the creature can't?" Timber nods, still pouting like a child who has to watch their other friends play on the swings while he can't. "Okay…" Maria walks over to the creature and scoops it up. She leans her head to the side towards the door. Timber leaps out of the bed with a bright smile on her face and scurries quickly out the door. He trudges through the front lawn as if they lived on a prairie while Maria carries the dehydrated creature. She lays the creature on the saddle, and Timber's eyes widen as he skids into the black horse. He rubs his pounding head, asking, "I swore y'all said there weren't no room?" Maria pours some water into a flask and hangs it around the horse that was bending down its neck like a squire receiving the highest honor from his majesty. "I-I thought so too," Maria replied as calmly as possible. Timber frowns a bit, his eyes darting around on the fresh grass he feels between his toes, but shrugs it off, smiling. He finds a good spot on the leather saddle and snuggles up closely with the creature, rubbing his snout deeper into its warm skin. Maria feels her chest harden, her stomach churn, and she swallows the lump in her throat. She turns away from the sight of tender affection and takes the black horse by its reins, marching forward towards the rising sun.