Until Fire Smiles Again

Honey For The Heart - 15

It was a lazy Sunday morning, the kind where even the sun seemed to sleep in.
The happy sounds of Whispering Woods fluttered now and then… only to be broken by Bumble’s heavy-hearted sighs.
He sat staring at his cup of honeybrew, now cold.

Piggy, watching from a patch of grass nearby, twiddled his hooves. He didn’t know what to do.
Bumble hadn’t smiled in days.
“I think my fire’s gone, Piggy,” Bumble mumbled. “Really gone. Nothing’s working—not even catching gigglegills or goldyfins.”

Piggy curled his tail—the way he did when things felt unsure.

Bumble’s fire wasn’t loud or flashy. It was the way he painted the sky, sang to the trees, and always asked if you were okay—twice, just to be sure.

“You don’t have to make it come back,” Piggy said gently. “Maybe just sit with the part that still remembers the warmth.”

Bumble looked at him with quiet, tired eyes.

Piggy scooted closer. “Fires don’t always roar,” he whispered.
“Sometimes they nap. But underneath… there’s still a little ember waiting.
You don’t have to wake it. Just be near it.”

That night, Piggy tiptoed to Bumble’s cottage and left a tiny candle by his bed.
With it, a note: “If your fire’s resting, borrow mine.”
By morning, the candle had burned down.
So Piggy placed another the next night.
And another.
Night after night, the little candle glowed—quiet, steady, loyal.

Until one morning, next to it was a jar of fresh honey and a crumpled note in Bumble’s pawwriting:
“It may take a while, but I promise to fan it again.”

It was a bright morning. Bumble didn’t rush.
He brushed his fur, cleaned his rod, and when Piggy rang his bell—
Bumble was ready.
Whiskers trimmed.
Fishing rod in paw.
And his humming tune hiding in the corner of his mouth.
“I may not be glowing bright,” he said, “but I want to twinkle again.”

Piggy took his paw, and they walked into the woods.

Some fires don’t return with a roar.
They begin with borrowed candles, shared silences, and tiny acts of care.
And sometimes, the warmest fire… is the one you tend together.