The nice thing about having a fire elemental as a companion, Nina had found, was that she very rarely needed to bring a torch. The downside, she supposed, was that she had a torch that she could never turn off.
Where others could probably see a beautiful, silver wonderland beneath the midnight moon, Nina’s eyes never quite adjusted to the dark. Instead, she navigated from memory and mental maps and the light from Ember’s flames, stretching only so far into the inky darkness surrounding her as she crossed the Frostfields. She could have left the elemental home, she supposed, but Ember was her other half. The little elemental often made conversing with strangers easier; Nina was not what one might call a people person, but Ember? It was all about people.
So when they approached the designated meeting spot, Ember crackled happily and rushed up to the stranger beneath the tree. ”Ember,” Nina growled into the darkness. ”Flames.” Sure enough, the fire sprite’s flickering light had grown brighter and hotter in its excitement, and it made a visible effort to rein in its fire before it grew into something that might cause irreparable damage to the tree.
”I am sorry about the fireball,” she said as she arrived. ”It is a little… excitable.”
Where others could probably see a beautiful, silver wonderland beneath the midnight moon, Nina’s eyes never quite adjusted to the dark. Instead, she navigated from memory and mental maps and the light from Ember’s flames, stretching only so far into the inky darkness surrounding her as she crossed the Frostfields. She could have left the elemental home, she supposed, but Ember was her other half. The little elemental often made conversing with strangers easier; Nina was not what one might call a people person, but Ember? It was all about people.
So when they approached the designated meeting spot, Ember crackled happily and rushed up to the stranger beneath the tree. ”Ember,” Nina growled into the darkness. ”Flames.” Sure enough, the fire sprite’s flickering light had grown brighter and hotter in its excitement, and it made a visible effort to rein in its fire before it grew into something that might cause irreparable damage to the tree.
”I am sorry about the fireball,” she said as she arrived. ”It is a little… excitable.”
Nina
