14 Chapter 14 - Love Of Fire (2/2)
”What would you like to know, young master?” she asked, reaching out for her teacup. He watched as she warmed it between her hands, before sipping from it.
Clearing his throat, he asked, ”You were attacked by another mage, and yet you have no scars?”
”Ah, I thought you might ask about that.” She organized her thoughts, before continuing. ”I was sitting in a field. I do not remember how I came to be there, whether my mother left me, I wandered off, or what, but I do remember the flames. The field had caught on fire, and it was racing across the dry gra.s.s, straight for me. Never was I scared. It was beautiful to me, dancing in the wind.” She closed her eyes, as if she could see it in her mind.
”The FIRE loved me. I fell in love with it. We danced there, in that field, consuming the gra.s.s, until there was nothing else for it to consume. I didn't want it to leave, so it didn't. It came to remain within me, ready whenever I called for it.” She touched her chest, as if cradling a baby to her.
”A local n.o.ble had heard of me, as the event scared all of the townspeople. They fear what they do not understand. It took your father for me to understand that. He came along and saved me from the villagers, who thought I was a demon, or some other monster. The n.o.ble had a fire mage of his own, and was furious that your father s.n.a.t.c.hed me from him. He did an unspeakable act, and sent his own fire mage to kill me. He was jealous of my power, even as a young child, and did not want me to grow to be better than his own.
”FIRE did not want me to be harmed, so when the mage threw a fireball at me, it retaliated, without my truly understanding what was going on. As the blast left my fingers, his blast hit my face. FIRE took the heat inside of me, to protect me, but it could not protect me from the light. You can see the FIRE burning still, within my eyes, or so I have been told.”
”And the other mage?” asked Joseph, unable to look away from her eyes.
”He died. He chose to control and command FIRE, not love it, as I do. It did not even try to protect him. As for his master, the n.o.ble, he was tried by the king for the death of a mage. We are so rare, that it is illegal to harm us, though not to enslave us, apparently.”
Joseph could understand what she was saying, even though he wasn't sure she understood herself.
”Have you ever considered learning infravision?”
”What is that?”
”It is a method of seeing where you see heat, instead of normal vision.” Joseph spent the next hour talking to her, trying to describe the type of vision he knew about from his previous lives. She was very excited about the possibility and asked countless questions.
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