34 Discovery

Brightise and Clober were back where they had been before they had met Rayvad and Syd: alone in a forest, right next to a burning fire. Except this time, Brightise was sleepless and barefoot. Her only pair of shoes had been destroyed, so it looked like she would have to walk the rest of the way on her bare feet and enter the Amazons' domain like a beggar.

Clober's persisting questions did not help improve her mood either.

"Are we demons? Is Morral a demon?"

"Don't be silly. Of course we are not."

"But Rayvad said-"

"Rayvad was just being mean."

Was he though? Even if they never went through the transformation, they were still technically part-demon.

Brightise pushed the thought aside.

"Can I play with the fire now that Rayvad's gone?" asked Clober, pointing at the campfire that had ruined everything.

Brightise didn't see why not. Fire was actually the only thing that might make her feel better now. She knew that Clober, like most children, did not like changes, and losing both Syd and Rayvad weeks after Morral had been abducted was just another blow to her sister's already broken heart.

"Okay," she said. "Just be careful."

Clober approached the burning wood gingerly and stuck her fingers in the flames. Brightise watched her goof around for a bit before she turned her head away and started looking around the dark forest for any signs of life. It seemed like they were safe for the time being.

"Brightise, look!" yelled Clober. "Look what I did!"

Brightise snapped her head around, only to see a big cloud of smoke hovering above the fire ominously.

Her mouth dropped open in shock. "You did that?"

"Yes, look! Look!" Clober was shaking with excitement as she pointed her fingers towards the smoke and moved them experimentally. Suddenly, the cloud of smoke started expanding at a fast pace.

When it reached her nose, Brightise coughed. "Shrink it back a little," she asked her sister.

Clober performed a series of random movements that made the smoke increase at first, but eventually shrank it down to a small cloud.

Brightise stared at her in disbelief. Her little sister was a walking killer. A walking, untrained killer that could kill any amount of people by accidental smoke inhalation. Brightise didn't know whether to cheer or cry.

When she tried to mimic Clober's movements, nothing happened, which led her to believe that Fire Powers were a lot like Thunder Powers. No two people had exactly the same level or kind of power.

This discovery created more questions than it answered though. Was her theory true? And if it was, did she have a specific power as well? What could it be? What could Morral's power be?

Her curiosity aroused, Brightise decided to experiment with the campfire some more, but aside from the obvious, which was that fire had a refreshing, healing effect on her, she didn't find out anything new.

In the end, she just made Clober get rid of the rest of the smoke, put out the fire and went to bed. The last thing she wanted was another Slorigan waking her up to scold her about her irresponsibility. Her last meeting with one of them had not gone well.

Brightise closed her eyes, but did not fall asleep right away. Her fight with Rayvad was too recent and her curiosity about Fire Powers kept her brain working till late at night. She wished that she had the kind of power that could bring her sister back magically, or that Morral had the power to blast Fire Demons to death, escape and come home safe.