Burning Water

The sun is starting to set, a golden glow covering the village lit with torches.

"Where is that boy?" Flambé asks as he impatiently taps his foot, "Jonathan will be here anytime,"

"Have some patience," Azul says as she walks up to him, "And, I burned the water again, can you heat it up for me?" Flambé glances at her with a raised eyebrow, "Don't give me that look," She responds, folding her arms. He lets out a sigh before heading to their house.

"I marry the one woman in this whole village that can't use fire magic, yet she's the only one who burns water," He says jokingly.

"It's the closest I'll ever get,"

Entering their house made from carved stone Azul fills up a pot with water and Flambé holds his hands against the side of it. His hands ignite and the pot soon starts to boil.

"Thanks sweety," She says, kissing him on the cheek.

"No problem," He says exiting the kitchen, "You know where I'll be if you need anything else," And he takes off to the border of the village once more. While she's putting some food into the pot someone starts to quietly walk to the front door.

"You're not even gonna tell your mother goodbye Ivory?" Azul states. The person stops and turns to her, "At least give me one last hug," She says, holding her arms out. Ivory walks over to her and gives her one last hug.

"I'll have Cinder bring you letters every couple of months, so be sure to write me back," She says, almost choking up a bit.

"I will mom," Finishing the hug, Azul gives him a kiss on the cheek and he leaves, heading off into the dessert forest surrounding the west side of the village. She wipes her tears and continues cooking, knowing there's going to be one less person that will enjoy her meals. He had talked to her a couple weeks away about leaving home.

Ever since they found out that Ivory could ignite Flambé has been training him rather harshly, trying to make him ready to one day be the next leader of the tribe, despite him not wanting it. He grew jealous of his older brother Jonathan getting off easy since he couldn't ignite, as far as Flambé knew. Jonathan is a soldier for Sahir, stationed at the western border sitting against Qanas. Though Flambé's loving, he takes being the leader of the Nar tribe too seriously, practically driving off Ivory and Jonathan.

"I'm home," Jonathan says as he enters the house.

"Welcome back sweety," Azul says walking over to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek and hugging him, "Anything happen at the western border?"

"Not a whole lot," He says before letting out a yawn, "But a week before I started making my way here some soldiers from Qanas were trying to sneak into here, I missed out on my mid-day nap because of them," He says running a hand through his silver hair. Flambé was upset that neither son inherited his red hair, and it's hard to tell whose long hair they got since both her and Flambé have long hair, well, Flambé has much longer hair.

"Where's Ivory? Dad stayed behind to wait for him,"

"I don't know, he said he was going to get you a gift before taking off earlier today," She says with some worry. The sun sets before Flambé comes barging into the home.

"When he gets home, he's grounded," He states firmly as he sits down at the dinner table, a bowl and plate of food already waiting for him.

"He probably just got lost somewhere," Jonathan says between bites. Him and Azul had already started eating, "Just send a scout to find him and help him get back,"

"I already did," He replies looking at his food with a troubled look.

After eating Jonathan heads off to bed for the night as Azul starts collecting all the dishes to go clean them. Flambé sits at the table, his hands in front of his mouth as he stares off into nothing, waiting for the scout he sent to come back with him. There's a knock at the door. He quickly gets up and answers it.

"Where is he?" He asks looking around the scout.

"I couldn't find him sir, but I found this letter, it's addressed to you," Baffled, Flambé takes the letter.

"Thanks, you can head back to your post," The scout nods and heads off. Flambé takes the letter and glances at Azul who had watched the whole thing. He looks at the letter and heads off to their bedroom. Azul can guess what the letter is going to say. As she washes the dishes she hears a sudden burst of flames and someone shouting.

"What?!"

Flambé soon comes into the kitchen with the letter, now partly burnt, in his hand, red glowing markings running along his body and a face of burning anger.

"What?" Azul asks full of concern.

"That little-Ivory, he-ah!" The markings burn brighter as he screams in anger again.

Azul takes the letter and reads it.

"...He, ran away?!" She exclaims.

"Apparently," He states angrily as he looks for something he can break.

"Flambé, calm down," She says putting a hand on his shoulder, "You're gonna burn up the whole house at this rate," He takes in a deep breath, his markings slowly fading away, "Now, let's figure out what we can do,"

"I know what I can do," He says, still clearly annoyed, "I'm gonna send scouts to go find him," He starts to walk off to the front door but Azul grabs his wrists.

"It's late, and it's practically pitch black out there, why don't we get some rest and wait till morning?" She suggest as she holds him from behind, rubbing his shoulders to ease the tension.

"...Alright..." He says, "We'll find him in the morning," The two of them head off to bed, neither one getting much sleep, Flambé worried about where Ivory could be, and Azul concerned for Flambé and Ivory.