The Snowman and the Fire Queen

Baine's eyes widened. A girl with long hair, white as clouds, and bloody eyes sat up from her sleep. She was completely unaffected by his cold torment. Baine saw her mouth move but no sound came out, "burn."

"What?" Baine stood on guard and dumbstruck.

"Burn!" She screamed.

A strong burst of flame suddenly appeared in front of Baine. He cursed under his breath, "Tch! Shit!"

A shield of frost surrounds Baine as the rest of the stable is being burned to a crisp. The spell he had on her was completely gone at this point and his focus was set on defense. Just who the hell is he dealing with here? She looks and is acting completely different. And her eyes, that definitely isn't normal.

A nervous smile spread across his lips, "What the hell was that huh Crawly!?..." His smile dropped upon seeing his shield starting to melt.

As soon as the flame left her hands Lilian's head drops back down only for her to wake up upon the impact of her head hitting the ground. How convenient that her side of the stable isn't burned. Lilian gasps awake "Fredrick!- oww my head-"

"You- who- what are you!?" Baine's icy stare seems to glare into her eyes as Lilian backs away taking in all the information around her. Burnt half a stable, check. Cautious and terrifying glaring Baine approaching her, check. What was missing? He crouches over her laying body, "hey! Are you listening to me? I don't know what you just did but that wasn't normal you better fess up right now Ms.Redeyes-"

"Red eyes?" Lilian's face turned to fear after realizing the disguise she had on was gone. She looks up to see Baine's harsh but attractive facial features right in front of her. Why was she thinking that!? Get a grip Lilian!

"I- um... you're kind of close-"

Lilian already forgot what she was going to say. Baine instantly backs away, "T-thats not important right now! What I need to know is who, or what you are."

"I don't know..."

"...What?" Baine huffs.

"I don't know what I have. So go ahead and call me a demon, if you want. It's not like I have any answers. I wake up and people blame me for this stuff, that's all I know. But, seeing this now, I have no doubts I'm the one who started this, so I'm sorry okay?" Lilian mumbles.

Baine almost felt taken aback by what she said, "What do you mean?"

Lilian groaned. "Jeez I don't even know why I'm trying to explain myself, I should just go-"

"H-hold on! Wait right there!"

"HUH?" Lilian looks down to notice her feet glued to the ground by ice. "What is this for!? I'm trying to get away from you right now!" Lilian was mad, Baine was becoming a real inconvenience to her adventures. She starts to wonder if she would have made it to Nimai a year earlier if she didn't lose her map and made all those other stops. She probably wouldn't have run into him either.

"Listen I'm not about to let some loose canon go into the city I live in, especially when you have no knowledge of how things work here."

"Yeah, I'm sooo sure someone like you could tell me all about Nimai." Lilian sarcastically gestured with her hands.

"Yeah, I can. I grew up there. and just so you know having irregular magic strength isn't allowed in Nimai. and those who do are taken for 'research', so you can either hide with me or hide in a science lab, your choice crawly."

"Yeah well I can handle myself, Mr. Whitey. I don't need a lecture from someone who I barely know." Lilian retorted. Her feet were cold and the ice wasn't melting anytime soon.

"You know what, I don't see a reason why I shouldn't just turn you into the authorities right now..."

Lilian glared at him, "You wouldn't dare..."

Baine grinned upon seeing her face so angered, "Oh I think I would dare."

"What would I even get out of hiding with you anyway? I may as well be asking for a death sentence either way. Also why would you even need to be hiding in the first place?" Lilian knew she was in something deep now. Mr.Goldman told her not to show anyone her power! but, how was she supposed to predict this? He could've at least told her why hiding her magic was important!

Baine thought about it for a moment. Offering for her to hide with him was sort of on the spur of the moment, but seeing as how strong her ember was, there was no doubt she would be taken to... that place. But, she would be a great help to him.

"Well how about this then, I'll teach you how to use your Ember, in exchange, we can pretend you're a normal person with normal magic living under my roof until you have enough supplies to pack yourself to the great Castel in the East. sound like a deal, Kindle?"

Lilian thought about it but it didn't take her too much time to realize which of the options she had that were the most convenient. "Since you were nice enough to use my name this time... fine, I'll stay with you, but if you try anything funny, I'll be seeing you in the afterlife."

"Ooohh feisty! Now..."

Baine continued his lesson on Nimai as he let Lilian out of her icy feet shackles. They almost forgot they burnt half a stable that morning but it was easy jumping out from the second floor. Luckily it wasn't vacant so no horses got turned into edible meat.

Lilian learned that Nimai hasn't been doing as well as it did in the past. Districts full of poverty and crime were on the rise and Baine just so happened to live in a district where the rules of the guards were completely ignored. This meant anyone could do anything they want, but they'd die if they were weak. "It's not fair..." she said, but Baine didn't hear her.

As they entered the city Lilian couldn't help but stand Abit closer to Baine as they walked. The tall sandy buildings cast shadows on those below, the heat from the desert was non-existent. It was odd seeing such beautiful buildings in the state that they were in. It was as if no one had taken care of them in ages. The people around her all seemed intimidating, but, scared? and curious... She couldn't explain it, but the atmosphere was tense. She also noticed Baine was much paler in comparison to them, maybe he was a foreigner too?

"What?" baines icy gold stare glanced over at Lilian, "Nothing..." she mumbled turning away from his eyes.

"You seem a lot less brave then you were earlier crawly, what gives? don't like the shadows?" Baine nudges her in a teasing way, but Lilian isn't responding normally.

"No, I don't like the dark one bit..." she says.

By the time the moon came up Lilian was surprised to have stopped in front of a building much nicer than the one's she saw previously. A double metal door stood tightly shut in front of the two. When baine unlocked it with his spells the inside became a boisterous bronze-colored looking lobby room.

"woAhhh, it's actually really big!" Lilian echoed.

"What? Surprised? Thought I'd live in some dump?" Baine deadpanned.

Lilian explored a bit as Baine stuck around the premises, "yeah I am abit surprised I'll be honest. But where are your parents though? I don't see anyone else here." Lilian asked.

"Don't have any, prefer not to talk about it either. I'm the only one that lives here, I also pay for all of it." Baine gave a proud grin and Lilian couldn't help but giggle abit.

"What's so funny?" he said.

"Nothing, it's just we were about to kill each other just hours earlier and now I'm living here, well temporarily." Lilian's expression seemed to sadden in that moment for only a second, but it was gone before Baine could register it. "Well, go get washed up we have a lot to do tomorrow, crawly."

"We haven't even eaten yet..." Lilian deadpans.

"Then help yourself to the kitchen then, we're gonna get that Ember of yours under control. My room is in the top floor by the way, so don't go up there, you're free to explore the rest." Baine explained.

Lilian understood and eventually found a big bedroom covered in hues of maroon and silver, the color reminds her of Fredrick. It's a little dusty, but nothing she couldn't clean herself. There also happens to be bathroom connected to it. Unlike in Forlorn though, there is a seperate room for the toilet. The bathroom is clean and marbled, there laid an assortment of soaps and soft cloths for washing, the sweet aroma is making Lilian really start to contemplate her life choices.

After getting comfortable in the new room and hiding her important items about the place did she go downstairs to find the kitchen. The whole place seemed very laid back, Lilian was starting to understand why it felt comfortable, almost every wall had a place to lay like a tiger and curtains hiding the outside world not to let anything bad get in. It almost made her wish she spent her time settling down . She couldn't do that though, Fredrick was her only family, she'd do almost anything at this point to find him.

Looking through the various cubbyholes and cabinets Lilian was able to piece together that, Baine does not know what a healthy diet is! Lilian investigates further, wondering if he maybe made an ice box with his Glacia, to her surprise there was nothing of the sort. Although the house was rather cool, maybe instead of making an ice box he decided to make the house cooler for comfort from the heat. Many questions ran through Lilian's mind, her curiosity was back at it again.

Lilian eventually found some bread and decided to make a sandwich with some of the vegetables and cheese she found making sure to leave plenty for Baine. She wasn't about to eat everything he had, even if she were still hungry. Lilian opened her mouth wide just about to bite- "Well hey there crawly-"

"EEEEEK!" Lilian let out a startling screech.

Baine dodged her flailing arms, eventually catching her in her seat before she fell onto the floor. He chuckled "Jeez, I was only messing with you, no need to freak out."

"Well maybe you shouldn't sneak up on people like that in the middle of the night while they're eating!" Lilian fumed. Lilian rubbed the side of her head as if wiping away Baines breath from her earlobe. Baine couldn't help but see Lilian as a white hissing cat with all the hair she had, he laughed, "You're the one in my home, whos to say your not the scary one." As teasing as he was, there was an undertone of seriousness to what Baine said.

Lilian grumbled, feeling too indebted to really say anything on the matter. Baine simply grinned in his victory.

Before they knew it the two were sitting quietly eating, Baine was too lazy to actually make anything and settled for a small loaf of bread. Lilian headed off to bed first, meanwhile Baine sat quietly contemplating in the kitchen for quite some time before retiring to his tower for the evening.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

That morning Lilian woke up with what seemed like the best sleep she had in a while. She could barely remember what it felt like to sleep in a good bed until now. Her hair was a mess, but it was so long, down to her calves. She contemplated cutting it, until she found a hairbrush in one of the drawers of the vanity in the room. Surprisingly enough Baine left her some clothes to get ready in to hide her identity. She went downstairs to see Baine dressed in cloak similar to hers.

"I've decided we're gonna go out to the dessert, I'm gonna show you how to use defense before we start with your Ember." Baine unlocked the door with his magic again.

"But why? I can defend myself just-"

Wack!

"Hey! What was that-"

Wack!

Baine karate chopped her head, "See, this is why you need to be trained. If you want to get anywhere you need to learn how to deal with your enemies first." Lilian looked down somewhat embarrassed, he was right.

"Fine, lets just go," Lilian sighed.