Mara - The Lady Grief (Completed)

18 My Sprite

2651 B.C.E., City of Tmari-on-the-Euphrates

Late Summer, Month of Abu, One Year and Five Months after Mara's Rebirth

Thelios

Fire lashes me like a molten whip across my skin. I fight the urge to laugh at the pain. I'm always cold... always. Even training in the desert I didn't sweat rivers like Belen always did. I still mock him for that. He says it's his "manly, dark skin." I tell him it's the swamp beast in him.

Always cold, except when I held my Flame in my arms. My heart was racing with her in my embrace. Even the sight of red-hot flames licking my skin doesn't make my heart beat like that.

"Are you... are you thinking about her, right now?" Belen calls out, glaring at me as he helps me to collapse the building's wall into the flames to keep it from spreading.

"Yes," I reply in a grunt. The flames licking my scales may not really hurt, but inhaling the heat and smoke from the fire would. I'm careful to keep my breathing to a minimum.

"Really?" he asks. He leaps back from the inferno, swearing colorfully as the fire reignites in places.

I just grunt a reply. I haven't seen my beautiful Fated in nearly a week. The storm destroyed part of the Mother neighborhood. Families lost everything. Thank the gods the orphanages are in the temples and farther away from the riverbanks, or the storm would have been even more of a disaster.

Added to the clean-up efforts is the loss of some of the fields. Those who work in them or were part of the harvest efforts were left vulnerable to thieves. We've scarcely had time to sleep or eat since the storm.

Some of the city shifters are desperate. We have our hands full with not just rescues. Our presence deters looting and crime, but we can't be everywhere. There is still a list of crimes to investigate in my study that is too long. I don't see it shrinking any time soon.

After a while the fire heats up my scales, threatening to boil me in my own skin.

"Back off, let this one burn out." I step back, finding that my brethren have already retreated.

"Damn, Lios," Belen says quietly, as a bucket of cool water is thrown on me.

"What?" I ask him.

"You stood in flames higher than your head for nearly twenty minutes," he says slowly.

"Ah, it's knowing when to get out, Bel."

"Keep the debris as far away as possible from the fire. We want to prevent it spreading. I'm worried about the alley to the west. Won't take much effort for the fire to jump," Asan, a Recondite with flame tattoos and eyes that burn red all the time, tells me.

I direct the line of males pouring buckets on the flames to concentrate on those buildings in the alleyway. "If the fire starts to get higher, pull these buildings down."

Asan nods. "I think it's under control, Captain."

"Fuck," I sigh. "I'm not the Captain, yet, am I?" I'm a little morose. Not over my title, but because I haven't had the time to see my female and I don't want to take the time for the elemental tests.

"I miss her," I tell Belen. He gives me a pained smile. "Do you think you can reschedule those elemental tests soon?"

"You're done." Belen says quietly.

I frown, "Done?"

"Lios... you just battled a raging river, a hailstorm, and mudslides... just a few days ago. You haven't rested properly since. Fire was the only element you didn't prove yourself on... until this," he waves his hand at the sodden, grey ash around me and the flames in the distance.