"Thank you."

The words grate in my throat, raw from the fear and relief and confusion battling through me. I glance at Fiesi again, my throat tightening. His chest is rising and falling evenly, and his face is strangely peaceful. For a moment, he's just Finlay, fast asleep with his blue cloak stretched across the ground behind him. Like an extension of his body. A pair of azure wings.

But Finlay is gone. He never existed. I wrench my eyes away. I can still feel the ghost of Fiesi's knees on my chest, crushing the air from my lungs. It was a lie, all of it. The gloves, silky in my shaking hand, are not a gift. They're a trap, meant to help smother my flame for good. The material feels sickeningly soft against my fingers; I fight the urge to throw them to the dirt.

"Are you okay? Your expression just..."

Asher's voice, a little rough around the edges and cracked through with weariness, yanks me to attention. I skitter away as he takes a step toward me, concern flashing through his steely gray eyes.

"Stay back," I gasp breathlessly, clutching my gloves tighter. I should put them on, but I can't. Not now. Fire lights in the corner of my vision, flickering silently across my shoulders. I cling to it, trying to burn away my terror, but it remains. Fiesi is still here, yards away. He was going to kill me. An itch runs down my spine, urging me to keep moving, but my feet refuse to move.

"Can you not control the fire?" Asher asks. There is the faintest hint of fear in his eyes, but it's overwhelmed by exhaustion.

"Not if you touch me." I waver, unsure how he can still seem so relaxed. How he hasn't even flinched away. He's too close; it would take the merest flicker of thought to allow my flame to sweep across the distance between us. Every one of my senses is attuned to his nearness, to the swirling warmth that emanates from him. I can feel my fire reaching for it; forcing a jagged breath, I wrest it back towards me. Most of it seeps underneath my skin, but I let a few wisps of flame dance between my fingers as a lingering warning.

Then again... my heartbeat quickens at the memory of searing heat consuming my fire, burning a line straight through my chest and racing outwards. Of the sudden snap of pain as I was wrenched away. Maybe Asher doesn't need to be scared.

No. I felt how he struggled against my flame. I can see how tired he still is. However he managed to survive, I'm not sure he can do it again.

Asher must be having a similar thought, because he doesn't move any closer. "Is all your magic like... that?"

"All of my..." I frown. Magic. That's one label for it. "My flames have always been like this, yes."

Confusion flits across Asher's face. "Can you only make fire?"

"I..." I grapple for words, lost in my own bewilderment. "Yes?"

"Where are we, exactly?"

"Uh... the mountains?" I offer feebly.

Asher's lips twitch, and he shakes his head a little. "Sorry. I'm just... really far from home, I guess." He sways, sucking in a sharp breath; before I can move, he staggers to a tree. Slumping to the ground with a soft thump, he leans his head against the bark and takes a few deep breaths. Whatever he did to Fiesi, it seems to have exhausted him.

"How did you survive?" The words burning on my tongue finally tumble free at the reminder of his power, slipping across one another. It shouldn't be possible. None of what he just did should be possible.

Asher's hair is the same shade as mine. He runs a hand through it, blinking a few times. "I guess it was my magic. I just... used it to push the cold away."

"Cold," I echo. Even though Asher said it without anger or fear, I still feel the sting of the word. Maybe I can form a spark, but my fire will never hold real heat. It's forever warped, the darkest reflection of Fiesi's power. A few more flames burst to life around my wrist, twining around my knuckles. I hurriedly clench my hands and extinguish them, looking up at Asher. "Sorry."

"What for?"

I twitch my hand upwards, displaying my fingers. "That."

Asher falls quiet for a moment. Then, strangely, he lets out a weak laugh. "I can feel it either way—you using your magic doesn't make that much of a difference. So there's no need to hide the fire. Just... don't use it on me, please." His voice falters, but the humor hidden within it sounds genuine.

Shock tumbles over me, stealing my voice. When I finally find it again, it falters. "You don't...?"

"Trust me." Pain flickers through Asher's eyes, dark and deep. "I know what it's like to have to shove part of yourself away. It hurts."

"But if I can't keep it in check, I..." I wince as flames crawl beneath my skin, already seeking release despite my feeble protest. I give in and let a small scrap of fire dart around my hand, focusing it, and steal a glance at Asher.

"You're controlling it now, aren't you?" Asher says, tipping his head to the side.

I look down at my flame, black as night. I twist my hand, and at my command it slithers in a few loose loops around my forearm. Despite everything, an instinctive smile tugs at my lips. "I suppose I am."

"Then as long as you don't touch me, we're fine." Asher lifts his shoulders, watching my fire. He seems calm enough, though I notice he's shivering.

The next question bubbles from my tongue, encouraged by Asher's openness. "Why aren't you scared?"

"I've... felt something similar before," he admits. "And if you wanted to hurt me, you'd have done it already."

My flame surges, clawing up to my neck. I jerk a step forward, catch myself, freeze. Raw, desperate eagerness floods through me in a dizzying wave. "What do you mean? Did you meet someone else like me?"

"No. No," Asher says quickly. "It was a creature of dark magic that worked in a similar way. But it wasn't human. And yours feels... different, somehow. I'm sorry."

My hope fizzles out as quickly as it appeared, and I look down. I'm alone. Finlay—no, Fiesi—had already told me as much. It was stupid to think otherwise, even for a moment. "What creature?"

"Rivas called it a..." Asher swallows, another, different spark of fear lighting in his eyes. "A Raek."

I haven't heard that name before—then again, I've heard almost nothing of the world. Something in what Asher said catches my attention, though. "Who's Rivas?"

Asher sucks in a sharp breath and ducks his head. The shadows hide his expression. "Finlay was chasing you, wasn't he?"

"Fiesi," I whisper. The name cracks on my tongue. I find my eyes tugged back to him, still crumpled on the ground. The blue of his cloak nearly glows in the darkness of the night. "H-he lied. His name is Fiesi."

Asher looks at me and then Fiesi, a spark of anger lighting in his gaze. "What did he do to you?"

"I..." I choke on the tears pushing up my throat and shake my head. "I don't want to talk about it."

Silence. Asher pressed his lips together, wavering. "Rivas... Rivas is the one after me. Do you know where Eldernia is?"

I shake my head. Asher's eyes fall, growing distant. There's another beat of quiet. I hear the distant hoot of an owl, and a cool breeze rustles through the branches above us.

"Well," Asher says thickly, "any magic-users there are killed or forced to serve the king as Valkir. And they use magic to hunt down anyone who resists. Rivas is a Valkir. I'm a rogue." Asher bites out the words, but they're laced with the slightest tremor of fear. "I guess we have that in common. Being chased."

I look up. Asher's definitely from someplace far away: his clothes are like nothing I've seen in Neyaibet or Oscensi. But his situation isn't that different from my own. I know the terror in his eyes; it still jangles through me, brought on by Fiesi's continued nearness.

"Yeah," I whisper. "I guess we do." 

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Update schedule? Self restraint? What are those?

This is the end of what little I've already writted via google doc. From here on out, it's new territory! The chapters will probably get longer—so far, these have been scarily short. Especially for me. Usually they reach about 4k, not *counts* 1.4k. My gosh O.o