The letter

by zoruatrainer66

The question

I sat in stunned silence for what felt like a minute. The fire had said yes and was looking at me, waiting for my answer. After I got over the shock of a talking fire I thought about its question, did I want to save my people? I was nearing my ninth birthday, soon I would be of age to take the title of princess, my mother didn't want me to be spoiled and mean so she withheld the title to keep me from abusing power, oh how I have failed her...

Oh I went on a tangent for a bit, so I was sitting there thinking about the question, as much as a eight year old could think on such matters, in one hoof was the fact that we were running low on food, we would soon starve and die, on the other hoof what could this fire do to deliver us from our situation? I chose to ask this question.

" What can you do to help us?" I asked with curiosity.

" I can give your people a chance to survive, you will be able to breathe the toxic air outside as if it were just a snow storm, you will be able to fly without fear of the ash snow weighing on your wings, and most important of all, you will hunger for food no longer." The fire said in rushed crackles.

" Not being hungry any more would be nice, but how would you do this?" I ask curious as to how one could possibly have the power to make us not ever need to eat again.

" All you have to do is step in my flame and I can give you a chance to survive in this place of destruction, just step in my flames and let all your troubles burn away." It said in a whisper, as it spoke i began to feel sleepy again, my eyes half-lidded, I curled up by the fire, as I did so it spoke once more " when you awake, think on my question and on your answer. I will be awaiting your return"

When I woke up I was laying near my mother, she was looking at me with her kind, sad eyes, concern plain on her face. As I stirred she gave a sigh of relief, she craned her neck down and nuzzled me softly " you've been asleep for two days, I thought you would never wake up again, I found you near the flame, what were you doing?" She said with concern.

" Mom?" I ask groggily, "did you hear anyone speaking to me?"

" All I heard was the fire crackling dear, is something wrong?!" She said hurriedly.

" Mother I'm fine, just tired, but there was something I wanted to tell you. I can't remember what it was." My head was foggy, all I could remember was getting tired in front of the flame, and hearing it crackle...

" I guess it was my imagination." I say, getting up. I walk to the edge of the lake, get a drink of water and then lay down beside my mother. She still has stains on her face. I notice some new stains as well." Mother were you crying again?" I ask quietly.

" Of course not dear, why do you ask?" She says hesitantly, I could tell she was lying.

" Mom, don't lie to me I can see the stains on your coat." I whisper, I was starting to tear up. To me my mother was the world, to see that she was crying put tremors through my heart. It hurt to see my mom cry, she was so kind and strong, she once saved a colt from being crushed by a run-away cart by stopping it with her body. The colt got away fine but my mother had three cracked ribs and a broken leg, every day of her recovery that colt and his family sat by her bed and talked to her. Telling her stories of their experiences and having small talk, the colt thanked her every day. I slept and lay by her the entire time. Me and the colt became friends fast, his name was Flash Fly, he had a coat so bright it almost glowed yellow, a mane and tail as green as a forest, and the wings of a glassworks butterfly. My friend had died trying to evacuate, the Flame had helped calm me when I found out. All I had to do to calm down was go sit by it, and talk about the experiences we had together.

You know, if all that happened hadn't happened, I'm pretty sure I would have married him later on in life, he was kind and gentle, he listened to my opinions and problems without bias or indifference, but I guess you could chalk that up to childhood innocence, huh? Either way I had developed a crush on him, he was my first crush, Flash Fly. Always there to listen and comfort, joke and play.

Oh, look at that I'm crying, now some of the ink is going to smudge. I'm sorry, I haven't thought about him in nearly five-hundred years, ruling the changelings is a time consuming job, I haven't just had the time to think about things like this in fifteen-hundred years.

Anyways, back to the story...