Luminara Starwhisper's Arc

Chapter 4 of 5

The petition was heard, but hearing was not winning. Luminara had promised the flower goddess's order an inquiry into the black groves the hour she took her seat, and she still had no power training in fire. The council would not confirm a candidate who claimed all eight types without proof in each. Ice she held. Star she was born to. Fire she had never touched without flinching. She left the chamber before the second bell and rode east three days to the ember-lit shelters of the fire tribe camp, where thatched roofs held iron bowls of burning coals and banners hung from tied poles. She had no invitation. She had one blessed dagger from the ice court in her belt and a name the guards did not know. Blazen Emberwing met her at the outer fire pit. He was shorter than she expected and stood with his hands open. Two scouts flanked him. Above the camp, a pair of red-scaled dragons circled once and settled on a ridge. "You're the star fairy from the council," Blazen said. "You broke a scent trail for the prince. My riders lost half a day." "I did," Luminara said. "I came to pay for it. And to ask a second thing." "Say both." "I need a fire sponsor for my council seat. And I need a teacher who will put fire in my hands before the next call." She drew the blessed dagger and laid it flat on the stone at his feet. "The ice court gave me this. I give it to you. It clears the debt I owe your riders. Take it as a guest-gift, not a trade." Blazen looked at the dagger. He did not pick it up. "My wife came uninvited to my camp with a delegation last month. She taught me fire and love burn the same. You come uninvited too. That is twice in one season." He nodded to a scout, who brought out a burnt-edged journal bound in scarred leather, the lava crest cracked across its shield. "This belonged to Rosalind's father. She left it here when we sat down to talk. It answers to fire blood. It will not answer to you. That is the first lesson. You cannot borrow heritage. You have to build the fire yourself." He picked up the dagger then and slid it into his own belt. "Debt cleared. Sponsor is harder. I will sign your line if you sit through seven days of pit work with my smiths. If you burn out, you leave with no signature and no shame. If you hold, I sign and send a rider." Luminara sat through seven days. Her palms blistered and healed twice. On the seventh night, Blazen pressed his thumb to her sponsor scroll and sealed it with a coal. She rode back with fire in her hands she could call and quiet, a signed fire sponsor line, and one new debt: she had agreed to speak for his wife's tribe when the council next heard the love fairies' complaint.