[Sarah]

“You are a bird of fire,” he snarled. “You do not belong up here in the cold,” he added.

“Where would you have me go?” She asked desperately. “This is the only place I know,” she said.

“This place,” he hissed quietly. “Is going to kill you,” he finished.

[Sarah]

“You think I care? You think I won’t rise again from the ashes?” she asked him.

“There will be no ashes if you die up here. There is only the cold,” he replied.

“Where would you have me go?” she repeated.

[Sarah]

For the first time the lavamancer paused. He seemed to be weighing his options, the few he had. “Go south, to the volcanoes,” he pleaded.

“Where would you go?” she asked.

“I would go with you,” he said firmly.

“You would melt,” she snapped.

[Sarah]

“What is at these volcanoes anyways?” she asked. “I can well get on by myself, and the gods know you’ll be no help there in the heat,” she reasoned.

“It’s better than freezing and being forgotten up here,” he sapped. “I know of a… I know of a clan that’ll take care of us,” he admitted.

“You’d have us go into unfamiliar territory and be taken in by a strange clan?” she asked, outraged. Even the thought of approaching another clan made her shudder. The paragon clan’s she was used to did not take kindly to strangers.

[Sarah]

“They are farther south. There is more food to hunt, more water to drink from. They will welcome us,” he said.

“How do you know this?” she asked.

“I have visited them before, they have shown nothing but hospitality,” he replied.

“We will not just be there and pass on. We mean to stay, and you do not know if they would have us,” she snapped.

[Sarah]

“Why wouldn’t they?” he asked.

“If it is as you say then they will need room for the children they are no doubt spawning in droves. With plentiful food and water and shelter then they will be growing until their food and water and shelter run out,” she snapped.

“They would remain sustainable. Their leaders are no fools. Besides whether they will have us or not, we will leave these mountains,” he said firmly.

[Sarah]

She steeled herself for a moment. “Very well,” she said through gritted teeth. “We will go south,” she said. There was no way she could stay in the north, she knew this. She had known since she arrived that one day she would have to leave. Every day she spent in the northern wastes she felt her power sap.

[Sarah]

“We will leave at sunrise. Flying south will be best when the sun is showing. You’ll be able to recharge and maybe we will both stave off freezing for another day. The flight will be hard, but the quicker we get south the better,” he said. He looked at her with regret in his eyes. Her once bright plumage was dull and the deep blackness that covered her scales was growing greyer.

[Sarah]

She gave him a curt nod before heading off. It was the middle of the night and she would need to get some rest if she expected to fly at all. The thought of flying under the sun was a welcome one. The sun had always been her life force, and flying with its heat on her back would empower her. Even if the northern sun was less powerful, it would be enough to get her by.

[Sarah]

Come morning they would both head out to a new life. He hoped for them all that the southern clan would accept them. He had never known them to turn away kind and able bodies. Surely they would have some use for the two. Snow touched a part of their realm, he knew, he could hunt there, and she in the south. He barely slept as he thought about leaving the cold north.