The Fire Sorceress

Chapter Three

*Seto's POV*
I gasped and shook my soggy hair from my face, pulling my hood back up. I sat up and saw Ember's head on my lap. I just stared for a few minutes before gently setting her head down on the ground and picking her up bridal style. I walked over to my ravaged house and grimaced. I saw burnt wood planks tumble to the ground, my potions set and brewing stand little more than blackened, melted metal lying on the grass.
Before I would fall through the boards, I walked away from the house and headed in a random direction. In my mind, I knew I was following the tracks of Ember.

***
After a long while of carrying a girl in the humid, uncomfortable heat of day, I was still sodden. I saw a house-like shape in the distance and I quickly walked towards it. When I reached the porch, I knocked on the door carefully, without jarring the sleeping Ember.

A pretty woman with brown hair and green eyes answered the door and surveyed my bedraggled appearance with her daughter in my eyes. "May I...help you?" She glanced at Ember suspiciously. I opened my mouth when a wave of fatigue hit me. It was at that moment when my body decided to shut down. With the last of my consciousness, I hugged Ember close. My eyes rolled up into my head and I fell onto the ground, blacking out.

*Fern's POV*
I heard a soft knock at the door. Carefully, I opened the door to see a relatively handsome boy in soaking wet clothes holding a girl in his arms. "May I...erm, help you?" I glanced at the girl and back at him. He opened his mouth to respond, swayed, and fell onto the porch, obviously exhausted. I tried to wrench the girl from his arms, but strong hands were clasped around her. I sighed and readied my muscles. As I picked them up, I noticed the boy was slight but strong and the girl was slim and fit. I hauled them over to the couch and, conveniently, I had been doing laundry on the coffee table, located near the sofa. I dropped them on the floor and laid towels across the couch. I picked them up again and put them on the couch.

I sat back on my feet near the laundry, trying to ignore the people on my couch. Only then did I realize that one was my own daughter.

*Seto's POV*
I woke up a short time after on the lady's couch. Ember was still firmly tucked into my arms, and suddenly a wave of heat exploded across my face. I fell off the sofa and laid her on it. I didn't trust my legs, so I crawled over to where I heard cheerful humming. "Um, hi," I croaked. The woman's head whipped around. My hair was tousled and knotty, but my eyes were bright and I stared at her.

"Hello there, sweetie," she looked at me again.

"Um, my name's Seto," I started off.

"Fern."

"Um, Fern, I'm sorry to tell you--well, it's a long story, really..." I cleared my throat uncertainly.

"Well, Seto, I've got all day."

So I explained the story. Me finding a dog that shape-shifted into a pretty-looking girl that set my house of fire, and went to get water but then got pushed in by a creeper and I had to save her. I had no choice but to carry her out, and it would be exhausting to carry someone out of a lake and through a forest and such to a remotely disguised house.
"Um, so, I didn't really choose to faceplant on your door with some girl in my arms," I smiled wryly at the woman.

"This is certainly...an interesting story..." Fern blinked a few times.

"Um, I guess it is."

"Do you always say 'um' at the start of your sentences?" Fern dryly smirked.

"Um, I guess I do."

Fern laughed shortly. "Why don't you go take a nap, son. I'm sure you're still quite tired." Indeed I was, so with a mumbled 'um, thank you', I fell soundly asleep on the floor beside the couch.

A/N Wow I hate this chapter...some of you may find it sweet, but I don't like it...it was a necessary evil, though. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to vote and comment! Remember, stay blocky! ;)
Ash