Fireweed

Prologue

The earth fell silent on the day Ember died.

 The loss was so profound that there wasn't a living soul anywhere on the planet, whether they had known her or not, who didn't feel that grief ripple through them.   At the exhale of her last breath,  every creature with a voice held its tongue.   Birds stopped singing.   Crickets stopped chirping.   All music came to a sudden halt.   All  arguments were brought to a pause.  There were no roars, no howls, no barks, no screams, no pleas.   It was a moment of silence that the whole world observed.

But it was only a moment.

In the next moment, the world buzzed to life again, shrugging off that momentary pause as a brief bit of confusion.  They reasoned that they had lost their focus, or that they had gotten distracted.  They went on with their day, on with their lives, as if it had never happened.

But those that knew her, those that loved her, they had recognized what that horrible feeling meant. They cried and clung to each other, mourning so intensely that some feared the grief would kill them. Some wished that it would, if only to join her.

It was after three full days of mourning that Mildren approached Ember's clan, a small nomadic group consisting of her immediate family and her dearest friends. Mildren found them sitting around a fire late into the night, their eyes and cheeks still glistening with fresh tears. Only a few of them glanced up as the cloaked woman approached, but when Mildren pulled back her hood and revealed herself, they all snapped to attention, many of them jumping to their feet.  Everyone knew of Mildren, the eldest immortal, the all-powerful sorceress. She alone was responsible for the creation of Ember's race, the gems. And it was she who raised Ember as her own when they were destroyed. If there was anyone in the world who could offer hope and reassurance to them now, it would be Mildren.

Her face was lined with age, and her wild brown curls appeared to be graying. She stood before them, looking as tired and sad as the rest of them. Her grief had dulled her eccentric nature. It might have been the first time in centuries that a mortal's death affected her.

The silence hung heavy in the air, until at last Mildren stepped forward and extended a hand, her eyes landing on a man.  Rem, Ember's mate, the one leading her clan in her place. He was a tiger man, as they were called in those days. His body was that of any other man's, but he had the ears, eyes, claws, and tail of a tiger. His fur's coloring was strange, unnatural. It was an electric blue with deep purple stripes. It was the mark of Ember's touch. It meant that she had entrusted him with one of her most formidable powers, that of lightning. Behind him cowered he and Ember's children, a girl standing no taller than his knee and a boy who was even smaller.

"The amulet," Mildren said firmly.

Rem hesitated, and even considered lying to the sorceress. The amulet was all he had left of his late lover.  But it took only the slightest narrowing of Mildren's dark eyes for him to reconsider, and he pulled the trinket from his satchel and handed it to her.

Mildren herself had crafted the piece. It had been a gift to Ember on the day she set out on her own. It was a clear white stone that took on a rainbow hue in any light. She had mounted it to a simple chain, enchanted to forever be impervious to damage.  Mildren traced her finger over the smooth stone and brought it to her face, pressing it to her forehead as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Ah, yes," she said, holding the stone up for all to see. "She's here. Ember is here."

Her listeners exchanged looks.

"Ember is dead," Rem said, folding his arms. He knew his love was gone, and he didn't want to be teased with any other possibility.

Mildren opened her eyes and sent a stern glare his way. "Well of course," she said. "Her body is most certainly dead. But her soul," Mildren let the stone slip from her hand so that her fingers caught the chain and sent it swinging back and forth, "is right here."