Photo: Tumulus
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The group had descended by the time Aeja reached the front door. She noted two other women on the front lawn dressed for a night out. They had their bodies to the entrance but angled towards each other as they spoke. As one, they followed her steps towards them.
"Hey" Aeja said in greeting.
"Hey" One replied.
"That's Claire" Flurris pointed to the woman who spoke "And that's Aura, second year" He pointed to the other one in leathers.
"What do I call you?" Aeja asked, gesturing to the two women.
"I'm Clarity to you" Claire said
"Aurora. Surprised you asked" Aura said
"She's the council woman's daughter. It'd be stupid if she didn't know. Political suicide" Claire said, throwing her hands out.
There was no need introducing herself.
"Let's see it" Claire asked, more excitedly.
Aeja knew exactly what it meant. Frankly, she was surprised no one had asked sooner. She lifted her forearm to elbow height and let out a small controlled ball of flame.
A few gasps came from the group as the orange glow from her flame danced in the reflections of admiring eyes. Aeja lifted her hand upwards towards her hair and swiped down from roots to tips. As her hands slid down, her strands lifted around her face in a fiery halo.
"Scidhi, that is beauty"
"I know" Aeja said.
With the momentum of passing through her hair, Aeja extended her arm away from her face. The entire arm lit up as she inched away from her hair.
She knew exactly what she looked like and drank in all their expressions from Flurris' raised brows to the reverence in the brown-eyed one. To them she had radiated the ball of flame to her hair, catching it and the rest of her arm on fire.
It hadn't happened that way of course. Her hair could catch flame all on its own same as every part of her body. She studied the flickering along her arm, watching as it ebbed in and out. So subtle that she almost missed it, the air nudged against her arm and split around it to feed the flames. Aeja snuffed out the flames immediately.
Her hair fell softly against her back and over her shoulder and she dropped her arm.
"Boundary number one. Never feed my flames. They are not yours to control"
"Come off it. We were all curious."
"I don't care. Don't ever try that again" With every syllable, she looked each one in the eye leaving brown eyes to last "Where's Little Plaza anyway?"
The women Flurris had been talking to earlier folded their arms and muttered something. It was infuriating to not hear what they said, but Aeja wasn't making enemies on her first night so she let it go.
Flurris and the others lifted off the ground and headed towards the high street. Claire and Aura followed behind on foot.
"Glad I'm not the only one walking" Aeja said
"Easy for you to say. I'm not grounded by choice."
The brown-eyed man descended and Aeja had to admire the smooth transition to walking.
If my movements could be this graceful, I wouldn't want to be grounded either
"Ignore them Scidhi. The grounded are not cursed, merely disabled"
