Winter Flame

{ part one }

Mr. Alan Duncan, said the golden nameplate. 

Marie Langtrott did not like the looks of that name. 

She did not like the looks of his office in general.

Neat, tidy papers. A fancy cedar desk with a fancy cedar chair behind it. Even a miniature emerald chandelier hung from the ceiling, as the color green flooded the small room. 

Marie had been told Mr. Duncan was to be late, but thankfully, she was a patient and polite young girl. She knew when to look formal and when to dress casually, but this Social Services place was no-nonesense. So her long, free caramel hair was braided and brushed. Her shoes were her finest black slip-ons. Marie had also found a black plaid skirt and a white sweater, with a flower pin.

Creak. The sound of the door jolted her to reality. She spun around, her hair smacking her in the face. Mr. Alan Duncan had balding sandy blonde hair, a pencil tucked behind his ears, and granny glasses sat atop his nose. He frowned as Marie dusted herself off, and offered her hand to shake. 

"Hello, my name is-" She was cut-off with a tsk, tsk. 

"I know perfectly well who you are, Miss Langtrott." She grimaced as she sat down in the chair facing the man's desk. His green eyes met her dark brown. "Strange weather we're having, hmm?"

It was like the world could not stop talking about the lack of snow. She dropped her gaze. "Yes, very odd. Can we get on with it?" Mr. Duncan frowned as Marie desperately tried to keep control of the conversation. "I just, am dying to know why you called me here." She forced a smile.

The man handed her a newspaper. It was flipped to the page of obituaries. "Have you heard about the tragic passing of your uncle?" Marie should have expected the question. The memory flooded in again.

BANG.

"KALASTAN!"

She desperately tried concentrating on something else. "And why is that important?" Mr. Duncan slammed his fist on the desk as Marie trembled. He took a deep breath, and stood up, pacing the floor.

"It is important, Miss Langtrott, because he was the last in the line of Agrivious Fador. Do you know what that means?" She shook her head, her eyes bent down. She knew perfectly well what it meant.

"It means, no one has been training the Elements!" He roared, as she looked up, fear in her eyes. "The line of Fador has all the elemental power, and if even for a SECOND they stop training the Elements they will become wild! I give it six months before they destory our world!" He banged his fist down on the table. Silently, Marie started waves of fake tears pouring out of her eyes.

He softened, and sat down next to her. After a minute of fake sobs, she looked at him again. "I'm sorry, but you must stop your education at Shirley Homebody Catholic School and go and train the spirits."

Marie sighed a breath of relief as Mr. Duncan went to go and get the papers for signing. Little did he know she had been training the Elements since the death of her uncle, which had not been eighteen months prior, but seven years (she had never even gone to Homebody). Thankfully, he had lived a life away from the world, so no one had truly noticed he was gone.

Except the Elements.

Except Marie.

Stop, stop, stop. She couldn't bear thinking about him and the reactions of Star, Rose, Flora, and Swift when they learned he had been murdered. It was ridiculously, how much security he had had, but still-

BANG.

Stop, stop, stop.

Thankfully, Duncan came back into the room with a pamphlet of paper, taking him off her mind.

"You must get the ten, maybe eleven, under strict ruling." Eleven? This puzzled her. She had only known four spirits in her life, and she had grown up with them. "Especially that snow spirit." She looked down. If Duncan knew the snow spirit didn't exist, Marie thought angrily. He would not be saying this. She sunk down again. His words would probably be worse.

Silently, she began to read the documents. I have the ability guard the Elements with my life. I will not only teach normal schooling subjects but how to control their power. I choose to feed and watch over them. I know how to be a friend, but also a strict teacher. By signing this paper, I am aware that I am the Element Mentor.

There was a line for signing. Was this it? It was only making the job she had had for years official, and she had thought it would have been more nerve-racking. Slowly, she picked up Mr. Duncan's ballpoint pen and began to write in cursive, Marie Elaine Langtrott. She handed the papers back to the service worker.

"I know this is unusual, since commonly guardians are over eighteen." Marie nodded, but tried not to laugh at the irony of it. At age seven, she had begun training the five. And they thought fourteen was young.  "But the Element Guidelines are not ordinary." He smiled for the first time that day. "Good day to you, Miss Langtrott."

The two bowed (a formal goodbye in the Ashes), and Marie nearly skipped out, untying her braids. As she stood in the doorway, swishing her hair and putting it up in a ponytail, Mr. Alan Duncan called to her. "And, Miss Langtrott?"

"Yes?" She was not paying much attention, putting on her woolen scarf. Nothing could get her mood down.

"Just out of curiousity, do you know Ms. Fiona Darsworth who wrote your uncle's obituary?" Marie froze, then slowly turned around. The man looked genuinely curious despite his blunt guess. 

"I'm so sorry, I have a previous engagement." She turned on her heel, and began a brisk walk. As soon as she was out of the hallway leading to the offices, she began a sprint. He may have just been asking, but even the idea of him thinking she was Fiona Darsworth wasn't safe.

But was being in the line of Fador ever safe?