Burning Night: A Tale of the Everburning City

Chapter 20, Natalina

"Did it work?" Coraline asked, just as Natalina stepped back onto the street.

Natalina laughed, torn between hilarity and terror. She reached to her side, and shifted the sword tied to her belt, finding the weight uncomfortable.

"Yep. I've never done anything so illegal before," Natalina laughed. "How do Colonels live with having that kind of power, every day?"

Coraline nodded her head, solemnly. "It's best to have a teacher who can make sure you separate your power from your good sense. You have to have self-confidence, you can't second-guess every decision you make, but you have to to be willing to change your mind, until you have to make it."

"You sound like you know something about it," Natalina noted.

Coraline held out her hand, and as she opened her fingers, Natalina could see a small figure, made of fire, dance and wave its arms as a thin whirlwind of fire swirled around it.

"Fair point," Natalina said. "Let's get going, so I can take off this sword before I'm tempted to order my residence relocated somewhere in High Central."

Coraline laughed. "Could you assign a squad to help me move?"

"Stop tempting me," Natalina said, her tone rising in mock outrage.

Coraline laughed, and Natalina let herself do the same, finding the expression wonderfully liberating. The last few days had been the tensest of her life, with the City's most dangerous politics kicking-in her own door.

A small part of Natalina's mind was screaming at her to be cautious, to embrace the smothered embers of fear that only faintly prickled at the bottom of her stomach. It was impossible to do otherwise, with the woman who now walked beside her.

"You're a burning demigod," Natalina said, shaking her head.

"Pretty sure I'd be taller," Coraline replied. "What brought this up?"

"I've survived the last few weeks on so much luck I should be throwing my firstborn into the Spire," Natalina said. "I was being targeted by an Undercity gang backed by a colonel. By rights, I should be dead. Except that an undercity gang backed by a colonel isn't really a threat to you."

"Burn me, you could have laid waste to the Undercity at any time," Natalina continued. "You could stroll over to Oversight's headquarters and level it! You could walk into the Agora, torch the tapestries and slag the stone stools Parliament sits on, call it the throne of ash and declare yourself empress. And who, but another crafter, could challenge you?"

"Now, I-" Coraline began, but Natalina cut her off.

"And even then! Apparently, hardly anyone in the Guild could challenge you! You're an ash-touched demigod, and there's absolutely nothing that could stop you."

Coraline stopped and took a deep breath. "Finished?" the crafter asked Natalina.

Natalina nodded.

"Do you know the difference between power and authority?" Coraline asked.

Natalina shook her head. "There really isn't-"

"That's the powerless cynic in you talking. The difference is pretty simple. I have power, and that sword has authority," Coraline said, pointing at the sword in Natalina's hands.

"That's semantic nonsense," Natalina began.

"It matters!" Coraline exclaimed, angry for the first time that Natalina had ever seen. "Authority is power that other people give you. It's power other people believe you should have. It's power other people believe you deserve."

Coraline took a deep breath, and said, "when I took this coat, I denied myself any right to authority. I cannot become an officer, I cannot become a bureau chief, I can't even become a burning traffic controller at a train hub. I can never have authority, and have spent the last decade of my life handcuffed, unable to even look for my own sister until yesterday!"

"And I chose these bonds," Coraline continued, her eyes watering. "My master made me believe in their value. That is the final demand of the coat, this coat dyed in rust and red soil. It is dirt and old iron, the lowest and most basic foundation of our world. I serve, by burying my power beneath your authority. Don't you dare simper to me about it."

Natalina stared at the short, stocky woman. Her knees shook, and she clutched at the sword in her hands despite the stinging cold.

Their silence lasted for the rest of the walk to the train station. Natalina walked with her head bowed it chastised silence, quietly reflecting on the realisation that Coraline had held herself from searching for her sister for a decade because of the power that she and her coat represented.

Natalina only worked up the resolve to speak again, after they sat down. "I didn't know that about the colour of your coat."

Coraline smiled and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I know my delivery was harsh. I tend to give that speech the way my master delivered it to me. She's very good at making sure you remember what she wants you to. Threat of immolation is her most popular teaching tool."

"She threatened you?" Natalina asked.

"Not just me. I'm fairly confident Tabitha a'Loria has threatened nearly every person of importance in the City," Coraline reflected.

"Wait, your teacher was Crafter a'Loria?" Natalina asked.

"Yes. And if I walked into the Agora and turned the stone stools of Parliament into my throne, she would be the first person called to stop me," Coraline said.

Natalina stared at her, wide-eyed.

"And the last," Coraline added. Her words were punctuated by the hiss of the car doors as they closed.

The train slowly wound up to speed, pushing itself forward as the tracks rose up and above the nearby apartments as it joined the main lines leading out of central.

"Red soil and rust," Natalina reflected. She shook her head, not fully able to believe it. "It's humility is so wonderfully strange, considering what the coat means to the City."

"Not every Crafter knows the reason for it," Coraline said.

A harsh squeal ripped through the air as the train suddenly tried to throw Natalina forward. She lunged for the nearest support bar, barely managing to keep herself from falling to the floor.

The sword clattered to the ground, but Natalina didn't dare try to pick it up until the train had almost stopped.

Coraline bent down and picked up the sword, offering it to her.

"Everyone!" Natalina heard someone call, from further ahead on the train. "Everyone, there will be a short delay. One of the trains has been commandeered by a courier, under 'Priority: Brown'. Several cars have been left on the tracks. An engine has already been dispatched to collect them. We are very sorry for the inconvenience. Feel free to blame the military if any of you are late."

Natalina sat back down, and smirked. "You know..."

"That was us, wasn't it?" Coraline asked.

"I'm burning certain of it," Natalina replied.