The hand sized flickering spark of red-gold bobbed and floated along the wind, casting its light across the pristine green marble floor. The child sprinted forward, squealing with laughter, his hands grasping toward the brilliant sparkling spirit.

"Khas, are you playing with the candlesprit again?" The soft musical voice is full of mirth, Khamira, Queen of the Eastern Sky, watches her sons undisguised youthful glee.

"Mother! The fire was called by Teacher Ushm. He tells me the candle is full of joy and fun!"

"If he believes that it is, and he can convince you that its true as well... Then it is!" Lifting him into her arms, she calls the gleaming ball into her palm and presses it into his hands. Khas laughs loudly as the heatless flames tickle his fingers. "We should give the spirit back to the candle though, it is a small thing, and will not last long free from his vessel."

Khas pouts, "But, Teacher made it for me."

"No, dear one, the spirit was made manifest by Ushm, but the candlesprit only has the Adar that the Teacher gave to it." her laquered nail pushes down on his nose, squishing it flat as Khamira frowns indulgently. "When the Adar grows weak it weakens the spirit, so you should return it before then."

"NO!" Khas tucks the shining ball into his sleeve and tries to wiggle his way out of her arms.

Her indulgence at its end, she allows him to drop, holding him up by his leg. Khas' robes falling over his head and tangle his arms, while his mother begins to walk back down the hall, ignoring the keen shrieks coming from her burden.

Striding through her palace, ignoring the servant's glances in the event that they are working in a room or corridor she needed to traverse, the Queen pauses momentarily to admire the splendor of one of the many gemstudded urns, this one set upon a pedistal near the classroom door.

Ushm Verridova, Elementalist, Teacher, Mentor, and currently very surprise, watches in confused horror as the Lady of Wind and Lightning walks through the archway. Her child swinging lazily from one perfectly sculpted hand, having been pacified by the lengthy, leisurely walk.

"My Lady. How may I be of assistance?" Bowing at the waist as he rises. Then he straightens at her signal.

"You have been indulging my son too much, Ushm, he is refusing to return an incarnate to its vessel." Her dark purple painted lips hold a small frown, a faint crinkle between her brows, "Even a candlesprit is a thing to be treasured, and Khas seems to think his is a toy to keep until it fades away. Perhaps a second span of teaching per day is in order."

Bowing far more deeply, Ushm agrees, "It would be an honor to tutor the Prince of the Adar'Ak'Kai more often if it is your wish, my Lady."

"Do not use his title, Ushm," depositing her dizzy, exhausted, and much more well behaved child onto a plush sitting pillow. Khamira meets his brilliant blue eyes with her own green gaze and speaks clearly, "He has yet to earn it. Though you are my child, you are not above reproach. You should always use your Adar with proper respect. Both for you and the Adar itself. Now. Return the spirit."

Khas looks dizzily at her, pulling the tiny ball from his sleeve pocket, while straightening his robe. "Mother. I didn't." He hesitates, "I mean, I'm sorry, I should have... When you... Sorry."

Reaching out with his Adar, he feels at the sphere, searching for the tiny knot of meaning that keeps it free from the candle. Minutes passing while Khas concentrates in silence. The spark flickers and fades, glowing motes drifting back to the candle sitting on the desk, Khas breaks into a wide grin while opening his eyes to his mother's smile.

"That is the right thing to do. Not because I told you to." His expression of confusion bringing joy to her heart, "Not only because I told you to." She brings him close for a hug, and then stands. "Obey Ushm, and attend your extra lessons without complaint. I will see you at the celebration of the Minor Bloom tonight, Khas."

Sweeping out of the room like the magic she had been named after, Ushm waits for another minute before he straightens once again. "Khas, why did you draw your mother's ire today of all days?"

"I just wanted..." Khas picks at the brilliant red pillow, pulling at the tiny strands, and avoiding his teachers gaze. "to keep it... I had fun chasing it for hours, it went up the stairs and around the kitchens, and it had so much fun in it."

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Ushm couldn't find it in him to chastise the boy more than his tyranical mother already had. The Adar'Ak'Kai Scion. Prince of the Kingdom of Magic, sitting on a pillow made of whispersilk, dyed with sap from the Flamewillow, more valuable than a set of Battle-Enchanted robes, and currently despondant because he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been. Ushm didn't know whether to laugh or to comfort his student.

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The symbol of the kingdom of Adar'Ak'Kai was known throughout the world, The Flamewillow on a background of blue and black struck sideways. Symbolizing their mastery of Adar and the two rulers, The King: Zakkiu, The Cutting Black, and The Queen of the Eastern Sky.

The start of their year was likewise linked with the Flamewillow. The blooming of the flamewillow was an event of celebration within their Kingdom, and prepared for and dreaded almost everywhere else. Most years the Flamewillow would have a minor blooming, its branches erupting into fire and rising slowly into the air, burning off the Adar it had gathered throughout the year and casting the petals from its blossoms into the sky. In Adar'Kezzak, capital of the Land of Magic. The blooming was due to start again, and with it the celebration.

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Zakkiu was sitting on his throne, when his wife glided down to settle at his side. "Khamira." His voice is deep and full of amusement, "I've heard tell that some savage had kidnapped the prince, and was seen striding through the halls while carrying him like a sack full of nabir"

"What a terrible crime, have the guard apprehended the brute responsible?" Her eyes sparkle as they roam down his gold trimmed sable armor, tight against his muscled frame.

"I've heard tell that she had taken to the skies, striding among the clouds like one of the Tsavn-birds after depositing the child with orders that he be forced to study." The gauntlet is smooth against her fingers, hard enough to deflect most projectiles and ensorceled against Adar. 

"A scoundrel, though one with our child's future in their interests." 

"Then I suppose I must pardon the monster who would do such a thing" brushing aside her windswept lockes, Zakkiu sent Adar lacing around the crown of her head, pulling the strands into order, before solidifying into a circlet to match his own. Heavy looking, but light as air, made of his magic, silver and onyx in color. Dark as the deep skies, shining as bright as the third moon's light. 

"He needs to learn to respect the elementals before he abuses them. He needs to respect them,and use them wisely, otherwise he will only be able to bind and comand them. They will have no faith in him, and in turn he will have no faith in them."

"Elementalism is your domain, I have no mastery over that aspect, and if you believe he needs more training..."

A guard straightens up near the edge of the dias, fist to breast, drawing their attention away from their conversation.

"Your Magesties, Lady Surassa, of the Crystal Shores, begs an audience with you."

"Of course, Taba, escort her forward."

"Glory to the Adar'Ak'Kai, the Flamewillow kingdom, and its illustrious King and Queen." the blue skinned woman, her hair braided with the ceremonial shells, inclines her head in a modest bow.

"You bless us with your presence at our humble ceremony," Zakkiu rises and bows shallowly with a wink and a flourish, his ruby and gold cape fluttering in a simulated wind as he gestures at the mass of people, drinking and gathering around the many markets, taverns, and the festival square. "Surassa, there is no need to be so formal, this is a time of celebration! Fourth minor bloom of the cycle." 

Breaking into a smile, Surassa rushes forward and into her fathers arms. "Tell me about Khas! And you, and mother! Ruling even this tiny kingdom takes so much time and effort, I can hardly keep up with anything else!"

"Well this is only his sixth bloom, and he's just learning his Adar, so he's a lot like you were at that age."

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Dressed in his silver and black robes, Khas rushed forward to stay beside Master Ushm's side, as they walk up to the Skyvault. "Is this a Grand Bloom?"

"No, this is the fourth minor bloom of the cycle. This is a mild celebration compared to a Grand Bloom. We wont have another Grand Bloom for another four cyles at least, it varies you know?"

"Why?" with the predictable curiousity of youth, Khas responds to Ushm's prompt

"Because the Great Flamewillow gathers the Adar of fire and plant, pulling from the sun and the ground to grow large and protect itself from other plants."

"Why would it need to protect itself? Other plants are boring"

"No, Khas, only the ones who don't threaten the Flamewillow can even try to grow nearby. The Flamewillow can tell, you know. Stranglethorns, Viperstalkers, Tavenwanderers, Kruxweavers, Starlightblossoms, and the like, the Flamewillow will not blossom if it senses something that may threaten it. It gathers more and more Fire Adar until it unleashes it in a massive burst." Ushm looks at the wide eyed child, stepping onto the stone platform with waist high walls all around them, "Imagine it, Khas, the Grand Flamewillow, unleashing an orb of fire as large as the palace, scouring the other plants from the landscape to remove all competition from the domain it has claimed."

Guiding the Skyvault from the roof of the palace, towards the festival square, Ushm glances at Khas as he stares up at the gargantuan tree towering above the city, its ruby flowers standing out like gemstones on the many branches encircling the city, dominating the sky above them. Khas understood somehow, in his own way, that the tree that had always been there was special in a way that he hadn't ever considered. Instead of a building, or a hill, or even a mountain, this thing was alive, and it decided what was allowed to grow in the area around it. 

This was the Flamewillow, it dominated the symbol of Adar'Ak'Kai because the kingdom was just like the Flamewillow. It decided what was allowed to exist nearby, because it had the power to make that decision. The things that it was not threatened by were allowed to grow and to thrive. Everything else would be removed; reduced to smoldering ash.