Two stared blankly as her burgundy-clad younger self rained a cascade of increasingly creative cures. Spanning topics from her short height to her suspect percentage before delving into more personal attacks.

Including such gems as ‘swamp scale’ and ‘feckless whore’. Followed by a detailed decennial of her lacking agency. With an especially long tirade about how she should have followed the brothels out of the city when the governor started removing them.

She should be offered, yet she had to fight a burning smile. Such vitriol such creative denouncement. Had time blunted her tough into a club. She couldn’t imagine half the things that spewed her lips. She was even properly in her teens.

A vivid description of her mother’s relations with a clam forced her to laugh. Apparently, perfectly explained why the woman abandoned her and her sisters and Two’s spinelessness.

“Don’t you dare ridicule me!” she squeaked between gnashed teeth.

Two shook her head and raised her hands in surrender. “I’m not trying to offend, I just find this whole situation ridiculous.”

The spark simmered down. “What about this,” she gestured at the burning buildings and nudged a charred form with her foot. Accusation shone in her eyes.

Two took a moment to sit with that question. Fear and grim determination and cloaked her since she entered the Labyrinth. Though built from her this place was touched by the divine.

She’d brushed one of it’s dangers. She’d braced for another on this path, but now. She looked at the girl postured as if she were the empress. A raised hand all that separated her from anything she desired.

Free of mortal concerns. Beyond rebuke.

She gripped the amulet beneath her cloak.

Two had seized her freedom, but it came with new chains. Somewhere along the way that flame had flickered to scant embers.

“I, I don’t have the words. Can’t you read my mind? You’re part of me aren’t you.”

The girl shot Two a flat look. The more scornful sister of the expression Two wore earlier. “I don’t know, can’t you read my thoughts? It’d save me the breath I waste insulting you.”

The vitriol passed unheard. “It seems we’re both at a loss.”

An awkward silence drowned the crackling fires. Two the younger glared fiercely. Two the older wasn’t certain what was happening. Her social graces melted in the face of petulant wrath.

“So,” Two broke the silence.

“So,” Burgundy drawled.

Two sighed. No paths presented themselves. It was time to plough forward “I need to select an essence and I think you’re my best option.”

“I knew it!” she smiled triumphantly and skipped about. Forcing Two to follow her deeper into the ash-caked streets. “ I mean it was obvious. You need me. You need fire in your life. Pomp for you dreary ass.”

“No,” Two declared her cold tone allowing no disagreement.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

She stopped and whirled on Two. “What do you mean no.” Fury lined her voice but it was a different sort of rage. The flames fell revealing the black skeletons of burnt-out homes. The coals thrummed to life, burning brighter than before.

A beast of cinders ready to pounce.

Deep shadows grew along heat-ravaged wood. The girl’s face fared no better. Obscured by deep pools of black. The eyes glowed a baleful amber.

A cinder singed her cheek. They hadn’t hurt before

The girl was as much a thing as what lurked in the dark water. The thought struck her, but she held her ground. Back straight and eyes focused. She could face this, she couldn’t turn from every fear.

“I don’t need blind anger and needles vitriol,” she said evenly.

“Then what do you want from me you blind Bitch! That is what I am!” Her voice held a manic edge. Her shoulders curled in on herself. Her wrath roared almost drowning the perfume of freedom.

“I want essence to cultivate and the power it grants. For that, I want your will and desire to never be bound. Your fearlessness, your pride. I do not need the parody of every child rage I have ever felt.”

Rage twisted their features. Two braced for violence. Marshalled her will to enact change on her world and the shard that sought to deny her.

“Is that all I am to you?” Their voice as tight and choked with emotion.

Their gazes clashed. Inexpressible fury and in-expression. Her heart churned beneath her still features. The questions bit deep and found purchase something willfully forgotten.

She’d asked that question before. To Daisy, to herself to the world that had turned it turned on her after the taint. At times the words differed but the meaning remained. She’d gotten many answers until she was tired of having the obvious thrown in her face.

“To me, you are a hope. That maybe I won’t have to become someone I despise or pity. A path forward through this mess I’ve made for myself.”

Contemplation softened her visage. Though her eyes still bore into her. Not quite convinced, but that was okay. Two saw a way without violence.

Two knelt before the girl bringing their faces close. She took a deep breath in and released it slowly. She gazed up into those burning eyes. She wondered what lay beyond them.

She was so small in her cloak. Its hems were tied back. Shortening its arms and sleeves. Still, it swallowed her. Hid her feet until she walked and her hand until she raised them.

Such an impractical wear, but she’d loved the way it wrapped her. Like a warm hug. Two had raised the hems when she returned to stealing. The burgundy wore it well.

She let amusement lighten her tone. It helped her soften. She was used to lying. False faces came easily. Yet sincerity felt strange to her. "Maybe I need a touch of your fire. A bit of pomp to blunt my feckless edges.” burgundy huffed. “But anger needs to be refined. As nice as it sounds I can’t go around swearing and glaring at everyone. I’d like to go forward with you if you let me. We can find a middle ground” By the end, it sounded like something an angel might say.

Two offered her hand. The girl stared at her then her gaze drifted to the offered limb. “On one condition. I get to see the memories.”

“Please elaborate.”

She muttered something that began with ‘your dense clown’. After several long seconds of intense muttering, she raised her voice. “ I know why you’re here but most of my memories are only relevant to the emotions I represent.” She looked ready to bite her hand by the end.

To know yourself only through moments of rage. She couldn’t imagine that. “Sure,”

The burgundy girl shot a hard look. Then she sighed. “Fine,” She took Two’s hand.

Flames slipped from the sources. Heat sloughed off burning coals. The conflagration melted into pools of fire. Then she breathed in and the sparks and embers flew to her. Tendrils of orange light crackled and flowed onto currents of immolation.

They swarmed the girl like a storm. Two was in the way. Fire rushed past faster than any gust she’d ever felt. It didn’t pull at her clothes or play with her hair. It screamed past. Howling wind and roaring flames. Heat drowned her like a flood.

Then it was done. She blinked slowly and raised her head. Silence rang loudly, in a world devoid of light save for a girl with a shit-eating grin.

“Your face! You should’ve seen it you looked like such an idiot.” The girl laughed. Two was too focused on her continued survival and the flames licking the girl’s skin and cloak to care.

She stood shakily and observed the nowhere she found herself. “Where are we.”

She paused her cackling to sneer. “Fuck if I know. Aren’t you supposed to be leading this thing? If you can’t don’t worry I’m smart enough for the both of us.”

She stared blankly at the smug girl. “Do you have to be such a bitch.”

They gasped. “You can swear!”