It was once more time for one of the twice-weekly date nights. This time it was Ember's turn and he was quite excited as he took Iris's hand and led her to a less crowded portion of the upper mountain. Well, there were rarely that many people on the top of the mountain. The flying beastmen might use it to get some easy height for their flight and others would go there to enjoy the hot springs, but that wasn't the 'crowded' they were worried about now. Instead, they went to a more empty, stony area without many buildings or things that could catch fire.

Ember ensured that his little mate was sitting comfortably on a somewhat flat stone with a blanket spread over it before backing away a good distance from her. Then, he explained

"I've been working on my ability to control fire like you suggested. I even taught myself some tricks and thought you might enjoy watching me perform for you."

It was a bit strange for Ember to put on a show, flaunting his skills like this, but he really did want to make his mate happy. This was where he usually went to meditate and practice with his fire element. It was difficult for the fire to spread over the bare stone without anything especially flammable to spread the fire. Even if something did happen, he was confident in his own flying abilities allowing him to go get help in a timely manner.

Iris's eyes lit up at Ember's suggestion and she was quite enthusiastic as she exclaimed

"I'd love that!"

Seeing his mate looking up at him expectantly, Ember felt proud. He rolled his shoulders back, cracked his knuckles, and puffed his chest out as he prepared to start the show. Starting off slow, Ember summoned a ball of fire into his hand, feeling the familiar warmth, before slowly tossing the ball up into the air in an arc. He caught it in his other hand, much as a juggler might catch a ball. Then he tossed it back into the air, summoning a second one in his first hand while catching the first ball of fire in his second hand.

Iris wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she was certainly surprised as she watched Ember continue to juggle the fireballs, eventually increasing their number to three as he slowly built up speed. The show was a bit simple, but it was nonetheless impressive that he even could juggle the fire. As he slowly tossed the balls from his left to his right hand, closing his hands to extinguish the fire, a look of concern crossed over Iris's features.

Once the fire was completely out, she rushed to his side, grabbed his hands, and looked them over worriedly, before asking

"Does it hurt?"

Ember shrugged his shoulders, simply replying with

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"It doesn't bother me that much. Besides, it's good to be able to put out my own fires when necessary."

Ember mostly just seemed like he was putting on a tough act, but it was true. At times, in the past, he had experienced the odd phenomenon of literally being alight with flames as he flew through the sky. It was a confusing thing, but he always came away without any injuries. Unfortunately, he didn't have others of his kind to answer questions about what was normal for their tribe.

Recently, Ember had learned that he had some level of fire resistance where his own flames wouldn't hurt him. It had been a painful process to find out that other flames still had some effect, though he was still much better off than others might be. Once he had learned this about himself, he had become much more risky in his own training as he tried to learn the ins and outs of everything.

Iris still felt worried as she finished looking Ember over for any injuries. She didn't want to discourage him and she knew it was possible that his abilities might include some protection against the element, but she couldn't help but worry. Deciding he likely knew better about his own abilities than she did, she went to sit back down, only commenting

"Alright, well, just be careful. It hurts me to see you hurting."

Ember felt his heart warm at his mate's words. She was worried about him! Still, he reassured her

"Don't worry, love, I know what I'm doing. I've practiced all of this thoroughly before inviting you to watch."

Iris nodded, sitting once more with an expectant look as she waited for him to continue the show. Ember wasn't the sort who would enjoy dancing or anything like that, instead, he was very much a large, muscular brute of a man. So, there was no way he would perform the sorts of tricks performed at fire shows in the modern world. Instead, his tricks were kept quite simple, but were impressive nonetheless.

He created arcs of flame around himself, controlling it to create various shapes and even walking around in small semi-circles to show off his control. Whereas most fire shows might require the flame to be attached to a chain or a torch, Ember needed none of that. He simply manipulated the flame, willing it to go where he wanted and that made the whole thing that much more impressive.

Sometimes he would even spread a level of flame on the ground, jumping over it, before making his way over to one end to walk across the flames, extinguishing them as he went. While some of the males and most of the females had taken to wearing more clothing as a sort of fashion statement, Ember still kept it simple with only a skirt to cover his nether region, so there was nothing on his feet to catch fire.

Eventually, Ember increased the complexity of his displays, even tossing fireballs of varying sizes at the nearby rocks or creating a tornado of sorts around himself that might serve as a barricade to protect himself from attacks in a fight. However, eventually, Ember had to end things as he began to perspire and pant heavily, having clear signs of elemental exhaustion.

Iris made sure to applaud enthusiastically, showering Ember with praise as she did so. She was impressed by his efforts to improve himself and master his element. The fact that he had even thought to try and turn his progress into a performance for her was very sweet. Of course, she had to reward his efforts with lots of heavy petting and passionate kissing to show just how much of a turn-on his thoughtfulness paired with his impressive display of strength was for her.