The jolt knocked Amanda off balance and she quickly snuffed her flames out as she fell, least she accidentally burn something she shouldn’t.

Exhausted, she just sat for a moment on the deck, as the ship sailed forward under sheer momentum, and around her men scurried to get the ship to turn.

None of them looked at her, at least not at first, but then as things started to calm down she noticed the glances. Worried looks and fearful ones. Even Neko seemed afraid to approach her. He watched from over in front of the wheelhouse. A moment later Shiv joined him and the two whispered together in between shooting glances her way.

Amanda stayed where she was. She couldn’t move. She was too tired. It hadn’t taken everything she had but it had been close. She knew she should get up or she’d put herself at risk of hypothermia again but she just couldn’t and this time no one came to help her. At least not at first.

But then he came. The captain. Sirius.

His long black coat billowed about him. It caught in the light and shone just like the leg of the kraken had.

Wait. The light?

Amanda stared dimly out at the sky. The world was lighter now than it had been half an hour ago, and there just between a gap in the clouds not far above the horizon was a bright glimmer of sunlight. She stared hopefully toward it until a moment later it vanished. The rain had stopped but around them the wind blew fiercely and the salty spray seasoned their skin.

Amanda dropped her gaze to the deck, too tired to lift her head up. She watched as the water moved about across the planks with the rolling of the ship. She shivered. She needed to get up.

And large hand appeared in front of her face.

“Hey,” Sirius said softly.

She looked up and met his green eyes. She saw no fear there and so a semblance of hope stirred again. With the last of her strength she placed her hand in his and let him help her to her feet. She nearly stumbled once but Sirius caught her and then she was fine. Propelled by his helpful hand, she gathered her wits and then side by side they slowly walked back toward the centre of the ship.

“Mathias was hurt, just inside the door,” Amanda told him.

“I know,” Sirius replied. “He’s been taken care of.”

They were almost there when one crewman suddenly appeared between them and the door.

“No way!” he shook his head. “You can’t let her inside the ship. You saw what she just did. She tried to set the sails on fire.”

Around them a group started to gather.

“She’s a firestarter.”

“She lied to us.”

“Put us all in danger.”

“She nearly burnt the ship.”

“We should have the water elementals watch her.”

Most of the crew who spoke were the ones she knew less well but even so as she glanced toward those she knew best they dropped their gazes and did not speak in her defense. Neko looked hurt. Bruce looked scared. Alice and Thatch looked angry. And Shiv? Shiv looked like he was trying not to smile.

“Maybe we should bind her?” And that suggestion came from Benny.

He was of course referring to magical binding but Amanda would have been surprised if they were capable of it. Binding was complicated magic.

“With what bloody magic?” asked Patchie. He looked tired too, no doubt from healing injuries.

“I dunno,” replied Benny. “Fallon does the infusements.”

“But we ain’t got no binders on this ship.”

“Argh, I dunno. I was just thinking if we made her safe then it wouldn’t be so bad right.”

There was a mixture of nods.

“What about that box Sable made for the acid spiders?” called out one man.

Another mixture of nods.

Amanda imagined being locked up in some kind of tiny metal box with only a few holes at the top for air for the rest of the journey and she suddenly felt terribly sorry for the arasnids.

“She saved the ship.” It was Sirius who spoke now, louder than his usual voice. “Or were none of you watching.”

They were all silent a moment and then a mumbling picked up as they all conferred with one another. The truth was, the morning’s events had been hectic, and everyone had their own slightly different view of how things had transpired.

Their arguments got louder. It was like listening to one of the stories they often told around the dinner table, with conflicting accounts and missing details. Nobody was certain exactly what had happened. And where they didn’t know, their imagination filled in the blanks.

Amanda had always loved those stories, and they way they all told their own version with such gusto, like a million worlds that had sprung from one. But this wasn’t a story. And as she thought back on those nights they suddenly seemed bathed in a darker light.

She glanced up at Sirius. He had on his face an expression of terror which matched her own feelings, but also a look of thoughtfulness. He was working on a plan, on something to say. She could see him struggling away at it. He was smart, he’d get there eventually.

But Shiv beat him to it.

“Oi!” he cried. “We’re still in the middle of a bloody storm. There’s work to be done. She’s been on this ship for over a week now and hasn’t set… hasn’t sunk her yet. A sleep deprived firestarter though, who the fuck knows. Now, I say we let her and the captain get some shut-eye and re-confer in the morning all right?” He glanced at the sky and noticing the light he added, “The proper morning. We can’t do anything about it until we’re in the calms anyway.”

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

There was some grumbling. One guy quietly, and offhandedly, suggested,

“Well, we could toss her overboard.”

“Wouldn’t she just burn us?” whispered another a little louder.

“What’s the captain gonna do if she does set something on fire?” Crick called louder than either of the previous two comments.

“The captain will take a bucket of water to bed with him,” Shiv told him.

To Amanda’s surprise Crick conceded. There was still some mumbling from the others though. Before it got too loud Shiv turned to Amanda and Sirius and said, “Get gone, before they change their minds. I’ll take care of things out here. You two should get some sleep. One of us will need to be awake tomorrow. Don’t worry about getting up early. I’ll hold the fort until you return.” His tone was reassuring but there was something in his eyes that unsettled Amanda, something she couldn’t quite read.

He gave them a smile.

But Shiv never smiled. Not like that. He laughed and he grinned but he never just smiled. There was something not right about that smile too. But Shiv had defended them, the crew did seem a little less hostile, and Amanda was oh so very tired. She longed to curl up in Sirius’ arms even if just for a few more hours. So, ignoring her instincts, she returned with the captain to his cabin.

They said not a word until they reached Sirius’s cabin. He shut the door as she took a seat on the edge of his bed. She longed to lay down and close her eyes but she knew he would have questions first.

Even though she hadn’t see it in his eyes yet, she was sure when he he turned to look at her that she would see the same fear she had seen in the eyes of the others. She was certain he had simply been hiding it before. But when he did look at her she was surprised to find only curiosity. There was no fear there.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

He dark eyebrows disappeared under his dark hair. “Afraid of you?”

“I could set you all on fire and just take that pegasus.” She said it plainly. She wanted to avoid confusion. It wasn’t meant to be a threat. She just needed him to know what was possible otherwise she’d always be wondering if he just hadn’t understood how dangerous she was and then she’d always be waiting for the day he finally figured it out.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You’ll what? Burn a whole ship of people for a horse?”

“It isn’t just a horse, and I probably wouldn’t need to burn everyone, a few would do.”

He eyed her and she felt he could see right through her bluff. “Still, a person for a horse?”

“It isn’t a horse.”

“It’s basically a horse.” He looked so serious and the argument was so silly, so irrelevant she had to a pause a moment to remember what she was trying accomplish.

“You’re really not scared?” Her defenses crumbled. Her lip trembled. She knew her eyes were wet with tears.

He shook his head and smiled. “If you were going to set us on fire you would have done it already.” He reached out a hand and wiped a tear from from one cheek. Then he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

“Did you know?” she asked. “What I was.”

She looked up to see him shaking his head. He took a seat beside her on the bed. “It crossed my mind. After Michael. But it was too precise. I couldn’t figure out what you’d done to him. I thought maybe you were a painmaker but they don’t leave marks. Then I considered a taphokinetic, except it didn’t look like decay and they’re quite rare. But there was also the thing with the beetle. I knew you did something to the one in my arm, killed it somehow. I suppose illusionist is still a possibility.” He cocked as eyebrow at her.

She got the impression he was teasing to make her feel better but she still didn’t want there to be any confusion. She shook her head and replied seriously, “I’m not an illusionist. I’m a firestarter. Just like Michael said.” Carefully she turned her hand palm up and in her hand she created a flame. It’s light filled the room and caused shadows to flicker on the wall. She glanced nervously at his face.

Sirius stared at the flame in silence, his gaze transfixed on its glow.

She curled her fingers in and as her palm closed the flame disappeared.

Eventually he met her eyes and said, “You can put the fire out?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes.”

He sucked in his lips thoughtfully. “And you burnt Michael’s hands but just his hands, just enough to make them red, so that they hurt.”

“Yes.”

“And you burnt the beetle that was inside my arm without leaving a mark on me?”

Another nod.

“And tonight you set the sails on fire and-”

“I didn’t set them on fire I-”

“Used the heat to move us? Like an airship?”

She glanced at him, surprised he’d remembered about the airship. “That’s right.”

He gave her a good long studious look before replying, “You’re one hell of a firestarter?”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

“I’ve never heard of a firestarter who could put out a flame let alone all the rest of that stuff. If I hadn’t just seen you do it, and before with the sails, and the beetle…” he trailed off. “How? How did you get to be that good? Or were you born that way?” he asked.

With a shake of the head and a sad smile she replied, “That’s a story for another night.” She glanced toward the pillows. Right now she just wanted to sleep.

He noticed the direction of her glance and he got up. “You’re all wet too. Are you cold? I’m sorry, I should’ve thought...”

She shook her head.

“I can go grab you some clothes if you like?”

Again she shook her head. “It’s alright. I was going to stop by the bathroom anyway.”

“You’ll come back here?” He sounded worried.

She gave him a reassuring smile and a nod but as she got up and looked toward the door she hesitated. The calls of the crew were stuck in her head.

Sirius seemed to read her mind. “They won’t hurt you.”

She glanced toward him warily. “Are you sure about that?”

“I could come with you if you want?” he offered after giving a nod.

She shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ll be back in a sec.”

Amanda found the halls of the ship deserted. The rest of the crew must either all be out on deck on in their beds. She returned to Sirius’s room a few minutes later to find him sitting on his bed waiting for her. He gave her a reassuring smile.

Then he got up and pulled the sheets of the bed aside so she could climb into bed first. As she stepped past him he hesitantly asked, “So, is there a risk of you setting things on fire in your sleep?”

She climbed into bed and felt him get in beside her but she didn’t look at him. There was a serious tone to his question but he had to ask it and she knew why. That was what happened to a lot of firestarters who didn’t survive into adulthood. It was one thing to lose control of one’s powers while awake because as long as whatever you set on fire wasn’t a person then it was easy enough to put out a fire or move out of the area. Have a bad dream and set something on fire in your sleep though and you might never wake up. And Amanda had done it before. It was why her bedroom at home had always had sprinklers in it. She was 18 now and past the worst of it but even though it was most common with young teenagers it still happened to adults. But not to her, not since she was 16, not anymore. At least she didn’t think it was likely to. She hesitated but she had to be honest. “I don’t know.” She didn’t look at him.

She felt him pull her hair back from the side of her face but still she did not look at him. Gently he reached for her chin and started to turn her face towards him. Half way he paused and then seemed to think better of it. He dropped his hand and said, “Well, if you haven’t by now then you’re not likely to.”

She turned to him, met his green eyes and said, “I used to.”

She watched as he bit his lower lip and studied her face. She didn’t look away this time.

“How long ago?”

“Not in a couple years.”

He didn’t speak at first but she could see the relaxation in his face, not at all fake and maybe he didn’t even realise she could read that. But she was glad she could, glad for the honesty of it. He really genuinely wasn’t scared. Maybe she didn’t need to be either.

“Well then. That’s good enough for me.”

“So no bucket of water then?” she teased softly, finding her sense or humour with some hesitation and a shaky voice.

He shook his head and gave her a gentle smile. “Would that even work or would you just evaporate the water? Assuming it was a fire you wanted because otherwise you would just put the fire out.”

She smiled. “I’d evaporate it.”

“That’s what I thought.” He yawned, perhaps a little more over exaggerated than he usually might have, emphasizing his relaxed state with the whole situation.

She was grateful for it. For a full several seconds she just looked at him, admired him. Until he turned to see what she was doing and with a nod of the head indicated that she should cuddle up to him. She did as he wished. Then she fell into a dreamless sleep because who needed dreams when real life provided such good fortune?