Let the flames burn on.

[CursedErin]

A small little bundle of red fur was scavenging around randomly, looking for something. The small pup had mostly red fur, with a black patch on her face, covering her eye and part of her muzzle. Her ears stood a bit tall on her head, but it didn't bother her at all. "Aha~!" she said as she found some quartz, she carried it over to a specific spot, a pile of dry stick that she had manage to put in a dry spot away from any snow perhaps.

She was glad to find quartz, and now only needed one more component for her plan. She shivered a bit as the snow slowed her down in her hunt. Finally, she found what she was looking for, another stone; pentlandite. Ember giggled happily and trotted back to her sticks and quartz. She stacked up other random rocks until she sat the quartz on top of the pile. She grasped the pentlandite in her maw and struck against the quartz quickly and roughly. A spark ignited the pile of sticks. "Hehe yay~ Now I get a little show, and I stay warm!" the ambitious bundle said as she happily laid herself down next to the burning pile of sticks, just barely inside the border of Frigid Plague.

[Cascade]

The trees stood tall above the alphess and her adviser as they strolled along the border of the territory. Aside from the regular duty of patrolling for trouble and loners wishing to join, there was much they had been discussing. Their meeting with Treason was becoming a more and more distant memory, and Perjury had been thinking of meeting up with her cousin again. She hadn't been able to find a moment to speak with her alone, so a lot of things had gone unsaid. Things she was not comfortable saying even in front of Vanitas. At least not yet.

Vanitas was a good wolf. Though he steadfastly refused her invitations to join the pack's higher council as her beta, he had been essentially fulfilling the duties of the role regardless of what he called himself. Perjury trusted her pack, but she trusted no one more than him. At present, they were discussing the arrival of three new packs into the valley, and what implications that had on their lives. At least, until the smell of smoke reached Perjury's nose.

Her eyes widened as adrenaline shot through body in an instant. Not even finishing her sentence, she bolted in the direction of the smell at full speed. As she rounded a large tree trunk and spotted the source, she had to skid to a stop, snow flying up all around her. She glanced down at the pup and then pushed her away roughly with her paw to get her away from the burning sticks, before clenching her teeth and smothering the whole pile with a sudden upheaval of dirt from the dry patch where it stood.

The alphess breathed a heavy sigh of relief, though her heart was still pounding loud enough for her to practically hear it. Had she and Vanitas not been nearby...she didn't even want to think about it. Whipping around, her eyes narrowed at Ember.

"Are you responsible for this?"

[Gyllbane]

When Perjury had asked Vanitas to accompany her on her rounds, he could hardly refuse. Despite the Alphess' repeated attempts to coerce him into a leadership position, he had turned her down each time. Perjury was not a fool, though, and she knew how to get her way; he'd been seriously considering her offers for the past couple months, instead of merely brushing them off as he had done before. He almost had a mind to accept, the next time she decided to drop the hint. He'd certainly been her counsel for a long time now, and any doubts he might have had during the summer had been quashed by Perjury's exceptional leadership skills. She was a wolf to follow, and he would do it happily.

These were his thoughts as the smell of smoke reached him. He darted off on Perjury's heels, his powerful legs carrying him quickly. He was more than a little surprised at the source of the smoke - a coal black pup? His eyes narrowed at the sight of the fire pit before Perjury's power upended it; this was an odd one for sure. He was content to stand slightly behind Perjury for now, inspecting the small one suspiciously. Normal wolves didn't just start fires - they had no reason to trust the youngling.

[CursedErin]

Ember had fallen asleep by her fire, enjoying the warmth and comfort it gave, along with melting some of the snow that was around her in an even circle. At least it was, until the sounds of another wolf's paw steps suddenly jolted her awake, the thudding steps of Perjury and soon, Vanitas, trumping the crackling sounds of the fire beside her. In a short amount of time, the tiny little spark had erupted the entire pile of sticks in a blazing flame. The red embers shot into the sky at each snap of the fire, but each one would land in the snow and melt the snow down a tiny bit, rather than making anything ablaze.

As the red colored pup was yanked away from the fire, she started to get a grasp on reality and what was happening. Before she knew it, the fire she loved so much was put out by soil that had shown itself. "H-Hey!" she squeaked out, before Perjury turned to her and looked down at her. Ember was a bit mad, furious even as her warmth was snuffed out by the soil below.

Upon closer inspection of the young pup, her tail would be raised and on the end of her tail, a mark started to glow faintly. "I might have started it! What if I was responsible?! The fire was keeping me warm, and happy!" she spat out to Perjury, not stepping down from the alphess, despite being a little pup. The red colored pup's marking started to grow a bit brighter as she started to look around for the two stones she had used on the sticks only a moment ago. Finally finding them, she quickly set the one on its pedestal and grasped the other in her mouth. She struck the stones together, nothing. A growl emitted from her throat as she did the same motion, harder and faster. A spark appeared, but it did not catch fire. Another growl, another attempt. Eventually she tossed the stone in her mouth aside and glared back at Perjury.

Ember stomped herself off to the snow and sat down angrily in it. The mark on her tail continued to glow faintly as she sat there. The snow around her started to melt quickly as she did so. Though the young pup did not know why the snow melted so quickly. It was obvious she was upset, sad and mad at the same time. She was sad that she did not have any warmth now, and mad at Perjury for ruining that for her. Further more, she was upset with herself for not being able to light the sticks once again with the two stones she so commonly had used.

Gyllbane

[Cascade]

Perjury scoffed at the pup, but felt free to ignore her for the moment, danger having passed, as she gestured to Vanitas to help her look for any stray embers that may still be burning. Keeping a keen eye and nose, it was several minutes of silence before Perjury was satisfied that the forest would not be ignited by an errant spark. Relieved by the news that she and Vanitas would not be burning to death that night, the alphess turned back to the pup, noting now that she had the mark of fire adorning her tail. That cleared up much of the mystery.

"So you do claim responsibility, then?" she asked, stepping forward, "Claiming responsibility means more than admitting that you started the fire. It means all that the word implies. You agree that, before you set a single spark to those twigs, that you would claim responsibility if something went wrong and you burned down my forest? You pledged in your heart to come forward if any of my wolves died in the blaze, in order to offer up your own life as restitution? Or did you merely think of the comfort you could bring yourself with your flames, with no regard to anything but your own safety if you failed to control them?"

[CursedErin]

Ember continued to stay in an irritated state as she sat still, no desire to move, and no desire to even acknowledge Perjury at the moment. Hearing the wolf who had stopped her flames speak, caused her to get a bit angry once more. The mark on her tail lit up again, brightly this time for a few moments. A few sparks (that could catch something dry on fire) went out of her body in a slight fit, before Perjury's words continued. As Ember listened, her long ears slowly flattened down against her head.

The young pup's head slowly tilted down towards the ground. "S..Sorry.. I didn't mean any harm.. I just wanted to be warm.. I don't want to hurt any body.." she said softly, not looking up. The mark on her tail had quickly dimmed as she started to lose her anger and replace it with regret. Her tail curled around and sat against her forepaws. Her upper back was arched quite a bit as well, slumping her figure forwards in a slight depression. She was sincerely sorry, and didn't know what could have happened.

[Gyllbane]

Vanitas assisted in the snuffing out of embers; he hadn't found any others, and after nodding his assent to Perjury he stepped forward to listen to his alpha speak. His eyes widened at the sparks, quickly leaping forward to snuff the errant spots out - if Perjury didn't handle it immediately with her power. He noticed the glowing Power mark as he moved; although his carefully constructed outward appearance didn't belie his surprise, he was rather stunned that such a young pup could have braved Geist's cave and come away with such a power. Perhaps the White Wolf was finally going senile.

He paid his due attention to Perjury's speech, though he kept his gaze on the pup, watching for any errant embers that may have gone unchecked. Perjury commanded a certain kind of respect, and it was clear the pup wasn't used to being reprimanded. At the young one's words, he'd turn his gaze toward Perjury expectantly, shifting in his stance. If the wolf hadn't been around, he might have had a few choice words for the pup - as it was, though, he had no desire to speak out of turn if Perjury had it so well handled.

[Cascade]

Perjury sighed deeply, casting a glance over to Vanitas that clearly said 'Why us?' She could turn the pup away right now and her problems would be over...but how could she live with herself? This pup, somehow, had attained a power that was far beyond her control or understanding, and if Perjury just sent her off to fend for herself, she would end up dying in some horrible fire.

"I also have a power," Perjury said, looking back to Ember and softening her gaze a bit, "I was born with the ability to control the soil. I am fortunate that soil, unlike fire, becomes inert when I stop manipulating it. I need only know how to make it go, and never have to worry about making it stop. I am especially fortunate that my mother shared my power and was able to teach me how to control it as I grew up." A lump rose in her throat, but she did not let one iota of her inner feelings show on her face. She never mentioned her mother or her father for a reason, and she would not let anyone see through the cracks in this rare moment.

"I am Perjury, and this is Vanitas. Tell us your name, and we might be able to help you so that you do not need to struggle so much to survive and put others in danger in the process."

[CursedErin]

The young pup didn't seem to notice Vanitas as he frantically put out her small sparks, though they probably wouldn't have sparked a flame, only melt bits of the snow. She kept her head down, not noticing any subtle remarks that Perjury and Vanitas were doing, they could've been readying to kill her and she wouldn't know it. Her tail was curled around her paws defensively as she sat motionless.

Shortly after she thought she was going to be punished, Perjury spoke up. Cautiously, the little pup raised her head up to look at the alphess. Now Ember understood how her fire had been put out so quickly, and why the soil had moved atop her sticks. Ember didn't know how to control her power by herself, that is why she resorted to the stones that she had so commonly acquired. The pup's extra long ears perked up a little as she watched and listened to Perjury. Finally, Ember seemed to be at a more calmed state, though s few tears were still in her eyes from thinking about the possibility that she could've killed another wolf.

"I'm Ember.. D-Do you really mean that?" she questioned, "About helping me that is.. I-I don't want to be a burden.. I'm sorry for the fire Perjury.." her little voice spoke softly, her ears flattening against her head a bit. "M-My power.. I honestly don't know how to use.. That's why I have those two rocks over there.. Pentlandite.. and quartz." she said, explaining that she had no control of her power yet, and had resulted to primitive methods in order to induce a flame through dry sticks. "Where is your mark though..?" she questioned, tilting her head and moving it around, looking a mark on Perjury's pelt to identify she had a power.