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  Tathan had seen many things in his life, magical and otherwise, but nothing like what happened next.

  Grasses underneath the flame reached up to wrap around it. The flame brightened and transformed. Liselle moved her hands as though weaving threads. Casting breezes caused strands of hair to blow forward at the sides of her face.

  The flame turned into a flower before Tathan’s eyes while the grasses transformed into a plant with leaves to sustain it.

  “Ha! The gestures help!” Liselle clapped her hands close to her chest, jumping up and down a couple of times. She laughed and pounced on him in a great big hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  He absentmindedly caught her, still staring at the flower she had just created. The petals looked like small blue flames. Tathan moved over to it as she watched him, bemused. The middle of the flower was white and the leaves of the plant were thin and grass-like.

  “I like plants a lot and they listen to me sometimes, especially the flowers,” Liselle explained. “I have a way with them. They make me feel good. I’ve never combined fire and plants and I don’t know how I did it there, but it . . . it feels good.” She smiled and shrugged her shoulders

  He watched her, saying nothing.

  “You don’t hate me now do you, Tathan?”

  “What? . . . Hate? No. No, no, no, no, no.” Moving to Liselle, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I don’t hate you at all. I’ve never seen anyone use magic as easily as you just did, nor have I seen anyone create a life with it, even life as simple as a flower.”

  Liselle stepped back, angry. “Simple? Simple?!”

  He stared at her, nonplussed. “Umm . . .”

  “Flowers aren’t simple! They are beautiful, wonderful and vitally important to the entire world!” She crossed her arms, glaring at him defiantly. “Flowers are not simple!”

  That wasn’t the response he had expected. “Umm . . . I’m sorry,” he apologized lamely.

  “Fine.” She bit the word. “Let’s eat and get some rest.”

  “Uhh, all right.” They ate the stew he prepared and then went to sleep in their bedrolls after cleaning up. She didn’t say another word to him the rest of the night.