Annika stared at the wall where the letters spelling out Roxane's name had burned out. The Black Prince entered the cave quietly and set a bowl of soup next to her.
"Come on, Fire-Angel, snap out of it. You've been staring at the wall for an hour now." He told her.
Annika's voice trembled as she spoke, "How am I supposed to live without Dustfinger, Black Prince? He was my best friend, my cousin, and…"
The Black Prince pushed the bowl of soup towards her. "Doesn't it strike you as odd that Roxane isn't taking Dustfinger's death as hard as you are? After all, she married him."
Annika's bright blue eyes flashed. "What Roxane does is no concern of mine. She has her feelings, I have mine."
"Alright, never mind that now." He finally picked up the bowl and handed it to her. "You need to eat something. As protector of Lombrica and Argenta – "
Annika cut him off, "What good is it being the protector of Lombrica and Argenta if I cannot even save my own cousin?!"
"Easy, Fire-Angel. You don't want to start an unnecessary fire. In this state you might not be able to control your powers."
"So I can create and manipulate fire, big deal. My powers are useless if I can't help Dustfinger."
The Black Prince lifted Annika's chin till her eyes were level with his. "Your powers are not useless. How can you help Dustfinger now?" He turned her to face the other side of the cave. "Look at him, he's dead. His body is nothing but an empty shell now, there's no soul there. I miss him too, but what can we do about it?"
Annika didn't answer. Instead she walked over to Dustfinger's corpse and sat beside it. She gently stroked the hair that hung in front of his face and pushed it back. Then she noticed the flowers someone had placed in his right hand. She lifted the hand and tenderly pulled the flowers from his grasp.
"Narcissuses? Who put these flowers in Dustfinger's hand?" She asked, turning to the Black Prince.
"Roxane did, of course." He answered promptly.
"Why? Dustfinger hated Narcissus flowers. How come Roxane doesn't know that?"
"Now how am I supposed to know that?" A puzzled expression crossed the Prince's face. "Why does Dustfinger hate Narcissuses?"
"Because of the mythological story behind them." Annika replied.
"What story was that?"
"According to mythology, Narcissus was the name of a man who was in love with himself. The ancient Greek gods wanted to punish him for this, and one day he turned into a Narcissus flower as he gazed at his reflection in a pond. Dustfinger never liked the thought of a consumer turning into a producer."
The Black Prince blinked and shook his head. "I'm not even going to ask how you know that."
Annika laughed for the first time since Dustfinger's death before realizing that she still held his arm. She stopped laughing abruptly and rubbed Dustfinger's hand gently. "I just can't believe he's gone." She sobbed, hugging his hand to her heart.
The Black Prince knelt next to her and patted her back comfortingly. "I know, neither can I."
Annika was about to let go of Dustfinger's arm when she noticed a dark mark below the wrist. She pushed back the sleeve and gaped at what she saw. "Black Prince, look at this."
The Black Prince leaned over and examined Ductfinger's arm. "Looks like a series of burns to me."
"But Dustfinger never burned himself! Well, at least, not by accident. But why would he intentionally burn himself? And also, these aren't just burns. They're letters."
"What do they spell out?"
Annika stared in disbelief. "My name."
"How do you know?"
"I can read it, Prince. How else would I know?"
This time the Prince stared…at Annika. "And since when can you read?"
"I learned about the same time as Dustfinger."
"Have you forgotten what happens to women who know how to read?"
"Of course I remember. And you better not tell anyone you shouldn't be talking to unless you want me to come after you." Annika retorted.
"Is that a 'yes' to my daily proposal?" The Prince asked, trying to make the most of the moment.
"No, that was a 'never gonna happen' to your daily proposal." Annika replied.
"Okay, but can you teach me how to read and write?" He asked.
"Sorry, I don't have enough time. You know how much I travel. Maybe you can ask Dustfinger to teach you."
The Black Prince blinked. "I think you're forgetting whose dead hand you are still holding, Fire-Angel."
Annika stared down at Dustfinger's arm in her lap. "Oh. Well, I still don't see why he would burn my name into his skin and Roxane's into the wall; he knew anything he wrote in fire on the wall would burn out, but anything that he burned into his flesh and bone would stay there…forever."
Annika looked at the Black Prince. He squirmed awkwardly under her gaze. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"You know something, don't you?"
"No, what could I know? After all, it's just a few scorch marks. Would you mind telling me again what it is that I don't know?"
"Man, what kind of best friend are you? You know something, and I want to know what. Now, what do you know?"
"Uh, I…I…um,"
"You, what?" Annika coaxed him.
"I know why it's your name that Dustfinger burned into his skin, not Roxane's."
"Okay, tell me why." Annika replied.
"Um, see, Dustfinger was never in love with Roxane."
Annika's mouth dropped open. "Huh? Then why did he marry her? And Brianna and Rosanna? They didn't exactly fall from the sky, you know."
"Yeah, about that. Roxane slipped some really strong wine into Dustfinger's food both times."
"And you know this because?"
"Roxane felt guilty after you two…disappeared and told me."
"But that doesn't explain why he married her. Why did he marry her?"
"He married her because he was too afraid to tell the girl he really loved about his feelings. He feared that she wouldn't reciprocate the way he felt." The Black Prince replied.
"Who was that girl?" Annika asked.
The Black Prince looked at her. "You're really asking? Who do you think? It was you, of course."
Annika gaped at him. "That is really not funny, Prince. You know I haven't married yet because I love him; and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't throw it back in my face."
"No, I'm not joking, it's true. Dustfinger told me about it when we were eighteen."
"Well, why didn't he tell me?"
"He thought that since you'd denied marriage proposals from Cosimo the Fair and myself among others that you would never accept him. You know him better than anyone else, Annika. It wasn't the first time that he was afraid of what someone else felt."
"Black Prince, promise me that you will never tell anyone about this."
"What use will it be if I do? Dustfinger is dead."
Annika ran her hand over the burns on Dustfinger's arm, erasing them completely.
"What are you doing?" The Black Prince asked.
Annika's eyes turned silver as the Black Prince retreated to the back of the cave. Whenever Annika's eyes turned silver, her powers became innumerable and she could be extremely dangerous if one wasn't on her side.
Annika leaned over Dustfinger and traced the scars on his face with her fingers. "Long have you suffered a scarred fate, it is time your destiny was cleared." Her fingers wiped away the three scars from her cousin's face and moved downward to land on his heart.
A loud drum-like beat and the shrieks of white women filled the air. It was after a few moments that the Black Prince realized that the drum-like beat was the beating of Dustfinger's heart.
Annika took her hand from Dustfinger's heart as her eyes returned to normal. Dustfinger opened his own eyes and saw Annika bent over him.
"Annika? What happened? I was dead and then…"
"Relax, Fire-Dancer. Yes, you were dead, but not anymore." She stood and walked to the mouth of the cave before turning back. "Roxane and Farid are outside. You might want to surprise them."
Dustfinger watched her leave before turning to the Black Prince. "How did Annika bring me back?"
The Black Prince shrugged. "I don't know, but that's not the only thing she did. She also healed your scars and got rid of those burns on your arm."
"She did what?" Dustfinger pulled back his sleeve and studied the skin. "Oh, no. She saw them? She knows? Wait, she got rid of my scars? Did you know Annika could do that?"
"How would I know what she can do? You're her cousin, not me." The Black Prince replied.
"Just barely. We're fourth half-cousins." Dustfinger said, wanting to be precise.
"What in Lombrica is a half-cousin?"
"We had the same great-great-great grandmother, but different great-great-great grandfathers, Prince."
"Oh. But what about Roxane?"
"Can I play dead?" Dustfinger asked.
"Oh come on, you have certain duties as a husband."
"Do I have to face my duties now?"
"Now would be a good idea." The Black Prince told him.
"Okay, just a quick nap first."
"What do you need a nap for? You've been dead for hours!"
"Well, being temporarily dead and then suddenly coming back to life can really suck the energy from a person." Dustfinger lay back and closed his eyes. "And now, I bid you goodnight."
The Black Prince walked out of the cave but turned around for a moment to add, "It's not even night, it's early afternoon!"