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Chapter 2

I heard the footsteps and tried to pull myself together. Sure, I'd sunk down to a level of completely wretched despair: trapped, crying and most likely defenseless against the horde of wizards who wanted to experiment on me, but there was no way I was going to let them see me crying! There are limits to the humiliations that one fire-witch can endure. I would face them dry eyed and defiant and spit in their stupid bearded faces. On that lovely mental image I managed to swipe away the remaining tears and lever myself up to a somewhat sitting position, preparing to stand. And turning, saw someone there, already within the evil hedge trap.

He didn't look like a wizard, he was too young, only my age by my estimate, though he was tall enough to be older. It threw me off and instead of defiant threats and protest I found myself asking who he was and what he wanted. Which are probably the two stupidest questions ever invented. After all if someone is really up to no good they're not exactly about to honestly volunteer that information.

He claimed that he was some random passerby named Daystar who just happened to hear me crying and came to see if he could help. And I l snorted "You just walked through that hedge. Ha! I've been trying to get out of here all day." "It's not that easy. I bet you're a wizard."

True, he didn't have any of the requisite identifying wizard signs of : beard, ridiculous robes, staff, or arrogant attitude that my brief but intense experience on the subject had taught me were part of claiming the oh-so-highly exalted title of wizard. But that would be the perfect disguise for a real wizard, pretending to be some nice wandering hero type that I would just follow anywhere. Yeah, right.

He actually looked surprised, "I'm not a wizard" he replied automatically" then glanced back at the hedge and shrugged "Maybe it's easier to get out than it is to get it".

"That could be true" I wouldn't know, I hadn't gone through the hedge either way, I'd just sort of dropped in from above. It was a good answer. But that either meant he was a clever hero or a clever wizard, it didn't narrow eliminate either option. "You don't look like a wizard." I couldn't really feel any magic on him but there was so much residual Enchanted Forest magic around I couldn't get a clear read. Maybe if I glared at him long enough he'd break down and tell me he was a wizard.

Whatever. If he could get in the hedge he should be able to get out. Right? "Can you get out again?" I asked. A hero (or a wizard pretending to be one) would normally accidentally fall into a magical trap, to prove his strength and save the lady or princess or fairy who would then offer him half her kingdom and her heart or some such nonsense. Not like I intended to do anything so ridiculous but at least I'd be out.

"I don't know." What kind of answer was that? "Well try!" He was supposed to at least try it, see if he could. Did I have to spell it out for him? Fine. "No, wait I'll stand next to you, so I can get out too. That way we'll both be rescued." There all wrapped up nicely, summary of Basic Hero Plan. Now, the eager hero could do whatever he did, get us out of the hedge, and I could be out of this in a second. "What are you waiting for?"

"I'm sorry , but I don't really think I need to be rescued. I was looking for a place to spend the night and this seems pretty safe. I'm not sure I want to leave yet. Besides, I don't know anything about you.

"Oh rats" I knew it had been too easy. I plopped myself down on the ground again. "I thought you might be a hero" but given your sensible, cautious answers that whole idea is out the door. "You can talk them into anything. Stupid creatures." You really can, quite a few of them had passed through my town on the way to the Enchanted Forest and the Mountains of Morning; they were travelers who knew about magic and I was desperate for information about fire-witches, so I got quite a bit of practice getting them to do what I wanted.

"Who are you?" the alleged Daystar asked, sounding thoroughly confused. Apparently in his little world people weren't normally as blunt about their opinions. "And why are you worried about wizards?"

"I suppose it won't matter if I tell you" I decided, after all if he was a wizard he knew all about it anyway. "They're chasing me. My name's Shiara."

"Wizards are chasing you? More than one?" He sounded impressed, and I almost grinned. "What did you do?"

I didn't really want to tell the whole story, since it mainly revolved around my problem with magic, which I didn't want to talk about, right now. "I am a fire-witch." It hadn't sounded like wizards and fire-witches were friends, so that would probably be a good enough explanation to someone who knew magic. Right?

"You're a fire-witch?" He looked me up and down and his eyebrows shot up, skeptically. Like somehow I didn't match up to what fire-witches were supposed to be. Maybe they were supposed to be taller as well as being able to use their powers maybe. Just because I was trapped in this stupid hedge, just because I couldn't use my powers, just because my life hadn't been the flaming, charmed paradise of power that everyone knows fire-witches are supposed to have didn't mean I didn't know what I was. "I am a fire-witch. I am!"

"I didn't say you weren't" he said quickly, trying to cover it up, but I was already on a roll. No he hadn't said anything. No one ever did. They never just came right out and asked what sort of fire-witch couldn't even regularly light a fire. They let the question hang in their eyes, like a silent torture until I got angry and made something burst into flame nearby. Then they all made up their minds that I just didn't like to use my magic unless it was for hurting people and avoided me like the plague. Or even worse, understood, and the question stayed changing to be edged with frightened pity. "You don't believe me but I am so a fire-witch. I am!" I was shouting but I didn't even notice. My entire town was terrified of me because of it and I'd been kidnapped because of it. And he questioned whether I was a fire-witch?! All the terror and rage of the morning came rushing back to me in a storm. Well maybe I couldn't control my power but I'd show him some of that lovely fire-witch temper, fire itself exploded in my veins, I'd…

"I believe you, I believe you" he backed up a few steps. "Uh, shouldn't you put your hair out?"

My hair had burst into flames again. The minute I decided that I didn't need power and that I do very well on my own it made itself know. And then I'd always feel that little bit of hope that I'd actually gotten it, that I knew what I was doing, which would be crushed next second. I could feel the hope welling up inside me. The rage vanished and I burst into tears.

Again.

Daystar shuffled around a bit then thrust a handkerchief, of all things, in my face. I mopped up the worst of it but all I wanted to do was disappear. "I'm sorry." He murmured quietly "I didn't mean to make you mad."

Sorry? How was him being sorry supposed to fix anything? Did sorry go back and fix anything? No. It wouldn't erase his doubts or stop me from looking like a weak idiot, just like it had never gone back and fixed any of the things I had ever burned. It was a stupid hollow phrase that didn't change anything that had happened. "Well you did." I snapped and threw the handkerchief.

He caught it neatly and stuffed it in his pocket thoughtlessly. I bet he didn't even realize I dried it for him, being a fire-witch and all. "I said I was sorry" he insisted, as if that was supposed to help.

"I can't help having a temper, all fire-witches do." But I bet that didn't make him feel any better, than sorry made his words hurt less.

"Really? I've never met one before. I've met heroes and princes, but no fire-witches. Does your hair always do that when you get mad?" He was trying to change the subject, but it was the exact wrong thing to say. "

"No" For a real fire-witch it would, I'd tried to for hours to get it to but it didn't. Only randomly or whenever it was particularly inconvenient and could light something nearby on fire.

"Why are the wizards chasing you?" Daystar tried again sounding frantic to come up with a subject that wouldn't have me bursting into tears.

"I burned the Head Wizard's staff."

His jaw dropped and his eyes sort of bugged out, in a very satisfying way. If he was a wizard then he'd have let a truly incredible amount of acting talent go to waste. "You burned a wizard's staff?"

Apparently wizard's staffs aren't supposed to get burnt, that must have been a very nasty shock to the stupid skunk-striped brute. "He deserved it, too. But the rest of them got mad. So I ran away while they were arguing about what to do with me. "

"And you came to the Enchanted Forest? On purpose? Isn't that a little extreme? I mean, you could get, well, enchanted. Or killed, or something. This place is dangerous."

What part of running for my life had he not understood? It is not as though I'd had that many other options. "Having the whole Society of Wizards mad at you is just as bad,"I snapped back. That seemed to get him. He took a moment to think. "Why did you burn the Head Wizard's staff?"

"Because he was about to start testing spells on me because I was a fire-witch who couldn't properly use her powers enough to stop him," came to mind. I really didn't want to go there. Even if all evidence pointed to him not being a wizard, I'd had enough of being pitiable and pathetic for the day. But Daystar was expecting an answer. "I didn't like him" He looked like he wanted to ask something again but took the hint. "Would you mind if I sat down?" he asked instead "I've been doing a lot of walking today.

It didn't make much difference to me I nodded and scooted out of the way. Then I noticed the sword, there was something strange about it a wavering or humming. Not much but something, something magical. What was he doing out here in what he'd assured me was a very dangerous forest with a weak magical blade? He hadn't been running for his life, if that wasn't some great quest it was idiotic foolhardiness. ""Are you sure you're not a hero or an apprentice hero or something?" I meant it as a joke, but he actually stopped to think about it. "I don't think I am," he said finally. "I'm not really sure."

"You're not sure? Don't you know who you are?" How could he not be sure? That was a pretty big defining trait for most of the heroes I'd met, they'd trained at it for years. You couldn't be secretly trained could you? You couldn't stumble onto a quest

"I know who I am," he said. "I just don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. Except finding out what I'm supposed to be doing."

I stared at him. "I don't believe it." After all the grief he'd given me about coming to the Enchanted Forest he was just wandering around it randomly? Really? He had to have some sort of reason. "Nobody comes to the Enchanted Forest without some kind of reason."

"What's yours, then?" He actually sounded somewhat snappish himself at that point. A sentiment I understood perfectly. Only I wasn't particularly keen on volunteering that information. It fell under the "tired of looking pitiable and pathetic" category. Besides I didn't wasn't it spread over the entire Forest that there was a powerless fire-witch wandering around. "None of your business!" And if we kept on this particular topic of discussion I was most likely going to accidentally set something on fire or burst out crying again, neither of which were pleasant options. "I want to leave, right now."

All right," the boy sat back, settling in comfortably "But I thought you couldn't get through the hedge."

I could actually feel my temper slipping away out of my control, and sure enough when I stamped my foot fire licked up my shoe. I had to get out of there. "I can't! Open it for me! Right now!"

"I don't want to open the hedge yet," Daystar said, disgustingly calm."I don't even know if I can. Besides, it could be dangerous. There are wolves in this forest. And it's getting dark; there could be nightshades out there already. That may not bother a fire-witch, but-"

Because fire witches are incredibly powerful, and can make gigantic flame monsters and can't be hurt by any other magic! Because I was supposed to have so much power I wasn't supposed to worry about any flaming thing. All my LIFE I'd been hearing this drivel! Didn't anyone care to look at what I actually could do and leave it at that? I can burn things accidentally when I'm angry and I have to try to hold that in because I always burn the wrong thing. And I can't get mad here because I'll most likely burn the idiot and he can't just shut up and make it easy he has to hit on that one stupid point I've been dealing with all my life! "I hate you!" I shouted, and I meant it.

For all of about twenty seconds, then I just felt awful. He didn't know I'd been hearing that all my life or that I couldn't do any of that stuff, because I hadn't told him. It wasn't his fault.

"Just because I don't want to get eaten by wolves or driven mad by a nightshade or something?" He sounded confused "What's wrong with that?"

I turned my back on him. Nothing, I wanted to say, what's wrong is that I don't want to either but I can probably do even less to stop it than you can. At least he had a magical sword, and didn't have a whole Society of Wizards after him. I wanted to be able to do magic but the only time I seemed to be able to do magic semi-consistently was when it would frighten people or when I didn't want to. Daystar himself had been nothing but nice to me and I'd yelled at him and almost set him on fire. I might do more than almost if I didn't keep my temper, and once that happened there would be the standard options of either terrified pity or decision that I'm evil. Either way he'd be terrified of me. After two demonstrations of my temper he probably already was.

Was this really my lot in life, a powerless danger to herself and others? Whose best future was to become some bitter old hermit who far enough from society that the only thing I'd scorch were the furry rodents who invaded my yard? Fate completely gypped me. Tears started running down my cheeks, but at least they weren't sobs. I could keep quiet, if ignored them, maybe the tears would just go away. And Daystar could just think I was sulking or something and leave.

A handkerchief appeared in front of my face again.

"I didn't mean to make you mad," he sounded tired but not particularly frightened "I just keep doing it by accident. It'd make things a lot easier for both of us if you would tell me what I'm doing wrong so I can stop."

I glanced up at him over the handkerchief, hardly daring to believe my eyes. He looked cautious and confused, but not scared. "You want to talk to me? You're not scared?" I lowered the handkerchief and stared at him. "You mean it!" People didn't normally stick around to ask why I got angry, they just ran away and avoided me. Probably the safer, saner option, to be honest, but I liked this form of insanity.

"Of course I mean it," he seemed even more confused and I wanted to laugh.

Just explain, what a wonderful idea. It would mean talking about my lack of powers and kidnapping and pathetic-ness, which killed any laughter stone dead, but this guy had just witnessed me crying three times in the last hour. I probably couldn't look too much worse anyway.

I sighed ""I guess I'd better tell you".