The warm glow of fire

WARNING Gentle Flinn shipping.

Flame Princess sat on her throne. Her black dress lay on the floor next to her, and she was wearing a loose orange T-shirt and white shorts. The dress was itchy anyway. She sighed, and looked around the room. It was empty of all her subjects, since her right-hand Cinnamon Bun had evacuated the room for her. As her kingdom was run on the truth only, she had been receiving a bunch of rude letters from anonymous subjects who were against her new rule and wanted her father back on the throne. She just wanted to be alone for a while, and she wasn't in the mood to tell the truth lightly. Luckily for her, Cinnamon Bun was perfectly capable of telling the people to leave in a way that WOULDN'T start a riot.

"Well well well. Looks like my daughter wasn't as good at ruling the kingdom as she thought." Flame King sneered from his glass prison.

Flame Princess' fist curled and her fingernails dug into her palm. No, she thought, she would NOT flare up in front of him. It was just what he wanted. Instead, she turned to her father with a look of calm on her face.

"That's funny, last time I checked I had more loyal subjects than you ever did. Didn't they join ME and overthrow YOU?"

Flame King (or ex-king) was silenced by that. Flame Princess turned back to the empty hall and lay in the chair, her feet on the arm of the throne in a very un-princess like manner.

"I messed up again, didn't I?" she addressed the empty room.

"Yup." her father said, but FP either didn't hear or chose to ignore it.

Just at that moment Cinnamon Bun walked in. He had cast Flame Shield on himself once more, but even so he had chosen to wear a woollen scarf around his neck.

"Hey Princess." he said, and promptly waved at her. FP looked up with a lonely look, and acknowledged him with a raise of the hand, as was custom.

"You look sad." he said, and walked over to the flame princess.

"Yeah. I guess I'm just…thinking about things."

"Yeah heh. I was talking to my doggy. He's a good doggy. Ha ha ha ha."

Flame princess smiled a weak smile at the bun. He was a bit…overcooked, but he had a heart of gold.

"I was just thinking about how I miss seeing the other kingdoms. You know, the candy kingdom, the Ice Kingdom. And all the other places I used to go. The scary dark forest, the…grasslands…"

Flame Princess trailed off, and looked back at the floor. Cinnamon Bun looked at her with a look of pity.

"Uh, friend I don't know much about things 'cept for my doggy, but you sound really sad. Maybe you should go outside more."

Flame Princess' neck snapped up and looked at the bun. "You know…maybe that's a good idea."

She stood up and brushed herself down, and after smiling at Cinnamon Bun, she walked out the door of the palace.

She walked down the cliff road towards the forest, and shivered. She didn't think that was even possible – maybe it was a reflex from her adventuress days with Finn. She had often seen him shiver, and then she would put her arm around his shoulder and warm his back. She sighed, and walked into the forest. It was nice, peaceful, even if a little dark. As she wandered through the forest, she looked around. There were many small flowers lining the path she was walking down, and she blushed at the memory that she burned them in her naivety. She shivered again. Something was most definitely up now, and it wasn't only a practised reflex. Fire elementals had no need to shiver – after all, their fiery bodies kept them at a 100 degree heat at least. She looked up, and with horror saw that it was beginning to snow. She started to panic – there was no telling how far she had wandered between her kingdom and here, and there was no guarantee that she would reach the fire kingdom in time. So, instead of looking for shelter, she did the most stupid thing she could have thought to do. She ran into an open clearing. Where she could be hit by the snow. And be injured. She was, in fact, attempting to reach a certain building which she knew was in this forest somewhere, and was hoping that this clearing had the house in it. She was wrong, and in hindsight, it would have been more sensible to wait under a tree until the storm was over before checking.

She was nearly at the other side of the clearing when the first flakes hit her. They melted as soon as the hit her, and the water hissed as it hit her. It was painful, and FP sucked in cold air, which incidentally was also quite painful. She stood still with shock, and only moved when the pain of other flakes hit her body.

"I knew this was a bad idea" FP lied to herself as she sprinted across the already frozen ground. Finally, she reached a tree on the opposite side of the clearing. As she did, she checked herself over for injury. Her fire clothing was ripped in several places from the damp snow, although her skin managed to escape unscathed. Her feet felt like they were melting off her body, and the snow had already begun to settle and was melting all over her bare feet. She felt like screaming, but instead decided that this would attract a predator or another unwanted creature, so she ran through the trees, hoping to find the house. Snow kept falling, and her vision was darkening. The only thing which prevented her from passing out was the fear of death should she stop moving. Just when she thought she would die out here, she came across another clearing. She anxiously ran into it and saw, with relief, the small house she had been looking for. Taking as much care as she could, she ran towards it, and knocked on the iron handle of the door so as not to burn the wooden planks. The door opened, and she thankfully passed out on the doormat.

When she awoke, she was laying on a piece of tin foil with flames licking around her feet. For a moment, she thought that she was in her own bed, but then she saw the stone walls surrounding her except for the entrance hole. She recognised this as a fireplace, and as she looked out she saw the kind eyes of the elderly elephant and the pink pig which resided in this house.

"How are you feeling, Flame princess?" TT asked her, with genuine concern in her face. "It was getting…gnarly out there."

"I agree. You could have been seriously injured." Mr Pig added.

"Thank you. You really saved me back there." FP said, smiling warmly at the couple.

"Yes well, I made you an apple pie. We were just celebrating the winter when you fainted in our doorway."

"Yeah, sorry." Flame princess said, blushing as she made her way out of the fireplace. There was a large piece of foil at the entrance to the fireplace, which she gratefully sat on. She looked at them properly this time, and saw that Tree Trunks was wearing a red scar which covered her mouth and the beginning of her trunk, while Mr Pig was wearing a green jumper. "You…celebrate winter?"

"Oh yes, it is the time when we celebrate the end of the yer. And" Mr Pig said, snuggling close to TT "the relationship we have."

FP looked at the floor, feeling sad once more. She wondered if Finn celebrated winter as well.

The couple saw it, and felt pity for the fire girl. TT gave her the pie, which she gratefully took.

"How about you celebrate it with us?" Tree Trunks said, and FP looked up eagerly.

"I would like that, thank you." Flame Princess said, and began to 'eat' the pie. Maybe she would ask if they could do this every year.

It felt nice, having people who would look after you and care for you. Maybe this was why they celebrated winter – to love and to feel love. Back in the Fire Kingdom, there was no room for such things as love and kindness, and for the second time in her life Flame Princess really relaxed and felt compassion towards people she knew loved her back.

"Merry Winter, Tree Trunks and Mr Pig. Merry Winter." she said, and the couple grinned back at the girl. Yup, FP thought, it felt good.