Burning

***

"We find ourselves in a difficult situation," Melts Blue Ice was speaking after the last afternoon speaker. He wasn't scheduled to, and I was curious about what he wanted to say.

"We have all heard by now of the pain the Souls' settlement is causing," he continued, "This is very upsetting for all of us. It is hard to know what do to for the good, but perhaps we could at least decide not to do anymore damage. May I suggest a moratorium on implantation of wild humans for 3 years."

A hubbub of conversation erupted.

I spun around and grinned wildly at Alex. He grabbed me tight.

"We did it! We finally did it!"

"We really did it!" I agreed. I don't think I had ever seen him looking so happy. I don't think I'd really realized how much this meant to him, how much he hated being on the run.

"Do I hear any dissent?" No voice singled itself out to disagree.

"Is there any call for further discussion on this issue?"

"Alright, let's put it to the vote. It is henceforth prohibited to implant a wild human with a Soul-" A thought struck me suddenly.

"What about children?" I said, trying to push my way closer to the front. Alex held me back. Dorsey pushed over to us.

"Any wild human," Alex hissed, "That includes children."

"It doesn't include non-wild children!" I said, but he wrapped an arm around me and hauled me backward.

"Flame, what are you doing!" Dorsey said.

"Just let this happen. Just let us get this first," Alex said. I stopped straining against him and heard the cheer as the vote was passed. Then I twisted free of him and ducked up to the front.

"What about human children born from Souls?" I said as loudly as I could, while still trying to sound composed. Gradually silence spread around me.

"Will we ban implantation of all human children?" I pressed.

I could see Souls looking at each other uncomfortably.

"What about a minimum age for child implantations?" someone ventured.

"It will not be safe for older children-," I said.

"But the Seekers will not be hunting humans anymore. Why would it be unsafe?"

"Why can't the children decide for themselves?"

"They are children! They can't decide!"

"When can they decide then?" I said.

"It's the parents' decision."

"It should be the parents' decision."

"Parents will want the best for their children."

There were general sounds of agreement on this. I shook my head, feeling rage boiling up within me, clenching my fists. Then I felt Dorsey's hand on my arm and I glanced at her. She looked at me sadly, pleadingly. I knew she was right. This wouldn't be resolved today. Not by me anyway. Melts Blue Ice was concluding by saying that the decision about child implantation would remain with the parents of the child. I felt hope being extinguished with every word. I slipped out to the edge of the shelter to get some air, letting the hard weight of the sun on my shoulders try to dispel the anger, disappointment, and hopelessness, and let me refocus on the job at hand. But I couldn't shake it. The more I tried to squash it the more my anger grew. How could Alex have held me back? Why didn't Dorsey say something? Were they happy that Bhask had to host a Soul? I had never felt the invasion weigh so heavily on our lives as then.

***

I heard Melts Blue Ice call the dinner break. I knew it wasn't fair to be angry with them. None of it was their fault. But I knew if I joined them for dinner I wouldn't able to stop the anger leaking out. Falling Smoke came up carrying a dinner tray each.

"Not exactly what you were hoping for, hey?" he said handing me a tray. I took it and shoved the food around moodily.

"The moratorium's great," I said grudgingly.

"Yeah, you seem real pleased," he said. I gave up pretending to eat and looked out over the desert, black and gold in the setting sun.

"It's not the be all and end all you know," he said, trying to catch my eye, "the congress isn't over yet. And there's still life after congress. You could get some sort of parent's group together…"

"Yeah, I guess," I sighed, "I just thought, it's such an easy step, you know? What's the difference between implanting a stranger and implanting your own child? Surely it's worse to do it to your own kid?"

"I think a lot of parents would agree. But there haven't been that many parents. The rest of society doesn't really understand yet. And to ban implantations completely… well, it's worse than closing the planet. It's like giving up, sealing the fate of Souls on Earth forever. Souls call this place home too now. Some haven't even known anywhere else."

"Well maybe we shouldn't be here at all. Not this way."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I don't know," I picked at the food a little, "I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, but then when I see the fear in people's eyes when they know I'm a Seeker-"

He shushed me, putting a finger on my lips. Oops, right, not supposed to talk about that. Even without my holster I was still the enemy here.

"You've done a lot of good here. Probably more than any other Soul. You do see that, don't you? I mean, you've finally got that moratorium. You've got to be happy with that."

"Yeah, Alex is tickled pink. He's not a hunting trophy any more. I just wanted more… I don't want kids to grow up like Bhask had to…"

Falling Smoke followed my gaze to where Bhask sat with the others, pretending to eat and watching us surreptitiously.

"You gotta leave yourself something to do for the future," he said, giving me a little shove with his shoulder, bringing a smile to my face.

"I don't know, this wasn't really what I had in mind," I said, "It would be nice to get on with living, you know?" He laughed.

"You'd never be satisfied with just living."

He was probably right. We watched the sun set and I followed him back to the others, who were settling in for the night. Alex set off to do the first shift of night patrols. I lay down next to Bhask.

"Please Mum, don't force Boy to go," Bhask whispered in my ear, "You won't, will you? I know it's weird, but he's only young and… he's not hurting me. I just want him to decide for himself. Can you do that?"

I hugged him fiercely.

"I thought I'd lost you," I whispered back, "I don't ever want to lose you again." There was nothing I wanted more than to rip Boy out and send him as far away as possible. To the Fire World, I thought vengefully. But part of me sympathised with this young soul. Bhaskar would not be the easiest host. And he had not turned him in, so far…

"You're sure he's not hurting you?" I whispered, biting my lip. He shook his head.

"You promise then?" Bhaskar's voice asked. I nodded into his hair, not trusting myself to speak. I felt the tension ease out of his body as he settled down to go to sleep.

***

Alex woke me at midnight for the next shift.

"Anything happening?" I murmured, rubbing my eyes awake and sitting up carefully so as not to wake Bhask. He shook his head.

"Most people are asleep. A few are still up, talking," he replied. I looked around at the small groups huddled around the electric lanterns, and saw a draped form that could only be Kelly moving from one group to the next.

"She's the best social butterfly I've ever met," I said, getting up slowly. Alex lay down in my place and Bhask snuggled into him as if I'd never left. I loved how well they fit together.

I started my rounds, walking through the sleeping forms that seemed to weigh down the night around them with their slumber. I got to the edge of the shelter, walked in the sand for a while, then headed back into the shelter in long, sinusoidal patterns.

A strange smell began to nibble at the back of my mind. At first it was so faint it could have been a memory, but slowly it strengthened, til I didn't need to focus on it to be sure it was real. Still, it wasn't strong. I sniffed the air, then knelt down and smelled the carpet. Definitely stronger down here. Had someone spilt some cider? I rubbed at the carpet, frowning. It was moist, but not wet. I scanned the camp as I lifted my fingers to smell them, and spotted a discarded nest of bandages. Kelly's? And a little further on, a limp empty plastic bladder. I saw movement, and found Kelly still moving between the sleeping forms, but no one was awake now. What on earth was she doing? Suddenly it hit me.

"Hey!" I roared, running for Kelly as she straightened up, looking at me in shock. Then a flame dropped from hands. It hit the floor, igniting a thin river of fire that zig zagged like lightening through the waking bodies, casting glowing orange light around them and growing deep black shadows behind them. Fire burst up the poles in reverse cascades of flame. There was screaming, shouting, crying, panic, people running everywhere, tripping over each other, stepping on each other, smoke filling the shelter, burning shade cloth falling from the ceiling, draping around someone's shoulders as they staggered to their feet.

I was kicking sand over the flames, slapping those that ate at people's bodies, pulling people to their feet, dragging them to safety. I had lost Kelly in the madness.

Then I saw a burning pole collapse on the tables in the food prep area, hauling down swathes of roof with it. Oh my god – Etty! I ran over and ducked under a table. Etty was still there, screaming, terrified.

"Etty! Come here!" I yelled, reaching for her, but her screams redoubled in panic at the site of my eyes. I sat back and looked around desperately for some human help, but I could see no one free in the chaos. I closed my eyes and went back under the table.

"Etty, it's not safe here anymore," I said, feeling my way forward blindly, "We have to get out of here." Finally I felt her hand on mine, and scooped her out. I ran out past teams of people throwing sand onto the flames with plates and shoes, slowly smothering what hadn't burnt itself out. I stood coughing in the darkening night as the last flames were extinguished, gazing at the destruction around me, holding Etty close.

The flames had eaten away most of the shelter, but the sand thrown over the rugs had saved most of those. But the people… people everywhere were crying, coughing, shaking, clutching burned limbs and bodies. Then Etty began to struggle and I let her go, seeing Margie making her way towards us. Her hair was half burnt on one side, and I put my hands to mine, feeling short spiky bits where it had burnt away too. Margie knelt down and held Etty close, rocking side to side silently.

Suddenly I thought of the others, and searched the faces around me. Where was Bhask? Alex? Dorsey? Falling Smoke? I began to run, searching more and more desperately each anguished, agonized, stunned face I passed. Where were they?

"Flame!" I heard a rough version of Alex's voice call. He was half standing, waving me over.

"Alex!" I grabbed him and hugged him hard.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm ok," he rasped, "Bhask's fine, Dorsey's been burnt." I felt my knees give way beneath me. Alex guided me to the ground, where I managed to sit in a shivering heap.

"Badly?" I whispered. He nodded to where Dorsey lay on a semi burnt piece of rug, Bhask sitting by her head, stroking her hair, a Soul dripping water into her mouth between coughs. I recognised Comforter Spins Gold.

Dorsey!

But I found I couldn't go any closer.

"I need to… I need to organise healers, contact someone to get us out of here…" I rambled, looking away, unable to stop shaking. Alex held my shoulders firm.

"She's going to be ok, alright?" he said quietly. I nodded, and left.

***

Falling Smoke was already organizing healers and comforters and allocating them to anyone who was burnt, getting them to show those who weren't injured how to help. He saw me, grabbed a healer and pushed him in my direction.

"No, I'm fine," I insisted, then noticed that my hands were raw and red with burns. The Healer had cleaned and healed them, and moved on to someone else before I knew it. Melts Blue Ice was getting his leg treated, but it was only lightly burnt. His eyes were filled with hurt. I squeezed his hand.

"Are you ok?" I whispered. He nodded sadly.

"Diane, Cara?" I asked, my heart in my mouth. He gave a small smile.

"I sent them home yesterday," he said softly, "I can't believe it. Who would have done this?"

"Don't worry about that now," I said, "We need to get these people to a proper healing centre."

"And soon," said Falling Smoke, joining us, "Welcome to Viet Fucking Nam. We don't have enough medications to cover this. We're already out of Heal, and getting low on No Pain." He surreptitiously pressed a small package of No Pain into my hand.

"You'll have to walk out to the checkpoints," Melts Blue Ice said, "you can call from my phone there."

"I'll go," I said, getting up, but Falling Smoke caught my shoulder.

"I'll need to," he said, "it's better I talk to the Healing Centres."

I nodded; he was right. He squeezed my shoulder and turned to go.

"No I'll go, they know me. You're needed here," Shepherds Sound said.

Falling Smoke turned around to the amassed Healers and gave an impromptu lecture on burns treatments in emergency situations.

"We've got mainly crush and burn trauma. Send any crushes to me. Burns you can all deal with: pain, dehydration, loss of protein, infection. Normally we can treat all of these easily. Unfortunately we don't have enough medications left. That means we've got to be careful how we treat."

He explained how to quickly visually assess the percent of the body affected by burns and add it to the person's age to determine a rough prognosis. He allocated Healers to the worst affected areas.

"What about Dorsey?" I interjected, "She needs a healer, Falling Smoke-"

"I know. But there are others who need it more," he interrupted.

"But you treated my hands and I wasn't even-"

"Don't argue with me Flame," he said, his voice steel. "If you want to be helpful, go and make that guy accept treatment."

He pointed to a blackened body surrounded by two arguing healers. I drew my breath in with a hiss as I quickly calculated the percent of his body burnt.

"You must take the medicine!" the Healers were saying.

"It is good for you!"

"It will make you better!"

But the body was having none of it, resisting despite the terrifying pain he must be in. I dropped to my knees beside him, and caught sight of the unburnt side of his face; it was Blackheath. Apart from his face, his arms, chest and legs were all burnt. There was a terrible thinness about his legs where there should have been muscle, and now there was only charcoal.

"Look, Blackheath," I said bluntly, "You are going to die. Not straight away either. These people can help you."

"I don't want their alien poisons" he spat.

"It's not poison-"

"You take it then!" he hissed. I would love to, I thought, thinking of Dorsey.

"Alright, hang on a sec," I said, an idea sparking in my head. "Stay right here."

I ran over to Dorsey, Alex, Bhask and the comforter, Spins Gold.

"There's no more medicines, except for this one human who thinks we're trying to poison him," I said quickly, staring at each of them in turn, "Dorsey, do you think you could show him that they're ok?" The others looked confused but Alex held my eyes and nodded.

"He can't come over here?" he asked.

"No," I replied, "he's too badly hurt, we'll have to go to him." We each took a corner of the rug Dorsey was lying on.

"Ready Dorsey?" Alex asked quietly. She steeled herself, nodded and we lifted her quickly over to Blackheath.

"Blackheath, this is my sister Dorsey," I said, "You might remember her from the other day-"

"He won't remember, Flame," Dorsey whispered.

"No, I remember," Blackheath said quietly. I smiled at her. Dorsey is pretty hard to forget. Falling Smoke pushed into the circle.

"What's going on, Flame?" he said. I ignored him, focusing on Blackheath.

"Ok, so I'm not going to poison my sister right? I'll give you both the same drugs," I said, "You can see what they do." I glanced at the Healers for confirmation.

"What have you had already, Dorsey?" Falling Smoke asked.

"A dose of No Pain, about half an hour go," the Comforter said.

"That'll be alright," Falling Smoke said, "Just watch her breathing."

I made up two doses of No Pain each, glancing at the Healers to make sure I had it right.

"This takes away pain. That's all it does. You can't think straight when you're in pain anyway." I showed him the two identical doses. He looked at them and nodded. He watched as I gave one to Dorsey. Her face immediately started to smooth as the pain left.

"Alright Dorsey?" I asked.

"Much better," she said, smiling. I held Blackheath's dose out to him. He watched Dorsey for a minute then took his carefully. It was such a relief to see his body unbend from hunching around its pain, his breathing slowly return to normal.

"Ok?" I asked him after a while. He looked at me and nodded, silent.

"Ok. So next we need to get some water into you, rehydrate you. That's just a drip, same as in a human hospital," I helped the Healers set up Dorsey's drip. I knew he would be terribly thirsty. I remembered from when my legs were burnt. He watched the fluids drip quickly into Dorsey's arm for a while, then nodded his assent, and the Healers set up his drip. I took him through the need for protein to support his body's healing and stop the fluid leaking into the tissues, Inside Clean to fight infection, and Heal to rebuild his muscle and skin. At every stage I showed him what was going to happen by having the Healers use the medicines on Dorsey first. He watched silently, fascinated to see Dorsey's shoulder regenerate back to perfect smooth skin, and finally agreed to each step. Falling Smoke explained that they could only heal so much at once, else they would exhaust his body. Because he was so badly burnt, he would have to be healed little by little, over time.

At last they let him sleep, and I did a tour of the destroyed shelter, feeling the adrenaline draining away. There was no more that could be done tonight, and I returned to Dorsey.

***

She lay still, eyes closed, chest heaving. The Comforter was with her still. Alex slept by one side of her, arms wrapped around Bhask. Etty, Margie, and Alida slept nearby. Only now did I notice Alex's arms had been burnt. Best not to wake him now he's asleep, I thought. Wait for the Heal. Dorsey opened her eyes as I sat down beside her.

"Here," I said, holding out some No Pain, "I found some more." She opened her mouth and I gave it to her.

"How's Bhask?" she rasped, and Spins Gold shushed her immediately.

"Don't let her talk," she whispered to me.

"He's fine, sleeping," I said, and watched her painfully as she tried a smile.

"What happened?" the comforter asked. I sighed, casting my mind back where it did not want to go.

"I saw Kelly walking around the camp. I think she was dripping something flammable all around. When I found her out, she lit it, and…" I trailed off bitterly. The comforter was horrified.

"I was just speaking to her yesterday!" she whispered. "She was… nice. Why would she do this?"

"I don't know." I said, "I guess she was angrier with the Souls than anyone realized. And with anyone who was willing to work with them."

"Lucky you stopped her when you did." The comforter said. I shook my head. If I had woken people quietly first, let them get away… if I had snuck up on Kelly before she had lit it, shot her even…

"Kelly got what she wanted though, I guess," I said morosely, "It's totally destroyed. The fire has just sucked the life out of everything."

"Strange to hear that coming from someone from the Fire World," the Comforter said, smiling compassionately at me. "Though I suppose fire caused tragedy there too."

Dorsey looked puzzled, and framed her lips into a question.

"You haven't told her about the Fire World?" Spins Gold asked, before she could speak. I cast about for an answer.

"I used to live there," I said. She put her hand on mine in sympathy and turned to Dorsey.

"Many people came from the Fire World because of the troubles," she said, "The fire people consumed the smoke of burning flowers. It fed them, sustained them. We did not know that the flowers were sentient beings too. When we found out, it caused a lot of distress in the Souls. Some people... lost their minds. Some people fought to have the practice stopped. Some preferred to starve than to continue… Many people left." Dorset looked at me searchingly, but I was empty of words.

Spins Gold led me into easier topics, and we talked to Dorsey of home, Edith and George, Jake and young David, seeing them all again soon, until the blackness of night shifted to grey, and a line of light seared the horizon in the east.

As the dawn rose, I looked around the destroyed meeting place. Charred poles held up blackened shreds of shade-cloth that shrugged slowly in the early morning breeze, littering trails of soot moths into the air. Scattered bodies huddled on scraps of cloth, each accompanied by sitting forms, comforting them, tending to their pain.

"Well Kelly did not fully succeed," Spins Gold said softly, looking about her too. I looked again. In each huddle of pain and comfort, there were Souls and humans, together, treating each other as equals, as people. A human gently giving a Soul water, a Soul distracting a human from their pain with talk of other worlds. Here, finally, in the devastation following that act of violence and destruction, humans and Souls were united.

The sunrise was marked by the pink plumes of vehicles' dust trail. The Healer's ambulances were here at last.