It was now night. Keira had spent all afternoon hiding in her bedroom, fuming with rage and sobbing into her pillow. She just couldn't believe that right now, after she had found a special and exciting new place all of her own, her father was forbidding her to go there. It was more than she could bear. His over-protectiveness was getting too much for her.
Having quietly vented her anger in her bedroom and feeling less like crying now, the stinging feeling of hunger had finally been enough to make her get up. She checked the time on her bedside clock. Late evening. She had been up there just sulking for hours; no wonder she was hungry. She looked around for her bag, and then sighed; she had left it downstairs. But bitterness still lingered in her thoughts, and she hadn't the heart to go back down yet to risk facing her father. Luckily, she kept a small reserve of personal provisions in her cupboard, just in case for some reason she was ever unable to leave her room. She helped herself to her stores and sat down on the bed to eat. The light from the streets outside diffused in through the window, her only source of illumination. Her room was dimly lit as she sat and ate, but it was enough to make out the dirty smudge she had left on her bed sheets as she had laid there, an imprint from all the dirt on her clothes. Crawling over, she pulled them off the bed and tossed them into the laundry pile in the corner of the room.
It was now definitely time for a shower; she could put it off no longer. Opening her door as silently as possible, she crept through the hallway and made it into the bathroom undetected, locking the door securely behind her. Two minutes later, she was standing under a warm cascade in the shower cubicle, letting the water wash the last of her anger away. It was a refreshing and almost therapeutic feeling, and it really helped to improve her mood. By the time she turned off the switch, she felt much better, and understood now that she had to make things right. She'd go downstairs again next, and try to repair the bitter feelings between her and her father.
But as she stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel, she caught sight of a peculiar glow through the patterned window of the bathroom. It was not the usual glow of the city lights which were clear and bright; this one seemed distant and red. She stood right by the window now and peered through the thick glass, but the blurred design made acuity impossible.
Then it hit her. What had the city had to deal with for almost every day for the last year? Fire!
All feelings of serenity were instantly shattered. Keira dashed straight out of the bathroom, still dripping wet, across the landing and back into her own bedroom. Onto her bed she leapt, nearly flying right out of the open window with her momentum. Her hands caught the frame, and she looked on to see her suspicions confirmed; away in the south of the city, huge orange flames were dancing in the distance. Keira stared in horror as she realised what was burning: that smoke was coming right from the place where The Naughty Ottsel stood!
She had to get over there and help her friends!
As fast as lighting, she flung open her wardrobe and yanked out the nearest set of clothes. Hastily hopping into some summer shorts, she rushed out of her room the moment she'd got them on, and steamed headlong down the stairs whilst simultaneously pulling her shirt over her soaking hair, and shouting, "Daddy! The city's on fire!" But with her shirt over her head, she missed a step and went tumbling down the stairs in mid-shout. Samos was disturbed by the loud thump in the next room, but by the time he'd come out to investigate, Keira had already got back up and had run outside, leaving the front door wide open. He looked out and just caught sight of her, barefooted and wet hair flailing, before she disappeared around a corner.
"KEIRA!" he shouted, wondering what on earth she was doing. Then he saw the smoke rising up from behind the buildings, blacker than the night sky. "Oh no, not here too!" he half-whispered to himself.
Keira had injured herself in the fall, and kept one hand clutched at her ribs in a futile attempt to abate the pain. Her ankle was throbbing too, and stung painfully every time she took a step with it, but she kept on running as swiftly as her injuries allowed her. All that was in her mind was getting to The Naughty Ottsel and helping her friends.
As she got closer to the port, she encountered many people running the other way in a panic. They bumped into her many times, and with her bad ankle she was nearly knocked to the ground. But she kept on pushing through the throng, fighting the surge. When at last the way seemed clear, she turned a corner and was in the port. On the other side of the water the pub was blazing, and though almost exhausted, she summoned forth her last energy and ran. She arrived at the scene completely breathless, and found Tess staring up at the flames from a partially safe distance on the street, completely helpless. The giant mechanical Daxter statue over the door was wrapped in fire and dripping melted metal and plaster onto the concrete, and the door itself was obscured by the smoke pouring out of it like an inverted black waterfall.
The sight was overwhelming. For both Keira and Tess, it felt as if a large and important part of their life was dying right before their eyes. Tess found herself rooted to the spot, staring up at the fire's terrible awe, and the slowly deforming face of Daxter grinning back at her as it sunk into smoke. Keira stepped forward to stand with her, but she didn't even turn her head. Keira found it difficult to say anything to her for a while. They stood just out of range of danger, but could still feel the heat from the burning building seeking them out.
[Picture]
At last, Keira spoke.
"How did this happen?"
Tess was drawn out of her trance by the familiar yet distant voice. She looked up at Keira, and the stare in her tearful eyes showed an unbearable sadness. She was too distraught to even reply.
But then there was a commotion in the pub doorway. A coughing, bleeding figure came stumbling through the dense smoke, face shielded with one arm, and the other extended outwards in front. Now outside, the figure took a huge inhalation and revealed its blackened face; it was Azyma!
With that one deep breath, she seemed to stand in stillness amid the chaos, and then her white eyes went completely blank. Keira watched with bated anxiety as she wobbled on the spot for a moment, and then with horror as she fell face forwards straight into the broken glass.
Keira acted immediately and raced to the rescue. She skipped from one foot to the other, trying not to step in any of the debris. She failed though, and a sharp piece of glass embedded itself in the sensitive sole of her foot. Limping along as fast as she could into the blistering heat, she reached Azyma and tried to rouse her, shaking her by the shoulders. But she was deeply unconscious. The terrible realisation now dawned on Keira as she knew that she had to get her out of here by herself. Mustering all of her strength, she lifted up Azyma's body with an empowering cry, and let her fall onto her shoulders. It was no easy task to carry her back to safety, least of all with two damaged feet. Keira struggled, but made it just before another inferno raged through the roof of the building with a thunderous roar. The fire had reached the alcohol storage, and had triggered an explosion. A new wave of heat surged over the three figures, and their safe position by the waterside was no longer quite so safe.
"We've got to move further away!" groaned Keira, and found herself having to coax Tess to follow her as she carried Azyma. Tess semi-lucidly complied and staggered after her as if in a daze. With her head bowed and her back aching from the weight of her burden, Keira found it hard to see exactly where she was going. Then the ground became brighter around her feet, and since she could no longer feel the heat of the fire, stopped there and carefully placed Azyma down on the concrete. They were right under a street light.
Biting back the pain, Keira pulled the glass out of her foot and tossed it away, and then looked behind her to see if Tess was still with her. To her relief she was, following her bloody footprints. She had sat down and was looking back towards the burning building. Keira looked over Azyma and tried once again to awaken her. But she wasn't stirring at all. There were black burns on her arms and her face, her clothes were tattered and scorched, and she was covered in fierce cuts from her fall onto the glass, blood mixing into the ash on her skin.
Keira's emotions started to run wild as she continued trying to awaken her friend, and she grew more and more distressed as she continually got no response from her.
"Azyma! Wake up!" she shouted.
Then things grew darker, and a shadow fell over them. Keira looked up and saw Samos standing next to her, blocking out the streetlight. A grave look was on his face at the sight of the sorry group; Azyma lying motionless, Tess sitting unresponsive, and Keira a frantic, tearful wreck.
"Daddy!" she pleaded, "You've got to help her!"
Acting immediately, Samos leaned in closer and slowly waved a hand over Azyma's face. Ethereal green energy flowed from his palm and seeped into Azyma's wounds, which slowly closed up and healed. The burns on her face lessened, but did not completely vanish. Keira watched nervously as her father's hand then swept down the rest of Azyma's body. Azyma coughed violently and then breathed rapidly as the smoke was dissipated from her lungs by the green eco and she struggled to regain air.
Hope flashed through Keira at this sign of life, but faded away again just as quickly when Azyma did not regain consciousness.
"She'll recover soon," said Samos reassuringly. "We've got to get her somewhere safe now and let her rest."
Keira looked down into Azyma's suffering face, wishing now more than ever for the truth in her father's words.
Very soon the Freedom League had arrived. As the city's all-emergency guardians, they came ready with fire-fighting equipment, and battled with the blaze. Others were there on hand to give medical assistance to those who needed it, but apart from a small number of citizens who had escaped major harm, Azyma was the only one seriously injured, and even she was now on the mend thanks to Samos. Therefore the guards provided secure transport so she could be taken home with Keira and Tess. Samos travelled with them to ensure they arrived home safely and that the guards were giving all the help they could offer, before travelling back to the scene of the fire to headline the forensic investigation.
Azyma was placed on one of the couches in the front room, and provided with plenty of comfort. Despite what she had just been through, she was intensely shivering in her sleep, so Keira coated her with an extra warm blanket, pulling it tight around her shoulders so she was wrapped up snugly. Tess, who was in a state of shock, had the most attention. That was something that green eco could not heal. She just sat down with an unfocussed gaze in her eyes, not speaking even when she was spoken to. She turned her head from time to time in reaction to voices, but showed little response other than that. Even her usually vivid fur seemed much paler.
Keira was concerned for them both and did not sleep that night. While her father and the guards scoured the portside for signs of evidence, she sat alone in the main room with her two unspeaking friends. She found it uncomfortable to be in such a position, and several times tried to get words out of Tess, but to no avail. At a loss for what else she could do, she resigned herself to her seat on the couch and sat in silence, trying to relieve her own stress as much as she could. Then she looked down at her healing foot which didn't even bear as much as a scar, thanks to her father. The memory of the pain, however, did not so easily leave her.
The night was long and lonely. Keira began to drift away into deep and subconscious thought. She too was wondering what on earth had happened down at The Naughty Ottsel to cause so much destruction. Since both of her friends who witnessed it were in no state to talk, all she could do was guess and wait for them to come round. Azyma was certainly regaining her colour and had stopped shivering so much; the green eco was working its powers. But Tess only grew grimmer and sadder. It was as if all the life was being transferred out of one of them and into the other. This didn't go unnoticed by Keira, and she kept a close eye on the both of them, trying again to rouse Tess into speaking. But still she was silent, as if in a trance, and nothing would move her. So Keira just lay back into the couch, mentally and emotionally exhausted.
At The Naughty Ottsel, smoke still rose from the broken embers as the guards picked their way through the smouldering debris, looking for signs or clues that could lead to the source of the destruction. Fortunately they found no fatalities, but the cost would be much more demoralising. The Naughty Ottsel was the only pub in the whole city, and without their evenings of camaraderie and social merry-making, the citizens would start to sink lower into a lethargic coma of inactivity. This sole source of enjoyment was the primary key of hope for them; somewhere they could cease their worrying of their meagre existence for a while and have some fun.
Samos, being the wise sage that he was, predicted this long before it started. He knew the importance of this pub, and those other citizens who had gathered around the hastily erected barrier bore the looks of deep devastation as they looked on at the scorched wreck. Samos moved to a quiet corner with Vis and a few of the city's highest-ranking officials and whispered in a low tone: "We can't let the people get any more depressed than they already are. Days into our rescue effort we still have nothing to show them. I think tomorrow it will be time to reveal the news to the public."
They all understood, and nothing more was said as the clean-up continued in the port well into the morning. All blackened debris was piled into a heap to await removal, and the ashes were blown by the wind into the harbour, coating the grey waters with an even darker layer of subfusc bleakness. It seemed to change the saturation of the whole port, and everything looked dull and tired, even as the sun began to peer over the mountains, weakened and hazed by the lingering smoke.
In Keira's house, all was silent still. But just before the sun came up, Tess seemed to suddenly become focussed and lucid for a short moment, and caught Keira's attention. She looked around rapidly, and then without warning, fell onto the cushion at her side. Keira moved quickly to her, but relaxed when she saw that Tess was just sleeping. Having sat there vigilantly all night, Keira could not bring herself to awaken her. She too was very tired, and taking one last look at the stricken Azyma, she reclined into her own seat and closed her eyes, uncaring whether sleep took her or not.
Not a few minutes later, Azyma awoke of her own accord. She looked around and for a moment did not register anything she saw. At last she recognised her location as Keira's house, and turned to see both Keira and Tess on the couch, eyes closed and silent. Her head throbbed a little and her eyes were stinging, but she did not feel weak. All she could remember from the traumatic night was a dark heat followed by a dim greenness.
Assuming her friends were sleeping, she untucked herself, got up off her couch, and crept across the room so silently that Keira (who was still awake) did not even hear her. Into the kitchen she went and tried to piece together her fragmented memories. As hard as she tried, she could not remember anything more than what she already knew. But that all changed when she looked down at her singed and ashen clothes. Fear shook her as a grim and bearded face flashed into her mind, snarling with a hateful malice as fire wreathed all around. Tears flooded Azyma's eyes and she began to whimper, which caught Keira's attention. Seeing Azyma missing, she followed the sounds into the kitchen and found her there on the floor in a crumpled emotional torrent.
"Guards!" Keira shouted, and rushed over to help her friend.
Not a moment later, the two guards who had remained dutifully outside the front door came bursting in to see what was happening. They found Azyma on the floor, trembling in Keira's arms with her eyes shut tight. Kneeling down beside her, the guards watched as Keira tried to console her quivering companion, but nothing would calm her.
"Looks like post-traumatic stress," said one of the guards.
"How do we help her?" asked Keira desperately, holding Azyma close.
"Treatment varies from person to person," said the guard. "But it's probably best to just wait and let her get over it herself; there isn't much we can do, to be honest. Just keep her indoors where it's safe and make her feel comfortable if you can."
The guards stood up, and Keira whispered soothingly into Azyma's ear, "You'll be fine. You're safe now." Then she softly kissed her on the forehead. Azyma's eyes remained tightly shut, but her trembling ceased. Keira's warm embrace seemed to be helping her. It was the first step on the road to recovery.