A/N: I thought it would be fun to write a couple entries from Nightshade's perspective. This one takes place between Uncharted Waters Part 4 and Part 5 when Kaylin is super drunk. Enjoy!

Kaylin had stolen his tunic. Nightshade's memory up to that point was vague at best but he did clearly recall that the tunic she now wore had originally been his. He had been about to ask where her clothes went when she expressed an urgent need to, in her words, "look around" and "check out the pretty trees." She took off running into the woods, shrieking in laughter, throwing glances over her shoulder to see if Nightshade was following. Seeing him there, she ran faster but Nightshade quickly overtook her. He grabbed her and lifted her from behind with an arm around her waist, swinging her around. He pressed a hand against her mouth and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Quiet, Kaylin."

Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at the eyes glowing and unmoving in the distance. Kaylin had been running right towards it, in her playful attempt to explore. He was unnerved by the thought and knew also he was still highly intoxicated and could not recall where his sword had gone. He had no desire to tangle with the local wildlife in his current state, especially with Kaylin to consider. She was defenseless at the moment. She would most likely run headlong into further danger if he took his eyes off of her. She'd fallen quiet but she was wriggling against his hold and pouting into his hand that was still over her mouth. He looked around and spotted what appeared to be a dilapidated cabin in the distance, away from the glowing eyes, and began herding a wobbly Kaylin in its direction.

He breathed a sigh of relief, finding the interior largely intact. Kaylin pulled away from him and jumped onto the bed, bouncing a few times and waving her arms frantically to keep her balance. The bed was creaking ominously with her every bounce to the point Nightshade thought it might collapse altogether. He caught her mid jump and sat her down on the mattress.

"Kaylin, please stay here and do not move," Nightshade instructed, trying to ignore her disappointment and pouting lower lip. "I must set a perimeter. I do not wish for you to get hurt by breaking the bed with your jumping."

Kaylin's pouting lip quivered and he ran his finger across it, trying to smooth away her sad frown. Perhaps he was not as successful at ignoring her as he would like. He silently cursed the drunkenness that still affected both of them to such extremes. With more effort than he cared to acknowledge, he dragged himself away from her and out of the cabin.

Reentering the cabin after securing the exterior, Nightshade stopped a few steps in. His face gave away none of his surprise at what he found except for a slight lifting of his brows. Kaylin was sitting, legs tucked to the side, next to a vacant fireplace while clasping hands with the elemental fire kneeling before her. She looked exhausted with dark circles under her eyes and he found himself shocked that she was still more or less coherent. Perhaps less... She was slurring a great deal but he had been expecting to find her asleep, not entertaining the Eldest. Nightshade debated questioning her but his curiosity temporarily overrode his concern and he was ultimately relieved she had not invited the Elemental to leap on the bed with her. Taking the rapture the Eldest was staring at her with into consideration, he was not certain the elemental would've declined such an invitation.

The Elemental watched and listened in deceptively youthful delight as if it was a child and she, a beloved storyteller, while she spoke slowly, placing one word carefully in front of the other like she was a child learning to walk. But she was no child, not by mortal reckoning, and if the path she took the elemental down was slow, it was also quiet, gentle.

"My mother used to tell me a story when I was a child."

"You are still a child, Chosen."

"Hush, you sound like Teela. I'm not a child. Do you want a story or not?"

"My apologies. Continue."

She gifted the Eldest with a tale absent precise or adequate words but even so, her meaning was clear. She spoke, with slurred and halting speech, to the elemental of the role fire played in her life and the lives around her. It was the flame that provided the heat and light with which to live, and see, and cook. It was a beacon in the darkness and life in the coldest days. Its warmth was like a mother's embrace, uncomplicated and reassuring. It was the birthright of the dragons as synonymous with their existence as flight. It was a shield against the shadows, a warning to ferals. It was the heart of the hearth. It was the promise of rebirth. It was, to her, in its calmest forms, beautiful and mesmerizing. Perhaps her language was inexact but she still managed to convey all this and more. It was impressive. She could hardly hold herself upright but still held a captive audience.

Nightshade recalled Kaylin saying that she told stories to the fire, that the elemental considered it her function and its due. She, who freed ancient bonds and reshaped the world around her with the words of the Ancients writ small on her skin, held the elemental willingly captive with a bedtime story. It was... enlightening. If it would not so severely discomfort her, he would ask to see those marks in their entirety, to see what had been written and learn what might be gleaned from that study. But she was unlikely to agree. He shut down that line of thinking before Kaylin became aware, not that she was listening. She so rarely did. But she sometimes surprised him and heard what he would've preferred to keep to himself.

The elemental looked up, met his eyes, and nodded.

"Eldest." Nightshade said while returning his nod in acknowledgment. Kaylin turned, still holding the hands of the fire. Her eyes were wide, not in fear but surprise that he had entered so quietly.

"Kaylin, may I ask what you intended by summoning the fire?" He noted her cheeks redden with embarrassment.

"I just wanted to light the fireplace. I've lit a candle before, with Sanabalis. I figured it would be the same idea... Except bigger."

"I see..." he paused, trying to find words in the face of his astonishment. It was indeed bigger... She had accidentally summoned an Elemental on a foreign world while trying to light a simple fire. Lighting a flame was considered magic so simple that Barrani children could achieve such a thing and yet here she was holding hands with an elemental that most practitioners of the arcane arts would struggle to summon on a good day. Nothing was simple with her.

"I would have considered it ill-advised to cast magic while intoxicated. The results tend to be unexpected at best."

"Did you try it before?" She asked, suddenly curious and mildly accusatory.

"Little one," he replied, avoiding the question. It was best not to give her any ideas from his youthful foibles. "You do not even know how dangerous you are. You are like a child who plays with the things of gods, not mortals."

She frowned at him, indignation written on her face.

"We are on a foreign world, Kaylin. Are you so certain of your control in this place that you would risk such? Summoning an elemental is not a trivial matter. Were it not restrained we would be lost here. " He gentled his voice, feeling the sting his words had caused. He had not intended to chastise but to help her comprehend the danger. He could feel that she understood though she did not respond. She turned back to face the fire, to send it away but the elemental pulled a hand from hers and softly brushed Nightshade's mark.

"I will not harm the little Chosen, if that is your concern. I understand your fear. It is a reasonable and justified fear, though I think the child feels you are unduly harsh. I could ravage this world if given the freedom to do so but know that she has given me a great gift with her stories. I do not see myself as she sees me. It is such a small part of who I am. But it is a reminder and I think a necessary one. I would not see her or her consort destroyed."

"It is a part of my concern, yes." Nightshade bowed. He had been surprised to hear the voice of the fire. It rarely spoke so clearly. "You have my thanks, Eldest."

He could sense Kaylin's desire to quibble over the elemental's use of "consort". It was rather amusing. Nightshade watched as the fire gained his feet, without releasing Kaylin. The fire bent at the waist and kissed her forehead, almost in paternal benediction.

"Sleep well, Chosen. Rest while you can. Your world needs you to return so it can hear you tell its story, to be challenged and changed in the telling. You will be safe here tonight, I think, for you are guarded well." The fire straightened and looked to Nightshade, adding, "she is young."

"She is."

Kaylin started listing sideways as she fell asleep at the bidding of the elemental. The fire caught her, lifting her with great care, and turned to Nightshade.

"She will need guidance, Calarnenne. The child is Chosen in all ways but even the most powerful among us stumble until we learn how to use the power we are given. You will protect her?"

"I will, Eldest."

"You will guide her?"

"As much as she will allow."

The fire laughed, the sound warm and not quite tame.

"She is stubborn in the way of all young. She will not remember much of this night, I think. You consider hope to be a blade that cuts where it exists. You have learned to guard yourself against the pain it brings. But Calarnenne, it is hope that defines her. Shield her as you must but let her hope." The elemental paused. "She is precious. And dear. I will listen, from this great remove, for the stories she has yet to tell."

Nightshade considered asking how it knew things it shouldn't know. The common theory was that the elementals were unique and individual to their own worlds. Perhaps the answer was more complicated than previously thought. But in thinking this, he decided it was wiser and safer to not to question the heart of fire. The elemental inclined its head and held Kaylin out to him as if she weighed nothing. Nightshade took her in his own arms and glanced down at her sleeping face. He was momentarily distracted as she buried her face against his chest. The movement was disarming in its innocence. He felt for moment that he'd go to war to protect that innocence. She never recognized innocence in herself. She'd argue most vehemently at the suggestion. But she always judged herself harshly, her opinion skewed by guilt and self-loathing.

He looked back to where the fire had been standing to find the elemental gone and a hearty flame dancing in a fireplace that had been barren of flame only moments ago. He turned away from it, bearing his burden to the bed opposite the fire. He settled her on the mattress, pulling the blankets over her. Looking at her sleeping peacefully with her tousled, wind-dried hair falling across his mark and lips that were slightly parted, he decided that hope is not the only thing that cuts. He lightly pressed his lips to her forehead where the fire had kissed her and thought that perhaps there were some things that cut far deeper. His sundered kin had been correct. He was a fool and a sentimental one at that.