Fire and Tinder

            I remember I was in the middle of reading Reign of Dragons when it happened.  Okay, I will admit that sometimes I like to pretend I'm reading to an audience and this happened to be one of those times.  "Then, Sorista, in all her glorious fury, breathed her billowing heat down on the already scorched earth, joining it with that of her brethren…"  I paused. Sniffing the air something sulfuric besieged my senses.  Fire?  Was that fire or was my imagination running away with me.  As I took another long inhale I discovered that the sent of a lit match still lingered in the air.  Upward from the chair I came and in one sweeping motion ventured a glance out the window.  What I saw shocked me.  Yes, it was fire I smelled, Rina's house was on fire!  I rushed to the phone and dialed 911.  The woman on the other end kept telling me things "like stay calm miss", "you need to slow down".  I took a deep breath and tried to calm down but how would you react if the house next door went up in flames.  She insisted that I stay on the phone with her till the firemen arrived.  When they had finally gotten there the house looked like a pillar of fire.  I scrambled down the stairs to join the McGrath's on their front yard.  As I got there I noticed Rina twist free from a fireman's grasp a run back into the building.  As soon as she entered ignoring all my pleas and the screams of all her family the flames roared even higher covering the doorway.  The searing heat seemed to be melting my skin even at a good distance.  I was shaking, "Rina, no, No RINA!  RINA!"  I tried to scream over the roar of the flames.  The tears flowing freely felt as ice against my skin, soothing the heat and adding to the sense of helplessness that was overcoming me.  For what felt like an eternity I stood there with Randy and everyone, I was even too torn up to notice Anna was missing from the group, I just cried staring in to the flames.  That's when I felt it; it was as if knowing I lost my best friend had turned my body to ice so completely that not even the heat from the spiraling flames could warm me.  I felt as if the tears were freezing as thy hit my cheeks.  All of a sudden like an angel emerging from the clouds Rina strode from the house.  The flames caressed her crimson hair and light her features with an unearthly glow.  Her arms curved gently around Anna, supporting her unconscious sister close to her breast.  The flames themselves seemed to echo and waver at her very presence.  They embraced her but at the same time she was untouched by their liquid heat.  Flowing to make way for Rina and Anna as they emerged from the house in which a beam promptly fell across the now vacant doorway.  The news reporters at the scene were the first up to them, practically ramming their mikes down Rina's throat.  That's when I heard her "EVERYBODY COOL IT!"  I couldn't help smiling through my tears, just knowing she was okay I felt the cold ebbing and once more the tears flowing.  After she had seen to Anna's care Rina made her way through the crowd once more.  "Pardon me.  Excuse me.  Will you get out of my way?"  When she reached us I opened my mouth to say something but choked.  Instead I settled for hugging her with all the tenderness I could muster.  As I held her in my arms, eyes like faucets I felt the weight of all The McGrath's (obviously except Anna) joining me.  She's okay, I thought, everything is really alright…