"Somebody!" Cried the woman, the tears streaming down her face glittering in the light of the ferocious bonfire behind her, "Save my baby!" She strained against two men barely succeeding in holding her from plunging into the fire. She collapsed as one of the men jerked just a bit to hard on her arm, "Please!" she screamed to the uncaring, star-littered sky.

She fell then, as if all the life was gone from her, when someone called in fear and awe, "Someting's com'n! Someting's com'n!" And everyone but the sobbing mother looked up, and what they saw then would remember for the rest of their lives.

A woman was in the sky, except this was no ordinary woman silhouetted against the sparkling blue-black sky. This one had wings, black mixed with a bit of green, that were unmistakably hawk shaped. She swooped down until she landed just before the mother who had not taken her eyes off the burning house since she had looked up at the glittering sky.

"I will save your baby." She said softly, her wings slowly getting smaller and smaller until they slid into her back with a pop sound. She turned to face the fire with a sad look on her face. The lady that had had the strange wings walked right up to the edge of the blaze, without a care for the heat, then raised her hand and touched a tongue of fire.

The piece slowly came off the fire and wrapped itself around the lady's finger. She looked into it for almost a full minute, a tender expression on her face, then she was brought back to the present with a moan from the distressed mother.

She took a step back and held her hands high above and in front of her, then in a sharp movement, brought them apart and down, parting the fire with the movement of her hands and her unseen powers. A pathway now stood, up to the front door where flames still danced. She strolled gracefully up to the door and made the parting motions again, bending her power on the flames, forcing them apart.

She was sweating now, unseen to the terrified and distressed mother, the power of the fire becoming harder to control by every second. She touched the door lightly, as if to test for something then pulled it open quickly, while jumping aside. Hot air burst through the door, the pressure released. She took a breath, then raced inside, all dignity gone.

Then there was just waiting. For several minutes, anyone could hear was the roar of the fire and the mother's moans. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Nobody took their eyes off that door. And after those several agonizing minutes, every thought of the failure and death of the strange woman was banished by her emerging from the door, holding the crying baby in her arms.

All anyone could think of was the baby and how happy they and the weeping mother were to see the little girl cooing joyously in its mothers arms, and not one could see the bitter agony reflecting in her savior. Her face was pinched with pain and she was panting heavily, but there was a look of satisfactory in her eyes. As she watched the mob surrounding the happy rescued infant, she looked up sharply and her body began to fade, quickly disappearing into the smoke wreathing her now transparent face.

Then she was gone.



* * *



Only later did the mother and mob think to look for the rescuer to thank her. They searched and searched, but to no avail. The woman had vanished. But none of it really mattered now that the Grand Duke's daughter was safe.

That was all anyone cared about, until later, but that is another story, for another place and another time.



AN: Hey readers! Well isn't that the corniest thing I could have said. . . Anyway. I want some more reviews because I'm a very impatient person and I WILL drop this story as I did What Comes of Elements if I don't get ideas soon. PLEASE HELP ME!!!! REVIEW!!!