Okay, this is a long chapter because I needed to clear things up, and I didn't want to have to spread it out over a long period of chapters.

So, be happy.

Please do not worry, she will be Chosen eventually. I've gotten a thought that keeps floating around in my head and it won't leave me alone, but I'm not sure if I'm going to let it run wild or not.

I refuse to write any more disclaimers. I've probably written around 30 amusing ones by now, and I don't feel like writing another thing merely to amuse you. Nyah!

'Blah' - Thoughts "Blah - Speech :Blah: - Mindspeech

~~~~~

(two days later)

"She's too unstable. Even if she was trained, there would still be no assurance she could keep her Gift in check."

"We don't know that! She's shown herself to be very strong willed."

"Even those with strong wills can lose control-"

"Calm yourselves, both of you!" Talia said, her eyes blazing. Kyle looked up in amazement at her. He had never heard Talia raise her voice.

"There is no choice in this matter." She said, her voice resuming its normal pitch. "Devina must be trained. I've taught her how to ground and center, and build shields, but I have no experience with Mindspeech, Firestarting, or magery. She must be taught."

"She hasn't been Chosen..." Kyle began.

Talia sighed. "No, she hasn't. I don't know why. She has all the attributes of a Herald. I'd have thought she would have been Chosen by now." She shook her head. "That makes no difference. She has to be trained in her Gifts."

"The Guard will begin to suspect her. They are already saying that the fire was arson." Kyle said. "It will get out that the girl who lived through that fire was a Firestarter, and they will execute her for murder."

"She did melt the locks." Dirk said, as though reluctant to point out that fact. "She locked them in."

"The poor girl had gone insane." Talia said. "Empathy is a potent gift. I should know." Talia looked at the ground. "It nearly destroyed me." Dirk reached out and held her hand, twining his fingers around hers. She looked up at him and smiled. "I've spoken with Selenay. She believes that we should try and train her. A Firestarter is a valuable asset to the crown."

"Who will train her in magery?" Dirk asked. "I'd think it'd have to be someone we can trust not to talk. The only ones I can think of are Darkwind, Elspeth, Treyvan, and Hydona. But I'd think she would be afraid of the gryphons, and possibly Darkwind as well."

"I'll introduce Devina to Elspeth, and maybe Hydona. I think Devina will be more comfortable around females for the time being." Talia said.

"But the only one who even has a hint of Firestarting is Griffon." Dirk pointed out. "And he's male."

"We'll have to work that out." Talia said. She smiled slyly at him. "You taught Griffon, didn't you? _And_ she isn't afraid of you."

Dirk paled, and he floundered for an answer.

"Griffon didn't have the power to blow up Haven." Kyle said quietly. The couple stared at him in shock. "And possibly a large part of the surrounding countryside." He added as an afterthought.

"Her Gift's that strong?" Dirk asked. Kyle nodded. Dirk looked deeply confused.

"Dirk, we knew she was powerful." Talia said, misunderstanding his confusion.

"That's not it." Dirk said, frowning. He shook his head. "If she's that powerful, she must have had some control over it, otherwise she _would_ have destroyed Haven. Or she would have destroyed a large area of Haven, and burned herself up."

"I think we need to have a little talk with Miss Devina." Kyle said.

))^^((#%#))^^((

(The next day)

Talia decided to kill two birds with one stone, and asked Elspeth to come with her to talk to Devina.

"So she's mage talented, has all forms of Mindspeech, Empathy, and the strongest Firestarting ability since Lavan Firestorm? And she set fire to an entire brothel full of people and killed them, when she could just as easily set fire to all of Haven? And she hasn't been Chosen?"

"Yep." Said Talia.

"Good, then I have no reason to be intimidated by her." Elspeth said, grinning crookedly as they walked toward Devina's room in the Healer's Collegium.

- - -(POV change)

"Devina?"

Devina looked up from the book she was reading as Talia entered with a woman following behind her. The woman's hair was nearly entirely white, but Devina got the distinct feeling that she was younger than Talia. Her eyes were a silver brown color.

"Devina, this is Elspeth, one of my oldest friends." Talia said. Elspeth smiled.

"Hi." Elspeth said.

Devina sat there, her eyes wide with surprise. Elspeth. _Princess_ Elspeth. The first Herald-Mage since Vanyel Elspeth. The Herald in love with a Hawkbrother Elspeth. She had already gotten used to Talia, the Queen's Own and priestess of Vkandis(Though the last one seemed kind of weird to Devina), but now she had to deal with another living legend?

"You might want to breathe, dear. You're turning blue." Elspeth said. Devina choked, and gasped in air. "Are you all right?" Elspeth asked, putting a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Elspeth, you forget that your reputation precedes you." Talia said, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

"Ah, yes..." Elspeth said. She smiled at Devina apologetically. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"That's all right." Devina said, smiling back.

Elspeth looked down at Devina's book. "What are you reading?"

Devina blushed and looked down. "It's the story of Lavan Firestorm." She said quietly.

"Good choice," said Elspeth. "Very fitting, I think."

"Well, I figured I should know what I'm getting into." Devina said. She looked up at the two women standing by her bed. "Please, sit." She said, gesturing to the chairs. The two took a seat, muttering words of thanks.

"Devina, we have some questions for you." Talia said.

Devina swallowed. "About what?" she said quietly.

"How long have you been able to start fires?" Talia asked. She wasn't smiling, but her face was gentle, and Devina could feel that she wasn't in trouble. Yet. She relaxed visibly.

"As long as I can remember." She said. "When I was little, I would play with the candle flames. And then when I got older Mikal, my father and the brothel owner, put me to work lighting fires around the place, in the kitchen and in the guest rooms."

"He knew you were a Firestarter?" Elspeth said incredulously. "And he didn't send you to the Collegium to be trained?"

"No." said Devina. "He said I was too useful to be sent to the Collegium." Elspeth swore under her breath, and Devina was oddly pleased. 'I wouldn't think a princess would know those words.' She thought idly.

"Well," Elspeth said, regaining her composure. "The good thing about that is you are no longer liable for your actions. He knew you were a Firestarter and he used you. I don't think anyone would blame you, Devina."

"But I started the fire." Devina said. "I still don't remember what happened after I set that man on fire. The next thing I remember after that is that Herald, Kyle, talking to me. And it was so quiet, I knew I'd killed them all." Tears shined in her eyes.

"Devina, the one at fault here is your father, not you. He knew Firestarting is dangerous if not properly trained. He was a fool, and he paid a fools price." Elspeth said. Devina's eyes threatened to spill, and she rubbed them roughly with the back of a bandaged hand.

"How are your hands doing?" Talia asked, changing the subject.

"The Healers say they should be fine by the end of the week, just like the rest of me. They've been healing me a lot."

"Well they don't have much to do." Elspeth said. "We Heralds have been having an unusually healthy streak."

"Ay, Elspeth, don't jinx it!" said Talia, a smile on her face.

"Devina, I hate to get back to the subject..." Devina giggled. "But I have one more question. You said you played with the candle flames. Is it possible you could show me?" There was an unlit candle by Devina's bed, and Elspeth went to the fireplace to light it.

"No!" Devina said. Elspeth stopped and looked at her. "Please, I can do it."

"All right." Elspeth relented. "But I'm going to set it on the floor here, all right?" she said as she placed the candle and it's holder on the floor, and stepped back.

Devina stared at the wick, willing the flame to be, but instead of the flame bursting softly into life, it roared into being, blazing up to the ceiling before settling down to a small flame. Devina looked at the candle, baffled and scared.

"I- I don't know why it did that." She said. "It never did that before. I don't understand."

"Hmmm...I was right." Elspeth said, nodding her head.

"Right about what?" Devina asked.

"Devina, Gifts flow through things called channels, usually they are either closed or open, or in the case of Heralds, they open slowly with the help of their Companion. You, apparently, have had the channel open just a tiny bit, enough to do small things with the Gift, so you used it to its full extent. But now, it's opened all the way, and your proportions are messed up. Does that make sense?"

Devina frowned, then nodded slowly. "I suppose so." She said.

"Do you still want to try and show us how you play with fire?" Talia asked.

"Yes." Devina said quietly.

- - -(Another POV Change)

Elspeth invoked her mage sight as Devina stared at the flame and held out her hand. The flame jumped into the girl's palm, floating above her bandaged hand. Suddenly it gained distinctly human characteristics, and started doing acrobatic tricks on Devina's hand. Elspeth could see the magic energy flow around the girl. 'Gods!' Elspeth thought. 'She's using her magic to control her Firestarting Gift!'

"I did this the most." Devina said, her voice soft and almost dreamy. "Other times..." she tossed her hand lightly, and the flame split into two parts; two people, who started to do a kind of ballet. Then they melted together to make one person again. "I did other things too, but I'm afraid of tossing fire about indoors." Elspeth got a little chill at those words. Devina stared at the fire a moment, then sighed. "Good-bye." she said quietly to the flame, then blew on it, extinguishing the flame.

All three of them jumped in surprise when the fire in the fireplace went out with a whoosh. They stared at the fire for a long moment as they listened to the astonished and unhappy shouts of the Healers.

"Why," said Devina as she stared at the fireplace. "Do I get the feeling that the same thing happened throughout the Palace?"

~~~~~

Hey! Well that got a lot of things cleared out of the way. Me am happy.

*retarded smile* Me am Superman. Hee hee hee.

Reader Review Response Time!!!!

Hmmmm... me thinks I should have a song. Hmmm...

Herald Mistylenna: Don't worry. It made sense.

Magdellin: Yeah, ff.net has done that to me more than once. It sucks.

LeopardDance: Uh, thanks...um, no more kitty violence, I promise.

Me: No. No no no no no no no. That is never happening. Besides, I know exactly who she'll fall for. That is, if she falls for someone.

Ashkevwrong: Poor nearby objects...

etcetera-cat: Thank you for the compliment. I like compliments.

Kattiko: I've never heard of that movie. Sounds interesting.

Aaria: Most of her powers besides Mindspeech, Empathy, and Firestarting are very low level. And she completely doesn't have some Gifts! (Fetching, Farsight, Foresight)

Thank you guys for your reviews.

My mom is being bitchy, so I gotta post this quick. Bye!