As Wade led Ember and Theo upstairs, they were met with a tall elegant looking woman who Theo guessed was a relative.

"Ember! Theo! I'm excited to finally meet you both.", she said and Theo remembered the phone call he made and the woman had the voice that spoke to him so he guessed that she was Brook, "So, do we hug or . . . wave, or . . . don't want to put you out or make your friend spark or anything."

"Um, a hello is fine.", Ember said nervously smiling.

Theo shrugged but could tell Brook was just trying to be friendly as he let Brook continue.

"Hardly.", she argued, "Wade hasn't stopped talking about you since the day you met. The boy is smitten."

Wade looked mortified.

"Mom!"

"Oh come on, I'm your mother.", Brook said smiling, "I know when something is lighting you up. I just didn't know she would be so smoky and he would be so sparky."

Brook faked a cough and spasm as if she was electrocuted, but Theo could tell she was just playing so he joined in the laughter though Ember and him paused first.

"Come this way.", Brook said waving them inside, "Meet the rest of the family."

Ember and Theo followed her inside, but paused at the door. The whole place was like a huge swimming pool with floating inflatable furniture. Evidently it wasn't made with Fire or for that matter Plasma elements in mind. In fact Theo could see Ember looked like she was standing before a jury and she was the one on trial. Wade sensed the tension too and looked around before a smile came to his face. He placed a less-flammable welcome mat over the seat of one of the floating chairs so Ember could climb on and get around. Theo just levitated himself using his electromagnetism though Ember wobbled precariously as Wade led Ember into the pool, Brook spoke to her son.

"Oh honey, you won't believe what your baby niece did today! She . . . she smiled!", she told him while getting teary eyed.

"No she didn't.", he blubbered.

Brook just nodded and then they both burst into tears which made Ember and Theo become speechless. Wade's family was so different than Ember's. After Brook and Wade stopped crying, Brook led them to a waterfall curtain where Theo conjured another field where held the curtain open so he and Ember could come into a dining room full of Water people sitting at an inflatable dining table.

"Hey, everyone!", Wade said, "This is Ember and Theo!"

"Hey!", a Water person that looked similar to Wade and wearing a chef's apron and a cheery smile.

"That's my brother Alan.", Wade told Ember and Theo before mentioning toward a Water woman at the table, "And that's his wife Eddy."

Eddy wore a sweater and had curly hair as she waved at the trio, "Hi!"

"Must be a nickname for Edith or something.", Theo thought to himself.

"And we got a couple of kids floating around here somewhere.", Alan said cheerfully before calling out, "Marco! Polo!"

A couple of Water boys popped up and instantly noticed Wade, Theo and Ember.

"Hi Uncle Wade!", they chirped before they turned to Ember and Theo.

"Do you die if you fall in water?", Marco asked.

"And do you really make things move with your mind?", Polo asked Theo just as fast.

Marco jostled Ember's chair, but Theo held her steady and managed to keep himself afloat as Polo splashed some water his way which stopped and fell harmlessly back into the pool.

"Marco! Polo!", Wade scolded.

Alan flushed with embarrassment as he helped ease the boys away.

"Kids, hee-hee.", he said to Ember and Theo, "Please don't hate us."

Theo didn't look bothered.

"Oh, it's quite alright.", Theo said kindly before rolling his eyes comically, "Kids, what can you do?"

Ember was thankful Theo had helped keep her balance and tried to smile which Theo guessed was her trying to keep her cool despite the hazards the house posed.

/

"Anyway.", said Wade pulling Ember's floaty to the table and Theo following, "That's my little sib, Lake. And their girlfriend Ghibli."

"Sup.", Ghibli said peering out from a swoop of hair.

"They're students at the Element City School of Arts.", Wade explained.

"Just following in Mom's wake.", Lake added.

"Oh nonsense.", Brook said waving her hand, "I'm just an architect. The real artist is my brother Harold."

Theo noticed a short, broad Water person hanging a painting and guessed it was Harold who by now had finished hanging the painting before coming over to the table.

"Oh, I just dabble in watercolors.", he said, "Or, as we like to call them colors."

Brook was finishing putting a dish on the table before she sat down herself.

"Oh, don't listen to him.", she said, "He's a wonderful painter. One of his paintings just got in the Element City Museum's permanent collection."

"Wow", Ember said shyly, "That is so cool. My only talent is 'Clean up on aisle four' though Theo helps make it a little better."

Theo blushed making the sparkles on his cheeks turn pink.

"Aw, you're just saying that."

Wade however looked humble.

"Talk about modest.", he said while giving her a loving gaze, "Ember's got an incredible creative flame! I've never seen anything like it."

Harold looked Ember's way also.

"I just have to say,", he said a bit loudly yet slowly, "that you speak so well and clear-"

Wade shot his uncle a look, but Ember kept her cool.

"Yeah, it's amazing what talking in the same language your entire life can do.", she commented.

"Doh!", Harold said clearly embarrassed at his inappropriate comment.

Alan quickly decided to change the subject to disperse the tension.

"So Ember, did Wade ever tell you that he's deathly afraid of sponges?"

"No", Ember answered suddenly intrigued.

"I was traumatized.", Wade said.

Theo raised an eyebrow.

"What happened?", he asked.

Wade talked about an experience he had in kindergarten. It was like any other day until he was following the rest of the class to recess only as the janitor was passing by and one of his sponges fell off. Curiously, Wade touched it with his finger-and then the sponge sucked him up right out of his yellow overalls and laid on the floor. As Wade was talking, Theo then looked thoughtful.

"Hold on, was that the time the sponge levitated and wrung you out on its own?", he asked Wade with a raised eyebrow.

Wade looked interested.

"Yeah? How did you know?"

"I made a delivery to a school once back in the day.", Theo explained, "But as I started to leave, I could've sworn I heard a small yelp. Not leaving it to chance, I took a quick look around the halls and right in the middle of one was a sponge that looked full of water. Clearly I didn't want to let something like that stay so I wrung it out to see only the most adorable little guy form, but he didn't really see me cause he was clearly freaked out about something and was running towards the doors while trying to put his overalls back on."

/

Despite Theo's explanation, everyone else was already laughing too hard to notice. Even Ember couldn't help but chuckle. Wade however wasn't focused on the experience for he had listened to Theo's words carefully.

"That was you?", he asked in awe, "You got me out of that sponge?"

Theo looked his way shyly.

"Guilty as charged."

"I still can't use a sponge around him!", Brook said.

Wade looked a bit shocked.

"I was almost late for recess.", he argued defensively, "Who knows how long I would've been stuck?"

Alan reached for a pitcher, but he was laughing so hard that the pitcher slipped out of his hands and shattered on the table.

"Alan!", Brook scolded, "That was new!"

"My bad.", Alan apologized, "I'm all whirlpools tonight."

Theo observed Ember pick up a couple of the larger pieces of the shattered pitcher and blew on them to make them hot before fusing them together. Theo smiled as he saw that familiar gleam in her eye that she had back when she made her glass seal.

"I can fix it.", she assured Alan.

She gathered all the pieces and melted them into a glowing orb before blowing it into a shape of a pitcher. Theo noticed that Ember's inner light was casting a rainbow of colors around the room while she worked. Ember was so into her work that she hadn't noticed everyone else was watching in total awe. With a final twist and delicate pull, Ember formed the handle of the pitcher and then tweaked the spout before setting the finished piece on the table. Theo thought the new ruby coloring was a nice touch as Ember noticed Wade's family staring.

"Oh, um, sorry.", she said quickly as she zipped up her fire.

"That was amazing.", Harold gushed.

Ember was pretty surprised as Wade's family cheered and applauded. Her face burned with shyness.

"It's just melted glass.", she said modestly.

"Just melted glass?", Brook echoed, "Every building in the new city is built from 'just melted glass'."

Ember glanced out the windows for the first time and admired the view of the Water District. Brook really did have a point.

"Oh no.", Brook continued, "you have to do something with that talent."

Wade leaned close to Ember.

"See?", he whispered, "I told you you're special."

Ember looked back at him smiling, suddenly believing him and noticing Theo with a "So have I" kind of expression on his face which told her that he agreed with what Wade said.

/

At that moment, a bubble came up to Wade's head and popped once it hit the top, but Wade brightened.

"Ooh, thought bubble.", he said before looking out to the rest of the family, "Maybe after dinner we play the Crying Game?"

Wade's family burst into excited murmurs while Ember and Theo looked interested.

"Let me guess.", Ember said, "You try to cry?"

"We try not to cry.", Wade corrected her.

Theo looked on board right away.

"Ooh, sounds like fun."

Once dinner was over, it was game time. Theo was a bit nervous as teams formed. Brook and Harold stood facing each other. They would start the whole thing. Wade held a small hourglass in his hand.

"You have one minute.", he said before flipping it, "Go!"

"Nineteen seventy-nine. November. You-"

Brook burst into tears instantly. Her team-Wade, Lake, and Eddy-threw up their hands while the other team-Alan and Ghibli-celebrated.

"-never got a chance to say good-bye to Nana.", Brook wailed before Harold could say another word.

"Okay, Ember, Wade.", Harold said looking the pair's way, "You're up."

It didn't take long for Ember and Wade to stand where Brook and Harold were. Though Ember was on her floaty so she wouldn't touch the water, but she looked sure of herself.

"Yeah, this is almost unfair", Ember pointed out, "because I have literally never cried. You've got no chance."

"Sounds like a challenge.", Wade said grinning.

"Ready, go!", Harold declared as he flipped the timer.

"Butterfly. Windshield wipers. Half a butterfly.", Wade said simply.

Wade's family started sniffling and sobbing, but Ember stood still as a statue, unmoved.

"Sorry Wade, you'll have to try harder than that to get this girl to tear up.", Theo thought to himself amused. So Wade tried again.

"Okay, an old man on his deathbed remembers the summer he fell in love.", Wade sniffled, his own words getting to him, "She was out of his league, and he was young and scared. He let her go, thinking surely summer would come again. It never did."

Wade was barely holding back his own tears and his family was too. Still Ember's eyes were dry as she remained unmoved.

"Guess Wade has to try a new kind of approach.", Theo thought to himself.

"Almost out of time.", Harold blubbered.

/

Wade took a breath and spoke again only this time it was in a sincere and caring way.

"Ember, when I met you, I thought I was drowning. But that light, that light inside you, has made me feel so alive. And all I want now is to be near it-near you. Together."

Theo watched Wade gaze into Ember's eyes and Ember's unmoved expression suddenly soften. Something was going on in that moment and then . . . it happened! A single white-hot teardrop formed and slid down Ember's cheek and fell into the pool where it made a hiss and vanished. For a few moments, no one moved. Wade, Ember, Wade's family and even Theo were all caught up in the moment, but then that moment was shattered as the phone rang. Wade instantly sprung into action and answered it.

"Hello?", he asked, "Gale, hi."

Theo felt his mirror vibrate and hurried to a corner so he could observe the reflective surface. The mirror showed Gale was at the culvert with a couple of Air workers inspecting Ember's new seal.

"Glass?", he saw Gale ask looking skeptical, "You repaired it with glass?"

Theo looked to Wade who looked nervous and Ember looked just as tense before turning back to his mirror where he saw one of Gale's workers punch the seal to test it only to have his hand vanish in a poof before he reformed it. The other one lifted a hammer and swung it against the glass that gave off a loud clang that Theo vibrate so hard he almost dropped the mirror. Luckily, the glass held and Gale turned back to the phone smiling.

"Tempered glass. Solid as a rock. I like it. Consider those tickets cancelled."

Theo's mirror went back to normal and he slipped it back into his pocket as he turned to wade who hung up and gave a teary smile.

"We did it?", Ember asked looking hopeful.

"Yup!", Wade answered.

Ember felt so relieved as she took out the brochure she had gotten from Fern and happily ignited it making it nothing but ask. Theo was happy also seeing that Ember was more at ease, but then he noticed Marco and Polo nearby looking his way interested.

"What?", he asked.

"How did you do that?", Marco asked.

"Do what?", Theo asked starting to get a bit tense.

"The thing with your mirror.", Polo answered.

Theo tensed. Had they seen him use his mirror?

"The way you made it light up.", Marco added, "Is that a special model?"

Theo thought fast.

"Uh, yes! A very special heirloom I had since I left my homeland."

Marco and Polo seemed to accept that and headed off allowing Theo to breath a sigh of relief.