maybe we started this fire [flamevein]

[Flamevein]

Once, long ago, the Valley had burned with the heat of a thousand wildfires.

Now, now she smoldered; an ember glowing dull in the dying light. And yet, he remained. This place was his home and by all intents, his birthright. A son of the Dark God himself, and one blessed with gasoline in his veins, he stayed. But he hid himself away in the far flung corners of the kingdom, content as he could be in his solitude. Even the company of mares had lost its grandeur, something that had always given him pleasure before.

Perhaps because they were not her.

Where the gasoline burned his veins, in her it scorched her throat. Though she was timid, her fire could not be denied. It was as a part of her as her own beating heart, and he had been the one to help her embrace it instead of shying away. Feel your fire...he had begged of her, his own excitement over riding her fear. And oh, she had felt it, and in turn, felt his.

But she was gone now, and the flames he had once found pleasure in had lost their allure. That is until the stench of smoke reached his nostrils. He was alert then, his senses tingling and the flames rising along his spine for the first time in many years. Their fire had a certain smell to it, a taste; perhaps the magic lacing the flames. He turned his nebula face to the sky, his blue eyes catching the flicker of far off flames and reflecting them. Eager now, he headed towards the source. Though his dragon wings were gone, he was still light on his feet and knew the Valley well enough to make a quick trip.

He would not reveal himself to her in the conventional way, though. No, she was worthy of more than that.

So he stayed in the forest, hidden for the time being. Instead, he sent his own fire back towards her, in the shape of a Phoenix. The beautifully plumed bird soared towards the fire-breathing mare, mouth open in a silent song. Before it could land though, he twisted the fire again, this time forcing it to take the shape of a male lion. The lion slunk forward on silent paws, gracefully rubbing itself along the length of her body. Powers spent for the moment, he pulled the flames again, extinguishing them as suddenly as he had made them. Only when the lion was gone did he appear, stepping from the forest like a ghost. ”Cress.” he said simply, though his eyes perhaps said one hundred different things.