Ember: Part Two

     She did love her adopted daughter, and having that cardboard box show up on her doorstep those five years ago was probably the best thing that had ever happened to her. However, she could be quite a handful, and it was nice taking a break whilst she was at neoschool.

     She had not particularly wanted to send Ember to neoschool; neither did Ember want to go, but she seemed to have enjoyed it enough from what she had told her yesterday. However, she had found out what she was, and that took her one step closer to the day Harriet was dreading.

     Harriet had always known that Ember could not stay forever in Neopia Central, that one day she would have to move to Faerieland and she would probably never be able to see her again. It was one of the most painful things she had to deal with, but she hoped it would not be for a few more years.

     Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Harriet opened it to find Ember, along with two teachers. One she recognised as the headmaster, and the other one Ember’s form teacher.

     “Hello,” she said, beckoning them in. “Can I help you?” She wondered what this was about. Had she forgotten to collect Ember? No, it was only one o’ clock.

     “Yes,” answered the headmaster, speaking in a short, clipped tone. “It’s about Ember.”

     “Did she do something wrong?” asked Harriet, concerned.

     “You could say that, yes. She burnt the school down.”

     ***

     Ember hadn’t meant to burn the school down, she honestly hadn’t.

     That morning, when she arrived for school, it was obvious word had got out about her identity, and she was bombarded with questions.

     She was a bit of a disappointment really; she couldn’t cast any spells, or hand out quests, or even fly. To be honest, though, all of those things seemed pretty boring to Ember.

     However, Ember was still a faerie, spells or not, and she was suddenly greeted with respect and admiration. A real live faerie!

     Her morning lessons went well, but she was impatient, wanting to get to break.

     Finally, after what seemed like forever and a half, the bell went, and Ember rushed to gormball.

     She looked about for Lucy, but couldn’t find her anywhere.

     “If you’re looking for Lucy, she’s not here,” a player told her.

     “Oh.” Ember was upset; she had hoped to have had another lesson today. “How will we play gormball then?”

     “Kara has a spare gormball just in case.” He nodded his head in the direction of another pet. She was pretty, Ember supposed, but in a cruel way; cold, blue eyes and a thin, sharp nose. Ember immediately disliked her.

     “Hey, you!” Kara yelled to a pet standing next to Ember. Ember turned to look at him. “Not him, you!”

     “Me?” asked Ember. But she hadn’t even done anything!

     “Yeah,” said Kara. “You’re a faerie. A fire faerie. You can’t play.”

     “What?” Ember was shocked. “But I played yesterday! And I’m really good!”

     “Yeah, well, Lucy was in charge yesterday, but I am today. And I say you can’t play.”

     “That’s not fair!” Ember yelled, stepping into the centre of the circle.

     “Ember, please, don’t!” whispered Claire, but Ember ignored her.

     “Go Ember!” yelled Rachel.

     “Go Kara!” yelled someone else, presumably one of Kara’s friends.

     “Yeah!” other pets chimed in. “Go show this faerie who’s boss!”

     Kara walked up to face Ember, looking smug. Ember would have felt very small, if she hadn’t been so angry.

     “You’re just a faerie.” Kara spat. “I’m so much better than you. You should leave while you have a chance.”

     Something her mother had said came back to Ember. “Just because I’m a faerie doesn’t make me any better or worse than anyone else!”

     Kara snorted.

     “Are you laughing at me?” demanded Ember. She was angry now. Very angry. She could feel it building up inside her, and tainting her vision red.

     “Oh, no, of course not,” Kara said, smirking, leaning against the wall casually.

     “You liar!” she yelled, and then something very strange happened.

     She wasn’t entirely sure how she did it, but suddenly her hands were alight. Hungry, menacing flames licked at them. The crowd seemed to gasp and draw back, whispering and pointing.

     “Oh, look at the freaky fire faerie, she can make her hands catch fire!” Kara taunted Ember, but stopped when she saw her expression. “Hey, umm... that’s sort of scary, can you, umm, put it out or something?”

     Ember was so angry, she thought she might explode. She could hear ringing in her ears, so loud it hurt. She focused her anger all on Kara, and then...

     It was more of a natural, knee jerk reaction than anything else. She lifted her hands up, and in one swift motion pushed them towards Kara.

     Kara leaped in lightning speed to get out of the way, and Ember turned 180 degrees on her heel to follow her. Now that her anger had worn off, sent away in the ball of fire she had thrown at Kara, she could think more clearly. The crowd’s expressions were very plain; shock, horror, fear, surprise. The world seemed to pause for a moment, slow down, and be quiet, but then suddenly all at once it snapped into action.

     “Ember!” screamed somebody. “Move!”

     “Claire ran in there before!” Rachel cried, rushing towards the front door. “We have to get her out before the fire burns the whole school down!”

     Fire? Unwillingly, Ember turned around, and her eyes widened in shock.

     The fireballs she had sent at Kara had hit the wall behind her, and as it was made from wood, begun to burn.

     Ember could not move, could not stop staring as her school began to crash and crumble.

     ‘I did this,’ she kept telling herself, but it didn’t seem quite real.

     The teachers had arrived, and they began to question pets, staring her way occasionally.

     Ember wanted to cry. Just sit down, and cry. She felt so helpless, compared to the bright burning flames eating up her school. And what about Claire? She had to get out of there. ‘It’s all my fault,’ thought Ember, again.

     ***

     Ember listened as her headmaster told her mother about the fire.

     He did not tell it quite the way Ember would have; he focused slightly more on the fact she threw the fireball at Kara, and less on the fact it was an accident.

     “Is this a joke?” Ember’s mother asked in disbelief.

     “Sadly not.” The headmaster looked almost angry for a moment. “Obviously, there will be no school until the building is repaired, but we will not be asking Ember back when it is.”

     Ember looked at the floor, not meeting her mother’s gaze, as her headmaster carried on about payments and insurance, and neoschools specialising in young pets with anger issues.

     When he had finally finished and left, Miss Petal giving Ember a small wave, Ember’s mother turned to Ember.

     “We need to talk, Ember.”

     ***

     Ember was angry.

     She was angry with everyone. She was angry at Kara, angry at her headmaster, angry at her mother, even angry at kind Miss Petal.

     How could her mother send her away to Faerieland without her? Forever? She had no right!

     “It’s for the best,” her mother had told her. “I’ve found a very nice earth faerie who will let you attend her boarding neoschool. You can meet other faeries, and learn how to cast spells and fly!”

     “Is it because of what happened with the fire?” Ember asked.

     “Well... that was part of it, yes, but it wasn’t the only thing. I always planned to send you to Faerieland, but I had hoped we’d have had more time together.”

     “You’re not coming with?” Ember was frightened now.

     Her mother laughed, to try and keep the sadness out of her voice. “I’m not a faerie, now, am I, Ember? Of course I’m not coming. But it’ll be an adventure without me!”

     At that moment, Ember’s world broke apart. She was moving to a strange, new world, and she would never see her mother again.

     ***

     Ember’s bag was much too big for her.

     She stumbled several times on her way to the arranged meeting place, running to try and catch up with her mother. She was wearing her very favourite blue shoes just for luck, but they obviously weren’t very good for running.

     Eventually they arrived, and Ember felt her stomach twist and turn, as she saw all the other new faeries waiting to go to boarding school for the first time.

     How pretty they were! And how graceful! They were old, older than even the oldest pet at her old neoschool- her mother had said that they usually did not accept pets as young as her, but in this case an exception had been made.

     “Is this everyone?” an earth faerie, presumably the head mistress called out. “We will be travelling by Uni today. As you probably know, the Unis have a pact with the faeries; they will transport us from Neopia Central to Faerieland in return for the privilege of being allowed to stay in Faerie City.”

     Ember was led to her Uni, thankfully a young one and smaller than the others.

     “Hi,” she shyly greeted her Uni. “I’m Ember.”

     “I’m Maia,” replied the Uni, in a rather bored voice.

     “Goodbye, Ember!” called Ember’s mother, as she was about to leave. “I’ll see you when you finish school, in only six years!”

     It was then the realisation she would not see her mother for many years hit Ember properly.

     “Goodbye!” she shouted back, ignoring the groans and curses from Maia as she incorrectly scrambled onto her. “I’ll miss you!”

     “I’ll miss you too! I-” Ember never did hear what her mother had to say, as it was at that moment the Unis started flying off.

     If Ember had looked down, she would have realised just how big Neopia is, how small her seemingly endless street was, but as it happened she clung onto Maia’s mane until her knuckles went white, and buried her face deep in Maia’s fur.

     Maia smelt nice, like flowers and fresh fruit, but she also smelled of newness and not-mother. Ember tried to fall asleep- she was very tired, and Maia’s fur was very soft, but the ride was slightly too bumpy and she was too upset.

     After about half an hour the Unis jolted to a halt, and Ember collected her luggage. She did not realise she had been crying until she saw the wet patch where her head had been.

     Ember walked with the other faeries towards the city, marvelling at the sights- the colourful Rainbow Fountain and light faeries spinning the Wheel of Excitement, but also marvelling at the softness of the cloud she was walking on, softer than any bed.

     However, her thoughts of whether faeries just slept on the ground up here were soon interrupted as they entered the city.

     “Wow,” gasped Ember, awestruck, as she saw the faerie palace for the first time in her life. The purple sunrise combined with the odd lighting of the cloud caught it just right, illuminating it in a beautiful pinkish aura.

     “Hurry up, slowie!” an air faerie told her, giving her a push as she ran past.

     “Hey!” Ember yelled back. She hoped not all faeries were like that one.

     She walked on, slightly faster now until she arrived at the school. It looked liked a typical building of Faerieland, just slightly larger and taller.

     “Here is your school uniform.” The headmistress handed out a set of green clothes to everyone. “Please go and get changed in your dormitories, and then your lessons will commence. First lesson is in flying.”

     Ember found her room easily, as luckily it was quite near the classrooms, and began to change. She liked the colour of the uniform; it contrasted well with her hair, but she was sad to find her shirt had two large rips in the back.

     She walked into her first lesson, led by a dull looking air faerie.

     “Why are you still in your home clothes?” her teacher asked, glaring.

     “Miss, my school uniform is ripped!” Ember declared, holding up her shirt.

     The class giggled.

     “Those are for your wings, silly!” somebody shouted.

     “I thought I didn’t have any wings.” That was what her old teacher had told her, wasn’t it?

     “Of course you have wings,” her teacher informed her in a monotonous voice. “They are probably just a bit small and curled up from lack of sunlight.”

     Ember frowned, but she went to get changed and, sure enough, a pair of wings were growing out of her back.

     There were dark brown and shrivelled, like a plant that hadn’t been given enough water, and stiff and rusty from not having been used. They groaned and creaked as Ember pushed them into the correct position in line with the two rips in her shirt.

     Quickly, she rushed back into the lesson. The other faeries were at different stages- some levitating only a few centimetres, other doing short circular flights around the room.

     “Right, Ember.” The teacher walked briskly towards her. “Let’s see what you can do. Would you just like to show me you flying?”

     “I... I don’t really know how.” Ember blushed, feeling stupid.

     Her teacher wrote something down in her notebook.

     “Just concentrate hard on your wings, trying to make them move. It’s really not that difficult.”

     Ember concentrated really hard, screwing up her face and almost shaking, but nothing happened. Seeing her teacher was still watching her, she tried again. This time, she tried so hard, she was completely exhausted, but her wings only fluttered slightly.

     “Really Ember, you must try harder.” Her teacher gave her a disappointed look before moving on to the next student.

     Ember sighed. She knew she was not going to fit in here, either.

     ***

     Ember was right about not fitting in.

     She found the other faeries dull and boring, with nothing to do but talk about the latest fashion, and they for the most part ignored her. She was doing terribly at every lesson- try and she would to light the candle in spells, it would not happen, and as for levelling up pets for quests- forget it! It didn’t help she found all of her lessons pointless and silly, either.

     Eventually, after a few days, she did find an unlikely friend.

     Her name was Striyk, and she was in the year above Ember, making her twelve. She was a fire faerie, the same as Ember, but had singed clothes, ripped wings and a scarred face. Most people were scared of her, or looked down on her, but she just laughed at them, calling them silly air-heads with nothing better to do than sit around and look pretty.

     The first time Ember met Striyk, Striyk was trying to bully her into lending her a few neopoints.

     “You better give me that money, or else!” Striyk threatened, pulling a menacing face.

     “Oh yeah?” Ember yelled back. It was ruthless, and stupid, but Ember didn’t care. She was bored and unhappy, and this bully showing up was the last thing you needed.

     But instead of being angry, Striyk just laughed.

     “I see we have another rebel in the school. I like it.” Striyk grinned at Ember. “So, are we friends now? Rebels have to stick together, don’t they?”

     From that moment on, they became friends. Many raised their eyebrows at first, and Ember’s teachers all cautioned her against it. However, she ignored them- what were they but a bunch of stupid faeries? What did they know?

     ***

     Six years later

     Ember looked into her bedroom mirror.

     She was slightly pretty, she supposed, but her tangled hair and dirty face did not do much for her appearance. Not that she minded- who wanted to be pretty, anyway? It’s what on the inside that counts.

     Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

     “Come in,” Ember called, turning around to see who it was.

     It was Hope, a light faerie who had been fairly kind to Ember, although not exactly what Ember would call a close friend.

     “Hi!” Hope greeted Ember, sitting down on her bed without waiting to be asked. “I was just wondering, what are you wearing to the graduation ball? You don’t have much time to get ready, whatever it is!”

     The graduation ball- another dumb event where the main focus was on what outfit was the best. Graduation- or freedom day as Striyk had called it, had been a couple of days ago, Ember one of the youngest at just eleven. Striyk, however, had had freedom day a little early- she had been expelled a year after Ember had met her. Everyone told Ember it was for the best, but she was still annoyed at loosing her only friend. Still, Striyk had at least taught her to have a good time- not seriously hurting anyone, just having a little fun now and again.

     “Well? What are you wearing?” Hope asked, again. “Stop daydreaming and tell me!”

     “I don’t think I’m going to go.” Ember tried to make it sound casual.

     “What?!” Hope’s eyes were wide in disbelief. “You can’t not go! Graduation ball is the whole start to your career! You can’t ever even think about getting famous if you don’t go!”

     “Fame’s not everything.” Ember had never quite understood the whole obsession with fame- what could be great about having crowds of neopets surrounding you everywhere you went? “Besides, I don’t think I’m staying here- I’m probably going to go back to Neopia Central.”

     “And do what exactly?” Hope snorted. “You’re a faerie! You belong here!”

     “Oh, this and that,” Ember answered, vaguely. “Maybe go back to neoschool for a bit, see my friends...” To be honest, Ember had not really thought much about this. Her eyes wandered to the latest issue of the Neopian Times, which was lying open on her desk.

     ‘Thyassa wins Gormball championships!’ the headline declared.

     ‘That’s it!’ thought Ember.

     “I’m going to be a gormballer,” she told Hope, and Ember knew it was perfect.

The End