When Jackie returned to camp, Kael was waiting.
He stood by the cold firepit, arms crossed, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"I know where you went," he said. No anger. Just something heavier. Something close to fear.
Jackie walked past him and sat on the broken bench, arms resting on her knees, gold light faintly glowing under her skin.
She didn't look at him when she spoke.
> "You knew."
Kael was quiet.
> "You knew I wasn't just some accident of the Rift. You knew there was a name. My name."
Still, he said nothing.
She finally looked at him.
> "Say it."
His jaw clenched. His eyes flicked—once—to her shoulder, where the spiral mark now shimmered beneath the edge of her shirt.
He said it like a prayer. Or a curse.
> "Jazira."
The air between them pulsed.
Jackie's fire stirred in response.
> "You knew her."
Kael nodded. Slowly. "Not in life. But I was trained on her history. Every Warden is."
> "Tell me."
He sat across from her, but didn't meet her eyes.
> "Jazira wasn't born. She was rebuilt. During the first Riftfall, when the world fractured and the dragons died, their memories began to leak into reality. Magic broke. Time fractured. People turned to flame. But one… endured."
> "She became the first Flameborne. The original Echo."
Jackie blinked. "But I saw her burn the world."
Kael nodded. "She did. Not out of hatred. Out of desperation. She tried to save it. She thought if she burned the Rift away, the world would heal."
> "It didn't."
> "Instead, the dragons vanished. The echoes faded. And the Wardens were founded to make sure no one like her ever rose again."
Jackie stood. "So what am I? A reincarnation? A copy?"
Kael shook his head. "No. You're not her. But the flame remembers her. You remember her."
He finally looked up.
> "And that makes you dangerous. Because Jazira didn't fail because she was cruel. She failed because she cared too much. She couldn't watch people die. So she became the fire."
Jackie turned away, her voice sharp. "You think I'll make the same mistake."
"I know you will," he said. "Unless you learn to control the fire better than she ever did."
A long silence.
Jackie's fist clenched—and flames licked her skin for a brief moment.
> "I don't want to control it," she whispered. "I want to understand it."
Kael stood slowly. "Then we find the rest of her memory. If the Rift gave you her name, it's only a matter of time before it gives you the rest."
He looked at her carefully.
> "Just promise me one thing."
She raised an eyebrow.
> "If the time comes—and you can't stop yourself—you'll let me try."
Jackie stared at him.
Then looked at the firepit.
> "No," she said softly. "If I can't stop myself… I'll stop me."