Kira's POV
The guards drag me toward the Eternal Flame.
I can feel the heat from here—not normal fire heat, but something deeper. Ancient. Alive. The flame reaches toward me like it knows I'm coming, and terror floods through me so strong I can barely breathe.
I'm going to die.
"Wait!" Dad's voice roars across the throne room. "You can't do this! She's just a girl!"
"She's Eywa's seed," the Ash King says coldly. "If your goddess truly sent her, the flame won't harm her. If she lied..." He smiles without warmth. "Then we'll finally have proof that Eywa is as powerless here as we've always believed."
Mom fights against the warriors holding her back. Tuk is screaming. Lo'ak is shouting threats that no one listens to.
But it's Vaelor's voice that cuts through everything:
"Father, this is madness. You can't—"
"Can't?" The king whirls on his son. "I am still king of the Ash People. Or have you forgotten your place, boy?"
Something dangerous flashes in Vaelor's golden eyes. For a moment, I think he might actually challenge his father. But then his jaw clenches and he looks away.
He won't save me. He can't.
I'm alone in this.
The guards push me to the edge of the sacred caldera. Below, the Eternal Flame roars like a living beast—a column of fire shooting up from deep within the earth, so hot the air around it shimmers and warps.
"Any last words, forest girl?" one guard asks, not unkindly.
I look back at my family. At Tuk's tear-stained face. At Mom's rage and Dad's helplessness. At Lo'ak and Spider looking like they're about to do something stupid and brave.
Then my eyes find Vaelor.
He's standing rigid beside his father's throne, fists clenched so hard his knuckles have gone pale beneath the gray. His golden eyes bore into mine with something that looks like pain.
Through the strange connection between us—the one I still don't understand—I feel his emotions bleeding into mine. Guilt. Fury. Fear. And underneath it all, something warm and desperate that he's trying so hard to bury.
He doesn't want me to die.
That knowledge gives me courage I didn't know I had.
"I'm not afraid," I call out, loud enough for everyone to hear. My voice only shakes a little. "If Eywa sent me here to burn, then I'll burn. But I don't think she did."
"We'll see," the king says.
The guards release me at the very edge. One small push and I'll fall directly into the flames.
I close my eyes and listen for Eywa's voice. But there's nothing. Just the roar of fire and the hammering of my heart.
Please, I pray silently. If you really sent me here, don't let me die before I understand why.
Then I step forward and let myself fall.
The world becomes fire.
Heat like I've never imagined slams into me from all sides. I open my mouth to scream but flames rush in. My lungs burn. My skin burns. Everything burns.
This is it. This is how I die.
But then something changes.
The fire that was destroying me suddenly... stops. The pain vanishes. And instead of burning, I feel the flames wrapping around me like warm water. Supporting me. Holding me.
The Eternal Flame isn't trying to kill me.
It's welcoming me home.
I open my eyes and gasp. I'm floating in the center of the flame column, suspended by fire that doesn't hurt. And around me, impossible things are happening:
The volcanic rock is cracking open. Glowing vines—Eywa's sacred vines—burst through stone that nothing should be able to grow in. They spiral up around the flame, weaving through fire like they belong there.
Fire and forest. Destruction and growth. Death and life.
Together.
Through the flames, I see the throne room above. Every face is frozen in shock. The Ash King has gone pale. The council members are shouting.
And Vaelor—
Vaelor's eyes are wide with wonder and terror, like he's seeing something that changes everything he thought he knew.
Eywa's voice suddenly fills my mind, louder and clearer than ever before:
"SHOW THEM, DAUGHTER. SHOW THEM THAT I NEVER LEFT. THAT LOVE CAN BLOOM EVEN IN ASH."
Power floods through me—not my power, but Eywa's. Using me like a vessel. And I understand what she wants me to do.
I reach out with both hands, and the Eternal Flame obeys.
It splits. Separates. Transforms from one massive pillar into thousands of smaller flames that spread throughout the throne room like living stars. Not burning—dancing. Each flame carries a tiny glowing seed that plants itself in cracks in the volcanic floor.
And where the seeds touch stone, life erupts.
Flowers bloom in dead rock. Vines wind up obsidian pillars. Moss carpets the floor with soft green. In seconds, the throne room transforms from a place of ash and death into something alive. Still volcanic. Still powerful. But no longer empty.
The Ash People stare in stunned silence at the impossible garden growing around them.
Then I speak, and my voice echoes with Eywa's power:
"She never abandoned you. She wept for every child lost to flame. She raged with your pain. But she could not prevent all suffering—she could only walk through it with you. And now she asks: will you let her in again? Will you let love grow where only ash remained?"
The flames lower me gently to the ground, back to the edge of the caldera. The moment my feet touch stone, I collapse.
Strong arms catch me before I hit the floor.
Vaelor.
He cradles me against his chest, his whole body shaking. "You survived," he whispers roughly. "You actually survived."
"Told you... Eywa sent me," I manage through exhaustion.
His golden eyes search my face with naked emotion he's not bothering to hide anymore. "What are you?"
"I don't know. But I think... I think I'm here for you."
Something breaks in his expression. Before he can respond, the Ash King's voice cuts through the moment:
"ENOUGH!"
Everyone turns. The king stands at his throne, face twisted with rage and something that looks like grief.
"This changes nothing! Forest magic in our sacred flame is desecration, not salvation!" He points at me with a shaking finger. "She will die for this insult. Guards—"
"No."
Vaelor's voice is quiet but absolute. He stands slowly, still holding me in his arms, and faces his father.
"You will not touch her."
The throne room goes deathly silent.
"What did you say?" The king's voice drops dangerously low.
"I said no, Father." Vaelor's arms tighten around me protectively. "She survived the Eternal Flame. She made life grow in dead stone. She did what no Ash person has done in three centuries. By our own laws, she's proven herself sacred."
"She's proven herself a threat!"
"Then I claim right of guardianship." Vaelor's jaw sets stubbornly. "She will be my responsibility. My prisoner. Mine to question, mine to protect. And if you want to harm her, you'll have to go through me first."
Sylara gasps from across the room. "Vaelor, what are you—"
But Vaelor ignores his betrothed. His eyes stay locked on his father in a silent battle of wills.
Finally, the king speaks through gritted teeth:
"Seven days. You have seven days to determine what she is and if she's a threat. Then we vote on her fate. And if you've been compromised by her magic..." His eyes narrow. "I'll kill her myself, and your guardianship be damned."
"Agreed."
Vaelor turns and carries me out of the throne room. Behind us, I hear chaos erupting—Dad demanding to go with me, Mom shouting, the council arguing.
But Vaelor doesn't stop. He walks through corridors lit by lava, past shocked Ash People who whisper and point, deeper into the mountain fortress.
"Where are you taking me?" I ask weakly.
"Somewhere safe." His voice is rough. "Somewhere I can figure out what you're doing to me."
"I'm not doing anything—"
"You made me defy my father. In front of the entire court. I've never done that before. Never even considered it." He looks down at me with conflicted eyes. "Three days ago, I didn't know you existed. Now I'm risking everything to keep you alive. So yes, you're definitely doing something."
He kicks open a door and carries me into a large room carved into volcanic rock. The walls glow with subtle orange veins. A hammock hangs in one corner.
Vaelor sets me down gently on the hammock, then immediately backs away like I might burn him again.
"These are my private chambers," he says. "No one enters without permission. You'll be safe here."
"Your chambers?" My eyes widen. "I can't—"
"You will. It's the only place I can guarantee your protection." He runs a hand through his black hair, looking more shaken than I've ever seen him. "Besides, I meant what I said. Seven days to figure out what you are. I intend to use them."
He turns to leave, then pauses at the door.
"That thing you did in the throne room, speaking with Eywa's voice—" His shoulders tense. "My mother used to tell me stories about the goddess. Before she died. Before I learned that faith couldn't save anyone."
"Vaelor—"
"Get some rest, forest girl. Tomorrow, we start finding answers."
The door closes behind him, leaving me alone in the crown prince's private chambers with questions I can't answer and a connection to a boy I shouldn't feel.
But as I close my eyes, exhausted, I hear Eywa whisper one last truth:
"The seed is planted. Now it's time to see if the flame will let it grow... or burn it to ash."