Arrogance (thoughts/comments/suggestions/advice appreciated)

I'm completely well now. No longer helping with the kachinas-in-training, though. I thought I'd be glad about that, but it turns out I miss the little cretins, even that brat who would never do anything right.

Thanks, SAge, for saying that in the comment. Do try telling that to the others. *looks grim* They seem completely irritated with my skill. Just because I dance better than they do does not mean I'm trying to make them look inferior. Even if they are.

Alright, I'll admit that last sentence might have been out of line. But one can put up with this sort of thing for only so long. Flicker has started ignoring me, and Sparkle is constantly trying to show me up. She can't, and she usually ends up looking foolish trying. Her loss.

Flare is always making snide remarks about me. Everything that comes out of her mouth is designed to bring me down. She disguises the spite by saying she's joking, but everyone knows she isn't. At first it just surprised me, then it hurt me, now it's just getting old. At the very least she needs some NEW insults. She's resulted to recycling .

Firefly is most irritating of all. She turns everything into a lesson on pride. She thinks she's being incredibly clever and subtle, but it's ridiculous. We'll walk into a room with a beautiful tapestry and she'll say things like, "Hmm, I bet this thread in the middle thinks it's better than the ones on the edges."

I like to irritate her back by missing her point: "Well, threads can't really think..."

Or make my own point: "But I guess if threads could think, the middle thread would probably think itself better. Seeing how it's in the middle, the center of the entire design, the focal point of the entire room, the most beautiful thread in the whole piece. I guess it has a right to think itself better."

Even Coal seems glad I'm getting a hard time. He inserts his own mocking comments whenever possible, and readily laughs at Flare's insults. What a traitor.

Comet is the only one who understands. She doesn't seem to think it's such a crime to be a better dancer.

If this is some stupid ploy to bring me down and make me realize my "faults", it won't work. I can swear that to you. If I'm anything at all, it's stubborn.

Now, I understand that I come across as very arrogant. I understand that. But why can't anyone under stand me? IT'S NOT ARROGANCE IF IT'S TRUE! I am a better dancer! I am better than the others! No, that doesn't give me a license to brag, but it doesn't mean I have to pretend to be on their skill level!

Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I see we have a new follower. Welcome, Cowgirls.

Firefly's Hurt Too

If the situation weren't so unfortunate, this might be humorous.

This is Flare, Ember's twin sparktressling. Firefly would be posting, but...Well, may I tell you a short story?

Ember is a very good kachina. I'm sure she's bragged about it before on here. She's really quite arrogant about it, you know. (Sorry, Em, just being honest.) She is talented, though. The Fire Lord always watches her more than any of us. So lately, he's been missing her. You can tell he doesn't get as much entertainment out of us. Today he snapped. Flicker accidentally hit Sparkle in the eye, and Sparkle fell into me, and I tripped and brought Firefly down. The Fire Lord was unbelievably angry and shouted that Ember wouldn't have fallen. He stood up and started throwing fireballs at Firefly. She's the oldest and supposed to be the lead kachina (although Ember's quite bossy so it's really more like her), so whenever we do something wrong she gets blamed. I felt terrible and tried to help her, but Comet and Sparkle told me not to move. The Fire Lord was going to beat Firefly anyway, it would make no sense to get beaten myself. I didn't want to listen to them, but I was very upset and afraid and so I did.

Firefly is in a pretty bad way and she's upset with Ember, seeing how this is all sort of her fault. If she had just followed the rules she wouldn't be lying in bed with a raw back. And if she weren't such a bossy peacock all the time, it'd be easier to feel sorry for her.

I do feel sorry for her though. She's in a lot of pain and I do love her. I feel worse for Firefly though. This wasn't Firefly's fault and she's still being blamed.

The worst part is that now we don't have a lead kachina. Firefly counts beats and decides what routine we'll do. I guess, being the oldest of us four left, it'll be me now, but I've never been confident about all this. I hate our costumes, they make me feel...exposed. I'm not comfortably with the whole thing. I don't know what we'll do.

Keep Ember and Firefly in your thoughts.

Waiting...

I haven't been out of the room today. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm terrified. The Fire Lord's already in a terrible mood. Spying on the spies would be bad enough a crime, but actually overhearing some secrets...

Readers, the Fire Lord could kill me for this. And unfortunately I mean that quite literally. Slaves have been killed for less around here.

The only thing standing between me and certain death is my skill as a kachina. I am quite serious. All of Jeolotoe knows how much pride the Fire Lord takes in his kachinas. We are the finest in the world. Furier has always been home to the finest kachinas in the world. I am particularly fine. Out of the six of us, I'm the best.

Maybe I'm being prideful. Maybe I'm just being realistic.

Either way, I honestly cannot imagine what will become of me. None of us kachinas are saying much. An hour ago a frightened deaf and mute sparktress brought in some bread. Firefly keeps giving me terrified glances. Flare won't look at me at all. Flicker just stares constantly. Sparkle's eyes dart from face to face. Comet stares out the window.

We are all afraid. Afraid for me.

What am I to do?

Commands, Coal, and Caught! A Very Long Post, But Worth Your Time, I Think

I spied.

I may never do it again.

We awoke the sound of the alarm gong, loud and clear.

You know those certain sounds that make your skin crawl, your stomach jump, and something at the back of your mind just flinch? The warning gong is one of those sounds. It means one of three things:

1. The Palace is under attack.
2. Someone inside the Palace has been arrested.
3. The Fire Lord wants to see everyone front and center.

There are different patterns for different emergencies. After flying awake in a mild panic, my first response was deadly quiet, listening for the gong sequence...

The Fire Lord was summoning all Palace slaves.

If you don't know this already, when the Fire Lord calls you to do something, you do it before he's even finished his command. Of course, this command was a bit harder to fulfill on the part of us kachinas; we not only have to react quickly with the rest of the slaves, we're expected to look good while we do.

I've never dressed and combed my hair that quickly. I opted to omit the makeup, which still takes us five minutes at least, even with years of practice. (For all you who are interested in what our daily makeup looks like, click HERE and HERE. Of course, it's more elaborate for special occasions: HERE and HERE.)

After throwing on some clothes, we ran down the hall and into the dining hall. Most of the other slaves were already there. So was the Fire Lord. He so rarely comes into the slave areas; everyone's eyes were green (except the spies', of course).

I won't bore you with the details; in short, the Fire Lord forbade anyone from leaving their quarters until further notice. No one dared to ask how we were to eat, though I'm sure we were all wondering. The Fire Lord didn't even make an exception for spies. That surprised everyone, especially the spies. Their usually unreadable faces held hints of irritations and suspicion.

The Fire Lord dismissed us, and we all hurried back to our rooms.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the strangers?" Sparkle asked, the moment we were back in the kachina keep.

"Of course it does!" I cried impatiently, sitting on the bed. I glanced at myself in the mirror and made a face. I hate how I look without makeup. I've worn it everyday for so long I feel naked without it. I got up and began applying eyeliners and paint.

Firefly rolled her eyes. "Ember, we aren't going to see anyone for goodness-knows-how-long. Your pretty face will be quite wasted."

"Yes, we won't be seeing Coal," Flare said, her voice taunting. I snarled at her and went back to tracing my eyes.

"How are we supposed to get food?" Sparkle grumbled. "I'm already hungry."

"You don't suppose there's any danger, do you?" Flicker asked nervously.

"I expect there's some," Firefly answered, eying my makeup with a frown. "Ember, really, you're using up valuable paint."

I ignored her. I suddenly realized why I was putting on makeup.

I was going out, of course.

I did not intend to follow the Fire Lord's command for once in my life. I was curious, too curious to bear, and I was not going to miss whatever excitement was out there.

"I bet the strangers are..." Sparkle murmured. She didn't really have an answer, we all knew that. She thinks out loud a good deal. We've all learned to ignore her. If she wants us to acknowledge her, she has no problem screaming so in our ears.

"Long-lost relatives," Flare suggested, a gleam in her eye. "The Fire Lord has family!"

We all stared at her with incredulous expressions.

"Really, Flare, everyone knows what happened to the Fire Lord's family," I said with disgust. Flare frowned and shrugged.

"I was only speculating," she insisted. "Where's your sense of fun?"

I smiled inwardly. Oh, I planned to have some fun.

Before long, I finished applying my daily makeup and eyed the window causally. Our room is on the ground floor. The Palace is only one floor except the dungeons below and a tower on either end of the building. The curtains fluttered in the light breeze. (We have shutters, but we only use them in the rain.)

"I have to...um...you know what I mean," I said awkwardly, looking at the window pointedly. Firefly saw through that right away.

"What are you talking about, Ember? We've been here all of a quarter shadowmark," she said. I shrugged.

"My body doesn't tell time," I retorted simply, walking over to the window. "I'll only be a minute."

"Ember!" cried Flare, her eyes gleaming. "What if someone sees you?" She giggled. "What if Coal sees you?"

For a moment, my eyes actually flashed to green.

Oh, really, Ember, I scolded myself. You know very well you aren't really planning to "relieve yourself". I shrugged. "I'll have to risk it."

I leaped easily over the sill (it comes to about my waist) and dropped the yard or so to the ground.

"What if you get caught?" I heard Flicker hiss. Without replying, I took off at a dead run. I didn't know where I was going exactly, but I ended up under the spies' window.

I'm not sure how long I expected that to last. Definitely not as long as it did...

Asher: "I don't know why the Fire Lord's restricted us as well. We already know everything that's happening anyway."

Blaze: *snort* "Keep your mouth shut, Asher. You only know what we want you to."

Coal: (sharply) "Hi! Are we all spies together or aren't we? Leave him be, Blaze, we're all disappointed."

Blaze: (bitter) "You leave me be."

Silence.

Asher: "Do you suppose this has got anything to do with--"

Coal: "Asher, you've got to start connecting the dots for yourself."

Silence.

Asher: "Well, do you??"

Blaze and Coal: (sharp) "YES."

Silence.

Blaze: "Stop fidgeting, Asher, by the Fire Lord, you've got to learn to hide your feelings. In a real situation you'd be discovered faster than a kachina in a barnyard!"

Coal: "Can you really blame him? Waiting on the outside is awfully difficult."

Blaze: "I don't mean to speak unchecked, but I believe this may have something to do with..."

Coal: "The Pale One."

The Pale One??

Blaze: "Yes."

Coal: "Yes."

Blaze: "You know?"

Coal: "I presume."

Blaze: "Dangerous."

Coal: "What isn't?"

Asher: "What?"

Silence.

Blaze: "So those sparkers and man must be...after all this time..."

Coal: "...they found what they were looking for."

Blaze: "So I presume."

Coal: "Are we to stay here?"

Blaze: "Is that question in honest?"

Asher: "What are you talking about??"

Coal: *snickers* "I say--"

He stopped. My blood ran cold.

I heard the sound of a small spark popping. I swallowed. The spies sometimes use some sort of spark-code to communicate when words will not do.

A few spark-pops answered. I pressed myself against the outside wall. I would have run, but living around Coal had taught me one thing: when in doubt, stay still.

My heart pounded. My eyes pulsed bright green. My palms chilled.

Suddenly I was aware of the shadow moving across my head. Swallowing hard, I could take the suspense no longer. I looked up into Coal's face, staring at me from the window. Anger would have been easier to take; the perfect stoniness was worse. He disappeared for a moment and then jumped the windowsill, landing lightly right in front of me. Blaze was right behind him. I tried to stare back at them with the same coldness they mastered, but I knew my eyes were still green.

Coal spoke, "What. The devil. Are. You. Doing here."

Just like that, I felt foolish.

"There are too many questions and not enough answers of late. I wanted to fix that."

"By directly defying the Fire Lord," Coal finished. I shuddered. Yes, that was obvious. And now Coal would turn me in. Of course he would. It was his duty.

"Well, what were you plotting to do?" I snapped. Coal's face was unreadable.

"I don't know what you mean."

My lip curled. "Of course you don't. The injustice of this entire situation. You will report me to the Fire Lord for doing precisely what you were intending to do. Of course, if I were to attempt to turn you in, the Fire Lord wouldn't believe me."

A hint of humor crept into Coal's eyes. "Yes. Now forget everything you heard about our sweethearts and go back to your room. I'll tell the Fire Lord about your little misdemeanor when all this is over."

"Sweethearts!" I scoffed. "Unless one of your sparktressfriends' name is 'the Pale One' I--"

Me and my big mouth. Coal's eyebrow shot up as he heard exactly what he was fishing for. He nodded slowly.

"So that's where you came in." Even with all his spy training, a hint of anger tinted his tone. "We'll be sure to mention that to our Lord as well. I'm sure he'll have some way of making certain you don't forget your place next time. Go."

I swallowed my pride as much as I could and ran.

What a truly horrible day this has been. I had to tell the other kachinas what happened, but I kept the information about "the Pale One" to myself. I'm not completely suicidal, you know.

I do not even want to think about what will happen when Coal tells the Fire Lord about all this. Coal is wonderful, but unfailingly loyal to the Fire Lord in every way. When he is in spy mode, there is little I fear more.

Visitors!

Visitors!

I'm so surprised! There are three sparkers and a man here, and none of us slaves know why.

In the middle of dinner, a page ran into the dining hall and said the Fire Lord wanted us (kachinas). This wasn't particularly unexpected; the Fire Lord had been calling for us at odd hours lately.

So, we went in to entertain him.

He was extremely difficult to please. Every routine we began, he snapped that he had just seen that one. More than a few fire strands were wielded. Comet and I have welts to prove it.

We entertained the Fire Lord for a couple of hours at least. In the middle of a routine, the throne room doors flew open. They slammed against the wall with an earsplitting sound. I know I jumped a foot. My eyes flashed briefly to a frightened green.

Four figures strode quickly up the aisle. My eyes widened. I looked at Firefly and Flare. What in Jeolotoe...? No one comes into the Fire Lord's throne room uninvited.

Three of the figures were obviously fire fairies. Their wings were absolutely huge and all the same shades of red and oranges. The patterns were all quite different, as were their faces. Still, I think they must be related.

The fourth figure was tall and blonde and human.

The Fire Lord seemed surprised to see them, but not alarmed. The strangers came and stood side by side, a few feet before the steps to the throne. They did not bow. They did not speak.

Suddenly the Fire Lord remembered us kachinas.

"Kachinas! Leave us at once."

Bowing hastily, we ran out of the room.

Once in the hall, we broke into a flurry of whispers.

"What in Jeolotoe just happened?"
"Who were they??"
"How could they just intrude that way? Don't they have any manners?"
"Did you see the size of their wings?"
"What's a piece of human like him doing with three sparkers?"
"I think the brunette fire fairy was awfully good-looking, don't you?"

*clears throat* The last comment was from me...

So many more questions! Even than before! I'm sorry for posting twice in a day, but this just had to be written down. I absolutely have to get to the bottom of this...

I know this was probably a very disorganized post, so if you have any questions I'll try to answer them. Also, any suggestions on not getting caught as I try to figure things out?

Coward

I know it's been another long time. I'm sorry. I'm still not sure what's going on the Palace. I've been doing too much talking and not enough doing. I've got to really start snooping.

Coal and Blaze have been back for a few weeks now. They're so different. Whatever is amiss in the Palace is making them act strangely. Coal is back, but it's almost like he's still not here. He doesn't look at us kachinas, talk to us, even smile at us anymore. And there's some new sparktress slave who's after him. I don't know what happened to him in Brightwood, but he's different and horrible. I haven't even attempted to ask him what's going on. I'm sure he wouldn't tell me, if he even answered me at all.

I got upset at a little kachina-in-training last week. She was being unbearably defiant and telling me I was dancing wrong.

Yes, she said that to me. After four hours of her rubbing on my nerves, her accusing me of dancing wrong was the last straw. I ended up yelling at her and making her stay after training to do extra conditioning. No one much cared (except her, of course), but now we're apparently mortal enemies. The little seven-year-old is making my life miserable. She talks constantly during training, refuses to do steps right, and her form is so terrible even Coal could see it! If she ever wants to get anywhere as a kachina, she had better improve awfully quickly. I'm not sure she knows what happens to unless kachinas...I'm not even sure I know...

Tensions, tensions, tensions. I'm curious, but also cowardly. I never thought of myself as being cowardly before, but the idea of actually sneaking around the Palace spying makes my stomach knot. I've no idea what would happen to me if I were caught. I'm sure I don't want to find out...

I'm such a miserable, impatient coward. As usual, any and every comment is welcome.

Kachina Assisant?

I've been admitted back into kachina training to help the newbies. I am so upset. Instead of graduating out of the every day classes, now I have to go down to the lower level classes and teach little sparktresses how to do silly little things like splits and...well, let me use Earth terms for the other things, or you won't know what I'm talking about (although if you don't know much about dancing, you might not know what I'm talking about anyway).

Today, we worked on simple adagio routines, and one allegro. One poor sparktress (Scarlet) could not get her feet to land correctly in her fouette turns, and Blazette couldn't even do a proper pas de chat.

I don't know why I've been asked to help teach the younger ones, I'm certainly no more patient than the other. Actually, I'm sure I'm less patient. Firefly ought to be stuck teaching the brats, not me!

I grumbled about this to Firefly, and she huffily pointed out the I actually like being a kachina.

This is true.

I do like being a kachina. If I didn't dance, I don't know what I'd do. Dancing is the best thing that ever happened to me. Well, I suppose it's the only thing that's ever happened to me. I don't remember life before coming to the Palace hardly at all, and I've been told I started kachina training within a week of my arriving here (along with Flare and Firefly, my sparktresslings [sisters]). I suppose the Fire Lord saw a potential dancer in me and set me to learning the ropes right away.

Kachina training was hard from the beginning. Awake a 5am, begin training at 6am. Two hours of intense cardiovascular exercise (building endurance), and hour of stretching and flexibilty, two hours of toning and strength-building exercises, an hour of learning terms, break for the noon meal. Then two hours of education on fire streamers and how to get the colors and temperatures right. An hour of technique and general form, and the ten-hour day ended with a final hour of cardiovascular exercise.

Needless to say, by age seven, four years later, I could:

1. Do 1000 hundred sit-ups in a row without cramping
2. Do a 300 push-ups before I broke a sweat
3. Run around the entire Palace fifty times before I was even winded
4. Tell you how hot a fire strand needed to be for its coloring to be bluish-green
5. Walk across the training room on my hands
6. Do backflips, forward flips, dive rolls, and back hand-springs
7. Tell you precisely what an assemble croise derriere was

All of the above things were on the kachina examination I had to pass before age 8.

And I still love dancing.

Yes, I guess Firefly's right. Perhaps I am the best one for the trainer assistant job.

I Miss Coal

I.

Miss.

Coal.

Blazings.

Is it too much to expect him to send a letter to the poor kachinas stuck in the Palace with nothing to do except dance for the Fire Lord who is always ungrateful and in a bad mood?

*looks horrified*

Did I just say that?

The Fire Lord isn't really ungrateful or in a bad mood, he's just under tremendous pressures lately. I'm guessing. No one will tell the poor ignorant kachinas anything. We're just here to dance and look good and keep quiet and out of the way.

*looks horrified again*

Not that I don't love being a kachina. I really, truly, honestly do. Dancing is the most wonderful thing in the world. It fills me with adrenaline, joy and helps me think deeper thoughts. Moving with the music is like feeling my heart beat. The feeling when I preform a difficult move is like no other. I love being a kachina. I do. I DO.

I just don't like dancing for the Fire Lord.

No, I do. I love the Fire Lord. I guess. I don't know. He just hasn't been very lovable lately. Maybe I would understand if someone would tell us things, but no one tells us anything around here. I hate being uninformed. At least Coal would tell us the general idea of what was going on.

I miss him so much. So much. It's the first thing I realize when I wake up in the morning, the last thing I think about at night. We haven't seen him since the middle of August. That's three weeks! You can't possibly understand how awful it is without him. It's terrible.

And NO, I am NOT in love with him. I am not.

I know this post wasn't anything new, but I felt like I ought to say something.

If you read this, do you have any advice? How can I stop missing Coal so much? How can I get to accept the fact that we're just kachinas for the Fire Lord and no one tells us anything?

(I don't think I will ever accept that, actually. Never. I don't think I even want to try. We're fire fairies, too, even though we're just slave kachinas! We have just as much right to speak up as anyone! Don't we? Do we?)

Terrible

Sorry, SAge, for not posting! *laughs* I can't believe anyone actually likes reading about my life.

I didn't have much to say until a couple of days ago, but now I think I can think up enough for a post.

Well, it's beginning to cool off a bit in Furier. I've been spending a lot more time outside; the weather does feel nice, although I still prefer summertime, and I hate to see it leave.

Unfortunately, aside from the weather, things have not been going well in the Palace at all. The Fire Lord is so on edge of late that no one dares distrurb him for anything.

The sickness that was sweeping through Furier has not gotten worse, but it hasn't gotten better either. Flicker and Firefly got it last week, so now I'm the only one who hasn't gotten it. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

*moan* I'm sorry, but this is going to be a long, complaining post, I think.

Back to the Fire Lord being on edge. I think it's still because of the rebel peasants, but that was weeks ago! The Fire Lord has never seemed this upset about peasants before. And he took care of the resistance, right? So what is there to worry about? I haven't heard anything more about peasants wanting to rebel, so he ought to just relax. No one would dare oppose him, not seriously. It would be pure suicide! And he's not that bad, really. Strict, yes, but a ruler of such a great city MUST be strict. Mustn't they?

Blaze and Coal are still in Brightwood. Reports from them come every few days. As far as I can tell from snatches of conversations and gossip, the woodland elves in Brightwood are living and acting just as they always have been. They're supposed to be very small, rosy and cheerful and not like to make trouble. I haven't actually met one before, though, so I can't tell you first hand.

I do miss Coal. And Blaze, too, although I'm not sure I've completely forgiven him for reading my diary. I hope he hasn't told Coal that I used to think I was in love with him...Anyway, not having Coal around really is just terrible. The other kachinas don't seem to understand me when I say I miss him. I miss him coming around to talk to us; I miss being able to ask him questions about what's going on, or what something means; I miss knowing that as long as he's around, nothing will get past him (he knows everything about everyone. I don't see how it's possible); I miss him chasing us off when we try to spy on him; I miss everything about him!

And I am NOT in love with him! Don't even think that!

We also have a bunch of new kachinas. *rolls eyes* Like they can ever hope to replace us! We're getting better all the time, and that's not even possible. They are terrible! They can barely do a straddle leap, and they can't even make firestrands the right way. Who in the world put them into kachina training? They will never be as good as us.

So, over all, my life is not going well. The summer is ending, the Fire Lord is in a terrible mood, Coal is gone, I just keep waiting to get sick, and we have a bunch of new little kachinas-in-training. Things can't get worse, they have to get better.

Right?

Ideas, Please!

Things have been both usual, and unusual of late.

Sparkle has been too energetic and irritating, Flicker has been spineless and irritating, Comet has been basically invisible, Flare has been getting louder and louder, Firefly has been fine, and I've been restless and paranoid about being the perfect kachina. Basically, things have been perfectly normal.

The Fire Lord told us he fears we've been growing slack in our kachina practices and he wants to see improvement within the week. Never mind that we're the best kachinas out there (as far as we know), he wants better. How can we get better than the best? We're all in perfect shape and look it, too, except Sparkle, who always looks like she could be thinner. Just the other day we took a run around the Palace and through the village. We didn't tire out but once and that was because we were so thirsty. The weather has been unbearably hot lately.

I just don't know what the Fire Lord wants. He's been so irritable lately it doesn't seem like anything will please him! We tried making our style a little different, more like the Julese, but he didn't like that. We tried having new costumes with different colors made, he didn't like that. We tried adding a singer to the music, he didn't like that. We tried adding some new moves, he didn't like that either. He doesn't like anything, yet he insists on "better"! What *is* better? Please, share your ideas!!

Pictures of Us (captions underneath photos)

Well, it isn't us, but these pictures are pictures that look very similar to me and my fellow kachinas:

This looks remarkably like Sparkle, who's twelve.

This looks like Comet probably would have at age eight. She's thirteen now. She's Sparkle's sparktressling.

This could be Firefly, only she's more practical-looking and not as stunning.

This looks sort of like me, I supposed, only I'm not so old-looking and my cheeks are rosier. Flare says I'm much prettier than this girl, but that's just Flare.

Wow, this really looks like Flicker. Only a bit younger.

This could be Flare, but she looks much younger in real life.

Thanks for looking!

How the Palace Works

Today I'll talk about the way the Palace opperates.

The Fire Lord is lord over everything. If he makes a law, you follow it. If he doesn't like your outfit, you change it. If he thinks you eat to much, go on a diet. That's the surest way to live to be an old sparktress (or sparker). At freshly fifteen, I think I'm going quite well. *smiles*

Next we have any royal family. The current Fire Lord is not married and doesn't have any sparklets. (At least none he's claimed. I have a sneaking suspicion that he has a few.) He has some distant relations, though that live in the area near the Palace, but outside the wall. They don't have an political standing, but they're rich and not taxed as heavily as the commoners are (which makes no sense to me).

The highest authority would be the military leaders. I really don't know much about this. The rankings of the military personal are beyond me. The Fire Lord's army isn't anything enormous, but no one has been foolish enough to attack. Yet.

Next we have the spies. The Fire Lord is quite proud of his spies, almost as proud as he is of his kachinas. *grins* The Fire Lord's pride in his spies is mostly because of Coal. Coal really is an exceptional spy. He's clever and sneaky and everyone likes him and he's the most amazing liar. He can trick you into saying something, charm you into giving something away, sneak into your house and find out what he needs to know, or just sneak up behind you and put a knife to your throat. He can do it all.

The guards are next. Actually, the guards probably tie with the spies in official rank. Flame is the head guard, and he's quite good. He knows the Palace and the Palace schedule like the back of his own hand, and he has the intimidation thing down to a science.

Kachinas are probably next. We have absolutely no royal standing whatsoever, but we're treated better than any of the other slaves or servants. The Fire Lord is proud of us and likes to show us off. We're quite good at what we do, but a lof people dislike us. That's mostly due the label put on kachinas. We're apparently supposed to be selfish and spoiled and sleezy. Well, we aren't. Especially not sleezy. Can we help it if we're talented and everyone else isn't?

Next we have the Fire Lord's personal slaves. They're treated fine, just not as highly praised as we kachinas.

Then come the cooks and kitchen staff. We Furierites do love a good feast.

Here are were the peasants, commoners, and household slaves/servants are put. They have no royal or political standing whatsoever and are treated like nothing.

Lastly, the outlaws, prisoners, and rebels. All are eventually executed, so their low standing doesn't stick around much anyway.

I guess this is the time to explain executions to you. Executions in Furier are conducted by burning at the stake. It's both extremely painful and extremely sad to us fire fairies to be killed by the element that we are so close to. Since our bodies are somewhat resistant to fire, it is a long death. Humans die quicker by burning than we do.

Rebels are perhaps killed in the worst ways. I can't really go into detail about that because I've never seen a rebel execution, but I hear they're something horrible. Coal's told us all about them, but who knows how much of it is true.

That's all for now, I guess! Thanks for reading!

A Fire Fairy Rant

My friend Andrew from Rant Page asked for a book about the Fire Lord and his "underlings". I told him that any such book would be in the Palace Library (and therefore unexcessible for a kachina like me), but I can do my best to construct something.

I'm not really sure where to begin, though. And I'm not sure if Andrew wants something more like history, or more like...military standings. I'll have to ask him.

For now, I guess I'll do a little of both. Maybe sometime I can elaborate.

As long as I can remember very well, I've lived here at the Palace. I had a home before this, of course, but after my parents died, Firefly and Flare and I were taken to live here, along with many other sparklets whose parents had died at the same time. I'm honestly not clear what happened there. No one talks about it, and every time we ask, we're shushed. It's one of those topics that you learn young not to mention.

I was always meant to be a kachina, ever since I was brought here when I was four years old. The Fire Lord saw potential in me along with about fifty other sparktresses that had been brought to the Palace with us. We were all put into kachina training, which was something like a extreme fitness hell. As old toddlers, we did of sit-ups and push-ups and endurance exercises and flexibility exercises and all kinds of other things. Little by little, the class of kachinas-in-training were weeded out.

By age six, if you couldn't pass the kachina test, you were taken out of the class and put...I don't know what happened to the ones that weren't good enough. All I know is that Firefly and Flare and I (and most of our friends) always made the cuts.

By age seven, I could do five hundred sit-ups without cramping up, do a hundred push-ups before I broke a sweat, and run around the entire Palace fifty times before I got tired. I was the perfect kachina in training. By this time, there were only about twenty sparktresses left in the kachina class. I, followed closely by Flare, was the best kachina in class.

At age seven also, we began learning some basic routines. Now, don't be fooled by the word "basic". It doesn't mean "not challenging", it just means "short". There were plenty of high kicks and splits and things to do in the routines.

Up until this point, I've only covered the "human" aspects of kachina training. Now I'm going to go over some fire fairy bits.

Kachinas not only dance with their bodies, but with fire. Let me tell you that creating the ideal fire streamer is no easy task. It has to be just the right width, length, and color. (The color is determined by how hot the flame is. To be able to make an ideal flame, which is blue and red, I had to practice for weeks.)

In case you were wondering, we fire fairies can create fireballs, fire strands, fire streamers, sparks, etc. with our hands. We just loosely cup our hand, and make a fireball. Fire streamers are made the same way. We position our fingers right and using muscles that I can't explain to a human, we shoot out a length of fire. Fire strands and ropes are the same, except a true master can shoot them from his fingertips as well as palms.

It's difficult to shoot fire from one's fingertips because that's where the fireshields are located. We can put up a shield with our fingertips. We just hold up our hands, fingertips toward the enemy or approaching fireball, and shoot out a blue, force-field-like shield that can block the ball. It can also be used to put out a fire or to cool a burn.

Ah, here I am, getting all side-tracked. I was supposed to be talking about Furierite history, but I ended up talking about kachina training. I was supposed to be talking about kachina training, and I ended up talking about how to create fire. I guess that's what you would call a rant. *smiles* I'm no good at posting. Thanks for reading (even though I know you didn't).

Our First Full Day in Jules (long post)

The next morning, we awoke at the 5am morning bell. I'm usually not at all a morning person, but my eyes popped right open that day. I was too excited to stay in bed. I was surprisingly the first one to shoot out of bed and run to the giant window.

Most of the windows in the Palace of Furier are floor-to-ceiling and they have glass in them. The windows in the Julese Palace (that I had seen anyway) were all shaped like arches, and they were open, no glass. They were large, but they didn't go all the way from the ceiling to the floor. They started just below my shoulders (I'm fairly tall), and then arched up a good ten feet.

"Wow," I said, gazing out the window. "Look, the sun is rising." The red-golden rays soaked the Palace in a sunny glow. The window looked out to a piece of the courtyard garden, so we got to see the sun on all the flowers and sparkle in the fountains, too.

At home, all our windows face south, so wer never really get to see either the sunrise from there.

After a few minutes of taking in the beautfy, Firefly decided to be practical and said,

"Alright, we should be getting dressed now. You know we have to look perfect for the Emperor."

"And the Empress," Sparkle protested. "It's not all about the men, you know."

"You mean it shouldn't be," Firefly corrected indignantly. "Because it is whether it's right or not."

"What should we wear?" Flicker asked, frowning. "Our kachina costumes or our clothes?" Firefly frowned.

"I don't know," she admitted. "Why don't we put on some good clothes, and then see if we need to change. As long as we look like true kachinas, I don't think it matters what we wear."

"I think you're wrong about that," I put in. "But I still agree about what to wear."

We all got dressed in outfits that looked something like this: http://www.chowskates.com/images/a3ba_12.jpg with our tights, of course.

Then, we waited. Especially when one is a guest, it is proper not to do anything until called.

Shortly, someone came and led us to the dining room for the servants and slaves. The food was much like it is in Furier, only not quite as spicy and there was more fruit.

As we were finishing our breakfast, a well-dressed servant woman scurried up to us and whispered,

"If you would come with me, the Princess Sadira would like to see you." Of course, our first thought was, "What have we done wrong already?", but then the servant went on:

"And dress in your dancing clothes. She wants to see you dance."

That was odd, but not bad. We all wondered why she didn't just get her own kachinas to entertain her. Perhaps she was tired of their routines.

We hurried back to our room and changed into our costumes, and then the servant led us out into the coutyard.

"She's over there," she said, pointing. The princess was sitting on the edge of a fountain on the far side of the garden. I smiled. She couldn't have been more than eight years old. She was dressed strangly, though. Not like a princess. More like...a kachina.

The servant left us and we went over to the princess. She was dressed like a kachina, but not a Furierite one, a Julese one. The difference in style was obvious. (The skirts of Julese kachinas are much longer and more flowing.)

"Good morning, your majesty," Firefly spoke for us all as we curtsied, Furierite style.

"Good morning," the princess responded politely. She seemed kind, but almost nervous. She did not smile.

"We were told you wanted to see us dance," I said. Princess Sadira shook her head.

"That's not quite true," she said, looking over her shoulder. She leaned in toward us. "I want to learn how to dance."

We kachinas exchanged nervous glances. Apparently, teaching the princess to dance like a kachina was an unapproved activity, hence her anxiety. We would surely get into trouble if we did. But would the princess be angry if we refused?

"Why don't you ask one of your own kachinas to teach you, your majesty?" I asked, curious. The princess sighed and trailed her finger through the fountain water.

"They won't," she said sadly. "The tivas* here have been specifically told not to teach me. But you have not. You have not been forbidden to teach me."

"Why do you want to learn so badly, majesty?" Sparkle asked. The princess smiled, her eyes lit up.

"Because the way tivas dance is beautiful!" she cried. "Traditional Julese dancing is just dancing, but dancing like tivas is something else. It's like singing with your body."

Right then and there, I was willing to teach the little princess. She felt about dancing the same way I did. It wasn't just dancing; it was art.

"I will teach you, Princess," I said quickly. The other kachinas glared at me.

"Ember," Firefly snapped. "What are you thinking? If the Emperor were to find out, it could compromise this entire diplomatic visit."

"Firefly is right," Flare said. I was surprised; she usually sides with me in these things.

"It's like the princess said," I began. "We haven't been told not to teach her. If the Emperor finds out, we can just say we didn't know we weren't supposed to."

"But then the princess would get in trouble," Firefly pointed out. "That's hardly fair."

"No, what's hardly fair is depriving someone of what they're passionate about," I retorted. "I know I love dancing more than the rest of you, so it's possible that you just don't understand. If the princess loves dancing like I do, keeping it from her now won't make a difference. She'll just find some other way later on, and perhaps not the best way."

"Well, at least we won't be involved," Firefly said hotly. "I know you won't think about the rest of our skins, but think about the princess's. If her father were to find out she learned kachina dancing behind his back, he would surely be very angry with her! And who knows what would become of us! The Emperor would probably have us punished, but even if he didn't, the Fire Lord most certainly would. No, you teach the princess if you want to, but I, for one, will NOT." She curtsied to the princess and hurried out of the courtyard. Flicker and Comet followed.

I turned to watch them, frowning.

"Wait!" I called desperately. As much as I they irritate me, it always feels wrong to do things without all of us. Firefly didn't wait, though. She kept going. Flicker and Comet waited. I went on. "What if we just dance for the princess? Do the same routine over and over. Sooner or later, she'll pick it up. Maybe we can just tell her a few tips. She'll never actually have to dance. If anyone comes by or sees us, they'll just see us entertaining the princess like good guest kachinas should." I looked back at the princess. "Does that sound alright?" She nodded eagerly.

"Yes, thank you," she said. "It's more than my own tivas would ever do for me. Thank you!" I smiled. I really liked the princess. She was kind to us. The Fire Lord would never dream of thanking a slave.

I looked back at Comet and Flicker. Flicker was shaking her head. She turned and ran after Firefly. Comet came back, though. Flare and Sparkle agreed as well.

For amateur kachinas, dancing in perfect unison while keeping the same tempo without music would be next to impossible, but we, of course, are no amateurs. We entertained the princess for a couple of shadowmarks before someone came to fetch us. We were wanted in the throne room. It was time to entertain the Emperor.

The only problem was, Firefly and Flicker were still not with us, so we had to go back to our room to get them.

They weren't there.

We began to panic. It wouldn't do to keep the Emperor waiting while we searched, but several of best our routines required all six of us. Not to mention the fact that if Firefly and Flicker didn't dance, the Fire Lord would be extremely displeased.

We were beginning to get truly worried when Firefly and Flicker waltzed into the room.

"Where have you been?!" I cried angrily, marching over. "It's time for us to entertain the Emperor, and if he's angry at being kept waiting, it'll be all your fault!" I grabbed Firefly's hand and Flare grabbed Flicker and we raced through the halls to the throne room.

But we couldn't find it.

The Palace was so huge, and with all the complicated designs on the walls, it was impossible to tell one hallway from another. Where were all the servants and slaves, anyway? We kept hoping we would run into someone who could point us in the right direction, but no one was to be seen.

Then it occured to us: they were all in the throne room, waiting for us.

This was horrible. Punctuality is so important for guests, and even more imporant for slaves! The Fire Lord has a low tolerance for tardiness, so I doubted the harsh Emperor of Jules would be any different.

By the time we finally found the throne room doors, Flicker was crying, Firefly and I were nearly screaming at each other, Flare had gone completely silent, Sparkle was muttering to herself, and Comet kept repeating, "Just stay calm, we have to stay calm."

The sight of the huge double doors of a throne room was beautiful to us.

"For mercy's sake, Flicker!" I snapped, shaking the little blonde sparktress. "Stop crying and pull yourself together! If you go into the throne room looking like a sobbing beggar, they'll be hell to pay."

"As if there won't already be hell to pay," Firefly snapped. "We must be half a shadowmark late at the earliest!"

The guards standing at the throne room doors were ignoring us while we tried to gain composure.

"Alright, listen to me," I hissed angrily. "We're already in trouble. Now, it's possible that we can salvage this catastrophe if we put our best foot forward and behave like the brilliant kachinas we are. We are going to walk into this throne room with apologetic yet confident expressions. We are going to position ourselves in the center of the room. We are going to hear the music and surrender all control to our love dancing. We are going to shock and awe the people of Jules like no kachina has ever done before. By the time we're finished with our performance, our tardiness will be long forgotten and the Emperor will tell the Fire Lord that he has the best kachinas Jeolotoe has ever seen. Alright? Good. Let's go. Guards, if you would open the doors, please..."

It didn't go quite like that.

It went even better.

The Emperor did not even notice our being late because his daughter was even later. Yes, the Princess Sadira was not yet present, and that's who everyone was thinking about. Well, everyone except the Fire Lord. He most certainly did notice our tardiness and by the look he threw at us, he intended to teach us a lesson after our performance.

I know this isn't a very important detail, but I have a picture of the Empress Nala I'd like to show you: http://z.about.com/d/hinduism/1/0/2/V/1.jpg Isn't she lovely?

Princess Sadira arrived a quarter shadowmark after we did, and then the Julese kachinas (tivas) were called into the center of the room.

The way this sort of thing works, I'm told is this: when a royal family or person is a guest and has brought his kachinas with him, there is an air of competition about the room. In this case, the Emperor wanted to show the Fire Lord how great his city was by showing him that his tivas were beyond compare. The Fire Lord wanted to do the same. It's quite odd to me that the grandeur of a city is measured by its dancers.

The tivas took their places in the center of the room and waited for the music. They all looked nervous. Flute music suddenly floated into the air, and the tivas prepared to begin. On the next one count, they timidly flew into action. The flute music trilled around them. The tivas' movements were fluid and graceful but in a weak way. It wasn’t like they were controlling their movements, it was like they didn’t have the energy to move any different. Something about the way they danced was almost desperate.

They performed maybe five routines before the Emperor dismissed them with a wave of his hand. They bowed, Julese style, and went to their place agasint the wall. Apparently that was the same in every city.

The Emperor looked proud of what his tivas had just done, but it was all we kachinas could do to keep from grinning. We could out dance them in our sleep.

The Emperor motioned for us to come to the center of the room, and we did. Firefly whispered that we would perform routine nineteen, and we took out beginning poses.

There's nothing quite like the tingling sensation I get when I'm about to perform for someone new. Standing in the center of the fresh, blue and golden throne room, I felt like I could do anything.

The eerie music began. Firefly breathed,

“Five, six, seven, eight.” We suddenly snapped into action, all at precisely the same moment. Our movements were sharp and exact. We twisted and twirled effortlessly, making the art of dance look almost easy, smiling all the while. The dance was alluring instead of disappointing.

The crowd actually gasped as we danced our hearts out. They were shocked at our skill. I caught the Fire Lord's eye once. He actually looked proud of us. I've never felt so good in my entire life. In my whole life as a kachina, I don't think I've ever once felt like I had pleased my Lord.

When we finished, we stopped abruptly, whirled to face the Emperor, and executed a dramatic Furierite curtsy--in perfect unison, of course. We had done well. The Emperor seemed shocked, slightly dismayed, and yet thrilled at our performance. He told us we were excellent, and we were all dismissed.

The Fire Lord was so pleased that he never punished us for being late. The rest of the day passed uneventfully, but well. I was really enjoying my stay in Jules.

Sorry for the long post! If you got this far, I'm impressed, and thank you. *smiles*

Shockingly Lucky

We are leaving for Jules today! I'm so excited! But also extremely nervous. On top of having to please the Fire Lord constantly these next weeks, we'll also have to please the Julese Emperor. I've heard he is a strict and harsh man. Although, I don't think he could possibly be more so than the Fire Lord. Not that the Fire Lord is too strict or harsh, just very so.

Yesterday, Flare and Firefly and I dithered outside the door to the throne room for half a shadowmark trying to decide how to ask the Fire Lord for the material for new kachina costumes. Finally, they voted me to be the one to ask him. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or upset.

I knocked, and Flame stuck his head out the door. When he saw us, his expressioned turned sour.

"What do you want?" he snapped impatiently. "Go away. You've not been summoned." I drew myself up, trying to make myself as tall as Flame. (Not even close.)

"We--I'm here to ask him a favor," I retorted. "One that could mean the difference between making a good impression on the Emperor and a bad one. The Fire Lord will want to see me." I wasn't at all sure about that last part, but I decided that there was nothing wrong with showing a little confidence. Flame snorted.

"If you say so," he said. "We'll see, won't we?" I frowned suspiciously. It wasn't like him to give in so easily. He stepped aside and pulled the double doors open. I swallowed hard as I saw the Fire Lord sitting on his throne. He was talking to someone--Coal--in a low, serious tone. My heart stopped and I whirled to glare at Flame, whose eyes sparkled blue. He could have warned me that the Fire Lord was in an audience with one of his spies!

They both looked up when they heard me gasp. The Fire Lord looked furious, Coal looked irritated.

"Why have you interrupted us?" the Fire Lord demanded. "Who called you here?"

"N-no one, my lord," I answered. "I only came to ask--to beg a favor of you. it's important. It could mean the difference between making a good impression and a bad one on the Emperor." The Fire Lord's expression did not change.

"It doesn't matter why you came," he said coldly. "You came. And without being summoned." I was starting to get very afraid until Coal spoke up quietly.

"That rule does not apply, my lord, in emergencies," he pointed out. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. "Any chance this could be an emercency?"

"Um...i-in a way," I said. "It could be. If...yes?" Coal gave me an unamused look before turning to the Fire Lord. The Fire Lord narrowed his eyes.

"Tell me what you are here for and I will decide if it is an emergency," he said dismissively. "Be quick, kachina."

I took a deep breath. "Our kachina costumes are sadly worn and if we showed ourselves to the Emperor in such a fashion, he might very well be offended or at least get a bad impression of what Furier is like. It's an emergency because it takes time to make good kachinas costumes, and we leave for Jules in only a day. And the seamstresses don't have the material to make the costumes, which is why I'm here. If you can't grant me the material for six elaborate costumes very soon, the Emperor of Jules will be displeased."

The Fire Lord and Coal looked at me with almost identical expressions of disbelief and disgust.

"You came here about your costumes?" the Fire Lord said. I blinked.

"Well, yes, my lord...It could be sort of an emergency...or at least urgent, my lord..."

Then something amazing happened.

The Fire Lord chuckled.

He chuckled.

HE LAUGHED!

He said he respected my coming to see him, and that he would send the material to the seamstresses within the hour.

I was convinced I was dreaming for a full hour until Firefly called me in to see the gorgeous fabric the Fire Lord had sent for our costumes. Not even I could dream up something as beautiful as the silk and tassels and jewels he provided.

The seamstresses managed to make our costumes, and the finishing touches are being put on now. We're going to be leaving right after the midday meal. I'm so excited and nervous! (I know, I'm saying that a lot, but it's so true.)

I'll post whenever I can. Thanks for reading!
:

Traveling to Jules

Ah, sorry for taking so long to post again. I really must get more regular. Maybe I'll try to post every other day. Would you all read it? Hmm...

Well, still not much has happened that I find interesting...

Oh! How could I forget this?? The Fire Lord is going to pay a diplomatic visit (or something of the sort) to Jules! *Jules*! And that isn't the most exciting part. Are you ready? You'd best be sitting down.

He's going to take us kachinas with him!!

The Fire Lord hasn't really left Furier since we've come to be kachinas, so this is going to be our first time out of the city. I'm so excited! Of course, it is customary for a king (or a lord) to bring along his entertainers, but I hadn't really thought about it until Firefly reminded us at breakfast yesterday.

We'll be leaving in two days. The trip won't take more than a week, and then we'll all get to see Jules!

I don't think you understand how amazing this opportunity is. Most Furierite citizens never leave the city. Pretty much all slaves never do. Kachinas are the only slaves (besides guards and spies) that have any hope of seeing new cities. Anytime the Fire Lord travels to see another person of importance, he will bring us with him. It's odd, but royalty's success is sort of determined by how talented and elaborate one's kachinas are. At least it is when kings and lords meet each other.

Anyway, we have a lot of work to do in just two days. We have to practice our routines and get them absolutley perfect. Honestly, that won't be difficult. We must the most talented kachinas in the world. All our tecniques are impecible, we're always in perfect sync, our routines are exciting and difficult, and we all love to dance. The only things we'll need to work on is Sparkle's tecnique and Flicker's smiling. She doesn't always smile while she's dancing because she's concentrating so hard. But that's one of the biggest things about being a good kachina: you have to make it look fun and easy.

The only *real* problem is our costumes. They're getting a bit worn out and faded. We've had them for a long time, and we dance an awful lot. It's a lot of ask of one of the Palace seamstresses to make six elaborate kachina costumes in two days, but I wouldn't really have a problem with doing that.

The worrisome part is asking the Fire Lord for the material. He's been so tense lately. And it's always disrespectful to bother such an important sparker with triffles like costume material. But he'll be displeased also if we make a bad impression on the Emperor of Jules.

I want to tell you more about Jules as a city. Though I've never been there, I've heard very much about it. It's suposed to be one of the most beautiful and exotic cities in all of Jeolotoe. The people there are said to be pale with long, dark hair and black, slanted eyes. I can't imagine anyone with black eyes. I wonder if that's only a fable?

Jules, more than any other city in Jeolotoe, is exotic. A close second goes to Furier, of course, but Jules is said to surpass even it because while we kachinas and and people of high class and royalty in Furier dress exotically and elaborately with jewels and bangles, *everyone* in Jules does this.

In Jules, it is typically extremely hot, even hotter than Furier (hard to imagine), which is probably why the Julese dress as they do. They wear very little clothing in general, and the clothing they do wear is said to be mostly sheer and very light. Girls and women wear lots of jewels and men and boys almost always have multiple tattoos. Dancing is also a large part of Julese culture, which makes it doubly important that we kachinas not make any mistakes in front of the Julese Emperor.

I imagine we'll be staying at the Julese Palace. I've seen pictures of it, and it's very beautiful. It isn't gold and sort of rounded like the Palace of Furier, but made of white marble with lots of intricate gold and blue carvings.

I'm sorry; I know I must be boring you with all these details. I know these things only matter to me and the other kachinas. I just wanted to share with you what's about to happen. It's so exciting! I'll be posting more about it later.

If you've gotten this far, leave a comment so I'll know you did. *smiles* Thank you all!

Peasants and Kachinas are Not the Same

I'm still horribly sore today, but the Fire Lord hasn't taken his bad mood out on us again so far, which is good. We've only been called in to entertain him once today. I suppose he's fairly busy with the peasant trouble and all.

I still can't figure out what the "peasant trouble" is exactly. As far as I can tell, the only peasant that caused any trouble was the fellow that the Fire Lord had arrested a couple of days ago. The Fire Lord had him done away with, though, and I haven't heard anything more about trouble in the village. Flare and I went to Coal and asked him earlier, but he wouldn't tell us anything. I'm not sure if it's because he's been ordered not to, or if he's still angry with us for spying on him in the garden that day ...

Anyway, since the Fire Lord was tied up with other things, we kachinas took the day off a bit. Well, we planned to, at least. We went to Torchess' house again, planning to relax wit her. She wasn't in a very good mood, though, and when we told her we'd come to sit and talk with her, she got irritated and told us that not everyone gets to sit around all day in a cool palace while every else does all the work.

I got angry when she said that. She has no right to criticize our lives! She's just a peasant! We're kachinas! We may not be exactly royal, but we've more standing than Torchess has any day. (I don't suppose you humans know this, but kachinas are highly valued in Southeastern Jeolotoe. We're almost like noblesparktresses, only we're still treated like slaves...it's difficult to explain.)

And we don't just "sit around all day"! We have to be ready to dance at any moment, right under the Fire Lord's nose. He usually calls for entertainment when he's under a lot of stress and needs to take his mind off his troubles. That basically means whenever he's in a bad mood. So really being a kachina is quite a dangerous profession when you think about it.

I tried to explain this to Torchess, but she only got more irritated. That was probably due to the fact that I accidentally called her a lowly peasant...Anyway, she told us to come with her and she'd show us what a typical day was like for a "lowly peasant".

She took us to the fields where the food for all the Furierites is grown.

I think the way our city is laid out is very practical. All the houses are in one section, the fields in another, and the large livestock like horses and cows in another. Then, of course, the Royal part of the city where the Palace of Furier is located. It seems so much mroe practical than having everyone make their fields behind their houses. The soil isn't the same everywhere, and it makes sense to plant everything in the one spot where things grow best, don't you think? I geuss I can't really take credit for knowing all that, though. Coal told me why the city is laid out the way it is. Sorry. Back to the afternoon.

Torchess took us to the fields. There were lots of fire fairies there pulling weeds and picking the ripe vegetables. Torchess looked at us kachinas and told us to start helping.

Every move I made hurt after the beating I got yesterday, so picking wild sancion wasn't exactly a picnic.

We must have worked for three or four hours before Torchess would let us go back to the Palace. I'm still mad at her for making us do that. It's too hot to be outside bending over silly little roots and picking cammimont leaves. Well, it is if you aren't used to it. We kachinas aren't used to doing silly things like that, so it wasn't fair to expect us to suddenly be good at it.

I asked Firefly if she didn't think Torchess was being childish about the whole peasants-have-it-so-difficult thing. Firefly wouldn't say, but I know she agrees with Torchess. Firefly can be such a pushover sometimes. All Torchess had to do was gripe about how hard it is to be a peasant, and Firefly was immediately agreeing. It's disgusting.

I know I said that picking wild sancion in the hot sun was hard and not much fun, but that's because we aren't suppose to do that! Peasants are. It's what they do. It's their job. My job is being a kachina for a hot-tempered Fire Lord, their job is to raise food for the Fire Lord and his Palace. It's not that difficult to understand, FIREFLY AND TORCHESS.

Flare and Comet and Sparkle agree with me, and Flicker won't side with anyone. Typical of her. Flicker has no oppinion on anything. That's what bothers me about her. She just exists, she doens't live.

Anyway, today wasn't the best, but it was a ten compared to yesterday.