my heart beats way too fast to let regret sit in my lap

[cleverness]

Hermione is accustomed to having the early spring season feel brisk. Even though it's already April, she doesn't step out of the house without first slipping into a thick peacoat, just in case the weather turns tumultuous and decides to change at the drop of a hat. In many ways, Darrow reminds her of the New England region of the United States — the structure of the government, the diversity of the population, and even the weather seems to be somewhat warmer than England.

With a couple of small jars of her bluebell flames in either pocket, Hermione goes about her errands, doing the grocery shopping for the household. Now that Ron is in Darrow, Hermione finds herself buying significantly more food, and also more prone to searching for some treats to light up dinners for him. A good meal puts him in an entirely different sort of mood, and Hermione simply enjoys seeing the smile on his face besides.

Even though she doesn't have much time to spare, the beauty of the crashing waves leads Hermione out to the beach. She sets down her bags, and a strong gust of wind brushes past her skin. Shivering, Hermione tugs one of the jars out from her pocket and surreptitiously tugs out her wand, sending a few more flames blooming in the glass.

That's when she spots it. A flash of orange flame off to the side, drawing her gaze immediately. Eyes wide, she forgets that her own blue flames are on display as she stares at a young man in the near vicinity, some sort of performer or illusionist — or perhaps someone with a little more ability than the average person — practicing forms off to the side.

It's beautiful and powerful, each swing of his arm purposeful, and the lick of the flames practically alive.

Comments

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko likes practicing his bending on the beach. There's plenty of wide open space, and now during the colder months it's less crowded with people. He doesn't really mind the cold - it was a lot colder at the Water Tribes - so he comes out here fairly often.

There's a girl, not too far away. Zuko noticed her as soon as she came onto the beach, but he continues what he's doing. He's almost done, anyway, so once he executes a final intricate combination of graceful kicks and flips peppered with bursts of flame he stops, taking a centering breath before turning his head to look at her.

When he does so, he finally sees what he hasn't bothered to pay attention to before - what looks like a jar of blue flame in her hands. It immediately reminds him of his sister, and he frowns. "How are you doing that?" he says, nodding at her. "In the jar."

[cleverness]

Even though there's still a slight impulse that lingers in Hermione, one that leaves her panicking slightly when the young man notices her, she bites it down. There isn't any heavily enforced code of secrecy in Darrow, nothing of the careful habits she's developed over the past decade. In some ways, the fact that she no longer falls under such restrictions is heartening — it's nice to see that the city can function even with some level of awareness of the paranormal — and in others, it only serves to increase the nervousness she feels. Why aren't people more worried?

Darrow is far from safe.

Still, there's an instant sort of camaraderie in speaking with someone whose abilities also don't run entirely standard, and Hermione glances down at the jar, her lips not quite yet softening into a smile. "It's one of my abilities," she shares, glancing up. "Creating persistent flames that are easy to carry around. They're good for warmth." She holds the jar up for the man to more closely examine; it's early enough that no one else seems to be around and paying overly close attention.

[irisewiththesun]

He takes a couple of steps closer, peering at the flames in the jar. It's not like any firebending he's seen before, which makes him wonder just what kind of abilities she has. He's met people with all kinds of powers and abilities here, thinks he never would have thought were possible, as well as things that seem so similar to the bending he knows.

"When you say one of your abilities," he says, his gaze lifting from the jar she holds to her face, "what do you mean?"

[cleverness]

"I'm capable of performing magic. Of course, magic itself takes on many different meanings, depending on who you ask in this city, but my type of magic allows me to alter reality in a way that the laws of physics don't typically allow," Hermione explains, holding the jar up slightly in case the young man wants to examine it more closely. Unlike his type of fire throwing, Hermione's fire becomes a separate entity the moment she casts the spell.

His almost seemed like an extension of his person.

"I assume that you're also capable of something similar? People don't typically produce fire on their own."

[irisewiththesun]

"I wouldn't call it magic," Zuko replies with a slight shake of his head. "It's called bending. Where I'm from some people are born with the ability to control and manipulate an element - fire, water, earth or air. I'm a firebender, so I can create and control fire." He holds out a hand, palm up, producing a small flame that sits on his palm until he closes a fist slowly around it.

[cleverness]

There are many people in Darrow, both those native to the city and those from outside, who seem to take issue with the use of the word magic. Hermione doesn't honestly understand why. It feels like most of them associate magic with something misleading, something that has no logical source — a twisting of the word in comparison to what Hermione uses it for. Magic can be as precise as any science. But she knows not to take offense when people don't want their abilities branded as such.

All she needs to do is make sure they don't misinterpret her own.

"We're not that dissimilar, then," Hermione says, eyes fixed on the man's hand and watching the flame appear seemingly out of nowhere. "My ability is also something I was born with. That a portion of the overall population in my world is born with. Our control just happens to be broader than over a single element, but you seem to have more control of that element than I've seen... from anyone, really. I can be pretty precise, but it's typically not within an element. If I'm changing one element to another, however, that's easier for me, personally."

In demonstration, Hermione pulls her wand out of her pocket, then focuses on a small circle of sand on the beach. With a wave, she Transfigures the sand, turning it into a small pool of water that quickly starts to seep away.

[irisewiththesun]

She pulls a long wooden stick out of her pocket, one that is clearly not any stick - it's well shaped and well cared for. Then she makes some kind of motion with it that changes a bit of the sand between them into water, and Zuko is definitely impressed.

"I've never seen anything like that before," he says, looking down at the dwindling pool of water for a long moment before lifting his gaze to her again. "How much does your magic encompass? I mean, what else can you do?"

[cleverness]

"It's difficult to cover all of the different types of spells I could potentially cast, but there are a few categories that have a heavy focus. The first is Transfiguration, which involves the changing of one substance to another, as I just demonstrated. Then there are Charms, which change the properties of an object. For example," Hermione says, glancing around until she finds a large rock wedged in the sand. She waves her wand, Summoning the rock closer, then casting a Levitation Charm on it.

"If you feel underneath the rock, there's nothing holding it up. Instead, I've changed the properties so that the rock floats," she says with a small smile. "There are also branches of magic which help a person make use of the magical properties of objects around them, be they plants, animals, or brewing them together into a potion."

[irisewiththesun]

Zuko waves a hand beneath the floating rock, and just as she's said, there's nothing but air. He's never met anyone with such a wide range of abilities, and he's got about a million questions, but he doesn't want to bombard her, so he settles on one. "How much training do you get, for all of this?" he asks.

[cleverness]

"I had approximately seven years of formal training," Hermione says with a slight nod, lowering her wand and letting the rock fall back against her palm, closing around it with her fingers. "And have been practicing magic since I was eleven. It's a practice that the community is careful not to instruct children on too early, because the things that they could do could have wide, dangerous implications."

[irisewiththesun]

"That makes sense," Zuko says, even though it doesn't make complete sense, not yet. The need to have training for safety purposes he gets, at least. "You have to make sure they're ready first."

He realizes something, then, and smiles sheepishly. "I'm sorry, I didn't even introduce myself," he says; even though she'd been the one watching him, he'd spoken first. "I'm Zuko."

[cleverness]

"I'm Hermione. Hermione Granger," she clarifies with a smile, wondering if this young man comes from a world where surnames are common. It feels nice to meet someone new with whom she can be open about her abilities, and who seems genuinely interested in learning the nature of them. His own powers are curious to Hermione as well, who always wants to find the logic underneath. There must be rules to firebending, as there are to any other ability.

"It's nice to meet you, Zuko. I hope you don't mind me saying, but your bending is rather fascinating to me. And it was absolutely beautiful, watching you use it just now."