Life Giver

Instructor Redfire was a very outgoing and tenacious person, he had gone through much hardship and many battle's to rise to the status of grade 5 Qi warrior. In the entire city of Ellaris he would nearly always be respected or feared by those who knew of him, there was one exception however, his sister's house.

His sister was an incredibly fiery person, even more so than himself, she would jump at anyone from the slightest provocation and Redfire did all he could to avoid her. Unfortunately, today a student needed his sister's attention, sending him in alone would be suicidal, so he calmly and cautiously entered her house.

Although the Bluefire refinery was technically part of the university, Master Bluefire was so important to the University that she was granted unilateral access to it, turning it into her home away from home.

When Redfire entered the cottage, luckily everything went smoothly, Bluefire was tempering an item which she was experienced in, his entrance didn't disturb her and she seemed in a fairly good mood.

After a short conversation, all he needed to do was hand over Casmir's recommendation letter and when he did, Bluefire started reading it calmly while continuing to refine the item.

Redfire sighed in relief, however his moment of relief was soon destroyed.

For some reason, his sister's refinement suddenly failed and became unstable. Redfire quickly ducked and dived out of the way but he knew he was already doomed, no matter how he reacted, his sister would never let him forget this.

Redfire didn't know what caused the instability but he was sure that he would hold the blame.

After the smoke cleared, they walked out the house and Redfire stood still preparing himself for the unending torrents of abuse.

Yet after only a few harsh sentences, he was relieved to find his sister's attention had diverted to the young student he had brought with him, he could only wish this poor soul luck.

Casmir didn't understand exactly what had happened but he knew it wasn't a good thing, he stood there waiting until things had died down but he shivered as he felt Master Bluefire's attention shift to him.

The blue ball of fire gently drifted towards Casmir, it flickered and warped in a strange way, anyone familiar with Bluefire would understand that she was looking at Casmir inquisitively.

"How old are you?" Bluefire asked in a calm voice

Casmir quickly replied, he felt pressured by the flame, not hot but uncomfortable.

"16" Casmir replied nervously.

Bluefire quivered.

"You don't remember your mother? You're real mother?" she asked

Casmir was confused, had Gloria told her about him? What did Bluefire know?

".. How do you... No I don't remember her..." Casmir wanted to know more but was hesitant to ask.

Bluefire shivered and trembled for a moment, it indicated her troubled emotions and thoughts.

"You're mother was one of my students... I can tell you about her. In exchange I want you to be one of my students, you can still do a dual biology and Qi studies course I don't need much of your time, only a few hours once every few weeks." She said.

As confused as Casmir was by her request, Redfire was even worse off.

He rarely saw his sister like this even when they visited their parents, she was being calm and polite, not at all domineering or controlling.

'Who is Casmir to warrant this behaviour?' he thought

Casmir took a minute before he replied, in the end he couldn't resist knowing more about his mother.

"Ok.. but can you tell me now, is my mother or father still alive?" Casmir asked gently, this was something he truly wanted to know.

Bluefire flickered in thought for a moment, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry... They have both died.. however you do still have a sister. I won't tell you more yet, it's a s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e topic and... nevermind." She said, her voice clearly fluctuating as if distressed.

Casmir was also clearly distressed at this revelation, he didn't know either of his parents so he didn't feel pain at their deaths, yet he felt like a door was forever closed to him.

Bluefire saw his distress, she quivered for a moment before a tentacle of fire reached out into her cottage, it stretched over ten meters before grasping a vial, it then retracted back passing by its main body until it reached Casmir.

"Quickly, drink this." Bluefire said softly.

Casmir didn't believe she meant him any harm, he numbly took the bottle and drank it, still absorbed in his thoughts.

"Listen up, Redfire will be your Qi instructor, he'll let you know whenever I want to tutor you and he'll give you any extra help you need while you're here." Bluefire said

As Casmir listened he strangely felt happier and started smiling unknowingly, Redfire who was still standing by the side looked at the pair strangely, clearly aware of what was happening.

"Ok now, go home. I'll sort out your registration, your first class is on Monday the 4th so you have a few weeks until we see each other again." Bluefire said strangely as if talking to a child.

Even stranger, Casmir listened to her, he started walking the way he had came, back towards the plaza near the entrance, only he seemed unfocused and happy as if having a pleasant daydream.

After Casmir walked out of sight, Redfire looked at his sister curiously.

"Erm... sis... what just happened.... why did you drug him...?" Redfire asked out of concern, he knew she hadn't done anything nefarious, he was just confused.

Bluefire had given Casmir a small dose of a drug that causes one to be happy and easily influenced, as for why she did this...

"What do you expect me to do! He just found out his parents are dead, all I did was give him something to make him happy and sent him back to that cheeky girl Gloria... I don't know how to handle him so I just pushed him on to someone else." Bluefire ranted irresponsibly, clearly she was emotional on the subject and didn't want to deal with it.

As she spoke her body contorted and grew into a fiercely roaring flame which caused Redfire to grimace.

He quickly attempted to calm her down before she snapped and vented her feelings on him.

"OK, ok, you did great. Couldn't have handled it better myself. You're the best sis." He said in an innocent voice.

Bluefire's body gradually shrunk as she calmed down, it seemed Redfire had been able to avert her anger.

A few moments later however, he couldn't hold in his curiosity.

"By the way, sis.. who was that?" he asked gently.

Bluefire sighed as she seemed to squirm in the air clearly uncomfortable for some reason.

"That was little Alexandra's son..." she said emotionally.

Redfire was gobsmacked, he knew exactly who she was talking about now, Bluefire had only had a dozen or so student's and Alexandra was easily one of the best and brightest.

However it wasn't her identity that left him gobsmacked, it was her husband's identity.

"He's... He's his son?! B-but.... How is he still alive?!" Redfire cried out in shock.

A wisp of fire broke off from Bluefire and shot straight at Redfire knocking him back a few meters into a bush.

"THE LESS YOU KNOW THE BETTER!.. Now, come help me clean this stuff up..." Bluefire screamed at him, clearly unwilling to talk about it further.

Redfire grumbled as he got up and started walking over to the cottage following Bluefire, over the next hour or so, he would be lectured on what to say and what not to say to Casmir....