Wordcount: 541
Quote:
Fire Opal ( 8 ) : On a cold winter night, there’s nothing nicer than burning a nice log in the fire. Looking like any average piece of lumber, the neatly chopped log you selected has no clear indication that there’s something special about it–until the fire gets to it. A typical fire should be red and orange and yellow, and yet this one circles through all colors of the rainbow. It smells fragrant and pleasant, and there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with it–it just burns in beautiful, vibrant colors. As the wood burns, opalescent cracks appear through it, casting a shimmering light enhanced by the flames. By the end of it, only rainbow embers remain, sparkling like dark opals, and even they eventually lose their color and crumble away.
The young woman scrubbed her hands together, trying her best to warm her fingers as the night deepened and the cold got worse. It was winter afterall. The cold was to be expected but it was bitterly cold. So very cold. Even with all her layers and gloves the wind cut right through. Especially after a whole day of playing in the snow. They had spent hours sledding and only now was she taking a much needed break.
Abby slid closer to the bonfire that the event hosts had lit, the flames taking the edge of the chill off. She basked in the warmth, her eyes closed and just mentally drifting. It wasn’t until a quiet ‘look mommy’ had her open her eyes to see the fire, normally all red and orange, turning colors. Its flames were sparkling and shifting with each crackle of the logs, particularly strong around an obviously newer batch of wood. She watched it skeptically at first before remembering that various chemicals could produce colored flames like that. It was literally how fireworks were created. Someone must have made one of those colored changing logs or something to add a little spice to the festive air. The blues and greens were quite a change from the normal flame colors. Purples and pinks. Shifting colors with each pop and crackle of the flames. Dancing and swaying in the darkness, producing light that only fire could.
Her concern melting away Abby just stood there, mesmerized by the flames as they shifted and the wood burned. The smell of the fire overlaid with something fragrant and pleasant, like a fir tree or something equally festive. The fire itself was more than festive but it just added a little bit more. She was spacing out, not even realizing that the log that was producing the colors was quickly burning up. Opalescent cracks peeking out from its chard form, shimmering in the firelight. The fire continued to burn, even the embers sparkled in a myriad of colors, at least until another log was tossed onto the bonfire, obliterating what was left of the colored log. Little flecks of sparkle the last little bit of wonder as it was lost to the flames.
“Hey Abby!” A voice cut into her mental white noise. Blinking, the young woman turned away from the fire to face where the voice was calling out, spotting her friend in the distance. She let out a wave, absently noting that she wasn’t all that cold anymore, and called back that she was coming. They still had a few more hours before curfew would drive them both to their separate dorms. The day had been a nice diversion from school and the run up to the holidays.
“Abbs?”
“I’m coming Cliff. Hold your horses,” She chided him even as she stepped away from the warmth of the fire. The colorful little lightshow was already fading from her thoughts. “What are we going to get for dinner this time? There is this new Hot Pot that opened fairly close by?” Abby informed the taller male as she walked over, only absently starting to miss the warmth of the flames as the night’s chill once again started to set in.
