Esther was back within the fern trench. It was a place the maned wolf found to be more fun then some others, and extremely flammable. Esther wasn't there for any specific reason, though part of it might have been to get away from the place that was causing the whispers. it was dark, Esther could see just fine, but they wanted a little bit of light in their area.

And maybe they were a tad afflated. An idea of fire. Those always came into their head - fire was warm, created light, but it also hurt. Esther didn't care about the hurt. Their fire would burn off eventually, even if the entire place of Eridanus got turned to ashes while doing it.

Getting their paws ready to catch flame to one of the fallen ferns, Esther willed themselves to try and cast the spell.

Their paws grew hot, and smoke filtered from them, though no fire came yet.

Grunting to themselves, Esther didn't like that the fire didn't start. It happened so often, seemingly. That they would fail to will their fire, and maybe inexperience was the cause of it. Even if Esther wasn't a child, they only knew one spell and didn't have full control over it. Working with their magic more would fix that, so to add that as an excuse for their actions.

So they tried again.

Ah! The fire did start this time, coating their front paws, eliciting a burning feeling where it touched. The smell of burning flesh would surely go to the air, along with burning plants when Esther finally touched their paws to the fern before the fire transferred to the plant and left their paws behind. It hurt, but they ignored it. Their paws would still be smoking from it, and the fur there would be toasted for some time.

@Attikus

He took to wandering again recently, thoughts haunting his mind as he stepped over pathways prey animals created. It wasn't for any purpose- enrichment, mostly, but it was accompanied by rarely finding cool things for his children.

Speaking of them, he hadn't really sat down and had a special day, recently. There was the scrolls Volta got and they'd poured over them, but they hadn't committed to putting them into action, letting them sit dry in their little hut.

Said hut was getting rather crowded. Maybe that's why he took these walks.

One thing he loved about them, though, was the onslaught of senses that poured over him, familiar especially when he traveled out of the cave. The birdsong filled his ears, greens and colors spanned across his eyes, and the smell. Oh, the smell of leaves, of dirt, of the freshness of it all compared to the dank darkness some other caves seemed to bring. Sometimes he wondered if he wouldn't appreciate it more if he was born in Eridanus rather than Cetus, but it just smelt so much nicer than that swamp.

It even had fire- FIRE? He sniffed again, aimed to the pelt he was wearing slung over his shoulder, determining that that wasn't him. Even with the dull sense of smell, he knew there shouldn't be the scent this far away from camp. Was someone practicing, in here? Or someone trying to get his attention?

Nonetheless, they got his interest, and he stepped forward to look quietly for just who had caused it. Dip wouldn't've come in here, would she? No- Orange flickered in his vision, mirrored by the orange of the Gembound standing in front of the fire. The sight calmed him at first. It was something he was familiar with, and surely they knew what they were doing, right?

He came to realize fast that they were propagating it with their magic and sped up his pacing. "Hey!" He barked quick and loud, a hand grabbing at the spear that was loose across his back while the other was held with the palm out to them. "Careful with that-" A faint flash of fear ran through him as he looked between them and the fire.

Were they even aware of the danger they posed to the rest of the forest? Surely they were, he argued to himself, tail flicking with unease.

@Esther

Esther was the dictator of that fire. They created it, and they could create more. Esther wasn't trying to practice their fire, or get anyone's attention. They didn't even know who Attikias was! Though they just liked the sight, the smell, and the burning that came with it. Fire was just fun, that was it. Maybe fire was dangerous, but the sensation of it was good to the maned wolf.

Ears perking at the sound of a voice, the canine turned their head around to look at the thing on two legs. How strange, he was. Heterochromatic eyes scanned the thing before looking back to the fire. Of course they knew what they were doing! Making fire! Esther didn't need to be able to put it out!

"I'm being careful!" they huffed out, though it wasn't entirely true. Esther didn't care about being careful, and that much was evident by how much nature was around the fire they caused.

@Attikias