Lily Vs. Ahri

Lily did as she told and got into the bathtub. She began to focus, which at first counteracted the ice water, keeping her in a stable state, but as she got deeper in focus, the heat she was generating got higher and higher, eventually starting to turn the water into steam as a small, fiery aura surrounds Lily.

Ahri watched in amazement. Having to restrain herself from telling Lily to stop. The fiery aura didn't seem to be getting her yet. Perhaps this was the breakthrough they were looking for?

Lily continued to focus, the aura around her growing intenser by the moment, quickly melting all the ice and water in the tub. As the aura keep going, for a moment they seemed to form a pair of wings, which quickly disappeared with the aura as Lily passed out.

The fox woman quickly pulled Lily out of the water, dried her off, and put her to bed. It seemed that lily could choose whether to call forth the heat or not. This was good, it meant that she could probably control it eventually, even if it in very broad terms. Ahri still didn't know what this was, but she did now the basics of magic both innate and learned. If anyone could teach Lily to deal with this it was her.

As Lily was unconscious, she dreamt of being in an endless burning field, with her unconscious body’s temperature rising to match her temperature within the dream.

In the real world Ahri was regularly putting wet towels on Lily, who looked for all the world like she was experiencing the worst fever imaginable. The kitsune was very worried.

In the burning field, Lily began exploring and started finding random red feathers laying in the fire. In the real world, the towels being placed on Lily began to spontaneously combust, turning into flaming feathers which eventually fizzle out or be absorbed into Lily.

Ahri was now very worried. She wondered if she should use magic to try and suppress this. But trying to mess with magic you didn't understand could lead to terrible consequences. The fire didn't seem to be killing the unconcious ninja. So there was likely no point in dousing her in ice or anything likebthat. Instead Ahri focused on using ice and her own magical prowess to make the room pleasantly cool. There was nothing to be done now but hope that Lily would pull through.

In her dream, Lily bent over to pick up a feather, but the moment she touched it, her body went up in flame, which in turn shocked her into waking up, bolting up straight and heavily breathing.

Agri was happy to see her servant awake. "Are you alright." She quickly asked. Something was still clearly wrong but it still did to ask. She kneeled in close to the seated ninja, but didn't touch her for fear that she'd end up like the towels.

“T-there was fire everywhere,” Lily mumbles, “And feathers. W-why did I see that? A-am I going to cause that?”

"Calm down. Nothing bad is going to happen. It was just a dream." Ahri said, finally risking a reassuring hand on the shoulder. She made a mental note of the mention of feathers and looked around to see if any of the feathers the towels had burst into survived the ordeal. "How are you feeling? Still hot?"

There was still one feather of reddish tones left over, one that had fell into the pitcher of water Ahri had brought in earlier before it burned up or absorbed into Lily.


“Y-yeah, I’m still hot,” Lily mutters, which Ahri could feel by touching her, but she could also feel that Lily was quickly cooling down as she calmed herself.

"Focus on breathing and calming down. If you can call this heat out that means you can put it away." Ahri advised. She didn't move to present the feather Lily just get, giving her a second to fully calm down.

Lily continued calming down and steadying her breathing.

"Tell me about your dream. What exactly did you see?" Ahri asked once Lily had cooled down literally and figuratively. Grabbing the pitcher of water with a tail and hiding it behind her for now.

“I was in an endless field that was set ablaze,” Lily explained, “There were also these reddish feathers laying around everywhere. When I tried to pick one up, I caught on fire before waking up,”

"And did they look like this?" Ahri asked, bringing the pitcher forward, not taking the feather out for fear that it might spontaneously combust.

“Y-yes, exactly like that,” Lily answers before realizing what that feather really meant, “Why is it out here? D-did I do something? I-I didn’t hurt you, my goddess, did I?”

"No. You didn't do anything. Nobodies hurt. You were out like a light and burning up and I put some wet towels on you to cool you down and they burst into these feathers. This was the only one that survived. The rest all burned or returned to you." Ahri quickly explained before looking Lily dead in the eyes. "Don't worry about me. I know you love your goddess but I can take care of myself." The statement was true but it was so an aytempt to keep Lily calm. She didn't need to start burning up again.

“Of course you can, my goddess,” Lily replies, clearly relieved she did not cause harm to her goddess, “S-sorry for doubting your abilities.”

"No need to apologize." Ahri reassured her before eyeing the feather in the pitcher. "I think you should try taking the feather out.  See if anything happens." She suggested. "Before you passed out you sprouted flaming wings and when you did I knew that whatever this was was either animalistic or divine. Now the feathers further prove that. Touch it, see if it tells you anything."

Lily began to nervously reach for the pitcher before pulling her hand back. “C-can we get some more water in here or move closer to the hot spring?” Lily asked, “Last time I touched a feather, I caught on fire and want to be prepared.”

Ahri nodded, taking the pitcher and leading Lily back to the spring which had more then enough water to dose all but the brightest of infernos.

Lily nervously reached into the pitcher and took out the feather, which had no reaction at all, calming Lily a little. “What should I do with it, my goddess?” She asked.