Obedient to her strange pair of teachers, Ember reached out and accepted the loan of the necklace from her friend; she held the pendant in the curve of her fingers, studying it before she put it on, and perhaps it was simply the gleaming silver reflecting the strange shade of her skin, but it seemed to take on the red leaping of fire distantly reflected within the metal.<br/><br/>Closing her hand around it, she wordlessly donned the pendant, and then settled herself a little closer to the candle, her crossed legs almost bumping the side of it.<br/><br/>This was impossible. It was an impossible thing! Surely there was some trick Pylea hadn't told her, wasn't there? She'd coated her hand in something, maybe, or, or... it just didn't seem possible. But then again, were girls with skins like their own possible? The book, had that been possible, or the half-man, half-goat that watched over them with silent expectation? Logic dictated no, not in the least - but logic did not seem to have a place here, even though the cavernous interior of the tiny wagon apparently had room for everything else.<br/><br/>It must even have room for the impossible.<br/><br/><em>Don't worry about the big pictured.... focus on the here and now,</em>Nokodemus's words echoed softly in her mind, and she glanced at him before bringing a hand close to the candle, flat and palm-down. She could feel the heat of it from several inches away, and it made her swallow, nervously. Focus.<br/><br/>She gazed down at the flame, letting the rocking of the wagon, gentle and constant, soothe her. Otherwise she paid it no attention. Nikodemus receded from her peripheral vision along with the rest of the room, and except for Pylea's ankle close on the other side of the candle, she gave her friend no more mind. There was only herself and the candle. There was her hand, and the flame.<br/><br/><em>We have a contract, you and I,</em>she said firmly in her mind, and with unexpected certainty, she felt the truth of it. Her hand moved smoothly into the flame - and it was hot! Yet despite the heat, it didn't hurt, exactly. She could feel how the potential for pain from the heat was there, and yet she didn't feel her skin flare with pain the way it should have. Several long seconds she sat there, her lips parting into a small o, her eyes widening, and she lifted her hand, staring with unbridled joy at the sight of her palm - a faint tracery of soot was etched there from the candle's burning wick, but her skin was utterly unharmed.<br/><br/>"I DID it!" She squealed, absolutely beaming as she looked at Pylea and Nikodemus, and let out a joyful laugh. This was nothing compared to what she'd seen her friend do, or what she suspected of the old goat, but for the first time SHE had done something impossible - and if she had done it once, what couldn't come next?