Chapter Text
The first day of senior year felt a lot like the first day of junior year. Which, now that Ember thought about it, felt a lot like the first day of sophomore year. She gave herself one last glance in the mirror. Sleeveless red top, black shorts… Nothing much different from what she’d wear on any given day, really— first day of school or not. She had looked in this mirror and seen the same thing a hundred times. Same outfit, same tidy room, same tired face staring back at her every early morning. Same was safe, same was familiar. There was a soft sort of comfort to same. She grabbed her purple hoodie from where it was draped over her nearby desk chair and shrugged it on, zipping it up to the collar. Same as every school day. When you’re going to be interacting with all four Elements, as a Fire person, you can’t be too careful. The long sleeves and hood of her favorite jacket protected her from vaporizing anybody, and from getting splashed or blown out herself. Here in Fire Town, she could go anywhere and wear anything without worry, but trekking out into the rest of Element City involved a little more planning.
“Okay,” she said to her reflection, whooshing out a breath. “You’ve got this. Last first day of high school, nothing you haven’t done before.”
The Ember staring back at her didn’t look as confident as she sounded. Hands wrung, nervous smile, eyes that betrayed her wish for just a few more moments of sleep. Her flames jumped in surprise when her when her watch suddenly emitted a sharp beeping sound, flashing ‘6:30’ across its screen.
“Flame!”
Dashing out of her room and down the stairs leading into the shop on the first floor, Ember only stopped for a moment to plant a kiss on her father Bernie’s cheek as he swept a broom across the tiled floor. Her family’s shop, the Fireplace, wouldn’t open its doors to sell Firish food and trinkets to the residents of Fire Town for another half hour or so, but here her father was, even in his growing number of years, up before the sun and prepping for the day.
“Bye Àshfá! Going to school!”
“Ember, wait!” Ember’s father set the broom aside and caught her gently by the hand, giving her pause. A warm smile played across his face, beaming at his only child. “I just want you to know how very excited your mother and I are for you. It is a big day! Go have a wonderful last year, work hard, get into a good university and start your next steps in life.”
That was the plan. Always had been. Study up, go to an Ivy League school like Hearthvard, Gale, Rinseton. Major in Business, minor in Accounting. Take over the shop, secure her family’s legacy, and take the family business to new heights with all her acquired knowledge. Her parents were not overly strict, only pushing her to work towards attending “a good university”, but anything less than Ivy felt like she was letting them down. They had given up everything when they immigrated from Fire Land to Element City eighteen years ago— their home, their family; all for her sake, and all she wanted was to make them proud. Show them that she appreciated everything they had done for her when they left their homeland to build a new life. Ember would sacrifice everything for them if she could, just as they did for her.
Her father pulled her into a tight hug. “Ìsh ì ká sh khû ss,” he whispered into her flames.
Ember leaned into his embrace, squished but happy to soak in a few more moments of familial peace before the hustle and bustle of the schoolday. “Love you too, Dad.”
With a smile, she let her father go and stepped toward the front door. The familiar tinkling of the bell wished her goodbye and good luck as she exited out into the streets of Fire Town. This early in the morning, the entire neighborhood was dimly lit, faintly glowing windows of shops and residences twinkling warmly at her in the predawn light. Smoke curled up from chimneys, a telltale sign of the people inside beginning to rise for the day. Ember was born here, and it had been her home all her life. She knew every window. The wavering light peeking down at her from the second floor of the brick building to her left was the Sol family- she had babysat their son Asher just last week. To the right, across the dry canal, Mr. Searson waved her good morning with a gloved hand from between the lilies and roses of his flower shop. An unusual business for a Fire man to run, but Ember loved seeing the bright blooms greet her from across the way every morning.
"Ember!" a voice floated down from above.
Ember waved up at the Fire girl impatiently glaring down at her from the Wetro train platform a few stories above her head. "Hey Char! I'm late, I know."
Jogging up the steps two at a time, Ember hurried up to the top of the platform to meet her friend. Charlotte Searson and her family had moved into Fire Town two years ago, opening up their floristry business to more than a bit of confusion from the surrounding community. Char, ever the extrovert, had attached herself to Ember immediately and not let go since. Not that Ember was complaining. Between her studies and her job helping her parents with the shop, making friends wasn't something Ember had much time for. It was nice to have someone her age to talk to, especially someone who lived so close.
Char tapped her foot, a clank clank clank sounding with each tap on the platform's metal floor. "Just because the train is at 6:35 doesn't mean you get to show up at 6:34, Ember," she joked, elbowing her friend jovially. "What would happen if you missed it? No first day of school, no college, no fancy degree."
Ember playfully shoved her away. "Don't even joke. I'm not gonna end up a failure because you manifested the train system going down or something."
As soon as she finished her sentence, the train arrived with a whoosh, water sluicing over the sides of the raised channel and across the first few feet of the platform's floor. The doors slid open, and Ember lifted her hood over her head before stepping inside alongside Char.
A pre-recorded voice rang out cheerily.
"Next stop: Element City!"
"Ugh, I can't believe I got the worst teacher for geography this year!" Char whined, running her hands down her face in annoyance. "I am never going to survive No-Pass Grass."
Ember focused straight ahead and shifted the stack of books she carried to her other arm. "Mr. Grass isn't so bad, I had him last year and I was okay."
Students of all Elements streamed every which way through the halls of Thames Seaborn High School as Ember and Char picked their way carefully through the crowd. An Earth girl's carefully pruned leaves crackled a bit when she cut past Char a little too closely. On the ceiling, two Air boys snickered to each other in the midst of some private joke. Shining trophies in the nearby inset trophy case gleamed alongside a jubilant sign announcing that TSHS was home of the 'DISTRICT WAVEBALL CHAMPS' from last year.
"Yeah, but not everybody's a genius like you," Char sighed mournfully, stepping past a small group of Water and Earth girls gathered around the waveball display.
A sarcastic chuckle escaped Ember. "I'm not a genius, I just study. You should try it sometime." She stopped in front of locker number 401, wrangling her books in one arm as she used the other to fiddle with the combination lock. The locker unlocked with a dry click and Ember pulled the door open, shoving her textbooks into it.
Char leaned up against the line of lockers, draping one arm across her forehead to pose dramatically. "I'd rather die."
"Fine, then I guess you really WON'T survive No-Pass Grass," Ember laughed, cramming the last of her books into her locker and pulling out a single new one from within. "Good thing your dad's a florist, free flowers for the funeral."
"Please play 'Gassing Up My Heart' by the Four Winds at the wake."
The two girls erupted into a flurry of giggles. Char was never the type of best friend Ember imagined having, but her flippant attitude towards just about everything was always a welcome respite for Ember, who always had her head down, buried under a mound of schoolwork and stress.
Char's face suddenly shifted, and a solemn air knitted through her brows. "I can't believe we only have one class together this year. Sorry I'm a junior," she sniffed. "You gonna be okay?"
Ember waved her off with one hand. "I'll be just fine. Thanks for third period, I can handle fourth alone."
The number of students around them thinned as the clock ticked nearer to the time when the warning bell for the beginning of the next period would sound. After a quick goodbye, Char scurried off to her own locker before their next classes started. She'd probably be late anyway, but at least she tried to make it look like she planned on being punctual. Ember laughed to herself and hugged her textbook to her chest, setting off down the hallway towards her fourth period classroom.
Ember was looking forward to art history with Ms. Branch. Doing well in art-related classes had always come easily to her, and it was nice to be able to get good grades without having to force herself to read and re-read textbooks filled with droning paragraphs about things she could barely bring herself to care about, or memorize endless factoids or formulas. Sure, she would still read her art textbooks cover to cover, but it was more because she wanted to than it was because she was obligated to. She admired artists for their ability to transform whatever they were feeling into real and tangible things, expressing themselves without using words. Studying art didn't feel like studying, it felt like silently forming a connection with other people on some base, abstract level, even across distance and time. She'd never meet Van Flow, but she could feel his torment through his centuries-old watercolor paintings. Studying the various forms of art, compositions and styles was almost like discovering new ways for people to push their innermost thoughts out into the real world.
She took a seat in the second row, not quite so close so that she'd seem overeager, but close enough that she could still easily absorb everything Ms. Branch would teach. There weren't desks in this classroom, but rather long rectangular tables arranged into rows, with two seats at each. Art history was the kind of class that involved making things with your hands in order to learn, so the extra surface area was needed. All along the left wall were rows and rows of storage cabinets with glass doors, through which Ember could see every kind of art supply imaginable, from paint to clay. There was even one cabinet full of glassblowing supplies.
More students filed in, and an Air girl wordlessly slid into the seat beside Ember, setting her bag on the ground with a thump. She made no move to speak, or even acknowledge Ember's existence, but honestly, Ember was okay with that. Small talk was not her forte.
Ms. Branch was a slim Earth woman, entering into the early years of middle age. Her long grassy hair was piled high into a messy bun atop her head, and Ember thought she could make out a few tiny flowers nestled in it. She wore a heavily beaded dress that swished and clacked whenever she moved, and the faint but kind smile that was seemingly permanently etched into her features gave her a pleasant sort of air.
She peered gaily at the class through her glasses as the bell rang, signaling the start of the period. "Welcome to art history, kids! I'm Ms. Branch, and we're gonna have a great year! I'm well aware that it's the first day of school, but we're going to dive right in as soon as I give my First Day spiel."
Ms. Branch cleared her throat, then slammed her hands down onto her desk, shifting the aura in the room completely. A Water boy near the back of the room let out an audible gasp of surprise. All humor drained from Ms. Branch's face as she splayed her fingers out over the surface of her desk, brows lowering as she personally surveyed each and every student. "If you are here for an easy A, I suggest you transfer to someone else's class. Art is hard work, art is passion, art is raw, and art is to be respected. The study of art history is the study of life as we know it."
She sprang up and clapped her hands together. Her bright smile seamlessly reappeared, as if nothing at all had happened. "Now then! Take a good look at where you are sitting and who you are sitting with. I'm giving you the chance to take charge of your own fates- I won't be making the assigned seating chart until tomorrow, so if you don't like where you are or who you're next to, you may sit somewhere new tomorrow." Her eyes darkened again for an almost imperceptibly short moment. "But then, you're stuck."