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"Are you sure I look okay?" Ember asked as she and Wade rode the elevator up.
Wade rolled his eyes with a smile. "My light, you already know my answer." He gently took her by the shoulders and turned her to face her reflection in the elevator doors. "What do you think?"
Ember looked at her reflection, which caused a soft orange glow in the elevator, coupled with gentle ripples and refractions as her light passed through Wade. She smiled and exhaled softly as she smoothed over her dress, which was speckled with red obsidian sequins.
"You're right, Wade. I'm overthinking it. I just want to make a good impression."
Wade turned to face her and put his hands on her shoulders. "You're going to be great," he said softly. "They'd be crazy not to love you. My mom said she was personally asked by the CEO to invite us. They really want us here."
Ember nodded. "It was really kind of them to invite us to the pre-grand opening party for your mom's new building. Who all will be there?"
The elevator doors opened to the thirty-first floor and the two stepped out, arm-in-arm.
"Eh," Wade started with a shrug, "mostly just some executives, engineers, CEOs, a lot of the people that went into the planning, funding, and development of the building."
Ember thought for a moment that it was a bit in poor taste to not invite the dozens of hard-working construction workers that undoubtedly spent months putting their plans and money into action, but decided not to comment on it.
"Names?" asked the doorkeeper at the end of the hallway, a tall and thin water woman with a clipboard and spectacles.
"Wade Ripple and Ember Lumen," Wade answered with a smile, holding Ember closer. Ember rested her hand on Wade's arm, steam gently wafting up from where her hand made contact with him.
The doorkeeper looked at Ember from head to toe for a moment, then checked the list. After a quiet exhale, she turned and opened the door for them. Wade and Ember stepped through the doorway to quiet jazz and piano music in a large room. Several dozen people stood around drinking cocktails and chatting, primarily water and earth people with a few air people.
"Wade! Ember!"
Ember and Wade turned to the familiar voice of Brook as she approached them with a smile and open arms.
"I'm so glad you could come!" she said as she gave Wade a hug, then Ember. She had become more comfortable with affection with her since her and her son's relationship.
"Thank you for the invitation, Ms. Ripple," Ember responded with a smile.
"Oh, don't thank me, dear," Brook said, clasping her hands in front of her elegant, flowing lavender dress. "The CEO was so impressed with my work, he insisted that I invite some family to come celebrate my accomplishments with me. Come this way, I'd love for you to meet him!"
Ember was touched that Brook started to consider her family. She and Wade followed Brook through the large room. Guests side-eyed them as they passed before smiling and continuing their conversations quieter. Ember thought something felt a bit off about it, but decided not to read too much into it. She just wanted to be here to support Wade and his mom.
"Rivera," Brook said as they approached a tall water gentleman. "I'd like you to meet my son and his girlfriend!"
Rivera gave a polite wave to the people he had been chatting to and stepped toward them with a smile. "Hi, there!" he said politely. "I'm pleased you could join us." He shook Wade's hand, but when he turned to Ember, he hooked his thumbs in the pockets of his navy blue blazer. "It's so lovely to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Ember replied politely, holding Wade's arm a little tighter.
Rivera watched the steam coil up from their interlocked arms for a moment with a mesmerized look in his eyes for a moment before he shook his head with an inhale and said, "You know, Brook has told me so much about you both."
Brook chuckled. "Oh! All good things!" she said with a wave of her hand.
Rivera nodded. "Yes, all good things. Hey! I was wondering if you three would like to stand next to me when we take our group photo soon."
Brook clapped her hands together, standing straighter. "Oh, that'd be wonderful! What do you two think?" she asked, turning to Wade and Ember.
Wade and Ember exchanged a slightly confused, but indifferent glance. Wade shrugged and turned back to Rivera.
"Sure, thank you for the opportunity Mr. Rivera," Wade said.
"Perfect!" Rivera said, clasping his hands and leaning down toward them a bit. "Well, you two go mingle a bit and we'll let you know when we're ready."
Brook and Rivera started a conversation as Wade and Ember meandered away into the crowd. There was an open bar with an earth person serving on the far wall and the two decided to head over and get themselves a drink.
Wade placed his free hand on the bar. "Good evening, barkeep. I'll have a blue lagoon and the lady will have a tequila sunrise."
The bartender finished cleaning a glass while her eyes flitted back and forth between them, then she silently turned and started making the drinks. Ember was progressively getting a sinking feeling like she didn't belong, but she really just wanted to support Wade and get through the night, so she just kept her hold on Wade's arm and smiled politely.
The bartender returned with one glass, Wade's blue lagoon. "I don't have any glasses that are safe for fire to hold, sorry," she said, barely looking sorrowful.
Wade and Ember frowned.
"What do you mean?" Ember asked.
"You know," the bartender said, holding up a hand in an isn't it obvious? gesture. "You'll melt it? These are my good glasses."
Wade rolled his eyes. "Just mix the drink and put it in a mug instead of a collins if you're so worried. I've seen her hold a glass just fine."
The bartender rolled her eyes right back. "If she so much as warps it I'm charging you for it," she warned, turning back to the rack of alcohol.
"Deal, jeez," Wade replied with huff. He turned to Ember, who was staring at the floor. "Are you okay?" he whispered.
She looked up at him for a moment, but then looked back down at the floor. "I don't know," she whispered back. "I just keep getting this vibe that I'm not wanted here for some reason."
Wade exhaled and looked over her flame at the mingling guests. Then he met her eye again. "A lot of people here think they're better than everyone else. We're probably overthinking it."
Neither Wade nor Ember were satisfied with that explanation, but accepted it for the time being so they could try to push through the rest of the party. After all, they were here to celebrate Wade's mother's accomplishments. The barkeep placed Ember's drink on the counter, eyeing her as she returned to the other side end of the bar, where another water person waited to order a drink. Ember took the drink and sipped it gingerly, thankful for the slight relief.
"Hey, check it out," Wade said as he pulled her to the left away from the bar. They headed toward the back of the room. Next to the wall-to-wall windows that showed a magnificent view of Element City, an ice sculpture stood. It was in the shape of the building, down to the last detail including an outline of each and every brick and window, and it was as tall as the ceiling. Wade and Ember admired it in awe.
"Wade!" a voice called with a laugh. Wade and Ember turned to see Rivera quickly walking over to them, laughing nervously. "I see you two have found the ice sculpture, lovely, isn't it? But we're about ready for that picture so let's get you two over here."
He quickly started ushering them away from the sculpture and that's when they noticed a few people nearby staring at them with strange looks of disdain on their faces. Ember swore she caught the words melting it whispered as she passed by one of them, but Rivera was rushing them along so fast that she didn't have time to address it.
They stopped about ten feet away from the sculpture, towards the center right of frame as the photographer set up her equipment. The rest of the party started to file in and take their places, the ice sculpture being center frame with people grouped on either side of it. Rivera stood as promised next to Wade and Ember, in between them in fact. Ember noticed this was the closest he'd dared to stand to her since they'd met. Brook took her place next to them. After the photographer made a few more adjustments to the camera and directed a few people to shift their positions, they were ready for the photo.
"All right!" called the photographer. "On three! One! Two! Three!"
There was a bright flash, and after the light had died down the party cheered and toasted their drinks.
"Lovely!" Rivera said with a clap of his hands, immediately sidestepping away from Ember. He turned to them with a smile. "I'll go check with the photographer to make sure everything turned out okay. Great meeting you!" he said before rushing off.
Ember laughed nervously. "Well, congratulations, Ms. Ripple," she said, trying to keep things focused on her accomplishments.
Brook sensed the tension, but also felt too uncomfortable to address it. She smiled. "Thank you, Ember. I'm so glad you two got to come."
Wade wrapped his arm around Ember. "I'm glad we could come too, mom."
Brook smiled again and walked off. Ember sighed and turned toward Wade. "Look, I'm really sorry, but would you be awfully upset with me if I wanted to make an excuse to leave?"
Wade exhaled and looked around. A few party guests quickly turned away. He turned back to her. "You're not having a good time, are you?"
Ember shrugged and looked down. "I don't know, Wade. The vibes just feel off here. I can't explain it. I was happy to support your mom, but I really just want to go."
Wade nodded and took her hand. "Tell you what. Go to the restroom. Collect yourself. Give me five minutes. We'll be heading out as soon as you come back out. Okay?"
Ember smiled and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you for understanding."
She headed off in the direction of the restroom. In this building, they had built an all-element unisex restroom, which was slowly becoming the norm to accommodate a growing population of immigrants of all elements. After pushing her way in, she was met with a short hallway that would soon open up to the row of sinks for handwashing, after which were the row of restroom stalls. She stopped short of the sinks when she heard someone talking about her and pressed herself into the shadows of the short hallway, dimming her flame as much as she could.
". . . that fire is going to absolutely ruin my photo, right? I'm going to have to do some serious photo editing to clear the glare."
"And that's what I pay you the big bucks for, hm?"
It was the photographer and Rivera.
"Yes," replied the photographer with a sigh. "But I don't really get why you invited street trash to your party. Is this a charity event or an executive party?"
Rivera laughed in a way that almost made Ember burn red, maybe purple.
"Listen, it's about marketing. I'm a strategist. If I'm going to sell this place to shareholders then I need to make myself look good, yes? We had so many fire people working on this building. Cheap labor, you know. I created so many jobs for them! I wanted to have a little something that said, Rivera is for the little people. You know? When I heard Brook's son was dating fire, I just had to jump on that opportunity."
Ember had heard enough. She turned and walked out of the bathroom, trying to calm her flame but failing.
In the bathroom, Brook slammed open the door of her stall just as Rivera and the photographer started to leave. They jumped and stared at her in shock.
"How dare you!" Brook screamed, not caring who heard. "After everything I've put into this company and into this project, you dare use me, my family! Just to make yourself look good! Well let me tell you something, Rivera." Brook stormed closer to him and got into his face. "Ember is a million times the person you will ever be. All of those wonderful fire people – yes, fire people! not just fire! – have more integrity in one flame than you do in your entire body!" She turned to the photographer, sneered at her, then back to Rivera. "You both make me sick!"
She snatched the camera bag from the photographer and used her water to flood the camera, ruining the digital memory card that stored the picture, the photographer watching in shock. Brook then stormed out without saying another word in search of Ember. She searched the entire party, but couldn't find Wade or Ember, so she approached the doorkeeper.
"Excuse me, do you know if Wade Ripple and Ember Lumen left?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am," the doorkeeper replied without looking up from her phone. "Just missed them. They said to give you their apologies for leaving early."
Brook rushed to the elevators and rapidly pressed the button to call it. When it arrived, she took it down to the ground floor and ran out, seeing Wade and Ember just as they started to climb onto Ember's firecycle.
"Wait!" Brook called, sprinting over to where they were parked on the side of the street.
"Mom," Wade said, climbing back off. Ember stayed put, her head leaning on the handlebars. "I'm sorry, but we needed to leave early. We didn't want to ruin your night."
Brook sighed. "My night's already ruined, but it's not because of you two. I'm so sorry, Ember. I had no idea my boss was such a whirlpool."
"Mom, language!" Wade scolded, surprised to hear his mom curse.
Brook waved him off. "Oh, don't even. You have no idea what that good for nothing said in the bathroom."
Ember lifted her head and turned to her, wiping away a tear. "You heard all of that?" she asked, choking back a sob.
Brook's tense stance relaxed. "Oh, honey. You were there too?" she asked shakily. She sat down on the firecycle and pulled her head into her chest causing steam to start wafting up into her face. "Oh, gosh, honey. I'm so sorry you heard all those horrible things. Don't you fret over what that old fud said about you."
Ember pulled away and wiped her cheek. "It's not just what he said about me. He practically called himself a saint for giving fire people jobs, when all he did was exploit them for his own image. He tried to make me the face of their hard work. What reward did they get for everything they put into building this? All those executives and CEOs and engineers got to have this big lavish party. But what did the construction workers get?"
Brook watched her carefully, knowing that she had made some valid points. She exhaled and looked down. "I don't know. Rivera handled the wages of the construction workers. But given how he talked about them, I doubt he gave them anything fair, let alone a reward."
There was silence for a few moments between the three of them before Brook broke it again.
"We could change that," she said, looking back at Ember. Ember met her eye, squinting in confusion. "I mean, Rivera may be the big boss but I have my own money, my own autonomy. Who says I can't throw a fancy party for the construction workers?"
Ember shifted in her seat, turning to face her. "You'd really do that, Ms. Ripple?"
Wade bubbled from the inside until the bubble popped on his head. "Ooh! Thought bubble! Why don't you work on a party for the construction workers together? Mom could organize the location, the catering, contacting the workers, and Ember, you know Firish culture. You could help my mom choose all the perfect details!"
Ember and Brook exchanged a look, not needing a verbal confirmation to know that they both loved and agreed to the idea.
"Wonderful," Brook said, standing. She brushed her hands over her dress with a relieved sigh. "Well, I think we've all had enough for one night. I'm sorry that the party went the way it did, but we have a new party to look forward to now. You two head home and sleep it off. We'll meet tomorrow at my place to start discussing the details."
"Thanks, mom," Wade said before giving her a hug.
"Thanks, Ms. Ripple," Ember said as Wade climbed back onto the firecycle. They drove off, leaving Ms. Ripple standing on the sidewalk with her dress billowing in the wind.
Once they'd reached Wade's building, Wade climbed off and faced Ember.
"I'm sorry again about tonight. You didn't deserve any of that," he said, taking her by the waist as she climbed off the firecycle.
Ember shook her head. "It's fine. It's not your fault they were jerks," she said, running her hands along his chest.
"I know," Wade responded, "but you still didn't deserve any of that."
Ember smiled. "I know I didn't. The nerve of them to call me street trash."
Wade gave her a lopsided smile. "One man's trash is another man's treasure?" he joked.
Ember's jaw dropped, though she couldn't be mad at him. She heated up one of her hands on his arm until it sizzled, causing Wade to flinch with pain. "That was both the smoothest and most insulting thing you've ever said to me," she said with a laugh.
Wade laughed and held her closer. Ember didn't object. Wade sighed longingly as she nestled into his chest.
"Definitely treasure."