… Behind him, Suni roared at the oncoming crowd. Her teeth bared and her eyes alight with savage fire, she balled both of her hands into fists at her sides; a moment later, she erupted into flames. Vith felt it rip through her, deep within – that diametric struggle to both, leash and unleash the chaos. Half-turning, he caught her gaze and nodded at her. He understood. She needed permission, someone to remove the doubt, and needed to know that fighting back was, in this moment and without question, the very right thing to do. The fire around her condensed, traveling up her arms to coalesce into a ball between her hands. There it spun, stretched, and writhed as it flared white-hot in her grasp.
Do it. Let it go, he encouraged her in his mind, trying to convey some small measure of the tranquility she’d once shown him. Then he drew the shadows in around him, stepping through just as the spell left her hands. The percussive energy, the shock front of her detonation, jarred his teeth as his arm closed around her waist and he yanked her from her feet. The blast wave she hurled toward the oncoming orcs, though poorly aimed, struck the hillside high and wide enough that it forced them to scatter. Screams of agony echoed out over the ridge as two of their number went up in flame.
