What friends are for
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Alielle entered her room, closing the door behind herself. The fresh wounds on her arms hurt terribly, but she forced herself to ignore the pain. Death would come soon, wouldn't it? And then the pain would go away, and everything would be alright... wouldn't it?
She started heading towards the bathroom to get some bandages for her wounds - she didn't want to drip blood on the bedsheets, she still had bruises from the last time that had happened - but she stopped short, noticing something on her bed. What was that? She curiously approached the bed, and discovered that what she'd seen was a large, golden feline, somewhat resembling a panther, curled up and peacefully sleeping.
Doing the first thing that came to mind, Alielle sat on the bed and started petting the feline, smiling slightly - for the first time in years - when it started purring and snuggled closer. She had been petting it for a while when it suddenly stretched, yawned and opened its eyes, staring straight at her. Alielle flinched under the examination of those burning red eyes, but nonetheless stared defiantly back. They kept staring at each other for a while, then the feline said, in a shocked voice: "You can see me?!"
Alielle's eyes widened, and she stuttered, in an equally shocked voice: "Y-you can talk?!"
The feline gracefully sat up, not taking its eyes off Alielle.
"What's your name, child?" "What does it matter?" Alielle replied, her voice breaking. "I will soon die, and everybody will forget me... so what does it matter what my name is? And besides..." she lowered her eyes sadly "I feel so old already... I don't think anybody would consider me a child."
The feline smiled gently. "It doesn't matter how much you suffered, you still are a child... and nobody can take that away from you. And you will not die... you will survive your training, and you'll become a mage - one of the strongest mages that ever have existed, and ever will exist."
Alielle stared at the feline for a moment, then furiously lifted up her sleeve, uncovering her wounds. "How so, if my magic is killing me?" she screamed, tears spilling from her eyes. "Tell me!" She suddenly broke down, and threw her arms around the feline's neck, crying in its fur.
"You're talking with me, child" the feline whispered "you can see me... you can hold me, pet me, cry in my fur without getting hurt ... that alone shows your power, because I am Fire."
Alielle looked up in disbelief. "The element?"
Fire nodded. "The element."
Alielle let go of it, drying her eyes with her arm. "I'm sorry.."
"For what, child?" Fire gently whispered.
"For crying in your fur... it must've felt horrible... everybody knows that fire and water are opposites..."
Fire laughed gently, then snuggled close to her, purring when she started scratching its back. "You can cry in my fur every time you feel the need, child. That's what friends are for, after all."