[ you follow them behind a particularly large tree. "This will do," the kitten says, all business now. the puppy grunts his assent. as you turn the corner, the corpse disappears. trees become rock; grass becomes sand. day becomes night.

you're fire.

you remain fire as they argue, yet again.

you watch as the kitten, voiced and body laced with desperation and hurt — absent previously, born from countless of these same arguments fought and lost — tries and fails to appeal to his comrade. the puppy, too, speaks with a finality that wasn't there before. the allure of a master is no longer just a dream.

a distant echo enters your mind, heard only by you.

"Who would you mourn?"
"One who lived and died solely at the whims of another, unable to see past the misguided loyalty ingrained in their blood."

the kitten bows his head, lifts his pack, and walks away. it's now that you remember that you could be something other than fire, if you wished.

do you:

> stay fire and rest, crackling serenely in the windless night? this was your vacation, after all. this isn't your pain. it's not your responsibility. you don't have to care; you can simply be. break yourself of that obsession that's been tying you down, and be free.
> manifest a different form, and follow the kitten? he's already fading out of sight. you'll lose him soon. ]