Oops. I Ranted.

Andrew asked for a book about the Fire Lord and his "underlings". I told him that any such book would be in the Palace Library (and therefore inexcessible for a kachina like me), but I can do my best to construct something.I'm not really sure where to begin, though. And I'm not sure if Andrew wants something more like history, or more like...military standings. I'll have to ask him...

So, Andrew, what would you like to know? *smiles*

For now, I guess I'll do a little of both. Maybe sometime I can elaborate.

As long as I can remember very well, I've lived here at the Palace. I had a home before this, of course, but after my parents died, Firefly and Flare and I were taken to live here, along with many other sparklets whose parents had died at the same time. I'm honestly not clear what happened there. No one talks about it, and every time we ask, we're shushed. It's one of those topics that you learn young not to mention.

I was always meant to be a kachina, ever since I was brought here when I was four years old. The Fire Lord saw potential in me along with about fifty other sparktresses that had been brought to the Palace with us. We were all put into kachina training, which was something like a extreme fitness hell. As old toddlers, we did sit-ups and push-ups and endurance exercises and flexibility exercises and all kinds of other things. Little by little, the class of kachinas-in-training were weeded out.

By age six, if you couldn't pass the kachina test, you were taken out of the class and put...I don't know what happened to the ones that weren't good enough. All I know is that Firefly and Flare and I (and most of our friends) always made the cuts.

By age seven, I could do five hundred sit-ups without cramping up, do a hundred push-ups before I broke a sweat, and run around the entire Palace fifty times before I got tired. I was the perfect kachina in training. By this time, there were only about twenty sparktresses left in the kachina class. I, followed closely by Flare, was the best kachina in class.

At age seven also, we began learning some basic routines. Now, don't be fooled by the word "basic". It doesn't mean "not challenging", it just means "short". There were plenty of high kicks and splits and things to do in the routines.

Up until this point, I've only covered the "human" aspects of kachina training. Now I'm going to go over some fire fairy bits.

Kachinas not only dance with their bodies, but with fire. Let me tell you that creating the ideal fire streamer is no easy task. It has to be just the right width, length, and color. (The color is determined by how hot the flame is. To be able to make an ideal flame, which is blue and red, I had to practice for weeks.)

In case you were wondering, we fire fairies can create fireballs, fire strands, fire streamers, sparks, etc. with our hands. We just loosely cup our hands, and make a fireball. Fire streamers are made the same way. By positioning our fingers right and using muscles that I can't explain to a human, we can shoot out a length of fire. Fire strands and ropes are the same. However, a true master can shoot fire from his fingertips as well as palms.

It's difficult to shoot fire from one's fingertips because that's where the fireshields are located. Since the shields are obviously fire-resistant, it's extremely difficult to make fire around them. The shield can be put up with our fingertips. We just hold up our hands, fingertips toward the enemy or approaching fireball, and shoot out a blue, force-field-like shield that can block the ball. (The shield has about the same diameter as big as a beach ball.) A fire shield can also be used to put out a fire or to cool a burn.

Ah, here I am, getting all side-tracked. I was supposed to be talking about Furierite history, but I ended up talking about kachina training. I was supposed to be talking about kachina training, and I ended up talking about how to create fire. I guess that's what you would call a rant. *smiles* I'm no good at posting. Oh well. Thanks for reading!