Everything alive is on fire, and we are drawn to flame, the god we hold in our hearts. Every living thing burns to transform cold, dead material into warmth and evanescent beauty. We ignite into rare forms and burn like campfires until we consume our bodies, fade into ash, and return to the earth.

Some fires are storms of hell, overwhelming our lanterns and cooking fires, sterilizing the land. But small, tender green sprouts of flame rise from the dead blackness, rise into tall green candles and low leafy torches, and the blooded flames return to graze and create until the two-legged candles return again with their tenderly burning heart gods to build little fires of their own.