GIRLS, Ember swiped on her phone screen as she trotted out of Cai’s penthouse wearing last night’s wrinkled clothes. Can you meet me at the fountain out in front of the casino real quick?
Bethany texted back, Sure, we’re just drinking coffee and snacking. Be right down.
Snacking. Ember suddenly understood all their references to eating and snacking now.
Ember could eat.
She texted back, Bring me one of whatever you’re having.
Ember was already outside in the almost-noon sunshine and staring at the fountain by the time they arrived. She heard their shoes clicking up behind her on the sun-heated cement of the courtyard.
Fresh air blew around the fountain, while the air elementals sucked the sea serpents’ fart-methane up into their funnels.
The Pleiades fire elementals swarmed around the fountain, dive-bombing the serpents who kept sticking their scaly tails out of the water as they released their flatulence.
Sometimes, the tiny fire elementals managed to zoom past a sea serpent’s sphincter in the nick of time, causing a jet of flame to blast across the fountain.
Sometimes, the air elemental managed to vacuum up the methane, and then the fire elementals lit up the vortex into a fire whirl.
Then, the fiery air elemental dipped its tail into the fountain, sucking water up into its funnel to extinguish the fire, and blew the water out of the top of its funnel to rain back down into the fountain.
The water jets and waving curtains from the fountain’s real water show elements added some extra splashing to the sea serpents swimming around and slapping water at each other between blasts of farts.
Bethany and Willow walked up to Ember, both of them drinking something tall with whipped cream peeking out of the top and noshing on something baked and frosted.
Willow handed Ember a bearclaw and peered into her eyes, scrutinizing her irises. She turned to Bethany. “Yep, just as we suspected, Bethie. They mated.”
Bethany laughed. “Whelp, so you’ve tamed your wild dragon. Nice.”
“Yeah,” Ember said, examining the bearclaw to determine the best angle of attack. “It’s too bad that your handfasting is in two days. I’ll still be your maid of honor, though.”
Bethany laughed. “Oh, honey. That gorgeous sheath bridesmaid dress that you picked out comes in a bridal version, too. We made sure that they had a white one in your size, just in case. All you have to do is call the store and go in for a fitting today. Then, we’ll have the triple wedding we always wanted.”
“Really?” Ember teared up. “You did?”
Willow nodded around the cinnamon bun she was stuffing into her mouth. She sprayed crumbs when she said, “Yep. We got you a nice, long veil, too.”
“Oh, I always wanted a long veil. Is it cathedral-length?”
Bethany laughed. “Embie, we’ve been best friends since kinder. We made our wedding wish-lists on Wanderest together. Of course, we got you a cathedral-length, gossamer veil with a tiara.”
At that, Ember lost it.
She sat there and blubbered, mopping her face with the napkins that Bethany and Willow slapped into her hands while they hugged her, until she emptied herself of all the crazy from the last few days.
“I’m sorry,” Ember sniffled. “It’s just that elemental witches—”
“—run hot and cold,” Bethany and Willow finished for her.
They all laughed, but Ember got a prickly feeling on her neck that they were being watched.
And the fountain was suddenly silent.
The three girls turned around.
A trio of enormous air elementals, seven sparking fire elementals, and six sea serpents were staring at them, eyes wide. The ones with mouths had dropped their jaws.
Ember yelled at them, “What are you staring at? Get back to work!”
They all shook it off and went back to their odd dynamic equilibrium.
“I must admit,” Bethany said, “the fountain sure smells a lot better, and the fire and water displays are beautiful. Those sea serpents look like they’re having fun, snapping at the water and fire elementals. I can hardly wait to see what it looks like at night.”
Willow waved the air toward her, sniffing. “I can’t smell any serpent fart at all. Is this a long-term solution?”
“Yeah,” Ember said. “I’ll have to switch out anybody who wants a break, but I think the three of us should be able to keep them happy. We can probably even delegate the daily feeding and vitamin potions and check on them just when we need to. I think the stinky sea serpents, the bored air elementals, and the rambunctious fire elementals have found themselves careers.”