kiernan & rené | right after the explosion | pg | complete
René managed to follow the direction of Kiernan’s finger to the grocery stand, but he didn’t laugh at the joke. An attempt to lighten up the situation, he knew, but his only thought was that people were still trapped in the tavern. Though the scream had tapered off long ago, it continued ringing in his ears as a never ending cry for help. A fighter had pulled someone out, but how many people were left inside? Were other people rushing in to save them? The rescue effort would derail if it went uncoordinated, only resulting in more needless deaths.
This wouldn’t have stopped Remy; he would’ve ran in without a second thought.
And Remy was dead.
Kiernan wasn’t going to do the same. He remained at his side, and so René would stay by his. “Shouldn’t be too hard to convince him,” he replied with his worst smile as they moved away from the tavern, grabbing the troughs and dumping out vegetables and fruits onto the floor. His hands shook as they gripped the sides, but it was a minor detail in all the discord. He wondered how easier this would be if he used Aqua Breath. One or two mages were trying to contain the fire without much effect. Would this? Would people die before he could do anything (again)?
“Is there a hose anywhere?” he asked, this time the shaking evident even against the backdrop of convulsing flames.
“There better damn well be,” Kiernan muttered. “What kind of greengrocer doesn’t have a hose?”
A window from the tavern exploded. Kiernan cursed under his breath. The restaurant is lost. He called the greengrocer over and asked for a hose, and the man went running for one, fortunately not too upset at his produce being scattered across the dirt and pavement. Then Kiernan turned and whistled for some of the bystanders to help them with the troughs. By themselves, Kiernan and René wouldn’t be able to do any good, but if they could get two to a trough to run over to the burning building, toss the water on the flames, and run back, and if they did it in an orderly fashion…
…would it still be hopeless?
No. Kiernan refused for that to be the case, but neither would he beat a dying horse. Luckily, a few others, including fighters, had come to their aid, and the greengrocer was back with the hose (a mere garden hose, unfortunately, which would be just barely more useful than pissing on the fire) and had started filling up the troughs. Mages weren’t the only ones who could put out fires, and at least it wasn’t windy tonight.
That was when Kiernan noticed René’s shaking. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked as the first pair took off with the first trough.
They would take the next, now that the greengrocer had taken charge of filling the troughs. René took the other end and curled his fingers over the rim. Still trembling, but his grip held. Water steadily made its way up to the brim. “I’m fine,” he snapped back, expression immediately dropping when he realized how he said it. He ducked his head in apology and worked his jaw to form the words, “...I’m scared. People could be dying and all we have is a tub of water.”
Kiernan’s lips thinned. “It’s better than nothing,” he offered lamely, though René had all but echoed Kiernan’s fears. He himself longed to go in and try to get people out—it’s where he felt that he’d be the most help—but he didn’t dare imagine what would happen to René if he did. If Kiernan could do anything to help keep René’s wits about him, then that was exactly what he was going to do. “Let’s go.”
Together they moved back towards the building, both careful and not to make sure that none of the water spilled. Once there, they hauled the trough onto the flames, which seemed to do very little good; the fire hissed and steam rose up, but where the flames had been extinguished more seem to replace them. Kiernan cursed, but he wasn’t about to give up. If fighting fire was easy, it wouldn’t be something to be feared, after all.
“More,” he said as another pair came to dump water around the same area. This was just something they’d have to keep trying until someone came up with a better idea.