"Mhm!"

More learning to read?

Absolutely.

Then more reading until Blaze starts getting hungry again. She's a little less hesitant about telling Edie this time - if she's right, it's closer to what is normally a time to eat.

Edie arranges their materials neatly and then they can go eat.

A boy at the next table over picks up a slice of bread. His hand bursts into fire for a few seconds and then it goes out and he starts buttering his toast.

Blaze flinches, and looks around a little wildly, looking for someone reacting to that. That can't be safe, surely someone's going to- To do something. She's trembling.

"Are you okay?" Edie asks, immediately concerned. She doesn't seem to have particularly noticed the toast, or at least she's not reacting to it. Actually, no one's reacting to it at all. No, wait, another kid at their table is asking him to toast her bread too, which he does.

"I- he- she-" She can't get the words coherent enough. Is that safe? Are they safe?! It's desperate, she doesn't want anyone hurt like her.

"Yeah, they're fine. There's nothing wrong with fire."

"But-" that's- that's wrong. She'd always been told it was wrongbadsinful.

But no-one's reacting, and Edie says they're fine. They're fine. It's fine. (Her hands are both fists, nails digging into palms, white-knuckled under her own flames that she's trying to force away.)

"Did you know that the human body, even a baseliner one, is always a teeny bit on fire?"

Blaze blinks nearly up at Edie. "i- what-?" Her breathing is still a little rapid, and she's not making any progress on her hands being any less on fire.

"The human body has tiny tiny pieces called cells, to small for the eye to see, and each cell has an even tinier piece called a mitochondrion, and mitochondria burn food to keep the body running. It's why people are warm."

That's...that's interesting. But- it isn't- isn't the same.

She reaches out for her glass of water, hands still on fire, shaking slightly, and knocks the glass over one hand (in an action that could be clumsiness brought on by the panic, but looks at least slightly deliberate). The flames extinguish with a hiss, and Blaze bites at her lip to hold back any pained sound from herself, even as she hurries to right the glass.

"Are you okay!?"

"Yesyes," she says hurriedly, closing her still damp hand over the other (and she hisses as the flames extinguish this time). "Betterbetter."

"Hey, it's okay, there's nothing wrong with your hands being on fire."

She wants to believe that, but she can't help but be waiting for the other shoe, for the yelling at the pain and-

"M'sorry," she manages to mumble, not sure what she's apologising for (getting something wrong about the rules here? Maybe).

"You didn't do anything wrong," Edie says firmly.

She twists her fingers together, presses her eyes briefly closed, breathes. "I- as you say?" she murmurs.

Edie hugs her.

Part of her wants to pull away, doesn't believe she deserves this, is worried she might hurt Edie, but...

But she leans into Edie, taking the offered comfort.

Edie pets her hair soothingly.

She shudders into Edie, and clings to her a little bit. (She's aware enough to be concerned about people watching, but right now she almost doesn't care.)

So much hugs.