Rootha Squallheart has spent years refining the Living Flame while postponing the moment anyone might judge it. Memories of the Phyrexian invasion, especially the words Dean Nassari used while compleated, have turned artistic standards into a private weapon. Even a festival built for experimentation feels like another examination she can fail.
A student’s uncontrolled water elemental grows across Euphony Gorge. Nassari’s fire can cut it apart but cannot keep it from reforming, while every attack threatens to boil the people below. Rootha sees that her carefully contained flame can supply the force and control neither mage possesses alone.
Rootha and Nassari combine their magic, end the disaster and create a performance the festival will remember. More important than the spectacle is their honest reunion. Nassari acknowledges the harm done through them, and Rootha finally lets her finished work enter the world instead of demanding that perfection keep it safe.