**Fire—SCORE SQUAD**
'I find that on the subject of cruelty, I don't have to teach you much. You're decisive enough to know when to be cruel without holding back, and I guess you would be better off continuing just like that."
When Ember was sixteen, Calliok Vex called her cruel.
Not by nature, or by circumstances, but by need. He said that when she was faced with a fork in the road, she was bluntly decisive enough to follow the thornier path if it meant she would arrive faster. She didn't flinch. She didn't pause. She simply moved and made others bleed if necessary.
So when it became a matter of getting things done, Ember embraced decisiveness and cruelty as one. She wore it like a fine dress: seamless, beautiful, and quietly dangerous.
That part of her was no different now when the air in the central gallery stilled at the sight of her drawing.
When every soul turned to stare at the painting she had unveiled.
