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stars to shine brightly down on them.  There was no moon, but the bright stars gave off plenty of light for him to lead them north across the now cold desert.  Several hours later it had indeed gotten colder.  Traven wrapped his robes as tight as he could, but still couldn’t keep from shivering.  Looking back he saw that the philosopher was shaking even more than he was.
    He wished that there was wood or something else to burn.  A warm fire would definitely be welcomed.  It would be good to give the horses a break and to warm up a little.  Traven scanned the barren landscape in vain for anything that would burn.  However, he knew that it was hopeless to look.  He hadn’t seen anything but sand since venturing into the dunes.  As the cold continued to seep in, he wished he had thought to bring along some of the driftwood from the beach.  He could easily create a flame with the ambience and start a raging fire like he had that morning.
    He suddenly had an interesting thought.  He didn’t need wood to produce a flame with the ambience.  He only needed wood to keep the flame burning.  Or did he?  Was it possible to keep the flame burning without wood?  A fuzzy memory of flames floating in the air came back to him.  Where had he seen that?  He tried to remember but couldn’t.  Perhaps it had been in a dream.  Regardless, he decided that he might as well try.
    He focused on the air in front of him and concentrated on creating a flame.  He then pulled it into existence.  The small flame burst into life, shining brightly in stark contrast to the dark desert night.  Pennon reared in surprise, and Traven almost fell off.  The flame immediately winked back out, and Traven worked to calm his surprised mount.
    “What was that?” Studell questioned from behind.  “Did you run into something?”
    “No, I just made a flame with the ambience and surprised Pennon,” Traven replied.  He decided that if he was going to experiment, they should probably stop.  “Let’s take a short break.  I want to try something.”
    They both dismounted, and Traven walked a short distance away along the ridge of the dune.  He knelt down in the starlight and thought about what he wanted to do.  He obviously could make a flame appear easily, but could he keep it burning?  He had never tried to hold the flame once he’d created it.  He took a deep breath and attempted it.  He pictured the flame and concentrated as the air thickened and swirled around it.  He focused on keeping the flame in his mind’s eye as he pulled it into reality.
    The flame burst into life and continued burning in front of him at eye level.  Traven smiled with excitement, and the flame began to sputter.  He quickly regained his focus on the flame, and it burned brightly once again.  He wondered if he could make it larger and proceeded to picture it growing.  The fabric of the air spun faster around the flame and it slowly began to grow.  It grew and grew until it was the size of his head.  He focused on it, keeping it steady and bright.  He smiled as he warmed his hands under it and felt the heat from it warming his face.
    However, his smile faded as he began to feel the strain on his body.  He broke out in a sweat from the effort and started to feel sleepy.  A dull throbbing also began in his head.  He knew if he held onto the flame any longer it would only get worse, so he let the flame disappear.  He took several deep breaths as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness that once again surrounded him.
    “That was amazing!” Studell exclaimed from behind him.  “Do it again.  I definitely wouldn’t mind warming my hands over a nice, hot flame.”
    Traven rubbed his temples trying to massage away the dull headache.  He wondered how bad it would get if he tried to recreate the flame for Studell.
    “I’ll try to do it again,” he said.  “But I probably won’t be able to hold it very long.  Using the ambience in such