Prescribed Burn

Walker dreams of fire. She prefers it that way. When you come from a drown-town back east, the kind of place you only remember because you've still got the holonews footage from the last time the water came in, the last time anyone bothered to notice that drown-town existed once - fire seems beoutiful. Even in dreams, when it comes down the hills toward the city like a starving, blooming flower, driven by the saint-winds and eating brush and architecture and human flesh alike - Walker prefers fire. She wears her drown-town holo footage in a flash around her neck, like she has since she was nine, and doesn't think about it as much as possible. Most of the time, not thinking about it works. Most of the time, Walker - Detective Hyacinthe Walker, Los Angeles arson investigation specialist - hasn't caught the worst case of her life.