I just made this up, I'm not sure if it's what you meant, but ....
Thomas had warned me that winter ... he called out to me from the side of the frozen lake. "You're skating on thin ice!" I was too prideful to listen. I had been trying to win a bet. To make a long story short, I ended up six feet below the surface, as dead as a door nail.
Now, three months later, I sadly watch over my friend as he sets his own clothes on fire, with tears streaming down his face. I hear a child's voice some distance away saying, "Mommy says that where there's smoke there's fire!"
'They're too late ... Thomas is already going to be with me ... just a few more seconds,' I thought, smiling sadly. Changing someone's fate is easier said than done. He uttered a strangled cry, then fell to the ground, engulfed in flames.
It might be personification
They are making a plan on how to govern themselves
