Body of Water

Over seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered by water. Its forms are numerous; ocean, sea, river, lake, ice, vapor in the air. Even humans are seventy-five percent water. Curious fact for some perhaps, but not me.

A giggle bubbled up from somewhere inside of me, rooting me back in my mortal form. After all, I had nowhere else to go.

Aedan glowed before me, no longer blazing but still emitting a heat that would have killed any human.

Luckily I was not human.

Instead of melting or incinerating, I began to turn to steam. My outer layers of skin sloughed off first. I grinned at Aedan and he stared back at me.

Aren't you glad to see me?

I laughed, a laugh full of mirth.

"You have no idea." His voice crackled with flames that I knew he kept bottled up.

Then tell me,

I urged as I glided closer to him.

The heat was fading from the room already. I pouted at him as I approached and he gave me a wry smile.

"I must, my lovely." He drew in a breath.

I felt the rush of warm air against my skin, and then I began to cool. Mist settled around me and the steam solidified, forming my skin again. I looked down at my outstretched arms and admired the smoothness of this mortal form.

I miss your fire already, Aedan.

I turned my pouting face up to him.

The corner of his mouth twitched on a barely contained smile and I giggled. Taking another step, I pressed against his warm body. His arms came up to hold me and I sighed, in contentment. I pressed my cheek to his chest and allowed his natural warmth seep into me. Once more, the top layer of my skin began to turn to vapor.

You heat me even when you struggle not to.

I snuggled closer, pressing my body against his at every point that I could. I sensed his tension and knew he was holding himself under very firm control.

Why are you keeping your true form contained?

"It would kill you."

I laughed, my breath turning to steam as it left my body.

I cannot die.

"You can in this form."

Then let us take our natural forms. I want to be with you.

"You are with me, Nerina." His warm breath stirred the hair at my temple.

No, I'm not. You won't even speak to my mind. You speak out loud, like a mortal.

"I must. You're already drifting dangerously."

Drifting? I'm not drifting. I'm here, in your arms.

I turned my head and raised myself to my toes until my lips could touch his whiskery chin.

Love me, Aedan. I long for you.

With a strangled groan, he gripped my arms and pushed me away from his body. I felt the absence of his warmth like a missing limb and tears welled in my eyes.

"I don't understand."

My spoken words seemed to bring him some measure of comfort but he still didn't reach for me. He moved across his office until he leaned back against his desk. "You don't remember everything." It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact.

"I remember." I took a step closer to him. I longed to feel his heat consume me. I trembled with the memory of how he'd make love to me. I wanted that feeling again. "I remember you, Aedan. I remember how we met."

He lifted his eyes to meet mine. I smiled, willing him to sink into the memory with me. His tight smile let me know that he remembered, but it brought him pain.

"Not pain," he whispered. "It was the greatest moment of my existence."

I sighed and then he let a burst of heat out. It pulsed against me, licking at my skin and lifting another layer of steam from me. I gasped, wrapping my arms around my stomach in an effort to hold on to it. As quickly as he'd let it go, he drew it back in and I was room temperature again.

"Tell me why you don't love me anymore." My voice cracked on the last word.

In an instant, Aedan was on his feet, clutching my arms, his fingers sinking right through my skin as he melted me. "I

do

love you, Nerina." His face hovered over mine. "But you must remember. I can't help you unless you remember everything!"

"Tell me what I don't remember then."

I gasped as another pulse of his heat stroked my body. Moisture exploded between my legs and I trembled harder. I longed to feel his heat deep inside of me. I thrust the thought at him and he groaned, his eyes turning red.

I watched him, weak with his fire burning through my arms. Glancing down, I saw that my hands were turning blue and rising as vapor in the air around us. Aedan's eyes followed my gaze and he bellowed with some sound I'd never heard before.

He sounded...afraid.

He dropped his hands. "No!" He crossed the room to stand in the corner furthest away from me and I felt the heat rush around the room. He drew all the warmth into himself, leaving me standing alone, vapor settling around me.

Tears started to fall unchecked from my eyes. "Why are you doing this?"

The eyes he turned to me were tortured. "You mustn't change here."

I longed to cross the room and give him comfort but our bodies touching only seemed to bring him great pain.

"Nerina, please." He straightened, his breathing slow and controlled as he stared at me. "Try to remember."

"I am!" I sobbed and fell to my knees.

I remembered everything. I remembered my existence as water; salty ocean water, cold arctic ice, gentle rain over flowing rivers. It was all there. I remembered the ability to take a human form and I remembered meeting Aedan.

We'd met somewhere in the world that no longer existed. It had been a fiery, unstable region where he'd chosen to spend most of his time. The volcanos were dear to him and I enjoyed the warmth around the shores. At his first caress, I'd turned to steam, without my consent. I'd been furious at first, pounding the land and his precious volcanos with arctic rain until at last, he'd begged for forgiveness. Then we grew curious about each other, circling one another at first, wary as wolves. When he grazed me with his molten tongue a second time, I consented and our joining was spectacular.

All this, I remembered, though it was eons ago. I remembered it like it was only yesterday.

"I remember it, too," he whispered. "But there's so much more that you're forgetting."

"Can't you tell me what it is?"

"I wish I could, my lovely. But it isn't permitted."

I frowned in confusion. "I don't understand."

He exhaled and nodded, moving out of the corner. He didn't come to me again. Instead, he pulled out his desk chair and sat down, resting his elbows on the wooden surface. I watched him run slender fingers through his messy reddish-brown hair and felt the motion inside of me.

Swallowing hard, I settled into a chair across from him. "All right. We'll do this your way. Hands off, civilized like every other boring mortal in this realm."

"I'm sorry, Nerina." He lifted his beautiful eyes to my face. "I didn't want it to be this way. I'd hoped you truly would remember if I revealed myself to you." He paused, shook his head and glared at his desktop. "I was foolish to think it would be so easy." Then his face lifted again and his eyes bored into mine. "You have to want to remember."

"I do! I don't know what you think I'm not remembering." I shook my head, casting my mind back through the ages for anything else. "I see you in all my memories, Aedan, you loving me. I think I remember the world shifting and changing with time but that was never my focus."

Aedan's eyes grew sharper as I spoke about the shifting world. He leaned forward, his powerful forearms bunching as he moved. "You remember the world

did

change though?"

"Of course." I gave him a weak smile. "It was different..." I broke off and frowned, my eyes narrowing. "It was...I can see it change if I try..."

"Try, Nerina. Please."

There was a great land mass in my distant memory. I recalled circling it, dancing across it as rain, and carving rivulets in its face as rivers. Then there was a great cracking noise and a...

I gasped, curling forward as a horrifying pain gripped my head. I felt Aedan drop at my side, his radiating warmth an instant salve for my pain.

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." I lifted my eyes to his dear face. "I'm sorry, Aedan. I tried."

"I know you did." He rose to his knees to press his lips to my forehead.

I sighed, leaning into his kiss, aching for more. He sensed my desire and I saw a flicker in his beautiful eyes. The hand on my arm warmed but we didn't look away from one another's face while my form rose between us in a fog. It swirled and shifted with our combined breathing and I felt his temperature kick up another degree. I felt the changes in him like a beat of my heart, liquid and insubstantial as it was.

"Nerina." My name was a moan falling from his lips.

I love you, Aedan.

"I know."

Tell me you love me.

His eyes widened and his mouth set into a flat line. I watched his face scrunch into an agonized frown and I caught my breath on a sob.

"I'm sorry!" I threw my arms around him and fell to my knees. "I'm so sorry. Please don't be sad. I won't ever say it again if it gives you pain!"

Aedan closed his strong arms around my back and held me to him. I was sweating and misting around us but I didn't care. I wanted to take away his pain, even if it meant never telling him how I felt.

"Don't ever be sorry for loving me, Nerina." His lips moved against my hair. It curled into crisps as he spoke, smoking and turning to mist like the rest of me.

"I don't want to cause you pain."

I could feel each of his exhalations and with every breath, another part of my mortal body melted away. I knew that soon I'd be little more than a puddle on the floor. Something tugged at my mind then, something warned me that I mustn't allow myself to melt altogether.

As if he recalled at the same moment, I felt Aedan inhale, struggling to draw all his heat back into himself.

I pulled away and looked into his eyes. "Can you kiss me before I go?"

My body pulsed with need. I wanted so much more than a simple kiss but anything more seemed to bring him pain. Something else tickled the back of my mind and I knew that making love would cause us both untold pain.

"Kiss me, please." I said the words quickly, afraid that he would refuse even this small act.

"I want so much more." He stroked his hot palm over my cheek. Sweat followed his touch, dripping from my hairline. He stroked me again and this time part of my eyelid melted at his touch.

"I know you do," I whispered, blinking and reforming my eye.

"You are so beautiful."

A breathless laugh escaped me and I shook my head.

You are.

I gasped to hear his voice in my head.

I want to stay with you, Aedan.

We'll be together soon, my lovely.

Promise? The words echoed inside my head, reminding me of our conversation from the other night. Had it only been three days? It felt like lifetimes ago.

I promise, Nerina.

His eyes held mine, caressing every inch of my face. His fire pulsed against me and I moaned as flames licked between my thighs.

I love you.

Then he kissed me, parting my lips with his fiery tongue and sliding inside my mouth. I took him in, moaning and drinking his magma.

Suddenly the floor rocked and groaned beneath us. Fire ignited all over Aedan's skin as he thrust me away from him. I fell back with a gasp, weakness sinking into my limbs. Turning my head, I saw my arm liquefying against the hardwood floor. Then the building rocked again, coupled with a great groaning noise, like the very ground lifting up.

An earthquake?

I licked my lips and tasted ocean salt. Aedan's red eyes met mine and I felt something crack inside my head. I gasped, my mouth falling open, and water started to bubble up from my lungs.

This isn't right.

I opened and closed my mouth around the spewing water.

I'm too far away.

Aedan nodded, his face a mixture of rage and frantic worry.

The earth rumbled, groaning in fury at us and the building began to crumble. Again I thought it curious.

I didn't think it was possible to have an earthquake in Alberta.

The thought broke apart the wall in my memory and I groaned, tens of thousands of years washing against me in an instant.

I remembered everything.

Blackness consumed me as Aedan's bellow of rage echoed in my ears.

Then...nothing.

****

My alarm clock howled at me and I swatted it off, then moaned as a headache throbbed behind my eyes. I covered my face with my hands, breathing through the pain. I tried to put my hands down a few seconds later and squinted against the sunlight filtering through my blinds. With a groan, I pulled a pillow over my face and continued to focus on breathing.

After a while, I decided to get up. As I rolled to the side and dropped my bare feet to the floor, I wanted to reconsider. Every part of me ached. I hadn't felt this awful since catching the flu last winter.

Maybe I should call in sick today.

I winced as I pushed myself to my feet.

What day is it anyway?

I looked around. My bare bedroom walls had no reply.

It's Tuesday, right?

I had no idea who I was asking and the thought made me smile.

I shuffled to the bathroom across the hall and managed to get the hot water running. As the steam wafted out of the bathtub, I inhaled, curious about the tingling at the base of my spine. Shaking it off, I undressed and climbed into the tub, sighing in appreciation as the hot water pelted my skin.

When my aches and headache didn't fade following the shower, I gave up hope of going to work. There was no way I could focus on work while I felt like this. I went downstairs to find the phone.

In the kitchen, there were signs that my roommates had been up and gone before me this morning. I started to clear the dishes and put the condiments away. I loved Angela and Harlowe like my own family but they were terrible at picking up after themselves. After tidying the kitchen and putting some bread into the toaster for myself, I picked up the phone and called Landbourne.

"Can you reschedule my clients for today?" I asked Lindsay, the showroom assistant.

I heard her flipping through our appointment book. "Hmm, looks like you only had one appointment for today: Mr. Mahisa."

"Mahisa?" I wrinkled my nose. "I don't recall making an appointment with him. Is he a new client?"

"Yeah, it says here that he just called in yesterday."

I laughed and then started to cough. As I cleared my throat, I could hear Lindsay grumbling about breathing germs through the phone.

I ignored her. "I can't believe we got this guy in for a next day appointment."

"Do you want me to push it to next week? In case you're not feeling better?"

"Uh, do I have any afternoon appointments tomorrow?"

"No."

"Move him to tomorrow afternoon and then at least if I don't make it, he's not there first thing waiting for me."

"I can do that," Lindsay agreed. "You get some rest."

"I can do that."

She laughed and we confirmed a few other notes before handing up.

I buttered my toast and choked it down with some ice water as I sat in front of the TV. I managed to sit there for another few minutes before deciding to go back upstairs. I always preferred reading, even when sick as a dog. So I settled in bed with my latest bodice ripper. I didn't restrict myself to one genre of books but for some reason, when I felt like crap, I preferred good, unadulterated, naughty romance.

I think I drifted off somewhere around the time Rodrigo was cutting through the laces on Lenore's corset.

****

The dream was strange, not the familiar dissolving into water. It felt more real, like a memory.

Voices intruded on my dreaming mind and I blinked my eyes open to find myself lying in a heap, my back against a fallen tree trunk. Ahead of me, I saw nothing but a thick forest over uneven ground and wondered where the ocean was.

"Stop playing games!" a familiar voice roared.

Blinking, I moved my focus towards my feet and saw a wall of fire. No, not a wall, a pillar, with moving appendages, like a human's arms and legs.

"This is no game," another voice replied, also familiar, though I didn't understand why I should know them. But then, this was a dream. I supposed they were voices belonging to old boyfriends or colleagues.

"Don't lie to me." The pillar of flames throbbed, growing in size for a split second before settling again.

"I don't lie but you can choose to believe what you like." That speaker I couldn't see. I strained for a moment, struggling to lift my head to see over the rise of my hip; I was lying on my side and couldn't move at all. "You always did."

"I knew the truth, Ki." I could tell that the flames were speaking. "I know it now. You can't conceal it from

me

."

"It matters little what you know."

"Don't remind me!" The fire flared a blinding white for a moment. Then it settled, dimming almost to a dull red, the definite shape of a human forming beneath the fluttering flames. "Your little games aren't going to work forever, Ki. She's growing stronger."

I saw a shadow move in front of the fire. The flames shot higher and I blinked as the shadow came closer. I could just make it out now but it didn't seem right. It was a mountain, capped with ice with a forest on one side. I blinked and frowned as the mountain shrank, reducing in size until it matched the height and width of the tower of fire.

"You know nothing." This time I saw the mountain move as it spoke. "You both don't know anything." Ki laughed, the sound rumbling all around, shaking the limbs of the trees surrounding me. "Your time is almost up and you're no closer than you were a million years ago."

"Time has no meaning for us."

The mountain crumbled to nothing as he spoke but the voice was as strong as before. "It will. Now get out of my sight before I snuff you out."

I was blinded as the fire burst from its contained shape. I blinked, seeing spots, and when I opened my eyes again, it was gone. I sighed and laid my head on the mossy ground, thinking I'd wake up any moment now.

As I got a better look at my surroundings, the trees shimmered. I blinked, squinting as the trees fluttered again, turning almost transparent. Underneath the green and brown layers, something familiar popped up, wood-paneled walls and bookcases lined with ledgers and manuals. I stared, the trees solidifying and then shimmering again. Under my cheek, I felt cold hardwood instead of damp moss and watched the ripple go through the wall, adding a desk in front of it.

Then the forest was back and silence surrounded me.

No, not complete silence.

There, in the distance, I heard the trickle of water over rocks. I could move then, sliding over the dank forest floor until I reached the stream. It wasn't deep enough to swim in, or even to float in, but just putting my bare feet into the current comforted me. I slid off the bank and lay down on my back over the rocks. The water lifted my hair and I felt it dissolve into the stream.

Ah yes.

This

I know.

It washed over me, rocking me against the rocks. I turned my head and drank the water as it swept down into me. It filled my body, seeping into my ears, nose and eyes. Gradually it deepened and I knew then that I was out of the stream, stretching my reach until I tasted the tang of salt.

I poured into the delta, giggled as the sand tickled me in delicate places. The shoreline receded and I sank, rolled, became weightless.

Then nothing.

****

"Wake up, sweetie," a gentle voice stirred me from the dream.

I smacked my lips, tasting salt, and cracked my eyelids open to see Angela's smiling face looming over me. "Hey."

She grinned. "You

are

alive!"

"Of course I am." I rolled my eyes and wriggled out from under my numerous covers until I could sit up. My paperback was crushed into something unrecognizable and I groaned at the sight.