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."
