Exile in the Water Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 3) (20 page)

“Well,
this might sound crazy, but maybe you have
two
Matches.”  Freya, of the
Cold House eyed Ty over the width of her desk.  “It’s rare, but there have been
cases of it.”

“Two
Matches?”  Ty frowned.  “How would that even be possible?”

“Well
--and I’m just speculating here-- but,” Freya hesitated, “sometimes one Match
outlives another.  And there
have
been a few instances of the surviving
partner finding another Match.  I think the last one was Green, of the Stone
House.  His first Match died when their daughter was born and…”

“Where
is he?”  Ty interrupted.  Freya had a habit of talking in fast, never ending
blocks, so if you wanted to get a word in edgewise you had to be aggressive. 
“Is he still alive?”  Ty had never heard of Green, but, if he was around, she’d
go and ask him some questions.

“He
died fourteen hundred years ago.”  Freya shrugged.  “It’s all documented,
though.  It
did
happen.  We keep excellent accounts of Matches.  They go
back to the beginning of time itself.  Basically, every Match that’s ever been
made is catalogued, so I’m confident that Green experienced the double-Match. 
I can’t really find a lot of the symptoms he experienced.  That’s not in the
records.  But, the double-Match itself definitely existed.”

Great.

Ty
blew out a frustrated breath.  “Alright, let’s say that this energy that I feel
is
the super-rare, double-Matching thing.  Parald’s not dead.  Neither
am I.  And neither is… the other man.  Why can I feel his energy like this?”

“Well.” 
Freya said “well” a lot.  She said everything a lot.  “There are a few
possibilities.”

Ty
was very fond of Freya.  The doctor had basically reattached her head after the
Fall.  But, it would have been nice to have straight answer.  Like Ty, Freya
was a scientist, though.  She would never diagnose Ty’s problem without
considering every variable.  The greatest doctor in the Elemental realm, Freya
took her responsibilities seriously.  Plus, she was a Cold Phase.  Cold Phases
were always rational sorts of people.

Freya
was actually very pretty, but she hid it well.  From her practical brown flats
to her tasteful beige suit, Freya was the girl that the teachers always called
on to be in charge of the class when they stepped out of the room.  She even
wore her blonde hair pulled back in a bun, emphasizing the periwinkle streak at
her temple.  Only her eyes gave away the restless vitality trapped inside of her. 
Wide and hazel, they shone with youthful excitement at being handed a new
challenge.

“Maybe,
this really isn’t Phazing energy.  Maybe it’s just lust on steroids.  I mean,
you’re a virgin, Ty.  How can you be sure that this isn’t normal…?”

“It’s
not normal.  Even
he
says it’s not normal and I don’t think he’s a
virgin.”  Ty frowned at the idea of Gion with other women.  Last night in the
music hall pretty much showed that he wasn’t worried about waiting for his
Match, though.  Was Ty the only one paying attention when they were taught
about respecting Gaia’s grand plan?

“Alright,
well, maybe this man is doing something to manufacture the connection, then. 
You said that he’s smart and strong.  There are some drugs that work on
Elementals and you’re not the healthiest Phase.  Ever since the Fall, you’ve
been having panic attacks and…”

“He
wouldn’t do that.”  Ty believed it implicitly.  Gion was powerful enough to do
anything, but he’d never lie to her about their connection.  He treasured it. 
“This energy comes from both of us.  I can feel it inside me.  And what about
the blocking of my powers when I try to reach for him fully?  Why would he
manufacture
that?
”

Freya
leaned back in her chair and thought for a long moment.

Minutes
ticked by as she stared off at nothing in deep concentration.

“Right
now, then, I think the most likely explanation is that Parald isn’t dead
yet
. 
We don’t know what would happen if someone with two possible Matches met them
both
at the same time.  We only know what happens after one of the possible
Matches passes away.  You see?”  She spread her hands.  “So, maybe, you can
feel the
potential
of Matching with this other man.  But, that potential
is blocked until Parald actually dies.”

Ty
blinked.  That actually made some sense.  “What can we do to test the theory?”  She
flushed.  “Because…  I mean…  I don’t think we’ll be able to resist this
connection forever.  It’s… urgent.  I…  I feel very attracted to him and…”

“You
want to have sex with him.”  Freya bluntly translated.  Her fingers tapped against
the desktop and she considered that.  “Well, I think that would be okay.  Just
go slow to be safe.”

“Go
slow?  Not
stop
?”  Ty’s eyebrows shot up.

“Well,
you say the energy is strong and pulling you together.  There’s gotta be a
reason for that.  Phazing energy --even if this isn’t exactly
normal
Phazing energy-- is a physiological fact of life.  We’re not supposed to resist
it.”

Ty
bit down on her lower lip.

“You
could just avoid him, if you don’t want to feel the attraction, though.  That
will help keep the connection at bay.”

“I
can’t do that.”  Gion lived in her home.  Besides, Ty didn’t want to avoid
him.  Already she was getting antsy to see him, again.

“I
don’t want to overstep, but,” Freya shrugged, “Phazing energy isn’t dangerous.  At
its essence, it’s really fairly basic biology.  Why don’t you just,” she
cleared her throat, “
be
with this man and see what happens?”

Ty
was actually thinking the same thing.  Practically, it seemed like the next
logical step to her research.  And, on a less scientific note, Ty was just
dying to strip Gion’s clothes off and jump him.

She
wasn’t waiting another ten years.

Freya
dropped some of her doctor-y façade.  “Parald’s a dickwad.  You don’t want
him.  You never have.  This other guy, you say you
do
want.  So, why not
accept it?  Go with the working theory that Gaia sent you a
‘sorry-I-screwed-you-over-with-the-first Match’ consolation prize.”

Ty
did want Gion.  More and more, the longer she was around him.  He drew her with
his carefully highlighted bullet points, and odd sense of humor, and unexpected
gentleness.  Plus, he was gorgeous and kissed like something out of
Gone
With the Wind
.  “What if the working theory is wrong, though?  What if the
block is something else?”

“I
can run tests, but I don’t see anything physically wrong with you.  Maybe, if
you brought the man in, I could examine him and…”

“He
won’t come.”  Try knew better than to even ask.

Freya
didn’t like that.  “Isn’t he curious about this energy?”

He
probably was, but Gion was more afraid of losing it than anything else.  The
man spent his whole life writing security reports and waiting for the other
shoe to drop.  Which, now that Ty thought about it, really amounted to the same
thing.  He’d never believed anything good might happen.  Ty could relate, but
it still made her sad.

“What
if…?”  Ty hesitated and then confronted her biggest concern.  “What if
he
gets another Match?  What if he finds the woman he’s destined for and he wants
to stop the energy between us?”

Ty
hated that idea.  Hated the thought of Gion leaving the Water Kingdom and being
with someone else.  His small smiles, and incredible energy, and music would
all go away from her forever.  It would kill Ty to lose him, now.

Gion
was
hers
.

Looking
back, Ty saw that she’d
always
thought of Gion as hers.  Even as
enemies, she’d held all of Gion’s attention.  If she was around, he never
noticed anyone else.  He would speak to other people, but he still watched
her.  Ty had gotten used to that.  Tessie was the only other woman Gion had
ever focused on when Ty was in the room.  Ty had been so furious when she first
saw them together.  She hadn’t known about their friendship.  All she’d seen
was Gion looking at another woman and she couldn’t stand it.

Ty
realized that she could become insanely possessive where Gion was concerned.

“Well,”
Freya admitted, “if I don’t know why the energy’s between you, in the first
place, I can’t make it go away.  Especially, not if it
is
some kind of
Phazing energy.  Nothing can undo that.”

A
surge of relief went through Ty.  “So, he’s stuck with me?”

“‘Stuck?’ 
You said that he wanted you.”

“He
does.”  Ty felt that every time Gion came near her.  Heck, he told her as
much.  She might not understand all the ins-and-outs of the connection yet, but
she absolutely knew that Gion desired her, too.  It was an exhilarating
feeling.  “What if he falls in love with someone else, though?  Or finds his
Match?  The woman won’t like him connecting with me.”

Ty
already hated that hypothetical home-wrecker.

“If
he finds another Match, then I guess our double-Match theory is wrong and we’ll
have to start over.”  Freya allowed.  “I mean, I can accept that
you
might have two Matches, but there has never been a case of
two
double-Matches
who just happened to be double-Matched with each other.”  She made a face. 
“The odds would be… incalculably remote.”

It
wasn’t that Ty didn’t like Freya’s theory.  Parts of it made a lot of sense. 
Still, it didn’t seem quite right.  “I just think this is something…
broken
inside of me.  This block feels wrong and I don’t think that’s because of a
double-Match.”

Freya
narrowed her hazel eyes in consideration.  “Let’s run the tests.”

Forty-five
minutes later, Ty left Freya’s office.  Her arm hurt from being stuck with
needles and she lost about a gallon of blood into various vials.  On the plus
side, Freya had given her a lollypop.  Ty headed back into the waiting room to
find Brokk.

He
sat on one of the padded orange seats reading
Highlights for Kids
.  The
magazine had to be a least two years old.  Barely any Elemental children
survived the Fall, so Freya wouldn’t have any use for a current subscription.

Brokk
spared her a quick glance and then looked back at the page.  “Hang on.  I have
to find one more ironing board in this drawing.”

Ty’s
mouth curved.  She tilted her head so she could study the picture of an
evergreen forest liberally decorated with hidden objects.  “Right there.”  She
pointed to the ironing board in the root system of a large tree.

Brokk
made a smug “Ha!” of a sound.  “Human puzzles aren’t very difficult.  They’re a
primitive species.”

“Well,
the magazine is for human five year olds.”

“They
are primitive five year olds.”  Brokk tossed the puzzle aside and stood up. 
“Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah. 
Freya’s going to run some tests to see if I’m broken.  We might know something
tomorrow.”

“You
question too much.”  Brokk led her over to the door, holding it open so Ty
could go outside.  “Sometimes Gaia has a plan that we don’t understand.  That
doesn’t mean the plan isn’t there, though, just that we aren’t supposed to see
it.”

Ty
adored Brokk, but his deep faith confused her.  How could anyone still believe
in a divine plan after so many senseless deaths?   Brokk’s entire family had
perished in the Fall.  “Why would Gaia want me to have a connection with Gion?”

“Perhaps,
She thought you needed it.”

Ty
sighed.

Freya’s
office was in the Agora, the Elementals’ free space.  The university, stores,
theater and Council Hall were all located in the Agora, but Ty didn’t like
spending time there.  Under Council law, fighting was outlawed in the Agora. 
Still, far too many Phases hated Ty for her ever to feel safe.  All the Houses
came and went there.  Well, except the Air Phases.  Since Parald’s Banishment
and the Fall, they weren’t exactly welcomed among the rest of the Elementals.

In
her youth, she’d loved the Agora.  Now, though, Ty saw all the hostile eyes of
people who blamed her for the Fall.  Too many Phases thought that, if she’d
just accepted Parald as her Match, none of the horrors of the plague would have
happened.  Sometimes Ty wanted to scream at them that she’d lost her parents,
too.  She’s seen the darkness at the end of the world better than anyone.

If
she could go back, she never would have renounced Parald.  As much as she hated
him, Ty would have Phazed with him rather than see so many dead.  Ty would have
Phazed with Parald and then killed him herself, no matter what the
consequences.

She
couldn’t change that, though.  It could never be undone and she could never
make amends.  Nobody understood the gravity of the Fall more than Ty, but she
wouldn’t be dragged back into the past by Parald or anyone.