Cain nodded at the request though when he returned he had no water yet an empty glass. Touching the rim of it he filled it with water that he magically generated, a fairly simple matter for a Priest and to top it all off he was a Nereid too and had an affinity to water based magic though a deficiency toward fire based ones.

“Straight from the tap,” he grinned as he handed over the glass to Flame.

He nodded slightly to Flame's whispered words once drinks had been given out. “Manners, manners. My wife is in the other house,” he pointed to the floor indicating the river/lake so the others would understand. “I just happened to be top side working on a project when you three happened by. The disturbance of the lake caught my attention and I figured someone was here. Any way, veronica would you mind assisting me in the kitchen?”

this being the home that he entertained in the kitchen was well stocked and it was clear that he had meant to speak with Flame. Roc did not show any signs of minding, nor did it seem that Brie minded the “lie” about her name as the Fae seemed use to concealing things at time. She had questions for the Elemental Master of Earth so it worked out.

Flame and Cain had been in the kitchen and he took note of her nervousness in regards to the issue that had brought her here. He was relaxed though and allowed her to go at her own pace, after all the were both immortal and so they cold afford to be patient … naturally though he didn't think she would learn this patience for a bit though fueled by her human personality she would have to experience life for a bit before she learned this.

“Fae Priest,” he added with a smile. Clearly the Fae did not deny sexual contact like many of their human counter parts, probably because of their immortality such vows of chastity would be greater indeed over an eternity and one was bound to change their mind at one stage or another.

He listened to her question though. “Odds are slightly lower than a Fae. It would be uncommon but there are drugs to enhance that. I do not have precise figures but I would say 3 or 4%. Children sired would depend on the species in question and given your unique make up they would not be Constructs … if human they would be a bit more than half breed. The other aspects of you do not reproduce in the sexual fashion or can not.

“If anything but a human then they would be half breeds of that species. You are compatible with the same species that a human would be. Common ones would be Elves and Orcs, other humans and those that are infused with magic or have a great supernatural ability to cross breed like Demons and Angels. Of course such unions the offspring is always considered Half Fiend or Half Celestial as the case may be.”

Flame sipped on the freshly conjured water though one would suspect the summoned substance lacked any discernible flavor the young sorceress found it to be quite refreshing. Crimson eyes trace his gesture to what must have been his second home down in the depths below whilst they more or less weaved a tale out of desperation for the sake of a little bit of privacy.

"Oh, not at all. I'd be happy to." She was always eager to help and even though they might have simply feigned having to attend matters in the kitchen, there was no denying that good natured spirit the scarlet haired maiden possessed as they ventured out of the room, feminine chatter joining the Dwarf's responses as conversation erupted upon their departure from her duo of travelling companions. How much of their little scheme happened to be true, Flame would soon find out as questions bubbled up in the back of her mind while they had been left to their own devices.

"Veronica?" She could not recall the name and assumed Cain had addressed her nevertheless for his wife was nowhere to be seen anywhere nearby. "Did my father give me that name or did you just make that up to hide who I truly am?" Chloe must have bestowed her with an actual name as for every more profound human characteristic of hers, Flame had her mother to thank for proper propositions and Cain for their implementation. It was intriguing, to have a name instead of a title or nickname by which many individuals seemed to recognize the Elemental Mistress of Fire.

It was a white lie at best although Flame had manners of her own that should have reminded her of common social standards as she blushed faintly in response. "My apologies, I happen to be more than forgetful lately and neglected to ask how your wife has been, but with good reason. I'd be more than delighted to freshen up my memory and acquaint myself with your wife .. once more .." She smiled lightly at that fact. "Just .. not now."

Human or Living Construct, waking up in the hellish prison of Carrion had her cling to the more human portion of her own self and solely an equally long lifetime might have any effect on her view of the world. She sought to speak, however, as much as the struggle for words allowed the nubile woman to bend and twist her own nervosity driven thoughts into coherent patches for Cain to digest.

Cain briefly woke her from that trance with his mention of less suppressed sexual matters, casting him a warm smile. "Yes, Fae Priest .. My mistake .. It's easy for me to forget that particular aspect sometimes." Same goes with warrior monk for the term monk entailed abstinence from carnal pleasantries from her understanding of the word hence Flame refrained from truly passing the ball in his direction until Roc virtually had her entangled in his charming words and surprisingly playful demeanor in the presence of the, at the time, pleasantly drunken and yet formidably seductive sorceress.

But a sole marvel bested them all and his explanation on the matter infused Flame with a joy that was not of this world, that she and Nicodemus had a chance to prevail with their future plans even though she had not yet asked if there happened to be any other former lovers in her presence that the Priest happened to be aware of.

"No Dwarves?" It was a fleeting thought, a dangerous one and a hand swept upon her lips in hopes of stifling that question, but it was too late as Flame simply flushed stronger than before. Humans and Dwarves could not sire offspring and as such Flame was curious if her own body was incapable of doing the same. "Sorry, I just .. had a thought .. I'm content to try without any enhancements should the day ever come that I decide to have children of my own, but I'm just glad that there's a reasonable chance rather than next to none which was what I feared all along."

Ruby eyes cast themselves upon him once more, pondering on another issue that came with the eternity they had to look forward to. "I have to ask .. as I probably know what their respective counterparts will be like .. What exactly are Half Celestial beings? What kind of properties do they have?"

Cain smiled and shook his head. “Actually you have two names, probably three. Your father and I use to fight over your name. I thought Veronica was a nice sounding human name, he wished to call you Chloe and in the end we compromised and let you select a name but since you choose it after your departure from here I never learned what it was but if there is another name you wish to go by I shall use that.” There were points of concession with her creation it seemed and she had already known that Cain had influenced a few matters in the way her creation came about too.

“There is no need to apologize,” he smiled. “On the whole I am use to humans forgetting, not that Fae do not but we have better recall due to our natures and the, well no sense getting into all the biological lessons just yet though in time I was going to teach you a few things. You are immortal now after all and if left to your own recall something that happened over a century back would be tough to remember. You only have two decades under your belt so remembering things is a bit easier at this stage.” Cain had discussed a lot with Abdul after all as the aim was to make her as life like as possible.

“Meringue is doing quite well. She will be touched to know you were asking about her though meeting with here can wait. After all we are all immortal. She had been working on her water based magic these past twenty years, well far longer than that. Refining it to control aquatic life forms rather than just creatures summoned in from Aquan.”

He could tell that she was pleased and it had been he who had breached the matter of procreation. Mainly it was a huge challenge that he wished to see if he could figure out. He knew though once she had learned the truth of her origins it would be less of a blow to her if there were no real differences other than her creation from other humans.

She questioned Dwarfs though and he immediately established a connection in his mind between her and her traveling companion. “Humans and Dwarfs rarely are in the same areas seeing that Dwarfs live underground but it is possible, just not probable. Such unions though generate Muls that have legendary stamina but are sterile. Other Half Breeds are not though but their unions sire mixed beings considered more or less human save for Celestials, Demons and Devils which are diluted in power over the bloodlines though the power of such an extraordinary ancestor always lingers. I would say in a usual case 1 or 2% chance of such a union giving fruit to offspring is possible but that is just a rough guess on my part. I have not thoroughly studied these things though I have studied some of them in your birth.”

He smiled, there was a sliver of hope if she was trying to get with child though in his experience there was always a sliver of hope.

Flame had learned some differences with the other species. They did not have the same beliefs after all and Priests and Warrior Monks had different meanings among them.

“Half Celestials are a bit different than Aasimar. Aasimar are second generation Celestials that have minor abilities. A Half Celestial though can claim a Celestial as a parent. Most are good natured as a result and they have a strong tie to the Divine hearing the call to be Holy Warriors and Priests far more often then others. They have a handful of inherited power from their Celestial parent though this varies based on the actual strength of the Celestial being. Angels are more common but even among them they have a wide variance of strength categorized into three types the Archon which are powerful in their own right. The Planetar and Solars are next both of which are incredible powerful. Planetars have abilities that are on par with minor Deities and Solars with major ones. Each is exceedingly rare though their offspring have greater power they are less likely to have dalliances with mortal creatures or even other immortals serving their patron above all else for the most part.”

Interestingly enough both Abdul and Chloe shared an intriguing piece of history and actively participated in her creation as each of them made up a portion of her current self, his desire to create a true legacy that could be trusted not to be groomed for betrayal as some of his own kind might have done unto the legendary wearer of the fiery serpent whereas her mother infused Flame with the final sliver of life that even made her existence a feasible matter. Admittedly the young sorceress sought to refrain from making baseless assumptions about someone as venerable as her colossal father, but since he fully planned on naming her Chloe, the curious red head could not help but think that her father was simply lacking the mindset to express his affection to the woman he once knew any differently, even in death.

"People have taken to calling me Flame .." Ruby eyes dipped to the ground, flickering back to him upon briefly considering a few possibilities. "Whether I've chosen that name for myself or not, I do not know, but it happened to be about everything I remembered from the moment my memory functioned again and I wound up on Carrion." Somehow their travels led them there and a man of his abilities surely surmised that they were taken captive and did not head there voluntarily, certainly related to her suppressed memories in a way.

But the matter of names had been more important to her at the time and it became quite apparant that the choice proved fairly difficult. "To be honest with you .. I'd much rather have a real name over a nickname. I'll have to get back to you on that, I'm afraid. You may call me Veronica until I have a more adequate response for you." Roc might help her choose though Flame doubted it could be resolved too quickly as the sorceress sought to honor her mother, but at the same time wanted to give rise to a persona of her own for which Veronica was far more suitable.

"Do you happen to know why he wanted to name me Chloe in the first place?" Did he know? Flame was curious how much Abdul relayed about his female human assistant these two decades ago.

She might have faced death before, but never truly had to suffer through that kind of loss which filled her with a somewhat sorrow stricken jubilance at the thought of exploring former friendships. "Oh, there'll be time for lessons, I'm sure, but I have other friends to consider teachers and companions in the coming years, mortal ones and I'm afraid they don't have nearly as many years as the two .. well .. the three of us. I'm not making any promises just yet but I'd be more than delighted to learn once I have seen to them every minute I possibly can."

Flame would have loved meeting up with Meringue as well but then again they only had the day and his wife seemed more than occupied with refining her water based magic hence leaving her to it might have been more prudent.

Dimly flushed cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red as the same realisation of Roc being nearby and her inquiry about Dwarfs dawned upon each of the two. "N-no .. not him .. I just wanted to make sure we didn't .." She stopped herself there. It was more the concern of another previous lover that made giving herself unto Nicodemus initially such a struggle and perhaps Cain had an answer to it. "I take it there's no one else you know of?"

It was evident that news about celestial offspring seemed to pique her curiosity far more than Dwarven specimen, not to mention her hardly suppressed joy at receiving answer upon answer that fuelled the chance for success and whatever benefits came along with it. Nicodemus was powerful, indeed, but her interests didn't lie with the power of her children or how their paths might be predetermined with divine gifts and such, only that Nicodemus and Flame had a future together which consisted of more than the already sturdy pillars of love. "How does one know which type of Angel they're dealing with?"

“Four then … Flame is not a name unless it was the one you choose for yourself. I gave you Veronica and your Chloe. The last was to be a name of your choosing but by the time you had left you still had not selected one. Flame sounds more like a title, your father had a similar moniker that he was going by when he held the position you had.

“You have been to Carrion?” He seemed a bit surprised by this even for an immortal getting to Carrion was something that was very unlikely since there were only three known ways onto or off of the Shadow. “Now that will be a rather unique experience for woo or weal." Of course he figured that she had to have been a captive. A group of Goblins on the Shadow of Llyndoria had one of the rings that opened a portal there, the Dwarfs on the same Shadow had the other. Whether she went there to rescue someone or as a prisoner was questionable though given the memory loss it was probably a safe bet that this meant prisoner … and since he knew that Sable and Tori were sisters with Sable residing on Llyndoria it was likely that this involved the witch who had her sister take care of a prisoner or two for her. After all it was pretty well known that she had command of those Goblins.

“Veronica it is then, at least for the time,” he grinned at that. “The name was a simple matter on his part and nothing creepy like he was hoping to bring Chloe back from the dead. It is ultra rare but possible … there are way easier means though most take time to discover and you only have finite time to call a soul back to the body and once it decays that's that. To that effect there are spells meant to preserve the dead and thus extend that window of opportunity. It was your resemblance to the late Chloe.”

He had considered the bane of the mortal creatures and nodded. It made sense since once they were gone they were gone … there were Necromantic was but they were unnatural and the Fae resented the unnatural. There were means of immortality the most common of which were methods of becoming the foul Undead. “Understood. We do not need to rush through life. A year, twenty, you will learn that each is essentially the same to us. I don't expect you to grasp Fae time until you've lived a few hundred years rather than only having the experience of human time at this stage. Many young Fae are reckless and impatient due to not experiencing this effect yet but they tend to settle within the first century knowing their parents, grand parents even great grand parents still existing this world of ours.”

Her stammering over the matter caused him to grin. It wasn't as if she were denying anything though and he had a Fae's mind set. She did not deny having relations with the Dwarf or having thought of it. He assumed it happened and sex was such a casual thing for Fae, even married ones though there was the condition that they did not attach emotion to a new lover. Sex without love was perfectly normal for them and was not considered cheating.

“I see. I doubt there would be any worry of it even if you were to actively try it may take a few centuries. It is one of those fluke things … a full blooded human might have a reasonable chance but even then we're talking years or just plain dumb luck. There were no other lovers to worry about though there were numerous admirers that came here while you where staying her but Abdul, while unconcerned with them, kept you sheltered for your initial years of learning treating you like a child for those initial years, which you were in an aged body. Until you were aware to make that decision for yourself but ...” he chuckled.

“Perhaps it is a dream of the young but you always had a thing about unicorns and riding one but they only let virgins mount them and so that gave you the determination to stay pure
among such a hot bed of activity.”

He had noted her interest in the Celestials, mainly Angels though he did not know of Nicodemus or her involvement with him.

“Several ways. Each in their natural state look like any other of their type but the Archons, Planetar and Solars all have distinctive looks and among each other they have no trouble telling each other apart.

“In there true states it is easy due to the number of wings the more wings the stronger the being. Two for Archons, four for Planetars and six for Solars. But they do not often go about in their true forms and picking up on who is who is trickier since each has a progression of power, a Solar has all the gifts of a Planetar and Archon but their stronger and have different ones as well unique to them, a Planetar has the same as an Archon but lacks the true power of the Solars.

“And to make matters even more confusing they can be promoted or demoted too where they change appearances. A wingless Celestial transforms into a Demon. There are fallen Angels then there are the truly fallen. An Angel may be shunned or kicked out but retains enough of it's beliefs where it still has wings as redemption is seen as possible. In the case of wingless ones redemption is not seen as possible. I would have to know what abilities it possessed to determine what sort and as you can see it is easy to mistake them. Fortunately they cannot shape change into another type of Angel which could further confuse identification.”

Veronica. It happened to be an actual name and Flame was grateful for having it, albeit temporarily as the sorceress planned on choosing a name carefully before announcing any particular name to the public, or rather those few Flame had been acquainted to at the time. "If I cannot recall my memories anytime soon, I'll probably make up a name of my own, just like I intended, but all in due time. I have not given up on getting them back just yet."

She smiled mildly once Carrion came up. "As a matter of fact, I have been to Carrion .. likewise I would prefer not to return to that place." Not unless it could be destroyed for good. It was a despicable place and Flame resented those sounds she picked up on the balcony outside. She could not tell him of their objective either, as much of a friend Cain was to her small family of two, at least not today as operations happened to be caught up in full swing.

In addition Flame did not think too poorly of having her father propose Chloe as a potential name. She did not wish to judge and could not think of any creepy or undesirable reasons for him to maintain her memory. "I thought Abdul might have simply wanted to honor her dedication to his work in the time they had left. I happen to look just like her, so raising me into a better life than my mother had from the ground up might have given him the feeling that Chloe never truly left. Perhaps I'll ask him, perhaps not, I don't want him to indulge in the thought of her death too much."

It was a shame to learn of her broken unicorn riding dreams, but then again a feeling of loss didn't truly occur. She never truly had that desire from her point of view, at least not with her memories mostly tucked away behind a locked door in her own mind, hence hearing that news hardly impacted anything, especially with what had been gained in the meantime.

In all likelihood their daughter, if fortune ever permitted them to have multiple children, would have to live out that dream in her stead although Flame could not honestly say that giving one of the greatest gifts she had to Nicodemus had been a poor trade for a dream the fiery young woman hadn't even known existed amid suppressed memories. Alas, it happened and nothing could be done about it now, that Flame actually sought to reverse that fateful night on Carrion.

Redemption? His wings happened to be a token of his still existing beliefs and Flame concerned herself with the question of his desire to redeem his troubled past and the sole incident which led to his imprisonment under the witch. If Nicodemus crushed Tori once and for all in the coming weeks, would that free him from his sins? Would he strive to return to heaven and reside among his own kind rather than stay behind to spend a lifetime or more with the woman whose affection belonged solely to him? She believed that not to be the case, but one could only argue in a vacuum for so long before the time to decide truly came.

Nicodemus may settle either way or might just decide to stay and raise a legacy of his own rather than serve his deity. She was no Angel and was not foolish enough to claim that her own stream of thought matched his hence living with the assumption that he might choose in her favor had been reasonable, but not without a distant sliver of doubt.

Of course Cain answered her questions with his response and Flame deduced that the Priest would not have to explain just what kind Nicodemus happened to be with a smile. "If they cannot shape change into another type, I believe I already have my answer." She responded. "I'm speaking of an Angel with four wings which would make him a Planetar, but he also confessed to have fallen hence retaining his wings is a sign of feasible redemption. I don't know if it has any importance or meaning for such matters, but .. I'm not too versed in the technicalities of his fall, at least not if any demotions have taken place, yet from what I gather his powers primarily entail healing capabilities and the ability to stop time in a localised area."

Crimson eyes settle upon the Fae, wondering if the last few sentences influenced the type of Angel they addressed in any way. "What do you think? Is my assumption of him being a Planetar correct?"

“No distant past memories and yet you have one, unwanted or not, of Carrion which is a rather rare one.” He smiled with a bit of encouragement, perhaps if she never got her memories back completely.

“A name will come in time. You are immortal, you have nothing but time. Living among humans, I presume, you will probably generate numerous names. Vampires do in order to pretend that they are mortal beings. You wouldn't want the locals to grow too suspicious. Of course another option would be living among immortals though they'll know you're not human pretty quick.”

“So young,” Cain blessed her with a smile as she explained what she had concluded of the name. It was sound reasoning though there was one thing she hadn't grasped but that he felt was due to her age and thus her inexperience.

“Death and immortals are two sides of the same coin. We know that the mortals we deal with will grow and die in time. We have all known our fair share of death save for the ones of us that are isolated entirely. Even immortals can be killed, we just live provided that someone does not choose to impede that process. But as an immortal being we choose to embrace and celebrate life and the memory of it. Our lives are too long to dwell in the misery of it all and I am sure your father will not fall into despair but rather embrace those memories he had been fortunate to experience in the first place.”[/color]

Of course he would ultimately leave it in her hands but he thought he would point this out. She was thinking much like a hum – his eyes widened as he considered something that was totally out there. It was probably not the case but still …

“Your memory … how candid has your father been about divulging your origins? Did he tell you or did he approach you about it?”

Cain grinned as she spelled out her explanation to him. “All Angels heal, each one better than the last. Stopping time is only in the realm of Solars and Planetars. But the four wings gives the answer away. He is a Planetar. A fallen? Well, having his wings is a good sign. He did not commit a sin or act of unforgivable betrayal. I would guess the fall had to deal with disobeying but for a reason that had been perceived as good, some of those Celestials, OK, many of them are quite unlike Fae being humorless beings obsessed with blind duty. It is rare but possible for other types to exist … just as there are Fae Necromancers. It breaks with our ultimate taboos and ultra rare but there are a few that have formed over the years. They are hunted down with a passion so there are probably two or three that are known to be out there at best.”

He moved on from these though. They had solved the dilemma and he did a little back tracking now to something that he thought would catch her attention. “Would you like to sample the Thought Threads? I know you stated you did not have time to visit with Meringue but chances are you'd have that opportunity if you did. If your seriously pressed for time though I could bring one here. Encouragement to return as soon as you finish up what you are doing.”

Smiling in return, the freshly named Veronica could only take his encouraging words to heart. She had eternity to look forward to, including new memories that'd make up for the ones that happened to be lost, but solely the fact that they happened to be hers from the moment of her creation until twenty years later was what bothered Flame the most. They were precious, but for the moment the young sorceress could not even remember anyone she might have met throughout those two decades of her lifetime.

She was curious as to why he believed that numerous names might become vital to her life amongst humans and could not help but ask. "Do you really think they'd care if I turned out to be an Immortal?"

Fae happened to be fairly numerous, after all, and surely few humans went without the knowledge of their existence. Perhaps Cain was implying that her appearance would arouse suspicion more than anything for no human could ever become immortal without being a witch like either Tori or Sable, at least from her knowledge on the matter, not that it mattered in the long run as the answer was sure to come. Truly death must have been natural to Immortals, too, hence dealing with it in a more positive fashion such as savoring past dealings with those now departed became more or less the norm unless one sought to indulge in eternal misery.

"You're probably right." Still, trying not to make him think of these events seemed to be a more prudent course of action and Flame saw nothing wrong with treating him like a mortal who recently lost someone very important to them, even if twenty years might be nothing more than a drop in the ocean of an Immortal's lifetime.

There was no missing out on his eyes widening as they spoke, however, and Flame was more than intrigued to find out why his reaction had been that way. "I told him of my recently suppressed memories and he responded by telling me what I had to know. If I have questions, he answers them. I highly doubt he'd have any reason to lie to me."

"Abdul disclosed a fair bit of information over these past few days, how I am basically an infusion created from the essence of a Fire Elemental and a sliver of human spirit taken straight from my deceased mother Chloe which were then more or less placed in a corporeal body. I could only really tell you what you likely know already, so that's the gist of it." She paused, looking him straight in the eyes as though Flame already ascertained that her explanation on the matter did not exactly befit what Cain sought to imply. "Why, is there anything in particular that came to your mind?"

Funnily enough he struck upon another unknown straight away. It was as if everyone spoke in riddles, but only Flame had not been privy to their actual contents. "Today we're pretty much free to do whatever we please so I doubt we'll be pressed for time much. I'm not exactly sure how long it took us to get here although Brie explained that the route to your home would take roughly two hours to complete. An hour or two before sundown should suffice for us to return where we came from. We have an appointment of sorts in the early hours of the day quite a fair distance from here and missing it would be a most catastrophic mishap on our part."

She smiled once more, somewhat bashful that her knowledge had been reduced to such an extent. "Sadly I'm unaccustomed to whatever these Thought Threads are. It's quite an extensive memory loss, I'm afraid. Your name as well as your wife's were unknown to me until a few days back and only returned once Abdul relayed a few pieces of my past to me."

"If you could indulge me, you'd have my thanks." If it could help her situation any, Flame would be delighted to have him bring one right to his home.

“No, it would be the easiest means of deceiving them into believing you were no different than them. That and it avoids all the issues that are raised, such as others asking how you were to come by that state. Others wishing to steal that secret and make use of it. Others of course not realizing that it is not one granted by an item, spell or secret that can be stolen.”

He considered for a moment though. “It can be an issue, come to think of it. Others will be suspicious. Either you will be deemed a Necromancer and even among humans such are destined or some sort of shape shifter or creature like a Vampire. Suffice it to say if something unnatural happens your suspect number one.”

silver tongued devils … Fae were known for trickery and concealing the truth. Trickery was big, secrets too though they tended to mislead for a prank they did not do so with any sort of malice and thus Cain had a different sort of mind set then an Efreeti's. Of course, the Genies lied out of habit when it suited them but Abdul was unlike the stereotypical Efreeti.

“I had only considered that he had sought to keep the truth from you, though I guess that would not make much sense after a couple of decades unless he was going to tell you by then.” Cain relaxed as that thought had passed once he had been able to process it fully. He eased into a smile once more as they spoke with one another.

Time of course was only relevant as far as the stressing of urgent issues. And really, what was urgent to a Fae, well one that was not young an impulsive anyway. Having plenty of time keeping note of those restrictions excuses had to be made to Roc and Brie though the two were still speaking, Dwarven stories were often long after all. This gave the two time to access the underwater home. Cain weaving a simple enchantment bestowing water breathing upon her. The two could then slipped into the river that spilled into the lake.

The spell even allowed her to speak under water. It was no surprise that as a Nereid Cain was an excellent swimmer. He brought her to his underwater home. On the way she saw several large fish swimming about lazily.

Near the home she had a sense of there being something nearby. She could not see or feel anything out of the ordinary but there was a sense there was something near that remained at bay seeing that she was with Cain. The Water Elemental perhaps or maybe something else?

He brought her inside and pondered matters. “Do you wish to say hello to Meringue quickly or shall we get straight to the Thought Threads?” He pondered that matter, figuring once they got to the Thought Threads their time would likely be consumed entirely.

Depending on where exactly Flame and Nicodemus intended to settle down and fate had paved their path to a mutual future, living among humans might turn out to be troublesome. She trusted Cain happened to possess a great deal of knowledge on the matter and took his words to heart rather than flat out dismiss them, mulling over the matter in the back of her mind and yet the young sorceress and Fallen Angel hadn't quite discussed their future in any great detail. Income, housing, family, there were a whole lot of things left undecided at the time although the coming weeks hardly allowed for any solid manifestation of the future just yet.

Nicodemus could be injured, possibly struck down and the same could be said for Flame. It was a gruesome scene to observe mentally, but feasible to come to pass nevertheless. She was no fool in that regard and reserved the fantasy of eternal happiness for the day it actually occured for her senses to cherish to the fullest.

It was best left unattended for a later time and the crimson haired beauty decided not to dwell on it for the moment.

"Truth be told, once my memories were suppressed I thought of myself as human. It only occured to me that I was not when I laid eyes on a scroll written in Golem and could read it without difficulty. I suppose it came as a shock, at least initially, but once I spoke to Abdul he revealed everything I wanted to know without hesitation." She wasn't human, but Flame could not deny the benefits of being everything they were and more thanks to her true nature. If everyone was likely to view her in the same light as Roc and Spencer, then telling Nicodemus for one would not have become such a struggle.

With the most pressing matters resolved, however, the red head followed their host outside after letting the others know of their departure before slipping away. She must have looked fairly reluctant to enter their underwater home through the lake, even holding her breath despite the enchantment bestowed upon her, wondering if their clothes weren't going to get soaked in the process, but it was quite an experience nevertheless.

She swam after him, too fascinated by the idea of literally breathing underwater and the passing wildlife to test her ability to speak. Before long they arrived on the inside of their second home, but for some reason Flame could not quite shake the feeling of a presence lingering outside the very moment they drew near. Probably the Water Elemental, seeing how it would have likely become one with the water upon dipping into the lake.

"Do you just have the Water Elemental to protect your home or is there something else in the water, too?" She could not help but ask once they were inside. "I could have sworn I felt something just now."

But that aside, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Flame likely worried too much and left it at that although the unknown tended to have that effect on her, which, in her case, happened to be almost everything magical in nature. Ruby eyes flickered back to Cain as they spoke, a renewed smile gracing her lips. "I'd like to take the opportunity and say hello to her." She paused, briefly deviating elsewhere in her thoughts. "Admittedly I've been thinking .. When was my last visit?"

That revelation was a good sign. If Abdul had been the one to hinder her memories on being anything but human he did not seek to hid it and probably never sought to conceal it long term. It was a possibility though not a very likely one though the Priest had to consider every aspect of the ordeal.

After all that was one of the reasons why she was so advanced. It was his thinking of those things integral to a living person that may have been more important after all. There was the issue that he had been so thorough that she may not have known she was anything other than living if not for those documents.

Golems had no written language but he had known what she meant, perhaps scriptures written in Draconic that had been used for most magical writing that described the whole process that just clicked. As a sorceress she would be familiar with that tongue at least being able to read some of it and he surmised that Abdul would have taught her far more than that.

He simply smiled and nodded rather than bring all this up. After all he was aware that the mind made certain connections with itself in some remarkable ways. He was even able to give Abdul a few insights in this creation process in more ways then being connected to life far stronger than an Arcane caster.

Their clothes were soaked, well being underwater it was a relative thing though it was a small matter to dry them once they were on the surface again. To Cain it was no big deal to be soaked in this way as he was usually down here rather than on the surface any way though he smiled at her question.

“There are many things down here though none dangerous. It was the Elemental you sensed … amazing that you had since a Water Elemental in the water is essentially invisible. There are other ways to feel it though I have to wonder if the fact that you harbor an Elemental yourself makes you more aware of them. No one has studied the senses of Elementals after all though water and fire being opposite, I have to wonder,” he rubbed his chin in thought. ”It does take it's role as a guardian quite seriously though.”

He nodded when she mentioned visiting Meringue again. ”Not since your creation. You were here for some time but once you left you haven't been back. Come.”

Cain lead her along, swimming down wide hallways and coming to a strange membrane over a doorway. He set his palm on it and there was a chime before he had instructed her to do as he did and he walked through the membrane. Once she had followed she would find that she was perfectly dry, all water could not pass the membrane and she was greeted by a room full of air.

Meringue was here, light blue skin and flowing blond hair down to her ass. It was clear she was a different species though the pointed ears and gills pointed to the fact that she was an Aquatic Elf, no, why the unnatural skin color? A Sirine? She was at a table with various bowels before her studying the contents before looking back expecting to see her husband but by the look of surprise she was not expecting to see Flame.

“My word! What a pleasant surprise! Chloe you have returned.”

“It is Veronica.” Though Meringue dismissed her husband's words unless Flame corrected her.

“How's it been?”

"Does it ever attack or should I be relatively safe a fair distance from your home?" It was vital not to incite it if they ever planned on having Flame as a visitor again and it'd be best to know how not to compel the guardian to act in the first place.

Somehow thinking that Cain had been surprised in her ability to sense the Elemental intrigued the red head to an extent, for better or for worse Flame couldn't quite say although with eternity to look forward to and former friends to get to know from the ground up, they young sorceress could not help but speak up. "If I ever return for the sake of my studies, I'm sure I could lend you a hand with learning more about how and why I can perceive of its presence. It really wouldn't trouble me in the least."

Not that it mattered in the long run. Cain had a lot of knowledge to offer up and giving something in return only seemed fair to the Nereid.

However, they soon set foot onto drier planes upon passing through a strange membrane of some sort, essentially leaving her the same as Flame had been on the surface. She immediately laid eyes on the third individual in the room, unable to ascertain which kind of Elf she happened to be exactly as there was some confusion in her mind as to which characteristics suited which type, but Flame decided to let the matter drop and approach the one who could be no one else but Meringue.

She had looked the woman over, of course, for how could one not view her in a more corporeal light as well? Apparantly Cain hasn't found himself a bad match, even less so for a Priest. Of course Fae Priests evidently handled the matter of actual relationships differently.

"Veronica .. for the moment." She confirmed his words rather sooner than later, not that her name change remained permanent until Flame had time to think about it. "I'm afraid it'd be too long of a tale to explain why I chose that name for the time I have available to me. Perhaps I'll fill you in some other time, or Cain might once I'm back on my way if you're interested in hearing about it." Time more or less mattered today and they had to be back before morning, preferably after a good night's sleep hence staying about for long simply wasn't an option.

"But I'm good as far as life's concerned. I cannot complain. I just wish I would have visited sooner with a little more time on my hands in order to stay and chat. Some other time will have to suffice, I suppose, as I'm running quite low on mine."

She smiled warmly at that and hoped the fact that their reunion had to be cut relatively short wouldn't bother Meringue. Judging from her activities over the past years, the freshly renamed Veronica doubted that the Elf would run out of things to do anytime soon, so they probably had other opportunities to hang out together further down the line. "Truth is, I just wanted to say hello to you personally before heading straight to the Thought Threads. I figured I owed you that much after stopping by for the first time in decades."

“Do not enter the water alone or attempt to break into either home and you will be fine. He will make a threatening appearance at most but can not stray from the lake. There is a means on the surface to alert us down here if we have unexpected visitors since it is rare that we are up there without reason.” He answered her question as to the Elemental.

He had thought about her senses for a moment. Keen perceptions or some sort of sense that he and other scholars had not been aware of. Elementals had no eyes or organs to speak of so it made sense that they saw in other ways … still he questioned this. Why was invisibility effective then? If it was based off of this and she sensed in such a way … no, he figured that she had human senses but the diametrically opposite element had been here and probably made the Elemental within her uneasy in some way. “It is a curiosity but there are a few simple things I could try if you would indulge me.”

In a nutshell Meringue was informed about how little time she had. The bowls on the table had various liquids. How they got into the room had been questionable. Did liquids pass if in containers? Were they here before the membrane was put in place? Did Meringue create them magically? It was a minor question actually but the room seemed equipped to this sort of research.

“I stand corrected. So you are using the name my husband had selected for you. It is good to see you, but remember I am essentially ageless so a few decades is a few weeks at best,” she smiled. “I will not keep you long, and of course I am interested in knowing. I will have Cain share after you are on your way. Thought Threads?” She raised a brow and gazed to Cain who assured her that he would fill her in later before Meringue bid her goodbye and returned back to her research.

Cain took Flame along to another room on the opposite side of the house. It required getting wet again and there were all sorts of sights to see. Fish swam along freely, art work hung on the wall, not paints but stone slabs carved and stained with magical colors so they would not fade.

Passing through another membrane she was dry once again and in a study of some sorts. There were numerous floating spheres here that emitted light in varying shades of color. He passed these though Flame noticed as she drew close to any they moved towards here and back after she had passed them by after a few steps. They were arranged in various heights too and drifted toward her (or Cain) to easy reach before retreating back to their original positions once bypassed.

If asked Cain would explain them but he seemed focused on getting to a shelf that had numerous vials with a red liquid in some of them. Blue and yellow were common, and from one shelf he grabbed a wand or a stick of some sort. Searching the vials she could read the labels. Most had just a word or two or a number but the one Cain grabbed he covered before she had seen it.

“I think this one will suffice. Are you ready?”

Supposedly Meringue deepened her studies in water based magic and amongst their home Flame virtually had too many question to ask for the time they had on offer, but either in time or with the return of her memories surely studying the membranes and such would turn out to be relatively simple.

"It was my pleasure seeing you again, Meringue." Sadly they had to cut their conversation short and Flame quickly followed Cain further into their home, fully encompassed by water once more as the two of them travelled to another room, leaving her dry and curious as to what everything in their new surroundings was meant to do for the couple living down here.

Cain stepped forth and so did Flame although the thought of spending one's life down here seemed fairly bizarre to the sorceress.

She carefully maneuvered past several floating spheres which honed in on her position solely for them to return to their original location. Any memory of ever coming here had been beyond her reach hence venturing throughout the room with certain measures of hesitation and anxiety thanks to the unknown therein had rapidly become the norm. She was curious to an extent nevertheless, albeit wary that touching them might have undesirable results and as such Flame sought to avoid them as best as humanly possible while staying close to Cain in the process.

"Cain? What exactly are these hovering globes?" She inquired further behind him, her voice soft albeit somewhat tender in the presence of the unknown, the young sorceress evidently unfamiliar with anything of the sort due to her suppressed memories.

Beyond them, however, a plethora of vials awaited their usage in a nearby shelf and while Cain took care of matters to which Flame had not been privy to, the curious woman absorbed the sights of each before the Priest turned back to speak with her, having hidden the label of the one he carried. Scarlet red eyes skimmed over the labels of the adjacent vials, but found that they virtually offered no hint as to the one Cain currently held and of course the nubile young red head had been curious as to what purpose they served and just what exactly resided on the inside.

"What are you going to use that vial for? Is it needed for the Thought Threads?" In essence Flame figured that they functioned almost the same as the procedure Typhoon subjected her to earlier and would not pry too much if knowing which contents his vial had might meddle with the experience that was to be expected. She trusted Cain and had not been quite as bothered as with the prospect of having to be under duress in order to reach out to Abdul this time around. "Do you need me to do anything special in order to get started?"

“Oh, those?” Cain looked back at an orb and smiled. He debated if it were better to show her or tell her though since it would not take too much time either way he determined that they could be a distraction that Veronica would get caught up in, not that that was a bad thing though she probably would want to get caught up with the Thought Threads.

“Those are books. I set them to hover at different heights. The color difference in shed light allows me to determine which is which and you turn the page effectively by squeezing the globe which displays the contents of each page on the surface. Paper isn't the best medium underwater, though they were not always stored in an area devoid of water.

“Before I could swim to them regardless of their height so their positions had been fixed but I had to alter them a little in this environment so that they would draw near in the event I desired them I could reach them. Most are spell books or research materials I transferred over from your surface books that would help me in my research if I were involved in a project at the time.”

Not all of the books were simple text books and the like though he could show her those when they had more time at hand. They were the big distractions seeing that most of the spell books dealt with water spells of some sort, they were Meringue's since he received blessings from his deity directly and did not have to learn magic as she had.

“The vial is necessary and all I need you to do is sit down.” There was no telling how she would react and there was no sense in having her fall and injure herself. He lead her to a chair and stood behind her using the stick or wand to scoop out some of the substance that coiled about it like a serpent on a branch. He took it from the vial touching it to her temple where she would see a field of white for an instant and then …

---

The smell of crisp air, a cool breeze flowing over her fanning red locks out behind her though her hair had not been as long then. It may have been a minor thing given the other discoveries but if her hair could grow then that just added to her unique nature, she was not a mere static creation that never changed.

She had been wearing a yellow sundress and hat riding on a majestic white stead in a forest … she could see Fae, small with gossamer wings, Sylph and Pixies though each had been quite small probably no bigger than her index finger.

It took her a moment to realize it, perhaps it was the shift in her attention from the diminutive Fae that circled about but the horse wasn't a horse … the tuft of hair beneath it's chin, the elongated horn … it was a Unicorn!

It all came flooding back, the memory was an old one nearly 20 years ago she had been in this very forest riding a unicorn with various Fae approaching. She would soon see Cain, he had arranged it. It was just after the fire, where she displayed her first taste of sorcery to her surprise.

She could remember now thinking Cain would be upset with her. Abdul made the repairs magically and Cain showed he was unconcerned with it by taking her unicorn riding.

The memory was about ten minutes in length with her riding in the nearby forest before she returned back to her seated position. She had gone nowhere though the same Thread that had been touched to her temple had been returned to the vial.

“Look at the Thought Threads as a photo album … I should explain that, some Shadows have things called pictures where you can capture an image to look back upon. Thought Threads capture memories of a moment in similar fashion … well it's a little more complex but I don't think you're interested in wasting time with the explanation of the Enchantment magic. It can be altered a little by force of will but not much though. If you don't resist you get perfect play back.”