The Bottle Ch. 03

He shrugged. "I was aware for the first few months. Then I figured out how to fall into a sort of hibernation. I slept through decades at a time." He winced. "Waking, realizing another 50 years had passed, that was torture."

I nodded sympathetically. "I bet."

He shrugged again. "It's still no excuse for what I did."

"But it is a good reason," I said. I headed back toward the kitchen. "Want more soup?"

Algave nodded shyly. "Yes, please."

I didn't press for more information after that. I had thinking to do. I didn't want to treat Algave like my husband. The very idea made me wince. After all, I barely knew him! However, he was effectively cast adrift, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. All his friends and family were gone, and he had no idea how or why. I didn't love Algave, but, at the same time, I didn't want him to be miserable.

While I mused and cleaned the kitchen, Algave worked on his second bowl of soup. When he was done, he picked up the bowl and brought it to the kitchen. "What should I do with this?"

I nodded to the sink. "Put it in there. I'd wash it when I'm done with the counter."

Algave snapped his fingers. "All clean. Now, where do they go?"

I looked over, and, sure enough, the bowl and silverware were clean. I took them, and as I was putting them away, I spoke. "So, you said something about dragons? And mermaids?"

Algave shook his head. "Not mermaids. Mer."

I shrugged. "Ok. Mer. Are they still around?" I hoped this wouldn't be a sensitive subject.

Algave shrugged. "No idea. My tribe had little to do with them. I know the major mer cities on land are gone, but that means little. They could have easily withdrawn to their deeper ocean cities, or they could just be living among humans."

"So the mer look human?" I wanted to know.

"The mer look like anything they want to look like," Algave said. "They're shapeshifters." He sighed. "If you want to know about the mer and the dragons and the djin, we might as well start at the beginning, with what I learned as a child in school."

I nodded slowly. "Ok. That does sound like a better idea than me just asking questions."

Algave took a deep breath. "To start with, the Lord made 4 races. He crafted humans from the earth, and the mer from water. The djin were of fire, and the dragons, of air. To each He gave their own magic, and their own domain within His creation."

It sounded like something he'd learned by rote. "Go on."

"The dragon are like great flying lizards. To them, He gave the sky, the mountains, and all the high places. To each dragon He gave different powers, a set unique in all of creation. The only power shared by all was the power of flight," Algave continued. "The Lord bade them to use their powers to help each other, for the good of all."

"The mer have no form save that which they chose. To them, the Lord gave the lakes and seas of the world. All magic save that of shifting comes to them with difficulty, but, with study and practice, they can do many things, chief among them illusion, charm, and healing," Algave said. "They are our opposite, our counterbalance in the wheel of life." He shrugged, coming out of his recitation briefly. "This is the djin version of the story, so it's got a lot of djin centric stuff."

I nodded. "That makes sense. Keep going." I was curious now about what the djin said about themselves, and about humans.

"We, the djin, are of fire, and, like fire, we are a force of both creation and destruction, good and ill. Our magic comes to us as easily as breathing, and our powers are many. To us the Lord gave the hot, dry places of the world, as well as the spaces we create outside of it."

Algave took a deep breath. "Humans are the children of earth. Like the earth itself, their power is slow to move, but, once moving, is a force of power and might. To them the Lord gave all other spaces upon the earth and within it, knowing that, as the children of earth, they would become numerous."

"Fire. Water. Earth. Air. From these disparate elements came the four great races, and to them we will eventually return." Algave looked at me expectantly. "Any questions?"

I could think of one big question, one that I'd been wondering about since that first night. "Is there such a thing as a half human, half djin?"

Algave blinked in surprise. "Of course not."

I sighed in relief. "Good to know."

But Algave was continuing. "Any child with parents from different races ends up as one race or another. For example, a child with a human parent and a djin parent would be a djin."

"So you can get me pregnant?" The question came out shriller than I intended.

Algave blinked. "I could, but-"

"Algave, I'm not on birth control, and we didn't use..." Was I pregnant? Right now? What in the hell would I do if I was?

Algave raised a hand. "Calm down. You're not pregnant, Bekka."

I tried to breathe slowly. "Are you sure?"

Algave frowned. "Well, no, not sure, but-"

I blinked back tears. "You're not sure. Oh God..."

"Bekka. Calm down and listen to me!" Algave insisted. "If you are pregnant right now- and we can find out if you are- the baby is not mine. We would have to making a concerted, magical effort for me to get you pregnant."

I sighed. "That's a relief."

Algave smiled sheepishly. "If I'd remembered how easily human women get pregnant, I would have reassured you a long time ago. With djin, most couples have to try for decades before they get lucky." He cocked his head thoughtfully. "Is it possible you're pregnant?"

I shook my head. "No. You're the first person I've had sex with in over a year."

Algave smiled wickedly. "Well, if that's really the case, don't you have some catching up to do?"

I remembered the feel of him between my legs. Within me. I shivered, but said, "No."

Algave sighed. "Well, if you change your mind, I'm just a call away." Before I could say anything else, he vanished.