Gaia took a deep breath and tried. “I’m just… I mean, he’s just so… I mean…so very…”
Fate cocked her head. “We can’t read your mind, Gaia. Unless you want to remove the shield you’ve put there to keep us from knowing your innermost thoughts.”
Gaia thought about it and realized showing them might be a whole lot easier than telling them about her concerns. She placed her hand a few inches below her chin and ran it up over the crown of her head.
Then, with her shields removed, she thought about the night she had just spent with Aaron by the waterfall. Specifically, the time against the rocks and all the heat lightning and meteor showers.
Karma took a step back, and her eyebrows shot up. Then she grinned. “Wow. That was some passionate lovemaking.”
Gaia let out a long breath in a whoosh. “You can say that again.”
“Wow. That was some—”
Gaia held up her hand. “You know I hate literal humor. Look, I just need to figure out how to enjoy that incredible feeling without, you know…”
“Causing an earthquake?” Fate provided.
“Yes. Exactly. I’m wondering, can I possibly contain this, especially if he gets any more passionate?”
Karma nodded. “I can think of one way. When you can’t stand it anymore and know you’re going to scream, shake, and have an out-of-body experience, you’ll have to pop both you and Aaron into the ether. What happens in the ether…”
Gaia turned bright red and covered her face with her hands. “Stays in the ether,” she mumbled.
Fate rubbed Gaia’s shoulder. “Don’t be embarrassed, Sister. You created sex to be enjoyable. Why shouldn’t you enjoy it yourself?”
Mother Nature snapped her fingers, creating a fainting couch and two overstuffed armchairs.
“Oh, is this going to be a long conversation?” Karma asked.
Gaia flicked her fingers, and one of the chairs disappeared. “Not if you don’t want to stay. I can puzzle out any remaining concerns with Fate.”
“Okay then. I have someone waiting for a good swift kick in the butt, and I was just excusing myself to go to the bathroom.”
Gaia made a dismissive wave. “Go. Punish. Have fun.”
Karma sang “Ta-ta,” and vanished.
Gaia sat in the chair and allowed Fate to have the couch. Fate was kind of a softy, and as Gaia expected, she stretched out on the lounge. “So that light show last night was you?”
Gaia sighed. “Yes, and it’s fine to happen once in a while. People can call it a fluke, but what if…”
Fate rested her head in her cupped hand, getting even more comfortable. “Ah! What if you got together in a committed relationship and it happened almost every night? Hee-hee. Scientists would be going crazy trying to explain it. Imagine if they ever discovered the truth. Now that’s an image and a half!”
Gaia slapped her forehead. “Shoot, I forgot to close down my mental shield.”
Fate chuckled as Gaia moved her hand from the crown of her head back down over her forehead and nose to her chin.
“So can you think of any other way tonotinterrupt the mood and, you know, keep the earth from…”
“Detonating? Erupting? Imploding?” Fate giggled. “Why don’t you just re-create the spot you’re fooling around in, right in the ether? He won’t even know you’ve relocated. You can do it before you start getting too involved to think about where you are.”
“Sure. Like preventative protection.”
Fate chuckled. “You could call it that. I’m sure to humans ‘preventative protection’ might sound like something else. And that’s okay. You don’t want him to know about the ether and all that, right?”
Gaia flopped back on the easy chair. “That’s another problem. I’ve showed him some of what I can do, but there’s so much more. Also, I don’t know how much to tell Aaron about the other paranormals. He’s familiar with the phoenixes, but should I warm him about the others? Vampires, for instance? What about some of the more powerful gods and goddesses? I mean, he’s met Apollo, you, and Karma. But there are others who could scare the pants off the bravest human. It was so much easier just to leave humans in the dark completely.”
Fate shrugged. “I guess you just have to figure it out like all the other paranormals do. From what I understand, they tell their partners nothing until they’re one hundred percent sure their lover can be trusted.”
