Chapter 32 – Elemental relations

Ava came back to her senses as one of the whales brushed past her. She started treading water in order to not be pulled under by the currents. Against her expectations, the water that she took in tasted fresh, rather lacking any taste even.

'If it weren't for the whales, that water be would be 100% pure.' Hydrid whispered into Ava's ear. 'That would be unhealthy for you to drink.'

'Ewwwww!' said Ava, taking care not to drink any more water. 'OK Hydrid, how do I get through the narrow bit at the bottom?'

'Take a deep breath, relax, raise your arms and let the flow take you down. It helps to close your eyes. That's less disturbing.'

'Thanks for making me aware of the possibilities of disturbing things being present. That makes it way easier to relax… NOT!!!' With that, Ava closed her eyes and stopped treading.

The deep blue whale-enhanced water silently closed over her, leaving just the sound of the whalesong (They sang a five part harmony version of "Mamma Mia"). Ava's perception of time vanished, up to the point where she felt like she imagined what a large strawberry would feel like when being sucked through a thin straw. The colour through her eyelids changed from blue to burnt sienna. This was accompanied by a plopping sound and a sensation of speed. The sensation was then temporarily switched with weightlessness. She opened her eyes to find that this was caused by being at the top of a parabolic arc. Speed returned, as did the ground.

A dry dust cloud settled as Ava recovered from the blow dealt by the rising ground. It was hot. Bloody hot to be precise. The water in Ava's clothes evaporated in no time, to be replaced by sweat, which also evaporated in no time. This place was like a sauna! Except that there was a serious lack of pine wood benches and towels to stay off the baking floor.

'Ahem.' Someone said just behind her left ear, making Ava jump up and land in a suitable martial arts pose.

'What is that supposed to be?' the owner of the voice asked.
'Have you never seen the Tsuru Ashi Dachi?'

'As a matter of fact I have… You do know that the Crane in question is supposed to be a bird, not an oversized piece of construction equipment, do you? You should have folded your arms in front of you and lifted one foot to the back of the knee of the other leg, not stretch out your two arms forward together in front of you and have one foot with the toe pointing down!'

'Sorry about that. I needed to improvise, lacking the hook and the steel cable. Is this hell by any chance? It sure looks like it.' Ava said in an accusatory tone of voice.

'This isn't hell, but the place outside this Grail surely counts as one. Me and my beloved are trying to cool it with carbon dioxide as a refrigerant, but there is only so much that we can create at a sustainable rate.'

'We wouldn't happen to be on some sort of melting planet in the Vega system, would we?'

'How did you guess, with the whole multiverse to choose from?'

'Just a sneaking suspicion… Can't you move somewhere else?'

'The nearest two nodes are currently not feasible. One contains my raging ex-fiancée, the other is on a gas giant that would probably ignite if we arrive at the current Grail temperature and an Oxygenie present.'

'Great!' Ava said as she sat down, then jumped up again due to the ground temperature, noticing that although she felt that the ground was hot, it didn't leave any marks on the skin. 'The point is, we need the oxygen on Earth, so now would be a good time to face your past. The alternative is facing ME!' as she tried another well known martial arts stand. (poking out the eyes with two outstretched fingers with a second hand bunched into a fist as backup is an internationally recognised offensive move).

'On the other hand, we could stop cooling for just a few minutes and say a few words of mourning to your molten remains.' the Carbogenie answered.

'Do elemental genies like you participate in the wishes programme? Because if you do, you'll probably wish you hadn't said that last thing.'

The Carbogenie smiled an evil smile. 'OK, cooling stops in three, two, one. Bye!'