Past Lives

by Kirsten Bij't Vuur

  As the guys lifted the boiler and took it inside, Melissa followed with the piping and the tools, finding herself in a nice, large, middle-class house. The woman led them to an interesting room, looking much like a bathroom with a large tub at one end, but with an additional space with several shower-heads attached to the walls on both sides.

  She explained: 'Water comes out of the nozzles, it's called a shower.'

  Then she realized they probably knew that, dealing in boilers, and she added:

  'We don't like to wait for each other, this way we can all shower together.

  Only it's getting cold outside, and our boiler takes so long to heat. Victor had no time to spare to build a smaller boiler, one that heats more quickly and efficiently. Then he saw one of yours at a patient's. This one is rather large, though.'

  Someone who developed his own boilers, Paul couldn't wait to meet him!

  But first he explained: 'As far as I know, this boiler is supposed to replace the original one, it is very fuel-efficient so it can be left burning all day. I can even lead the piping to the kitchen for a steady hot water supply, and the piping will heat the house.'

  Adison now looked confused: 'He didn't tell me any of that, he only asked me to open the door, because he had a patient, why don't you find a good place to put that new boiler and I'll get him, he's probably done by now.'

  So the doctor had developed his own boiler, interesting! Paul and Lukas started to look for a suitable place to put the boiler, starting with the spot where the old one stood, a huge beast of solid bronze, as large as Paul would have dared to make it, or maybe a tiny bit larger. It would be thick-walled, to withstand the pressure of so much hot water.

  The piping went only to the bath, also huge and solid, as large as Paul's own tub but much less pretty, not to the showers. They were fed by piping coming from the roof, and Paul guessed the source of the water was up there, being heated by the sun. A small copper device in a corner denied that theory,

  for this was a steam-powered pump, used to take the water to the roof, where it was probably led through coils of black piping to let the sun heat it.

  Primitive, but inventive as well, and the little pump was a nice piece of engineering.

  Lukas commented cheekily: 'I think we have one of your kind here, Melissa and Paul, respected doctor, invents conveniences, probably little time for other things.' They laughed at the memory of themselves, always at work, never having time for fun, or for love.

  But the presence of a pretty young lady in the house belied that, and to stress the fallibility of their first impression, a little child of about two came into the room, a pretty girl with inky black hair, followed by what was probably the doctor and inventor, a rather handsome brown haired young man with a rather reticent demeanour

  He indeed introduced himself as Victor, and the girl as Catherine, Adison's daughter, but the girl had already attached herself to Lukas.

  Somehow, children seemed to be drawn to Lukas, and this little girl was no different.

  Except that this girl seemed to look right through him, giving him strange looks, like Jonathan had. Lukas checked, and indeed, the child did show a distinct talent, not even close to developing, but still there, posing a real danger to her since anyone with sight could spot it.

  Lukas offered her his hand and said: 'I'm Lukas.'

  The girl took it without hesitation, but she did let him know she had seen through him: 'I'm Catherine. Are you a man?'

  He was not going to lie to anyone, not even a two year old, so he said softly: 'No, not entirely, but please don't tell anyone. I look human enough, don't I?' This with a big wink and his most ingratiating smile.

  She digested this information, and his innocent looks, and decided to please him: 'All right, I won't. Tell me what you are?'

  He replied: 'I have to work now, but if there is time, I will.'

  They turned their attention to the others, and after shaking hands with the doctor, Lukas found out they had decided what to do by now. The old boiler was to be removed and replaced by the new one, and hooked up to the bath and the showers.

  The doctor had ears for having hot water ready in the kitchen all the time, and in their practice as well, and he couldn't believe that one boiler could heat the whole house, but Paul managed to convince him it could.

  Apparently Adison was not his wife but his colleague, and he was going to talk it over with her and their respective spouses and decide later. They could always expand at a later date.

  So Paul and Lukas went to work, removing the old boiler was not difficult, until the time came to move it out of the room. It would not budge, it was so heavy they could not lift it together. Victor said: 'I hadn't thought of that, should've had Vincent remove it, I knew how heavy it was. I suppose he's already off to work. Bother.

  Still, Mina can help. Do you want it, Paul, for the bronze? I'm not going to have time to play with steam anymore, you've shown me very clearly that is best left to the specialists.'

  Paul was stunned with the offer, and said: 'I most certainly do, if I can get it home.' He looked at the boiler intently and added: 'But it's prime quality bronze, I can't just take that, we'll discuss the price later.'

  Frankly, the doctor didn't seem interested in money, but he said politely:

  'Exactly, I know people who will transport that for you for a good price, and we'll discuss what it is worth later. Let's first get it out of here so you can do your job.'

  Melissa, meanwhile, was watching them work, when she felt a little hand seek hers. The little girl was standing next to her, and when Melissa looked at her she asked: 'Can I see horses?'

  Not understanding at fist, she looked at the girl questioningly, until the girl pointed at her necklace. 'Oh, those horses, sure, let me kneel so you can study them.'

  She kneeled beside the girl, who looked at her with a question in her eyes, and Melissa replied to the unspoken request: 'You can touch them, too, thank you for asking.'

  Why did she feel totally justified to talk to a little girl as if she were an adult? The girl now looked intently at the little horses, tracing their movement up and around and down again.

  'They move, and don't move,' she said, the same thing everyone always observed, but in a two-year old's language. Melissa confirmed: 'They do seem to move.'

  'Gold?' the girl asked, her tone betraying she knew it wasn't, but had no idea what it could be otherwise.

  'It's copper, like the new boiler. Like the colour of my hair.' Somehow, a

  conversation about her horses was not complete without mentioning her hair, so this time, Melissa did it herself.

  'Gold is the colour of your mom's hair.'

  The girl smiled, a very pretty sight, it was a very pretty girl, exotic looking, her dad must be very dark-haired if her mother was blonde.

  Just then the doctor asked: 'Catherine, would you be so kind as to ask Mina to come over to help lift some stuff?'

  A toddler sent on an errand? Somehow Melissa was not surprised, and in a hunch she followed the small shape with sight as she left the room. She lighted up brightly, that was one strong talent the girl had, though not active.

  She'd check the others, too, that child was in danger if neither of her parents was an active mage.

  Within a minute the little girl was back with another blonde young woman, a taller, more substantial one. She looked at Victor with distinct love, and he introduced her as his partner Mina and asked her to help the guys lift the boiler. He was not planning to do any lifting himself, that much was clear.

  The doctor was slight, but not more so than Paul and Lukas, maybe he was afraid to damage his hands.

  But as the woman lent a hand, Paul and Lukas ignoring the strangeness of a woman helping instead of a man, it became clear that Victor didn't need to help, Mina could have lifted that boiler all by herself.

  Within minutes, it was lying in the hall, and Lukas and Paul were fitting the new boiler in the space of the old, putting the pipi
ng in place first, and welding with one of Paul's neater inventions, a small torch that got very hot.

  Of course he could have used magic, but not in front of the customers.

  The thought of magic, reminded Melissa of her intention to check the others for it. She quickly used sight on the blonde woman and found her not a woman at all. She had no clue what she was, she had the organs of a human, but her body was wired totally differently. Trying not to show her surprise, Melissa watched the men work.

  The doctor had taken a distinct risk by asking Mina to help, a woman that strong was not normal by any standard, why had he done that?

  It was clear Paul and Lukas had done this kind of job before, they were a superb team, and as in the workshop, they hardly ever spoke, they communicated with a look, a gesture.

  When everything was going smoothly, the couple left, taking the girl with

  them.

  After an hour of work, the smaller woman, Adison, came in to ask whether they wanted coffee or tea.

  The guys wanted coffee, and as Melissa admitted she'd rather have tea, Adison looked at her in a certain way and said: 'I prefer tea as well, though I suppose you usually drink coffee.'

  Could she have seen that Melissa was pregnant? As the guys told Adison they'd prefer to drink the coffee here, and continue to work, Melissa checked her with sight as well, and found her very talented, but in a different way from the girl.

  'Will you come with me to the kitchen to help me carry? Catherine says you were very nice to her, let her touch your necklace with moving horses.

  Can't think what she meant by that, but of course she is only two, she can't say things exactly as she thinks of them, yet.'

  In defence of the girl, Melissa drew her attention to the necklace, and Adison mused: 'I stand corrected, she told me exactly what she saw, those horses really do move. That is an exceptional piece of work. Did Paul make that? He does the talking, so I guess he is the master?'

  'He is, and he made the horses. But his real love are his boilers and his inventions, though he is very much into steel swords as well, these days.'

  'Steel swords,' said Adison, 'that sounds like a totally different cup of tea from boilers.'

  'It is,' replied Melissa, 'a friend of his, who is a good fighter, developed a whole new kind of sword with him, made of steel, exceptionally balanced. He has several ready to bring them on the market, but he doesn't know any swordsmen.'

  Adison smiled and observed: 'My fiancé is a sword-fighter, well, actually he's an actor, but he is very good with a sword, and he knows at least one swords-master. He might be willing to do some promoting if he likes your husband's swords.'

  'How do you know we're married?' Melissa asked.

  'It shows,' Adison said, 'I see things like that. The way you move as a group, communicate without words. And anyway, you wear the same rings, all three of you.'

  By now they had arrived in a small, but very homely kitchen, where a rather broad man was sitting at a cosy table, and Melissa instantly knew he was Adison's husband, the actor, for he looked the very part.

  He was very pale, even paler than herself, and yet his hair was raven black and very long. He was dressed in a very smart shirt with a valuable vest over it. His eyes were a disconcerting yellow, but the look in them was friendly.

  Getting up to shake hands with her, he moved much lighter than his posture suggested, and she could easily believe he was a swordsman. With a friendly smile he introduced himself as Vincent, and Melissa introduced herself first name only as well.

  As Adison made tea and coffee, her man invited Melissa to sit down for a moment, and he said: 'I'm off to work in a few moments, it's a totally different life, entertaining people. We work late and sleep late. But it's all I've ever wanted to do. Do you have an interesting job, Melissa?'

  'I think I do,'she replied, 'I'm an engineer, I work for the council inspecting building sites, and I check my husbands inventions against the laws of physics.'

  'That does sound interesting, and important as well.' Melissa checked him with sight as well, and regretted it instantly, for it was hard to keep up a polite conversation with a very nice man and try to make sense of the input she got. She gave up and just tried to memorise what she saw.

  'I see it as my sworn duty to protect the world from my husbands inventions, yes,' she said cheekily, and got a sincere laugh in return.

  'But his boilers are very safe, and very fuel efficient,' she tried to make up for her joke at Paul's expense.

  And Adison added from behind her coffee-maker: 'And is it true they can heat the whole house, and send hot water to the kitchen?'

  'It is, we have it ourselves and it is very convenient,' Melissa replied,

  'especially in winter, with Lukas used to heat. He's from Greece originally.'

  'I'd like to see that,' Adison observed, coffee nearly finished, 'your boiler, I mean, not Greece, that's a bit far away for me. It would be very helpful to have hot water in the practice. Maybe Vincent can try out one of those steel swords and we can have a look at your boiler? To see if we want the extension?'

  'That would be a capital idea, Paul likes to show off his boiler-system, and we would like to ask you a favour, we have a decided interest in seeing a real doctor's practice: though he earns a living with crafting, Lukas spends his spare time healing the poor, people who cannot pay for a regular doctor, or even a roof over their heads. It would be much more convenient for him to do

  it in his own space, since he is from Greece and not very hardy.'

  Now Adison showed a serious interest, but first she handed Melissa a cup of coffee and a cup of tea, and took two more cups herself, walking towards the kitchen door. Just before leaving the kitchen she asked her man: 'Will you be off soon?'

  He replied: 'I'll come by the bathroom before I leave, I want to meet the creators of our new boiler, and exchange some sword-talk.'

  Adison nodded and went ahead to the bathroom, where the coffee was received well, and the work had progressed a lot.

  'We've got the piping all ready, to the showers as well, now we're going to hook up the boiler to your water-supply and to the pipes. It'll be ready to fire up in an hour or so.' Melissa could hear that things were going well, Paul sounded very pleased.

  The guys stopped working for a few minutes to drink their coffee, and Lukas, always honest to the point of danger, bluntly asked: 'Adison, do you realize your daughter has a rather impressive mage talent that anyone with the same talent can see, even though it is still dormant?'

  It was clear this hit a nerve with the woman, but she did not totally understand. She said, voice a bit shaken: 'She's not actually my own daughter, she's Vincent's, with his former wife. I never met her. But I don't understand, what's a mage talent?'

  Melissa said: 'You told me you often see things, like us being together.

  That is a form of talent, too. It means you can do things that cannot be explained with physics.'

  This caused Paul to laugh, and he said: 'Trust an engineer to explain magic, in just one sentence.'

  'I have freed someone from possession,' Adison said, 'is that magic?'

  Paul quit laughing instantly, and said: 'It is, a very powerful form of magic, especially if you can do it without knowing about the existence of magic, intuitively if you please.'

  At this moment, Vincent came in, and seeing his loved one in total confusion, he asked: 'What's up? Boiler exploded? I didn't hear a thing.'

  Her expression showed him she was serious, and she asked Lukas: 'Will you tell him what you told me?'

  Looking in wonder at the man who had just come in, Lukas said: 'The little girl who was just here, Catherine, she has a powerful mage talent,

  though it is still dormant. And anyone else who is talented can see it in her.

  That can be very dangerous, not every talented person can be trusted.'

  The big man didn't actually look confused, he looked as if this explained a lot. 'I believe you, I have good reaso
n to. I have my work to go to, in about five minutes, but I think we need to know more of this magic talent. Can you explain to Adison what we can do to keep my daughter safe until then? Do I have it too?'

  An excuse to take a good look at the fellow, that was just what Melissa wanted. But first Paul and Lukas shook hands with him.

  All three of them blinked, and looked again.

  Paul was the first to recover, and told the powerful looking man what he saw: 'I see an impressive talent in you, but it is not active, you could not use it. It rather seems as if it is tied to your essence, to your being, as if it is powering you. Are you by any chance very strong, even more so than you look?'

  The look on both Adison and Vincent's faces spoke volumes.

  'I'd say your daughter has that talent from you, but how yours got connected to your physical body is a mystery to me,' Paul said, 'maybe Melissa can find out, she can see through practically anything, and Lukas knows the human body like no other, he uses magic to heal, but that would take time, which neither of us have right now.

  If you want to know, better take the time someday soon. Your talent is visible too, but you look like you can defend yourself.'

  Vincent nodded, and he had to leave, so he said: 'We have your address, we need to know. Catherine has already been in danger, and apparently there is something going on in our world that we don't have a clue about. We cannot afford that. We will contact you.'

  And with that, he left, and Lukas and Paul went back to work. Melissa went with Adison to the kitchen, where Victor and Mina were sitting as well.

  She explained the situation to them, and they, too, looked as if she had just given a name to something they already knew about.

  Melissa checked Victor, and he was totally mundane, no talent in sight.

  She told Adison that a talent was visible in her as well, and they all nodded, her abilities could be counted as magical. Curing possession, that was quite a feat, Melissa was certain George or Tristan would know in what order of magic that would fit.

  And then there was Mina, whose organs were all wired the wrong way,