Embracing Ember by Astrid Cielo Page A

her, but the idea that she would choose to have sex that made it so enticing. A few more swipes of the paint-brush and Ashwin stared back at her. Words she shared with her during her dream came back, words she had forgotten bombarding her consciousness.
     
    Ember stood in a field, surrounded by flowers and trees as the strange sun began to set on the horizon. The foliage was similar to Earth. There were trees and flowers, but where Earth’s boasted green and multi-colored flowers, this world boasted a reddish landscape. Memories from elementary science class supplied her mind with pictures of Mars. This place reminded her of a Mars teeming with life. A mix of Earth and Mars. Flowers with reddened stems and leaves the color of a fire engine delighted her artistic senses, begging to be painted in the beautiful background of a setting sun. The molten sun that lit this place reminded her of an orange sun, where the Earth’s sun always seemed yellow to her. The beautiful flowers with the reddish stems boasted an even more beautiful flower, its petals an enchanting emerald green. Ember picked the flower, unable to stop herself, taking in its wonderful scent – jasmine, she mused.
     
    “We used to play here,” a female voice said startling Ember from her reverie of the flower. Ember turned cautiously to the sound of the voice. This was her dream and she hadn’t expected intruders. That wasn’t necessarily true. Ember had been dreaming and speaking with people her entire life, attributing it to her loneliness. The female had reddened skin reminding her of carnelian; her chocolate brown hair tumbled in corkscrew curls around her shoulders, framing her oval face.
     
    Salinian. Her mind reeled with the implications. Was she actually dreaming of Salin?
     
    “I’m sorry. I thought I was alone,” Ember said. The girl smiled a smile that said she found that amusing.
     
    “You will come to see that you are never truly alone,” the girl replied cryptically. Ember nodded. What could she say to that – “I beg to differ, since I’ve been so alone for so long?” “I believe introductions are in order. My name is Ashwin,” she said.
     
    “Ember,” she stated politely still confused about this whole thing.
     
    “I know,” she said with a pleasant smile. Ember was confused.
     
    “How?” Ember asked.
     
    “How do I know you?” she replied to Ember’s question. Ember nodded. She knew she had never seen this woman before, but something seemed so familiar about her. “I dreamed of you when I was sick. After I dreamed of you I knew that I could let go. I’ll admit it took a while for me to believe my dreams. You see I was never psychic, not like my family,” Ashwin stated with a wistful tone. This explained nothing, in fact it was only confusing Ember more. “The thing with the Blue Death is that once you get to the point of no return, the pain is still intolerable and you are aware of everything. I held on for him, because I loved him. Ceylon and I grew up together. We played together in these fields,” Ashwin said her eyes reflecting the sadness that her words implied.
     
    The pieces of the puzzle seemed to fall into place – this was Ceylon’s mate whose death caused him to feel guilty because he felt responsible for her death. “You were Ceylon’s mate,” she began excitedly because she had finally figured out who this female was, “but how?” she asked confused at the prospect of speaking to a person who was supposed to be dead. But then that dream with her mother flashed through her memory.
     
    “You are a very, very rare type of person, Ember. Those who have passed on can speak with you in your dreams,” Ashwin replied as she motioned for Ember to follow. She led her to an area of the field that someone had cleared into what appeared to be a campfire area. The logs that surrounded the fire pit were a reddish-orange hue, reminding her of the color of a sunset. She took a seat across from Ashwin