In Time

Jabulani lay awake in bed. He was lonely, scared and tired. There had been no warning, no indication that being free of the institution would be this hard. A month ago he had it all: love, respect, purpose. Now, he had only faith and hope that soon things would be as they were meant to be. He sat, cross-legged, and closed his eyes.

"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. Where there is sadness, joy. Oh divine master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console. To be understood, as to understand. To be loved, as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

He repeated the words of St France's prayer over and over again. He felt the words resonating through his body, which felt to be floating in space. Enlightenment, however, was not as simple as he had once thought it to be. It hurt sometimes; especially at those times when he felt most alone. He longed to be with Belinda. The simple truth was that he could not afford to be with her. His words had not sold yet. He knew they would in time, and he knew patience was all that was required of him. He was, when all is said and done, however, impatient.

He closed his eyes, cuddled his pillow, and drifted off into a deep slumber.

Time was patient. It was all he knew. He was immune to the impulses of man to rush. That was the downside to incarnation, he always said. The rushing. Time saw no use for any of it; neither the rustle nor the bustle. He, admittedly, loved the slower side of the tide. Aeros, however, was never very patient. Not when he was a young spark in Love's cradle, not now as a man.

***

Belinda had time on her hands. She was in the car with her mom, brother and sister, traveling to the 'motherlands', as she liked to call them. The journey was uneventful, and she was left to be with her music for the entirety of the way. It was set to be a rather boring week further, she thought. Much to her surprise, however, things took a turn. In retrospect, she thought, it was quite an ironic thing to happen.

Time didn't like to be disturbed, especially not for petty humans and their problems. This one was different, however; she smelled like earth and felt like a white hot flame blazing. And she wore the mark of mage Aeros on her forehead like a crown. Time could not help but appreciate the symbol for its creative use of cliche. It was, simply put, a flower within a heart with a halo and strips of light exuding from it. Aeros, Time thought, would go far in this cycle. So, too, would this one. Could she be the daughter of Volcan? He thought it best not to do anything that would evoke an eruption. He spoke first.

How may I be of assistance to you, young sorceress?

Belinda's eyes snapped wide open. She thought she heard a voice whispering something to her.

"Did you say something?" She asked her brother. He had earphones on, and so didn't reply. Her mother and sister, sitting in front, didn't hear her either, and so she instinctively knew it wasn't either of them. The voice was close, though. She was certain she wasn't asleep. She had just been thinking of Jabulani, and her eyes had fallen shut, and then a voice whispered something to her. She was certain of it. Jabu always said she had superhuman hearing, she mused. Dring. Her phone was ringing. It was Jabu. He always seemed to call as soon as something trippy happens. Watch how he seems to know what's happening, she thought, as she picked up.

"Hey," she said, her voice a little groggy from having not been used in a while.

"Hey! How are you doing?" Jabulani always sounded excited, even when he wasn't. His voice always seemed to lull her away. She knew he was magic; she loved the fact that he was a shaman. He liked to think of himself as a "full-time trippy character in an unfolding play, and a freelance everything else". She loved his way with words.

"I'm well," is what she said in response. It felt weird that she had just been thinking of so many beautiful things, and all she could say is "I'm well". "And how are you?"

"I just woke up and I'm ... bored, " he said. He never sounded bored, though. It must simply be his voice, then. Magic. Wait, pay attention ... She zoned back in right on time to hear him speak some more. "My day's been pretty average today. I've been working on a new story to sell off. Mis-use of magic by the hip-hop industry to promote ratchet behavior by Africans. I mean, it's not necessarily bad magic. It's just ... Too much money being flashed around. And it's not like they don't know that money is energy, energy is life, life is art, art is magic, you know? Yeah, you do . . . I talk too much, and I say the same stuff all the time, so of course you know. It's just ... You always keep quiet and I suspect it's because you trip out on my voice all the time. Or you fall asleep."

Yes, I know what it is you wish for, young sorceress. You wish to be in the arms of the young mage Aeros. It seems your love is powerful indeed, yes. Love is beautiful, and I myself am bound by Her will. And so I grant this, your wish. It is no coincidence that you have called me on this evening, young sourceress. I rarely journey to the realm of man. He seems too caught up in his own illusion of time, that my presence would be but a waste of the very best of me. Aeros, it seems, summoned me to this realm. You know her to be Jabulani, a young male of African descent, yes. I see why you have fallen. I see your heart. In time, you will receive my gifts of strength and courage, and you will become that which you were written to be, young sorceress. Return to your world now. Follow his voice.

Belinda stirred again. She was wearing earphones. She could hear breathing on the other end. Jabu had fallen asleep again. It's trippy how they did the whole long-distance, falling asleep together on the phone thing, she thought.

"Babe, I dosed off. I'm so sorry, I was tired." she started, knowing that he was fast asleep where he was. She herself was grumbling; "I know your subconscious is taking my voice in, I just wanted to say that I love you a lot, and I cannot wait to see you next month. I don't know, I just have this feeling that time is on our side, and we're young, you know? We still have a lot of it. I had a dream, once. There was a Tsunami. Remember that Tsunami that hit that island some time ago? I think I was just there, but in spirit. Anyway, sleep tight. Peace and love infinitely."

She hung up. She was about to close her eyes, but opened again when they turned into the front gate. They had arrived at their destination. The last time she checked they were hours away. Time certainly was on her side.

It was the night before Christmas. Every year it was the same thing, Belinda thought. Travel to the motherlands for Christmas, then Durban for a short holiday, then back home again. The only slight alteration this time around, is that she did not have school to return to in February. This was real life. Her career as a student was finally over, and it was time to begin a new life as a working adult. She had several interviews scheduled for mid-January, and each looked as positive as the next. She wondered what life would be like then. Would she and Jabulani be living together? She imagined him, going around starting theatre programmes at schools with young children. She recalled the conversation they had had about this, when he'd first told her that this is what he wanted to do.

"... I rate," he said, sounding choppy over the phone. He always sounded choppy when he got excited, Belinda caught herself thinking before reigning herself back into her previous trail of thought, "I rate having rehearsals every afternoon would be a really trippy-cool way for kids to mellow out after hours of conditioning. It'll provide, I feel, a healthy escape. Heavens know I needed one. This just became a thing!"

It had just become a thing. I, Time, See all, Hear all, Capture all. Young Aeros has about him a rare gift. I see it in his heart, and so too do you, young sorceress. What you, young sorceress, do not already know is that you play an enormous role in his story. There is time enough for you both to learn over the next five year cycle. Your time is come, and you will grow together in power, in strength, in love, in compassion, in success, in health, and, inevitably, in wealth too. You, sorceress, must keep Aeros from letting the wealth get to his impulsive head. It seems being a male in this cycle has instilled in him, alas, an irrational inclination towards stupidity. It's a male thing. I too, being masculine in nature, suffer it blissfully. What is the harm in serving up a little DejaVu every now and then in the odd human's life. I have known many millennia, and will see many more. I have travelled among giants of tomorrow, faeries of the modern ages; I have watched unicorns transform. I watch still as her horns are shaved off for their mystical properties. I was fondly amused when Love gave them rock-hard exteriors to ward off assailants in the animal kingdom. Alas, your human kin, young sorceress, have invented guns. I do admit this is a reality I thought would not come to be, being less optimistic than my mother Love, alas! In time, guns will be no more. These are great secrets I share, young sorceress. Take heed.

"Belinda!" A voice from dining room rang in Belinda's ears as she startled back to reality. She had dozed off yet again. In fairness, she thought, there was nothing better to do. "Dinner's ready!" the voice boomed again. She left her room and entered directly into the dining room, where her family had congregated to eat. She felt all their looks. She sat, and filled her plate with salads.

"You don't like meat?" A cousin asked.

"Not really, no," Belinda replied.

"Why?" The cousin, a little boy, barely out of crèche if out at all, Belinda thought, was asking one too many a question. She felt the stares gravitate in her direction. She decided to go for it.

"Well," she started, testing the waters, "for one thing, what you're eating isn't really pure meat. It's a sort of steroid-pumped genetically modified species created for human consumption. That it's created, in this scientific context, means that man has tampered with its genetic coding a great deal using steroids and other who knows what, so it can't be very healthy, can it? And even if it were, I don't know, I just don't get the point in eating another moving being's flesh. It's pretty yuck. Like, if we were to agree that we're all interlinked with earth and all the other species, then you'd begin to realize that to a lion, we're pretty much a bigger equivalent of chickens, and less likely to get away than bucks. And I, for one, don't fancy being lion-meat. And so I don't make other animals my meat. Do unto others type of thing, you know? I don't know. Yeah, that's why I don't eat meat."

There was silence. Belinda decided to leave it to fester. She noticed how everyone started chewing their portions of meat quite gingerly. She kept her nose down and escaped the table. 'Way to make friends, Belinda!' she thought to herself. She stole a glance at her sister and brother to find them staring at her. She was over them. She couldn't understand why they were othering her when she was the only one who knew what they were going through as young people caught in the system.

"Look, it's not to say that eating meat is a bad thing," she started randomly before she could stop herself. "It's a choice I make not to eat meat. I don't enjoy it, and I think it has to do with me having over-thought the whole 'flesh-eating' affair. I've spent a lot of time in silence, thinking; it's the kind of person I am. I sincerely don't mind living in my head. It's pleasant here. There aren't any wars or conflicts. There's only peace, and love, and happiness, and my boo." The last part she stifled a little. "I am really not any different from any one of you at this table, and I would appreciate it if you stopped treating me like I am. I don't know, it may be my neurosis, but I do kind of feel all your questions about me. You know how when you enter a room and it feels like someone was just talking about you? It feels like this all the time around you, and it shouldn't because you're my family. I do hope you speak of only the nice things when you do bring my name up; like how I made it to twenty-three without getting pregnant, or how I'm graduating again in four months, or how I'm going to get a really great job and continue making you proud. But it honestly doesn't feel like that's what you guys talk about when I enter the room, and it makes me sad, to be honest. Again, it may be my neurosis, but judging from the looks Baby and Nqabs give me, I don't think so. You guys too. Thanks for supper. It was really great. Sincerely, this is all the food I really eat. I'm a small person. And tonight's was really yum. Goodnight."

She excused herself, cleared her plate, and sighed in relief as she re-entered her room. She sent Jabulani a message, and he called moments later.

"Hey," she said.

"Hellow," said he.

"How're yo-"

"I'm fi-"

They laughed, tripping out on them speaking in sync. He went first after the chuckle, right on time.

"I'm well, thank you," she replied. "How are you doing?"

"I'm well," he said. "I just miss you, dude. Like, it's trippy sucky being away from you right now." Jabulani was home, too; having also finished learning his trade at varsity. A four year course in Shamanism, majoring in oratory skills and theatre production. He has a job, she thought as she listened to him speak. He's an Information Analyst, she mused, remarking on how she was dating a guy who walked around with a staff and called himself an Information Analyst -- which was a pretty broad title, she thought, which is why it was working, she figured. Everybody knew that success in any field lay in a cleverly thought out title. She thought of her photographic portfolio. She was working on a new series for her blog. Her theme, "what makes me feel". She spoke when he went silent, as he always did to force her into saying something, of how she had been taking pictures of a particular young female who seemed to live with her relatively old mother, her three younger siblings and her own infant. Belinda recalled how she felt, which is what she had been looking for. Her pictures, Belinda thought, were simply taken for want of something to do.

* * *

It was a couple of days before the New Year, and Belinda and her family were preparing to leave the motherland. Minus that initial outburst, everything had been smooth sailing, she thought, as she loaded her suitcase into the trunk. Her phone rang.

"Hello," said the voice on the other end. "May I please speak to Belinda Ndlovu?"

"Oh, hi! Speaking."

"Oh, yes. Good day, Ms Ndlovu. I am calling to enquire about your photography. My name is Gray Houndson, and I am hosting a beginning of year function to raise funds for several of the charities under me. I was recently showed your pictures, and I must say I was impressed. I run a chain of galleries around the world, and I wish to put some of your work on display, and possibly even auction them off, with your permission."

Belinda tried not to be rude, but she could not help but laugh out loud. "Is this a prank? Did Jabulani put you up to this? Look, you're funny. Fair enough. Do tell him I'll get it back, but this is not an okay thing to do to someone."

"This is not a prank, my good lady. I am serious. Those who know me know that I do not mess around when it comes to photography. I would like to fly you and one other person to Johannesburg from anywhere in this country on 5 February 2015, to meet with me at the Hilton on the 6th. I think congratulations are in order?"

Belinda was stunned.

"Wait, can you repeat all of what you just told me to my mother?"

"I don't see why not."

Belinda gave her mother the phone, grabbed her mom's and searched the man's name. To her absolute amazement, he checked out. This is reality, she thought. Her mom returned her phone, a stunned look on her face.

"Yes!" Belinda said. "Without a doubt. I know just the person. My ... Manager? He lives in Pretoria, could transportation be arranged for him to be fetched and brought to where we're meeting on the day?"

"Absolutely," Gray Houndson replied. They exchanged pleasantries one last time, and she hung up.

* * *

Time was patient. All he had to do was watch as it all unfolded. He remembered all the times it had. Troy, Egypt, the Middle-East, Africa. It all happened. Most of it didn't have to, he confessed to himself, but all he could do was watch. And so all he did was watch. It wasn't just watching some times. There had been rather heroic moments where Time actively got involved. When he did, however, he always captured and immortalized his efforts in the memories of man. Man had his uses. For one thing, he could hold onto something for a very long time. And so Time watched on as man lived, waiting for something to begin happening again. Lo and Behold, Aeros is born again. There was quite a lot of celestial noise made about it. With Aeros came Flamo, Flamo couldn't live without Aqua and Aqua relied on Gaia for a place to just ... float around. All the elementals, all their children, their heirs, were being reborn. Volcan was the first born heir to Flamo and Gaia, raised from lava and ash. Volcan met Aeros in the first dynasty, where they fell in love. Aeros was incarnate among the sky children in what is now known as the Himalayan Mountains. She was the fairest in all the kingdom before Gaia started splitting. Volcan, actually, was so captivated, that he couldn't hold his lava, and he erupted all over Gaia. Aeros, not wanting her incarnate kin to die, gave her life for the first time. Volcan was unable to live with himself, knowing that he had caused his love her life. And so he walked into Aqua's Springs of Disillusionment and was seen no more; until now, incarnate again in the young sorceress Belinda. Time, admittedly, loved Belinda. She was a lot calmer now as a female. Aqua's waters did her well. He, Time, knew what lay ahead, for he had seen it before. Volcan, being impatient, need only have waited a little while for Aeros to incarnate again. Aeros is an Elemental, an Angel of Light. They don't die. Volcan, too, was born to be an Elemental. It seems this is the cycle in which Volcan becomes. Alas, how interesting it is to be. Aeros, in Volcan's absence, found comfort and solace at the breast of Aqua. Aeros and Aqua go a long way. Their bond is as ancient as the very thought behind the word is in itself, and have shared a love story throughout the ages. Their brother and sister, Flamo and Gaia, never understood them; but Aeros and Aqua worked, for a better term. They have successfully found one another in all their incarnations. This time, it seems, their flame was kindled on so much passion, that when their bodies, minds and spirits met in the no-space, they unwittingly conjured up a magical spell so powerful, that the portal opened between the realms of man and spirits, through which Volcan escaped the Void and returned, incarnate for the first time in Millennia; as the young sorceress Belinda.

Alas, Aeros and Aqua met too soon in this cycle. They were young, and lustful, and generally stupid. Such is the way of the human, it seems. They go through this every single time. They're born, they forget, they meet their flames - which cause them to remember (or die trying) and they then try make something work. It usually works for Aeros and Aqua. About three cycles before now, when Aqua was a sea-farer and Aeros a young, dashing adventurer on a quest to find lost treasure. Her treasure, admittedly, she found in the sea-farer's chest of jewels, which, unbeknown to her at first, was safely tucked away below Aqua's deck. That was their last incarnation. This time, however, it's different. Volcan has incarnated too. And they're all in the same cycle. It should be interesting. Time watched on.

* * *

Belinda wasn't the only person Jabulani longed to see. He felt bad for missing Valentia too sometimes. He and Valentia had become really close friends over the years. They had become really close friends. He didn't always understand the nature of their friendship, admittedly. Yes, he was with Belinda, and he loved her more than words could ever truly say, although he tried with all his might to at least try find the words every time. She inspired him, he thought. He realized his trail of thought was wondering, and tuned back to channel Valentia. They had shared passion once, he remembered. She made it out to have been a dream, but Jabulani knew it had happened. There had been a weekend spent lost in time and space with Valentia some years back. It was a long time ago, but he sometimes drew on those memories and they filled him with a sense of comfort. A part of her, he figured, was in him, now a part of his being eternally, and the other way too, he knew. As far as he knew, they were only friends. However, he felt their potential every time she drew close to him. He felt her every time they touched. And he couldn't shake it, but a part of him still longed to kiss Valentia. Again. There was something in her that made him lose concentration, but he couldn't think of what it was; and so he didn't. He just allowed all the feelings to happen when they came and ploughed through them. It wasn't always easy, but it was the right thing to do. His phone rang.

"Hello."

"Hey, Babe," Valentia's voice sung out. It seemed to be her thing, Jabulani noted. Her voice was almost like a song. It didn't always sound right, but on rare occasion he had caught onto her frequency and tripped out. This was one of those times. "How are you doing?" Valencia asked.

"I'm well, thanks," Jabulani knew to say. "How are you?" He asked. Jabulani knew that she loved talking, and he loved listening to her talk. It wasn't to do with what she was saying, but how she was saying it. She laughed a lot when she spoke, and retold anecdotes quite creatively, with a spin which...; which suggested that she made narratives up in her head when she repressed her feelings, Jabulani assessed. Valencia repressed her feelings a lot, he felt, and so she had many narratives to share. He didn't mind. Jabulani saw this as Valentia's way of expressing her feelings: in narrative through laughter. Speaking to her over the phone was weird. He couldn't feed off her facial expressions, and had to imagine everything - which, admittedly, took a lot of concentration. He zoned back in to finish hearing about her day at work.

"And how was your day?" Valentia asked.

"It was really well-spent, thank you."

"How is the play coming along?" she prompted, knowing that she usually overwhelmed him into stunned silence-mode. She never meant to. To her, she rationalized, she hadn't spent four years deconditioning him just so he could still have any power in conversation. She was in charge, and all he had to do was remember this. It was harder to maintain control over the phone, she admitted. Thankfully, she thought, he understood and helped her along when she struggled. This is why she loves him, she thought as he spoke of his latest venture. He was working on a play with a group of children in his neighborhood now. It was a couple of weeks since they had last seen one another. It was a beautiful reunion. Valentia and Jabulani spent most of their time together before Belinda arrived. It wasn't awkward at all, actually. Valentia and Belinda had an inexplicable bond between them, like they were friends from before incarnation. It was a surprise when she kissed Belinda and Belinda responded, kissing her back. Jabulani had dared them, thinking Valentia wouldn't. Or, he had issued the dare knowing that she would. Valentia knew he was smart enough to plant such an idea and make it seem like it was one of theirs. He was a powerful shaman, she regarded. Her own power had only started reawakening when she and him set their differences aside after a yearlong feud, and began actually learning to understand one another. Valentia knew she was in love with him from the very beginning. She knew that he was in love with her too, which was tricky, because she knew that he was madly in love with Belinda as well. Valencia also knew that he knew she was in love with him. Yet she knew that they simply did not work. However, she couldn't help but fall madly in love with him at every turn. Now, as he spoke so animatedly about bringing theatre to life - their shared passion - she wished for little else than to kiss him again. Heaven's know he deserved it. He was, however, not her's to kiss. She remembered their last kiss; it was hard not to. Admittedly, it had been a recent affair, and she did feel bad because he was the one in a relationship now. Their last kiss, however, was truly magical, she thought. It happened when they were at last reunited weeks ago. A couple of days before Belinda arrived in town, Valentia and Jabulani had been out for a walk in the early morning. They found a beautiful vantage point and watched the sunrise. It was too beautiful a moment to let pass by. She remembered how their eyes had met; how the wind blew their faces towards one another at such a strong velocity that it seemed impossible that their lips wouldn't meet. She felt her lips parting to allow for his to nestle in her's. They met, suspended in time and space once more. This time, it was she who would not forget it. It had happened. The perfect kiss.

"Anyway, that's my life," Jabulani said. "I miss you, dude. Sincerely."

"I miss you too. School starts in a bit. Hey, does Belinda know we kissed?"

"Yeah, I told her," he said evenly. Continuing in the same level tone, "she said she knew it would happen at some point or another. Something to do with joining all the dots. She hinted towards wanting us all to explore this new-found situation we're all in. I don't know about that idea, to be honest. I've never really been in love with two people at the same time. Well, not openly, anyway. I say we continue along as things are, you know. I mean, you and I have it quite good. We're best friends who get to do cool things together, and we've kinda always been in a relationship, if you think about it. I rationalize it out in my head as being a trippy marriage between two fruit-cakes. And they're both dating the same person. That, ironically enough, works the same from all three perspectives in this. One of us is polygamous. Anyway, school starts in a bit. Are you ready?"

"It won't be the same without you, babe." Valentia said.

"You're right. It'll be way better. Now you can focus."

"That's true. I have to go. Send Belinda my love, with loads of hugs and kisses."

"I shall! Love you too."

Valentia hung up. She could not bring herself to saying that she loves him back. He understood this about her, though, and thankfully never made a deal out of this. She loves Belinda too, but not like ... this. Belinda and she, Valentia thought, are old souls who share a lot of love between them. However, she and Jabulani were ancient soulmates, she felt. She knew they had all met before. She knew they were destined to meet in this life cycle, and she knew that it was inevitable that they would fall in love. Again, Valentia thought, as she let the memories wash over her. His hand cupped her face. She cupped both his hands, and melted into his warm body. He smelled like magic, and his breath tasted like love. And his kissing technique is adorable, she added to her nostalgic trail of thought. He ... nibbles. In fact, so too does Belinda, she mused. I'm in a relationship with two nibblers, she laughed.

It was sudden. The earth beneath her shook, and she knew something had happened somewhere. She raised both her arms, muttered a mantra, curled her body inwards and pointed skyward with her left index finger, and the shaking stopped. She knew somebody had been playing with the earth's core muscles. She didn't know who, but she sensed the use of deep magick close by. There were only a handful of magi in these parts, and three of them lived in the same house close by. She got dressed, and left to investigate.

* * *

It had begun. The dark was self-imploding with light, in a world filled with light. The Dark Mage had lost, yet would not accept his defeat. Aeros, as always, could not have been bothered to at least pay a little attention to the threat posed to him by the Dark Mage. A wise move by the Elemental. It is wisdom to retaliate always with love, laughter and lots of sincere happiness. Time proves that the battle not fought is the one won in the end. The Dark Mage was yet to learn this, and so planned one last attempt at capturing Aqua's affection and getting Aeros out of the way once and forever. It was always the same thing. Every single cycle, the Dark Mage tried. In this one, however, he seemed to be allying with Aeros. I have seen the world they build together, and it is beautiful. Love now grows between the two brothers. However, this is all in good time. Now, on this fateful day, the Dark Mage summoned Valentia, the Halfling water-witch Nymph: part faerie, part witch. Aqua incarnate. Where she sails, Disillusionment is close at hand. Just what the Dark Mage needs. A crash-course in the art of Love. This is going to hurt. His last cycle was spent burning dark pits, but now he is but a child learning his power. I have seen his cycle, and he grows to lead this world to peace, with Love. Now, I watch and wait for him to become. I have seen this before, and I look forward to watching the Dark Mage's final defeat and the rise of the White Warlock at long last. Ironic how I have been waiting Millennia for this. And I'm still excited.

* * *