The rain dripped slowly from the eaves of the tin roof, forming a puddle on the ground below with a dull �plop, plop� sound. Airena Kelentakof winced at the sound of the rain. Flashes of memory from another time came to mind, memories of rain as sharp as ice shards, cutting her skin in many places. Being a fire elemental, water always made her extremely nervous, due to the mage duels she had fought when she was only a young woman of twenty four. The mage duels had been necessary, fought to save her family, but this did her conscience no good. She had killed a man during those duels, a water elemental named Seleki Anyaron who had been chosen to fight her by his clan because he was the strongest among them. Again, the rain turned to ice as her tears joined the streams running down the pavement. Yet Anyaron, cool and collected, had been no match for Airena�s fire and vigor with which she fought, because no one ever fights better than when they are fighting for the lives of those they love.
If her family hadn�t been at risk, neither of the two would have chosen to fight one another. But they were at risk, and Airena had no choice but to kill the love of her life.
Seleki and Airena stood face to face, their hands clasped as they huddled in the shade of the gardens. Since the feud between their clans had started, nothing had been the same for the two. Seleki pressed a gentle kiss to his lover's lips before parting, to return to his clanhold.
Nothing was going right for the two, whose relationship had never had time to develop much because of the feuds. Fire and Water clans were very violent, unlike the more peaceful Air and Earth Clans. Seleki, despite being a member of the water clan, had many earth powers thanks to his half-breed heritage, and Airena had long since mellowed her once zealous beliefs.
At one time, she never would have been a part of this relationship-she would have killed Seleki on sight, just for being a member of the Water clan.
Now, however, after three years of the war, she was getting tired of fighting for a cause she no longer believed in. Her heart was no longer in the battle, she could see no noticeable difference between the two clans, and she had fallen deeply in love with Seleki.
Things were just going very bad for her.
Now, Airena was thirty-six, and growing tired of living a life like this where she could never be respected for her choices in life, or her actions, but only for her clan�s prestige. And she herself had no prestige, for she was askina, or outcast, due to the position she had held during the long ten years when the mage duels had been a commonplace affair.
The mage duel between fire and water clans was scheduled for the next morning. Airena didn't know who her opponent would be, she just knew that it was her duty to defeat them. She went through her normal preparations, undergoing intense training and review of different fighting techniques the enemy might use.
As a duelist, she was outcast in order to keep the contamination of blood and death away from the other clan members. She was ready for this fight, however. It would be her last. Her family was at stake, but after this last fight, she would have to fight no more battles. This battle would decide the war.
But even now, hiding in this tiny side alley of Keliaco, she was more worried about the rain touching her than she was about whether or not she had prestige. It was common belief among her people that when an elemental dies, they join the body of the world, the body of their element. And each time it rained, Airena couldn�t help but wonder if it was Seleki that was raining down upon her.
A movement on her right caused her to turn frantically, cursing herself for getting caught up in her thoughts. When she turned, a flowing figure moved out of the shadows. �Seleki?� she cried, distraught that her love, and the man she had killed, was to see her like this. Wet blonde hair trailed over her shoulders, knotted so terribly that there was no hope of untangling it now. Her clothes had threadbare spots, and she wore no shoes.
Seleki, however, didn�t see her this way. He merely saw the woman he would have married had their clans not been enemies, the woman who he could neither forget nor forgive. He moved forward, his water-formed body gliding across the ground, growing a little shorter with every movement as some of his form was absorbed into the ground.
�Don�t be frightened, love. It�s your time to come be with me, now.� He murmured softly, and moved forward to gently touch her cheek. Her human body crumpled to the ground, and a fire-form that looked just like her rose to meet the man of water. Together they ascended to the highest of heavens, where they might look down forever upon the world that gave them life, and death. But they would always remain apart now, for they were, of course, elementals, and even after death, they had many duties that would keep them from idly watching their home world.
And so it was, that the blue star and the red star, which are ever far apart, are still together in their hearts.

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