Nan was still sitting on the couch, sipping tea. She smiled at me as I came out. “Not joining in?” she asked with a somewhat mocking smirk.
“NO,” I said, unamused. “That's still my mother.”
“Judging by the look of you, at least half of you doesn't quite feel that way,” she said, glancing down toward my crotch. She wasn't wrong; I had a visible hard on pushing at the fabric of my shorts. Part of me most certainly wanted to be in that room, and it only got worse as the sounds of Cathy's transformation grew louder.
“Yeah..well..” I weakly protested, “it's not happening.” I got another smirk in return. Nan most certainly didn't mind seeing me struggling. “Anyway,” I said, trying to get my mind off of the bedroom activities, “I had a question. You said I had a sister?”
“Yes.”
“Everything I ever was taught was that Romulus had a brother named Remus, not a sister.”
Nan was visibly annoyed. “More lies. A corruption of the truth, spread after the rise of Christianity, aided by weak-minded men who wanted to aid in the subjugation of women. Her name was Rima. You know this. You saw her. DO NOT LET THE WORLD ERASE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF HER.” Her voice had taken on that tone of command that even had an effect on me. It steeled my resolve; she was speaking truth, and I marked the information in my mind.
“She's the girl I saw over and over again,” I replied as the realization washed over me.
“She is,” Nan said, nodding her approval. “In the lives where you unite, no other man or wolf compares to you, and no other woman or wolf compares to her. She is everything to you, as you are to her. She is, without question, your soul's mate.”
I was acutely aware of how badly I wanted her here. I needed her for this. I needed her by my side as I navigated this new world and the war that threatened to fully erupt. Memories of us throughout lifetimes rushed through my mind. I ached for her, tangibly. “I wish she was here.”
I looked around expectantly, only to find nothing happened. “I wish my soulmate was here!” I said more firmly. Again, I looked around. Nothing. “See?” I said to Nan, my face screwed into a frustrated scowl. “The ring fucks up sometimes.”
Nan looked at me with genuine sadness. “What you ask is beyond the ring's power.”
“Why?” I said, even more frustrated now. “It got me a lottery ticket, making me wealthy beyond my wildest dreams! How is this any different?” My anger increased. “It healed Eli and myself instantly tonight!” Nan sat there silently, letting me fume. “IT LETS ME FUCKING TELEPORT!” Then it dawned on me. “Wait..I've got it!” I smiled, not realizing that Nan wasn't smiling back. “I wish I would materialize right next to my soulmate!” I'd figured it out. It was all in the wording. But..nothing.
“FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!” I was boiling over with rage.
“Calm down,” Nan said quietly.
“Calm down? CALM DOWN? Explain to me how THIS ONE THING, THE THING THAT I NEED, is beyond the ring's power.” My eyes were burning. The wolf and I were seething with anger.
“Yes,” she said, “Calm down. Please,” she said in a soothing voice, “For me. Let me explain.” Her expression was tender now, and I almost immediately felt my anger dissipate. I took a deep breath, and waited.
“You can't teleport her here, because you don't know her name. Just as you were James before your wolf awakened, she is no longer Rima. The wish is too vague, because you don't even know what she looks like. You can't teleport TO her, because you don't know where she is. You are able to teleport 'home' because this is what you think of when you think of home. But you can't go somewhere that you've never been, because you don't know what to expect to see.”
“I wish I knew what she looked like,” I said, sure that I'd found a workaround in the rules. Nothing. “I wish I knew her name!” Nothing. I could feel my desperation growing again. “I wish I knew where she lived!” Nothing. “How the hell am I supposed to find her?” I heard my voice, full of despair and defeat. I hated the sound of it.
Nan patted the cushion of the couch next to her, and I sat down. She rubbed my back, doing her best to soothe me. “You will find each other,” she reassured me. “You always do.”
“Can't you..go visit her or something? Tell her where I am, or bring her here?”
Nan shook her head sadly. “No. At one point, I could. In many of your earlier lives, I did just that. But as her identity as Rima was slowly erased from history, my ability to find her waned. It's an element of the sealing spell they cast on you both. Even still, your souls are so intimately linked that once you awaken, you become drawn to each other. “
“But she could be anywhere!” I complained, still feeling defeated.
“Take heart,” Nan said, “Every day, you draw closer together. It's a consistency in the cycle.”
For whatever reason, that DID give me hope, as vague and almost cliché as it sounded. “Any other patterns in the cycle? Any information is worth me knowing.”
Nan smiled, realizing that she'd gotten me calm again. “You and she are the same age, always. More often than not, you share the same birthday, as your souls reincarnate at the same time, no matter which of you has passed first. You're almost always the first to awaken; usually she's never experienced the transformation until you bring it out of her. And you will BOTH know when you meet. The bond is too strong to be ignored by either of you.”
“Well, I suppose that's something,” I replied. A loud howl echoed from the bedroom, and I could hear my mother's cries of pleasure, which strangely didn't bother me nearly as much as I presumed they would.
A few minutes later, Cathy emerged, fully healed, dressed only in my mom's silk bathrobe. Her hair was a mess, and she had a satisfied smile on her face. She joined us on the couch and laid her head on my shoulder, nuzzling me. “Thank you again,” she said as she pressed against me.
“Is she turned?” I asked.
“Yep. The fatigue hit her almost immediately,” Cathy told me.
And so...