Past and Present

Mairin was simultaneously surprised and disappointed that many of the other survivors of their plane crash decided that a vacation in Iceland was just what they needed. Her parents filled their days in Iceland with crowded tours, food, and laughter to keep her occupied. She couldn't remember the last time they had gone on vacation together as a family. She'd been so focused on proving she could stand on her own, that she'd forgotten. Shamhat's memories were filled with lonely vigils in the wilderness. The golden dragon had no memories of family outside of Enkidu.

Eun-jung and Trever noticed the melancholy in their daughter's expression and did their best to cheer her up. Her parents wanted what was best for her, but she couldn't bear to confess that she has yearning for a man she hadn't met in this life. She stared at the Icelandic night sky, amazed by the dancing greens and purples across lush green mountains and calm clear blue lakes. It was almost like Mairin's dreams. She had once believed these mountains might be where Shamhat's home was once, but seeing the aurora made her realize that this wasn't home. It was beautiful, she wished to spread her wings and dance among the swirling lights but it felt empty. The ache of something missing, made her homesick for a forest that likely no longer existed.

What did she want to do with her life beyond that? Mairin couldn't just stare at the window and wait, she needed to do something that'd enable her to travel and afford the lifestyle to do whatever she wanted. Finding Enkidu was important but she wouldn't if she never left her forest.

One night over dinner, Eun-jung couldn't stand the silence of Mairin's distant expression. "Sweetie, have you decided on what you want to major in?" Eun-jung gently nudged. Mairin had promised her mother an answer by the time she returned home from her trip to Sweden. She hadn't really decided still.

Mairin stared at her mother blankly, shifting her gaze down into her dinner, a steak cut into small pieces and pushed around the plate to look like she was eating. She glanced up with a shake of her head, "Not yet."

"Of course, I don't want to rush you... it's only been a short while since the accident happened," Eun-jung added with a reassuring smile. "Sorry, college must be the last thing on your mind."

Trever scratched the side of his neck. "Well, I was thinking, my company is opening up an internship for a translator. Maybe working for a while until she figures it out might help?"

Something about being a translator sparked one of Shamhat's memories. Mairin smiled, maybe business was the way to go. If she was translating, she'd be travelling all the time. It wasn't like she was scared to fly. "I'd like that. I'd need to write up my resume?"

Trever grinned, delighted with Mairin's answer. It was a prod in a direction he felt would keep Mairin safe, imagining her sitting at a desk fussing over documents. "Of course, I'll get you set up once we get home."

The rest of Mairin's family trip was peaceful and uneventful - Iceland was beautiful, full of stretches of wilderness and rich history. Her main regret was that the only reason the trip happened was that she had a near death experience. When they boarded the cruise ship for home, Mairin was ready to just lounge by the pool and read through the stacks of fantasy novels she'd picked up. She needed time to think. There was much about Shamhat and gold dragons she didn't know or understand. She'd never been interested in any of it before, languages and puzzles fascinated her more than mythology. Her web searches on her dad's laptop only pulled up tabletop roleplay game monster manuals or video game bosses.

Once she thought about it, she didn't remember a time when she had a childish crush on anyone before, only the man in her dreams had appealed to her. Had it been Shamhat influencing her all this time? She let her thoughts drift along with the waves lapping against the hull of the ship. The salt on the breeze and the ambiance of happy vacationers set her at ease. Her parents went to the mixers, enjoying their vacation as they let Mairin do what she wanted.

Content to recline on a beach chair beside the pool in the shade of an umbrella, Mairin dove into her pile of books. Her first book was a quick read, but the dragon was a villain to be conquered and slain. It was unfair, he had nested in his home to have it raided and then murdered by intruders. How awful those small people were! But most of her books were like that, all the dragons were villains. It was only in the children's stories that the dragons were good with complexity. She had avoided the paranormal romance novels, she didn't understand how dragon shifter firefighters could be such a popular genre but it was.

She groaned as she set the paperback she was reading on her face. From her dreams, she knew Shamhat could change her shape, fly, and breath fire. An immortal golden dragon that died as a result of magic leaving the world. Someone had cursed her love with Enkidu, why? Was it hatred? Was it destiny? What was wrong with love?

Was Shamhat really a monster? In the legends, she was described as a beautiful woman, a sacred prostitute that tamed Enkidu from the wilderness and brought him to the sacred city of Uruk. Enkidu and Gilgamesh were comrades and heroes. Shamhat and Enkidu made love for as long as two weeks but afterwards, that was far as her legend went. Her name was mentioned as Enkidu of legend lay dying but she was only the mechanism for taming a great and wild man into a hero. It bothered her that was how Shamhat was known but there was nothing she could do about it.

Perhaps, when Shamhat assumed human form and fell in love with Enkidu, the people making the tablets came up with their own theories for who she was. Mairin sighed. "Shamhat, what do you think? Should I go and make a name for us?"

"Who are you talking to?" A heavily accented, amused male voice asked from behind Mairin. She pulled her book down, glancing up with a blush on her cheeks.

Mairin got caught talking to herself and she wanted to curl up under a rock and die. She cursed in Korean, switching back to English. "No one." She blinked, seeing a tanned blond man about her age with hazel eyes and thick, long hair watching her with a curious smile.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "I thought I heard you say my name."