I looked at Lilith, who was still staring at me with those sparkling, curious eyes. "So Darya, thy 'oksigen' thing… Is't the one that cooleth the fire?"
Well… How do I explain this?
I tried to say, "Well, Lilith, honestly, it's my first time hearing the fire in heart's human…"
"What dost thou mean? Methought thou knewest of thine own body's system…"
"Yes…However, I think my body system with Orla is different."
"What is the difference? Thou art both humans."
"Unfortunately, we are different…I—" Wait a minute… I just put too much focus on science as the only principle of life. What if what Orla tells us is actually real science,, as they have something that I don't have…
"So Darya…" she suddenly leaned forward, "Thou must know something, as thou didst suddenly stop amidst thy words and but gaze around."
I looked up and met her curious gaze. "You're right," I said. "I do know something. I was… I was looking at it from a different view."
Lilith's smirk widened, and her chin rested on her hand. "Hooo? And what hast thou found now?"
My gaze went to Orla. "Orla, can you care to explain it to me again? How about more detail?"
Orla, who was still standing stiffly by the wall, flinched again. Her eyes darted from me to Lilith.
"It's okay," I said softly. "Just look at me. Not her."
"More… detail?" She whispered.
"Yes," I said. "You said 'fire in the heart'. I need to understand that. Did you say that in a metaphorical way or realistically?"
She stared at me with her furrowed brow in confusion. "I… I do not understand 'metaphorical'," she said. "It…it is. It is our 'innate heat'.". She gestured to her own chest. "The heart is the furnace. It holds the 'vital spirit'. This is our essence of life; it… It burns constantly.
"But this fire," she continued with her gaze locked on mine, "it is volatile. To control that fire, the air from outside is the coolant. We draw it in to… to temper the furnace. To keep the fire in balance. When the innate heat…cooled…by the air, the essence is refined. It creates the 'vital spirits' that then flow from the heart. That is what gives us life."
"Interesting…" I said.
"So, what is thy 'oksigen' thing, and what is it for?" Lilith asked.
"Well, Oxygen is one of the elements in the air…As you can see, air is invisible, yet it has some elements.
Lilith's sparkling eyes narrowed at me. "Elements?" she repeated. "Thou dost mean… invisible ingredients?"
"Exactly," I said. "This element is the one who sustains my life; without it I will die in any minute. It's an essential for a process called 'respiration' or breathing. As I breathe in…this oxygen goes to my nose and goes into my lungs.
"Lungs?" Llith's head tilted. "Thou dost mean the bellows? The ones that pump the air to cool the 'fire in the heart'?"
"Orla may have called it that…" I said. "However, for me, it calls lungs," I explained. "That oxygen…it isn't my coolant. It's my fuel. My 'lungs' aren't bellows to cool anything. They are the intake. They pull the oxygen from the air and my heart…" I tapped my chest. "…it's not a furnace. It's a pump. It pumps my blood and the oxygen attached to that blood. The blood then carries this fuel to every part of my body, my muscles and my brain."
"Wherefore do two humans have divers theories about their own breathing right now?" Lilith was so confused.
I looked from Lilith's confused face to Orla's, who was just baffled.
"Because," I said. "You're right. We are both human, but we're… we're not the same kind of human."
Orla looked even more confused. "What… what does that mean?"