text: “Going to be another hot one folks. Temperatures over one hundred degrees again today. No showers predicted for the next ten days. Prepare for extreme heat and rolling power outages. Take extra precautions if your area is under a red flag warning. Be mindful of the...” Kyle flicked off the radio. Great, another sweltering day. In the West, forest fires blazed leaving the air tainted with smoke for hundreds of miles. What had been three separate fires along the front range of Colorado recently merged into one gigantic mass of heat. The occasional fire-nado would whizz up and sound like a furnace running sideways. Most people in the area evacuated as per the official evacuation order. A couple die-hards held out to fight the fire on their own. Defending their property from an elemental force. They were going to fight fire. Maybe they were wizards. Kyle imagined them conjuring up spells and dousing flames with their wands. In a world of infinite possibilities....his thoughts trailed off. He was almost to his destination. He had mapped out a trail to get the best perspective of the massive fire. He just needed to turn off on an unmarked road, follow that due North up to the crest and make a sharp left. Easy-peasy. Smoke billowed above the mountains. The scene looked like one from an apocalyptic volcano movie. The air was thick and warm. A thin layer of ash and soot coated the landscape. It was difficult to see even a few yards ahead. He clumsily stumbled forward. Her silhouette slid into his line of sight. He stopped breathing momentarily. Magic reentered his thoughts. She cast a spell on him and he lost all of his natural ability to simply Inhale and exhale. Witchcraft, he thought and he passed out. Katrina grew up here. She knew these mountains better than most. Better than most, yes. Better than her father, no. She lost her dad a few years back and had managed the homestead and acreage quite well since. Katrina had a special connection to this place. Her father had always told her, this land was an extension of them and must be preserved and protected. It was their duty and honor. As the last of her line, it was a duty she took great pride in. Her connection to this land was deep. It was her birthright; a generational blessing. It was the last bit of their homeland and she intended to protect and preserve it. They had lived through fire and flood and made preparations and plans for each. Katrina knew what to do and when. She had courage from her sense of honor. Her confidence borne of her training- not to mention her sixth sense. Her guides spoke to her. Katrina was a force. She loved each of the trees and knew every rock. They were her comrades, her friends, her relatives. The rocks; the elders, her advisors. The river; her way between worlds. She was part of this place and this place was absolutely part of her. They existed in a symbiotic entanglement of harmony and understanding. She had asked for someone to share it all with so many times. Katrina was reveling in this very thought when she saw the stranger approaching. He hadn’t noticed her yet and she was still getting a read on him. He didn’t seem threatening and was actually kind of cute. He stumbled forward. She decided to catch his attention. She did more than that. She took his breath away . Quite literally. She stepped into sight and he fell directly to the ground. Thud. Katrina wasn’t expecting company. She certainly wasn’t expecting such a gorgeous man to damn near fall in her lap. She looked up to the expanse with questioning wonder. She rushed over to Kyle. He coughed and snorted as he came to. “Hi there. You ok?”, Katrina offered him water. Kyle sat up slowly and attempted to get his bearings. He took a sip of the cool water and coughed some more. The last thing he remembered was driving toward the fire to get some pics. He was a photo journalist. He covered climate change and natural disasters; usually with no problems. Apparently the turns he had taken planted him smack dab on Kat’s place. The road had ended with a decent view of the flames. He snapped some really good pics when suddenly the wind shifted and smoke obscured his way. Kyle couldn’t see his truck. Somehow he managed to find a trail and followed it out of the smoke. However, the smoke and altitude gain seemed to have gotten the better of him and he passed out right there in Kat’s driveway. Lucky for Kyle, Katrina kept supplies for such emergencies, in fact she was ready for most emergencies. She located the oxygen bottles and ordered Kyle to take a slow deep breath and inhale the good good. Nothing quite like pure oxygen in the lungs. He had no objections. This wasn’t his first rodeo so to speak, but never had he been caught so off guard. He was a safe distance from the flames. What he hadn’t considered was the effect of the smoke. The wind combined with the terrain created pockets of smoke and heat that churned and boiled. The wind shifted and created an obstacle Kyle hadn’t prepared for. He was lucky to have found his way out. He was even luckier to have found his way out to her. She was an absolute vision. Katrina was as up here mostly alone on the side of her mountain. Wildfires approaching and her attitude was that of utter serenity, everything will be fine. She knew what to do and when. Not her first rodeo either; and the universe had delivered her a cowboy. Things were certainly looking up. Who was this beautiful enchantress? How did he possibly find her? This year his job had sent him across the country on various assignments. Blizzard in New York. Hurricanes in Florida. Flooding in Minnesota. Wildfires in the West. The storms and disasters were more intense and lasting longer. He never had a chance to meet anyone. Well at least not anyone available for a date. The ones he did meet were usually in various stages of distress. Not Katrina. She was, um she was unique. And this was why he was a photo journalist. Words escaped him, but a picture, need he say more? Katrina was a vision. His vision in fact. He had seen her before. He dreamed her. At first he thought maybe it was jet lag or wishful thinking. The more he studied her face, the more real he knew she had been in his dream. The more real he now understood she was, and holy shit IS! Is now, currently present tense right beside him. Kyle took another sip of water. He managed a “Thank you, ma’am.” No chance he could hide his smile. Katrina smiled back. She knew just what to do.