Somewhere very close to the beginning, the Beginning realized that, however much It cared for them, the angels did not make adequate companions (they made good servants, but poor friends and even poorer lovers). The Beginning wanted something more challenging, less flat, and more like Itself. It thought, "I want something passionate like fire, something that burns strong and hot." So It created Dóim.

Dóim was passionate like fire, and burned strong and hot, but the Beginning sensed that the being was incomplete. Instead of destroying this beautiful, tempestuous creation (which had already scorched its way into the Beginning's heart), It decided to try again, thinking to Itself, "This inferno has not completely satisfied me. It is like me, but lacking in some way. Perhaps what I need is something deep like the waters, something that will heal and offer shelter."

So the Beginning created Coinním. Coinním was deep as the waters, and tempered the scorching soul of Dóim, but the Beginning again sensed that this being was incomplete. Disheartened by Its failed attempts, the Beginning decided to see
what Its pieces of art did with the world It had created. It would decide what to do with them later. So the Beginning stepped away, putting Dóim and Coinním among the other occupants of the world It had created to see how they treated each other and their world-mates without Its constant guidance.

For a while, Coinním and Dóim were in balance. Dóim realized the need for Coinním's comforting softness, and Coinním recognized the need for Dóim's burning passion. They recognized that the Beginning was equal parts Coinním and Dóim, and that they each represented an equally important part of It. Together, they, like the Beginning, had the ability to create new beings. In those moments when the fire of Dóim joined with the water of Coinním, they no longer felt the physical containers they had been placed in, no longer needed earthly senses to experience life and each other -- they became One, the wholly perfect counterpart to the Beginning. The Beginning was pleased, and thought, "Perhaps this was not such a disaster after all."

However, Coinním and Dóim, for whatever reason, began to draw lines between themselves. The Beginning became the God and the Goddess. Coinním became woman, a lesser being who came from Dóim, rather than directly from the Beginning. Dóim became man, a lesser creature who no longer acknowledged the need for Coinním's cleansing waters. They were no longer One when they joined, there was no melding of their essential elements to become the equal of the Beginning. They saw themselves as two whole beings alone, and began arguing over which was superior. They created definitions of their separateness, using for the first time the words "female" and "male," "him" and "her." Coinním and Dóim had cut each other off, and, forgetting how it felt to be One, began to fear the idea of it.

The Beginning was heartbroken. With the balance of Coinním and Dóim gone, man and woman would destroy the beautiful world. Man's unchecked blaze would burn everything he came into contact with, and woman, fearing that she might be burned as well, would harden and freeze, creating her own version of what she thought to be man's power. Not only was the Beginning lonely, It also felt the loneliness of man and woman, and the aging of the slowly dying world. The Beginning knew that Coinním and Dóim had been corrupted, buried deep inside the covers of man and woman. It knew that they should be destroyed, for the sake of everything alive, but It couldn't do it. For so many, many eons, It had watched Its creations, falling more and more in love with them each passing millennium. Now, despite their perversion and destructive intentions, It could not bear to wipe them out. The Beginning would only watch, hoping beyond hope that Its beloved Coinním and Dóim would resurface from the madness of man and woman.

It happened so slowly, so imperceptibly, that the Beginning failed to notice it for many millennium. Man and woman started realizing, however subconsciously, that there was something missing in them. They felt polarized, and strove toward the middle, where perhaps they could meet as equals, as One. This was a long, painful process, because man still feared what he saw as woman's weakness, and woman still scorned what she saw as man's insane lust, but their progress gave the world hope. The Beginning began to see what It should have done somewhere very close to the beginning. The elements of Coinním and Dóim were the right ones, the ones that made up the Beginning. But, unlike the Beginning, Dóim and Coinním had not held the fire to light the passion and the water to quench the thirst in the same being. The balance they created together had been too tenuous, held together by ideas and feelings alone, and not by the true binding within their souls.

The Beginning saw this, and cried for the pain It had caused with Its mistakes. "As soon as man and woman are ready," It vowed, "I will give them what they have always needed. I will give Dóim the ability to hold and nurture, and I will give Coinním the ability to burn and subdue." So the Beginning again sat, and watched and waited for Dóim and Coinním to reemerge fully from man and woman.

When they finally rediscovered themselves, after so many eons of artificial living, Coinním and Dóim could only stare at each other through burning, salty tears. It had been a long time since they had been together, as One. They felt like strangers who knew each other far too well, and missed each other far too much to waste time with becoming acquainted. They touched hands, water and fire sizzling into steam between their fingers. They stared, mesmerized, and realized that they were alive, emerging from their dead, lonely fortresses of male and female to the world more than ready to welcome its old friends. The world sighed contentedly as they joined, a hiss of purified flame plunging into the infinite depths of the ocean. They were One for as long as they were connected.

The Beginning knew it was time. No longer would the separation of Dóim and Coinním mean imperfection and incompleteness. They would be forever able to communicate with the Beginning, and It would have what It had sought since somewhere very close to the beginning -- Its perfect companion, the one being equal to challenge and love the Beginning. While Coinním and Dóim were joined, the Beginning melded their two halves into a whole, making their souls complete and perfect. Aontaithe was created from the souls of Dóim and Coinním, and It understood. It could conquer or submit; burn or encompass. Aontaithe was fire and water, as the Beginning was fire and water. They were whole.

The Beginning smiled, and said, "Finally, it is good."