Problematic notion about Zone 5 & 6 story bits.

[Alenore]

I think it's less that the aether is special, and more the sheer amount of it that Sphene wanted/needed. Aether can't be created from nothing - when someone casts a spell or summons something, they're using up their aether to do so (which is why people feel tired/hungry afterwards), and when they consume food (whether it's in the normal way or... whatever the heck Zero does), they're taking the aether of that food to replenish theirs.

It seems like Living Memory has hit the point where it demands more aether than the natural cycle can provide (probably not helped by the fact that the entire living population of Alexandria got teleported into the Source), and so the only way to keep things running is to get more from somewhere else.

I suppose it's more "anima" (the aether we use for teleports and such) more than "corporeal aether" as in someone's physical body, I suppose.
Actually I think Anima was described as life-force in 1.0, so that would track.