Irini curled in the chair and waited. She was glad she hadn’t been one of them and that made her guilty.

Irini’s eyes darted to the five men. They came, and they went. Always tired, whether they rested or not.

Irini sighed. She watched Hagen. He never left but rested in a chair like her own, only feet away. Hagen, eyes closed, reclined in the tall-backed chair. His breathing remained even, and his head leaned to one side.

He’s got to work. I can’t just shake him awake and ask him what he saw.

Irini wrapped her arms tighter around her knees and buried her face up to the nose. Her white, springy hair fell over her arms and shoulders in heaps, feeling like a blanket.

“How are Sotir and Irini’s path recommendations making out?” Chara asked of Kat, very quiet, by the door.

Kat sighed. “Good enough, I guess. We haven’t seen any Volanter ahead. Seems like we might break through. Then, we just have to get to the wormhole without being noticed and hope those other two Iruedian mages can fix it, so we get home.”

The sound of shifting fabric startled Irini. She looked to Hagen’s chair and found him sitting straight, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

Sotir hurried to Hagen. “Did you learn anything useful?”

“Yeah, I think I understand how the dreams are structured.” Hagen rubbed his temple. “Eva does not go as deep as the others. Her dreams have fewer surreal elements. She thinks that she’s still aboard the Halfmoon, waiting for our ships to come.” Hagen stood up and stretched. “What this does is create a couple tiers of dreams. Eva’s on the outside.” Hagen traced a circle with his hands. “Everyone else is on the inside, some deeper than others.” Hagen started to pace.

“So, you can enter any of their dreams? Eva’s included?” Sotir asked.

Hagen continued to pace. “I can. My plan is to move everyone to Eva’s dream. I’ll have an easy time convincing them to wake up from there. I don’t want to wake Eva early. That would probably make my job with the others harder. I’m going to try to move Aria up next.”

“You got Camellia?”

Hagen nodded. “Yeah. I got her. I think she could have made it there herself, but I sent her a message to keep Eva asleep, until I wake the others up. More or less.”

“Ah,” Sotir said. “You enlisted her help.”

“So to speak. Better get back to work then.” Hagen sat back in his seat. He shifted side to side and found his comfort. Then, he seemed to fall asleep, with force.

Irini thought it looked painful. Glad that’s not me either. She buried her nose once again.

“Irini?” Chara called from the door. “Come over here. Let’s have you take a break.”

Irini raised her head slow, and her nose peaked over her knees. “I don’t want to leave.”

“You’re going to.” Kat beckoned. “Come on.”

Irini frowned. She uncurled and slipped out of the chair. She didn’t look at Kat or Chara. They could have picked a better time to offer her comfort. Irini stalked across the sick room and shouldered out the door. She passed them both.

“Leave her be,” Chara warned.

Irini raised her hand and asked the thread: Where can I go on this ship that I won’t have to talk to anyone for a week?

The thread sparkled into being. Then, it twisted, tangled, and formed a knot. It went nowhere. Instead, it panicked and choked up on the question.

“What a useless thing.” Irini shook it free.