A GOOD DREAM

“...in waking dream the timeless quell

their selfdom forged through living hell...”

Jynrihk Nnynvis Kaedya

3:2:3:4/5, III:IX

“Over here!” It was Varyan again, calling to him through the white hallways. “I can’t move!”

“I’m coming, Kingard.” The elf approached from far to his left. “It is good to see you.”

“I thought I’d never see you again. Are we... dead?”

Varyan laughed. “Do the dead wake from their dreams?”

“So I’m dreaming,” the elf deflated. “You aren’t real?”

“Oh, I’m real. And alive. And once I know where to find you, I will come for you.”

“What sort of dream is this?” Kingard wondered, gazing around at the maze of hallways surrounding them for miles, the walls and floors bright white, the ceiling bathed in a loving glow.

“A good dream.” With a pleasant laugh, Varyan reminisced, “I remember a time when I was all questions, and you had the answers.”

Kingard’s smile ached with the memory of those times. “I wish I could have saved you...”

“Don’t be silly, Unkin. You already did.”

Relief and disbelief battled within him, and Kingard gaped in slack astonishment. “Y-you’ve unturned? You’re safe?”

“I think so. I can’t really remember the waking life from here. But I feel... safe. It is a peaceful sleep, I think.” The elf paused to regard the structure around them. “This feels like Mother’s realm.”

“But I’m not dead?” Kingard checked, his glowing form and stationary presence suggesting the contrary.

“No, I don’t think so. You wouldn’t be stuck if you were. And I think you’d be... brighter.”

A friendly scowl crossed his mind. “Yeah? And how would you know, Varyan? Been much to Mother’s realm?”

The tree elf sobered, his happy grin crumbling into steely resolve. “I’ve escaped here many times, in my dreams.”

“Escaped?”

“Them. They could never follow me here.”

Pain prickled through Kingard’s heart, but he refrained from another apology for his greatson’s captivity. “How’d you know to look for me?”

“I dream of finding you. Hard to believe?” Varyan broke into a hearty laugh and Kingard joined him in his mirth, until pain lanced through his middle and the waking world dragged him back again.