Interim Goddess of Love #1 of 3 (COMPLETE)

Chapter 5

I am looking at my feet, and I am thinking, "My feet are nice."

And this is why I know that I am in a dream.

The other clue would be that I am apparently standing really close to a waterfall, and yet I can hear nothing but muted running water. I am maintaining perfect balance on smooth round stones, with clear, cool, and strangely still water up to my ankles. My skirt is pretty; it's got an intricate woven pattern in several shades of red.

Quin is standing next to me, and we've been talking for a while. Except he doesn't look like Quin, not that I could describe him anyway. And I'm not calling him by that name either. He is telling me something, and I am commenting as if I know what he is talking about.

"...not my problem," Quin is saying. "I specifically didn't want to be part of this."

"I've reached the end of what I can do," are the words that came out. Except the words are not in English, or Filipino, but a lyrical one I don't recognize.

"Father says what?"

"He says I should let you decide."

I sense his anger, and frustration. I can barely see his face, and yet I know this. The anger seems sharp. But it is not directed at me, and in fact I feel safer than I've ever been my entire life.

I feel a little giddy, even.

But I don't seem to be disoriented, despite the unfamiliar surroundings. Usually my dreams are set in places I know, but this is too bright, too green, too quiet to be anywhere I've been.

"You know how I am going to rule on this," he says.

"It's the same way I would," I say.

"Then why should I be part of it?"

"Because Aman will not fight you."

Quin is not convinced by this. He doesn't care.

"Your father wants you to protect me," I say. "Because Aman will destroy me if I intervene. You know he can."

The water at my feet starts to rise. I lift one foot, just to make sure that it's mine, and touch the water's edge with a toe. I see that Quin is holding—has been holding—my hand.

That explains the giddy.

"I won't let him hurt you," he says.

A bright light shines directly into my eyes.

I wake up.

After five minutes of just looking up at the ceiling, I flexed each of my toes and fingers (everything worked). It was not the first time that Quin had a lead role in one of my dreams. But for the first time, I wasn't sure if the female lead was me. I didn't seem nearly as confident, or mature, or... goddessy.

He did say I would start having dreams. Remembering things that never happened to me. Maybe this was someone else's memory of Quin?

Well hello there, jealousy.

* * *

I still wasn't sure what exactly Quin could do (apart from the light tricks) given his role in the universe and all that, but I did know he had the Power of Great Timing.

I couldn't even count the times last year when he showed up inviting me to the cafeteria or the coffee shop just as I realized I was hungry. Or when I just needed company, like that time when I assisted during entrance exam week and had to wait until past seven, because I had to be available for errands the whole time. That could have just been me waiting in front of an exam room for hours, but instead my memory of it included a coffee run with Quin and telling him about my high school prom while we collated handouts.