Awake

Chapter Twenty-Three - A Change in Leadership

"Kaede, I need to talk to you."

Kaede looked up from her work. "Damn, you look like shit."

"I know," Nigs said, impatiently. "I need to talk to you."

"Then talk."

She pushed her chair back from her desk and leant away, folding her hands into her lap and raising her eyebrows, waiting. Nigs hovered in front of her, feet shuffling, not really knowing what it was he wanted to ask or how to phrase it.

"I had a dream," he announced.

"Was it a nightmare?" Kaede asked. "Because I'm not your mummy and I'm not going to comfort you every time you have bad dreams."

"It's not that," Nigs kicked his feet on the floor like a small tap dance. "It's just...there was a girl in it. I...uh....did I know any girls?"

Kaede gave him a long, blank stare. "This place is full of girls. Well, half-full of them. What do you think I am?"

"She was crying," Nigs pressed. "She...I...she seemed to think I'd done something. And then you turned up saying I had to do something about it and look after her and..."

"Nigs, Nigs," Kaede pressed her palms to her temples. "Shut up a minute. Are you really interrupting me just to ask me to interpret your dreams?"

Nigs flopped down into a chair and buried his head in his hands.

"It felt so real! And everything was blurring. Everything I remember about that life and everything that seemed real about this life and...if everything was real and the crying girl wasn't, what the hell was she doing there, Kaede? I just....no, this is stupid. You're right. It's stupid. I'm sorry for disturbing you." He stood up and ran a hand through his hair ruefully. "I'll go now."

"You dealt with quite a few crying girls in your time," Kaede said, just as he reached the door. "What did she look like?"

Nigs turned back. "What do you mean, I dealt with a few?"

Kaede's face betrayed nothing. "What did she look like?"

Nigs shrugged. "Small. Kind of round. Not fat exactly, just...plush, I guess. Dark hair. Why? You think she was real after all?"

"Her name's Beatrice Archer," Kaede stacked her papers neatly and tucked them under a folder. "She cried a lot just before you went to sleep."

Nigs stared at her. "So she was real? You just said..."

"You didn't give me the context before," Kaede's face was serious. "Yeah, you made her cry. You were good at making girls cry. Are you done now? I have work to do."