Awakening, Quickening

To the Inn part 2

As they walked, Harmony put her fingers into her pocket and focused, using the mana around her to form a three thick, smooth gold coins inside her pocket; she didn't know what currency the people of Grebefal used, but gold usually did the trick...Usually she could do this without an problem, but forming more than a few at a time could be extremely draining. And she was so tired right now, she could definitely feel the effort it took.
"Aga'te"--or Agatha DeLarnes, as she introduced herself, in a plain, but pleasant way--was a tall, strong-looking woman with an air of cool nobility, in spite of her plain linen shift, long apron, and bare feet. She had opened the half-door and stood aside to let them in, and Harmony nearly tumbled headfirst into the clean straw flooring. She was totally and completely exhausted. Agatha took one look at Harmony, the baby, and Muse, and stretched out a steadying hand to Harmony.
"Upstairs are our finest beds, my Lady, but the climb is steep, and you appear to be quite weary. Would you allow me to offer you a bed by the fire, for now?" Harmony nodded and pressed the three heavy coins into Agatha's hand, too tired to even speak; too tired to do more than cling to Kyir in his basket, and sink onto a nearby bench. Her eyes swam and suddenly Muse was there, holding onto her arm, her face concerned.

"Harm...ony? My Lady Harmony? Are you all right? Please, let me take the baby. I'll hold him if he wakes up. You need to sleep now!" .....
Muse's voice separated into several voices, and her figure multiplied, sounding and looking like an odd bunch of mirror Muses...she lifted the basket from Harmony's hands, then vanished as Harmony's hearing blurred and her vision faded to black.....

She was safe, and warm, and fed; her fears were eased, and her baby was attended to. All her cares finally released, Harmony slumped forward into a deep, fainting sleep.

Again, she dreamed; again, she knew it was a dream, knew it was something she needed to remember; but she did not know why...

A huge, pale wave rose high before her eyes... higher and higher until it crashed down on her, covering her with a fine white powder which ran and dripped like a liquid, to settle to the ground. The ground itself was this powder, a blank, empty white desert as far as the eye could see. In front of her, this whiteness rolled like an ocean, bringing white waves to a white shore, endlessly, pointlessly, again and again.

The sky was dark, and full of brilliantly blazing stars, unfamiliar stars... and beyond the pale powdery waves, a thick blackness rose, as soft as fur, and as black as the antithesis of all light.

From within that blackness, near the top, two of the stars in the sky now moved, gleamed, blinked, and became eyes, focused intensely on her...She felt a deep distrust of them, but saw no animosity or anger emanating from those eyes; only hunger.

She felt an odd pang of longing, and a powerful curiosity to see who owned those starry eyes...what that soft, luxurious blackness felt like. This creature, who was somehow king of this scene of burning stars and hard blue night, in this deathly, bone-white landscape....

Suddenly Muse stood beside her, her elf-form wobbly and indistinct, carrying something that looked like a shining spear in her hand. She saw this eye-creature, and immediately flung her weapon at it, which flew from her hand in a stream of silver light.

Harmony felt a sharp pain in her own chest as the weapon struck the creature. Light from the spear spread through the creature like a flash-flame, burning upwards and outwards, leaving a hole, a nothing, a soundless and scentless erasure of existence, and the blue stars behind it; it kept burning, burning, burning....

BURNING

Harmony smelled smoke, fire, and something else. She opened her eyes with a jerk, and felt a tiny, sharp, stinging pain on her wrist; frantically she slapped at it, and the pain eased. She lay back, her hand throbbing. She was lying on a heavy mattress, a little ways from the hearthfire, and an ember from the fire had popped out and landed on her wrist. It had been burning her, and now a raised blister marked her wrist. Harmony stroked a thread of mana in a circle around the blister, encouraging it to heal quickly away.
Looking around, she saw Muse staring at her oddly, rocking back and forth in a chair a few paces away. She was holding Kyir, who was also watching her with his dark, blue-grey baby eyes, while happily suckling on Muse's thumb. Did you see that? Harmony thought at her, picturing the dream-scape she'd seen. Muse nodded. Yes, I was there beside you, came the reply. I don't know what that was, but– it didn't want you. It wanted Kyir. It was pulling you closer, and you were pulling Kyir closer.... I felt its intent to reach him, and struck at it to drive it off. I think I may have killed it? I know you were curious... but it's probably for the best. It's gone now.
Harmony sighed and nodded. Just what she needed... another mystery.
She closed her eyes. Yes, for the best...now I'm going back to sleep, she thought.

Muse grinned. You do that. Just let me know if you need any more dream-rescues.