The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Twenty-Three

When Mother arrived, she walked through the door with Absinthe.

Morpheus stood from his seat at the table. "Hey, sin."

She came to him and gave him a hug. "You really back?" she asked then.

"Yeah."

Absinthe stepped back from Morpheus, only a slight distance. She glanced toward her sister. "Then I need to go." She looked again at Morpheus, eyes green. "I had a message from Dream. Did you leave anything?"

"A few things with Maya." He glanced toward Mother in turn. "We had dinners."

Mother just nodded, then looked at the little cassette Morpheus had left on the table.

Morpheus continued, "I left a guitar at Cafe Endless, with Jericho."

"I'll fetch it and send it back through for Laudy to give you," Absinthe promised.

"Is Jibril short handed?" Morpheus asked, slowly, wondering whether he should be suggesting this to his daughters, or if they might already know better than he.

"He just said that he wants one of us close, so if you were to come back here to stay, I should go." She put some slight emphasis on "us" that reminded Morpheus of Jibril speaking of those able to take his place.

"You saw him?" Mother asked.

"We had tea with Maeve and some others." He opened his arms so that Absinthe might embrace him again, and as she did, Morpheus whispered to her, "Keep a watch on him, and then stay away from Lethe water."

Absinthe kissed his face, then turned away to look to Mother. After a moment, in which Morpheus suspected some telepathy or whisper passed between them, Absinthe turned to look at Morpheus over her shoulder. "You'll have Laudanum with you at least until you leave on tour."

"Then, you can't come with us either?" From Morpheus' point-of-view, the mess with Amadeo was likely to end before the tour started, but he didn't really know that with certainty, and he wasn't sure if these two knew near as much as he did, now.

"Laudy's going to cover my duties," Mother said, "he's done it before."

Morpheus nodded. Sleep did have 98 other sons capable of continuing his duties, even if Laudanum was the apparent heir. With Morpheus and his mother both moving about the Empty World, Laudanum would be the most qualified to watch the mirrors. He seemed to like it, in Morpheus' opinion. But if Absinthe also wasn't returning, that meant Jibril was already concerned he'd be unfit by that time. "It keeps him awake," Morpheus said, trying not to seem too obviously lost in thought.

Absinthe left the room by the same door she'd entered, and Morpheus took a seat again.

"Hey, River," Mother said, as she looked to take a seat. "Murph any trouble?"

"Opium, don't ask him to narc- to tell you my business."

"Murph."

Morpheus looked away from her gaze. "Really, Dream already scolded me-"

"You going to tell me what actually happened before you left?"

"Like everyone didn't guess?"

"Laughter," she said, "your lyrics were a little suggestive. I was all sorts of proud when I heard it."

"How's Joy?" Morpheus asked, shifting to prop his head from the table with his left arm.

"She's all right."

"She really with Shade?"

"It's not sex. Joy hasn't done that since being turned."

"TMI," Morpheus said. Not something he'd known, but not something he needed to know. "But she must drink his blood if Athen thinks they're together. Is that good...for her?"