Morpheus returned from his time in the mirage to find his mother in her den at the top of the tower. She was nodding toward certain mirrors, as Morpheus arrived, as if counting or making mental notes.
She must have sensed his presence, for Mother looked immediately towards Morpheus. "Something is wrong." It was not a question.
"Opium!" Morpheus flopped onto her couch.
"What's the matter?" Her voice grew shrill, and she took a breath before continuing at a whisper. "Murph?"
"I...want."
"Oh, Murphy, I'm so sorry."
Mother helped Morpheus from the couch and walked him down the hall to his own room. The slight pressure of her supportive hands was comforting, but it didn't remove his longing. For the first time, Morpheus understood "The Empty World" as a truly meaningful name. It was like he held the Void inside him, like his heartstrings had been plucked, had sung, and were now broken.
Mother stopped near the futon and Morpheus let himself drop. This was how those heroines in so many Disney movies ended up: crying in the garden or on their bed. If someone tried to turn this wretched feeling into a song, Morpheus would surely throw the nearest object at them.
"Do you—?" Mother started again. "Should we talk about it, or something?"
"I don't know."
Mother sat at the edge of the mattress. "When your father and I first conceived—"
"Mom!"
She went on talking. "It's natural. Whether we spring from someone's body or mind, we're all conceived at some point. And when we first had the idea of you and Maya, even Gabriel couldn't tell us precisely what your nature would be."
Morpheus said nothing.
"We didn't know how your Human part might show itself. Maybe, I let myself hope your being three-quarters Angel would make things easier. But I didn't know."
Morpheus didn't feel any better knowing Mother assumed her Human half must be at fault. He didn't even know if he agreed. Was she saying his feelings were mere products of some phase of development Angels didn't suffer? That his feelings couldn't be real?
Morpheus didn't feel well enough to offer argument or comfort, so, again, he said nothing.
Eventually, Mother left him alone in his room. Morpheus couldn't bear to go to sleep and risk facing his father, so he just lay awake, thinking.
Later, Maya arrived.
She appeared without any illusion or glamour, the same dark hair, deep blue coloring, and pairs of arms as Morpheus remembered, but now wearing a sari. Maya laid herself beside him and they lay on the futon together in silence for some while.
"You know, if there's anything you want, I could make it seem to be here."
Morpheus lifted his gaze to Maya, his cheek sliding over the mattress. "No. Promise you won't?"
Maya's right hands caressed his face and wing. "Do you want to tell me what it is? Did someone hurt you?"
"There was someone," Morpheus admitted. "I had him. I may have him in the future. I do not have him now."
Maya smiled. "And if there were a way to see him? Would that be any better?"
"Like Mother's mirrors?"
Maya pushed herself up from the bed. "Do you wish to find this person in her mirrors?"
"No. Not really. Then where?"
"I also learned things, while you were away." Maya folded one set of arms across her chest. "I know how to construct and focus a scrying pool."
Morpheus rose. "Show me."
Maya showed him. Most of the necessary items could be found about the tower, the most important of which was a reflective surface. A re-purposed vanity mirror formed the base of the scrying device, with a quantity of water, oil, salt, and ash used in preparation, along with a few amulets. Maya guided Morpheus through activation of the looking glass with various spoken spells and prayers. The final step was focusing.
"It may not work at first," she said, "you need to have a clear concept of who or what you are trying to find."
Morpheus thought of Julien. He pictured in his mind how Julien looked when he was happy. He then touched the edge of the mirror's frame and gazed into the layers of blessed water and glass. A picture began to form, at first a blur of color and shape, and gradually gained detail.
"That's a strong connection."
The scrying glass showed a young man standing near an evergreen tree, inside a room with floral-print furnishings. He was draping shiny threads on the branches.
"He looks different."
"Maybe you didn't focus properly."
"That's Julien. Just—" It took Morpheus a moment to realize what. "Before." Long before Julien had entered the mirage. Before he'd met Morpheus elsewhen. Before he'd become a Vampyre.
Julien was Human.
Morpheus was so intent on watching young Julien he barely noticed Maya leaving his room or the several times Mother came to look in on him. He sat on the floor of his room scrying at the glass uncaring how much time passed. In truth, time didn't pass at all in the Night Regions, at least not in the sense that it did in the Empty World. There were no cycles of day or night or seasons.
Morpheus watched the way he might episodes of an anime series, back to back, one after the other.
He binged Julien's life, aware only of time passing within the glass.
Morpheus had a vague sense of raised voices in the hall outside his room. A stronger presence came and went. Had Sleep visited the tower? Morpheus didn't really care.
He only noticed when Mother put herself in front of his looking glass. "You need to stop."
"I just want to see him."
"Yes, but watching like this, when it's not your task, isn't helpful to anyone. I know your heart is hurting—"
"You don't know!"
Mother's eyes looked directly at Morpheus. "I know. Do you believe you are the only one to ever suffer longing or heartache?"
He shrugged. "It's not usual. Not here."
"You're neither a resident of the Forbidden City or Los Angeles. Here, or in the Empty World, even Angels—"
"Fallen ones!"
"Morpheus." Mother fixed him with a glare and put her hands to his arms. "You know better. Feeling deeply and with empathy isn't the same as acting on those feelings. Murph...."
Mother was saying his binge watching wasn't a healthy expression of his longing. Morpheus bowed his head. Eyes closed, he waved his hand over the glass to disperse the image. "Forgive me."
"Always."
Morpheus opened his eyes; Mother was holding his guitar case. "Have you been playing?"
"Not since I came back."
"You don't like it?"
That wasn't it. "I like guitar better than lyre. I just don't feel like music right now."
"It helps me, sometimes, to put how I feel to words or music."
Morpheus shrugged.
"Sigh." Mother said the word. She stood beside his futon overlooking the clutter of his room. Mother bent and prodded one of the glass bottles lying atop the sheets so that it clinked against the one beside it. "How long have the Djinn been bottled?"
"They're safe."
Mother stepped over the corner of the futon to reach the shelves. Her hand clearly moved towards a purple flower. Morpheus winked across the room, teleporting from the floor, through the Void, and back into his room to stand near the shelves. He stayed his mother's hand.
She looked up at Morpheus. "Hyacinth looks a little glum. I'm worried about him."
Morpheus pressed his lips together in a frown. "I'll take them all out and feed them. Find some birds."
"My father has some in the Cave of Bird-Eating Spiders." Mother paused just a moment before adding, Maybe walk there."
Morpheus quizzed at his mother, brows raised.
"Laughter. I know. I know. But, it's good for the spirit to get out once in a while."
"Better to see the scenery."
Morpheus packed his bottled Djinn and potted plants in a spare box and set off to get some birds.
He went down the back stairs into the maze.
The front doors exited onto the crossroads of Limbo, where sky and ground faded into each other in an orangey haze. It was the edge of the Night Regions or the center, entrance and exit.
Beyond Limbo, the sky was twilight violet lit by the silvery radiance of the Forbidden City above. Shadows shifted as mountain, hills, rivers, lakes, and the lower City of the Angels rolled slowly against the horizon.
Morpheus followed the road of yellow brick into Sleep. The path passed through the quiet, grassy region where fluffy, white sheep grazed and the wind whispered lullabies.
Grasses gave way to flowers and souls strayed from the path to fall asleep among poppies.
The shadow of the Cimmerian mountain, Nightfall, came over Morpheus, now a long range encircling the regions.
In the depth of the mountain's shade, a small facade was carved in the rock: his father's house. The many eyes of his brothers watched from the windows. Morpheus passed by, knowing he would find no birds there, though their plumage provided many a decoration or pillow stuffing.
Morpheus listened; above the low churning of the ever-shifting terrain, a bubbling came from further along the path, in the direction of one of the low, rounded hills. Elsewhere was the edge of a field of amber grain partially obscured by the rocky foothills of Nightfall, and from another direction a warm breeze perfumed with roses.
He followed the sound of running water and soon came to the River Lethe, where clear water murmured over polished green stone.
Morpheus stopped before the river. If he drank of the Lethe's water, he could forget. He wouldn't want for someone he couldn't remember. He knelt along the bank, setting his box to one side.
A loud splash drew his attention. Morpheus noticed nothing out of place along the Lethe, neither upstream or downstream, but across the river, on higher ground, he could see the trumpet-shaped blooms of narcissi swaying on their stems, though he no longer felt a breeze. Something or someone had fallen into the pond over there.
Morpheus looked down at the water below him. He couldn't let himself fall in. He couldn't drink. This want: it hurt. But he needed to remember. There was something Julien had made him promise not to forget.
"It gets better," Morpheus voiced the words aloud. He supposed, now, Julien would have agreed with Mother. Sitting alone in his room before a scrying glass wasn't the best use of the life or abilities Morpheus possessed.
He pushed himself up from the bank, took up his boxed collection, stood straight, and spread his wings.
Across the Lethe, in the face of the hillside, there was a hole. Just inside, some small white animal peered out at Morpheus then darted away.
Morpheus flew over the river and alighted on the narrow bank before the rabbit hole. He folded his wings pushed his box before him and ducked inside.
He was then within the borders of the Region of Dream, in the Cave of the Allegory, where pools of water collected on both floor and ceiling. Priapic stalagmites with phosphorescent veins cast strange shadows on rippling, mineral-stained walls.
Morpheus sought the Cave of Bird-Eating Spiders, which inherited memory indicated should lie in one of the cavernous areas of Dream.
He navigated past pools, chasms, and oubliettes.
Morpheus then came upon a door.
On the other side, Morpheus found a section of labyrinth constructed of masonry walls. Along a path paved in pale stones, a boy stooped as he spoke to several gray kittens.
"Daniel has a name now. Will cats help Daniel?"
"Hello," called Morpheus.
The boy turned about, crouched and leaning on hands and feet, and looked up at Morpheus. He had tawny skin, cheekbones rivaling those of these cats, and sleek auburn hair. Though his form appeared adult, he was unmistakably a child in spirit. And he likely was some form of spirit, as he appeared solid here, rather than translucent as visiting dreamers and sleepers did.
"Hello boy with wings. Daniel is looking for Dream." It sounded nearly American, but it might have been a form of Angel Speech.
"Nice to meet you, Daniel. I'm Morpheus. You are in Dream, now, but if you need the Regent, I can help you find him."
The boy rose with a twisting motion and smiled wide.
Morpheus continued along the paved walkway, and Daniel skipped after him. As they came to forking paths in the labyrinth, Morpheus took the way that was darker and edged with spiderwebs.
"Daniel has a name now," said Daniel.
"So I overheard."
"Joy gives name to Daniel. Joy is mother. Joy tells Daniel find Dream, tell them Daniel."
There was that name again: Joy. Steven's neighbor who died in Manhattan, a soul linked to Dream, someone known to Julien, Daniel's mother.
There hadn't been any sign of children in Joy's apartment, and Morpheus was nearly certain she couldn't have had children after receiving the blood. Had she born children in previous lifetimes?
"You're one of the Neverborn, aren't you?"
"Yes. Daniel Never! Daniel Never Fortnight is Daniel's name. Daniel is missing warm place, but Joy says no, go to Dream now."
"I've never met one of the Neverborn before. I thought you'd be smaller."
"Daniel is small and Joy says no, look as Daniel is big."
Morpheus swatted at webs and pale roots overhead and almost missed the pool of water at their feet. "Watch the water."
Daniel stopped and stared into the pool.
Morpheus laughed. "No, I mean you have to look out for the pools, so you know where they are. Waters here..." It was difficult to put into words. "You could step into someone else's dream."
"Daniel falls into pools." Daniel hopped over the water.
"If your mother sent you, I suppose Jibril will let you stay. Though..."
Daniel gasped and ran forward. "A cat!"
This cat looked back at them with blue eyes, then ran off into a cobweb-draped tunnel.
"It's hard to tell with cats, but most of the spiders are white, so we're near the Heart of the Allegory. We must have just skirted the labyrinth."
Water dripped from above, along the roots and webs, decorating the cavern in glittering droplets. Spiders worked the webs, only a few dark in color now, passing drops of water from leg to leg and strand to strand, each the seed of someone's dream.
As the chamber widened, there were snakes pure white and slithering on the floor. Pale fruit hanging, from strange white trees in the mud of the floor. A small white rabbit twitched its nose as it sat beside a misty, mirror-smooth pool.
As Morpheus neared the pool, Jibril rose from the hammock just the other side. He was camouflaged against it, pale in color and dressed in gauzy clothes. His powder-blue hair and wings were covered in shreds of old spider silk.
"Hello Morpheus."
"Grandfather Jibril."
Jibril shifted his all-colored eyes to Daniel. "Daniel Never Fortnight. Don't be afraid. I knew you would come and you're welcome here."
Daniel stepped forward, face turning from Jibril to the rabbit. "May Daniel touch the rabbit?"
"If Dodgson lets you."
Daniel darted towards the pool, but the white rabbit hopped away.
Jibril looked bemused with this. "I can have Penelope find a room for you," he said, gesturing towards that blue-eyed cat resting in the hammock. "But, you do not seem to have need for an enclosure. Perhaps it is better I grant you the ability to find your way. Then all the Allegory will be your home."
"Yes. Daniel likes Dream."
Jibril turned to address the cat. "Penelope, arrange for Daniel to know his way through The Allegory. Let all who live within our region know that he is not to be harmed or led astray. And I think some butterflies are also in order. Violet to match his eyes."
Penelope leapt to the floor, landing on four feet. She walked to Daniel and nudged his leg with her body. "Come along, Daniel Never," she said with a vaguely English accent.
Daniel followed Penelope from the chamber.
Jibril looked then to Morpheus. "Set your pets down, I'll have Alexandra feed them."
Morpheus set the box near the pool, where a large, shiny, black spider descended on a silken thread. She was the only one of her color present, the others so pale as to be translucent and hidden against the webs they tended.
"You are not alone."
Morpheus nodded. "Yes, Jibril."
Even if he hadn't felt it, Morpheus had known it. Jibril was his grandfather, and Opium and Absinthe his daughters were each only half Angel. Obviously, Jibril knew what it meant to have a relationship with one from the Empty World. Metro was here, in the Night Regions, but it seemed likely Opium's mother, like Julien, might live still, in the Empty World.
"I can't remove your pain. It doesn't work that way. But if your life is full, this one pain will seem less by comparison. Love is important, but it alone doesn't make a life."
"I know." The knowledge didn't keep him from being affected by longing.
"I wish to give you something," Jibril said. "I owe you a gift."
From the Introduction. Morpheus also remembered Jibril's curious statement that the Introduction would not be ended until he presented his gift.
"But my Introduction must have ended. Absinthe and Laudanum took me away to be educated. I spent years in the Empty World. Maya has already been studying in my absence."
"Is that all so?"
Morpheus squinted at Jibril. This had to be a test, but Morpheus wasn't sure what the right answer might be.
"I don't know. I assumed Absinthe and Laudanum were my mentors, but Laudanum claimed only to facilitate. I did find instruction from Raphael, Gabriel, and yourself." Morpheus paused a moment. There was that other thing Gabriel, Raphael, and Jibril had in common. "But, the usual way is to find a mentor after one's Introduction. Isn't it?"
Jibril smiled. "Usual is not only. My gift to you is an opportunity. The possibility for a learning partnership, if you are willing." Jibril waved his hand over the surface of the scrying pool and an image resolved.
Morpheus leaned over the pool; he could see an image of humanoid figures. He could not say if they were in a transit station or a professional office, but they were clearly in a waiting room. Some of the souls milled about while others sat on benches or in chairs.
"They have unfinished business. When there are openings available, they may be shown to new bodies."
"Reincarnation."
"Precisely. Your sister is assisting Gabriel with the work."
"Maya's learned some new things."
"As have you, Morpheus."
"Maybe too much." He sighed.
"Yet you obviously resisted the Lethe water."
"Do you know?" Morpheus asked.
Jibril nodded. "I have some idea how you feel. You realize, I hope, it would have been foolish for me to allow you to operate a mirage for the first time without some means of observing."
Morpheus had figured as much and shrugged.
"It is possible the incident that brought Julien to your mirage was orchestrated."
Morpheus cringed; his want for Julien mixed with sorrow for those lives lost in the crash.
"If you're Human enough to experience such want, then you're being watched by certain members of the family."
Morpheus understood. If Morpheus slept, his father knew. If he dreamt, Jibril knew. If he experienced love or desire, someone knew.
"The Amber Palace." Morpheus had not knowingly visited, but the Palace was where the Regent of Love dwelled.
"Yes, but it can't be helped. Trust they're doing their duty."
"Yes. Of course." But the fact that Jibril had mentioned trusting them made Morpheus suspicious.
"The family is here, but our duties must be our priority. You have no shortage of teachers in that respect. But we are not well equipped to offer a Human perspective. Your mother does better than most."
Morpheus nodded.
"So, I offer a chance for a partnership." Jibril gestured to the waiting room displayed in his scrying pool. "Gabriel believes this group may suit you."
Morpheus looked into the eyes of one soul and then another. "They share a cause of death."
"Yes."
"How would we do it?"
"For our purposes, the soul may not have a body like they had in the Empty World."
"Like with Penelope or Dodgson."
Jibril gave a nod.
Morpheus looked into the waiting room. How would he choose? Should he sense something? "Do they also have a choice?"
"This is their choice, but their reasons and terms are their own, between the soul and Gabriel."
Morpheus sensed no portent, so finally he pointed to the soul that seemed the most handsome to him.
"Choose his form. He could be a raven if you like; I wouldn't mind."
Morpheus shook his head. A raven didn't seem very him, neither did a cat or a spider for that matter. His brother Icelos had a snake, but Morpheus felt uncomfortable around them.
"A lizard." Morpheus extended his hand over the pool and concentrated on forming a small body out of the substance of his outermost layer of flesh. The exostructure of his hand shifted as he spoke the words to aid his focus: "A cute, small, green lizard; he fits in my hand."
"Now call his soul," Jibril whispered.
Morpheus looked past the watery image into the soul's eyes. They had a kind of communion in that moment and Morpheus called for the soul to enter the body he'd made.
The lizard's scales moved with a first breath. He turned about; his small feet with long toes and claws clung to the sleeve Morpheus had formed. A long, thin tongue flicked from his mouth. He looked at Morpheus with dark green eyes. He was not like any particular lizard species, but he was everything Morpheus imagined a lizard to be.
"Hi. I'm Morpheus."
"River."
"We're to be partners of a sort."
"Someone explained the deal to me," River said.
Morpheus looked up to Jibril.
"I will leave you to become acquainted. Gabriel will have given River a dose of Lethe water, so details of his past life will be fuzzy, but he knows who he is as a person."
"So, now we just...?"
"Figure it out." Jibril began to walk away. "River has none of your native information about the Night Regions."
Morpheus sighed.
River climbed up his arm onto his shoulder. "Listen, I'll just kinda hang back here."
"Thanks," Morpheus said. "Don't worry about climbing on me, really. I regenerate pretty quickly, and if my exostructure gets damaged I can shed pieces."
"Cool. Do I do that?"
"You molt and can regenerate some parts."
"OK."
Morpheus wasn't sure how to treat a partner small enough to ride on his shoulder. Should he announce actions he planned to take, or wait for River to ask questions? "I have some other companions. Not like you, but they are waiting for me—for us."
"Let's go."
Morpheus found Alexandra in one of the nearby cavernous chambers where she watched over his collection. A couple of dead, bloodied birds lay in the box amongst the plant pots and decorative glass bottles.
"I fed the flowers," Alexandra told him; she sounded Greek to Morpheus, "but I did not release your Djinn."
"I'll take care of them. Thanks." Morpheus unstoppered the pair of bottles and the Djinn emanated in smoky spirals.
"What happened to the birds?" Nictitating membranes swiped across River's eyes. "And why do the walls move?"
"I killed them," said Alexandra, rising on her spider thread.
Morpheus whispered, "I'm sure Alexandra said the appropriate blessing. We're in the antechamber to The Cave of Bird-Eating Spiders, which occasionally becomes The Cave of Bird Eating Spiders."
"So not South America."
"Far from it, on the fringes of Nightmare. You should hide in a pocket." With a moment's concentration, Morpheus gave the tee formed by his exostructure a left breast-pocket.
The Djinn hovered over the birds in cloud-like form, drawing blood from the carcasses into their vaporous bodies.
River scurried into the newly-formed pocket. "Do the genies have to do that?"
Morpheus nodded. "Blood is among traditional currencies in spirit pacts."
The Djinn assumed humanoid forms, appearing like the actresses wearing near-eastern garments, Hepburn more modest in dress while Loren's clothing bared a slice of midriff and much of her arms and back.
Hepburn made a sign with fingertips to mouth.
"No. River doesn't seem to be a haematophage. I'm sure we can find him food in one of the labyrinth's walled gardens, or the meadows of Sleep."
"Soul city?" Loren asked.
"I'm sure they have every kind of food in Los Angeles."
"LA?" River peered out from his pocket.
"Not the one you may know," Morpheus told him, "The City of the Angels—though resident souls outnumber Angels—is the city all Earthly cities reflect. It's just across the river from Limbo, so we can have a look on the way home."
"In Limbo?"
"Technically it's an enclave surrounded by Limbo. Looks like some ominous, towering villain lair or a prison for a princess, but my mother's not anyone's overlord or damsel."
They headed home, with Loren carrying the box of plants and birds while Hepburn carried the bottles.
As they walked the path through Sleep, Absinthe and Laudanum came out from Sleep's house. Laudanum walked, while Absinthe skipped over the poppies.
"Oh, Murph, we heard you've been glum. Poor dear." Absinthe draped her arms about Morpheus; River climbed from the pocket to avoid their press.
"You've got something just there." Laudanum pointed.
"His name is River." Morpheus gestured towards the two Halfangels. "Absinthe and Laudanum. They're family."
"River's a pretty name, and such a pretty color."
Laudanum giggled.
"We're going home with you, Murph," Absinthe announced.
They continued, walking within view of the Styx and Los Angeles with its gleaming bridge and brightly painted reliefs along its retaining walls, and soon reached the tower.
They went together through the tower's maze. Absinthe turned green along the way, grasping at Laudanum's chiton. Green tendrils sprouted from her back and clung to each other to form web-like wings.
They entered the den through its front entrance, rather than the back-stairwell Morpheus often used.
Mother lay back on one of the couches eating potato chips. Absinthe flopped onto the couch and kissed Mother's face.
"Get off, you goof!"
"They're sisters. Half-sisters," Morpheus whispered to River.
Morpheus continued into the back hall to his bedroom, Laudanum walking at his side, and the Djinn just behind.
"This is my room." Morpheus stepped over a toppled pile of comic books. "It's always messy like this. It's a bad habit; I collect those, too."
Hepburn carefully placed the bottles on the shelf, while Loren set the box on the floor.
Laudanum stooped and stroked one of Hyacinth's petals.
"Stop that!" Morpheus moved Hyacinth from the box and lifted him to the shelf. "Everyone does that!"
"What? Pet Hyacinth?" Laudanum sat down at the edge of the futon. "He's a plant. Besides, Hyacinth liked everyone."
"But he didn't." Morpheus shifted his weight to one side.
"Ah. Well, he was Lacedaemonian, from Sparta. The boys are trained separately from the girls from an early age. It was normal for young men to look up to their teachers yet marry when older. Wasn't it?"
Morpheus couldn't help but laugh. "Laudy. He had a preference."
Laudanum shrugged. "I thought he had, yet didn't think it proper to say so, without him telling me."
Morpheus sat beside his brother on the end of the mattress. "I have a preference."
"You have been moping over a man-pire." Laudanum smirked as he gave Morpheus a sidewise glance.
Morpheus shook with laughter. River ran along his arm onto his left knee.
They sat in near silence for a moment.
"Not just about who I like, though I'm pretty sure about that since my time in the mirage."
"Murph, I don't know the right thing to say."
The others seemed similarly hesitant. Perched still upon a knee, River cocked his head at Morpheus. The Djinn were yet in humanoid forms, apparently seated atop the old storage chest. Hepburn seemed to watch Morpheus, while Loren was beside her gesturing to get Hepburn's attention.
"You don't have to say anything. I only mean to tell you, so that you don't have to quietly guess. I've started to find a preference for male forms. It's not like I deny I am...fluid. I do not lack..." Morpheus hesitated, seeking the correct word. "philautia."
Laudanum giggled.
Morpheus shoved at his brother's arm.
Laudanum lifted a hand to rub his arm. "I understand. You're 'he' except those few times you're not, and now you prefer male form though you may manifest otherwise."
As if to prove a point, Morpheus willed himself to shift to his most female form. She was then female inside and out; a little smaller, face and body a little less angular, hair black and eyes midnight-blue, but still Morpheus.
"This is new," said River.
"She does this sometimes," Laudanum told him.
"Master of forms." Morpheus tipped sideways and lay her head upon Laudanum's shoulder. "I do not dislike this one. But, the empathic instinct to shift to the form that makes others comfortable can be a drag."
River's small body shook with laughter, though he barely made a sound.
"I can only imagine," Laudanum said, "I was born this way, but I barely use the parts I have."
"You just like to cuddle." Morpheus lifted her right hand to the crook of Laudanum's arm.
Morpheus sensed presences just as she heard the knock on the door frame. Absinthe and Mother were both there, but Absinthe entered without waiting for invitation and came right to the bed.
"Laudy! I thought we were supposed to be cheering him up."
Laudanum gave a start, accidentally bumping Morpheus in the wing. "Sin, I—" He coughed, having dislodged a cloud of sleep from the black feathers.
"I'm fine," Morpheus said, "Really. We had a brotherly talk. Now, I'm trying this."
"...Never answered my first question." Laudanum's head nodded heavily.
"Just in time for a visit from Auntie." Absinthe pushed Laudanum's drowsy body aside to sit near Morpheus.
"That is so funny to me right now," Morpheus deadpanned.
Mother walked to the foot of the bed and crouched near Morpheus. Her smile was tight. "Murph. You didn't tell me Jibril let you have a soul."
"Let. It was worded as a gifted opportunity, but it was already arranged, like maybe it was a strongly recommended assignment." Morpheus glanced to River, still on her knee. "Not that I wasn't honored."
"I was offered a chance I accepted, same as you."
Morpheus smiled. "Thanks, River. This is my mother. Her name's Opium."
River made a bow with one clawed hand touched to the paler green scales along his underside. "I'm sensing a pattern."
"Humans name the drugs after us." Morpheus sighed. "It's not that we endorse them, though it is fair to say there is something like an affinity."
"I'm sure your grandfather has faith the opportunity will benefit you both." Mother looked down towards River.
Morpheus wasn't sure how good an idea it was to let Mother catch the gaze of someone whose past life had been veiled by a dose of Lethe water. "Opium, should I mention that I discovered a boy on my way to see Jibril? His name is Daniel Never."
Mother lifted her eyes to Morpheus. "Daniel, huh? I bet he's happy about that one." Her tone indicated the opposite were true.
Morpheus shrugged. "He seemed to expect him, but Grandfather's a Prince of the Hashmallim, he must view time even more clearly than I can."
Mother made a gesture for Absinthe to move, and as her sister moved she took her place at the edge of the futon. She reached to Morpheus to touch her hair. "The important thing is you're feeling better."
"I am."
"I realize we're not the most normal." Mother moved her hand across the space between them. "I never had a baby to hold like Humans do. When they told me Angelic offspring are educated by mentors, I let you go."
"Mom."
"You know we are here for you, your father and I, should you need us...for any reason at all."
Morpheus laughed, recognizing the last as a quote. "I need you," she said, "but sometimes it's easier to talk to someone else. I know you'll hear everything, eventually, whether I tell you or not."
Mother smiled. "Fair enough. I've left mice watching my mirrors, so I'll leave you to talk."
"So, what are we really talking about?" Absinthe asked as soon as Mother had left.
Morpheus glanced to Laudanum, asleep on the futon. She lifted River from her knee and placed him gently atop the comics. Morpheus reclined near Absinthe then.
"There's something I haven't told Maya or Laudanum, yet."
"Is it secret?" Absinthe asked, "I don't know how well I keep those."
"Use your discretion," Morpheus said, knowing full well Absinthe had little.
Absinthe wagged her feathery brows.
"Julien."
"Your Vampyre gentleman."
"Don't know if I'd say that, but, he seemed to hint that my body had changed by his time."
Absinthe rolled her eyes upward, as if expecting an answer from above. "Your body changes several times a day."
"Sin! Sin. My native form that returns when I don't consciously hold any other. He was careful, and I tried only to take the thoughts I needed, but I think I changed—will change."
Absinthe wrinkled her nose. "What? Like puberty? Laudy and I had that. Not fun. Afterward is OK, though."
Morpheus drew herself up to sit straight then released the focus that had been keeping her female form, and shifted instead to the body he would have in the future. Here, Morpheus decided he didn't need his shirt, because it showed his tattoo better, but he kept a pair of black leggings and his boots.
Absinthe took a moment to look and then she grinned at him.
"Don't say—"
She showed her palms in surrender. "I won't. You know we love our winged daimon in black, but some sharpness and definition looks good on you."
"I do kinda love it!" Morpheus confessed. This form just felt good.
"Murph, why have you been extra glum lately, scrying hopelessly, if you knew this? If you know there's a hopeful future?"
Morpheus sighed. "The amount of regret and sorrow Julien expressed: I got the impression that this doesn't happen for some time. I must go back to the Empty World and meet him, again. Even then, it sounded like we knew each other without being together, or at least not in a close or exclusive way."
"Listen, Boss, you need to find your own interests in the meantime."
"River." Morpheus scooped his small partner away from the comic books. "I'm not your boss. But, it seems good advice. Jibril said nearly the same thing."
"He's your grandfather and he sees more. Maybe he understands that you're missing your gay Vampyre boyfriend from the future, but maybe you're a little...well...not lacking self-esteem, but feeling self-conscious about how it will be you end up together?"
Morpheus blinked to clear tears that welled in his eyes. "Yes!" He looked to Absinthe and then back to River. "Julien was so perfectly understanding and accepting of everything that it was almost scary. And at the same time, so absolutely apologetic that I knew he hadn't always been so with me. And I think: somehow, for some reason, I put myself through that..."
"River and Jibril are right," Absinthe said, laying a warm hand to his bare shoulder. "Whatever happens with Julien is only one part of your life. There must be other things you do meanwhile. You will not be alone. Like Opium said, we're all here for you. We'll probably have whole adventures Julien doesn't even know about."
Morpheus flopped back on his bed, landing half atop Laudanum, who coughed and stirred beneath him. "It feels better to—" Morpheus felt Laudanum's arm wrap around his neck.
"You must train beside me for war, Little Brother!" Laudanum attempted a Doric accent.
Morpheus managed a rasp, "You're the furthest thing from warrior."
"True." Laudanum's headlock shifted to a mere companionable embrace.
Morpheus pushed himself up. "River?" He sought for his partner amid the folds of the tousled bedclothes.
"Here." River sat safe atop a Robotech VHS tape. "I knew he was playing."
Morpheus smiled. "I'm sure you would have defended me, if not."
"He'll have a chance." Mother spoke even before Morpheus was aware of her presence.
Morpheus looked up to see his mother again in the doorway.
"I just got word from Jibril. You're to come with me, Murph."
"Where?"
"New York."
"The Empty World?"
"Yes. Jibril's decided." Her head bowed slightly. "Since we took action on Joy's behalf, we bear a certain responsibility for what comes of that."
"I hear her name so often," said Morpheus.
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Image media (top) is an oekaki sketch of Morpheus by the author.
Audio/video media (top) is "All Cats are Grey" by The Cure.
mid-chapter image is an edited detail from Boy Bitten By a Lizard by Caravaggio, circa 1595, original painting in the public domain.