"The world I live in is called Ahala," began Ayesha as she walked back slowly with her guide towards the Fletchers' hut.
"Ahala?" said Cecil incredulously. "What an odd name!"
"Well, it is the name, at any rate. And me, I'm a... er, a royal heir of my kingdom in that world. Like..."
"A princess?" he filled in.
She nodded. "Exactly like a princess. I'm the only daughter of my father and I am to inherit the throne when I come of age. But then... I left, through this ancient portal in my land. I'd always been sure I was cursed – born cursed – because the day I was born, the royal seer had predicated a grave future for me, before she fell into a coma and died. And then, my mother died when I was three years old. And my stepmother always kept me at arm's length. I was convinced I was cursed and that's why people left me. My father, too, never seemed to be around.
"But now, after I met Ashisha, she told me I'd never been cursed. And that in fact, I have some magical power, the nature of which doesn't allow anybody to put curses on me."
Cecil was gaping at her. They had long arrived back at the hut, and had stopped in their tracks at some point, not going in. She could see the shock and fear on his face, and decided it was enough he knew about her. 'Anyway, I didn't promise to tell him everything.'
It was only when another young man popped his head out the door and greeted them did she turned to the hut. Lawrence stood there, his face moulded into a wide grin. Somehow, Ayesha felt calmer looking at him.
"Hello Lawrence," she greeted back. "How long has it been since you came?"
"Just as you two headed out," he replied. "I didn't want to disturb you."
"I wanted to have a bath after a long, long time," she told him. "I hadn't had one since I arrived here, and I suddenly realised that. Have you had any breakfast yet?"
"Yes, yes, I did. Thank you." Lawrence turned his attention to Cecil. "Hey, soldier, what's the matter?" His voice was soft as he addressed the younger man.
Cecil suddenly turned to him, startled. He seemed like he did not know what to say, so Ayesha spoke up:
"I just told him a scary story. Very, very realistic."
Lawrence didn't turn to her, but fixed his eyes on Cecil. "I see. I'm sorry to hear that. Do you want some juice I've been making?" The younger man didn't say anything. "It's cold orange juice."
At this, Cecil did look up. He blinked until he found his voice again and cleared his throat. "A glass wouldn't hurt, I suppose," he muttered.
"That's my soldier!" Lawrence grinned, leading the other man away into the kitchen.
Ayesha was left to her own devices. With a sigh of exhaustion, despite the good exercise she had just moments ago, she found herself back on her bed and drifting off to sleep...
It was the same dream over and over.
A boy sitting across from her on the bed she now slept on, his eyes shaped like almonds, but coal black rather than brown. He wore a soldier's yellow suit and shining armour, though she somehow didn't think he really was one, but a manifestation due to the dream. He held a staff beside him, one carved of wood and a blade of quick silver inserted at the top edge.
The same stare of anxiety and worry, the searching look, as if he wasn't looking at her, but through her.
When he opened his mouth, she could only imagine what he might have been saying, for no words ever made it out. Likewise, when she opened her mouth to say that she couldn't hear him, no words would come out, either.
It was the same old dream, night after night or day after day, whenever she fell asleep.
She longed to know who that man was. He looked about as old as her, if not older. His hair was silver with flecks of black streaking across it in straight lines, as though he had it painted that way. As much as she longed to know who he was, at the back of her mind, she felt that she had always known him, perhaps from another life, in another body. She took in a deep breath and let it out.
She looked around her and realised she was floating in what looked like empty sky. Black, lustreless.
Suddenly, she felt her heart stop and a bad feeling came over her. The air turned chilly and when she breathed, she could see it. The boy before her vanished like a mist dissipating and her chest hurt tremendously, like never before.
It was around this time that Ayesha awoke with a gasp.
At once, Lawrence and Cecil, who were seated about the table across from each other, talking in whispers, leapt towards her bed, hovering a few inches away from her, so she'd have space to breathe.
After a while, the older man put a hand on her back and stroked, whispering, "It's okay, it's okay. Take a deep breath and let it out. A deeeeep breath... and let it out..."
She followed his directions unconsciously and became calmer by each breath. Her eyes were no longer wide and scared, though the pain in her chest was still present, if only dull.
'That boy,' she thought, 'I've known him – seen him before! Is he from Ahala, I wonder? Oh, I wish I knew what he was saying, but it seems we cannot talk in our dreams.'
She didn't hear Cecil asking her if she had a nightmare. She didn't hear Lawrence trying to hand her a drink of water. She closed her eyes, unconsciousness clouding her again, and she fell back onto the soft mattress of the bed.
----------------------------------
Norin awoke to a voice calling his name incessantly.
The more it called his name, the more familiar it became...
He opened his eyes and saw Mithra's worried face. Two more faces hovered on her either side and he wondered if they were Cassandra and Teresa.
"Hello Mithra," he rasped, trying to get his muscles to work, but they refused. Something cracked somewhere and he groaned. "Oh, just my luck...!"
"Don't move," Teresa ordered, a worried expression clouding her pretty face. "Now that we know you're really alive, I'll work to make sure you're not infected or anything. You can explain yourself once I'm through."
With that, she set about working on him—checking his temperature, feeling his pulse, poking and prodding him to see if he hurt anywhere. Even without her poking, he could tell his chest hurt tremendously. Somewhere else hurt, too, when Teresa poked, but he couldn't think through his pain.
'That girl...' he kept telling himself over and over, 'I know she is Ayesha, the girl we've all been searching for! Ugh, if only we could talk in our dreams, I'd know exactly where she is! I know she's been trying to tell me something – that setting I see her in every time... like a hut in the middle of a forest... is she there? That hut could've been in any world, even if not ours! Oh heavens above, if only I was sure of who she was...!
'But why... why is it that I feel so empty as soon as she disappears and my chest begins to hurt so? Is this a bond? If so, then it's definitely different from my Sanguinous bond with Mithra...'
Tears trickled down Norin's cheeks as he cried helplessly. The pain in his chest wouldn't recede and he could feel his heart breaking into pieces. This had not happened the past few times when he had dreamed of her. Well, the last time, which had been the previous week, it was a bit painful, but the pain had subsided. But now, it wouldn't leave – it stayed like a branding on his heart, to remind him of the pain over and over and over –
A cool metal was pressed to his lips as a familiar soft voice whispered softly, "Drink. Not all together if you can't, but take a sip every now and then."
He realised it was Teresa, though he couldn't bring himself to look at her. Teresa, on the other hand, had held his back with one strong arm to steady him and he sat on his bed, where they had brought him the moment Mithra realised he'd slumped over in his chair in the library. She was quite handy with medical equipment and wasted no time fetching everything she needed whilst Mithra and Cassandra had brought him here, not very far away from the library.
There was a knock on the door before it opened silently, and Eura Ansari slipped in. He didn't say anything, but approached closer to Norin's bed. Norin was still sobbing helplessly from some nightmare he had, apparently, though with every sip of the water in her hands, he seemed to calm down. His ragged breaths became slower, steadier. Mithra and Cassandra stood to a side beside the bed, making way to the eura.
Eura Ansari removed the glass of water and set it aside. He put a hand gently on Norin's forehead and took a deep breath. After a moment, he exhaled as he opened his eyes. His expression clouded over as he gazed at Norin, who had become silent now, sobbing ceased.
The eura sat on the bed, on Norin's other side. "You've been dreaming of my daughter, haven't you?" he asked quietly. The boy nodded. "And she's troubled for some reason, though you cannot communicate." Another nod. "I'm sorry about that. But I hear from your friends that you're planning to make your spell to activate your device. Perhaps then, you can talk to her and understand her situation better?"
Norin now took a deep breath and finally looked up at the eura. "Yes, your majesty, that's what I intend to do." His voice came out rasped, but it felt more confident now than he looked. "I... I may have come up with one before I fell asleep. I'm sorry, I do not know how it happened." He raised his eyes to scan the room, until it fell on the youngest girl in the room. "Mithra, do you know what I was doing?"
She nodded. "You were writing on a piece of parchment. I took it along with me in case it was confidential or it flew away or something." She dug into her pocket as she made her way towards his bed. She handed him a scroll. "Here."
Norin took it with shaking hands. Teresa had her eagle eyes on him, monitoring and gauging every little action. He unrolled the parchment and held it to his eyes. Even as he peered at it closely, his eyes hurt and he couldn't read at all.
"Teresa," he rasped and she at once turned to him, "can you please read whatever is written out to me?"
The woman took the parchment cautiously and scanned it, her eyes going wide. "But this is a spell! What if I pronounce wrong? What if this is incomplete?!"
He shook his head, eyes closed and a tiny smile on his face. "Only... folks with m-magic c-c-can r-really have an e-e-effect when r-r-reading out-t-t l-l-loud. G-go on, I'm sure you don't have a drop of magical blood in you."
She took a deep breath. "Okay, that sounds good." She read out the spell. "Ring a bell?"
He nodded slowly. "Y-yes, it does. A fine bell indeed." He chuckled, despite the excruciating pain that he could still feel in his chest. "Thank you." He turned to Eura Ansari. "Your m-majesty, that spell is incomplete, but I believe once it's d-done, we – we'll be able to – to – communicate w-with your – your daughter."
The eura smiled at him. "That would be great. I'd love to speak to her again."
"Another day, easily."
"Even better."
"Rest assured, when the Blue Moon Night arrives, we'll be prepared to bring her back home!"