The Legend of the Jedi Queen

25. Dreamland

The woods were alive that night. They called to her. Whenever she could fall asleep, she had incredibly vivid dreams of entering the woods, the presence of rain by her side. Waking up was only more confusing, especially in the absence of the rainy presence.

It was the sixth time it happened when Nellith finally got out of bed. Still in a pale blue nightgown, Nellith slipped out of bed. She grabbed her brown Jedi cloak out from where it hung on the stand, and walked out to the balcony.

A cold wind blew through Nellith, and she held her robe closer around her, enjoying the warm fibers. She closed her eyes, and she could've sworn she'd heard a voice calling her. She turned back into her room, and quickly changed into warm clothes, boots, and her belt with her multi-tool and lightsaber.

She left her apartments, following the usual twist of the corridors. She was going to use one of the secret passages to get out— she simply had to get out, the wind was calling her, boiling in her blood.

She approached her favorite corridor passageway— but found that the panel was already loose. Frowning, Nellith slipped in, wondering if Tallis was there, too. She re-secured the panel before continuing into the passageway.

Instead of going the way out she'd discovered the previous week, she went up to where the tower was— the place she'd shown him. As she got closer, she could've sworn she smelled the rain again— despite that it was aggressively snowing outside.

She was almost up the metal rungs sticking out of the ladder formed from piping when she heard muttering.

Nellith covertly looked up into the small room with its peephole. She shivered— it was incredibly cold in the room, much more so at night than in the day.

Tallis was indeed up there, running his hands through his dark hair. In the moonlight, Nellith could see something new— a silver streak running through the front. He was shivering and shaking, and muttering something to himself— but Nellith couldn't quite make out what he was saying. The howling of the wind drowned out his voice.

"Tallis?" she called out as softly as she could manage, as she climbed up.

His body became stiff and rigid, and those lilac-gray eyes widened in something akin to fear.

"Nellith?" He looked around. "How long have you been here? What are you doing? It's the middle of the night!"

"I could ask the same for you," Nellith said, tilting her head to the side a little. "Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine!" the words came out in a panicked burst.

"I think we both know that's not true," Nellith said. "I want to help."

"It's alright, really," he said, smiling weakly. "Just bad dreams. Mom used to have them, too. She said everyone with the Force did."

"Not all the time," Nellith said, although she was inevitably reminded of her own dreams.

"Surely you have a few?" All traces of nervousness had been shut off so quickly, Nellith wondered if she was paranoid, if she was projecting something onto him.

"Every once in a while, but not the majority of the time," Nellith said.

"Tell me one."

"There is one, recently," Nellith admitted. "It's not really a bad dream, not always. Well, parts of it are. But sometimes parts of it change."

"Why don't you explain, it then?" He appeared to be amused by her rambling.

Nellith looked out to the snow. "It's always on a throne. I've got some drawings in my room, sketches, if you'd like to see them. But anyway, I'm always on the throne, with a tiara."

"Sounds awful," Tallis said sarcastically.

"That's not the bad part," Nellith said, swatting at him playfully. "I told you, not all of it's bad. But the part that changes is who's standing around me. Sometimes, I'm in front of a legion of storm troopers, some old man in a gold robe by my side. Sometimes I'm in front of a battlefield where people are dying. Sometimes it's my parents, dueling. One time, it was Aunt Jaina and Dad dueling. Most of the time it's all of my friends and family, and there are cheering people in front of me."

"Some of that does sound bad," Tallis admitted. "But the one you have most of the time doesn't sound too bad."

Nellith looked back to him and bit her lip.

"You're not telling me something," he inferred.

"I'm not sure you want to hear it," Nellith said. She glanced out the window again.

Tallis grabbed her hand so suddenly, she jerked it away, and looked back to him. He took it more gently again, and patted it.

"Tell me."

Later, Nellith would wonder why.

"I'm never alone," she said. "No matter what else happens, there's someone always by my side. You. But not like now. . . No matter what, you always end up wearing this spiky crown dripping in blood."

He froze, recognition in those lilac-gray eyes.

"You know," Nellith said. "You know what it means."

"No, I don't," he said quickly, letting go of her hand.

"Stop lying," Nellith ordered. Her voice was as cold and commanding as her father's.

"I don't know what you're talking about!" He started scrambling down the ladder. "Leave me alone!"

"Tallis, wait—"

But he was gone.

Nellith looked to outside, and thought she saw the snow intensify. But she couldn't be sure.