Fairytale?

Chapter 5- Ecosystem Under Stress

With your brown eyes bright and clear.
And your sweet voice, like a bird
Singing love to its lone mate
In the ivy bower disconsolate;
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(warning: sexual content)
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The months turned from February to March to April to May, and people all over England thanked whichever deity they worshipped, as the winter began to thaw to warmth.
Only slightly, though. It was still very dangerous to go out without wearing a thick coat or sweater- unless, of course, one wanted to die of hypothermia.

The final rugby game of the season happened in the third week of April, and Hendon House pulled a narrow win in the game, which meant that they were the season's winning team. There had been other games, too, in the months that passed, and they had won some, and lost others- but, overall, their victories outweighed their defeats.

Even the defeats did not diminish morale, though, as much as it used to.

The team had found quite a joyous method of therapy- making fun or staring in awe of Edmund's striking hickeys. They were usually found in twos or threes over his throat and neck and shoulder and collarbone, nearly every day- courtesy of Miss Sanya Rainsford.

Sanya, for her part, was sent to the Headmistress's office thirty-one more times- and, at the end of her last visit, Headmistress Graybow had congratulated her for 'finally starting to calm down'.
Previously, the thirty-one visits would've happened in just one month, as opposed to being spread out over four.

It wasn't that Sanya was 'starting to calm down', or because she had grown a newfound respect for the school- both those things were quite unlikely to ever happen.

It was just that she had finally let herself daydream.

In the past year and a half in England, she had been determinedly on her guard, as though this place was just an extension of the Forest of the Gods she had been lost in. She had tried to keep her feet planted on this earth, and not let her mind wander away to the skies of other worlds- she was constantly vigilant, because what if? What if something bad happened?

But now- more often than not, she would be lost in dreams, without being asleep- her leg would bounce under her desk, her eyes glazed over as she lightly tapped her hand over the love-bite Edmund had given just above her breast- and she would think rapturously of a milieu that made her heart glow.

Sometimes, she would think of being a mermaid, with gleaming scales and the Ocean a vast playground for her to explore.
Sometimes, she would think of flying up to the stars, like in Peter Pan, and gliding around the cosmos.
Sometimes, she would think of being transported back in time, and finding herself in some Austen novel, or Marlowe play, or the setting of a Van Gogh painting.

But, more often than not, she dreamed of her family.

Those dreams were of her old life, but of events that had never happened.

Building sandcastles with Sameer on the Cair Paravel beach- horse rides through the woods of Veersa Baagh with her parents- picnics with Jem and Selene and Seraphina, constantly up to no good, with Edmund chasing after the three while she lay on the picnic-blanket and laughed at them.
She dreamed of moving to Rihaaya with Edmund, and of him wandering around the gardens in Azraq, soaking in the warmth of the sun. She dreamed of making love with him every night, everywhere, because he was there and he was with her, and that meant they wanted to be as close to each other as possible, as much as was possible.

She slept badly most of the time- but even if she slept well, she had dreams, and those dreams were nightmares- they always were.
But her waking dreams- they were happy. Though they ended up making her feel sad- feel grief- the dreams, inherently, were happy.