Sancha: A Spirit Animals Story

Chapter 11: Hope from the Sea

"Tell me what you dreamt."

It was late morning, the sun streaming clear from the cloudless sky through the window of Lenori's office. Sancha sat in a comfortable cloth chair the color of the sea, dressed in the same sort of brown leathers she'd been wearing since she'd come to Greenhaven. Across from her on a low wooden stool sat Lenori, feathers woven in her hair, no shoes on her feet as was her custom. 

"So, it does mean something?" the exhausted girl asked. 

"It might. That's why I'm hoping you'll tell me what happened," Lenori said, ever calm and at ease. It worked. Sancha did feel more comfortable with Lenori than with other prominent Greencloaks. She wasn't sure if this calm was Lenori's deliberate doing by means of her bond with her rainbow ibis or if the woman was simply inviting without meaning to, but Sancha chose not to wonder about it too much. Lenori had been nothing but kind to her since she arrived. Greencloak she might be, but she was also someone who had a say in Sancha's welfare at Greenhaven. To get on her bad side didn't seem like a smart idea.

Sancha, after a moment, told Lenori everything she could recall, with surprising detail, of the dream she'd had the previous night. When she'd finished, she saw that Lenori seemed to be pondering something, her mouth pressed in a slight frown, her brow crinkling in thought.

"Are you sure you've never seen this girl before?" Lenori asked.

"Positive," Sancha asserted. 

"Could you sketch her from memory?"

"I remember what she looks like exactly," Sancha said, "but my drawing skills are horrendous at best. My handwriting's not much better either."

"You speak well though," Lenori complimented. "Often those who struggle to write clearly are those who express themselves the best in conversation."

Sancha wasn't sure what to say. Sure, she had a good vocabulary thanks to her fairly rigorous education as a princess in Stetriol. Eloquence was a must for someone of Sancha's station, as was precision, including in language. At this point, it had become so natural for her to speak like that that almost never noticed how different it was from other people. 

"Umm...thanks?"

"You're welcome. On the subject of the dream," Lenori said, veering back to the earlier conversation, "the seal who brought you to the island. Are you certain it was your spirit animal."

"They were identical. Same spot patterns and all."

"Tarik tells me you've resisted bonding further with your partner. I know your history with the bonding sickness, and I'm in no way pushing you to do things you aren't yet ready for, but I will say this. Perhaps this dream is a sign."

"A sign...what of?"

"You carry many burdens, Sancha. They hold you back. You can let them be your jailers or you can free yourself. Perhaps the first step to that would be to approach your spirit animal. Aspects of your dream may become clearer once you do."

"By now, she probably doesn't want anything to do with me," Sancha said, defeated. 

"The events of your dream beg to differ," Lenori argued calmly. "She sought you out and only after you accepted her help were able to reach the island."

"But that was in a dream. It wasn't actually her."

"Bonds between human and animal partners are deeply rooted, Sancha. They go beyond our own perception of the world. When our partners appear to us in dreams, usually, it's for a reason. They're trying to show you something, which they can't when we're awake."