Calliope - In The Arms Of Morpheus

Chapter 12

Finally, Morpheus could get some distance between himself and his tempting guest.
He closed the door to her suite softly.
Calliope had an extraordinary effect on him: It was, as if she brought him to life. Bloomed a wish inside his chest. One, he could not indulge into.
He sat on his throne, always the best place to think.
With a squeak, Skoni busted into the throne room. The gray furry ball with eyes bumbled across the slippery marble and came to halt right before his feet.
"Squeak?"
"I wonder, if you can erase the line of sand." Morpheus pointed at the sandy trail they had left earlier.
"Squeak."
He fluffed Skoni's dusty fur. "Make it disappear, and you'll get to meet our shiny four-hooved guest."
"Squeak!"
Skoni scuttled away and started to roll across the slippery floor, collecting the trail of sand in his fur. Morpheus smiled at his cleaning dust-puppy nightmare. Lucienne could wash the sand out of his fur in the fountain near the stables later.
So, what was the next big task ahead? Patrolling dreams?
Oneiros...I need you...
Calliope was dreaming nearby.
You are the only one I want! Please!
Her dream took an undesirable turn. If she kept on dreaming, it would star him, in a very carnal fashion. He needed to stop these kinds of dreams, prevent her from becoming a wanton mess. If she kept touching him like this...
He needed to intercede her dream.

****

Calliope grabbed his coat again. If he left, it would mean she had to continue dieing in the cold cave.
She had to keep him from leaving with all that was hers to give.
"Onerios...I need you... please don't leave."
"I need to go and visit your sister Erato for her expert advice." He rose from her bed.
Calliope grabbed the hem of his cloak, burning her fingers in the process at the tingling flames. "No! Don't do this. I can..." she tried not to wince from the pain, "I can receive you as well, Lord!"
"You have other supplicants to attend to." His face was a mask of serenity.
Calliope clung to his garment. "You are the only one I want! Please!"
"No." He tore her fingers from his cloak and she fell into the darkness.
She fell into the depth of the night sky across the stars, towards the moon.
"Help!"
A chalk-white hand emerged from the darkness...

... and grabbed hers. "You are safe now."
Eyes, like the universe.
Calliope was in her bed again, as he placed her hand atop her cover. "What...why?"
"You are in a bed in my realm, dreaming to be in your bed in my realm. I promised to be nearby."
Oh. "So I am still dreaming?"
"Yes. But this is also real. I am here."
"Will I remember this?"
"If you want to." He smiled. "Let us make something useful with the time you are resting." He rose and stretched out his hand. "Come, let me show you my realm."
"Oh , I would love to, but... I'm still weak and I think my clothes are torn."
He turned around. "Wear whatever you like. It is a dream, after all."
Calliope pushed the covers away and found herself wearing a more opaque version of Erato's wonderful golden dress and soft and comfy sandals. She stood up and nothing hurt. Calliope wanted Terpichore's golden bangle and Thalia's beautiful barrette. She touched her hair to find it there.
"Oh I love this. I am ready." Calliope took his hand and almost stumbled over a thick black carpet, because she was watching his hand turn flesh where it touched hers.
"We will take the back door to the stables." A door manifested in the middle of a wall, that had previously been covered in black floral tapestry.
"It changes..." She stepped though the door, and it closed behind them, but remained.
"As the Lord of the Dreaming, I am the Dreaming. It changes according to what I deem necessary to serve my guests."
"How?" Calliope followed him across a sunlit courtyard towards the stables. In the middle, in a small fountain, splashed a furry, gray creature which looked like a ball with eyes, squeaking. Her host pulled her towards the stables and opened the door.
"Your bedroom added a bathroom, that will have a warm bath and healing oils, once you wake. Then there will be dinner, to feed your exhausted body." Oneiros opened the door to a box for her.
"Thank you."
Calliope stepped through and was greeted with friendly neighing. "Hippolitos! My dear friend! How are you?"
"Fortunately he is sleeping too, so I could pull him into our dream." This sounded so wonderfully intimate.
She patted the pegasos' nose and cuddled him.
"Would you like to come on a small jaunt with me?" The Endless asked.
Hippolitos nodded and she beamed at him. "I would love that."
"I get my night-mare and you think about how you would like to ride, then." Oneiros said, let go of her hand and walked out of Hippolitos' box.
"Do you mind if I used a saddle?" she asked her ride. A silver one would be great, to match his glittery fur.
He snuffled acquiescent and as she looked up, a silver saddle had manifested on back.