The Other World

Chapter 9 - Dreams and Memories

Chapter 9 - Dreams and Memories

"It was the tengu again. That's the third time this week I've had to warn it off."

"Do you think it's working for him?"

"I don't know, but it knows she's here."

"So what do we do? Do we change the plan?"

"Move her? She'll risk being seen again."

"We could just kill it."

"Control yourself, Haku. If it is working for him, that's sure to give us away."

Chihiro opened her eyes to a feeling of deja vu. She was lying on a large four poster bed. The room was small and cozy, in a Victorian kind of way, with small bedside tables and a soft armchair in one corner. A woven rug covered the center of the floor. Curtains pulled back from the glass french doors set into one wall revealed the swamp beyond. The moon was just rising over the trees, throwing shadows over everything. The other door was wooden, and closed. She recognized the voices of Haku and Shika beyond the door. The third voice had to be the witch. Zeniba, she was called.

She pulled off the covers and slipped off the bed, pulling on her shoes. She walked to the door that the voices came from, and opened it. Haku and Shika were sitting at a large wooden table in front of a fireplace over which a kettle hung, looking relieved to see her. There was no one else. She closed her eyes.

"This room looks different," she said without thinking.

"Very good, Chihiro," came the witch's voice. Chihiro opened her eyes and looked around for the source. "You've been here before, so we moved the furniture to avoid triggering the curse. Two of us are invisible," the voice explained.

The voice was closer to Chihiro now. She felt a large, wrinkled hand take hers. "I am Zeniba," the voice said. Zeniba moved Chihiro's hand until she touched a thin wrist. "This is No-Face." The sensations were familiar, but the pain in her head did not return. She trusted Zeniba.

"How long was I asleep?" Chihiro asked.

"For most of the day," Haku said. "You recognized the path to the house. The charm put you to sleep to protect your mind."

"It's just as well," Shika said. "Time runs differently here. Spirits are generally nocturnal. You're just in time for breakfast." He grinned.

"I'm sure you'll want to get cleaned up first," Zeniba said. "There's a spring behind the house. Why don't you go wash up? The water's warm."

The invisible hand led Chihiro back into the bedroom and through the French doors. Zeniba pointed out the shallow bank of the rock-bottomed pool, and left Chihiro there to undress.

Chihiro left her clothes in a pile on a rock and waded into the spring. It was deep enough the swim in and slightly cool on her skin. The pool was crystal clear, and she could see to the rocky bottom. Though the water was connected to the rest of the swamp, the pool was continuously renewed by the spring. Leaves, twigs, and pieces of bark floated around her, and were carried away by the gentle current. She dunked her head in and started pulling her fingers through her hair. Bathing out in the open under the moonlight seemed both scandalous and somehow right. The night was quiet, and the water shimmered around her. Her hair waved about under the water as she started scrubbing at her skin. Her skin tingled, hyper aware of the subtle currents and eddies in the water around her. The water seemed different from any water in the human world. It seemed alive. As she thought this, the dream from the night before came back to her. She had dreamed of this very spot. She had watched Haku sit upon this water as moonlight flowed from his fingers. What had he been doing? And then he had left the spring and... he must have walked through those french doors! That must be why the bedroom looked so familiar.