Lohikäärme: The Dragon's Descent (Revised)

Chapter VI - Nothing But A Dream

Chapter VI - Nothing But A Dream

"Safia, are you sure you're all ready?" Mother asked from upstairs for the hundredth time.

Once again, I dusted my skirt and sat properly on the stool I had been sitting on for about an hour straight. Mother had told me to wear something nice because the physicker was going to pay us a visit today. He was our only visitor. Mother wanted us to look pleasant.

"Yes, Mother!"

"Understand your mother, Safia," Father said as he walked into the common room and sat beside me. I didn't even notice him walk down the stairs. Was I that occupied by Mother's yells from her room? "She's just worried. You know how she feels every time the physicker visits you."

"Yes, Father." I lowered my gaze on the floor, feeling rueful for being quite annoyed by Mother's unnecessary worry. "I know she's just worried about me." And worried about the physicker's verdict. Every day like this was a chance of changing our lives. To come back to the Mainland together, or to give me up to the High Council. And the decision was not ours to make.

The physicker knocked on the door. As Father answered the door, I closed my eyes and wished my eyes were normal. But when I opened them, the colors still danced around me, taunting me.

As usual, the results weren't good; I still couldn't see any color steadily. The physicker reminded me to drink the milk of the gillyflower twice a day, and said he would come back after a fortnight. Then he left, and my parents went upstairs so I wouldn't see them cry, leaving me alone in the common room, alone to endure the guilt that perturbed me.

Someone knocked on the door again. My head turned to the door, my frown turning upside down. The physicker came back. Maybe he forgot to tell something.

"Two seconds," I answered, taking long strides towards the door. Hope rushed through my veins. I had never felt this happy. Something inside me told me I was going to love what the person outside would say. Brushing the dust off my skirt, I heard another soft knock. "Yes, yes. Just wait for a sec—"

It was him again. His wonderful, blue eyes stared at me, and I stared back. The mere feeling of staring into his eyes was too ravishing that I had forgotten what I was going to say. No. It was so ravishing that I had forgotten about everything, and all I knew was that we belonged to each other, and no one could stand between us.

"Good day, Safi," he greeted, an elegant smile adorning his majestic face.

My eyes glinted in wonder. "You came back."

"Of course, I would." He offered his hand. "Come with me, Safi."

I looked at his hand, about to take his offer, but my eyes widened in shock when I saw that my hands were already in his.

And then it felt cold, much colder than the Southern Isles. I was back in Aethelgard. I pulled my blanket over my whole body, shut my eyes again, and relived what had happened so I could go home and go with the man from the window. I fiddled with the trout pendant Father had given. I had been with my parents, back home. I was home, and the physicker was alive. And the man from the window was there too. If only reliving it could make it so...

He had wanted me to come with him. We were about to be together, and then I...I woke up. Why did it have to be a dream? Why couldn't it be real so I wouldn't need to change anymore, because when I was with him, I was fine. I could see well. I didn't need the physicker or the magisters or Aethelgard. All I needed was him. And now they kept me from seeing him again, from ever seeing clearly again.