The Dreamer (𝓒𝓞𝓜𝓟𝓛𝓔𝓣𝓔)

5

"Someday we'll find it, that rainbow connection, the lovers the dreamers and me."

~~Kermit The Frog

Looking back on my life, it seems strange to me how swiftly my childhood seemed to pass. In the blink of an eye I was into adolescence. Like the previous 5 years, the next three passed pleasantly enough, despite the progress of puberty.

As the girls began to mature, the O.U.C.H. boys began to eye them with a new intent in their eyes. The boys also began to change physically, gaining height, mass and body hair. Unwanted advances happened occasionally, but the staff was swift to enforce the rules and there were rules against any kind of sexual contact between inmates. It was not that it didn't happen, but it was generally simple enough for unwilling parties to avoid such things. Obtaining the necessary secrecy took two willing participants.

While they might be lacking in warmth the O.U.C.H. staff educated us well. When my first menses started, I knew what it was when it happened, especially because Ehtel went through it first. This happened in early summer so it was winter on Elsae Rumoro. My body went from child to young adult under the cover of my bulky winter wear, as did Ari's. It wasn't until warmer weather and less clothing that the changes became obvious.

One of the aides called me a 'late bloomer'—but I didn't bloom much. I was always thin and even puberty didn't put much flesh on my bones. If it had not been for Ari's cave cuisine, I would have been thinner. I didn't garner much attention from the boys at the orphanage. There were many who were more curvaceous and flirtatious than I was, as well as more willing. I wasn't worried since once he was aware of the conditions at O.U.C.H. Ari had taught me how to discourage aggression.

Ari was going through his own changes. While the increase in height was the most obvious there were other things. He actually tried growing a beard for awhile, but it wasn't very thick and his facial hair was so pale it didn't make much of a difference. I think that he got teased about it by the other pilot students. He never said so directly but I know that he appreciated the fact that I didn't tease him. As far as his build went he would never be bulky, but his shoulders grew broader and his muscles more defined. Part of his training included physical conditioning. To be a space pilot, apparently one had to be in good shape. While he had never been weak or flabby, the training, he assured me, put him in top shape. It was a very nice shape, I thought.

I knew that Ari valued my opinion, just as I valued his. When he asked me about the beard, I told him it was all right, but I liked his face bare better. He was always clean shaven after that. He would often ask how I liked his clothes and I would try to comment intelligently, but I had to admit that Ari had much better taste than I did, especially when it came to color. I knew what I liked on him, but I was hopeless when it came to my own clothes. At O.U.C.H. the point was moot, anyway. We wore what we were given, except for those who managed to cajole, steal or otherwise obtain better. Fortunately, the clothes I wore on Elsae Rumoro were those that Ari picked for me.

When we met, my hair was cropped short, just past my chin. As time went on it grew and I discovered that it would curl. Generally O.U.C.H. wanted the girls' hair kept short, but I kept it braided and they didn't seem to care that it grew. Ari preferred my hair loose, so as soon as I arrived I would undo the braid. It was another oddity of my dream travel that I woke as I had gone to sleep, no matter what I did in the meantime, so it didn't matter. Once I happened to comment to Ari that I liked his hair down as well, he let it hang free and even let it grow.

It was Ari who informed me that, contrary to what I had long believed, my coloring was not various colors of plain old brown, but my hair was raven, my eyes chocolate and my skin olive. I repaid the favor by informing him that his hair was platinum, not white and that his pale skin went perfectly with his clear blue eyes—eyes that might have been called icy blue, except that his gaze was so warm. Frankly, any other male of my acquaintance just didn't measure up to the standard I had in Ariwyn Ruthar Eirnes.