Aeolia

31: Dreams' Lattice

"But that doesn't make any sense," the woman retorted, finding it hard to absorb Frost's statement. "About the Viper. Why would this be the only place we're safe from it? It can't be a sanctuary. Spire's been trapped by the Viper."

     "You disagree out of fear," the grand Kingfisher said, after listening in on the conversation, "not out of disbelief." The very air seemed to part for them as its wings propelled them further and further from the forest floor.

    Ravine thought the Kingfisher's insight rather generic, but she assumed it knew what it was saying.

     "The Dreamfisher makes an excellent point," Frost said, glancing expectantly at the great bird. When it didn't acknowledge him, the whisperer flattened his ears, but continued. He faced Ravine again.

     "We're on the same plane here," he said.
     "I agree that it is strange. Though the Viper is not here in body,
     It has infiltrated Spire's mind, inside its own."

     "The Ensnarer, which it is called in the east," said the Dreamfisher, "has trapped Spire inside a mind-field that it created, as I can tell from his unshakable slumber. I do not know why this is possible. It has rarely happened before. I have gone on mind-hunts before, but not from the physical world of my home."

     To this, all Ravine could say was a whispered what.

     "I don't understand it, either," Frost murmured to her as he gazed at the ground beneath them. It grew more and more distant as they ascended with the blurry trunks. Even at this altitude, the trees had not yet developed a canopy.

     "Do you remember," he asked, "when I told you that the beings in the north and south both relate to dreams?"

     "Yes," Ravine managed.

     "Well, to both the Kingfisher and the Viper, dreams are malleable—things to be tampered with, enhanced, corrupted."

     "In most cases," the Dreamfisher interjected, "I enhance. It is more often the Ensnarer who revels in corruption. Ah! Here. Crane your heads, my passengers, if you will, and you will see at last the canopy."

     Indeed, as Ravine and Frost looked up, they discovered that above them stretched a world of leaves and branches, crossing each other, crissing each other, bending and dancing and singing. And shining.

     How the stars laughed and glistened against the dark round leaves! If Ravine had not been held so firmly by the Kingfisher's talons, she would have fallen limp with awe. All thoughts abandoned her head, her worries in tow.

     This place was even more beautiful than it had been in her dream, she thought, as the light rain misted her skin and she heard hollow chimes in the distance.

     The Kingfisher spiraled up through a sort of skylight in the canopy and burst into a world of green. Ravine felt her eyes water as they tumbled in their sockets to memorize all they saw. She cradled Spire and kissed his little head. Frost simply looked.

     They had emerged into a forest in the sky. Where all the foliage was lacking below the canopy, it was amended for here. The trees still clawed upwards—Ravine didn't think they ever ended—teeming with leaves and stars. The finest sprinkle of rain caressed them.

     "And this," the Dreamfisher said, "is my home—Dreams' Lattice."