Aeolia

32: Seeing Things

The Dreamfisher winged towards a large bed of moss and dropped Ravine and Frost upon it. The woman stumbled and fell, dizzy from the sudden release. Her vertigo ceased as she breathed deeply. She pinched her fingers into the moss, kneading it. Calmed, she exhaled and reclined onto her back, taken over by the peace of this aerial forest. Her eyelids fluttered as the drizzle caressed her face, moistening her skin and washing away all sense of being.

     Her mind played through her memories, and she was struck with déjà vu—back to olden times. The wind emitted quiet whistles, rattling those faraway wooden chimes she had heard. She thought of lying in her crude crib, her mother peering over her, holding a wreathe of leaves. Leaves. She saw the woods in the river fork burning, burning. Fire reflected in her eyes. Orange. Like the dewdrops on her wings. Wings. The birds that had emerged from the Aeolian sun, as she sat upon the granite stone with Spire. Spire. The tiny songbird from the Demon Forest. Running. The Meadow of Nightmares. The Viper. A land of rumpled white, darkened by paper shadows. The voices of the poplars chorusing in her head. Head. Anxiety. Mouth filled with dirt. Traveling to the river, kissing the river, kissing her own humility. The shimmers of passing fish, darting as her silhouette muted the swirling water. The ferns hugging her, nature commiserating. Then Spire and Haze, the sense of redemption as the life thumped again in her ribcage. They were walking now, walking walking walking until the dew came, and they were held dearly by the Mist—oh! That lovely Mist. 

     Ravine's eyes were closed now, and she heard different voices. Voices that cared, that yearned. She felt her body being picked apart as the whisperers inspected her. Crossing the Bridge to Infinity, but it only taking a day. The passage of time, swift as the flighty fish in the river. Where she let the water stream through her fingers, where she had realized that she did belong, but she wasn't there yet. The tender piano in that room she always imagined. That piano she had played during her childhood. Before the soldiers came. Guns. Fire. Screams. The Viper. She opened her eyes.

     The land was suddenly awash in light.

     She could see far. Everything was the same: dark white hills, colorless mountains capped with jagged peaks.

     She gasped, and the memories scurried away into dim corners.

     Haze and the Dreamfisher stood nearby, regarding her in curiosity. Ravine could see their minds churning, fumbling, connecting.

     "What have you seen?" asked the Dreamfisher.

     The woman blinked away the fog in her head. "I...I know where the Ensnarer lives. And I know that it wants Spire. And it wants me." A bout of dizziness rocked her. "Frost! Help me. I'm falling. I'm falling and I can't stop. And Spire can't stop either."