Episode 26: Into the Wind

Kreis looked at himself in the mirror, not sure if he liked what he saw. He saw a man there, an adult where he was too accustomed to seeing a boy. And yet his journey only seemed to have taught him that he knew nothing--nothing about living, nothing about love, nothing about the world in which he lived.

The world his mother told him he was destined to rule. Who had decided this? That prophecy Triana's mother gave? It was people who made the future, not words...just saying that something will happen doesn't bring it to pass.

He was beginning to sympathize with Kieme's weariness of the world. He could see why she had tired of so many things. His mother disappointed him. Tarin only worried about the prophecy and Elorhe...did she even care about the sons she had abandoned?

Kreis wanted to see his brother again. Kaelor knew more about Kieme and Tarin than anyone else. Unfortunately, sleep did not come to him as easily as it did before all this began. Kreis would have liked to have talked to anyone, but Triana wasn't around, and he didn't want to disturb Kieme.

He lay down on his bed and tried to fall asleep, hoping to catch Kaelor in the well. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his head, but still, he couldn't get to sleep. Would he have to get used to living in a castle?

My mother may have set this up so she'd be in charge of Elorhe, he thought, but that's not going to happen. Whatever I am, I won't be a puppet to a woman I don't know.

His mind seemed to have much further to wander before it finally let him drift off.

*

Someone was singing a lullaby. The melody was simple and common, something every Elorhan child had once been sung. The words, however, were not the same that Kreis had heard when he was little. They started the same, but...

Kreis tried to follow the voice, but it came from different directions. One moment it was to his left, then behind him, then it seemed to be below his feet--

Kreis was standing in the Well, facing Kaelor. He was sitting in midair again, staring at his brother with childlike tactlessness. "I was hoping you'd come again. I missed you," he said.

"Couldn't you have just brought me here?" Kreis replied.

"Mother doesn't like it when I do that. I don't know why. She likes you."

Kreis rolled his eyes. "Or at least I'm useful to her."

"She spends more time with you than me, now. I have to watch the girl's true dreams if I want to know any of what's going on outside."

"A lot," Kreis said.

"Yes, I see that in you," Kaelor replied patiently. "I see dralions and strong winds. These are the thoughts that form your dreams. And, of course, you're worried about Kieme."

Kreis blushed. He tried to speak, but didn't know what to say.

"I love her, too," Kaelor said. "She is more beautiful than any dream. How could anyone not love her?"

Kreis smiled and wondered if this made him and his brother rivals. That would be too strange...

"I don't know why people say someone is 'like a dream,'" Kaelor continued. "Dreams are flimsy and unreliable. I love Kieme because she is real. I love someone I can never even touch, and I am helpless, Kreis...I can never leave this place.

"I used to think I was fading, becoming nothing more than a dream--but that would have been too merciful. I see now that I only stay the same. I am a child frozen in time while the world ages. That world is changing, and I cannot touch it. From here, I can see both Earth and Elorhe, but I am alone.

"I used to hate you, Kreis. You had everything that I wanted. You were half-human, but everyone liked you and accepted you. You had a place. You were able to grow up. You had friends. I could see Kieme falling in love with you. That hurt more than anything else.

"I've grown out of that now. Kreis, don't let her do that horrible thing to Kieme."

"Who? What horrible thing?"

"Go now, she's coming!"

"What? Who's coming?"

*

"Who isn't coming? It's your aireis!" a female voice giggled, and the woman was swept away into a waltz. Kreis was in a brightly-lit room, full of people dancing and laughing. He had never seen so grand a place, fit for the wedding of a king, he realized.

Everyone congratulated him, but Kreis stood alone. He felt stupid for forgetting who he was supposed to marry, but no one else noticed. They wouldn't even tell him who the bride was, they just laughed at him some more. He looked around for Kieme. She would know what was going on, and tell him who he was going to marry.

He thought he saw her across the ballroom, but she seemed to. There she was again, in the corner of his vision, but he couldn't seem to get any closer to her. He called out, and she didn't hear him. She was flickering in and out of existence, and her face wouldn't come into focus.

Kreis struggled to follow her. She would disappear, and he tried to find her, but could only catch glimpses of her now. It became more and more frustrating--he knew it was a dream. If this was a creation of his own mind, shouldn't he be able to control it?

Well, if that was the case, he made up his mind. He would marry Kieme. Well, he felt he should probably ask her and make sure that was all right, but she should agree--after all, it was his dream. Now where had she gone?

"You look nice," Kieme commented. For a moment, Kreis was overjoyed that he'd found her--then he realized that he was in the Well again, not just a dream. He blushed--he was still dressed for the aireis. Kieme looked casual and lovely. He was as glad to see her as he was embarrassed. Perhaps here they could talk about things.

"Are you feeling any better?" Kreis asked her. His confidence had left him completely.

"Yeah...mostly, anyway." Kieme fidgeted.

"I'm glad," Kreis replied. The situation wasn't so odd, really--if one forgot that she was the Queen of Shadows, he was a half-human, half-Elorhan destined to become of the King of Elorhe, and that they were meeting in a place where the waking and dreaming worlds touched. They were two people, attracted to each other but unsure how to express it. If only things were so simple...

"I wish," Kreis said aloud, "that we were just average people, meeting in a little town or whatever, no Queen of Shadows, no prophecies, no wars..."

Kieme laughed, without cynicism. "You a farm-boy, and me a country girl? It's hard to imagine."

"I suppose," Kreis said. "And...someone like you would shine through wherever you were. Kieme wouldn't be Kieme if she were satisfied to be a country wife, tending a farm and raising a horde of children."

"What do you mean?" Kieme asked him, seeming flattered and amused by his words. Kreis relaxed a bit. It was just a dream, after all.

"I mean, well, you were destined to become the queen of Elorhe," Kreis stuttered, then blushed at some of the implications of his statement. "I mean, I wish that it hadn't caused you so much hardship, but you wouldn't be you if you weren't..."

"Yes...I might be a decent person," Kieme replied, and Kreis realized he had messed up.

"Kieme," he said, crouching down in front of where she sat. He gently lifted her face to look in her eyes. "Kieme, I didn't mean..."

"You're only going to dig yourself deeper," sighed Kieme, looking aside.

Kreis kissed her cheek. "You're more than just 'a decent person,'" he said. "I like you a lot, you know."

Kieme smiled. "How silly of you."

"Well, I can't really help it," Kreis said, glad to see her smile. He could see tears shining in her eyes, and she embraced him.

"Thank you," she said. "It...everything would be unbearable, if it wasn't you."

Kreis didn't know what she meant, but he didn't ask her to explain. Instead, he kissed her again. "Kaelor said someone was going to do something horrible to you," he said. "He didn't say who, but Sephoni must know you survived--"

"Kreis, don't worry about that now," Kieme said. "I'd like to just be with you and not think for a while. Would that be all right?"

Kreis nodded.

"Not here," she said. "Wake up, I'll come to you."

*

"I told you they would," Kaelor said to his mother. "Can't we just let them?"

"It's not that simple," Tarin replied.

*

Kieme and Kreis sat next to each other. It was much easier to be affectionate in the dreamspace, where things didn't feel so real and awkward. Kieme seemed to realize this too, and she put Kreis's arm over her shoulders.

"I feel kind of silly," he admitted.

"Don't," Kieme said. "Don't--worry about anything. You don't even have to say anything. Let's--just--be happy with this."

Kreis closed his eyes and let his head fall back, gently weaving his fingers through Kieme's hair. She certainly did have a lot of it, and it was rather tangled, but he didn't care. He listened to her breathing, felt the warmth of her breath and her body. When he focused on the moment, he was more than content

I'm in love with her, he thought, and I think she loves me, too. I'm lucky to be with her now. I wish she wouldn't act like this was all we had--we have a future to spend together, right?

"Kreis," Kieme whispered.

"Hm?"

"Sometimes I feel like I can't stop worrying. I'm so, so scared...and then, sometimes, things feel all right. You--those good moments come more often when I'm with you." She let herself fall across him, wrapping her arms around him and putting her face beside his neck.

Kreis was shaking. All of a sudden, he was aware of every muscle in his body, and of Kieme's breath on his neck. He was scared. He'd thought about situations like this, but it hadn't occurred to him that it would be--possible. He knew Kieme wasn't a virgin. Did--did she want him to--to--

There was a knock on the door. Kieme sighed and dragged herself off of him, leaving him free to answer it. He already suspected it was his mother.

"Hello." Kreis knew his greeting was less than friendly, but he had no reason to be friendly to her. She swept into the room, giving a nod to Kieme as well.

"I'm sorry, but this is important. I have something for you," Tarin said to them, and carefully unwrapped a package of black fabric. She laid out on Kreis's desk three keys, which looked rather similar and unspectacular.

"The keys?" Kieme said, and Kreis looked to her. He had never seen these before.

"The key is only a form that suits them," Tarin said. "They are magical energy, and could take other forms. But in a way, they are 'keys,' keys to powers I wished to harness to save my son...powers I now entrust to you."

"You...couldn't save Kaelor?" Kieme asked.

"The Well was designed as a one-way portal. The only way out from the dreamspace is on Earth--and the door to Earth is blocked, somehow. I think that it might be buried underground."

"Oh...then Kaelor..."

"The girl--Triana--had a dream. He will be set free, some day. We cannot know when, but it will happen. At least that has given him some hope." She lifted the first of the keys. "This is aralim--the knife-key. The power within it will cut a portal to any location on Earth or Elorhe, provided you have a clear picture of where you're going. Powerful, but incredibly dangerous in the wrong hands. I entrust it to you, Kieme."

Kieme took the key and nearly dropped it. "Where did you get the power for this?" she asked.

"The people who built the Well also made magic generators," Tarin said, and picked up the second key. "This key was given to me by the lucineau, whose ancestors had guarded it for generations. It is called erilim, the world-key. It holds the power that was used to build the Well, harnessing the magic of the dreamspace and the ancient generators. It is the most dangerous of the three keys, because it has the potential to plunge our world and Earth into chaos--to make us all part of the dreamspace." She gave the key to Kreis. "I trust this key to you, Kreis."

Kreis looked down at the key in his hand. It looked like such a tiny thing, yet he could feel the power in it, raw and wild, fighting its binding. It wanted to get out and destroy reality, but something more powerful was stopping it.

"Finally, there is sephlim, the guard-key," Tarin said. "Sephlim is the most powerful of the three keys, because it cancels the power of the other two. You can try to summon the power of aralim and erilim all you like, but nothing will happen unless sephlim allows it. This key I will give to my son in the dreamspace. From there, he can guard it until he is set free, and then return it to Elorhe's royal family.

"These keys are bound to our blood, Kreis...it is our duty, and the duty of our descendants, to protect Elorhe."

"And what about Kieme?" Kreis said.

"I have my own mission," Kieme replied. "I will give myself to Elorhe."

Kreis didn't like the sound of that at all.