Dreams

The lower platform was bustling with activity by the time they arrived and Silaira immediately found herself surrounded by people wanting to voice their shock, awe, and congratulations at her skill. She shook her head slightly, murmured a few times that it was merely luck, and did her best to move towards where she thought her parents were waiting.

Rough shouting advised the crowd to calm down a bit and let the divers find their parents, with one of the guardians shouting even advising them to think of how they felt after their first big diving test. The crowd began to disperse respectfully at the reminder.

They all knew what it felt like, the adrenaline and the vertigo that always came with the first landing. Even if they had not experienced it firsthand, they were told about it enough times to understand that the young Faelyn would want to calm down with their respective families. A celebration of the new class of divers in training would take place in the afternoon.

With the people dispersing, finding her mother and father became much easier. She had pinpointed their location and was going towards it when Daucus appeared in her path. She tensed ever so slightly, her ears twitching once before settling back to normal and her tail bristling ever so slightly at its tip. He was a showoff by nature, boastful, and while they had never been hostile towards each other she worried that her success might bring hostility in some form.

He laughed and swiped one of her ears playfully, "Good show out there, fluff-ears," he said with a grin that calmed her, he was not angry at her success, "Soaring with you should be fun," he strutted off towards his own parents once more, having left them to congratulate her, but called over his shoulder at her, "I look forward to outdoing you next time, though."

She moved once more towards her parents, noting the mix of pride and worry on her mother's face and the pure pride beaming from her father's. Her mother had never taken to diving and soaring. She had watched a classmate break an arm and refused to dive herself. Her father had once been among the elite of the divers, though a shoulder injury from a wild creature had forced his early retirement.

Thankfully her settlement was a community, they looked out for each other. Her father's loss of his place among the divers was not something he was ever looked down upon, for they knew it could happen to any one of them. He had been introduced to other forms of work for the settlement until he found something he was suited for and enjoyed that did not stress his shoulder too much.

She spent some time with her parents until she caught sight of the sun's position in the sky, "Mystic Alnus wanted to talk to all of us. I'll be back."

With a wave, she turned and ran towards the building they were all taught in, joined by several others that had also just noted the time and did not want to be late. Though he was never angry with them, no one wanted to disappoint the settlement's Mystic as some of them could end up apprenticed to him in the future.

Alnus waited patiently for all of them to gather before he spoke, "You all did very well today. Congratulations to those of you that will be continuing your teachings with Instructor Ilex, as well as to those who exercised proper judgement and recognized your limits. Those of you that will be leaving his care will have the chance to join whichever crafts teacher or other teacher whose expertise piques your interest," he trailed off for a moment, as if lost in thought, "But that is not why I called you here. The royal family's Mystic has begun to make her yearly rounds. She will be here soon to gauge everyone's affinities with the elements."

One of the students spoke up, "Why don't you do that, Mystic Alnus?"

He shook his head slightly as he answered the question, "It is not the Mystic, per se, that gauges the affinities, but the rare stone that she has been tasked with watching over. If the stone were not such a precious item, it would not need someone as powerful as she to watch over it. She and her guard will be here soon, and with their arrival you will all learn your magical affinities and their strength."

With that said, he dismissed them back to their families. Silaira lingered behind, an occurrence that did not surprise him, "Your lack of dreaming these few years has not negatively affected your affinities," he consoled her before realizing it may not be what she was here about, "Or is there something troubling you?"

"What if I can't escape the dreams again?" She asked, her voice and tail quivered, ears pinned back in uncharacteristic fear.

Alnus settled himself into a chair and invited her to do the same, "You must have confidence in your abilities, little one, though…I suppose you are not so little anymore as you once were. If you end up in a dream of your past life, you will recognize it as such and know how to get out of it. Remember my warning though, on leaving a dream before it is done. It will pick back up until you see it to its end."

She nodded slightly but did not feel any more confident than she had before, "I understand, Mystic Alnus."

"If, somehow, you do end up trapped, your parents know to come to me immediately rather than waiting as they had before for the illness that gripped you to pass. Should you get trapped within a dream of the past, I will come to wake you. Then we will speak about what went wrong and how you can better use your abilities to escape. You will not face this with no support at all and I would never expect that of you or any other young one experiencing Reincarnation Sickness."

The assurance that he would be present if something went wrong turned out to be exactly what she needed, and Silaira relaxed a bit, smiling gently at her teacher before excusing herself.

Despite being assured, worry came back to her time and again as the day seemed to speed past. Lunch with her family, helping her mother and father around the house, working on a few of the skills her mother wanted her to learn, and finally attending the celebration in the afternoon.

By the time she finally prepared herself for bed, she was exhausted and yet did not want to sleep. It felt odd, wrong almost, to climb into bed without the tea that had protected her from dreams for the past several years.

As if reading her mind, her mother entered with a small tea tray, "A simple chamomile, my little love, to soothe you as you prepare for bed."

Looking at her mother, Silaira spoke softly, "Everything will be alright…."

"That sounds almost like a question, my dear," her mother observed, "But yes. You will be fine. Mystic Alnus has been a marvelous teacher to you. He will have made sure you are prepared. Trust in his teaching, and in your judgement, little love."

Silaira drank the chamomile tea, enjoying its soft flavors as opposed to the slightly bitter, almost medicine-like tea she had been drinking for five years. It soothed her, making it harder to fight the weariness she was experiencing. After her mother left, she curled up in bed and closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.

Her eyes fluttered open to unfamiliar surroundings and panic gripped at her heart. It took her a few long moments to calm herself. She used her magic as Alnus had taught, to detect if the dream was one of a past life. The magic that moved around her like a wind echoed back to her: she was somewhere unfamiliar. It had never been here before; she had never been here before.

Settling herself onto the ground, she looked around to take in her surroundings, her jaw dropping in awe at the beauty around her.

Directly before her was a small pond, filled with clear water that, closer to where she sat, showed the smooth rocks at its bottom. As she looked to its center, it began to reflect the night sky, turning into a pool of stars.

The beauty did not end with the pond but continued to spill out into her surroundings. The trees around her were white barked and seemed to glow from within. The glow gave an ethereal feel to the tree's bark making it seem as if it was as much a crystal as a plant. The leaves chiming in the soft breeze as they brushed each other continued the feel of looking at a crystal.

Some of the leaves were silver, others pink, and yet others a gentle lavender. Some trees had multiple leaf colors while some had only one. They were breathtaking to behold and to listen to. The plants around seemed more grounded, more plant-like than the trees. Soft ferns, berry bushes, vines and more.

The small clearing was situated in what appeared to be a vast forest of the crystalline trees, a peaceful place that felt secluded and safe. There were no animals in sight, nor any other Faelyn that she could see.

She spent her time dreaming looking through the beautiful forest, resting by the pond from time to time, but could not tell what type of dream she was having. She used her magic as Mystic Alnus had taught, and the dream felt like Dreamwalking but she was alone. She called out multiple times, asking if another Faelyn was near, but no one answered her call.

By the time she woke in the morning, she was confused, uncertain of whether she had gauged the dream correctly and somehow never encountered the other Faelyn Dreamwalking in the forest or if it had been merely a dream. She settled on it being a dream as she gazed, barely focused, at her mirror while she got ready for her day.

No one had shown themselves. Those trees were something she had never heard of. It had to be just a dream.