Aisha's Frustration

"Mhmm... I see... mmhm..."

Five minutes of this and I was about ready to bean her over the head with the book she was writing in. The dream from hell, icewater, and now this apparent inattention when she'd asked to hear the dream in full. Frustrated, I decided to see if she was paying ANY attention.

"...so then the penguins started counting too..."

"Penguins? What penguins?"

My surprise must have been quite visible; she chuckled, actually setting down the tome and shaking her head in apology.

"I'm sorry, dear... I really am listening, I'm just used to getting these from fey who wouldn't shut up if you paid them, all they need is a few noises to keep going. Your dream is important, please continue."

Cheerful voice and friendly smile were both convincing but I shook my head now, cupping my hands tight around the mug of what tasted like hot chocolate but had been called 'tea' by the six-eared creature that brought it to me on a silver platter etched with spiderwebs and leaves. Everything else in the huge kitchen seemed to make even less sense so I'd accepted the drink and tried to be polite. Now? I was about out of politeness (and tea, actually).

"I'll tell you the rest but I've a request for an explanation first. I'm warm now, I've gone over the damn thing in my head enough that I'll remember the details just fine in a few minutes, but I would REALLY like to know why this dream is so important... and maybe why I came to in a vat of icewater?"

So far no one had answered my questions regarding that last bit and believe me, when you're half-naked in icewater, surrounded by strangers, there's a limit to how many times you can ask the same questions before you give up and just ask for a towel. At least this woman was both human-seeming and polite enough to loan me some of her clothing - I was half-drowning in a huge, fluffy sweater, large enough that I couldn't figure out how my audience of one had managed to make it seem as if it fit her like a second skin while she was wearing it. The moment I'd tried to put it over my head I'd been almost lost in it, although grateful; it was warm, dry, and covered me completely.

Her smile changed from humor to sympathy, eyes still sparkling behind her glasses as she responded.

"You were in icewater because you'd heated up enough to set your shirt to smoking and burn the hands of the first two wildings who tried to move you. We've had a few other people who got lost in dreams like yours and we learned - cool them down or they'll combust. Be glad you Dreamed here, instead of the middle of nowhere, child. As for the dream itself... sometimes the Powers That Be see fit to communicate. The Priestesses are accustomed to such things, they know how to translate, to stay calm and even awake. The rest of us poor folk? Visions like that aren't meant for us to see, our bodies go overboard trying to process them.

"Right now, we don't know WHAT your Dreaming means. We do know that such Dreamings happen rarely, and only when it's of great importance that the information be given. The Powers seem to thrive on balance, so it's likely that something has thrown the world's balance out of whack, and they're trying to fix it. It's also possible that in coming from your world to ours as you did, some sort of fracture was created. At least Aisha..." she trailed off, biting her lip, hesitating for several seconds before continuing.

"At least Aisha's presence didn't seem to herald any oddness, any problems. Your arrival coincides with Dai Colere's intrusion on wilding land... and here, coincidence is rare."

I buried my nose in my mug, taking another deep draught of the rich liquid, letting it send a current of heat through me. She too was silent now, waiting for me to speak. Finally I set the wooden mug back down on the table, folding my arms and leaning back, snuggling a bit deeper into the sweater before I opened my mouth.

"You all talk as if Aisha has been here for a long time... as if everyone knows her. This will be the last question I ask for now, I promise, but please... will you tell me where she is, what's going on? I only came here to find her."

The last few words were near-whimpered and I struggled to keep back the tears that were tightening my throat. Days of frustration, confusion, worry, all of it was suddenly fresh again. The scribe's eyes glistened now, tears shed to make up for the ones I didn't dare let go.

"Aisha arrived here three years ago. She... she was a friend to all the fey gathered here, to many of the wildings elsewhere as well. A year ago she was handfasted to the Queen; when she disappeared he went half-mad with grief, storming off to look for-"

"He?!"

She laughed, nodding; a single tear managed to catch the crystal of her glasses, reflecting and refracting light until both eyes seemed full of rainbows. "Yes, he. The title of Queen is traditional, gender is rather optional. Aisha said she came here to meet him and none of us were all that surprised. He'd had a Dream of her, after all."

I couldn't say anything, just listening, stunned but somehow unsurprised by this new revelation - hadn't Aisha come here when she went to see the Queen's dream, after all? My companion seemed to understand my speechlessness and kindly continued her explanation.

"We don't know where Aisha is, or the Queen since he disappeared in search of her. Your Dreaming wasn't the only one we've had in the last few days... but it IS the most clear, the most involved. One of the others, as I recall, was nothing but the sight of a boy, burning, while his mirror image looked on. This is why it's important for me to get all the details, child. What you saw, what you heard, might be the one thing that will let us find our Queen and your friend."

She laid her book and quill on the table, reaching out to me. I let her take my hands in hers.

"Kate, my Name is Buttercream Spackle, and I swear on it that we will do everything we can to find Aisha... and that I personally will do everything I can to help you."

Her voice shifted, echoing slightly, and as she spoke the next few words I saw other fey sitting elsewhere in the large kitchen turn toward us, eyes widening.

"Testing waters, sink or swim; most would wait but you dive in. Your courage and the care you show will take you where you need to go... and I will go there with you."

Somewhere a plate dropped, shattered, and she blinked.

"Oh, damn... did I do it again? What did I say this time?"

Now even more confused, I repeated her words back to her. She grimaced, then shrugged.

"The curse of a True Tongue... your fortune's just been told, dear. Apparently I'm going to be part of it. Bother. And I'd been planning to work on the Library Index, too." Another shrug and a laugh.

"At least there's one bit of good news there. We WILL find your friend. Now, Kate... would you please tell me the rest of the dream?"

I nodded, and went back to my recitation, finishing off the last of my whatever-it-was between words, somehow comforted by the woman's denouncement. Finally it felt as if I was getting somewhere.



Stock: the lovely Buttercream Spackle is from ~Nazumi-Stock; our Heroine Kate is as always a piece of *virgin-stock's magic; the rest of the pieces used to create this image come from ~ wrathman-stock, ~ArtMatrix-Stock, ~ antipodean-stock, and stock.xchng. For the record, I want to particularly thank *Wrathman for both the plethora of stock I've kidnapped from him and for his encouragement, both are GREATLY appreciated. *smile*