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[npc-excolo.livejournal.com]

Time has little meaning here, though your body back home may disagree.

Dream.

A forest.

A forest of the oldest sort, thick with brambles, trees snarled with centuries of life. It stretches for miles, many of them very dark, because the trees grow so close that it is hard to see. From a high vantage point, on one of the hills of the forest, one may glimpse a tower at the heart of the forest, a great graceful column of grey stone. Here and there there are clearings, bright with sunlight, and streams running with clear water. But mostly there is dark.

In the distance, the howl of a wolf.

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[aerika-dragon.livejournal.com]

There is a woman; a child in her arms. My heart hurts a little at the sight. "Did I just come from that dark patch on the tree? Oh for fuck's---"

"I didn't see where you did come from," I say. She seems alarmed, though the woods are quiet. I watch her sit down and start to feed her babe. "Are you alright?"

She covers herself, like what she does is shameful. "I am - " I look down at my feet. "It does not hurt," I say. "Not any longer. It is only that it becomes hard to walk." I look at piece of cloak that hides the baby. "There was a child," I say, "for whom I do care, some days. She was here." I look around at the dark trees.

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

The woman says she did not see where I cam from, and I sigh. "That's the problem, we're all lost in the woods without remembering why."

She looks from me to her feet, the back to me. "It does not hurt, Not any longer. It is only that it becomes hard to walk." I nod in understanding. "Perhaps a cobbler could make you a new set of shoes." I offer, noting she is all but staring at me... no, where Rose is tucked away.

"There was a child, for whom I do care, some days. She was here."

She looks about, as do I. "If it was a ruddy little waif with a red cloak, you are better off rid of her." Again, I look through the trees, and can just make out the tower beyond again. "Mayhaps she went towards the tower? That's where I am headed." I say, realizing that the wolf-child was trying to keep me from there. Well, I am not afraid of wolves or towers. "I mean, as soon as Rose is finished." I sigh, pushing my hair out of eyes and thinking I should switch sides...

But when I move her, she cries miserably, and refuses to suckle the other side. I cradle her in my arms, not caring if I am bared, and stroke her tiny cheek. "My love, what is wrong? Are you full already?" She whimpers and sighs, looking resigned. Hungry, still hungry.

What? I don't understand? I just had her at my breast, she was just feeding...

OH! Her little body is hungry. Not just in this dream, but back in the waking world. I feel tears spring to my eyes and I bring her to my shoulder and kiss her hair. "Do you know the way to the tower?" I ask the woman, hopefully, desperately. "Time is rather against me."

[aerika-dragon.livejournal.com]

I listen to what she says, but my eyes do focus on the fretful child. "Does the babe sicken?" The mother does seem most anxious.

"Do you know the way to the tower? Time is rather against me."

"I've seen no tower. Would you have company in your search?"

[mistresswanda.livejournal.com]

"Does the babe sicken?" The woman asks, and I nod as I manage to re-do the laces to my bodice while holding Rose.

"The journey has left her weakened. She should be at home with her father." I say, giving my infant daughter a pointed look that she should not be able to understand, but I know she does. She merely whimpers again. "That's it, we're calling him." I announce, and rise, holding her against my chest. I breathe deep, and let my heartbeat match hers, our minds to touch. I feel her ripple around me, our energy twining about one another, she silently give me the words to language I do not know, but that Rose shares with her father. I tilt my face to the sky, and call out in a clear, ringing, sing-song voice that carries above the trees: وقال انه من غير العادل وسقطت، والنجم الذي هوى إلى الأرض، تسمعني! أنت ابنة يحتاجك! يأتي لمساعدتها، زوجي، أتوسل اليك

There, that's done. Hopefully he will hear and he will come. The woman tells me she has never seen the tower, but offers to join me on the journey. "That's sound thinking. There's a beast roaming these woods, and there is safety in numbers." I hear the sounds of laughter off in the distance, and point in that direction. "Shall we?"

The bloody-footed woman walks with Rose and I for a time, making small talk as I try to comfort Rose who is trying not to whimper but cannot help it, when I see people (http://community.livejournal.com/estdeus_innobis/405098.html?thread=10308714#t10308714/) on the path up ahead...