08-01-2016, 01:11 PM
[[Continued from here.]]
When she emerged at all, it was almost as though she were translucent. Her existence shrank to the blink of an eye. And how often she awoke here in tears! The dread followed, a thread that tied her to her other self, and in her flashes of cognisance she began to worry.
Something had shifted, and slowly the tendrils of it pushed into Nimeda's world. She tried to follow the insidiousness back to its source - to try and contact her Other for the first time in aeons.
It only seemed to make her snatches of consciousness more fleeting. Until finally Nimeda began to panic.
Who could help?
Her first thought was Little Bird, Little Bird. Jon Little Bird. He would help, she knew that deep in her ancient roots, with a warmth and familiarity that she could not explain. But she also knew - and remembered! What novelty! - that her other self feared him, and fear was the thorny problem. Nimeda could not take the risk of making things worse. They were separate, she and the Other, but intrinsic to each other.
There was the girl she sometimes watched. Mundane dreams, to be sure, but how fondly she lingered anyway. But the girl could not walk freely in Nimeda's world, and there was no guarantee that she would remember or take seriously a dream.
Who did that leave? This turning was still young, and so many of the familiar faces slept or wandered in ignorance.
How she longed for a father's guidance. A name on the tip of her tongue, then lost to darkness.
There had to be someone else.
The thoughts that formed this plan were fragmentary. Strewn out over long distances. Wound together so desperately. It was the yellow eyes of the wolves that sometimes watched her that finally stirred the idea.
Calvin. The wolfbrother. Hardly an acquaintance, really, but Nimeda knew where to find him.
More time passed while she searched for his dream. Each snatched second precious.
Until she found him.
When she emerged at all, it was almost as though she were translucent. Her existence shrank to the blink of an eye. And how often she awoke here in tears! The dread followed, a thread that tied her to her other self, and in her flashes of cognisance she began to worry.
Something had shifted, and slowly the tendrils of it pushed into Nimeda's world. She tried to follow the insidiousness back to its source - to try and contact her Other for the first time in aeons.
It only seemed to make her snatches of consciousness more fleeting. Until finally Nimeda began to panic.
Who could help?
Her first thought was Little Bird, Little Bird. Jon Little Bird. He would help, she knew that deep in her ancient roots, with a warmth and familiarity that she could not explain. But she also knew - and remembered! What novelty! - that her other self feared him, and fear was the thorny problem. Nimeda could not take the risk of making things worse. They were separate, she and the Other, but intrinsic to each other.
There was the girl she sometimes watched. Mundane dreams, to be sure, but how fondly she lingered anyway. But the girl could not walk freely in Nimeda's world, and there was no guarantee that she would remember or take seriously a dream.
Who did that leave? This turning was still young, and so many of the familiar faces slept or wandered in ignorance.
How she longed for a father's guidance. A name on the tip of her tongue, then lost to darkness.
There had to be someone else.
The thoughts that formed this plan were fragmentary. Strewn out over long distances. Wound together so desperately. It was the yellow eyes of the wolves that sometimes watched her that finally stirred the idea.
Calvin. The wolfbrother. Hardly an acquaintance, really, but Nimeda knew where to find him.
More time passed while she searched for his dream. Each snatched second precious.
Until she found him.