Ameris cracked her neck as she stepped off of the boat. I'm so glad to be back on land Ameris thought hoping that she wouldn't need to board another vessel in the foreseeable future. She felt for her dagger that was strapped to her thigh and the sighs at her hips; feeling them both she breathed deeply. As ready as she was ever going to be she headed off in the direction of the Winking Mermaid.

The Pub wasn't anything special, a pub is a pub is a pub, her lip quirked up at her own humor. Noting that none of the patrons paid her any attention she continued more confidently to the bar. She knew that it was most likely an unusual order but water was the only thing that wouldn't cloud her head, so she told the person behind the bar her order and waited. 
As she walked through the door she observed the patrons, not seeing anyone running at her with weapons raised she continued to the bar ordering water. 

It was hot that day. He wasn’t much for heat anymore. The sun beat down against his back as he walked through the streets of Adeluna. Maybe he’d become too used to the perfectly controlled temperature of the temple. Maybe he just wanted a reason to blame for his sour mood. Ever since Naota had left Revaliir he’d been unable to shake the feeling of betrayal. And abandonment. He’d left them there, just left he and Kosen there. Alone.

They had been born from his life force, and yet they hadn’t gone where he’d gone, and he couldn’t help but take it personally. Kosen, on the other hand, had tried to look on the bright side of things. Or at the very least conjure a reason as to why everything had happened the way it did. At the end of the day only one person knew the truth, and he was gone. His eyes closed, blocking out the midday rays with a slow and practiced exhale.

All light seemed to bright now. There hadn’t been a deity to take over the domain of light, or dreams for that matter, and everything felt out of balance. For a fleeting moment he let a petty thought cross his mind, that maybe the world didn’t actually need a deity for light. His stomach tightened with guilt. His eyes opened.

Heat radiated from the cobblestones as he continued his stride towards The Winking Mermaid. It wasn’t the usual type of establishment he frequented, but he was ready to go anywhere to escape that clear sky. The floor was clean as usual, but the thick smell of men and sweat was inescapable. Magick induced scrubbing of the premises could only do so much.

Pushing a hand through his golden hair, he walked straight to the bar top and sat at one of the stools. Alcohol still had barely any effect on him, but he wanted to feel the burn down his throat. That was a heat he could endure, but he tried not to travel down that trail of thought.

After speaking his request in a soft voice, he folded his arms atop the aged wood. It was raw, unpolished, leeching all the heat from the room within its fibers. All of that combined made uncomfortable goosebumps rise. Soon the glass was placed in front of him, already it was sweating from the heat. The drink hadn’t even been chilled. Who could stand this weather? Maybe he and Kosen had just grown spoiled.

He took a small draw from his glass and winced against the immediate shock against his tongue. To his side he took note of a small woman, or girl, it was hard to tell. He knew well that looks could be deceiving. After realizing he’d been staring a second longer than was appropriate, he gave a small polite nod and averted his eyes forward.

Halfway through her second glass of water, the door to the tavern opened again. A man who seemed to pull the light of the day with him into the doorway stepped into the room. The door closed behind him as he walked to the bar. Now that she could finally see his face her drink caught in her throat and she had to fight her body as it violently tried to expel the contents of her mouth all over the counter. Eventually, when she'd regained control, she saw him look at her and nod. 

He was beautiful. His features were sharp and could she thought, come off as cold, but his eyes prevented that. They were feeling; he looked as if he was feeling some emotion deeply. She found her body moving toward him without her conscious direction. Stopping herself she turned her head away with a discernibly jerky motion that lacked all subtlety. 

His eyes blinked open wider when he heard the stool beside him shift ever so slightly. The next time he looked over at the girl, it was at the exact moment she made a hasty effort to look forward. His features softened despite himself. Maybe she was young after all. Not that he could talk since technically he had only existed for a handful of years. Naota had made them as they were. Age was too confusing to keep track of with everyone in this world. Was everyone’s linear makeup just as fluid in whatever place Naota had ended up?

The corners of his lips, which had started to turn up, dipped back down at the thought of him. With another draw of his drink, he felt his tongue ease up to the sting of alcohol, and held back the wince pushing behind his teeth. What was it Kosen was always saying? Smile more? It brought peoples’ defenses down, but somehow he couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t work as well for him as it did for her. Which was funny since she was the more dangerous of the two.

His back straightened as he turned his head to look at the girl again, this time being sure not to stare. Staring was never good. His voice was quiet, but carried over the other sounds of the tavern enough to be heard, “Are you sure that’s just water?” There was the slightest Ataiyan accent to his voice.

He nodded to her glass, knowing full well its contents from scent alone, but hoping to ease her otherwise jittery seeming nature. Did he look strange? Or like some threat she’d faced before? “Or did you need help with something?” Smile, Kosen would have said. And so he did.

Knowing that she had not been smooth at all, Eris hadn't expected the man to try to engage her in conversation. If she were being honest with herself her brilliant plan had only featured actual details up to walking in the door of the Winking Mermaid. Her den mother had always admonished her for being more of a leaper than a thinker. She ground her teeth frustrated that the old vixen had been right…again. But now, when HE was talking to her was not the time to admonish herself for not having thought this all the way through or even a third of the way through; no now was the time to ask him, no DEMAND that he fix what was wrong with her so that she could return to her life as it had been before this whole mess had started!
Having built herself up enough not to have a shaky voice she said with all the confidence she could muster, It is help and I do need water. She nodded her head to emphasize her statement, which she thought she had delivered beautifully showing a strong backbone that could not be taken advantage of. Then her ears conveyed to her brain what she had just said and her face flushed, and her eyes rounded, and her strong backbone bent under the weight of embarrassment. 

When she readied herself and spoke, he found himself tilting his head to the side. She had spoken with all the strength of someone most assured with themselves, but the words were all wrong. The smile on his face began to spread more naturally now, but he caught himself before he could laugh. That would be rude. Instead he pulled his lips in and slowly nodded. The coloring of her cheeks did nothing to help the chuckle trying to build through.

“Well then,” he said, taking up his own glass and hovering it at his lips, “What is it that you need water with?”

He shook his head in light amusement and decided that was enough poking. “I’d suggest easing down a little more, relax,” he suggested before taking a draw of his drink. His throat was already growing used to the rawness, and he swallowed it as easily as someone might drink ice water. Even so, he exhaled slowly afterwards, feeling heat pass through his lips.

He teased her. He had teased her while trying to hold back a laugh. The color of her face ran from one red to another as the reason for it shifted. I would relax, blind spot. It was the one name she could think of that aptly described his shiny annoying persona, that also wouldn't get her in trouble if word ever got back to her den mother, which it typically did.  
However, I haven't been able to sleep well for the last few weeks, and I am certain that it is your fault! Even if he was very handsome smiling she didn't want it to come at her expense, there were far too many times that she had born the brunt of a joke and been the central entertainment for callous hecklers. Perhaps picking a fight with someone powerful enough to mess with her dreams was a stupid thing to do, but her temper was rarely tempered with reason. 

He arched an eyebrow as his smile shifted to an impressed smirk. She made him think of someone, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Either way, he welcomed the moxie, it was a nice change of pace. On top of that it was chasing away his dour mood.

Blind spot? he mouthed to himself. Well, technically she wasn’t wrong. He lifted his free hand and pushed his hair back as if that would get rid of any of the shine that naturally bounced off of it. Even dyes could do nothing, a realization he’d only come to very recently.

She mentioned sleep and he felt his stomach pit. The smile was gone from his face, replaced instead by a worrisome look and a locked jaw. Of course, of course that’s why someone would need his help. No matter how long Naota would be gone, ten, fifty, one hundred years from now, he’d still be ironically in the shadow of his existence.

Nonetheless, it wasn’t her fault that he and his twin had been left with a legacy they could never live up to. He sighed and finished off his drink, biting back a wince from the slam down his throat as he folded his arms on the bar top.

“You’re referring to The Dream Weaver, I take it,” he asked without truly asking. “Everyone has felt a shift since his leaving,” he said, “Usually I’d refer you to a temple, but seeing as that disappeared with him, I’d suggest an apothecary.” He’d said the words so often these days that they came out monotonously.

She noted the quick shift of his expression. At first, it had seemed that he was entertained by her outburst of indignation, and a piece of her that she hadn't examined closely was happy that something she had done had pulled the intense mourning look from his face.

Then the morose look on his face returned more grave than before. The light around him seemed to dim and Eris had to fight back a whimper of sadness. Yes, she had accused him of something, but honestly, she thought that the bite in her voice had been minor. Even with his having plagued her for the past few weeks they hadn't been that awful and she felt compelled to like him even if she was annoyed. 

Something else he said had her quirking her eyebrow. Who was the Dream Weaver? What the hell could an apothecary do for her that a swift kick upside the head couldn't? It wasn't that she wasn't sleeping it was that when she awoke she had a pressing need to do something. The dreams were driving her to do something, she had no idea what, but once the Taven sign had become readable she figured going there was the thing she had to do.

Then once the Star of her dream had walked through the door she figured talking to him was the thing she had to do. But now he was talking nonsense, and looking so defeated while doing it and it made her hackles rise, or at least, it would have if she weren't in her human skin. 

I have no idea who the Dream walker is unless you are the Dream Walker and you talk about yourself in a very odd third person. In which case I need you to tell me why you have been walking in my dreams. The apothecary is entirely unnecessary. And, I highly doubt everyone is experiencing what I am; otherwise, you would be swarmed with swooning ninnies and their pitchfork-wielding lovers.  


 

Now his eyebrows were furrowing. How could she not know who Naota was, yet was asking him about an issue with sleep? His eyes flicked over to her, observing her silently for a moment to allow her to finish. There was nothing on her that he recognized, so he doubted they had ever met. Why then, was she having dreams with him in them? That might have been possible if Naota was still there since they were connected, but now?

Maybe she was mistaken? Not that there were many that looked like him. A follower of The Lord of Light would know his face, but that was ruled out since she didn’t even know who Naota was. Or, that’s what he was grasping at. He turned towards her and propped his head up; fist to temple and elbow to counter top.

“Are you sure you aren’t mixing me up with someone else? Have you ever been a follower of Naota?” he asked, his eyes skimming her up and down once. Still there was nothing, no recollection.

“Not to sound rude, but I don’t recognize you at all, so I’m not sure how you could be having dreams with me in them,” he was sure to leave out that he could, in fact, share dreams with others. No use giving her anything to work with.

He hesitated slightly, “That’s really just water?”