“Well, enough of my prattling.” A massive grin spread out across Finnegan’s face as he straightened up into a more confident pose. “Why don’t you three ask your questions.” His eyes drifted over towards Andie. “…One at a time please.”

“Ooh! Ooh! Me, I have a question!” Andie hopped up and down, spasmodically waving her hand in the air. “How many more dreamwalkers are there? Where can we find them? Is there such a thing as evil dreamwalkers? Not counting those ‘shadows,’ I mean.”

“Yeah… I don’t really know.” Finn gently gestured for Andie to calm down. “It’s not like there’s some big dreamwalker secret society; We don’t get together every year for a barbecue or something. I mean, sure, we’re friendly to each other if we happen to meet, and we’ll gladly lend a hand to anyone that asks… but we don’t go out of our way to talk to anyone outside of our little groups, ya’know?” He paused, frowning for a split second when he caught a disappointed look on Andie’s face. “…That being said, there seems to be a little under a half dozen or so of us per city. So, there’s maybe one dreamwalker for every twenty thousand normal folk, or some such. As for evil dreamwalkers… there are none - or so I’ve been told. Even the shadows aren’t really ‘evil,’ just… lacking in good? It’s a little hard to explain, but you all will figure it out, I’m sure.”

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“Me next, please.” Dyllan chimed in. Whatever he was about to ask, his face made it clear he’d been wondering for a while. “Where do dreamwalkers come from?”

“Well, near as I can tell, you are either born a dreamwalker, or you are not. No one I’ve met knows the rules - but there are a few theories.” Finn counted on his fingers as he talked. “Every dreamwalker so far has had one or two relatives that are also dreamwalkers, so some folks think it’s genetic. Others note that dreamwalkers tend to have certain similarities and think that people with a certain personality just… trigger something? Some weird force that lives in everyone, but only those with a certain mentality can awaken. I don’t get it, myself. Personally, I believe that we are chosen - that some angel or another grants this power at birth to those they believe worthy. ‘Course, that could just be my big ego talking.”

“Okay, I have one last question.” Cedric, who had been oddly quiet for quite a while, finally spoke up. “Why should we trust you?”