I shift, awareness seeping in as the dregs of my dream fade away. I can feel my mind waking, as if I’m being slowly pulled from the bottom of the ocean, gentle and calm, unaware that my lungs are starved for air and then all at once a violent intake as i reach the surface. Eyes burst open, frantic and searching. I sit up, trying to piece together fragments of the dream, knowing it involved my best friend Emma, me and a forest? We were running at first, free and wild until she caught up to me and it turned hot and heavy, her hand pulling my face closer and kissing me. Then it switched to night and i was searching and searching for Emma until i tripped over something laying in the middle of the path. Emma. There were cuts all over the yellow cloak i had sewn and gifted to her just last week, blood pooling beneath her body. I woke up before seeing her face but i knew she wasn't OK.

I wipe sweat from my forehead partly from the dream and partly because its already hot outside at 8am and the dry breeze from my open window isn’t helping. Ive been having these dreams for as long as i can remember. They start off normal, like what i would imagine a typical dream would be but then its like something poisons it, turning it dark and scary. When i was a kid, i used to think that i was dreaming about the future after i had one about a classmate, Gemon, contracting the flu and almost dying. It did happen but mother reminded me it was flu season and Gemon was perfectly alright, even still attending some classes until he was fully better.

I always wanted to have magic like my uncle Cadrick, I wanted prophetic dreams or mage power like him, but it did not happen for me nor could it have, as neither of my parents were mages. Pieces of the dream float back to me but i cant quite remember remember. I see a woman with red hair, pale skin and pretty blue eyes and shes speaking to me, but there's no sound. Just her mouth making exaggerated movements, like shes talking in slow motion. I give up trying to figure it out and draw my knees up and take deep breaths, focusing my attention on the first thing I see. 

Yellow buttery sunshine gleams through gossamer curtains, wind tossing them gently in a rolling dance. Gaps between the curtains show peeks of glittering light, glancing off the shifting, white capped waves of the inlet. It has always calmed me, watching the ocean move with such grace in the same simple room ive occupied since birth. My gaze moves right to left, shifting from the drawers packed with clothes to the right, the old silver backed mirror that has yet to be hung, a black and silver knitted blanket on the floor, from Mother on my last birthday and finally to the window on the left, to my favorite view in all of Mokesh. 

Lani is a coastal town set on the outskirts of Mokesh, not known for much but its beauty and its ports. We are responsible for one of the smaller trading posts that carries goods to the capital of Sade. We probably have a total of 2000 people that have settled here, much smaller than the capital. Sade is where the Emperor and his family lives. its a pretty large sprawling city that spans miles surrounded by pale purple fields of mortar beans on the east side and 30 feet tall yellow leaf birch trees on the west side. The north side of the capital is open to the Obalt Sea, where all the trade ships dock, and the south is where the cities thousands of people live. 

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Ive never been myself, but Cadrick used to bring hand drawn photos of the city, which used to hang above my bed until they fell down.I used to love his stories, but my favorites were always about the Emperor. Cadrick worked with the Emperor and his stories of fighting back the Tangea, the sea people, and Turun, beasts from the sky, used to keep me entertained for hours. Noise from downstairs reminds me that i have slept in far too late and i have yet to start on my chores before tonight.

Dread fills my gut as I remember what today is. It’s Selement Day, where Sades, city officials, join the common people in celebrating the yearly reminder that our emperor freed our ancestors from the Gols many many moons ago. Its also the day where I will receive my assignment, my “role” in the empire, of where I can be the most useful. Even though everyone gets assigned one specific role by the Emperors officials, it still feels a little insulting, like i can't be trusted to pick my own path. Mother always says that they take into consideration hobbies, skills, trades and what not but ive known too many people who have been forced into positions they never would have chosen for themselves. Knowing my luck, my role won't be anywhere near Mokesh, but in some dung infested, landlocked, dusty old town. 

“I guess today starts with melodramatics”, I sigh stretching my arms above my head, back arched and I wonder why i was awaken in such panic, the contents of the dream already slipping away. After pulling on my signature brown leathers, a cream cotton shirt and deep forest green colored boots, i head down a flight of stairs, past my parents and sisters rooms, trailing fingers across the walls and tapestries decorating the small hallway.

I stop, my fingers running across a snag in one of the tapestries that i wove when I was 12, as is custom for all girls 12 and above in Mokesh. According to my Grandmother, “Building your own tapestry marks the path of your life, the mistakes and triumphs, the love and loss. It can benefit you, if you can read it.”  I can still hear her gravelly voice, feel her callused hands guiding mine, teaching me how to weave from the heart, to pour all my hopes and dreams into the fabric and to layout all insecurities. Grief squeezes my chest but i shake off the memory and turn around, facing the woven monstrosity. “That’s not right”, i mutter, softly touching the ends of several pieces of fabric sticking straight out. Pulls in family tapestries are a sign of bad luck –that or the barn cat has been wreaking havoc inside once again.

I let out a heavy breath, one more of relief than frustration at this thought, then continue on to the kitchen.