Alister woke up to his cousin Harriet throwing a pillow at his face. He gave the most displeased glare at her from his bed, “Would you get out of my room?”
“Morning!” she chirped, grinning and happy as could be, “It’s time to get uppp! You’ll wanna eat before we head out. Mom made sure the cooks made you a good breakfast since you’re skinny.”
“Could you not make comments about my health? I am fine!” he sat up and tossed a pillow back at her, “I’ll get up. Go away.”
Harriet grinned and tossed the pillow back onto the bed before skittering out of the room with her tail happily flicking along, pinkish purple tuft at the end disappearing out the door right before it shut behind her. Alister groaned and let himself flop back down onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. He felt like he had been woken up mid-dream, though he wasn’t sure what it was about.
He got up after a few more minutes of tossing and turning, hair a mess but standing and present. His chest felt sore, but he could feel that the drake heart had made a big difference. Though he wanted to avoid using magic for a bit still… mostly to avoid his mother’s wrath… he was pretty sure he was back to a baseline. Uninjured, that is. He internally sighed as he sat down at the dining table. It would be a long time before he was truly back to his old baseline.
Marabell, his Father, Olana, Harriet, Wisteria, and her mother were all already at the table by the time he got there, and in his place at the table was an absurd amount of food for breakfast. He was fairly certain he counted four eggs, four sausages, a heaping mound of diced potatoes, a handful of cherry tomatoes, a pile of sauteed mushrooms, and six or seven strips of bacon. Alister looked at the overfilled plate with an inward sigh. His aunt meant well… she just wanted to help… she was… grossly overestimating how much he could eat in one sitting… but she wanted to help.
After finishing about a third of the food and feeling like he was a stuffed pig, Alister had to throw in the towel and give up. He apologized to his aunt for being unable to finish it before they left, but she laughed it off and was just happy he ate until he was full… and something about protein and meat being good for him. Harriet, in contrast, had almost the same plate of food as him and finished it all and was grabbing snacks to take with them for the road.
The three of them - Blas, Alister, and Harriet (plus some knights) - were on the road in short order after that.
Alister groaned with every large dip or bump, too full for comfort, as they rode along towards Ebbern. Harriet was talking his father’s ear off asking questions about the border as he tried to ignore them and read a book. He was trying to pay more attention to his skills from the system, idly feeling out the Sensory Perception skill and its use. He usually ignored it… which, after being kind of shit talked about it, felt like a stupid idea. It was just so foreign to him, so he didn’t think of using it. He wanted to research it, and was so eager to get access to it, but then things kept happening and he was so busy, he hardly had time to. Plus he didn’t exactly have the means to without asking others for help… Ah, well. He supposed better late than never. He’d have to get comfortable with it eventually.
He could feel the gaze of his father and cousin. It was like when you felt like someone was watching you, but instead of some creepy nebulous sensation it was very specific and calm. Two people, their relative positions in space. If he was loud, the carriage driver would be aware of him, as would a knight that was currently to the side of the carriage door. It didn’t give much more than a general idea of how many and a direction, but it was still useful if he, well, actually made use of it.
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They would take a rest halfway through to Ebbern, and then the next day push through to the town. The first day was thankfully uneventful; he was able to get through most of a book while Harriet entertained herself talking to Blas about stories of beasts he had caught over the years. He was reading something he borrowed from the house before they left; a thick book on the concepts of modern magicka, written in about the driest, most academic prose possible. It was like trying to read a research paper. But it was useful. He was trying to scour it for ideas he could use to figure out what was going on with Demerieth, as well as to get an idea of some of the expectations of what scholars considered standard magic nowadays.
Once it was night, they stopped at an inn on the road that seemed often used by people passing through. The knights made sure that they bought a whole corner of the second floor, which was a little awkward with the busy inn, but thankfully no one minded with the extra coin tossed their way. He had to share a room with his cousin, though Harriet surprisingly went straight to sleep, something he wouldn’t have expected given how energetic she was nonstop during the day. Alister was a little concerned, given that, with how early she might wake up. If she was an early riser, the morning would be hell.
He fell asleep after a while of reading the book, papers pressed against his face.
Without pomp or circumstance he ‘woke’ in his dreams, once again in a field of petiflass flowers. A feeling tugged at the back of his mind that this was what he was trying to dream last night, and another feeling tugged at his mind that he was being watched.
Alister opened his eyes to Demerieth’s pink eyes looking down at him as she leaned over his face. He jerked up, nearly headbutting her, but she grinned at the movement. “Well you seem a bit more lively this time,” she joked, her smile tired and lonely, but genuine, “I’ve been trying to figure out how to get in contact with you again. Thankfully I have nothing but time on my hands. Nothing to really do here, after all. But. It’s been such a pain. This time seems to have worked. So. Raalin. How many fingers am I holding up?”
He opened his mouth to speak and chuckled, trying to get his bearings, “Not my name anymore, Demerieth… It’s Alister.”
She waved it off, “Yeah yeah Alister. Got it. Looks like you’re more aware this time. Dreams are a pain. So nebulous. Aaaaah gods I can’t believe I actually have you here! I have so much I want to talk to you about! Actual company. You’ve no idea how much I’ve wanted just a simple chat.”
“So this is a lucid dream, then… I see. The more that happens with you, the more I can no longer just consider you an imagination,” he said, slowly standing, “Not that I truly did, anyway. I figured it was too strange and cruel to be a lie, unfortunately… I dislike the idea that you’re here… trapped.”
Demerieth’s eyes flickered with opal color, her smile dimming a little, “…Yeah. Ah well though, it’s my lot in life right now. But look, I want to try to tell you something. Dreams are never as long as you want them to be, and I don’t know how hard this’ll be to reproduce, so I don’t know how much or how little time I’ll have. There’s something I want you to look for.”
Alister nodded seriously, folding his petite arms, “Absolutely. I don’t know how long it will take me, but I’ll go to the ends of the world for you. You know that.”
She ruffled his hair, “That feels weird coming from such a little version of you. Alright. So…” The pink haired half-elf sat down within the pale blue crystalline flowers, “The academy. You’re going there when you get older. Right?” He nodded, and she continued, “Good. When you get there- Ah… damn it. How am I supposed to say this without the stupid system stopping me..? Mm… Down. Look down and look for some old books. Yeah that’s vague enough! It didn’t glitch me out! Great. Ok. When you’re at the academy make sure you look down and look for old books. It might have information about Opal stuff, which might help me. Might. I can’t promise anything. In part because if I try I’m going to get gagged by this opaline asshole. Anyways. You got it? Right??”