Side A – Yasgrid
Yasgrid felt a rhythm of resolve echo through her bones. For a moment she was tempted to leap to her feet and make a foolish and hasty declaration in response to Nia’s question of whether she could be brave enough to match Kyra.
Then she remembered she was still in a dream.
And that the situation with Kyra was a lot more complicated than a single flutter of her heart could encompass.
Instead of rising therefor, she bowed her head and let herself sink down.
It wasn’t the rich earth of the Darkwood that lay beneath her.
It was the the Darkwood of her dreams.
Or maybe the dreams of the Darkwood?
Far from feeling alien though, there was a sense of shadowed wonder that engulfed her like a warm blanket on the coldest of nights. Down deep in the aching comfort of it all, she found the thread she’d been looking for, the one that had wrapped itself around her heart without her being at all aware. The one that was pulled taut not with worry, or fear, but with hope.
Yasgrid bit back a sob. It was only a dream. She was seeing images conjured by her own mind, pretty illusions crafted to make her believe in something she couldn’t know to be true.
“She’s brave enough to hold onto you.” The words twisted inside her like a knife of broken glass. “Are you capable of doing any less?”
Was she?
Was it running away to take comfort in the illusion of the thread and its meaning? Was real bravery being willing to go on despite knowing there couldn’t be anything between them? Did her own feelings matter, or did everything take second place to stopping Elshira? Or to rescuing Kyra?
She could start marching again as soon as she woke up.
There was stone in her still. Nia’s bodies had its limits but Yasgrid knew she could push past them. She could walk to the ends of the world if she had to, and Elshira couldn’t run anywhere near that far.
She reached for the well of grim determination that only got deeper the more she drew on it but found someone taking her hand instead.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” Nia asked, lifting Yasgrid up. “You can feel her calling to you.”
“This is only a dream though,” Yasgrid said.
“Is it?” Nia asked, a look of deep mischief dancing in her eyes.
Yasgrid cast her gaze around the darkened clearing, searching for the revelation Nia’s mirth, or possible madness, hinted at.
But the revelation wasn’t anywhere around her.
It was inside her already.
With the tapping of her foot, Nia was maintaining the practice rhythm she’d been working into the dreaming landscape.
“What did you do?” Yasgrid asked, the shape of Nia’s spell echoing lightly from all around her.
“I wanted to make sure your body was safe while you rested,” Nia said. “The more I played though, and the more we talked, the more I saw that it wasn’t your body that was really in danger.”
“Did you ensorcell me?” Yasgrid asked. She was shivering. She didn’t know why she was shivering.
The deep dreams of the Darkwood could have carried her away from the feeling that was racing through her, but that was the last thing her heart wanted.
“I’m pretty sure I couldn’t handle ensorcelling anyone,” Nia said. “And with you I suspect it’s flat out impossible.”
“What did…” But Yasgrid didn’t need to complete that question.
The pull was too strong. Too clear.
Yasgrid looked up again and saw someone waiting for her across the clearing.
Side B – Nia
Yasgrid had seemed to think Nia had gone mad, and Nia wasn’t entirely sure she was wrong.
The soil of the Darkwood was not a Shatter drum, and she was beyond certain that trying to weave the song she was playing in any waking space would have done unpleasant things to her even with the benefit of calling on the special connection she and Yasgrid shared as well as the very different one which had ensnared Yasgrid’s heart.
Despite all of the advantages in her favor, Nia suspected she was going to wake up exhausted, assuming Pelegar didn’t just drown her when Nia wasn’t able to get out of bed on time.
It was worth it though.
She owed Yasgrid more than words could convey and Yasgrid needed her more than ever. Nia could see the doubts that were eating away at her other half. They wouldn’t become a Trouble on their own, mostly because Yasgrid wouldn’t let them, but they were poisoning her just the same.
It had been easy to think of Yasgrid as the tough one of the two of them. The ‘True Stoneling’ who was always calm and patient and wise beyond her years. When Nia had needed her, Yasgrid had been unflappable. Relying on that had become second nature, so much so that Nia hadn’t thought to check in even after days without hearing from Yasgrid. Nothing could be wrong with Yasgrid after all, right? Or if there was then she would just reach out and ask for help? Right?
Wrong. From the sight she saw of the Yasgrid before her, that had been very wrong.
Worst of all though, was that Yasgrid seemed to believe she needed to be everything Nia had taken her for and that she wasn’t the one who could ask for help. Or be anything less than calm, and strong, and wise.
But everyone had their broken facets, and no one was strong all the time.
Together though? They weren’t perfect together either, but together they could be a bit stronger than either of them could have been alone, and so Nia let the madness of her inspiration run through her.
With her music, she flowed out into the dreaming world, her awareness growing ever more diffuse, guided only by the thinnest of whispers.
Each beat caught a syllable being whispered over and over again and led Nia across the untold miles, through the darkest corners of the wood until she was only the smallest echo of herself.
But that was all she needed to be.
Just one tiny bit of connection.
Just enough to say two words into a dreamers ears.
“Follow me.”