Diving Deep - Solo

[FennWenn]

A haze of white clouds and green sky swirled around Fenn, with no ground in sight.

It wasn’t exactly falling, nor was it flying, nor floating. He was stuck at a fixed point in space. Wet winds rushed around him from different directions, tousling his hair and wrapping his cloak about him warmly. A grin came to his face. Content where he was, the little fae watched as a rather thick cloud drifted by, and a few thin-winged moths who didn’t seem to struggle in the winds at all. He squinted into the breeze. This wasn’t… normal for reality. Was it? Though, it felt… oh. With a little gasp of realization, Fenn put together the fact that he was in a dream. And that he could think clearly enough to know it, that meant that he had a visitor...

His suspension was quickly confirmed. “My pigwidgeon?” two matronly voices inquired off at the same time. A thick cloud, disturbed by the winds, drifted away to reveal Banrion floating in the air but a few meters away. As always, she was resplendent in a crimson dress and armor of silver wood, though her pristine feather mane was bedraggled by the breeze. Her two snakish heads turned toward him. “Ahh. There you are. What lovely weather we are having, isn’t it?”

Fenn snorted and waved back. <Does dream weather actually count as weather?> he mentally murmured at the stately fae he unofficially served under.

“As much as any other weather one might perceive,” she answered with double serene smiles.

Huh. With a thoughtful frown, Fenn stuck his hand into a nearby cloud, marveling at the lack of tangibility.

“When I glance back at your physical form, I notice that the weather in the mortal world is also warm and wet.” Her left head gave a dry sniff of disapproval, while the right closed her eyes peacefully. “I also notice that you seem to be traveling beside a girl babbling her brains out about ‘adventure’. And, for some reason, bees. Pray tell, my pigwidgeon, what manner of ‘adventure’ are you up to today?”

<There’s people vanishing out at the loch my new friend lives by. We’re going to find them,> he explained cheerfully.

“Oh? Vanishing? Is this all that unusual?”

<Don’t know! It’s all mysterious and stuff.> Fenn paused, gathering his cloak about himself in nervous habit. <Mortals,> he said, finding himself using Banri’s word for non-fae, <don’t take it well when people vanish, you know.>

She scoffed, the left head a bit more loudly than the right. “One would think they’d be used to it. They’re nosey, short-lived creatures, are they not? It likely happens to them all the time.”

All he could say to that was a sheepish shrug.

Banri sighed at his silence. “In some ways, you are just as bad as them. It has been a bare few months of watching, but already I get the sense that danger runs into you on a near-daily basis.” Both of Banrion’s heads bared their teeth and glanced at each other, slitted red eyes squinting worriedly. “Do promise that you will avoid getting killed on this mysterious endeavor of yours.”

<I’ll be careful!>

She gave him two looks; one of stern, unconvinced disbelief, and one that was gentle. He couldn’t pin down the emotion of the softer look. “You had better. Once you are done running around, I ask that you remember to go fetch those books I told you about — the sooner I know the bureaucratic workings of Salvar, the better. You certainly take your time carrying out my will, don’t you?”

<Maybe I’d be faster if you told me why you want to know things like that,> he admitted, unable to keep the blunt bite of petulance out of his words.

“Pigwidgeon… no. Not yet.”

Their conversation ground to an unplanned halt as the green atmosphere flickered with traces of blue and black. The winds turned dry and listless. Fenn sulked just slightly as the breeze stopped its friendly play, leaving him with the unnerving feeling of not touching anything at all. Dark cracks crept through the sky. He instinctively understood what was happening; what always happened at the end of dreams Banri visited. The dream was breaking apart.

“You are being woken up now. Go run along and solve your mystery,” the elder fae whispered with a chuckle. A wash of mist drifted in front of her, and when it passed, she was nowhere to be seen.

The clouds rushed upwards, cracking at their edges.

Suddenly, he was falling, falling, falling...