When they'd met over dinner, neither the tower magicians, nor Elara, had acknowledged each other beyond simple pleasantries. Sir Grif had, of course, been delighted at the prospect of having Arin and Siel relent to his requests. He'd kept them all occupied with talk of his grand plans.
It was only before they had dispersed that Siel had mentioned in passing how he didn't typically sleep well in new places, and might remain awake at a certain time, well past midnight. At that, Elara had stopped moving around the leftovers on her plate, and had glanced up to give a small, covert nod in their direction.
Later that night, as Arin dimmed the lamps in their room, Siel fluffed up his pillow and drew back his sheets.
'I'd rather not waste any more time than necessary, brother Rin,' said the wide-eyed boy, before directly lying down and stretching himself out on the bed. 'You'll find a way to tell the young lady that I'm… I'm trying to rest up so I can… learn, uh… etiquette… better. Won't you?'
Arin nodded. 'I will,' he said simply.
Siel nodded back at him, then shut his eyes.
Folding his hands on top of his stomach, he took in a deep breath.
Then, another.
Then, another again.
As Arin watched from his chair a corner, he noticed the younger magician's eyelids tremble.
Looks like the kid was having trouble falling asleep. Or meditating to enter the knowledge-realm. Or whatever it is that he was doing.
…To be fair, so would he, if there was an older man staring at him from the corner of the room while he tried.
…
Pointedly clearing his throat, Arin stood up. The chair he'd been sitting on clattered softly as it was pushed back by the force. He then walked to the farthest side of the room, where he crouched and started somewhat noisily rummaging in Rin's shoulder bag.
He already knew there wasn't much in it; the original occupant of his current body evidently hadn't been much of a fan of magical tools or artefacts or whatever else people hoarded in this world.
All it had were a few dry snacks, a small towel, and a simple wooden box with worn edges.
Arin looked at it for a moment. He'd already checked, and knew that the box held two, blank pieces of carefully folded paper. Obviously, they probably weren't really blank. However, Arin was pretty sure that whatever information they contained wouldn't have been written in invisible ink or lemon juice. A UV light or heated iron wouldn't be of much help. Rin was probably the only one who actually knew what to do with them.
And that was a good thing.
Especially since Arin himself wasn't even slightly interested in snooping into the other man's personal belongings.
The only reason he'd even looked in the first place had been to check if there were any hints – say, perhaps, a conveniently written list of Rin's likes or dislikes, or maybe a daily schedule – that might help him keep up his act.
No such luck.
Tucking the box back into its corner, Arin continued with what he'd been doing. He must've pulled out and put back in a wrinkled paper-bag of roasted nuts, for what was probably the seventh time, when his straining ears finally picked up on a faint, relaxed whoosh of breath.
Pausing where he crouched, he continued hearing the soft sounds of deep, rhythmic breathing coming from where Siel slept. Pulling the top of Rin's bag close, he stood up to see that the boy was finally fast asleep.
Well, in a way. In the dim lighting, Arin could make out a very faint, cold light washing over Siel's forehead. If he hadn't had an eye for discerning shades and hues, he might not have even noticed it.
Good. That probably meant it (…whatever it was) was working.
Arin stood back up, quietly making his way back to the chair he'd been occupying. He took advantage of the peace to make sense of his own thoughts.
If Siel was successful, they'd have the answer to how they could finally leave this dream. They'd tell Elara too, of course.
And if this was caused by something to do with her, they might not even have to individually awaken the other villagers. If Elara was indeed the focal point of this dream, the whole thing might eventually collapse without her in it, leading to everybody waking up.
And once they woke up…
By then, nearly everything he'd forgotten had come back to Arin. He knew that whatever had caused them all to fall asleep wasn't actually as benevolent as the dream had made it seem.
Within the dream, once the 'curse' had been broken, the people of Silvershade had all awoken healthy and hearty. It had been explained as the 'collected' life force being returned to the rightful owners.
Out in the real world, however, Sir Veylor had been running himself ragged hiring healers to maintain the failing organs of the starving villagers. Even then, they'd already reached the end of the rope, and…
…three people – an elderly couple and a small child – had already died.
And that had already been nearly two days ago.
If indeed, it was Elara's talent that had somehow gone rogue and caused all this, how would that poor girl take it upon awakening and finding out?
…would she even be lucid enough to understand?
Arin thought back to the sunken faces, skeletal bodies, and labored breathing of the sleeping villagers.
Even if they did manage to break them all out of the dream, many might not survive long enough to even understand what they'd been going through.
Before investigating the cause, or whatever it was that madam Seren had been hiding, or anything else at all, the most important thing would be to immediately call for healers – as many as they could from all surrounding villages – and –
Tap. Tap.
Very soft, careful knocks sounded from outside the room.
Snapping out of his thoughts, Arin took to his feet (more carefully this time, so the chair couldn't clatter), and padded over to the door.
Gently pushing it open, he saw Elara's pale face peering up at him from the dark corridor.
'We've come to offer sir Siel some calming tea,' the girl whispered. 'To help him sleep better in a new place.'
Was that the excuse they were going with? Would the… dream… buy it?
Also… we?
Arin pushed the door open wider to see a delicate-looking young girl standing behind Elara.
Lana had come with her.