The Dream was looking different that night, I’d noticed it before but I was busy with important matters and hadn’t given myself time to really pay attention. It looked more, for ck of a better term, alive? I could see patterns, paths, threads by the millions, and somehow none of it was overwhelming. If I had to guess I would have to say that Dream Touched had probably advanced a lot.

  It made finding Daisy incredibly easy, I just kind of knew where she was ahere. It didn’t even feel like traveling I just went there, in moments. Like taking a few steps and finding myself miles away. It’s hard to expin, just some particur peculiarity of how the Dream works I suppose.

  Daisy and I started to walk doath when I saw it, a thread but… hurting? A nightmare, a bad one. I’m not sure how I knew, I just did. The thread was lio me so it was someone I’d met but it didn’t feel familiar.

  “Ready to go into the unknown, Daisy?” She stood straight and saluted with her trunk, a grin on her lips. Or at least as best her baku face could manage. I reized it regardless. “Darn right we are!” I agreed before we followed the thread.

  The se we arrived on was overwhelming. A pristine white hall of shining stoh golden ats and sces on the walls holding gleaming silver fmes that didn’t seem to have any fuel keeping them alight. Figures strode through the hall, massive, several yards tall, white robes sht they almost hurt to look at, a dozen wings or more on each of them. Fming swords held in their grips before them, as if praying with them. They gave off a feeling of danger, judgment, a promise of punishment for any slight. I had only met a few angels in my life but I have to say this felt pretty accurate to my experiences.

  But I didn’t see the dreamer until Daisy tugged on my arm and poio a far er where the light didn’t reach. We moved closer and… oh. The ahe one we’d captured. She was curled up in the shadowed er and trembling. The lights slowly shifted and the shadow started to shrink, the light growing closer to her. She parying to draw herself further into the er, but there was no room left. Tears streamed down her face, a hand over her mouth to keep her voice down. She was terrified.

  “Daisy, eat this please.” I didn’t care that she was an enemy, this was too painful to just watd do nothing.

  P

  We were suddenly in a cave, simple buildings carved into the walls, a stream with softly glowing fish going down one side of the cavern, several angels with darker skin and blue fmes milling about, h wings. It was beautiful here. Though the threadbare nature of the clothing of the angels and the cracks ionework told me this was not a well off unity. Maybe the celestial equivalent of a slum.

  I turo look at the angel again and she was crawling to the river, dipping her hands in and shivering. “Wh-what, how? How am I home?”

  “You’re not, not really.” I said, gettitention.

  She whipped around and stared at me wide eyed. “You!” Then threw herself at me. I waved a hand and a short stone wall lifted up between us. She tripped on it a ass over teakettle.

  “Please don’t try that again. We are in the Dream and I am the oh power here.” Holy, I FELT those words. The Dream felt like a part of me I could move the same way I did my arms and legs. I k dowo her as she pulled herself up and sat back. I could see my freckles, now dark stars, flicker and move ay skin on my arms. So much like the bright stars did on my Goddess’s. I felt my hair swaying above me, I imagi looked not unlike Vei’Ryn’s thundercloud at that moment. “Now, Daisy here ate yhtmare. What do you do when someone does something nice for you?”

  The angel looked at me, eyes widening. She turo Daisy and slowly bowed her head “Th-thank you.”

  I reached out and patted her head, the blue fmes not hurting at all. Holy I had a weird feeling they wouldn’t in the real world either. “Good girl.” She bit her lip at that and a glowing pulse of blue light went down a series of marble like lines in her skin I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise. Was that a blush? Praise kink maybe? I could work with that. “Now yoing to keep being good and tell me why you tried to kill me.”

  She raised her head and tried, and failed, to gre at me. She just looked too cute to be scary in that moment. “You’re a threat to the Bance.”

  “And what bance would that be?” I asked, still softly stroking her head. She leaned into it, just a bit.

  “THE Bahe ohat maintains the worlds.”

  “How am I doing that?” I smiled at her.

  She hesitated, “Y-you’re an unbang entity.”

  “You have no idea, do you?”

  “I am unworthy of the words of the Hierophant, aiding in your purge was to be my test.” Her words were soft, unsure.

  “I’m told that Skills like yours are rare iials. Does that mean you are some important being, a rare and celebrated angel?”

  She snorted bitterly before she could trol herself. Then she blushed again and cleared her throat. “My people are…” I could practically see her wheels turning as she tried to think of words that made this seem like it wasn’t a ive. “…not only members of the Choir. We are more susceptible to corruption, it is dangerous for us to leave the Pure Lands. I was given a dangerous task to prove myself and earn a p the Choir.”

  I looked over at the wandering dream angels. “I take it your people live here?”

  She shifted nervously. “It is safer for us in the shadows, the Light harm lesser angels like us. It is a kindness from the Hierophant to give us this refuge.”

  “You don’t believe that for a sed, do you?” I gently turned her face to look at me.

  Her lip trembled and tears fell again. “They just hate looking at us. We’re a remihat they are not so pure as they pretend to be. We’re not different species, any angel birth any other. When they have one of us they see it as a failing. But just killing us would be too much, they couldn’t pretend to be benevolent anymore, so they send us here, to be uo be fotten!”

  I stroked her cheek gently. I could literally feel my Skills tugging at her emotions, pulling everything out. Gods, how powerful was I going to get? “Then why work for them?”

  “Because I would have power in the Choir, be able to do, something, I don’t know! Maybe just send more resources here, to these people like me. Maybe just keep a few from going hungry.” She shook her head. “And you were a threat, something bad, something that o die to protect the world. So why wouldn’t I help them?”

  “I’m not a threat to the world. I’m only a threat to things remaining stagnant. That’s what the Hierophant is so pissy about. I’m a force of ge aials hate ge. Well, most of them. You seem to seek it.”

  She stared, wide eyed. “Wh-what no, I would ry and ge the Pure Lands! The Hierophant’s vision is perfed unging!”

  “It’s just us here little angel, you don’t o lie to me.”

  She hesitated then suddenly pulled back, quickly distang herself from me. “No! You’re doing something to my mind!”

  I stood. “Your heart, not your mind. I find mind altering abilities to be abhorrent. Stealing someone’s very will? Absolutely evil.”

  “A you twist mih your powers!” She spat as she leapt to her feet.

  “No. My Skills simply draw out what is already there. I have dohing but bring out words you already wao speak. Please don’t insult either of us be pretending everything you just said isn’t true.”

  She ched her fists tight. “Y-you’re a liar!”

  “If that’s the game you want to py, fihe me just say this. The Fae Lord knows you are in Beaver Valley and they are ing to get you.” Fear dominated her features. Her knees shook and she fell to the floor. “The Elders could probably fight them on it, diplomatically that is. But right now they have no reason to.”

  “Y-you wao betray the Hierophant? I ’t!”

  “How could you anyway? You don’t know anything. They just used you for your stealth skills. They didn’t even tell you anything beyond I was a threat and o die, did they? Just talk, about anything, your favorite food maybe. Do angels eat the same kinds of things mortals do?”

  She paused and looked down at the river. “… I like grilled fish.”

  I nodded. “Tell the guards, the interrogator, whoever es to speak, talk to them. About anything you want. You don’t have to tell a single secret, I’m pretty sure you’re the first ahat Willow Creek has ever taken alive. Just talking about your life would be worth it for them.”

  “I…” She stared at the water in the river for a long time. “I try.”

  I let out a breath and nodded. “Good. I’m Esme, I bet they old you my her.”

  She chewed on her lip for a moment. “Azuriel.”

  “Well, now that you’re n to stab me, it’s o meet you Azuriel. Sorry about, you know, hurting you. But I was trying to not die.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “How did you do that anyway?”

  “Oh, Carmil jumped into you through your wound, blood elemental powers and-”

  “No, before that. When you stuck your finger in my-” She shuddered at the memory, ’t bme her really. “It was unlike any pain I’d ever felt. Far, far worse than it should have been. I’d know, life here tends to be painful.” She gestured towards the dream vilge.

  I blinked and pohis. “I… am not sure to be ho.” I had an idea but I would o test something. “Look, I’m sure you were just trying to do what you thought was right and trying to maybe help your home in the process. Even when you were actively trying to kill me you seemed less than happy about it. Maybe expin things from your perspective. Hell, maybe you’re right and I am a threat and Willow Creek will kill me because you asked them.” I shrugged. “Anyway, enjoy your dream, I think I’m about to wake up.”

  And then I opened my eyes. Realizing I could actually tell when I was waking up was iing. Also, I was awake immediately, niness. I had some things to do but actually remembered to look at my Status for once.

  Okay, yes, ges had in fact happened. For starters, [Courtesan’s Touch] was now rank B. Which I was not that surprised about and o test ter. [Touch e] was rank D and [Shoulder to Cry On] was already A. Not to mention [Favor of the Ferryman] was sitting at A as well. But all of that paled o the big one.

  [Dream Touched] was GONE and in its pce was a new Skill.

  [Dream Singer: S]

  [You have bee so enriched with The Dream that it siders you a denizen. You are a neighbor and friend to most Dream entities, the hidden paths are revealed to you, and the threads tell you their secrets. You have some mastery over The Dream’s ndscape aures, able to make small ges without The Dream and its guardiaing.]

  That was ued. But absolutely awesome. I grinned as I slowly sat up, carefully untangling myself from Carmil and Luvetra without waking them. The light ing through the top of the yurt was barely there, it must have still been quite early. sidering how early I crashed the night before that made sense.

  I walked outside and saw a handful of people starting their day, Weren already cooking being one. But also, Dekarru sitting at a piic table and sipping tea. I went to join her, we had some things to discuss.

  “Good m Stareyes, rest well?” She smiled at me, but there was tension behind her voice.

  “Carmil told you I died?” She nodded. “I wasn’t in danger, Charon just wao make sure I was okay after finding a few fragments of my soul drifting about. Don’t ask, I don’t have an answer and I don’t want to think about it right now.”

  “You, friends with the Ferryman? How?”

  “When I died, the first time, months back, I…” I sighed and rubbed my face. “I arently relieved. Just, gd that it was over, that I wasn’t suffering anymore. I was just so gd to be doh it all that I was happy to see him. We hung out, pyed games, talked about, gods I don’t even know what. Then,” I turo look the Oracle in the eye. “Then Vei’Ryn and her Pantheon pulled me back to the living and made me her Saint.”

  Her eyes wide me telling her my Goddess’s name. “Stareyes, does that mean…?”

  I nodded. “By the way, I have a message for you. Muwyn Saion told me to tell you, what you think of as your failings were only the growing pains of a child. She is proud to call you her Oracle.”

  Tears streaked down my shaman’s face. “Stareyes… h-how do I respond to that? How do I thank you fing my goddess’s words to me even more directly than my powers as an Oracle could?”

  I smiled and reached out, stroking her cheek softly and leaning in to kiss her. It was a brief kiss, but tender and with so much meaning behind it. “I also think I know why you’re sitting out here stressing. It’s been long enough that you use a spell to tell if it took?”

  She took a breath and nodded. “I’m holy scared to try. I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to either result. But mostly…” She took a slow breath and rubbed tears from her face. “Esme, I’m the st of my line. No blood retives left. I’m a desdant of one of Muwyn’s first Saints. I’m the st of her Oracles. Once I’m gone, if I don’t have any desdants to carry my bloodline on, she might never have an Oracle again unless she expends the power to make a new Saint. Stareyes, I want to have a child with you. For so many reasons, not the least of which being that you’ve burrowed into this old e’s heart. But also because I don’t want to be the ohat failed to keep my goddess’s Oracle line alive.” She sniffled and shook her head “Gods, I’m such a mess today. Fuck. I should just get this over with.”

  “Before you do that, she had more to say.” Dekarru lifted her brows. “She wao wish you and me gratutions.” I told her and watched her eyes widen. I nodded.

  She threw her arms around me. “Stareyes! Oh goddess be praised! You mean it? You’re not just screwing with me?”

  “I would never joke about this Dekarru. Acc to Muwyn, we’re going to be mothers.”

  “WHAT?!” I heard Wen’s void turo see her standing there with a pte of pancakes and a face full of shock. “Wait wait wait, Dekarru’s PREGNANT!?”

  I reached out to gently pull Wen closer. “Yes, and this isn’t even going to be the biggest thing that we’re freaking out about today.” I looked at the sun rising over the mountains and sighed. “Speaking of, we better get bato the yurt soon. Red is going to lose her mind when she wakes up.”