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Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door scraping across the floor above her. She removed her hands from the sphere and the picture vanished, replaced by the usual iridescent clouds. “I’m coming!” she called up the stairs.
Tirani waited for her with another small package. “Another break in the barrier?” she inquired.
“No, no, everything’s fine.” Liora unwrapped the food and stored it away for a later time. “How are you? Any changes since yesterday?”
Her friend caught her intended message. “He and the others have yet to return home.”
“Ah.” The first hints of a smile crept across her face. “My little treasure has landed.”
“Is that so? What did you see?”
“Not much before you got here.” Her brow furrowed. “But it looked a lot like Marindal. It was almost as if the stone had landed right outside the house.”
“How interesting! Did you see what kind of beings lived there?”
“Not yet.” She bounced up and down on her toes. “I’ll check back later.”
“Very well. Just don’t get your hopes up, my dear. I do hate to see you disappointed.”
Liora beamed at her. “I’ll try.”
“I can’t stay too long today,” Tirani said, inching toward the exit. “There’s work to be done back at the castle.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“Be careful, dear. Don’t exhaust yourself.”
As soon as Tirani departed, Liora felt an odd sensation. Something yanked at the band of silver wrapped around her left wrist, as if an invisible hand tugged at her arm, leading her away from the door. She consented to the unknown force and returned to the underground room.
A man’s face had appeared in the sphere. He had dark brown hair grazing the tips of his ears, parted down the middle and brushed to either side so he could see. Deep gray eyes, reminiscent of the clouded sky during a summer storm, peered out at her with intense curiosity. Liora froze in place on the bottom step. It took her a moment to realize he was merely examining the stone he had found, and the chances of him seeing her were slim.
She stepped closer and studied him. He had narrow cheekbones, a slim nose that came to a thin point, and his mouth turned down slightly at the corners with his perplexed expression. The arrangement of his features was familiar and not unpleasant, and from what she could see of his body, he stood upright on two legs, like her.
He stared into the gem for a few more seconds. The view shifted, and Liora caught a glimpse of a worn, dirt path through the woods before everything went black. Her knees grew weak and she dropped down to sit on the steps, clutching the railing. “It worked,” she murmured to the darkness.
Making her way upstairs, she tried to busy herself with other matters, but thoughts of the stranger kept drifting through her mind. She picked up her current sewing project and worked on the hem of a new dress, all while planning her next move. Her curiosity eventually got the better of her, and she revisited the sphere to wait.
She kept her fingers on the surface, ready to act at a moment’s notice. Her reward came to her in the form of another glimpse of the unknown man. He lay in bed, a light sheet tucked up to his chin, illuminated by a soft glow from both her mystical crystal and moonlight streaming in a nearby window. She watched for the telltale rise and fall of his chest, his rhythmic breathing indicating he had fallen asleep.
It would be far easier for her to manifest herself in his subconscious than it would be to appear to him in his waking hours, she assumed. She set out to create the scene she had envisioned for them throughout the day, wanting him to feel at ease when she first made herself known. Her fingers danced across her medium, ready to create. A forest materialized, much like the ones in which they both found themselves. However, her imagination was not yet satiated. With a broad stroke of her palm, she added a serene pool to the landscape, dotting it with broad, charcoal stones around the border.
She smiled at her work but decided it needed one last finishing touch. With a flourish, she dragged her hand down the front of the sphere, and a waterfall tumbled into the side of the pond. The miniature world she had conjured was a beautiful one. She hoped the man would agree.
All she had left to do was meet him there. She inhaled and exhaled a few times, preparing herself for the vast mental undertaking about to commence. Reaching her arms out to either side, she embraced the sphere, gingerly resting her cheek on its cool surface as she closed her eyes. The pulsing vibrations reverberated through her body, and she concentrated on maintaining the picturesque wooded pond and the image of the man she was about to meet.
When she opened her eyes, she stood in the forest. In her vision, she wore a dress of the softest silk, accompanied by a heavy velvet cloak, both of which were much finer garments than anything she owned in reality. From her vantage point behind a tree, she could see the rocks, the pond, and the waterfall; it all appeared exactly as she wanted it to be. She leaned against the sturdy trunk, taking note of how real the rough bark felt beneath her fingertips. The rustle of leaves caused her to turn to the left, and a figure approached the pond.
He stared at the waterfall with awe and wonder, and sat down on one of the adjacent rocks without taking his gaze off of it. Liora had yet to be spotted, and she took this opportunity to study him further. Though he had only walked a short distance in front of her, his uneven gait was one of the first things she noticed. She couldn’t tell for sure from a distance, but he seemed to be a fair bit taller than her. He was of slender build, and his skin was several shades darker than hers. She didn’t know if they would be able to communicate with each other. It was time to find out.
He whirled around to face her as she revealed herself. His inquisitive gray eyes looked her over from head to toe when she emerged from the trees. Smoky clouds blurred her vision, and she fought to keep the dream in place. Knowing it was only a matter of time before she would lose control, she rushed to make her introduction.
She pushed her hood down to her shoulders and smiled at him, trying to make herself seem as alluring as possible. An attempt to let out a girlish giggle was unsuccessful, and everything around her slipped from her cerebral grasp. With her last bit of strength, she extended her hand toward him, desperate to reach out to him and find out who he really was.
Liora collapsed on the floor beside the sphere, struggling to catch her breath. The creation of the dream and the journey to another plane had consumed an immense amount of energy, and it was difficult to move. Each of her limbs felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds, and she crawled to the staircase.
It took a considerable amount of time to drag herself into the comfort and safety of her bed. Despite her exhaustion, she reflected upon her efforts with a sense of optimism, and she vowed to do better the following day. She had escaped her prison, if only for a short period of time. Thoughts of what was now feasible flashed through her mind before she lost consciousness.
Chapter Ten
