GHB 15, orb 2

[steelhearted]

[The orb shows a teenager sitting at a table, surrounded by books on all sides, smiling with a shade of discomfort.]

Hello again. I had somewhat of a strange dream last night.

[He holds up one of the volumes--The Magick of Dreams is stamped across the front in elaborate gold lettering.] I've been trying to figure out what it meant, but these books aren't helping as much as I would have liked.

[The smile falters--falls completely. He puts the book back down.]

Okay. They're completely useless. I don't need a book to tell me that dreaming about my wife means I miss her.

[He rubs at the bridge of his nose and looks back up at the orb.]

I'm wondering if there's another library...or perhaps someone experienced with dream lore who would be willing to speak to me.

Comments

[shadow_sage]

The local libraries are rather useless, aren't they? There are others, but even if they have books like the one you're looking for, no one seems to be able to read them.

I'd say dreams are only images created by the brain while firing during REM sleep, but considering how much around here isn't the same as things back home, I'll admit the possibility it might be something more.

Oh, Goddess, where are my manners? My name is Liara T'Soni. It is a pleasure to meet you.

[steelhearted]

And there's no other recorded source of information?

[Drat. That's inconvenient.] It's almost as if they don't want us to be able to solve their problem.

My lady Liara. [A small bow--the words spin around, meaninglessly, in his skull. The speech patterns of this kingdom's residents are so strange...] Prince Yuan of Portglas, at your service.

[shadow_sage]

I think there's more, a great deal of it, but I'm not sure where all of it is located, and I know I can't read it.

Yet.

Unfortunately, it seems more likely we will be forced to fight against the people who brought us here, at least in some way, if we are going to have chance to win the fight they brought us here to fight for them.

[She smiles.]

Yuan. Of Port Glass. What a poetic image.

[steelhearted]

Against the thorns? I can't imagine why they wouldn't want us going after their problem...

There's a lot I don't understand about this place. Every time I see something I recognize from home, it turns out not to be the same at all.

[He smiles back.] It's not a very big kingdom, but it's...beautiful. Very green.

[shadow_sage]

Because what they want is someone to treat a symptom, the thorns. The problem, I believe, is something else altogether.

[She offers a faint smile]

I have been on many worlds that would be considered small, but beautiful nonetheless. A home which you can love is an important thing.

[steelhearted]

I see. [That attitude is one he knows. How fantastically short-sighted some can be, even when it leads to their demise.]

Many worlds? [Now that's different.] Like this kingdom?

[shadow_sage]

Not exactly, no. This is just one small part of one tiny little planet, orbiting a star, the Sun we see from here. There may be other planets orbiting the star, and asteroids, and comets. This planet has a moon.

But at night, when you look up at the sky, there are millions of stars visible. A great many of them probably have worlds just like this one. Where I'm from, we move between the stars.

[steelhearted]

Traveling between stars.

[Yeah, he's gaping a little--color him impressed.]

Can you really? It's quite far.

[shadow_sage]

To someone who has never seen a cart, carrying a farmstead's vegetables to market would be impossibly far. Sailing across an ocean would be unthinkable to anyone who hasn't seen some kind of large boat.

What my people do is simply another step down that road.

[steelhearted]

I suppose that's true.

[A small laugh.] I've never seen a boat, either, for what it's worth.

[shadow_sage]

I'll have to take you out to the coast and show you one, then.

[She glances off to the side for a moment.]

And if I can find anything new, I'll let you know.

[steelhearted]

Thank you, milady.