Nightmares

[Thalia]

"It's not so bad. The forgetting."
She had no choice in the matter - for her it had to be all right, but nonetheless it was true there was a bliss. A contentment. Ill feeling never lasted. Scars were lost to oblivion. She doubted he could fight her if she chose to force such a gift upon him, or maybe that had only been once, a stronger time. Nimeda was not inclined anyway. His refusal only pushed her thoughts on to other things, not to dwell on acts that would not happen tonight.

"Dawn Wind."
She couldn't even promise to honour his sacrifice herself by remembering that name. When she left this forest, it would be but another memory in a river of them, rushing along in a current that at times bobbed along the surface, and at others dragged all to the depths. The wolf was gone. For such a momentous occasion she'd have expected to feel something, a shift, a note of difference in the air, but the Dreamworld cared nothing for one soul wrenched from its keep.

"A time for everything. For everything a time. Maybe it was already written. He must have loved you, you know. You didn't fail him."
He stroked the fur so sadly. She believed in fate, both cruel and sublime. Perhaps Dawn Wind had imparted a final lesson; if the Dreamworld was to be safe for this wanderer now that he lacked his pack, she could hope so. Otherwise the nightmare would claim him as it had his friend, the next time he travelled unwary. But death came to all; if it was meant to be, it would happen. She didn't worry, just offered comfort for the now.