Tiberinus

[Thalia]

Laughter bubbled. Nimeda was delighted and mystified all at once as she watched the stately way he offered his hand, like the king she once proclaimed him to be and he had denied. For titles she did not much care, though she recalled he had inferred to watch over the realm of a million and more souls. “Vatican City.” She tested the name like it might be something she wished to remember, though she did not understand why he would not show her himself. If it was important to him, though, then it was important to her. She reached for his hand warmly, and squeezed. Around them the world fluttered, though it was not her doing. Her gaze roamed the shifting scenery before he denied himself the desire, and the banks of the river returned.

“You are a puzzle,” she said. “And I like puzzles. But I shall not let it distract me.” Her eyes crinkled with the smile that followed. “Everyone needs something, and it’s rarely what they think. A wise owl once told me that.” She grinned. “Or maybe it was a moth.”

The world began to swirl around them. It was not unusual for Nimeda to spread her awareness wide, and let it take her where it willed. Noctua shared but a sliver of himself, if she chose to accept the cutting suggestion that she would have to explore the city alone. It might have scrunched her nose with distaste ordinarily, but instead blossomed curiosity in its place. She’d meant what she’d said, that it would be pointless without him. Yet the words had seemed more invitation than rejection.

In the meantime, she was inclined to share something of herself in turn, though to do so she allowed the dream to unfurl as it chose.

They shifted to another river, which he would likely find unsurprising. The bright waters rushed through a mountain pass, vibrant with surrounding verdancy, subtropical pine and distant broadleaf forest, banked immediately around them by thick rock. Her neck stretched curious, though recognition lit her gaze by the time their passage stilled. It was a place she came to for peace, where memories tickled like fingers at the back of her neck.

“There are many in the inbetween place, but few ever really wake in the dream. Fewer still stay. Why do you think we dream, Noctua?” The question came unbidden as the waters running swiftly at their side, her tone musing.