Anamnesis

[Thalia]

Nimeda wondered if Adrian actually realised there were other expressions to choose from. She had the insatiable desire to tickle the little furrow between his brows, but given his poor reaction to the poppy behind his ear he was unlikely to appreciate the joke, so she only laughed to herself. It came out an amused hum amidst the continued whimsy of her exploration. He didn’t seem chatty, and she was content in his brooding silence. Or at least it was preferable to being completely alone.

The shroud of fog around the mouth of the cave was met with abundant curiosity. It tickled across her skin like mischievous fingers, and she wandered naturally away to where the crystals lined the walls inside. Calm filled up her lungs as she touched the cool glassy surface, and she felt the stirrings of something old and mostly unremembered. When she looked closer, the distorted reflection within was not her own, though its eyes blinked when she blinked, and its expression mirrored her own surprise for what it beheld.

She might have lingered longer, but Adrian did not seem inclined to wait. Clearly it was not the journey that mattered here, but the destination. Beyond propelling them along the flows of Need, by now Nimeda remained only out of interest for the unusual currents of her own indecision. As Adrian paused above a basin of inky black, she stared at him in perplexity. It did not surprise her he imagined it as a vessel of water – which on this occasion was none of her own doing, though it was not the first time she had encountered strange pools in dark caves. She didn’t warn him either, just watched as the world tilted, then followed with a thought.

Hm, she responded in the blackness. She had meant to sound perturbed, but it devolved into amusement for her own impression. I guess you didn’t need the wings. Most do not know how to come here.