[Elora]

The Watcher heard her plea, whispering soothing words in a gentle voice. Vanwe drifted deeply through the night. A peace found her that she rarely was blessed with. Visions of cranes rising on wing at sunset, the watery expanse gleaming with the firey sun beneath their outstretched wings. The stars shone in faint pin pricks above them. It was quiet, and at that time she had been safe from pursuit.

Vanwe continued to blend memory with dream, finding glimpses from her childhood where the beauty had outshone the ugliness of her life. The desert was breathtaking at night. She had often watched it breathe beneath a sky of velvet indigo whilst the village slept. She would sit, knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around them to conserve warmth, and soak it in. Or she would carve small limps of wood that had not been burnt in the fires of that night.

Where her brow had furrowed and her expression stiffened in anger and fear, was now smooth peace. Serene in sleep, a hint of a smile curving her lips, Vanwe was content to remember as a voice whispered, "The bad things have gone. They cannot harm you." In her dreams, it was true. They had never been able to take her dreams from her.

In the dusky night of her dreamscape, she turned on bare feet that touched cool sand, dancing silently and arms outstretched to the starry sky. "They cannot harm me," she whispered again. "I will not run," Vanwe added in her dream. Joy at her freedom bubbled up from deep within and for the rest of the night her sleep was troubled no more.

Derufin could not know the gift of his words. A shadow had passed, and the world beyond its veil was bright and filled with promise, much like the Elf that lay dreaming...

[ July 28, 2003: Message edited by: piosenniel ]