"Leo!" a soft voice called him.
The young man turned his head.
"Leo!" said the light voice that came from a woman.
"Mother!" a little boy said.
The young man watched as his younger self ran into the arms of his mother.
The dream took place in a garden, with blue, beautiful flowers, and no flower was of the same kind. Clouds rolled into the distance, hovering overhead with the occasional dragon cry that came from above the clouds.
"Mommy," said the younger Leo, "When can I meet a dragon?"
"Hush!" said his mother with a stern look on her face, "Never, and I mean never say the word dragon. If your father hears you, or worse...."
She gently stroked his curly hair and said, "That's a taboo in this country dear. Never ever say the word 'dragon.' Okay?"
"Yes, Mother..." the boy said.
"Good. You don't want to become a Black-cloth do you?" she said.
"No, Mother," said the young Leo, "If I become a Black-cloth, I'll travel the world as a swashbuckling hero. My sword will help the helpless! My looks will kill the women!"
"Don't kill them too much," teased his mother.
"Oh, Mommy, you know I'd never hurt anyone, much less a woman."
The older Leo looked out with pain and regret in his heart. He pulled at the leather they sewed enchanted wires deep into his skin. They black clothes could never be taken off. The older Leo watched his younger self play Black-cloth with his mother.
"Look at me now," he said, "Look at me now..."
Meanwhile, the clouds hurtled in slow motion towards the horizon. They hurtled in his dreams. They hurtled in his surroundings. The fisherman's wife still took care of him. She fed him a portion of her food everyday, and she told him all of her troubles and worries. One of the conversations went like this...
"You know," she said, "I'm pregnant..."
She looked into the distance with a mixture of hope and sorrow in her eyes. She watched the clouds roll onward, onward into the distance.
"I hope I'm a good mother... I don't know if it's a boy or a girl. My husband wants a boy. I want one too... It's not because I don't want a girl... It's just that... I don't want her to have to experience what I experienced. I don't want her to get shipped off to a foreign land to get married. I don't want her to be unhappy like me... My husband is rough, as you know... Not just in bed, but sometimes I fear that he'll hit me. He wants to get rid of you, you know. He doesn't like you. He says that it's been a year, and you still haven't woken up. He says you might as well die at this point... You know what I think! He's just jealous. He jealous of what we have... Oh... Who am I kidding!"
The woman laughed at herself, and walked to the door.
"Thank you," she said, "If all men were like you, the world would be much better, in my opinion."
She left the doorway and exited towards her home... She watched the clouds turn for a bit of time, and then she decided to enter her home, because it was getting dark. The sun never shines on this world. The sun never shines in the world of clouds!