"So someone's been in your head? Similar as to how I pulled you in my dream? Well, nightmare." He brushed his hair away from his face, then stared out into the distance. Unlike the screams in his nightmare that would forever hunt him awake or asleep, the sound of the waterfall was soothing to his ears.
"Who's Naldak?" He asked, blonde brows shooting upwards.
Her brows pulled together in thought. "I think so. I don't think there's any other explanation. I can't seem to remember any of this while I'm awake and even trying to hurt. Hearing voices and suddenly doing things I wouldn't isn't my normal."
"Oh." She hadn't thought that he might have missed the giant madclaw who had been behind her looming in the darkness despite his quick interventions. "He's uh, a friend. Sort of like a creature you might read about from the old books that mention dragons or basilisks. He isn't keen on people but he helped you."
"Maybe I can look into it without telling you when you're awake," He lifted off his knees and stood, the wind in his hair. The skies filled heavy with rain; the one thing he didn't change from the real world was the season. Not yet had he grasped onto how to control his dream walking ability. Working alongside both the king and his son at one point in time, he never had the time to focus on an useless skill in battle.
Everything revolved around him being the best swordsman in all the realms. Kill or be killed. Never disobey your master. Had he known he possessed dream walking, the terrible nightmares that woke him in the middle of the night would have been only a figment of one's imagination. It was such irony how he'd killed so many people yet the gods had gifted him with something others would perceive as weak or useless, but he cherished it.
He waved his hand and the rain only dropped around them, sliding over the edges of an invisible arc as though he'd had an umbrella.
"It's sad there's a peacefulness I can have here but nowhere else. And I'm sure Naldak is fine considering I have a feeling I can trust you and your words. Don't make me regret saying that." He smiled brightly with his eyes closed.
Strelitzia watched as the droplets slid across the invisible force, streaking all around them. She hadn't known he was a dream walker until he'd dragged her into his nightmare. Which was by far not nearly as problematic as facing her own. Reaching up, she tucked strands of dark hair behind her ears to clear her view of the glowing forest crafted from the kinder parts of his mind. She could even smell the way the rain mingled with fresh dirt. It nearly felt real.
"I'm sure there's peace somewhere out there. I might be running from assassins with my aunt but our time in the mountain has been nice." Especially if she excluded the part about whatever fight had been going on nearly getting her captured but that was neither here nor there. "If you could give others peace while they slept, maybe they would be more pleasant during the day. Or if people are daydreaming. This type of magick really suits you I think."
The smile she flashed him this time was softer, entirely candid and full of wonder at the possibilities. "I only hope to live up to your trust. I will do my best."
James knew she probably didn't remember the fact she didn't call her aunt mother in person, and the last time he tried to mention it he received a good thwap over the head. In fact, here she knew she got abducted, just afterwards was blank.
Something was going on, so he decided it was better safe than sorry, leaving his own thoughts and questions to himself. "Are your dreams not peaceful?" James clasped his hands behind his back and walked from beneath the invisible umbrella into the rain. His hair turned stringy, soon opening his and spinning in the middle of a storm.
Thunder boomed and lightning filled the skies, beautiful in their deadly light. "Common, not like you'd catch a cold or your mother's here to tell you no." He teased. "Where's the adventurer you said you wanted to be?"
Instead of answering his question with words or a taunting comeback, Strelitzia decided to settle it a different way. In a dream under his control there were no inhibitions to hold her back; no worries to trip up her decisions which she could make for herself. The forest became a blur made of neon colors all flowing into one another until all direction was lost as she ran. She pushed herself forward until she came to the edge of the lake fed by the towering waterfall above. Without a second's hesitation she leapt into the water.
Normally she would have been terrified but there was only the thrill of elation. Here she was free from everything, even the laws of reality. The water didn't weigh her down in an attempt to drag her into the freezing abyss, instead she swam back to the surface, throwing her hair back and grinning wildly. She tread water in the midst of a lightning storm, throwing her arms wide in welcome to whatever might come.
"A little rain is all you've got for adventure? I expected more from a pirate!" Emerald gaze glittering as if her eyes had been cut from the same luminescent plants that surrounded them.
"Oh you couldn't handle that kind of adventure," He said playfully. Upon raising his hand a branch tore from the ground, flinging Strelitzia up into the air, but before she could hit the ground another one split into two, bringing him up towards her so he could catch her into his arms bridal style. Their faces were close and the tips of his long blonde hair brushing along her cheek gently.
Instinctively her arms wound around his neck when he caught her. There was still a rush of adrenaline from being flung around like a rag doll before being held carefully. She looked up into his brown eyes, captivated by the world he created just for the two of them. Strelitzia didn't bother trying to hide her blush. "Oh yeah? I think I could handle more than you think."
"I guess so after being abducted and chased by assassins." James playfully rolled his eyes as he held her, the branches spinning them in a circle as rain soaked their clothes until they were a darker hue. "Tomorrow I know you'll be gone when I wake."
"Gone? I may not remember everything but I'm still the same person." Her fingertips brushed rain from his lashes before running over the lines of his face curiously. "Will you miss me?" She poked his nose gently.
"My only tea buddy, of course I'd miss you. I don't think I've had some around who actually listened." James said while he called to the branches to raise them higher. The tree's canopy was open like a bed for them, flat enough for them to lay. He lowered her down and flopped over, staring at the stars while slight droplets of rain hit his face.
Her arms folded behind her head to cushion her head watching the thousands of stars twinkling up above. "You're going to join your crew again when you wake, aren't you?"
"Whenever I wake up." He shifted his head so that he was glimpsing at her. "I trust Baeron too. He used to be so close to me. Almost like another brother. I don't think he remembers me. I heard his voice as I was unconscious. I blame myself for his accident." More like beating, James thought, unable to bring himself to say it aloud.
She kept her gaze on the sky, unsure of what she should make of that. It was too selfish to ask him to stay when he had more important things to do. Being around her would be more dangerous anyway. "He isn't the type of man to hold it against you so you shouldn't either. You know," She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "It might be worth asking him to go with you. Me and my aunt are more of a burden than anything right now. His pregnant wife was taken, probably by the same people who came after my family, who better to help him than an old friend?"
He reached his hand out to hold her own, eyes closing. "I think I'll do that. Let's bask in this dream, we don't know how long we have."