Nillina never dreamed, aside from the one that was also a vision in the air, and that came only once at the start of a sojourn. Her sleep was always clean, pure, undisturbed even by pleasant images. But when the stranger from that other time arrived in the small cottage, she dreamed every night. And it was always the same dream. Nillina knew the dream had meaning, and she knew it held the key to all the questions she had asked and had not had answered, including the one of how to help the tall, gaunt, gangly youth who had arrived in the vehicle he called a car.
As she prepared for bed on his ninth night in the front room, she sighed. It was a deep and lusty sigh, full of frustration barely suppressed, annoyance barely restrained, impatience barely subsumed. This was proving to be by far her most challenging sojourn indeed. Nothing in all her past experiences could she draw on to guide her. The path was murky, and growing more so daily. And she felt an impending heaviness, an approaching darkness, like a weight on her mind, and in her heart. And that feeling had grown each time she dreamed.
Sliding beneath the bright red blanket that the Seer had given her, she settled her back against the bed and stared silently up at the ceiling. The full moon rode high in the midnight sky, and the forest's night time dwellers came out to forage and to play. She could hear their pips and squeaks and grunts. An owl flew by, its silhouette a ghostly thing across the fat face of the moon. She was restless, and found she had to change her position twice before she found a comfortable spot on her right side. Tucking her hands under her right cheek, she closed her eyes, and wished again for a dreamless sleep. The sound of soft snoring coming from the front room at once sharpened her nerves and soothed them. She relaxed her shoulders, and let herself slide into sleep.
From one moment to the next, she had moved from her bed to the deepest part of the woods. it was dusk, that oddly frightening time of day that poets like to call the "gloaming", when the night creatures are stirring, and the day creatures are slowing, when the sky has a darker kind of light, and the day surrenders itself to the night, like a submissive to her Dominant master. The darkness crept slowly over the arch of sky, lengthening the deep darkness close to the ground, setting the higher limbs of the trees in dark relief.
She was sitting cross-legged on the path that led from the woods to a paved road. No one else was around, yet she was not alone. She felt the eyes watching her, assessing her situation. She could almost hear the breathing. She closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply, She knew when it came. she could feel it breathe on her, a hot breath, making her shiver. She kept her seat, still, eyes closed, and waited. And then it spoke.
"I am the last," it said in that gravelly voice. "There will be no other. Learn from me or die!"
She opened her eyes then and the Wolf stared into them, a snarl curling its lips over its sharp incisors. And yet, it did not threaten her, not did she feel fear. It turned and walked away, and she followed it into the gloaming. It led her through the woods to the road, and she watched as the vehicle went past, saw it enter the woods and disappear. The next thing she saw was the young man's face, blanched, flat, almost as though he were asleep. But she knew he was not asleep.
Only this time, she knew how he died, and why. The Wolf appeared beside him, its eyes glowing red, the snarl as fierce as ever, and then it spoke.
"I am Lupus. I am the spirit of the Lost One. I hold the memory of a generation. This vessel was too weak to hold them with me. It falls to you, now, daughter of air. Can you succeed where he has failed?"
Nillina awoke with a start. This was new. It had not named itself before, nor told her what it wanted. The cottage was quiet, and the soft snoring from the front room had stopped. She sat up, her heart racing, her eyes flooded with sudden tears. How could she tell him? How could she tell the Seer? How could she tell anyone? She could no longer lie in bed. She needed to walk, to think, to process what she was learning...to prepare herself. Pulling on her heavy cloak, she let herself out of the cottage, and headed for the little pier where she had first landed.
The night was dark, and only the bright moon gave her company as she walked, head down, lost in thought. A sound ahead made her raise her eyes...and it was there, the Wolf of her dreams.
"Are you ready?" It spoke in her mind, only a snarl upon its lips.
"Yes, I am ready!"
It turned and walked away, and Nillina followed it...
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