will the dream come back?
will i know where i am?
I can’t help the grin that sparks at your mother would be proud—I always hope for that. We touch down smooth as a seal slip and he sets me on my own two feet; my knees wobble with leftover sky, but it’s the good kind, the kind that feels like laughter still moving through my bones. I nod solemnly toward our lava-free mound, with a "Perfectly safe!" Granting it official, Theea-approved safety.will i know where i am?
Then his tone changes, and the grin folds into something quieter. I listen. The weight of it settles in my chest because I know what he’s lost, what he’s walked through, and I don’t have to try very hard to imagine the drop in my stomach, the horrible crack in my chest when someone I love slipped into Mort’s realm without warning.
His hand brushes a strand from my cheek; I tip my head into the touch like it’s habit I was born with, and I find his eyes. "I don’t have plans to go anywhere near Mort's halls any time soon," I tell him, mouth curving, steady. "But if I’m ever called away, I’m calling back to you. I promise."
The wind lifts my braid and the crown on my head sits a little crooked; I set it right, thinking. "Do I have to be with Ludo still for you to hear me?" I ask, earnest and unafraid to be obvious. "Will it ferry me first? Is there a point that’s… too late?" The toe of my boot nudges the edge of the rock at my other heel. "I know Ludo likes to be tricky. It likes games. That’s—" I gesture back toward the riot of color below us, "—part of why I was playing. When I met Melita, she told me Ludo just wants everyone to lighten up."
will there be birds?
Theea
