[SE] Nowhere left for us to go but heaven

Since they were living there now, Tal had figured they should probably learn more about their new home. He'd heard some of the residents of the Refuge talking about a well that was supposed to grant sweet dreams and, well...

Given the state of the world right now, he figured one night of pleasant dreams was at least worth a look. If nothing else, at least it sounded like a nice place for a picnic. And if any more moons were going to come crashing down on them, they could damn well fucking wait until tomorrow.

They had both been working hard to help the affected regions, and Tal was planning to head down to the docks in a couple of days and lend a hand with the recovery in King's End, but something Hotaru had once told him had reminded him that they needed to stop and take care of themselves, too, or they'd be too burned out to help others.

So here they were on a sunny Longheat day, walking under the dappled shadows of the grove around the well house. Tal had a picnic basket in one hand and Boreal had a length of frayed rope in her mouth for playing tug-of-war with later, and he turned to give Alys a tired grin. "D'you have th'pebbles?" he asked teasingly for what was probably the third time that day, though at least it had been over an hour since the last time.

It was strange, really, to be exploring their new home while the rest of the world was still recovering. But if Alys had learned nothing else in her life, it was to grab onto happiness while you had it, because tomorrow was never a guarantee. And she certainly couldn't complain about the location (which was beautiful) or the company (whom she adored), and when Tal had mentioned a well that granted sweet dreams? Well. Consider the seer convinced.

She hadn't slept well in the weeks since the Sea of Dreams, and the meteor crash had done little to soothe her fractured dreams. More often than not, she woke in the night, shaking, having dreamt once more of losing Ru, or Dei, or - more frequently - Tal or Sascha or Boreal. And if the cost of a night of pleasant dreams was a shiny pebble, well, she was more than happy to oblige.

So when Tal flashed her a tired grin, the seer held up the little pouch of pebbles and crystals she'd collected for just this occasion. "Here," she said, returning the smile. She couldn't blame him for asking her again - with how tired everyone was, it wouldn't have been surprising for her to leave home without it. Indeed, she had circles under her eyes that hadn't been there before, and her mind seemed to short-circuit at the teasing nature of his remark, unable to think of something suitably teasing in return.

"Thanks again for doing this," she told her partner as Sascha trotted alongside Boreal, eyeing the frayed rope as though considering starting a game of tug-of-war right then. "It'll be great, to spend some time away from it all."

Alys

They both needed the help sleeping, though Tal's nightmares had calmed considerably with Alys nearby at night. Whether it was hearing her steady breathing while he slept or opening his eyes just enough to see her sleeping face in the moonlight so he could drop back off again without fully waking, he was slowly recovering from the trauma of the void lilies. Even when the darkness of his dreams threatened Ru or Sah or his sisters, having Alys so close at hand helped to reassure him that they were only dreams, and had no power over him.

Not that anyone was getting anything like enough sleep these days. There was too much damage to try and repair, and the voidlings had everyone on edge, always popping up where they were least expected - or wanted.

The bag of small treasures buoyed his spirits, like a talisman against the tragedies in Halo and Torchline, and he pretended to heave a big sigh of relief when Alys revealed it (again). "Thank Frey! I was afraid we were gonna have t'toss Boreal in," he teased, earning a warning huff from the dragon, who flipped her head - and the rope - in a definite opinion of that particular plan.

He stretched his hand out in a gruffly shy invitation as they strolled through the little grove, following the path between the trees that had been smoothed by plenty of other feet before them. "Yeah, well... we both need it," he said, looking up awkwardly into the boughs above them since he didn't have a free hand to rub his neck with. "An' more importantly, we deserve it. Can't be doom an' gloom all day, every day without wearin' ourselves down t'tatters. An' then who'll take care o' us?" He shrugged one shoulder and cleared his throat. "'Sides, all that void stuff, it seems t'fuck around with all sorts o' negative emotions, right? So I figure, by doin' somethin' positive, we're givin' it a big, fat middle finger." He slanted another glance at her, grin tugging at the corners of his mouth again.

Alys watched as her partner's face lit at the sight of her bag of pebbles, and she grinned in response before taking his hand, interlacing her fingers between his as they strolled along. She wasn't so sure that she deserved a break - not when there was still so much left that she could do - and it felt more than a little selfish to disappear into King's End with Tal, leaving the repairs behind for an afternoon. Not that it stopped her. And she supposed that he did have a point. How many times had she advised people that self-care was important, after all? Maybe it was time to heed her own advice.

Sascha watched the rope in Boreal's mouth, and had she been, say, a large cat, she might have crouched, wiggled her tail in the air, and pounced - but she wasn't quite graceful enough for that kind of stalking, and instead, she batted playfully at the end of the rope where it swung, snapping at it in an attempt to start a game - though whether she wanted to play keep-away or tug-of-war was somewhat unclear.

There were a dozen different things racing across her mind, but most of them had to do with rebuilding, or the void creatures, or any number of disaster-related topics, but this was a day of happiness and peace. Darkness, she decided, would have no hold on them today. So instead, she rattled her little bag of pebbles and wondered aloud, "Do you think the well will prefer pebbles or crystals?" she asked. "I mean, they can both be shiny, but crystals are arguably prettier." At least, most of them. She'd brought a variety to choose from.

Alys

Boreal was looking for a game of tug-o-war, which she made clear by pausing to wiggle the rope in front of Sascha's snapping teeth until the little bear could snatch it--

And then started to happily drag her fellow companion along for a 'walk' with occasional pauses to crouch and gently shake the rope, with a soft and playful rumble of a growl.

For his part, Tal glanced back at the companions occasionally to give a lopsided grin at their antics, but he was happy to just enjoy the shady coolness beneath the trees and occasionally squeeze Alys's hand just for the sheer novel pleasure of holding it without worrying about what anyone else might think of him, or about them as a couple. The rattling bag of pebbles immediately drew his attention and his nose wrinkled up in thought at her question. "Hmmm... I mean, crystals are awfully nice..." he began, trying to keep the scowl on his face but failing somewhat miserably as it kept twitching towards a grin. "But pebbles've got more color to 'em, yeah?" He gave up the fight against the grin, letting it spread and light up his face as the well house itself came into view. "Guess we'll each have t'choose our favorite an' toss it in t'see who has th'best dreams tonight!"

Though as he led the way into the well house he couldn't help but peek over the side of the well itself, sliding his Goggles up from his neck and over his eyes with his free hand to try and peer down the shaft. From the perplexed look on his face as he lowered them again, they hadn't done much good.

---

Reaching out to twine his fingers with Alys's, they each selected one of the shiny stones she'd brought: a crystal for the Seer and a pebble for the courier - and tossed them in together. They waited for the splashes, but the sounds never came, so Tal declared that their offering had been accepted and they were guaranteed good dreams that night! And after a picnic in the pretty glade and a day spent reminding themselves of the beauty and life of the world around them, he turned out to be absolutely right.

~Fin~