C'Leena nodded as Cyran spoke about the shells, a new goal to learn to enchant things forming in her mind. It would also be good to learn in order for her overarching goal to continue to make prosthetics, seeing as she doesn't have access to technology in Charon.

C'Leena quirked an eyebrow at Cyran getting startled again by the machine. "Perhaps a little sad, but hospitals are understaffed and we needed the help wherever we can get it." She responds simply. She never really interacted with the droids herself, simply never encountering them in her area. Sure, she worked with machines that helped her build the parts and prosthetics, but nothing like the assistant droid. Simple arms connected to the ceiling.

C'Leena snorted at Cyran's misinterpretation. "No, but that's way funnier so we'll stick with that." She says, laughing all the while. There have been many times where she considered burning, boiling or otherwise destroying technology because it infuriated her, and one time she did hurl her spare prosthetic across her living room because it wasn't working right. Suffice to say it stopped working after that.

"I was mainly joking, but I mean if you're interested, maybe. Again, I'm just worried you'll burst a blood vessel trying to wrap your head around it all. Hell, I nearly did when I was learning and I knew about technology already." Prosthetics were insanely complicated. On top of having to code each and every motor and tactile sensor, she also had to essentially 'teach' it to understand inputs from the nervous system, and be able to feed whatever information from the prosthetic to the brain. It was beyond complicated and would take her years to teach.

C'Leena rubbed the back of her neck, a slightly embarrassed smile on her face as she looks off to the side. "..Twice. Look, I was in a clearing, doing Anzac day stuff, speaking odes and playing The Last Post, Nephele happened to be nearby and overheard it, approached and we just kind of talked for a while.

"I gave her a poppy as a gift cause why not? I had it, she was there so I gave it to her. She then insisted that we get another, so we did. After some time and a few surprising turns of events, we were both crying, holding eachother in the middle of a poppy field and I just.. saw my chance and took it. It was the biggest gamble of my life and to my surprise, she asked for another?" Her embarrassment morphs into a certain glee of being able to talk about her girlfriend as she becomes more animated.

"I mean, there was the shock factor of it - of course there was but I was expecting a 'what did you do?' or like, something. not 'can you do that again'! Do you have any idea how badly that caught me off guard? That one thing just shut off the crying for both of us! That doesn't happen!" She's begun pacing back and forth, the smile on her face wide and filled with endless love. She has to force herself to stop and to breathe as she catches herself going on a tangent.

The dream fades and C'Leena opens her eyes. She finds her left hand twitching hard, but calms down once she's fully conscious. "Why does that happen?" She quietly wonders, closely inspecting her hand, as if it will tell her if she looks hard enough.

Looking around and judging by the sun, perhaps an hour, hour and a half had passed. That feels about right, C'Leena reckons. Her thoughts about Nephele are still running rampant, and even to this day she doesn't understand how that morning in the poppy fields had worked out. She lets go of Cyran's hand, realizing that she was gripping a bit tighter than what is comfortable. One of the cons of having no sense of touch is also lacking a sense of pressure. She has yet to break something accidentally because of that, but back on earth it was rather common for her to accidentally break a glass or crush a delicate part.

She opens her space pocket and brings out her ring again, looking at it from all angles. Is this the best idea? It's not too soon, is it? What if she says no? Thoughts like this run through her mind, her eyes curiously still their human-looking golden color. Externally, she looks concerned, having forgotten that Cyran is there as she gets lost within the depths of her own mind.

Though the dream had started out heavy, it ended with C’leena regaling Cyran about how she’d met Nephele in a poppy field, looking brighter than she had all day. Her grief seemed to be forgotten for now in favor of love - overwhelming love, so much so that she didn’t seem to be able to contain it within herself. Cyran was happy to see it, though he did have to stifle an amused laugh behind his hand when C’leena rambled so quickly she couldn’t even breathe.

Waking up was a quick affair for Cyran, who was merely meditating as opposed to actually sleeping. Not to mention the pain gripping his hand where C’leena’s artificial one was clinging to him - he winced, but he could handle a strong grip. So he simply sat there until C’leena woke up and released him. She was oddly silent, thoughtful as she pulled out her ring and stared at it.

Oh, how nervous young love was.

“Don’t overthink things.” Cyran said quietly, breaking the thoughtful silence. “She cares about you, and you care about her. And if you think that maybe you’re rushing things, or acting impulsively, look what happened when you kissed her for the first time. Things work out.”

He closed his eyes, thinking back to his own attempts at love.

“I could tell you so many stories about my own experiences in love and marriage. I was wed once before, you know - arranged, but then I was widowed. It was a union of obligation. I spent my life believing that was the sacrifice I had to make, that I was never supposed to know real love and I was okay with that. And when she died, I thought I would feel free. But I just felt kind of… hollow.”

He spent months as a shell after Rowan’s death and his exile. He was supposed to be happy, he supposed, to be free of that wretched place. But Marlow was not with him, and he could not so much as muster up a piece of mind.

“I thought I was incapable of love, and I was content with that.”

His first marriage had proven to Cyran that romance, that kind of bond, was not for him.

“And then I met her.”

Del.

“It was a coincidence, really. I happened to notice her hiding in the shadows out of sight from the crowd. I didn’t expect to see her, and she didn’t expect to be seen. But then we just clicked, and things seemed to work out.” And then they spent Hearth’s Day together, a wonderful outing that only seemed to make something foreign and scary bloom in his heart. Love, real love. Though he would not have a name for it for a long time.

“And if you think that kissing Nephele after an hour was bad, Del and I accidentally participated in a soul-binding ritual after only a few days of knowing each other.”

He held up his hand, gesturing to the plain, wrought-iron ring on his finger. “I was so scared of having my rotten soul connected to another person. They didn’t deserve that. And there’s nothing as horrifyingly intimate as having someone know you. Not just the part of yourself that you present, but the whole you, in its entirety. I thought she might hate me the more she got to know me, but then…”

Then he fell in love.

“What I’m trying to say is. Things work out.” He reassured her. “I spent so much time agonizing about how Del felt about me, and that no matter how I felt about her I would be selfish if I acted on those feelings. But then she gave me a dagger,” A sign of intention to court in his culture, “And I decided to just… go for it. I love her, and I think she loves me. And there’s no one else I’d rather spend eternity with. So don’t worry about how Nephele might react. Sometimes it’s just as simple as asking.”

C'Leena listened to what Cyran said. She knew of arranged marriage, having learnt about it in history class all those years ago. It was something she was glad didn't exist on earth, but now she's in a place where apparently it does. Thankfully, it's not something she has to worry about since she has no parents to organize that. Also she's far too old for that now, right? Organized marriage is usually planned for early teens, right? She wasn't huge on history so perhaps not.

C'Leena nodded as he described the hollow feeling. It was a feeling she was familiar with, after all. The emptiness in your chest after having someone ripped out from it. No matter how much or how little you loved them, having them taken from you is an awful experience. Sure, she didn't quite understand it from Cyran's point of view, but at least kind of did.

She also knew the inability to love rather well, too. In a distant sense, at least. Instead of thinking that she can't love, she thought that she couldn't be loved. After her accident, she was convinced the scars, prosthetics and trauma would scare off anybody or just be a massive burden, so she distanced herself. Made it so that she couldn't hurt anybody by not sharing.

That all changed when she had met Nephele. By the time they met, C'Leena had set up wall after wall, protecting herself and others from being hurt. But to Nephele, they might as well have been made from paper as she tore them down one by one. Later, she ended up telling Nephele almost everything. The fire and the loss of her sister being two major ones. She simply started talking and couldn't bring herself to stop. And everything simply rolled from there.

Love is difficult in the beginning. First you need to recognize what you're feeling, and then you need to take the leap. The simple fact that C'Leena did both of those within an hour and a half makes it sound like something from a 'Love At First Sight' reality TV show or some kind of fairy tale. While she despised the former, she constantly felt like she was in the latter - as if she could wake up at any moment, finding herself in her apartment back on earth.

Listening to Cyran's story of Del and him was heartwarming. In a distant sense, the beginning of both of their relationships were similar. C'Leena wasn't expecting to be seen, but Nephele saw her anyway, and the duo just clicked. Matched like jigsaw pieces. Everything after that definitely distances that similarity, as last she checked, her soul was very much un-linked to anybody or anything.

"I think.. The only thing stopping me at this point is societal norms back on earth. I know I'm not there anymore, but I grew up around them for all my 15 years of school and the following years in normal society. It's hard to let go of an expectation, I suppose."

"I truly do love her, though. I love her with everything I have. She's clever, she's funny, she knows exactly what to say and how to say it to cheer me up. She's so kind and caring and empathetic. She's beautiful, too." She opens up her Space Pocket again and pulls out a notebook. She flips through the pages and reaches what looks to be a drawing of somebody, colored and everything. Finding the colors was a nightmare but she got it done.

C'Leena turns the book around and shows Cyran. Drawn on the page seems to be the side profile of what is clearly a water nymph. Blue skin, cloudlike hair and wide, amazed eyes. Unlike water nymphs though are the eyes, which aren't usually like how Nephele's are. Her eyes mirror the night sky, with hundreds of stars scattered throughout, and a single shooting star blitzing through the corner of her eye.

Nephele on the paper has long goat-like ears, with two golden rings pierced in her ear. The drawing itself isn't winning any awards, but it's rather good. "I uh, drew this mainly from memory so not everything is perfect but I did what I could." She looks almost embarrassed to be showing this, as Cyran would be the first to see it. C'Leena hasn't even shown it to Nephele.

"But uh, yeah. I think I'm going to go through with it. I'm worried about getting a 'no', but I won't get a 'yes' If I don't ask." She says quietly, putting the notebook back into her Space Pocket after Cyran had a look. Despite her embarrassment, she well and truly looks like she's in love with Nephele. The sheer amount of emotion running through her just from talking about her is a dead giveaway.

Truly, C'Leena doesn't want a life with anybody other than her. Whatever her and Nepheles future may hold, C'Leena is looking forward to it. Hopefully with rings on both their fingers. Only time will tell. C'Leena does have one request from Cyran, however.

"Uhm, I was wondering something. Could uh.. Could you show me Dreamwalker, please? Or like, just point me in the right direction? You don't have to, but I just want to be able to show Nephele what I used to consider home, too. She really loves music and this would be the only way for me to show her the music that I like."

“Societal norms?” Cyran blinked. He wondered if what she was referencing was similar to the antiquated elven ideology that he experienced at the hands of his father. It had been a disappointment to the man to learn that Cyran loved regardless of gender… it was a shame to him. But Cyran had long since stopped caring for his father’s opinions. Perhaps she had some kind of expectation from earth that was holding her back. He understood the sentiment. Some scars, no matter how one tries to forget them, still linger. “I doubt you’ll experience much of that here. And if you do… there’s not much they can do about it anyways. Don’t let their hatred get in the way of your love. It is a beautiful thing.”

He smiled when he saw C’leena’s sketch of the young woman. Blue skin, hair like a cloud… it became quickly obvious to Cyran that Nephele was a water nymph. And it was obvious that the rendition had been drawn with great care, as if the artist had gone through great lengths to capture the parts of her they cherished most from memory. The light of stars twinkling in her eyes, the kind smile. The way her cloud like hair would have swayed in the wind.

“She’s lovely. I’ve no doubt she’ll say yes.” Cyran said, when an idea occurred to him. He was no artist, but he picked up a small twig from the ground and began sketching a woman in the dirt. From the point of her ears it was obvious that she was elven, but that was about where the realism ended. The rest more looked like a blob than a person. It was difficult to even begin to capture Del’s beauty in a medium, especially with hands like his own that were not meant for such beautiful things. But from the warm, almost dopey smile on his face as he sketched her out, he didn’t care so much for his lack of skill. He just liked talking about her.

He missed her while she was on the road.



“… She’s lovelier in real life than this.” Cyran asserted awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He perked up, grateful for the change of subject when C’leena asked about the dreamwalker technique. He pulled a small, black leather book on his bag and began flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for.

“I would be happy to tell you what I know. I discovered the technique entirely by accident, but I’ve done a lot of research since to understand how it works.”

Now, it was Cyran’s turn to share something that fascinated him.

“By now you already know that there are more worlds than our own. Your world, Charon… but there’s more than just that. Knowledge of the different realms connected to Charon was erased until quite recently, but after the revelation about the gods -“ He paused, wondering how much C’leena knew about the incident in the Arid Mesa. That was probably too much background information for a lesson. “But one of these worlds, as far as I can figure, is a realm of shadow. A place of pure darkness where thought and feeling go to die.”

He tapped at a part of his notes, where he’d drawn a Venn diagram. “The Dreamscape is the border between the living world and the realm of shadow. Most everyone goes there when they sleep - a place of memory and cognition that often fades away when you wake. But I walk between those worlds. And when I meditated, I found myself unconsciously slipping into the Dreamscape of others. It took a while to become cognizant of what I was doing, but when I did, it became second nature to learn how to do it as I meditate.”

He flashed her a small smile. “I can show you how to meditate and enter the dreams of others. Since you’re a planewalker now too, I’ve no doubt you’ll pick it up easily.” He was, as C’leena would learn, a decently experienced teacher. In gentle words he explained to her everything he knew about the dreamwalking spell, and how to manipulate the Dreamscape.

"Yeah, I know, but it's still there, you know? There's no chance in hell I'm going to let it stop me, but it's yet another hurdle to leap over." She responds, idly flipping the ring between her fingers. It's a difficult thing to get over but she's not about to be stopped by what other people think. She's done well not giving a flying fuck about their thoughts, especially after the accident and receiving the burns and prosthetics. 

C'Leena's drawings are generally something she keeps to herself. She hasn't drawn much coming to Charon, but she used to somewhat often back on earth. It's difficult to get pressure right when you can't feel even the pencil, but she thinks she did alright with this drawing. Something that really warmed C'Leena's clockwork heart was seeing the almost dopey smile on Cyran when he began drawing Del in the dirt. It definitely leaves something to be desired, but that's okay. She can tell that there is a lot of love between them. 

She chuckled slightly at how awkward Cyran became. "She seems wonderful." She says, smiling. Seeing that perhaps he could use the change in conversation, she brought up wanting to learn Dreamwalker. Listening intently, she didn't dare interrupt Cyran as he spoke about the spell. It's clear that it fascinates him to no end, too. Perhaps it's only fair he gets to rave about something he finds interesting after all that C'Leena raved about. Damn ADHD.

C'Leena paid close attention to Cyran, the subject arresting her attention almost completely. Chances are that she'll hyper-fixate on this after C'Leena and Cyran part ways, but when isn't she hyper-fixating on something? She pulls her notebook back out along with a pencil, flips to a new page and begins passively writing notes. Her eyes are on Cyran and his notebook as C'Leena writes in almost illegible cursive. Not quite 'Doctors hand', but god forbid you ask her to write 'paracetamol'.

She takes notes throughout Cyran's lesson, absorbing as much as humanly possible, her hand dancing across the page. Everything that Cyran was teaching was incredibly interesting, and her eagerness to try this for herself was growing by the moment, if her smile was anything to go by. She was looking forward to trying this with Nephele.

Cyran enjoyed the chance at getting to mentor someone again. He had two students of his own at home, but he enjoyed getting to impart what he knew to someone else. And it was an art other than combat, for once. C’leena was an attentive student - she scribbled down his notes with rapt attention, faithfully copying down what he was teaching her. He taught her what he knew, how to walk amongst dreams and how to manipulate them.

C’leena already knew how to meditate in her own way, but Cyran still made sure to walk her through his own methods. How to slow your heartbeat, ensure that you were completely calm. No thoughts - nothing but you and your surroundings. Once you detached yourself from that, it was easy to walk through the sleeping world to find what you wanted.

When he finished, he fixed her with a patient smile.

“I hope that you enjoy exploring your world with Nephele.” It was a nice change of pace to see his spell used for something good. He’d seen others try to capitalize on the technique for information gathering, to deliver nightmares, or even to attempt to trap their victim in sleep. It made it easy for him to forget what he had originally intended it for, what its first use had been - to give others good dreams. And it was a delight to see someone use it for benign things. “I’m sure she’ll love to learn more about your home, and the things you liked there.”

His expression turned serious.

“I must warn you, though. Dreams are strongest when pulled from our own memory. Don’t let yourself get lost in them.”

C’Leena, throughout Cyran’s impromptu class, was associating his various magical terms with scientific equivalents that she understood far better. Most of the time she spoke aloud, either to herself or almost like she was asking Cyran for confirmation if she was correct. Of course, there is very little chance that Cyran actually understands what she’s going on about, but in the end, it did help her understand just that little better.

Walking through the meditation was easy enough. Nephele had taught her all this before, but she’s not against having another walk-through. The whole ‘no thoughts’ portion has always been an issue, and will most likely forever be an issue. She’s managed to find ways around it, though - to find calm in a chaotic mind. It’s like being in a train watching the scenery fly by. Acknowledging what is speeding along in front of your eyes, but only paying attention to the things that require paying attention to.

“I look forward to showing her. She’s always been an explorer so I hope this can be something that can maybe be a recurring theme. Despite not actually experiencing a lot of my world for myself, I still know a lot about it - that whole planet thing was based entirely off videos and images that I remember. Never went up there myself.”

By Cyran’s warning, C’Leena’s smile fell, going to hang her head slightly. For some odd reason, she’s reminded of Rose, and the thought that perhaps seeing her again did more harm than good. It’s not something she’ll repeat, no matter how badly she wants to, but C’Leena is very, very happy that she had the chance to do so.

She raises her head back up and looks to the sky, taking note of the time properly. “Ah shit, Nephele should be getting back by now.” She says mostly to herself. She stands up and brushes off dirt and debris off her jeans. She offers Cyran a hand up, and if he were to take it, after he stands up, she yanks him into a hug.

The embrace is incredibly warm, both temperature wise and emotionally. She pulls away after a few moments, resting her hand on his shoulder and still holding his hand in a gentle grip. “I know I said this a bunch already, but seriously, thank you, Cyran.”

“If you need anything, let me know and I’ll be there, alright? You’ve done a lot for me, it only makes sense that I offer the same for you.” Her words are just as warm, if not warmer than the hug from a moment ago. They’re also the truth from the bottom of her heart. She finally lets go, patting the side of Cyran’s shoulder a bit roughly with a smile on her face. She takes a few steps back before brilliant golden wings sprout from her back, stretching in a near 12ft long wingspan, wingtip to wingtip.

“Tell Del I said ‘g’day’, yeah? Or don’t, I don’t mind. See you soon, mate.” She says before taking off, gracefully flying through a small break in the canopy and vanishing over the leaves of the trees surrounding Cyran.

Her flight home was uneventful. She met back up with Nephele where C’Leena damn near tackled her with sheer momentum from flight, wandered the town with her and eventually took refuge back in the Inn, simply hanging out in the room they rent for the time being.

Later that night, in the darkness of the room except for a single candle, Nephele lay asleep and C’Leena sitting at the small desk by the window, she finds herself drawing once again. Drawing her soon-to-be fiancé more specifically. In the silence, only broken by the faint scratching of pencils on paper, even fainter ticking and hissing from her heart and lung and the soft, calm and peaceful breaths from her beloved in the bed, C’Leena is lost in thought and finally accepts something long overdue.

Rose is gone. Never to return, and that’s okay. She’s in a far better place, wherever she may find herself. What would usually end in tears, ends in a faint smile tonight.