Dreamwalker and Seer

You might remember Jhett from another of the stories posted here - he's a personal favorite of mine, because he's so adaptable to different settings. In this case, I've paired him with another character that was developed more recently (you'll see her again later on, I'm sure) to see what would happen. More on the character mash-ups later. I have ideas about this.

*Back-posted on Oct. 18.

---

The girl woke to complete darkness. She could still see the wounded, bleeding man before her eyes, reaching for her, pleading for help - but his wounds were so gruesome that she couldn't choke back the rising panic in her throat. She screamed. It was a short, muffled sound, but it was loud in her ears. Ester clapped her hands over her mouth, heart pounding. She could hear someone moving nearby, felt the curtain sway, then grow tight at her side as someone fell against it, the curtain rod overhead creaking slightly with the strain. Her mind was still filled with the image of the man from her dream, and it was a struggle not to scream again. What came out was a sort of whimper.

"Ester, it's me. It's okay. It was only a dream." Jhett sounded half asleep. His words were slurred and she could tell by the difficulty he was having with getting up that he was tangled in the curtain.

"Jhett." Her voice broke with relief. Not the man from her dream. It was Jhett, and Jhett was safe. In a minute, having flailed about until the curtain was out of the way, Jhett took a seat beside her on the sleeping furs and put an arm around her.

"It was just a dream," he repeated soothingly, which she found somewhat ironic. She swallowed a hysterical laugh and pressed her face against the curve of his arm.

"Nothing is 'just' a dream. You're not 'just' a person and I'm not 'just' a girl, any more than Quinn is 'just' a dragon." Ester felt herself beginning to shake a little. It was too vivid to be "just" a dream, but she didn't want it to be a vision. She didn't want people to get hurt like that. "Tell me a story?" she asked, still shaking, even as she tried to calm herself down.

"You know I'm no good at telling stories. You just go back to sleep and I'll help you dream something nice."

Ester hesitated. "Are you sure? I think it'll come back if I go back to sleep now..."

"Go ahead. I'm a dreamwalker, remember? And if I'm right here, I can slip right in, no problem."

She still wasn't convinced. "If I go back to sleep now, he'll come back-"

"Who?"

"The man in my dream. He was hurt, and I couldn't help him."

"I can take care of him. Don't worry." He was rubbing her back, and slowly, she relaxed under his confident tone and gentle touch. "You just sleep now. I've got you."

It was hard to tell when they had shifted from sitting to lying down, or when drowsiness turned to sleep. Ester didn't try to fight it - at least, not has hard as she could have - and it seemed only a short time later that she was facing the injured man again. The space around her was dark, but she could see his face as clearly as if there were a lantern shining full on him, the light reflecting off the blood.

But then Jhett was beside her, hand extended. "Water. We'll need to wash him off first." There was a heavy water skin hanging from her belt. Ester passed it to him, admiring the rich brown of the leather, the coarse visual texture of the cork. She watched as Jhett bent over the man, cleaned the blood from his face, and, ripping a strip of fabric from the hem of his shirt, bound his wounds tightly. A man in a pale green uniform approached swiftly, his face haggard, but smiling.

"Thank the gods this mess is nearly over," he commented aloud to the three of them, and knelt to examine Jhett's work. "It's rough, but it'll hold until we can get him to a clinic." Jhett retreated a little and wrapped an arm around Ester's shoulders as a low-slung dragon wearing a pale green banner between his horns and matching harness. The dragon, too, looked tired, his legs spattered with mud and grime, his wings drooping somewhat.

"Can you carry this one, Mok?" The man in the uniform looked at the dragon with touching concern, but the dragon nodded firmly.

"One more, ten more - twenty more, if that's what it takes. At least now the treaty's been signed, folk will stop getting hurt." There was a measure of relief in that statement, mixed in equal parts with exhaustion.

"You two have done good work. Now evac with the rest of the civs, and let us do our work." The uniformed man heaved his patient up onto the dragon's back and strapped him into the harness. It was an unmistakable dismissal, and Ester was more than ready to take it, though her gaze lingered on the dragon, who was now striding purposefully away, his sinuous tail swaying through the air like a snake. Something about that had to do with Jhett... but she couldn't think what.

"Come on, Ester. Let's go." His arm tightened around her and she glanced into his face. He was smiling and confident.

The hiss of steam in the distance told her a train was pulling into the station. She knew without needing to ask that they were going to get on that train, and it was going to take them away from this place.

"Okay. I trust you." His hand was warm as she held it between her own.

The train whistle blew. Jhett guided her toward the sound. "I'll do whatever I need to keep you safe." His promise was quiet, but her ears were keen.

"Thank you, Jhett."

"No worries. That's why I'm here."