Zelda sits on the couch staring at a blank TV screen. The house is empty, save for Salem, and he's sleeping in Sabrina's room, most likely. Sabrina is off at college, nearly finished with her degree in journalism, and Hilda is doing goodness knows what. Sleeping with some man in the Pleiades? Skiing on Mars? Or maybe she's pulling a late night at the coffee shop. Clocks in various rooms can be heard, but only the grandfather clock on the steps chimes when it strikes one.
She muses on her recent breakup with Arth—Professor Carlin. It won't do to use first names anymore since they're still colleagues. Still, she feels a tug at her heart thinking of the loss of another lover. Another one, come and gone.
Will I ever get it right?
Zelda isn't sure. It's hard dating as a woman of high ambition, but Zelda won't squelch that for anyone. If she ever finds someone who can keep up with it, they'll have to understand. Nonacceptance is just unacceptable. Why should she dim herself to match a lesser mind?
Shifting to lean back, Zelda puts her arms out and lets her head fall backward, relishing in the slight dizzy feeling she gets from the quick movement. Maybe she can spin around and around until she's so dizzy she falls, and then when the world rights itself again, everything will be better. It's in this position that Zelda falls asleep.
She dreams of tidal waves and heavy winds, and most perplexing, fabric blowing around. And it's this that she's most entranced by, watching as it twists in the air. It creates ethereal shapes and filters the sunlight, and Zelda could almost swear she's watching magic in tangible dream-form. As the waves are crashing, she's vaguely aware that maybe this dream is not just about pretty things but the destruction happening around her. She's conjured a forcefield that keeps her from getting knocked around by the rush of water, but it's destroyed everything else in its wake.
Off to her side, she hears meowing. She looks, but can't find the source and drops her protection distractedly. Her mistake is realized too late, though, as a huge wave is barreling toward her, and her only course of action is to put her arms up and hope it doesn't kill her. It crashes down and sends Zelda spiraling through murky abyss, and when she feels herself thrown upside down by the current, she bolts upright from her position on the couch.