Siriin – Dream of Mist
Her Dream was beginning. She had never experienced anything like it, yet she knew it by… instinct? Yes, that's the word. Anything she looked at, she instinctively knew by name. Until she looked beyond the forest. The world outside was shrouded in fog, the lands, creatures and people unnamed and unknown. The mysteries frightened her, seemed to drag her away from the sanctuary of the great Pale Tree she had found herself under. She sensed that the world beyond the sanctuary was full of dangers unknown not only to herself, but also to the creature that had spawned her. But just as the pull bordered on the irresistible, she felt another presence beside her. On an impulse, she looked to her right to see another creature holding her hand. It was shaped like herself, but the colours on its skin were noticeably different, even through the curious lighting around her. Compared to the power of its presence, the dangers and mysteries pulling at her awakening conscious abated. As the Dream began fading around her, the creature spoke, though she could hear no sound. It was like it spoke directly to her mind.
"Dohar."
It was dark around her. She was curled up on some soft surface, knees up close to her face and arms wrapped around her legs. Beginning to experimentally move her limbs, her joints ached with the unaccustomed effort. One of the petals of her flower-cell folded away, filling the new world around her with a soft, golden light. Through the hole she could see that she was moving downward. After a few moments the pod stopped softly as it reached the ground, and something she knew to be a sylvari like herself came into view. The other sylvari called her a 'sapling' and eased away the last petals of her pod that were still standing. Retrieving something from a satchel on its waist, she could see an image of a sylvari with blue skin and light-blue frond-hair on the objects surface. The yellow eyes looked about inquisitively, and seemed to be following where her own eyes looked. The other sylvari called the objects a 'mirror' and said that the image was of her. So that was how she looked. The sylvari introduced itself as Lorrana and asked her if she remembered anything from her Dream, if she had a name of her own.
"Siriin."
Siriin got up from her sunlit cot and grabbed the shoulder-bag she had made from a gourd. Soon after she had Awoken, she had been surrounded by a number of other sylvari, poking and prodding and asking all sorts of questions that she had no idea how to answer. All of that had stopped when one among them had called for silence. She later learned that particular sylvaris name. Kahedins, Firstborn and Luminary of the Cycle of Dusk. Leaving the communal house she had been assigned to, she emerged into the Garden, it being the lowest level of the Grove. On the day of her Awakening, after the crowd had cleared out, Kahedins had approached her and presented himself. Told her he could help her make sense of what she had seen in her Dream, and that she should come see him when she had had a few days to get used to life. It had been a week since then. At least, she thought as much. She was still getting used to keeping time. The light radiating from the Pale Tree above the Grove occasionally made it difficult for her to tell when dusk was falling. The first couple days had been spent with a group of other 'saplings' and a teacher, trying to ingest all the knowledge their young race had gained about the world around them. On the teacher's insistence, she had sought out one of the wood-shapers that crowded the Terrace, and quickly found that shaping wood and vine came naturally to her. But despite all this, she felt no closer to understanding what she had seen in her Dream before she Awoke. So now she was hoping that the Luminary could spare her the time of day so she could find some clarity on her supposed future.
The Luminaries all lived in the same place in the Grove, a massive petal-covered plant close to the stem of the Tree. It was called the Firstgrown, almost in jest, as it was said to have been grown specifically for the Firstborn shortly after their own Awakening. While it had been made to house all 12 Firstborn, not all of them lived in the Grove so some of the rooms within had been given over to administrative sections of the growing sylvari society. As Siriin brushed the fronds hanging across the entrance away, she quickly found the entrance-hall to be full of other beings. One silver-skinned sylvari was talking to 2 humanoids in heavy armour, while another sylvari sporting all the colours of autumn was going over a list while discussing the contents with a group of diminutive creatures with ears larger and longer than Siriin's hands. Wanting to avoid undue attention, Siriin asked a paper-shuffling sylvari with a head distressingly like a mushroom where she could find the Luminary's living quarters, and was quickly pointed to a large open doorway above the hall. Giving a quiet thanks back, she moved around the talking groups and ascended the fibrous ramps leading upwards. Unlike the entrance to the Firstgrown, Kahedin's chamber had an actual door, made of tightly woven vines and large blue shards of some blue glass or crystal, that was currently open. Looking in, she could not see anyone inside, so she tapped gently but firmly on the glass-door. After a few moments of waiting, the chamber's inhabitant came out to greet her. The Dusk Luminary had light-green skin like the leaves of spring and summer, but his hair resembled the leaves of autumn more than those of spring. His clothes were practical rather than decorational, and so held numerous wood-shaping tools and pens. After but a second his eyes lit up with recognition. "Ah, Siriin, was it? You're one of our newest."
She was glad he recognised her. No fellow sylvaris she had met over the last week had known her beforehand, and she found she enjoyed being recognised. "Indeed, Luminary. You yourself insisted I should visit you when I had some time to accustom myself to life outside the Dream." As she took a few steps into Kahedin's room, she quickly discovered that almost every furnitured surface was covered in parchments, plant-models or other materials. The Luminary was hastily clearing a couple chairs and a small table over by one of the windows facing the Pale Tree. "Ah, good of you to remember. I make that recommendation to every sylvari who awakes from their Dream, but not all of them remember much from their first tumultuous hour." As he rolled up the last few parchments on the chairs, he motioned for her to sit. While she gratefully sat down in the springy seat, Kahedins plucked a few globular fruits from a small plant next to the door and placed them in a bowl on the table. Turning to face her, Kahedins spoke. "Now, the matter of your Dream. If you would please tell me everything you saw." As the Luminary sat down, he leaned forward and steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. "Leave out nothing, no matter how insignificant it might seem."
So Siriin did as he asked. She told him about how everything seemed strange yet known to her, how the world outside what she now recognised as the Grove seemed blurry, undefined and menacing, but also mysterious and exciting. Explained how all this menace and mystery seemed to fade away when something like herself had appeared at her side, how one word seemed to explain this being perfectly. 'Dohar'. When she was finished, she felt utterly famished, so began eating the fruits from the bowl. They had a bitter yet fresh taste. Through it all, Kahedins had not said a word nor moved a limb. "When we the Firstborn Dreamed, we also saw the world as an undefined mystery. We are yet a young race, and even the Pale Tree knows little of the world beyond the Grove, so it is not uncommon to feel endangered by it." While the other sylvari spoke, Siriin had finished most of the fruits, and felt stronger for it. Wondering aloud, she asked him a question. "So all sylvari Dream like that?"
"Yes and no. It is common in Dreams that the world outside the Grove is blurry, undefined with a distinct feeling of danger. But only rarely does it exert a pull like you described. I assume your teachers have told you of all the Firstborn?" Siriin nodded. All 4 Luminaries were Firstborn of their respective Cycles, along with 8 other Firstborn born later. Only about half of them still live in the Grove. "Good, then you will have heard of Caithe and Faolain. Both Firstborn like me, but both felt the same pull to the world outside the Grove. They followed that call before anyone else, and both yet live to tell that tale." Standing up, Kahedins picked up a parchment from a neighboring table and put it in front of her. On it was drawn a vast winged shape, each of its wings twice as long as its serpentine body, its face crowned with horns and a sense of malice palpable even through the simple drawing. "I trust this creature did not show in your Dream?". It had not, of that she was utterly certain. She would easily have remembered such an abomination. "It did not. What is it?" She asked, looking up at the Luminary who was still standing.
"A dragon, and an Elder one at that. It is one of the creatures Caithe saw in her travels, called it Zhaitan. It resides in a ruined land far to the south, and the coastal findings some of our rangers suggest it might play a large part in our immediate future. Creatures that are dead, but yet move, have begun washing up on our shores and attacking those of us who live away from the immediate safety of the Mother Tree and the Wardens." The Luminary took his gaze away from the drawing and rolled the parchment up, putting it away. "But I digress. You're here to talk about your Dream, not the problems faced by our rangers. Though, if those are in your interest, you should talk to Niamh, she has a better grasp on their needs than I do." Kahedins sat back down and leaned back in his seat. "About your Dream, there is one last topic we have not yet touched upon. This 'Dohar'." When Kahedins spoke that name, Siriin flinched involuntarily. While it had reassured her in her Dream, now she felt oppressed by it, as if whatever or whoever it was meant to enslave her. "What of it?" She said defensively, regretting it almost instantly. The other sylvari seemed surprised at this outburst. "Well, simply that we have not yet deliberated on what 'Dohar' means in your Dream, and what it might mean for your future." The Luminary said in a calming tone. "Assuming it is a name, it does not sound unreasonable for a sylvari to bear it, but I know of none who do. Considering the rest of your dream, I would argue that whatever it is, it would help you make sense of this world beyond the Grove that you find so alluring, as well as your place in it. Though where it is to be found, I cannot say with any certainty." Kahedins seemed to ponder something for a moment before continuing. "I can say this. Amongst the Firstborn, Caithe, Faolain and Trahearne are easily the ones who spend the most time away from the Grove, and as far as I know, both from talking with them and with our Mother Tree, none of them saw each other as a distinct figure in their Dream."
Siriin felt overwhelmed and out of her depth. She slowly got up from her seat, the Luminary giving her an expectant look. "My thanks for giving me the time of day, Firstborn, but I feel I need some time to consider all you have told me."
If Kahedins was at all displeased by this, he gave no sign. "Of course, the Dream is an important part of all of us, and one should not rush in understanding its meaning. Once you feel ready once again, I should not be difficult to find." Kahedins got up from his chair and did a small bow. Siriin responded as best she knew and hurried out of the room, heading for her own chambers in the Garden. She had a great number of things she needed time and space to think about.
