Disclaimer: No, I don't own. I have no originality left to say anything more, well, original, so live with it.
Once again, I'm writing this chapter before chapter 11 has even been posted. I thought I would try to stockpile a whole bunch of chapters and upload them before I leave, but not add them to the story. Then, in whatever file-less Internet time I may get while I'm away, they will be all ready to add, pending the addition of review responses. This may or may not work, of course.
Anyway, I'll just leave space here to respond to my reviews, when I get them.
Fireblade: Fear not, I was just referring to your mini-glare from the last review. Thanks for the URL. I was thinking of writing a fic about the story of Sunsinger and Shadowdancer, so maybe I'll get around to that after I finish with Greens.
Wizard: Thanks. It was a favorite of mine too.
Tenshi: No fights, I don't think. Well, maybe a little one. I don't have more than a foggy idea about how the rest of the plot is going to go yet, so you'll just have to wait and see.
Breezefire: Thanks, but no on the infatuation. It's more serious than that, I think. She'll be good for him anyway.
Lurks in Shadows: Yay! First one to figure it out! You get a prize! I've been hinting at it for chapters, or so I thought, but nobody else seems to have gotten it. –Herald Kelsin hands an invisible trophy to you- Anyway, I'll try to update while I'm away, but the lack of computer/internet access is going to be a problem.
Badgerwolf: Yay! I'm glad it came out alright. I was a little worried that it got too sappy and such.
Violet Rush: Glad you liked it! Yes, like Lurks in Shadows, you also sniffed rightly and get to share the invisible trophy. Pol's daughter Eleanor was the Healer that fell in love with Lan, although I didn't find them alike at all. Well, now that I look at it, maybe a little. Perhaps it's a Mindhealer thing.
Hikahi: Actually, yes, since we're talking about the Holderkin, there is supposed to be emphasis on Married as opposed to married, and the other "random" words were also icons as well as words and therefore should have been capitalized.
Silent Stream: Sorry, my sense of humor is slightly limited. Maybe I'll work on your idea on my huge plane ride tomorrow (which will be over by the time you read this) Glad you liked the chapter, though!
Vaches: Don't worry, I've been on vacation too, lol.
Sarah: Thanks! I will!
Moving on. I'm sorry to have made Treet suffer so, but for all the suffering, I thought it was a very well written scene, if I do say so myself.
Still, I was very pleased with it and I hope in advance that when you see it you'll like it. Well, by the time you read this, you'll have already seen it, so I hope you liked it. Gah, this is too confusing for me.
Sorry about the long wait for this chapter. All I can say to excuse myself is that I was away from my computer for the last five weeks, and I've had a nasty case of writers block to boot.
Sorry about any typos or grammar-o's or just plain bad parts that may be in this chapter. I didn't have much time to check it over, and I was desperate to get the chapter out. The next one should be better.
Anyway, on with the show!
Chapter 13: Waking
Later that night, Treet awoke with his father's face still dancing in front of his eyes, convinced that he was being beaten within an inch of his life. The searing pain in his head was certainly testimony to the reality of the scene. Treet nearly screamed in terror when he opened his eyes and found that the face was still there.
The only thing that stopped him was the fact that the aforementioned fright had already frozen his jaw shut. Instead of the scream that every part of his body except for his jaw wanted, he emitted a strangled whimper and shook his head in an agonized way, as though to block out his memories.
He blinked, and the image was gone, thankfully, although the memories it had turned up lingered.
That was when Treet realized that not only was he not in a bed box inside a cold Waystation, but that the person next to him was most certainly not Karissa, unless Karissa had recently had a bad accident with something liquid and green in the area of her head.
Treet's strangled shout woke Lirain up almost instantly, seeing as her ear was currently located right next to Treet's mouth and that she hadn't been sleeping very well to begin with. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and stared at Treet for a moment before putting together the clues her Empathy gave her and the fact that SHE had no reason to be having nightmares like the one that had plagued her all night.
"Had a nightmare?" She asked sympathetically, rubbing sleep from her hazel eyes.
"Yes," Treet shuddered. "A ghastly one."
She winced, remembering, and took his hand in the darkness. "Want to talk about it?" She asked, although she already had every detail engraved in her skull like a carving in wood.
"I-it was horrible," he stammered. "I was all alone, like I was back before the Herald rescued me. All alone in a dark room. It was so d-dark, I couldn't see at all, and then my father came. Charging out of nowhere like some crazed animal, whipping off his belt and screaming about something I did. And there was this horrible pain in my head, like he was beating me, but I knew that he wasn't, yet, anyway. Then, he, he came at me, raising the belt above his head, and even though it was dark, somehow, I was it coming, but I couldn't move, and my head was burning, burning like a fire, then, well, then I woke up." Treet finished feebly.
Lirain smiled sympathetically. How could she have been anything other than sympathetic when, although her own father had never so much as raised a hand against her, she had lived every moment of Treet's nightmare with him.
"That sounds frightening," Lirain said, for lack of anything more sympathetic to say. Her words sounded meaningless and dull to her own ears, as much as she tried to imbue them with all of her emotions.
"No it d-doesn't. It just sounds stupid. You must hate me." Treet said miserably, for he had suddenly realized that he would be very upset if Lirain hated him.
"Of course not," exclaimed Lirain. "Whyever would I hate you?"
"You're so strong and brave and I'm just weak and pathetic. I'm acting like a little who's afraid of the dark. And look how I acted in, in there," Treet said, flinching at referring, even obliquely, to the events in the Dean's office.
"I thought you were very brave, truly," Lirain said, allowing Treet to feel her sincerity with his own Gift of Empathy.
"Really?" Treet asked.
"Yes, really." Lirain reassured him. "Besides, I don't know a single person who didn't do something humiliating during their testing. A Yearmate of mine passed out before the Healer even touched his mind. His mother was a Bard, so he knew all about it beforehand, he'd been building up a good store of terror for nearly a moon, or so he told me later. I told you how I nearly made the presiding Healer cry. She was young, but that's not much of an excuse."
Treet wanted desperately to believe her, more than he had wanted anything in a long time. "What about that Healer who was with you? I bet she never did anything of the sort."
Lirain smiled to herself. "So I thought, too, when I was first assigned to Rith as a Trainee. Rith was happy to leave it that way, but one of the other Healers let it slip during a lesson and I bothered Rith until she told me. At the time, of course, Healer Rith was perfectly well behaved. Just as dignified as she is now, if you can believe it. The Dean didn't have long to ponder the peculiarity, although for a while, she feared for my good teacher's sanity. Rith awoke the night after screaming from a nightmare about her interview, sort of like you. Unlike you, though, she awakened fully half the Collegium with her, not just one insignificant Trainee. She's the strongest projective Empath we have here, and Gods did it show. They had to have another Healer put his strongest shields around her entire room before the other Gifted could shake off the nightmares and terror feelings. Nobody got much sleep that night."
"Oh." Treet said thoughtfully, then blurted the first thing that came into his mind. "You aren't an insignificant Trainee!" Suddenly, the dark room became an advantage as his cheeks flushed scarlet in realization of what he had said.
Lirain, however, seeming to sense his confusion and embarrassment, simply smiled at him and continued. "As you can see, there appears to be a common thread here, as my mathematics teacher would say. Horrible nightmares seem to be a bizarre side effect of having your mind poked, usually nightmares that manifest the reaction headache that said prodding seems to cause."
"Oh." Treet said, knowing that he probably wasn't making a very good impression of his intelligence, but, not being able to do any better, he let it go.
Lirain saw that Treet was still sleepy and uncomfortable. "Here." She said. "They say that the best way to shake a nightmare is to light a candle or something. Light to chase away the last of sleep so that you can start fresh. I'd say we both need it."
She carefully lit a candle by the side of the bed. As she brought the light closer, she heard a muffled groan. At first, she thought it was Treet, but when she looked over at him, she saw him sitting up on the edge of the bed, looking as surprised as she felt.
As Lirain felt cautiously around her with her Empathic senses, she found the person and slowly turned around. Her first thought was to wonder how someone had managed to get into their room without her noticing. She must have been more tired than she had thought!
When she recognized the person snoring lightly in the uncomfortable looking cot beside the bed, her head craned at an unnatural angle, her second thought was of disbelief. Herald Karissa, still in her travel stained Whites, mumbled slightly as Lirain brought the light closer, but was so deep in slumber that she did not wake.
Lirain quickly snuffed the light and looked at Treet. :Did YOU guess she would so something like that?: She asked, firmly believing that she was whispering until the words reached Treet. He seemed not to notice that she had used MindSpeech, replying in the same way almost automatically.
:No idea, honestly.: Treet said, his tone comprised almost equally of affection and residual terror.
:Let's not wake her.: Lirain said, not up to dealing with the question of why they had slipped into MindSpeech.
When they finally went back to sleep that night, it was side-by-side, holding hands.
