Chapter 2

"Oh, you're awake!"a voice said. Utena could not recognize it. "Who would've thought that after wakin' up, you'd fall right back asleep!" A faint giggle accompanied the words.

"I...where am I?" Utena asked. She recognized a likeness in the woman's features; the wide forehead, thin brows, and a nose that tapered into a round bump at the tip.

"You're in my home, which is quite the honor if I do say so! You've been asleep for a good many hours now. I'm Brigitta. My husband said you have already met my children."

"Adelheid? Albrecht?"

"Aye! I hope they're good to ya." Brigitta's hand swept loose strands of blond hair back into the kerchief around her head. "They can be a handful at times."

"No, no, they were wonderful! Very helpful," Utena said, eyes half-lidded.

Brigitta smiled. "Good. I'm glad they remembered their niceties. But ya must be powerful hungry! You've been sleeping for sixteen years, after all." She lay a clay plate with bread and cheese on Utena's lap. "It's not much, but it'll take me a bit ta have dinner ready. I'm very sorry, Prince."

"No, thank you. This is fine. But please don't call me Prince. It's unnecessary," Utena said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! If I've upset you–"

"No, no. You haven't at all. I just...well, call me Utena. Just Utena."She smiled, something then occurring to her. "If I get to call you by Brigitta, then you should be able to call me Utena."

Brigitta's face brightened. "Oh, I...I don't know what to say! I...you are even better than the story said...Utena."

Utena's eyes went from half-lidded to fully open and she quickly sat up. "Story? Adelheid and Albrecht kept mentioning it. Do you know anything about my story?"

Brigitta cocked an eyebrow. "Pardon me...Utena, but that's a rather queer question. Ya should be able to tell that better than anyone else."

"I...I don't remember," Utena said, suddenly feeling a lump in her throat, "At least, I don't remember anything about that."

"Ya don't remember your brother Zarasai? Yer father? Yer mother? Yer kingdom?"

Utena shook her head. She felt like a man shipwrecked, reeling from being adrift in a sea of uncertainty.

"Then do ya remember anything?"

Utena's head tilted downward, staring idly at the plate of food in her lap. "I don't remember anything about this place. I don't remember this town, or anything like it. I...it's like I've been dreaming of another world, another life."

"'Zounds! What did ya see? Were you still a Prince?"Brigitta asked, obviously excited, "Thas' a story if I ever heard one!" Utena suddenly began to shake. "Utena?"

"I...I couldn't save her." A tear splattered onto the plate.

"Prince Utena!"

"You can't call me that!" Utena's head suddenly snapped up. "I was never a Prince! It's nice that you all think so, but it's not true! In the end, I couldn't save her! What good is a Prince if he can't save a Princess? I'm just a girl, dammit! A Prince can't be a girl!"

Brigitta eyes were wide, her body still, silently watching Utena sob to herself. The peasant woman looked like a child who had just been scolded. After a moment, she finally summoned her courage and put a hand on Utena's shoulder. "There, there..." she said, then slowly took Utena's head onto her shoulder. She watched the savior of their village sob like a child, herself trying to regain her senses enough to comfort her. "It'll be fine, I assure you. I don't know wot happened in your dreams, but...you are here now. You're in the real world again. T'was a dream. As real an' as painful as it seemed, ya must put it behind you. 'Tis nothing more than a bad dream."

"I can't be," Utena sobbed, "Himemiya..."

"It musta seemed real, I know. The witch said ya were under a powerful enchantment. Something so powerful to keep ya asleep and alive for so long...I don't doubt that it seemed real."

"No...Anthy..."

"I'm sorry, Utena."

"No!" Utena howled, lifting her head up suddenly. Brigitta's body jolted, feeling Utena's fingers clutch her desperately. After a moment, it subsided. The scream stopped with a scratch of her throat. Her body slowly went limp, her head falling onto Brigitta's shoulder.

Brigitta took a deep breath. She waited a moment, as if believing that any moment it would happen again. She then hesitantly began lowering Utena back onto the bed. "There now. We've gotta just get things out sometimes," she said, "I'll be back up with some water. Iffin' ya need to talk about anythin', I'll be here soon."

Anthy could feel herself breaching into the next plane. She opened her eyes, seeing the black abyss of the between-places fade into the grassy plains of the world of her birth. Although she had made this journey countless times, she never realized until now how beautiful the trip was: the feeling of your own body fading into the fabric of the universe; the sight of the inky void, which never failed to make her shudder; the view of the green fields that she remembered so well. She knew it was so beautiful because, for her, it would be the last time.

She looked around her. Well, couldn't wear such an outfit here. Her clothes became darker and ragged out of habit, then stopped when she realized that she couldn't, no, wouldn't be that anymore. What could she wear then? A peasant's dress? A gown? Being inconspicuous was a factor, so a peasant dress it was. Something, a cloak and hood, to protect her from the elements. She was ready.

Her familiar stirred. "Chu?"

"Oh, I'm not forgetting you," she said, gently placing him on the ground. "You won't be able to perch on my shoulder, but it'll have to do. We mustn't be so obvious now that we're in the outside world."

"Woof."

But how to go about it, this search? She couldn't search this whole plane by conventional methods. By the time Anthy found her, she would be dead. Even a spell of this length and width could take weeks. "I suppose I'll have to fall back on old devices."

Anthy lifted her hand over the land. "Arise, shadows." In spite of the sun, a film of darkness slowly overcame the plains. "Search for the one called Utena Visvaldas." The shadows then went rocketing across the land, leaving Anthy far behind as it rolled off into the horizon. The hills were bright once again.

"I might as well do a bit of traveling myself. There's no sense in staying here."

"Woof."

Utena felt better. Not good, but better. Although there was still the ache in her muscles and her heart, she now had her fill of food and drink. Brigitta had brought her another plate of food once dinner began. She now acted towards Utena with a mixture of wariness and reverence, as if a pilgrim to the temple of a fickle god. Brigitta had said that Utena's arrival was great enough of an occasion to slaughter a pig–not the talking one, she reassured her. Utena felt guilty for eating the amount of food she did, but nothing less stopped the rumbling of her stomach. Brigitta only encourage her to eat more, as if the offerings would quell the Prince's heart and mind.

At first, Utena didn't think she could eat much of it. The pork looked delicious, and the brown bread was fine enough, but the stuff they called 'leek pottage' absolutely frightened her. She wanted to be polite though–can't turn down a free meal, after all–and had hesitantly taken a few spoonfuls. Surprisingly enough, the taste agreed with her–perhaps too much. Like so many things here, it was uncomfortably familiar.

Even though she was worried, terrified, she tried to be thankful. She liked the children, and this place wasn't much bigger than a cramped apartment in Japan she was used to. She found herself liking the place, even without modern amenities. The loft was dark, but candlelight had its own particular charms. There were far greater things to for her to worry about, certainly, than the lack of electricity or air-conditioning. She felt bad each time Brigitta went out of her way to help her, but–even if she hated to admit it–this made the situation much more tolerable.

The light from the candle flickered. Utena found the darkness to be oddly soothing. She tried to clear her mind, as if in zen meditation. She was never one for religious things, but the only thing that really calmed her was simply not thinking–about the past or the present. She could hear Bartram's raucous laughter below, easily overcoming the pleasant hum of conversation.

Suddenly the laughter ceased. All noise ceased. It then began again, but something in the sound was erratic and uneasy. It was quieter, afraid. She then heard footsteps on the stairs. Utena bolted upright in bed.

"Utena?" a quavering voice called out. It was Brigitta. Utena could just see her shadow past the door's threshold. "The witch would like to see you."

"Who–" Utena started, but then thought against it. "Certainly." A form quickly moved past Brigitta. Utena's eyes widened.

"I'll leave you alone then!" Brigitta said thankfully, immediately bolting back down the stairs.

Utena strained her eyes to see what lay before her. She slowly made out hems in a black cloak, which immediately eased her mind. It wasn't a formless black blob of evil, and anything was better than that. Still, there was no bit of pink flesh visible; it was as if the fabric could stand by its own, formless.

"I thought it would do you well, child," the cloak said, "if you and I had a talk." A hand suddenly thrust from the black depths of cloth. It quickly threw off the hood, inky rivulets of black hair spilling out. She looked at Utena with eyes somewhere between blue and green. She looked no older than Brigitta, but with an expression far sterner than the mother was capable of. "I would like to know if you have any knowledge pertaining to...certain events."

"Uh..."Utena stammered, "Well, I'll do my best."

A small smile crept up the witch's cheeks. "Hm. Your speech is somewhere between a nobleman and a commoner. How queer...how interesting." Utena only stared dumbly in response. "In any case, that is neither here nor there, child. Today I had received word of not only your awakening, but Her Ladyship's children as well."

"H-her Ladyship?"

"Yes, Her Ladyship...who lives in the manor," the witch gestured in a general direction, stopping when she was only met by Utena's confused stare. "Ah, that is right! You had fallen prey to the great sleep first. Her Ladyship's children succumbed not long after you. With your brother cursed to sleep so long, at first I thought your condition was simply a new part of the spell not yet revealed. Then I received word of Her Ladyship's children, and people all over the land falling into great sleeps."

"And now they're awake too?" Utena asked. She then blinked suddenly, and asked, "Wait...you know something about my brother?"

"Aye, child, everyone knows your story and that of your brother. It is my job to be sure of that. He has been awakened before you, but the others happened only immediately after you. Whatever this is, it must certainly be important. As dead Kings have risen to defend their people in times of great need, so have you and others risen after fourteen long years. Nothing is without meaning."

"What do you know about my brother?" she asked earnestly.

The witch sighed. "I have told you he is awake! The first part of his curse is finished! I know you have done much for him, but could you concentrate on–"

"Actually..." Utena said hesitantly, "I...I don't really remember anything about him. Or anything. I never really had a family before, and it, well, I'd just really like to..."

The witch jolted slightly. "You do not remember?" Utena nodded dumbly. The witch sighed and shook her head. "How unfortunate. I suppose you would not know anything after all."

Utena's head lowered, her hands gripping the sheets. "All I can remember is what...well, I guess, a dream."

The witch's eyes widened. "Dreams are important. At least you remember that. What have you dreamed in your sleep of sleeps for all these years, Prince? What have you seen?"

Utena did not look up at her, but only sunk her head farther into her shoulders. "It's so hard to explain. I don't know where to begin."

At that, the witch stepped forward, closer into the light. Utena's looked up at her suddenly. As she saw the fire dance in the witch's dark eyes, she realized that they were far older than her body betrayed. A spiderweb of shallow wrinkles was woven across her face, too small to be seen before. "You will have to begin somewhere, nonetheless."

Utena sighed. "I...I was in a world so completely different from this one. I...really can't explain it to you. All I can remember is living in that world for fourteen years. Now, coming here, this place seems unimaginable, unreal. I don't think you want me telling you every detail of my uh, life there."

"Do not assume. Start with whatever seems most important."

Utena clutched the sheets tightly. "Well, there were some weird things. Weird, at least, from what I knew about life there. When I was little, my parents died and a prince comforted me. But..." Tighter. "He wasn't a prince. Not anymore, I think. And...I said I would protect her. She was his sister, and..." Her knuckles whitened, and her voice lowered to whisper. "She had to go through so much...I said I would save her. But I couldn't. There was this...game..."

"That is enough, child. Obviously the experience is still fresh," the witch said. Utena raised her head when she felt a hand on her shoulder. The witch looked at her with pity, brows raised and mouth slightly curled into a frown. "That is all I needed to know about your dream."

"However," the witch said, taking her thin hand from Utena's shoulder. "I can still excise knowledge from you, whether you remember or not. Her Ladyship and I are very interested in the matter."

"It won't hurt, will it?"

The witch chuckled. "Of course not. Many would have to pay greatly for me to divine quite this much. Her Ladyship had paid for it herself. You should count yourself lucky." She turned towards the door. "You should be at the edge of the western woods by dawn."

"Uh...which way is west?"

The witch turned to look at Utena, bewildered. "Sleep has not just taken your memories, but your mind whole." She sighed and calmed her features. "It is not the forest near the fields, where you slept. It is on the opposite edge, to the left of Her Ladyship's manor, to the right of the mill. You do know which is left and right, do you not?"

Utena's brows furrowed slightly. "Yes."

"Good. Then I shall count on you being there. We shall go to my cottage for the rites, then I'm sure Her Ladyship would like to be introduced to you once that is done."

"Will you, I mean, while you're doing those things, tell me about my family? If it's not too much to ask, I'd–"

"Say no more," said the witch, walking towards the door. "My duty lies in stories; everything else is a mere extension. I will be proud to tell you all about your brother." With that, the witch glided towards the door and out of the room.

Utena could hear voices piping up again once the witch descended the stairs. They hailed her with joy this time, knowing that they had not–as they feared–run amiss with her. Once she heard the door slam shut, the hum of conversation was just as it had been before. Once again, she was left with the soft murmur of voices and the surrounding darkness. Utena's gaze fell to her lap. The candle flickered for a moment before coming back in full force.

"My brother." Utena turned the word over in her mind for the first time, tasting it. For the first time since Anthy, she could feel burning warmth in her heart. The feeling swelled and expanded–rising like bread in an oven–until her whole chest was filled with joy. She felt as if it would spill out of her, eyes filled with burgeoning tears. She took a deep breath and held them back. Her eyes crinkled slightly as she smiled.

Utena pulled the sheets back, raised herself from the bed, and walked out of the room and down the steps to join them.