The Island at the Beginning of the End of the World was an apt name, if rather long. It was the perfect way to describe the place, teetering on the very edge of the dawn itself, it seemed. Though night fell as on every land, there was a kind of joyous peace to it, like the happiness of a man content.
Rhoop was such a man. Even after the spell of long, dreamless sleep was lifted, he discovered that his sleep remained restful and undisturbed till morning light. Here on this blessed isle, he was whole. Here he could, he thought, happily remain to the end of his days – the beginning of which he felt as though he had reached, after the horrors he had barely endured. And yet….
He squatted on the ridge, watching as the sailors rowed to the ship and back, stocking up for the voyage westward. Westward, where the sun set more firmly than here. Where Dark Island once lay. And… where Narnia waited for her king and his queen.
The softest footfalls came to a stop just behind him. Rhoop respectfully rose and faced the star. "What troubles you, my son?" Ramandu asked.
Rhoop lifted his eyes to meet Ramandu's then dropped them again. "I am afraid, sir, that I am torn." He paused. "Nay, not torn: I know where my duty lies, and for the love of my king will I follow him. The truth is that I am fearful, and can only hope that I do not prove a coward." The star did not respond with anything other than a sympathetic look and a listening ear. Rhoop attempted a self-depreciating chuckle; it rasped terribly over his tongue. "From deeds of valour I shrunk not away, yet do I tremble at the imaginings of my own mind!" His laugh caught in his throat and choked him.
"Yet it would not be courage without fear," Ramandu answered.
"I should prefer to not fear all the same," Rhoop opined. A thought presented itself to his mind and he snapped his gaze to Ramandu again. "When I came to this place, your hands laid on me the gift of dreamless slumber. Would you… of your courtesy, would you grant me this boon?"
Ramandu shook his head but his eyes held a wealth of compassion. "I cannot do that, my son. You know this." Rhoop nodded and hung his head. The star continued, "That gift was yours for as long as you remained here, where you felt the healing and strength of the One who gave the gift. Do you think that by leaving this island you will depart from His grace? Do not take counsel of your fears! You walk alone no longer, and the One who walks with you will not depart when your faith is tested and your will is weak and your fears lay siege against you. Even, if it be, in your dreams."
Though some dark corner of his heart persisted in doubt, the admonition greatly comforted Rhoop.
The Dawn Treader cast off the next morning after one last breakfast at Aslan's Table. Rhoop bade Ramandu a grateful farewell. The island too received a wistful farewell just before she disappeared from the horizon, though Rhoop's heart was better set on service to his king.
That night, Rhoop dreamed of a black sea under a starless sky. His legs swayed beneath him, for he stood not on land, but on the pitching deck of a ship. A friendly wind blew from behind him, and he thought he smelled the perfume of the island on the brink of the dawn. A beam of white light pierced the veil of night. Rhoop turned to look and perceived the shape of an Albatross winging His flight in its midst.
It was the first good dream he had had in years.
Prompt: Write a dream (not a daydream) one of the characters has.
Author's note: "Do not take counsel of your fears" is borrowed from the autobiography of George S Patton Jr.
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